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

Vegan Recipe of the Week- Breakfast Ideas

This week is a slightly different version of the VROTW feature. So many people ask me what vegans can eat for breakfast other than porridge or cereal with soy milk, that I thought I'd do a breakfast feature to offer some inspiration.

Monday

Start the week off with a delicious Oat Bagel served with dairy-free butter, jam and a banana.

Tuesday

Bake some delicious fruit muffins with banana, nuts or cranberries and have a muffin and coffee.

Wednesday

Grab some delicious fresh organic fruit and a Nakd bar for breakfast on the run.

Thursday

Keep it simple with fresh granary toast and baked beans with a little brown sauce.

Friday

Make some Jus-Rol Croissants and take them in for your colleagues - Friday treat time!

Saturday

Try a vegan sausage and hash brown roll or VBites Bacon and hash brown roll with a glass of chocolate almond milk.

Sunday

Make it a Sunday Brunch with a full English, vegan sausage and bacon, mushrooms, hash browns, granary toast and baked beans.

Special Days - Anniversaries, Birthdays, Valentine's Day etc.

Treat the loved one in your life to delicious iced cinnamon rolls freshly baked and served in bed with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Perfect!

What are your favourite breakfast ideas? Share in the comments below. For more recipe ideas click here.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Vox Reviews...Tall Poppy Foods, Birmingham

*****UPDATE****** Tall Poppy's kiosk is temporary closed but you can still order cakes and food via their website for collection or delivery. They are also found at local farmers' markets and events - details of which can be found on their facebook and twitter pages above.************************

Back in October, I was lucky enough to be invited to visit Tall Poppy Foods in Birmingham, grab a drink and a chat with one of the co-owners and sample some of their amazing home-cooked vegan food!

Tall Poppy Foods is based in Selly Oak, Birmingham and is a take-away vegan food kiosk. Tall Poppy is owned by husband and wife team Erin and Joe, and they run the kiosk with the help of local student staff who are all vegetarian or vegan.

Joe and Erin have been vegan for around eight years and have worked and lived all over the world before settling in Birmingham where they are raising their family. As well as the kiosk, they supply food to events, weddings, birthdays and take mail order and cake orders through their website.

The unique aspect to Tall Poppy Foods, is that they do not have any processed food, all of their products are home-made from the bread and cakes, to the coleslaw, mayo, butters and sauces. They take great pride in their products and are very passionate about where their food comes from and the health benefits of freshly-made organic produce.

Tall Poppy don't just cater for vegans either, they have Paleo options, gluten free options, soy free options, healthy choices and treats.

Some of the products they had for sale when I visited were:

Organic fairtrade coffee

Almond and soy milk options for espresso based drinks

A range of teas

Lemoncurd, Boston Creme and Earl Grey Cupcakes

Muffins

Brownies

Ginger Cake

Sausage rolls with an almond sausage filling

Fajitas

Wraps

Falafel

Paninis

BBQ Jackfruit Burger

Quite a range as you can see! I got to sample the BBQ Jackfruit Burger, which was amazing!! The jackfruit from Thailand is slow cooked all day in a home-made barbecue sauce and served in a home-made bread roll with coleslaw. It was the first time I had tried jackfruit and it was so good, it is worth the journey to Tall Poppy for this alone! Then Joe gave me some of his cakes to taste. They were moist, full of flavour, tasted freshly baked and so moreish.

A couple of weeks after my visit to Tall Poppy Foods, I caught up with them again at the West Midlands Vegan Festival in Wolverhampton, where I purchased a New York Panini, with Fentimans Cherry Tree Cola and Tyrrells Crisps as a meal deal. The panini was so good, me and Mr Vox went back and bought another!

Tally Poppy can be found at 492 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, B29 6BD and if you pop over and say hello, let them know you found out about them from Vegan Vox! They are also found at many of the vegan and veggie festivals around the country.

You can follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by clicking these links.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

*****UPDATE****** Tall Poppy's kiosk is temporary closed but you can still order cakes and food via their website for collection or delivery. They are also found at local farmers' markets and events - details of which can be found on their facebook and twitter pages above.************************