Nutty Cranberry-Orange-Bread

Driven by an insatiable thirst for cake, I stumbled over Jacklyns recipe for Cranberry Orange Bread.

Though the recipe looked good as it was, I was in the mood for some extra ingredients, especially some nuts. And so I proudly present my pimped version of the Cranberry-Orange-Bread!

 

 

Nutty Cranberry-Orange-Bread

2 cups spelt flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 big oranges, keep grated zest of one orange

1 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup sugar

2 apples

3/4 cup whole hazelnuts

3/4 cup walnuts

 

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, orange zest, cranberries, hazelnuts and salt.

Press the oranges, mix the juice with the oil.

Coarsely crash the walnuts with your hands. Peel apples and grate not to finely. Add both to the flour bowl. Mix with liquid until well incorporated.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and fill in the batter. Bake for one hour. Let cool on a wire rack.

 

Quick and easy Tempeh Stew

When it comes to tempeh, german blogs keep astoundingly quiet. To me this is completely incomprehensible,  given that tempeh is delicious and easy to afford at the same time. I confess that I prefer tempeh over seitan...that makes me the outcast of the vegan scene, I guess...

Tonight's dinner was probably not the best tempeh dish ever, but for something thrown together in 5 minutes it was quite tasty.

 

 

 

Quick and easy Tempeh Stew

2 servings:

1/2 box tempeh

2-3T soy sauce

1T olive oil

1 can tomatoes

2 handful of frozen spinach, thawed and pressed

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 small onion

1t curry

salt and pepper

 

Heat oil in a pan. Dice onions finely and fry until translucent. Ground tempeh and add to pan. Fry for 2 minutes, then add the soy sauce and pressed garlic.

Cut spinach in small pieces and add to the tempeh. Puree the tomatoes together with the juice and add to the pan.

Mix well. Add seasons, stir and cover. Let cook for 10 minutes.

 

Goes well with rice or pasta.

 

 

Oven-braised bell peppers with kraut and seitan

 

Oven-braised bell peppers with kraut and seitan

 

two servings:

2 bell peppers(different colors when possible)

1 big onion

2T olive oil

2t pimento, otherwise 2t paprika

1,5 cups kraut

Seitan (optional)

salt and pepper

 

Dice peppers and onion coarsely.

 

 

Put in a sealable bag and cover with oil and spices. Make sure, that all vegetable pieces are smothered with oil.

 

 

Let rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime preheat oven to 390°F. Put peppers in a small oven-proof dish.

 

 

Bake for 20 minutes.

Dice seitan and add along with the kraut to the form. Bake another 5-10 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

 

Tofurella!

If there ever will be a movie about vegan food blogs, it will sure be named "Not another lasagna receipt".

 

In my dairy-eating days I would put mozzarella in nearly every pasta dish, partly because I could eat at least half of it when slicing it. I don't really miss the taste (ok, mozzarella isn't known for its strong flavor), but sometimes I long for its mouth feel.

 

So today, when inspiration struck, I couldn't resist to make Tofurella and add it to the lasagna. If it is old had for you, I apologize, to me it was a revelation - well, not an real revelation, but you get the point...

 

 

Tofurella

1box silken tofu

boiling water

 

Use a tablespoon to form small tofu heaps. Put in a colander and pour the boiling water over the tofu. Let drain and stuff between the noodle layers.

 

 

Cooking the blogs!

 

I love reading other vegan's blogs and I also love re-cooking receipts. Since the start of this MoFo I am in a state of panic, thinking I will never manage to cook all the delicious things that are posted with an enormous frequency.

So yesterday I combined two receipts, the Vegan Roast Dinner Lentil and Mushroom Loaf with Savoury Potato Filling from Jenni Treehuggers "heathen and vegan" and the "classic cashew gravy" from Tofu-Mum@tofu-n-sproutz.

Both receipts were tasty on their own, but also went together well.

Only the filling of the lentil roast (my first lentil roast ever btw.) was a bit overwhelming, but that might have been due to my excessive usage of sage.

 

 

Pasta salad with zucchini and pine nuts

Pasta salad with  zucchini and pine nuts

 

500g (1lb) farfalle
1kg (2lb) zucchini
20 dried tomatoes in oil
2 red onions
1 bunch of basil 
3/4 soy cream 
3T pine nuts
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper

 

Cook pasta according to package and drain. Put in a large bowl.

Dice onions finely, grate zucchini. In a pan heat 2T of the tomato oil and cook onions until glossy. Add zucchini and pressed garlic. Cook for 5 minutes.

Put zucchini-mixture into the pasta bowl.

In a dry pan roast pine nuts. Add to the pasta along with the chopped basil and the dices tomatoes.

Pour cream in bowl and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Chill at least for 2 hours before serving.

 

 

Don’t judge the cake by its picture!

I promised you pasta salad and I give you cake – well, it could be worse.

 

My first try on vegan (or general) home-made lemon cake turned out way better than I ever imagined. Therefore the motto for today is: “Spread the love and share the cake”!

 

 

Juicy lemon cake

 

for 28cm cake tin:
3 oranges
2 lemons
300g (0,66lb) flour
250g (0,55lb) sugar
200ml (0,85c) oil

1 package baking soda

confectioners sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

Press one of the oranges. In a big bowl cream juice with sugar. Add zest of both lemon along with the flour and the baking soda to the bowl. Mix well.

Press the other two oranges and one of the lemons. In  a separate bowl mix juice with the oil. Add to the big bowl and mix. If the batter is too stiff, add some more lemon juice.

Grease the baking pan and fill in batter.

Bake for 55 minutes, but make sure to cover the cake after 40 minutes.

Let cool. Coat with a simple icing made of lemon juice (you should have at least half a lemon left) and confectioners sugar.