Now Air is hush’d, save where the weak-ey’d Bat,
With short shrill Shriek flits by on leathern Wing.

- William Collins (1721-1759), British poet. Ode to Evening

Frost came early this year. Like, a month earlier than last year! It’s been down to freezing overnight these last few days, and not above about 7C during the day (45F in Amerispeak). Anyhoo, that means it’s perfect weather for hot cocoa!

Ready-made cocoa mixes are generally made with bovine mammary secretions, but happily, you don’t need them! If you’ve got cocoa powder, sugar and soya milk (or other non-dairy milk), you can easily make your own mug o’ chocolatey goodness.

If you’re feeling decadent, you can top your cocoa with vegan marshmallows or whipped cream. (I usually have mine naked, though. My thighs thank me for this restraint.)

Vegan hot cocoa

1. Combine cocoa powder, sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk to combine completely.

2. Gradually whisk in soya milk and heat until it’s very hot. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, if using.

3. Pour into a mug and serve. If you want it to look foamy, like in the photo, pour all but a couple tablespoons into a mug, then whisk the remaining bit until foamy and top up the mug.

Makes one serving.

Variations:

• Peppermint hot cocoa: Add a couple drops of peppermint extract.
• Orange hot cocoa: Add a couple drops of orange extract.
• Cafe mocha: Use hot cocoa instead of regular soya milk in a latte.

I think we may be going through the moon’s Falafel phase, because a couple other Vegan Mofo bloggers have made and blogged about falafels in the last couple of days. (Hi, Jeni!)

If you’ve never had a homemade falafel sandwich, you are really missing out on something Very Delicious and Very Delectable. While bought ones CAN be good… even really very yummy and tasty… they can also be not very good at all.

Make falafels yourself and you can be guaranteed of making a lip-smacking good meal. (The kind that makes you wish you’d made more, even when you’re stuffed full of falafel goodness and couldn’t possibly eat any more.)

A warning to the fried-food-phobics out there! These are fried, specifically deep-fried. But they are soooo good.

Some falafels are made with dried chickpeas which have been soaked overnight but not cooked (I think this is the “authentic” way). The first time Mr Thrifty and I attempted homemade falafels this way, the pesky little balls fell apart in the fryer. Falafel crumbs! We rescued the batch by mixing the remainder with a tin of pureed chickpeas to hold them together. Success! Though perhaps not completely authentic.

We always make enough of these to do three meals of four sandwiches (yes, Mr Thrifty and I have two sandwiches each… they are that good!)

Tahini paste is like peanut butter, but made with sesame seeds. It has recently almost doubled in price at some places in these parts, so shop around.

Instead of the tin of chickpeas, you can use home-cooked chickpeas (which is what I usually do), and use a bit of cooking liquid instead of the reserved liquid from the tin. Start with 110g (1/2 cup) dry chickpeas and let Stanley cook ‘em!

Heavenly falafel sandwiches

1. Drain soaked chickpeas and put them in a food processor. Add bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and salt. Turn machine on and blend until you have the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. (I do this in two batches as I have a small food processor.)

2. Empty the chickpeas crumbs into a large bowl. Add the onion, fresh coriander (cilantro), lemon juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne and pepper. Mix gently.

3. In a food processor or blender, combine tinned chickpeas with 1 tablespoon tahini and 2 tablespoons chickpea liquid. Process until smooth. Scrape down sides and add more chickpea liquid if necessary to make a smooth paste.

3. Add the chickpea puree to the chickpea crumb mixture and mix thoroughly. Form into small patties and deep-fry in batches at 180C until golden (about 3 minutes). Don’t do more than one layer at a time.

4. Remove from fryer and drain on a tray lined with kitchen paper. Sprinkle hot falafels with lemon juice & salt. Repeat with remaining falafels.

5. To make salad, combine diced vegetables with fresh coriander (cilantro) and salt.

6. Warm pita breads and slit one side open. Use about 1/2 cup salad and two falafels per pita, and spoon tahini sauce over top.

Remaining falafels can be frozen. Reheat in a 160C (320F) oven for 20 minutes, until hot.

I love charity shops. Our town has five, and my favourites are those run by the RSPCA and Break; both have that desirable combination of good prices plus good stock. I’ve had luck at St Peters Hospice shop as well, though they’re usually more pricey.

Today I’m going to share with you some of my charity shop finds, specifically pictures! You will note a theme…

First up, a set of watercolours by Danish artist Mads Stage.

Now are those little critters cute or what? When I bought these, I spent some time puzzling over the artist’s name, which I couldn’t quite make out. Never mind, they were adorable. I can’t remember exactly what I paid for them, I think it was around £1.50 each. That was about a year ago.

Then three months (-ish) ago, I found the two on the left, a hare and a hedgehog:

They are also by Mads Stage. I think they have been butchered (cut down to fit a frame), particularly the hedgehog, as there is no signature on that one. The hare and hedgehog may even have been part of one painting which was cut apart (sacrilege, all). They were only around 75p each, if I recall.

About a month ago, I found the picture on the right above. (Anyone know what the creature is? I don’t.) It is a stoat (thanks, Koos!). Guess what, it’s by Mads Stage too! It was £1.50. I think it was trimmed as well, as the edges of the picture extend underneath the frame. I want to reframe those last three and put mats around them.

I actually didn’t realise until after I had bought all of them, that they were all by the same artist. So now I am officially a Mads Stage groupie.

Here is one more find. This was the most expensive at £5, but it’s an original by Cheng Yan. (Ya, I know, Cheng who? But he’s got his own web page and everything.)

Hahaha, that one makes me laugh.

Would love to hear about others’ charity shop bargains (hint, hint).

So what’s with “seitan brains”, I can hear my reader asking. Well it was supposed to be seitan chicken cutlets, but that is so NOT how it turned out. At least the hotpot was an unequivocal success.

Let’s start with the hotpot then. I’d bought some asparagus t’other day (yes, I know, all the way from Peru, NAUGHTY Felicity) at the greatly reduced price of 75p for a pound of the stuff. At first I thought of veganising a recipe for cream of asparagus soup, but then I came across this one for garden veg pie. Yummmm. I ended up changing it so much, it really doesn’t resemble the original recipe at all, but it did turn out scrumpdillyicious.

As for the seitan, well I made this recipe for seitan chicken cutlets, and I followed the recipe to a “T” (where does that expression come from, anyway, to a “T”?). The dough was VERY moist, wet even, but I persevered and formed the cutlets before gently simmering them for an hour. Result?

SPONGY SEITAN BRAINS!

At least that’s the words that sprang to mind as I stared the the mass of “stuff” floating in my pot. At least you can’t get seitan spongiform encephalopathy from them. I squeezed all the water out of the “brains” and tasted a bit. Hmmm, not an unpleasant texture, but totally bland. Sprinkled a bit of soy sauce on another piece. Hmmm, I might even be able to make this edible. So it went into the fridge for the time being instead of the compost. We’ll see what I end up doing with it.

But here’s the recipe for the stuff that did work. Since the chicken cutlets were a bomb (not THE bomb, which would be a good thing), we served it with homemade Cajun sausages from the freezer.

Creamy asparagus mushroom hotpot

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy frypan (I use cast iron) and saute mushrooms until their moisture is released and they are starting to brown (5-10 minutes). Season with pepper and herbal salt (I use Himalayan salt), or plain salt and herbs of your choice. Add garlic clove and saute for a minute more. Remove from pan into a medium-sized casserole dish. Clean pan.

2. Heat margarine in the same pan and cook leeks, covered, until soft, stirring occasionally (about 10 minutes). Add to mushrooms.

3. Meanwhile, prepare asparagus. Snap bottom of stalks off (the tough bit) and discard (or better yet, compost them). Pare the bottom couple of inches of the stalks to remove the tough skin (with homegrown asparagus, you won’t need to do this). Cut the tips off and slice the stalks into 2.5cm (1″) pieces.  Keep the tips and stalks separate. In boiling water, blanch the stalks for 2 minutes, then add the tips and blanch for another two minutes. Drain and add to the casserole dish.

4. Prepare the sauce. In a small saucepan, heat the soya milk over medium-low heat until warm. Add cream cheese and sour cream and whisk until melted into the soya milk. Now add the shredded cheese and continue to whisk until it is melted and the sauce is smooth. Season to taste. Mix into the veggies in the casserole dish.

5. Preheat oven to 200C (400F).

6. For the topping, peel potato and slice into 3mm (1/8″) slices. Blanch in salted simmering water until just soft, but not falling apart. This will probably take between three and five minutes. Drain and arrange slices on a plate to cool, being careful not to break them up.

7. Place potatoes in overlapping slices on top of vegetables. Brush olive oil on top. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until hot. If potatoes aren’t browned at this point, place under grill (broiler) for 10 minutes, or until browned.

Makes two servings.

One thing I love about autumn is that colder weather makes soup taste so much better, especially when one has not yet turned on the heating in the house and it’s flippin’ freezing even when one is equipped with a kibble-heater on one’s lap.

Mr Thrifty and I both love this soup. In fact, it is so good that it has earned a spot in my Soup Hall of Fame. The small amount of red lentils dissolve into the soup, making it thicker and more substantial. This makes two large bowls of soup. Nice with a salad and garlic bread for a light meal or, of course, as part of a bigger meal.

I used a tin of organic mixed beans, but a more thrifty way would be to let Stanley cook the beans.

This recipe is modified a bit from one in Canadian Living magazine.

1. Over low heat, saute onion in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes (covering the pan will expedite this process).

2. Add garlic and saute an additional minute or two.

3. Add chili powder and cook another minute.

4. Add tomatoes and their liquid, vegetable stock and lentils. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft.

5. Add beans and continue to simmer for 15 minutes to blend flavours. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with coriander (cilantro).

Makes 2 servings.

An entire week ago (has it really been that long?), I was tagged by Jeni at Heathen Vegan. Seems she wants to see the vegan delights that reside in my freezer, huh!

I love my big American-style freezer, but it had gotten just a teensy bit disorganised of late. So here was my chance to re-organise it, take some piccies, and share it with everyone in blogland.

My freezer is big and silver and oh-so-sleek. It has five pull-out drawers and two shelves with pull-down doors. And it’s in the garage where it’s dark (not good for taking pictures). And I had to re-organise the stuff. So I took all the drawers out into the lounge (Amerispeak=living room), re-organised it all, took pictures and notes, and then put it all back. (The contents of the two top shelves were temporarily emptied into cardboard boxes.) Here goes…



Drawer #1: homemade fruity things: blackberry juice, applesauce, and an assortment of jams featuring Victoria plums, blackberries and elderberries.



Drawer #2: miscellaneous stuff: green beans, sweetcorn, chestnuts, half jars of korma sauce & mushroom sauce, chipotle chiles in adobo, tomatoes (leftovers from when I only needed half a tin and forgot there was already some in the freezer), passata (another half jar), coconut milk, shredded fresh coconut, homemade croustade base (for making this really scrummy leek dish),  homemade marinara sauce, herbs (basil, mint, curry leaves), and several jars of fresh apple juice that is awaiting its fate as cider!



Drawer #3: faux meat stuff: crispy tiger prawns, yam rolls, cod fillet, fishless steak, oysters, chicken, crispy aromatic duck, rashers, Linda McCartney country pies, mixed bean chili, homemade sausages, hotdogs & deli slices. I am learning to make my own fake meaty things but obviously I’ve a ways to go yet!









Drawer #4: frooot: elderberries, blackberries, sloes, strawberries, cranberries. Destined for making homemade wine!









Drawer #5: more miscellany: homemade meatless meatballs, fresh ginger, XO sauce (from a veggie Chinese restaurant), homemade ice cream base (I think it’s strawberry soy yogurt), Jus-Rol vol-au-vents, cherry juice (for wine-making).





Shelf #1: bread & flour type stuff: plain flour, strong flour, self-raising flour, wheat gluten, springroll/samosa pastry, Chinese dumpling pastry, bagels, mini naans, Jus-Rol filo pastry, tortillas (I usually make them, but these ones were bought… homemade ones are much better), linseed, bread cubes (for making stuffing).



Shelf #2: yet more miscellany: frozen grapes (for wine-making), pumpkin seeds, walnuts, more homemade ice cream base, more apple juice, glutinous rice balls with peanut filling and… wild blueberry Swedish Glace.

Phew!

(The lucky, lucky bloggers that I choose to bare their freezers to the world will be nominated tomorrow.)

A while back, I bought a pack of veggie bratwursts made by viana. I loved the taste and texture of those sausages and — as luck would have it — the ingredients listed the percentages of the two main ingredients (tofu and gluten). Using that info & the nutritional values, I “back engineered” a recipe.

The bratwursts that I made using that recipe were great. My FIL (who is omni) tried them, and I overheard him telling someone a few days later that they’d be hard-pressed to distinguish them from the type containing dead animals (well, he didn’t put it quite like that, but that was the gist).

After that successful experiment, I turned my attention to making veggie hotdogs… or weiners, wieners, frankfurters or whatever you want to call them! I thought it should be pretty easy, considering it was just a matter of fiddling with the spices and making them a tad softer and smaller than sausages. The first time I made them, I was in vegan heaven, because not only did they taste better than store-bought veggie hotdogs, they were a whole lot cheaper to make.

You’ll notice that the base ingredients are the same as my Vegan Deli Slices, because that recipe was also derived from the original bratwurst recipe. I won’t repeat the info on ingredients, so you may want to peruse that recipe if there’s any ingredient you’re not sure about.

Edit: I now add a teaspoon of arrowroot to the gluten flour before mixing in the wet ingredients. This makes a more “cohesive” dog.

Enjoy!

Veggie hotdogs

1. If you’re starting with whole almonds, grind them in the blender first while it’s still clean and dry, then remove and set aside.

2. Crumble the tofu into the blender. Measure the soy sauce into a measuring cup and add enough water so the mixture equals 100ml (6-1/2 tablespoons). Add this to the blender.

3. Add remaining ingredients to blender EXCEPT gluten. Blenderise until completely smooth. Empty into a large mixing bowl.

4. Add gluten and mix until evenly combined. You’ll have a soft dough.

5. Divide dough into eight pieces. Roll each piece into a hotdog shape (make sure you don’t roll them longer than your steamer!). Wrap each hotdog in parchment paper and then in aluminium foil. Lightly twist the ends together.

6. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped hotdogs in your steamer insert with the seam side down. There is less chance of the hotdogs bursting the foil if they are packed tightly in the steamer. I arrange four dogs on the bottom, then another four at a 90 degree angle on top.

7. Steam for 45 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your dogs in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.

8. To cook, simmer unwrapped dogs in water for 5 minutes.

Can be frozen for future use (leave them wrapped in parchment/foil, and place in a plastic freezer bag).

Makes eight hotdogs.

This was my second attempt at making deli slices (luncheon unmeat, cold cuts, etc), and I was über-pleased at how it turned out. Unlike some recipes using wheat gluten, this doesn’t remind one of chewing on rubber bands, or bubble gum.

In the flavour department, I was attempting to duplicate Redwood’s Vegideli Sage & Onion Slices, and I believe I succeeded very well. In fact, I’m going to use this recipe to create a veggie turkey with stuffing for Christmas.

Many bloggers before me have tread the homemade vegan deli slice path. My inspiration comes from Tracy at A Vegan for Dinner and also from Vegan Dad. Tracy’s Seitan Turkey and Vegan Dad’s Hickory Smoked Veggie Turkey Lunchmeat both use the same basic ingredients (tofu & wheat gluten) that I use for these slices. However, I prefer a less firm, chewy slice, and so I use more tofu/less gluten than my fellow bloggers.

I haven’t had much luck cooking seitan in the oven. I’m not sure if it’s because gas ovens have a less even heat than electric ones, but it always seems to take much longer than the recipe instructs, and frankly I can do without having my oven on for five hours at a time, what with the price of gas being as extortionate as it is.

I was intrigued with Vegan Dad’s method for cooking his lunchmeat (he steams it for an hour, then bakes it for another 40-50 minutes). I decided instead to steam mine for two hours. This worked great; it cooked all the way through and was still nice and moist. Since I don’t like the idea of aluminium foil being in contact with the seitan when it’s cooking, I wrap it first in parchment paper, then in foil.

This slices fairly thinly, though because it’s got less gluten than other recipes, it’s a tad more crumbly. It tasted so good that after I made this yesterday, we decided to have hot turkey sandwiches for tea (American translation: supper), with homemade chips (fries) and gravy, and a side of roasted Brussels sprouts.

Today I sliced the remainder and froze it in portions for sandwich-making. In fact, I had a turkey bagel sandwich for lunch and it was damn tasty.

A few notes on ingredients.

I used Cauldron’s tofu, which comes in a 250g package. I’ve found the weight varies quite a bit, from around 235g to over 300g. So be aware of that. (It shouldn’t matter much if it’s a bit under- or overweight, though.)

The vegan chicken-style bouillon cube is a Canadian import, and it’s nigh on impossible to find veggie meat-like bouillons here, but Marigold’s vegetable bouillon tastes quite chickeny, so that would be a good substitute. You can also use bouillon powder instead of a cube; use the amount it recommends to make up 500ml (2 cups) of bouillon.

Nutritional yeast is available at health shops; it’s NOT the same as brewer’s yeast or baking yeast.

Wheat gluten is something I’ve never seen in shops, but happily you can mail order it from a few places, including Low Carb Megastore and The Flour Bin.

Oh, right, and a cost comparison. This recipe makes 600g (1-1/3 pounds), and works out to around 25-40p per 100g (depending on whether or not you cleverly stock up on tofu when it’s on half price), which is about 1/4 the price of the ready-made stuff.

Hail seitan!

Turkey-style vegan deli slices

1. If you’re starting with whole almonds, grind them in the blender first while it’s still clean and dry, then remove and set aside.

2. Crumble the tofu into the blender. Put the bouillon cube in a glass measuring cup and add a couple tablespoons of boiling water to dissolve the cube. Add the soy sauce, then add enough water so the mixture equals 100ml  (6-1/2 tablespoons). Add this to the blender.

3. Add remaining ingredients to blender EXCEPT gluten. Blenderise until completely smooth. Empty into a large mixing bowl.

4. Add gluten and mix until evenly combined. You’ll have a soft dough.

5. Turn out onto the countertop and form into a log. Wrap in baking paper or parchment paper and then in aluminium foil**. (I used a triple layer of foil as I’d read that some people have problems with the gluten bursting the foil as it cooks.) Lightly twist the ends together and tie with a couple pieces of string.

6. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. (I use one something like this one.) Steam for two hours over gently simmering water, turning log a quarter turn every half hour. Turn heat off and let cool for two hours.

Makes 600g (1-1/3 pounds).

** Edit 23 August 2010: I no longer use foil, instead wrapping in baking paper and then in muslin. Baking paper plus cheesecloth can also be used.

The blackberries and sloes may be a big disappointment this year, but there are still LOTS of apples and crabapples in these parts. A few weekends ago, Mr Thrifty and I collected apples and crabs from around 10 different trees, with the goal of turning them into cider. (For any American readers out there: What we call cider in this country is what y’all refer to as “hard” cider in the US of A, ’cause of its alcoholic content and all. That be the stuff I’ll be instructing you on today.)

First the apples were juiced with our Champion juicer. It took a lot of hours to juice them, over a period of two days, and frankly by the end of it I wished not to see an apple for quite some time. Happily, a marathon showing of Only Fools and Horses happened to be on telly, so this alleviated the monotony somewhat.

After we juiced the apples, the specific gravity of the juice was tested with a hydrometer. It’s meant to be between 1.050 and 1.055. Ours was around 1.045, so we added a bit of organic granulated sugar (dissolved first in water), to bring the SG up to 1.050.

The juice was poured into two cleaned and sterilised one-gallon glass demijohn jars. Then the yeast was added. No cider yeast in the house (oops!), instead we used Gervin wine yeast no. 3, which is what was on hand. The packet was divided in half, with each half being started (separately) per the packet instructions (in 50ml warm water to which 1/2 teaspoon sugar had been added). After 20 minutes, the yeast was added to the demijohns of cider.

By the following morning, the cider in one demijohn had fermented so vigorously that foam had bubbled up through the airlock and across the tabletop, making its getaway for the carpet. It was foiled in its nefarious quest, however, and the airlock and bung were cleaned and reinserted.

A sediment quickly formed at the bottom of the demijohns. After two weeks, the cider was racked into another set of cleaned and sterilised demijohns, and the level topped up with more apple juice (which had been left over from the initial juicing and stored in the fridge).

You’ll notice in the picture above that one demijohn of cider cleared much quicker than the other, I suppose because one had more “sludge” from the bottom of the fermentation bin when the demijohns were filled. The cloudy and clear batches were distributed half and half into the second set of demijohns, and both ended up clearing the same.

After another two weeks, the cider was sampled and found very fit to drink. The yeast had finished consuming the sugar! It was completely dry (i.e. unsweet), but we decided against sweetening it at this point. It was syphoned again into cleaned and sterilised 2-litre glass jars (former Westons Scrumpy cider jars).

A very successful first try at cider making! Since the apples were foraged for free, the only cost was the yeast (£1.15, which did two gallons) and a bit of sugar (only about 15p worth). That works out to £1.30 for four two-litre jars of cider, which would cost £16 at the supermarket, or £9.60 from a local cider farmshop.

I like to mix a bit of sugar into each glass of cider immediately before drinking it, as I prefer cider on the sweet side.

Since then another gallon has been started, in much the same way, except the apples were juiced as they were picked, the juice then frozen in glass jars (former 700g passata jars)  until enough was collected for another gallon. (This turned out to be seven passata jars.) Also, proper cider yeast was used. Tasting remains to be done on this one.

So here’s to a little less tax being handed over to Gordon & Co. Cheers!