Tofu salad with teriyaki and ginger dressing

I made another batch of tofu yesterday night and devised this recipe for it for a light lunch. It is such a healthy dish and will give you all the vitamins that you need while tasting absolutely amazing.

Salad is such a good and healthy dish and a great way to get in all the healthy things you need. BUT it can tend to be a bit boring! (Well for a teenage vegan beginner, like me, anyway!) My mum is always saying we should eat more salad and have it for lunch and dinner, and don't get me wrong I do love it but sometimes get tired of having the same old salad everyday. So I have decided to spice it up a bit and make a bit more of an actual dish and great a delicious spicy sauce to go with it (I don't put spice in but I think the garlic and ginger add that for me!). I think this is the perfect way to make that salad that you love to eat even better and more filling!

Very mushy avocado - just the way I like it! 

Just to be clear - around this much cabbage! :)

Ingredients 

(Serves 1 - or if having as a side dish it would serve 2) 

• Two handfuls of Romaine Lettuce
• 2 slices of white cabbage (I don't really know how much this is in grams or anything so it just means slice two thin slices off the cabbage - the way you would cut two slices of bread!) 
• 1 medium carrot 
• 1/2 a very ripe avocado (I like mine when the sides of the avocado are already going mushy - but don't worry you can have yours normally!) 
• 8 bite-size cubes of tofu (you can make your own here) 
• 1/2 tbs of teriyaki sauce 
• 1 tsp of sesame oil 
• 3tbs of water 
• 1 tbs of bread crumbs (or for gluten free people use rice crumbs) 
• 1/2 tbs of buckwheat flour 

For the sauce:

• 2 tsp of tahini (if you really don't like tahini use almond butter - my sister hates it so I have to substitute this in for her - don't worry it will taste just as good!) 
• 2 tbs of miso paste 
• 3 1/2 tbs of teriyaki sauce 
• 1 tbs of tamari 
• 1 tsp of raw ginger (minced) 
• 1 clove of garlic 
• 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar 
• Optional: 1 tbs of water - to make it more runny 

Method 

1. Mix the water, teriyaki and sesame oil (in the first list of ingredients - not sauce ingredients) together in a sauce pan over a medium heat 
2. When hot add the cubes of tofu - keep turning them over for around 5mins 
3. Add to the saucepan the rice crumbs and buckwheat flour and stir in with the tofu - all the water should now be gone from the pan. Stir for 2mins and then take off heat and let cool.
4. While cooling cut up all the salad ingredients and put into the bowl that you are going to eat it out of. Make sure to cut up the carrot stick thin and the avocado, I usually, cut into strips. I start by making a bed first with the lettuce, then add the cabbage, carrot and avocado on top of the lettuce. 
5. Now to make the sauce add all the ingredients to a mini food processor or bullet blender and blend until smooth. 
6. Add the tofu on top of the salad bed and drizzle over the ginger and teriyaki sauce. 
7. Enjoy! You can serve this with or without sprouts (as you can see from the picture I served it with sprouts)

BEST RAW LASAGNE with humous and sprouts

I am not raw vegan but have started to dabble in trying it out - I have been looking at different raw vegan blogs and found that many make raw lasagne with courgette. I devised my own raw lasagne with whatever I could find in my fridge and it was ABSOLUTELY delicious! I couldn't believe how good it was! Before deciding to become vegan I REALLY LOVED lasagne bursting with lamb and cheese (totally anti - vegan!), but I don't know if it is just because my pallete has change or what, but this was just as good and really hit the spot.

I like to make my leftovers into mini sushi wraps - you get two recipes in one!

It even, sort of looks like lasagne while you eat it! 

Even my sister, who has not gone vegan, really really liked it! She didn't like the raw spaghetti and said this was 100 times better, she even gave the meal a 10/10! (Normally she is a lot harsher - she gave the raw spaghetti a 4/10!) So if you didn't like the raw spaghetti (I really liked the raw spaghetti but as my sister didn't I realise it is not to some people's taste) then you might like this as a good replacement! :)

Now if you are a serious raw vegan you can use sprouted chickpeas, but as I am not I used canned. 

Ingredients 

For the Lasagne pasta 

• 1 courgette, cut into very thin slices length ways (use a julienne) - to make this easier I put the courgette into the freezer for 20mins to firm up - but you don't have to do this!

For the tomato humous

• 2 tbs of tomato puree 
• 1 large tomato 
• 2 cherry tomatos
• 1/4 of a can of chickpeas 
• 1/2 tbsp of tahini 
• 1 tsp of lemon juice 
• 1 1/2 tsp of tamari / soy sauce 

For the Sweet ginger miso humous 

• 1/2 tbs of the tomato humous (from the recipe before)
• 1/2 a finely chopped onion 
• 1/4 can of chickpeas 
• 1/2 tbs of tahini 
• 1/2 a lemon squeezed 
• 1 1/2 tbsp of sweet white miso paste 
• 1 tsp of chopped ginger 

Other 

• ESSENTIAL! : Green (stuffed - optional) olives - these really make the lasagne taste extremely good for some reason (and I am not a big fan of olives!) 
• ESSENTIAL: Tomato puree (It acts as a 'glue' and tastes really good!) 
• Carrots 
• Daikon radish 
• Cucumber 
• Sprouts 
• Watercress 
• Optional: Avocado 
• Optional: Mushrooms 
• Optional: Tomatoes 

Really for these 'other' ingredients you can pick whatever you like - the essential are my high recommendations but you still can omit these too. 

Method

1. Cut or julienne the courgette really thinly length ways (make sure it is length ways as it needs to make the layers of pasta) 
2. For the humous' blend the ingredients for the both in a food processor and put them aside - this will make some of your filling 
3. Cut the other vegetables into small slices (small enough to fit between the lasagne layers) 
4. Arrange the lasagne by put the courgette slices in between each layer of filling - stack in any arrangement you like (see the pictures) 
5. I like to top with tomato puree and sprouts 

Stack it high, baby!

Messy Sprouts :)

Banana and date cakes

These deliciously sweet cakes are full of energy and extremely cheap and easy to make! I came up with this recipe for my DofE walk so that I could have a delicious healthy snack while hiking, and it did the trick! :) I hope you enjoy them, I also think they would go well with coffee or afternoon tea - I will try this too sometime.

These are so sweet and taste like little cakes - but obviously so much healthier! Use as tea cakes or maybe you could press them flat and make them into cookies. 

Ingredients 

(Makes 12 mini cakes)

• 3 dates 
• 1 very mushy/ very ripe banana (I don't know if this is bad or good - but I put my banana in the freezer and then take it out and let it thaw, that makes it VERY mushy)
• 50g of oats 
• 4tbs of desiccated coconut 
• 2 tbs of nut butter (I used peanut butter) 
• Coconut oil for greasing 
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• Optional: 50g of flour (coconut flour or nut flour would work best but you can use normal flour as well) + 3 tbs of non-dairy milk (or if you happen to be a non-vegan who has stumbled on to the blog you can use normal milk)  
• Optional: 1 tsp of cinnamon (for a cinnamon banana and date cake) 

Method 

1. Pre heat the oven the 170 degrees celsius / Alternatively if you are a raw vegan then you can dehydrate these at the highest temperature that is allowed for raw vegans (for a raw vegan I think this is 43 degrees celsius) 
2. (For a more porridgy texture in the cake) Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until desired consistency / (For a more flapjack texture) Add all ingredients EXCEPT the oats to the food processor, then stir in the oats 
3. Grease a mini cupcake mould baking tin (or a decorative biscuit tin - which is what I like to use) with coconut oil 
4. Press the cake dough into the tins and bake for 15- 20mins or until they have slightly risen and look more golden brown
5. Enjoy! :) 

Chocolate stacked frosting brownie

THIS...IS...SO... DELICIOUS! This chocolate stacked frosting cake should be enjoyed on an extra special evening - like the 4th of July (in America this a special evening as it is independence day!)

This brownie is raw so can be enjoyed by both vegans and raw vegans!

Sticky Messy chocolate!

Ingredients 

(Serves 3) 

For the Base

• 4 dates 
• 20g of raisins 
• 2tbs of cacoa powder/ cocoa powder (although it no longer is raw) 
• 2tbs of carob powder
• 20g of almonds
• 15g of walnuts 
• 3tbs of maple syrup/ honey 
• 1 stevia/ truvia packet 
• 2 tbs of coconut flour
• 2 tbs of jumbo oats 
• Optional: 1 tsp of ground ginger (for a ginger frosting brownie)

For the frosting 

• 1 medium VERY RIPE avocado (It should be mushy as it is coming out of its skin! - If it isn't ripe then it won't be as creamy and may give a slightly bitter taste) 
• 1 tbs of cacoa powder 
• 1 tbs of carob powder 
• 1 1/2 tbs of nut butter (I like hazelnut butter in this) 
• 3 tbs of maple syrup 

Method 

1. Mix all of the ingredients for the base in a food processor until smooth (or desired texture - I like mine slightly chunky!)  
2. Press the ingredients into a small rectangular baking tin as a mould 
3. Put the base in the fridge while your making your frosting 
4. Put you frosting in a food processor and blend until very smooth (like frosting) 
5. Take out the base from the fridge and cut it in two on the first half spread the half of the frosting mixture over it 
6. Stack the second of the base on top of the frosted half. 
7. Frost the top with the second half of the frosting and cut into 3 brownies (or 5 small brownies) 
8. I garnished mine with desiccated coconut and strawberry powder

Enjoy!

'Chicken' (well... seitan!) and Walnut Ravioli

This ravioli is so sweet and delicious that I just had to post it even though it was only an experiment! For this recipe I used the leftover flour from the white water when making seitan, but you can just use extra pasta flour instead.

This is my first recipe of cooking seitan and it turned out really well! My taste testers (mum and sister) said that it was really good so I hope you enjoy it too!

I served mine with a simple avocado side salad

Pasta squares 5cm x 5cm

Stack of pasta squares 

The filling is sandwiched between the two pasta squares 

Ingredients 

(Serves 1 - 2) 

For the Pasta dough 

• All the leftover gluten free flour from the making of seitan + 100ml of water (when pouring the water out of the white water from the seitan keep 100ml in) ALTERNATIVE 100g of pasta flour + 40ml of water 
• 200g of pasta flour
• 3tbs of brown rice flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp of egg replacer + 1tbs of water 
• Optional: 1tsp of olive oil 
• Salt to taste

For the filling 

• 25g of walnuts chopped 
• 30g of seitan 
• 1tbs of SWEET white miso paste
• 1 tbs of tamari
• 1/2 tsp of sesame oil 
• 1 tsp of rice mirin 
• 1/4 tsp of ground ginger 
• 1 tbs of light coconut milk 

For the sauce 

• 1 tbs of tomato puree 
• 3 cherry tomatoes 
• 1/2 tbs of olive oil (alternatively 1 tsp of olive oil + 2tsp of water) 
• 1 1/2 tsp of dried oregano 
• 1 1/2 tsp of dried basil 

Ingredients 

1. If you are using the gluten free flour from making the seitan then you will need to keep 100ml of water in the bowl when pouring out the rest of the water. Then pour the flour water mix into a shallow baking tin and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 20mins. Scrape the dough out of the dish and form into a sticky ball of dough. If not using the gluten free flour then skip this step. 
2. Make up the egg replacer by beating it will the 1tbs of water
3. Mix the dough with the other flours (pasta and brown rice) and egg replacer (+ olive oil if using) OR mix all the flours together that you are using (pasta and brown rice flour) and make a well in the middle. Into the well put the oil, egg replacer and water
4. Knead the dough really well for around 5 - 10mins. The dough should be quite dry. 
5. Spread flour on a surface and on the rolling pin. Break the dough into two balls.  Roll out the dough in two sets, until quite thin - around 3mm (you don't water it really thin otherwise it will break apart in the cooking stage.)
6. Cut the dough into small squares (around 5cm x 5cm) 
7. NOW for the filling: Cut up the walnuts and seitan into very small chunks 
8. Mix all other filling ingredients together with the chopped seitan and walnuts 
9. Ok now at last you get the do the fun part! Take 3/4 tsp of filling and put it in the centre of half of the pasta squares. 
10. Now put the other half of the pasta squares over the top of the filled squares and press each side down with and fork or your fingers. This should weld together the the two pieces of pasta so that the filling is sandwiched between the two squares (see the pictures) 
11. Let rest for about 1 hour on a counter top, meanwhile make the sauce and boil the water (so you don't get bored! I hate waiting for things to rest, but I know that it has to be done :( haha. Maybe do some washing up or make some of my dessert recipes, watch some TV etc. to pass the time! Sometimes I like to do some dancing to my favourite music.)
12. To make the sauce put all ingredients, except the basil and oregano, into a bullet blender or normal blender and blend until smooth 
13. Then add the basil and oregano and mix together. Put in the fridge. 
14. Start boiling water 10mins before you the end of the ravioli resting. Add salt to taste to the water. 
15. Drop in the ravioli in the boiling water. If you are using the gluten free dough from making the seitan they literally have to be in there for around 30seconds. If you are using all pasta flour then they need to be in there for 1 1/2 - 2 mins (I know - not very long, but as they don't have egg in them they don't really need a long time to cook. Also the seitan is already cooked so its all good!) 
16. Take the ravioli out with a slotted spoon and put on a plate. Drizzle the tomato sauce over the ravioli and serve! 
17. I would serve with a side salad if you are using this recipe for two people, however if you are only making it for yourself then you won't really need one. 

Wooh that was marathon cooking! At last you get to eat the dish you worked so long and hard making!

Ginger Nut Energy Bars

I have my Duke of Edinburgh 3 day hike in a few days and wanted to make my own energy food to keep me going on the walk. I looked in my cupboard and pulled out all the dried fruit and nuts I could find and devised these delicious energy bars for my hike. As they are only made of nuts and dates I would eat these in moderation, as they are very good for you but high in (good) fat and calories!

I added the lavender in the picture firstly because it looks nice and secondly because it is a plant that you find a lot when walking on D of E! :)

Ingredients

(Makes around 5-6 bars if using an ice cube tray as a mould) 

• 25g of cashew nuts 
• 25g of walnuts
• 25g of almonds 
• 1 tbs of sunflower seeds 
• 2-3 dates 
• 1 tsp of nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew etc.) (only if you have a dehydrator or like your bars quite oily and sticky!) 
• 1 - 2 tsp of ground ginger (depending on how much you like ginger - you can omit it altogether or you can add more!) 
• 3tbs dessicated coconut 
• 2 tbs of goji berries 
• Optional: 1 tsp of honey/ maple syrup/ 1 packet truvia/ stevia (although I think they are sweet enough without as I have put dates in them) 

Method 

1. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until desired texture 
2. Press the mixture into an ice cube tray as a mould 
3. Put in the freezer for around 20mins to set or the fridge for a few hours  - after this I dehydrated mine for about 3 hours on 58 degrees celsius. (If you don't have a dehydrated use no nut butter and maybe less nuts as they will make them oily) 
4. Enjoy on long walks, after exercise or just as a quick sweet treat!

Rose face oil

This oil I have made for about a year now and use it every night and morning. It is so smooth and such a great moisturiser, I love it. When I made it I just used all the different oils I could find in my house and added some drops of rose water. Since then I have refined it to use the best facial oils, but it still smells great!

Put the oil in your most beautiful bottle. This is mine - my dad brought it for me from South Africa for this exact use (as he knows how much I make my own facial/ body oils!)

Ingredients 

(Yields a small jar) 

• 3 tbs of olive oil 
• 2 tbs of almond oil 
• 1 tbs of melted coconut oil 
• 1 tbs of sesame oil 
• 1 tbs of castor oil 
• 1/2 tsp of rose water extract 
• 8 drops rose essential oil (you can substitute this for lavender/ orange etc. essential oils for a different smell 
• 4 drops of tea tree essential oil (great for spots - as I am a teenager!) 

Method 

1. Melt the coconut oil 
2. Mix all the oils together 

This yield should last you several months.