Baked Cabbage

This is just a quick simple recipe that I made as a side dish for a roast dinner with the Walnut Roasted Squash (link), but was tasty enough (in my opinion) to warrant a blog post - and my housemate agreed (despite offering me the whole cabbage saying 'I don't want it because you can't make it taste good.') I think I succeeded. Yes, I'm being smug.

Ingredients

1/2 White Cabbage
2 cloves Garlic
1/4 cup Raisins
Pinch of Salt
Good grinding of Pepper
1 tspBalsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Olive Oil

Method:

Shred the cabbage
Chop up the garlic
Add all the ingredients and toss in a roasting tin (as you can see my is the same one that has been used many times in posts)
Bake for 40 minutes until soft and brown round the edges
Serve with other roast vegetable, potatoes and any main dish!

Vegan Baked Tofu Bourbon Cheesecake

Tom today,

Before I went vegan cheesecakes were my speciality. My mum had a recipe for an oreo cookie cheesecake that once I tried I made for every family/friends dinner we had (or went too) for years. This is an attempt to relive that cheesecake using a recipe I originally made for a blueberry cheesecake. It is possibly marginally healthier than the original version, but definitely an indulgent treat. Therefore perfect for the festive season. I actually made this for christmas day at my parents house, and it went down a treat even with a new york lemon dairy cheesecake sat next to it.

Ingredients:

2 packs 200g Bourbon Creams
25g Soya Margarine
400g pack Silken Tofu
3/4 cup Soy Milk
1/2 cup Golden Granulated Sugar
2 tbsp Cornflour
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste (seriously I can't get over what a great flavour this is. Normally my cheesecakes are lemon-based but this is too perfect)

Method:

For the Base -

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Put half of the bourbons (one pack) in a ziplock bag and bash/crush with a rolling pin (or empty bottle of wine) until finely crushed.
Melt the margarine in the microwave or in a pan
Add the crushed biscuits and mix thoroughly
Press into a springform tin (one you can remove the bottom from) with the back of a spoon, don't be afraid to really squash it down.
Prick the base with a fork gently and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes
In the meantime, blend the remaining ingredients together, except for the extra bourbons
When the base is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly
Arrange the bourbons on the base so that they fan out from the centre, this way when you cut a slice you get some cheesecake and some pieces of biscuits (this is technically optional but I'd recommend it)
Cover with the cheesecake mixture
Bake for 40 minutes until just set in the centre and browned around the edges
This shouldn't crack like a normal cheesecake and should be okay to take out of the oven now, but if you have time too then it doesn't hurt to leave it in to cool slowly
Serve with soy cream, delicious!

The only thing I would say about this recipe is you probably dont need 2 full packs of bourbons. I went a bit overkill on the extra middle ones. I realised this when I cut myself a slice either side of one of the lines, and discovered I couldn't eat any of it as tofu soaked bourbons bake into a substance that could be used to build houses. So yeah, go easy on the extra bourbons (maybe break them up a bit) and this should be a perfect recipe. If you can managed to make a second layer of biscuit in the centre I will be very impressed as I wasn't sure that would work with this recipe (it's what I would have done with the oreos).

Let us know how your cheesecakes go at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com

With much holiday spirit still going, Tom x

You can see the wall of bourbons on the right, a tad OTT...

Baked Aubergine

Tom today,

I have been feeling rather uninspired lately, hence a lack of blogging. This recipe isn't really a reversal of that, it's not exactly an inspiring recipe, but a simple, healthy and low calorie one that you can make quickly after work without much brain function left (as I am now). I'm making these with some oven roasted new potatoes as well.

This makes two portions (with a bit of stuffing left over)

Ingredients:

1 Aubergine
1/4 Courgette
3 small Mushrooms
1/2 Red Pepper
Handful of Sugarsnap Peas
1/4 cup shredded Red Cabbage
1/2 an Onion
3 large cloves of Garlic
1 and 1/2 Cans Tomatoes
3 tbsp Red Lentils
1 tsp Bouillon
1 tsp Mixed Herbs, Thyme, Rosemary, Paprika
Salt and Papper to taste
6 small New Potatoes (approx 300g)
2 tsp Olive Oil
Pinch Sea Salt Flakes

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Chop up and par-boil the new potatoes for 5 mins or so.
Halve the aubgergine.
Scoop out an inch of the aubergine flesh to make a well, save the flesh to use in the sauce.
Place upside down on a baking tray, toss the new potatoes in 1 tsp of oil, sprinkle salt on top and place next to the new potatoes.
Place in the oven to roast for 20 minutes while you make the stuffing.
Chop everything up (including the aubergine flesh).
Fry all the vegetables (everything except for the tomatoes, bouillon, lentils and herbs) in a deep frying pan until browned.
Add all the leftover stuff plus 200ml of boiling water.
Simmer and reduce until the sauce is thick.
Take out the aubergines and give the potatoes a quick shake around.
Flip the aubergine over and fill with the sauce, place back in the oven for cook for another ten to fifteen minutes.
Wash-up, tidy, wipe down and generally do everything that you need too.
When the potatoes are browned and the stuffed aubergine is crispy round the edges, plate up with a small portion of salad.
Serve and enjoy!

I like my stuffed aubergine to be more like a sauce, but that's just personal preference so feel free to reduce the amount of tomatoes (and water) as you like. This works with literally any vegetables, these are just ones I generally have in the fridge.

This is also very easily adapted to suit your tastes, and works with a wide variety of vegetables (I often do this with butternut squash as well!)

As always, we love to hear your comments and ideas, email them to us at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com

Soon to come: Pad Thai!

For the Baked Aubergine (calculated using www.myfitnesspal.com):


                      Calories   Carbs     Fat     Protein     Sodium     Sugar
          Total:     105          16        3           4            377           8

The potatoes add another 225 calories, plus say 12 for a small salad giving a very nice total of 341 calories for this quite filling meal!