Eat Dairy Free: Cookbook review + recipe

I was recently given the opportunity to review Eat Dairy Free by Alisa Fleming (BenBella Books, 2018). The book isn't vegan (or even vegetarian) but it includes many recipes which are. The author also includes details of her personal experiences cutting out dairy and offers lots of tips on how to make the transition.

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Mexican spiced roast potato and aubergine

I rarely post side dish recipes, for the simple reason that I rarely make them. I tend to include vegetables within dishes or prepare them very simply if served on the side (unless we are entertaining, but we rarely do that either!). Sometimes, though, I do make a specific vegetable side dish and today's is an example.

This is not the most attractive dish, but it is a tasty one. It's also not strongly Mexican but the use of paprika and dried coriander conjured up, to me, Mexican flavours. Nutritional yeast and tahini round out the flavour mix. If you were to make this truly Mexican, some chillies would be a pleasing addition.

I cheated a little with my cooking of the potato, microwaving it first before chopping and roasting. This cuts down on cooking time enormously and gives the potato a pleasing fluffy texture. If you prefer to cook fully in the oven just add extra time to the roasting stage - at least 30 minutes, or longer if using large pieces of potato.

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Sweet potato and spinach nuggets

'Tater tots' are one of those American products that I have heard of for many years without quite knowing what they are. (Other examples, although I set these ones to rest when I visited America a few years back, include graham crackers and Twinkies.) It turns out, according to Wikipedia, that they are "pieces of deep fried, grated potatoes". I am saying all of this because I adapted today's recipe from these spinach sweet potato tater tots on Physical Kitchness. I could have called my adaptation tater tots too, but as I am such a novice to the term and these don't feature frying or grated potato, I am using the more generic 'nugget' instead.

Terminology aside, these are delicious whatever you choose to call them. Since making them the first time, I have done a repeat batch with kale instead of spinach and they were just as good. They are a very easy side dish and, if you have children, perfect for little hands to grasp.

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Mango chutney roast cauliflower and broccoli

From mango cookie balls we move to mango roast vegetables! In truth, I made these recipes a few weeks apart but my blogging places them in rather closer proximity.

With thinking about starter foods for Mini Bite, I have had broccoli and cauliflower on my mind lately. This particular recipe is not very baby friendly, but it is a delicious way to boost your intake of the vegetables. Indeed, this reminds me that I don't roast cauliflower and broccoli often enough as they are delicious with an oven-lent crisp.

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Malt vinegar and paprika vegetable fries

Everyone knows how to make vegetable fries (or chips, as I prefer to call them). However, sometimes it is nice to be reminded of how delicious they can be with just a few simple seasonings. These malt vinegar and paprika fries are such an example and were a hit with me and Mr Bite. I used a mix of regular potato, sweet potato and carrots, although left the sweet potato variety off Mr Bite's plate (he is not a sweet potato fan).

One nice thing about cooking your fries with vinegar is that you need less oil than you otherwise might. Another nice thing is that you get a subtle vinegar flavour with each mouthful. Vinegar lovers can add vinegar after cooking as well, if you really want to pack a vinegar flavour punch!

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Blackberry and paprika buckwheat risotto

This dish is my first foray into cooked buckwheat. It wasn't going to be, but my original plan of a barley risotto was thwarted by discovering no barley in my cupboards. A quick spot of Googling led me to see buckwheat as a viable alternative. Now that I've cooked the grain (or more accurately, pseudo-grain) once, I am sure I'll be doing it again.

This dish evolved from a few sources. In a recent weekend Guardian, there was a feature on blackberry recipes that included a blackberry barbecue sauce and a blackberry rice salad. I drew inspiration from both for this: the barbecue sauce allowed me to consider pairing blackberries and paprika, and the rice salad allowed me to think about cooking berries up with grains. The vegetables were chosen based on what I had to hand, and I topped the photographed bowl with falafel because I had some of those about too.

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Vegan potato and aubergine bake

I don't know my own taste buds at the moment. After loving lasagna with hummous and aubergine last week, I have discovered potato bake made with tahini and aubergine. This version is veganised and cheese free, but there is a definite nod to that cheesey creaminess I profess to dislike. It seems I can profess that no longer, at least when tahini (or hummous) is involved...

In contrast to the lasagna, this is a side dish rather than a main. It pairs well with bean / legume dishes and I imagine some veggie sausages would be a good match too.

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Quick and easy chunky hummous

How do you like your hummous (or hummus)? I discovered on the weekend that while I like it all ways, I particularly like it thick and chickpea-y. In contrast, Mr Bite likes it smooth and mellow, with the chickpea flavour in greater disguise. This recipe is for the thicker, chunkier type. It makes a meal of crackers and carrot sticks, and I can't say I mind that Mr B is leaving it largely to me...

Hummous is hardly an innovative recipe and I'm not sure we need another contribution to the online collection of hummous ideas. This one is only lightly adapted from a BBC recipe.  However, sometimes this blog is for my own reference too! If you do need an idea for ingredient proportions, this one should suit if you like chickpeas and chunky dips. It makes a great base for falafal wraps too, as pictured below.

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Kale, cabbage and apple salad with a peanut dressing

Kale. It's almost become unfashionably fashionable; the stereotypical health food, thrown out as an example of new age eating and January dieting. I'm torn between being pleased that kale is readily available and winning over an increasing number of hearts (and stomachs), and sorry that it's become another 'bandwagon' food.

Mostly, though, I don't worry about it too much. I just enjoy eating it.

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Apple, plum and tomato chutney

On my domestic goddess Sunday (or at least, the closest I'll ever come to domestic goddess status) I made this chutney as well as my raw bakewell tart bars. I have never made chutney before. I wasn't sure I was up to it: along with jam, it has always seemed a challenging dish to make at home. It turns out that it is quite easy! Other than requiring a few hours to simmer away, there is very little effort required. Sometimes expectations differ hugely from reality.

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Sesame crusted carrot noodles

Today's dish is a simple one, and perhaps more of a side than an actual main meal. It would go very well with the teriyaki tofu of my last post. Perhaps that is why these carrot noodles came out more Japanese than Thai: I set out with the idea of Thai carrot noodles and finished with something a bit different. Sometimes cooking is like that.

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Maple tahini dressing

There are two products that are proving elusive in standard UK supermarkets. One is carob powder, and the other is tahini. Both can be ordered online or picked up in larger health food stores, but I have been surprised at not being able to find them readily (although it is possible it is just my local stores!).

I will source both of these ingredients eventually, but while I'm waiting, I thought I would give homemade tahini a try. After all, it is just processed sesame seeds. I have made nut butters before; how hard could it be to make tahini?

The (potential) makings of tahini

For me, it turns out, quite hard! With hindsight, I should have toasted my sesame seeds to facilitate easier processing and enhanced flavour. My mix did not reach a buttery state. Moreover, I didn't like the taste. I remembered too late that I like unhulled tahini. My sesame seeds were hulled.

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Quick and easy side dishes: Fig balsamic kale quinoa, and spicy peanut tofu and broccoli

The two side dishes in this post could easily have been combined to form a complete meal. As it was, I had the kale quinoa alongside some Linda McCartney veggie sausages (yes, we do sometimes delve into processed foods!) and the tofu and broccoli as a nutrient-packed lunch before a planned afternoon tea out. They are both very versatile dishes, and could complement any number of other side dishes or main meal options.

The kale quinoa was flavoured by a sticky fig and balsamic dressing produced by Jamie Oliver. To be honest, I am not very enamored with the dressing and it is only in this dish that I have really appreciated its sweet and tart flavours. They worked to round out the kale and quinoa and made the dish a little more exciting than it would otherwise have been. If you don't have a fig and balsamic dressing, any fruit-flavoured balsamic would work, or you could use a small handful of chopped dried fruit with regular balsamic vinegar.

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Apple, beetroot and carrot salad with walnuts

You may remember me raving about The Raw Kitchen's Thai Papaya Salad and Tarragon Salad this time last year. I subsequently created a variation of the Thai Papaya Salad at home. Today, I bring you a spin off of the Tarragon Salad. There are a few differences to the original, but this version won me over in its own right.

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Baked cabbage and apple

You know those weeks where you open your fridge and a full-sized cabbage stares back? Taking up precious fridge space (in our house at least; fridge space is never sufficient!) and asking for attention? And, you know that as soon as you take it out of the fridge and chop it up, the cabbage will magically expand across your chopping board and generate a larger quantity of vegetable than you started with?

I know. Cabbage has its merits, but it can also be a bit challenging.

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Smoky barbecue roast vegetables

Here in Australia, it isn't really the season for roast vegetables. However, that doesn't stop us having them and it is the season for large, make in advance side dishes. Roast vegetables fit that requirement perfectly.

This dish is a spin off from the tofu in barbecue sauce I first posted two years ago. I still love that dish, and it taught me that barbecue sauce isn't constrained to what you can buy in plastic bottles. Done well, barbecue sauce is a wonderful thing!

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Ginger-chilli-soy coleslaw

It seems that remembering my New Haven Asian-style coleslaw prompted me to want, well, more Asian-style coleslaw. I'm suggestible like that.

If I'm honest, I'm also eager desperate for ways to use up cabbage. I love my fortnightly vegetable box delivery, but sometimes there are a lot of vegetables to get through myself. Last time, I got a whole cabbage, a whole cauliflower, and a whole broccoli. Mr Bite eats none of these vegetables unless they are well disguised. Finding clever uses for them has been necessary!

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Easy chickpea salad with balsamic roasted sweet potato and carrot

I seem to be constantly posting 'easy' recipes these days. I think I am overdue for an afternoon in the kitchen with a complex, multi-step dish. For now, though, easy seems to be it.

Fortunately, I think some of you appreciate easy recipes as much as I do. Also fortunately, this salad is easy and delicious. After all, can you go wrong with chickpeas, sweet potato and balsamic vinegar? I don't think so.

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Apple cider pumpkin fries

I am a detail-focused thinker. There are times when it would be appropriate to say that I don't see the wood for the trees, and I am terrible at puzzles that require you to see one thing in two different ways.

This trait can be useful sometimes, and it can be a bit unhelpful at other times. As I confessed to Mr Bite this week, I only recently realised that the Tudor, Elizabethan, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods in British history actually lined up with the names of the ruling Kings and Queens of the same time periods. I had thought of the different periods as being characterised by distinctive styles of architecture and art, with it pure coincidence that the titles overlapped with royal names (which, after all, do repeat themselves frequently). Now I've made the connection, it is glaringly obvious where the names came from, and I'm embarrased it took me so long to work it out. That is generally the way - once you have spotted the woods, it seems incredible you didn't put the trees together beforehand to see the bigger picture.

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Orange and almond couscous

Some things are so simple, it's hard to believe they taste as good as they do. Fresh, in-season fruits and vegetables are one such example. I would submit that this dish is another.

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