Logbook 27/1

The making of the book continues! Today we have continued the wonderful, close to never-ending story that is the daily texts. At least we’re getting closer which feels nice. Besides writing we have also started to proofread the recipes. It’s a bit embarrassing that you’ve had to read all our typos! Hope you haven’t minded too much. Whilst we’re finishing off this we’re also working with the layout and putting the book together. One should not underestimate the time it takes to make a book. People who work with it should be admired. We’ve found some more book-buyers as well! Yeey for that, we’re up to 13 now!

Blog news!

We're back with a new episode of Blog news! So the latest, Agnes and I had managed to add a Facebook-like button to the posts. We felt pretty lost when trying to find our way in the masses of HTML-code (if that's what it's called), it was like an alien jungle. But we managed! So now you can use this awesome function to show all your friends that you're reading the coolest vegan blog! Like like crazy!

All for now, and remember if you want to buy our book, contact us on veganveganproject@hotmail.com!

Hanna

Go Gumbo!

There's no joy (almost) like eating vegan! Friday night was movie night with some friends, and I had to bring my own dinner. So of course I made it vegan. This time I decided to make Gumbo, inspired from one of Jamie Oliver's wonderful recipes. Although it's probably not even close to the gumbos made by the people of Louisiana (at least I think that's where it's from), I liked it. Simple stupid too, so what is there not to like?


For 2 (BIG) portions:
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 bell pepper in your favorite color
1 stalk of celery
1/2 red chili
2 tbsp of oil
175 g sweet potato
1 tbsp flour
3 dl vegetable stock (3 dl water & 1/2 cube vegetable bouillon)
150 g chickpeas (canned or cooked)
1 tsp paprica powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprica
1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper after taste

Chop the onion into medium size pieces, depending on what you like. Crush or finely chop the garlic and the chili, chop the celery and cut the bell peppers in about 2*2 cm pieces. Heat a frying pan with the oil. Pop the veggies in the pan and fry on medium heat for about five minutes. While it is frying, peel and cut the sweet potatoes in 1/2 cm thick half-moons. When the vegetables are done frying, add the flour and stir for another two minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. Yummy!

Logbook 20/1

A lot of work to do right now. We are trying to put all the pieces together, finishing the texts, figuring out the design and everything. At the moment we’re looking at about 100 pages, which feels like a real accomplishment. We are also kind of feeling the pressure of knowing that other people will actually be reading our book!
When it comes to printing, we’re down to two companies at the moment. Both can print a hardback book for about 200 kr, which feels like an ok price.
Another challenge that we have encountered is choosing the right font for the headlines and such. It feels like a pretty massive choice, the font really has to embody the spirit of the project. So it can’t be a hasty decision. One nice thing though is that every decision we make at this point brings us one step closer to the finished product!

Rice n' bean enchiladas

Super simple and very yummy. That's a good recipe for you, at least according to my opinion. You don't always have hours to cook dinner, and then this is a good alternative. The only little setback time wise is that you have to have boiled rice. But that can easily be fixed by for example eating rice for dinner the night before. You can either do like i did, and roll them up like enchiladas and bake in the oven, or just eat them like tacos with some extra vegetables.
Here's what goes in it.

For 2 people (and a lunchbox):
1 red onion
1 clove of garlic
1 bell pepper
Some oil
1/2 tsp smoked paprica powder
2 tsp dark syrup
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp regular paprika powder
Salt & Pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
100 g kidney beans
60 g black beans
1 1/2 dl boiled whole grain rice (should be about 3/4 dl unboiled rice)
1/2 dl water
4 wheat tortillas
Optional: Some salsa sauce and sunflower seeds

If you don't have any rice, start by preparing some. Place a large frying pan on medium heat with some oil. Peel and half the onion, then slice it in thin half-moon slices. Finely chop the garlic. Add this to the pan and let it fry while you slice the bell pepper. First slice it in thin slices lengthwise and the cut these in half, the other direction. Add to the onion and let soften on medium heat for 5 minutes while seasoning. Add the spices, syrup, lemon and tomato paste. When the peppers and onions are done, add the rice, beans and water. Let simmer for a couple of minutes more. Taste and make sure the seasoning is right. Take out the tortillas and take the pan of the heat. Place a strip of the filling in the middle of each tortilla and roll them up. Place in a lightly greased oven proof dish and if you want to, top with some salsa and seeds. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes. Serve with a yummy salad and perhaps some guacamole.

Party pictures!

Here they are, as we promised, the pictures from are vegan feast before Christmas. After a lot of cooking together, which was slightly chaotic since we were nine people that all wanted to contribute, this was what we ended up with. A big thanks to our friend Elin and her camera, it is she who has taken all the wonderful photos. This was one of the most fun ways to do schoolwork I must say, cooking vegan with friends. I guess all our dear friends deserve a thanks since they were open-minded enough to give vegan food a chance, not that it's something you have to suffer through. I think all of them agree that we managed to make a pretty great dinner!
Enjoy the pictures!




Yummy yummy! Here we made one of Agnes' favorites, lentil patties, made from red lentils with sun dried tomatoes and basil.




This tomato sauce is great. Made from fresh cherry tomatoes, spiced up with some garlic, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Simple and heavenly!



Nothing can go wrong with roasted veggies. Here's a great quinoa salad with roasted bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, onion, garlic and herbs. Quinoa's great since it's contains protein too. It's not a real party if you're not getting your essential amino acids is it?


Better than french fries any day!


What's more vegan than a salad? (at least according to most people's prejudices)


Hummus is vegan magic. Seriously it's perfect for most meals, it works as a great protein boost, vegan dip or instead of butter.


Agnes' home-picked mushrooms about to become some pretty epic mushroom sauce!



The wondrous outcome!

Back in action with... an Jerusalem artichoke pie!

A new year, with new vegan recipes! Hopefully a lot of them. Anyhow, here's the first one. My brother wasn't overjoyed at a vegan dinner (I haven't managed to convert him yet), but my mother loved it (although I think she's a bit partial towards anything with Jerusalem artichokes)! I've always wanted to try phillo pastry, and it was amazingly fun! It was like tissue paper; loads and loads of super thin sheets rolled up together. Apart from very fun, phillo is also very simple to cook with, and very vegan. Cool that you can make something like that from flour, water and oil. Although I can't imagine how they get is so thin. Give it a try and have fun!

The sauce:

1 dl water

1 1/2 dl white cooking wine

1 clove of garlic

1 yellow onion

230 g drained, large white beans

1 cube of vegetable bouillon

Pepper

2 tsp finely chopped parley

1 tsp lemon

The root veggies:

1 l water

4 medium size potatoes

2 carrots

500 g Jerusalem artichokes (jordärtskockor)

1/2 tsp salt

1 clove of garlic

The pie:

250 g phillo pastry (fresh or defrosted)

Olive oil

Sea salt

Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Add the water for the veggies to a medium size sauce pan and the water and wine for the sauce to another. Bring both too a boil while you start chopping up all the veggies. Peel and slice the artichokes, carrots and potatoes in 1/2 cm thick slices. Cut the onion in eight and both the garlic cloves in four. Add the root vegetables and one of the cloves of garlic to the pot of boiling water together with the salt. Cook for about 8 minutes on medium heat or until the artichokes and potatoes are soft. Add the onion and left over garlic to the boiling wine together with the bouillon and beans. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients to the sauce, take of the heat and mix until smooth with a hand-held blender. Now your veggies should be done, so take them of the heat and pour out the water.

Take out a 24 cm pie dish with quite high edges. Drizzle some olive oil over the bottom and sprinkle some sea salt. Gently unroll your phillo pastry and simply place it in the pie dish, letting the excess hang over the sides. Lay all your veggies in the pie dish and pour over the sauce. Carefully fold the edges of the phillo back over the pie. Again, drizzle some oil and sprinkle some salt, and then bake it in the oven for about 15 minutes until golden and crisp. Enjoy with a nice salad!