Dips Galore

I had some french-like bread left over from yesterday, which was part baked so I treated myself to a range of dips/spreads to eat with it for lunch.

I made 5 dips and did way too much for just me, I'll be eating these all week I think! The dips I settled on were:

• houmous, of course it wouldn't be the same without it, 
• olive tapenade, which was thoroughly enjoyed yesterday so I made another batch
• creamy celery, ditto the olive tapenade
• baba ganoush, an aubergine dip
• red pepper houmous

I've never really had a success with making baba ganoush at home, but after eating it at a local restaurant (the vegan and vegetarian night) I was tempted to give it another try. To make it a little sweeter I added some roasted red pepper to the blender. The verdict, not bad, but could do better, I'll have to work on the recipe before I post it. It was a little on the bitter side, I thought that these days there was no need to salt your aubergines but maybe I am wrong, its back to the drawing board for that recipe. 

The red pepper houmous was lovely though, I made up a batch of my standard houmous and halved it and added 1½ roasted red peppers to one half and blended again.

Ingredients

1 Tin of chickpeas (skins removed)*

1 Clove garlic

1 Tbsp Tahini

½ Lemon - juice only

1 Tsp Cumin

Salt & Pepper

1½ Red Peppers (roasted, skins and seeds removed)

* This is a little tedious to say the least but so worth it for the extra creaminess it gives the dish.

Method
Blend together the skinned chick peas (drained, juice reserved), garlic, tahini, lemon juice, cumin and a little of the drained liquid. Blend to your desired consistency adding more of the reserved liquid as required. Add salt and pepper to taste and blend again. Halve the mixture and blend the roasted peppers with one half.

A Vegan Girls Lunch

I hadn't caught up with my sister in ages because I'd been poorly and the last thing she needed was to catch anything I had whilst she was recovering from Guillain Barre Syndrome. But today she and Mum came for lunch. It was such a beautiful day (between downpours) and we decided to eat al fresco. I absolutely love eating outdoors when the weather is warm enough, it really does make you feel like you are on holiday. We were lucky enough to miss the showers, but just after we cleared up the heavens opened!

The spread I put on was a simple but tasty variety of vegan food and included some french-like bread spread with vitalite, a gorgeous garden salad put together by my sister, falafels, Mediterranean couscous (yep another packet was lurking in my cupboard), toasted seeds, beetroot and a trio of dips. The dips I chose were houmous (of course), olive tapenade and creamy celery. Recipes below.

Olive tapenade Ingredients
100g black pitted olives
10g Capers
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Garlic clove
Dash Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Method
Put everything into a food processor and blend to a paste.

Creamy Celery Dip Ingredients
3 Ribs Celery
1 Tbsp Vegan cream cheese
Dash vegan Worcester sauce
Dash Olive 
1 Tsp Dried Parsley
½ Tsp Dried Thyme

Method
Put everything into a food processor and blend to a paste. Be careful not to add too much Worcester Sauce or Olive Oil you don't want to make it too runny.

The spread was perfect for a glorious sunny day (between showers). Both Mum and my sister thoroughly enjoyed it.