Coconut Butter – Monday Made

I really love coconut. I love pretty much all things made with coconut.

I really want to make some Vegan Oreos, or maybe these Raw Oreos today, but realised that what I needed to make them was coconut butter. As it turns out, making that is not very hard at all.

From a 500g bag of shredded coconut I made two jars of butter. RE-SULT!

I used my Bellini, which is pretty much like a Thermomix or Vita-Mix when talking about blending power. You could use a regular blender too, but it might take a bit longer.

What you need:

• 500g shredded coconut
• 2 sterilized jars

What to do:

1. Put the coconut in your blender and set it to high for about 3 minutes or until it turns to liquid. Scrape down side if necessary. At this point, I guess you could add cocoa powder to it and some hazelnuts perhaps…..that sound a little bit like Nutella to me!
2. Pour into jars and let set in fridge for a few hours.
3. While you wait, grab a spoon and eat all the little bits left in your blender……..nomnomnomnom.

No-Meat Meatballs – Monday Made

“Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree on what they are made of, where they come from, or how often they should appear.”~Lemony Snicket.

I recently fell for the “stuck waiting in line at the supermarket in front of the magazine rack” trick. Normally I would have a little flip through and then happily return to the shelf, but a particular recipe magazine enticed me with pictures of fresh and colourful tacos and won me over with a section called “Meatlover or Vegetarian” in which several classic recipes were re-done vegetarian. From what I gather, this particular magazine has this section in it every month. Maybe I’ll be back for more.

I went for the Meatballs vege option. My only variation was that I used a bit of beetroot instead of carrot (because in some strange turn of events I did not have any carrots) so they came out pink. I also used a bit more cashew (because I was lazy with the measuring cups) and a few extra spring onion (wasn’t sure if mine were overly small or not).

They were delightful. A real surprise. Fully endorsed by husband and children. Normally I am not a huge chickpea fan. They have a distinct taste that I just don’t go for, but in this recipe I really didn’t notice them!

What you need:

• 2 x 400g can chickpeas, drained
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cashews
• 3 green onions (I mean spring onions)
• 1 carrot
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp mixed herbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup bread crumbs (about 2 slices of bread)
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• oil for frying

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 200degC (180 fan forced).
2. Make breadcrumbs in food processor. Slowly add the dry ingredients, then the wet, to the processor to make a mixture you can roll into balls.
3. Divide into 32 balls. They should be slightly smaller than golf balls.
4. Brown the outside of the balls in a frying pan. Transfer to a baking tray and cook in the over for about 15 minutes.
5. Serve with some spaghetti,a really nice tomato pasta sauce and sprinkling of chopped parsley. Serves 4 hungry people.