Vegan cooking and looking for rhymes

Ooh, this is a late post. What have I been doing all day? I really don't know where the time has gone. The morning was taken up with shopping and my racquets group and then I did some vegan cookery. My hubby bought a pack of Silken Tofu a while back and I've been wondering what to do with it. Usually I buy the firm Tofu and I think of the Silken type for use in ice cream and other desserts. I've always wanted to have a go at making the Tofu version of scrambled egg. Today was that day. It's easy to make because the soft Tofu falls apart easily and crumbles into a 'scramble'. Cooked with the Tofu is a clove of garlic, a tablespoon of Nutritional Yeast and half a teaspoon of ground Turmeric. The verdict? I think it would have been better with a little curry powder, but then I've never been over keen on scrambled egg on toast! It works, and that's what I wanted to try. This was just one recipe, there are others.

Tofu scramble on toast with baked beans

I also made a vegan lemon drizzle cake. This was really easy - vegetable oil and water replace the fat and egg, plus flour, baking powder, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Takes ten minutes to make and between half and hour and forty minutes to bake. Once cool it's just a matter of icing sugar and lemon juice to drizzle over the top.

Apart from that I've been working on a poem which has some rhyme in it, though the rhymes were proving awkward so I was changing the words around in the hope of finding ones with more rhyme choice. I got there in the end, but it was sure harder than cake baking!

Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake

Rediscovering time

In the last few days I have discovered something I thought I'd lost.....time! Since finishing my novel, and with my church and choir commitments finished, for the year I have time to read, to do things slowly, catch up with chores which have been shouting at me for ages.

Brown scones with sultanas

I have done most of the Christmas shopping (including food), all my cards and letters are written and posted. There is little to do and what there is can be done at my leisure. This is rather nice. Yesterday I cleaned the fridge (the smell as finally gone!). I found a packet of brown self raising flour in there (I keep all my flour in the fridge since the incident of the weevils!). I cannot remember what I bought this flour for. It's open but the date is well.....is useable. I decided that perhaps I should use it for something. There was a recipe on the back for some sultana scones. I have never made scones with brown flour before and was worried they might come out like bullets (I've not had a great deal of luck cooking with brown flour), but they are delicious and moist. I had one warm with butter and I've been diving in ever since,

There is also in my fridge a packet of spelt flour, unopened. What the heck did I buy that for? Well, there's a recipe on the back for some honey cookies so I think they might be next of the agenda.

I don't suppose this cooking fad will last long because for one my waist line won't stand it.Still it is nice to have the time to do it not because I have to (for the church cafe or some other bake I've offered to supply for), but just because I want to.

With all this time on my hands I feel more relaxed and am beginning to plan what else I can do! However, I am keeping my hand in with some writing - a little flash fiction, the odd short story, just for fun. There are a couple on Scriggler. Do go over and have a read if you like.

Programme for concert I took part in on Monday

A little vegetarian recipe

I am a vegetarian and have been for over twenty years. I have dabbled with veganism but haven't been able to quite do that. However, I do drink soya milk and use soya spread, but then again I do use milk in sauces (if I'm cooking for the whole family) and do use butter in cakes. One year when I went vegan for Lent, my younger son's birthday fell in the middle of it and I baked him a vegan birthday cake. Poor boy, the things we mother's do to our kids! He didn't complain and enjoyed it, but I don't think I'd get away with that now! He loves his meat too, like his dad. Only my older son is vegetarian and he came to that himself.

Where is this leading, you might ask? Well, I have a little recipe for you! It's something I threw together one night so quantities is guess work. However, this is the most delicious dish and I always return for seconds.

Red Lentil and Tomato Bake

Red lentils (washed)
1 onion (chopped)
veg stock cube
tomatoes (chopped) (I use fresh tomatoes - either a handful of cherry toms or two/three large ones)
squeeze of tomato puree
one half to one whole tsp of Marmite
herbs (your choice)
salt/black pepper
potatoes (thinly sliced)
cheese (grated)

Fry onion until soft. Add the lentils with enough water to cover plus a little extra and set to boil. Add stock cube and simmer until lentils are softening.Add more water if needed. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Season with herbs etc, plus Marmite and a squeeze of tomato puree. Stir. The consistency should not be too wet.

Pour the mixture into an ovenproof dish and cover with the sliced potato. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and put in an oven Gas mark 6 until nicely browned. Serve with any veg you like (or salad) and enjoy.

Voila!

#wpad July Challenge - Writing Fuel

Writing Fuel

Maybe I am unique but when I am 'in the zone', food is the last thing I actually want because it takes time out to cook it and to eat it!  So, left to my own devices I will go as long a possible (though snacking helps - see last paragraph).  When I get desperate and cannot ignore the rumbling of my stomach any longer I go for what's quickest and not necessarily healthy.  I resort to a cheese sandwich or I have a spicy tomato paste (veg/vegan) which I have in a sandwich, with cucumber if I have any.

Other foods that are quick are beans on toast with a little curry powder added, if I remember, and black pepper.  I love black pepper and add it to virtually everything.  One more quickie is fried sliced tomatoes with garlic and oregano (topped with black pepper, of course).

There is also the stare into the fridge to see what left overs there are that can be reheated in the mircowave!

Having a family it isn't so easy to get out of the cooking so I have to stop and cook a meal at night and to be honest I do most of my writing in the morning so it isn't a problem.  When I was doing assignments for my Open University course the family got used to last minute meals of pasta and sauce and whatever ready meal there was in the fridge/freezer.  They learned not to question it after a few adult tantrums on deadlines and no time of my own!  No, I'm not that fierce really, they just know when I'm in a mood and keep clear.  My moods pass swiftly.  I've never been able to keep up a mood for long even as a child - it's such a waste of time!

I'm not a chocolate person as a rule.  I can leave a box unopened from Christmas to Easter but once it's open I try to limit myself to two a day - heck I can be strong.  A bar of chocolate once opened doesn't fare so well!  So I don't buy it normally.  What I have is usually what others have bought me and I am generous - I share. However, if I need a quick boost when I'm out I'll for a Snickers bar, always my favourite and the bigger bars are like a meal in itself.

I guess food for me is something that is essential in life.  I'd rather be doing something else rather than cook.  I'm not into dinner parties or eating out in general except as a treat.  That's not what I'm about.  I hate spending hours preparing and cooking (then there's all the washing up) and then it's gone.  I do, however, quite like baking cakes, perhaps more to the point...eating them!  I bake for Church events and I love baking at Christmas.

When I'm writing what I fuel up on most is probably cups of tea or water, though if there is a bag of peanuts close by I'll have those.  Cereal is a good quick easy snack if you are up against the wall for a deadline! Oh....and Starburst, I'm rather partial to those - the lime green ones are my favourite followed by orange, strawberry then blackcurrant.  There, I've even rated them for you!