Chunky asparagus and cashew dip with Kale sourdough tortillas

Green, green glorious green!  Yes.  You might have noticed I love green.  So while I have been having fun making rainbow recipes for Vegan Mofo, I was struck by the need to make a green dip platter.  Not only did I experiment with making a chunky dip but I also decided to try my hand at kale sourdough tortillas,

I wish I could tell you that it all went swimmingly.  The dip was not quite as I had intended.  I blame my inexperience with garlic scapes.  I thought two scapes would be ok.  Online lots of people say that they are much milder than regular garlic bulbs.  I even read one recipe with 10 garlic scapes in a dip.  Two was far too many for me.  Perhaps my tolerance for raw garlic is low.  But it burned.

The creamy green base of cream cheese and spinach was otherwise excellent.  I was pleased at how well the vegan Tofutti worked but any cream cheese should work here.  However because the garlic scapes were so strong I then I added more flavour and added two tablespoons of white miso which was far too much.  One tablespoon would do.  (Amended in the recipe below.)

I wanted to make a completely green platter.  I wanted a green carb and was tossing up between green crackers and green scones.  But then I was swayed by Mihl's gorgeous  Kale Tortillas.  However I have sourdough starter to be used so I adapted my recipes for sourdough flatbreads and tortillas.

I really loved these tortillas.  They were green and soft.  I was just sad that the photos didn't do justice to their green colour.  But believe me that the colour was far better than my photography skills.  It was a really nice addition to my green platter.

I'd love to tell you that Sylvia enjoyed the kale sourdough tortillas.  I was home late for dinner and left a message for E that he and Sylvia should help themselves to the tortillas.  Which were on the kitchen table.  Instead they helped themselves to the tortilla chips in the pantry that I had asked him the previous day to keep for nachos!  I think it was a case of reading what he had hoped was there.

If only the dip hadn't been lopsided in flavour, I would have been really happy.  I think a bit of tweaking would fix this.  As it was, we valiantly ate it for dinner with vegies and tortillas.  But the garlic flavour was too much to want to have much more.  I rescued it by mixing it with some home made guacamole instead of garlic.  It added a perfect amount of flavour.  (I also considered adding it to soup, stew or tossing with some rice or pasta.)

More glorious green recipes from Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Avocado soy rotis (v)
Green bean and broccoli tabbouleh (v)
Greens, beans and potato soup (gf, v)
Green smoothie (gf, v)
Kale cheesecake surprise choc mint cupcakes (v) 
Monster cake
Pea pate (v) 
Spinach crackers with French lavender salt (v) 
Spinach, lettuce and pea soup (gf, v)
Spinach pancakes  (gf, v) 
The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (gf)

Chunky asparagus and cashew dip
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe

150g cream cheese (I used tofutti)
100g baby spinach
juice of half a medium lemon
1 small garlic scape, chopped, or to taste
1 tbsp white miso
1/2 tsp salt flakes
250g thin asparagus
100g cashews

Blend cream cheese, spinach, lemon juice, the garlic scape miso and salt until smooth and creamy.  Finely chop the asparagus and microwave or steam until cooked but still green.  Cool.  (I put mine in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.)  Pulse cashews in with the cream cheese mixture and then add the asparagus.  I didn't pulse the asparagus but you might want to, depending on how chunky you want the dip.

Kale sourdough tortillas
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe's flatbreads and tortillas
Makes 8

50g kale
100g water 
250g sourdough starter
1/2 tsp salt flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
100g plain wholemeal flour
200g plain white flour

Remove stems from kale and blend leaves with water to make a smooth green liquid.  Measure out 125g and pour into a medium mixing bowl.  Stir in remaining ingredients to make a shaggy dough.  Lightly knead on a floured surface to make a smooth but firm dough.  Divide into 8 pieces.

Roll each piece out thinly as possible and dry fry in a heavy based frypan for about a minute either side.  The tortilla will puff up in small humps when frying the first side - these can just be pushed back down before you flip over.

Best on day of eating but can be reheated the next day, preferably with a filling such as cheese or beans and rice.

On the Stereo:
1989: Taylor Swift

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts. 

Week 3's theme is Rainbow Food.  And today the daily prompt is to make something green.  How could I resist the call of green!

Hal's stiry fry sauce - updated and vegan

Today I took Sylvia to gymnastics, met a friend for a drink, sauntered down to our local bookstore where I was tempted, and made gingerbread men.  Dinner was far down my list of priorities.  I fell back on a favourite stirfry sauce.  The vegies looked so colourful and I wanted to note my changes so here it is in Vegan Mofo for Rainbow Week.

I was pleased with my effort because I didn't manage to get to the supermarket.  E often tells me I have lots of food but nothing to eat.  So I try to be creative with what is about rather than just buying what is in my head.

I don't know who Hal is but I have been making Hal's stirfry sauce for many years.  It comes from The Enchanted Broccoli Forrest Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.  This was my go to cookbook for many years and has so much good how-to advice.  I still think of her advice about what order to add vegetables in stirfries according to how long they take to cook.

Tonight I substituted maple syrup for honey. It meant that the tamari was a bit too prominent so I have reduced the amount in the below recipe by a tablespoon.  I also used ground ginger and sriracha because that is what I had.  I haven't had fresh ginger in the house for months.  Now it is warmer weather, I probably should buy some, but it is good to know I can get by without if it is not about.

If you are short on time and have lots of vegies and some rice or noodles, I highly recommend Hal's stirfry sauce.  It is tasty and easy.  The vegies I used were brown onion, celery, purple cabbage, carrot, green capsicum, green beans, snow peas and kale.  I often use tofu with this sauce but as there was none, I added in some cashews.  Now if you will excuse me, I am off to read my bookclub novel, Girl on the Train.

More stirfries on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Lo mein (v)
Matthews delicious tofu (gf, v)
Pad see ew with tofu omelette (gf, v)
Tamarind tempeh with noodles (v)
'Teriyaki' tofu with brown rice and kale (gf, v) 

Hal's Stirfry Sauce
Slightly adapted from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest via Green Gourmet Giraffe
serves 4

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 orange)
3 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 clove fresh garlic, crushed
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1/2 tsp sriracha
1 Tbsp cornflour

Mix all ingredients together except the cornflour. Spoon cornflour into a separate small bowl (or measuring cup in my case) and dissolve with a few spoonfuls of the sauce. Stir cornflour into the sauce. Add sauce to stirfry a few minutes before the end. It should thicken slightly once brought to the boil so it coats the vegetables, noodles or whatever you choose to add.

On the Stereo:
Va Va Voom: Hummingbirds

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts. 

Week 3's theme is Rainbow Food

Rainbow food - in pictures

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts. 

Week 3's theme is Rainbow Food.  Today I am sharing lots of pictures of colourful food.

Rainbow fruit kebabs

I've wanted to make a fruit rainbow forever!  I got close a few times but this year got the closest yet.  We almost made a fruit rainbow for a recent birthday lunch.  Then Sylvia saw rainbow fruit kebabs and that was it.  It is so simple it is almost embarrassing to post.  Yet it is so simple and pretty that it is worth sharing.

We had some discussion of which fruits to use.  Here is some brainstorming:

• Red: strawberry, raspberry, grapes, watermelon
• Orange: orange, mandarin. apricot
• Yellow: yellow peach, banana, pineapple, mango
• Green: kiwi fruit, green apple, green grapes
• Blue: blueberries
• Purple: grapes, blackberries, cherries

 Of course, it depends on what time of year as to what is in season.  We had strawberry, orange, yellow peach, kiwi fruit, blueberries and grapes. 

This dessert was so easy that Sylvia was able to take responsibility for this meal.  She decided which fruit, helped choose them at the shops, put the skewers together.  And she loved eating them.  The skewers took a bit more time than arranging them on a plate but we do not really have a plate big enough for a rainbow.  We only made 10 and could easily have eaten more if time had permitted.  I am sure we will be making these again.

More fun healthy food on Green Gourmet Giraffe: 
Carrot and cucumber tulips (gf, v)
Chocolate and black tahini cut out biscuits (v)
Franken sushi (gf, v)
Geegaw cups (v)
Polenta pizza people (gf) 
Watermelon monster (gf, v)  

I am sending these to Healthy Vegan Fridays and Gluten Free Fridays.

On the Stereo:
As Time Goes By: Bryan Ferry

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts. 

Week 3's theme is Rainbow Food

Smoky apple vegie burgers

When I was a child, the only burgers we bought were from the fish and chip shop.  There was no MacDonalds and none of the ubiquitous fancy burgers that abound in cafes.  We only had one type - beef patty, lettuce, tomato, cheese, beetroot, fried onion, tomato sauce and perhaps pineapple or egg.  These days anything goes in a burger - and I mean both in the patty and in between the burger buns.  It means lots of fun and lots of tyranny of choice.  It also means a way out for the stewed apple in the fridge that is being neglected.

I put the stewed apple into these burgers and while it did not taste strongly of apple, I was happy that the apple had been consumed.  I had grand plans for burgers in a bun with a salad on the side on that first night but it ended up being a bowl of burgers and vegies.  The burgers had a satisfying texture and held together well.

The second night the burgers were eaten in a bun with all the bells and whistles, and a simple salad on the side.  I hadn't been happy with the colour of the burgers on the first night and fried them up for my home made burger buns the second night.  Fried to the good side of charred.  Perfect for my fancy burger in a bun.  As well as the patties, I also stuffed it with lettuce, biocheese, beetroot, roast pumpkin, fried onion, vegannaise and lettuce from my garden.  It tasted so good.

More vegan burgers (patties) on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Cauliflower burgers (gf v)
Earth burgers (gf, v)
Roasted beetroot tofu burgers (gf, v)
Sweet potato, chickpea and hemp seed burgers (v)
Tamale burgers with mole sauce (gf, v)
Vegemite burger (v)
Watercourse Foods tempeh burger (gf,v)

Smoky Apple Vegie Burgers
Adapted from It Does Taste Like Chicken

3 tbsp ground linseed (flax seed)
1/3 cup of aqua faba (chickpea brine)
400g tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup stewed apples or apple sauce
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup chopped red or white onion (about ½ a small onion)
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp seeded mustard
Seasoning to taste

Soak linseeds in aqua faba for 5 minutes or while preparing other ingredients.  Add kidney beans and stewed apples and mash into the linseed mixture.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Shape handfuls into patties.  Place on grill tray (broiler tray) and spray with oil.  Grill until well browned on one side.  Flip, spray with oil and grill until golden brown on the other side too.

On the Stereo:
Discography: Pet Shop Boys

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts. 

Week 3's theme is Rainbow Food

Rainbow salad with orange and sesame dressing

At the start of October the AFL Grand Final saw out the end of the School Holidays.  We went to the Coburg Farmers Market in the morning.  Fresh produce is great inspiration for vibrant health food.

My favourite part of the Grand Final is the pre-match entertainment with the singing, the balloons and running through the banner.  While watching this on the telly, I was trying to put together the salad.  It was slow going but satisfying.

It took some time to chop vegies, keep an eye on the footy match preparations, whisk dressing, sit with Sylvia to watch Vance Joy sing Riptide and explain who Sting is.  Lunch wasn't ready until the match was well underway.

The salad was the very antithesis of the football world of greasy chips and cheap meat pies.  Which is perhaps fitting as I don't really follow the footy.  Every few weeks I remember to ask how my nominal team is doing.  At the end of the season I watch the Grand Final until it is clear who is winning and it gets boring.

This year, it wasn't until two minutes before the final siren that the commentators dared to call it.  The match was so close.  As they like to say, footy was the winner.  But really the fairy tale of this Grand Final was that the Western Bulldogs were the winners, after 62 years without a premiership.  I watched til the end.  Though I did have my neighbour visit, make limeade and ring my mum for a chat.  Yet it was a memorable match just as this salad was memorable.

I took the salad dressing from a rainbow salad in a newspaper magazine but, if I do say so myself, my selection of vegetables was far more colourful than the original.  The dressing was pretty similar and made for a winning salad.  E ate his salad in a sandwich made with fresh bread I had baked that morning and loved it.  There was a little salad leftover that we picked at during the afternoon.  It was gone by dinner.  I know it is not the first time I've said this, but I wish more of my lunches were so colourful and healthy.

I am sending this to Healthy Vegan Fridays, Eat Your Greens, Meat Free Mondays and No Croutons Required.

More colourful salads on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Asparagus, strawberry and greens salad with poppyseed dressing (gf, v)
Balsamic garden salad with cashew cheese (gf, v)
Couscous salad with chermoula (v)
Lemony Mediterranean salad (gf, v)
Purple potato, sweet potato and watercress salad (gf, v)
Strawberry avocado and walnut salad with a chocolate vinaigrette (gf, v)
Taco salad with creamy dressing (gf)
Tambo salad with preserved lemon and capers (gf, v)

Rainbow salad with orange and sesame dressing
Adapted from Adam Liaw in The Age's Sunday Magazine on10 April 2016
serves 2-3

handful purple cabbage, finely shredded
3 dutch baby carrots, sliced thinly into matchsticks
2 baby beetroot, sliced thinly into matchsticks
handful cherry tomatoes, halved
handful spinach
1/2 cup of cooked chickpeas
pea sprouts
1 tsp black sesame seeds (or poppy seeds), to serve

For orange and sesame dressing:
juice of 1/2 orange
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp rice bran or other neutral oil
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Arrange vegies and chickpeas on shallow bowl.  Toast sesame seeds in frypan.  Iif using poppy seeds they do not need to be fried.)  Lightly whisk together dressing.  Drizzle over vegies.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

On the Stereo:
All of this and nothing: Psychedelic Furs

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts. 

Week 3's theme is Rainbow Food

Thai pumpkin and lentil soup

This Thai pumpkin and lentil soup is a variation on a soup I make quite often.  It is just the sort of soup that I needed the day after the school fete.  Sylvia had organised a playdate and was weeding the garden with her friend.  (I was suitably impressed by the garden!)  E was practicing uke for the forthcoming ukulele festival and I had been making aqua faba meringues for Sylvia's show and tell.  Simmering a fairly simple soup was a relaxing late afternoon addition.

I played around with sifting smoked paprika shapes onto the soup.  I am not sure the circus look was the one I was aiming for!  We were quite tired after the previous big day.  Dinner was eating on the sofa in front of the telly.  I didn't have energy for anything else.  I was pleasantly surprised by the happy marriage of yellow curry paste and smoked paprika.

Having made a similar soup (thai curry split pea soup) a few months back, I had some confidence that Sylvia might try it.  The catch was that she professes to hate pumpkin.  I remember her eating it as a child and am a little less sure that she truly dislikes it.  So I asked her to eat a couple of spoonfuls of soup with a bread roll before she had her vegetarian schnitzel.  I focused on the lentils and tomatoes in the soup, which I know she likes.  The next night she was convinced to eat a small bowl of it with a bread roll.  I resisted doing a victory dance.  But I know this is one step closer to Sylvia realising that pumpkin is indeed manna from heaven.

The soup lasted us for about 5 days.  I really enjoyed it.  (To be clear we did not eat it 5 nights in a row but this is how long we had it in the fridge.)  The above photo is of the last night we ate it.  I had some aged sushi rice with kale powder that I mixed into the soup to make it more like a stew.  We served it with steamed broccoli, fried mushrooms, asparagus and grated carrot.  It was really good.

More lentil soups on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Carrot, chestnut and lentil soup (gf, v)
Creamy lentil and vegetable soup (gf)
Curried red lentil and apricot soup (gf, v)
Fennel, lentil and rice soup (gf, v)
Red lentil soup with spinach and lime (gf, v)
Smoky tomato and lentil soup (gf, v)
Sweet potato and red lentil soup (gf, v)

Thai pumpkin and lentil soup
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe
serves 6-8

1 -2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
600-800g Kent pumpkin (a large wedge), chopped
400g tin of diced tomatoes
1.3 litres vegetable stock
2 cups dried red lentils
1 cup light coconut milk
3 tbsp yellow curry paste
1 tsp smoked paprika
sriracha, to serve

Fry onion and carrot in an olive oil until soft - about 5-10 minutes.  Stir in the garlic.  Add pumpkin, tomato and stock.  Bring to the boil.  Add lentils and simmer for about 20 minutes or until pumpkin and lentils are soft.  Add coconut milk, curry paste and smoked paprika.  Blend.  Check and adjust seasoning.  Serve with sriracha if you want a bit more heat.

On the stereo:
Songs in the Attic: Billy Joel

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts. 

Week 2's theme is International because I am a little behind on week 2.  And if you wish to believe it is a monochrome one-colour food for Rainbow Week or Day #14, then so it is!