absentmindedfan's recipes

[absentmindedfan]

Hi everyone I've really been getting enthusiastic about cooking varied vegan food lately so I've decided to create a thread for your most recent yummy recipe. I will also try and get into the habit of posting photos of my food experiments (and some old faves) on my Flickr page.

Today I made Oatmeal Choc-chunk cookies:
Makes around 6 big cookies or 10 smaller
Preheat oven to a medium heat, on normal (don't use a fan oven you wont get the right results)
Blend 1 cup vegan margarine with 1 and a half cups of vegan golden unrefined caster sugar (gives a crunchy sweetness) until smooth and slightly fluffy. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract (expensive but tastes so much better than imitations) and 1 'egg' (made with egg replacer). Mix in 1 and a half cups of plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt. Once mixed add 1 and a half cups of porridge oats and as much broken up chunks of plain chocolate as you desire (I use a whole large bar!). Mix well and drop spoonfuls onto a baking tray (I don't grease them I prefer to use baking sheet-cleaner and no crispy cookie bottoms). Cook in centre of oven for about 8-9 mins for chewy softer cookies, and 10-12 for crispy crunchy cookies.
I'll post once the pics are on my photosite.
Enjoy!

[absentmindedfan]

Pic is now on my Flickr page of the yummy cookies. I cooked them for about 10 minutes and they are very chewy, so to get them crunchy it's probably closer to 12. If they're going brown they'll come out crunchy, if they're pale they'll come out chewy. I added a few Pumpkin seeds to the top of them, it really adds to the flavour.
And they taste better than they look!

[screamingcarrot]

oooo they look yummy
'i think, therefore im vegan' i LOVE that!

[Roxy]

Mmmmm - they do look good! Looking forward to reading and seeing pictures of your newest recipes!

[DianeVegan]

Wow, I'm impressed! I wish I could figure out how to do that with photos of recipes. I love having pictures of the final product.

[xmissyo]

Wow, this sounds great! I'm just wondering what kind of chocolate you used, because most are made with milk, aren't they?

[absentmindedfan]

Most dark chocolate (where the cocoa solids percentage is over 60%) don't need milk in and thus are vegan. I used Sainsbury's belgian dark chocolate which has a hint of vanilla in it, and is about 70% cocoa solids. Any higher than 75% cocoa solids is a bit *too* rich to eat as a snack, but fine for cooking, espeically brownies.
Green and Black's dark chocolate is divine, I *love* the Maya Gold and Raisin and Hazlenut.

[Roxy]

By the way, absentmindedfan - you are a very good photographer and have some great photos on your site! Lucy is just adorable!!

[absentmindedfan]

By the way, absentmindedfan - you are a very good photographer and have some great photos on your site!

Eeek...thankyou! Spjessop (boyf, member of this forum) takes much better pics than me I'm afraid...you've made me embarrassed now *blushes*

My latest pic on there in the vegan food set is of my dinner tonight, which was Roasted Aubergine Linguine.
Roast an aubergine by putting it in a medium hot oven with some olive oil and salt in a shallow dish. Meanwhile fry some garlic and fresh tomatoes (you can add onion but my boyf can't digest it so I omit it) until soft. Add half a can of tinned toms, small amount of salt and black pepper to taste, as well as a handful of fresh basil leaves. You can add a bay leaf too-but don't forget to remove it once you've finished cooking as they arent edible. Cook the pasta-linguine is my choice for this or angel hair, but any is fine. Wholeweat spaghetti goes well.
Once the aubergine is wrinkly and feels soft (squidge it with some tongs, it should feel very soft inside) remove from oven and cut off the top, slice in half and open up. Pour the tomato sauce onto the cooked pasta (best served in pasta bowls as it's sloppy eating), scoop out half the aubergine flesh and add to one plate, then the rest on the other plate. This serves two people with a medium aubergine, or one very very hungry vegan who *loves* aubergine (something I'm guilty of!)
P.S aubergine is sometimes also known as eggplant.

[aubergine]

The cookies were tasty, but not as good as the Aubergine. Mmmmmm.

[absentmindedfan]

New pic on my Flickr:
Red Lentil Stew with Brown Rice.

Fry courgette, mushroom, carrot, tomato and spring greens (and any other veg you have lying around) until soft. Add one can of tinned tomatoes and about a can of water, and as many red lentils as you wish (they do suck up water and expand so bear this in mind.) Puy lentils are a touch too strong a taste for this so split red lentils are best.
Bring to boil and simmer until soft. Add mushroom seasoning (absolutely yummy I recommend it), coriander, salt, pepper, basil, garlic, tabasco and anything else you can think of to taste. Serve with brown rice and a slice of bread. Very satisfying and tastes even better the day after once having 24 hours to 'stew'.
Enjoy!

P.S I am house-sitting for my brother (the owner of Lucy the kitten on my Flickr pics) so expect more cute pics of her next week!

[catmogg]

Hi everyone I've really been getting enthusiastic about cooking varied vegan food lately so I've decided to create a thread for your most recent yummy recipe. I will also try and get into the habit of posting photos of my food experiments (and some old faves) on my Flickr page.

Today I made Oatmeal Choc-chunk cookies:
Makes around 6 big cookies or 10 smaller
Preheat oven to a medium heat, on normal (don't use a fan oven you wont get the right results)
Blend 1 cup vegan margarine with 1 and a half cups of vegan golden unrefined caster sugar (gives a crunchy sweetness) until smooth and slightly fluffy. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract (expensive but tastes so much better than imitations) and 1 'egg' (made with egg replacer). Mix in 1 and a half cups of plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt. Once mixed add 1 and a half cups of porridge oats and as much broken up chunks of plain chocolate as you desire (I use a whole large bar!). Mix well and drop spoonfuls onto a baking tray (I don't grease them I prefer to use baking sheet-cleaner and no crispy cookie bottoms). Cook in centre of oven for about 8-9 mins for chewy softer cookies, and 10-12 for crispy crunchy cookies.
I'll post once the pics are on my photosite.
Enjoy!

I made your cookies and they were gorgeous!! Thankyou.

[absentmindedfan]

I'm glad you liked them! The rolled oats add to the chewiness I think, but I will try making them without and see how the recipe is then. It'll be hard work trying them out and tasting them, but I'll manage!