Pomegranate and sea buckthornberry overnight oats

Good morning! I have slept well and long and it's the weekend, I'm happy!

Recently I posted my first overnight oats attempt, the Blueberry and strawberry overnight oats and now I made another variation. I don't think that it's a craze for me yet, but these certainly make an easy and healthy vegan breakfast. This time I made a slightly smaller portion size, but this really hit the spot in the morning. 

I used these ingredients:

½ pomegranate

1 tsp sea buckthornberry powder

½ tsp sea buckthornberry sugar (or regular)

1 tbsp milled flax seed

½ cup oat flakes

1 cup almond milk

Mix the sea buckthornberry powder, sugar, milled flax seed and oat flakes with the almond milk.

Remove the pomegranate seeds and layer them into a jar with the oat mix.

Leave in the fridge overnight and enjoy as breakfast.

The theme of this month's Vegetable Palette is Blushing pinks, so I thought that pomegranate would fit that category rather nicely. I use pomegranates quite a lot in my cooking, I like to scatter them on salads, couscous dishes, pretty much on anything. I have to admit that this recipe doesn't require any cooking as the oats make themselves overnight, but I thought that it could be mentioned anyway as a nice pink food idea. Vegetable Palette is a vegetarian cooking challenge hosted by Shaheen from A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table. 

 

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Homemade Fisherman's Friend Vodka

Weekend is around the corner, which is really great! I don't have many plans for the weekend, maybe a trip to the countryside, but the main thing is to release stress and relax with good food and drink. Maybe already on Thursday evening it's okay to write a post about an alcoholic drink. But remember to enjoy responsibly, if you decide to make this drink!

I have previously posted my Homemade Liquorice Vodka recipe and now I'm here to tell you that the Fisherman's Friend lozenges make a lovely vodka flavouring as well, especially the Salmiak (salty liquorice) flavoured ones. The vodka gets a really punchy flavour through this addition. These are the ingredients I used, but the amounts don't have to be that exact, it can be made stronger or sweeter. 

1 bag / 25 g Salmiak Fisherman's Friend

700 ml vodka

2-3 tbsp sugar

Pour a splash of vodka into a saucepan followed by the Fishermans. Heat them up and keep stirring until the lozenges have dissolved. Also add the sugar.

Let the mix cool down a bit and then mix the rest of the vodka into it.

Let it set in the fridge for a few hours and then serve cold.

Are you strong enough to try this?

Happy weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Summer pea risotto

Risottos are so lovely, I really adore them, and so many different vegetarian ones are possible to make. Now I made a different one again, as I recently purchased organic brown risotto rice and also fresh peas. I love fresh summer peas as they are, when they come directly from the pods. Therefore I didn't cook them too much in this dish either, but you can do so, if you prefer. This is extremely easy to veganise by substituting the butter with margarine and leaving out the cheese.

Ingredients

500 ml vegetable stock

1 shallot

2 garlic cloves

2 baby peppers

1 tbsp olive oil

6 baby plum tomatoes

25 g butter

100 ml dry white wine

1 cup brown risotto rice

1 cup fresh peas

10 fresh basil leaves

Salt & pepper to taste

25 g mature cheddar

Method

Warm up the vegetable stock and chop the vegetables.

Heat olive oil in a pan and cook the shallot and garlic until soft. Add the peppers and after a while the tomatoes. Let cook for a while and then add the butter and risotto rice.

Pour in the wine and let it evaporate and absorb and then add a few ladles of vegetable stock. Let simmer under the lid, stir often and keep adding more vegetable stock whenever needed.

Season and add the peas towards the end when the rice starts to be cooked enough. Also stir in the grated cheese.

All done, enjoy!

Your VegHog

Mini watercress and Cheddar scones

I have baked these watercress and cheddar scones a few times for parties or work and they have always been pretty popular. They are very easy to make, which is a plus when baking for a larger crowd. I like to make them smaller in size so that they are just bite-sized and also easier to eat. I personally think that they taste better the day after the baking. I would normally always want to eat everything fresh from the oven, but the flavours really come together in these when they have rested for a while.

This recipe makes about 16 small scones.

Ingredients

200 g watercress

225 g self raising flour

Pinch of salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

55 g butter

50 g mature Cheddar cheese

150 ml milk

Method

Remove the larger stalks from the watercress and coarsely chop them into a little bit smaller pieces.

Mix the flour, salt and cayenne pepper, and rub in the butter. Add the cheese, milk and watercress and knead only lightly into an even dough.

Spread the dough about 2 cm thick on a surface and cut scones from it with a small round cookie cutter. Brush the tops of the individual scones with a little milk and sprinkle some additional cheese on them.

Place the scones on baking paper and bake them for about 15 minutes at 220C until the tops are golden brown. And they are already done! You can either enjoy them fresh or the next day.

Your VegHog

Start of the caprese season

I think that this is pretty much the start of the proper caprese season, for me at least it is. There have been times, when I could have lived through the whole summer on insalata caprese, also known as tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. I don't make it quite that often anymore these days, but can't think of many other perfect dishes for a hot summer's day. I'm still keeping calm here, as it isn't that hot yet, but seems to be getting more summerly.

Lovely local tasty tomatoes are appearing in the shops and basil grows nicely by my window. I hope to get my own tomato crops later this summer, too. On this occasion I used Pome Dei Moro tomatoes from Sussex. Of course good quality mozzarella is available in many shops, so there's nothing that can stop me from making this dish. I only use my best olive oil and balsamic vinegar or balsamic pearls for this salad and season it with little salt and ground black pepper.

The salad is wonderfully light on its own, but also great with crusty breads, pasta dishes, risottos, barbequed vegetables and so forth.

How do you like your caprese, traditional or more inventive?

Your VegHog

Black bean and soya mince tacos with roasted peppers, cheese and tomato salsa

Earlier today I started craving for a little taco feast, suitable for a Saturday evening. I decided to go with a fairly classic choice of soya mince with black beans, roasted peppers and salsa. This dish is easy to veganise by leaving out the cheese. I enjoyed this taco dinner very much and will soon be making some again, it has been too long since I last made them.

Here's how I made my easy veggie tacos.

Ingredients

12 taco shells

Grated Cheddar

2 bell peppers + 1 tsp olive oil

Tomato salsa

200 g mini plum tomatoes

¼ onion

1 tsp olive oil

Juice of ½ lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Bean and mince mix

½ cup dried soya mince

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

Smoked paprika to taste

Ground cumin to taste

Oregano to taste

Chilli flakes to taste

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 can black beans

Method

Start off by making the salsa, as it can rest in the fridge until serving. Chop the tomatoes and onions and mix together with the seasoning.

Chop the bell peppers into cubes, brush them with olive oil and roast in the oven.

Then continue to the bean and mince mix. Prepare the soya mince as recommended on the packet. Mine needed to be boiled in water for about 5 minutes. Chop the onion and garlic finely and cook them in olive oil until soft. Add the mince to the pan and after a while the seasoning and then the black beans. Let cook for a while.

Bake the taco shells in the oven for about 5 minutes with little grated cheese on the bottom of each shell.

Fill the shells with the bean and mince mix, roasted peppers and tomato salsa. Add more cheese, if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Blueberry and strawberry overnight oats

Finally I had to see for myself what the overnight oats fuss is all about, so I made this fully vegan fruity jar with oats and flax seed. After tasting, I feel that this dish never could replace warm porridge for me, but it does make a nice change for the summer especially. I will also consider making smaller jars and taking them to work with me.

Here are the ingredients I used for my first ever overnight oats:

1 cup oat flakes

3 tbsp milled flax seed

2 tbsp blueberry powder

½ tsp sugar

1 cup almond milk

8 strawberries

Mix the dry ingredients in a mason jar. My jar was maybe a bit too large for one person's breakfast and I couldn't finish it in one go. Add the milk and mix. Chop some strawberries on the top. Close the jar and let it rest in the fridge overnight. Enjoy it the next morning. I read somewhere that closed the jars would keep for three days in the fridge, but I haven't tested that myself. It would be quite handy, though if they do.

Have you experimented with overnight oats and what did you think?

Your VegHog