BLOGGER'S VEGGIE FAVES: APPLE & NUT SLAW

A Crunchy Satisfying Vegetarian Salad that's easy & frugal...

Apple & Nut Coleslaw, with Vegan option

This salad was inspired by a local M&S with a wonderful deli bar. The original was too sweet and too loaded with cholesterol for 67goingon50 and was adapted to meet 67's criteria.

Cabbage and apples are a terrific combination and this is a perfect way of getting raw veg and fruit into kid/ults.  The slight sweetness, the juicy crisp fruit and the crunchiness of nuts should please everyone. 

The salad is perfect for a portable lunch; pack the dressing separately, slice the apples on site and mix.  It goes exceptionally well with cold roast or un-dressed poached chicken.

To make it even easier on the pocket, replace cashew nuts with salted peanuts and maple syrup with honey.  Whatever salted nuts you use -- and a small amount of salt balances the sweetness -- remove excess oil and some of the salt by rubbing the nuts with a paper serviette.

Cost: min: £1.50 (6/23)

Feeds: 2, multilies easily

Ingred:

1 heaped coffee mug finely sliced or grated cabbage (67 used Sweetheart, the pointy one, but any will do)
1 large sweet juicy apple (67 likes Braeburn or Granny Smith), unpeeled, cored, quartered and sliced as thinly as you can (if apples are waxed, peel before eating)

2 tbsp mayonnaise, with or without egg

6 tbsp yoghurt, plant or dairy

1-1 1/2 tsp maple syrup

1 generous handful salted roasted cashews, with excess oil and salt rubbed off with a paper serviette 

pepper & salt

Method:

1. Mix mayo, yoghurt & maple syrup 
2. Add enough to the grated cabbage to moisten. Mix well. Add pepper and a bit of salt.  Mound the cabbage in a ring on a plate; leave centre free.
3. Coat the apple slices with the mayo-yoghurt mix
4. Arrange the slices of apple on the cabbage with the pointed ends facing outward
5. Toss the nuts around the outer core.
6. OR if you can't be bothered to arrange the apple slices, mix cabbage, apple and nuts together with the dressing and serve 

Tips:

• Make this a vegetarian meal by adding low-fat mild cheese: goats or 30% fat-reduced cheddar
• If you liked this you will probably also like Waldorf Salad

This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.

BLOGGER'S FAVES: SUBLIME HOT AVOCADO PILAU

Makes you feel you've died and gone to heaven....

                           Sublime Hot Avocado Pilau                     (first posted 5/11/2015)

'When I first tried this, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.' Taster

This wonderful vegan dish has multiple layers of exquisite flavour & texture.

Its super special -- warm, rich and comforting.  It is truly memorable. 

It is also a great solution to waiting around for avocados to ripen and then finding they've gone past their best.  Heated, the avocado softens, becoming even more buttery and beautiful.

67 prefers brown rice for this recipe -- its flavour, nuttiness and health-giving properties give the dish a delightful oomph. As long as the brown rice is cooked properly - instructions below - it will be fine.  White rice is also good, as is orzo, the easily digestible rice shaped pasta.  

This is the hot version of the popular Avocado Pilau Salad.   

Cost: £3.50 (2019)

Feeds: 3-4 as main; 6 as side

Ingred:

   8 oz/225 grams brown rice

   

   1 tbsp vegetable or dairy butter

   1 tbsp olive oil

   4 tbsp finely chopped onion (whites of green onions, yellow onions or shallots: all fine) 

   1 stalk celery, peeled, and finely chopped

    4 oz/100 g thickly sliced mushrooms

   1/2 tsp grated garlic

   4 oz/100 gm fresh diced tomato flesh (from peeled & deseeded toms) OR if you can't be fussed, 6 oz/150 gm baby toms 

   2 oz/50g (untoasted) pine nuts

   4 tbsp dry sherry/white wine/grape juice  

   1/4 tsp dried marjoram or thyme

   freshly ground black pepper

   1 good sized avocado

   juice and grated peel of half a lemon

   Garnish: Parsley

Method:

1. Cook rice and keep warm.  (Brown Rice: rinse well in a sieve and allow water to run until it comes out clear.  Drop into lots of boiling salted water, cook at a rolling boil 25 mins.  Drain and rise with boiling water from a kettle.) (White rice: rinse well in a sieve and allow water to run until it comes out clear.  Drain.  Add double the amount of good stock - veggie if you're feeding vegetarians.  Cook according to packet instructions.)
2. Prepare tomatoes: remove stem, slice an x into the bottom of the tomato; dropinto a bowl of just-boiled water 5 mins or until peel starts coming away; drain, remove peel with sharp knife.  Cut tomato in quarters, lay flat; position sharp knife at pointy end of tomato quarter; slide knife under membranes & seeds and slide to end, discarding seeds. Chop tomato flesh into small bite-size pieces 
3. 10 minutes before end of rice cooking time, peel and dice avocado, mixing carefully with lemon juice
4. Saute onion & celery in butter and olive oil, about a minute
5. Add garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, pine nuts and herb of choice.  Stir & cook until mushrooms are nearly done.
6. Add sherry/wine/grape juice.  Simmer a few minutes.
7. Add rice to veg;mix well and gently heat through.  (You may need to add a tbsp or two of stock if using brown rice).
8. Add avocado and toss gently; every spoonful should contain avocado and vegetables. 
9. Garnish with a few branches of fresh parsley, chopped parsley scattered over 

Comments:

'When I first tried this recipe, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  I just loved the warmth and butteriness of the avocado, the contrasting crunch of pine nuts and the gorgeously savoury rice punctuated with the firm mushrooms and bits of tomato.  I never tire of making it.'  Blogger

*Adapted from one of the first tv chefs, Robert Carrier.  

Tips:

• For the ill and infirm or small children, replace alcohol with good stock. Use white rice or orzo  and cut back on the pinenuts. You could also add a handful of currants soaked overnight in orange juice
• Good as a main course but also goes well with chicken or fish.    

BLOGGER'S VEGGIE FAVES: QUICK BREAKFAST BREAD/ROLLS: dairy-free option, low sugar, high protein

Quick Low-Sugar 'Sweet' Breakfast Bread/Rolls

first posted 2019; updated 12/24

Quick Breakfast Bread: moist & naturally sweet, studded with dates & walnut

This wonderful bread, easily transformed into rolls, is best enjoyed on a slow Sunday morning when every delicious mouthful can be properly appreciated.  

But it is so easy to make, it can also be baked on busy mornings. The household can set off having had, or carrying, a gorgeous nutritous breakfast.  

Most of the preparation can be done the night before.  The fruit needs to be soaked in juice or tea overnight and the dry and liquid ingredients can be measured out and set aside for the morning.  Turn on the oven as soon as you're up, work the butter into the flour, add the drained fruit and wet ingredients. Bang it in the oven and 35-40 mins later: a lovely satisfying irresistable loaf.  

If portable rolls are your goal and mornings are always a terrible rush, everything can be done the night before.  The rolls should be  formed and laid out nicely on a tray.  Either bake them immediately, allow them to cool and wrap individually in foil or cling film before refrigerating.   

If you're baking them the next morning cling film the pre-formed rolls on the baking tray and refrigerate.  As soon as you rise, take them out of the fridge and pre-heat the oven. They'll take 20-25 mins.  

Cooled cooked rolls freeze well if stored in a self-sealing bags or an air tight container.

Spelt flour was used in this recipe; wheat or other flour is fine.  

Organic spelt flour* (67 uses Doves) makes a loaf of incomparable tastiness but Waitrose and Marks & Spencer do own-brand spelt flour.  

The recipe was adapted from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network.

Cost: £3.00'ish (12/24) more for vegan dairy products

Makes: 10-12 slices OR 5-7 rolls

1 9 x 4 1/2 inch/22x11 cm loaf tin

Ingred:

   juice of 1/2 orange or 1/2 teacup cold tea

   75 gm/ 2.75  oz coarsely chopped dates or currants

   

   240 gm/ 8.5 oz flour

   1 tbsp sugar

   1/4 tsp salt

   1/2 tsp baking soda

   zest of one orange

   75 gm/ 2 3/4 oz coarsely chopped nuts

   56 gm/2 oz cold unsalted dairy or plant butter

   200 ml cold buttermilk OR 150 ml dairy or plant yoghurt + 50 ml water (pref) OR 200 dairy or plant milk (67 uses almond) + 1 tbsp vinegar 

   1 egg

Method:

BLOGGER'S FAVE VEGETARIAN: ORANGE BERRY PLATE, low-sugar

FRESH, COLOURFUL GUILT-FREE VEGAN DESSERT

Orange Berry Plate

          (updated March 2016)

This is 67goingon50's  "skinnier" version of the classic dessert of fresh orange slices in a sugar and orange liquor syrup, usually served with thick cream.  67's is just as lovely but much better for you - it's very low in sugar and fat.  It's also easier on the wallet.  

The Lunch Club were startled by its simplicity but raved over it's intense and satisfying flavours. 

67 used black molasses sugar because it has higher levels of vitamins and minerals.  If you haven't any in stock, try the brownest sugar you have. 

Serves: 4-6
Cost: about £2.00

Ingredients:
4-5 supermarket oranges 
1/2 punnet strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or blueberries
a generous tablespoon molasses/dark muscovado sugar (opt)
1-2 tbsp orange flavoured liqueur or brandy or cinnamon whiskey or white grape juice (opt)
yoghurt-vanilla cream or 0% fat Greek or yoghurt 

Method: 

1.  Slice off the tops and bottoms of the oranges; the orange should  stand up on its own.
2.  Using a sharp knife, remove the peel and pith by sliding the knife blade under the top of the peel and allowing the knife to follow the curve down to the bottom.  
3.  Continue until the peel is gone.  Remove any strips of white pith so that the orange is 'naked'.  
4.  Slice the orange into circles 1/2 cm thick, saving the juices.
5.  Layer up the orange segments and berries.  Pour over the orange juice and alcohol, if using.  Sprinkle each layer with a tiny amount of black molasses sugar.  Rest at room temperature for at least half an hour.
6.  This is lovely as it is but really gorgeous with yoghurt-vanilla cream or 0% fat Greek or yoghurt or, if no cholesterol issues, single pouring cream.

More fruit deserts on NavBar:Recipes 1

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This recipe has been developed by B Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.