Homemade Herbed Cream Cheese & Smoked Stars Oatcakes

Since I stopped eating cheese I have to say I dont miss it as much as I expected. And I used to be a cheese [and yogurt] freak. But still sometimes, you just want something ‘cheesy’. My yogurt obsession has been covered with a nice unsweetened soy yogurt that tastes great. But since I saw a post from Fat Free Vegan about homemade soy yogurt and making it thick [ greek style ] it hit me. The soy yogurt I buy is indeed a bit runny, unlike the dairy ones I used to eat, and living in Greece all yogurts are thick![yay!] so I decided to strain my store bought soy yogurt, and turned out great. Then I thought, what is I strain it for longer?? Will it become like cream cheese?? The answer is yes. It will. Perfect on oatcakes. So I created this appetizers!
Now you might have noticed that my last post and this one do not include a recipe. That because I am creating recipes to write a cookbook with vegan healthy cholesterol free recipes.! So excited. It was something I want to do for quite some time, but now I m getting close to a good volume of recipes! But there s still SO much to do! Thanks for the support!

Lemon Roasted Pistachios

Whats better than nicely salted roasted pistachios? Well lemon roasted salted pistachios…At least for me, since I love lemon on literally everything. But I promise this is something everyone will like.
So it all started when my boyfriend’s dad brought these pistachios from Iran. I noticed that to make the salt stick on the shell, they used lemon. So I decided to roast my own pistachios, shelled, so that the lemon is actually on the nut. It really compliments the pistachio flavor, but be careful not to overdo it with the salt since the lemon almost covers the need for salt!

1+3/4 cup shelled roasted good quality pistachios[unsalted]
1/2 cup lemon juice [2-3 lemons]
1/2 to 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

Mix together pistachios, salt and lemon and toss well. Place in a baking dish, big enough to fit them on one layer. Place on the bottom of the oven at 60C[140F] for several hours [around three] or until there is not lemon juice water left and pistachios are completely dry.

Tofu Bites&Shirataki Knots Cocktail

This is a perfect plate for when you have guests over. Its all about being cute and tasty but light. [so by the time you actually sit down to eat no one will be over-stuffed by the deep fried finger food]The dressing needs 30 seconds to make so you do it last minute, and the rest can be prepared even 4 days before!!

I used tofu and shirataki noodles. Shirataki noodles have ZERO calories and carbs so basically is like eating air! But the texture is very interesting-chewy/stretchy. Tofu is also a light food, but with a high quality nutrient content, packed with protein. I also made a brine to put the tofu and shirataki to marinate and get a sea flavor. I thought that it wouldnt do much, but it actually made the flavors much nicer!

You need :

-1 pack [200gr] extra firm tofu [not silken]

-1 pack shirataki noodles[I got them from Soya for 1.50euros]

-2 sticks kombu seaweed[also from Soya, but you can get them from a health food store]

-4 sheets nori [the ones you make sushi with]

-2cups water

-2tbsp rapadura sugar

-3 1/2 tbsp coarse SEA salt

-1tbsp soy sauce

-1tsp rice vinegar

For the dressing [make sure you use your favorite ingriedients, because thats what you are going to taste] :

-1/2 cup of your favorite ketchup

-4 tbsp of your favorite vegan mayonnaise

- parsley or nori flakes to garnish

-1/4 tsp brine

Kombu Sticks

Inspect kombu sticks. If you see any sand of dirt, remove with a damp cloth but dont wash off the white stuff [its all about that] Soak them in the 3 cups of water for 30 min. Bring to boil in the same water for 3 minutes, and remove from heat. Take kombu sticks out of the water and store in the freezer for later use.

While the water is still hot add sugar and salt and whisk until they dissovle. Put nori sheets in food procesor to make them in flakes, add them to the brine, along with soy sauce and vinegar. Set aside.

Press tofu lightly covered in paper towels to remove excess water, taking care not to crush it. Cut in pretty bite-sized shapes. Place inside the bowl with the brine.

This is how the knot-bites should look.

Now open the shirataki noodles, drain them, but keep 2 tbsp of their brine and add it to our kombu brine. Pick out 6 long noodles, fold them in half and start making knots[3 knots,one after the other is perfect]If the ‘tail’ is too long make more knots or chop at desirable length. Keep doing that until there are no noodles left. Some bites might come out smaller, because not all noodles all long, but just add more [like 8 instead of 6,so they become chunky] There will be some short noodles left but keep them in the fridge for, lets say, a seaweed salad. I made around 20 shirataki bites from my package.

Put shirataki also in the brine and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Before you serve take bites out of brine and drain them, then arrange on a serving plate. Mix ketchup and mayo with 1/4 tsp from the brine[not more because its wayyy too salty] and pour over the bites. Sprinkle with dried parsley flakes or nori seaweed flakes if you wish and you are ready!

Veggie Wedgie Bruschetta

You can either make this with fresh homemade bread, or fresh store bought bread . I like to bake my own bread, so I made this with fresh homemade bread. Whatever. You just need a slice of bread [ preferably wholeheat] to put the topping on. This topping for the bruschetta is teeny tiny chopped bell pepper, eggplant and cherry tomato. You can either make one big slice of bread with this amount and have it for lunch, or make 12 mini bruschettas for appetizers! Its a really cheap appetizer/snack to make, -good for parties and gatherings, specially if you are making everything from scratch [secret message: dont be bored to bake your own bread!] Either way you need :

For the topping
-1/2 orange bell pepper chopped in tiny pieces
-1/2 yellow bell pepper chopped in tiny pieces
-1/3 eggplant chopped in tiny pieces
-14 cherry tomatoes chopped in tiny pieces
-1tbsp olive oil
-2tbsp balsamic vinegar
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4-1/2 tsp dried parsley
-1/4-1/2 tsp dried basil
-a pinch of oregano
-1/4tsp garlic powder

For the brushetta
-wholewheat bread
-1tbsp olive oil
-1 clove of garlic halved

On a pan add 1tbsp olive oil and add peppers and eggplant. Add balsamic vinegar and saute. Now throw in spices and lower heat. Cook tossing for 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat, move in a bowl and add chopped tomatoes and stir[do not cook the tomatoes].
Preheat oven for broiling.Now take slices of bread, brush with olive oil and rub the garlic on them. Place in the oven and broil until golden. Take out of the oven and top with the veggies. Better Serve while bread is warm.

Its delicious!

Crunchy Onion Rings

I have been craving onion rings lately…But I dont like the idea of deep fried food. So I made a research on fried and baked onion rings, and I came up with this recipe that makes a really crunchy and tasty onion ring thats low in fat, vegan and healthy!

You need :

-2-3 onions chopped in 1 cm circles

-2 tbsp flaxseeds

-1/3 cup water
-1/2 cup beer
-5 tbsp wholemeal pastry flour
-3 tbsp all purpose flour

-2 tbsp nutritional yeast

-1 tsp salt -1/2 tsp paprika

-1/2 cup fat-free breadcrumbs

- Olive oil spray

First grind your flaxseeds as fine as possible. Its ok if its chunky. Now place them in a small mixing bowl with 1/3 cup water and leave for 20 min or until the water become slimy/sticky (thats our egg white sub) When flax egg is ready combine with beer and gradually add whole wheat flour stirring. In a separate mixing bowl combine breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, salt and paprika. And in another mixing bowl place white flour (I know it sounds like a lot of work, but its not).

In the picture you see the three mixing bowls : white flour, flax egg beer batter and breadcrumbs. Arrange them in this order and dip each onion rings one by one first in the white flour, then dip it completely in the batter and toss it in breadcrumb mix to cover it copletely. Oil a baking dish and place onion rings inside one next to the other. Spray with more oil over onion rings.

Preheat oven at 190C and bake for 30 min or until golden brown and crispy. Serve them with sour cream dip (recipe on sour cream jacket potato). If you have a lot of leftover batter store in the fridge to reuse within a week.