Well, it’s official. This January was officially the gloomiest in Dublin since 1962. We only had 25 hours of recorded sunshine for the entire month! I know that this blog is in danger of turning into Crazy Vegan Soups, but when you feel like you need a bit of comfort food, then this creamy cauliflower soup should hit the spot. Roast garlic gives it a kick, and stay tuned for the magical ingredient to make it creamy without needing soya or some other cream alternative. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cauliflower, cooked, recipe, soup, vegan
On cold, grey, winter days all you want to do is eat comforting food and (if at all possible) stay in bed. We can’t help you stay in bed, but we’ve got the comfort food sorted with this warming roast tomato soup. The kitchen smells wonderful while the vegetables are roasting too…especially the garlic! We recently made this for a family dinner, and included a posh basil swirly thing on top to make it extra special. Even the non-vegans were impressed! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cooked, garlic, pepper, recipe, roast, soup, tomato, vegan
A break-in at our house and theft of my laptop (and lots of other devices) has meant that these posts are very late. They were written, but saved in draft form. Anyway, we’re operational again now, so better late than never!
Continuing the five crazy vegans’ tour of Tuscany, we come to Torre del Lago Puccini – just south of Viareggio, Florence, and Lucca. Read the rest of this entry »
When we were planning our trip an Italian friend confidently commented, “you can’t be vegan in Italy. It just isn’t possible”. Always one to accept a challenge, Josh consulted the excellent Happy Cow website, and found that the Tuscan region has an abundance of vegetarian/vegan restaurants. Not only that, but we also found some local restaurants who were prepared to cater for “il pazzo vegani”. Read the rest of this entry »
Miso soup is light, healthy and quick – which ticks all the boxes in my book. We’re trying to reduce fat in cooking – and this dish contains absolutely no added fat whatsoever. The standard recipes I’ve seen are very mild, but I like to add a bit extra garlic and chili. Read the rest of this entry »
Then newest toy to arrive in the Crazy Vegans kitchen is a 5-tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator. We’d wanted one of these for a while – partly because it would increase the range of raw recipes available to us, and also because most of our favourite healthy snacks are dehydrated, but expensive. The principle behind the dehydrator is that it gently dries the food without raising the temperature above the critical 46 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit) that causes the enzymes to begin breaking down. So the nutritional value of the food is maintained, but it can add a bit of crunch and a “cooked” texture to fruit and vegetables.
Anyway, here’s a recipe for our current favourite snack – Spicy Crunchy Kale Chips. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: chili, chips, crunchy, kale, raw, recipe, snacks, spicy, vegan
The long period of inactivity has probably cost me my one, solitary reader (hi Mum), but contrary to popular rumour and the terrible smell, I’m not actually dead. Real Life and holidays got in the way a bit, but today I’d like to share a recipe for Vegan Yakisoba. Yakisoba (or Sosu Yakisoba to give it its full name) is Japanese for “fried noodles in sauce”. It’s quick to make, and tastes very good. Make sure you get good quality Japanese Soba (buckwheat) noodles. You can use whatever vegetables you have to hand, but we used cabbage, carrots, onion and mushroom. Read the rest of this entry »
The poor, much-maligned brussels sprout. Traditionally served grey and mushy with roast dinners, children are told to “eat your sprouts – they’re good for you” despite the strong, bitter flavour which comes from overcooking. If that’s your opinion of sprouts, then you’re missing out on a lot! Brussels sprouts – a cultivar of wild cabbage – are sweet and tasty if cooked properly, as well as being high in iron and vitamin C.
Here’s a very tasty recipe, which we served with a roast vegetable salad. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: brussels sprouts, cooked, recipe, vegan
Being from Yorkshire, you have to know a bit about onion gravy…it’s genetic! Anyway, we had a lazy, vegan comfort food evening tonight – vegan sausages, potato wedges, and delicious onion gravy. I’m sure you can figure out how to cook the vegan sausages and wedges, but here’s my recipe for a very satisfying vegan onion gravy. I need to perfect my vegan Yorkshire puddings now! Read the rest of this entry »
This is a quick and tasty, everything-in-the-cupboard kind of a dish. I made it exactly as below, but you can use whatever vegetables you feel happy with. It may be nice to add some fresh bamboo shoots or water chestnuts as well. Add a bit more chili sauce if you want more heat. You could use smooth peanut butter if you prefer, but I think that crunchy gives a bit more texture. It tastes much better with some nice, natural organic peanut butter – rather than the high in palm oil and sugar supermarket varieties. Read the rest of this entry »