Courgette and pepper soup

I know the weather is dropping in temperature when i start making soup. I had a lot of courgettes and peppers needing using and found this recipe on the internet. Usually i just whizz up soup when it's cooked but with this one i liquidised just the onion, garlic and celery halfway, keeping the pepper smally diced and the courgette grated. This made it a bit different to soups i've made previously and i enjoyed the warming tastiness.

Gluten free squash bread

It's been some time since i've tried making gluten free bread...previous attempts have not encouraged me to repeat my efforts! Though with the painful memories fading (!!), i felt it was time to give it another go. So i made g/f squash bread from Gillian McKeith's You Are What You Eat cookbook. I'd not yet been impressed with any of the recipes i've made from this book and with very few ingredients (butternut squash, g/f flour, baking powder & olive oil), my expectations weren't high. Yet it turned out surprisingly well! I tried the bread still warm from the oven, just adding a little marg and happily munched through quite a large amount of it! It has a lovely colour which only really shows up in the photo i took of it upside down. I had a chunk the next day with some re-heated tomatoey tofu stir fry leftovers and really enjoyed the combination. Definitely one to make again i reckon.

Eating for World Vegan Day!

As it was World Vegan Day yesterday, the vegan meal group i sometimes eat out with (they meet once a month in the Brighton area) had decided to have a meal at VBites, the vegan cafe at Hove lagoon. Any excuse to eat celebratory vegan food sounds a mighty fine idea to me so i was more than happy to go along! I'd actually e-mailed them before going about gluten free options and they very helpfully sent me a list of options, such as many of the salads, the bean tacos, etc... I decided to go for the sweet potato green Thai curry with crunchy oriental vegetables and basmati rice. I took the photo of my meal after i'd already started eating as i got so excited tucking into the food i almost forgot about taking a photo altogether! I very much enjoyed the curry, i liked the chunkiness of the vegetables and the way they still had some crunch to them. The flavour was nice and it went very well with the rice. There was a large group of us at the cafe (possibly about 25?) , we took over half of the place! A few people managed cakes (there was a g/f option but i was full from my main course) and they looked very good indeed, plus the feedback from the cake eaters matched this. It's so great to be able to eat at VBites knowing that everything on the menu is vegan. I had a lovely evening there with a great group of people.

Lush support Hunt Sabs

Lush are currently selling this Fabulous Mrs Fox Bubble Bar to raise money for the Hunt Saboteurs Association...go treat yourself or a friend whilst helping them! (would make a great xmas pressie i reckon!)

The hunting act in 2004 outlawed the chasing and killing of foxes with packs of dogs. Unfortunately there has been widespread breaking of the law by foxhunts and the law is not enforced by courts. The hunt sabs are volunteers who take non-violent direct action to save animals in danger.

Fantastic vegan spread

Here's a selection of some of the food that was at the most recent Vegan Cake & Chocolate Appreciation Society meeting i went to. We meet once a month in the Brighton area, anyone is welcome, they just have to bring vegan food. This time we met in Shoreham by Sea with around 15 people, a really friendly mix of people with a fantastic variety of food! There was coffee & walnut cake, chocolate muffins, shortbread, g/f nuts about chocolate cake, chocolate dipped strawberries, pumpkin seed bread, sweet rice salad, pies, anti pasta kebabs, curry, g/f lentil roast, soup, welsh rarebit, crisps, salads and more. The nuts about chocolate cake was AMAZING! It made me think of chocolate gateaux and like a gateaux it was incredibly moist which i've found can be missing in many gluten free cakes. Rachel the cake maker informed me that one of the ingredients was courgette which really surprised me! Another great cake meeting with a great group of people and wonderful food.

No effort food!

Lazy food was the aim of the day! Both Jon and i were feeling run down and just couldn't be arsed to do any cooking! So we decided to treat ourselves to some microwave curries from Infinity Foods in Brighton. We had Great Nineveh Malaysian split pea curry with roasted beetroot, along with Chaula's aloo mutter potato peas in a mildly spiced sauce plus a bag of Co-op's microwave basmati rice.

I'm uncertain if i've ever eaten Malaysian food before. I have to confess that i generally only eat beetroot when it's pickled out of a jar! Initially i found the roasted beetroot in the curry a little odd but i think this was just because it was a new flavour to me. The more i ate, the more i enjoyed it, the curry was very tasty and was easily the best of the two curries. The aloo mutter curry was nice but nothing special, it wasn't helped by sharing a plate with the Malaysian curry which was especially good for a ready meal.

Chunky oven baked ratatouille and pasta

Roast vegetable & tofu ratatouille with gluten free pasta. Unfortunately this meal was a bit of a disappointment. The roast vegetables really needed more flavour added (i'd used lemon juice, dried basil, black pepper and olive oil) and i think if i was to use tofu for this meal again i'd probably use one that was flavoured or marinate it before adding it to the roast. I used two types of pasta (vegetable rice spirals and corn & vegetable shells), they were the same make (Orgran) and the same length of time to cook, so i cooked them in the same saucepan. Mistake! The spirals softened far quicker than the shells and so by the time the shells were cooked, the spirals were soggy! Definitely room for improvement if i cook this meal again!

Gluten free lentil tastiness!

Now i have to admit that lentil roast doesn't exactly sound the most exciting food..admittedly i'm not always the biggest fan of lentils but this was really very tasty and pretty easy to make. It's from Liz Cook's 'So What Do You Eat' cookbook (the ingredients are olive oil, 350g red lentils, 25g marg, 4tbs lemon juice, 4tbs tamari, 4tsp cumin powder and stuffing: 2 large onions, 4 cloves garlic, 100g mushrooms, 100g wholewheat breadcrumbs, 1tsp dried sage, bunch fresh parsley), only i didn't have any sage, used dried parsley instead of fresh and replaced the wholewheat breadcrumbs with Orgran all purpose crumbs. This was the first time i've used these crumbs and was really pleased with the result. Using them meant that the entire dinner was gluten free. I served it with roast potatoes, roast vegetables, stir-fried spinach and balsamic mushroom & onion gravy. Jon who usually has something wheaty with his meal and mostly avoids lentils said he enjoyed this and would even have it again..he seemed surprised by this! Definitely a successful meal!

Ballistic BBQ!

I've just stayed for a week in a place called Verwood with Jon. Not only were we lucky enough to have the company of three fantastic dogs, we also had use of a lovely garden(i have to confess to sometimes getting garden envy when i see other people's gardens!) We made full use of this by having two BBQ's whilst we were there..it's been a while since i've had BBQ food...wow this tasted good! On the BBQ we skewered marinated tofu and mixed vegetables, along with burgers and a sausage for Jon. Served with potato salad and a teeny bit of green salad (as we had run out!) My burger in between slices of toasted g/f bread, with sliced pickle, marg, ketchup and a tofutti slice...i would very much love to be eating it all again right now!

Vegan wheat free roast dinner spendidness!

I recently decided to try and return to a wheat free diet (it seems to benefit my stomach) As you can see from previous posts, i've not been sticking to this so well recently! I got rather excited when Jon offered to cook us a roast dinner but this changed to disappointment when i found my g/f burger was covered in mould...Noooo! I've gotten used to living where it's pretty easy to buy the food i want but we were staying in a place called Verwood, not near anywhere selling wheat free vegan burgers! Luckily there was a block of tofu in the fridge, Jon had the idea of cutting it into squares & marinating it to give it lots of flavour, then later on frying it. Turned out surprisingly tasty, along with crispy roast spuds, broccoli & peas, roast veg..all covered in gravy. Deeelicious!

(Top photo is Jon's dinner with the wheatybadness of a burger & sausage! Below picture is my divine wheat free dinner!)

Cooked brekkie delight!

Beans on toast, sausage, hash browns, fried mushrooms with herbs, rashers, fried tomatoes...the tomatoes were a bit burnt but i still enjoyed them, along everything else on my plate. This was my dinner...way too big to have as an actual breakfast.

Summer food in September :)

Potato salad, green leafy salad with pepper, mushrooms, etc.. and a Redwoods schnitzel. Made by Jon..all the flavours went really well together and i enjoyed every bite!

fizzy vegan

cola bottles discovered at the london vegan festival from the veganstore..i never knew vegan ones existed! well i say 'discovered', more directed to the stall by someone who had spotted them! i loved fizzy sweets when i was a kid and was pretty excited knowing i'd be able to have them again after so many years. these seem the same as how i remember them, soft and a bit chewy with that nice fizziness on the outside.

Tofutastic!

This is a great meal my boyfriend cooks for us, he originally got the idea for it when he was eating out and thought 'i could make this'..i would have to agree, only his is better! Balsamic roasted vegetables (onion, garlic, pepper, carrot, courgette, mushrooms, celery) with dried parsley, black pepper and this time he added strips of beech smoked tofu. He had his veg in tortilla wraps, mine in taco shells (so my dinner was wheat free) with a layer of houmous. With oven chips and salad, so it's a pretty easy meal. One of the great things is it fulfills any chip cravings but you're still getting vegetables and salad in you! The different flavours work incredibly well together. I was left with a very contented belly and felt very satisfied indeed!

Fudge cookie bites

I was really excited when i spotted boxes of Nana's fudge cookie bites (vegan, gluten free, no refined sugar) in Holland & Barrett as i'm a huge fan of their no wheat chocolate chip cookies. Expensive at £2.99 for 5 cookies, i couldn't resist trying them. They are moist and very light which is good as i tend to find gluten free dough can be dry and heavy. Not the most exciting flavour though, could definitely do with something like icing just to vary the taste. They're small but dull and i won't be bothering with them again....boring!

Vbites

Eating a takeaway hotdog and chips on a picnic bench in the sun...sigh! I feel so lucky having Vbites (a 100% vegan cafe) a walk along the beach from me and i love having the option of being able to eat outside. The hotdog was in a wholemeal roll which i really liked, the contents were enjoyably moist and i felt extremely satisfied when finished. YUM!

London Vegan Festival

I had a great day at the London Vegan Festival, we were only planning to drop by for a bit and then head onto a museum but ended up spending a lot of the day there. Just walking in the place is fantastic...it truly is vegan utopia! So great looking around knowing that every item of food you can see is vegan, making me hungry thinking about it now! Lovely too knowing that the people around you are all vegan/vegetarian or probably at least interested. When i arrived i was soooo hungry that i couldn't possibly pass the Redwoods stall without trying lots of their tasters...ok it does taste very processed but there's times i really enjoy this sort of food. We continued our wandering, seemingly bumping into all the vegans i know from Brighton! Definitely a good day for catching up with people i'd not seen for a bit, a lot of whom were as excited as by all the amazing looking food! I got a rainforest box from the Rainforest Creations stall...now i'm not a big salad fan but i love their food. The box contained spinach flan, sprouted chickpea hummus and an incredible range of vegetables, seeds, etc..i enjoyed every mouthful, sitting in the sun outside eating it and felt stuffed after! Returning to the hall i saw so many stalls with fantastic looking cakes but there was no way i could eat any more at the time. Later on though i got some chocolate gateaux from the Vegan Store, a large slice for only £1...every bite was a delight! I ended up leaving the festival with a tofu monster t-shirt, cream egg, fizzy cola bottles , newest animal free shopper, beautiful fox magnet...and a very satisfied feeling.

Amazing chocolate treats...

I have to admit to getting rather excited when i received this package of chocolates from The Chocolate Wendy House! All the different shiny coloured wrappers with the heart and egg shapes...they looked almost too good to eat! I managed to get over this though(!), only of course because i'm dedicated to doing reviews for this blog(hmm...!) The eggs have a creamy white and yellow filling...i enjoyed this creaminess (so nice to be able to get this in vegan food) and i didn't find it too sweet (though you wouldn't want one after the other!..one is just right) Scooping out the cream filling with my tongue was particularly satisfying!

The heart was made of crumbly chocolate..it reminded me of an aero bar (the way it looked inside along with the crumbliness), though it's been so many years since i've had one my comparison may be very inaccurate!

The top photo is my cat Brian attacking the chocolates when they arrived...he's got a thing about plastic!
Bottom photo is the insides of an egg...Mmmmm

(http://www.chocolatewendyhouse.co.uk/)

Beetroot cake

I had strong chocolate cravings but i struggled to find a shop open that was selling vegan chocolate. Luckily i caught Iydea (Vegetarian kitchen, vegan food labelled...Kensington Gardens, Brighton) just before it closed. No chocolate but a few vegan cake options (when life's tough you make do!) I decided to go for the beetrooty cake, bit of an odd choice as i'm usually only a fan of beetroot when it's pickled in jars (i'm a classy lass me!) but i fancied trying something new. There was some heat to it which i was a bit unsure about but i liked the walnuts in it which gave the cake a varied texture. Very moist which i enjoyed, it reminded me of fruit cake with an added interesting flavour. Unsure i'd have it again but i'll definitely revisit the fantastic Iydea!

bertie

don't mess with the bug!

chocolate and chewiness

i always love eating vegan food i've not had before. so i had to try these chunkies which are a jerky-style soya snack. the teriyaki flavour is nice but not the most exciting taste and by the end of the pack they were a bit samey. despite that, i did enjoy the chewiness and liked the feeling of really getting my teeth into them. they're not cheap at £1.19 for a little (30g) bag but considering the quantity i did feel like i'd eaten something substantial when i'd finished them. it's great to have the choice of a savoury vegan treat which is also wheat free. (i found these in taj, old steine, brighton)

after the savoury, onto something sweet!...the organica coverture bar. it's so great having the option of vegan chocolate that is creamy and yet not at all sickly. i loved every mouthful of this, the texture felt so good , plus i like how clearly it's labelled vegan. organica seem to be a very ethical company, this bar contains 77% ingredients derived from Third World ethical trading projects, the paper wrapper has been recycled...you simply can't feel bad when you're eating it, how fantastic! ( from infinity foods, north road, brighton. they do a range of these bars there)

loving a roast the most!

There is something incredibly satisfying about a good roast dinner and what a particularly fine example of this meal my boyfriend Jon produces! There were of course the essential roast spuds along with roasted veg (parsnips, pepper, onion, courgette, carrot, mushrooms, garlic), steamed peas&sweetcorn, balsamic vinegar gravy and for me a beany tofu burger (my dinner was g/f, jon had wheaty burgers & sausage) Unfortunately these photos really don't do the food justice...the meal was quite simply magnificent!