#healthy recipes

Ingredients

• Pastry (If you’re in NZ and need gluten free, pavillion does one, you can get it from countdown. New Way does a non gluten free puff pastry that’s awesome, available from countdown and Pak n Save)
• A block of firm tofu (2 if you don’t want to use vegetables) You could swap out the tofu entirely for vegetables but it will change the flavour.
• 1 can of plain chopped tomatoes or puree (can be substituted for tomato paste, but use half as much)
• A good splash of soy sauce
• ¼ cup brewers yeast
• Sundried tomatoes (pams is the best brand). You can do without these but I really think they make the flavour.
• Kalamata olives (delmaine is good) You can do without these but I really think they make the flavour.
• Flour (can be gluten free)

Optional

• Whatever vegetables you have spare. I like eggplant, zucchini, spinach, and kale. Be aware that carrot will likely change the taste so use sparingly until you know what you like.
• Vegetable stock - this is ideal if you want a ‘meatier’ tasting filling (massel does a FODMAP friendly veggie stock)
• Dairy free cheese (zenzo chedder is good, if you want something creamier and milder the dairy free mozarellas are good). Plain hummus or one of my cheese sauce recipes will also do fine.
• Cumin seeds
• Ground coriander
• Herbs, fresh is ideal but dried is fine. I like basil, coriander, oregano, and chives (chives are good if you want a more onion/garlic flavour)
• White or apple cider vinegar
• Hot sauce - I like chipotle, it’s not too hot and it adds a smokey flavour.
• Another can of tinned tomatoes
• Chunky vegetables (pies, carrot, corn etc)

1. Method
2. Chop up the tofu and/or vegetables, and the olives and sundried tomatoes. It’s a good idea to either press or freeze/squeeze the tofu so it can soak up the flavours of the broth (see my earlier post about freezing tofu to make pressing super easy). If you feel like it, just run the tofu and vegetables through the food processor till they have a vaguely mince like texture. Don’t mince up any vegetables you want to keep whole (like peas and corn etc).
3. Throw the 'mince’, any other vegetables, and the cumin seeds (if you’re using them) in a frying pan or wok. You can use regular oil but I like to use some of the spare oil from the sundried tomatoes. Stirfry everything for ten minutes or so.
4. Add a good splash of soy sauce (more if you want a meaty flavour, less if you don’t) and the brewers yeast and stir them in really well.  Now is also a good time to add the ground coriander if you’re using it. Stirfry for another ten minutes. If the mixture starts to stick or clump up, add a splash of white or apple cider vinegar, it’ll deglaze the pan and add a bit of bite to the mixture.
5. Now add the tomatoes, if you want a strong tomato flavour add two cans. If you’re using it, add the made up stock. This will add quite a bit of moisture to the mix.
6. Let the mixture simmer for about ten minutes, then taste test. If the flavour is a bit too mild, add a quarter cup of the brine from the kalamata olives and test again. If you want more flavour, add hot sauce slowly until the taste is about right.
7. Add the chopped herbs and stir them in. Let the mixture simmer for ten minutes. If it gets too dry, add a bit of water, what you’re looking for is the pieces of tomato to be getting soft and mushy.
8. When you’re sick of waiting, or the tomato chunks are mushy, add a few tablespoons of flour (and more water if needed) and stir in well to make a thick gravy around the 'mince’.
9. While the mixture is simmering, preheat the oven to 180C and roll out or cut your pastry, then line a pie dish (use oil if it isn’t non stick) with it (you can also cheat and use muffin trays for small pies but it’s a bit fiddly). If you want to, brush the inside of the pastry with oil to keep it from getting soggy (I don’t usually bother). When the mixture is ready, spoon it into the pastry, then add slices of dairy free cheese on top or your preferred “cheese” mix. Dab a bit of water around the edges, and put the pastry lid on, smooshing the pastry together as you go.
10. Brush the top with oil, stab a few holes in it. Bake at 180C until the top turns golden brown. It’s nice hot or cold, but when it’s hot the cheese melts through the mince.

Apples and Peanut butter

This is something people either seem to have known about forever, or they find the concept so weird that when you mention it they just look at you funny and back away slowly.

Slice up some apples, grab some peanut butter, and use the apple wedges to scoop up the peanut butter. There’s a bit of an art to manipulating the peanut butter, but it’s one worth mastering because omnomnomnomnom.

‘Baked’ Potatoes

Grab a potato, wash it if you need to. Stab a bunch of holes in the top or slice a cross halfway through it. Microwave on high for a few minutes then stab it with a knife to see if it’s soft inside, it’s different depending on the size of the potato and the power of the microwave. Once you know the rough time, you can just do that.

Toppings - vegan butter/marg, hummus, crushed garlic or garlic salt, cashew cream cheese, brewers/nutritional yeast, chopped fresh chives or spring onion, the list goes on

Couscous

Instant couscous like you can get in most supermarkets is super quick and easy to make. It tastes like pasta (because it’s made of the same stuff), and you can flavour it however you want.

Boil water, pour a cup of boiled water for every half cup of couscous, leave it for a couple of minutes, add a pinch of salt if you want, and fluff it up with a fork.

For flavourings (if you want them) you could just add a dab of vegan butter or margaraine, a teaspoon of mustard, or a splash of whatever stirfry, curry, or pasta sauce you have in the cupboard.

Noodles

Instant noodles are awesome. The instant noodle cups are rough on the environment, so I try to avoid the ones with the styrofoam cups at least, or use noodles you can cook on the stove or in the microwave instead.

Sometimes finding your preferred noodles that don’t use animal unfriendly oil can be a bit of a challenge, but they’re out there! And there’s a whole range of noodles to choose from that cook almost as quickly as the instant variety (my favourite are these awesome ones made from sweet potato starch that are so springy you could use them for slingshots if you weren’t busy nomming them because they’re AMAZING with peanut sauce).

The flavour options can vary too. I’ve come across a fair few ‘chicken’ noodle packets that were accidentally vegan. If you just got plain noodles, or you’re mixing it up a little, here’s some of the easy sauces I like to use.

Sweet chilli sauce - make sure you drain the noodles for this one

Soy sauce - combined with sweet chilli sauce it’s really frickin’ good. You can drain the noodles or keep the water, either’s good.

Veggie stock - one cube to a cup of noodles (with water)

Barbecue sauce - just a little bit sweetens the noodles up nicely. Drain the noodles.

Peanut butter and soy sauce - A tablespoon of peanut butter, a splash of soy sauce, heat in the microwave (to melt the peanut butter) or stir straight through hot drained noodles, nommy. Add a bit of chilli if you like it spicy.

Optional extras

Frozen mixed veggies will also cook in roughly the same time as the noodles so long as they’re small, if they’re bigger, just put them in a few minutes earlier and then add the noodles to the boiling water.

You might find you like nuts and seeds in noodles, I prefer them in noodle dishes with thicker, more complex sauces, but that’s a personal preference.

Small TVP chunks will cook in roughly the same time as the noodles, and they flavour easily.

Sandwich type constructions

The humble sandwich. Cultures all around the world have developed technology to wrap some kind of delicious bread type scaffolding around other types of deliciousness. Pita pockets, Tortillas, Bagels, Burgers, Subs, the list goes on.

Some easy things to stuff in your bread type scaffolding:

• Fresh tomato slices, fresh Basil (optional), and hummus. It’s super simple and it’s delicious. Also great toasted.
• Banana sandwiches. I don’t know if this is a New Zealand thing only or what, but seriously, dry bread, or margaraine, or whatever, and banana slices. That’s all. It’s divine.
• Avocado and tomato. With a sprinkle of salt and a splash of lemon juice if you’ve got it. Also fabulous toasted.
• Tabbouleh. If you can get it easily ready made from the supermarket, this goes great on any kind of bread related construct. Also goes fabulously with hummus.
• Falafel. Microwave a few spoonfuls for a minute or two, add to bread, add tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, mustard, hummus, whatever. Devour.

Cracker type things

There’s all kinds of crunchy crispy nommy things out there - rice or corn cakes, rice crackers, water crackers, the list goes on.

Stuff to put on them or dip them in

• Peanut butter - surprisingly nommy on corn/rice cakes
• Hummus - unsurprisingly nommy on everything
• Fresh tomato (awesome with fresh basil)
  
• Avocado
• Olives - There’s two kinds of people in this world. The ones who love olives, and the unlucky ones who don’t have the joy of olives in their lives.
• Sliced banana - especially good on rice/corn cakes

Sticks, chips and dips

Stuff to dip with -

• Carrot sticks
• Celery sticks
• Corn chips
• Tortilla chips
• Toasted pita bread
• Mini spring rolls (raw or cooked)
  

Stuff to dip in -

• Hummus - it comes in a million flavours
  
• Pesto (just need to find a vegan one, or make your own :) )
• Mustard
  
• Salsa - home made or store bought
• Sweet chilli sauce
  

Toast

Much like the humble sandwich, perhaps even pre dating it, we like to put stuff on bread, all kinds of bread.

• Peanut butter - seriously. Just go buy some peanut butter and eat it
• Bananas - yep, sliced bananas on toast is amazing.
• Fresh tomato - Add salt, pepper (if you like it), and it’s divine
• Avocado - mashed on toast with a fork, a pinch of salt, and some lemon juice, it’s divine.
• Marmite - So about half the western world will know what I’m talking about. The rest will be dazed and confused. Google it. It’s awesome. Half of you will instantly hate it. Half of you will become helpless addicted to the magnificent mountain of b vitamins that is marmite. Also related to vegemite.
  
• Baked beans - Heat em up, pile em on.

Pretzels

They’re cheap, they’re crunchy (cept for the giant soft ones, which are awesome in their own right), and they’re little edible bows. what more could you want? They’re usually vegan friendly, but it’s worth checking the bag just in case.

Vegetables

Yep. Grab some veggies, I quite like cauliflower and broccoli, put them in a covered microwave safe bowl and heat on high power for a couple of minutes. Then add whatever sauces you like (there’s a whole bunch listed here)

If you don’t have a microwave or don’t want to use one, just add about two cm (just under an inch) of water to a pot, add the veggies and cover. Bring to the boil on high heat, let it boil for a couple of minutes, then drain the water and the veggies should be cooked and nicely crisp.

Like most of my recipes, this calls for a few main ingredients and the rest is adaptable to suit your budget, timeframe, tastes, and imagination. In the future I think I’ll break this down into individual recipes, but for now, I’m lazy.

Depending on where you are in the world, capsicums (bell peppers) can be cheap or expensive. I’ve found if you can find them in jars, you get a lot more for your money and they take less cooking.

Ingredients

Bell peppers (Red is best, but you can use other colours too)

Filling

There’s a bunch of possible combinations, but here’s some of the ones  that I like:

Spinach, Quinoa, Basil, Tinned tomatoes, Veggie Stock, Garlic, and Onion

Roast Pumpkin, Cashew nuts, Spinach

Cooked Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrot, Garlic and Onion with Veggie stock, soy sauce, a splash of sweet chilli, and Mashed beans (optional)

Brown rice, Kidney beans, Tinned tomatoes, Corn, Celery, Sweet chilli sauce, Garlic, and Onion

Crumbled tofu, Tinned tomatoes, Cumin seeds, Veggie stock, Capers, and sundried tomatoes

Sauce

Again, lots of options, a couple of my favourites:

Lazy dairy free cheese sauce - Hummus, Oil, Salt, Mustard, Thyme (optional) stirred together

Guacamole - Avocado (smooshed), Lemon Juice, Paprika, Salt, (optionally you can add fresh chopped tomato, grated carrot and cucumber) stirred together

Barbecue sauce

Basil pesto - Fresh basil leaves, cashews/pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds, a sprinkling of brewers yeast, and a splash of oil, blended together

Sweet tomato sauce - Tinned tomatoes, a dollop of barbecue sauce (or a splash of vinegar and a teaspoon of brown sugar), fried onions, and raisins, simmered for a while

Madness/Method

If you’re using fresh peppers, slice them in half lengthways and remove the core and seeds. If you’re using jarred ones, just drain them and arrange them on a lined baking tray.

Gather up whatever filling you want to use. Chop up anything that needs chopping. Anything that needs pre cooking, like pumpkin, quinoa, or cauliflower, get that going.

Chop and fry garlic and onions if you’re using them, then add whatever else is going in, stir and and adjust to your tastes, then let it simmer till it’s very thick, add a little cornflour if you need to.

Now, depending on the sauce and your tastes, you might want to include the sauce in the actual peppers, drizzle it over the top, or add it after cooking. That’s up to you. I like to pair anything with beans or rice with guacamole and add the guacamole after cooking, but I like to add the hummus sauce to other fillings before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).

Spoon your filling into the peppers. It pays to underfill them a little bit since they tend to leak while cooking. Add sauce if you want to.

Bake them for about 20 minutes or until they go a little bit crispy on top.

Take them out of the oven, add sauce if desired, and eat.

Wary of whitesplaining/appropriating a food that is very much African/Middle Eastern, I did a bit of googling about it. There’s some very cool info about its history and how it’s made. Suffice to say that what us folks in the western world buy from the supermarket is the simplified version. But it’s the simplified version I’m gonna talk about in this post - because that’s what I use to make this recipe. And it’s super convenient (and I’m lazy). But seriously, go read about couscous and North African cuisine, it’s really cool.

This recipe has some similarities to Tabbouleh, but it’s a bit different.

Ingredients

Couscous - the make-in-five-minutes kind you can get at most supermarkets.

Fresh herbs - I particularly like mint and parsley, but any herbs you like are great

Any veggies you have lying around - I tend to stick to ones I don’t have to precook, but if you want to precook some, go for it :). I particularly like fresh tomato and raw carrot

Any nuts, seeds or legumes you have floating about - Again, I tend to stick to the kind I don’t have to precook, but precook away if it suits you. Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc are all great

Salt - just a pinch

Oil - just a little bit

Sauces - My personal favourites are a dollop of hummus, a splash of sweet chilli, and a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. But you can add all kinds of sauces, or leave them out entirely.

Onion and garlic (optional) - These are pretty strong raw, so chop them finely unless you want to saute them for a couple of minutes first.

Lemon juice - Optional, fresh is best, but bottled will do too. You just want a splash or two. Maybe half a lemons worth to a decent sized bowl full (unless you really like it bitter)

Water

Method

Precook anything that needs precookin’

In a pot, bring about twice as much water as couscous to the boil, (or boil the jug and add it to a pot or bowl). Add a splash of oil and a pinch of salt, then add the couscous and cover.

Come back in five minutes. Go cuddle the cat, or the dog, and (if you’re me) pretend you never wanted to cuddle them to begin with when they don’t want cuddles.

Chop up the vegetables and herbs etc into small pieces.

Stir the couscous, it should be light and fluffy. Add everything else. Stir, and adjust sauces and herbs according to your personal tastes.

If you want the salad warmed through, you can stir it over medium heat for a few minutes, or put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute on low to medium power.

Fight off anybody else trying to steal it.

Unless it’s the cat. Then you must render unto Felis Catus the things that are Felis Catus’. Unless there’s garlic or onions in it. Then you must protect your feline emperor at all costs.

Ludovica and Chiara #baby

Italy, 02/11/2019

Soul eater.

Italy, 27/10/2019