Millet and Miso vegetable soup

I found this recipe in Janella’s Super Natural Foods by Janella Purcell. I like miso but have never cooked with millet, so I thought ‘why not try something new?’.  I had to do a bit of a search for it in the shops. Although we are seeing quinoa in the supermarkets these days, millet has not appeared yet. I ended up getting a bag of it from a health food shop.

I mostly stuck to the recipe but I did double the amounts, as I wanted more than 2 serves the original made.  You can use any type of miso and either paste or powder form is okay.   The other change I made was cooking it for a bit longer, so the vegetables not as firm. You can play around with the times,  as you wish, but perhaps stick to  10 minutes for the millet.

What you will need:

4 cups of finely chopped vegetables ( such as spinach leaves, Zucchini, bokchoy, snow peas, carrots)

2 cups miso

1/3 cup millet

1 litre vegetable stock

You can also add 1 tsp of any seaweed  or 2 tsp grated ginger to the stock, if you like.

Method:

Bring the stock to simmer over medium heat in a pot.

Rinse the millet and add to the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the miso and cook for another 5 minutes.

Turn off heat and let stand with lid on pot, for about 10 minutes before serving.

Cauliflower Bites

I found this recipe on potatostrong.com but have tweaked it to suit me. Basically, I have simplified it because I am lazy. To get the original recipe, see the website.  I liked the results I got with the pared down version, but I suspect the original gives you an even better end result.

What you will need:

1 head of cauliflower

1 cup pf flour (I used chickpea to keep it gluten free)

1 cup non-dairy milk (I used rice milk)

1 cup breadcrumbs (I used gluten free ones)

Spices (you can use onion or garlic powder, nutritional yeast, etc)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 235 degrees Celsius. Wash and cut cauliflower into florets. Mix the flour, non-dairy milk and spices and whisk to combine. Put florets into this mixture and mix to coat. Then dip each floret into a bowl of the breadcrumbs and lay onto baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Bake until crispy and browned – approx. 20 minutes.

Serve as is or you can serve with bbq or chili sauce to dip florets into. 

Hearty Brown Stew

Another oddly titled recipe from the McDougalls. It is simple, low fat and tasty. No exotic or hard to find ingredients.  The original recipe calls for ¼ cup tomato juice but I just threw in a chopped up tomato instead and that worked fine. Oh, and pardon my crappy photo of the end product. It tastes better than it looks. Honest!

What you will need:

1 onion, sliced (optional)

2 stalks celery, thickly sliced

2 carrots, thickly sliced

3 potatoes, cut into chunks

1 green bell capsicum, cut into strips (optional)

250g mushrooms, quartered

1 tomato, chopped

2 cloves of garlic (optional)

2 tbsp low sodium soy or tamari sauce

½ tbsp fresh grated ginger

½ tsp fried marjoram

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp paprika

3 tbsp cornstarch, mixed with ½ cup cold water

Method:

Combine all the ingredients except for the cornstarch mixture, in a large pot. Bring to boil and then lower heat. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened. Serve.

Beans and Things

This is an oddly titled recipe but not an oddly tasting meal. Easy, filling, tasty and low fat – like most of the McDougall recipes I have tried out so far. I like the inclusion of molasses in this. I am pretty new to this ingredient. It is rich in iron and gives this dish a full body flavour.  You can find top grade, organic molasses in health food shops.  I used Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Molasses. 

What you will need:

2 cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Small broccoli, chopped

Half cauliflower, chopped

1 onion, chopped (optional)

1 stick celery, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

2 tbsp soy or tamari sauce

1 ½ tbsp molasses

Dash or two of paprika

Dash cayenne pepper

Few fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

Method:

Combine the beans and vegetables in a large bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and then pour over the vegetables. Mix well and pour into a covered casserole dish. Bake for 1 hour. Serve as is or spoon into tortillas. Easy!

Cauliflower and Potato Curry

Another low fat recipe I found in The New McDougall Cookbook by John and Mary McDougall. I have been concentrating on low fat recipes lately. My interested started purely for weight loss issues but then in December I had to have my gallbladder removed. Once that happened, I had even more incentive to cut back on my fat intake. So here I am, learning how to cook and eat without the use of vegetable oils. I have found that it hasn’t been all that hard, once you learn a few techniques and substitutions. Oh, and the food still tastes good!

I am sharing this recipe because I loved it!  So full of flavour and very filling! Just serve over a bed of steamed brown rice.

What you will need:

1 large onion, chopped (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)

¼ cup water

1 tbsp cumin

Dash or two chili powder

1-2 tsp curry powder

4 cups vegetable stock

1 cup brown lentils

1 can crushed tomatoes

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 cups cauliflower florets

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

1 cup frozen peas

¼ cup chopped fresh coriander

Method:

Place the onion and garlic in a large pot with water and cook, stirring, for a few minutes. Add spices and stir. Add vegetable stock and lentils. Mix and bring to boil and then reduce heat, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.

Add tomatoes, potatoes, cauliflower, and carrot. Cook for 30 minutes. Stir in peas and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in coriander.

Golden Spicy Cauliflower

A quick and easy low fat recipe that I found in The New McDougall Cookbook by Dr. John McDougall. I like this served on top of steamed brown rice. The original recipe calls for the use of 2 tbsp of rice vinegar but I found this to be too much, so I suggest halving that amount, unless of course, you really like the sharp, vinegary taste of foods.

What you will need:

1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets

2 cloves of garlic, pressed (optional)

2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 cup water

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch spring onions, chopped (optional)

1 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

½ tsp ground turmeric

Method:

Place the cauliflower, ginger and garlic (if using) in a saucepan with ½ cup of water. Cook, stirring now and then, for approx. 10 minutes. Add another ½ cup of water and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the cauliflower is tender. (Usually 10 more minutes.) Stir occasionally while it is cooking, to prevent sticking. 

Broccoli Pasta Soup

You can’t get much easier than this for a quick, low fat meal. I found this one in The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook: Over 300 Delicious Low-Fat Recipes You Can Prepare in Fifteen Minutes or Less by John and Mary McDougall. This is a nifty little recipe for throwing together something for dinner after you get home, too tired from a day’s work to cook something too involved.

What you will need:

8 cups vegetable broth (I use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon powder. I have found it in several healthfood shops. )

4 cups broccoli cut into florets (about 1 medium to large head of broccoli)

250g (approx.) uncooked pasta (I like to use Orgran Vegetable Rice Pasta which you can find in health food shops and supermarkets, in their healthfoods section)

1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce (optional, as it depends on how salty your stock is)

Dash or two of Tabasco sauce

Method:

Place the broth in a large pot and bring to boil. Add the pasta and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until almost done. Add the remaining ingredients, stir and turn off heat. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Serve with bread. I like having this with plain toast - gluten free, of course! 

Kez's Free and Naked Choc Mud Bars

I came across these snack bars at my local Coles supermarket, in amongst the healthfoods products. I am familiar with this brand, as they do gluten free biscuits and other stuff, but I had not seen these bars before.

They come in a pack of 5 and although each bar is fairly small (25g), I find this to be just the right size, as they are a bit rich. They are gluten free and clearly labelled as being vegan. The bars contain 5 ingredients - dates, cashews, cocoa, sesame seeds and chia seeds. That's it. A simple but pleasing combination.

I keep a pack in my desk drawer at work, for when I am having a craving for something sweet.

Szechwan Eggplant

In my quest to shed some kilos, I have been making an effort to cut vegetable oils out of my cooking. Dr McDougall's site has heaps of recipes and I have been slowly working my way through the ones that have taken my fancy.
Now, eggplant is one of those vegetables (actually, it is a fruit!), that has a habit of soaking up LOTS of oil, when cooking it. So to be able to cook it oil free and still have it taste good, is a bit of good news for those of us packing a few extra kilos. 
This method is very easy and the results are pleasing. I like having this with steamed rice.

What you will need:

2 medium eggplants
1 ¾ cups water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 green onions, chopped (optional)
¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne 

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.  

Slice eggplant into 1cm slices.  Place on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside.  Reduce oven heat to 180 degrees.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and clears.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the eggplant in a 30cm long baking dish, overlapping slices as necessary.  Pour the sauce over the eggplant and bake for 20-30 minutes until eggplant is very tender.

Nature's Way Superfood Powders

I have really been getting into smoothies these days. I find they are great for breakfast. I can blend them up and take them with me to work. I recently purchased a copy of the book "365 Vegan Smoothies" by Kathy Patalsky and I love it! It was one of those books that I borrowed from my local library. I started noting which pages I wanted to photocopy, expecting there to be no more than maybe 5....but by the time I got to the end of the book, I had a huge list of pages. Well, I HAD to buy the book! I have been trying out at least 2 new recipes every week and all but one so far has been a winner with me, so far.

Quite a few smoothie recipes call for the use of kale. Now, I love kale but have to admit that it can be a pain to wash and cut up. Plus, my blender does not seem to cope with it very well, and I end up with chewy smoothies - an oxymoron!
So, I was rather pleased to find the Nature's Way  range pop up on the shelves at Woolworths supermarkets. There was quite a few varieties available, including powders of acai, spirulina, maca, super greens blends, etc. I spotted a kale powder and noticed it was vegan and gluten free, so bought it. The costs was around $10 for a 100g bag and it is suggested you pop 2 tsp into your smoothies. I have been using half of that so far.
It tastes fine and is very convenient to use. You can also use it in salads, soups and dips though I have not tried that yet.

Dr. McDougall's Right Foods

I have been trying out quite a few recipes from Dr McDougall's website lately, and have been reading his books (check out his book "The Starch Solution"). There are also quite a few of his food products on the shelves at Coles (in the health foods section) and in health food stores.
Although there is quite a range, I have only seen a handful available here, so I will cover those that I have tried. Note that all of the range is vegan though only some are also gluten free.
These are for light lunches and snacks. I tend to boost the noodle cups by adding some chopped up cooked veggies to them.

In the Noodle Cup range, my fave product, hands down, is the Miso Ramen Noodle Soup. So tasty! Not gluten free, though, so this is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I have found this one to be the easiest to find in Coles. The next more common one is the gluten free Pad Thai, which I also like though not as much as a the Miso Ramen. I have seen in some health food stores, the Tortilla Soup with Baked Chips which I wasn't all that keen on.





There is also an Asian Noodle Cup range. These are 'entree' size which means, even bolstered by cooked chopped vegetables, there really are only snack sized. My two favourites from this range are the Teriyaki Noodle and the Spicy Kung Pao Noodle. These tend to be a little harder to find, but have sometimes found them in Coles.

Apart from the noodle cups, I have also found the Ready To Serve Soups. Some of these come in Low Sodium varieties. I have also found these in Coles, in amongst the health food section. They are just the right amount for a lunch meal and are super tasty. I think my favourite is the Split Pea Soup. Again, there is quite a few varieties in this range but I have only seen a few in the shops - the Lentil Soup and the Minestrone Soup. Both are flavoursome.

It is good to know that a major supermarket stocks some vegan convenience food. Sure, nothing beats home cooked but when you are tired or lacking time, or even travelling, having these kind of products to hand is great!

Roasted potato chunks

I loooove potatoes! And roasted? OMG, hand them over! 
But lately, I have been packing on the kilos. Yes, even vegans can be chubby. We are not all super thin. Although we cut out a lot of bad fats (animal fats being the worst for your health), we still consume some fats in plant origin. This may not be a bad thing in moderation, from nuts, seeds and avocado, but oils (including olive) should be kept to a minimum. Hence my downfall.

So, I have been making an effort to cut back on cooking with oils. Now, in roasting, olive oil is what makes the veggies super delicious. I honestly did not think I was going to be able to enjoy them without it. But here is the trick - substitute the oil with other condiments and you will still end up with a tasty dish, such as this one I am about to share. 

This one is super easy. I found it on Dr. McDougall's site. If you have not heard of him, please check out his website, videos, books, etc.  

What you will need:
1 teaspoon oregano/marjoram
1 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 to1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-2 cloves minced garlic or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
8 to 9 medium potatoes, cut into 2cm chunks

Method:
Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
Mix the oregano/marjoram, rosemary, paprika, cayenne, mustards and garlic into a smooth paste in a bowl.

Add a few potato chunks at a time and coat with the mixture; keep adding a few chunks at a time until all potatoes are coated.  Spread out on two nonstick baking sheets and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until tender.

Serve with a green salad or steam vegetables.

Loving Hut - revisited

It has been a while since I have blogged about Loving Hut, so I thought I might do a bit of an update.
Whilst the evening restaurant in East Victoria Park has closed its doors (so sad!!), their Victoria park cafe is still going, offering new item menus, and new vegan products to buy off their shelves. They are also making and selling their yummy pies through the cafe but also through IGA stores. And lets not forget they are also producing and selling their cheezy spread in the same manner, and Notzarella, too! Oh, and did I mention their amazing vegan croissants!? These come in plain and chocolate and you can even buy them frozen to take home for later. They are a generous and size and as you can see from the photo, they do not skimp on the chocolate!

These people are busy and yet every time we have gone in there, we are always greeted with a smile and kindness.

A friend and I recently went in one morning to try out their vegan breakfast. This included a plate full of toast, beans, asparagus, sausages, mushrooms, scrambled tofu, and tomatoes. Because I am sensitive to gluten, they were kind enough to substitute the sausage and the toast with gluten free alternatives, such as a tempeh mix and dehydrated gluten free wrap/base.  After eating this, I was stuffed! I think my favourite item on my plate was the scrambled tofu. It was so damn cheezy and tasty. I could have just eaten a bowl of that on its own and had been very happy.

Although their grocery shelves are never full to overflowing, they always seem to stock various vegan products that are either hard or near impossible to find elsewhere. On one trip, my partner was excited to find they stocked cans of vegan tuna! We have NEVER seen these in Perth before.

I never was much of a fan of tuna in my pre veg days, but my partner was, so he was keen to give this a go. I had a small taste just out of curiosity. I thought it tasted a LOT better than tuna, as it had a fishy taste to it but it was a lot subtler than actual tuna. I thought the texture was also a very close match, as it had that same flakiness to it.

Anyway, the partner made himself a vegan tuna (yes, I know the tin says 'vegetarian' but it is vegan) roll with vegan mayo, lettuce and tomato, which he enjoyed very much.

So maybe next time you are in Victoria Park, (366 Albany Hwy), pop into Loving Hut for breakfast or lunch and while you are there, stock up your freezer bag with vegan icecreams, cheezes, pies, and croissants; and check out their grocery shelves for some other yummy vegan products.

Harvest Box snack packs

I do enjoy poking around supermarkets, looking for new vegan appropriate products. My partner spotted these by Harvest Box, in amongst the other dried fruit and nut packs. They are handy to throw into your bag just in case you get an attack of the munchies while you are out of the house.

There are two varieties that are suitable for vegans.

The Raw Mix is a nice though I am not a fan of peanuts, so there is a bit of wastage with this one for me. This mix as a 'tart' quality to it, due to the dried apple and cranberries.


My partner prefers the Go Bananas mix, as it is sweeter with the dark chocolate bits and the dried banana.

Both varieties are gluten free.

The Bar Counter

I recently stumbled across these at my local Coles supermarket. There were a whole heap of varieties and as I fossicked through them, I was starting to lose hope that any would be vegan. My perseverance paid off, however, as I found their Raw Blueberry and Vanilla bar which is clearly labelled as being vegan on the front. (I LOVE that kinda of labeling. Makes shopping so much easier for us.) It contained dates, blueberry, almond, fig, vanilla and raw rice protein. I was a bit skeptical. I have tried these date based type of bars before and have always found them to be too sickly sweet. I need not have worried, as this bar was delicious. Sweet, but not overly, with a lovely vanilla flavour and a hint of blueberry and fig. I also loved the texture the almond supplied. Oh, and this bar is also gluten free!

The Bar Counter also make another vegan bar - the Raw Chocolate,Coconut and Lacuma bar, which is also gluten free. I will have to try this one next!

Tyrrell's English Chips

One of the most frustrating things about shopping as a vegan, is the way so many snack products have animal ingredients in them. And I am not talking about the obvious things, like cheese flavoured crackers or  whatever, but rather things like salt and vinegar chips that contain dairy! What the hell?
Before going vegan, S&V potato chips were my fave. But after going vegan, I was surprised and then pissed right off to see that they contained milk products. Since then, I have been on the look out for a vegan S&V chip.

One day, I was scanning the snack shelves of Coles and noticed a new brand. This one was called Tyrrell's and was from England. I  spotted their Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar variety, and picked it up, turned it over and read the ingredients list, fully expecting it to list 'milk solids' or some such useless crap. But no! Eyes dilated, hands trembling, I turned to my partner (who has a habit of exclaiming very loudly in supermarkets "Why does this have milk in it!?") and said "This looks like it is vegan!".
In disbelief, he snatched the bag out of my hands and had a look. Yep, vegan! Even says so on the pack! No palm oil either, and gluten free, to boot.

Well, once I got home and opened the pack up (yes, I waited that long), I stuck my nose into the bag and inhaled. Oh that vinegary aroma! The first chip - wow! Bursting with flavour but not overly done. I remember in the bad old days with the non-vegan potato chips, you eat a few and your tongue goes numb. Not with these ones! I savoured each and every chip in that pack and they have since become my firm favourite.

Since that first foray, I have also tried their other vegan varieties, such as the Lightly Sea Salted (nice), Sweet Chili and Red Pepper (tasted a bit too much like tomato to me), and the Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper (yummy - not too peppery).
There are other varieties, but they are not vegan, so give them a miss.

Portuguese Arroz

This is a herb filled and tomatoey rice dish that has just a bit of a spicy kick to it. It is super simple to make and has become one of my favourite ways to eat brown rice. I found it via the recipes page on the Dr. McDougall site. There is a plethora of low fat, easy to make recipes on that site, so do check it out. And yes, they are all vegan!


What you will need:

1 ½ cups yellow onion, finely chopped (optional)
4 teaspoons garlic, minced (optional)
½ - 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper chili flakes
1 bay leaf
1 ½ cups tomatoes, chopped 
2-¼ cups water
1-cup vegetable broth ( I use either bouillon powder or cubes by Marigold or Massel )
3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 ½ cups long grain brown rice, uncooked ( I used a mix of short and long grain and it worked out fine.)

Method:

In a large non-stick pan, sauté the onions with ¼ cup water and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 7 minutes.  Add the garlic, crushed red pepper chili flakes and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute, stirring well. 

Add the tomatoes, mix well, and cook until they begin to soften, about 2 minutes.  

Add the remaining water, vegetable broth, parsley and cilantro and stir.  Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.  Add rice and stir well.  

When the liquid returns to a boil, stir again and cover the pot with a lid and reduce heat to low.  Cook the rice undisturbed for 35 minutes.  

Mix the rice well and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, or until the rice is tender.  Let the rice stand for 5 minutes.  Remove the bay leaf and fluff the rice with a fork.  Serve with fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste, if desired.

Alpine Coconut Yoghurt

Well, here it is. A non-dairy, vegan yoghurt that you can buy in one of the biggest supermarket chains in Australia –namely Woolworths. And it is so smooth and creamy too. Granted, it is made from coconut and so has a coconut flavour to it but I find this product to be less coconut in taste than CoYo and much, much smoother – less of a ‘bite’. This product is cultured so does have a tang, but it is not overly sharp. And while it is still a bit pricey, it does cost less than CoYo.

Because of its richness, I tend to only eat, at most, 2 tablespoons at a time. There is suppose to be two varieties available – ‘Natural’ and ‘Passionfruit’ but I have only seen the former in Woolworths so far.

Maybe one day we will have a commercial non-coconut tasting vegan yoghurt available in Australia. Until then, I am happy to indulge in some of this product, from time to time.

Potato and Fennel Soup

This is a simple recipe that I found and adapted from the book “Party Vegan” by Robin Robertson.  If you are not overly keen on fennel or new to it, you will be pleased to know that the taste of it is not too overpowering in this soup.

What you will need:

1 large shallot, coarsely chopped (optional)

4 cups vegetable broth ( I use either Massel stock cubes or Marigold Bouillon powder. Both are vegan and the former is available in supermarkets, whilst the latter is a health food/organics shop item)

Approx.. 400g potatoes, cut into 2cm cubes

1 large fennel bulb, chopped

½ cup rice/soy milk (I use Bonsoy, as it does not have sweet flavour)

Dried or fresh tarragon

Method:

If using, cook shallot over medium heat, in half a cup of water until soft.

Add broth, potatoes and fennel and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are soft – about 20 minutes.

Puree until smooth. Mix in the rice/soy milk and sprinkle tarragon over the top. 

Beanfields Bean and Rice Chips

I found these savoury snacks in the health foods section of Woolworths. They are clearly marked as ‘Vegan’ on the front of the pack and after peering at the ingredients list, I found that they were, indeed, vegan.

So far, I have seen three of the varieties in Woolworths – Salsa, Sea salt, and Nacho. The Nacho is my favourite. Very tasty, very cheesy in its flavour. The Salsa has a smoky sort of flavour to it.

There are also 2 other varieties that I have yet to see them in the shops here in Perth. One is Salt N’ Pepper and the other Unsalted.

And new to the range is Barbecue and Ranch. My partner managed to find small packets of these two in the Loving Hut café in Victoria Park.  The Ranch variety tastes a lot like sour cream and chives to me.

All of these products are gluten free, veganand non-GMO. Hopefully, the other varieties will eventually be available in Woolworths. I have noticed that the current ones sell very well at my local supermarket.