The Ordinary Vegan - Birds Eye Rice Fusions

Birds Eye Rice Fusions come is a variety of flavours, many of which are vegan. They are microwave pouches of rice, vegetables and seasoning which can be steamed in a few minutes and eaten as a snack or as a side dish with a meal. They are available in most supermarkets for around £1.75 but are often on offer for £1 or 2 for £2, in the freezer department. They contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and are great for a quick meal when you don't have time to cook.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Quick & Easy Veggie Soup

Sometimes you just want something you can whip up for lunch that doesn't take too long. This soup is ideal. You can use whatever veggies you have in the house. This is my version.

Ingredients:

1 Cabbage
2 Carrots
1 Onion
4 Green Beans
2 Vegetable stock cubes
1 tsp Parsley
1 tsp Basil
1/2 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp Henderson's Relish

Method - Serves 3-4:

Chop the beans and carrots and leave to one side. Meanwhile, chop the onions and the cabbage in a food processor until fine.

Pour the veggies into a saucepan. Make up 700ml of veggie stock and add to the veggies. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer.

Add the flavourings, herbs and spices. Add salt and pepper if required.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes and then blend using a stick blender.

Serve and eat with a crusty bread roll or freeze in individual portions.

Eat and Enjoy!

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Apple Crumble/Apple Strudel

This week on TOV, is the turn of shop-bought desserts. I have found that most of the supermarkets basic ranges of Apple Crumble and Apple Strudels are vegan-friendly. These are found in the the frozen desserts aisle of the supermarket and cost around £1 each. You just bake them from frozen and serve with vegan ice-cream, cream or custard. Delicious! These are great to keep in the freezer for last minute guests or late night munchies!

If home-cooked food is more your thing, I have my own crumble recipes here and here.

Come back tomorrow for another vegan recipe of the week. If you missed my exciting announcement on Saturday click here to read it!

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Stir Fry Sauces

I love a stir-fry, they are healthy and quick and taste great. This week's TOV is looking at vegan-friendly stir-fry sauces. A couple of my favourites are Amoy Chow Mein Stir Fry Sauce and Blue Dragon Chow Mein Stir Fry Sauce.

There are many varieties to choose from and most of them are vegan-friendly. The Blue Dragon ones actually label vegan on the front to make it easier. A stir-fry is a great way to use up left over veggies. I love peppers, onions, water chestnuts, mange tout, mushrooms and tofu in mine along with some udon or rice noodles and you have a perfect quick meal. These sauces are sold at all supermarkets and Asian shops for between 65p-£1.

What are your favourite stir-fry combinations? Let me know in the comments below.

If you like tasty vegan recipes come back every Tuesday for my Vegan Recipe of the Week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Marmite

I get it! You either love it or you hate it, but Marmite as well as being vegan is full of great B vitamins and is a versatile ingredient. It's not just for spreading on toast. It tastes great in paninis, vegan cheese toasties, wrapped up in a pastry parcel, stirred into baked beans, add a teaspoon into soups, stews and casseroles too. You can add boiling water and make a yeasty drink and can spread it on crackers or dip breadsticks into it. Marmite is sold at all supermarkets, convenience stores, some newsagents and petrol stations.

Click here for one of my Marmite recipes.

How do you eat your Marmite?

Come back tomorrow for another Vegan Recipe of the Week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Recipe of the Week - Coconut, Maple & Cherry Flapjacks

Flapjacks are a great quick bake when you fancy something sweet, and you usually have all of the ingredients in your store cupboard anyway. If not, the great thing about flapjacks is that you can chop and change the ingredients to taste. If you don't like cherries, swap for another fruit or nuts.

You will need:

115g Vegan Butter

115g Brown Sugar

220g Rolled Oats

3 Tbsp Golden Syrup - Maple Flavour (or use Maple syrup but this is runnier and doesn't hold together as well)

60g Dried Cherries or Glace Cherries (make sure they are vegan-friendly as some contain E120)

35g Desicated Coconut

Frylight

Greaseproof paper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan.

Spray two shallow cake tins or baking tins with Frylight. You can use melted butter instead of Frylight, if you prefer.

Melt the butter, golden syrup and sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until combined.

In a mixing bowl place the oats, cherries and coconut and stir together. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour in your melted butter mixture. Stir well until all of the dry ingredients have been coated in the butter mixture.

Spoon the combined mixture into the tins equally and level out with a pallet knife or the back of a spoon.

Bake in the centre of the oven for around 18 minutes until golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven, cut straight away into slices and leave to cool in the tins.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Eat and Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this recipe, click here to see more of my vegan recipes.

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 - Stuffing

Stuffing isn't the first thing you think of when thinking of vegan food, as it is traditionally used to stuff dead birds when roasting them :-( however, most sage and onion stuffing mixes sold in the supermarkets are actually vegan and can be super quick and easy to make. They are cheap and make a tasty side dish to a vegan roast, no dead birds required! 

All supermarkets sell packet mixes of stuffing, this one above is from Aldi and is around 70p for a box. I use around a third of a packet to serve two of us, so this makes around 6 servings. All you need to do is add hot water to the mix in a bowl, stir and leave for 10 minutes to thicken. Then pour the mixture into a greased oven proof dish or roll into small balls and place on a greased baking tray and bake for around 25 minutes until crispy on the outside. Delicious with sprouts, nut roast, potatoes, mock meats and steamed vegetables. Don't forget the gravy!

Here was my Christmas dinner with lots of lovely stuffing:

What other surprising vegan foods have you discovered? Let me know in the comments below. Of course, it is simple to make a stuffing from scratch too and if home-cooked food is more your thing, pop back tomorrow for another Vegan Recipe of the Week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx