Blackbean Brownies - The Happy Herbivore

The baked tofu was a success, the other day and I really enjoyed the texture and flavour. So I thought lets give the Happy Herbivore another go and I was so excited about trying the blackbean brownies. 

Sometimes when I'm cooking and the ingredients don't at first seem the obvious ingredients to use, like in this recipe, my mind takes over and tells me that the food will taste horrible before I've even tried it. But this time I was not going to let this happen, I needed to find something sweet that I could eat that was healthy(ish). 

This recipe did not fail to impress. I must make a second batch very soon! I think they will definitely be one of my favourites and one to cook up for 'cakes day' on my birthday for the office. I just need to find some other vegan cake recipes, I don't think I'm that confident to try making vegan cakes from scratch just yet. I enjoyed my first brownie with a cup of strong black coffee. No I didn't, I don't like coffee that was just for the photo I had mine with a big mug of earl grey tea! Delicious.

The recipe can also be found on The Happy Herbivore website. I didn't have any instant oats but I did have wholegrain oats and I don't think it spoilt the recipe at all. 

Baked Tofu - The Happy Herbivore

Two days ago, I told you that I was going to give a few recipes a go from one of the nine vegan cookbooks I own. I chose The Happy Herbivore cookbook because it is illustrated beautifully and you can see what your recipe should look like when you're finished. Strangely though the two recipes I chose hadn't got a photograph!

I chose Baked Tofu and Mustard BBQ Sauce. The BBQ Sauce called for ready prepared yellow mustard and all I had in my store cupboard was English Mustard powder, which I used. Boy this sauce was way too hot for me! Thinking about it now I think the yellow mustard the book was referring to was American mustard which I believe isn't as hot as English mustard. You live and learn! I diluted some of the BBQ sauce with hot water and marinated my pressed tofu in it for most of the day. I used my 9 vegan cookbooks as a weight for when I was pressing the tofu, see they've come in handy already!

Whilst the marinated tofu was baking in the oven, I wondered what I could serve with it as the BBQ sauce was too hot as an accompaniment. I still had some Broccoli & Cauliflower bake left over so that was it for the veg, I just needed something else...............

I had a little mash potato left over in the fridge which I'd made with vitalite and soy milk, but it needed sprucing up. I added chopped onion, a little of the mustard BBQ sauce and some of the remaining grated 'cheese'I used for the Broccoli and Cauliflower bake. After stirring both the onion and 'cheese' through I microwaved on high for 2 minutes and stirred through again.

The photograph really doesn't give the food much justice but believe me it was tastier than it looked! Now I must add that camera to my birthday list!

Cauliflower & Broccoli Bake

Well I didn't get round to cooking something from one of my 9 vegan cookbooks tonight!

All I fancied tonight was a plate full of vegetables, but my taste buds needed tantalising and a plate of cooked vegetables on their own just wasn't that appealing. In my days pre-vegan, one of my favourite dishes was cauliflower cheese, I couldn't get enough of it. I really was addicted to cheese! My Nan, bless her cotton socks was the best cauliflower cheese maker in the WORLD! Nothing ever came close that I made or indeed anyone else. The recipe was never passed on and we will never know what she did to make it so tasty. No-one can put their finger on the secret ingredient. My Mum has come close but never quite close enough. Since I've transferred to a vegan diet I no longer eat cauliflower cheese for obvious reasons but I still crave my Nan's dish! The reminiscing of Nan and her infamous cauliflower cheese dish had wet my appetite, I needed to veganise this dish and that's what I did!

Ingredients

Cauliflower

Broccoli

1 tsp Swiss vegetable bouillion powder

400ml soy milk

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp vitalite

2 tsp English Mustard

4-6 tbsp Nutritional Yeast

Black Pepper

Non dairy cheese-grated

Method

Turn on your oven to pre-heat at 180°C. Dissolve the vegetable bouillion powder in a saucepan of hot water and bring to the boil. Add the cauliflower and cook for 4-5 minutes, then add the broccoli and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the vegetables have cooked and still have a little bite. Transfer to an oven dish.

Meanwhile pour the milk into another saucepan and add the vitalite and flour, whisk over a low heat until the vitalite has melted and the flour has been whisked in with no lumps. Add the English mustard and stir through. As the liquid starts to thicken add the nutritional yeast and whisk. Have a quick taste and add more mustard, nutritional yeast as required. Add the black pepper whisking all the time. Once the mixture has reached the desired thickness to your liking pour over the cauliflower and broccoli. Grate over the non dairy cheese of your choice. I used cheesly melting (non dairy & non soy). Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Serve with a garden salad, mash potato or chips and peas.

Vegan Cook Books

I haven't blogged for a few days as I have been busy working, visiting S in hospital and catching up on Marco and Hubby time and SLEEP! I can't believe how tired I have been recently, which has meant that I haven't been very creative in the kitchen so I thought this would be a good time as any to try out a recipe from a vegan cook book.

I have a number of vegan cook books in my collection, 9 to be precise, but I can't remember ever cooking anything out of them! This needed to change and over the next couple of weeks I'm going to choose a recipe, cook it and let you know the verdict. In my collection I have:

• 500 Vegan Recipes
• Easy Vegan
• Easy Vegan Cooking
• Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites
• The happy Herbivore Cookbook
• Vegan Cooking For One
• Vegan Family Meals
• Vegan Planet
• Vegan with a Vengeance

You can buy all the above online, I think most of them can be bought on Amazon. All I have to do now is decide which one to cook something out of first! On a quick look through I think the Happy Herbivore is taking my fancy especially the Baked tofu with mustard BBQ sauce and then there's the Blackbean Brownies. Sounds scrummy! Can't wait to start cooking.