Simple Black Bean Wraps with Cashew-Tofu Mayo

Sometimes we get into a bit of a dinner rut during the week. Our days are so busy, and I'm not great at meal planning. I end up falling back on simple tried and tested recipes.

I'm mostly happy with very simple meals such as salads, but I like to experiment with different recipes for fun - and for the sake of the other people in this household!

Funnily enough, I always seem to find the time to line up a list of new desserts to try out, hmmmm...

Anyway, this meal was a nice change from the usual. I love black beans! And the cashew-tofu mayonnaise was a perfect light accompaniment.

These reminded me of our old but recently neglected favourite, tangy bean wraps, although the flavour of the filling is entirely different.

Now, with my leftover black beans I plan to try making black bean brownies. See? It's so easy to think of new desserts to try!

Simple Black Bean Wraps with Cashew-Tofu Mayo

1 tbsp oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Half a red capsicum, chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1.5 cups corn kernels (I used frozen)
3 cups cooked black beans
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

6 homemade white flour wraps (you can actually use white flour or a combination of flours in these wraps) or bought wraps

Batch of Cashew-Tofu Mayo

Fry the onion in oil for a few minutes. Add the garlic and capsicum and cook a few more minutes. Add the tomato paste, sugar, salt, corn and black beans and cook for a bit more.

In the meantime make the mayo, and the wraps if making them yourself.

Add the bean filling and mayo to the wraps, roll them up and eat!

A Tale of Two Vegan Quiches

I've been on a bit of a quiche kick lately.

Before I was vegan, I didn't mind quiche but I always found it rather heavy.

Vegan quiche, in my opinion, is so much better!

Quiche #1

I made this quiche from Oh She Glows when our lovely friends came over for lunch on New Year's Eve. 

The filling is made with firm tofu, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and spinach. The crust (which I especially loved) is made with ground almonds, oats and herbs. No flour!

I really enjoyed it, and it was a hit with our friends.

My partner, however, was not so convinced. He said it tasted too much like scrambled tofu. Glaring at him, I said yes, and what's wrong with that?! 

Quiche #2

My partner loved this quiche from the Gourmet Vegan, which is made with besan (chick pea) flour. I made it with mushrooms instead of cauliflower. 

I didn't tell him that it was made with besan flour because he has some weird aversion to the stuff. So hopefully he doesn't read this!

Once it cooled, I thought the texture of this one was quite similar to the quiche made with firm tofu. 

I really liked this quiche too. It reminded me a little bit of the scrambled eggs I love. And everyone knows how much I love besan flour. Seriously, is there anything it can't do?

So the verdict? I liked them both equally and will make them both again! The first one was very tasty (loved the sun-dried tomatoes) and the second one had that lovely distinct besan flour taste. Quiche number 2 is probably a bit easier to make, no blending required. 

And now I think it's time to make a quiche with silken tofu. I remember making this one from Easy As Vegan Pie ages ago, and it was amazingly good. 

Top 13 Posts for 2013

Happy 2014!

In the spirit of the new year (and because it's fun), here are the top 13 posts for 2013:


1. Vegan Scrambled Eggs







2. Vegan Chocolate Cornflake Crackles









3. 101 uses for besan (chickpea or gram) flour








4. Chocolate Banana Quinoa Flake Bake









5. Vegan Wedding Cupcakes









6. Healthier Vegan Baking 








7. Raspberries and Cream Overnight Oats








8. Vegan Shortbread Hearts










9. Red Lentil Kofta












10. Vegan Delights






11. Creamy Lentils










12. Mushroom Pan Bread









13. Creamy Millet Apple Pudding










If I did reflect upon 2013 in a non-food way, it might read a little like this post.

This time last year: Top 10 Posts for 2012

Raspberry Christmas (or any other time) Cake

Over this festive season of complete and utter indulgence, I have made this cake a few times.

Sylvia has had lots of fun decorating it!

It is wonderfully easy, light and moist, and pretty with the red raspberries. You need just one bowl to mix it all up - I love that!

Merry Christmas!

Vegan Raspberry Cake (slightly adapted from the Vanilla Cake from How It All Vegan)

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tbsp apple sauce or 1 tsp Orgran No Egg mixed with 2 tbsp water
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup raspberries (I use frozen)

Preheat oven to 350C.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Add sugar, milk, vanilla, oil, lemon zest and apple sauce/Orgran No Egg and mix together until just mixed. Fold through the raspberries. Pour into a round oiled cake tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. Check with a knife/skewer to see if done. 

Icing
Any vegan buttercream type icing is great for this cake. I just mix up a couple of tablespoons of Nuttelex (vegan margarine), a cup or so of icing sugar, splash of vanilla and milk. 

Walnut Oat Bliss Balls (date-free)

I'm a big fan of all those raw/nearly raw ball recipes. They are such an easy and quick sweet when you're pressed for time. And healthy!

I made these the other day, and they did not last very long at all. Yum.

These don't have dates in them. I love dates in raw sweets, but it is kind of nice to have a change from the particular flavour and texture they impart. Also, medjool dates are pretty pricey! 

These balls develop a firm cake-like texture once refrigerated for a while, which I love. 

Walnut Oat Bliss Balls (makes about 10 balls) Adapted from Bliss Balls from I Quit Sugar

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp cocoa
pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp rice malt syrup, to taste 
1/3 cup almond butter
1-2 tbsp almond milk (if needed)
desiccated coconut, for rolling

Blend walnuts and oats together to make a coarse powder. Add this mixture to a bowl and add the cinnamon, cocoa, salt, rice malt syrup and almond butter. Mix together with your hands. If the mix is a bit too dry to be rolled into balls, add a bit of milk.

Form the mixture into balls, then roll in the coconut.

Easy Car Birthday Cake + A Vegan Birthday Lunch

My little boy is now 1 year old!

Lexie loves cars, so Sylvia and I decided to make him a car cake.

Decorated with vegan sandwich cookies (Oreos) for the wheels, barley sugar for the headlights and licorice to line the windows. Pretty cool, no?

It was within my limited cake decoration abilities, looked so cute and tasted even better.

I used this vegan birthday cake recipe (really really good - have since made cupcakes with this recipe too) and divided it between three loaf tins, following the instructions from here.

I'm sure it will be years until Lexie will appreciate the cake via photos, but he definitely loved the taste of it on the day - he ate a whole big piece!

I always find myself paralysed with indecision when deciding what food to make for such occasions. It's the weight on my shoulders of proving vegan food is delicious, etc. I really should get over this! 

Anyway, in the end I made dishes that I could mostly prepare in advance, really my only choice with two littlies!

For snacks, I made a guacamole with corn, tomato and fresh coriander from Wild Morsels by Angela Stafford. I also made a very tasty French onion dip. 

My mum made her usual fantastic vine leaves, always a hit. 

My sister made lovely vegan curry puffs, but I forgot to take a photo.  

I made two pies (with the barley poppy seed crust without the poppy seeds and with spelt flour from Vegan Lunch Box), one with a mushroom, asparagus and bean filling and the other with a lentil vegetable filling (a double lot of the veggie pot pie filling from La Dolce Vegan).

I also made a pasta salad (this was just OK) and a wild rice salad (also from Wild Morsels).

I was somehow organised enough to make cupcakes for the kids to decorate too, which was lots of fun. My partner's sister did some gorgeous fruit skewers for the kids, with fruit cut out in shapes. Wish I'd taken a photo of them!

It was so lovely celebrating the day with family and yummy vegan food! 

Quick summer meal ideas

To me, summer is all about light and quick meals.

How lovely is it to have dinner prepared in less than half an hour, instead of sweltering in the kitchen? (having pre-cooked grains/beans helps!)

I love salads that are substantial rather than very leafy - containing rice, chick peas, lentils, beans, quinoa or cous cous. 

My ideal quick and easy meal may consist of some grain/pulse, whatever appropriate veggies are in the fridge and sultanas, dressed with a bit of red wine vinegar, oil and salt. 

I also love kale, chick peas and avocado dressed with savoury/nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice and salt.

Is it strange that I prefer such meals?! (Mind you, something sweet to follow the meal is essential...)

Not everyone (read: anyone) in the household shares my love for these very basic salads, so I will often make something else as well. Rice paper rolls, sushi, tangy bean wraps and quinoa salad are all popular with everyone. 

Here are a few comparably fancy but really easy and light salads I've made recently. 

Black Bean Salsa

1 cup dried black beans, cooked
handful of coriander, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 avocado, chopped

Dressing
1-2 tbsp grapeseed oil
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar/maple syrup 

Mix the beans, coriander, cucumber, tomato and avocado in a bowl. Combine dressing ingredients and mix it all up. Serve with corn chips.

Pumpkin cous cous salad with macadamias

1 cup wholemeal cous cous cooked as per instructions (I cook it in vegetable stock)
1 quarter pumpkin, chopped
half a red onion, chopped
few glugs of olive oil
2 cups english spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 cup macadamia nut halves

Dressing
1 tsp tahini
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tsp agave nectar 
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Toss pumpkin and onion in oil on a tray and bake in the oven at 200C until done, about 20-30 minutes. Add the macadamias to the oven about 10 minutes before pumpkin is done. 

Make the cous cous as per instructions on the packet.

Mix the cous cous, pumpkin, onion, macadamias and spinach in a bowl. 

Separately, mix the dressing ingredients together and then mix it all up.