Poppy Seed Wholemeal Pretzel

I always used to love soft chewy pretzels and when I was in high school I used to have one every morning from the bakery next to my school for like 2 years!! I could never imagine that it would be soooo easy to make them at home! I developed a recipe according to my taste, and here it is! I used wholemeal pastry flour, because I never like to use white flour. You can also use water instead of soymilk but I thought its a nice touch and a good protein kick as its a vegan healthy pretzel!

You need :

-21/2 cups wholewheat pastry flour (you might need more if the dough is still sticky)

-1 pack active dry yeast

-1 cup soymilk sweetened with apple concentrate NOT sugar

-1 tsp salt

-1 tsp mollasses

- 2 tbsp poppy seeds

-2 tbsp coarse grey sea salt

Heat up soymilk until lukewarm. Whisk all dry ingredients (flour, salt, yeast) and pour in milk and stir. Add molasses and when everything is combined knead the dough with your hands. If its sticky add more flour. Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes form a ball with the dough, place inside a bowl and cover with damp cloth. Leave for one hour to rise in a warm place (I put mine in the oven at 50c). When its double the size, pinch off some batch from the dough and start rolling to make a worm. (about 10 inches long) Dont make your worm very fat because it will rise a bit again, and you might end up with a bun not a pretzel! But it will still taste like a pretzel, so dont worry.Take the 2 edges of your worm and place them one under the other in the center.(of the worm) Repeat until you have used up all your dough.
Preheat oven at 200c.

Now start boiling water in a hob with one tsp of baking soda. Once it starts boiling put the first pretzel in. Boil for 1 minute and flip once when you are halfway. Repeat until you boil all your pretzels.

Now place pretzels on a non stick baking dish and wet the top surface of each pretzel with soymilk (or water). Now sprinkle them with coarse salt and poppy seeds. Bake for 20 minutes or until they brown a bit.

This recipe makes 8 one serving size small pretzels.

Quinoa Stuffed Veggies

Stuffed baked peppers and tomatoes are a traditional Greek recipe. The original stuffing is rice, but a vegan version of if would be much better with something more high in protein, like quinoa, which is a pseudo-grain (plant that looks like a grain). You can find quinoa at health food stores, it looks kind of like couscous. So here is the recipe and cooking instructions:

You need :

3 bell peppers

3 big tomatoes

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1 big onion FINELY chopped

3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

2 tbsp double concentrated tomato paste

1 vegetable stock cube

2 cups water

1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)

3 medium size potatoes peeled and cubed(optional)

2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

1 tsp tabasco

1 tsp salt

juice from 1/2 lemon

Olive oil (its better if you have an olive oil spray so that you use less fat, because this recipe needs oil to keep everything moist, but if you dont have one on hand, to control the use of fat a brush dipped in olive oil does the work if used carefully)

First start by cutting off the top of the tomato and keep the pieces aside. Cut all around the tomato so that its easier to scoop out the pulp. With a spoon start removing all the inside of the tomato. Keep in a bowl the pulp of all three tomatoes. Cut the top of the peppers as well and remove all the seeds.

Now in a hob place onions and garlic to saute for a bit, then add 2/3 of tomato pulp(keep some aside to pour over everything), tomato paste,water with vegetable stock, salt and quinoa. Bring to boil and cook for 18 min. Remove from heat and add lemon, chopped parsley, pine nuts and tabasco. Stir. Preheat oven at 180c.

Now you can start stuffing your veggies.! Stuff only 2/3 because when you bake them the stuffing will expand a bit. Place the top you cut off in he beginning back on (like a little hat!!). Once you fill all the veggies put them in an oiled baking dish and spray or brush all around the surface of the tomatoes and peppers. Now if you are using potatoes as well, fill up the empty space of your baking dish and brush them with oil as well. For a nice crispy touch, with a knife score the top of each potato bite with many lines. Pour over everything the tomato pulp you kept aside. Bake for 40 minutes.