Back on track, making wonderfully vegan food!

Dearest everyone!

It's been a long year without any blogging from our side. Shame on us. That of course does not mean we have nog been cooking, but simply that other things have come in the way of blogging about it! But now, at the end of the summer, with not much to do I decided to get my act together. I've been at home the last few days and made both spring rolls and moroccan stew, and this: a lovely tomato and white wine risotto with semi-dried tomatoes, home-grown beans, deep-fried sage and arugula salad. Wow. It was beyond delicious.

I'm sorry to say that I can't share the recipe with you, as I did not write it down, but I will tell you how I made it!

Make a simple risotto with white wine. You can find a recipe for red wine risotto here on the blog, simply substitute the red wine for white. When you add the wine, also add peeled tomatoes cut into chunks. I managed to find lovely Swedish plum tomatoes. Then let the risotto cook as usual, adding some lemon zest at the end.

For the semi-dried tomatoes, just place some beautiful tomatoes of your taste in a oven proof pan, drizzle with some olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt and some brown sugar and lemon zest. Throw in some springs of rosemary as well. Roast in the oven at 250 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes, and then lower the temperature to 125 and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the sugar is all caramelized and the tomatoes look very roasted and delicious.

While the risotto is cooking you can get the beans going. Simply bring a small pan of water to boil, add salt, a good lug of olive oil and some sage. Place a clove of garlic in the water as well. The add the beans. I had the privilege of having some home-grown Borlotti beans, but I added some green soy beans as well. You can pretty much use your favorite, although I warmly recommend  trying some Borlotti beans. Cook on low heat until beans are tender.

The deep-fried sage is simple to make. Heat some oil in a pan. Place the sage leaves in the pan and fry on both sides until the leaves are crispy. Place on some kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.

Serve all these wonderful things together with some arugula salad. Couldn't be better! The sweet dried tomatoes go wonderfully with the crispy and salty sage, soft beans and creamy risotto. Wonderful!

Long time, no see

Hello dearest blogreaders!

It's been a long time since our last post, but we've unfortunately been too busy to keep up the blogging. Since our last post, we've graduated and passed the summer off on separate adventures. But the books have arrived! In the beginning of the summer, four big boxed came to Hannas doorstep, and we've started shipping them out to our buyers.

Into all of the books we have slipped an extra note with a challenge to all of our readers. The challenge is of course to dare try being vegan for a month, just as we did a year ago. For us, this new vegan month is a chance to reminisce and a chance for others to try this eye-opening experience! So on the 10th of September, we commence a new Vegan month and a new Vegan Challenge for four weeks. If you are interested in joining, let us know!

Fun to be back writing here again!

We’re getting close to the deadline now, but fortunately we have the entire spring break to work. What’s left to be done at this point is to finish the final text, do some scetches for the book and finally put it all together and make a cover. That of course includes layouting all the material, which may take some time but is at least quite fun. Today we finished the small messages that will appear in the book each day. That feels nice. Good new is that we have a couple of more orders for the book. If you're too interested, just tell us! 

Vegan restaurants!

I just found this awesome list of vegan restaurants in Stockholm that I had to share with you. It's in Swedish but the restaurants are in Sweden so perhaps it's okay. It is made by some vegans in Stockholm and I'm looking forward to trying some of the places soon!

V =vegan, Vt =vegetarisk, meny = seperat vegomeny, V alt = veganska alternativ (kan vara på menyn men betyder även ofta att hyffsat med saker kan göras veganska om man ber om det)

Vasastaden/Norrmalm
Beirut Café - Centralen V alt (take-away)
Mooncake - Luntmakargatan 95 V alt
Malaysia - Luntmakargatan 98 V meny
La neta - Barnhusgatan 2 V alt
Hurry Curry - Slöjdgatan 11 V alt
Lao Wai - Luntmakargatan 74 V(helt!)
Organic Green (lunch) - Rehnsgatan 24 V+Vt
Sawadee - Olofsgatan 6 V alt
Sahara - Olofsgatan 7b V+Vt alt (många!)
Kokyo - Sveavägen 105 V meny
Martins Gröna - Regeringsgatan 91 V+Vt

Södermalm
Chutney (lunch) - Katarina bangatan 19 V+Vt
Matkultur - Erstagatan 21 V alt (1 förrätt 1 huvudrätt)
Naturbageriet Sattva - Krukmakargatan 27a V+Vt
Louie Louie (fik) - Bondegatan 13 V+Vt alt
Café Sodom - Bellmansgatan 26 V+Vt alt
Kafé String - Nytorgsgatan 38 V+Vt alt (hyffsad salladsdisk för vegan)
Kafé 44 - Tjärhovsgatan 46 V (varmrätt + flera mackor & bakverk!)
Hermans - Fjällgatan 23b V+Vt
Akki Sushi - Folkungagatan 45 V alt
Ho's - hornsgatan 151 V meny (Se upp för ostron och kycklingbuljong i maten!)
Södermanna Vegetariska - Medborgarplatsen V+Vt
Nhu's - Hornsgatan 147 V+Vt meny (ett par är helt vegan)
Dragon Sushi - Söderhallarna+ Hornsgatan 78 V alt
Seymus - Varvsgatan 29 V+Vt
Tevere - Skånegatan 81 V+Vt alt (veganpizza)
Hängmattan(fik) - Södermannagatan 10 V+Vt
Crave - Långholmsgatan 21 V+Vt alt (mesta går att få veganskt)
Copacabana - Hornstull strand 3 V alt
Sensei Sushi - Krukmakargatan V alt
Taste of vietnam - Södermannagatan 8 V alt (en del mock meats)
En thai till - Folkungagatan 95 V alt
Thailändska tigern - Hornsgatan 126 V Babajan,
Katarina bangata 75, V + Vt alt (Indiskt mm)
Lebaobab - folkungagatan 128 V meny
Abyssinia - Ringvägen 105 V meny (ej prövat med har lunch enligt hemsidan)

Östermalm
Örtagården - Nybrogatan 31 V+Vt (buffé)
Sushi plus 1 - Nybrogatan 28/t-banan V-Vt alt
Holy monkey - Nybrogatan 51 V+Vt alt
Lemuria - Nybrogatan 26 V
Potstickers (dumplings!) - Regeringsgatan 71 V alt
Yogayama – Jungfrugatan 8 V (rawfood) + V alt
Råkultur – Kungstensgatan 2 V alt
Ma-Now (thaiavhämtning), Strindbergsgatan 33, V alt (enl uppg kan veg. rätter ordnas)

Söder om söder
Peony Restaurang - Skulptörvägen 4 V alt (ett par stk bara)
Lilla Persien - Slakthusplan 4 V+vt alt (div veg-meze)
 Kungsholmen Jebena, Rådhusetl V meny (Eritreansk)

 //agnes

Monday luxury

Perfect way to start the week, a nice monday dinner. This was a second attempt to a dish I tried during the vegan month, only this time it was more successful. Soybean patties with herbe de provence, oozy mushroom risotto and crispy celery root with chili. For feeling so luxurious it was actually quite quick and simple. But of course everything is relative. I must admit, the picture is from last time, but it looked pretty much the same, and I was to hungry to take pictures tonight.

For four and some more, you need:
Risotto
15 g dried chanterelles (or some other good kind) + 2 dl boiling water
1 big onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 dl risotto rice
1 1/2 dl white wine
1 cube of vegetable bouillon
5 dl + 2 dl boiling water
Optional: 2 large chunks of vegan margarine
Roasted celery root
300 g celery root
1/3 red chili
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Soybean patties
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 dl oatmeal
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp mushroom soy
2 tbsp herbe de provence, frozen
500 g soybeans, rinsed
Pepper

Start by soaking the mushrooms in the first two deciliters of boiling water. Let soak for 30 minutes.
Turn the oven on 250 degrees. Heat a pan with some oil.
Finely chop the onion and garlic for the risotto. Add it to the now warm pan and lower heat to medium. Let fry gently without browning for about 5 minutes.
While the onion is frying, slice the celery root into thin sticks. Place in an ovenproof dish and toss together with the other ingredients.
When the onion is done, add the rice to the pan and fry for another 2 minutes. Then pour the wine over and let boil in. When the rice has absorbed the liquid, dissolve the bouillon in the 5 dl of water and then pour this into the risotto, a little at a time. Cover with a lid and led simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
Pop the celery in the top part of the now warm oven and let roast for about 20 minutes of until golden and crispy. Shake occasionally to make sure it doesn't burn.
It's now time to start the patties. In a quite large food processor, quickly chop up the onion and the garlic together with the oatmeal. Mix in salt, pepper, soy and herbs. Add the soybeans and run the food processor until the mixture is quite smooth, but still has a few bits and pieces in it.
Heat another frying pan with some oil. Check on the risotto, it should start to look done. Add the last two dl of water if it's needed, and taste for salt and pepper. Let simmer gently without a lid while you continue the patties. Out of the soybean mixture, form small patties and place in the warm pan. Fry gently on medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side. They should become nice and brown. Whilst you're doing this, give your risotto some final love by stirring it now and then.
When the patties are done, check the celery root in the oven. Take it out and if you want to add those chunks of vegan butter to the risotto. Now everything should be ready to enjoy!

Logbook 3/2

The work with the text continues. Hanna has received feedback from Mr Brodin on some of the texts and Agnes has finished a text on “watch out fore”. The work with layout is in process and very time-consuming so it is good that we put aside so much time for it. Although it feels a bit stressful that it is only 5 weeks left, we are hopeful and looking forward to the final result. Now we have 16 books ordered which feels amazing!

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!

"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.

Blog news!

Great news! We've now fixed the settings for the blog so that anyone can comment, not only followers. So even though it's great the more followers we get, we'd love to hear from all you readers a bit. So start sharing your opinions, comment away!

Also, you can start following us on Bloglovin. It's super simple to sign up and then you get a notice each time we post something.

At the moment, we're working hard to finish all the texts for the book before Christmas. Writing 28 information texts takes a while. But I think that when we're done, it's going to be great. Our project mentor offered to proof read our text yesterday, so it feels like we'll end up with a great book. And you know what; you'll be able to see for yourself! All you have to do is to buy a book. It will include all of our recipes, loads of interesting vegan facts, everything vegans (and others) should know about nutrition and much more! If you are interested, send and email to veganveganproject@hotmail.com or leave a comment!

Lentil wraps!

It was amazing! I came into the kitchen after hours of studying physics and there's a vegan dinner cooking on the stove. Lentil wraps with a fresh avocado and arugula salad. There are no spices in the wraps except the taco sauce, so feel free to go crazy with the seasoning if you want to. Otherwise, here's the recipe.

For two:
125 g green lentils
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tbsp. oil
5 dl water
1/2 cube of vegetable bouillon
1 potato
1 carrot
1/2 jar hot tacosauce, 120 g
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tortillas
For the salad:
1 tbsp. oil
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
Black pepper
A pinch of sugar
A handful of arugula salad
1-2 avocados

Cut the potatoes in small cubes. Fry the lentils and onion in some oil. Add the water, potatoes and the bouillon and bring to a boil. Let it cook for 30 minutes. Grate the carrots coarsely. While the lentils are cooking, make the salad. Mix oil, lemon, salt, pepper and sugar in a bowl. Add the arugula. With a spoon, remove the avocado from the skin and add to the salad.
Pour out the water and place on the stove again. Add the carrots and taco sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Roll the lentils up in the tortillas and serve with the salad.

Kill that pig!

Haha, take a deep breath, my vegan month has not ended up with me going totally bananas and becoming a brutal pig killer. Or at least not completely. This is really not something you should joke about actually, there are loads of pig that have to suffer a horrible life for us to have ham on our sandwiches. But I can assure you this pig didn't suffer. I was packing marzipan figures with a girl at work today, and this one lost its tail. Since we couldn't sell it, we decided have a bit of a bit science lesson on it and do some dissection. Turned out it was marzipan all the way through. Not so exciting. At least I got a taste, and I bet this is the best way to eat vegan pigs!

Chili SIN carne!

Now I’m back from London, had such an awesome time! Hanna almost prohibited me from being vegan so I finished my vegan challenge a few days earlier than planned. It was really strange to eat cream cheese on the sandwich again ;)
Any way, just before the London trip, I had a very nice chilli sin carne so I wanted to give you the recipe on that! It's super easy and takes no time at all!



It made enough for two big servings:
½ yellow onion
1 small garlic
¼ zucchini
1/2 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp coffee powder (feels weird, tastes good)
Oil for frying
1/2 jar of beens, you can actually take which ever beans you fancy the most. I used half black and half white beens
½ jar of cruched tomatoes, about 200g
Salt, pepper
And then some thyme if you like!
I ate it with rice one day and then pasta the next, so pick and choose!


To begin with, if you are having rice, get it started. Then chop up the onion, garlic and zucchini and fry in the olive oil together with the spices and coffee until everything is golden brown. Add beans and tomatoes and allow to slowly boil for 5 minutes. Flavour with salt and pepper, serve with rice and then place a little thyme on top! Enjoy!
// agnes

Swedish husmanskost for vegans

Just because the vegan challenge is over, we won't stop posting great recipes! Here's a dinner you can make if you happen to have red beets and soy beans at home, mashed red beet and potatoes, soy patties and mushroom sauce. This my version of more traditional food, although I must say I think this version is much more colorful than the original. It's actually really simple, without a whole lot of strange seasoning. I love the color the beets give the mash, a real show-off color that gives the whole dish a lift. Try it out! Read through the recipe before starting to figure out which steps you can do simultaneously, for example you can prepare the patties while the veggies are cooking.

For two people in the mood for a magenta dinner:
Pink mashed potatoes:
2 potatoes
250 g red beets
2 carrots
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tsp. mushroom soy
1/2-1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. parsley (I took frozen)
Pepper

Soy bean patties:
1 package of soy beans à 400 g
1 tsp. mushroom soy
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 dl oatmeal
1 tbsp. water
Pepper
Oil

Mushroom sauce:
1 onion
A handful of fresh chanterelles (if you use dried instead, make sure to soak them first)
1 tbsp. lingonberry jam
1 tsp. salt (taste first!)
1 tsp. mushroom soy
2 tsp. flour
1 dl vegan cooking cream
1 dl vegan milk
Oil
Pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes, carrots and beets into smaller pieces. Peel the clove of garlic. Put it all in a pot and add enough water to barely cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil and let cook until everything is soft, about 30 minutes but it depends on the size of your pieces. When done add the other ingredients and beat with an electric blender until smooth (there may be some red beet pieces left since they're often harder). Taste for seasoning.

For the patties, mix the onion, garlic and oatmeal in a mixer. Add the other ingredients and mix until an almost smooth paste. Heat a pan with some oil and fry on moderate heat for about 4 minutes per side, until browned and quite firm.

For the sauce, finely chop the onion. Fry in oil until softened, then add the mushrooms and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add the flour and stir. Pour over the cream, bring to a boil and the add the milk. Season with the soy, jam, pepper and salt if needed. Let cook until thickened.

Serve everything together with some lingonberry jam and enjoy!

Let the vegans eat cake!

I must confess I was a bit suspicious towards baking vegan style. Seriously, how could it possible work without eggs and butter. But it actually does, probably thanks to the fact that there is vegan butter (which is probably close to lethal because of all the chemical processes they put that poor vegetable fat through). Here are two great recipes anyway.

Pear and cardamon cake with crumble
240 g flour
1 tsp. baking soda (bikarbonat)
1 tbsp. baking powder
115 g sugar
120 g melted vegan butter
3,25 dl water
2 tsp. vanilla sugar
2 tsp. ground cardamon
2 pears
For the crumble:
1 dl oat meal
35 g vegan butter
2,5 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cardamon

Combine all the ingredients for the crumble. Set aside. Peel and slice the pears. Grease a 24 cm spring form, cover with bread crumbs or shredded coconut. Mix all the dry ingredients for the cake. Add the melted butter and then the water. Pour into the greased pan. Push the pear slices into the batter, evenly distributed over the cake. Sprinkle over the crumbles. Bake in a 190 degree oven for 40-45 minutes, until done.

Coconut cookies - about 20-24 cookies
4 dl flour
200 g vegan margarine
2 dl shredded coconut
1 dl sugar
1 tbsp. oat milk
1 tsp. vanilla sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. cocoa

Heat the oven to 175 degrees. Beat the sugar and margarine until light. Combine the all the dry ingredient except the cocoa. Add to the butter mixture and mix. Form balls of the cookie dough and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 7 minutes. Take the cookies out and gently press each one with a fork so it gets a pretty striped pattern. Bake for another 11 minutes, or until golden in the edges.Take out and let cool. Dust with the cocoa (I used a tea-strainer, works great and minimizes the mess). Invite a friend over for a vegan cookie party or eat them all yourself.

The last night of The Vegan Challenge...

Wooah... Four weeks as vegans. It feels like time has just flown past. Does time go faster without meat? Tonights the last night that we're officially vegans. But I must say, I'm not in the mood for meat. At all. I opened the fridge to take out something to have on my sandwich tomorrow. I saw the cheese and thought like "njee, I'll go for the tofu spread instead". The tofu spread! I don't even really like tofu spread. I really don't see any point in going meaty again.

If you wonder why we've been so bad about posting stuff here this weekend it's because Agnes has been in London (as you know), and I've been out hiking in the forrest. I spent the weekend in a small cottage with loads of crazy scouts and couldn't have enjoyed it more. They eyed my breakfast a bit though, and a wild discussion about oat milk broke out. I love oat milk, but one of them pulled the argument: "we're not horses" (a typical Vernon Dursley). Come on, does that mean he doesn't eat chocolate balls either? Or crumble pie? Seriously his son was sitting there eating oatmeal. People can be a bit conservative.

Anyway, when I got home today, it was late and I was tired, cold and a bit worn out after a day of hard core studying (even though the vegan cookies helped), my wonderful mom had fixed my a delicious vegan dinner! She'd made lasagna with fried broccoli, pine nuts and olives (Yum!). It was a real celebration, the nice plates and the works. She'd even bought some tofu ice cream (that I turned out to be slightly allergic to, but ate anyway!) which tasted great with some fruit salad. Fruit salad is really handy, super simple and you can make some extra for breakfast the next day. Couldn't be better. Just cut up the fruit, drizzle over some agave syrup and lemon, a dash of coconut and sesame seeds, raisins and a dust of cinnamon. Perfect! So tip of the day, find a great mom who'll fix you vegan dinners. Just kidding. The recipes will be up soon, but until then you can drool over the pictures!

All for now babycakes, enjoy this last post of what is known as the Vegan Era!
Hanna

Save the...

Ooo, what's this? A movie...? How exciting!

What should have been lasagna

My plan was making some great lasagna tonight. I bought the appropriate vegetables (which was quite an adventure considering I had almost no money and had just a couple of minutes to shop before the bus) and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. Then I get home and what do I find in the cupboard? No lasagna pasta anyway! So there went my planing, but I ended up with this instead. Pasta with tomato lentil sauce and crispy celeriac. Which wasn't completely wrong either. While the sauce was cooking I even had time to make the annual christmas trip to IKEA. I must confess I love being at IKEA, but there should seriously be like a celibacy club for IKEA shoppers. You always pick up way too much. Anyway, after that little sidetrack, here's the recipe!

For about 3 people:
Sauce:
1 red onion
1 large clove of garlic
175 g carrots
1 package of crushed tomatoes (400 g)
2 dl water
1 dl red lentils
1 tsp. sambal oelek (more or less, depending on what you like)
1/2 tbsp. chinese soy
2 tbsp. syrup
1/2 cube of vegetable bouillon
1/2 tbsp. basil
1/2 tbsp. majoram
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

400 g celeriac
Italian herb mix
Pepper
Salt
Oil
Lemon juice
300 g pasta

Chop the onion and garlic. Fry gently in oil until soft. Grate the carrots finely. Add all the ingredients for the sauce, bring to a boil and let simmer for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better, or until the lentils are soft. I let mine cook gently like forever, and that works too, just make sure to stir it now and then.
Slice the celeriac into super thin pieces. Place in an ovenproof dish drizzle over some olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt, pepper and italian spices. Toss it all up a bit and roast in the oven at 225 degrees, until golden. It should take about 15-20 minutes.
Boil water for the pasta. Cook you pasta, and while you're waiting make a final check on the seasoning of the sauce.
When it's all done; the pasta's al dente, the celeriac is crispy and the sauce good, serve and enjoy!

Another super-porridge

I could seriously write a book about only porridge. It really health, easy to make, keeps you going for hours, your can vary it to infinity and it's good. That my friends is superfood. I'm really considering writing a text about porridge for the book, like a small info-bubble. So this porridge was made from oatmeal, raisins, poppy seeds and banana. It really feels like a stay-full-forever kind of breakfast, which is great. It'a simply a really Great Gröt!

For one:
1 dl oatmeal
2,5 dl water
A handful of raisins
1/2 tbsp. crushed flax seeds
1/2 tbsp. sesame seeds
2 tsp. blue poppy seeds
1 tbsp. shredded coconut
1/2 banana
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
A pinch of salt

Mash the banana. Bring all the ingredients to a boil and the let cook gently until desired thickness. Enjoy with some vegan milk and banana, seeds and raisins. Couldn't be better!

Not a very exciting evening

Dinner tonight was leftovers; the beet and lentil patties and some quinoa. I fried up some tomatoes to go with it. Not very interesting, but I didn't have time for cooking. That's the kind of thing that happens. Sorry to break it to all you omnis, but vegans don't spend all day cooking (or at least we don't). It served its purpose even though it wasn't freshly cooked though; it took care of the hunger and tasted good.

I'm sitting writing, or rather researching, for the info-text about fats for out book. Nutrition is fascinating! But at twenty past ten my brain starts spinning when I read all of the strange abbreviations for various fatty acids. Alfa and omega here and there, I'm a bit confused. But it's interesting.

Agnes is in London! London!! So I'm sorry to inform you that you'll not be finding any of her cheerful and wonderful posts for a couple of days. I'll have to do, but I promise to do my best and blog away. But right now I'm a but too tired to be funny. I'm planning a yummy breakfast for tomorrow though, so that's something to look forward to!

All for now,
Hanna

A Vegan Challenge for YOU!

Here's the deal. As you probably know, we've soon finished our Vegan Challenge. But we have a small challenge for all you reader's too. Take a deep breath, we're not going to force you to go vegan (although it would be cool if you did). All we're asking from you is to try our recipes and give some feedback. All of these'll go into our book, and it's more fun to know what people think about them before they go to the press. So get cooking! Surprise someone with a vegan, give yourself some me-time in front of the stove or simply try for the fun of it and for the satisfaction of knowing you've helped someone. Truly, the food is good. I know creating a Google account can seem a bit tedious, but it goes really quickly. Then you can follow the blog and post your thoughts and comments. We'd be super grateful!
Thanks!

// Hanna

Follow our blog!

Follow our blog with Bloglovin

Now we're on bloglovin! So it's super simple to follow what's happening in our vegan world. Click the link and start following us!

Korma!

This is actually a dish my family likes to cook, and for a reason, it's delicious. But I must say, this vegan version, is even better. I felt sorry for my family who sat there eating spaghetti and meat sauce instead. You could probably add pretty much any vegetable you'd like to in this recipe. I accidentally cooked mine too long so the cauliflower kind of boiled into bits, but it didn't matter. It was yummy as can be anyway. I have to say a thanks to Jamie Oliver, it's through his book "Ministry of Food" I learned to cook and like Indian food. Give it a try and enjoy!

Dinner for two:
Korma paste:
1 clove of garlic
10 g ginger
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil + some extra for frying
1/2 red chili (or more if you like it hot)
2 tbsp. shredded coconut
1 tbsp. ground almonds
1/2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. cumin (spiskummin)
1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 onion
1/2 can coconut milk (200 g)
1 bell pepper
150 g chickpeas
1 dl water
200 g cauliflower
Salt and pepper after taste

Mix all the ingredients for the paste together in a mixer. Finely chop the onion. Slice the pepper into small squares and cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces. Heat a pan with a lug of oil. Gently fry the chopped onion. When soft, add the other ingredients and cook for about 20 minutes. Taste and make sure the vegetables are cooked and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy together with some rice, fried broccoli and roasted coconut and seeds. Just like going to India (or almost)!

Liquid vegan bar

I made a kind of "raw porridge" for breakfast this morning, which was a first for me. For those of you who are unenlightened on the subject, of something is raw, it hasn't been heated up over 42 degrees. This is supposed to preserve all the nutrients. I have no idea if eating raw really makes that big a difference, but I tried some raw porridge (that just sounds strange...) anyway. Basically it's fruit mixed with seeds and nuts. And it tasted exactly like a vegan bar!


For 1 raw breakfast:
1 banana
1 pear
1 dl seeds and nuts of choice
1/2 tbsp. flax seeds
1 tbsp. canola oil

Mix everything with a hand blender. Serve with your favorite vegan milk, cinnamon, cardamon and shredded coconut. Easy as that!

// Hanna