Creamy kale mushroom pasta (vegan)

Ingredients:
pasta of choice
1 bunch of kale
2 cloves garlic
1 onion (red)
olive oil
flour
nutritional yeast
white miso paste
black pepper
sea salt
pine nuts

Method:

1. Cook the pasta
2. Cut garlic, onion and sauté
3. Cut the mushrooms (I used baby portobello) and sauté with the onions, add seasoning (black pepper , sea salt)
4. Clean the kale, cut away the stems and cut the leaves fine, then add to the pot as well. Add a dash of water so the kale gets sort of steamed a bit.
5. Add seasoning and keep the veggie mixture aside.
6. Make a roux with a bit of olive oil flour (stir till you get a ball, add water gradually and keep stirring till you have a nice smooth sauce)
7. Add nutritional yeast to the roux mixture - and add a bit more water if necessary and heat it.
8. Lastly add a bit of white miso paste to the roux.
When the sauce is smooth, add back the veggie mixture to the pot, stir and add the pasta and stir it all through. Serve with roasted pine nuts.
You can make this in different ways, e.g. with cashew cream instead of the roux.

Spiced pumpkin muffins (vegan & glutenfree)

fitting with the season, I decided to make muffins with speculaas spices - enough to fill a tray of 12 muffin forms.

ingredients

175g self raising gluten free flour

1 tablespoon speculaas spices (see below for the contents)

75g brown sugar (I used gula merah /gula melaka / jaggery - which is a palm sugar)

pinch of salt

1 cup pumpkin puree (fresh is the best, but you could use a can too)

100ml almond milk (unsweetened) - or use soy milk or other vegan milk

50ml coconut oil

walnuts (optional)

preparation

Preheat the oven to 205C.

Mix the flour with the spices and sugar, and taste the mixture to check if the balance is right (the above ingredients are estimates, I use my feeling and taste). 

In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin with the coconut oil and half of the almond milk till you get a smooth mixture. 

Slowly fold in the wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix it well together. 

After the wet mixture is folded into the flour mixture, slowly add more almond milk and keep mixing till you have a nice smooth batter. It should not be runny, but the flour should be mixed well. 

Add chopped up walnuts to the batter if you like. 

Scoop the batter into the muffin tray and fill the muffin cups till 2/3.

Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. 

Let it rest for a few minutes and take it out. 

recipe inspired by http://www.isachandra.com/2009/11/the-best-pumpkin-muffins/

serving suggestion

serve with whipped vegan coconut cream. Recipe here: http://petiteallergytreats.com/homemade-coconut-whipped-cream-dairy/

speculaas spice mix

8 parts cinnamon

2 parts nutmeg

2 parts clove (ground)

1 part ginger powder

1 part cardamom

1 part white pepper

1 part anise seed

1 part coriander seed

mix the spices till you have a fine powder mixture.