Banana Oat Cookies

So we have quite a few over-ripe bananas in the house. Usually I will use them to make Banana Bread but this time I thought I'd find some new ideas! I got this recipe from http://vegweb.com which is full of every vegetarian/vegan recipe you can think of! I adapted the recipe a bit so here is my version:

Ingredients

1  mashed banana

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 of a cup of regular sugar

slightly less than 1/3 of a cup (about 1/4 of a cup plus 1 teaspoon) of oil

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 1/2 cups of self raising wholemeal flour

1/2 of a teaspoon of salt

2 cupsof oats

3 tablespoons of water (I needed some more once I had added the oats)

Method:

1. Add the brown sugar, white sugar, oil and water to a large bowl and mix together. 

2. Add the Banana and Vanilla.

3. Mix together the flour, cinnamon and salt. Stir it into the banana mixture.

4. Stir in the oats.

5. Use a tablespoon to drop the mixture onto a greased baking tray. Bake at 175 degrees celsius for 10-15 minutes until brown on the bottom.

6. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

They are so nice, I have eaten three already! 

Billiesue

Wholemeal Bread

I really wanted some hummus today but didn't have enough money to buy bread and hummus! Then I remembered that I had Wholemeal Bread Flour and Yeast downstairs! I found this recipe online and tried my hand at baking bread. I got this recipe from http://www.cookitsimply.com/ which is a good website with lots of bread recipes. I think I will be making more bread from now on!

Ingredients:

15 g (1/2 oz) dried yeast

1 tsp (5 ml) sugar
275 ml (1/2 pt) warm water
4 cups (450 g) 1 lb wholemeal (whole grain) flour, plus extra for kneading
2 tsp (10 ml) sea salt
butter or oil for greasing

Method:

1. Dissolve the sugar in half the water and sprinkle the yeast on top. Put the yeast into a warm place to froth about 10 minutes.

2. Put the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre.

3. Pour in the yeast mixture and the remaining water and mix everything together with a flat-bladed knife.

4.  Turn the dough onto a well-floured work surface and knead it until it is smooth.

5. Return it to the bowl and make a cross-cut in the top.

6. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth. Leave the dough in a warm place for one hour to double in bulk.

7. Heat the oven to gas mark 6/200‚°C (400‚°F).

8. Grease a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin (5-cup bread pan) or two 450 g (1 lb) loaf tins (3-cup bread pans).

9. Knead the dough again and either keep it in one piece or divide it into two.

10. Roughly shape it and press it lightly into your bread tin(s) (pans).

11. Put the bread on top of the stove and cover with a clean tea cloth. Leave for the final rising for 15 minutes, or until the dough has risen 1.5cm (1/2 in) above the edge of the tin(s).

12. Bake the large loaf for 50 minutes and the small ones for 40 minutes.

13. Turn the bread onto a wire rack to cool and leave it for 12 hours before cutting.

It smells lovely! I shall report back on the taste!

Billiesue

Lush Crafts

Today there was a party on the Lush Forum! (http://forum.lush.co.uk/). This is where you can buy special one-off products. Unfortunately, I have zilcho money :(. There are also cool competitions on party day and today I won one! Here was my winning entry:

I cut up some old CDs into little pieces. I then drew the Lush Logo onto some cardboard and stuck the pieces of CD in the lines. I then painted the whole thing. It took me a while but I'm quite proud of it!

Billiesue

Blueberry Currant Loaf

I wish I could do more vegan baking but the lack of money means I cant! However, this recipe from www.vegan-food.net uses very few ingredients. Most of which you probably have in your cupboard! I didn't have any Blueberry teabags so I had to use Blueberry and Apple teabags instead. I also used wholemeal self raising flour instead of white self raising.

Ingredients:

2 blueberry and apple tea bags
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup currants
2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar

Method:

1. Grease a 14 x 21 centimeter (5 x 9 inch) loaf tin. I did not need to do this as I have a special loaf tin that doesn't need it ;)

2. Add the boiling water to the teabags in a jug and add the currants. Cover the jug and leave the currants in the teabag mixture overnight.

3. Throw away the teabags and pour the currants and water into a bowl. Sift the flour and sugar into the bowl.

4. Mix well and pour into the loaf tin.

5. Cook at 160C for about an hour. Until cooked when tested with a skewer.

6. Turn onto a baking tray and serve hot or cold.

Leek and Potato Soup

I have just made and consumed a very nice soup that I thought I'd share. I got the recipe from http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/ and only changed a few things. This website is fabulous for vegan soup recipes!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 large leeks (I didn't have 2!)
1 red onion (I prefer these to the white ones)
2 medium potatoes

1 clove of garlic (I use garlic in everything!)
25g (1 oz) margarine
750ml (1 1/4 pints) vegetable stock
200 ml (7 fl oz) soya milk
Salt and pepper

Method:

1) Chop the onion and leeks. Peel and dice the potatoes.

2) Heat margarine in a pan over a low heat and cook the vegetables for 10 minutes, until soft

3) Add stock and simmer for 20 minutes then purée with a blender.

4) Pour it back into the pan with the soya milk. Season and reheat before serving.

This is a gorgeous soup for winter. It made enough for two bowls so I shall put the other half in the fridge for later!

Billiesue

Mathew Street Festival - Monday

The Mathew Street Festival on Monday was amazing. 

We got there just in time for Kaiser Thiefs. This band were absolutely amazing. They sound just like the real thing. Unfortunately they don't look like the real thing. But hey, its free!





Here is Ricky-a-like acting like the real Ricky and climbing up the scaffolding!





Next up were The Fillers. These were the best band by far. They look like The Killers and they sound like them. They are brilliant! I cant wait to see these again!





This photo shows the famous jacket that Brandon wears! (sorry for the quality of the photo!)

After The Fillers were the Antarctic Monkeys. These always sound amazing. I saw them last year. It is also at this point where people start throwing beer all over the place. I got out of the crowd here. My legs were aching from jumping around! They sounded brilliant though.

Next were Razorlike who sounded a bit like Razorlight but not brilliantly. The lead singer did not look like he'd made an effort to even look like them! But they were OK. I didn't manage to get any photos.

After this we went to another stage to listen to Elevation (U2). These are amazing every year and have quite a large fan base. Therefore, it was a shock that they had been put on a smaller stage. We could get nowhere near and the stewards were ridiculous. There were barriers up everywhere so nobody could get where they wanted. I was so angry. We had to miss Elevation this year but hopefully will see them next year (on a bigger stage!).

Then it was back to the main stage to see Kins Of Leon. These were amazing. They didn't look like the Kings Of Leon but they sounded fab! Everyone was singing along to Sex On Fire. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I only got one photo and it was from quite far away.

So that was it for another year at the Mathew Street Festival! The weather was good on the Monday until Kins Of Leon finished and then it rained! I can't wait for next year.

Billiesue