Left over tortilla tortilla chips

I don't know if you are like me but a pack of 8 tortillas is always too much for me so I usually end up freezing the odd one here and there. Today when searching through the freezer I found two in there and thought I could put them to good use before they became freezer brunt. What better use for tortillas than tortilla chips! So simple and so easy. 

Ingredients 

Tortillas
oil (for two tortillas I used 4 tablespoons - just make sure it is enough to coat the chips)
salt
pepper
chilli powder

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180c (fan) and place into the oven whilst it is heating up your frozen tortillas (if frozen, if they are not, simply pre heat the oven and move on). 

2. Whilst the oven is heating up, in a large mixing bowl the oil, salt, pepper and chilli powder (the seasoning can be done to whatever taste you want it to be). 

3. Take the now deforested tortillas out of the oven (they will only take about 2 - 3 minutes to defrost) and cut the tortillas into triangles. I tend to get approximately 8 triangles from each tortilla.

4. Take your tortilla triangles and mix them in the bowl. I do this by simply swirling and tossing them in the bowl (less messy than getting your hands in the oil).

5. Once the tortilla triangles are covered, place them onto a baking tray and cook. Make sure you watch them whilst they are cooking as they can quickly catch and become burnt. They will only take about 7 to 10 minutes to dry out and be ready but make sure you take them out every couple of minutes to move them around and turn them over to make sure they all cook evenly.

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These cookies are the perfect balance of chewy and crunchy. Perfect for a late night snack or a move night with the girls. A cookie people won't even be able to guess is vegan.

Ingredient

1/2 cup of soya milk (any non-dairy milk is fine)
2 tablespoons of flax seeds
dash of white wine vinegar
1 and 1/2 cups of plain flour
3/4 teaspoon of bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (this doesn't have to be added if you are not a fan of cinnamon)
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 and 3/4 cup of caster sugar
3 tablespoons of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1/4 cup of oil (any oil works)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of molasses
100g of chopped chocolate 

Method 

1. Pre heat the oven to 150c (fan)
2. In a bowl whisk together milk, flax seeds and vinegar. Leave this to one side to thicken, this acts as the egg 
3. In a mixing bowl combined flour, bicarb, cinnamon and salt. Leave this to one side
4. In another bowl combined sugar, peanut butter, oil, vanilla and molasses
5. To the sugar and peanut butter mixture add the flax egg
6. Next add in the flour mixture
7. Combine ingredients together and mix in chocolate chips

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a tablespoon, spoon the mixture onto the baking trays in little balls. Allow approximately 3/4cm gap between each ball as they will spread a little. Cook in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until they begin to harden

This recipe makes approximately 20 to 24 cookies depending on the size of your balls. I had to bake mine in two batches as I did not have enough room on the baking trays.  

Vegan Apple Crumble

One of the hardest things about going vegan is giving up the home cooked staple foods that your mum makes. For me that means Apple Crumble and Custard!

Instead of giving it up, I thought I would try my hand at making it vegan.

Ingredients

Cooking Apples (I used some from my parents tree)

Caster Sugar

Plain Flour

Vegan Butter

Method

Now the amount of apples you decide to cook is up to you, but it will affect the amount of other ingredients you need.

For the two little ramekins that I made, I used approximately 4 medium sized cooking apples which i peeled, cored and cut into chunks. I then put the apples in a saucepan and stewed for approximately 10 minutes adding a little water if it looks like it is sticking.

What I usually do is cook as many apples as my parents give me in autumn when they fall and stew them and freeze them for whenever I need them. It is so quick and simple meaning whenever you get a hankering for crumble or pie, you have pre cooked apples ready to go, you just have to defrost them.

Once you have stewed your apples (or defrosted them), add them to a heatproof dish. I used two small ramekins as I was only cooking them for me but my mum always uses as casserole dish to put hers in. Then add approximately 3 to 5 tablespoons of caster sugar to the apples (depending on how many apples you have used and how sweet you like it). At this point you can also add cinnamon if you wish (I did - approximately 1 teaspoon).

Next comes making the crumble topping. When making my crumble topping, I used approximately 60g of flour, 30f of sugar and 30g of vegan butter to my 4 medium sized apples. If you are using a casserole dish, the average measurements are 120g of flour, 60g of caster sugar and 60g of butter.

Mix all those ingredients together in a bowl with your hands. Use your fingers and thumb to breadcrumb the mixture together. After this, transfer the mixture to a baking tray and cook in the oven at 170 c fan for approximately 15 minutes or until a light golden brown colour.

Once the crumble topping is made, add the topping to the apples. You can either leave this to one side and cook later as it will only need to be heated for approximately 5 to 10 minutes at 180 c fan to heat the apples and warm it back through as everything is already pre cooked or cook and eat straight away.

I found this vegan apple crumble simple to make and delicious to eat. Serve it with vegan vanilla ice-cream and people probably wouldn't notice the difference.

Vegan Lasagne

I am a great lover of food you can make lots of and freeze because some days when I come home from work I really cannot be bothered to stand in front of the cooker and make food. Lasagne is one of those dishes. Make it in a large tin, eat some and then have enough left for 2 or 3 more meals. It also keeps for quite a while in the freezer to meaning if you make loads, you don't have to eat it for the next 3 weeks solid to use it up! 

Ingredients

500g of button mushrooms (sliced)

1 onion (chopped)

1 clove of garlic 

1 tin of chopped tomatoes 

2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar 

100g of vegan butter

100g of plain flour

1/2 pint of soya milk

vegan cheese to grate 

Lasagne sheets

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 160c (fan).

2. Add a splash of oil into a large pan (I use a wok because of the amount of mushrooms) and add the chopped onion and pressed garlic. Allow these to cook until they start to brown (approximately 5 minutes). Next add the sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are soft. 

3. To the mushroom mixture add the tin of chopped tomatoes and dark brown sugar. Allow this to simmer until the tomato sauce has reduced. (if it doesn't, simply add a tablespoon of cornflour to thicken). If the mixture is to wet, your lasagne will be soggy. 

4. In a saucepan melt the butter and then add flour. Mix continually until combined. Next add in small amounts of the milk, do not add it all in one go because this will stop the natural thickening of the roux. Once all the milk is combined, take off the heat. 

5. For my lasagne, I used a 9cm by 9cm deep tin (like one you would use to make brownies). Add a layer of the mushroom mix followed by lasagne sheets. Add a layer of your béchamel sauce and then a layer of cheese. Continue this layering until you have used all of the mixtures. I usually tend to get two layers. 

6. Cook in the oven for approximately 40 to 45 minutes. If your cheese begins to brown cover the tin with foil. 

This dish is really great because you can make it in the morning and then simply cook it in the evening or make the day before etc (just pop it in the fridge). 

Like I said, I make this dish to freeze because it is so simple and easy. 

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

One of the things I struggle most with being a vegan in the UK is not being able to simply pop to the shops to buy treats as UK supermarkets really don't stock a wide range of vegan products.

I am therefore always on the look out for sweet simple treats to make and these cookie are amazing!

Ingredients (yields 12 cookies)

1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons of water (this acts as the egg)
1/4 cup of sunflower oil
1/4 cup of vegan butter (this can be replaced with peanut or almond butter for a different taste)
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of demerara sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking power
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 cups of oats
100g of dark chocolate

Method 

1. Pre heat the oven to approximately 160c (fan)

2. In a large bowel add the flax egg mixture. Leave this to ferment for approximately 5 minutes (it should look thicker in appearance)

3. To the flax egg mixture add sunflower oil, butter, sugars and vanilla. Mix well until smooth

4. Next add bicarb, baking powder, sea salt, cocoa powder and oats. Mix well after adding each ingredient

5. Chop/break into little chunks the chocolate and add to the mixture

6. If you mixture looks to dry or wet, simply add more oats or a little soya milk

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spoon on the cookie mixture. The mixture can spread a little when cooking so ensure you leave gaps between your balls of dough. I used approximately a tablespoon of mixture per cookie and left approximately 10cm gaps between them

8. Cook in the oven on the middle shelf for approximately 12 minutes. Once out of the oven leave on the baking tray to cool for approximately 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool.

These cookies are incredibly easy to make and taste delicious. My non vegan mum said they tasted like a hobnob!

Tip - Try not to touch them too much before they are completely cool, they can be a little delicate when still hot and can easily snap and break although this just makes them even better crumbled over vegan ice-cream.