Sloppy Lentils and Vegan Chocolate Buttons...

... are very nice for greedy gluttons!

Another short post today. I really can't justify posting this recipe because the only adaptation I made was halfing it and using green lentils instead of brown ones. This was another recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker which is a secret vegan treasure with all the recipes being vegan. I expect they realised selling it as 'Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker' might be a little to scary!

On the side you'll note left over Tofu Hash, adapted from Vegan Bites. This was very nice but mostly a little less spicy then I like, so I added a little hot sauce. Nom Nom Nom.

From Ready, Veggie, Cook

Tonight I was feeling a little tired, so Hubby cooked a nice chilli. This was a simple mix of soya mince, kidney beans, spices, yeast extract and tomato purée. Since we had some kicking about, we also put a field mushroom in. This added a lot to it, so I think it might become a regular addition to our 'heck, there isn't much in the fridge' chilli.

From Ready, Veggie, Cook

The other exciting news is my endless craving for white chocolate is now sated. Just yesterday evening I was lamenting to the long suffering husband about my desire for white chocolate. While doing my usual blog crawling I noticed this recipe for White Chocolate Syrup over on Lusterous Musings. I was very excited to note that Dairy Free now did white chocolate buttons. It being a Sunday night I couldn't drag him out to Tesco on the pretence of looking for something else, so had to content myself with a post work mooch this evening, which turned up these gems.

From Ready, Veggie, Cook

They taste exactly like I remember Milky Bars tasting. This is a good thing indeed, and I greatly enjoyed nomming on a few while waiting for dinner to cook.

On a last note, how nice is this? My new co-worker made cupcakes for everyone at work today, but made vegan ones (so I could have them) and nut free, so my other nut allergic colleague could have them. This is why I love my new job. The people are great. That's what makes an office more than just a building.

Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick, Slow

I've been having a bit of a trouble getting into blogging since the seasons turned. I think in part this is because food photography is so hard without either daylight, or failing that good artificial lighting. This tends to make my food look very washed out, and not very nice.

So, I'm going to try posting some shorter, snappier posts until I get my groove back. So, some apologies for the poor photos and the brevity of the posts.

Anyway, today was the switching on of the Christmas Lights in my town, so we went out to see that. There was a great band playing, but so loud my ears hurt now! I knew we would want something warm and yummy when we got back, and a sticky, hot, pudding like chocolate cake sounded like the way to go.

I love my mums 'Chocolate Fudge Pudding' which is a sticky, gooey pudding cake which cooks bathed in it's own sauce. However, I shy away from attempting to cook it myself because

• It's a very non-vegan recipe, eggs as well as dairy
• It makes enough for 8-10 people
• Requires about an hour in the oven, costly and my oven is a little unpredictable

I also don't like cooking things my mum does as it never tastes the same and I then feel my version is 'wrong' rather than just different. My Mum is an amazing cook, so I feel I have some big shoes to fill if I follow her recipes.

I remembered I'd recently 'starred' a Google Reader post that had caught my eye, and nipped off to go see exactly what it was.

I follow a few omni blogs that concentrate on more frugal foods, one of these being 'Passionate Homemaking' who are currently running a Nourishing Crockpot Carnival with loads of crockpot recipes. I knew I'd seen a link to a post making a cake in the slow cooker, and sure it was... sat on Sarah's Musings (another blog I instantly added to my bulging Google Reader list) Double Chocolate Cake with Hot Fudge Sauce



This is a yummy recipe, not great for you, but by no means as terrible as some, and cooks in just one step in the slow cooker, over the hours of 90mins + 30mins cooling time. This meant I went out immediately after sticking the slow cooker on and came back to a slow cooker full of cooked cake. It's much better for my electricity bill not to have an oven on for an hour!

One of the things I liked about this recipe was that it cooked straight in the pot, most slow cooker recipes ask for some steaming arrangement, and since my slow cooker is quite small they aren't really suitable for me.

I shan't post the recipe, since I made very few changes and I would love you all to pop over there and check out her blog yourself, but I will give you a quick rundown of the adaptions I made.

Substitute milk with homemade soy milk
Used half white flour and half wholemeal
Chopped nuts were slightly less then 1/2 a cup
Chocolate chips were probably less then a 1/2 cup, using one small 100g packet

I was also not clear on how much water to use in the last step so stuck it out at one cup full, which as it turned out was perhaps a little scant as the sauce was not as thick as I would like. The sauce is found right at the bottom of the slow cooker once the cake is done. I guess if you wanted to you might be able to turn it out onto a plate, but I think it's fine how it is.

Some things to note with this recipe.
The batter will seem runny - Its okay. Don't panic
The 'sauce' will also seem runny
As soon as you pour the sauce over the top some of the cake batter will bubble up and you will think it's ruined. It's not

So, it's one of these 'have faith that it's going to work' recipes, a bit like the first time you make seitan.

30mins is the perfect time to leave this to cool. The pot will be cold enough to touch, and the sauce still runny and hot.

While we are on the subject of Chocolate... feel free to check out Chocolate Covered Katie's Operation Chocolate Covered Kindness. A quick click doesn't take much, and it could help someone out.