What's cooking?

Happy Sunday! It's going to be a pretty chilled out day for me here. I'm going to spend some time going through some of my magazines picking out some yummy meals for the next couple of weeks.

I am also super excited because my copy of Chloe's Kitchen arrived!

Ever since I saw Chloe's win on Cupcake Wars with her Vegan cupcakes; I have admired her. Trying most of her recipes on her website I knew this Vegan cookbook was going to be amazing. I'll be posting pictures and reviews of some of the recipes on the blog and cannot wait to go through it properly today and plan the first one's I'm going to try. Check out a quick video below of a great easy recipes from Chloe- perfect for summer with a nice glass of wine :)

Another great resource is Just the Food. Joni is great and on Saturday I tried this recipe and wow! AMAZING! Must make some more asap!!!! They also in my opinion taste extra better the day after.

I  love nothing better than to cook vegan meals for my non vegan friends and family. I love to show people that I'm not missing out! What I can never understand is when you mention it's Vegan people sometimes turn their nose up at it. Now surely it's better to enjoy something delicious and know that in the process not animals were harmed? Do me a favour if your not vegan/veggie try and cook a vegan dish this month. Let me know what you think! I'll post a couple of great recipe resources and tips below so you can choose something yum!

Vegan Recipes

Chef Chloe

Peas & Thank You

The Vegan Zombie

Vegie Head

The Compassionate Cook

Tips for UK 

*Vegan butter- The two main brands are Vitalite and Pure but all the main supermarkets do their own versions.

*Cream Cheese- the brand I use is Tofutti and you can get it in most Holland & Barrett shops.

*Cheese- in the UK we don't yet have the amazing Daiya vegan cheese. The brand I use is Cheezly and they have it in Holland & Barrett and most Tesco & Morrison's stores

*Egg replacer- I use Ener-G egg replacer from Holland & Barrett and I have also used Orgran brand from H&B

*Chocolate- a lot of dark chocolate is vegan, just check the packet. Sainsbury's also sell Bloc chocolate chips which is vegan

Guest Post: Fruit Buckle Cake Recipe

I'm really excited to share this guest post with you, Not only does the recipe look amazing but Nicole is a new bloggy friend of mine and she is so lovely. So please make sure you visit her pages and let us know what you thought of the post.

Many thanks to Nicole for doing this guest post for me.

If anyone else is interested in doing a guest post then you can contact me via my Facebook Page :)

Hello - Pink Chilli Vintage readers!  My name is Nicole and you can
find me blogging about all things delicious [including my sweet sweet
Boston terrier, Henry!] over at www.bakingitonmyown.blogspot.com
Today, Jessica has kindly let me share one of my favorite recipes with
you - Fruit Buckle Cake! So without further ado...

There is nothing better than a really scrumptious cake.  I mean seriously -
who can resist cake!?  It's decadent, delicious, super tasty and
surely calorie-free (wink wink).  Starting in the spring and
continuing throughout the summer season - I enjoy combining fresh
fruit and my favorite cake buckle recipe.

The term fruit "buckle" comes from the combination of a single layer
of cake with fruit added into the batter. Many people also add a
streusel topping. Once cooking begins, the cake starts to rise up
around the fruit and the fruit (and/or streusel) starts to "buckle"
into the cake.  Wa la - there you have it, a little bit of fruit
buckle history.  It is a great way to use seasonal fruit and the
result is moist and rich.

Fruit buckle is one of the easiest recipes to make and is the perfect
thing to bring to a summer cookout or afternoon tea.  You can serve it
warm, cold, plain or fancy with ice cream, whipped cream or delicious
chocolate/caramel/fruit sauce.

Serves 6-9

1 cup flour (120g)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
I stick butter (1/2 cup), unsalted (120g)
1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon (200g)
2 large eggs
1 small egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup desired fruit (75g) (sliced peaches, plums, strawberries,
blueberries, blackberries, raspberries etc) ** I used blackberries in
this recipe
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan with
non-stick cooking spray.

2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt - set aside.  In separate small
bowl, combine cinnamon and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar - set aside.

3. With hand or stand mixer, beat sugar and butter together at medium
speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, yolk and vanilla
gradually.  Once combined, slowly fold in flour mixture.  NOTE:  Do
not over mix batter.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan and top with fruit.  Gently press fruit
into batter.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top of batter and
berries.

5. Place cake in oven on the middle rack and bake until golden -
approximately 35-40 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into center should
come out clean.

6. Cool on wire rack and enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and I'd love to hear your feedback on
how it turned out for you.  I really appreciate you taking the time to
read my post today and I'd love it if you'd pay me a visit on my blog
sometime soon.  You can also keep in touch with me via Pinterest,
Facebook and/or Twitter.

Pinterest
Facebook
Twitter

...and of course - a special THANK YOU to the ever so sweet Jessica
for allowing me to do a guest post on her blog.  Hope to do it again
soon!

Recipe Post: Vegan Aubergine Curry

Hello from a glorious sunny Oxfordshire.

So this is the weather this week :) Got my flip flops out!

This afternoon I'm off to celebrate little Elliot's First Birthday. Happy Birthday Elliot! If you didn't catch his mum's guest post you can read it here.

So what has been going on. Well Jessica's Cupcakes has been really busy the past few weeks which is fab and I have a few more things planned for that which will go on the blog. Pink Chilli Virtual Assistant has really taken off and I'm so busy now with a number of clients.

Friday night me and Keely had a girly night as I couldn't make her hen night. Here are some pictures from the evening :)

On Sunday I made a delicious Aubergine curry and had to share the recipe. It's vegan so even better!

Aubergine Curry
Serves 4 people (or 2 really greedy people)

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil plus extra to drizzle on aubergines
2 large aubergines (eggplant)
1 medium onion ) chopped
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 chilli (de-seeded and finely chopped)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200. Slice eggplant lengthwise and sprinkle salt on the fleshy side. Rub both sides with olive oil and roast, skin side up for 25-30 minutes until tender.

2. Meanwhile in a large pan heat 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the chopped onion and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add all the spices and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and coconut milk. Leave to simmer. Then one aubergines are done chop them into bite sized pieces and add to the curry along with some chopped coriander. Cook for another 2 minutes. Serve.

I had mine with rice and roti but you could have any type of bread, serve with potatoes or use this as a side dish.

Valentine's Day and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup and Happy Birthday Tom!

I love Valentine's Day. I know we don't need an excuse to tell someone we love them but for me it's an excuse to get balloons out!!! Yay.

We spent our Valentine's eating in as having to watch the pennies.  I made the table look a bit cheesy :)

And Phil left me a little note before he went to work :) This little board we always update with little messages. 

And for dinner we had Sweetcorn fritters with Mango & Avocado salsa (I made it vegan and will post he recipe soon). For main we had butternut squash, sage and pine nut pasta and for dessert strawberries dipped in dairy free dark chocolate- yummy. Oh and lots of wine.

Butternut squash is one of my favourite things to use in soup so here is a nice warming soup that's so easy and doesn't have loads of ingredients.

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup (Vegan)

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 butternut squash peeled, seeds removed and cut into chunks

1/2 large onion chopped

1 pint vegetable stock

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1.2 tsp paprika

3 tbsp dairy free cream ( I use alpro soya cream and it's great)

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a large pan heat the olive oil and place the onion and butternut squash in. Cook for about 5 minutes making sure to stir. Add the cayenne and paprika and coat the onion and squash.

2. Add the vegetable stock and simmer for 20 minutes until the squash is tender. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Mean while heat another small pan with oil and fry the sage leaves until crispy- about 2-3 minutes. Then transfer to some kitchen paper to soak up the oil. Set aside.

3. Add back to the pan and add in the cream and salt and pepper to taste. Serve into bowls and sprinkle with the crispy sage.

One last thing before I go. Just want to wish my baby brother a Happy Birthday. 

Here is his birthday cake I made

Here he is a few years back...

And here he is now, not so much a baby anymore.....

Happy Birthday Tom xx

30 Day Photography Challenge Day 5: From a high angle and Overnight Oats

Ok here is day 5- from a high angle. It's taken from our spare room window looking down. I wanted to get the wall of the house in as it has  little design on it :)

Has anyone else joined in on the challenge? Do you want to? The first post is here.

I had a big love affair with oatmeal a last year and then went a little while without it. Why??? Love the stuff. Fear not I'm back in the swing of things now. However instead of my usual peanut butter, DF chocolate and walnut mix I've been preparing the overnight oats.Easiest breakfast ever.

It's not really a recipe as you just throw in whatever you want but here is the one I had this morning.

Overnight Oats


1/2 cup porridge oats
1/4 cup oatmeal/oatbran
1 tbsp flaxseed
2 tsp light brown sugar
Handful raisins
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)

Mix all together and leave in fridge overnight I eat mine cold in the morning and topped with some Raspberries. Other good things to add- chocolate chips, sliced banana, some cinnamon, almond butter, peanut butter, top with granola for some crunch etc. Sorry it's not in a pretty bowl- saved on washing up :)

Jess
xx

Recipe Post- Asparagus Curry (Vegan Friendly)

Happy Tuesday guys. I want to Start off by congratulating Gina and Tom on their new arrival. You can check out Gina's blog here.

Now I had a curry from one of our local curry houses, it was an asparagus curry and it was awesome! I loved it. But with trying to cut down unnecessary spending I wanted to try and make it at home for much less.

So I made it last night and loved it- and have some left over for lunch today :)

Asparagus Curry- Serves 2

Ingredients

1 bunch of asparagus- I had about 10 spears

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cashew nuts

1 tbsp almond flakes

1/2 Green chilli de-seeded (more if you like extra hot)

2 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Tumaric

1 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1/2 onion chopped

Handful chopped coriander

1/2 can chopped tomatoes

1/2 can coconut milk

Method

1. Start by washing your asparagus and cutting off the woody ends. I simply do this by snapping them where they naturally snap. Chop asparagus into small pieces. I did mine in about 0.5 cm rounds. Place into a microwavable bowl with 2 tbsp water and heat for 3 minutes and set aside.

2. In a large pan heat olive oil and add onions and all spices. Gently heat until onions are soft. Meanwhile place cashews, almonds, green chilli and 1 tbsp olive oil into a food processor and mix until a paste.

3. Add nutty paste to pan and cook for 1 minute. Then add chopped tomatoes and cook for a further 2 minutes. Then add the coconut milk and chopped asparagus and stir continuously on a low heat for 5 minutes. 

4. At the end of cooking add in some chopped coriander and serve. I served mine with rice and a chapati

Happy New Year!

So Christmas is over :( But we have a new year to deal with. Hopefully lots of positivity in 2012.

As I may have mentioned before I am now working full time for myself. I'm running Jessica's Cupcakes still but have also set up my new business Pink Chilli Virtual Assistant. So exciting times ahead. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

This week I'll be working on my 2012 inspiration board which I'll share with you all :) We'll talk about goals and aspirations.

So I didn't post what we had for Christmas dinner- Vegan Style! So better late than never!

To start we had Tempura Vegetables

Main was Chestnut and Mushroom Wellington with lots of vegetables and Vegan Yorkshire puds!

And dessert was this amazing Pumpkin Tiramisu from Chef Chloe Coscarelli

Even Phil who's not vegan didn't feel like he was missing out.

Mama Pea over at Peas and Thank You has done a great post on taking 5 recipes and creating 25 dinners. Check them out.

I'm off to do some housework then get started on the inspiration board :)

Jess
xx

Christmas Preparations and Yorkshire pud

1 week until Christmas!! So excited.

(Source)

Most of my Christmas shopping has been done and wrapped, just a couple of little bits to get this week. Have you all done yours?

I've not had a lot of time to prepare this Christmas, with the day job, cake business, family stuff and my longer commute but I'm happy that I've done enough. Next year with me working for myself I'll be able to do a lot more planning :)

All my veggies for xmas dinner have been prepared, blanched and put in freezer bags ready to be finished off xmas day. This saves loads of time.

I've been planning our xmas meal plans and still in the process of doing them. I've not decided 100% on the main event for Christmas dinner. I have a few contenders but tonight I'll decided! Any ideas? 'll do a post with some of the things I'm planing to do. We are having all the normal trimmings (vegan), brussels, stuffing, bread sauce, maple roasted carrots and pasrnips and yorkshire puds.

And this brings me on to...

Vegan Yorkshire Puds


Makes 12 mini yorkshires


Oil for cooking
115g self raising flour
pinch of salt
280 ml soya milk
55g whole egg replacer (I use Ener-G)

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.

2. Put 1 tsp of oil in each muffin hole and place into oven to heat.

3. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Mix the egg replacer into a smooth paste with 50 ml of water. Mix this in with the milk in a jug.

4. Add half of the wet to the dry mix. Mix it into a smooth batter then add the remaining liquid. It should be like cream, if it’s too thick add more liquid.

5. Transfer the batter to a jug and fill each compartment to the top. It should sizzle as it goes in. Do this as quickly as possible before the heat gets out. Cook for 15-20 mins.

When these were done they didn't look like normal yorkshires- they don't tend to sink in the middle. I was worried. But they were great! Even Phil loved them. He preferred them to normal yorkshire pud. Win!

Right I'm off to make some dessert, do some more menu planning and relax on the sofa with my man!

Jess
xx

(Source)

Recipe Post- Cake Pops

Cake pops are massive right now and  a lot more portable than a cupcake. This version isn't Vegan because I used candy melts but the cake and buttercream part you can use this Vegan cupcake recipe. So to make it totally vegan just use dairy free chocolate instead of the candy melts. You can use any cake recipe you want at all.

Cake Pops


Materials
Lolly pop sticks
Styrofoam block or florist foam
Variety of sprinkles

Ingredients
1 batch of cupcakes/cake. Any will do. If you have any cake trimmings keep them in the freezer to take out when making cake pops.
1/2 cup butter cream
1 bag of candy melts or 2 blocks of chocolate

Method


1. Place your cake into a large bowl or mixer and crumble into bread/cake crumbs.

2. Add the butter cream and mix until it forms a dough mixture.

3. Roll into balls and place on a baking sheet or baking paper. Place into the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

4. Place candy melts/chocolate into a double boiler and gently heat until it has all melted.

5. Dip the lolly pop sticks into the chocolate and push into the balls gently. Place into the fridge for 20 minutes.

6. Carefully dip the cake balls into the melted chocolate and tap very gently to remove excess chocolate. Then place some sprinkles on top. Stick the cake pops into your styrofoam block so they can dry. See example here (I forgot to take a picture!)

7. Once dry you can place them in a jar or jug to display and also wrap in lolly pop wrappers :-)

Recipe Post- Healthier Cake Batter Smoothie (Vegan)

There are loads of cake batter smoothie recipes. This is just my version- the beauty of smoothies is you can have fun mixing and matching ingredients. I'm a bit smoothie obsessed at the moment so be prepared for lots of smoothie recipes!!! I've purchased a screw top beaker so I can mix up a smoothie to take to work :-)

Cake Batter Smoothie
Makes 1 smoothie

Ingredients

2 tbsp Porridge oats
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 small frozen banana *
1 handful baby spinach
200 ml/1 cup almond milk
1 tbsp nut butter (use either peanut, cashew, sunflower or almond)
1 scoop protein power (optional)
1 tsp Xanthan gum (optional but gives it a thicker consistency like ice cream. Most supermarkets do it in the baking section)

Method

1. Put everything into a blender and blend until everything has combined
2. Serve either in a glass or in a bowl with a spoon and if you like put some sprinkles on top!

* I always have frozen bananas in the freezer. Just cut them into chunks and pace them into a freezer bag or box. Great to always have some on hand for smoothies or vegan ice cream!

Recipe Post- Vegan Pancakes

For vegans and non vegans these pancakes are delish! They are nice and fluffy and go with pretty much anything. Here I have done them with bananas and a peanut butter and maple sauce but try them with a blueberry sauce, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce- anything!

As with a few of the recipes these are measured in cups- I find it a lot easier than weighing everything out. Weekends are for relaxing! Most cookshops sell cup measurements now.

Vegan Pancakes
Makes about 8 pancakes


Ingredients
1 Cup plain flour (I use half white plain flour and half wholewheat pastry flour)
1 tsp Baking/bicarb soda
1tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup soy milk
1tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 large banana sliced

Method
1. In a jug place the milk and apple cider vinegar and leave to curdle for 5 mins then add the oil. Place peanut butter and maple syrup into a heatproof bowl and heat in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until mixture is of a sauce consistency.
2. In a bowl sift and mix all dry ingredients.
3. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
4. Heat a non stick pan and spoon some mixture into the pan. Cook for 30 secs to 1 min then flip over. Once cooked place onto a plate and spoon over the peanut butter maple sauce and add slices of banana. Continue this step until you have 3 pancakes piled on top of each other.
5. Enjoy!

Recipe Post- Frushi

This weekend I wanted to try a new recipe out of The Vegan Table by Coleen Patrick Goudreau. And as I had some strawberries I decided on Frushi. It was so yummy, kind of like rice pudding with jam on. Great idea to serve at a dinner party.

Here is the recipe. I just used strawberries and didn't use the sesame seeds and they were still great.


Ingredients
1-2 T sugar
pinch salt
3 ripe peaches
¼ C fruit preserves (I used strawberry jam and heated it in the microwave for 10 seconds)
1 pint strawberries
½ pint raspberries or blueberries
mint leaves
2 T black sesame seeds

for reduction sauce
2 C diced strawberries
½ t black pepper
2 t orange juice
½ C water
1 T balsamic vinegar

Method


1.Cook rice in water and coconut milk. After rice has cooled, fluff and stir in sugar and pinch salt.

2.Combine all sauce ingredients and cook down over medium heat until a syrup, strain out fruit particles.

3.Blanch and peel peaches, then slice into small half moons.

4.Form rice into small oblong shapes and place on plate. Spread thin layer of preserves on rice shapes. Top with slice of peach, slice of strawberry and a raspberry. Drizzle with sauce then garnish with black sesame seeds.

Hot Cookie Dough Dessert

Right this is a new thing for me and I can't understand how I've gotten so far through life without having this! I was inspired after a trip to Pizza hut by one of their desserts on the menu- Hot Cookie Dough Dessert!

It is totally amazing!

Now I'll give you a vegan version but you could do this recipe non vegan as well if you wish.

Vegan Hot Cookie Dough Dessert

Serves 2

Ingredients

• Batch of vegan cookies. You can use this recipe here  or for non vegan you can by those ready mixed cookie boxes.

• Dairy free ice cream enough for 2 scoops each. You can buy this or I have a recipe here. Or for non vegans just use regular ice cream

• Some dairy free chocolate melted to drizzle over the top. For non vegans use regular chocolate sauce.

Method

• Make up the cookies to the box/recipe instructions but don't cook them all the way through. Take about 3 minutes off the cooking time
• Stack cookies in the bowl
• Add ice cream scoops and drizzle chocolate sauce
• ENJOY!

Recipe Post- Vegan Maple and Walnut Cupcakes

One of my new purchases was Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Now as an owner of a Cupcake business I'm looking forward to trying lots of new recipes.



The first one I decided to do was Maple and Walnut Cupcakes. However I used my own recipe for the frosting.

I must say these cupcakes are lovely and are great with a cup of tea. Don't be put off that they are vegan as my other half who isn't vegan loves them!

This makes about 12 cupcakes.

Candied Walnuts

1 cup walnut halves

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

a pinch of salt

a large pinch of ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 275F. Arrange walnut halves on a tray and toast walnuts for 10 minutes, until the are fragrant and golden brown. Leave to cool.

2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and lightly grease with oil.

3. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, maple syrup and salt. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. The sugar should melt and the mixture bubbling. This will take about 5 minutes. Continue to boil for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is a dark amber colour, thick and smells like caramel. Remove from heat and stir in walnuts and cinnamon. Coat nuts evenly with maple mixture.

4. Spread nuts out onto the lined baking sheet and make sure they are not in big lumps. Allow to cool.

5. Measure out 1/2 cup sugared walnuts and chop finely to use in recipe. Extra walnuts can be used as decoration after the cupcakes are frosted, eaten or stored in an airtight container and refrigerated.

Cupcakes

1/2 cup soy milk, at room temperature

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/3 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup canola oil (I used vegetable oil or you can use rapeseed oil)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup candied walnuts, chopped finely

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk together soy milk and vinegar. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 10 mins to allow milk to curdle.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutemg into a large bowl. Whisk together oil, maple syrup, vanilla and brown sugar into the soy milk mixture.

3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and whisk in the wet ingredients in two batches. Whisk just until no large lumps remain, a few small lumps are okay. Do not overmix. Fold in chopped candied walnuts.

4. Pour mixture evenly into liners, filling up to 2/3rds of the liners, and bake at 350F for 20-22 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting with the recipe below.

Maple Syrup Buttercream

¾ cup Vegan margarine (I use Pure)
3 cups Icing sugar
¼ cup Maple Syrup

1. Place margarine and sugar into a mixer and mix until combined.

2. Add Maple Syrup and mix

3. If the mix is to stiff add a little soya milk or if it is too runny add some more icing sugar