vegan Archives - Meagan Made

Tag: vegan

27
Aug
2016

Lactose free carrot cupcakes

I found this recipe for carrot cake about 5 weeks ago, and had it in the back of mind all this time. Then this week at work a morning tea was organised to celebrate one person returning from 5 weeks leave and another’s birthday. What a perfect opportunity to pull this lactose free carrot cupcakes recipe out and give it a try!

The original recipe was both vegan and gluten free, but as I’m only lactose intolerant, I made a few alterations based on the ingredients that I could source easily here in Australia. This converted the cakes into being lactose free, but if you’re after gluten free or Vegan, try out the original recipe!

The result was delicious and the cupcakes disappeared within about 3 minutes of hitting the table! I opted for making cupcakes instead of cakes so it would cool quicker and be easier to transport on the bus, but I plan to make this recipe again as a cake this weekend!

Carrot cupcakes | MeaganMade.com

These cupcakes are beautifully moist, and with the carrots I can convince myself that they are relatively healthy. The cream cheese icing is the perfect balance to the cake, sweet but not overly so, and I was pleasantly surprised by the lactose free cream cheese that I used!

Kelly very generously gave me permission to re-post the list of ingredients with my modifications, so here it is:

Cake Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ teaspoon ginger
½ cup organic cane sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
⅓ cup organic canola oil
3 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 cup grated carrots
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
½ cup water

Frosting ingredients

2 cups icing sugar
113g lactose free cream cheese (I used Lidell’s brand), softened
4 Tablespoons buttery spread (I used Nutellex), softened

Carrot cupcakes | MeaganMade.com

For the instructions, head on over to The Pretty Bee and let me know if you have any other recipes that you’d like me to try!

Happy cooking,

Meagan x

23
Jul
2016

Twix Bar Slice

categories: Cooking, Slices

When I stumbled on this pin in my Pinterest feed, I was thinking that a dairy free Twix bar slice was just too good to be true! I popped it on one of my boards thinking I’d give it a go at some point, and didn’t think too much more of it. Just 2 weeks later after a morning tea at work, I decided I needed to try this slice. If it worked out, I hoped it would convince some of my colleagues that it was possible to make delicious dairy free sweets that I could eat!

I’ve just gotta say, this recipe has changed my life! Well, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it is amazingly delicious and tasty! Not only is it dairy free (actually it’s vegan), it’s also gluten free so all of my friends will be able to enjoy this one!!

With only six ingredients (almond butter, maple syrup, cocoa powder, coconut flour, salt and vanilla extract) there isn’t too much to buy, and you re-use the ingredients throughout the layers. I did substitute cocoa for cacao since I couldn’t find any cocoa with no traces of dairy, but everything else I used by the book! Check out the recipe over at Bakerita’s blog.

Twix Bar Slice | MeaganMade.com

I ended up refrigerating the whole thing overnight before cutting the next morning. Pulling it out of the fridge I thought it was looking good (that’s sea salt flakes on the top) but I was a bit nervous as to what I’d find when I cut into it.

Twix Bar Slice | MeaganMade.com

I needn’t have worried. The three layers remained distinct, and when I snuck my first taste (I couldn’t wait until I took the photo) I was in heaven! The caramel was just gooey enough, and without knowing it was mostly almond butter, you would not have been able to tell! The balance of the salty and sweet was perfect to balance out the richness of the cacao. My only complaint, there wasn’t enough! I took it into work and it disappeared within about 5 minutes, and I’ve been told to make double the batch next time I bring it in. 🙂

I’m visiting another lactose intolerant friend for a craft day this weekend so I have another batch of cookie base in the oven as we speak. I can’t wait to eat it again, and this is firmly in my repertoire of sweet goodies now!

Happy baking,

Meagan x

11
Jun
2016

Creamy vegan pasta

categories: Cooking, Dinner

Creamy vegan pasta – you may be wondering how is this possible? Well I was thinking the same thing when I first saw this pin but I have been desperately craving creamy pasta since I became lactose intolerant.

While I’m not vegan, I do love trying new vegan recipes to change-up my recipe rotation, and I know that I’ll definitely be able to eat it because there is no dairy! I had to give this a try, even just to rule it out if it didn’t work, as it looked amazing in the photo!

The ingredients were simple: pasta, almond milk, sun-dried tomatoes (one of my favourite things), basil, onion, garlic and basil, and it also appeared to be quick to cook.

The end result was delicious, and so quick to make… In fact, I think boiling the water and cooking the pasta took the longest!

Creamy vegan pasta

Make sure you give this recipe a try, all I needed to do was add a little bit of salt when I served it up just to take some of the sweetness away, but it was awesome! The creaminess (is that a word?) was on par with what I remember my dairy-filled pasta meals to be like – which for me is high praise! 🙂

Please let me know how you go in the comments section if you give this recipe a try, and feel free to share my post with your friends!

Happy cooking,

Meagan x

04
Jun
2016

Happy Doughnut Day!

categories: Cakes, Cooking

I found this pin two weeks ago, and after my recent adventures in making doughnuts with red kidney beans, I was intrigued by these Chocolate Potato Doughnuts!

I know, I know, more vegetable doughnuts – I was going to leave this recipe for later in the year, but then I learnt that it was Doughnut Day on the 3rd of June and thought what better opportunity to give these a try.

It felt a little strange to be making mashed potatoes for doughnuts, and I did need to swap out the Gluten Free flour for normal plain flour since I didn’t have any in my pantry and cocoa for cacao, but they were amazingly delicious!! Given the success of the kidney bean doughnuts, I shouldn’t have been quite so surprised, but the texture was so close to “normal” doughnuts. I gave my housemate Lisa one to try and she had no idea they had potatoes in it, but gave it her tick of approval!

Chocolate potato doughnuts

Annemarie’s recipe that you can see on her site is both dairy and gluten-free, so I’m going to attempt another batch with Gluten Free flour and egg replacer next time I visit her! I can’t wait to see how it goes, I’ll post here in the comments to let you know, and I’d love you to let me know how you go if you try cooking it in the comments below! 🙂

Happy cooking,

Meagan x

21
May
2016

Spanish chickpea and spinach stew

categories: Cooking, Dinner

I’m always on the look out for new recipes that are lactose free and nice and quick to prepare!

I came across the Lazy Cat Kitchen blog last week and had to try at least one of her recipes. Ania lives in Greece and blogs about her plant-based diet and recipes, and they all look amazing!

On Monday, I knew I wasn’t going to be home from work too early, and this chickpea stew recipe looked like delicious, quick and is lactose free to top it all off, so I decided to give it a try.

This recipe for Spanish chickpea and spinach stew delivers! I always love a good tomato based meal, and combined with the chickpeas and brown rice this was both healthy and filling, with plenty for left overs. I may have cheated a little and used a microwave packet of brown rice, but it still came together quite quickly.

Spanish Chickpea and Spinach stew

With chickpeas, tomato paste, peeled tomatoes, garlic, onions, spinach, almond flakes and spices this recipe is delicious and full of flavour. I had to leave the chilli out, as it’s another thing that I’m allergic to, but I think it would add an extra zing!

Not only is the recipe easy to follow, but it’s also vegan and gluten-free! I look forward to making more recipes from Ania’s blog and I will be sure to keep you posted on my cooking adventures!

Happy cooking,

Meagan x