Green Potato Pie

Here's what you need: 

• 1 and a half cups of frozen Peas
  
  
• 2 medium sized Potatoes (peeled and diced)
  
  
• 2 medium sized Leeks
  
  
• 1 medium sized Onion
  
  
• 1 sheet of Jus Rol Puff pastry (defrosted)

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200C
   
   
2. Put the potatoes in a saucepan filled with water, bring to the boil and then simmer over a medium heat for approximately 15 minutes until tender.
   
   
   
   
3. Whilst the potatoes are cooking you want to chop and dice the leeks and onion and mix together. I used a food processor for this as it was much easier and less time consuming.
   
   
4. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and then mash them up.
   
   
5. Mix the chopped Leeks and Onion in with the mashed potato and then stir in the peas.
   
   
6. 
   Place mixture in a pie tray or a casserole dish and cover with the pastry.
   
   
7. Bake for roughly 20 minutes until the pastry has puffed up and gone golden brown.
   Serve hot
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Vegan Cheese and Spinach Pasties

This was the first time I had ever tried spinach, I had never tried it because everyone I know has said that it is a horrible taste and that it is just a waste of money. Then when me and my partner +Jack Leebrook went shopping a couple of days ago I thought I'd give it a try despite what everyone else has told me, and i'm glad I did. I don't see what the problem is, its delicious, ignore all the negative comments about spinach and give it a go you'll be surprised, I know I was.


What you need to make 2 pasties:

• 1 Tbsp Oil
  
• Half a sheet of Puff Pastry (Defrosted, Jus Rol is vegan)
  
• 100g Spinach (washed)
  
• 100g Vegan Cheese (grated)
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Heat up the oil in a frying pan on medium/high heat.
   
3. Add the spinach and fry until it has shrunk down completely (roughly 4-5 minutes).
   
4. Drain as much of the liquid out of it as possible.
   
5. In a bowl mix together the cheese and spinach until its completely mixed together.
    
6. Cut the pastry into 2 rectangles.
    
7. Put half of the mixture on one rectangle of pastry then fold it on itself and fold the edges in on themselves so that it is sealed. Repeat for the other rectangle of pastry and the other half of the mixture.
   
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the pastry has puffed up and is golden brown.
   Serve hot.
   

Stir Fry with Potato (Serves 2)

I came up with this today as me and my partner don't have stir fry's that often and normally if we do have one it store bought. But this time I thought I'd give it a go and make one from scratch myself with what we have in the house, and you know what it worked quite well so here it is. Hope you enjoy. Also it smells that delicious when your cooking it you may need to resist eating it before its fully cooked.

Here's what your going to need:

• 75g Asparagus (chopped/diced to your desired size, mine was roughly 1cm)
  
  
• 100g Carrot (diced)
  
  
• 2 small Onions (chopped)
  
  
• 1 medium Leek (chopped)
  
  
• 1 large Mushroom (chopped thinly)
  
  
• 2 Tbsp Oil
  
  
• 2 medium sized Potatoes (peeled and cut into quarters)

Meathod: 

1. Put the potatoes in water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then let simmer for roughly 15-20 mins.
   
   
2. When the potatoes have been simmering for 5 mins, heat up the oil in a frying pan then over a medium heat fry the onions, leek, asparagus and carrots for roughly 5 mins until it all starts to soften.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add the chopped mushrooms to the mixture in the frying pan then fry for a further 3-4 mins until the mushroom have shrunk slightly and cooked thoroughly.
   
   
4. Drain the potatoes once cooked (you know their cooked when they are soft all the way through)
   
   
5. Arrange food however you want on the plates and enjoy it whilst its hot.

Vegan Rice "Sausage" Rolls

 So I got tired of people saying "You can't have this and you can't have that" and "how can you live without this" and also "I couldn't be a vegan because I love this too much". As of this I experimented with the idea of using rice for a "sausage" like consistency and came up with this delicious recipe Vegan Rice Rolls.

Here's what you need:

• 200g white or brown rice (which every one you prefer or have at hand)
  
• 2 Tbsp BBQ sauce
  
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  
• 1 400g tin of kidney beans (drained)
  
• Spices and herbs. I used for mine, half a tsp of each: mixed chili flakes and garlic granuals, hot chilli powder and mixed herbs. (This is what I used because I like hotter food, but you could experiment with different spices and herbs for different flavors)
  
• Salt and Pepper to taste
  
• 1 sheet of Jus Rol Puff Pastry (defrosted)
  
• Small blob of Vegan butter (melted)

Method:

1. Cook the rice according to packaging.
   
2. Whilst the rice is cooking your going to want to put the drained kidney beans, BBQ sauce, Soy sauce and all the herbs and spices into a food processor to mash everything together.
   (If you haven't got a food processor then you could just mash it all together in a bowl using a fork)
   
3. Once the rice has cooked, drain away any excess water and add to the kidney bean mixture. pulse a few times until the rice is completely mixed in with the kidney beans. Then season with the salt and pepper and pulse again.
   
   
   
4. Put in a bowl cover with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight if possible.
   
5. Preheat oven to 200C
   
6. Cut the sheet of puff pastry in half length ways, put half of the "sausage" mixture down the middle of one half. Roll the pastry up and seal shut with a bit of melted butter. Do the same for the other half of the pastry and mixture.
   
   
   
7. Cut the rolls into your desired lengths. I cut mine into 1.5 inches long so that they were more of a "bite size" size.
   
8. Bake in the oven for roughly 20 mins until the pastry has risen and gone to a golden brown color. If you are cutting the rolls quite long you may want to check that the mixture in the middle is hot.
   
9. Enjoy hot or cold, whichever you prefer.
   

Vegan Mushroom Rolls

This recipe is a delicious vegan alternative to sausage rolls, just more tastier, great for buffet finger foods or just something for when your feeling peckish.


What your going to need:

• 400g Mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Garlic clove (crushed)
• 2 Small Onions
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1 tsp Dried Rosemary
• 1 tsp Paprika 
• 1 Sheet of Puff Pasty (Defrosted, Jus Rol is Vegan)
• Small blob of Vegan Butter

Method:

1. Pre heat oven to 200C.
2. Prepare ingredients: chop up the mushrooms and chop up the onions.
3. In a saucepan heat up the oil and cook the onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes over a medium heat until they start to soften.
4. Add the mushrooms, soy sauce, nutmeg, rosemary and paprika and cook for 15-20 mins, stirring occasionally until the mixture has reduced down. If there is some liquid in the bottom of the pan try to remove as much as possible as this will make the recipe a lot tastier rather than wet and soggy. Put the mixture to one side.
   
   
5. Cut the defrosted puff pastry in half length ways.
6. Melt the butter in the microwave, this should take from 10-30 seconds depending on what watt microwave you are using.
7. Put half of the mushroom mixture down the middle of half the puff pasty and roll up, sealing the pasty shut with the melted butter. Cut the roll up into roughly 10-12 pieces. Do this for the other half of the puff pastry and the mushroom mixture.
   
   
   
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the pasty has puffed up and started to go golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

Fried Tofu cubes

So the other day there was hardly anything in my house to eat and I had to come up with something for me and my partner. I wanted something tasty and not boring and I came up with this idea, not sure if it would work or not, but to my surprise it was really tasty and both me and my partner want it again, so here it is:

Its pretty simple all you need is :

• 1 block of firm tofu (I used the cauldron make shown below)
  
• 4 Tbsp Soy sauce*
  
  
• 1-2 tsp dry rosemary*
  
  
• a pinch of ground pepper*

* The amounts can vary as everyone has different tastes, these are just what I used and seemed to work pretty well together. 

Here's how you make it :

1. firstly your going to want to drain the block of tofu and then cut in into chunks, I found that roughly 1.5cm by 1.5cm cubes worked pretty well for me.
   
   
2. Place the chunks in a bowl (I just used the tub that the tofu came in to save on washing up)
   pour over about soy sauce and cover with half of the rosemary.
   Leave stand for about two minutes for the tofu to soak up some of the soy sauce.
   
   
3. Heat up a little oil in a frying pan then add the tofu chunks and dribble over the soy sauce which is left in the bowl, sprinkle over the rest of the rosemary and the ground pepper 
   Fry for about 10 minutes until they start to brown, turning them over every now and then to make sure they cook all over and don't burn on one side.
   Serve hot 

Vegan Falafels

To make these Falafels your going to need a Food Processor to mix the ingredients together.

So first things first, get the ingredients together:

• 400g can chickpeas (drained)
• 1 Garlic clove (chopped)
• 2 tsp Ground Cumin*
• 2 tsp Ground Corriander*
• 1 tsp Hot Chilli Powder*
• 2 Small onions (roughly diced) (or just one medium sized onion)
• 2 Tbsp Plain Flour
• 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil (or Olive Oil if preferred) 
• 5-6 Tbsp Oats

* Spices: you may want to use a bit more or less of the spices depending on the taste you want, you could also use other herbs and spices such as parsley and basil, it's completely up to you :)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C
   In the Food Processor your going to want to put in the Drained Chickpeas, the Roughly diced Onions, Chopped Garlic, all the Spices, Plain Flour and Vegetable oil.
   Blend until fairly smooth.
2. Once blended you want to remove the blade out of the Food Processor, but keeping the mixture in it.
3. Mix in the Oats 1-2 Tbsps at a time so the mixture starts to bind together, you may want to put more in depending on the consistency you you want .
4. Shape the mixture, with your hands, into balls about an inch and a half each.
   (Makes roughly 14 Falafel balls)
   
   
5. Place on a baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy.

You can also chill these in the fridge before cooking if preferred, but remember if your going to store them in the fridge make sure its in an air tight container and cook and eat within 3 days.
They are also freezable before they are cooked, so if your going to freeze remember to put them in an air tight container. I like to wrap mine in cling film before doing this. But remember consume within 3 months if frozen.

Some may prefer to Fry these falafels, to do so once you have shaped the mixture into balls flatten slightly to make a patty shape and fry in a little oil on medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side.