Vegan Vox Reviews...Vive Soy

A couple of weeks ago the lovely people at Vive Soy sent me a mixed crate to sample and review. The range of soy milks is great with Vanilla, Unsweetened, Chocolate, Light, Sweetened and Cappuccino flavours available. The milks are fortified with calcium and vitamins A & D and are suitable for vegans.

I decided to experiment with the different milks so I could recommend the perfect partner for the milk.

Here are my findings:

Vanilla

The Vanilla flavour is a perfect partner to coffee, cereal, smoothies and for baking cupcakes, Victoria sponge and rock cakes. I also used to make custard.

Unsweetened

The unsweetened is great for savoury dishes, such as creamy soups, curries, cheese-style sauces, pie fillings and for brushing on pastry before baking.

Chocolate

The chocolate is delicious straight from the carton in a tall glass with ice, but is also nice with cookies, for baking chocolate cakes and biscuits and in a hot chocolate.

Light

The light is great in tea and coffee, in smoothies and on cereal. Also good in soups and sauces.

Sweetened 

This is perfect in tea and coffee, milkshakes, smoothies and baking any desserts. Also tastes delicious on cereal.

Cappuccino

This is milky iced coffee in a carton. Just pour over ice and drink or add to coffee and walnut cake batter.

If you haven't tried any of the Vive Soy range, then give them a whirl. Hopefully I have given you some inspiration for different ways to use soy milk in your kitchen.

Vive Soy is available in most major supermarkets and health food stores and retails for around £1.25.

What is your favourite soy milk brand and you most inventive way of adding it into your cooking and meals?

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Linda McCartney Sausage Rolls

Hi, Vegan Vox is back from a week off and raring to go! For this week's TOV I'm sharing a great quick baked snack, ideal for lunchboxes, parties and a quick easy lunch.

Linda McCartney vegetarian sausage rolls are sold in the frozen section of many supermarkets and Holland & Barrett. They are priced at around £2 for 6 rolls. They are free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives and are labelled as vegan-friendly on the front of the box too. 

They are so simple to make, just place on a baking tray, brush with a little vegan milk and bake in a preheated oven until browned.

They colour well and puff up nicely when baked. They can be cut into quarters to make mini sausage rolls for children or for finger buffets.

What is your favourite Linda McCartney vegan-friendly product? Let me know in the comments below.

If home cooking from scratch is more your thing, please pop back tomorrow for a brand new Vegan Recipe of the Week!

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 - 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 - Inside a vegan kitchen

Many new vegans or those contemplating becoming vegan wonder if you need to buy lots of new products or fancy equipment in order to live a vegan lifestyle. So this week's The Ordinary Vegan is a bit different. I am going to show you around my kitchen!

Let me start by saying that the only thing you need in a vegan kitchen is a good chopping board, a set of good knives, a cooker and lots of fresh vegetables, fruit, grains, seeds, pulses, herbs and spices. Everything else is a choice. I love kitchen gadgets and so have more than most, but I spend most of my time in the kitchen making food, photographing food or writing about it!

These are my store cupboard essentials:

A range of oils, spices, vinegars, seasonings, nutritional yeast and stock cubes.

A range of tinned produce, vegetables, beans, lentils, chopped tomatoes and a quick veggie chilli if I'm feeling too tired to cook.

I have a savoury and sweet snack cupboard with naughty vegan treats in like nuts, crisps, crackers and biscuits.

A huge pile of cookbooks for meal ideas and inspiration. These don't need to be vegan cookbooks, many recipes can be easily adapted for a vegan diet.

In my fridge, I always have some non-dairy milk and butter, usually some vegan cheese, salad and lots of sauces. There is usually a tub of leftovers in the fridge for a quick lunch and some Jus-Rol pastry for quick and easy pies. Ooh, there's always a bar of dark chocolate in my fridge for when only dark chocolate will do!

In my freezer, I always have my own vegan ready meals. I always cook in large batches and freeze portions for after a hard day at work. You will often find some dairy-free ice-cream, homemade bread rolls and a few vegan burgers or sausages in my freezer too along with some frozen vegetables.

Moving onto my kitchen gadgets. I have a blender for soups, smoothies and sauces. A radio to listen to whilst I'm cooking and washing up! :-)

A food processor for breadcrumbs, pesto, salsas, chopping nuts, seeds, onions, and to use in baking. 

A bread machine. I love my bread machine and I make all of my own pizza bases, bread rolls and loaves. Often I use the dough setting to do all of the kneading and mixing and proving and then bake in the oven for a lovely finish.

 A pestle and mortar - I use this to grind herbs and spices, make dips and grind seeds and nuts.

 The slow cooker is great for casseroles, soups, curries, stews and marinades.

Finally, a mixer. I do a lot of vegan baking in my kitchen and a good mixer makes light work of it!

I hope you have enjoyed the tour around my kitchen. If you love cooking and trying new recipes come back tomorrow for a brand new recipe of the week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx