The many questions and mysteries surrounding QUINOA!

What is Quinoa?

Quinoa....pronounced Keen-wah or kee noh ah? That is usually the first discussion I have with people regarding Quinoa. I always stick with pronouncing it KEEN WAH!

The second discussion is usually on the topic of what is Quinoa? 
Well a quick Google will tell you that Quinoa is in fact a grain like crop and member of the seed family. It is native to South America and appears to be increasing in popularity across the world due to its associated health benefits. It is a very popular food for vegans and vegetarians due to the high protein content along with other high levels of vitamins and minerals. Although its popularity in the western world has received some negative attention due to the demand pushing the prices up in south america, leaving locals who rely on the crop not being able to afford it. Read about it here. 

How do I cook Quinoa?

The second discussion I have with people on the topic of Quinoa is How do I cook Quinoa? It either just sticks to the pan or comes out soggy, is usually what they tell me!
I have previously posted a great set of easy and quick instructions on how to cook quinoa. I learned how to cook it at a Blazing Salads's cooking demonstration. You can read about it here.

It's equal parts Quinoa to water. So 250g Quinoa to 250ml water etc.

1. Put the Quinoa in the pan along with boiling water salt and vegetable stock (optional).

2. Put the lid on the pot and leave it on (this is very important). Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15
minutes. The trick is to leave the lid on as you are going to be steaming it.

3. After simmering  take it off the hob and just leave it to rest.

Tip!-I find that to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan or get too compressed, pick the pot up and shake the quinoa around the pot while holding the lid on.

Quinoa Recipe Ideas

Now onto Quinoa recipe ideas. I use Quinoa a lot across a wide range of dishes. I like to cook a large amount and keep it in a plastic container so it's ready to use with various meals.
You can add it to soups, stews, salads, burgers, sauces, dressings, cakes and more!

Quinoa Salads

My favourite use for it is using it for really tasty, fulfilling and healthy salads.

It's really easy to make a great quinoa salad using:

• Roast vegetables  
• Tofu/Roast Tofu
• Toasted seeds
• Green leaves
• Chopped Salads
• And whatever else you think tastes good!

Recipe 

Sweet chilled sweet potato quinoa and rocket salad

Flavouring Quinoa

Quinoa without any seasoning or dressing pretty bland and most people will agree! You can season it while cooking it but adding vegetable stock, salt or lightly frying garlic and onions before adding the quinoa to cook. 

My favourite dressings to use with Quinoa:

• Soya Sauce
• Happy Pear Sundried Tomatoe Pesto
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Beetroot Dressing
• Chopped Parsley (any herb to your taste!)

Quinoa beyond Salads!

Sweet Potato Quinoa Burgers and Falafel Bites

You can make a vegi burger even healthier and more wholesome by adding cooked quinoa to the burger
mixture. Roast sweet potato, chick pea, kidney bean and quinoa burgers go great together and make a nutrient packed and seriously colorful burger!

Ingredients
Quinoa
Sweet Potatoes
Tin of chickpeas
Tin of kidney beans
Corriander
Breadcrumbs
Garlic
Paprika
Olive Oil

1. Cook as much quinoa as you want to add to the mixture (Increase the amount in accordance to the amount of burgers you want to make). 200g is a good start of measurement.

2. Roast your sweet potato, again as much or as little as you want in the burgers. Too much can make the mixture quite wet though. I cut the sweet potato into chunks, cover in olive oil, salt and lots of paprika. I also bake the sweet potato alongside with garlic!

3.Blend a tin or chick peas and a tin of kidney beans in a food processor (or whatever combination you want). Add the baked sweet potato to the blender and fresh coriander (or any herb you want) and blend until smooth.

4. Place the sweet potato and bean mixture into a bowl, add your cooked quinoa, a good handful of breadcrumbs and mix.

5. Shape the mixture into flat burgers or into small bite size balls (perfect for salads). Place on a baking tray and place into a hot oven and cook for aprox 20-30 mins or until the burgers aren't soft and wet.

Additionally add quinoa to your soups and stews! 

Has anyone else tried some different quinoa recipes?

Vegan Package Swap - All about Vegan food

Glauce, a long time vegan, blogger, Mom and owner of All About Vegan Food set up the amazing worldwide Vegan Package Swap earlier on this year. The worldwide project which has nearly 500 subscribers allows vegans to send and receive vegan goodies from across the world every month! Sounds great right?


 Here are the rules as set by Vegan Package Swap:
The rules:
1. The Vegan Package Swap is open to everyone in the world. You don't need to be vegan to be part of it but all goodies in the packages MUST be vegan.
2. You need to register to the website and JOIN the Swap to take part (just once). We'll send monthly emails or newsletters to confirm your participation within 72 hours between the 3rd and the 5th of each month. If you DO NOT get the email, please go come to this page, login and click JOIN between the 3rd and 5th of each month (even if you did it before you'll be asked to do it again).
3. On the 8th of each month, you'll receive an email with the details of your match for that month.
4. Packages should have goodies up to the limit of $20 (or 15 Euro or equivalent in other currency). This value reference does not include the shipping value (it will vary from country to country).
5. The shipping deadline will be on the 15th of each month.
6. In the last week of each month you will receive an email to evaluate the package you received and the user (to help us to keep the quality of the project). - See more at: http://allaboutveganfood.com/swap-package#sthash.Thr0gS5U.dpuf

A package from Dublin to Germany and from Germany to Dublin

I finally took part in the swap last month. I chose to swap within Europe and got paired up with a lovely girl from Germany! You can contact your partner to find out what they like and how they found the package when they receive it!

My Irish package -> Germany

I tried to include as many Irish products as possible but struggled. I did however include The Happy Pear's sun dried tomato pesto because it's an all time favourite of mine. There was a buy one get one half price sale on in Holland and Barrett at the time so I took advantage of that and included lots of goodies! It cost me just over 7 euro to ship this to Germany

My German package -> Ireland

I received an amazing package full of German products I had never had before. It included some seriously addictive (gone within 5 minutes) Roc & Roll's crisps, chocolate spread, almond tofu, a pudding mix, jellies, soap, a cream and 2 pates! Such a good mix. I've finished nearly all of the products but most of them didn't last more than a few hours!

I hope this post influences you to take part in this amazing vegan project! If you are like me are love waiting for packages, this package is seriously exciting to wait for because you have no idea what you are getting.

For more information see: http://allaboutveganfood.com/swap-package

Vegan Garlic Mayonnaise

I had previously posted about vegan garlic mayo after falling in love with it at Cornucopia Wholefoods Restaurant in Dublin as they make the most amazing potato salad with it. I had tried to recreate their salad by using the mayonnaise recipe in their cookbook using soaked cashew nuts, soya milk and oil. However, an insider told me that the recipe they now use for their infamous vegan garlic mayonnaise is now made using a more traditional soya milk/oil blend.

So off I went in search of an milk and oil based recipe and came across The Vegan Society's simple and quick recipe. 

How to Make Great Vegan Mayonnaise 
150ml (5folz) cold soya milk

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon mild mustard

225ml (8floz) vegetable oil

Crushed garlic ( optional or as much as your desire)

1. Mix the soya milk, lemon and mustard in a blender.

2. Keep the blender running and slowly pour in the oil. Stop the blender as soon as the mayo forms. 

3. After add in the garlic and seasoning and blend again.

It's perfect on boiled baby potatoes and topped off with chives (these ones are home garden grown!)

Vegan chocolate chip cookies invade my kitchen!

For those who haven't heard of the vegan cookie bible (Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar), listen up!

This great little book is packed with vegan cookies recipes that never fails to deliver.They're quick, easy and most importantly SERIOUSLY delicious vegan cookies. I've said before that the easiness and quickness of the recipes are the both good and bad news. I end up wiping up batches within minutes of a cookie or chocolate craving.

I have previously posted about the Carrot Cake Cookie recipe. A recipe I always come back to. Make sure to check that one out too if you're a fan of carrot cake. Anyway, onto the more traditional vegan chocolate chip cookie (Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar - Isa Chandra). Luckily, the recipe is up on Isa's Post Punk Kitchen site.

The Vegan Cookie Recipe

1/2 brown sugar

1/4 white sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)

1 tablespoon tapioca flour

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets.

Mix together sugars, oil, milk and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stuff so use your hands to really work them in.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes – no more than 9 – until they are just a little browned around the edges. I usually get 16 out of these so I do two rounds of eight cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.

My Tip: If you prefer yours with a bit of crunch add a table spoon or 2 of granulated sugar and leave them in the oven for just a couple minutes longer. Or if you like yours soft and chewy, keep a serious close eye on them. Make sure they don't brown too much!

Also if you're looking for cheap vegan chocolate, Tesco have Ryeland's 'Plain Chocolate', which are just over a euro!

The best vegi breakfast in Dublin...?

If you’re looking for a great vegetarian or vegan breakfast while in Dublin, Cornucopia on Wicklow street ( just off Grafton st) is the place to go.

They do an array of options including their homemade baked beans and sausages, crepes, scrambled tofu, eggs, pancakes and more.

Served from 8.30 am to 12 pm.

www.cornucopia.ie/food/breakfast/

Possibly the tastiest pesto covered roast veg pasta bake..

So I've named this (extremely addictive) dish 'Possibly the tastiest pesto covered roast veg past bake'. And it certainly lives up to it's name. I can shamefully admit to eating entire dishes of this to my self in one or two sittings. Please don't judge, I can explain why.  You have the pasta and who doesn't love carby pasta? You've got really sweet, soft and flavoursome roasted veg. You've got homemade subtle yet just the perfect amount of pesto and then you've got the baked bread crumbs. Who couldn't say not to that?

So there's a few steps to this heavenly dish: the homemade or (store bought) pesto, the roasting of the veg and the pasta. Here is what to do:

1. Making the Vegan Pesto

I make my own because it's impossibe to find vegan basil pesto in Dublin. It's really really easy to make and here is how I make it:

•  2 standard packets of fresh basil ( as much as you would like really)
• A good handful of pine nuts
• Nutritional Yeast flakes (as much as you want to taste)
• A good old glug of olive oil
• A clove of garlic
• Chilli (optional)
• & Salt and Pepper

Throw all of that in a blender and there you have vegan basil pesto!

Pesto tip: Pesto is pretty pricey to make but you can get 2 packets of fresh basil in Tesco for 2 euro. Pine nuts are also majorly expensive BUT you can pick up packets for 1 euro in Tiger stores which are found around Dublin.

2. Making the Roasted Vegetables

This is the best part and the sweeter the veg, the better. Chop whatever vegetables you desire into small bite size pieces. The smaller they are, the quicker they cook and the quicker they cook, the quicker you get to tuck into some amazing pasta bake. So season them up and roast until they're soft and juicy.

I like to use peppers, garlic, courgette, mushrooms and butternut squash but anything goes. I do strongly recommend courgette though, you'll understand why if you go with it.

3. Boiling the boring, soon to be exciting Pasta!

I prefere to use wholegrain pasta but feel free to use normal. I don't have exact measurements for how much to cook but just go with how much you need to fill your dish of choice. Keep in mind that the more pasta you cook you less concentrated the pesto will get. 

4. The final steps towards a pesto pasta party

So once you're pasta is boiled and your veg is roasted and oozing flavour, throw it all in a bowl with the pesto and mix it around until you've got a nice even spread.

For a topping I mixed nutritional yeast and breadcrumbs and a small bit of oil! I also chop cherry tomatos into small pieces, squeeze all the moisture out of them and place on top of the pasta bake so they become crispy when being baked.

My last post was in October, quite a while! Sorry to any readers I may have.... anyone?

I've been very busy with college but as I was writing about in my previous posts, I've been busy setting up Vegi and Vegan Dublin!
The website is fully up and running but my main focus at the moment with it is the Facebook and Tumblr page!
Please check them out here, like, follow and share!
www.vegiandvegandublin.com
www.facebook.com/VegiAndVeganDublin/
www.vegiandvegandublin.tumblr.com/
www.twitter.com/VegandVeganDub

Vegan Muffins on Rachel Allen's Cake Diarys

A vegan baking recipe made it onto an Irish cooking show! I was pretty surprised when Rachel Allen, Baking extraordinaire featured a vegan recipe on her RTE Cake Diarys show. I was told by a few people about this being on so I watched it and got the recipe on line. I recommend the recipe a lot. The muffins were really easy to make and came out great.

                                 

The recipe called for raspberries. I used a mixture of the few remaining raspberries growing in my garden along with some blackberries I picked in the park behind my house. So resourceful and cheap!

Vegan Raspberry Muffins Recipe

The Ingredients

• 225 g (8oz) plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1⁄4 tsp salt
• 75 g (3oz) caster sugar
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 150 g (5oz) fresh (or frozen and defrosted) raspberries
• 225 ml (8fl oz) soya or rice milk
• 50 ml (2fl oz) sunflower oil
• 1 tblsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 12-cup muffin tray and 10 muffin cases

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4), and line the muffin tray with the paper cases.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl, then mix in the sugar and orange zest. Carefully fold in the raspberries and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients, then add these to the flour mixture, folding in to combine. Divide the batter between the muffin cases, filling each three-quarters full, then bake for 15–20 minutes or until golden on top and springy to the touch.

4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tray for 5 minutes, then take the muffins out of the tray and place on a wire rack to cool down completely.

If anyone has any other great muffin recipes, pass them on to me! I want to try make really big ones and ones to have for college breakfasts. 

Collcannon

There isn't a dish more Irish and more suited to this time of year than Collcannon! For those of haven't heard of it before, Collcannon consists of mashed potato, ground up Kale and Onion with loads of butter. Seriously yum, satisfying for cold days and most importantly nutritious. Any vegan doesn't really need to be told of the nutritional benefits of Kale. Here is some information anyway:

If you have a food processor, blend the kale up with white onion and mash into mashed potatoes with loads of butter(I use Pure Sun Flower) , salt and pepper and you're done. Taste's great on buttered bread too.

Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies

I love cookies and when you come across a vegan cookbook packed full of cookie recipes, you get pretty excited. I picked up this great book:Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar over Christmas and only really have started using it! All the measurements were in cups, but I got my hands on a cup measurement jug so I could bake to my hearts content after that. The book itself is really great and has so many amazing recipes in it.

The best (and kind of worst) thing is that they are all so quick and simple to make. I've been known to whip up a batch within minutes of having a cookie/chocolate craving!

I checked out a couple of the recipes but the Carrot Cake Cookies have got to be my favourite. It's a genius idea combining two amazing types of cake! So I had some homegrown pretty deformed looking carrots growing in my garden. So I thought, why not use them in this recipe and turn their ugly appearance into something delicious.

If you're digging this genius carrot cake and cookie combination so far, here is the recipe!

Carrot Raisin Spice Chews

1/3 cup non dairy milk
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds ( I didn't add these)
1/2 cup vegetable oil or peanut oil
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 1/2 tea spoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup finely shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnut (optional really)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree farenheit and grease or line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the milk, flak seeds, oil, brown sugar, sugar, orange zest and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and spices. Stir to moisten ingredients and then fold in carrots, coconut, raisins and walnuts. Dough will be sticky and moist.

3. Drop generous table spoons of the dough onto cookies sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes until the edges brown and the tops are firm. Leave to cool and then enjoy!!

My Tips:
They're very sweet so maybe hold off on some of the sugar. Make a lemon glaze to go on top and go all out and make an amazing ice cream sandwich out of 2 cookies. 

Check out my post for vegan chocolate chip cookies!