7 Days of Vegan Breakfasts - Scrambled Tofu on toast

Recently on Facebook I asked my friends to ask me anything about veganism, and one person asked "How many years of practise does it take to get used to the taste of tofu?" I trumped their jovial sarcasm with an equally droll response of  "what taste?"

It's true, tofu has a bit of a bad reputation, but it is unfounded because tofu has the remarkable property of being able to easily adopt and marry the flavours added to it, meaning you can make it taste delicious.

In honesty I haven't been that adventurous with my use of tofu but there is one breakfast choice that  is hard to replace with a vegan alternative in many recipes - the egg, however, my one escapade into tofu use has yielded delicious results in the form of scrambled tofu, which when flavoured appropriately, makes a delicious scrambled egg alternative.

Scrambled tofu is great if you prefer a savory breakfast option rather than sweet (I usually go for sweet for breakfast, so happily this also makes a great lunch option)

It has that unmistakable eggy wobble, and a very similar colour, the taste is achieved by a mixture of spices and a pinch of salt.

I served mine with potato cakes and vitalite today because I like to mix things up every now and again and switching bread for potato cakes is about as exciting as it gets round here. 

So I used half a pack of Cauldron Original Tofu for this recipe, I cooked it in a cast iron skillet with some vitalite spread.  I seasoned it with:

• 1/2 tsp medium curry powder
• 1/4 tsp mustard powder,
• 1/4 tsp turmeric.
• A pinch of pepper,
• A pinch of salt. 

I literally just tip the tofu in, stir it around with a spatula and then add the flavorings. I served it with a good dollop of tomato ketchup as I would with scrambled egg. 

A delicious breakfast high in protein, it contains all eight essential amino acids, and is also high in calcium, iron and a variety of micronutrients. It is thought to protect us from many cancers and heart disease, it's free from saturated fat, contains almost no cholesterol and is low in salt. (A diet high in these things can lead to cancer and heart disease).

So, I dare you, try some tofu and dispel your own myths about it, it CAN be tasty, it IS nutritious and is a great way to start the day without harming any animals in the process. Yey!

7 Days of Vegan Breakfasts - Smoothie bowl

Phew it's hot in this part of the UK at the moment, I am loving it, playing out in the garden, with the water table and running through a sprinkler, when it's sunny it just cheers you up and makes you feel glad to be alive.  It is days like these when I am beyond thankful that I am a full time mum and about to be outside making the most of the weather instead of being in a stuffy office (been there) or classroom (been there too).

So what better way to honour the hot sunny weather than to enjoy a cooling smoothie bowl for breakfast. 

I used frozen berries in mine to make it extra cool and refreshing.

I just whiz it all up in my blender,

And it comes out looking like sorbet,

I add some finishing touches,

The dig in,

It's a thing of beauty!

In this smoothie bowl I used a glass full of frozen mixed berries, topped up half way with orange and mango juice, the added several tablespoons of soya yoghurt and the a squirt of maple/carob syrup blend.  I add this because I just don't find the fruit sweet enough, it's a bit sharp on my palette so the syrup just sweetens it up beautifully.  I then add a sliced banana on top with some goji berries, then I sprinkle on some linseeds, chia seeds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.  

It's delicious, refreshing, satisfying, a perfect breakfast for a hot summer day. 

Don't forget I will be doing an exciting GIVEAWAY soon, so call back again, you can like my facebook page or subscribe by email to my blog to keep up to date with what's happening. 

7 Days of Vegan Breakfasts - Peanut butter and banana on toast

Since I have been eating a plant based diet people have been asking me what I am eating.  I know how hard it is to imagine eating meals without meat and dairy ( I used to eat them remember?) but there is more to being vegan than tofu and kale.  I love food, I didn't become vegan because I don't like meat, I used to love meat, and cheese and butter!  So it is important for me to eat meals which are really tasty.  

If you are looking to move to a plant based diet or reduce the amount of meat and dairy you consume then breakfast is a really good place to start because more often than not people don't tend to have meat for breakfast, and dairy and eggs are really easy to switch out.  

So I have put together a weeks worth of vegan breakfasts which are all really tasty and (mostly) healthy.  I hope you will find something that you can enjoy and maybe some which will surprise you.  This is of course not an exhaustive list of breakfasts, virtually ANY breakfast can be made vegan, so get on those veggies, get those carbs in and start enjoying your life without causing suffering to other beings, low fat and full of energy. 

Sometimes toast feels like just the right thing to have for breakfast.  You can really maximise this simple, quick and easy to put together start to the day with some peanut butter and a chopped banana, so delicious and a brilliant boost of protein and vitamins to go with your all important carbs, not to mention the banana which as we all know is a power house for potassium, vitamin B6 and vitamin C (to name but a few of the fantastic nutrients in bananas).  What a great start to the day.  Up-size the nutrition with a sprinkle to chia seeds and sesame seeds on top and you will be winning.  

I really love this breakfast.  I make the peanut butter myself by roasting a few plain peanuts and whizzing them up in the blender with some peanut oil.

I am sure it goes without saying that peanut butter and bananas also work well in a sandwich, or rolled up in a tortilla like a spice of sushi!

Oh my goodness my mouth is watering.  If you want to have a go at making this, but can't be bothered with making your own peanut butter, check the label before buying and try to go for a peanut butter made with nut oils rather than palm oil. It tastes nicer and you will hopefully be saving some rainforest from deforestation. 

Hope you will pop back soon to see another tasty vegan breakfast recipe.  You can keep up to date with posts by subscribing via email (right hand side near the top of the blog)  or by liking my facebook page. 

7 Days of Vegan Breakfasts - Cinnamon Porridge

Since I have been eating a plant based diet people have been asking me what I am eating.  I know how hard it is to imagine eating meals without meat and dairy ( I used to eat them remember?) but there is more to being vegan than tofu and kale.  I love food, I didn't become vegan because I don't like meat, I used to love meat, and cheese and butter!  So it is important for me to eat meals which are really tasty.  

If you are looking to move to a plant based diet or reduce the amount of meat and dairy you consume then breakfast is a really good place to start because more often than not people don't tend to have meat for breakfast, and dairy and eggs are really easy to switch out.  

So I have put together a weeks worth of vegan breakfasts which are all really tasty and (mostly) healthy.  I hope you will find something that you can enjoy and maybe some which will surprise you.  This is of course not an exhaustive list of breakfasts, virtually ANY breakfast can be made vegan, so get on those veggies, get those carbs in and start enjoying your life without causing suffering to other beings, low fat and full of energy. 

How amazing does this porridge look?  I want some right now! 

Porridge is my go-to breakfast, it's tasty, filling, gives you energy and is full of nutrients such omega fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, potassium and folates.  

Couple the oats with a delicious plant milk such as Almond and you are getting a good hit of calcium and vitamin E, plus it's low in fat, WIN!! 

I add a teaspoon of cinnamon and them drizzle (probably a bit too much) golden syrup on top.  Yuuuuum!!

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup ground oats (you don't have to grind the oats but I like the ground because it makes a nice smooth porridge)

1 cup of a plant milk of your choice.  (I usually use rice milk because it makes a really smooth porridge, if you use soya It seems to work better with half water.)

1 tsp cinnamon,

1 tbs golden syrup.

Grind the oats in a blender, the mix in a saucepan with the milk,  cook on a low heat and stir frequently (continuously is better but who has time for that?)  Add the cinnamon, and stir it in.  when it reaches your desired consistency pour into your favourite bowl and serve with the syrup.  I also like to have a cup of lady grey tea with my porridge.  

Hope you will pop back soon to see another tasty vegan breakfast recipe.  You can keep up to date with posts by subscribing via email (right hand side near the top of the blog)  or by liking my facebook page. 

Delicious vegan pizza

A little while ago I joined a local vegan group on Facebook.
One of the highlights of my week is Friday night Date Night, which basically consists on my husband and I having a takeaway whilst sitting on the sofa and watching a film on Netflix (we really know how to party now we are in our 30s and have children).  So since transitioning to a vegan diet I decided to ask on said facebook group, where I could get a decent vegan takeaway locally for my Friday night indulgences.  The first response was telling me that a Dominos pizza is vegan if you ask for it without the cheese.  My response?  If a cheeseless pizza is all I have to look forward to on a Friday night then I might just cry (First world problem I know but hey, a girl needs her junk food every now and again)  So I set about finding a way to jazz up a pizza to make it suitably slob-out worthy.
After reading the fabulous Keep it Vegan by Aine Carlin, I discovered a delicious alternative to sour cream made with cashew nuts and found that this, combined with a few blobs of dairy free pesto and a selection of pizza-worthy vegetables made a tremendous pizza that the cheesiest of cheese lovers would find appealing.
It really does hit all the right buttons and served with some chips a glass of wine you have a Friday night that any takeaway lover would fall for.
Here was my most recent offering:

Ingredients:

Ready made pizza base (I used Nappolina pizza bases)

1 tbs ketchup,

1 tbs tomato puree,

1/2 tsp harrisa paste,

1 chopped mushroom,

1/4 sliced pepper,

1 piece sun-dried tomato,

1 marinated sweet pepper,

5 tsp dairy free pesto,

Cashew sour cream (recipe here)

Spread the sauces over the pizza base, place veggies on and dollops of cashew sour cream and pesto, cook at about 180 for 10 minutes, enjoy. 

40 Soups - Spicy lentil with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Since I have been cutting out dairy this new year I am having to challenge myself more in all areas of cooking, without meat and dairy in my diet you would think the options for meals would me more limiting but I am exploring all sorts of new flavours and textures that I never used before.  Soups are no different, I am trying out all sorts of combinations of ingredients, some not so successful (using the pump from the juicer) and others like this, have been a huge success.  I don't mean to blow my own trumpet or anything, but this soup was AMAZING!!  Was pretty chuffed with myself.  It's vegan, super nutritious, high in protein and tastes fantastic. And of course it was dead easy to make.

(photographed half way through eating!)

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

1 red onion,

2 cloves of garlic,

1 courgette,

3 carrots,

1 stock cube,

1 tbs tomato purée,

1/4 tsp harrisa paste,

1/2 tsp mild curry powder,

1/2 tsp ground cumin,

1/2 tsp mustard powder,

1/2 cup red lentils,

1 tbs sunflower seeds,

1 tbs pumpkin seeds.

Gently fry chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, when softened add carrots and courgette, cook on low heat for 10 minutes, add water to cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add purée, paste and seasoning, simmer for 5 minutes.  Blend the soup with a stick blender.  Add lentils and seeds and 1/2 cup water and simmer for a further 15 minutes or until lentils have softened but still have a little bite, add more water if it's getting too thick, it should have a soup like consistency. Eat with crusty bread for a delicious lunch or dinner.  

Vegan Mushroom and Walnut Risotto

I hesitated to put "vegan" at the start of the heading, I am not (yet) vegan, but am exploring the world of vegan cuisine for health and ethical reasons, but I though that I might inspire others to include a few meat/dairy free dishes in their weekly menu and the word "vegan" helps with searches etc.  So really forget that this is vegan and just see it as a really delicious risotto. (Serves 2 adults and 2 small children)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion,
2 garlic cloves,
1 pack of mushrooms,
250g risotti rice,
1 stock cube,
water to cover,
1/2 cup coconut water,
1/2 cup cooking wine.

Chop onion, garlic and mushrooms and fry until soft, add rice, water and stock cube, coconut milk and wine and leave to simmer until rice is tender.  Serve with green beans.

It's really tasty and delicious, and also has a nice bit of crunch with the cashews, dairy free, soy free, wheat free, but certainly not taste free!

Amaze Balls

As a vegetarian with aspirational vegan tendencies coupled with a serious liking for chocolate, and a desire to give my toddler healthy snacks I have been coming up with ways that I can enjoy the taste of chocolate without having to spoil it with cow pus or exorbitant quantities of sugar!  I am a fan of Nakd bars which are made with raisins and nuts and stuff and I thought I would have a go at making my own using the ingredients listed on the pack.  

Here is my first attempt at a chocolatey vegan homemade snack, I call them Amaze Balls because you will be amazed at the flavour (and they are ball shaped!(and it sounds awesome!))

This is how I made them:

In a blender place 5 dates, 50g raisins, 2tbs coca powder, 50g cashew nuts and 1/2 tsp orange essence. 

Blend until they become a thick paste,

Roll into beautiful shiny balls,

EAT!

(Warning these are addictive! They won't be around for long!)

40 soups - Souper Green soup!

This soup is completely delicious and so so healthy, full of lots of detoxifying chlorophyll, vitamins and fiber amongst other things, it's really easy to make, give it a go for a refreshing, filling lunch served with homemade toast.

Ingredients:
1 onion,
3 cloves of garlic
Handful of spinach,
Large handful of kale,
5 florets of broccoli,
Any other seasonal greens you have hanging round,
vegetable stock.

Chop and fry your onion and garlic in a saucepan,
Add the green veg and some freshly boiled water,
crumble/sprinkle the stock into the soup,
Leave to cook for about 15 mins,
Blend,
Eat and enjoy all the health benefits of dark green leafy veggies.

Elderflower Champagne

In the past I have made elderflower cordial and elderflower presse, but never champagne, so I had to give it a go, I mean what could be more delicious to enjoy on a warm summers evening than glass of bubbling homemade Elderflower Champagne? or as I prefer to call it; Elderflower Berkshire.  I made this a few weeks ago and now I have 6 bottles good to go.  Can't wait to share it with friends in the garden.  Here is how I made it:

I got 4 liters of hot water,
700g sugar,
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar,
About 15 elderflower heads in full bloom, gathered on a sunny day,

Juiced and zested the lemons

Added the sugar to the hot water in a sterile fermenting bucket,

Added the lemon juice and zest to the bucket then topped the bucket up with enough cold water to make up 6 liters,

Added the elderflower heads and white wine vinegar,

Got a little boy to give it a stir,

Covered with a cloth then left for a couple of days.  I then checked it, it was foamy, and fizzing but if it wasn't I would have added a pinch of yeast to get it going  Left it for another four days then filtered it through a clean muslin.

Poured it into sterilised bottles and left for at least a week before drinking, frequently releasing the pressure from the carbon dioxide that is produced in the bottles by the continued fermentation process. 

DRANK IT!!  Sorry I didn't photograph that but I can assure you it was delicious, so sweet and fizzy!  Definitely worth making again, it didn't take long to make and was super cheap, just lemons and sugar really.  Give it a go before all the elderflowers have gone!

Have you even made elderflower champagne?  Was it delish?  What else have you tried?

Here is the full recipe I used courtesy of channel four and River Cottage.

Don't forget to gather the elderflower away from the road. 

Halloumi, hummus and sundried tomato pesto sandwich

In an attempt to make our lunches a bit more exciting, and more specifically our sandwiches; which had become a sad combination of processed ham and limp lettuce leaves, I took in Pinterest and discovered this delectable ensemble. 

Simple toast two slices of brown bread, place some slices of halloumi on one piece and grill, then layer with sundried tomato pesto, sliced tomato, cucumber, lettuce and a good tablespoon of hummus (preferably home made) and voila, a delicious lunchtime treat which is both healthy and tantalizing to the taste buds. Plus it turns out my toddler loves halloumi!  As per usual I troed to use all organic ingredients in this sarnie, coldn't source any organic halloumi though.

40 Soups - Bean and vegetable

Life with a toddler and a small baby is HARD, by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do, and I thought parenting one child was hard, adding another to the mix takes parenting to a whole new level.  It can be very easy to forget to look after yourself when you are giving so much energy to your children.  In spite of my somewhat optimistic new years resolutions to take care of myself, my diet has been starting to slide, I had stopped planning meals and we were winging it at dinner time, cue lots of frozen veggie burgers, baked beans and *hangs head in shame* pot noodles.  So I realised it was time to inject some much needed vegetation into our diet.  So I planned a couple of veggie soups into our reestablished meal plan, one of which is this delicious and really healthy soup that takes hardly any time to make - Bean and vegetable soup.  

Isn't it colourful? It's easy, just get:

1/2 an onion,

2 cloves of garlic,

1 big carrot,

4 leaves of cavolo nero (or any type of kale),

Big handful of young spinach leaves,

1 carton of kidney beans,

1 chicken stock cube,

Fry the onions and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil,

Add the carrot chopped into small cubes,

Add the finely chopped kale and spinach,

Add kidney beans,

Add enough boiled water to cover the vegetables and make it nice and soupy,

Add the stock cube, 

Cook on a medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the carrots feel soft,

Partially blend with a stick blender.

Enjoy your colourful soup with buttered toast. Yum, and at least 3 of your 5 a day!

P.S. I use all organic ingredients because I prefer not to consume all those yucky chemicals.  

40 Soups - Mushroom

Over on my old blog Serendipity Child I started a series of posts call 40 soups based on a theme on a blog I follow by Elise Blaha, although I didn't get far with it, I loved it and have decided I would like to carry it on on this blog.  I really love soup and as it is coming into Autumn and winter when soups are the perfect warmer I thought I would share them with you.
Not only are soups easy to make they are also nutritious, enabling you to eat a few portions of your five a day in one easy meal.  My toddler usually likes them to, I give him the unblended version so he has pieces of food to pick up with his fingers and leave out cream because he has a dairy sensitivity.
This week I made mushroom soup for the first time. I didn't follow a recipe (I rarely do for soups) I just thought about what I would like to do and went ahead.  It isn't the cheapest soup to make because it required a whole pack of mushrooms, but was very very tasty.

I used:
One pack of organic chestnut mushrooms,
One large organic onion,
Three cloves of allotment garlic,
One kallo chicken stock cube,
1 tbs organic olive oil,
A dash of organic double cream.

To begin I chopped the onion and garlic and fried it in the olive oil.  I then chopped the mushrooms and addded them till they went soft and watery.  Next I added enough water to cover the mushrooms plus a bit more and added the chicken stock cube.
After cooking for about 15 mins I blended the whole thing and added the cream.
Served with crusty white bread it was absolutely delicious and tasted just like a bought fresh mushroom soup.
What soup recipes do you love?

Blackberry Picking

Last weekend my sister came to stay and we went to my allotment with Boris.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we decided to pick some blackberries because they were so bog and juice and sweet it would have been shameful not to!

I am sure that any parent of a toddler will agree that it it is so wonderful to have an extra pair of hands (and eyes) when you are out and about, it meant I didn't have to worry about Boris running off or eating something he shouldn't.  Really makes me wish my family lived nearer.

Boris really enjoyed picking the blackberries, some even made it into the bucket!  His little lips and fingers were purple by the end of the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

When we got home I stewed them with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and they became these (pear and blackberry drop scones):

125g self raising flour,
1/2 tsp cinnamon,
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg,
1 egg,
Milk (we used soya) to make a thick batter)
25g melted butter,
1 pear, stewed blackberries,
golden syrup, butter to taste.

Mix whisk together the flour spices egg and milk then add the melted butter, blob into a hot frying pan and springkle on chopped pear,  cook until little holes begin to appear on the surface then flip and cook on the other side for a couple of mins,
Serve with butter, golden syrup and stewed blackberries.  Yummy!

 

And these (blackberry sponge cake):

Weigh 2 eggs, whatever the weight of the two eggs is, weigh out the same amount of flour sugar and butter.

Cream together the butter and sugar, add the egg gradually then fold in sifted flour.  Pour into a lined baking tin and stir in some stewed blackberries (maybe two or three tablespoons) Cook at about 220 degrees for 20 mins.   Also yummy!

 

 Wishing you all a wonderful week.

Zesty Beetroot Chutney

This post was first published on Serendipity Child on 08/09/2012, this year I have grown my own beetroot at the allotment specifically for this recipe, I can't wait for them to be grown and I can make some, it is delicious with cheese on toast:

We often end up with a glut of vegetables in our fruit boxes (which is one of the reasons we aren't getting it any more) and a few weeks ago we had one too many beetroot, along with a growing collection of empty jars I was inspired to make some chutney.  I find that beetroot can be a bit muddy tasting sometimes, even when fresh, and don't even get me started on the picked variety, yuck!  So I was pleasantly surprised to find that this recipe transformed the beetroot into delicious fruity chutney that goes perfectly with cheese on toast. 

You can find the full recipe here,

1 1/2kg beetroot trimmed and peeled and chopped,

3 onions chopped,

3 eating apples peeled and cored and chopped,

Zest and juice of 3 oranges,

2 tbsp white or yellow mustard seeds, 

1 tbsp coriander seeds,

1 tbsp ground cloves,

1 tbsp ground cinnamon,

700ml red wine vinegar,

700g granulated sugar.

Mix ingredients together in a pan and cook until the beetroot is tender and the mixture parts when you run and spoon along the base of the pan,

Sterilise jars then put the chutney into the jars.

Eat! (It gets better with age.)

Illustrated bread-making tutorial

First published on SerendipityChild on 22/06/2010

I got this bread making recipe from a wonderful website called selfsufficientish and it is pretty fail safe although is not a quick fix, you will need to go the the shops if you have a bread emergency, it takes a day to make. 

First pour 750ml of luke warm water into a jug:

Next add two teaspoons of yeast and two teaspoons of sugar and stir it in:

Leave the mixture in a warm place untill it is all frothy on top, (about half an hour)

Pour the mixture into a bowl:

Take your flour.  I use half wholemeal and half white breadmaking flour.  Organic of course.

Add flour to the yeasty mixture in the bowl:

Stir:

Add more flour to make a gloopy paste:

Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place overnight (I do mine in the morning and leave it while I am at work)

While you are away the mixture with froth up and become all bubbly:

Give it a stir and you will find that it's all gloopy and stretchy:

Add more of the flour until it has thickened:

Flour your worktop:

Tip out your mixture:

Add more flour:

And some salt (I do 3 teaspoons) don't forget to do this or you will end up with quite bland bread.

Then begin the process of adding flour and kneeding until you have made a dough, don't add too much flour though, your dough should still be a bit sticky:

As you kneed, don't just fold and press the dough, really tear it and stretch it:

Lovely!

The dough should be nice and stretchy and spring back when you poke it:

I then cut my dough in half because I have found my tired old over can't cope with cooking one large loaf so I make two smaller ones:

Make two lovely round balls by kneeding them a bit more:

Beauties:

Put em into tins:

Then cover with a damp cloth (this one is actually clean but looks manky from fruit staining).  leave to rise.  The time it takes to rise will vary depending on how warm your room is.  Basically just leave it till it has risen lots!

Put the oven on just before you think they are ready to go in.

Ohh

Put them in the oven.  My oven only goes up to 200 degrees and this seems to work fine.

Then as if by magin, in about 20 minutes you get a beautiful loaf of bread.  Take the loaves out of the tins and leave to cool on a rack.

Then enjoy

Hope you liked by breadmaking tutorial.  Comments are welcomed.

Come again soon.

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