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

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Slow Cooker Sausage & Bean Casserole

This week's recipe is another slow cooker recipe, great for these colder evenings and so simple to make. 

(serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

4 vegan sausages - I used Vegetarians Choice

1 onion

1 carrot

1 potato

4 mushrooms

1 pepper (or small cup of frozen peas)

200ml vegan stock

1 400g tin baked beans

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp mixed herbs

Salt 

Pepper

1 tbsp oil

Method:

Peel and chop all of the vegetables into small slices/cubes. 

Pour the oil into a large frying pan and heat, once hot add the onions and sausages and fry for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Break the sausages into quarters in the pan and add the rest of the vegetables. 

                                  

Fry for a further 5 minutes and then add the stock, beans and herbs/seasoning.

                                 

                                                   

Bring the mixture to the boil and then pour into your slow cooker.

                                            

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring halfway through cooking time if possible.

                                       

Serve with fresh homemade crusty bread rolls.

                                    

                                    

                                   

Eat and Enjoy!

      

      

       

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Slow Cooker Leek and Potato Soup

Now we are well into autumn and nothing is better than piping hot slow cooked soup. I make this soup in my slow cooker and leave it cooking all day. You can prepare the vegetables the evening before if you like and then put it together in the morning before work. By the time you are back from work you will have lovely warming soup to greet you.

Here's what you need:

Serves 3

1 leek
1 onion
1 potato
1 carrot
1 red pepper (optional)
1 clove of garlic (or a teaspoon of Lazy Garlic)
2 stock cubes in 750ml boiling water
dash of vegan Worcester sauce (or Henderson's Relish)
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp dried chives
3 tbsp soy milk
salt and pepper to taste

First wash, peel and chop all of the vegetables into small bite-size chunks.

Next make up the stock in a jug using boiling water and two stock cubes.

Place the vegetables into the slow cooker with the root veggies at the bottom as they take longer to cook.

Next add the garlic, herbs, sauce and seasoning.

 Then pour over the stock, stir, cover and cook on low for around 8 hours.

After 8 hours, stir again and add the soy milk. Stir this into the soup and turn the heat off.

If you have a hand blender you can blend the soup to your liking or wait for the soup to cool for 15 minutes and add it half at a time to a jug blender. Pulse until at a consistency you like.

You can then serve straight away with some warm bread and vegan butter (perfect!) or freeze in foil containers for another day.

This soup keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days and can be frozen for 3 months. Just take it out of the freezer as you leave for work in the morning to defrost and warm it on the stove when you get home. Simple and easy!

Eat and Enjoy!

For a round up of my weekend at Vegfest London, come back to the blog on Thursday for Vegan Vox Reviews.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx