Vegan Recipe of the Week - Guest Recipe from Little Miss Meat-Free

For the first Vegan Recipe of the new year, I am very honoured to have a contribution from Little Miss Meat-Free (aka Katy). Katy is a passionate vegan home cook who enjoys creating dishes for family and friends. She also shares vegan recipes on the blog Little Miss Meat-Free. After living in south London for a few years, she has now returned to Yorkshire. You'll find Katy driving around in her beloved 'Mini' or baking a cake in her small kitchen. 

Katy's blog can be found at:

 

http://littlemissmeatfree.blogspot.co.uk

or you can follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Lilmissmeatfree

Borlotti Bean Bake with Winter Herb Dumplings

Nothing beats the aroma of winter herbs baking in the oven. Team this with seasonal vegetables and savoury borlotti beans for a true ‘comfort-food’ experience. Serve straight from the oven with fresh crusty bread.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the bake:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large potatoes, cubed

1 onion, chopped finely

3 carrots, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

3 celery sticks, chopped

400ml water

1 tin Borlotti beans, drained and rinsed

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp salt

½ black pepper

For the dumplings:

200g white plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried sage

½ tsp dried rosemary

½ tsp thyme

250ml soya milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. In a large casserole dish, add the oil, potatoes, onion, carrots, garlic and celery and cook over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
3. Pour in the water and Borlotti beans. Stir in the cornstarch. Add the paprika, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt and black pepper and cook for 3 minutes.
4. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
5. In the meantime, prepare the dumplings. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sage, rosemary and thyme in a bowl. Make a well and stir in the soya milk until it forms a thick dough.
6. Place tablespoon sized amounts of the dumpling dough on top of the casserole. Place the lid on the casserole dish and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Little Miss Meat-Free

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For more of my recipes, click here.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Pringles

The Ordinary Vegan is a weekly section of the blog which looks at ordinary supermarket and high-street products which happen to be vegan-friendly.

Now, when you think of vegan food, Pringles may not be at the top of your list, but these make a great snack to take to a party, when at the cinema or at a bar, which often sell the small snack size tubes. When there isn't much choice of vegan snacks such as in a pub, Pringles can be a quick fix. Not all Pringles flavours are vegan, but the great thing about Pringles is that they label all of their vegan and vegetarian varieties on the side of the tube, so it's really easy to see which varieties are suitable. Pringles are sold in all supermarkets, most newsagents and food shops in the UK for around £1.50-£2.00 for a large tube.

As well as their regular flavours, Pringles often bring out seasonal editions and limited editions for sporting events or Christmas. For example, last month they brought out two Christmas varieties of sweet Pringles, one of which was vegan - Sweet Cinnamon flavour. I was sent a tube of these in my December UK Vegan Food Swap box, however, I found the flavour very strange. It was like sugar and cinnamon on a ready salted crisp?!! Very odd indeed, but fun to try new vegan food out.

Some flavours which are currently labelled as vegan are:

Smokey Bacon

Original

Texas BBQ

Paprika

Sweet Cinnamon

Some vegans choose to boycott Pringles as they used to be owned by P&G, which as a parent company do test on animals, although Pringles themselves are not tested on animals, and the vegan varieties do not contain any animal ingredients. As of May 2012, Pringles are currently owned by Kellogg's. This is a quote from the Kellogg's website:

 "The Kellogg Company does not commission any research involving animal testing."

This is an ethical choice, and you have to consider that most shops and companies you buy from have some products which contain animal ingredients or are tested on animals. I believe that by buying vegan products from everyday non-vegan companies and supermarkets, we are showing these companies that there is a demand for cruelty-free products and this may encourage them to produce more vegan items and examine their other practices to make their other products appeal to vegetarians and vegans.

If you prefer wholesome, home-cooked vegan food, made from scratch, come back tomorrow for a very special Guest Vegan Recipe of the Week from Little Miss Meat-Free.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Mr Vox's Vegan Challenge Update

It's been over a month now since Mr Vox started his Go Vegan Challenge and he is back as a guest blogger today to let us all know how he got on and whether he has taken the decision to stay vegan for life...

Vegan Challenge Conclusion by Mr. Vox

I am now at the end of the Vegan Challenge, which has been interesting and challenging.

I have enjoyed my time doing this challenge as it has made me look more into my food and what I'm eating, I have had to substitute or alter what I would normally eat with a vegan option or omit it altogether.

I managed to get hold of some Veganic Pizza Cheese not long after the first blog post and that was the cheese that didn't work for me when I used it but I thought I would give it another try and do something different with it. So I made Quesadillias with the cheese in a griddle pan and they turned out great! The cheese melted similar to cow's cheese and tasted fine with some flavour.

I started using vanilla flavoured soy milk in my tea and coffee and it made them have a subtle hint in the drink, which was very nice and it also allowed me to cut down on my sugar. I still have a couple of different milks at home to try so I am looking forward to trying them when I get the chance. I am also going to (when I need to) buy milks from different sources, like oat, and see what works with what where milk is needed. I also tried this yummy Alpro Soya Chocolate Pudding.

In conclusion this was an eye opening experience to what I'm putting in and on my body and I'm feeling better for it even though I am still getting used to the dairy substitutes, but that was the same when I became vegetarian and I don't really remember how meat was at all so I think it will pass in time. Oh and I'm staying Vegan :)

Mr Vox

Here are some of the foods I've eaten during the challenge:

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Mr Vox's Vegan Challenge Update

Those of you who regularly read my blog will know that my hubby, Mr Vox, has taken the November Vegan Month Challenge to try being fully vegan for one month. He is just over half way through his challenge and has written a guest post for us today to let you know how he is getting on! Over to Mr Vox...

VVx

My Vegan Challenge - Halfway Through

When November came I was already 80% vegan as my wife (Vegan Vox) is vegan and most of the food I ate was already vegan. This happened when I went vegetarian, I was only eating meat when I went out to eat and ate veggie when at home and the same has happened from vegetarian to vegan.

Over the past 11 months, since my wife went vegan, I have tried a lot of different vegan foods, mainly trying substitutes, I haven't really liked many of them so far, I can tolerate it if it's there but not necessarily choose to have it, so I haven't been eating much 'cheese' if any and I'm still toying with milk and what kind works where.

So lets move onto milk. I have found two chocolate milks I really like, coconut and almond. I am struggling with milk for cereal, for me plain soy, even the sweetened one, isn't cutting it. For my tea and coffee the soy milk is okay, but I think I need something a bit tastier and I've heard that almond milk is great for tea and coffee.

Cheese, cheese, cheese! It's all about finding great cheese, this is what I have struggled with the most. Mainly I've tried Vegusto cheeses and some are okay and some not, the Piquant is my favourite as that is the one I can tolerate as a cheese to put in a sandwich etc. I sort of like the 'Melty Moo' that they do but it's not very melty, it seems to have a kind of skin when it's heated but it is soft inside so spreading might help. The Tofutti herb cream cheese is very nice to spread on crackers etc. I have missed my pizzas and toasted sandwiches/paninis a lot since the start of the Vegan Challenge, I know there is a pizza cheese around and I think we tried it once but it didn't work so I am not sure if we were doing anything wrong!

Toiletries... I have been more aware of now as a lot are not suitable for vegans and contain milk, honey etc, so checking ingredients on toiletries as well as food is more important to me as a vegan as many items are vegan but don't state that they are.

I feel I am more open to trying new ingredients and foods as I was still quite afraid of trying new types of food even as a vegetarian as it was easy to just have things without meat, so I stuck to cheese and tomato pizzas, veggie burgers that are made with cheese and quick food like cheese on toast were always go to foods for a quick fix.

I have enjoyed trying new foods so far this month during the challenge and I am excited about trying more alternatives out over the rest of the month. Please let me know in the comments below your suggestions for good milk and cheese alternatives. I will be trying Vegg out in the next two weeks too. If you are on the challenge too, please let me know how you are finding it in the comments also. I will be back at the end of the month and let you know how the challenge has progressed. 

Here are some of the foods I have eaten this month so far...

Big Vegan Love,

Mr Vox

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Chocolate Cheesecake by Vanessa Almeida

This week's VROTW is not one of mine, it is from the Essential Vegan Cookbook by Vanessa Almeida. Vanessa kindly sent me a guest recipe for my blog and I will be reviewing her book on this Thursday's Vegan Vox Reviews.

Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Base
• 13 vegan digestive biscuits crushed
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine melted
Filling
• 420g firm tofu
• 250g dark chocolate melted
• 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
mixed with 100ml water (blend it
together well to make a paste)
• 4 tbsp agave syrup
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 70g shredded almonds for topping

Method:

This “cheesecake” is so delicious that you won’t quite believe it’s vegan. A sophisticated dessert that melts in your mouth, it’s rich, chocolatey and rather heavenly. Indulge yourself!

Base

Grease an 8 inch round springform baking tray.

Crumble the biscuits in a food processor.

Mix it thoroughly with the melted margarine and spread the biscuit base mixture evenly across the baking tin, pressing it down firmly with your fingers.

Filling

Put the tofu in the food processor and blend it until smooth.

Add the rest of the ingredients one at a time and beat it until all the ingredients are nicely blended in.

Using a spatula pour the filling onto the base and sprinkle the chopped almonds on top of the cheesecake.

Cover with tin foil and place in the fridge overnight, or alternatively in the freezer for about 3 hours, before serving.

So a huge thanks to Vanessa for this week's recipe and if you want to see more of Vanessa's delights click here. For more of my recipes, click here. Come back on Thursday for a review of the book.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Recipe and photos used with permission from essentialvegan.co.uk/Vanessa Almeida (2013)