Recipes | Vegetarian Food Directory

These days, I don't have much energy to cook from scratch when I get in from work unless its something like pasta such as  Spaghetti dish, but strangely enough I did actually make this Three Pea Tagine after work in the late evening.   I was rather surprised that I had both the energy and the inclination.  This was one of those days, when i decided to myself that I was not going to plonk myself in front of either the computer or sofa and instead use those couple of hours a little more usefully, then laze.  Other than making couscous, grub was made and it was plenty to last us two days if not more.   Its actually a relatively easy recipe, after sauteing the onions, garlic and spices, you could happily leave it for 40 - 45 minutes for the yellow split peas to cook in the vegetable stock, then stir in the remaining ingredients such as chickpeas, raisins, green peas, cherry tomatoes which happen to be home gown for 10 minutes and its pretty much done.  ...

I know there are a barrage of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks out there at the moment- spearing from every direction, some are on my wish list and some are not.  But I have been making a conscience effort to thumb through those neglected cookbooks already on my shelf and identify those recipes I want to try.   Many of my cookbooks are vegetarian, some are vegan and many are not either.  I have been making a concerted effort over the weekend to cook and bake some of those bookmarked recipes and have already done so with many (see below). Caribbean Modern (from the Library) Dock Kitchen Cookbook  Mildred's Cookbook Meat-Free Any-Day Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates Snackistan Veggiestan V is For Vegan And I've even been inspired by some bloggers and food website.    Well today's bookmarked recipe that comes from    Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every-Day. Heidi's B uttermilk Cake is topped off with plums.  I made this at the weeken...

As well as bookmarking recipes from cookbooks , I mentioned that I have bookmarked some recipes from websites also.    I've had my eye on a couple of Ethiopian recipes from Azeb Woldemichael of   Mazi Mas as featured in The Guardian .  It is thanks to The Guardian that I have discovered Mazi Mas and have become a fan from afar.   Mazi Mas which translates in Greek 'with us' is a roaming eatery that serves global home cuisine to the public.  The chefs are migrant and refugee women who have struggled to find work in the U.K.  Mazi Mas   reminds me a little of The League of Kitchens in  NYC, America. For those of you who read my blog, will know that  I've been cooking up some global cuisine since the start of this blog; and most recently Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine has been on the menu , thanks to some new people frequenting my workplace and inspiring me.   I was more tempted by the Berbere spices which I have com...

Eating black eyed peas at the start of the New Year had become a bit of a tradition in my home, reputed to bring good luck and prosperity.  Goulash made with Black Eyed Beans Black Eyed Peas Hot Pot Ginger Black Eyed Peas Trini Black Eyed Peas with Rice Well whether its true or not, I fancied a change this time round and made something different. Still with pulse goodness.   I like the natural buttery nature of butter beans more than cannelini beans, but choose whatever white bean takes your fancy if you want to try this recipe.  What really tempted me to make this White Bean Soup was actually the  Arabic Seven Spices  known as Baharat .   Follow this link to learn and see so many other variations of the  Middle Eastern - Arabic Seven Spice - Baharat . When the dish was completed, I felt it was more of a stew than a soup which was actually a good thing, making this suitable more for a meal than a light lunch.  The weather has been stu...

In more of an effort to make use of my cookbooks from my Vegetarian Library, today we have Mildred's The Cookbook.   I  was fortunate to win Mildred's The Cookbook last year.   I've made a few recipes from it including  the most delicious vegan  Brownies with Peanut Butter   and a smoky  Lapsang Chestnut Mushroom Strogonoff .   This time I wanted  to try something with piquancy.  I decided on the Cauliflower and Green Olive Tagine.  I like olives, it wasn't always this way and to satisfy D it had his favourite white vegetable.   Although the Tagine was filling and full of different textures from the cauliflower, carrots and chickpeas, we both felt the sauce lacked depth.  Why? This recipe does not have onions, but is substituted with celery sticks.   I do understand the need for such recipes.  When I did a bit of freelance vegetarian cooking, one of my customers had an allergy to alliums: the onion famil...

A few weeks back when we were all planning on our Christmas menu, a colleague at work who loves her sweet baking shared a link with me for a very easy, yet very impressive recipe that would Wow guests.  It was simple enough, spread between two sheets of ready rolled puff pastry is a sweet (chocolate and hazelnut, fruit jams) or savoury (pesto, cheese) spread, then the pastry is shaped into a tree - an edible tree that is, where the tree branches are twisted for breaking off and enjoying.  I can only describe this a bit like a Danish pastry without the sugar icing.   I loved the look of the recipe, the fun aspects as well as the ease of making it, so picked up some puff pastry with intentions of making it for unexpected visitors, but sadly we didn't have many guests over the festive period...  Then New Year came and I was given the opportunity to make it.  Even though mine did not turn out as elegant as that featured in the link below and looked more like a ...

It must have been a subliminal message of sorts that got me hankering for a Veggie Sausage Casserole.  For days I went onto D 'I need to pick u some veggie sausages...'  yet always seemed to forget and then I repeated myself all over again 'I have to pick up some veggie sausages', but yesterday - I remembered!   And so here it is, a rich thyme and smoked paprika infused tomato sauce based casserole with kidney beans and Romano red peppers.  It turned out very red indeed. You can choose to use any vegetarian or vegan sausage you like, I am not loyal to any particular brand and like to try them all.  If your not a veggie, of course you can opt the real meat variety.   The smokiness from the paprika was just right, not overwhelming at all.   I served this very red vegan casserole with some crushed roasted new potatoes.  It was grand I tell you and well worth the wait. So some of you may wondering why do I showcase a leek here?!  Well I w...

I have so many bookmarked banana recipes, but when it comes to finding them - Can I find them, of course not, then I find  myself making another Banana Bread. This time with the addition of dessicated Coconut and Coconut Sugar and guess what it happens to be vegan too.  D thought the bread looked dry and suggested that he may want put some jam or sunflower spread on it,  but I had to disagree with him. I thought it was plenty moist and to prove my point even further, I took some into work for some colleagues to try and they sided with me, but he wasn't haven't any of it - we agreed to differ.  I think the coconut sugar gave the banana bread a caramel colouring as it looks like it is made with wholemeal flour.  I assure you it is not, the coconut sugar also imparted a little caramel flavour, or maybe I was just imagining that.  This Banana and Coconut Bread is adapted from a recipe by  the original recipe here.    I made some little tw...

The weather was fantastic over the weekend and like many people with gardens or allotment plots, I was out working in mine.  Between the two of us, we got loads done including a lot of weeding including dandelions . The potatoes have gone in.  I have sowed many seeds.  The seeds I sowed two weeks ago have germinated, tomatoes, courgettes, chard, broad beans and some have not.  I will up-date my Sowing The Seeds page to let you know what I am attempting to grow this year, bu t today, I am sharing my dinner plate of v egan meatballs on a bed of wilted dandelion leaves.  I was inspired by a recipe for Fried Dandelion Greens with Lemon and Garlic Potatoes I saw in Street Vegan by Adam Sobel .  My food presentation is not good, a little corny I think but the finished dish was delicious.  The meatballs were zinging and the spicy herby coating infuse the crispy brown exterior of the veggie meatballs.  The sauteed dandelion greens were not at all bi...

Wonderful regular and loyal readers please do not be concerned I have not become 'a meat and two veg' person overnight. This 'Steak' may not look it, but it is 100% vegan it is made with vital wheat gluten (seitan) and jackfruit. I have been wanting to make S eitan Steaks   again for a while and as much as I enjoyed them in the past I found the texture too firm, as well as a little dry.  Then I remembered a while back seeing a few recipes that incorporated jackfruit and seitan together.  I thought this made sense in relation to adding stringy texture to the seitan, but wondered if it also added moisture and decided to have a go at making them. The finished result was amazing to look at.  I have never in my life eaten a meat steak, but this visually mimicked the real stuff, it was kind of freaky.   Then I tasted it.  It tasted amazing, not at all dry.  In fact it was very moist and the addition of the BBQ sauce on top was not necessary, but it add...

I have to throw my hands up and admit that I have somewhat lost my blogging groove.  At the same time I have also found myself uninspired in the kitchen, I am not begrudging this at all, in fact I am a little thankful for it as it has allowed me to both cook those bookmarked recipes as well as peruse cookbooks from my burgeoning bookshelf,  to which I have to confess I have added some more cookbooks.  For those of you who read my blog, will know that I went to the  But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan . I had considered last year to put them both on my Christmas wish list, but then for some reason decided  not to as I had other vegan and vegetarian cookbooks that I wanted more, but then when I saw both of them at the Vegfest.   I was finally swayed  to get the cookbook as my blogger friend Johanna who cooks much like I do at home, was making recipes on her blog and commenting, even fellow blogger Faye Veganopoulous was recommending it.  Both Fa...