Thankful Thursday - Vegan Swap Box & Moussaka

It's Thankful Thursday again and the last one of Vegan Mofo, so I thought it was appropriate to do a post on my fantastic Vegan Swap Box I received earlier this month from Heather. 

It was A-M-A-ZING! It was full of vegan goodies which I'm working my way through. If you've not heard about the vegan swap box before take a trip over to To Happy Vegans who organise the whole thing (unfortunately for UK residents only, but I have heard there is other swap boxes organised in other countries). Every month you are assigned a partner to send a parcel of vegan goodies to and in return you receive your own parcel of vegan goodies. It's really good fun and every month you get a parcel to open up and the contents are a complete surprise! Try it and see what you get.

I was lucky enough to get Heather again this month, Heather sent me my last parcel in July (I didn't participate in the August swap box as we were on holiday). Funny enough I got the same person to send to as I did in July, Michaela from Miss Chaela Boo. I'll let you know what I sent to Michaela in tomorrows post.

Don't worry there's a recipe of sorts too! But first here is what Heather sent to me:

• Co-op After Dinner Mint Thins
• Sweet Freedom Choc Shot
• Yu! Jus Fruit Mango
• Hapiness is Homemade Organic Desiccated Coconut
• Naked Noodle - Sweet & Sour Flavour
• Cooks Coatings for Roasties
• Pureety Gourmet Tangy Tomato, Black Pepper & Thyme Marinade
• Itsu Miso Soups x 3
• Jamie Oliver Pink Himalayan Salt
• Greenfields Ras Al Hanout
• Tyrrells Habas Fritas - Fried Broad Beans! YAY more beans!

As you can see a real good selection of vegan goodies, aren't I the lucky girl! I was chuffed to bits with the parcel including something bean like and I've used some of these on top of my leek and runner bean soup as croutons! Yummy!

I've never tried pink himalayan salt before, I know, I know where have I been! That's what I love about the vegan swap boxes you get to try stuff you've never had before. The Naked Noodles were enjoyed for lunch at work and I was pleasantly surprised with them. I've tried Sainsbury's own brand of something similar and I was bitterly disappointed with their version. I shall look out for the Naked Noodle brand as it's good to have as a standby lunch at work when you've forgotten to bring your own packed lunch!

I've not yet tried the miso soup, again this is a brand I've not seen before, but I love miso soup! I've not yet tried the roasties coatings either and I'm thinking maybe this Sunday, I'll try it out on my family. I think the marinade will be fabulous over tofu and can't wait to try this. I'm also thinking of making a bean tagine to use the ras al hanout, I have so many ideas and not enough time! 

The Co-op Mint Thins were a lovely surprise! It's my sisters birthday on Saturday and we're all going to Mum & Dads on Sunday for lunch so the Mint Thins can be enjoyed by all, I'll make sure I get my fair share though! Heather told me that she's addicted to the Choc shot and every time she goes into the kitchen she eats a teaspoon of it. Well Heather, I'm addicted now too! I've not had chance to use it on anything and I've been doing as you do and sneaking a teaspoon of the gooey chocolate sauce every time I make a cup of tea! I've not seen this before so I'm hunting it down, drop me a line and tell me where you get yours from.

The mango pieces didn't last long either they were gone the day after I received the parcel and enjoyed as a work snack. I'm planning to do some baking once Vegan Mofo is finished and the desiccated coconut will be used then.

All in all I think you'll agree and absolutely fabulous vegan swap box! Thanks Heather I love it!

You'll note that I mentioned that I'll also share a recipe (of sorts) with you today and I'm using some left over from yesterdays meal. As I have no freezer and I'm the only vegan in this household (although Marco is heading that way, he loves his veggies) I only made one portion of the aubergine and bean rolls which meant I had a lot of the aubergine, mushroom and butter bean filling left. I also still had some of the sweet potato "cheese" sauce left over so I put my thinking cap on and decided there was only one thing for it a moussaka.

All I did was slice up another aubergine, yes I bought another one! This is progress! Give an oven proof dish a quick spray of olive oil and add a layer of aubergine slices. Top with some of the aubergine, mushroom and butter bean filling and repeat finishing with a third layer of aubergine slices. Top with a layer of the sweet potato "cheese" sauce and then a layer of thinly sliced potatoes. Finish with another layer of the sauce and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

I served mine with chips (naughty I know) and peas, and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. I even went back for another taste as I couldn't believe how good it tasted. I will make this time and time again, its that good!

Apologies for the photo, it doesn't do the dish justice at all, but I was way too hungry and way too excited to try the moussaka, to faff around with photographing it! 

In other news, my sister won a cake decorating competition today! Yay! Go sis! I shall ask her if I can publish a photo of the cake and share it with you all. It was fantastic and shaped like a watering can, yep 3D and all!

Thankful Thursday - Bean Dhal

Thankful Thursday's are all about cooking or making food for others to enjoy and to say thanks for . . . . . . . 

Today I wanted to say thanks to my hubby who has put up with me cooking with beans every day during September, especially when he's not a huge fan of everything bean like. He has escaped the bean craze on quite a few nights though so don't feel too sorry for him.

He also tells me I'm the loudest typist in the west and he's had to put up with that too, let alone  photographing the food before we can tuck into it! So as a thank you I decided to cook him his favourite dish.

I made him a vindaloo curry and for a side dish and my main dish, I made a dhal with beans! There is no escaping the bean world during September and vegan mofo.

Ingredients
115g Red lentils
50g Mung beans
600ml Vegetable stock
1 knob ginger
2 Cloves of garlic
½ Tsp Turmeric
1 Green chilli
½-1 Tsp Salt
150g Runner beans

Method (Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side dish)

Grate very finely the ginger and garlic so you have a pulp and finely dice your chilli. Add all the ingredients bar the salt and runner beans to a pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes until soft, adding more water if the mixture becomes too dry. If you prefer a smooth texture pound the mixture with a potato masher and add a little more boiling water if required. Taste and add salt if its needed.

Meanwhile top and tail the runner beans, cut to 5cm widths and add to a pan of boiling water. Simmer for 5-10 minutes depending on the age and size of the beans, you want them with a little bite. Drain the beans and add to the lentil mixture. Serve with plain boiled rice as a main dish.

I packaged up the left overs for lunch the next day, but I added 1 chopped tomato as the mixture looked a little dry. I had a quick taste and next time I make this I will definitely add chopped tomatoes, it worked really well.

Thankful Thursday - Runner Bean Chutney

Christmas is a coming and my cupboards are getting stocked! I'm starting to make some presents already, yep, I know we're not even out of September yet and there is Halloween and Bonfire Night to go! But this girl is getting organised. 

I love making presents for Christmas, especially of the cooking variety. It's a great way to show how much you love someone by giving them something you've made and taken time and care over. If I'm super organised I make hampers, which are full of lovely goodies that I've made.

Today, I'm going to share with you an old family recipe that I've adapted to incorporate beans! Today I'm making Runner Bean Chutney. It's truly delicious and brings a piece of summer to the dark winter months.

You can use it to perk up some vegan cheese and crackers or melted cheese on toast. I've even used some in stir fry's, it's very versatile. You can easily double up the recipe but as I've only got a small garden and only 6 runner bean plants I don't normally pick more than 500g in a day. But even 500g of runner beans makes a few jars of chutney, I made 5 small jars.

Ingredients
500g Runner beans - weighing about 460g when top and tailed
Salt 
375g Onions, chopped
460ml Malt vinegar
20g Cornflour
2 Tsp (heaped) Mustard powder
2 Tsp Turmeric
220g Demerara sugar 
110g Brown sugar

Method
Pour 160ml of the vinegar into a pan and add the chopped onions. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes until the onions are a soft.

Whilst the onions are simmering prepare the runner beans and cook in salted water for 5 minutes then drain and add to the onions.

Mix the mustard powder, turmeric and cornflour with a little of the remaining vinegar until you have a paste. Add to the onions and beans mixture and stir through.

Pour in the remaining vinegar and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Then stir in the sugar until it has dissolved and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Pour the chutney into hot sterilised jars, screw on the lids loosely and leave to cool overnight. Best to keep for 1 month before eating or longer if you can!

Thankful Thursday - Five Bean Tacos

Today's daily theme is Thankful Thursday which is all about giving to others. I love cooking for friends and family and look forward to hearing the feedback, good or bad. Thankfully there has been more good than bad!
Last weekend we went camping with some friends for two nights and I rustled up a batch of this Five Bean Taco recipe before we went. All it needed was heating up and putting into the taco trays, when we got there. We were all ready for it after putting up the tents. I find the Taco trays a lot easier to handle than the Taco shells, especially where kids are involved. This recipe is so so easy and very quick to make, you can easily double or halve the recipe if you need to feed more or less.

The main recipe uses store cupboard ingredients and is quite readily called upon especially if the fridge is looking bear. However as I was feeding 7 people all with good hearty appetites I wanted to add a few extras which were of the fresh variety.

Ingredients
14 Taco trays or shells
2 Tins of Mixed Taco Beans in chilli sauce
1 Tin of Baked beans
1 Tin of chopped tomatoes
1 Small tin of spicy refried beans
2 Onions, finely chopped
1 Red Pepper, finely chopped 
1 Chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 Small head of broccoli, finely chopped
Handful of baby corn, finely chopped
Handful of sugar snap peas, finely chopped
4 Mushrooms, finely choppped
2 Tsp Paprika
1 Tsp Cumin
1 Tsp dried chilli flakes (if you like it HOT)
1 Tsp Dried mixed herbs
Olive oil

Method
Saute the onion in a little olive oil until translucent and add the chopped chilli, stir to incorporate. Next add the red pepper, broccoli, baby corn, peas and mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes more. 

Add the tins of beans and chopped tomatoes and stir to combine all the ingredients. Leave the mixture to simmer for five minutes before adding the tin of refried beans. Make sure that the refried beans are stirred in thoroughly. Add the spices and herbs and give everything one more good stir. Let the mixture simmer for another 5-10 minutes stirring regularly so as the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile heat the Taco trays or shells in an oven as per the packet instructions. Obviously we couldn't do this while we were camping but it does make the difference. I just heated the Taco shells through in a dry pan until the oil in the taco trays started to show.

Top the Taco shells with the chilli bean mixture and add a drizzle of garlic vegan mayonnaise. See I told you it was easy. Its also delicious you really must try it.