It must've been weeks since we've had some. But then again, I do seem to live in a giant dip in the middle of the Fens.
I did have some nice pictures of my garden to post but they are on my other laptop, which sadly my girlfriend has buggered up by downloading something silly. Now we have about a million viruses that I don't really know how to get rid of. It seems like it has stopped every single programme from working properly, including my anti-virus software, so I can't even work out the names to try and google for a solution. Anyone know anything about this work of the devil?
I went to a wedding this weekend at a Best Western hotel, and usually those chain types don't cater very well for vegans - I took a couple of sandwiches just in case. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised, and didn't starve. They even had soya cream for my coffee. Result.
The giving up smoking isn't going too badly. I've had a couple of relapses but have gone several days without one now.
I'm off to try and put tempura batter on everything in the kitchen with my new deep fryer!
Here's a recipe for my vegan lasagne, with inspiration drawn from the fabulous Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
All measurements are rough as I eyeball everything...
Vegan Lasagne
nb this also tastes really good with some tvp - just rehydrate and add to the tomato sauce. You may need to use some extra tomatoes etc as the tvp does tend to absorb.
1 box of lasagne sheets (I used a 250g box)
Selection of nuts & seeds – I use pumpkin seeds, seasame seeds, cashews, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds
Half a bag of spinach
Soy cheese (the 'Cheezly' super-melting mozerella is good for this)
For the tomato sauce:
Roughly 2 tins of tomatoes
Tomato puree
1 chopped onion
1 clove of garlic
Pinch oregano, basil & thyme
For the tofu 'ricotta':
Pack of silken tofu
1-2 tablespoon vegan pesto (use either the jarred variety or make your own - it tastes better!)
Dash lemon juice
Black pepper
1 clove garlic
1tsp nutritional yeast
Finely chop onion and garlic and place in pan with a drizzle of olive oil for a couple of minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and good dollop of tomato puree. Add oregano, basil, thyme.
Place silken tofu and pesto in a blender/food processor along with the lemon juice, garlic and nutritional yeast (if using) and blend until smooth.
Build the lasagne with alternate layers of red & white sauce, adding a handful of spinach to each tomato layer.
Smash up your selection of seeds & nuts, either with a coffee grinder, blender, plastic bag & rolling pin, or leave them whole.
Top with soy cheese.
Bake for about 40 minutes (maybe slightly more/less depending on your oven) or until a knife slides easily through the pasta.
