How to make vegan potato cakes with leftover mashed potatoes.

What kind of person has left over mashed potatoes I hear you ask!  Not me usually, but if I know I want to make potato cakes I deliberately make double the amount of mash then try not to eat it all so there are actually leftovers. 

Potato cakes are my favourite thing to make and eat at the moment, and they're really easy and cheap to do!

You'll need, 

leftover mashed potatoes 

flour (any kind will do!)

oil

seasoning

anything else you want to add in - I like chives or spring onions in mine.

1.  Add a spoonful or two of flour at a time to your mash, and mix until it forms a stiff dough.

2. Add any seasoning (how much depends on if your mash was seasoned already) or herbs if you want to use them.

3. With floured hands take a golf-ball-ish sized amount of mixture, roll it then flatten it between your hands, then put into a medium hot pan with a little oil in in.   TOP TIP - cold mash, that's been in the fridge before you use it, is a lot easier to handle!

4. I carry on making potato cakes and putting them in the pan as I go.

5. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes per side, until they're golden brown, then serve hot, or keep in the fridge or freezer.

See, easy peasy!  I like them for breakfast or lunch with lots of vegan margarine spread on and sprinkling of sea salt.  If you make a big batch they store well in the fridge or freezer too.

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Four variations on Jamie Oliver's vegan brownie recipe.

Jamie Oliver's vegan chocolate brownie recipe is my new favourite, favourite vegan brownie recipe!  It's soo good.  And simple to make.  And has no faffy ingredients. 

You can find Jamie Oliver's vegan brownie recipe here.  

Recently we threw a big party and I made loads of brownies to feed our guests.  Here are the different variations I came up with,

Vegan chocolate brownies with chocolate chips and sugar stars.

I found myself looking at my brownies and wondering how to make them less, well, brown.  So I sprinkled some colourful sugar stars on top before baking, as well as missing out the nuts from the original recipe and adding a metric-arseload of vegan chocolate chips.

Vegan chocolate brownies with Oreos.

For this batch I broke up half a packet of Oreo's and mixed it into the batter.  I added bigger chunks on the top before baking.  And lots of chocolate chips, because chocolate chips. 

Vegan chocolate brownies with macadamia nuts. 

This was an easy variation, I just swapped the pecan nuts recommended in the recipe for macadamias - yum.

Vegan chocolate brownies with vegan fudge.

I made this variation of Jamie's chocolate brownies with vegan fudge instead of nuts.  I use Fabulous Freefrom Factory's Dairy Free Fudge, cut up into smallish cubes, mixed into the brownie batter and scattered on the top before baking.  I also added chocolate chips.  Because I'm a fan of chocolate chips.

This has quickly become my go to recipe, and I see many many more Jamie Oliver vegan brownies in my future! 

(Although I still have love for my old fave vegan chocolate brownie recipe too!)

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A yummy vegan chocolate fudge crispie cake recipe.

I love chocolate nest cakes at Easter!  This is my own vegan chocolate fudge version,

You will need

200g dark vegan chocolate

2 big dessert spoons of golden syrup

1 tea spoon of vegan margarine

pinch of salt

rice puff cereal

vegan ready to roll icing

a bowl, spoon, microwave and a serving dish.

How to make vegan chocolate fudge crispie cake

First melt the chocolate in the microwave, then add in the syrup, margarine and a pinch of salt and mix it all together thoroughly.

Pour in the rice cereal a bit at a time.  It's a bit tricky to mix, because the chocolate mixture goes quite fudgy, but persevere and don't worry too much if there are some bits of cereal that won't get covered.

Press the mixture into whatever dish you want to serve it in, I've used a cute little Pyrex one.  You can also make individual ones, each in a small dish, bowl or tea cup. 

Then decorate it!  I've used some ready to roll icing to make mini eggs to go on top.

Pop the cake in the fridge to set, then serve for pudding on Easter (or breakfast?  Well it is chocolate day!).

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Vegan rice krispie treat recipe, with Freedom Mallows vegan marshmallows.

These vegan rice krispie treats are sweet, light and yummy!  I was sent some vegan marshmallows from Freedom Mallows to try, they're delicious to eat on their own, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to whip up some lovely vegan treats!

You will need

1 75g packet vanilla Freedom Mallows

2 desert spoons vegan margarine

2 or 3 cups of rice krispies

Pan, spoon and a tin or tray.

How to make yummy vegan rice krispie treats

Melt the margarine in the pan over a gentle heat.

Add the vegan marshmallows and stir until they've melted.

Add rice krispies slowly into the pan, until they're covered with a light coating of the marshmallow mixture and are sticking together.

Push into a tin, tray or pyrex dish and firm and flatten out with the back of a spoon.

Chill in the fridge, then cut into squares and enjoy!

Freedom Mallows come in vanilla and strawberry flavours, and they're free from egg, dairy, gluten, gelatine, soy, GMOs and nuts, and they're suitable for vegetarians and vegans!  Phew!  They're also yummy, soft and melt in the mouth-y.  

My chief omnivore taste tester, Joe, say's the Freedom Mallows are just as good as non-vegan mallows and that my homemade vegan rice krispie treats are just as good as the Kellogs ones he buys from the shop. 

Have you tried Freedom Mallows yet?

Disclosure - I was sent the Freedom Mallows to try.  I only work with brands I like and all opinions are my own.  

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My favourite way to eat left over chips.

What's that I hear you say, left over chips?  Surely such a thing doesn't happen, you eat up all your yummy chips as soon as they pop out of the fryer/oven/takeaway.  But surprisingly sometimes there are left over chips, and this is how I like to eat them up.

Chop the chips up roughly into bite size pieces.

Heat a frying pan and spray in a couple of squirts of oil.

Put the chopped chips into the pan, with a good sprinkle of paprika and

a finely chopped clove of garlic.

Fry for about 5 minutes, add a chopped spring onion for the last minute.

That's it.  Easy peasy, I like to eat it for brunch! 

How do you use up your left over chips?  (if you ever have any, haha!)

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How to make vegan potato and lentil bake, the perfect autumnal comfort food.

Now it's officially autumn it's officially time for comfort food!  Yey!

This vegan potato and lentil bake is my take on one of my Mum's vegan recipes.  We call it Monday Bake because Mum would cook it on Sunday night in the oven with the Sunday dinner then reheat it to eat on Monday after we'd all had a busy day at work and school.

I still call it Monday Bake, although it can be eaten any day of the week, and it's even good zapped in the microwave at work for lunch too.

 

You will need

2 large carrots

3 medium sweet potatoes

6 medium potatoes

2 leeks

3 cloves garlic

6 handfuls fresh spinach, or a couple of handfuls of frozen spinach

2/3 cereal bowl of red lentils

a little oil

2 oxo cubes.

Steaming pan

ovenproof dish

bowl

jug

serves 6 (you can make it in a big huge oven dish, or split it into smaller dishes to store or freeze)

How to make your yummy vegan lentil and potato bake

Put the kettle on, or get some water boiling in the steamer pan.

First slice all the root veg into slices about half a centimetre or so thick.  Peel any veg you think needs peeling, but I usually make do with giving everything a good scrub.  Mix up the sliced veg and add it to the steaming baskets, then steam until they're soft.

Put the red lentils in the cereal bowl, and top up with water, just to soak them and help speed up the cooking time.

While the veg is steaming, cut the leeks up into fine slices, then fry in a little oil until they're soft and a bit caramelised.  Add the garlic, sliced or crushed, about 5 minutes before the leeks are finished.

Roughly chop the spinach.

Make up some vegetable stock, I do about 500ml boiling water with 2 veg oxo cubes.

Ok, so that's your prep all done and you're ready to layer up the bake then bake it! 

Put a layer of the leeks in the bottom of your dish, then a layer of lentils, then a layer of spinach, then a layer of the potato, sweet potato and carrot slice mixture.  Pour a little stock on to just cover the layers.  Carry on building layers until the dish is full up, or you've run out of mixture! 

Pop the dish in the oven to bake, about 200 degrees for an hour.  If you use a glass dish you can see all the layers and keep an eye on the lentils to let you know when it's cooked, if they're still orange and hard looking it needs more time! 

After an hour you can eat it, or let it cool and fridge or freeze it.  It's waaay better eaten the day after, the flavours get better the longer you leave it.  And it's best served with homemade garlic bread! 

 

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How to make vegan Thai spiced noodles.

This is my recipe for spiced Thai noodles, they've become a bit of an obsession round these parts!

Every couple of months Joe and I go to a seasonal market with food and crafts, down the street-art-ified back alleys of Digbeth, Birmingham.  I am IN LOVE with some 'lightly spiced Thai noodles' sold at one of the street food stalls (these ones!), I even dream about them!  

Sadly, I don't have 24 hour access to those yummy Thai noodles, so I've been trying out a recipe of my own and I've finally perfected it.  

Lots of Thai curry paste isn't vegan due to the presence of fish sauce.  We found some that's suitable for vegans in Tesco, so that's what I've been using.

You will need

1 teaspoon Thai curry paste

small thumb sized piece of ginger

2 fat garlic cloves

veg - whatever you like but I use1 carrot, 1/2 red pepper, 1 small onion, frozen peas, spring onions

oil

2 servings of your noodles of choice - we use ramen or whole wheat noodles

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

salt/half a vegetable stock cube

frying pan

sauce pan

serves 2

How to make your yummy Thai spiced noodles

First chop all the veg into small pieces and the garlic and ginger into tiny pieces.

Put some water in the kettle and boil it, while you fry the carrot and onion in some oil in the frying pan.

Add the peppers and peas, garlic, ginger and curry paste to the frying pan.

Add turmeric, salt (or stock cube) and the noodles to boiling water in the saucepan and cook following the packet instructions (usually for about 4 minutes).

Drain the noodles.

Add spring onions to the frying pan and fry for 1 minute.

Add the noodles to the frying pan with a tiny drop of oil and stir through.

That's it, pour those noodles into a bowl and get slurping.  The best thing about this recipe, apart from it being delicious, is it's so quick!  It takes me no longer than 10 minutes to chop, fry and boil my way to lovely Thai spiced noodles, much quicker than a trip to Digbeth!

 

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