Stuffed Squash

You know when Autumn is finally here as the veg plots are full of ripe winter squashes and the shops are stacking pumpkins high in preparation for Halloween and beyond. Personally I think carving a home grown pumpkin is such a waste, why miss out on all that delicious flavour.

I have three types of winter squashes sitting in a sunny windowsill, almost smiling at me saying pick me pick me, I'll be delicious. Tonight I could resist no more and I chose a carnival squash to have for my tea.

In my opinion, roasting winter squash truly brings out their sweet flavour, and as an added bonus they are extremely good for you too. High in vitamin A and vitamin C, rich in carotenoid antioxidants and they also provide complex-B vitamins, which are B1, B3, B6, pantothenic acid and folate. So all in all a pretty good vegetable to have on your dinner plate!

Ingredients

1 Carnival Squash

1 Carrot

1 Onion

1 Clove of garlic

1 Yellow pepper

½ Tsp Chilli flakes

1 Tsp Ras el hanout

200g Chestnut mushrooms

½ Small Aubergine

3Tbsp Couscous

1 Bunch Coriander

Method

Pre- heat the oven to 180°C. While the oven is heating up prepare the squash. Cut in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Separate the seeds from the pulp, you can roast them and use as a delicious snack. When the oven is ready place the squash cut side up on a roasting tray and bake for 40 minutes or until the flesh is soft.

While the squash is roasting, peel the carrot, onion and garlic and chop into chunks along with the yellow pepper. Add to a food processor and process until chopped finely. Fry in a little olive oil with the chilli flakes and Ras el hanout until the onion is translucent and the carrot is soft. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the mushrooms and aubergine to the food processor and process until finely chopped. Transfer to the heated frying pan and cook until the mushrooms have browned and the aubergine is cooked through then transfer to the bowl. 

In a separate bowl add the three tablespoons of couscous and just enough hot water to cover. Leave for 5 minutes before you break up the grains with a fork. Meanwhile finely shred the coriander.

Add the couscous and coriander to the bowl and stir to thoroughly combine.

Remove the carnival squash from the oven and spoon the mixture into the hollow squash and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes to heat through.

Serve at once.

Wolverhampton Vegan Festival - Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about the goodies we had bought at the Wolverhampton Vegan Festival and today I'm going to tell you about the cookery class we attended and meeting Vanessa of Essential Vegan.

After buying our lunch from Rainforest Kitchen we went and sat down to watch a cookery class entitled Tofu Masterclass with Vanessa Almeida of Essential Vegan.

Vanessa shared her tips by cooking two different dishes which included '"mouth-watering mince meat made from defrosted tofu" and "marinated tofu steak". My friend and I had front row seats and we watched Vanessa transform a block of tofu into two healthy vegan meals.

Unfortunately the set up wasn't high tech and it needed Vanessa's husband, Neni, to follow her around with a microphone so we could hear what she said. 

Vanessa didn't let this bother her though and even threw in a few jokes about it. It must be hard to show an audience how to cook when you are not in your own kitchen. Especially when the cooking rings don't get as hot as you would like them too.

Is it 'PA-prick-a' or 'pa-preeka'? 

Vanessa, encouraged the audience to ask questions throughout her show . . . . . .

. . . . . and gave tips

Even when the microphone stopped working, Vanessa carried on with the show................

Vanessa was disappointed not to hear a bigger sizzle when she tipped the tofu mince into a pan.

The show was a success, even with the technical hitches, both Vanessa and Neni did well.

The audience got to try the two recipes Vanessa created, both from her new cookbook "essential vegan". I enjoyed the tofu steak and I make something very similar myself at home as I guess most vegans do. There was however many non-vegans in the audience who loved this dish as there was a lot of 'oo-ing' and 'ah-ing' going on.  I wasn't that overwhelmed by the tofu mince though, but maybe that's because the dish had pineapple in. I'm not a fan of fruit in savoury meals at all, although my friend is, and she thought the dish would stand up to a few different fruits.

After the show we got chatting to Vanessa, who is lovely, and she signed her recipe book, which we had bought at the show, of which £2 goes to animal equality. I asked Vanessa if I could publish the photo's I had taken on my blog and she kindly agreed. She also asked if I would review some of her recipes and give her some feedback, so watch this space over the next few weeks. I wish Vanessa every success with her beautifully designed recipe book and please take a look over at her website, where you can buy a copy of her book.

Wolverhampton Vegan Festival

Happy World Vegan Day! 

Last Saturday my friend (my gardening angel) visited Wolverhampton Vegan Festival and we had a fabulous time. The Civic Hall was packed with stalls all selling vegan items from food and drinks (obviously) to clothes, make-up and beauty products. Between us we spent an absolute fortune but it was worth every penny!

The festival was over two floors of the Wolves Civic and included catering stalls, cakes & confectionery, other food & drink stalls, cosmetics and toiletries, vegan support & information, animal protection groups & sanctuaries, environmental & awareness campaigns and various other stalls. My favourite stalls included: Rainforest Kitchen, Goody Good Stuff, Ms Cupcake, Hempish, Toucan Fruit and Honesty Cosmetics.

After having a quick look around the festival and buying some goodies we were hungry and decided on Rainforest Kitchen for our lunch. We both had a Rainforest Box which contained around 7 different salads including, spinach, tomato & cucumber, tropical coleslaw, carribbean sunrise, red quinoa, wild rice, mungbeans & lentils and chickpeas, the box also included a falafel type ball, a dollop of sprouted houmous and a choice of dressing; tomato or hot pepper and all for £6.00. It was absolutely delicious and we sat eating ours in a cookery class, but more about that tomorrow.

There just wasn't enough time to fit everything in, as well as stalls and cookery classes there were also comedians, talks and workshops. I would have loved to go to the hemp-superfood talk, the vegan nutrition talk and the yoga workshop but we were just too busy visiting all the stalls and talking to the stall holders. Roll on next year!

We left the festival laden down with our goodies and as well as the soy milk you were given free on entering the festival I also bought; Organic Hulled Hemp Seeds, Hemp Tea, Home Made Seiten, Vegourmet Jeezini cheese slices, Honest Moisturising Cream and the Essential Vegan Cookbook. The cheese slices were the nicest I've ever tried I couldn't believe the taste and texture of them they were fantastic. I had to plead with the stallholder to let me buy one as they were only being used as samples. I'm dying to eat them up but then again I think they would be great on a vegan cheese board for Christmas. I need to order some more in! Unfortunately I didn't realise that the seiten had to be stored in the freezer below -8°C and as I don't have a freezer it has sat in my fridge and I'm not sure if it will be safe to eat. Can anyone help?

The hemp tea is fantastic and I'm really enjoying a cuppa especially after I've finished work, it seems to help me unwind. I'll definitely be ordering more of this. The stallholders of Hempish were full of useful information and told us many benefits of growing hemp. They told us that hemp needs no pesticides because it is unpalatable to insects, it needs no herbicides because it grows too quickly for any weed to compete, it takes about 100 days to mature, and it is one of the nutritious food sources in the world. It is one of the best plant sources of plant protein and fat you can find. The seed contains all nine of the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids that are necessary to maintain a healthy life. How could we resist in buying some? We were told that you can eat it with cereals, salads, add to hot meals or use in a smoothie. But its delicious just on its own, I could easily it the recommended 3 tablespoons a day just like that!

My other purchase was some moisturising cream from Honesty Cosmetics, since completing my aromatherapy blending course I've been looking for an affordable base cream to add my essential oils to and this fit the bill. I purchased a small tub of 50g for £5 and I'm deliberating which essential oils to add. I shall make a few different samples over the next few weeks which I'm looking forward to doing.

Come back tomorrow to read about the cookery class we attended and meeting Vanessa from essential vegan.

VPud - the verdict

Do you remember my last post about Stone Farmers Market over two weeks ago? I bought a vegan black pudding!

My regular readers will know that I'm not a fan of mock meats at all, but I couldn't resist buying this. I wasn't sure if I would try it but I couldn't wait to serve it up to hubby to see if he noticed the difference!

Ingredients: Cooked Pearl Barley, Rusk (Wheat Flour, Salt), Rolled Oats, Protein (Starch, Flour, Protein), Oatmeal, Non-hydrogenated Vegetable Suet, Salt, Barley Flour, Beetroot Powder, Herbs & Spices, Roast Barley Malt Extract, Natural Flavouring. Allergens: Wheat, Gluten, Celery.

The verdict? Hubby didn't notice the difference until he saw it on my plate! Yes, even I tried it! I was pleasantly surprised, I honestly can't remember what black pudding tastes like but this didn't remind me of meat so to speak. It was full of flavour and very 'herby'.

Would I buy this again, yes I probably would but it's not something that we would eat a lot of, maybe just as a fry-up treat.