Greens beans and I have had a fractious relationship over the decades. My earliest recollection of being served up this veg in a restaurant was as an over boiled, squeaky, flavourless side dish with water jetting out on each chomp. … Continue reading
I love when an experiment goes right. These turned out better than I had hoped with just a few adjustments from my original plan. Prepared, cooked and served up in under 20 min too what nots to love. What you’ll … Continue reading
Keeping it colourful and raw tonight. Lots of heavier dishes over the week so was craving a rainbow. Rice rolls filled with beetroot, carrot, cucumber, mint, coriander, avocado, scallion dressed with sesame seeds, chilli flakes, squeeze of lime and rice … Continue reading
Quick sunny salad to salute the lovely weather today. A trio of little toms, cannellini and green beans, toasted macadamia and sautéed shallots. Mmm… Chop and pop the tomatoes in the oven at 180 for 30 min. Drizzle with a little … Continue reading
Sometimes the classics are the best. Who doesn’t love a chocolate chip cookie? especially when they have a little vegan makeover. Quick and simple and feel free to play around with the ingredients if you don’t have certain flours or … Continue reading
Every now and then I like to break away from my usual morning juice for a tea and naughty cheats pastry. Spiced apple, blueberry and pecan yumminess. Ridiculously simple! Into a pot pop a cup of pecans, blueberries and 4 … Continue reading
Stuffed peppers are in my top 3 lazy but delicious vegan dishes! No finesse required just pack in the filling and let the oven do all the hard the work. For the filling: Into a pan pop- 1 cup of … Continue reading
These are in my top three vegan meatballs variations for a few reasons.. They are delicious, healthy, can be eaten raw by excluding the breadcrumbs and tossed in a salad, fried off and eaten by themselves with a rich tomato … Continue reading
And the leftovers train keeps choo choo-ing along. This time it’s the turn of penne! There was a bowl of penne pasta with a spicy tomato sauce sitting happily in the fridge so rather than reheat it for a repeat … Continue reading
5 min Asian mix plate. Stuffed rice rolls drizzled with spinach pesto, mixed leaves and purple sprouts and a little bowl of sweet and spicy smoke tofu. Rice paper is just so delicate and lovely and perfect when you are … Continue reading
Delicious, lazy sharing plate of roasted and spiced chickpeas spiralized courgette, carrots and red cabbage in yesterdays pesto. It’s a real self service meal but tasty nonetheless.
Roasted chickpeas:
1 bowl of chickpeas
Pop into a ziplock bag and pour in your favourite spices.
I added coriander, all spice, sumac and chilli flakes along with a pinch of salt.
Zip and shake shake shake.
Onto a lined tray at 180x for 15 min or so.
For the veg:
Spiralize a courgette, carrot and a piece of red cabbage
Bathe it in lots of pesto and add the yummy spiced chickpeas.
I just served this up in a salad bowl along with a chopping board of sauces and leaves.
DIY vegan style!
Tortillas work great too but I just love cabbage leaves and bok choi with this. So light and fresh.
Love
Louise
x
The rainy weather had me craving a little breakfast pot over a juice this morning. Doesn’t it look pretty! And so simple too.
The bottom layer is a delicious chia pudding.
I mixed a handful of chia seeds with a cup of almond and coconut milk, a squeeze of agave and a few drops of vanilla essence. Pop in the fridge overnight until it becomes gelatinous and yummy. I usually make enough that i can have it over a few days.
Middle layer: I blended 3 kiwis with a scoop of spirulina.
Top layer: I blended 2 plums with a scoop of acai powder.
I topped it off with pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs and rose petals.
Yummmmmyyy.
Have a wonderful day everyone
Love
Louise
x
A few weeks back my boyfriend and I stopped off at a local restaurant and Dave slurped on the most delicious looking bowl of French onion soup! I won’t lie… I was jealous! it was just the sort of comfort food I was craving so I couldn’t resist making a vegan equivalent that evening.
Now true french onion soup connoisseurs will be shuddering at the thought of me using the name “French onion soup” to describe this pot… No beef stock, no gruyere, no dairy butter.. What is she doing…. So I will simply call it the easiest yummiest cheesy drunken onion soup you will ever make.
Here we go:
Melt 50g of dairy free butter and a glug or two of olive oil
Add a batch of onions (as many as you have or want in the soup) finely chopped (if you were to invest in one kitchen gadget let it be an mandolin it saves time, it’s fun and it makes you feel like you’re a kitchen pro ha ha)
Followed by 2 cloves of crushed garlic and then a generous squeeze of agave syrup.
Reduce heat and cook away until it caramelises.
Add a glass of white wine a veg stock cube crumbled and fill up with water.
Boil again and reduce to a simmer (ideally leave it do it’s thing for an hour or two but I was too
Hungry to wait)
Season to your liking with a generous amount of sea salt and pepper.
And serve up…. Mmm…
While I was grilling the bread I grated a generous amount of violife pizza cheese (thank you Art of Zen Foods for my amazing cheeses once again) into the soup and let it get gooey and sink.
Cut up a few slices of crusty bread and use a potato peeler to slices a few pieces of violife pizza cheese to pop on top. Onto the grill they go until melted and yum.
Sit them into the soup and it’s time to eat.
You could add some fancy leaves and spices but I think simple is best when it comes to this soup.
No it’s not on my top ten for healthy vegan dishes but it wins the top award for food hugs.
Love
Louise
x
I arrived back after a busy morning at my “I’m a little vegan” food stall craving a sweet and a coffee. Of all things to crave coffee is neeeeeever one of them but I gave in and created this little plate of deliciousness. Bliss.
I had a humongous bag of mulberries that a lovely friend gave me, some delicious bananas from organic republic, a leftover piece of tofu and a bit of chocolate sauce and ice cream from the other night. Yum!!!!
For the base:
I blitzed dried mulberries and coconut oil and flavoured with vanilla essence and agave.
For the filling:
I blended tofu, agave, some melted chocolate and a banana.
Press the mulberry mix into a lined pan and top with the filling and into the freezer it goes for an hour or so.
I prettied it up with a few slices of banana and raw cacao and served with a shot of espresso and agave, two scoops of dairy free vanilla ice cream and a squeeze of chocolate sauce (coconut oil and raw choc melted)
A plate of heaven.
Love
Louise
x
There’s something so comforting about a nice slice of fruit cake and a cup of tea but nicer still is a fruit cake that is rich and delicious but doesn’t require flour, sugar or plant milk.Almost sin free wiithout losing out on yumminess.
How to: Blend a cup of almonds until they are powder like. Combine in a bowl with your favourite fruits, seeds and nuts. I simply used what I had available. Sultanas, cherries, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds approx a cup of each but anything and everything works here. Figs, apricots, dates, hazelnuts and so on.
Add 3 teaspoons of egg replacer mixed with 6 tablespoons of water. 1/4 cup of agave syrup And a splash of gin (optional but gives it a little zing and oh my gin and I are great friends) Bake in the oven at 150c for 45 to 50 min. Remove, cool, cut and eat with your favourite cup of tea.
The perfect naughty but not so naughty tea cake.
Love
Louise
x
Who doesn’t love a little fritatta?! Even saying friiiitaaattta sounds wonderful. Here is my quick and super simple vegan equivalent.
Veg for the frittata:
Potatoes
Asparagus
Spinach
I boiled the potatoes and asparagus then added the spinach at the end.
Drain and mix with cheesy sauce
For the cheesy sauce blend the following
Half a block of art of zens violife dairy free pizza cheese
Half a block of tofu
A small carton of soy cream
Salt/pep. Flavour to you liking
2 cloves of garlic
A handful of mint
A cup of peas
Bake in the oven at 200 for 30 to 40 min.
I served it with a quick chop Asian slaw.
Red cabbage
White cabbage
Mangetout
Scallions
Carrot
Chives
And a squeeze of mango chutney.
Yummy yum yum
Love
Louise
x
Looking for a quick and easy vegan burger? Call on your friend cauliflower.
For the burger:
I boiled the cauliflower, drained it and mashed it up with half a banana! It acts as a binder and also gives a subtle and delicious taste. Trust me!
A splash of sweet chilli sauce, salt and pepper and into a metal ring.
The most important and yummiest part is layering it into the ring! I layered Violife red pepper cheese slices upon each scoop of cauliflower. Sheer indulgence.
Fry it off until golden brown and firm.
Burger topping:
I sandwiched it between two slices of the toasted white bread and topped with the following
Pesto (from two days ago)
Tomato sauce (tomatoes, garlic, salt, pep, coconut sugar, balsamic and
Mixed herbs brought to a boil then reduced to a simmer for as long as you can)
Pickled red cabbage
Avocado
Scallions
Mixed leaves
Courgette
And the piece de resistance art of zen foods amazing violife red pepper cheese slices.
Oh this tastes so good!
Love Louise
x
As I sauntered along the beach earlier still donning my market apron (cringe) and contemplating my lunch all I could think was I want cheese! deep fried cheese! So when I got home there was so choice but to get my arancini on!
I haven’t made these little fellas in aaaagesss… Now the true arancini connoisseurs can look away now… Dairy free, no egg, brown bread crumb! How, what, why? I promise though this is just as tasty! And it’s fun if not a bit fiddly to make.
Ok here we go:
I picked up a beautiful bag of carnaroli rice a few months ago and forgot all about it! (Arborio rice is just as good to us) I mean it’s not every day you get your rice in a little check pillow case all sewn up.
I boiled off the rice in veg stock, pinch of salt and a glug or two of white wine.
For the cheese I looked no further than the super yummy changing my recipe portfolio one bite at a time Violife cheese from Art of Zen Foods! Get onto these cheeses if you haven’t already. I cubed a block of their pizza cheese.
For the crumbs I had made some wholemeal bread a few days ago and it was on the way out so what better way to make use of it than to crumb it up. Not traditional to use brown crumbs I know but either is this recipe so why not.
Place a scoop of the rice in your hand, add two pieces or more! Of the cheese and cover with another layer of rice. Cup with your hands and make into a solid ball. I find they are sticky enough to roll straight into the breadcrumbs and then from there into a deep pan of oil or better still a deep fryer for 5 to 7 min or until golden brown.
I sat my yummy arancini onto a big dollop of cashew and mixed leaf pesto that I had made earlier and finished it off with a splash of my homemade pepper chutney but to be honest it’s just as tasty without either.
Oh my… It doesn’t get much better than this.
Love Louise
x
Oh my oh my oh my ! Introducing my favourite dish of the month… Mung bean and chick pea non meat meat ball tacos… These came about from a mixture of leftovers and an article I read today about mung beans and their endless benefits.
Here we go:
Cook the mung beans (as you would rice)
While your mung beans are cooking blitz the following:
A piece of seitan (I only had a little left so use a packet if you have it)
A handful of cashews
3 or 4 stalks of scallions
A cup of chick peas
Drain the mung beans when cooked and blend them also
Combine all ingredients and add-
Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
Cinnamon
Splash of olive oil
Roll into balls and bake at 200 for 30 min or until toasty.
Place your tortillas into a baking tin and shape like tacos. Bake for about 10 min. I popped them into the oven while the balls were baking.
Remove and fill tacos with whatever takes your fancy. I used mixed leaves and placed the balls on top with my tomato sauce from yesterday and the last few scoops of my leftover pesto.
I topped it with the amazing Art of Zen Foods violife pizza cheese and placed them under the grill for 5 more min.
Final touch was a dribble of soy cream and you are ready to dig in!
My chief taster Dave (carnivore boyfriend) said this was his favourite dish to date. Oh goodness me! I may have to agree….
Love
Louise
x
Friday night pizza night! Well calzone night to be exact…. My oh my oh my oh my… Cheesy heaven sharing plate with the prettiest salad on the side! This is sooooooo good. Yes I seem to say that about many of my dishes but art of zen foods are to thank for this dish. Their violife cheeses are sublime.
Ok here we go!
For the cheats dough mix:
190g of self raising flour
1/2 a sachet of yeast
110 ml of water
1/2 tablespoon oil,
A pinch of salt and sugar
For the filling:
A handful of scallions and basil roughly chopped and mixed with half a packet of violife dairy free pizza cheese and a packet of original violife dairy free cream cheese.
Roll out dough (no need to let this dough sit its ready to go from the off) and place mixture in the middle of the dough. Fold and seal! Pop in the oven at 180c for 20+ min with 2 min under the grill and a drizzle of olive oil.
Serve with a side salad if you haven’t eaten the entire thing straight from the oven. Oh and a cheeky glass of wine definitely helps too.
Now excuse me while I serve myself another portion. Drool….
Love Louise
x
Asparagus, pastry and cheese …. Whats not to love. I’ve prettied them up a little by making them into little twisters! These are a winner in any dinner party setting and so quick and easy! By now I’m sure you’re realising quick and easy dishes are how I roll. haha…
I had some leftover pastry from my veg pie so rolled it out sprinkled it with non cheese cheese roll it up and roll it out again so the cheese gets blended and yummy when baked.
Cut into strips and wrap around each asparagus stem. The asparagus has just been blanched before wrapping! Line them up on a baking dish and into the oven at 180c or until golden and delicious.
I mentioned that these are ideal for a dinner party but if truth be known I am yet to consume these anywhere else other than my lap, watching tv sipping a nice glass of vino! Gotta keep it classy…
Love Louise
x
Im a little vegan 