Afternoon snack with “Just Add” pepperoni

Last Saturday afternoon I wanted a substantial snack.  Here is what I ate:  some homemade hummus, some carrot sticks, roast chickpeas (marinated in leftover marinade from making carrot hotdots, then roasted) and the star of the show, sliced and fried pepperoni from Just Add Vegan Products.

Just Add is a new venture by my sister Leigh Drew, author of vegan cookbooks including Veganissimo! and Greenilicious.  Her aim with Just Add is to provide dry mixes in sustainable biodegradable packaging. To turn the dry mixes into delicious food, just add liquid and follow the instructions.  To make the pepperoni, you tip the Just Add dry mix into a bowl, add oil and vegan stock, knead for a couple of minutes, shape into two logs, wrap up in alfoil and steam:  the usual process for making seitan.

The pepperoni is very tasty with a good amount of heat.  So far I’ve enjoyed my pepperoni slices in sandwiches and on its own, or in snack bowls like this one.  Other Just Add products include hot dogs, burgers, a ham that I can’t wait to try, and a cheesecake (base and filling).  Look out for Just Add at vegan markets in Melbourne (and sometimes Sydney!) and follow Just Add on instagram to get sneak peaks of upcoming products currently being tested.

Just vegies, almost

This was dinner one night last week, starring crispy smashed potatoes from Oh She Glows and roasted carrots, following this recipe (but I substituted agave nectar for maple syrup since I was out of maple syrup). Also on the plate we see some steamed snow peas, some corn on the cob, and a small pile of chopped-up homemade seitan sausage. The finishing touch: a thick drizzle of Dreena Burton’s raw aioli from Let Them Eat Vegan, made from cashew nuts, brazil nuts, pine nuts, garlic and some other flavourings. I am happy to report that the recipe for raw aioli is available online.

You know what?  It was a yummy and satisfying dinner.

Red kidney bean and carrot veggie burgers

In my fridge I had leftover (white) rice and a carrot that both needed to be used up. The rice reminded me of the PPK beetroot burgers I’d made recently, which used beetroot, lentils and brown rice, held together by almond butter. So I substituted grated carrots, red kidney beans and the white rice, and (for fun) I used peanut butter to bind them together. I was so pleased with myself for having invented a veggie burger (ahem, I mean for adapting an existing and most excellent recipe).