I just love saying "Pukkola"!

And I also love eating it. Jamie Oliver made up the word pukkola by combining the words "pukka" (which is hindi slang for "very good")and "granola". It's cute. I made a huge batch last night after shopping for some ingredients. The thing I love about this soaked muesli is that you can add what you like. I grabbed a glass jar and filled it with a mixture of instant rolled oats (I like my muesli mushy), dried apricots, raisins, cranberries, almonds, pecans and walnuts, a handful or so of Bob's Red Mill 10 grain cereal and a little bit of chia seeds. I made a portion to soak overnight by adding about 3/4 cup of the mixture to my little tupperware and covering it with almond milk and adding cinnamon. I usually grate 1/2 an apple in there to soak but I didn't have any apples. In the morning, I added 1 sliced banana and more almond milk, cinnamon and agave to taste.

Pukkola and Fresh Spring Rolls.

Pukkola is basically bircher's muesli. I first found this recipe a few years ago in Jamie Oliver's cookbook, "The Naked Chef Takes Off." Soak oats, raisins, nuts and grated apple in almond milk and leave overnight in the fridge. The next morning everything has softened up and once you add your sweetener of choice and some cinnamon, you're good to go!

More fresh rolls for lunch today with yummy sauces.

Peach Muesli and "Hamburger" Macaroni Dinner.

This is Jamie Oliver's "Pukkolla" muesli with freshly chopped peaches. I looove juicy peaches in summer!


Ok, so this came out of my craving for a childhood favorite "Hamburger Helper". It's funny because I don't really remember what it tasted like. Was it as good as I thought it was? Anyway, I went online and found a recipe for a dry seasoning mix that I adapted and used to flavor my dish. You'll see in the recipe below. I do have to say that this dish wasn't as "saucy" as I wanted it to be. Maybe next time I need to add more liquid or tomato sauce or something. But it was tasty and very very filling.

EDITED TO ADD:
I still wanted the macaroni to be saucier so when I came home from work I made up a quick thickened sauce of tomato sauce, water, ketchup and soy sauce and dunked the pasta back in to simmer for a few minutes. The result was much much better. I've edited the recipe to include these few extra ingredients.


Much saucier wouldn't you say? It was delicious. My brother came over and I served some to him. He ate two big bowls of it!

"Hamburger" Macaroni Dinner

1 cup dry textured vegetable protein (tvp) rehydrated with 1 cup hot water in a bowl, set aside. (or you may use a bag of Morningstar Grillers Frozen Crumbles -no need to rehydrate)
13 oz. macaroni
2 TB olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 a large green pepper, chopped
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
3 TB dry seasoning mix (Recipe at bottom of post)
1 tsp chili powder
1-14oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
2-8oz. cans tomato sauce
2 1/4 cups hot water
2 tsp red miso paste
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB ketchup
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with a little cold water to dissolve

Cook macaroni in water per package directions. Meanwhile...

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Saute onions, garlic and green pepper for a few minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until vegetables are tender. Add the hydrated TVP and then add dry seasoning mix and chili powder. Stir to combine seasonings and tvp. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and hot water. Bring to a boil while stirring. Add miso paste, soy sauce and ketchup and stir to dissolve. Add cornstarch/water mixture to thicken. Lower heat to simmer for about 5-6 minutes. When sauce is thickened, add cooked and drained macaroni to it and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for a few more minutes.

Here's my adapted dry seasoning mix recipe:

1 1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbs. garlic powder
2 Tbs. dried parsley
3 Tbs. onion powder
1 Tbs. salt
3 1/2 Tbs. veggie bouillon powder (or you can use nutritional yeast)
2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp paprika

Jamie Oliver's "Pukkolla" Muesli + Enchilada Style Burritos Again!

No need to cook this delicious breakfast! I got this muesli recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook "The Naked Chef Takes Off" and I adapted it to be vegan by subbing rice milk for the cow's milk. It only required stirring up the dry ingredients (oats, bran, dried fruit, nuts) the night before, portioning out a bowl, adding grated apple, rice milk and storing in the fridge. Next day I added more rice milk, some banana, cinnamon and I had myself a nutritious breakfast. Try it, you'll like it. Today it worked very well for me because after a long dog walk in the sun, I wanted a cool breakfast, not a hot one. The recipe happens to be posted online here. (I didn't have dates so I used both dark and sultana raisins in mine!)


I enjoyed my breakfast on the patio in the backyard. Was wonderful...


Buster relaxing after a long walk.



I was craving a burrito and lately when it comes to burritos, I've been turning to this "enchilada style" quinoa/bean/veg burrito every time! I do change up the veg or beans depending what's on hand. Today I had spinach and pinto beans. These always come out good. I'm much happier to use quinoa instead of rice as it has a better nutritional content. It's got protein, fiber, iron AND calcium! The topping I used today was tomato sauce flavored with chipotle chili powder and a vegenaise/lime juice drizzle on top. I really like the creaminess of it which reminds me of sour cream. Recipe for burritos here. Feel free to change up the veggies or use a different style of bean.


Here's the filling of quinoa, pintos, spinach and tomatoes. I used canned tomatoes that I accidentally forgot to drain the juice from so this was a little more wet than normal. But still very good.


Oh yeah.