Vegan MoFo - Zucchini stuffed with quinoa

Last day of Vegan MoFo!  I think it has really helped doing an A-Z because it forced me to do a certain number of posts.  I have enjoyed doing my alphabet mofo & have loved having so many blogs to read.

For the last meal of Vegan MoFo 2010 it is zucchini stuffed with quinoa, this is a good weeknight meal & is healthy & tasty.

Ingredients (the filling makes enough for about 4 halves depending on the size of your zucchini)

• 2 zucchinis
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1/2 cup plain pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1/4 cup tvp (I would leave this out next time because you couldn't even tell it was in there)
• 2 cups water or staock (I used water)
• 3 tablespoons sliced olives
• 6 sage leaves chopped
• Cheezly

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees
2. Cut zucchini in half & scoop out the insides & put aside, leaving about 1cm around the edges
3. Put the zucchini in a lightly greased oven dish skin side down, cover with foil & cook for about 15 minutes on until tender
4. Heat the oil in a frypan that has a lid & add onion
5. Roughly chop the zucchini flesh & add to frypan with the mushrooms
6. When the vegetables have softened add the rest of the ingredients (except the cheezly), cover & cook for 20-30 minutes but keep checking, stirring & add more water if needed until the quinoa is cooked
7. Season to taste
8. Fill the zucchini with the quinoa mixture & top with grated or thinly sliced cheezly & bake for another 15 minutes

 I think I overcooked mine a bit & the cheezly went a bit funny.  This is what happens when you go off to feed a baby with dinner cooking in the oven.

Vegan Mofo - Quinoa Salad

I am always looking for more ways to use quinoa & this was an awesome salad so I will be making it again.  It is just cooked quinoa with blanched asparagus, blanched broccoli, chickpeas, halved cherry tomatoes & roasted capsicum.  I based the dressing on this recipe from Gluten Free Goddess, I don't know what golden balsamic is so I used regular balsamic vinegar.  I topped the salad with some pistachios & it was super, super delicious.

Vegan MoFo - Lasagne

I had this recipe bookmarked for awhile & finally made it last night.  It is not your traditional lasagne as it uses slices of zucchini for the pasta & I am a big pan of using zucchini in place in pasta & it worked really well here, as did the quinoa which was delicious.  The flavour was very strong, which may have been from the pasta sauce that I used, but I loved it & I am very happy to have lots of leftovers.

Some things I have cooked during my absence

Things have been pretty crazy in our house over the last month which is why I have been super slack on the blogging front.  Greg & I got married last weekend & have had our house overtaken by his New Zealand family & friends.

I have a few photos of some things we have eaten lately:

Chestnut & Mushroom Soup - This was so, so good!!  It was basically sauteed mushrooms blended with roasted chestnuts, stock & soy milk.  It was rich & velvety & divine.

Broccoli Soup - I don't really remember what was in this, but despite it looking a bit unappetising it was good.

Rosemary Bread Rolls

Easy as (vegan) Pie vegan sausage rolls - crap photo of SUPER delicious sausage rolls. 

Broccoli Quinoa - Yum

Pumpkin & Olive tart - based on this recipe