I love rhubarb and as soon as I saw some at the market I brought some..... but then I couldn't think how to cook it without sugar! So I experimented a little and came up with this recipe which tastes really nice. Lovely on it's own or just added to your muesli for breakfast. The bicarb tip I found in a World War II cook book and it works! It does fizz rather a lot but don't let it put you off!
Stewed Rhubarb
Ingredients
Approx 600g Rhubarb (four large stalks)
10 Pitted dates
100 ml Apple juice
1 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
Recipe
1. Chop the rhubarb into approx 1 inch lengths and add to saucepan with apple juice and ground ginger.
2. Finely chop the dates and add to the pan.
3. Bring to a boil and then simmer gently until the rhubarb and dates have softened and disintegrated.
4. To neutralise the acidity (and reduce the need for sugar) stir in the bicarbonate of soda when the fruit is cooked. It will fizz a lot!
5. Eat hot or cold.
Showing posts with label vegan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegan. Show all posts
Monday, 21 March 2011
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Sugar free Savoury Snacks
With a lack of cakes and biscuits at the moment we needed something savoury to snack on....
So firstly I made these Roasted Chickpeas from the fascinating FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog. I made them from dried chickpeas (rather than tinned) and they were really easy to make. I didn't add as much chilli as she suggests (I didn't want it too spicy!) but next time I would follow the quantities given as my ones could do with a bit more spice! Still they taste nice and are quite moreish.
Then I also made some Savoury Seeds, really easy to make and very tasty! Just take a few handfuls of mixed seeds (I used sunflower, pumpkin and flax) and dry fry them for a few minutes in a pan. Then add a half teaspoon or so of soy sauce and fry for a little longer. These are definitely very moreish and I fear I will have to make some more soon!
So firstly I made these Roasted Chickpeas from the fascinating FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog. I made them from dried chickpeas (rather than tinned) and they were really easy to make. I didn't add as much chilli as she suggests (I didn't want it too spicy!) but next time I would follow the quantities given as my ones could do with a bit more spice! Still they taste nice and are quite moreish.
Then I also made some Savoury Seeds, really easy to make and very tasty! Just take a few handfuls of mixed seeds (I used sunflower, pumpkin and flax) and dry fry them for a few minutes in a pan. Then add a half teaspoon or so of soy sauce and fry for a little longer. These are definitely very moreish and I fear I will have to make some more soon!
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Fruit and Nut Slice
Over the weekend I made (and ate most of!) this lovely fruit and nut slice. It is very easy to make in between looking after my lovely little daughter and tastes excellent! I would describe it as somewhere between a flapjack, a cereal bar and one of those nice Rawr bars you can buy. It uses pear and apple spread to sweeten it, which looks disturbingly like marmite but doesn't taste like it! The recipe is from Jane Sen's "Healing Foods Cookbook" which also has some other nice sugar-free cookies and cakes... looking forward to trying them soon :-).
Fruit and Nut Slice
Ingredients
150g (5oz) raisins
150g (5oz) nuts (I used hazelnuts but any would do)
4tsp pear and apple spread (or other fruit concentrate)
85ml (3fl oz) sunflower oil
75g (3oz) oats
150g (5oz) plain flour
85ml (3 fl oz) water
Recipe
1. Grease a 7" flan case. Preheat oven to 190 degs C (gas 5 / 375 deg F).
2. Blend the dried fruit and nuts til finely chopped.
3. Mix all the ingredients together til well combined.
N.B. the recipe calls for everything to be added to the blender, mine wouldn't have coped with that so just mixing it in a bowl worked fine! I guess you'd have a smoother mix if you blended everything.
4. Pour/press the sticky dough into the flan case.
5. Cook for 30 mins or until browned.
6. Cut in case and leave to cool before serving.
Sorry no photos... it got eaten too quickly!
Fruit and Nut Slice
Ingredients
150g (5oz) raisins
150g (5oz) nuts (I used hazelnuts but any would do)
4tsp pear and apple spread (or other fruit concentrate)
85ml (3fl oz) sunflower oil
75g (3oz) oats
150g (5oz) plain flour
85ml (3 fl oz) water
Recipe
1. Grease a 7" flan case. Preheat oven to 190 degs C (gas 5 / 375 deg F).
2. Blend the dried fruit and nuts til finely chopped.
3. Mix all the ingredients together til well combined.
N.B. the recipe calls for everything to be added to the blender, mine wouldn't have coped with that so just mixing it in a bowl worked fine! I guess you'd have a smoother mix if you blended everything.
4. Pour/press the sticky dough into the flan case.
5. Cook for 30 mins or until browned.
6. Cut in case and leave to cool before serving.
Sorry no photos... it got eaten too quickly!
Monday, 16 August 2010
Sugar-free Jam - my first attempt!
A lot of the recipes call for use of sugar-free jam. I've been buying this but really I'd like to make my own. So after searching on the internet I found a few recipes and tried this one out. I have to say it was much quicker and easier than making 'normal' jam. The resulting jam wasn't as sweet as the shop brought sugar-free jams so I think next time I'd add more juice concentrate. I was lucky enough to find a lot of mirabelles (small, sweet, yellow plums) growing for free in the hedgerow so made the jam from these. However, I'm sure you could use any variety of sweet plums if you don't have mirabelles!
Sugar-Free Mirabelle Jam
Ingredients
900 g mirabelles (or other plums)
90 ml apple juice concentrate
120 ml liquid pectin (I used Certo)
Recipe
1. Stone and chop fruit. Place in pan with apple juice concentrate.
2. Simmer for ten minutes.
3. Boil hard for ten minutes.
4. Add the liquid pectin and pot in sterilised jam jars.
Sugar-Free Mirabelle Jam
Ingredients
900 g mirabelles (or other plums)
90 ml apple juice concentrate
120 ml liquid pectin (I used Certo)
Recipe
1. Stone and chop fruit. Place in pan with apple juice concentrate.
2. Simmer for ten minutes.
3. Boil hard for ten minutes.
4. Add the liquid pectin and pot in sterilised jam jars.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
More pickle!
Ok, some more pickle! Both me and my other half love bread and butter pickle. For those of you who haven't heard of it it's a pickle made from cucumbers and is for eating with bread and butter (not made from it!). It tastes especially good with some strong cheddar too. It normally contains sugar but having looked up a few recipes for pickling cucumbers I know that you can still preserve them without the sugar due to the vinegar and salt content. So I thought I'd use the normal recipe for it but omit the sugar. The recipe is courtesy of my mum this time!
Bread and Butter Pickle
Ingredients
1 large cucumber
1 red onion, sliced very thinly
1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
1 1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt
300 ml white wine vinegar
50 ml apple juice concentrate (original recipe contains 275g caster sugar)
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed or dill seed (I didn't have any so skipped this!)
5 cm stick of cinnamon
6 allspice berries
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Recipe
1. Peel cucumbers (if you wish) and slice thinly. Mix with onion, pepper and salt in a bowl.
2. Sit a plate on top of the bowl, weigh it down and leave in the fridge overnight.
3. Drain the vegetables and rinse under running water until they don't taste too salty.
4. Heat the vinegar, juice concentrate and spices and simmer for a few minutes.
5. Add the vegetables, stir once and bring to a bare simmer.
6. Put into hot, sterilised jars and put lids on.
Tastes better after maturing a while so leave it for a few weeks if you can! I haven't tried it yet but will soon as we have some nice cheddar in the fridge that would go perfectly....
Bread and Butter Pickle
Ingredients
1 large cucumber
1 red onion, sliced very thinly
1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
1 1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt
300 ml white wine vinegar
50 ml apple juice concentrate (original recipe contains 275g caster sugar)
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed or dill seed (I didn't have any so skipped this!)
5 cm stick of cinnamon
6 allspice berries
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Recipe
1. Peel cucumbers (if you wish) and slice thinly. Mix with onion, pepper and salt in a bowl.
2. Sit a plate on top of the bowl, weigh it down and leave in the fridge overnight.
3. Drain the vegetables and rinse under running water until they don't taste too salty.
4. Heat the vinegar, juice concentrate and spices and simmer for a few minutes.
5. Add the vegetables, stir once and bring to a bare simmer.
6. Put into hot, sterilised jars and put lids on.
Tastes better after maturing a while so leave it for a few weeks if you can! I haven't tried it yet but will soon as we have some nice cheddar in the fridge that would go perfectly....
Monday, 9 August 2010
Finally... some chocolate!
I wouldn't have thought it possible but this weekend we had chocolate moose for pudding! It was a rather unusual recipe and I was slightly dubious but it was very nice. It had a lovely smooth texture and did taste chocolatey. Nice time though I really have to use a much riper banana as you could taste that it wasn't that ripe! The recipe is vegan but we added a teaspoon of honey to make it a little sweeter (due to the aforementioned unripe banana!). Makes enough for two people
Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1 ripe banana
1 tbsp cocoa powder
flavouring of choice - vanilla essence, grated orange rind, peppermint, etc
Recipe
1. Blend all ingredients together.
2. Serve and eat!
The recipe was from Star Khechara's "Holistic Beauty Book".
Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1 ripe banana
1 tbsp cocoa powder
flavouring of choice - vanilla essence, grated orange rind, peppermint, etc
Recipe
1. Blend all ingredients together.
2. Serve and eat!
The recipe was from Star Khechara's "Holistic Beauty Book".
Friday, 6 August 2010
Pickle
Well yesterday the neighbour came over and asked if I wanted a rather large bag of runner beans as they were rather overwhelmed by the production of their plants! How could I refuse? And I had wanted to try out this recipe for a pickle after I saw it on TV. Pickles and chutneys often use sugar in so have been off the list for us. However, I quite like having some with some bread and cheese so I'm looking forward to trying this one. It's maturing for a bit now (although I don't think it needs to according to the recipe) and I shall report back soon....
Mixed Vegetable Pickle (from "The Edible Garden" series on BBC with Alys Fowler)
Ingredients
450 ml cider vinegar
50 ml apple juice concentrate
2 tsp salt
450 g green beans, strung and sliced (I used a mix of runner beans, yellow courgette and red pepper)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 habenero chilli, deseeded and sliced (I skipped this as didn't have any!)
5 cm piece cinnamon bark
2 bay leaves
Small sprig of winter savory
Pinch of black peppercorns
Recipe
1. Mix the vinegar and fruit juice concentrate in a bowl. Add more juice or vinegar to taste.
2. Add herbs/spices to vinegar mix and let everything marinate.
3. Chop the vegetables and add to the vinegar mix.
4. Put in a clean jar, squashing the vegetables in and ensuring they are covered with the vinegar mix. If not then add more vinegar/juice concentrate.
They can be eaten straight away but do improve with age. I couldn't fit mine in one jar so had to use two. I tried to share the spices/herbs between them so hopefully it's worked! Here's a picture of the finished product.
Mixed Vegetable Pickle (from "The Edible Garden" series on BBC with Alys Fowler)
Ingredients
450 ml cider vinegar
50 ml apple juice concentrate
2 tsp salt
450 g green beans, strung and sliced (I used a mix of runner beans, yellow courgette and red pepper)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 habenero chilli, deseeded and sliced (I skipped this as didn't have any!)
5 cm piece cinnamon bark
2 bay leaves
Small sprig of winter savory
Pinch of black peppercorns
Recipe
1. Mix the vinegar and fruit juice concentrate in a bowl. Add more juice or vinegar to taste.
2. Add herbs/spices to vinegar mix and let everything marinate.
3. Chop the vegetables and add to the vinegar mix.
4. Put in a clean jar, squashing the vegetables in and ensuring they are covered with the vinegar mix. If not then add more vinegar/juice concentrate.
They can be eaten straight away but do improve with age. I couldn't fit mine in one jar so had to use two. I tried to share the spices/herbs between them so hopefully it's worked! Here's a picture of the finished product.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Day two - cookies and cake!
Well, to keep us going I tried a couple of recipes on day two and I have to say they have both vanished pretty quickly now! So quickly that I'm afraid there are no photos but I'll try and remember next time...
Firstly some cookies, the original recipe was courtesy of this excellent blog but I have adapted it slightly. These tasted great! Slightly less sweet then perhaps we're used to but the jam and the fruit does make it quite sweet enough. I took the cookies round a friends house and no-one even realised they hadn't any sugar in! I also made another version with ground ginger, sultanas and spelt flour and these were good too.
Walnut and Sultana Cookies
Ingredients
1. Cream butter and jam together.
2. Add the egg and beat well.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to make a sticky dough.
4. Spoon dollups of the mixture onto a baking sheet (I made twelve cookies) and flatten slightly with a fork.
5. Bake at gas mark 4 (180 deg C/ 350 deg F) for 15-20 mins til golden.
And I wanted something to take on a picnic to share. So I found this recipe for a fruit cake (from Rose Elliot's "New Complete Vegetarian" cookbook). This was really good too and surprisingly sweet, I don't think anyone would realise that it has no sugar in. I think it would make an excellent Christmas cake, perhaps with some pretty dried fruit put on the top before you cook it. The cake went down really well at the picnic and a couple of people asked for the recipe so it must have been good! The cake is also vegan.
Fruit Cake
Ingredients
1. Preheat oven to gas 3 (160 deg C / 325 deg F). Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
2. Chop dates and add to saucepan with the water. Cook over a low heat til soft. Then remove from heat and mash to break up.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients (except for the flaked almonds) and mix well. Spoon into the tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top.
4. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Cool slightly in tin and then turn out onto cooling rack.
Firstly some cookies, the original recipe was courtesy of this excellent blog but I have adapted it slightly. These tasted great! Slightly less sweet then perhaps we're used to but the jam and the fruit does make it quite sweet enough. I took the cookies round a friends house and no-one even realised they hadn't any sugar in! I also made another version with ground ginger, sultanas and spelt flour and these were good too.
Walnut and Sultana Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 g butter
- 3 tbsp sugar free jam (I used St Dalfour apricot jam)
- 1 beaten egg
- 50 g ground almonds
- 50 g sultanas
- 30g chopped walnuts
- 100 g wholemeal flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp mixed spice
1. Cream butter and jam together.
2. Add the egg and beat well.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to make a sticky dough.
4. Spoon dollups of the mixture onto a baking sheet (I made twelve cookies) and flatten slightly with a fork.
5. Bake at gas mark 4 (180 deg C/ 350 deg F) for 15-20 mins til golden.
And I wanted something to take on a picnic to share. So I found this recipe for a fruit cake (from Rose Elliot's "New Complete Vegetarian" cookbook). This was really good too and surprisingly sweet, I don't think anyone would realise that it has no sugar in. I think it would make an excellent Christmas cake, perhaps with some pretty dried fruit put on the top before you cook it. The cake went down really well at the picnic and a couple of people asked for the recipe so it must have been good! The cake is also vegan.
Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 225 g dates
- 275 ml water
- 450 g mixed dried fruit (I used sultanas and apricots)
- 175 g plain wholemeal flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- grated rind of one orange or lemon (I hadn't any so just used a dash of lemon juice!)
- 40 g ground almonds
- 4 tbsp orange juice (again, I hadn't any so used apple juice)
- a few flaked almonds
1. Preheat oven to gas 3 (160 deg C / 325 deg F). Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
2. Chop dates and add to saucepan with the water. Cook over a low heat til soft. Then remove from heat and mash to break up.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients (except for the flaked almonds) and mix well. Spoon into the tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top.
4. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Cool slightly in tin and then turn out onto cooling rack.
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