Rustic Garlic & Herb Focaccia

Ingredients – Focaccia

• 2 ¼ cups (560 ml) Gluten free flour
• 60 ml butter flavoured avocado oil
• 30 ml baking powder
• 3 ml sea salt
• 180 ml boiling water

Ingredients – Oil basting

• 30 – 60 ml butter flavoured avocado oil
• 15 ml crushed garlic
• 5 ml dried oregano
• 5 ml dried chives
• 5 ml dried basil

Steps

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

• Add all the Focaccia ingredients to a bowl, adding the boiling water last.
• Mix well with a spoon until a dough is formed.
• Divide the dough into pieces (depending on your needs); I usually divide it into 4 to 6 pieces.
• Roll the pieces into balls, and flatten onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, if you have a pizza tray (with holes in it) – even better. For that rustic look; use your hands and fingers to flatten the focaccias.
• Mix the ingredients for the oil basting, divide it between your focaccias, spreading it all over the tops of the focaccias using the back of a spoon (or a basting brush if you like cleaning up a mess) J
• Pop your focaccias into the oven for 25 minutes.

Enjoy with a fresh salad of your choice.

Sweetcorn Bread

{soft cake-like bread}

Ingredients

• 3 ½ (875 ml) cups Gluten free all-purpose flour
• 2 cans Sweetcorn
• 1 cup Vegetable oil (try butter flavoured avocado oil)
• 60 ml Sugar
• 60 ml White wine vinegar
• 4 tsp Baking powder
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

You will also need an angel food cake pan and cooking spray/vegetable oil for greasing.

Steps

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Combine all the ingredients well, using a spoon.
3. Pour into the Angel Food Cake Pan and press down with the back of a spoon to get rid of big air pockets.
4. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes (this will depend on the flour you are using, and also your oven). Check for readiness after 50 minutes.
5. Let the Sweetcorn Bread cool down for 15 - 20 minutes before turning out onto a plate/serving platter.
6. Serve at a braai (barbecue) or a lunch, with Vegan Butta.

Add some Vegan Venus Flair

Serve with hummus alongside mushroom kebabs, and a fresh salad. 

Curried Mash & Potato Cups

Ingredients

• 4 cups Cooked and mashed potatoes (6 – 7 large potatoes)
• 1 tsp Garam masala or mild curry powder
• 1 tsp Ground cumin
• ½ - 1 tsp Garlic powder/crushed fresh garlic
• ½ - 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• ½ tsp Fresh/dried chives
• ½ tsp Dried coriander
• ½ tsp Spanish smoked paprika (got mine at Woolworths)
• ½ tsp Ground turmeric
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup chopped veggies of choice (I used frozen peas and corn for the photograph).

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C if you are planning to follow the recipe to the end…see step 4.
2. Prepare your mash preferably by peeling, boiling and mashing without adding extra liquid; you want a stiff mash, not a runny one.
3. Mix all the spices with your mash.
4. Add the veggies and mix again. You could choose to serve the mash now, as is, or carry on with the next steps to create the potato cups.
5. Prepare your muffin tray by adding muffin cups to it, or grease the muffin tray with vegetable oil or vegan butta.
6. Fill each muffin cup with the mash mixture until full. Smooth the top if you like.
7. As soon as the oven is ready, place your muffin tray on the centre shelf and bake for +/- 30 minutes (until golden).
8. Let the Vegan Venus Curried Potato Cups rest for about 10 minutes before serving. This is to ensure they don’t fall apart.

Add some Vegan Venus Flair

Add a sprinkling of paprika/cayenne pepper while waiting for the 10 minutes of standing time to pass. Serve as is, or with vegan mayonnaise (I love B-well Canola Mayonnaise Creamy Gourmet – sold at Pick ‘n Pay).

Gem Squash Cups

Ingredients

• 6 – 8 Gem Squash Halves
• 4 Tbs Vegan Butta
• 125g Chopped Mushrooms
• 100g Chopped Baby Marrows
• 1 Tbs Sunflower Seeds
• 1 Tbs Sesame Seeds
• 2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
• 1 – 2 Tbs Chopped Peppadews

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Place the gem squash halves on a microwaveable plate and microwave for 10 minutes on high. If you don’t have a microwave oven, don’t despair; move on to the next step.
3. Sauté the mushrooms and baby marrows in a frying pan with the vegan butta over medium‑high heat until tender.
4. Turn off the stove, and add the remaining seeds, nutritional yeast, and Peppadews to the frying pan; mix well.
5. Divide the mushroom-seed mixture among the 6 to 8 gem squash halves.
6. Place in the oven for 20 – 30 minutes, checking the gem squash halves are soft before removing them from the oven.
7. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Note

Kid friendly option: Adding a mixture of vegan butta and nutritional yeast to a few of the gem squash halves, without the rest of the vegetables, might be the best kid friendly option if your kids are not fond of vegetables (like mine). 

The nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavour without any animal products, and as the name states, it’s nutritious too.