The Ordinary Vegan - Sainsbury's Free From - Gluten Free Roasted Pepper Arrabbiata

Sorry for the long blogging break. The Vegan Grindhouse has taken over most of my waking hours of late and we have just returned from a lovely holiday in sunny Devon. However, I am back and blogging. This week TOV is a new frozen product from Sainsbury's. It is a Roasted Pepper Arrabbiata pasta dish which is vegan and wheat/gluten free. The pasta comes in a separate sachet from the arrabbiata sauce and you can oven cook or microwave. The meal was nice, not too spicy with a good texture and flavour, but would have been easy to make from scratch or just as quick to use a jar of sauce and some gluten free pasta. This ready-meal is pricey at £2.50, however for a quick frozen meal which is gluten and wheat free as well as vegan, it provides another option.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Spaghetti and Meatballs

I thought it would be nice to make some vegan meatballs to go with spaghetti instead of my usual pasta sauce. Serves 4.

Here is what you need:

For the meatballs:

1 tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 white or red onion, chopped finely
6 button mushrooms. chopped finely
40g breadcrumbs
handful of basil and parsley, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil

For the sauce:

1 500g carton of pasata
1 tsp apple cyder vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp mixed Italian herbs
Salt
Pepper

Spaghetti
Vegan Parmesan Cheese

Method:

Rinse and mash the beans in a large bowl and set to one side.

In a frying pan, add some olive oil and then when hot add the chopped onions, garlic, mushrooms and fresh herbs. Saute for 5 minutes on a medium heat until the onions are turning brown, then add the balsamic vinegar and turn up the heat for 30 seconds to reduce. Once the heat is off add the spices and seasoning.

Add the sauteed mixture to the mashed beans, then stir in the nutritional yeast and breadcrumbs. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for an hour.

Meanwhile make your sauce by adding all of the sauce ingredients to a saucepan and heating gently for around 10 minutes.

Take your chilled bean mixture from the fridge and shape into 16 meatballs. Heat a little olive oil in a griddle pan and fry the meatballs until coloured all over (around 3 minutes).

Pour your pasta sauce into a casserole dish and gently place the meatballs into the sauce. Bake in the centre of a preheated oven uncovered at 180C for around 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile boil the pasta according the the instructions on the packet and drain. Place into bowls.

Take the sauce and meatball mixture from the oven, give a quick stir to incorporate the meatballs and pour over your spaghetti. Sprinkle with some vegan parmesan and a little fresh basil.

Eat and Enjoy! If you enjoyed this recipe, please click here to see more of my recipes.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

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

The Ordinary Vegan - Batchelors Super Pasta 'n' Sauce

The Ordinary Vegan for those new to the blog, is a weekly feature every Monday, sharing an ordinary supermarket or high street product, which just happens to be vegan. This week, is the turn of Batchelors Super Pasta'n'Sauce. The Tomato, Onion & Herb flavour is one of three vegan flavours, and this is sold at most supermarkets, grocery stores and corner shops. The other vegan flavours are Tomato & Mediterranean Veg and Tomato & Basil.

It is a dried packet meal, to which you add boiling water and a knob of vegan butter, and then cook on the hob or in the microwave. The meal takes around 10 minutes to make and is a good base to add other veggies, I often add a handful of olives, mushrooms or just grate some vegan cheese over and cracked black pepper. It serves one person as a meal or two as a side dish.

Alternatively sprinkle with chopped nuts, seeds or a little vegan parmesan. These packets are good to take travelling, camping, to work or just to keep in the cupboard for when you haven't got the time or energy to make a sauce from scratch. 

If home cooking is more your thing, come back tomorrow as every Tuesday is a brand new vegan Recipe of the Week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Beanfeast Bolognese

Batchelors Beanfeast Bolognese is a dried packet mix to which you add water and heat in a saucepan to create a soya mince sauce to serve with spaghetti. It is quick and easy, it doesn't taste as good as making your own but if you need a satisfying meal for two in a hurry, it's great to keep in the store cupboard. The mix is sold at most major supermarkets for around £1 and takes around 12-15 minutes to make, so you can make it while the pasta is boiling. Serve stirred through spaghetti and grated with a little vegan cheese and vegan powdered parmesan. Great for a meal in a hurry! 

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

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Vox Reviews...Christmas Vegan Treats - Cheese and Tree Decorations!

Welcome to a special VVR. This week I am showcasing two very special small independent businesses who are both producing something to make Christmas extra special this year.

The first is Good Carma Vegan Cheese. Good Carma is owned and ran by Charlotte Bates, she is vegan herself and handmakes her artisan cheese in Wales. Charlotte very kindly sent me a sample of both of her cheeses to try a few weeks ago and they were lovely. The first was called G-Veez and is a vegan alternative to goat's cheese. It was strong and tangy and spread well on crackers. The second was P-Veez a vegan alternative to Parmesan. This was nutty and crumbly with a good bite and worked really well on pasta. Both lasted well in the refrigerator too. You can purchase both cheeses direct from Charlotte's website for £3.50 for a large tub.

Here is the P-Veez on a delicious bowl of pasta:

And the G-Veez on a cracker:

The second company I am showcasing today is Heart Felt Hand Stitch shop on Etsy. This small handmade felt decorations company is owned and ran by Mel from her home in the Midlands. Whilst not vegan herself, she believes in making her products accessible to all so she only uses cruelty-free non-animal materials. Her felt is acrylic, she using animal-free glues and cottons rather than silks. She hand-makes, to order, bespoke animal decorations. You can order any animal you like and she will make you cute little Christmas tree decorations for just £3.50 each. She has made companion animal dogs and cats so far but will happily make other companion animals, sea creatures or wild animals for your home or Christmas tree. These make perfect gifts for animal lovers too.

She kindly sent me a cute version of one of Vegan Vox's rescue cats - as a gorgeous decoration for our tree this year:

So please check out these two independent business and invite a little vegan-friendly love into your home this Christmas.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Vox Reviews...Wheaty Spacebar Chorizo

I first tried one of these Wheaty Spacebar Chorizos when I saw them for sale at Unicorn Grocery in Manchester. I was dubious, mainly because I have never eat chorizo before, not even a meat one, as I became vegetarian at a very young age. So, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, once I opened it and tried it, I loved it! These chorizos are spicy and moist and so full of flavour. They are spiced with paprika and air-cured for an authentic Spanish taste. I'm officially a fan! 

I chopped up this first one and put it onto my Vegan Vox Pizza, it was delicious. I have also used it chopped into my Patatas Bravas recipe and in simple tomato and basil pasta sauce.

As well as being a really versatile ingredient, these Spacebars are great just as they are - straight from the packet, as a tasty snack on the go. They are perfect for lunch boxes, travelling or to keep in the car for long journeys. They retail at around £1.10 each and can be purchased from most online vegan retailers, independent health food stores and vegan grocery stores. I wish they sold them in a shop near me, but each time I'm in Manchester for a visit or an event, I pop in to Unicorn and stockpile them! They have a long shelf life.

So if you have never tried vegan chorizo before, I would grab a couple of Spacebars with your next vegan shopping trip or online order and add some Spanish flavour into your vegan cooking! 5/5

These are the ingredients:

• Ingredients: water, wheat protein* (26%), red bell pepper*, coconut fat*, yeast extract, onion*, spices*, rock salt, thickening agent locust bean gum*, smoke. * = certified organic.

I'll be at London VegFest on Saturday this week - 5th October, 2013 - so I hope to see some of you there! If you are not going, I'll be reviewing my day at the event next week here on Vegan Vox Reviews. If you have missed any of my previous reviews, there is now a handy Reviews tab at the top of the blog so you can easily access them all from one place.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx