Butternut and Rocket Salad.

I made this yesterday for lunch for the simple reason that I had butternut and rocket in my fridge. I will definitely be making it again. Next time I want to add beet to the butternut for roasting.

Butternut and Rocket Salad

1/2 a butternut peeled, deseeded and shaved with a cheese slicer or potato peeler
2 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp dried sage
1/4 cup almond slices
1 packet lettuce and rocket mix

Coat the butternt in the olive oil and sage. Sprinkle almonds over. Roast at 250 C for thirty minutes until caramelised and serve on a bed of rocket and lettuce.

If my posts are odd looking I have been reduced to posting from my phone because we have just moved house and have no internet as of yet.

Good bye Vegan MoFo from South Africa.

So it is really over. I did not get through everything I wanted to but I certainly enjoyed trying. Thank you to the people all over the world who shared my journey. Although I won't be posting everyday pop back now and again.

POTATOES!

Almost christmas time and of course what would christmas be without potatoes. So i have already given you my potato salad recipe but here are some more yummy ways to eat the good tuber.

Roast Potatoes

8 large potatoes peeled and boiled for about 8min
1/2 tsp garlic flakes
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
16 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to season
1/2C olive oil
100g margarine

Cut four slits into each potato with out cutting all the way through. Insert two bay leaves into each. sprinkle with garlic and rosemary. Drizzle olive oil and slice margarine over the potatoes. Roast at 180 C for 45 min basting occasionally.

Spiced Potato wedges

4 large potatoes washed and sliced into wedges
2 sweet potatoes washed and sliced into wedges
1/4C olive oil
3 T garam masala
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 T dried chili
3 cloves of garlic crushed

With the exception of the potatoes mix all the ingredients. Coat the potatoes with the mixture and roast at 180 C for 60 min.

Spiced Butternut and Sweet Potato

1 butternut peeled and sliced thinly lengthwise
4 sweet potatoes washed and sliced thinly lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil
1 T cumin seeds
1 T corriander seeds
2 T brown sugar
3 T balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to season

Toss the vegetables through the other ingredients. Roast 180 C for 30min.

Potatoes are loaded with fiber, magnesium potasium, phospherus and vitamin C. Sweet potatoes also have vitamin A

Champagne and nectarine jellies

Champagne and Nectarine Jellies

1 1/2C Nectarine cut into small cubes
2C Sparkling Rose
1/4C Castor sugar
3tsp Agar agar powder

Distribute the nectarine between four champagne flutes. In a pot mix 1C of the sparkling wine with the sugar and agar. heat slowly until disolved then increase the heat until nearly boiling. Slowly add the rest of the sparkling wine, mix and pour into the glasses. Put into the fridge for 3 hours until set and serve immediately.

Marinated aubergine linguine

I made this the other day. The recipe is from Vegan SA.

Aubergine Linguine

400g dried linguine
450g peeled and thinly sliced aubergines
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
150ml vegetable stock
150ml white wine vinegar
1 Sprig fresh oregano
3 Tbsp olive oil

Marinade:
2 Tbsp diced red pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped roasted almonds
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
Grated rind and juice from 1 orange
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 Tbsp lime juice
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Put the vegetable stock, white wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar into a saucepan and bring to the boil over a low heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the sprig of oregano, and simmer gently for 1 minute.
• Add the aubergine slices, remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the marinade: combine the marinade ingredients in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.
• Carefully remove the aubergine from the saucepan with a draining spoon, and drain well. Add the aubergine slices to the marinade, mixing well to coat. Cover with clingfilm and set aside in the fridge for about 12 hours.
• Cook the pasta. Drain thoroughly and toss with the remaining oil while still warm. Arrange the pasta on a serving plate with the aubergine slices and marinade, and serve immediately.

Chocolate brownies

These are VERY rich and probably not that healthy but my goodness they are yum!

Chocolate Brownies

2 1/5 cups flour
2 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbs good quality instant coffee disolved in 1 cup boiling water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
200g dark chocolate roughly chopped (look out for butterfat and milk solids in the ingredients)

Mix the dry ingredients except the chocolate in a bowl and then add the liquid ingeredients and mix thoroughly. Add the chocolate. Pour batter into a very well greased and floured pyrex dish and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 30 min. Leave to cool completely before cutting. If you want you can pour a small amount of liqueur over the brownies while they are still hot to add your favourite flavour. I love the almond flavour of Ameretto.

Glug Glug Wine (the easiest Gluwhein)

In keeping with the weather I am desperate to get home aand make this.

Glug Glug Wine (Gluwhein)

1l Mixed berry juice
1l Red wine
1 Cinamon stick
3 or 4 whole cloves

Soak the cinamon and cloves in about a cup of boiling water for fifteen minutes. Put the juice and wine in a pot, strain the water from the spices into the pot. Heat slowly until at the desired drinking temp (do not bring to a boil, the alcohol will evaporate). I put left overs in bottles and reheat in the microwave. I also drink this cold as a sangria in summer.

Winter warmers... in summer

Again it is freezing in johannesburg, an unpleasant reminder of how much the climate is changing. The way the summer in Johannesburg is supposed to work is that it is ludicrously hot during the day and at about four in the afternoon dark clouds gather and by six there are spectacular electrical storms. This summer we have been having rain all day for sometimes a whole week and it is cold miserable London style rain which we don't usually experience. Our rainy season is from August until March, this year it we had rain well into June (this cold rain) and this summer's rain only started late October. Anyway here are two recipes to keep you warm.

Judith's Lentil Curry

750g green/brown lentils

750ml coconut milk

100ml lime/lemon juice

1 tbsp lime rind, grated

4 big onions - cut into boats

6 red chillies - finely chopped

4 tbsp chopped garlic

3 x 2.5cm ginger - peeled and grated

15 cardamom pods - crushed

10 tsp cumin seeds

10 tsp fennel seeds

sunflower oil

10 tsp turmeric

3 tsp sea salt

8 tsp fenugreek powder

a little vegtable stock - about 100ml to 250ml

Cook the lentils until firm and set aside (ignore if using tins)

Slice the onion into boat shapes

Heat the pot (no oil) and add cardamom, cumin, fennel. dry roast for 2 - 3 minutes and remove from heat. Allow to cool and crush in the pestle and mortar.

Place oil into the pot - heat

Add the onions and fry until brown and dark on edges

Turn the heat down

Add the chilli (optional), garlic, ginger and lime zest and stir

Add the tumeric and fenugreek

Add the crushed dry roasted spices

Stir everything together and add in lentils

Add the cocunut milk and stock

Simmer for about 45 minutes until sauce thickens

I saw this Calorie Count article about the goodness of lentils

http://caloriecount.about.com/mighty-lentil-b470035?utm_source=fanpage&utm_medium=facebook&utm_term=blog_470035&utm_campaign=blog

Split Pea Soup

2 Large carrots sliced

1 Yellow onion chopped

Olive oil for frying

500g dried green split peas

500ml vegatable stock

Worcestershire sauce (look out for anchovies in some brands)

Soy sauce

Lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Fry the onion and carrots in the olive oil until soft, add the stock and peas, simmer for 1 hour, blend until smooth, add lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. I would add liquid smoke if it were available here...

The ONLY way to make potato salad

I don't care whether you are vegan/ veg or death eating this is the best potato salad.

Potato Salad

Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp rock salt milled
1 heaped teaspoon dijon mustard
4 tbs olive oil
A couple of grinds of black pepper
2 tbs chopped dill
1 small red onion choped
2 stalks celery chopped
1kg new potatos washed and boiled with the skins on

It is important to add the dressing to the potatoes while they are still hot so make up the vinegarette while they are cooking and add it as soon as you have drained the potatoes. To make vinegarette whisk together the garlic, salt, lemon juice and zest, mustard, olive oil and pepper. Once you have coated the hot potatoes with the dressing stir through the onion, dill and celery. Do not refrigerate the salad it should be eaten while still warm or at room temperature.

Vegans make the best salads (duh).

We had such spectacular weather on saturday it was impossible not to take part in South Africa's favourite past time braaing (or barbecueing as the rest of the world say).One may think this is not a very vegan activity but it is an excuse to eat processed soy (vegan junk food), garlic bread (properly chosen) and loads of salads. On the processed soy front I have to make a special mention of Fry's products without whom I would be lost on the braai front. I often go to braais where the death eaters scoff at my lack of blood and gore yet I never have leftovers to take home. On the garlic bread front Pick 'n Pay Garlic and Onion Braai Breads are made with margarine, not butter and are delicious.

Salads of course are vegan haven. I have noticed that death eaters and ovo/lacto vegetarians are in a major salad rut. It seems as long as the salad has feta in it, it must be fantastic. Look, I am not inhuman, I like danish feta as much as the next person (other than my obvious ethical objections) but it is getting to the stage where on e can put danish feta on lettuce and call it a salad. This applies to green salads, all other salads may contain any item drenched in mayonaise. This means that mayonaise coated cardboard may reasonably be called cardboard salad. There are so many glorious things to put in a salad but nonvegans are so reliant on dairy and eggs for flavour that so many good foods get forgotten.

My Favourite Green Salad
Salad leaves (these should at a bare minimum include rocket and baby spinach)
Cherry tomatoes
Baby mealies (corn)
Snap peas
Croutons (yes I know they are deep fried white bread)
Pimento stuffed green olives
Pumpkin seeds
Baby carrots
Avo
Gherkins (pickles)

Other yummy things to put in green salad include nuts, herbs, sweet bell peppers, sundried tomatoes, lightly steamed green beans or asparagus and roasted brinjal. I don't have any amazing recipes for dressing I really just enjoy good old balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Tomorrow I will post the only way to make potato salad, whether you are vegan or not! Remember it is Raw food Monday!

An appeal

This is not necessarily a vegan related post but it is a very important one and I figure I may as well use the international audience I have thanks to Vegan MoFo to make a very worthy appeal. I am running my first Comrades Marathon next year on the 29th of May. The race is 89km (56 miles) and is being run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. I am using this oppurtunity to raise funds for The Starfish Foundation, who help children in Southern Africa who have been affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I am aiming to raise R5000 (approximately $800). The donation process is run by an external organisation called Race 4 Charity. Even small donations will be of help.

If you would like more info on The Starfish foundation
http://www.starfishcharity.org/home.aspx?id_content=1

If you would like more info on Comrades:
http://www.comrades.com/

If you would like to donate:
http://www.race4charity.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=53
All the information you need is under How to Donate. My profile is listed as Helen Susannah Letseka.

If you know anyone who might be interested in helping please pass this along to them.

Thank You!

Mama Hellsbells Shebeen

As promised I am writing about my shebeen themed dinner of last night. Although Wikipedia swears that the word shebeen is used in many parts of the world, I have never heard it used in common speech anywhere other than South Africa so this whole post may be lost on my international viewers, but I will try to keep you informed. A shebeen is an informal (and usually illegal) bar set up in townships in south Africa to accommodate the residents there who were not allowed into "whites only" bars and clubs during apartheid. A shebeen is usually housed in a shack and decor and crockery are usually made from whatever can be found.

Bunny chow also originates from the apartheid era (or the apartheid error as I prefer calling it) when non-europeans workers were not allowed to be served their lunches on plates but were rather given them in a "bowl" made of hollowed out bread. Bunny chow is usually made from quarter or half loaves of bread. This is the only time that I will advocate the use of white bread. Bunny chows in brown bread are just not nice.

The bunny chows we made are probably the most unhealthy things I have ever cooked for guests, but one has to live a little. So called bunnies can be made in one of two ways, either the inside of the bread can be removed and put back on top of filling or the inside can just be squished down, which is what we did. Bunnies are most popular with the Indian community in South Africa and as such are traditionally filled with curry. I made this curry as a filling along with slap chips (french fries which are thick cut and and soggy).

Bunny Chow Curry
1 tin Indian Style tomatoes
1 tin curried vegetables
1 tin tomato, onion and chili mix
1 packet tomato and onion soy mince (200g)
200g spinach washed, destalked and torn

Put all the ingredients in a pot and cover with boiling water. Simmer for twenty minutes.

We had Snoek and Atchar Simba chips for starters and watermelon for dessert. It was quite nice to find old school glass Coke bottles at the local bottle store and of course all beer was served in quarts. A friend tried a twist on the Catemba (Coke and red wine) by drinking red wine and Fanta Grape. It was awful and I wouldn't recommend it!

I really wanted to post more pictures, but trust me you have never known true pain until you have experienced the speed of internet at South African educational institutions. I will try to edit them in later.

Shebeen dinner.

I was having six friends over tonight (all death eaters) and I was not sure what to make. I wanted something cheap and easy but still good enough for guests. Eventually I decided that bunny chow would be novel. On the way home I had the idea to make the whole dinner a Shebeen theme. I rustled up the whole thing from the food to the decor in less than an hour. It was a complete success! Check out my blog tomorrow for recipes and photos.

Other people's summer recipes

These recipes are not my own I have found them on other non-vegan sites. I want to share them with you all because they look delicious and often as vegans we don't peruse nonvegan magazines for food. Here in South Africa I love Pick 'n Pay's food mag Simply Fresh they often have veg dishes or ones which can easily be veganized through substitution. For those of you in the US and Europe these summer dishes may not be appropriate because you are heading into winter now. You can always turn up the heating and pretend that its summer. Even better come to South Africa for a visit, where we have the best summers in the world!

Mixed Berries With Champagne and Tarragon (From Womens Health SA)

Finely chop a teaspoon or two of fresh tarragon. Toss about four cups of rinsed mixed berries (raspberries, mulberries, strawberries, gooseberries) with a few tablespoons of sugar, a cup or so of sparkling wine and the tarragon. Let the mixture sit for about five minutes (longer if you have time) and serve in small bowls with your favourite sugar biscuit.

Red Kidney Bean and Mango Salad (Womens health SA)

Rinse and drain a can of red kidney beans and combine with a diced mango, a chopped red bell or small salad pepper, two or three chopped spring onions and some minced fresh chillies. Drizzle with olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Toss with fresh chopped mint or coriander.

Poached Tofu with Broccoli (Womens Health SA)

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add salt and then lower in a brick of firm tofu; cook until it just begins to float (five to 10 minutes). Meanwhile, whisk together equal parts soy sauce, sake, lemon and orange juice, and water with a little sugar and a few drops of sesame oil. Break a head of broccoli into florets. When you remove the tofu, plunge the broccoli into the pot; count to 20 and drain. Serve thick slices of tofu with the florets, drizzling the dressing over all

Padma Lakshmi's Comforting Lemonade Serves 4–6

Oh, how a gentle breeze runs through my hair and kicks up my petticoat as I sit in the swing on my imaginary wraparound porch. I am at times a frustrated Southern Belle in the most American sense of the word. Mind you, gals from South India are a whole ’nother bag, but I digress. This is a joyous way to enjoy a spiked lemonade on a hot summer evening. Be careful not to fall off your swing, as this tends to be a common side effect of gulping down one too many tall glasses of this tawny potation.
4 tablespoons sugar
1⁄2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
juice of 1 lime
1 cup whole cherries, halved and pitted
3 or 4 mint leaves, torn into bits
1 1⁄2 cups Southern Comfort whiskey
1. Warm 2 cups of water over medium-low heat and mix in the sugar, dissolving it completely.
2. In a pitcher, place—in this order—the lemon and lime juices, the sugar water, 4 cups of water, the cherries, the mint leaves, 1 cup of ice, and finally the whiskey. Stir. Serve immediately.
From Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet by Padma Lakshmi (Weinstein Books). Available now at Amazon.com.


Quinoa Salad with Beets (Oprah Magazine)

1 1/4 cup(s) quinoa
1 1/8 teaspoon(s) salt, plus more for dressing
4 medium beets, trimmed
2 tablespoon(s) balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon(s) lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper, for dressing
3 tablespoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 large seedless cucumber, chopped
1 pint(s) yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup(s) green beans, blanched and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup(s) chopped flat-leaf parsley

Rinse quinoa thoroughly. Place in a medium saucepan with 2 1/2 cups water. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook until quinoa is tender, 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, place beets in a large saucepan; cover with cold water (by about an inch). Add 1 teaspoon salt; bring to a simmer. Cook until beets are tender when pierced with a paring knife, 35-45 minutes. Drain; cover with cold water. Let sit until cool enough to handle. Peel and cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

In a small bowl, mix vinegar, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in oil. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, beets, cucumber, tomatoes, green beans, and parsley. Toss in dressing to serve.

Chickpea, Carrot, and Olive Salad with Cumin Vinaigrette (From Oprah Magazine)

1 1/2 teaspoon(s) cumin seeds
3 tablespoon(s) sherry vinegar
1/2 cup(s) extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 can(s) (15-ounce) chickpeas, rinsed well and drained
2 cup(s) julienned carrot
1/2 cup(s) finely chopped celery
3/4 cup(s) pitted black olives, halved
1/2 cup(s) raisins
2 tablespoon(s) finely chopped fresh chives
1/2 cup(s) cilantro leaves
To make vinaigrette: In a small pan, toast cumin seeds over medium heat for about 1 minute, shaking pan so seeds do not burn. Transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop seeds, then place in a small bowl. Add vinegar and then oil in a slow stream, whisking until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To make salad: Combine chickpeas, carrot, celery, olives, raisins, chives, and cilantro in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup vinaigrette and mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

A sweet nibble

I had thi last night as a snack and it was really yum.

Warm Pita Triangles whith Sweet Tahini Dip
2 Pita breads toasted in the oven and cut into triangles
1/4 Cup tahini
2 T syrup
A handful of almond flakes
A handful of raisins

Warm the tahini for 15 seconds in the microwave and then add all other ingreditents and stir. Use this as a dip for the pita bread. Any kind of syrup will do I used a sugar based vanilla syrup, agave nectar will work but the amount will need to be adjusted. If you are not vegan use honey.

Comfort food

We are having unseasonably chilly weather here in Johannesburg so I am thinking of making this for dinner. This stew can also be a minestrone if you add more liquid (water or stock). This recipe is adapted from one by my friend Judith.

Three Bean Stew
Olive oil for frying
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 large sticks of celery chopped
2 large carrots sliced
1 tin butter beans drained and rinsed
1 tin brown lentils drained and rinsed
1 tin red kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 tin tomato and onion mix
10 leaves of spinach destalked and torn into small pieces
3  fresh tomatoes diced
1 Cup brown rice
Fresh corriander (cilantro) to serve

Fry the onion, garlic, celery and carrots until soft. Add all other ingredients and add water unitl everything is covered. Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer until the rice is cooked. Serve with fresh corriander leaves.

Red kidney beans are the best source of vegetarian iron and contain more iron than even liver. Iron present in vegetables require vitamin C to be converted into a form absorbed by the body... enter the tomato. They are also an excellent source of manganese and B1. All beans are a good source of fiber and protein.

I am attempting my first vegan cake tonight and will bring it to work tomrrow to be taste tested by the death eaters. Wish me luck!

Raw Food Mondays

I have seen a lot of people following Meat free Mondays. Women's Health South Africa even posts a veg recipe every Monday.I think this is quite a cool initiative to get death eaters to eat more yummy veg food but it is a bit redundant for those of us who are already veg. I was wondering what I could do instead when I found inspiration from Woman and Home magazine. Raw Food Mondays. Yippee to salads, smoothies, fruits, nuts and nibbly raw veg.I hope you will join me for a nutritional kick, post-weekend detox, which helps the environment too. I have this recipe to help you along. I had these wraps at a friend's house yesterday and although it was a starter I managed to make a meal of it (thus avoiding the lamb main).

Thai Spinach Wraps
Large spinach leaves washed
Peanuts chopped
Ginger peeled and grated
Chili finely chopped
Vanilla syrup
Lemon pulp
Coconut grated

Take spinach leaves and spoon small amounts of the other ingredients into the center of the leaf. Roll to form a small parcel and eat immediately. I don't need to sing spinach's praises to vegans, we all know about iron, foliate and calcium. The vitamin C in the lemon will help with iron absorption.

What will grace these pages.

I am really loving this blogging thing. I have realised that there are so many vegan recipes I haven't tried. So to give you a taste of what is to come during MoFo and to ensure that I get my bum into gear, here is a list of recipes I will try and blog during November.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake
Vegan Gummy Worms (or Gummy Whatever Shape Mold I Can Find)
Champagne and Nectarine Jellies
Coconut and Chocolate Tart
Vegetable Tikka Masala
Marinated Brinjal Linguine
Polenta Chips

And of course many others. I also want to try my hand at tofu making, go and try out a new vegan tearoom called Leafy Green Cafe, make at least one recipe other than sushi which contains seaweed and hunt down nutritional yeast flakes.

Healthy potato chips.

I am craving greasy food this morning after a late night at an end of year function. I was just thinking if I was at home I would make these and eat them with guacamole, so i wouldn't desperately feel like going out and buying Lays Lightly Salted.

Potato Chips
Potatoes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper.

Prick potatoes and bake in the microwave on high for five minutes per potato. Aloow to stand until cool enough to work with. Slice into 1cm slices. Brush with olive oil. Lie in a single layer on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Grill each side until golden. If you are not vegan you can sprinkle with grated fresh parmesan before grilling. I have a recipe for polenta chips which I will give a go this weekend and see if its worth posting.

The best pasta sauce in the world... ever (vegan or otherwise).

So if you read my posts yesterday, you will know that it is Official Beetroot Day here on Cowlover ZA. Yes you guessed it, this sauce has beetroot, but if you don't tell anyone they will never know. This is possibly the only vegan meal I serve with confidence to death eaters. It started as an unassuming Napolitano sauce four years ago and has morphed into the amazing beast that it is.
 
This recipe contains a fair deal of red wine, but if you are a teetotaller, have no fear of cooking with wine (or any other tipple for that matter) as alcohol has a much lower boiling point than water, it boils off long before whatever you are making has cooked. I offer no alternative to the wine because there is none. Nothing in the world can reasonably replace red or white wine in a recipe.

Helen's Awesomeness in a Pot (serves 4)
2 tins whole peeled tomatoes (400g each)
2 sachets tomato paste (50g each)
1/2 packet black olives pitted and finely chopped (about 40g)
2 small beetroots peeled and grated
500ml cheap red wine

Put all ingredients in a pot and cook for at least two hours. Serve on whatever pasta tickles your fancy. Easier than pie! There are two very important things when making this sauce and they both concern the tomatoes. Only used whole peeled tomatoes, not chopped or pureed. Never pierce the tomatoes while cooking, leave them to cook until they disintegrate on their own. Disobeying these rules may lead to a bitter taste.

I have only one thing to say ANTIOXIDANTS bucketloads of them in every last ingredient!

If You are Über Healthy
Make as above but add 1 Cup of rinsed black lentils and 1 Cup of pearl barley before cooking and serve without pasta. 

A slightly odd recipe for potato soup.

I was trying to make something edible out of the oddiments in my parents' pantry this afternoon. The only thing I could really come up with was potato soup. So I threw a whole bunch of tins in the slow cooker (crock pot). Admittedly making soup in the middle of the South African summer is a little odd in itself, but what is even more odd is that when I came to blending the whole lot, I felt it desperately needed dill, which I didn't have. So what did I do? I put the liquid from a jar of gherkins (pickles) through a tea strainer and added that. It was quite a success. Of course adding normal chopped dill will work just as well, but you won't be recycling your pickle water.

A Little Odd Potato Soup (serves 6)

6 medium potatoes unpeeled, well washed, cubed
1 large yellow onion cubed 
1 tin baked beans in tomato sauce
1 tin whole kernel corn drained and rinsed
500ml  vegetable stock
2T tahini
1/2C strained "pickle water" or fresh dill to taste
Salt and pepper for seasoning

Put the potatoes, onion, beans, corn and stock in the slow cooker until the potatoes are soft. Blend (I use a hand held upright mixer). Add the tahini and "pickle water". Season with salt and pepper. The texture of this soup is not smooth because of the corn and beans.You could make this on the stove top, lightly fry the potato and onion first and use iL of stock.

I always add beans to my soups, it gives them a creamier texture and ups their protein and vitamin content. Baked beans are an excellent vegan protein source, are low GI and are loved by kids. Just check the sugar and sodium content of different brands.

One more reason to love lemon juice.

I love lemon juice, really I do! I drown everything in it, from tomato cocktail to veggie burgers.It has vitamin C, is believed to be a liver cleanser by some and its scent supposedly lifts one's spirits. What more could one want from a humble, little, sunshine yellow fruit which grows in many backyards (including mine)? Well there is yet another reason to love lemons, I have just read that Patrick Holford recommends putting lemon juice on your food because its acidity prevents your stomach from emptying too quickly, making you feel full for longer. Yippee! In honour of this new information I am posting my favourite lemony recipe.

Beetroot and Carrot Salad (serves 1)

1  raw beetroot peeled and grated
1 raw carrot grated
75ml Olive oil
30ml lemon juice
A handful of sunflower seeds

 Throw everything in a bowl and mix. Voila!

I do not peel carrots, or anything else if I can help it, because many of the nutrients in fruits and veg are either in or just under the skin. I try to wash my fruit and veg thoroughly instead. So what do you get in addition to all the fantastic benefits from lemons mentioned above? Beta -carotene from the carrots and beetroot, a whole host of disease prevention atributed to beetroot, including cancer and high blood pressure prevention and last but not least omega 6 from sunflower seeds and mono unsaturated fats from the olive oil.

I think tomorrow the beetroot deserves more attention as it is one of my favourite additions to every kind of food, including salads, pasta and cakes (yes I did indeed say cakes!). So tomorrow will be Official Beetroot Day here at Cow Lover ZA

A note before I post any recipes.

My recipes are not fat or sugar free. They do not follow a particular diet's recommendations. They are not part of a weight loss programme. I do not have nutritional break downs for them, but they are nutritious! I try to cook with so called 'super foods'. These foods are loaded with antioxidants, phytonutrients, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. I will try to list specific health benefits of ingredients used.

I will also often add 'If you are not vegan' options to recipes. These will usually involve dairy and are very important to people like me who are trying to feed a family in which every member is not vegan.

Lastly I am not scared of carbs. Especially not wheat. I run between five and ten kilometers a day. I will die without pasta and bread. My husband can barely maintain his weight at 50 Kgs. We are not a family who shies away from even high GI carbs. Be warned!

Product Review: Cili Bao Breakfast Meal

I was in Dis-Chem (my local pharmacy) today looking for a multi-vitamin, when I decided I would rather try a supplement shake and kill the vitamin and breakfast birds with one stone. My usual choice of shake is Ensure which I thought didn't contain dairy. I have to say the ingredients on those tins are printed in the smallest font known to man and I am nearly legally blind (literally), however today I spotted caseinates (milk protein derivatives) on the list. Sigh... put back on the shelf.

However I must have been having an excellent day on the eyesight front, because further down the health food aisle I spotted something I had not seen before: Cili Bao Breakfast meal. In the Cili Bao range was a soy milk powder so I had hope that their foods might be vegan. Lo and behold they were. There are quite a few products in the range, some of which contain a lot higher levels of nutrients than the Breakfast Meal, but the Breakfast Meal was the best priced (R78 for 14 servings).

Cili Bao is actually a type of fruit, of which I know nothing, however, it is apparently incredibly nutrient dense. All the Cili Bao products contain the fruit essence or crystals which is where they derive their high levels of vitamins and minerals from. The Breakfast Meal had about the same nutritional make up as the Ensure, so I decided to try it out.

According to the package you can make the breakfast meal by adding it to almost any kind of liquid. I made mine into porridge like consistency with soy milk. I found it to be extremely yummy. It was incredibly sweet which was perfect for me but may not suit some people. It is sorghum based (South Africans will know that taste as Maltabella) with a hint of fruitiness. There is no sugar of any kind in the ingredient list so it must be the fruit crystals which make it so sweet. They do give the breakdown of the sugars present and they are quite high.

I will definitely be eating this for breakfast for the next few months. It is a good source of protein, iron and B vitamins, as well as containing calcium. The nutritional value is even better when made with fortified soy milk. I don't mind the high sugar as it is natural and not added. My only complaint is that the fibre is far lower than I would have expected from a sorghum product. In fact only just over 1g per serving. I think I will add a teaspoon of oat bran in future to make up for that.

All in all I am very glad to have found this product as there is only so much oatmeal that a girl can eat in her lifetime!

Cili Bao Website

The daunting business of a first post.

So where to start? I suppose a bit about who I am would be appropriate. My name is Helen; I am 30, live in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have just completed my Masters in Biochemistry and am about to embark on my PhD. I am married (to Tutti Fruity) and have a gorgeous 15 month old (Smelly Elly). For the month of November I will limit this blog to vegan related rants in honour of Vegan MoFo (Month of Food).

I have been a vegan on and off for about three years, although I have been vegetarian my entire life My husband was an ovo-lacto vegetarian, but went back to eating death (my friendly term for meat) after we married (very convenient timing), my son is presently a pescatarian, I will allow him to make his own choices when he is older. No death enters my home although I do allow dairy, eggs and fish for my son and husband. I am often not a very committed vegan and I fall off the band wagon frequently, especially at social gatherings and restaurants. South Africa is not the easiest place to be vegan. Ingredients like nutritional yeast and agar agar are often difficult to find and usually very expensive, but I am trying my best.