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Wednesday 24 February 2010

Oh balls!

Hellooo everyone. Did you have pancakes last Tuesday??? I did, more on that in a minute though.

I'm starting off with last night's dinner. In my mind for weeks I've been dreaming of balls. Ahem, what I mean to say is meatless balls!! That doesn't sound any better does it? Well these are a mixture of tempeh and sage & onion stuffing mix. Sounds gross, tastes like a little ball of heaven! tee hee. Recipe is at the end of the post but I think this recipe has potential to be great just as a way of awesoming up stuffing mix or even flattened into patties and baked for a burger.

I served them with mushroom sauce (thought tomato would be too heavy) and quinoa pasta. Yum.


Dessert was simple. I cut up a nectarine and put it into a foil package with some rice syrup and baked it at 180C for 15 minutes. I served it with a blob of plain soy yoghurt and a wee sprinkle of ground allspice and then poured the fruity syrupy juices from the package over it.


These were some oat crackers I made last week. They're pretty good but I haven't got them exactly right yet. Recipe will follow once they're better.


I made some cookies last week. I played with Dreena Burton's homestyle choc chip cookie recipe by taking out the choc chips, swapping the plain flour for white spelt, swapping 1/4 cup of the flour for cocoa and using rice syrup instead of maple syrup (WAY cheaper!). I also made them smaller, a round tbsp or so each so I got 23 out of the mixture instead of 12! I baked them 8 minutes and they were nice and crispy.


So I mentioned pancake day last week. I prefer the fluffy american style (drop scone) pancakes for breakfast but on pancake day, it's only right to have flat ones. I didn't attempt to flip them, I suck at that! Here is one, ready for a rollin.....


And rolled up with the traditional filling of some lemon juice (bottled - tee hee) and sprinkled with sugar. Yum.


This was dinner one night last week. Oh that pile of horrible looking green mush was broccoli smashed potatoes. An idea I stole off Rachael Ray! But she put in a crap tonne of cheese and cream. I just added a bit of soymilk and salt & pepper and a sprinkle of nooch - they were really really good. Reminded me of when I was little and my mum used to mix mashed swede in with the potatoes so I would eat them! :-)

I feel bad for this lentil soup because he was oh so tasty but I don't think is a way to make a soup made with brown lentils a pretty one! Ugly? Yes. Tasty? Oh yes!


This was dinner on Friday night. I made a basic risotto with some onions and sun-dried tomatoes in and then at the end stirred in a bunch of steamed green veg. It was soooo tasty. I added peas, green beans and broccoli.


Here's that recipe I promised:

Sage & Onion Tempeh Balls
Ingredients:
100g (1/2 a pack) tempeh
1/3 cup (40g) sage & onion stuffing mix (paxo and sainsbury's own are both vegan)
1/2 cup (125ml) boiling water
1/2 a medium onion (about 1/2 cup)
1 tbsp olive oil
Braggs or soy sauce
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt & Pepper to taste
Fry Light / cooking oil spray

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Then start with the tempeh. Cut it up into rough chunks and throw it in a pan (I used a frying pan) and fill it with enough water to just cover the tempeh. Bring to the boil then leave it for 1o minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the stuffing mix with the boiling water and cover with a plate. Set aside for at least 5 minutes.

Once the tempeh is done, remove from the pan and dry out the pan. Add the oil and saute the onions for 5 minutes until just starting to get some colour. Crumble the tempeh up nice and fine and add it to the onions, cook for a good 5 mins or so to get some colour on the tempeh. Then add the thyme and spritz with braggs (about 10-15 sprays) or add a tsp or 2 of soy sauce or tamari. Mix well and then remove from heat and tip into a mixing bowl to cool. Add the stuffing mixture and mash it all together with a fork.

Once cool enough to handle, roll about a heaped tbsp at a time into balls (you should get about 18). Then spray a baking sheet with fry light and put the balls on ready to cook. Spritz the top of them with fry light (optional) and then bake for 15-20 minutes (until lightly browned). Then serve with whatever you like!!

If you make larger balls (hee hee) or patties, you'll probably want to bake them 20-25 mins!

That's all for now aside from saying that I'm on Twitter now (sal_on_toast) - feel free to add me if you're on there, I only have 3 followers! hahaha.

Laterz
xXx

17 comments:

  1. I LOVE your balls Sal (fnarr fnarr)and ya know I love that stuffing mix. Funny how you think a tomato sauce is heavier than a mushroom sauce - I'd have said the other way round!
    Gorgeous looking food - even the Lentil Soup ;)
    I didn't make pancakes because I would have eaten them all and made myself sick.
    I'll add you on twitter though I don't really go on there much....

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  2. The dinner you had last night looks awesome! And, how do you make your pancakes looks so neat and tidy. Mine are always a great mess. Nice work :)

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  3. Those are some sexy balls! Thanks for the recipe. Tempeh and sage/onion stuffing sounds like a delicious combo! I've been CRAVING pancakes and I'm not what my hold-up is. Your pancakes are makin' me so hungry!!!

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  4. Mhmm.. I love risotto! And yours looks great!!!

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  5. hoooooooooray for balls! and pancakes! and broccoli smashed potatoes! and oat crackers! mmmmmmm! i would have never thought make such a tasty dessert with nectarines, Sal - awesomesauce! i forgot to have pancakes, and seeing yours makes me wish i didn't forget! i wish maple syrup wasn't so expensive either, but rice syrup sounds like one fantastical substitute. yum!

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  6. OH YUM!!! These look good! Always looking for more meat(not)ball recipes!!

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  7. Those "balls" (lmao) looks awesome, seriously yummy! Your blog always leaves me starving..thanks lol..:-)

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  8. wow, that is an awesome parade of food. you eat such delicious looking meals! I'm going to be thinking about them as I eat my frozen dinner :(.

    I'm going to have to make some dreena cookies w/ alien changes :).

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  9. I'm totally making the balls next week now that I have found a never ending source of good, cheap tempeh :)

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  10. Haha, I'm still laughing at your ball comments! :)

    I had pancakes too! I think it started a new obsession for me because I'm eating them non-stop now. I even made some for lunch today and brought them to work!

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  11. Hey Sal! Wow your meals lool great! Your pancakes look like crepes or a clătită which my dad who's romanian would call them. Oh he used to make the best!
    Those tempeh balls look fabulous!!!

    I think any tortilla soup would be easily veganized, I know some have chicken in it but you just need to take that out and then use the veggie broth instead.

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  12. Crispy balls of goodness! They don't sound gross, they sound like a little ball of heaven too! Minus the sage, I'm not a fan. I hear you about the tomato sauce being too heavy. Sometimes it's nice to have something different too, same ole' tomato sauce can get boring.

    I love those pancakes! And that (non-ugly) lentil soup! And everything else. Oat crackers? I'm listening! *waits anxiously for a recipe*

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  13. ahhhh! a vegan english blogger... finally! It's so nice to discover your blog! :)

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  14. Did you know that your blog is the first hit when one googles "Oh balls"? Ahem - don't ask me why I was googling oh balls...

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