Lemon and poppy seed cupcakes (Derby)

Have you ever booked a weekend away and picked the hotel purely on the basis that it was in the same city as a café that sells vegan cupcakes…. only to find out that the café was sold 2 months’ earlier and now isn’t even vegetarian?!

That was my valentine’s weekend, haha! Aww well, we still had a lovely time 🙂

We went to Derby and despite a distinct lack of cake; I still managed to gorge myself silly. On the first night I enjoyed a lovely okra jalfrezi at Balti International (all dishes are cooked with veggie oil rather than ghee, apart from the butter chicken which obviously I wasn’t likely to order).Second night I had a fabulous Chinese meal at Excelsior where I had vegetarian hot and sour soup, choi sung and a mountain of sweet and sour tofu. I was VERY impressed by the owner’s knowledge of what was in each dish.

Final day we stopped off at Café Yaffle where my omni hubby shocked me by sharing a couple of (very yummy) vegan cheese toasties with me (one with sausage and pickle, the other with pizza-cheese and tomato). I also raided the shelves of Soundbites, an adjacent vegan store with a fantastic range of goodies. So all in all it was a pretty good trip!

ps1 — vegan sausage, cheese and pickley goodness

Anyway, hubby bought me a silicone cupcake kit for Christmas so I decided to christen it by making lemon and poppy seed cupcakes. I loosely based the recipe on this non-vegan version and I have to admit that I was pretty smug about the result! Seriously soft and fluffy but delightfully tangy and not too sweet… I ate 7 out of 12, whoops! And my favourite part? They rose! It might be pancake day today but these beauties were most definitely NOT vertically challenged!

Lemon and poppy seed cupcakes:

Ingredients (Makes 12):

1³/₄x cups self-raising flour 1 x tbsp. slightly toasted poppy seeds (cook in a dry frying pan on a medium heat for 1 – 2 mins) ³/₄x cup sugar Zest of 2 un-waxed lemons 3 x tsp No-Egg in 6 x tbsp. water (whisked together until white and frothy) 1 x tsp baking powder ¹/₃ x cup soya yoghurt (or any other dairy-free variety) ½ x cup vegan friendly marg ¹/₃ x cup soya milk (or any other dairy-free variety) Juice of 1 lemon Also: 12 x cupcake cases. I used silicone.

Method:

Preheat oven to 180^oC.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, zest (reserve a quarter for decoration), poppy seeds and baking powder. Sift the flour if you want, but I didn’t bother.

In another bowl, electric-whisk up the No-Egg and water before adding the marg, followed by the sugar, yoghurt, milk and finally the lemon juice.

A spoonful at a time, add the dry ingredients into the wet and gently fold in. A silicone spatula is great for this

Using a couple of teaspoons (one for scooping, one for scraping), distribute the mixture evenly between the 12 cupcake cases.

Put in the oven and bake for 15 mins or until golden brown. A skewer should come out clean when inserted into the centre of each.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

These cakes are so tasty that they don’t really need icing. However, just to pretty them up, I added a small swirl of the following onto each and topped with some extra poppy seeds and a sprinkling of zest:

Icing

Ingredients:

4 x tbsp. icing sugar ¹/₃ x cup vegan friendly marg ½ x cup vegan cream cheese (I used Violife – now available in some Tesco stores!) Juice of ½ lemon

Method:

Whizz together the marg, cream cheese and lemon juice using an electric mixer. Whizz in the icing sugar, cover and pop in the fridge for 20 mins or so. Once the cupcakes are COMPLETELY COOLED you can either spoon or pipe a small amount of icing onto each cake.

Perfect with a cup of tea!

Flash-Gordonette…X

Cheezy biscuits

Apr19

I’ve had such a lovely weekend 🙂

On Friday I went to The Ship at Lathom’s 4^th Annual Beer and Pie Festival with the Hubby, my Bestie and her Fella. Unfortunately I was unable to find a vegan friendly beer there (I emailed most of the breweries who were taking part who all confirmed that isinglass was used in the fining process) however all the ciders were safe and there were not one, but TWO vegan pies!!! And I made the discovery of the decade… I like mushy peas! I’ve hated them since childhood but something told me to give them another chance, and I’m so glad that I did.

Spicy bean and mushroom pie, topped off with mushy peas and washed down with a “Strawberry Fields” cider.

We stayed over at the Bestie’s house so on Saturday (after a lovely breakfast of croissants, crumpets and cinnamon rolls) we trotted off to Southport to do some shopping followed by a fabulous tea at a Turkish restaurant called Havin. We had hummus and Patlican Tarator (sans yoghurt) with bread for starter followed with the Sebze Guvec (sans feta). The day was completed with a nice walk up the pier and a scout around the arcades.

I’ve had a mostly lazy day today, although I have been experimenting in the kitchen. I made bread rolls and seitan but today I am sharing my cheezy biscuits recipe!

Cheezy biscuits

Ingredients:

1 x cup all-purpose white flour
¼ x cup vegan marg
¼ x cup water
½ x tbsp. miso paste
¼ x cup nutritional yeast
½ x tsp garlic powder

Method:

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix until a smooth dough is formed.

Roll out onto a lightly floured surface and cut out the crackers using a knife or pizza cutter.

Place each cracker onto a greased baking tray and prick with a fork.

Bake for 12 – 15 minutes at 180^oC (until golden brown and slightly puffy).

Carefully transfer onto a wire rack and allow to cool.

I intend on taking mine to work and eating with Toffuti cream cheese and a little mango chutney.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Flash-Gordonette…X

Coconut and green veg soup

Oct26

Bonnie Edinburgh

Me and the bestie enjoyed a vegan pilgrimage to Scotland last week. Using her hometown, Livingstone, as a base we had a couple of days out in Edinburgh and a day in Glasgow. I can’t believe that the birthplace of the deep fried Mars bar and haggis have such amazing vegan joints! Seriously, just look on www.happycow.net!

So, the highlights in Edinburgh:The Baked Potato Shop on Cockburn St where I had the most amazing tattie of my life. It was filled with vegan haggis and topped with a sweetcorn curry. Thank goodness Lala knew to only order a small. I practically rolled around the landmarks of the city after nomming down this beast!:

I was also super happy after a visit to Real Foods where I finally found the little squashy-pumpkin thing that I have been scouring the streets of Cheshire for after I sampled one in Croatia.

And last but not least, we visited Jordan Valley Wholefoods where I filled a carrier bag with treats for the train ride home. Tres impressed with the selection available!

Carrot cake, chickpea and onion pie, artichoke and quinoa dip, spicy veggie haggis roll and a bottle of “living tea”

Check out www.equinoxkombucha.com

In Glasgow, we had a fantastic (and ridiculously good value for money) meal at Mono. I had a salami, red onion, pepper and cheeze pizza with a side of beer battered onion rings. Lala had moussaka which had a creamy nut based topping and looked very tasty. We both had the BIGGEST portion of sticky toffee pudding and vanilla ice-cream that I have ever seen! Aww man, it was soooo good!(We met Lala’s wee Auntie as well and she had a seitan burger… but I didn’t get a piccie, boo).

We also enjoyed a couple of yummy “Scottish” breakfasts (tongue firmly planted in cheek!) – Redwood Cheatin Bacon on “Plain bread” and tatty scones on a Scotch roll (Tattie scone recipe here if you’re interested!)

When I got home to Cheshire-land, the fella decided he had missed me so much that he wanted to take me out for tea at the vegetarian restaurant, Sanskruti. It was my 3^rd visit to this amazing restaurant and I was so happy that omni hubby wanted to revisit. We both had the veggie kebabs for starter, then for main he had a massive dosa and I had the kaju karela with a side of onion rice. We both had vegan ice-cream for pud. Yet another fabulous belly-full!

Meat eaters beware… a sneaky veggie could EASY trick you with these tasty bad boys 😉

My curry and rice and the edge of the Hubby’s massive dosa

Vegan ice-cream! Neapolitan at the front and mango and raspberry at the back.

So, after 4 full days of uber-scoffing, I decided that tonight I needed a light tea. Since I had some veg to use up and well as a can of coconut milk, I decided to go for a Thai themed soup.

Coconut and green veg soup recipe:

Ingredients:

1 x tbsp. coconut oil (or any other oil really)400 ml can coconut milk

200 ml of water

½ x leek (sliced)

½ x cup green beans (chopped)

1 x cup pak choi (chopped)

½ x cup courgette (chopped)

1 x cup potato (chopped)

2 x cloves garlic (finely sliced)

3 x kaffir lime leaves (dried)

2 x tsp minced ginger (I used frozen)

2 x tsp coriander leaves (chopped)

1 x tsp Thai basil leaves (chopped)

2 x tsp white miso

1 x tsp white pepper

1 x tsp ground coriander

¼ – ½ x finely sliced chilli (depending on how hot you like it)

Lime of 1 lime

Method:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan.

Add the leeks and potato and fry until the leeks go translucent.

Add the green beans and garlic and stir.

Add the ginger, ground coriander, miso, pepper and chili. Stir constantly to avoid the spices from catching on the bottom of the pan.

When things start to get a bit aromatic, add the coconut milk. Add the water to the empty can and swizzle to get all of the milk out and add to the soup.

Add the lime leaves, basil, coriander leaves, courgette and lime juice.

Bring to a simmer and cook with a lid on until the potato goes tender (10 – 15 mins).

Take off the heat and leave for at least 2 hours to cool. I find that this helps the soup to infuse without evaporating off too much of the coconut milk.

Heat when ready.

Remove any lime leaves and serve in bowls.

I poured mine over a bit of sticky rice and topped with some fried tofu. Deeeelicious!

I’ll be sad to go back to work tomorrow after an epic few days off, but at least I’ll have some leftover soup to take with me 🙂

Flash-Gordonette…x

Tricolor cauliflower cheeze

Oct5

I had a sneaky trip to Booths at the weekend. I was hoping to find Patty Pan pumpkins but instead I found a variety of irresistible cauliflowers!

So what to make with my white, purple and Romanesco caulis? I decided to go back to basics and re-invent the classic cauliflower cheese.

I tried to follow my own “Eazy Cheeze Sauce” recipe, but I changed it slightly because I was short on a few ingredients and also I had some dairy-free yogurt to use up (homemade, doncha know!). I have to say I think I might have accidentally improved it!

Tricolor cauliflower cheeze recipe

Ingredients:

9 x florets mixed cauliflower (I used purple, white and Romanesco)1 x cup cheeze sauce*

½ x cup grated non-dairy cheese

Method:

Steam the cauliflower until beginning to turn tender. Do not overcook unless you want to eat mush! (Tip: use some of the greens, they’re lovely and not to be wasted)

Arrange the cauliflower into a dish and pour the cheeze sauce into the gaps. Top with the grated non-dairy cheese and bake in the oven at 180^oC for 20mins.

*Cheeze sauce recipe

Ingredients:

1 x large carrot

1 x medium potato

1/2 x cup non-dairy yogurt

1 x tsp mustard

½ x cup nutritional yeast

½ x cup veg oil

1 x tsp white miso

1 x tsp minced garlic

Method:

Peel and roughly chop the carrot and potato before boiling in a pan of water (you can add a little veg bouillon if you’re feeling fancy).

When soft, drain the carrot and potato and add to a blender along with the yogurt, nutritional yeast, mustard, oil, miso and garlic. Whiz together until smooth.

No need to pre-cook the sauce if using for the cauliflower cheeze recipe as it will cook in the oven.

I was amazed at how super delish this recipe turned out!

Does it look vegan? Does it f*ck! It doesn’t taste vegan either ;o)

Flash-gordonette…X

Blackpool and Brownies

Sep14

I went to the Northern Vegan Festival in Blackpool on Saturday with a few buddies, one of which was my uni-friend and fellow blogger, the Boltonian Vegan.

This gorgeous sweetie is courtesy of the Run Free alliance (http://runfreealliance.co.uk/)

Lesson of the day – do not down 3 bottles of these in one go. Swear I didn’t know which end it was going to come out of first…

We had a good time but although the venue was absolutely stunning, I couldn’t help but think that the event lacked some of the atmosphere I experienced at the North West Vegan Festival that I went to in Lancaster earlier in the year.

ps8

Perhaps it was the lack of a beer stall…which I did moan about. A lot. But I still enjoyed myself, especially when I got chatting to the lovely people at Harper’s Bizarre and Homemade by Erica Jayne. These ladies are crazy and I love them! It’s the second time I have visited their stalls and both times I have bought something. Delicious tasting chutneys and fabulous smelling candles… I can’t resist either! I just hope my purchases made up for my foul dialect 😉 *has no internal filter*

I also bought a book from a really really nice gentlemen of whom I could have chatted to for a lot longer had other customers not turned up. Unfortunately I forgot to take down the name of his stall. Looking at the Northern Vegan Festival website, he may have been “Cruelty Free Cookbooks”. Hopefully I will find out for sure at the next event.

The highlight of the day however had to be the big fat dirty burger I bought from the Vegan Grindhouse. I’ve been DYING to try one of these guys’ burgers and I was not disappointed with my quarter pounder with cheeze, onions and burger relish *drools*.

Anyway, a while ago (like years ago, before I turned vegan) I made some brownies for work, which had they not have contained dairy milk chocolate, would have been SFV. I was reminded of my recipe when I was flicking through a free copy of LABL magazine. Inspired by this article and also by a piece of pecan pie that I sampled at the festival (courtesy of The Homemade Vegan) I routed out my recipe and simply swapped the chocolate for a dairy free version. In fact I used a bar that I got in my Vegan Kind box this month, which for the record was gorgeous! Creamy with a hint of coconut:

Ombar (http://ombar.co.uk/)

Pecan pie

The best part of this recipe is that brownies are super easy to make!

Pecan and chocolate chunk brownies

Ingredients:

125g	Plain flour
175g	Caster sugar
35g	Cocoa powder
125 ml	Oil (I used sunflower)
125 ml 35g 35g 1 tsp 1 tsp	Water Dairy free “milk” chocolate (broken into chunks) Chopped pecan nuts Baking powder Vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180^oC.

Then, simply mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and cocoa powder together, before adding the oil, water and vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly until a smooth glossy batter is formed. Then fold in the nuts and chocolate chunks.

Pour the mix into a lightly greased 7 x 7” baking tin and bake for 20 mins. I turned the tin around after 10 mins to ensure an even bake.

Before…

…and after

Allow to cool before cutting into 8 triangles.

Enjoy with a nice cuppa 🙂

Flash-Gordonette….X

Officially ratless :(

Sep7

Here’s an entry that has 0% to do with food. But since I am officially ratless after 5 years of keeping them, I couldn’t not write a piece about my special little guys.

Sadly, on Wednesday we had to say goodbye to Bailey Boo. Unfortunately his passing meant that I was left with a lone rat, Harvey. This was bad as rats shouldn’t be kept alone as they are very social creatures. Within 2 days of losing Bailey, Harvey was looking increasingly depressed.

I made the decision a while ago that I wouldn’t be getting any more rats as I have been allergic for a good few years now and I’m sick of taking antihistamines, wheezing, having a rashy cleavage and not being able to open my eyes in a morning. So, I had already made plans for my surviving ratty to go live with “Auntie Caza” since I knew she would take the best care of him.So today I dropped off little Harvey to live with his new friends Remy and Mika. It was so hard to leave him there, even though I know he will have a great time – I’m just so paranoid that he thinks I’ve abandoned him. I think he may have knew though as I got a fair few goodbye kisses from him :hearts:

So, I thought I would write a summary of all the little furry fuzzballs I have had the pleasure to share my life with:

1) Mr Gregory Bread
My first ever ratty and my one and only non-rescue. I got him from a Garden Centre and a week later, thanks to a Fancy Rats Forum education (www.fancyratsforum.co.uk), I got him a little friend a week later. He was naughty, cheeky, cost me a fortune in vet bills but he will always hold a very special place in my heart for sparking my ratty obsession 5 years ago.

2) Sir Ivory Coast
My smeezy baby, soft as anything and lived to a good old age. We never had any trouble with this little chap

He was a total little love bug and broke my heart when he was a baby when I found him crying after being cornered by Gregory

3) Master Jeremy Ruffles
This little monster was pint-sized but feisty! he came to us with his little Friend Rodney. He was so cheeky, but also cuddly, he was impossible not to fall in love with. He was also a class-A food thief!

4)Rodney Hood
My silly fatty, goofball :lol:

I loved this little guy, he was so soft and stoopid. He would let me cradle him like a baby and was scared of everything! Definitely special in all sense of the word ♥

5) Wee Willy Whiskers
This little naked chap was named after the way he feels… :lol:

He came with his brothers Barry Roll and Billy. He was a funny little guy, he was a bit blind and before his neuter he would sit on his own screaming even though their were no other ratties around. He smelt amazing and loved a spot of pea fishing. He also never ever stopped eating. Even when we took him to be PTS, he was still eating noodles in the waiting room. He was the oldest ratty I ever had (estimated at 4 years but no hard evidence)

6)Big Bad Billy Bear
This man was a bad lad! He was 1000g of pure muscle and for some reason he always had it in for me! He was always biting a chunk out of my hands and once he actually pushed a pen onto the floor then when I bent over to pick it up, looked behind at me before kicking a stack of CDs onto my head!!! People probably think i’m making it up and he couldn’t possibly be that clever and calculating, but my mum saw him do it! :lol:

Unfortunately he didn’t live much longer after his neuter and died from a suspected brain tumor, which was a shame as he did calm down into a bit of a snuggle-butt.

7) Beautiful Barry Roll
This guy was also a whopping 1000g… unfortunately for Barry it was mostly fat rather than muscle!
he was an absolute babe, always happy to have a cuddle. He was usually very patient but on the rare occasion he got annoyed, he would just flip and systematically beat up each cage mate in turn before stomping off to bed in a huff :lol:

8)Little Timmy Tatters
This little man was taken from me far too soon. He came with his two brothers Larry and Denny. Unfortunately we’d only had him a few months when we found him in a state of forever sleep on top of a hammock. He was sweet natured and had super-soft fur. He was playful as a kitten too

9)Denny Doofus
Denny was ace. He was so cheeky I was determined to rescue him (when I offered him my fist he forced my finger and thumb apart with his paws and shoved his head in the gap to check I wasn’t hiding anything :lol:

)

10)Little Larry Love
The longest surviving out of his brothers, Larry never quite grew out of his skittish ways. We still loved him loads though and wouldn’t have swapped him for the world

11)Terry Triviani
I shouldn’t admit to having favourites, but Terry was totally mine. He was the perfect balance of cheeky and naughty but cuddley and licky. Once he escaped from his Abode cage and we caught him opening the kitchen door with his teeth. Once he escaped and “knocked” on the toilet door whilst I was having a wee :lol:

I was terrified opening the door, thinking there was a burglar so imagine my surprise when I saw him looking up at me! He won 6 prizes at the Preston show a couple of years ago and no other rat has ever left such a large hole in my heart. I still cry over my little chocolate orange

12)Minky Mikey Moo
Aka my trapdoor spider rat. Don’t be fooled by his beautiful colour and little pink nose, this lad was a biter! he was too old for a neuter though so we left him as he was. When we first got him, he wouldn’t come anywhere near us but we did manage to coax him to have the occasional cuddle with us.

13)Tony Balloni
Tony came to us with his brother Bailey. He was shy but lovable and had a thing for brussel sprouts!

14)Bailey Boo
Bailey loved his food and cuddles and was a good guy despite having HLD for a long time. He was probably the easiest rat to get meds into!

15) Harvey Wallbanger
Last but not least, my little Wiganer, Harvey. Currently still on this mortal coil unlike his other friends, but now living with Auntie Caza so that he has some friends to cuddle until the end of his life. Harvey is the most licky rat I ever had, he would lick my hands for hours if I let him. He loves kisses and cuddles but is also a bit of an escape artist. Saying goodbye to him today was very hard

The house is very empty and lonely without my furbabies :cry:

. Luckily I still have Spike the axolotl and the chickens to keep me sane

Thank you to everyone who has supported, guided and helped me out with all things rat-related over the last 5 years, I have appreciated everything.XXX

Sanskruti

Jul5

On Thursday night I met up with some good buds and met some fab new folks too. We went to a vegetation Indian restaurant in Withington (http://www.sanskrutirestaurant.co.uk/) and I couldn’t write a blog entry without mentioning how amazing the food was! I was especially bowled over by the choice of vegan ice cream for pudding. I went for the wild blueberry, yum! (http://lovefoodheaven.com/).

Flash-Gordonette…x

Mild (grateable!) cheddar cheeze

Jun9

I had a fab time at the North West Vegan Festival at the weekend, lots of nice people, tasty treats and worthwhile campaigns. Not to mention plenty of lovely lovely beers 😉

If you weren’t there, I’m afraid you missed out! But the stalls and their webpages can be found here:http://northwestveganfestival.co.uk/stalls/

Some of my highlights:

Getting a Flash Gordonette henna tattoo by Rubee’s mendhi (https://www.facebook.com/RubeesHenna)

Drinking yummy yummy beer! This one was a London Porter by PitFields (www.pitfieldbrewery.com)

Free goody bag! Teapigs tea donated by Coconut Rose tea rooms from Blackburn http://www.coconutrosebakery.co.uk/

Tasty “Caramac” from Trishul Raw Chocolate (http://trishulrawchocolate.wordpress.com/)

Coconut and Lime Ice from Coconut Rose (http://www.coconutrosebakery.co.uk/)

Tasty-ass samosa from SSK Caterers (https://www.facebook.com/ssk.caterers)

Condensed soya from Ananda Foods (http://www.anandafoods.co.uk/ ) – I feel a fudge recipe coming up!

Most sexy smelling candle ever! From Harper’s Bizarre ( http://harpersbizarre.org.uk/ ) although I wish I’d bought the “House Red” one as well.

My little Dr Hadwen Trust butterfly (http://www.drhadwentrust.org/ )

Bought this bad-boy from Vegan Tuck Box (http://www.vegantuckbox.co.uk/) Amazing stuff!

Sexy carrot cake, I think it was from Pudology (http://www.pudology.com/) … but I’d had a bit too much beer by this point!

Anyhow, after all this vegan festivalling, I was feeling inspired. I always thought my “Eazy Cheeze” sauce would make a great hard cheese… and it does! I simply added a bit of kappa carrageenan to make a grateable mild cheddar.

PSB 20140608_221142

Ingredients:

1 x large carrot (peeled)

2 x small potatoes (peeled)

¾ x cup nutritional yeast

½ x cup olive oil (don’t use virgin!)

½ x teaspoon mustard (or horseradish or wasabi)

½ x tsp black pepper

½ x cup soya milk

¼ x tsp garlic powder

½ x tbsp fresh lemon juice

½ x tsp white miso paste

5 x tsp kappa carrageenan

Method:

Line some ramekin dishes with cling-film. Put to one side.

Peel and roughly chop the carrot and potatoes. Boil in water until soft.

In a food processor, blend the cooked carrot, potatoes, nutritional yeast, olive oil, mustard, pepper, soya milk, garlic powder, lemon juice and miso paste until smooth and a consistent colour.

Sprinkle the kappa carrageenan over the mixture and blitz just enough to thoroughly mix.

Transfer to a pan and using a silicon spatula stir whilst heating until glossy (8 – 10 minutes, its ready once the oil just begins to separate out – don’t let it go too far!)

Quickly pour into the ramekins and leave to cool for about 20 minutes before covering with more cling-film.

Leave to set in the fridge overnight. Take out of the cling-film and wrap in kitchen roll. Store in the fridge.

This stuff slices:

Grates:

And although it doesn’t melt like exactly like cheddar, it does melt to a spreadable paste which is nice on toast!

Enjoy 🙂

Flash-Gordonette…X

Veggie layer bake

May25

What an exciting weekend!

After 5 years of begging, the hubby finally gave in and let me get some ex-battery hens 🙂

We have adopted 3 from Lucky Hens Rescue in Wigan. These good and incredibly kind hearted folks are dedicated to rescuing ex-battery hens and finding them good retirement homes. They’ve been unbelievably busy after the devastating M62 crash so I was very grateful that they had the time to talk to me on Saturday and give me lots of tips and advice on how to look after my newly acquired chooks.

We’ve only had “Lady Di”, “Lizzie” and “Kate” for a day and a half, but we are already in love with them 🙂 Not to mention already plotting on how to further extend the run…

Anyhow, all that chicken rescuing makes one hungry! Especially after planting plants, painting coops and building runs in torrential rain storms. So what better way to warm up and recover than to dig into a nice plateful of my veggie layer bake? (and yes it contains courgette! My second courgette recipe after my tasty salad).

Veggie layer bake reecipe:

Ingredients

1 x onion	1 x cup water
½ x red pepper	1 x tsp sugar
1 x courgette	1 x cup bread crumbs
1 x leek	1 x tsp ground black pepper
1 x stick celery	1 x tsp dried basil
2 x tbsp. tomato puree	Eazy Cheeze sauce (as per my recipe here)

Method:

Firstly, make up a batch of Eazy Cheeze sauce as per my recipe that I used for my Ultimate Nachos.

Secondly, create the veggie tomato sauce. Chop and fry the onion in a little oil until beginning to soften. Then chop the pepper and celery and add to the onion and fry for a further 5 mins. Add the tomato puree and stir until mixed. Next, add the black pepper, sugar and basil before stirring in the water. Heat until bubbling, then take off the hob.

Next, prepare the leeks and courgette. Slice the courgette into thin slices using a potato peeler.

For the leeks, chop off the ends and slice down one side of the stalk. You should be able to peel the layers off in sheets. You will need to steam the leeks for a few minutes until they start to go soft, otherwise they will be too chewy in the bake. (Do not steam the courgette or else it will turn to mush!)

In a baking dish, add a layer of the tomato sauce. Then top with some courgette slices. Next add some cheeze sauce and top with some leek sheets, then add another layer of tomato sauce and keep layering up until you either run out of ingredients or reach the top of the dish. Ideally you want the top layer to be cheeze sauce.

Finally, sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the bake and put in the oven at 180^oC for 45 mins (more or less depending on the size / height of the dish you have used). If the top starts to brown too fast, cover with a piece of tin foil.

PSA 2014-05-14 18.45.48

When done, the bake should be bubbling and you should have no trouble cutting through the leeks.

We had ours with a split pea “shish kebab” and a side salad. Yum yum!

Flash-Gordonette…x

♥ Flash-Gordonette ♥

– you name it, I'll veganize it!

Archives

Archive

Lemon and poppy seed cupcakes (Derby)

Cheezy biscuits

Coconut and green veg soup

Tricolor cauliflower cheeze

Blackpool and Brownies

Officially ratless :(

Sanskruti

Mild (grateable!) cheddar cheeze

Veggie layer bake