Chili Cheese Dog

My food envy hit an all time high when I saw this post from Vegan Good Things, seriously! I've always wanted to go to New York, but my want has turned to need just so I can go to this Foodswings place. It looks fudging amazing. The main thing that caught my eye was the chili cheese dog, I never, ever have hot dogs because I don't really like veggie sausages, but if it's covered in chili and cheese, I'm game. I've also decided that this ASDA meat free Lincolnshire sausage mix is the least offensive of the fake sausage bunch (for me anyway) and it's only 82p, so as I still had half a bag to use up I got my chili cheese dog on and stuffed my face with delightfully bad food. 

For 4 you'll need:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small red pepper
1 tsp hot chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
100g veggie mince
400g tin tomatoes
300ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 pack of sausage mix/4 veggie sausages
4 white submarine rolls
Cheese/vegan cheese for sprinkling

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan, then add the onion, garlic, red pepper, chili powder, paprika and cumin and gently fry for 5-10 minutes or until the onions are translucent. 
2. Add the veggie mince and fry until it is cooked through, then add the tomatoes, vegetable stock and tomato puree and leave to simmer for 30 mins. 
3. While the chili is simmering make the packet sausages (if using) and when there's 10 minutes of chili cooking time left start frying the sausages. 
4. When the sausages are browned, place into the sliced submarine rolls, top with the cooked chili and cheese/vegan cheese, serve up with crispy potato wedges and enjoy!

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Tofuevos Rancheros Breakfast Burrito

Since the Vegetarian Society launched their breakfast butty competition, I've been trying to think of the perfect entry. After thinking of all the usual sausage sandwiches, veggie bagels etc I decided to go a completely different route and make a vegan version of huevos rancheros and as it's supposed to be a 'butty', I thought there was no better way of making it a portable breakfast than to roll it up in to a burrito. I've always wanted to make huevos rancheros, but my hatred for eggs had stopped me until I realised I could make it with scrambled tofu. I swear to god that tofu scramble is much, much better than egg and I hope that this recipe would make it's sort of 'meaty impostor hang it's heads in shame'. It's full of everything you need for the morning, protein, fresh raw veggies and a mild chili kick to get the day started. I did try to get a picture of it all rolled up, but I was being impatient (because I wanted to eat it) and it came out rubbish so you'll just have to use your imagination! I made homemade salsa and guacamole because it's super easy and tastes lovely and fresh, but you can use store brought as well.

 Makes 2:

For the salsa:

100g chopped tomatoes 

1/4 of a small red onion chopped
A small handful of coriander chopped
A squeeze of lime juice
1/2 a mild chili

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
2. Put in the fridge until ready to use.

For the guacamole:
1 avocado
1/4 of a small red onion
A handful of coriander
2 cherry tomatoes
1/2 a squeeze of lime juice
1/2 a mild chili

1. Pop all the ingredients in to a food processor and blitz until guacafied. 
2. Put in the fridge until ready to use.

For your Tofuevos Rancheros Breakfast Burrito:

A knob of vegan margarine
150g firm tofu, drained
1/2 tsp of turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tortilla wraps
Your home made salsa
Your home made guacamole
1 small can of refried beans

1. Melt the vegan margarine in a sauce pan and crumble the tofu in.
2. Add the turmeric, paprika, mixed herbs and soy sauce and fry until it starts to brown. 
3. Gently heat the tortilla wrap in a large frying pan, then transfer to a plate.
4. Spoon the salsa, guacamole and refried beans on to the wrap then top with the tofu scramble. 
5. Fold the ends in and roll it up in to a burrito and enjoy! 

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Oh Vienna (and Wasabi Hummus)

This time 2 years ago, one of my favourite Gingers (Georgie) and I went on an adventure to Vienna. We picked Vienna based on the fact it was known for producing fine cakes, obviously a wise decision. The trip was a romantic (not really) whirlwind of cakes, hot chocolates, schnitzel, museums and my favourite thing of all wasabi hummus.

Beautiful Vienna, Naschmarkt, delicious flat bread and wasabi hummus.

Georgie and I are very similar in the way of liking to have lots of sleep and eating lots of cake so when we first got to Vienna we took a long nap, woke up at about 9pm and ventured out to see what we could find. Amazingly all the cafes are open until like midnight, so we had some dinner and then had a cake and coffee. It was an amazing trip and most things in my life tend to be, it was pretty focused of food! One of the days we were there, we went to the Naschmarkt, which was full of stalls selling loads of delicious foods. The first thing I had was some kind of amazing flat bread filled with deep fried vegetables, feta cheese, falafel, salad and yoghurt and mint sauce, washed down with warm mulled wine! We also picked up some wasabi hummus, and fresh olive bread to eat back at the hotel. I love wasabi and hummus so the two together were perfect. I've been thinking of making it since then, but I finally decided to get my act together and actually make it. It tasted as good as I remember and I brought some lovely fresh olive bread to dunk in it :) The hummus we brought off the market was bright green, but mine turned out a more hummsy colour, I suspect there was some kind of colouring in there somewhere. I still have loads of wasabi paste left and this recipe so easy I will definitely be making it again!

200g/1 small can of chickpeas drained
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1 small garlic clove peeled
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp wasabi paste

1. Put all of the ingredients in to a food processor and blend. 
2. Scrape down the sides so that it all gets blended up equally. 
3. When it looks hummusy serve it up with warm bread and vegetable crudites and enjoy! 

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Roast Sweet Potato, Goats Cheese and Spinach Pie

I don't think I like snow. As much as a try to, it ruins everything and is also really, really cold. Last year it ruined Christmas Dinner with my friends and this year it made me go in to work while my boyfriend and friends attached a sled to a car and had loads of fun. Although it's a life ruiner there are some good things about snow such as building snowmen, seeing your dog go mental and having an excuse to eat lots of comfort food. 

I can't think of any food that is quite as comforting as pie, especially as it's usually accompanied by mounds of mashed potato and thick gravy. It's up there with mac and cheese and as I already have some premade mac and cheese in the fridge (I was desperate), I decided to brave the snow and walk to the shops to get ingredients for a flavorful, warming pie. The recipe is based on the delicious Heidi pie by Pieminister and it is definitely a labour of love, especially if you make your pastry from scratch, but it is so worth it! So I made up some rough puff, chucked some fresh veggies in a roasting tin and settled in for a night in my onesie, chowing down on pie.

Serves 2:

350g home made rough puff (I use half of this recipe)
1 medium sweet potato chopped into small chunks
1 small red onion chopped into small chunks
2 cloves of garlic peeled
A big glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 handfuls of baby spinach roughly torn
50g goats cheese chopped in to chunks

1. Put the sweet potato, onion and garlic in to a small roasting tin, cover with olive oil, season well and pop in to a preheated oven (200 degrees) for 40 minutes, mixing occasionally.
2. While the vegetables are in the oven roll out the pastry and line your pie dish with 2/3 and keep the other 1/3 for the top.
3. Put your spinach into a colander and pour boiling water over to wilt it, then put to one side. 
4. When the roasted vegetables are ready, remove from the oven and roughly squish with the back of a fork leaving some chunks intact. Make sure all of the garlic is sqished and mixed in though, as I imagine that wouldn't be nice to find! 
5. Mix the spinach and goats cheese in, then spoon the mixture in to the pastry lined pie dish. 
6. Roll out the rest of the pastry and cover the top of the pie, trim the edges and make some kind of super cool decoration for the top (I made a star). 
7. Pop in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until it's nice and browned and serve it up with lots of mash and gravy! 

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Vegan Marshmallow Mix

Last Christmas I was lucky enough to receive not 1, not 2, but 3 packets of angel food vegan marshmallow mix from my lovely nan and vegan Emma. It's taken me over a month to get around to making them, mainly because I couldn't find/John Lewis were sold out of candy thermometers. I finally got one last week, so put it to good use and made my first ever vegan marshmallows.

I'm not going to lie, the first time I read the instructions for the mixture it made my head hurt a bit. It seemed very confusing, but when I actually did it, it was pretty simple. It just felt a bit more like I was doing a science experiment rather than baking. First of all you whisk packet A with some water which makes a big fluffy mixture, almost like egg whites. Then you mix B with some more water which made brown water (ew). Then you have to make a sugar syrup (hence why I needed a candy thermometer), which you mix the brown water in to. Lastly you pour the syrup in to the fluffy white mixture, which melts it! I don't know if this is quite right as it felt like all of my good mixing had just been destroyed. Then you whisk for what seems like an eternity until it becomes white and fluffy again. So, yeah, very simple! Mine turned out slightly (that's an understatement) squishy, in fact you can't really pick them up, but I don't know whether this is down to over mixing, under mixing or just getting it a bit wrong. The instructions are a bit vague on how much to mix, so the only way to find out is to make them again. I spied some strawberry icing sugar in Morrisons so I'm going to make pink ones next! I definitely recommend trying these if you're a vegan/vegetarian sweetie fan. Lot's of marshmallowy fun to be had!

If you want to make some too, you can find them here :)

UPDATE: So I feel I may have definitely made them wrong, they just got more and more squishy until they imploded in to a weird pile of goo!

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