How to Make Healthy Vegetarian Foods Recipes

I've been a long time fan of Cranks - The cookbooks  an I am a member of the  Vegetarian Society,  so you can imagine my delight when I learned that Cranks have officially been Approved by the Vegetarian Society, a UK brand as longstanding and veggie obsessed as Cranks are and to celebrate this new partnership, as well as raise awareness of vegetarianism and veganism this season, I thought I would create an old fashioned Vegetarian Hand Raised (moulded by hand) Pie made with hot water crust pastry. There have been some negativity around vegetarian classics like nut roasts, and traditional vegetarian fare in favour of fancy named grains, pretentious jazzed up salads dressed up with exotic sauces and festive green shake smoothies topped with cranberries.  I note this snobbish attitude often comes from those that are neither vegetarian or vegan, but lifestyle foodies who jump on the bandwagon of the next foodie gimmick or fashionable grain.  Please don't get m...

Delectus meaning  noun  a body of important works of art, an influential body of literature. It has been a long time coming, but l have been intending to compile a list of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks that inspire me.   Welcome to my delectus! To make what would otherwise be a generic list of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, I thought I would offer a personal review of sorts, not the kind of reviews to encourage you to rush out and pick up a copy (though that would be nice), but more how they came to be in my possession, what I like about the book and what I don't like so much.  I will also cook a recipe or two from the cookbook.  I hope to do this once a week. Please do join me if you wish and I will share your link in my side-bar (see rules below). There was another reason that spurred me to do this now, I was actually a little surprised that my  Top 5 vegetarian and vegan cookbooks from 2015  were unknown to a number of readers. I think this ...

I made this rustic French Lentil Soup with Capers and Fried Pine Nuts from Adam Sobel's Street Vegan a little while back.  I've had many a French Lentil style soups in my time, but what was different about this one and what I loved about this soup other than the Puy lentils was the undertones of the Balsamic vinegar, enhanced further by a garnishing of minced piquant capers and in place of croutons, some fried pine-nuts.  This soup had real depth of flavour! These pine nuts scattered over this soup were given to me by a friend who had just come back from Pakistan.  The pine nuts were still in there shells too so took time to shell, but I didn't mind it. I have never thought about it before, but Pine Nuts do have that cheesy greasy texture and I can totally now see why pine nuts are used in vegan 'Parmesan' cheese recipes.  And yes there is rosemary in the soup too, hence my soup bowl posing with it. This is the first of many The Vegetarian Library chall...

This Winter Vegetable Tagine is a super duper recipe for making the most of winter vegetables and chances are if your a cook that likes to dabble in spices from around the world, then you may already have Ras el Hanout in your kitchen cupboards too.  So what's stopping you - make this hearty  flavour packed dish.   The winter vegetables include: carrots, mushrooms, parsnips, turnip aka swede, new potatoes and  some dates which melted into the thick sauce.  To finish off some nutty chickpeas and harissa . D said this is perhaps one of the best Tagines I have ever made and that is high praise indeed as I have made many in the past.  I have to agree with him and I am not that into sweet root vegetables either, but here I was totally swayed.  I think the slow cooking benefited the dish big time as the flavours infused the vegetables.  Its best to serve this Tagine with couscous , but I didn't have any at home, so it was served with Basmati...

I have been oggling Adam Sobel's Maple Mustard Glazed Seitan Strip s for a few good months now.  The awesome recipe can be found in his cookbook Street Vegan.  Every time I have gone to make these vital wheat gluten seitan breakfast strips, I have noted ingredients missing from my kitchen, first it was mustard, then tofu and then celery! Well this weekend, I was determined to make them and ensured I had every thing I needed to create them in my kitchen.  I do like to dabble with recipes, but sometimes I have to respect the recipe author and follow the recipe word for word and I pretty much did here.  By the way this is the second recipe from the book, I made Adam's French Lentil Soup a little while back.  From the photograph, the Seitan strips appear too dark, but these are a little naughty as these have been shallow fried before being coated in sweet grainy mustard glaze.  There is also a hint bitterness from the molasses.  I liked how the musta...

I became acquainted with the rather beautiful and stunning Sarah Beattie in Glasgow.  I accidentally bumped into her in an Oxfam Bookshop on Byres Road, Glasgow - well not literally of course but I like to think so.   I found her first cookbook Neither Fish Nor Fowl: Meat Free Eating for Pleasure (1993) on the shelf and was charmed by the innovative recipes, the elegant presentation.  This was a stylish, sophisticated  and sumptuous vegetarian cookbook with recipes ahead of its time like Beetroot and Cranberry Consomme, Raspberry Soup, Avocado Soup, Stuffed Nasturtium Salad and that's just for starters.  It was a pioneering cookbook in my eyes, as it was the first vegetarian dinner party cookbook I came across that moved away from  the wholemeal way of cooking.  It also has Asparagus Eclairs and Chestnut Souffles and Raspberry Brulee and so so much more .    I have over the years adapted some of her recipes, such as  Curried Peach Tar...

I am so glad its Friday.  First week back at work after a week off was hard and this week seemed to be harder as every single day I was super busy, that is good as it makes the time pass, but I am tired and am so looking forward to a lie in and not having to get up 6am in the morning.  Thank goodness for weekends.    I made this dish a little while back its a Smoky Pepper Stew.  The smokiness from paprika.  I served it with rice.   I am sharing this with  Plant Based Potluck Party  and  Healthy Vegan Fridays  hosted by  Rock My Vegan  Socks and  V Nutrition ; and  and  Weekend Cooking  hosted by Beth Fish Reads   .   The recipe comes from  Innocent Badger Cookbook :  The Tried to Bury Us...But They Didn't Know We were Seeds.    I picked up the Innocent Badger Cookbook when I went to  Cheltenham Vegan Festival early this year,  but its the first reci...

I always avoid Aubergine Parmigiana when I see it on the menu at eateries, its common like mushroom risotto and vegetable lasagne - not that I don't like the idea of it, I do, I am often disappointed in the way aubergines are cooked or most of the time not cooked properly.  No wonder so many people have an aversion to aubergines. But when I saw a Cauliflower Parmigiana version  from Kristy Turners  But I Could Never Go Vegan,   I was interested.  I had already made  Roasted Broccoli and Apple Salad   and  BBQ Cauliflower Salad   from the cookbook and knew it would be good. I changed the recipe a little by only increasing the smoked paprika and not using oats as I thought the panko amount would suffice and it was fine.   The cauliflower was crisp on the outside from the panko and the cauliflower under the baked golden crumbs was moist and pierced through nice and gently.   Here the cauliflower Parmigiana is se...

Did you see the red sun yesterday?! It was truly Amazing - I am not one of those people who throws the word around lightly, it really was amazing.   Early on in the week I made a Red Tomato Curry, today I share a bowl red soup which by all means should have been green according to the both the photograph in the cookbook, but also the ingredients including broccoli.  Upon a little research on blogophere,  I noted that other food bloggers had also made the  Cheesy Broccoli Beer Soup  and it was also not the vibrant green featured in the cookbook Street Vegan, so I felt relieved that I was not heavy handed with either the soy sauce  or tamari and smoked paprika.     Anyway, this  Cheesy Broccoli Beer Soup with S moky Sunflower Chorizo Croutons  was ridiculously flavourful, but in a very good way.  I especially loved the different levels of flavour from the topping the beer, the cheesiness from the nutritional ye...