Lazy Mixed Bean Wrap

I honestly have no idea what to call this meal, but I had it for lunch today and it was super tasty! It's also in keeping with my goal of having simpler, more affordable meals. The beans are made from a recipe by That Creepy Guy Over There :)

Serves: 2-3 (depending on how much you eat... it would easily be enough for my two sisters and I. However, the recipe is super easy to double/triple/quadruple/ALL THE FOOD)

Ingredients:

Salsa-type thing:
2 small tomatoes, diced
1/2 onion, finally chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
Mixed beans:
240g mixed beans (this could be a drained can of mixed beans, or basically any beans you have lying around. The mix I used was chickpeas, white beans and red kidney beans)
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs dried coriander
2 tsp paprika (or more... your call)
1 tbs lemon juice
salt to taste

some salad leaves, roughly chopped of the leaves are large (I used cos lettuce, by virtue of its presence in my fridge)

2-3 wraps (a wrap per person, at the very least)


Optional extras:
Whatever spicy sauce you eat (I used Chipoltle Tabasco, but if you don't eat refined sugar I'd advise something else)
Red onion sprouts
More fresh coriander to garnish (what? I like coriander...)
Guacamole

(image credit: http://www.hurstbeans.com)

Method:

1.) Mix the salsa ingredients together, reserving half of the chopped onion to add to the beans. Set aside.
2.) Drain and rinse your beans if they're canned. Heat oil in pan over medium heat. While the oil is heating up, pulse two thirds of the beans in a food processor with the spices, lemon juice and remaining onion until it forms a coarse paste.
3.) Add the bean paste and whole beans to the pan, and cook (stirring constantly) until the bean paste darkens slightly. A non-stick pan is your friend here. I'd say this takes about 5 minutes, but basically cook it until the onion is cooked and the mixture tries to form a ball as opposed to being a gloopy paste. Season to taste.
4.) Divide lettuce, salsa and bean paste between wraps, and eat immediately.

Alternatively, this goes well with nachos.

Enjoy!

The Frugal Vegan and Other Goals for the Year

In case this has not already become apparent from my general behaviour and throw-away comments, I am a student living away from home. This means that I do all my own cooking, which is in part what allowed me to make the change to become veggie, and eventually vegan. Unfortunately transport has always been a bit of a problem for me, so my shopping habits (and therefore eating habits) aren't always ideal. In addition to this, I often end up spending more money than I should on groceries, because I buy from wherever is closest. I will also admit that I have been relying a bit heavily on pre-made meat analogues, just because it's convenient.

I didn't really think much of it until I had a conversation with a friend who had gone vegetarian for Lent. He mentioned that his grocery bills were much lower than in the past, particularly since he ate legumes rather than meat or meat analogues. He then asked if being vegan worked out cheaper for me than being vegetarian (the logic being that I no longer spend money on milk, cheese and yoghurt)... and I had to admit that I really didn't think so. In fact, I suspect my grocery bills are higher than they were when I was veg.

The reason for this being, of course, that a lot of vegan products available in other countries are only available here at a greatly inflated price, if you can get them at all... A 200g block of vegan mozzarella will set me back around R60, whilst dairy mozzarella costs that much PER KILO. Not to mention the food miles... Fortunately soy milk and meat analogues are less expensive, thanks to my two preferred brands (MA Milk Alternative by Good Hope International Beverages and Fry's, respectively), and both brands manufacture their products locally (yay lower food miles!). But I still feel I can cut costs even further.

After this conversation with my friend, I decided that this year will be the year that I cut way back on highly processed (and expensive) products, particularly non-local ones, and focus on fresh produce, legumes and whole grains instead. Having my veggie sister now living with me, finally having a car and wanting to lose a bit of weight definitely adds to my resolve. And lastly, there's a Korean store, a Chinese store, and an Indian wholesale store (spices and legumes) close to my house, and a farmer's market-type store (Fruit and Veg City, for other South Africans :P) within driving distance. So I really have no excuse.

In the spirit of saving some other people money too, I'm hoping to post some recipes and meal ideas that I have found are both tasty and affordable. If anyone else has anything they'd like to share, let me know :)

Mother's Day Cupcakes

I am a very bad blogger... I feel somewhat guilty for not posting for so long. In my defense, however, it is exam time, so I'm at home (internet-less) knee-deep in textbooks. However, I finally have some pictures of the cupcakes I baked for Boyfriend's mom for Mother's Day (I may have mentioned them). The recipe is from one of my innumerable recipe books (I will check the exact book and exact recipe when I get home from the internet cafe, and edit this post as soon as I know). Suffice to say that the cake bit has fresh raspberries and lemon zest in, and the icing is made from vegan cream cheese and raspberry jam. They were sweet and tart and amazing. And thanks to my friend Claire at Claire Gritten Photography, they look just as good in photographs! :)

As an apology for lack of recent posts, here, have some pictures and be happy!

omnomnom cupcake.

EDIT: they are in fact Sweetheart Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes, from The Everything Vegan Cookbook by Jolinda Hackett. :)

HorrorBunny Progress

I feel somewhat bad about only posting again now, but I have been run off my feet the past little while, with a really busy test week behind me. I took this weekend off, and spent most of Saturday baking and finishing off Cthubunny and Wererabbit :D Why yes, I am finally telling you what the hell I've been working on. I also baked a banana loaf and some cupcakes for Mother's Day, which was on Sunday. My amazing friend Claire has taken pictures of all the crafts and baking, so the moment I motivate my lazy self to go get the pictures from her, you can admire the fruits of my labours.

In addition to the two HorrorBunnies (and one other bunny) I have now finished, I am stitching together a third addition to the motley HorrorBunny group, FrankenBunny :) I am especially excited about him. Hopefully Claire and I can go take some fun shots of the bunnies when they're finished.

Recipe: Baba Ghanoush

This garlic-y aubergine dish is one of my personal favourites, and I make it regularly. It makes an amazing dip or spread, and I often use it on veggie patties. It can also be served as part of a mezze platter with olives, pita, fresh veg, hummus etc. Here's the Wikipedia entry for it, for those of you who are interested in the background of their food :)

Ingredients
4 tbsp tahini (mine is store-bought, but it is possible to make your own, something I wish to try someday)
1 large aubergine (or two smallish ones)
4 cloves of garlic, mashed
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
4 tbsp lemon juice, more to taste
dash of olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
1. Prick aubergine skin all over with a fork. Place in oven, pre-heated to 220 degrees Celsius, and roast for about 40 minutes, until the aubergine is soft.
2. Allow the aubergine to cool. Once it's cool, cut it open and remove the pulp, discarding the skin. VARIATION: once out of pure laziness, i just cut the aubergine into chunks into my food processor, skin and all. It yields a more stodgy, less fluffy result, but since I mostly use it in wraps or as a topping, I decided I preferred it that way).
3. Place the pulp in a food processor with the the ingredients and process until smooth.
4. Check for seasoning, adding more lemon juice or tahini as required (I've found some variation in different brands of tahini and not all lemons are equally sour).

Voila! It really is very easy. I prefer it when it's still slightly warm, but other people feel it's best served after a few hours of refrigeration.

Wow that's a lot of public holidays

This long weekend has primarily been spent in bed crocheting, or sewing the Cthulhu plushie for my friend. The crochet has mostly been me working on an original pattern for little bunny amigurumi :D (Easter and the accompanying sugar rush may have gone to my head...). I'm really very excited about the pattern, because I have literally a squillion ideas for what kind of themed bunnies I want to make with it ^_^ Hopefully pictures will be posted soon...

But before I give too much away, I'll tell you about the other thing I'm very excited about. A friend of mine told me about a restaurant in Muizenberg called Closer, which I would very very much like to go to. There aren't a lot of designated vegan (or even vegetarian) restaurants in South Africa that I'm aware of, so hearing of a good one is very exciting! Though, it occurs to me that I should probably do more research into the matter before making such sweeping statements -_-".

But... SO MUCH TO BE EXCITED ABOUT :D *bounces around*

P.S. I've had a LOT of sugar

Vegan Zombie

I lol'd at this. :) Thanks Gabs!