Emotional Baking and Sweet Vegan Hand Pies

When I am emotional I tend to bake.
It allows me too:
a) feel in control of something in my life
b) calms me and focus my mind on to something that isn't stressing me
c) create something positive (good food) that i can give to others to make them feel good, there by making me feel better.

In general my emotional baking sessions create something quite wonderful. Last night and this morning was one of those occasions. I made two different vegan hand pies, PBJ and Chunky monkey ones. These are cute, vaguely healthy compared to other pies and vegan. This was my first shot at vegan pastry and it's actually not that hard. I added a little peanut butter to my pastry mix to add not only extra taste to the crust but to enrich and help form the dough like extra butter or an egg would. I found this really worked and the added healthy fat helped the flakiness of the pastry.

Vegan PB Pastry

Ingrediants
225g of plain flour (to make healthier use half wholemeal half white, or your own flour combination)
100g of vegan baking fat (margarine/vegan butter)
2 tbsp of natural smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp of agave (or other liquid sweetener)
tsp of salt
Couple of tbsp of ice cold water

-Weigh out your margarine or vegan butter. Cut into little chunks and place in the freezer.
- Weigh out your flour and add the salt place it in a large mixing bowl in the fridge, it's important to get your ingredients as cold as possible with pastry.

-While the other ingredients are getting cold mix together you peanut butter and agave so the combine and make a thick gloop.
-Take your cold margarine or vegan butter and cut it into your cold flour. After the fat is cut into small chunks and coated in flour use cold hands or a pastry utensil rub the vegan baking fat into the flour till it resembles rough bread crumbs.

adding the beautiful PB

- Add the peanut butter mixture and cut into your flour bread crumbs. Then add your ice water gradually till your dough comes together into a ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to rest till needed.

Todahhhhh

Vegan PBJ Hand Pies

Ingredients
Half your vegan pastry
1/2 cup of roughly diced strawberries
1/4 cup reduced sugar vegan strawberry jam
2-3 tbsp of natural peanut butter
1 tsp of cornstarch
3 tbsp of almond milk

- Mix together your strawberries, jam and flour.
- Take small balls of pastry (about the size of a ping pong ball) and roll out into disks on a floured bored
- Mentally divide the disk in half, on the upper half of the disk smear, liberally, with peanut butter leaving 1/2cm clear around the edge.

- Place a tsp of the strawberry mixture in the center of the upper half then fold the bottom half up to enclose the filling. Crimp the edges to seal and place on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper.
- Repeat until all the pastry is used up (6-8 pies) then with a sharp knife or fork prick wholes in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape. Then with a pasty brush lightly coat the pies with almond milk.

Babies pre-oven

- Place in a 180 degree oven for 10-15 minuets till the pastry is golden 

 Chunky Monkey Vegan Hand Pies

Ingredients
Half your vegan pastry
2 tsp of cocoa powder
2 tsp of agave (or other liquid sweeter)
3 tbsp of natural peanut butter
pinch of salt
1 banana

-  Mix together your cocoa powder, salt and agave to form a thick chocolate syrup. Fold in your peanut butter till fully combined. Slice your banana into half circles.

- Take small balls of pastry (about the size of a ping pong ball) and roll out into disks on a floured bored
- Mentally divide the disk in half, on the upper half of the disk smear, place a tsp of the chocolate peanut butter mixture and flatten with a knife leaving 1/2cm clear around the edge.

- Place 4 banana pieces on top of the chocolate peanut butter mixture then fold the bottom half up to enclose the filling. Crimp the edges to seal and place on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper.

- Repeat until all the pastry is used up (6-8 pies) then with a sharp knife or fork prick wholes in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape. Then with a pasty brush lightly coat the pies with almond milk. Place in a 180 degree oven for 10-15 minuets till the pastry is golden 

Voilaaaa

 

Raw Slaw and Goji Berries

Hellooooooooooooooo! As my friend Fi has kindly informed me that she was disappointed in me that Healthy Hungry Hippos hadn't been updated in a while I thought I better clean up my act and cook and blog with all my heart.

Recently I bought some goji berries. I LOVE these things and i used make 'power detox juice' by steeping a hand full of goji berries in green tea with some lemon then letting it cool and transferring to my water bottle of the day. It was Antioxidant central! However, I wanted to investigate them in a savory dish like you would put raisins in a carrot and rice salad to add a sweet sharp note. So I look in the fridge and we have a shit load of crunchy vegetables, white cabbage, carrots, bok choi and onion.. SLAW TIME! This slaw has an eastern inspiration, so no heavy fatty creamy dressing just a light tangy and slightly spicy flavor. Perfect side dish or with the satay drizzle a nice summer lunch or dinner.

So here is my Raw Slaw with Goji berries and Cashews with a Satay Drizzle, I hope you like..

Raw Slaw with Goji berries and Cashews

Ingredients

Slaw
2 cups shredded white cabbage
1 large celery stick
1 small bok choi
1 small red onion
2 small carrots
10 dwarf beans
hand full of corriander
hand full of raw cashews
handfull of goji berries

Dressing
3 tbsp of grapefruit juice
1 lime
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of rice wine vinager
1 tsp of agave
2 tsp of grated ginger
1/2 tsp of grated garlic
2 tsp of your favourite dried curry spice mix
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of corriander
1 chilli
pinch of cayenne powder



-In the bottom of a large salad bowl combine all dressing ingrediants apart from the chill. Score the chill with a knife and add to the bowl. This will allow the taste and some mild heat to be added to the slaw with out it becoming chilli central.

- Chop into thin batons the celery, onion and bok choi. Add to the bowl along with the shredded cabbage. Throughly mix coating it thoroughly in the dressing. Leave in the fridge for 30-40 mins to brine.

-Meanwhile peel and chop your carrots and dwarf beans into battons and roughly chop your corriander.

- When the slaw has finished its time in the fridge add your carrots, coriander, cashews and goji berries.

Violaaaa! RAW SLAW!

Satay Drizzle  

Ingredients
1/4 peanutbutter
1/4 cup water
1/4 grapefruit juice
1 tsp of rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tsp of grated ginger
2 tsp of your favorite curry spice mix
pinch of salt

- Combine all ingredients till smooth drizzle is made
- Assemble!

I made it in the peanut butter jar, anything to avoid washing up

Its like a healthy rainbow!

MUSHROOMMMMMM vegan pizza bites

This is a recipe inspired by the 'Sweetest Vegan' you tube channel. Seriously I am in love with this woman, she creates many vegan recipes inspired by typically non vegan food, for example she did a vegan 'take out diet' where she'd convert take out food like burgers and tacos and make them healthier and vegan. She has also done many southern dishes made vegan in her 'southern queen of cuisine' videos, which are also awesome. Plus she's super cute and i find her hilarious. So this post is dedicated and inspired to you Tasha Edwards!

Mushroom Pizza Bites For One

Ingrediants
3 mushrooms
1/3 cup crushed canned tomatoes
3 large basil leaves
1 tbsp of tomato puree
1 tsp of mixed italian herbs
1/2 tsp of liquid sweetener (I used agave)
1 tbsp Vegan cheese sauce powder
2 tbsp of unsweetened almond milk (or vegan milk of choice)
salt and pepper to taste

- In a small pan add together crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, italian herbs and liquid sweetener (the sweetner brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes really well) and heat
- When all the ingredients have combined and reduced a little to a thick sauce take of the heat and roughly chop your basil, then add to the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Assembly Time

- In a small ramekin or bowl stir together the vegan cheese powder and almond milk to create a thick cheesey goop.. trust it taste good.
- Fill you mushrooms with the tomato sauce then top with the cheesey mixture, like so (look below).

babies pre-oven

- Place under a hot grill untill the cheese mixture ontop is golden ant the mushrooms are cooked through, hozzaaa! Vegan Pizza Bites nom nom nommmmm...

Raw freezer oreos

As an obsessive tea drinker I often fantasize about having biscuits with my cuppa however biscuits are..

1- addictive, the pringles (and many other things) once you pop you can't stop and you can often find yourself have 4 or 5 if not the whole pack. With the average digestive bring 70-80 calories a pop that's some painful math for a 'snack'
2- often full of butter and refined sugar, the mcvities milk chocolate digestive has 3.9g of fat per biscuit
3- have little to no nutrional or health benifits.. unless you count the raisins that some of them have in it but lets face it those biscuit stay at the bottom of the tin once people find out its dried fruit rather then chocolate chips, eh?

So here I have taken the most sinful of biscuits, the Oreo, and made it nutritional. This new version of the Oreo is made with dates and almonds so is full of fiber, protein and healthy fats and makes it a perfect natural energizer. It is sugar free and only uses the natural sweetness from the dates and agave  so your blood sugar levels don't go on a roller coaster. Also this recipe is raw so the antioxidants from the cocoa powder and the vitamins and minerals from the dates, banana and almonds are not lost through cooking. These 'Oreos' are so good they come with a dip.. yes that's right, a mother fucking chocolate banana mouse dip. 

What you waiting for..

Ingredients

Oreos
1/2 cup almonds (raw unbleached)
1/2 cup pitted dates
2 heaped tbsp of raw cocoa powder
1 tbsp of agave
1 tbsp of vanilla soy milk (or other vanilla plant based milk substitute)
pinch of salt

-Blitz almonds, cocoa powder and salt till they are the texture of sand. Then add your dates and blitz till fully combined.
- Add the rest of your ingredients then blitz for 10 seconds more. Remove from blender and place in a mixing bowl.

- Bring together the dough with your hands until the mixture sticks together and forms a ball. Transfer to a board and roll out the dough in to a cylinder. Wrap in cling film and place in the freezer to firm up for about 30 mins (enough time to make your dip by the way)
- Once firm, remove from fridge and cling film and slice in to rounds.

- Slice a banana into rounds about the same thickness as your chocolate rounds. Then assemble sandwiching a slice of banana between two chocolate rounds. (you can make double stuffed ones if you add two slices of banana, genius!)
- Place back into freezer in a container so the dough remains firm and the banana does not discolor. Because these are freezer Oreos they are refreshingly cold and make a great healthy substitute to naughty freezer desserts like cookie ice cream sandwiches.

Nom nom nom nom

Double stuffed fuck yeah

Chocolate Banana mouse dip

1 1/2 banana
2 heaped tbsp of raw cocoa powder
1 tbsp of agave
1 tbsp of vanilla soy milk (or other vanilla plant based milk substitute)

-Blitz bananas then push through a seive to create a smooth banana puree

- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a whisk making sure there are no lumps, viola!

Double stuffed Oreo and dip

Dip drenched Double stuffed Oreo

Double Oreo taking a swim