The proof is in the pictures

There’s nothing like a great whopping pile of vegan stodge. Exhibit A:

Simmer potatoes in water and salt until very tender. Add Nuttelex or Earth Balance or similiar. Pinch of nutmeg. A clove or three of crushed garlic, some mixed dry herbs of your choice, a heaping of nutritional yeast, and mash like you’ve never mashed before. Mash the fork out of those potatoes. You can do it. I believe in you. Then top them with strips of pan-fried marinated tempeh (organic BBQ sauce or Braggs/tamari & garlic is good), drown it all in gravy (homemade miso gravy rocks: mushrooms, low-sodium vegetable stock, miso paste, rosemary, thyme, nutritional yeast & tapioca starch to thicken), and sprinkle with shredded fresh basil. Sprinkle liberally. Do everything liberally. Except in Australia, where you want to do it Laborly or – even better – Greenly. A-hoy-hoy.

Raw pancakes? It’s entirely possible and entirely tasty fresh! Check this action out. Exhibit B:

These are great in the Australian summer – no-cooking-necessary! Mini flax pancakes (flaxmeal, coconut oil, agave, salt and water, rolled into balls then flattened into pancake shapes) topped with carob pudding (food processed carob, avocado, banana, and dates), all topped with grapes, shredded coconut, sliced banana, and chopped macadamia nuts, with a little agave nectar drizzled over & around it all.

The proof is in the tasting, actually. These pictures are a poor substitute, I’m afraid, so you’ll just have to get into the kitchen and cook up some vegan food pr0n yourself. There’s a good lad and/or lass.

A couple of milk making pictures + cake

There’s not much I can take of it, but here’s what I gots!

Beans and soy lecithin in the basket:

I’m going to try beans + LSA (linseed, sunflower, almond meal) this week, as I’m out of lecithin.

Don’t forget your filtered water:

Mmm, water. I fill it up to the minimum level, so the milk is a little thicker/richer.

The machine blending and bubbling away:

That was hard work!… or not. Thanks, Mr Milk Machine.

Then I stir in a few extra things… oh noes, additives!

Eh, they aren’t so bad.

Vitamins to fortify the milk with:

B12 & a wee bit of calcium. I love my mortar and pestle. Smashing things in it is rather FUN.

Last week I attempted to make/invent a gluten-free mostly-organic double orange & coconut cake.

I looked fantastic in the oven, but it sunk when I got it out… sadmaking. Cooking it for longer on a lower temperature ought to fix the problem! It wasn’t fluffy, but it still tasted great, which is the main thing.

Yeast bread, v1.0

This is the final version of this bread recipe. I will probably work on an improved version later on, but for now I’m done with tweaking and ending up with crazy, wacky loaves! So, here t’is. My gluten-free yeast-risen bread, v1.0.

Ingredients
1.5 cups potato starch flour*
1 cup brown rice flour (or white rice in a pinch)
1 cup chickpea (besan) flour
0.5 cup of tapioca starch
1 teaspoon salt

2 to 2.5 cups of filtered water
1.5 tablespoons blackstrap molasses*
0.33 (1 third) cup sunflower oil
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

A mixed handful of: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds*, sunflower seeds*, soy lecithin granules*, LSA meal* (linseed/sunflower/almond meal), nutritional yeast.
* = I use organic.

Method
1. Sift together the potato starch flour, rice flour, chickpea flour, tapioca starch, and salt. Stir with a wire whisk.
2. Combine 2 cups of water, the molasses and sunflower oil in a small bowl, then pour into flours. Add the yeast, and stir together. Add more water to batter as necessary (but remember, too much moisture = bread won’t rise properly!).
3. Stir through a handful of seeds and extras to the bread.
4. Transfer batter to a lightly oiled bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with seeds if desired, then very lightly spray/coat with oil.
5. Cover bread pan with foil (recyclable! yay!) or plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 to 1.5 hours, until dough/batter is about doubled in size.
6. Cover the bread pan with foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC (350degF) for 1 hour. Uncover bread and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until browned on top.
7. Cool briefly in bread pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Other Things
+ I might try baking it at a higher temp. I’ve heard gluten-free baking works better at higher temps.
+ I prefer organic ingredients as they are better quality (and less poisonous, no doubt!). Potatoes get a lot of pesticide, so I think organic for potato flour is particularly important. Plus, organic potatoes always taste loads better. I suspect the same can be said of organic potato derivatives! I get my ingredients from a local organic supermarket, or an online organic delivery service, and anything else in bulk from a local Indian supermarket – not all organic, but high quality and cheap! Great variety of rice, too.

Coming Up Next In This Blog…
+ Pizza dough recipe

Other photos!

Gluten-free organic carob & apple teacake. This was EXTREMELY tasty. Organic carob is awesome.

A bubbling Italian tomato & eggplant stew, to go over tasty polenta – the yellow stuff (corn!) in the pot at the back.