The Ordinary Vegan - Earth Balance Buttery Popcorn

Now for those of my readers in the USA, you may be wondering why I have never mentioned Earth Balance products before and my UK readers are probably wondering why this would be on TOV and not on Vegan Vox Reviews. Well my vegan friends, here are the answers.

US readers, here in the UK we do not have access to these wonderful vegan products by Earth Balance which is why I have never featured them before. UK readers, this is not a special product I have been sent for review...I found these at Tesco!! In large Tesco stores at the moment they are trialling American vegan, gluten-free and free-from products. I am hoping if they sell well they may become a regular feature so grab them whilst they are hot!

This huge 170g bag of Earth Balance Buttery Popcorn is labelled as vegan, gluten-free, is non-GMO and contains no trans fats.

They taste buttery and rich and how I remember non-vegan butter popcorn tasting. I was so excited to see these in Tesco. They sell for around £2 and they also had by Earth Balance: Sea Salt Kettle Chips, Peanut Butter Popcorn and Peanut Butter spreads.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Vox Reviews...Meridian Nut Butters

Recently, I was lucky enough to be sent some delicious jars of Meridian nut butters to sample for my blog and I couldn't wait to share them with you. I love the range Meridian have, they do not use any palm oil in their nut and seed butters, they only contain natural ingredients and they have an organic range available as well. I was sent a jar of their Smooth Cashew Butter, Smooth Peanut Butter and Smooth Almond Butter. 

My favourite was the almond butter, it was delicious spread on crackers, bagels and as an ingredient in my homemade almond and oat cookies. It uses roasted almonds and this really brings out the flavour of the nuts.

The peanut butter was salty and smooth, just right for toast and I used some a in stir fry sauce with tahini, soy sauce, chilli and ginger.

And finally the cashew butter, which I used in some flapjacks, on bagels, and in some protein balls. It was lovely. Mild taste and a lovely natural sweetness. Goes really well with coconut flavours in baking.

Meridian's butters only use nuts and seeds and contain no added ingredients, they are high in protein and they never use palm oil. They are suitable for vegans, vegetarians and are gluten-free, soya-free and GMO-free. They come in smooth and crunchy varieties and are perfect on their own or as an ingredient in vegan recipes, savoury and sweet. Meridian nut and seed butters are available at selected Sainsbury's, Ocado, Holland and Barrett, Tesco, Morrisons and independent health food shops and start at around £2.30 a jar. There is a link to stockists on their website.

Have you tried any of the Meridian Foods Nut and Seed Butters? What are your favourites? What recipes do you use them in? Let me know in the comments below.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Mandarin Cheesecake

This week's recipe is perfect for a dinner party. You can make these the night before or in the morning and just decorate them before your guests arrive. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the Base:

8 digestive biscuits

55g vegan butter - I used hard Stork

1 Tbsp golden syrup

For the Filling:

100g icing sugar

1 tub Tofutti Cream Cheese - plain

1 small orange/tangerine

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp corn flour

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Tbsp almond milk

For the topping:

1 small tin of mandarins in juice, drained

Method:

Take the digestive biscuits, break them into quarters and put them into a food processor.

Pulse for around 20-30 seconds until crumbs.

Pour the biscuit crumbs into a mixing bowl.

Next, take the butter and golden syrup and warm over a low heat in a saucepan. Stir until melted and combined.

Pour the melted butter mixture into the mixing bowl with your digestive crumbs and stir to combine all of the mixture.

Take four deep ramekins and divide the mixture evenly between them. Press down with the back of a teaspoon until the mixture is firmly packed into the bottom of each dish.

Place the ramekins into the fridge for half an hour.

In a mixer bowl, place the icing sugar, vegan cream cheese, the zest and juice of a small orange, the vanilla extract, corn flour and almond milk. Warm up the coconut oil in a saucepan until liquid and add to the bowl. Starting off slowly with the whisk attachment, whisk the ingredients together until they are fully combined and a thick paste consistency.

Spoon the mixture into your chilled ramekins on top of your biscuit base. Smooth over the top and chill in the fridge for 5-8 hours or overnight.

Once chilled and set, remove the cheesecakes from the fridge and drain a small tin of mandarins.

Lay the mandarins on top of each cheesecake in an overlapping circle with a small mandarin piece in the centre.

Eat straight away or return to the fridge until ready to eat.

Eat and enjoy!

If you enjoyed this recipe, please share it with your friends and comment below. Click here to see more of my recipes.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Coconut, Maple & Cherry Flapjacks

Flapjacks are a great quick bake when you fancy something sweet, and you usually have all of the ingredients in your store cupboard anyway. If not, the great thing about flapjacks is that you can chop and change the ingredients to taste. If you don't like cherries, swap for another fruit or nuts.

You will need:

115g Vegan Butter

115g Brown Sugar

220g Rolled Oats

3 Tbsp Golden Syrup - Maple Flavour (or use Maple syrup but this is runnier and doesn't hold together as well)

60g Dried Cherries or Glace Cherries (make sure they are vegan-friendly as some contain E120)

35g Desicated Coconut

Frylight

Greaseproof paper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan.

Spray two shallow cake tins or baking tins with Frylight. You can use melted butter instead of Frylight, if you prefer.

Melt the butter, golden syrup and sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until combined.

In a mixing bowl place the oats, cherries and coconut and stir together. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour in your melted butter mixture. Stir well until all of the dry ingredients have been coated in the butter mixture.

Spoon the combined mixture into the tins equally and level out with a pallet knife or the back of a spoon.

Bake in the centre of the oven for around 18 minutes until golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven, cut straight away into slices and leave to cool in the tins.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Eat and Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this recipe, click here to see more of my vegan recipes.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Batchelors Super Pasta 'n' Sauce

The Ordinary Vegan for those new to the blog, is a weekly feature every Monday, sharing an ordinary supermarket or high street product, which just happens to be vegan. This week, is the turn of Batchelors Super Pasta'n'Sauce. The Tomato, Onion & Herb flavour is one of three vegan flavours, and this is sold at most supermarkets, grocery stores and corner shops. The other vegan flavours are Tomato & Mediterranean Veg and Tomato & Basil.

It is a dried packet meal, to which you add boiling water and a knob of vegan butter, and then cook on the hob or in the microwave. The meal takes around 10 minutes to make and is a good base to add other veggies, I often add a handful of olives, mushrooms or just grate some vegan cheese over and cracked black pepper. It serves one person as a meal or two as a side dish.

Alternatively sprinkle with chopped nuts, seeds or a little vegan parmesan. These packets are good to take travelling, camping, to work or just to keep in the cupboard for when you haven't got the time or energy to make a sauce from scratch. 

If home cooking is more your thing, come back tomorrow as every Tuesday is a brand new vegan Recipe of the Week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx