Sunset Soup

We seem to always have a lot of beets hanging out in our fridge. It’s my fault. I’m not a big fan of them. But the rest of my family LOVES them. Especially my husband. So when they show up in our weekly veg box week after week after week, I end up throwing them in the fridge and ignoring them until they reach a critical mass.

Now usually I end up making a vegan version of the chocolate beetroot cake. But we (sadly) can’t eat chocolate cake everyday, even though my little ones would probably be all for it.  So soup.

A few months ago I made something called “Sunshine Soup” (whose recipe seems to have disappeared, or else I’d link it) with golden beetroots and pumpkin. It was a HUGE hit, and Beans has been requesting it ever since.  We had a few golden beetroots hanging out in the fridge, but I also had a few red beetroots too, and no squash/pumpkin to speak of.   So I decided to invent “Sunset Soup”.

Roasted Veg

Sunset Soup

 

Sunset Soup

750 g beetroot

400g carrot

2 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

6 cups vegetable broth

1 tsp dried basil

2 tbsp fresh parsley

 

Preheat oven to 425 F. Toss your roasting pan in there while it heats up. Peel and roughly chop your beetroots and carrots.  Toss them with olive oil and salt. Roast for an hour, checking on them every 15 minutes or so. My oven is particularly cold and takes a long time to bake/roast/cook anything, so yours may be done quicker.

Once done toss roasted veg into a large saucepan.  Cover with veg broth,  add the basil and parsley. Bring to a boil, and then turn heat down to a simmer. Simmer for 15minutes and then remove from heat. Use an immersion blender to puree and then serve.

 

 

Sticky Tofu, with Couscous and Broccoli.

Recipe found here.

Charred Broccoli

Wholewheat couscous.

Candied Cashews

Sticky Tofu.

This recipe is one I always come back to, and something we have at least once a month. There is nothing not to like here. It’s fast to make, it’s healthy and well balanced, and my kids love it. The not-so-wee sprout ended up licking her plate after having seconds when we had this tonight. And the Bean needed no dessert bribery to eat every last bite.

Sunday Night Supper

We’ve had a trying week here at Casa Bite Sized.  On Thursday morning the wee Sprout woke up with a rash on her tummy. By the time we got to the doctor two hours later it had spread to most of her body, by the afternoon it had covered her face and by that night when I put her down to bed her face, hands and feet had swollen up.  She’s on the mend now. Some, so far unidentified, allergy has caused it.  She’s happy as a clam, but I’ve been feeling stressed and guilty every time I look at her spotty, swollen little face.

Sunday Supper

We’ve also started the process of looking for a new flat for our move at the end of November. Our current flat has a lovely kitchen, but the rest is much too small/cold/damp for our family of four. We tried to see a cute little house on Friday, but the tenants left without leaving a key for the estate agents. So we got to see the front garden and not much else. Sigh. We like the location and price though. So hopefully we’ll be able to see it soon. It would alleviate some stress if we found a new place to live soon.

Thursday (the day of the full-body rash) was also the Mr. and my 5 year wedding anniversary. I made chickpea cutlets with mustard sauce, roasted asparagus and roasted fennel and hazelnut salad. All recipes thanks to Veganomicon.  I was so stressed I forgot to take a picture. But I can assure you, it was delicious. And lovely with a nice glass of white wine,

Sprout plays with my Veganomican while Mr. does the crossword.

While I was planning out the above meal, and flipping through my cookbooks. I rediscovered the wonder that is Veganomicon. I haven’t used it for a few months, favouring my Robin Robertson cookbooks and the post-punk kitchen website instead. But looking through I was reminded just how awesome and creative the recipes are. Which leads us to tonights supper.  I made Saffron Garlic Rice (minus the saffron) with Chickpea Romanesco and steamed lemon-y kale.

Steamy Kale, with Chickpea Romanesco bubbling beside.

What a hit it was! My onion and garlic hating 3 year old child devoured the rice (which had visible onions in it) and asked for more. Even after being told just what she had eaten! And the still spotty Sprout ate hers with gusto, carefully balancing the chickpeas on her fork before shovelling them in. The Mr. went back for seconds, and there was still enough left for him to take as lunch tomorrow for work.

I really love when I make a meal that I don’t really expect the kids to like and they surprise me. It really is part of my parenting plan to make sure they taste a variety of flavours, both complex and simple before they reach adulthood.  I know I’m lucky to have un-picky kids (knock on wood). But I also have high expectations of the girls as well. I refuse to make more than one meal a night. So we will all eat the same thing as a family, even if it means a battle or two on occasion.  So for every night that we have the every popular mac and cheeze with hot dogs, we have something with a more adult flavour, like chickpeas romanesco, with it’s roasted red peppers, almonds, and serreno peppers.  Hopefully the kids will appreciate this all when their older.

Marble Banana Bread

Marble Banana Bread

I used this recipe from Post Punk Kitchen. My bananas were incredibly ripe so I risked the whole thing without sugar. Especially that way my wee Sprout could have a taste. Which she LOVED.

Anything Goes Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Courgette

Carrot

All the veg in my fridge…

There is a definite chill in the air these days. Which means it’s time for comfort food. Shepherd’s Pie is a favourite of my little family, and something I used to love as a girl.  The Mr. requests it almost every week and it’s one of my go to easy, healthy meals.

Beans Mashing.

This week I hadn’t planned on making it, but didn’t feel like making my originally planned meal.  A quick look throughout the cupboards and fridge and a half hour later this was baking in the oven.

My children love this, it’s soft and warm to eat. And I usually let Beans help me make it. She’s able to mash the potatoes for me and I often let her pick the veg we throw in.  I like to grate my courgette and carrots because it makes it easier for the Sprout to eat it.  She only has three teeth right now, so she needs things to be nice and soft. If grated they also cook faster, and they seem to almost melt into the rest of the food. Beans has taken a dislike to courgette, and by grating it I’ve noticed, she eats it without complaint. Sometimes we need to trick our children into eating things that are good for them, even Vegan kids don’t always eat their vegetables.

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Anything Goes Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

3-4 sweet potatoes, white potatoes or yams (or a combination, whatever you fancy)

1 cup puy lentils

2 1/2 cups veg broth

1 white onion

1 tbsp olive oil or water

2-3 cups chopped veg (I used carrots, courgette/zucchini, green beans, spinach and peas. But peppers, corn or mushrooms would be lovely too)

2 cloves garlic (or more/less depending on your love/hate of garlic)

2 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp marmite

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

salt and pepper to taste.

Put lentils and veg broth into a pot, bring to a boil and then simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Chop the potatoes into 1/2 inch dice.  Just cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for approximately 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain and then mash. Set aside.

Start preheating your oven to 375 C, or 190 F.

While the potatoes are boiling chop your onion and shallow fry it with the oil until translucent, about 7 minutes.  Add garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Put in the ketchup and marmite and stir until well mixed.  Throw in the rest of your veg and heat until soften. Then mix in your lentils. and herbs. Combine and heat through.

Put your lentil-veg mixture into the casserole dish, and then spread your mashed potatoes on top. Put in the oven for half an hour. Let cool for 5-10 minutes then serve.

Enjoy!

 

Autumn’s Here

The weather has turned here in the lovely UK. The rain drizzled down all day today, and there was a significant chill in the air.  My yoga teacher worked us incredibly hard today to make up for the lack of heat in the studio. It was lovely to hear the rain against the windows during the practice though.  The weather for the rest of the week shows plummeting temperatures and rain, rain and more rain.

I love summer, but I hate cooking during it. I find meal planning a chore because when’s it’s hot out I avoid turning on my oven and stove. The small people will only tolerate so many salads though, so cooking creativity is often required.

Autumn, however, means soups, stews and casseroles. It means fresh made bread and pies and simmering jams on the stove.  When Autumn comes I gravitate towards butternut squashes, apples and pumpkins.  I pull out the ginger and cinnamon. I lovingly go through all my cookbooks and mark out recipes with joy.  I bake almost every day and love how the oven takes the chill from the house.

Tonight I made Roasted Butternut Alfredo from Post Punk Kitchen.  Anything made with cashew cream is gorgeous, but the roasted butternut squash really elevates it. I tossed in some green peas and we had a winner of a dish. Beans asked for seconds, and also if she could lick the bowl of the food processor, just so she could lick up every drop of the sauce.

We have this pasta every few weeks through out the autumn and winter just because it’s such a hit with the girls.  Beans requests it often and I’m always happy to comply.  It’s really one of the most family/kid friendly recipes I’ve ever found.

Meal-Planning: A Survival Guide

Being vegan isn’t always easy. Especially when you are responsible for feeding a family. Quick, ready made meals are almost unheard of and eating out isn’t often an option, so I do almost all our cooking from scratch.

When we lived in Canada there were several vegan products on the shelves, from veggie burgers to veggie sausages. But I’ve found that here in the UK many, if not most, of the vegetarian meals contain egg or diary products.  Annoying! There is starting to be more availability from specialty stores, but they come at a cost.

So to keep us on the vegan path I need to plan ahead. Every week I sit down on the weekend and plot out our meals for the following week. I try to plan for a variety of meals and not to repeat a recipe more than once a month.  I take suggestions from Beans and the Mr. for meal they’d like to eat and then go through my websites and cookbooks (see the Resources page, linked at the top for a list of my favourites).

Some weeks I find this really easy. Some weeks it’s a lot harder.  But it’s always necessary and meal planning helps me keep to a budget.  We are currently a single-income family in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I’m currently trying to change that, but recession + 2 year absence from the work force + immigrant, are keeping me unemployed for the time being.

Meal planning is really my top tip for anyone trying to feed their family, vegan or not. I couldn’t imagine how hard life would be if every morning I had to think about what was for supper that night, and then had to drag my kids to the grocery store multiple times a week.

Vegan Month of Food: Tofu Quiche and Rice Pudding

It’s Vegan MoFo!

To celebrate I’m starting a blog! Huzzah!

When I tell people I’m a vegan and that I’m raising my children as vegans I get a lot of questions.  Some people are  rude, some concerned, some just curious.  Most often people ask me what we eat.  So this blog is my answer.  I’m going to blog about what our family eats, what works, and what doesn’t.

Tonight for supper we had a variation of this recipe from Oh She Glows, Sun-dried Tomato, Mushroom and Spinach Tofu Quiche. Now even though my children are wonderful in every way, and eat MOST things, they still have things that they hate. Beans who is three years old, in particular, can be picky. Sprout being 10 months old, less so.

So Beans despises cooked mushrooms. She’s fine if they are raw and in fact LOVES them raw, but  the texture of cooked mushrooms is a bit much for her. She also dislikes sun-dried tomatoes. Which is sad since the Mr. and I are big fans. She will eat olives and capers, though, so not a complete flavour-hater.

Instead of mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes I used the recommended asparagus and broccoli. I also added chard. Because it happens to be my favourite of the leafy greens.  It is ranked well above both spinach and kale in my heart.  I  also didn’t bother with gluten-free oats, since we are a gluten eating family.

Tofu Quiche – with an almond/oat crust.

And it was really great. Beans didn’t love it. But ate most of her serving with out too much persuasion. She thought the crust was yummy though, and ate that in it’s entirety. Sprout devoured hers.  She is quite partial to all the leafy greens, and picked all her chard bits out first. Both the Mr. and I ended up going back for seconds and I found it especially tasty with a bit of Franks sauce. I do, indeed, put it on everything. I talked to Beans about what other vegetables we could put into the quiche instead and she came up with carrot, pepper and green peas. So we’ll try that next time and see if she likes it any better.

This afternoon we went for a walk around our neighbourhood. Beans had been bouncing off the walls since breakfast, but neither the Mr. or I was up for an ambitious trip into town. We debated a few local parks, but the occasional shower put a kibosh to that. Playgrounds are significantly less fun when all the equipment is wet.  So we just decided to start walking and see how far we got. On our travels we walked past an amazing cake store, with tiered wedding cakes and birthday cakes in the window. We all immediately started craving cake, with Beans being especially vocal about baking on our return home.

A mental run down of my cupboards made me think that a quick cake was a bit out of the question, however I did have everything I needed for a baked rice pudding. The slight chill in the air and the light rain was making me think of autumn and cosy, comfort food and what is more comforting than rice pudding? My mother made rice pudding regularly throughout my childhood, it was her go-to dessert, and I’ve been searching for a decent vegan version. This is what I have cobbled together from various recipes.

Vegan Baked Rice Pudding

Vegan Baked Rice Pudding

1 15oz can coconut milk (full fat, but I think the low-fat could work too)

2 cups sweetened soy milk (or the non-dairy milk of your choice)

1 cup pudding rice

1 tsp cinnimon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 cup raisins (dried cranberries  or currents would also be lovely)

1/2 cup granulated sugar (more or less to taste)

Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F. Get a casserole dish. The one I used holds 3 Litres.

Throw all the ingredients into the dish, give it a stir and stick it in the oven for approximately an hour.

Take it out. Let it cool and then serve with a bit of non-dairy milk on top.

The Mr. said it tasted like Christmas, I think it tasted like home.