Anniversary!

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary :) Wee G had to work late so we decided to just stay in and I made dinner. We snuggled up and watched American Idol...how romantic!
Remember the other day when I said that I try to make fairly healthy food in the house? Well, I guess l lied cos this meal was far from low fat or low calorie :)

First up I made Zucchini Delight from How It All Vegan. It’s a mix of lentils, rice, zucchini, tomatoes and soy cheese flavoured with oregano and basil and baked in the oven. Last time I made it with tofu basil ricotta from VWAV and chickpeas in place of the lentils and it was delicious. This time I added some green pepper, broccoli and cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and used FYH Monterey Jack cheese. I realised afterward I should have put the dish under the grill at the end of cooking and it might have melted the cheese a little better. We both agreed that we preferred the first version with the tofu basil ricotta but that the addition of cherry tomatoes was really good :)

I also made Laura’s Oatmeal Wheat Bread that she posted about the other day. It was so delish! Thanks for the recipe Laura! I made it in to garlic bread by spreading it with a mix of Earth Balance margarine, olive oil, crushed garlic and herbs and baking it for a few minutes. Mmmmmm!
The most exciting part of the meal was dessert though! I had been obsessing about Plamil’s vegan Nutella since Bazu’s post about it. I can’t wait to go home and buy some, but in the meantime I thought I would try making some of my own. I didn’t quite manage to recreate the right texture, but the taste is pretty similar! Can’t really go wrong with chocolate and hazelnuts! The recipe is at the end if you want to try (and maybe improve) it.

I then made basic chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World adding some ground hazelnuts. I warmed the “Notella” and poured it over the cakes and topped with chopped hazelnuts! Oh yum! This was awesome!

Have a Terrific Thursday!!

“Notella” Recipe

Ingredients
¾ cup hazelnuts
1 cup vanilla soymilk
¾ cup raw sugar
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Heat grill (broiler). Spread hazelnuts out on a baking tray and place under grill under skins are very brown, almost black. Wrap hazelnuts in a clean dish towel and shake/rub until skins come off. (Don’t worry if some are left on).
Place hazelnuts in food processor and blend until it becomes a paste. (This took about 4 minutes in my food processor and would not go completely smooth. If you have a better food processor you will hopefully get a smoother paste). Keep hazelnuts in food processor.
Mix cornflour with 1 tbsp of soy milk (from the 1 cup of soy milk) and set aside.
Put remaining soy milk in a pot over a medium high heat. Bring to boil and add sugar. Stir continuously until sugar has melted. Add cornstarch to pot and continue to stir until thickened to a sauce-like consistency. Add chocolate chips to pot and stir until they are melted. Remove from heat.
Add chocolate mix to the hazelnuts in the food processor and process until thoroughly blended.
It will thicken up more if you leave it in the fridge overnight.
Voila! Notella!!