Baked tomato, courgette and aubergine (vegan)

I think it's about time I make a bakes dish that isn't sweet. I'm not including this as one of my two a week because its just too easy, albeit a dish that requires a long baking time. It's extremely healthy and I used it as a main dish for dinner, but you may want to use it as a side dish.

Ingredients
1/2 cup oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
5 small tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 small aubergine, thinly sliced lengthwise
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
2. Pour some of the oil to cover the bottom of a 9/13 inch rectangular baking dish.
3. Layer in half of the onion slices and one third of the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and half of the garlic. Add a layer of aubergine and sprinkle more salt and pepper. Add another layer of tomatoes, the courgette, the remaining garlic and the rest of the onion. Top with the remaining tomatoes.
4. Press down on the mixture with your hand. Pour over the remaining oil and season with salt and pepper. The veggies will be piled really high but don't worry, it will collapse as it bakes.
5. Bake uncovered for 1.5 hours. After 45 minutes, press the mixture down firmly with a spatula and return to the oven. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes, then cut and serve.

Original recipe: Char-baked tomato, zucchini and eggplant

Simple and healthy :)

Week 3 Dish 2: Vegan apple bread

I've really cut it close this week, haven't I? Two and a half hours before week 4 starts and I've finally finished dish 2! But I still made it, that's what counts. My only excuse is that I've had a pretty busy week, though not because of university but because I've been out having a bit too much fun. Ah well :p So this was a difficult dish, I tried a different apple bread recipe first and it just didn't come out right - it wasn't cooked at all inside but burned on top. It was raw (but still tasty - couldn't throw it away without trying a bit) and I was pretty disappointed. Of course, I had no choice but to try another recipe to reach my two-recipe goal. Thankfully this one turned out fine, yay! The saying 'if at first you don't succeed...' comes to mind. One other thing I learned is that peeling things, like apples, is just so tedious. Good thing that the rest of the recipe was much faster to complete.

Ingredients
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup apples, peeled and grated
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 cup ground linseeds (aka flaxseeds. I bought whole linseeds fron asda and ground them myself. Also available from health food shops)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Combine the oil, applesauce, apples, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl sift the plain flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add the wholemeal flour and ground linseed.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients gradually until just combined. Finally add the walnuts.
5. Bake in loaf tin for 1.5 - 1.75 hours until a skewer come out clean and the top in a nice golden brown.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minute before removing (so hard to wait!!)

Original recipe: Vegan apple bread

This is a brilliant recipe to make when there are no exotic fruit around - even apples make amazing bakes goodies!

Vegan chocolate

I've wanted to try this recipe for a while, even bought the ingredients for it but only just got round to it. Now that I've done it, I don't know why I waited so long! It literally took 10 minutes to prepare, and then the solidifying time. So so easy (which is why I'm not counting it as one of my 2-a-week), and not to mention delicious. It's the type of chocolate that literally melts in your mouth, a bit like the centre of a truffle (the best bit in my opinion!). I never want to buy chocolate again - this is just too good.

(I used my new rose moulds - so cool right?)

Ingredients
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (cheapest from VB but you can also get it from health food shops for an extortionate price)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp agave nectar (from health food shops)/ coconut nectar/ maple syrup/ honey if you're not vegan)
1/4 tsp stevia sweetener (I bought asdas own brand sweetener which is stevia, but I'm sure you can use truvia too!)
Method

1. Melt the coconut over a low heat and remove from the heat as soon as it's melted.
2. Sift in the cocoa powder and whisk until well combined.
3. Add the sweeteners and mix well.
4. Pour into moulds/ tray (and cut into pieces when solid)/ pour over dessert or fruit/ anything else you can think of. I will definitely be experimenting with it!

Original recipe: Homemade, raw, vegan chocolate

Like I said, this chocolate melts very easily so it needs to live in the fridge. SO SO GOOD!!!

Week 3 Dish 1: Vegan apple spice cupcakes

It's week 3 and I'm still going strong! Yay! Though I know I'm a bit later than usual updating the blog this week - sorry guys, it's turning out to be a busy week. Last week was a pretty good one; I gave some of my blackberry bars to those I was on firms with as well as to some relatives, and everyone loved them!! Nothing like a bit of praise, appreciation and an empty plate to make you feel good and know all the scratches from the berry bush were worthwhile! I also finished my cardiology firm and feel pretty confident with murmurs (or at least as confident as I was in 3rd year), and my AF knowledge has definitely increased. And saw patients with marfan syndrome, one of those eponymous syndromes that we seem to remember so well - I'm sure those of you who are medical students will agree. It's very exciting :p. So now on to my endocrinology firm, wish me luck (it's going OK so far).

This week I've decided to do two apple recipes because my mum was given a big bag of cooking apples that need to be used. It makes me miss the two huge apple trees that we used to have in the garden, and of course my mums apple pis and apple curry (sounds weird but soooo delicious). I thought apple recipes would be perfect to give an autumn feel now that September has begun (though the weather is still gorgeous this week). So the first one is vegan apple spice cupcakes, enjoy!

Makes about 18
Ingredients
For the apples
3 apples, peeled and diced (I used cooking apples but if you want a sweeter cupcake then go for eating apples)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp canola oil (aka rapeseed oil)/ vegan margarine

For the cupcakes
1 cup soyamilk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup canola oil (aka rapeseed oil)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
Method

1. Toss apples in the spices and flour. 
2. Heat the brown sugar and oil/ margarine until slightly bubbling, add in the apples and cook until caramelised, soft and most of the liquid has been cooked off (~10 minutes). The kitchen will smell sooo divine while you do this - if only we could capture smells in photos!
3. Preheat oven to 180°C and line your muffin tin with cupcake cups.
4. Mix the soyamilk and lemon juice in a large bowl and let it sit for a minute until it curdles. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla extract.
5. Sift together all the spices, flour and baking soda and powder. Gently stir into mil mixture.
6. Fold in the cooled apple and fill cupcake cups almost completely full (these don't rise much so they won't spill over).
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes. These stay very moist inside with a crunchy top so a toothpick put inside may not come out completely clean, but that's fine!

Original recipe: Apple spice cupcakes

These cupcakes are so moreish because they just hit the right spot and aren't overly sweet - try them and you'll see! The next recipe will be either apple bread or apple tart...hmm difficult choice! What would you prefer to see? Let me know! (I used my new triangle silicon cups - so cool!)