Dear Reader,
I won’t be updating my English blog anymore (perhaps only for the coming Vegan MoFo).
You can always take a look at my Dutch blog and translate it via Google Translate. If you have any questions about a post in Dutch, just e-mail me, and I will be happy to answer or translate it for you.
x Sara
It’s over the beautiful Vegan Month of Food. I thought the actively blogging was really a fun thing to do, so you can expect more of where that came from! What I enjoyed even more, maybe because this wasn’t the first time, was looking at all the participating blogs. So many vegans, so many delicious recipes, fun tips and useful information… awesome! Too bad that I didn’t get the chance to read all those blogposts. But I will add a post to it somewhere in November, to give a recap of the most delicious recipes and the most useful information and to see what I thought went well and less well, what was fun and less fun.
Not this cake, but another: Pear Cake!
To conclude, I give you a recipe. It’s based on the apple nut cake I posted last week, it even went into the oven after the apple cake. But I didn’t get any pictures, because when it came out of the oven it was already dark outside and now it’s all gone.
Pear Rhum Cake
1 cup spelt milk
1 tl apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup melted vegan butter or oil
1 to 2 tbsp rhum
1,5/4 cup brown sugar
1,5/4 cup normal or cane sugar
1/2 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup diced pears
extra pear slices to put on top of the cake
Stir the spelt milk and apple cider vinegar in a big bowl. Let it rest for a while.
Add the melted butter, rhum and both sugars and stir. Sift the whole wheat and spelt flour in, add the cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda. Stir till no lumps remain.
Add the pear and stir again.
Butter a long baking plate and pour in the dough. Put the pear slices on top of the dough.
Put it in the oven on 250°C for 75 minutes.
If you don’t like rhum, you can easily leave it out of the dough.
There’s a lot of fruit in our garden. But quinces seem to grow best and are one of those things that don’t get eaten by birds in 5 seconds. It’s too bad this fruit is not that well-known. I’m happy to see that there are plenty of recipes around on the internet.
However, we decided to make a simple jam. Or should I say, my mom decided to make a simple jam. It wasn’t the first time we made quince jam, but my idea to add agar agar was a hit. Often is said that agar agar has a temporarily effect. But I think that the effect stays because the jelly is put into glass bowls immediately after boiling. Fact is that the jelly turns into a real jam if you add agar agar. And the big plus is that you have to use a whole less sugar!
Quince Jam
3 l quince juice
1,5 kg sugar
juice from 3 lemons
25 gr agar agar powder
The above ingredients give you the ratios. I don’t exactly know how many kg of quinces you need to obtain 3 l. The best thing you can do is measure how many liters you have left after cooking your quinces.
Wash the quinces and rub the fuzz off the skin.
Slice them in thin slices. You can leave everything: the skin and the core (they have to go through a cheese cloth anyway).
Put them in a big pot and add water ’till the quinces are covered.
Bring everything to a boil, occasionally prick them with a fork to see if they’ve turned soft. When they’re soft you can put them off the fire and leave them to rest for a night.
The next day you put the paste in a cheese cloth and press very well so that it releases all moisture. You add the sugar and bring everything back to a boil. You can taste with a spoon, let it cool off and add the lemon juice if you think it’s too sweet. Add the agar agar and let it cook for a few minutes. Regularly stir so that it doesn’t get sticky.
Pour the hot jelly in glass jars, screw the lid on, put the pots on their heads and let them cool.
A few hours later, you will notice that the thick liquid has solidified and become a real jam.
Personally I think that the juice from quinces is pretty sweet, that’s why we add some lemon juice. Just have a taste if you’re not sure!
Call me a happy mofo! I didn’t think I would make it to twenty posts (and I know I’m not there yet, but we’re at 19.. I’ll get to those 20). It may be the last sunday of the month, but it is not over yet. Be prepared to receive some other posts next week!
Today we’ll keep up with all the deliciousness that has been shared in the past week.
Plantaardigheidjes does not dissapoint with this Tempeh Chili! In this cold and cloudy weather I long for warming meals and snacks, so this dish sounds perfect to me. Just like the Apple Pie Pudding from Lipstick and Lemondrops!
Just like Indian food, the Ethiopian cuisine is nice and spicy, like this Misir Wat (red lentil stew).
I could eat pasta every day, so spaghetti with lemon, arugula and pistachios seems like a nice variation.
I would like this spice cake as breakfast, snack or dessert. Thank you.
This post does not only make me long for Vegan Pie in the Sky, I have a huge crush on all the pretty dresses from this lady.
The Vegan Crew’s olives and sundried tomato puffs sound divine. I love bread with ‘something in it’.
I can go on for a bit, but I suggest you take a look at my Pinterest for more deliciousness.
Last week on The Green Cuisine:
#16 – Recipe: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
#17 – Recipe: Mini-Bread-Pizza’s, or: what to do with leftover bread?
#18 – Recipe: Apple Nut Cake
Please share your favorite recipes or your Pinterest!
It’s the perfect weather to enjoy real fall food (even winter food, if you ask me). I immediatly make the connection to apples and nuts and to make it in perfect harmony, cinnamon. Something warm and something smooth. A delicious tasting and fragrant cake, fresh out of the oven…
Apple Nut Cake
1 cup almond milk
1 tl apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup melted vegan butter or oil
1,5/4 cup brown sugar
1,5/4 cup normal or cane sugar
1/2 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 to 2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts
1 + 1/2 cup diced apples
extra apple slices to put on top of the cake
Stir the almond milk and apple cider vinegar in a big bowl. Let it rest for a while.
Add the melted butter and both sugars and stir. Sift the whole wheat and spelt flour in, add the cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir till no lumps remain.
Add the nuts and apples and stir again.
Butter a long baking plate and pour in the dough. Put the apple slices on top of the dough.
Put it in the oven on 250°C for 85 minutes.
The cake is still a bit smooth on the inside, if you don’t like this, I suggest that you leave the cake in the oven for an extra 10 minutes. Since I am a huge fan of cinnamon I added two generous tsp of cinnamon. If you are not sure if you like this, I suggest that you add 1 tsp to the dough and have a little taste (it’s okay, just this once 
). I used about 2,5 (small) apples and a mixture of walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts.
Enjoy!
Mini-Bread-Pizza’s, or what to do with leftover bread?
Are you sometimes in the same situation, that you brought to much bread (rolls, buns, bagels, …)? The sad thing is that they’re mushy or too hard the next day. Of course you can simply slice them in two, put them in the toaster and put some chocolate paste or jelly on top of it.
What I think is the best way to use leftover bread is to make mini-pizza’s. It’s super simple:
Mini-Bread-Pizza’s
To begin with, you take a look in the fridge to see if there are any vegetables, tofu- or seitansausages. I had some olives that had to be used, a tofu sausage and artichokes. Little cans of tomato puree come in handy.
Preheat the oven at 200°C and slice the old buns in half.
Take a small can of tomato puree, put it in a small bowl and add water ’till it reaches the desired consistency. Add some fresh or dried herbs, like basil, oregano, pepper and garlic, to your sauce. Spread this on every half of the buns.
Take your veggies and/or (sliced) sausages and put them on the buns. Put them for 5 to8 minutes in the preheated oven. If you have a grill-function on your oven, it’s interesting to add this 1 to 2 minutes. This makes your mini-pizza’s nice and crunchy.
I specially love this with long Turkish bread. If I visit the Turkish bakery, I always bring a long bread to make mini-pizza’s the day after (actually, you can make these pizza’s as big or small as you like).
What can you put on tha pizza? My absolute favorites are artichokes (you can buy them fresh, canned or in bowls) and onion. Spinach, olives, bell peppers and of course tomatoes are good too! Try to experiment with your favorite veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, … Vegan sausages and cheezes are good too. My personal favorite is Wilmersburger.
With leftover bread you can make “croques“, “toasties” or “sandwiches”. Just add something that you like between two slices of bread and put them in a grilling machine. Actually, you can add about the same things you put on mini-pizza’s .
I like to bake in the weekend. Pie, (cup)cakes, pancakes, waffles, and cookies. J. prefers to help when it’s cookies. For some it may sound a bit civil, a young married couple baking cookies together. But we think it’s fun and cozy.
Last sunday we were creative. Or… ‘accidentally creative’, after making a mistake, we experimented and it was a hit!
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (based on Chocolate Chip Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter (Alpro or for the US: Earth Balance)
1/2 cup hazelnutmilk
2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup pure chocolate chips
Add the sugar and melted butter in a bowl and mix till it’s emulsified.
Mix the hazelnutmilk, flaxseeds and vanilla extract in.
Add the baking soda and oatmeal.
Sift about half the flour in and add in bits, it’s possible that you need less then the full cup (you will notice if your dough becomes to dry).
Mix in the chocolate chips.
Preheat your oven on 185°C.
I like to make little balls from the dough and flatten them between my two handpalms.
Drop the doughy cookies onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Put the cookies in the oven for about 12 minutes. Let them cool on a cooling rack.
