Simple Sharing Platter

January 1, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

Whenever I have people over, I always provide food for two reasons:

1) I’m a good host and I like my guests to be comfortable in my house.

2) It promotes veganism and that is always a good thing.

I had my niece around just before Christmas. She isn’t vegan and isn’t a particularly adventurous eater. The only thing on my platter she had had before was the BBQ sauce.

I made the guacamole myself using avocado, lime juice, salt, chilli and garlic and a blender. The BBQ sauce was shop bought.

I then baked Vegi Deli chicken style pieces in Jamaican All Spice and sautéed the aubergine in salt and garam masala until soft.

The whole lot took me about 20 minutes. Guess what? She loved it!

Simple and tasty vegan food wins the day again.

Queer Vegan now has an Instagram page too. Check it out! Queervegan666

Quinoa Crusted Vegetables

October 19, 2014October 19, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

The party season is upon us! Whether it’s Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas or New Year you’re celebrating, you’re need some munchies to have around whilst entertaining people. This is also great to eat on the sofa in front of a movie! 🙂

I was dubious at first, like, “how the hell is raw quinoa going to taste nice?” Trust me though. This is like having something breaded and crunchy.

Ingredients

(Ok so scale up if you need to because this was just for 2 people.)

2 courgettes, cut lengthways

1 aubergine, sliced into discs

2 sweet potatoes

1 pot of store bought salsa

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

2 tsp oil

2 tsp Jamaican all purpose or jerk seasoning

A large handful of raw, dry quinoa

Method

Get the oven on full whack.

Slice up the sweet potatoes into chips, place on a baking tray and cover in oil and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste and then chuck in the oven for 30 minutes.

Mix some salt, quinoa, oil and all purpose seasoning in a bowl.

Now dip the courgettes and aubergines into the bowl, making sure they get plenty of quinoa on them. (Your hands are going to get mucky. Deal with it.)

Place on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.

The sweet potato fries and quinoa crusted vegetables should be ready about the same time.

Serve with salsa.

Vegan Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

June 30, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

I got the idea for these bad bois from a random internet meme. I saw them and instantly thought, “this needs to be vegan!” Here’s the easy peasy veganised version for your taste buds pleasure! 🙂

Ingredients:

Method:

Get the oven on at full whack!

Now cut circles from one of your wholemeal wraps to make a base. If you have pastry cutters that would be great, I don’t. I used the bottom of a tin which just happened to be the exact right size.

Now place the bases in a muffin tin and place about a teaspoon of tomato puree in each.

Fill each tin with the pre-grated Toffuti Mozzarella and VBites pepperoni style slices. (Chopped.)

Then place them in the oven for 15 minutes before checking them. The cheese should be nice and melted by this point and you just need to brown off the top for another 5 minutes. Once cooked serve with a nice fresh salad.

These are perfect for parties because you can literally eat them in a couple of bites, but the flavour is still really intense.

If you’re not vegan already, please consider going vegan. It’s the least you can do for the animals, for your health and for the environment.

Find out more at:

http://www.vegankit.com

http://www.whyveganism.com

Emz X

Cashew Cream Cheese

March 10, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

I’ve been wanting to make my own nut cheese for a while now. I’ve scoured the wonderful internet and found many a hard cheese recipe that involved exotic ingredients and equipment that most people have never even heard of, let alone would actually have.

In my searching I found a blog called This Rawsome Vegan Life and she has created a creamy cashew cheese and placed it in a raw burger. This is my take on that recipe in two different styles. One will be with the raw burger and the other just as a snack.

Raw Burgers:

8 portabello mushrooms with stalks removed

Olive oil

Terriyaki sauce

Sea salt

For the filling:

6 spring onions, chopped

3 large tomatoes, diced

Dried chives

For the cheese:

400 grams cashew nuts

2 shot glasses of water

4 tablespoons nutritional yeast

The juice of one lemon

2 cloves of garlic

A tablespoon of herbs de Provence

A teaspoon of sea salt

Method:

Poor a good glug of olive oil, terriyaki sauce and a large pinch of salt into a mixing bowl.
Rub each mushroom in this newly formed sauce and place on a greaseproof sheet in a baking tray.
When this is done you have two options. If you have a dehydrator they go in there for 4 hours. If you have an oven, they go in there for 3 hours on the lowest heat setting.
Mix the filling together in a bowl and set aside.
Next it’s cream cheese time! Place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse blend until the mixture becomes thick and creamy.
Scoop all the cheese out and leave covered at room temperature for about two hours so the consistency thickens slightly.
When the mushrooms are cooked, serve the two halves like a burger bun stuffing them full of the cheese and the filling and pressing together.
Eat with your hands! (Or if this is too messy for you, use a knife and fork. 😉 )

There was quite a lot of cheese left over and it kept outside the fridge for three days before we finished it all off, mainly on crackers with lots of chilli and garlic crushed over the top.

This cream cheese is absolutely delicious, healthy and totally addictive. I actually cannot wait to make more.

Enjoy amigos!

Caramel Walnut Bourbon Cake

February 25, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

You may already have guessed by now, but I’m not great at making cakes and take a lot of inspiration from others.

My inspiration for this particular recipe has come from this lovely blog: http://fragrantvanillacake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/banana-walnut-caramel-cake.html

I used the exact same recipe and method, however I used 5cl of Jack Daniels rather than a teaspoon and all the UK ingredients rather than the American ones.

I took it to work and received mixed reviews. Some said it was too sweet and others couldn’t help coming back for more. Me personally I loved it, but yet again it proved that I’m rubbish with cakes. 😛

Super Secret Scrambled Tofu Recipe: The Best You’ll Ever Have!!!!

January 30, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

I think people are a bit lost when it comes to tofu. It’s this white squishy block which doesn’t taste like anything. I saw an episode of Come Dine With Me once and a vegan guy on there served his dinner guests raw tofu and avocado. What the hell was he thinking? YUCK!

The number one rule is flavouring: herbs, spices and marinades are the best but sauces, bread crumbs and oils can also be great too.

On Facebook I’m constantly raving about how amazing Mykey’s scrambled tofu is, so I finally caught him in the act on Sunday morning and took some pictures.

First let’s get these ingredients down:

A large handful of fresh baby leaf spinach (frozen is far too watery.)
6 large button mushrooms
Tumeric
Black salt (not essential but will make the tofu smell and taste more like egg.)
Terriyaki sauce
1 pack of chilled firm tofu (not silken)
A dash of oil
Wholemeal sourdough bread to serve
Nutritional yeast

Method:

Heat the dash of oil in a frying pan.

Slice your mushrooms and place into the pan, stirring every minute or so.

In the meantime, drain your tofu over the sink.

When the mushrooms have begun to soften, add the tofu by squeezing it through your hands so it crumbles. Break any extra bits up with your mixing spoon.

Now add about a tablespoon of powdered turmeric, a glug of teriyaki sauce, two tablespoons of nutritional yeast and two pinches of black salt and mix together.

Add your spinach and mix in until wilted.

Now you can turn off the heat whilst you wait for you bread to toast.

Spread generously with vegan butter, add tofu and then get it all in your face, with ketchup.

Oh and be careful, other’s in your house may want some too! 😛

Mushroom Pate

December 24, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

The Facebook group, “What Fat Vegans Eat” has spoken so here is my famous mushroom pate recipe. So far served to Mykey, Herts Vegans and probably quite a few others after this post.

When I made this for my Christmas spread blog, I added dark ale and it tasted divine and for the Herts Vegans potluck, I substituted the dark ale for extra mushrooms and garlic and it worked just as well.

Ingredients:

1 whole pack of mushrooms (will make two ramekins)

8 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

2 red onions, peeled and diced

2 table spoons olive oil

1 table spoon of vegan butter

A teaspoon of herb of choice. (First time I used dill and the second time I used parsley)

Salt

Pepper

2 table spoons of dark ale (optional)

Method:

Heat a pan with the olive oil and literally put all of the ingredients in that pan straight away.

Cook whilst stirring every couple of minutes for about 10-15 minutes.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then place in a blender.

Blend until it resembles a chunky paste. Taste test and add more salt etc if needed. I’d also recommend adding some more olive oil here just to make it extra creamy.

Enjoy with toast, crostini, soya cheese or homemade wholemeal bread….or take to a potluck with some peanut butter cookies! 😉

Sourdough Toast & Home-made Pine Nut Pesto Salsa

December 6, 2013December 6, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

I found a magazine stashed away under the sofa called, “Summer Vegetarian” recently. I had a look through and decided that pretty much everything could be veganised or was already vegan. I looked at the first recipe and instantly wanted to make it. It was called, “Ricotta toasts with rocket and pine nut salsa.” I’ve put my Queer hands all over it, veganed the shit out of it and below is the result:

Ingredients:

* 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped.

* 50g bag of wild rocket.

* 20g of fresh basil.

* A whole small jar of capers, drained.

* Juice of half a fresh lemon.

* 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.

* Half a small bag of pine nuts.

* 1 loaf of sourdough bread.

* Two fresh tomatoes, sliced.

Method:

Put the garlic, rocket, basil leaves, capers, lemon juice and olive oil into a food processor and pulse blend until you have a chunky, bright green sauce.

Stir the pine nuts through the sauce and give another quick pulse blend.

Slice your sourdough loaf and toast under the grill or in the toaster.

Spread your pesto salsa on your toast and top with fresh sliced tomatoes. You can also add a dash of balsamic vinegar here for a little extra flavour.

The original recipe suggests that per serving you’d be looking at 279 calories. Personally I’d guess that it was much less than that because I’ve not used any animal derived ingredients.

This took approximately ten minutes to make and it will use the entire loaf.

I’d serve this as a snack, a starter or a light lunch. It’s full of protein, vitamin C and vitamin E. Enjoy! 🙂

Vanilla & Maple Syrup Cookies

November 25, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

I love cooking, but when it comes to baking I’m probably the worst person in the world at it! Don’t get me wrong, vegan cakes are no harder to make than non-vegan ones. If anything they are easier because you don’t have to mess around with eggs etc. The reason I’m so bad? Well because you have to follow the recipe using proper measurements for it all to come out right. You can imagine my surprise when I just threw a load of ingredients together the other night and they actually came out ok. No scrap that, they were amazingly tasty….even if they didn’t look it.

Here’s my made up spur of the moment recipe:

¾ tub of vegan butter (I used Vitalite.)

A phone sized wedge of vegetable shortening (I used Trex.)

2 tablespoons of vanilla essence.

Half a small bottle of maple syrup.

2 tablespoons of egg replacer (I don’t normally use this stuff, but I just thought it might work for once and it was almost out of date.)

A shot of water.

10 tablespoons of self raising flour.

Method to my madness:

Place the butter and the shortening in a bowl and mix together using an everyday fork, until it becomes a type of thick paste.
Now add the flour, vanilla essence, maple syrup and egg replacer. Mix together with clean hands and if it becomes too dry, now is the time to add the shot of water.
It should basically look….well like cookie dough! You can also try it now because it doesn’t have any nasty things in it that will make you sick. Do you like it? Does it need more vanilla? Then add it!
Now grab some greaseproof paper, put it on a baking tray and spoon out small circles which will become your cookies.
Bake for 10 minutes at 200 degrees, then turn right down to 150 degrees for another 10 minutes. (This will insure the outside is crispy and the inside is soft.)
Serve with a nice glass of plant based milk.

Seriously Tasty Time Saving Porridge Topper

November 10, 2013November 10, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

Oats are amazing! They are great for the bacteria in your gut, give you loads of energy, keep you full up and are loaded with fiber. Being vegan I don’t really need to worry about fiber because everything I eat has it in, but you can always do with more right?

Mykey and I live a very hectic lifestyle. We are guardians to five cats and one very lively American Bulldog called Bailey. We also work full time and train twice a day everyday at the gym. A little while ago I decided we needed to cut down on the amount of time we spent getting ready in the morning for work, so I came up with this great time saving idea that gives porridge an extra health boost and tastes great.

I make up a jar full of super foods that I then sprinkle on top. Before I used to spend and extra twenty minutes in the morning making sure our breakfasts were as packed with nutrients as possible. Now I stick my spoon in my jar and throw it on top of my bowl of oats, before smothering in soya milk and sometimes heating in the microwave.

Yum!

The jar lasts about a month if two of you are eating porridge everyday for 5 out of 7 days a week. I also like to put different things in it each month, but this month I’ve gone with flaked almonds, pecan nuts, pumpkin seeds, dried goji berries, shredded coconut, walnuts, milled flaxseed, chia seeds and if I put anything else in there, I can’t remember!

Enjoy! 🙂

Queer Vegan

Food, fitness and culture from a queer, vegan, metal head.

Snacks

Simple Sharing Platter

Quinoa Crusted Vegetables

Vegan Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

Cashew Cream Cheese

Caramel Walnut Bourbon Cake

Super Secret Scrambled Tofu Recipe: The Best You’ll Ever Have!!!!

Mushroom Pate

Sourdough Toast & Home-made Pine Nut Pesto Salsa

Vanilla & Maple Syrup Cookies

Seriously Tasty Time Saving Porridge Topper