Unfortunately this recipe isn’t mine but it’s the bloody tastiest double choc chip recipe I’ve ever had! This recipe is by a lovely lady called Kelly and she’s just about to release a vegan cookie book which judging by her blog is going to be fantastic! She’s probably the most inventive cookie chef I’ve seen and makes cookies really exciting and taste delicious (check out her spiral lollipop cookies on sticks and her multicoloured cookies!) I’ve made these about a million times now and have added white chocolate chips, hazel nuts, chilli chocolate and orange essence and they’ve all tasted yum!

Makes 8-10 giant cookies (or lots more small ones)

What you need:

· 1/2 cup chocolate chips (for melting)
· 1/2 cup soy milk
· 2/3 cup canola oil
· 2 teaspoons vanilla
· 1 1/3 cups sugar
· 2 tablespoons corn flour
· 2 cups flour
· 2/3 cup cocoa
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 2/3 cup chocolate chips

What you do:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Melt the chocolate chips with 1/3 cup of the soy milk in either a microwave or in a glass dish placed in a saucepan of boiling water (makeshift double-boiler).

3. Pour the melted chocolate and soy milk into a large bowl, then add the rest of the soy milk, oil, vanilla, sugar, and cornstarch.

4. Add in the flour (unsifted), cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir until thoroughly mixed, then add the chocolate chips.

5. Here comes the super fun part! Using your hands (or if you must, a spoon. Live a little! Get your hands covered in the most chocolate-y cookie dough ever!), grab handfuls of cookie dough and flatten them out to a little thicker than a 1/2″ on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

6. Bake for about 15 minutes (shorter if you made smaller cookies) or until the edges are very firm, and the centres look chewy and feel soft to the touch. Let rest on the cookie sheet for a minute or so, then very carefully transfer to the cooling rack without destroying any cookies. They are completely amazing warm and gooey and still taste divine after cooling off.

It’s summer now meaning it’s time for light snacks and cold foods! Except all I’ve been eating in the last 24 hours are giant puffball mushroom in various guises. I’m housesitting in Norfolk and we found 4 huge mushrooms in the garden. We picked a single one and we’re not even halfway through it. They are some of the most unmistakeable wild mushrooms and I was really excited to discover them – and they are soft and amazing just sliced and fried – but now I am getting a bit bored! I’d much rather have these cold rolls again that I had the other day…

Lucy and Lottie introduced me to these – Southeast Asian ‘cold’ spring rolls, a little feast where everyone can sit around the table rolling their own dinner with clammy yet tasty rice paper wrappers and a range of fillings with different textures and tastes. It’s definitely something to eat with friends, not on your own. I love eating with friends. It’s less wasteful in terms of energy use and usually also food use, and of course much more fun. I’m not talking about fancy dinner parties here but just plain ol eating in company and taking some time over your meal.

Anyway for these rolls, what you do is prepare all the fillings and sauce, then put it all on a table with a bowl of boiled water to dip the wrappers into until soft (they only need about a minute). Take out the wrapper and drain, then assemble your roll on your plate.

What you need

Rice wrappers
Firm tofu
Soy sauce, a small bit of chopped ginger and garlic
Carrot
Cucumber
Spring onion
Vermicelli noodles
Salted peanuts
Fresh coriander
Peanut Butter
Sweet chilli sauce

For 4 people, I would use about 300g tofu, 1 large carrot, half a cucumber, 2-3 spring onions, a portion of vermicelli, a large handful of coriander and peanuts

What you do

1. Drain the tofu if you have time (for at least half an hour), by placing it between two chopping boards with a weight on top. Slice the tofu into small long rectangles. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the tofu over medium high heat on both sides. Toss in some soy sauce and the garlic and ginger halfway through.

2. Julienne slice the cucumber and carrot. Chop the spring onion and coriander.

3. Cook the vermicelli according to the packet’s instructions (it usually only involves a short boil or soak) and drain.

4. Mix some peanut butter with sweet chilli sauce to taste and a splash of water to make a dipping sauce.

5. Put everything into bowls, boil some water and place in a bowl on the table and get rolling!

The weather’s finally heating up and I’m definitely less into eating big fried or stodgy food. I’ve noticed in the last month two new massive chain sushi places have popped up in Southampton and Portsmouth and although I love sushi I’m shocked at how much these places charge. Sushi rolls are mega easy to make and super cheap especially if you buy all the stuff in bulk from a Chinese supermarket. I’m sure there’s a million other ways of making this but this is a recipe me and my other half found and works really well. Just double the amount of rice part if you have people over or want extra for your lunch box the next day!

What you need (for 2 people):

· 250g Sushi rice
· 3-4 Seaweed sheets
· 2 Tbsp Rice vinegar
· 1 Tsp Sugar
· 1 Tsp Salt
· Vegetables (cucumber, carrots, avocado, spring onion, pepper) and tofu (Marinated or smoked is ace!) peeled and cut into thin strips

What you do:
1. Wash the rice in a sieve until the water runs clear.

2. Add rice to 330 ml water and bring to the boil in a saucepan with a lid on (VERY important).

3. Simmer for 10 minutes KEEPING THE LID ON.

4. Take off the heat and leave the saucepan to cool for 15-20mins WITH THE LID ON!

5. Mix the rice vinegar, salt and sugar together in a cup.

6. Slowly spoon the mixture through the rice.

7. Leave the rice to cool (it gets stickier as it cools!)

8. Lie down a clean tea towel onto your table.

9. Place a seaweed sheet onto one side of it.

10. Spoon a thin layer of sticky rice over ¾ of the seaweed sheet.

11. Place a layer of vegetables and tofu in a line in the middle of your rice.

12. Using the tea towel, tightly roll the seaweed sheet from rice side to empty side.

13. Stick your fingers into a cup of tap water and wet the inside of the empty side gluing the seaweed roll together.

14. Using a super sharp knife cut the long sausage shape into about 1 inch width pieces.

15. Serve immediately with soya sauce and wasabi and chop sticks!

Today’s recipe was going to then, in the spirit of it, be my basic make a quick everyday salad recipe but really, you probably already know how to make a tasty salad (mine involves grated carrot, toasted seeds, shredded lettuce, avocado and then any bits and pieces I can find in the fridge from vegan cheese chunks to bits of celery all smothered in a creamy engevita or miso dressing… mmm). However then I watched my friend Mike make bread, and was pleased to see how he will take the time to do so, to have the satisfaction of homemade bread. So here is Mike’s bread recipe instead, from our cookbook ‘Another Dinner is Possible‘. It looks long and involved but is less complicated than it sounds, and kneading the bread is good muscle-building exercise.

Basic Bread Recipe
Ingredients for 2 loaves:
- 1.2 kg strong bread flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 – 2 tsp dried yeast
- 2 tbsp oil
- 600ml warm water

This is a recipe for making simple loaves of bread. It is easy but does require you to be around for a few hours while it’s being made. If you get into a routine you can easily make all your own bread which tastes better, is cheaper and is better for you than shop bought bread. I usually double the quantities and make four loaves, freezing 2 of them and that lasts us a week. You can use all wholemeal, half wholemeal and half white or all white flour. If you use all white flour you should let it rise twice (see below). If you only use your bread tins for bread making they should not need washing and will become very non-stick.

1. If your dried yeast needs activating (check the packaging) do this first. This usually requires mixing it in a little warm water with some sugar.

2. Place the flour in a large bowl and stir in the salt. If your yeast doesn’t need activating stir this in now as well. The warm water is a good temperature if made with one part boiling to two parts cold. Mix the oil in with the water and the activated yeast (if using) and pour this into a well in the flour. Stir it in; after a while you will need to get your hands in and start mixing.

3. At first it won’t look like it will form a dough but persevere and it will eventually start to bind together. You may need to add a little more water or flour if it is too dry or too wet. This is something you get a better feel for after you have made it a few times and varies with the type of flour you are using. Keep kneading it until it forms a good ball of dough in the bowl.

4. If you are using wholemeal or half and half flour, skip to the next step. For white bread you will need to let it rise initially in the bowl. Cover with some greased plastic or cling film or a damp towel and leave somewhere warm to rise for about an hour.
Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it more. This stage is important and you should spend some time on it, it will build up your arm muscles too! To knead, squash the dough down and forwards with the heels of your hands, then pull it up, give it quarter turn, fold some of the dough on top of itself and push down again. Repeat this for a good few minutes until you have a nice smooth dough.

5. Oil two 1-lb loaf tins by pouring some oil in and rubbing it all around inside with your fingers. Cut the dough in half and form the halves into shapes to fit in the tins, place in the tins and press down.

6. Cover with some greased plastic or cling film or a damp towel and leave somewhere warm to rise for about an hour or until the bread has at least risen to the top of the tin (white bread will rise more than wholemeal). Turn on the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

7. When the oven is hot, place the bread on the middle shelf and cook for half an hour. When done, take out, turn out from tins and cool on a wire rack or standing across the top of the tin. The bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom if properly cooked, if not, return to the oven for another 5 minutes.

This week I have been in masses of pain because of my stupid wisdom teeth. I’ve been trying to get them pulled out for 3 years as they’re always giving me problems but my stupid dentist went private and I couldn’t afford the £200 a tooth she was asking so I’ve FINALLY found an NHS dentist who has agreed to yank them out this afternoon (gulp). I’m currently munching on a mega crusty baguette and chocolate crispy cake as I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to eat this stuff for a little while! The vegetables are still growing well. The cats dug up my lettuce but I’ve managed to eat my first batch of spinach this week which has made me super chuffed even if it was a little slug nibbled!

Every year Southampton holds an event called Environmental Rocks (http://www.environmental-rock.org.uk/). Its’ usually a good chance to drink a mass of organic lemonade and eat free vegan cake. A few years ago they were giving away free bakewell tart and this is the recipe they used. It’s by a person called Ronny and was updated into a much easier to read recipe by the lovely Isy.

What you need:

Pastry
·         150g plain flour
·         100g margarine
·         60g ground almonds
·         3 tbsp cold water

Middle- ½ pot of jam (something red is usually best depending on your favourite!)

Sponge
·         100g plain flour
·         50g caster sugar
·         1 tsp baking powder
·         110ml water
·         70ml vegetable oil (NOT OLIVE!)

Top – Icing sugar and a little cocoa powder

What you do:

1.       Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and grease up a cake tin using oil or margarine.

2.       Make the pastry by rubbing together the flour, almonds and the butter.

3.       Add the water then push it into the cake tin.

4.       Bake for 10 minutes.

5.       Spread the jam over the surface. Don’t add too much or it tastes super sickly!

6.       Mix together all the sponge ingredients in a bowl.

7.       Pour over the pastry and jam.

8.       Bake for a further 20mins.

9.       After 10mins turn out the tart onto a cooling rack.

10.   When it’s COMPLETELY cool, pour over some white icing. (Add a few drops of cold water to ½ cup of icing sugar and mix adding more water little by little until you get a thick but spreadable icing)

11.   Add a little cocoa powder to some icing sugar and add a little cold water.

12.   Pour rings onto the tart.

13.   Using a cocktail stick scrape the cocoa circles from the inside to get the bakewell tart pattern.

14.   ENJOY!

Creamy mushroom ravioli

What you need:
Pasta:
·         1 2/3 cups plain flour
·         2/3 cup water
·         ½ tsp salt
·         1 tsp olive oil (optional)
Filling (for 2 batches of pasta):
·         4 mushrooms
·         1 tub of vegan cream cheese
·         1 tbsp mixed herbs
·         1 red onion
·         2 cloves of garlic

What you do:
1.       Clean and clear a big work surface to knead your dough before you get gunky hands.

2.       Bung together all the pasta ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together gently with ONE hand.

3.       With the OTHER hand sprinkle a layer of flour over the clean work surface.

4.       Pop the sticky dough onto the floured surface and knead with both hands for 10 mins adding more flour if it gets really sticky (I used a timer and some Bruce Springsteen to get me through)

5.       The dough should now be nice and thick and not sticky. Wrap it in cling film and leave in the fridge for 10 mins.

6.       Now for the filling. Pop the mushrooms, onion and garlic into a blender and blend.

7.       Pop this mixture into an oiled saucepan and fry through for about 5 mins to get the harshness out of the onion.

8.       Put the mixture back into the blender with the cream cheese and herbs. Blend.

9.       Take the dough out of the fridge and rip into quarters.

10.   Sprinkle some more flour onto your clean surface and roll out as thinly as you can using a rolling pin or squish through a pasta roller. (Don’t buy expensive ones, look on ebay and in charity shops as they’re super cheap)

11.   Place this thin dough over a ravioli cutter if you have one (again these can be found super cheap)

12.   Make little wells into each section to put the filling in.

13.   Spoon about ½ tsp of filling into each well.

14.   Roll out another thin layer of dough and place it on top of the other dough.

15.   Roll the rolling pin over the doughs sealing and cutting them into shape or use a pizza cutter to cut the ravioli into shape and crimp down the sides using a fork.

16.   Repeat using the rest of the dough.

17.   Pop the ravioli onto oven trays covered in cling film and pop in the fridge for an hour to set the cream cheese filling.

18.   Pop into boiling water for about 5 mins until they float and serve with tomato sauce and grated soya cheese. Be warned the filling gets hotter than the sun so BE CAREFUL!

What you need

For the pastry:
- 190g flour
- pinch of salt
- 80g sugar
- 6 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 tbsp soy milk

For the filling:
- 100g chopped roasted hazelnuts
- 450g golden syrup (1 small tin)
- 1 tbsp molasses (optional)
- 200g breadcrumbs
- juice and zest of 1 lemon

1. Sift the flour into a bowl, add the salt and sugar and mix through. Drizzle the oil over the whole surface, and stir it through with a knife or spatula, so that it starts clumping. Drizzle the soy milk in and then stir to make a slightly sticky dough.

2. Cover the dough in clingfilm or wrap it in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes (optional).

3. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.

4. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a circle nearly 30cm wide. Pick it up over the rolling pin and drop it over the greased baking tin (about 20cm/8″ diameter). You can also just roll it out a little bit, then use your fingers to squidge it into place in the tin (this is what I usually do).

5. Bake the crust blind, i.e. covered with a round of greaseproof paper weighed down with dried beans, for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and bake for another 5. My oven is pretty slow so I don’t bother with blind baking, I just prick it with a fork to prevent it puffing up, but if you do this, watch that it doesn’t get too brown!

6. Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl and evenly fill the pre baked flan case. Bake the tart for 30 minutes at 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Then eat it with some soy cream, ice cream or custard!

So the weather’s getting hotter and today I sowed my vegetable seeds so I’m very excited! Now I just need to get motivated to dig up the garden and pull out all the crappy weeds. I’ve never grown my own veg from seed so I’ll keep you updated. If you know of any animal friendly ways of keeping slugs and snails off them please let me know!

I’m pretty sure it’s nearly Easter so I thought I’d get in early and make something Easter themed! You can use this recipe to make one mega fat cake or about 21 muffins!

What you need:

·         3 cups of self raising flour
·         ½ cup of cocoa powder or drinking chocolate
·         1 ½ cups of caster sugar
·         A large pinch of salt
·         ¾ cup vegetable oil (NOT olive)
·         1 ¼ cups of soured soya milk (bung in 1 tsp malt vinegar)
·         ¼ cup soya milk
·         1 tsp vanilla essence
·         1 handful of mini shredded wheat
·         100g chocolate chips
·         1 handful of vegan mini eggs, skittles or jelly beans (keep an eye out for evil shellac or beeswax!)
·         A few tacky fluffy chicks from Poundland

What you do:
1.       Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

2.       Put the flour, sugar and salt into a big bowl.

3.       Pour over the soured soy milk, oil and vanilla essence and stir.

4.       Pour half the mixture into another big bowl.

5.       Add the cocoa powder and soya milk to one and mix.

6.       Spoon the mixtures one at a time into a big, greased cake tin or into little cake cases.

7.       Give them a tiny stir with a spoon or kebab stick.

8.       Bung them in the oven for about 20 mins if they’re little muffins or 40 mins if it’s a mega cake.

9.       Leave the cakes to cool a bit then take them out of the pans and cases if they’re silicon (like mine)

10.   For Easter toppings, melt the chocolate chips by popping them in a bowl in the microwave for 10 secs. Stir then repeat until all melted.

11.   Crush up the shredded wheat and stir them in.

12.   Slice the top of each muffin and quickly wedge a mass of ‘nest’ on top.

13.   At the speed of light, pop on the decorations before the chocolate sets!

14.   Scoff.

I don’t usually contribute to the cooking corner but as I have just been stuffing myself with pancakes I thought I would share this recipe with you. I should probably shout out my friends George and Lucy who first made these for me.

Yes I know by the time this is published pancake day will be over but to be honest these are to good only to eat once a year and there is still a fair amount of religious bullshit attached to the day so I say eat pancakes when you want because they rule! I especially like making them on a lazy Sunday morning, cooking for my friends. A vegan treat for sure!

You will need:

1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 large banana, sliced up
soya milk
blueberries
oil
cup measures
hand blender
a large spatula

Put the flour, sugar and banana in a large mixing bowl, measure out half a cup of soya milk and add that to the mix. Blend it all together, til there are no lumps left. You can add a little more soya milk if needed but if you add to much the mixture will be to runny.

Next you want to put a frying pan on a high heat hob and add a teaspoon of oil. Leave it for a few minutes till the pan has warmed properly and the oil is red hot.

Now you want to throw a large handful of blueberries into your pancake mix. Stir them up a bit but try not to beat them up to much.

Use your cups to measure out half a cup of the pancake mix, making sure you have a few blueberries in there too.
Turn the hob down to medium heat (5 or 6 if you have an electric hob) and gently pour the pancake mix into the center of the hot pan. Try not to let it spread out to much, about 5 inches is perfect.

As the first side cooks you will notice bubbles rising up through the top side. When the large bubbles in the center start to pop this means the first side is about ready to be flipped.

Using a large spatula, gently but quickly flip the pancake over. The last two steps take some getting used to but you will get the hang of it. The second side won’t take as long as the first to cook so be careful. You can lift it slightly to make sure it isn’t burning. Once it’s done lift it out and leave it on a warm plate.

Repeat this for as many times as you like, this amount of pancake mix will probably make about five pancakes which is enough to feed two from my experience. Use a sieve to dust icing sugar over the top of a pile if you are looking to impress some one with your culinary skills.

You can add whatever you like. Me and my friends love golden syrup but you could also try, sugar and lemon, maple syrup, jam, soya ice cream etc.
Hope your enjoy and let me know how yours turned out!

I made my pancakes listening to the new Silver Mt. Zion record. You should do the same because it’s brilliant (see my review elsewhere on the site). Epic frying.

It’s really not too hard to cook on a larger scale. It’s more economical, less wasteful and more sociable than just cooking for you and your own. Invest in a decent large heavy bottomed pan, buy some bulk vegetables, grains and pulses (which usually also works out cheaper). Then invite your friends and neighbours round (and if you are all inviting each other regularly, you are spreading the cost around!) or have potlucks. And why not try cooking in a community cafe or for an event near you, or join in the cooking at a protest camp?

Some recipes don’t work well on a larger scale if you aren’t some kind of Masterchef, such as really fiddly filled vegetables or souffles or whatnot,  or if you aren’t rich, such as heavily tofu or tempeh based dishes, but I reckon anyone can take a decent stew or curry recipe and scale it up. Make sure you are taste testing the seasoning throughout, don’t add too much liquid at the beginning, and stir a lot to prevent burning. The cooking time is usually a bit longer (10 litres of liquid will take longer to come to the boil than 1 litre) and the veg prep may take a while, so put some music on and get a friend to help you. There you go, instant awesome mass catering fun.

You can download our pdf with many more tips, and recipes about mass catering at http://www.eco-action.org/teapot/publications.htm

What you need for 6 portions:
- 2 onions
- 2 sticks of celery
- 1 parsnip
- 3 potatoes
- 1-2 carrots
- 2-3 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
- either: 750g beans soaked overnight – any mixture e.g. kidney, cannellini, haricot, flageolet, aduki, pinto  OR 2×400g tins of mixed pulses and 1×400g tin baked beans
- 350ml stout or a dark ale
- 6 tbsp dried mixed herbs, e.g. rosemary, marjoram, thyme, parsley, basil
- pinch of sugar
- 225g self raising flour
- 110g vegetable suet
- salt and pepper

1.If using dried beans, bring them to the boil in fresh water, boil vigourously for 10 minutes then simmer for up to an hour or until all the beans are done. Drain.

2.Peel and slice the onion, and scrub and cut the parsnip, carrots and potatoes into bite sized chunks. Cut the celery into thin slices.

3.Heat the oil in a wide, heavy bottomed pan that has a well fitting lid and gently fry the vegetables for 5-10 minutes.

4.If you are using tinned beans, drain the mixed pulses. Add them and the baked beans, or the cooked dried beans, to the vegetables along with the beer and 3 tbsp herbs. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

5.Mix the rest of the herbs with the flour, suet and salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Gradually add about 12 tbsp cold water until you have a sticky dough (less water if you are using margarine). Stir the casserole, then drop spoonfuls of the dough into it (you should get at least 12 out of the amount – 2 dumplings per portion), cover and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes.Garnish with some chopped parsley or a dab of soy cream, or both.