BEAR'S ULTRA-VEGAN MEAL REPLACEMENT MIDNIGHT BOOTY CALL 3

BEAR'S ULTRA-VEGAN MEAL REPLACEMENTMIDNIGHT BOOTY CALL 3

Good gosh! I managed to miss my main meal last night! Yeah, I visited Central London during the day and walked around until it got late - really late! I love walking and I get carried away when in Central London as there's so much to see!

By the time I got back, it was too late to make something substantial to eat. So, I had to make something that wasn't going to be too heavy yet fulfilling!

I wanted to improve upon my meal replacement formula that I've dubbed “Midnight Booty Call”. Why? Okay… I think it's essential to have a good amount of roughage/fiber in every meal. A lot of Vegan based processed foods that could be microwaved for convenience does not contain much by the way of fiber. The main ingredient in my meal replacement is dried fibrous fruit such as prunes and figs. I could also use dates and (unsulphured) apricots too!

And, of course, by the time I realize that I'm hungry, it's midnight or later!

Here are the ingredients for the dish as pictured above…

INGREDIENTS

1 Prunes​ in juice can, 200g. You could use dry prunes and add a good prune juice from a reputed source; I must look into this deeper.

1 Chestnut packet

1 cup of oat bran

Half a cup of desiccated coconut

1 cup of prune juice

A couple of splashes of vanilla essence

Half a tablespoon of cinnamon

Half a tablespoon of cocoa powder

A cup of coconut yogurt

For decoration: desiccated coconut, Morello cherries, a single chestnut, coconut yogurt, and cinnamon.

THE METHODOLOGY

You're going to need a decent liquidizer/blender.

Empty the prune can into the liquidizer jug, followed by the cup of oat bran, desiccated coconut, chestnuts​, coconut yogurt, vanilla essence and cocoa powder. Now add the cup of prune juice. You might need to add more juice to get the liquidizing blades moving as the mixture can become too thick to blend.

Use the pulse setting to break up the solids gently. Once the chestnuts start to break up use settings 1 and 2 to create a texture that looks like a cross between a mousse and smoothie. Once you've got that texture, it's done!

Pour into a bowl and then decorate - if you wish!

RESULT

The above is the result that is very, very satisfying to taste and is pretty light. I had this Midnight Booty Call whilst watching a movie, as you might do on a Saturday night. Perfect!

If this doesn't move you, nothing will! Ha ha!

Thanks for reading and following my recipes!

Love,

Bear XOXOXOXOXO

BEAR’S DUBPLATE MASHUP ENTER THE WING CHUN BEAR

BEAR’S DUBPLATE MASHUPENTER THE WING CHUN BEAR

I love Dub Reggae. I love Kung Fu. What you go do? This dish is a celebration of my love for Chinese food, Wing Chun, and heavy, heavy Dub Reggae. I used to train in the Martial Arts of Wing Chun.  

Those were the days… Lol!

INGREDIENTS

1 Stir fry medley

1 Quinoa & wholegrain rice packet

1 Red onion

2 Garlic cloves

1 Low salt vegetable stock cube

1 Plantain

1 Lemon

Low salt soy sauce

Maple syrup

PREPARATION

Peel and wash the red onion along with a selection of the stir fry medley. Seeing as I'm cooking for 1, I didn't use all the baby corn and spring onions (scallions​). If you intend to cook for 2 then you'd have to use the whole medley.

Dry the red onion with a kitchen towel. Get a pan/dish suitable for frying and add a bit of coconut oil or any other oil - about a tablespoon of liquid oil. See pic below.

Place the stir fry medley on a kitchen towel; let the water drain off. Cut the red onion into rings and add the rings to the pan/dish. No heat just yet!

Now cut the spring onions (scallions) into 2 or 3 thin slices. And cut the red pepper into circles as shown in the pic below. You can either plaza the stir fry medley on a kitchen towel or on a dish. I left them on a kitchen towel after cutting them in order to avoid adding more to the washing up! Leave them aside for now.​

Next, we get a pot and place the vegetable stock cube and add a bit of water as you can see in the above pic. We're going to add the packet of wholegrain rice and quinoa a little later...

About the plantain… I've had mine for weeks whilst contemplating a suitable recipe for it. Most people would've thrown it away thinking it's over-ripened. Well, I'm not like that. Ideally, your plantain wouldn't be as ripe. After giving it a rinse, I wrapped the plantain in aluminum foil and placed it in the oven. Being so over ripened, I should've first wrapped it in greaseproof paper and then the aluminum foil.

Your plantain won't be that ripe and should resemble a banana with a few brown spots. When it's firm you could remove the skin and place on a baking tray.

Anyway, you won't need to preheat the oven. Either remove the skin or if you leave the skin on make sure you add a few slits with a sharp knife to stop the skin from splitting and prevent the plantain from hemorrhaging. Place the plantain on a baking tray, and pop it into the oven. We're not ready to apply any heat just yet.

We're good to start…

THE METHODOLOGY

Introduce a medium heat to sweat the onion rings down.

See? The onions are looking nice. They're not overcooked. Remove from heat. Keep stirring as the residual heat could cause the onion to burn.

Once the residual heat has dissipated you add all the stir fry medley. Before you return the onions and stir fry medley back to the heat, you introduce heat to the pot containing the stock cube and a bit of water.

Once the heat is on the pot containing the stock cube and water return the onion and stir fry medley back to the heat. We want to gently fry the contents; the vegetables should be firm - al dente. As soon as the stir fry medley starts to wilt, remove from heat. Once the stock cube pot behind to simmer, use a fork or wooden spoon to dissolve it in the simmering water. Do not let the water dry out! If need be, remove from the heat to ensure the water does not evaporate.

Now turn on the oven with the plantain, about 190 (electric) should do it! Now add the rice to the pot containing the stock cube and water. Give the rice a stir to absorb the water and stock cube remnants. Remove from the heat as the rice will cook in about 2 minutes.

Next, we return the stir fry to the heat. We want a little less than medium heat. While the stir fry medley gently cooks, juice the lemon and pour into the stir fry. From there, add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and give it a stir. Add 2 tablespoons of Maple syrup and stir. If it gets too hot, remove from heat. Keep mixing as the residual heat has the potential to burn the vegetables. Stop stirring when the heat has dissipated.

With the pot of rice, add roughly a teaspoon of turmeric, black pepper cayenne pepper, and a sprinkle of coriander. There's no need to add salt as the stock cube contains enough! Mix but don't return to the heat just yet.

Add Chinese 5 spices to the stir fry, mix and return to the heat. Stir and reduce the heat. The liquid should be gently simmering. Return the rice to the heat and mix the seasoning. If the moisture starts to dry out then remove from heat, add a tablespoon of water and return to the heat. Keep stirring the rice and break up and clumps.

Turn the heat off from under the stir fry, stir to avoid burning. Give the rice one last mix, and turn the heating off.

PLATE UP

Plate up the rice as shown in the pic below or as you like.

Then add the stir fry on top. Remove the plantain from the oven and turn it off. If you've chosen to leave it in its skin then be careful when removing; it's very hot! And add as shown in the pic above. Your plantain should look a lot better than mine. As you know, my plantain was over ripened and I'm lucky to have been able to use it at all!

You could slice your plantain in medium sized circles.

It serves 2. It's possible to cook 2 plantains - size depending.

Enjoy!

Love,

Bear XOXOXOXOXO

BEAR'S MIDNIGHT BOOTY CALL

BEAR'S MIDNIGHT BOOTY CALL

What? You've managed to miss your main meal? How??? Well, I got sidetracked installing some software that proved to be very troublesome, to say the least! When I realized the time, I popped out to my local 24-hour supermarket and got chatting with a friend (I need a disguise or visit another supermarket where I'm not known).

Once my conversation had finished it became clear that I wasn't going to cook at this time or night. It's nearly 01:00 in the morning. So, once I got home, I had to quickly put together something to eat that's not too heavy; it's so unhealthy to eat dinner before sleeping. It's bad news.

Here's how I satisfied myself…

INGREDIENTS

1 Prune can (200g)

A packet/bag of oats

A tub of coconut yogurt

A packet/box of desiccated coconut

Light Maple syrup

Vanilla essence

Cinnamon

THE METHODOLOGY

Place about roughly 4 tablespoons of desiccated coconut in a cereal bowl as in the picture above.

Top the desiccated coconut with oats; that's about 4 tablespoons worth of oats in the picture above.

Top with another 4 tablespoons of desiccated coconut!

Add cinnamon to taste; I love cinnamon! Mmmmm…

Open the prune can and drain the juice into the desiccated coconut and oats; stir the juice in. Don't worry if the overall mix is dry…

Add the coconut yogurt - finish the tub if you, like me, used about half of it in my Coconut Cream Butter Bean Dream recipe. It's all too easy to forget to use the rest of the yogurt, by the time you remember, the yogurt will be teaming with life.

When you mix in the coconut yogurt, it'll be moist but firm.

Add all of the prunes on top of the sensual mixture, drizzle about half a tablespoon of light Maple syrup around the bowl and add a couple of vanilla essence splashes on the oats and desiccated coconut.

I was careful not to let the vanilla essence and the Maple syrup hit the prunes as it would spoil the taste sensation. The idea is to get waves of taste infusions, the oats, coconut, vanilla, light Maple syrup, prunes, and cinnamon. Oooooh, that certainly hit the spot!

To finish it off, I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top for both decoration and taste. Cinnamon complements the prunes (and most other dried fruit).

And there you have it! It's a bit naughty and it's certainly nice! It's not like you're gonna wake up the next morning and discover your pants don't fit. It's better than giving into a quick fix of processed cereal that can contain milk and refined sugars (in the form of corn syrup). Yuck! Light Maple syrup is healthier! Well, you're controlling the amount of sweetness, whereas the sugar content in most cereal boxes is hidden, and, before you know it, you feel like another bowl to get one more sugar rush. And, if you, like me, have a sweet tooth, the horrid cereal could end up being consumed habitually! Don't do it! The weight will certainly pile on! Throw the old boxes of cereal out! If you have a child or children, this could be difficult. I would like to know how you, as a Vegan parent or parents, weaned your child or children off these horrid cereals! HOW??? Who had the misfortune to remember the sickly, yet addictive taste of Frosties? Diabetes in a box!

The Midnight Booty Call is a one-off! It also makes for a great dessert after dinner. What I love about the Midnight Booty Call is that it makes me feel sated. At this moment in time, after eating it, I am not thinking, “Let me make this tomorrow and the day after…” For me, the Midnight Booty Call is like one of those meal replacement shakes. I should have eaten properly and I did not. Shame on me!

I called this dish a “Midnight Booty Call” for what should be obvious reasons. In out, far out… It's all good! Ha ha! Oh, one more thing... If you want to make the most out of Tech then check out Synapse Circuit for Tech Reviews!

Enjoy!

Love,

Bear XOXOXOXOXO

BEAR'S ACKEE-DO DUBPLATE MASHUP

BEAR'S ACKEE-DO DUBPLATE MASHUP

Whoa! What have we here? This is an Ackee-Do Dubplate Mashup! I dared to experiment with Jamaican, Welsh and Chinese influences! It's a bit of this 'n’ that! Ha ha! But it works somehow! WOW!

Let's get to the…

INGREDIENTS

1 Tofu block in a carton

1 Garden peas can

1 Ackee can

1 Red onion

1 White onion

A handful of baby plum tomatoes

5 - 6 Chestnut mushrooms

1 Green chili

1 Red chili

6 or more finger chilies

Broccoli

The rest of the seaweed

3 Garlic cloves

PREPARATION

Wash the onions, chilies, garlic and tomatoes. Pat them down with a paper towel.

Wash the mushrooms and pat them down with a paper towel too.

Take about a handful of broccoli - 2 handfuls, if you're cooking for 2 or 3! Check the broccoli florets for infestation and give the broccoli a good rinse. Add the broccoli to pot/pan/dish on its own.

Get a deep pan/dish and put some coconut oil within. Of course, you can use a tablespoon of another oil such as extra virgin olive oil, rapeseed or rice bran oil.

Slice the onions into rings and add it to the pan/dish with the coconut oil.

Cut the chilies and garlic cloves in small pieces. Cut the tomatoes in half. Place the chilies, garlic, and tomatoes in one bowl for the time being.

Cover the seaweed with cold water for a minimum of 6 minutes

Slice the mushrooms and place on a paper towel.

Open the Ackee can and drain. And once drained place in a baking tray.

Open the garden peas can and drain. Open the tofu carton, carefully remove the tofu and rinse. I used a soft tofu but you could use a harder one. And cut in slices. If the tofu is soft then it doesn't matter how you cut it.

Drain the seaweed and place aside. I used a large mug to soak the seaweed and once drained, I placed the seaweed back into the mug.

Now we're ready to get cooking..,

THE METHODOLOGY

Introduce a high enough heat to sear the onions. Once the onions have wilted, add the mushrooms… Reduce the heat once the mushrooms have wilted and browned; add the garden peas.

Add the bowl of tomatoes, garlic, and chilies to the onions and mushrooms. Mix so that the ingredients get cooked evenly. Introduce a medium heat to the broccoli. Turn the oven on and preheat for about 5 minutes at 210 (electric). Stir the broccoli - don't let them burn. If the broccoli starts to brown then add a little bit of water to prevent burning; add about a tablespoon of water.

Keep mixing the onions, mushrooms, etc. Add the tofu and mix. Then place the Ackees in the oven and reduce the temperature to around 190 (electric). Now add the seaweed to the onions, mushrooms, etc. If you find that the mixture is burning and/or sticking to the bottom of the pan/dish, add about 2 tablespoons of water. Season with black pepper, turmeric, and coriander. You shouldn't need to add salt as the seaweed is salty enough. Give the mix one final stir to infuse the seasoning. Remove from the heat and cover.

Keep turning the broccoli and maintain its composure i.e. al dente. Once the florets are a darker shade of green, it's time to remove the heat and then transport to the main pan/dish to keep warm.

It's time to…

PLATE UP

Remove the broccoli and arrange them on a plate or plates. I placed the florets to the left in a line and then placed the stalk on the opposite side.

In the middle, I made a bed with the main dish. I then removed the Ackees from the oven and placed them on top of the main dish.

Enjoy!

It can serve 2 to 3.

FOOD BIGOTRY

Please, do not fear Ackees that come in a can that can be bought from any decent supermarket or specialist shop.

Ackees are only dangerous when handled incorrectly. Ackees come from a pod that opens up to reveal the fruit. If the pod is forced open then the toxicity will remain. The gasses are released when the pod opens naturally. And therefore, the Ackees, the yellow flesh - if you will - are safe to eat.

There's no way Ackees would be commonplace in good supermarkets if it was a danger. Think of Ackee as you would rhubarb; the rhubarb leaves are deadly and people have been known to die from rhubarb leaves poisoning. Yet we can pick rhubarbs from our gardens and prepare it ourselves or buy it in a can at the supermarket.

Don't be afraid to give Ackees a try! If you're new to Veganism and you miss eating scrambled eggs then Ackees will do it for you! Or it should do!

THE INFLUENCES

My folks are from Jamaica and I used to be a lover of Jamaica's national dish, Ackee, and Saltfish which is usually served up with boiled or fried dumplings, green banana, and yams.

Being a Londoner, I used to love my Chinese takeaways. I appreciated how the vegetables were cooked, al dente. And, the Welsh influence came from watching a food show that featured the use of seaweed in popular Welsh dishes. I would love to go to Wales to learn more about the use of seaweed in cooking. That's it. I still have lots to learn and I love learning!

I called this dish “Ackee-Do Dubplate Mashup” because the tofu got mashed in the process; I thought the tofu would be harder. Plus, I enjoy the martial arts; Aikido is a Japanese martial art and tofu comes from both Japan and China. It takes me back to watching martial arts movies growing up. I also used to listen to Dub Reggae a lot in my youth.  

Love,

Bear XOXOXOXOXO

BEAR’S ULTRA-RUSTIC ROOT VEGETABLES

BEAR’S ULTRA-RUSTIC ROOT VEGETABLES

I don't know about you, but sometimes I get fed up of the flatulence that comes with eating meals with onions in 'em. It's a pain when my botty constantly exhales to the point where it feels like I'm not using my lungs anymore. “Hey, that guy's ass is moving all by itself!”

Also, I get tired of trying to do something special with my food. Once in awhile I just want to be able to taste my veggies, pure and simple! Don't you love the taste of your veggies as nature intended? Mmmmmmm… Yummy!

INGREDIENTS

1 Root Vegetable Medley pack! It costs less than a Pound!

METHODOLOGY

Remove wrapping and set the onion aside for another meal!

Give them a quick rinse! Top 'n’ tail the carrots and parsnip. You might want to slice off the top and bottom of the Swede as I did. If the carrots were organic, I would have not peeled them. I left the parsnip unpeeled as my past attempts ended in disaster! I also left the skin on the Swede; a bit of roughage won't hurt!

I placed the veggies in a Pyrex baking tray, added a bit of water to avoid burning and placed in the oven on a high-temperature setting, 191, for around 30 minutes.

Plate up! No seasoning - not even a pinch of Himalayan salt! Plain and simple roasted veggies! Enjoy! Butt belch no more!

Love,

Bear XOXOXOXOXO