The Ordinary Vegan - Toby Carvery

Now I know what you're thinking, why would a vegan blogger be reviewing a carvery? Well, yesterday I went out for my Sunday Roast at Toby Carvery and was very pleasantly surprised to find out they have a vegetarian menu of which two of the main courses are vegan and labelled so on the menu. 

In addition to these two vegan main courses - Shepherd's Pie and Nut Roast Wellington, most of the carvery vegetable options are vegan too - excluding the mash potato, Yorkshire pudding and cauliflower cheese. For example, yesterday I had peas, carrot, red cabbage, onion, roast potatoes, leeks, stuffing, gravy and mint sauce along with my Nut Roast Wellington. The veggies are unlimited as is the gravy and sauces and they come in with the price of your vegan main meal. I checked with the chef and all of the veg options apart from the exceptions above are vegan, and they even brought my Nut Roast to the table so as not to cross contaminate.

The prices are good value with the vegan options priced at £5.99 on a weekday and at £8.49 on a Sunday. They also have a weekday 'Meat-free Carvery' option for £4.49 which is just the unlimited veg.

Yesterday I had the Nut Roast Wellington and Mr Vox had the Shepherd's Pie so I could try both options. They were both delicious! The Wellington had a mildly spicy nut roast mix on top of a puff pastry base and the Shepherd's Pie was root vegetables with a bubble and squeak mash on top. Really tasty and they know about veganism and had knowledgeable staff. For those who are vegetarian or like me have a vegetarian family member, there are five main vegetarian options on the menu and all of the desserts are vegetarian too, although sadly none of the desserts are vegan.

It is great to see a chain restaurant start to make positive changes to include a variety of vegan options on their menus and as there are many Toby Carvery restaurants dotted around the country, it is useful to know if you are away from home and looking for a meal option. It also makes a good compromise if you are dining out in a large group which includes omnivores, vegetarians and vegans as you can all eat together with choices and options for everyone.

If home cooking is more your style, pop back tomorrow for another Vegan Recipe of the Week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Banana Nut Muffins with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Last week I had a few bananas over ripe in my fruit bowl and wondered what to do with them, I decided to try my hand at vegan muffins. As the bananas act as a binding agent in this recipe, there is no need for eggs (yay!) as in traditional muffin recipes and you only need a little fat, so these are low fat healthy muffins, you can reduce the sugar if you like but I like sweetness, and the frosting is optional but super tasty :-) 

Here is the recipe:

For the Muffins you will need:

3 over ripe bananas, mashed

55g vegan butter

200g brown sugar

250g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

100g walnuts or almonds

For the frosting you will need:

115g vegan butter

170g icing sugar

60g cocoa powder

1tsp vanilla extract

Dried banana pieces, walnuts or almonds for decoration

14 muffin cases

Makes 14 muffins

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 180C (160C Fan Oven)

In a mixing bowl cream together the mashed bananas, vegan butter and sugar with an electric whisk or mixer.

In a separate bowl, sieve the flour and bicarb together and add the salt. Put the nuts into a food processor until finely chopped and add to the flour mixture. Stir together.

Next, add the dry ingredients mixture slowly to the banana mixture and continue to mix or blend until combined.

Place your muffin cases into a deep muffin tray and fill each case 3/4 full of the batter.

Bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes.

Once baked, take out of the oven and leave for 5 minutes in the muffin trays. Then transfer the muffins in their cases to a cooling rack until completely cool.

Once cool, it's time to prepare the frosting.

In a mixing bowl sieve together the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Add the vegan butter and vanilla extract. Place a clean tea towel over the mixing bowl and then mix together with an electric hand whisk or mixer. This will stop the fine powder coating everything in your kitchen! Once the frosting is combined to a nice consistency spoon it into a piping bag with a star nozzle. 

Pipe the buttercream onto the muffins as a small star in the centre (heathier) or a large swirl all over the muffin (yummier) and top with a dried banana piece or nut for decoration.

Eat and enjoy! The muffins will keep for 3 or 4 days in a tin or air-tight container. The muffins can be frozen without the frosting. 

VVx