Going vegan......old style?!

Have just finished the indexing and noticed that a few recipes I thought I had posted here aren't there at all - must have imagined it! I shall remedy this now:

Butterbean soup
This was originally posted by fedupandskint on weezl74's 50p a day part 2 but is so creamily good that I must re-post it.

250g dried butter beans
125g pearl barley (give or take this amount depending how much you have I used 90g) [i used pot barley]
2 parsnips
3 carrots
1 onion
parsley (if you have it in the fridge, garden or want to buy it)
bayleaf (again if you have one fresh or dried)
500g potatoes
2-2.5L vegetable stock (either HM or bouillon)
1tbsp caster sugar

Soak the beans and barley overnight. After this remove the butterbean from the outer skins.
Chop all the vegetables and parsley finely. Put everything in a large pan. Bring to the boil and reduce heat and simmer for 2hrs. Stir every now or then if it looks like it's sticking
It can get a bit thick so you might need to add more water/stock to thin out slightly.
Season to taste.


Mushroom and Ale Pie (serves 4-6)
My OH's mum made this for me when I first went there after going vegan. I was totally impressed and have made it myself a bunch of times since then.

1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped,
1 lb leeks, sliced
1 lb mushrooms, chopped
1/2 bottle ale (or more)
soy sauce
1 tsp yeast extract
1 oz flour
1/2 tblsp sugar
1/4 lb peas
salt and pepper
pastry for pie top (either homemade or jus-rol)

Preheat oven to Gas 7. Saute onions til soft. Add garlic and leeks, cook til softened.
Add mushrooms, dash of soy sauce, sugar & yeast extract.
When juices start to run, add the flour to make a roux then slowly stir in the ale - you may need a little more to make enough sauce.
Bring to a boil, add the peas then simmer for 4 minutes adding more ale/water if necessary.
Pour into a pie dish, top with pastry and cook til top is nice and golden.


Banana and walnut cake
My favouite cake on earth!

2 tblsp flax seeds, ground
3 bananas, mashed
300g self-raising flour
150g margarine
150g brown sugar
80g chopped walnuts
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C. Grease a large cake tin (I've used a loaf tin or a round one and either works well).
Place the ground flax seeds in a small bowl. Add 6 tblsp water, mix well then set aside til the mixture is all gelatinous.
In a large mixing bowl cream the marg and sugar.
Stir in the mashed bananas and walnuts.
Pour in the flax seed goo and stir well.
Mix in the flour then lastly stir in the lemon juice, oil and baking powder.
Pour into a tin and bake for about 45 minutes until golden and cooked through.