"Swedish crackers"

Neither I have had such a vegan cristmas. I was planning on being kind of vegeterian though, but I only get grandma's meatballs once per year after all!
But something very vegan and nice that I ate at several family dinners was a sort of seed-cracker. I ate them til I was about to burst and then I asked for the recipie so I could make them when I got home! I bairly got inside the door before I was invetning our cupboards and started to bake those wonderfull things that can serv as snacks just when the guests arive, but also as sandwishes with vegan butter and some nice vegies (ok, I admit it, I had chees on them, but I bet some peppers and a letus-leaf would be super nice!)

Anyway, here is the recipie:

2 dl Cornstarch

1 dl sesame seeds

1 dl sunflower seeds

0.5 dl flaxseeds

3/4 teaspoon salt

2.5 dl water

0.5 dl oil

salt flakes to sprincle over

First put the oven on 150 degrees, then beguin the baking with placing all the dry ingredients in a bowl(seeds, salt and cornstarch). Boil the water and then add the oil to the water. Pour the water/oil mix over the seed-mix and blend. Now the mix can be either a thick liquid or a batter, both are okay and depend on what oil you are using. I thought mine was way too liquidish so I caled my aunt(from whom I got the recipie) but she said that it's okay, so don't wory if it looks like a weard milk-drink ;)

Now pour the mixture on a baking-sheet and make sure it is not to thick. Sprincle some salt flakes on the top and then the whole thing goes in the oven. Leav it in the oven at 150 degrees for between 1 and 1.5 hours, then alow to cool a bit before you break it into piezes of your choise. Enjoy!

Merry christmas!

I have a confession to make. I have not had a very vegan christmas. At all. For me christmas is all a about traditions, and sadly enough my traditions aren't very vegan friendly. Something to improve for next year. But my mom got the whole family the book Veganist by Kathy Freston. The note on the package said "try it you'll like it". Thumbs up for the attitude. Now the whole family has some interesting vegan reading for the rest of the holiday, and hopefully I'll get a more vegan new year. Looking forward to that.

Sorry we've been so bad about posting what stuff. Hopefully you understand; with school, christmas, work and more, there's not that much time over. But I'm planning on spending the holidays writing for the book, and doing some vegan cooking as well. So little time, so much to do, but I think we'll get all the writing done. When we're back in school we're going to start with layout and design, which is going to be fun.

Just before Christmas, we threw a vegan feast for all our dear friends. Every year we celebrate a kind of mini-christmas together the day before school ends, and this year we went vegan. Everyone actually seemed to think it was really fun, and the food was great. If we're lucky, we managed to crash some vegan-prejudices at least.

That was all for now. Merry christmas to you all!

// Hanna

Logbook 9/12

The vegan era is long gone (although we miss it a bit), and now in the post vegan era we’re focusing on finishing most of the texts for the book. Today we divided up the information texts so that we know who is writing which text. We also brainstormed some layout for the cover of the book and we have some fun ideas.
Now towards the end we have looked into the printing opportunities a bit more. We will probably print 10 copies of the book, they will be in color and it will cost us around 3000 kr. So if you’re interested in one, get in touch!
Today we also interviewed the school nurse on her opinions about veganism. It was very interesting and answered some of our questions.
Our plan now (which doesn’t completely follow the project plan) is to get most texts done before or during Christmas. A lot of work in other words. But when that’s done we can start the really fun part (not that the texts aren't fun); the layout and putting together the book!

Pretty much everything

We decided to write a list of all our recipes to see if we're missing anything for the book. With the list done, we were pretty amazed! It ended up a quite massive collection, at least in our eyes. So we thought we should share it with you, it's a kind of index of everything on the blog. Here it is:

Dinners:
• Risotto with roasted veggies
• Lentil wraps
• Chili sin Carne
• Lentil patties with mashed beets
• Pasta with tomato lentil sauce and crispy celeriac
• Korma
• Red beet patties with quinoa and creamy veggies
• Cannelloni
• Tomato soup
• Mushroom crêpes
• Falafel
• Pizza
• Pumpkin soup
• Tacos
• Ratatouille
• Pasta with broccoli and mushrooms
• Taco wraps (no picture)
• Jambalaya
• Wok
• Bolognese
• Coconut milk soup
• Lentil patties with cherry tomato compote and sweet potato gratin
• Bruschetta
• Black bean enchiladas

Breakfasts:
• Muesli
• Porridge with banana, raisins and poppy seeds
• Raw food porridge
• American pancakes
• Black and blue smoothie
• Agnes’ sandwich
• Oatgurt/soygurt with muesli
• Porridge with apples and lingon berries
• Rye porridge with blackberries and poppy seeds
• Rye porridge with seeds
• Fruit salad
• Porridge with raspberries, cardamom, coconut and banana
• Banana berry smoothie

Desserts and baking:
• Pear and cardamom cake with crumble
• Coconut cookies
• Fruit salad and ice cream
• Raspberry chocolate ice cream
• Apple spice cake
• Berry ice cream

Other:
• Almond butter
• Apricot cranberry marmalade
• Vegan bars

Mmm... Muesli!

All you've got to do is mix everything up and pop it in the oven for a while. Perhaps some chopping as well, but that's so easy so it barely counts. With that minimal amount of work, you get the most amazing muesli. So why would you choose to by it? In my opinion at least, more store-bought muesli tastes like cardboard, with a hint of fake aromas and sugar. Give making your own muesli a chance, it couldn't be simpler, and if you store it in a pretty jar it'll look great. Homemade muesli is a great gift too, either to someone else or to your self! You can also put pretty much anything in it, if you don't like cranberries for example, take something else instead! That's the beauty of making it yourself; it turns out the way you want it. This recipe is one of my favorite.

For a lot of muesli:
2 dl rye flakes
2 dl oats
2 dl spelt flakes
1 1/2 dl sunflower seeds
1 dl flaxseeds
1 1/2 dl shredded coconut
1 1/2 dl pumpkin seeds
2 dl buckwheat
1 1/2 dl sesame seeds (take half black sesame seeds if you can get ahold of them)
3 dl (200 g) chopped almonds (if you're not allergic like me, take different kind of nuts. Then you can probably take around 4 dl instead)
1/2 tbsp. ground cardamon
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 dl vegetable oil (choose on that doesn't taste too much)
1 dl water
1 1/2 dl dried cranberries
1 1/2 dl raisins
1 1/2 chopped dried apricots
1 dl finely chopped dates

Mix all the ingredients, except the dried fruit, in a BIG oven-proof dish and roast in a 225 degree oven. It can take about 25 minutes, but give it a stir every 5 minutes so it doesn't burn. When it's a nice golden brown and muesli is all dry, take it out of the oven. Allow to cool and add the dried fruit. Yum yum!

Risotto and roasted vegetables

I've realized I love risotto. It's creamy, it's tasty, although really putting your heart into it takes a bit of time. Adding water, stirring, more water, more stirring, for like 30-40 minutes. Which I didn't have time for yesterday since I have murderous amounts of physics to study. So, I cheated. I didn't give my risotto all the love and care it deserved, but it turned out any way. Creamy and delicious, and a lot less work. I added some lentils for the proteins sake, and served with some colorful roasted veggies. Yummy!

For two risotto fans:
Roasted vegetables:
1/2 zucchini
1 tomato
1 clove of garlic
1 bell pepper
1 red onion
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. herb salt
Pepper
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 tbsp. dried thyme (or fresh for that matter)
The risotto:
1 yellow onion (or two shallots)
1 clove of garlic
1 cube of vegetable bouillon
2 dl risotto rice, e.g. avorio rice
1 dl green lentils
1/2 dl red wine
2 large chunks of vegan butter, about 2 tbsp.
5+3 dl boiling water
Salt and pepper, after taste

Heat the oven to 225 degrees. Chop all the vegetables for the roasting in the kind of pieces you like. Place in an oven proof dish and and the oil, salt, pepper, sugar, thyme and lemon. Toss up a bit and roast in the upper half of the oven for about 30 minutes, opening and tossing some more now and then if needed.
Finely chop the onion and garlic for the risotto. Fry on medium heat for about 5 minutes until soft and slightly golden. Add the rice and fry for about two more minutes and then the wine and let it bubble away a couple of minutes more. Dissolve the bouillon in the first 5 dl boiling water. Add the water to the rice, a little at a time. Cover the pan with a lid and let simmer until all the water has cooked in, about 15 minutes. Add the last 3 dl of water and let it cook under a lid until there's no more water left, about another 15 minutes. Stir the risotto occasionally during the time it's cooking. When it's creamy and the rice is cooked and soft, add the butter and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy your oozy and wonderful risotto and veggies. Top of with some chopped olives if you want to.