Strawberry Oat Bakes with Chocolate - Recipe

Hey there,

It's been a long time. Most of my days now are spent running our vegan streetfood business - The Vegan Grindhouse. If you don't know who we are, click on the link and go and find out! We travel the UK selling handmade vegan burgers at markets, festivals, concerts, weddings, parties, events and more. We are available to hire as well.

Well today, I had a very rare day off, due to an event being cancelled and so I thought I'd do a new recipe for the blog as it has been too long.

A few days ago, I was sent a hamper of Free From items from the lovely people at Sainsbury's to try out and let them know what I thought, so I decided the best way to use them would be bake something, as baking is one of my favourite things to do!

Here are the items Sainsbury's sent me to try:

All of the items were clearly labelled vegan which was great and the almond milk is fortified with calcium and vitamin D. I decided to make a strawberry oat bake with chocolate and have a slice with a glass of the milk. Perfect afternoon treat. This item is gluten free also.

Here is my recipe (Makes 6-8 slices):

50g light brown soft sugar

125g gluten free plain flour (I used Dove's Farm plain flour)

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

100g gluten free oats (I used Deliciously Free From Pure Oats by Sainsbury's)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon golden syrup

125g vegan butter alternative (I used Pure)

1/2 jar jam (I used Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Strawberry Conserve)

100g vegan chocolate (I used Deliciously Free From Choc Bar by Sainsbury's)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (Fan)/Gas Mark 4

Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin

In a mixing bowl stir together the sugar, flour, bicarb, and oats until combined.

Then add the vanilla extract and golden syrup and stir through the dry mixture.

Rub the butter alternative into the dry mixture with your finger tips until the mixture resembles crumble.

Pour three quarters of the crumble mix into your prepared tin and press down into the tin with the back of a metal spoon.

Spoon the jam onto the base and spread all over with a pallet knife.

Sprinkle the remaining crumble on top of the jam and press in lightly.

Bake in the centre of a preheated oven for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin on a wire rack for an hour to completely cool.

Next, break the chocolate into pieces and place into a glass bowl over a saucepan of just boiled water. Stir until the chocolate has melted. 

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the strawberry bake and pop in the fridge for 20 minutes until set.

Slice the bake into 6-8 slices and enjoy with an ice cold glass of almond milk.

Put your feet up and relax, you've earned it!

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Vanilla Rock Cakes

Being vegan doesn't have to mean missing out on a lovely cakes with afternoon tea, as this vegan twist on the classic rock cakes/rock buns shows. 

Makes 12 cakes.

Ingredients:

250g self raising flour
90g caster sugar (plus extra for dusting)
90g of vegan butter
1tsp cinnamon
100g raisins
4 Tbsp vanilla soy milk (or regular sweetened soy milk and a teaspoon of vanilla essence)
Frylight

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan).

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and stir in the caster sugar.

Cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour and sugar mix using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Next add the cinnamon and raisins and stir through the mix.

Slowly add the vanilla milk a little at a time until the mixture comes together into a soft dough.

Spray a baking sheet with Frylight and divide the mixture into 12 balls and place on the baking sheet.

Bake in the centre of the oven for around 10 minutes until they are golden and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Sprinkle with caster sugar whilst still warm. Best eaten within 48 hours.

Eat and enjoy!

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Festive Mince Pies

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without mince pies! And being vegan does not mean you have to miss out on the festive fun. Whether you want to opt for the super easy - assemble them yourself option or choose your fruits, soak them and bask in the homemade aromas filling your kitchen, I've got you covered.

This recipe is really easy to make and all of the family can share these festive pies. If you don’t want to make your own mincemeat, Sainsbury’s sell a jar which makes around 24 small pies for around £1, which is vegan! Even easier  VVx

Ingredients:

Jus-Rol ready rolled shortcrust pastry – All Jus-Rol pastry products are vegan and labelled so.

450g Sainsbury's Mincemeat in a jar or:

56g Vegan suet

56g Bramley apples, peeled and chopped

30g Candied peel

56g sultanas

56g Raisins

56g Currants

42g Demerara sugar

20ml Brandy – or Apple Juice for a non-alcoholic version

Frylight 

Soy milk for brushing pastry

Icing sugar for dusting

Method:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and put into a sterilised jar overnight. 

The next morning, take the pastry out of the fridge and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Unroll the pastry and use a cutter slightly larger than the circumference of the pastry tart tin holes to cut the bases. 

Spray the pastry tart tin with Frylight and place the bases into the holes pushing into the edges.

Roll out the remaining pastry and cut out a smaller round top for each pie using a cutter.

Spoon a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat into each tart case and cover with a pastry lid. Pinch the lids around the edge to seal the pies and pierce the top with a sharp knife to create an air hole.

Brush the pies with a little soy milk and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.

Take the pies out of the fridge and bake on the middle shelf for 18-20 minutes until lightly browned on top.

Place the pies on a cooling rack for 20 minutes to cool and then dust lightly with icing sugar.

Don't be afraid to be creative, add stars or lattice tops. Serve warm or cold on their own or with dairy-free custard.

Eat and Enjoy!

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

For more delicious easy vegan recipes click here.

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