"Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all
Hogwarts' secrets, Igor," said Dumbledore amicably. "Only this morning,
for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and
found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen
before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber
pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that
the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is
only accessible at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at
the quarter moon - or when the seeker has an exceptionally full
bladder."
Harry snorted into his plate of goulash. Percy frowned, but Harry could have sworn Dumbledore had given him a very small wink.- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 23 (The Yule Ball)
So last night I made Portobello and White Bean Goulash from Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker by Robin Roberston, the recipe can be found here. It was good. I seem to have a love hate relationship with the slow cooker in theory it's amazing however in practice it tends to be meh. I've had a few recipes completely flop(bland) but then when I made the SAME recipe on the stove top or in the oven it's magic or at the very least WORLDS better. I wish I'd bought one of her other books to be honest the recipes I've made have all be okay-good, where as the ones I've made from the internet have been much better. I did say love hate so let me explain I LOVE using it to cook dry beans. That said it's a me thing this simply isn't the way I prefer to cook.
'Fred - George - NO, JUST CARRY THEM!' Mrs Weasley shrieked.
Harry, Sirius and Mundungus looked round and, within a split
second, they had dived away from the table. Fred and George had
bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of Butterbeer and a
heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air
towards them. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a
halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden
surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its
contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed,
point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand
had been seconds before.
'FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!' screamed Mrs Weasley. THERE WAS NO NEED -
I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS - JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW,
YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!'
'We were just trying to save a bit of time!' said Fred,
hurrying forward to wrench the bread knife out of the table. 'Sorry,
Sirius, mate - didn't mean to - '
Harry and Sirius were both laughing; Mundungus, who had toppled
backwards off his chair, was swearing as he got to his feet;
Crookshanks had given an angry hiss and shot off under the dresser, from
where his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter 5
Note the buttery spread? This was after I removed half to smear on another slice. My 9 year old was "upset" I hadn't left well enough alone.It looked like cake frosting.
Okay so remember I made seitan for the first time? Well this was part of what else I was using it for, we have one more recipe in the next few days. Truth be told I won't be using Seitan in this again however it was good but my father and I were the only ones who didn't pick the seitan bits out as they ate. So MORE mushrooms in the future.
Molly's Irish Stew
Ingredients;
Seitan cut into 1 inch pieces or double the button mushrooms.
3 teaspoons of salt (more to taste)
2Tbsp olive oil reduce to just a small amount if using more mushrooms rather than seitan just to brown garlic
8oz Button mushrooms whole or halved/quartered depending on size.
2 portabella caps stem and all
6 cups of water and 4 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian No Beef Base
6 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cup of extra stout (make sure it's vegan) Beer
6 cups of potatoes cut into 1/2-1 inch pieces, I used red so cut them on the larger size.
1 1/2 cup chopped onions
2 1/2 cups 1/2-inch pieces of parsnip and carrot use all carrot if you wish peel if not organic
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 Tbsp dry parsley
Method
1 Heat
the olive oil in a large thick-bottomed pot over
medium-high heat. In batches add seitan and "brown" on all sides, I'm not 100% sure this is necessary however it's what I used to do and certainly didn't hurt.
4 Add everything to the stew pot add pepper, salt, parsley. Simmer uncovered until everything is tender about 40 minutes. Remove bay leaves
On to the Soda bread!
Ingredients;
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tbsp earth balance at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk
2Tbsp vinegar
Method
1. Preheat oven to 450°F. In a small bowl mix together milk and vinegar, set aside. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
2. Use your fingers to work butter into flour mix until resembles course meal.
3. Make a well in the center and pour in "buttermilk" the flour mix. Using wooden spoon gently fold in until it's just mixed. If it's too dry add more buttermilk, and if too wet more flour but do NOT over work, or it will be tough this is best with a white flour, I used wheat this last time and it was far more dense and maybe not in a good way at least use half white. Knead a few times and form into a round loaf.
4. Grease a cast iron pan/pot and take a knife cut a X into the top of the loaf about 1-1 1/2 inch deep, place loaf into the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 for another 30 minutes if the top is getting to brown is getting place a piece of foil over the top.
by Robin Roberston, the recipe can be found here. It was good. I seem to have a love hate relationship with the slow cooker in theory it's amazing however in practice it tends to be meh. I've had a few recipes completely flop(bland) but then when I made the SAME recipe on the stove top or in the oven it's magic or at the very least WORLDS better. I wish I'd bought one of her other books to be honest the recipes I've made have all be okay-good, where as the ones I've made from the internet have been much better. I did say love hate so let me explain I LOVE using it to cook dry beans. That said it's a me thing this simply isn't the way I prefer to cook. 
