Vegetarian Pizza

Pizza is just delicious and you can't go past it really. And it's much easier to make it from scratch than you think. As long as you have an hour or so to spare, making the dough yourself is very satisfying. I use Orgran Gluten Free flour.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Dough

2 cups Plain Flour (gluten free)

1 tbls or 7g pack dry yeast

1 tsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbls vegetable or olive oil

3/4 cup hot water

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Sauce

1 sachet Tomato Past

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Basil

1 clove Garlic

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Topping

This can be anything you like but my favorite topping are the following

1 Tomato

1/2 Onion

1/4 Green Capsicum

1/4 Red Capsicum

1/4 cup Zucchini

4 Mushrooms

Hand full of Spinach Leaves

1 cup Mozzarella cheese

1 cup Cheddar cheese

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT:

First your going to have to give yourself an hour to make the dough. Add Yeast, Salt and Sugar to the water and stir with a fork till combined. Cover with plastic and let sit for 5min in a warm place. You'll know the yeast is ready when bubbles form.

Sift flour into a dry clean bowl, add oil then yeast mix and stir till combined. Knead the dough till it's elastic. Should take about 10min and you'll know it's ready when you pinch the dough and pull lightly without the dough breaking off.

Put into an oiled glass or metal bowl and cover. Put the bowl into a sink filled half way with hot water. Let it rise till it's double the size then knead for a further few minutes then let it rise one more time before kneading for a final time. After the third kneading the dough should be nice and smooth.

Role out and place on a lightly oiled pizza tray and cook in the over for about 5min.

For sauce place Tomato Paste, herbs and garlic into a small bowl and mix to combine then slather it all over the pizza base.

Slice all the vegetables except the Spinach thinly so they cook at the same time.

Now this is the secret to making a perfectly cooked pizza. It's all about how you lay the toppings. First start with half the cheese, then add the onion, then the capsicum. Next add the zucchini and mushrooms then the tomato and spinach. Finish off with the last of the cheese. Make sure you place the toppings on from the outside in turing the base as you go. You do it this way to stop the topping pooling in the centre this way the base and toppings cook evenly with no raw spots.

Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Bubble & Squeak

I'm really showing my British heritage with this one. Bubble and Squeak is a great way of getting kids to eat there vegetables as you can pretty much put anything you like into them and it's got a heap of protean thanks to the eggs. It works for breakfast, lunch and dinner so it's a versatile recipe. I love to eat these instead of veggie burgers or with some grilled white fish.

This recipe makes about 6 patties.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 Potato

1 Carrot

1/4 Onion

1/4 cup Peas

1/4 cup Corn

2 tsp Parsley

2 cloves of garlic

pinch Pepper

pinch Salt

2 or 3 Tblsp Plain Flour (gluten free)

2 Eggs

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH THEM:

Peel and grate potato and carrot and place into a large bowl. Add Peas, corn, garlic and parsley. In a smal bowl wisk eggs then add to large bowl. Add flour one tablespoon at a time and mix together with chopsticks. If the egg is still runny add more flour till the mixture holds together.

Shallow fry for a minute on each side until golden brown and then place on kitchen paper to drain the oil. Serve with steamed vegetables, salad or as a burger.

Winter Stew

It's cold out side so time to start making some winter warmers.

I love a good stew but a good vegetarian stew is hard to find when your out and about. This is an adaptation of a meat stew I used to make when I was a meat eater. Even in vegetarian form it's hearty and will chase away the winter blues in a single spoonful.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED.

1 Brown Onion

1 Carrot

1 or 2 Potatoes

1/2 Green Capsicum (bell peppers)

1/2 Red Capsicum (bell peppers)

1/4 cup Corn

1/4 cup Green Beans

1/2 cup Broccoli

3 Mushrooms

1 can Tinned Tomatoes

3 cloves Garlic

Basil

Oregano

Parsley

3 Bay Leaves

2 tsp plain flour (wheat free)

1 cup Stock

1/2 cup Red Wine

30g Margarine

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH THEM.

Heat Margarine in a large saucepan then add flour stirring to mix them in. Add all the vegetables stirring to coat them in the margarine. put in a little water if needed. Add red wine and tinned tomatoes making sure you stir to get any of the flour off the bottom of the pan. Add stock, garlic and herbs then let simmer until potatoes are cooked and the sauce is thick.

Serve on Rice or with toast.

Wheat Free/Gluten Free Banana Bread

Have to give a shout out to George Williams at InterFM in Tokyo for the inspiration for this one. I was watching him make his Banana "Bread" on ustream.tv the other night. To be perfectly honest his is more of a Banana Cake that would have been so good but I am wheat intolerant so I had to make mine up on the fly. Anyway, you can follow George on Twitter @kungfugeorge or watch his show at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kungfugeorge if you can understand Japanese.

Now mine IS a Banana Bread. It goes into a baking pan like a bread and it comes out of the oven like a bread. The only difference is that there is no yeast and you can't knead the dough because of the Bananas.

If you're vegan try this with a milk and egg substitute and let me know how it went. I would also recommend eating this one when it is still warm with some margarine spread.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

2 or 3 Bananas

1 3/4 cup wheat free self raising flour

1/4 cup wheat free plain flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp Almond meal

1 tsp Hazelnut meal

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp Cinnamon

50g of Margarine

1 Vanilla Pod

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees and used either margarine or canola spray to grease the pan.

In a large bowl sift the flour and cinnamon then add the sugar, almond meal and hazelnut meal and stir them together. Make a well in the flour mix and set to one side.

Open the vanilla pod and scrap out the inside into a saucepan. Drop the empty pod in and then add the butter and let it melt slowly over a low heat. Stir it now and then to make sure the vanilla seeds are mixed in.

Mash the bananas with a fork into an empty bowl. Add the eggs and milk and the melted butter then mix together. Make sure you remove the Vanilla pod as it will not be a pleasant experience bitting into it later.

Pour the banana mixture into the flour bowl then mix together with a wooden spoon until the two are combined then put it into the baking dish and bake for 45 to 50 min.

Chili Con Carne

I love making this one, especially in the winter or when the bank account is looking a little on the skinny side. I used to make this with meat when I was younger. In fact this, Spaghetti Bolognese and my mum "disco" recipe where the first three things I learnt how to cook. The great thing about this chili is that is is filling. It will last for ages frozen and always taste better a day or two after it's been cooked.

You have two choices when it comes to the beans. You can either get the beans in a can or you can use dried beans and soak them over night.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Olive Oil
Red Kidney beans
Berlotti Beans
Chick Peas
Green Peas
Carrot
Onion
Red and Green Capsicum (Bell peppers for the yanks out there)
Garlic
Red Chili
Cayenne Pepper
Sea Salt
Coriander
Thyme
Oregano
Cumin
Chopped tomatoes (tinned)

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT:
If you're using tinned beans just drain and rinse the beans and leave to the side. If you're using dried beans let soak for 6 to 8 hours then boil for 20 minutes, once boiled drain and leave to the side.

Dice carrot, onion, capsicum, garlic and chili and fry up in a wok or large sauce pan. When the onion is soft add the other herbs and stir through till you can smell the aroma of the herbs. Add beans and two tins of chopped tomatoes. Add peas.

Simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste test to make sure the taste is right. You should be able to get a good kick from the chili and taste the other herbs. If you get more heat than flavoure add more herbs and mix again. The strongest herb smell should be the Cumin.

Serve with either mashed potatoes (my favorite) or rice.

Spicy Pasta

I was trying to recreate a pasta dish that my dad ex girlfriend used to make many years ago. The original recipe had hardly any vegetables in it and lots if chicken and oil so I have adapted it to be vegan but the spice with the pasta and the oil was to die for. As I didn't ask her for the recipe I had to experiment a lot to get the spices and tomato right but I finally got it.

For the celiacs reading make sure your using a gluten free pasta like me. As the gluten free past is generally also egg and dairy free this is vegan by default.

WHAT YOU"LL NEED:
Shell Pasta
1 Tomato
Asparagus
Broccoli
Carrot
Spring Onion
Zucchini
Oregano
Basil
Paprika
Chili Powder
Garam Masala
Coriander
Cumin
Garlic
Ginger
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper (optional)

Olive Oil

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT:
First put the pasta on to cook as per packet instructions,

While the pasta cooks cut up the vegetables. Cook all the vegetables except for the tomato first. Add garlic, ginger and the herbs and stir through. Add the tomato last with a splash of water to create a light sauce.

Drain pasta and add to vegetables. Stir to coat pasta in the vegetables and sause. Serve.