Welcome to Rocket and Roses Vegan Kitchen. My blog remains true to my original vegan (and mostly gluten free) kitchen, creating my own recipes and enjoying making recipes from the kitchens of others, but has evolved since its creation. Now it will occasionally include my other great passions - music, art, travel, health and all forms of literature.
So once more I ask you to escape with me into the beautiful world where all these passions are celebrated...
Kitchen Play List: Slade ~ Bangin Man Bowes & Morley ~ I'd take the Stars Out of the Sky Kings of Leon ~ Revelry Bee Gees ~ Night Fever Pearl Jam ~Release Melissa Etheridge ~ Like The Way I Do The Eagles ~ You Are Not Alone
The mystery ingredient this week was a surprise. I was handed a bubble wrapped black thing! lol. I carefully unwrapped it and it turned out to be three little passion fruits and with a price tag of 50p they were also a bargain! I knew instantly what I would make, as I had been leafing through A Vegan Taste of East Africaby Linda Majzilk, a few weeks ago for some inspiration and had seen a dessert that I had wanted to try. But passion fruit being quite expensive I had mentally put it on my 'one day' list. Good work My Love. lol.
Having three passion fruit I had to halve the recipe but that didn't make any difference to the taste. The texture was more yoghurt like as opposed to mousse and I know, made with the full recipe it would be, just right. The flavours zing and have a pleasant sharpness. Very refreshing!
Passion Fruit and Orange Mousse (Recipe from A Vegan Taste of East Aftrica by L.Majzilk)
6 passion fruits 8fl oz/225ml fresh orange juice 8fl oz/225ml soya milk 1oz/25g cornflour 1oz/25g brown sugar
Scoop the pulp and the seeds from 4 of the passion fruits into a saucepan, add the orange juice and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 2 minutes, then strain the juice into a jug, pressing out as much pulp as possible with the back of a spoon. Mix the cornflour with the soya milk until smooth, add to the juice and stir until well combined. Pour into a double boiler and bring to the boil while stirring. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens, then pour into 4 individual dishes. Cover and chill until set and garnish with the pulp and seeds from the remaing passion fruit before serving.
Buried in the fresh produce aisle of our supermarket is where you will find me with a smile on my face. And this weekend was no exception...I walked around and took in the sight of fresh vegetables and plentiful fruits. In one corner there was a box of ripe Pomegranates that were looking like they had seen better days but I knew the fruit inside would still be plump and bursting with flavour so I chose the best one and picked out a Mango to go with it.
I found this recipe during one of my cruising afternoons on the many websites and blogs I follow. I printed it off and forgot to make a note of where I found it so I can't give credit where it's due. But to whomever it does belong...thank you!
The result is a fresh and fruity ice cream/sorbet. It really is a mix of the two textures and My Love gave it a 9.5 so it looks like I'll be making this again. lol
Mango Pomegranate and Coconut Ice Cream (Recipe found online...)
1 Pomegranate 1 Mango 1/2 cup of sugar ( 1/3 cup Agave Nectar) 1 can coconut milk 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Peel the Pomegranate and remove the seeds. Place them into a blender and blend until they are a puree. Pour it into a bowl for a moment.
Slice the Mango down by the stone and cut the flesh away from the skin and place into the blender and blend until its a puree.
Pour the Pomegranate puree into the Mango along with the sugar and vanilla. Pour half of the can of coconut milk into the blender and then blend it all together until the sugar has dissolved. Pour in the remaining coconut milk and blend until it thoroughly combined and frothy.
Place into the fridge for 30 minutes to chill. Then pour into a prepared ice cream machine and churn for 20 minutes. Transfer to a freezable container and freeze.
If solid when you come to use it..leave it on a work surface for 10 minutes at room temperature.
Kitchen Play List: Nicola Benedetti ~ Mendelsson MacMillian Mozart
Today we had the pleasure of a visit from friends, R & H and their little one A. We hadn't seen them since My Love's birthday party in November so we had been looking forward to seeing them a lot. They were bringing with them their little one, A, who we hadn't met before and he turned out to be the cutest little fella. He soon became a member of the Sock Stealer fan club along with every other little one that has ever met him! lol.
I know that R is a fan of Italian food so I set our lunch menu to that. I wanted something for them to snack on when they got here so I decided to try a bruschetta recipe from Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein. I was lucky to find some baby plum tomatoes that were beautifully ripe.
Apulian-Style Bruschetta with Cherry/Baby Plum Tomatoes & Basil (Recipe from Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein)
1 large ciabatta loaf, sliced horizontally 1 garlic clove, halved 2 cups cherry/baby plum tomatoes, preferably vine-ripened, cut into eighths 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp salt freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350'F/180'C/Gas Mark 4.
Place the bread halves, cut sides up, on the centre shelf and bake for 15 minutes, or until crispy and golden, taking care that the bread doesn't burn. While still warm, rub the top of each half with a halved garlic clove. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, add the tomatoes, basil, oil, salt and pepper to a medium bowl; toss well to combine. Let stand about 10 minutes to allow the flavours to blend; toss again. Distribute the tomatoes and their dressing evenly over the top of the bread halves. Cut each bread half into 8 wedges. Serve within 1 hour.
Kitchen Play List: Jack Johnson ~ In Between Dreams
This is the second part of the blog for the lunch I served our friends, R & H, when they came to lunch. It was an Italian inspired menu and I turned to an old faithful recipe that I have served many times and has been enjoyed many times. lol. This recipe is from the wonderful cookbook A Vegan Taste of Italyby Linda Majzilk. It's certainly creamy and very tasty and a great comfort dish. It seemed to fit for the menu today and I served it with a simple baby leaf salad with an extra virgin olive oil and balsamic dressing on the side.
Creamy Broccoli and Spinach Lasagne (Recipe from A Taste of Vegan Italy by Linda Majzilk)
Heat the oil in a large skillet and fry the onion until soft. Add the broccoli and veggie stock and bring to a boil, cover and simmer gently until the broccoli is just cooked. Dissolve the cornflour into the soya milk and add to the pan together with the other ingredients. Stir well and again bring to the boil. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens slightly.
Spoon 1/3rd of the mixture into a 12 x 8inch/30 x 20cm lasagne dish and top with four slices of the lasagne. Repeat these layers and finish with the remaining filling.
Melt the marg over a low heat, then stir in the breadcrumbs. Remove from the heat and add the other topping ingredients. Mix well and spread the topping evenly over the filling. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180'C/350'F/Gas Mark 4 for 30 minutes, then bake for a further 10 minutes uncovered. The topping should be golden brown.
Kitchen Play List: Maroon 5 ~ Harder to Breathe This Love She Will Be Loved Sunday Morning Secret Through With You Sweetest Goodbye
This is the third part to the blog about the lunch I served friends, R & H, when they came to visit. I wanted a light dessert with it being lunchtime but still wanted it to feel special. I found this recipe when I was flicking through the pages of Vegan Italianoby Donna Klein looking for a main course. This recipe seemed to bring everything I was looking for to the table. I'm usually not interested in poached pears as I've had to suffer many undercooked ones. I remember with great fondness an evening meal shared with friends with Red Wine Poached Pears that My Love had cooked and our shrieks of laughter as we all had to resort to cutting slices off with knives...thankfully My Love started the laughter and wasn't reduced to tears. lol. Anyway....
This recipe seemed to have that 'something' more to it then simply poaching. And I was able to prepare it the evening before and leave it tightly covered in the fridge to place in the oven before we sat down to eat the main course of our lunch. Easy!
The result was a beautifully cooked, aromatic and delicious pear with a sweet drizzle and I served it with a vanilla yoghurt which complemented it very well. My only issue with this recipe was with the currants but that is purely personal as I'm not the biggest fan but no one else seemed to share this..lol. I would perhaps try some succulent golden raisins next time?
Baked Pears with Currants and Cinnamon (Recipe from Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein)
1/3 cup golden caster sugar 1/3 cup dark brown sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/3 cup currants 4 ripe yet firm dessert pears, unpeeled, halved and cored 1/3 cup water
Pre-heat the oven to 350'F/180'C/Gas Mark 4.
Place the pear halves in a large baking dish that will hold them in one layer and set to one side.
In a bowl combine the sugars and the cinnamon and stir until combined. Stir in the currants and again stir to combine. Fill the cavities in the cored pears with approx half of the sugar mix.
Pour the water into the remaining sugar mix and stir to combine and then spoon it around the pears, (at this point you can cover tightly and store in the fridge over night until needed).
Place, uncovered, into the pre-heated oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the pears are cooked and a knife is easily inserted into the flesh. Serve hot or cold with the sauce from the baking dish drizzled over and vanilla yoghurt on the side.
My most lovely niece, N, had her 2nd birthday party this weekend. And it was my privilege to make her birthday cake which is usually a stress free pleasure. Unless my oven goes on the fritz the week before. So this cake was a battle of wills between me and it! lol. It took me an entire day baking cakes to get three good ones. Yep, that pushed my patience but thinking of little N's face kept me trying. I made simple vanilla cake's using a recipe I found posted on Vegweb.com a few years ago. It's a really good and simple recipe...well...when it doesn't come out as flat as a frizzbe thanks to my oven! lol. Usually I sandwich the layers together with rasberry jam but this time I decided to use strawberry. No real reason other than I thought it would be nice for a change. lol.
N is obsessed with In the Night Garden, a children's programe that is very popular in England, and had wanted an Upsy Daisy cake. But a cake sculptor I am not! lol. So I borrowed a book from her and used the Upsy Daisy pages as inspiration. My Love spent a couple of hours playing with the icing and colours to make them match the pages. (Huge thanks to My Love for saving me from a task that really would have tried my patience!! lol) And then rolled them out into shapes for me to cover the cake. The cutting out of the number two and N's name was very tricky I'm told and Im just relieved I didn't have to even attempt it. lol. Then it was my job to make it all look pretty. I did have fun cutting out the daisies though, I have to confess. lol.
The result was a pretty pink and daisy covered cake a la Upsy Daisy. We have picked up various little figures from the programe and set them around the cake. It was a long process making and icing this cake but we were very proud of the final product. We are by no means professionals...avid amateurs I would say. So it did have its imperfections but I think that's all part of the charm of homemade cakes.
E-Mans Vanilla Cake (One mix per layer) 1 cup of plain white flour (sifted) 1/2 cup plain wholemeal (sifted) 3/4 cup of sugar 1 1/2 tsp egg replacer 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup of sunflower oil 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup of cold soy milk
Preheat the oven to 350'F/180'C/Gas mark 4. Line a nine inch round baking tin. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the egg replacer, milk, oil, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla until completely combined. In a separate bowl, mix white flour and wholemeal flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Dig a well into the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the mixed wet ingredients. Gently stir the two together until it looks combined and until all large lumps are gone. Be sure not to overmix! Let the batter stand for 5 minutes.
Pour the batter into the pan, place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 45 minutes.
Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then leave out on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting or icing.
Before frosting, cut a thin slice off of the top of whichever cake is going to be the bottom layer. This way the cake will rest evenly on a flat surface.
A covered cake...at long last! Imperfect but pretty.
A slightly different view and with one of us in the shadow. It was very late when these photos were taken lol.
The completed cake with the book used for inspiration behind it.
Top view of the finished cake so you can see My Loves hard work lol.
And the gang's all here...the almost entire cast of In a Night Garden! lol
The final photo...'Upsy blinking Daisy' as she came to be known in our house! lol
It was worth every second of work it took getting this cake to my sisters house for the party. And the little ones loved it. So our work was done! And I confess I spent most of the party sat cuddling my shiny new niece L so it was a fair trade! lol. Gotta love the little ones in all their many different characters and ways. Always worth the effort!
As I am busy today icing my nieces birthday cake for her party tomorrow, I thought I would put together a blog about past cake memories. My Love turned 40 last year and instead of having a savoury catered affair..we had a cake table. I busily baked hundreds of cupcakes and a massive triple chocolate birthday cake. A friend, R, sent us some of snaps of the cakes so I'll be putting them in this blog. There are also some other random ones from over the years. If you love cake as the people around me seem to do...lol..you'll love these photos...
I'll be back tomorrow with a new recipe but for now...enjoy as you share these cake memories. And if you would like to know any of the recipes then please leave me a comment...
My Loves 40th Birthday Cake Table
Apricot and Almond Cupcakes ~ from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Gingerbread Cake ~ can't give the credit to the person who created this..It was an anonymous posting!
Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes & Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes ~ Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Green Tea Cupcakes ~ Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Lemon Vanilla Cupcakes ~ Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Mucho Margaritas Cupcakes ~ Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
G's Chocolate & Raspberries Birthday Cake
My sister is a chocoholic and loves raspberries also. So this cake was a huge winner with her...
And for the raspberry waterfall.....
Delicious...the recipe is from The Joy Of Vegan Baking...
Random but very lovely cakes.....
A luscious chocolate chocolate chocolate chocolate cake...lol
This isn't the best photo but it's a coconut sheet cake that I made for my Mum's birthday a few years ago. It looked beautiful with the waterlilies candles scattered over it. And very tasty...recipe from Sinfully Vegan cookbook...
This is a Hazelnut, Lemon and Maple Sandwich Cake from Taste of Vegan Baking cookbook. It was so tasty and moist. Very much enjoyed by everyone.
These are Coconut Rockies from Taste of Vegan Baking..simple and delicious.
Well there you go..a few cakes to look at and drool over..lol. Hope you enjoyed them...
by Linda Majzilk, a few weeks ago for some inspiration and had seen a dessert that I had wanted to try. But passion fruit being quite expensive I had mentally put it on my 'one day' list. Good work My Love. lol. 
by Donna Klein. I was lucky to find some baby plum tomatoes that were beautifully ripe. 
by Linda Majzilk. It's certainly creamy and very tasty and a great comfort dish. It seemed to fit for the menu today and I served it with a simple baby leaf salad with an extra virgin olive oil and balsamic dressing on the side. 
