#cheap recipes

I remember when I was a kid, we would have those powdered ‘instant’ puddings in a packet. They were never instant, of course. You mixed the powder with water and put it in the fridge for half an hour or so and THEN you had a sort of cross between mousse and jelly.

I have no idea if those were vegan friendly or not, but they weren’t exactly a culinary delight, they had sugar, so as kids, we liked them. I haven’t had one of those puddings in a long time. We’re talking maybe more than two decades (damn… now I feel old).

Anyway, this is a base that I usually use to make chocolate pudding, but it could be flavoured in a bunch of other ways too. The texture depends a lot on what you use out of the options. A blender is very helpful for this recipe but it isn’t critical. 

Automatically dairy, gelatine, and egg free. Can be nut free, soy free, sugar free, low fodmap, or just about anything else depending on your choices. The recipe is raw too, for those interested in that.

It stores fine overnight in the fridge. It’s never made it past that point without being devoured so I don’t know about storing it any longer than that.

This much should be two decent sized bowlfuls. If you serve it with fruit or nuts, or whatever it would make desssert for four easily.

Ingredients

• 2 bananas or 2 ripe avocadoes - You can do without these if you want, but you’ll need to use a lot more of something else to thicken it and the texture will be a lot less smooth and silky.
• Chia seeds, Ground linseed (flaxseed) - I find chia seeds work really well (and fast) for this, but they create quite a lumpy texture. They’re also expensive. I typically add four tablespoons of chia seeds and four of ground linseed. Alternatively, you could use agar (a quarter teaspoon). Other thickeners might work too but I haven’t tried them uncooked, so you’d need to experiment.
• Non dairy milk - I usually use almond milk, but any non dairy milk will do, you could even use water, just add a little more of whatever flavourings you choose. I usually use about half a cup of almond milk and add another half cup of water.
• Sugar - Not essential. I usually add two tablespoons.
• Flavourings - What you add here really depends on your tastes. My usual preference is two tablespoons of cocoa, and a splash of vanilla essence. You could skip the cocoa and have vanilla, or skip the vanilla and have a strong banana flavour, or have mint chocolate, or blueberry. Whatever you want.
  

Method

Put everything except half the liquid in the blender (or bowl if you’re mixing and mashing by hand). Blend it all up.

Leave it for a few minutes to thicken (if you’re using agar it’ll take a bit longer), add more liquid to get to your desired consistency.

Eat.

Before you get too excited, these do not have any special ‘herbs’ in them. I’m sure the internet has plenty of those recipes already though, if you’re that way inclined.

The thing about this recipe is it isn’t really a recipe so much as a big list of stuff you can pick and choose from to make brownies, most of it isn’t essential, but you’ll need at least some of it.

It can be made gluten free pretty easily, but it might be better if I just do a separate post for that.

What I like most about these brownies is how easy it is to pack all kinds of goodies into them. A while back my dr had me try a diet that was so restrictive I had about three protein sources in total. To make up enough protein, I started adding rice protein powder, ground linseed, and chia seeds to brownies, so I ended up with a rich, chocolatey treat that had 15% of my daily protein needs per serve. I ate a lot of brownies during that time. For protein *nod*.

Essentials

• Flour- Depending on your tastes you can switch out some of this for other stuff, but if you start out with two cups, you can swap out a maximum of a cup for other stuff.
  
• Cocoa- I find ¼ - ½ a cup is about what I like, but you can adjust according to your tastes
  
• Sugar- I like soft brown sugar, but white or raw will do fine too. I add ¼ - ½ a cup, but I don’t like my brownies too sweet, add more if you want.
  
• Oil or vegan friendly butter/margaraine - You’ll want about half a cup for this. If you’re not using peanut butter, you’ll want a bit more, and marg is better in that case.
  
• Salt- just a half teaspoon
  
• Baking powder - a teaspoon is about right
  
• Non dairy milk - A cup should do fine, but have more around for mixing. You can swap this out for water but I personally don’t like the taste quite as much.
  

Optionals

• Peanut butter - I much prefer the end result with peanut butter. It adds a richness to the brownies that is super nommy. It isn’t essential though. I usually add a couple of big tablespoonfuls to the mix.
• Vanilla essence - Personally I consider this to be essential, but you can do without it. A teaspoon is about right.
• Ground linseed - Often known as flaxseed, this serves a variety of purposes. It’s very high in protein and fibre, and it acts as a binding agent. Standard wheat flour should hold together ok on it’s own, but ground linseed can be very helpful. Add anywhere from a couple of tablespoons to a quarter of a cup. Add at least that much water as well.
• Chia seeds - Much like ground linseed but higher in protein. Expensive though, so I tend not to use much. I also notice if you do add a lot there’s a slightly crunchy texture in the finished product.
• Nut meal/flour - Almond flour and coconut flour or any ground nut type flours are really nice in this recipe. They have a really nice taste and texture. You can swap them out for the plain flour. I wouldn’t swap out more than half a cup of this type of stuff or it will get a bit grainy. If you do add something along these lines, add a little extra liquid and fat to help balance them out.
• Spices- I find cinnamon and nutmeg go really nicely in this. Just a tablespoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg is all that’s needed.
• Oats, Nuts, and Seeds - These are great sprinkled on top after cooking or added to the batter. They will affect the texture though, so just be aware :). Shredded coconut is nice in the same way. Walnuts go great with brownies, but anything along those lines will do nicely. You can swap these out for the flour.
• Pureed fruit and vegetables - I tend to tread carefully when adding fruit to this recipe. It tends to alter the flavour quite a lot, especially banana. But if you wanna give it a go, try a few tablespoons of applesauce, or mashed pumpkin and see how it goes.
  

Put it together

Grease a baking dish, or if you’re lazy like me, line it with parchment paper - make sure it’s oven safe, and preferably bio degradable. Set the oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Try to get rid of any lumps.

Add the wet ingredients, mix everything together. I usually add peanut butter and marg last.

You want the batter to be a little bit thin. Think pancake batter, but a little thicker.

Taste test, it should taste good in batter form, when it bakes it’ll be a stronger, richer flavour, but you should be able to adjust according to your tastes.

Pour into the tray. Pop it in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes, then check by stabbing with a knife or toothpick. If the toothpick/knife comes out clean, it’s ready. Depending on your oven you might need more time, so check regularly.

When it’s ready, pull the tray out, let it cool a look, use the parchment paper to lift the whole thing out of the tray, then slice (before or after cooling) and consume.

Can be topped with chocolate peanut butter icing.

Nutritionally, baked beans are actually pretty awesome. They tend to have a fair bit of sugar in the sauce, but baked beans and wholegrain toast are a fantastic quick/easy/cheap/nutritious meal for anyone. But if you’re like me and keep a bunch of 60 cent cans in the cupboard for when you’re skint, having them more than a few days in a row can start to get old.

So here’s how to jazz things up:

Garlic

Add garlic marg (dairy free) or garlic infused oil (add chopped, crushed or powdered garlic to a vegetable oil and leave it for a while before using) to toast.

Or mix it right in with the beans (if it’s crushed or chopped garlic you’ll need to let it simmer for a few minutes to let the garlic cook)

Spice it up

If you like it spicy, but can’t afford chilli beans (they’re three or four times the price of baked beans over here) you have some options.

Add some straight chilli powder or sauce and sweat it out.

Make something a little more complex, with garlic, onions, chilli powder, maybe even some capsicum. I quite like to add a touch of paprika, a splash of soy sauce, a little lemon juice/apple cider vinegar, some chopped celery, and some cumin, but that’s me. Mix and match to suit your tastes.

Creamy/Cheesey

If you’ve got a bit of almond milk or whatever non dairy milk you like, you can make baked beans really creamy with a couple of tablespoons to the can. You’ll want to simmer it a little bit longer so it thickens.

If you want a cheesier flavour, add a teaspoon of brewers/nutritional yeast. It has a very strong flavour, so add small amounts first until you know how much you like.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of apple cider vinegar if you want a sharp cheese taste.

Veggie stock

I find half a cube of veggie stock can add a nice flavour. For liquid stock I’d add about a quarter of a cup. Stir it in while heating, let it thicken, eat.

Herbs

Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Oregano, Basil and parsley are all really nice in baked beans. Add a little bit at a time and adjust according to your tastes. Dried herbs need a little more cooking before their flavour comes out.

Make a soup/stew 

Depending on what you’ve got going spare in the kitchen, baked beans can be a great way to use up leftover vegetables, and with some grains and legumes you can make it go a long way. If you don’t want big chunks of vegetables you can run them through the blender, most of the broccoli/cauliflower stalk we usually throw out can be used up this way).

I like to add some soy sauce, a cube (or cup if it’s liquid) of veggie stock, some garlic and onion, and then whatever else is around, plus enough water for it to cook in. For a more tomato based flavour I might add in a can of tomatoes. You could go in a totally different direction if you wanted though, non dairy milk goes well in soups and stews, you might find you end up with something more lentil based. Anything goes.

If the veggies or grains etc need to be cooked for a while you can simmer them in a pot, or add them to the crockpot, or even in the microwave.

Tofu gets a bad rap, and really it’s undeserved. 

Yes, tofu tastes bad when you cook it badly, but then so does just about anything else. It’s just that we’re much more conditioned to be forgiving of bad chicken, bad cheese, etc. And at least tofu is unlikely to give you food poisoning if it’s under cooked.

Yes tofu takes some prep. But then, so do a lot of other foods. You pay more for convenience foods of many kinds because some of the work is done for you. But as far as a ‘raw ingredient’ goes, tofu is cheaper than many animal products, and when you compare it to the work involved with preparing any ‘raw ingredient’ it’s really not much different.

That being said, here’s a few ways to make dealing with tofu less effort

Pressing

Pressing tofu is kind of an art - convincing the water to come out of the soy sponge without mushing it. This is an art I refuse to master. It’s up there with the art of eating gracefully, and ironing collars.

So I just freeze the tofu I buy. If I’m planning on using it in the next two days, I move it to the fridge. Somehow, some weird magical thing happens that makes recently defrosted tofu stronger, so you can basically squeeze out almost all the water in your hands without mushing it. This doesn’t work for silken tofu though - seriously. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

Another option, if you don’t care about the tofu being mushed up, is a clean tea towel, stick the tofu in there, wrap it up, and squeeze it that way.

Or don’t press it at all. This makes it less likely to absorb other flavours, but so long as you cook it enough it still tastes good.

Marinating

To be honest, I almost never bother marinating tofu for any length of time. My idea of a marinade is to throw random stuff in a bowl, then stir in some cubes of tofu. If I’m really patient, I might last a couple of hours. Usually it’s a couple of minutes.

If you want to marinate tofu to make it taste like something specific, like the ham component of a hawaiian pizza, you can make the flavours soak in a lot faster by immersing the cubes/chunks/whatever in the marinate and baking it for about ten minutes. Shallow frying with about 1cm of oil in a pot also works (avoid marinades that have a strong powder component).

Super easy marinades

• Vinegar, Salt, Soy sauce
  
• Brewers yeast (sometimes called nutritional yeast), salt, tumeric, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, oil (if you’re feeling like reaching for the spice rack)
  
• Mustard, Soy sauce, Sugar, Sesame seed oil or tahini (optional, because expensive)
• Veggie stock
• Basically any stir fry or pasta sauce you have lying around will do

Cooking

The ways to cook tofu are pretty much endless. You can even have it raw if it works with the recipes. My favourite quick ways are;

Deep frying - It’s not really deep frying since you only need about a cm of oil in a pot. You want it to be pretty hot (but not smoking). You don’t even really need to press tofu if you’re cooking it like this, just squeeze it a bit over the sink. It’ll be crispier if you go hotter, softer if you go cooler. I often don’t flavour tofu before frying like this, I just have it with salt and maybe a little vinegar (seriously, it’s good) after. I’ve found it takes less than ten minutes to cook a bowl of nommy tofu bites. Probably not so healthy, but I’m prone to the odd treat now and then. I’ve found this also is a fast way to cook tofu that’s going to go in other things - like curries and stirfries.

Baking- If you don’t mind waiting for noms to cook (I go surf the net while I wait), you can just put whatever flavourings you want on the tofu (immersing it in veggie broth and baking is awesome too - thank you @theveganzombie), and throw it in the oven.

Shallow frying - I’ve found this takes a bit longer than I personally like, but it has its uses. If you’re frying tofu to go with other stuff, put it in first, even ahead of onions, and don’t be afraid to let it sit in the pan without being turned constantly, it’ll cook quicker if you only turn it every so often. If you want the tofu to still be crispy when you eat and you’re using a sauce, cook the tofu separately and add it at the end.

Pre-cooking

If you want nommy soy goodness straight from the fridge for sandwiches, salads, world domination, noodles, whatever, then you can make it up ahead of time, and see how long it lasts. 

I pretty much never bother to do this. The last time I made tofu bites to go on a pizza, it took all my willpower to allow even two thirds of them to actually make it to the pizza. Cooked tofu does not last long when it’s within my reach.

But if you have more self control than me it’s a good way to have teh noms on hand.

Storing

Fridge - Tofu has a long shelf life, it usually comes sealed. You can keep it in the fridge for a few days after opening so long as you immerse it in fresh water and keep it sealed. For tofu that’s been cooked, just keep it sealed.

Freezer- Unless I have reason to want the tofu soft and mushy, I tend to just freeze it, and take it out when I need it. If I need to defrost it fast I just stick it in a bowl of hot water, then add more hot water when it starts to cool. This is enough to get it to the point where I can cut it without any trouble.

Here’s the deal. I like pizza. A lot. Like, if I had to live on pizza alone, I’d probably be pretty ok with that. I’d build a fort out of the pizza boxes and hoard olives like a vengeful olive hoarding dragon.

Sadly, I have yet to work out how to replicate the amazing basil sauce the local pizza place does, and I’m too broke to afford even cheap pizza on a regular basis.

So sometimes I make pizza at home. 

Some ready made dairy free cheeses are available here in New Zealand - and they’re pretty good, but they’re not super cheap. Hummus isn’t always super cheap either (unless you’re making it from scratch, then it’s definitely super cheap), but by weight, hummus is usually cheaper than dairy cheese anyway and it goes further. So here is my lazy cheese sauce for pizza, dips, toasties, sandwiches, etc.

THINGS THOU SHALT REQUIRE:

• Hummus (plain or garlic)
  
• Vegetable oil
  

THINGS THOU MAYST LIKE TO ADD:

• Lemon juice
  
• Brewers yeast (add slowly, it has a strong flavour, so taste test as you go)
  
• Salt
• Thyme
• Mustard (I like wholegrain but go with whatever you like)
• Coconut cream (seriously, it’s weird but it does some kind of sorcery to smooth out all the flavours)
  

HOW THOU SHALT PROCEED:

1. Half hummus, half oil, stir until combined (it’ll be kinda globby at first). 
   
2. Add any extra stuff you like. Personally I like a splash of lemon juice, a tablespoon of mustard, a pinch of thyme, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of coconut cream (the fatty part). I like quite a sharp taste with this sauce, if you’d rather something creamier or more subtle, go for more oil, and more coconut cream.
   
3. Glob it on pizzas (it gets thicker when cooked), sandwiches, whatever you want.
4. Omnomnomnom