Starter – humus, guacamole, olives, crudités – so far so good.
Main Course – aubergines stuffed with lemon infused quinoa and pine nuts. Saffron roast potatoes. This was ok – the lemon didn’t really take in the quinoa for some reason (it was my substitute for couscous as lower carb) and the saffron potatoes were basically just potatoes because the saffron I bought online had zero flavour. So all in all a bit bland.

Desert – “no cook vegan cheesecake” – hmmm… This came from a book “Keep it Vegan” which has a lot of nice recipes in – but this one took things too far for me. It had three layers – the base made out of pecan nuts and dates, then two layers (raspberry and vanilla) which were cashew nuts, first soaked and then processed to a cream. According to the book this should be done in a blender – well not my blender which gave up the ghost immediately. So I blitzed them in my food processor, but the texture was all wrong – so I ended up pushing the mixture through a sieve. This made me feel like a 1920s kitchen maid, took ages and seemed to dirty every dish in the kitchen. I eventually decided to turn the vanilla layer into chocolate because it had an unpleasant colour as well as an unpleasant texture. Even so, I wasn’t happy with how it turned out and half of it ended up in the bin… It looks nicer in the picture than it actually was – mainly because of the nice soft fruit which I picked off and ate before I threw the rest away.

Mince pies – these were good made with vegetarian mincemeat and the pastry with half Trex and half vegan margarine.
Biscuits – these were a low carb recipe which I made vegan by replacing the egg with egg substitute. Basically they were almond flour, coconut and cocoa but I won’t hand out the recipe because they were horrid – really dry and with the appearance of little turds. Nearly all of these ended up in the bin – I wouldn’t inflict them on the birds.

So all in all I have to say that I don’t think trying to make these meals is a winning deal – basically however hard you try the food ends up sub-standard because you are trying to achieve the impossible. Next time I am going to do either vegan or low-carb but not both….

I had been going to collect some pinecones and berries from the garden and spray them gold, but rapidly running out of time so had to resort to an artificial spray from Amazon – looks quite nice I think though.

This evening I have been making the plums and brambles from the garden which I picked this autumn into preserves for some extra Christmas presents (and also to clear the freezer out a bit).

Anyway, with a bit more vegan cooking experience I have had another go this year. I used Mary Berry’s recipe (same one I used for my own cake), but instead of eggs I used Orgran “No Egg”. This is a white powder you mix with water and whisk up before adding it to recipes instead of eggs. It wouldn’t be something I’d smile on myself as it is packed with chemicals and I had to laugh at the description on the packet where it said “Can not be used to make fried eggs”. I also swapped out the plain flour in the recipe with SR to give it an extra bit of lift – but apart from that exactly the same recipe.

The mixture looked exactly like the ordinary one when I put it in the tin – and miracle of miracles it has risen and I didn’t burn it. It looks lovely and moist and smells lovely. The proof of the pudding (ha, ha) will be when we try it – but I would imagine that any nasty taste residue from all the raising agents will be thoroughly masked by the fruit, spice and of course brandy.

Try as I might, I cannot create anything which has any resemblance to a proper cake and is both vegan and low-carb. So I have decided to make a two tier (possibly three tier) cake, and make one tier vegan and one tier low-carb. I tried out the recipes for both of these and they have turned out pretty well.

For the overall look of the cake I am trying to duplicate the one Frances Quinn did for the Bake-Off a couple of years ago (recipe here – http://francesquinn.co.uk/midsummer-nights-dream-cake/). In my opinion she is the best baker ever to have been on the show. Anyway I took the sunshine cake she made for the top tier and veganized it by removing the eggs. In their place I added an extra tsp of bicarb, and made my own self-raising flour by adding baking powder to strong bread flour – instead of ordinary plain flour. I read somewhere that the gluten in the strong flour creates a structure for the rising agents to use to hold the cake up in place of the eggs. I also added some vegan milk to get the consistency right – I also read that vegan cakes should be more sloppy than ordinary ones to help the rise. Anyway – it seemed to rise reasonably well.

I decorated it with some of the brilliant ideas from the original cake, although I didn’t have a fresh pineapple to make the flowers with. I also had a bit of difficulty with my bees as I made them a bit small and was then rather impatient about leaving the chocolate to dry so I smudged them rather. I will do better when I make the real thing. For the icing – I covered the cake in a thin layer of marzipan and then iced with vegan lemon buttercream – frankly I don’t like this myself and I peeled it off before I sampled it. I would rather have used either a lemon curd or a mascarpone cheese frosting myself – but unfortunately not very vegan.

So for the low carb layer I found a Nigella Lawson recipe for a flourless chocolate orange cake – http://www.food.com/recipe/nigella-lawson-flourless-chocolate-orange-cake-303266 This one I did need to adapt as it has sugar in it. So I removed the sugar and added one third the amount of Truvia (stevia based sweetener with no carbs which is three times sweeter than sugar). This left a deficit in bulk for what would have been filled by the rest of the sugar, so I filled this with one third extra ground almonds, and one third extra cocoa. I also added a bit more baking powder and the juice of a lemon to help the rise. It definitely took a bit less time to bake than it says in the recipe – I would be watching it from about half an hour and getting ready to cover the top.

Anyway, it didn’t have a huge rise but it certainly smelt good cooking. Then for a low carb icing I adapted a recipe from the Truvia site here – https://www.truvia.co.uk/recipes/blueberry-lemon-cupcakes I took the coconut milk and instead of the lemon I added some melted dark chocolate. Then I sweetened with Truvia and thickened with cornflour.

I’m not a big chocolate fan – but to me this was very nice – quite dense compared with an ordinary cake but not too sweet and with a great orange taste. R is a great chocolate fan but I get the sense that he is not admitting that he found this cake not sweet enough and didn’t like the orange flavour. Anyway – it is about the best I can do within the remit I’ve been given.

Firstly a tea loaf – this was seriously nice – no dairy or fat and considerably less sugar than most cakes, but tastes really moist and rich.  Make 10 fl oz strong tea.  Add 8 oz sultanas or raisins and soak overnight.  The next day, chop 2 oz cherries and add to the tea mixture with a handful of chopped nuts.  Add 4 oz sugar.  Then sift in 5 oz wholemeal flour and 2 tsp baking powder and mix together.  If needed (depends on how much of the tea the fruit has absorbed), add a bit of extra flour to make a dropping consistency.  Grease and line a loaf tin and bake at 160 degrees for about 75 minutes or until a knife blade comes out clean.  This length of cooking makes a slightly squidgy in the middle cake which I like – to get it very dry probably cook for an extra five minutes or so.

I also made some truffles.  Pulse 6 oz nuts (I used a mix of walnuts and pecans) until they are breadcrumb sized.  Then in a food processor, blend 6 oz dates until they are a sticky paste.  Blend in the nuts bit by bit together with a generous tbsp dark cocoa powder.  If it gets too dry, add some vegan milk or coconut oil.  Knead with your hands until smooth and then roll into walnut sized balls.  Chill in the freezer while you melt 8 oz dark chocolate in a bowl over hot water.  When it is melted (don’t let it get over 49 degrees C) add a bulb of finely chopped stem ginger (drained well).  Dip the balls in the dark chocolate and decorate with leftover chopped nuts or a dusting of cocoa (don’t cool them in the fridge because the chocolate loses its shine and gets a whitish bloom on it).  Very scrummy and for chocolate truffles, almost healthy.

Here is a picture of V’s new dog Bella who is very sweet.

I’ve included lots of cruelty free goodies (vegan chocolates etc.) but also homemade stuff like bramble jelly, mincemeat (made with vegetable suet of course) and a Christmas cake. I’m not sure what the cake will be like, to be honest because the plan of replacing the eggs with baking powder was not really that successful, and it is a bit flat and ‘puddingy’.

Anyway the whole basket looks quite nice and is ‘recycled’ from a present box and a roll of wrapping paper from last year.

Off the help R wrap the presents now – my Mum and Dad are coming tomorrow.

So I put the whole bag into a big bowl of cold water and soaked over night. The next morning I boiled them hard for 10 minutes and then simmered for about an hour until they were very soft. Then I made:-
Humus – take about 200g chickpeas and about 100g light tahini, 2 peeled garlic cloves, the juice of one lemon and a little olive oil. Put in a food processor and whizz until smoothish. If needed add a bit of the cooking water from the peas to loosen it a little. This freezes well.
Vegetarian Tagine – Fry a large onion and a large pepper in olive oil until soft. Peel and cube a small butternut squash, add to the pan and fry for a minute or two. Add as many chick peas as you like, and then one can of chopped tomatoes and (my secret ingredient) one can of ready made ratatouille (this is super good as a store cupboard staple and goes down particularly well in a vegetarian lasagna). Stir in one finely chopped red chili (I like to add at this stage because frying it with the onions makes me cough), some cumin, a handful of chopped dried apricots and enough passata or tomato juice to make a stew consistency. Simmer for about half an hour until the squash is cooked.
Falafels – same basic mixture as for the humus, but without the lemon juice (so extra cooking water to moisten). Mix in a bowl with enough plain flour to make a dough and a handful of fresh coriander. Roll into smallish (or mediumish) patties and fry in a little olive oil.

The bag of chick peas with the addition of some cheapish veg, olives, couscous, flatbreads and yoghurt made enough tasty, healthy vegan (minus the yoghurt) food for about eight people.

First I made some ‘Cornish’ pasties – these were definitely not authentic (I know there is a lot of controversy about carrot v. swede v. potato), so perhaps I should call them ‘Argyll’ pasties.

I made a basic pastry with 10oz plain flour and 4oz rolled oats. I then added 4oz hard vegetable cooking fat (Trex) and 1oz margarine (or butter) and rubbed in before adding water. This was an idea I got from WWII recipes (ration book cooking) about how you could reduce the fat content in pastry by adding oats which contain their own fat, and it seems to work. Make a stiff dough – not trying to make it too short because it has to be firm to hold the filling together. Roll it out quite thickly and cut into circles using an ordinary side plate as a template.

Make the filling – fry onions and leek together in a little oil. Slice some new potatoes (or cube old ones), and cube some carrots and swede. Steam until nearly cooked (I have to admit that I hate undercooked potatoes), then mix with the onions and leeks. Brush the outside ring of the pastry with water, and put a big blob of the vegetables in the middle. Season – then if you want it to be vegan, seal it up. Otherwise I made some cheese (grated strong cheddar – Cornish Cove from M&S is very nice), and some meat (sirloin steak cut into small cubes) ones. Bring the edges up together and crimp with your fingers to firmly close the seal. Brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes, then reduce temp to 160 and bake for a further 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Very nice (I think the cheese ones are nicest).

I also had a go at making a healthy(ish) trail bar for taking walking as the ones from the supermarket are packed with fat and sugar. I used apples from my garden for this – it is vegan if the margarine is.

Melt 6oz low fat spread or vegan margarine. Add 6oz golden caster sugar and two tablespoons golden syrup and melt together. Add 2oz sultanas and two large cooking apples peeled and grated. Then add rolled oats (about 1lb) and mix together to a thick dough. Line a deep baking tray or ceramic dish with baking parchment, grease and press the mixture down – it should be about 3/4″ thick. Bake at 180C until brown which should take about half an hour. Cut into bars (this makes about 12 to 16) and leave to cool. Note that these are not sticky like a flapjack but softer and moister. Absolutely delicious but I don’t think they would keep well so I froze most of mine in small batches (also not good for the will power to have them sitting there in the kitchen!).

I racked my brains a bit and came up with this…. Everything was home made (well nearly everything – there were some ryvita dipping crackers that were shop bought, plus I got the quinoa ready prepared in a pouch)

Starter – Vegan dips (humus, guacamole, salsa, bean and beetroot) with crudités, warm garlic and rosemary rolls and dipping crackers.
Main – Quinoa stuffed peppers in a rich olive and tomato sauce with mixed green veg.
Sweet – Raspberry ice ‘cream’ with fresh raspberries and/or banana cake

Humus – cooked chickpeas with a little of their cooking water, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and tahini – whizz in a blender until nearly smooth (but still with a little texture).
Guacamole – finely chop one red chili and some spring onions, mash in ripe avocados and juice of a lime
Salsa – finely chopped onion, red pepper, ripe tomatoes, chili and coriander
Beetroot – blend cooked white beans until smooth, add cooked beetroot (not in vinegar) and mint and blend smooth

Stuffed Peppers – Cut tops off peppers and remove seeds. Rub peppers and lids generously with olive oil and bake in medium oven until soft. Allow to cool. Make a tomato sauce by frying onions in olive oil and then adding a mix of cherry tomatoes and good tinned plum tomatoes (chopped up). Cook down for a while and then add lots of olives and fresh herbs. Finally add some tomato puree. Stuff the peppers with the quinoa (I used some ready to eat pouches which already had been flavoured with basil and sundried tomatoes – largely because I wasn’t sure if I would like it and didn’t want to be left with a huge bag of the stuff). Arrange in an ovenproof dish, pour the sauce over and cook (I covered them with tin foil) for about 30 minutes or until hot through. Serve with green veg (I did french beans and asparagus).

Ice ‘cream’ – take two cans of full fat (not light) cocoanut milk and put in a pan, retaining about 100ml. Gently warm the bulk of the milk and then add either sugar or sugar substitute to taste (I used powdered stevia leaf. Blend the retained milk with two tablespoons of cornflour until very smooth and mix in with the rest in the pan. Gently heat, stirring all the time unti the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon – be careful not to let it boil (you could add a vanilla pod but I didn’t have one). While this is happening, gently heat a punnet of raspberries and either add a bit of sugar, sweetener, or (as I did) home made jam (strawberry). Swirl the fruit into the milk mixture to make a ripple effect. Chill in the fridge until completely cold, and then either process in an ice cream maker (best way), or improve your arm muscles by taking it out of the fridge and beating it smooth every half an hour or so until frozen. The latter way it turns out a bit more like a granita, but it is still very nice. Even minus the sugar it is definitely not low calorie though.

Banana cake – mash three or four very ripe bananas until pulpy. Add 75ml sunflower oil and 100g unrefined caster sugar and mix through. Sift 250g flour with 3 heaped tsp baking powder and add to mix. Finely chop 100g of dried apricots and mix through. Bake in a loaf tin for about 40 minutes at 180C (my oven is quite hot).

As you can imagine all this took a bit of time to do, but it was worth it because it all turned out well, and was much appreciated. It makes all the difference when people really enjoy what you make. I am not sure R liked it much though. He wouldn’t admit it but I am sure he would have preferred a burger….