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

Vegan Vox Reviews...Luke Berman Reviews his climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro

This week is a very special guest blog for VVR. Primatologist, Wildlife and Conservation Campaigner Luke Berman has written all about his climb of Mt Kilimanjaro which he did in support of Wild Futures. This is truly an extraordinary vegan who went the extra mile for personal growth and to help the non-human animals of our planet. VVx

Over to Luke...

My Journey to the Roof of Africa

By Luke Berman

BIO

Luke Berman is a vegan of six years and extremely passionate about wildlife, conservation and especially primates. He has worked for local authorities, social enterprises and charities like ‘The Conservation Volunteers’, where he developed skills in teaching people how to manage and look after the environment. He is now developing a career in Primatology and is off to Kenya in February for six months working with Colobus monkeys; before hoping to start an MSc in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes in September 2014.

Am I crazy?

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro has long been a dream of mine and I suppose like many people things just kept getting in the way. Well on September 11th I left the UK for Tanzania to climb the tallest single standing mountain in the world, sitting at 5,896 metres, which is truly the roof of Africa.

I did this climb for Wild Futures & to promote the benefits of a vegan diet. Wild Futures works to protect primates and habitats worldwide. At its Monkey Sanctuary in Cornwall it gives ex-pet primates a home for life as they can never return to the wild. Unfortunately it is still legal to keep primates as pets in the UK and it is currently estimated there could be around 5,000 primates kept as pets.

This charity is very close to my heart and it was a privilege to be able to undertake this challenge for them.

Training

I already had an alright level of fitness, but I knew I would need to build endurance for this challenge. You are walking for eight days for up to ten hours, so it is a mental challenge as well as a physical one. I started going for long walks on the weekends to build up my leg strength. Within a month of the climb I started to go for eight hour walks and find as many hills as possible; the dog was very pleased.

Summit

In all honesty nothing could have prepared you for the summit climb. After climbing for six days (7 hours walking a day) we began the final walk to the top. Leaving at 11pm in -10 degrees and dropping to -20 we climbed 1400m in altitude and walked uphill for eight hours. After three/four hours you are relying on mental strength alone, water bottles have frozen, eyes are closing, and the top looks so very far away. Once at the top you can only stay for an hour due to the altitude and so must then climb down for three hours, have some lunch and then another three hours to the camp where you sleep. All in all it was seven days up and one and a half days down.

The best moment (apart from being at the top) was when one member of the group turned round to me, about half way through the trip, and said ‘I have a whole new understanding and respect for vegans. Before I didn’t know much and thought it was unhealthy, but now I can see it is perfectly healthy.’

Food

I took high protein & carbohydrate energy bars with me, as well as bags of peanuts and raisins to snack on during the walks. The cook we had with us was excellent and went out of his way to make sure food for me was prepared correctly and without animal products. Mornings consisted of porridge made with water, I added nuts and raisins with a cup of ginger tea (an excellent pick me up in the morning). Lunch and dinner mainly consisted of a carbohydrate (pasta/rice/potatoes) with a vegetable and bean sauce.

Next I am looking at Tough Mudder, a twelve mile run through obstacles such as crawling under barb wire, running through fire and swimming through frozen water. I am definitely up for more challenges after this.

Support and keep in touch

Wild Futures details

www.wildfutures.org        www.adoptamonkey.org        twitter.com/wildfutures

My blog – lukemberman.blogspot.com

twitter.com/lukeberman

lukeberman@hotmail.com

Still taking donations through justgiving – www.justgiving.com/luke-berman

I also coordinate activities in London for Wild Futures; let me know if you want to get involved. https://www.facebook.com/groups/wildfutureslondongroup/