Dun Run vegan flapjacks

These powered me through 90 miles of overnight cycling on the Dunwich Dynamo and are a force to be reckoned with. Golden Syrup is the major player here. I didn't bother with sugar, instead going straight into the real stuff.

Makes enough for about eight-ten people 

Ingredients
Vegetable oil or vegan margarine to line baking tins
250g porridge oats
1 pinch of salt
150g Pure soya margarine (or another vegan spread)
4 tbsp Golden Syrup
Handful of chopped cherries, cranberries or nuts like macadamia

Preheat the oven to 180C. 

Line one or two baking tins with greaseproof paper and/or vegan margarine or oil. I prefer my flapjacks to be crazy dense so usually squash them all into one tray.

In a large bowl, pour in the oats and salt. In a pan, melt down the margarine over a low heat and then add this to the bowl. Stir in with the oats and salt, before adding in the syrup and finally the chopped fruit or nuts.

Pour into the lined baking tray and bake for around 25-35 minutes.

If you like your flapjacks soft like I do, then take them out of the oven as soon as the mixture starts to go golden at the edges. If you like them a littler harder, wait another ten minutes until the tops are brown all over.

Take out of the oven and while still in the baking tray, divide into pieces with a knife. Leave in the tray to cool completely before beginning the demolition process!

Breakfast like a king, notes on the best meal of every day

In the pub last night with some friends we got talking about how different diets can boost your mood- that classic "yeah live a healthy lifestyle okay" attitude we all take for granted. The main recurring issue seemed to be that everyone said they didn't have time to organise every part of their day to be healthy, and that's something I can defo agree with. Chips in the kebab shop are a way too-frequent occurrence on my weekly meals rota!

It was this sense of not having enough time that used to mean I never, ever ate breakfast. When I moved away from home and was studying I didn't eat until 5pm at the earliest. Crazeh times. In any case, I've realised through a few good pals that always seem to be switched on from dawn til dusk that breakfast is, in fact, the bomb.

In the winter I'm pretty much a porridge or bust kinda lady. I don't even care about soy milk any more. Hand me the goddamn water and oats perlease. But by summer I guess there's reason to be a bit more adventurous- here are a few ideas for vegan breakfasts:

In reality, no one has time for freshly baked breakfast muffins or tracking down that bit of the smoothie blender that got used as an ashtray last time you had people round. Ta. Working on a five minute preparation-limit, the easiest thing for a vegan breakfast is to have some uber nice museli hidden away somewhere at your desk, some soy milk in the work fridge and some pieces of fruit in your bag. I usually add a vegan hot chocolate for extra decadence/motivation to see the day through to lunchtime. Be sure to pick a museli with plenty of nuts and seeds like almonds and brazil nuts and you'll be getting a good helping of protein and essential nutrients. Whack three pieces of fruit in and you're basically on the 5-a-day home run.

At the weekend I say no holds barred, go all out. Fried mushrooms with shallots and dried herbs on ciabatta are almost easy enough to make before your first coffee (almost, I said, almost) or there's homemade baked beans OR American-style pancakes with banana and cinnamon. Go on, go on, go on, go on.

Man cannot live on pre-drinks alone: vegan stop-over snacks

 

Sometimes pre-drinks on their own just don't quite cut it (I speak from experience), and maybe you need a little something to soak up some of that tequila. These three dishes make the perfect stop-over food- for friends to pick at en route to somewhere else, or while you're waiting patiently for the hair dryer.

The herb almond recipe is originally from Martha Stewart, who suggests teaming it with sherry and manchego cheese, but I went with white wine and processo, then gin with the figs, although vodka would also be a good match. These recipes are all really easy to prepare an hour before anyone arrives so there's basically no excuse to still be in your dressing gown/towel/the bath (ahem) when the doorbell goes.

Makes enough for 4

Herb toasted almonds
4 tbsp olive oil
200g whole blanched almonds
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Salt, pepper

Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a large pan and add the almonds and cook for about 12 minutes, until they turn golden and fragrant. Tip onto a baking tray to allow to cool.

With the other tablespoon of oil, drizzle over the serving dish you are using and add the herbs and seasoning, then pour in the almonds and mix until everything is thoroughly coated.

Coarse chopped bruschetta
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped and still in bite size chunks
Handful of basil leaves
Half a red onion, chopped small
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper
1 loaf of ciabatta, cut into chunks

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir. Allow to sit for an hour so the basil can mix in with the oil and tomatoes. In this time, toast the ciabatta chunks under the grill dry, as the oil from the almonds and the fig dressing will flavour the bread, whilst stopping it from being too rich.

Fig and leaf salad
Salad leaves, washed
4 figs, cut 2/3 of the way to the base into quarters, but so they still hold their shape
Fig vinegar- I used L' Olivier fig vinegar just to cut against the fig texture and the almonds, but if you can't get hold of this, a simple French dressing would work too.

Place the leaves on a serving plate, then arrange the figs on top, with enough per each guest. Drizzle the dressing over the figs, making sure the flesh of the fruit gets the flavour.

The Clapton Hart does a mean bean vegan burger

I try not to start too many sentences with the words "As a vegan...", however I'm willing to use up my monthly quota for this one: as a vegan it's sooooooo great when you discover a great pub also does great vegan food. The Clapton Hart is this pub. They do vegan roasts now and then on a Sunday (call ahead to check) and this week added a new 3-Bean Vegan burger to their menu. So obviously there was only one place I was headed when the snow settled on Saturday.

Aside from the burger, which was great, it was the tobacco onions which stole the show for me- I had no clue what these were before this weekend but I've decided pretty much any meal could be improved with these blighters, so called because after they are cooked they look like shredded tobacco. All I'm saying is no packet of Amber Leaf ever tasted this good.

Bye-bye trying to construct chip buttys at Wetherspoons Steak Club every Tuesday. If you need me, follow the tobacco onion trail to the Lea Bridge Roundabout.

January rescue recipes

I've been working on a few rescue-recipes for January as pay cheques begin to reach the thin end of the wedge and the month shows no sign of ending. The silver lining is my new kitchen recipes notebook from Naomi as a quasi-Christmas present, along with Union hand roasted coffee and L'Olivier fig vinegar I'll be saving for some knock-out warm salads. How do you hold out through the most hated of months? Share the wealth below so we can all hurry the last two weeks along!

Vegan gift list: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Way back in December 2011, half way through curating my (somewhat extensive) Christmas list, I stumbled upon a book called Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I think I'd actually typed into Amazon's search list 'books that will change your life' just to see what would come up, and there was Eating Animals.

At the time I was one of those vegetarians people have to call to check they are "eating meat this week" before they make them dinner. In retrospect it was actually the perfect time for me to read this book for a bit of a wake up call- who am I kidding, a MAJOR wake up call. I'd done quite a bit of research into the farming industry in the UK for work, but I realised I wanted to find out some facts; I wanted to be a little clearer in my head when I sat down to eat chicken curry or a fish finger sandwich or even a slice of cake, what exactly I was about to consume.

After being given Foer's book for Christmas, I started reading on the 2nd of January. By the 9th of January I turned vegan without telling anyone for a few days. I was physically repulsed by what Foer describes in his investigation into the meat industry, and to be totally honest it was more of an immediate reaction at first: there's no way I could eat an egg after learning about the welfare of hens in the USA and the UK, free range or not, I couldn't go near them. I've now been a vegan for eleven months and couldn't think of living any other way.

I didn't plan to become a vegan when I started reading Eating Animals, and what's interesting (without giving too much away) is that Foer didn't become a vegan after writing it, but a vegetarian. Whatever your reaction to Eating Animals, it will change something about your standing. Whether it makes you begin to research a vegan lifestyle or all the more fierce as a meat eater to consume only the best, hand-reared whatever, the least you'll take away from this book is a better understanding of the animals you're eating. Don't let it pass you by.

Home truths: on battling temptation in Florence

A few photos from a recent teensy-tiny mini break to Florence with my best friend Rach. And now for some home truths: it was the hardest place as a vegan that I've visited so far.

Obviously I was expecting to have to navigate around towers of ice cream and fresh egg pasta, and after nearly a year of veganism it always gets easier to say no, but somehow, when everyone around you is taking their food so refreshingly seriously, it was even more frustrating when I couldn't try what I'm sure would be some of the best produce in the world.

I guess it's an unsaid fact of being vegan, especially after more than 20 years of eating otherwise- it's not an overnight change, and sometimes, when taken out of your comfort zone, those die-hard convictions get harder to locate. It's something I've rarely heard any of my other vegan friends discuss, and yet I'm sure we all have weeks or holidays or even a bad Monday morning when it would be so much easier to not be vegan.  No-one brings it up because no-one wants to admit that dramatically altering your entire lifestyle, whilst you believe it's the right thing to do, can also feel totally alienating and sometimes even isolating. When I started this blog I wanted to give an honest account of a vegan lifestyle, which is why I think it's also vital to deal with the reality of when being vegan isn't as easy as it should be.

You don't start hating cheese, eggs, or crème brûlée over night after deciding to change your diet- you just begin to stop thinking of it as the food you'll chose to consumer again. And I think it's that choice, and your reasons for making it, to keep a hold of. If you keep the facts, figures, reality, and more often than not- Ellen DeGeneres' voice in your head, you'll make it through.

So I ordered bruschetta and chamomile tea as main courses, and of course even this was done to perfection. I also chose pizza without cheese and just vegetable toppings, and a lot of olives and grapes to see me through the day. Just visiting the Mercato Centrale every morning was enough of a sensory overload- wheel barrows full of sundried tomatoes, the smell of porcini mushrooms heavy in the air. There are a few restaurants in Florence that specialise in vegan and vegetarian cooking, so if you're planning a visit soon I'd recommend giving those a try.

As for my trip? Well, I didn't get to eat my body weight in ice cream everyday like Rach, but I did get to drink a ton of out-of-this-world black coffee from every street-side kiosk I came across, and I came back more certain than ever of my convictions. And there's few things more important than that, right?

Sour cherry and macadamia nut granola

I used to work in the cafe of a stately home, where I was given the absolutely brilliant task of making industrial quantities of flapjack (mainly because of the face I made when they asked me to go anywhere near the carvery, and my unique skill at dropping a record number of mugs when manning the coffee machine) . Which is why you'd think I'd be a bit better at judging when a flapjack has finished baking, but apparently not...

So instead of vegan flapjacks, I decided to turn half an hour's cooking into granola....everything's not lost. Obviously golden syrup isn't right up there with the major greats in terms of a light breakfast, but if you're adding it yourself, you can decide exactly how much goes in, and it will probably be a lot less sugar than anything shop-bought. Or just tell yourself that. Whatever. Golden syrup is god.

Makes enough for a jar full, or you can keep in an air tight box for up to a month.

Ingredients:
100g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
100g dried sour cherries
250g rolled oats
2-3 tbsp of golden syrup
2 tbsp sunflower/nut oil
2 tbsp sunflower seeds

Heat the oven to 150C.
In a large bowl or pan, mix in the oats and nut, then the oil, and finally stirring in the golden syrup. You can hold back the sunflower seeds are they are fine raw and can be added at the end. The cherries are added during the baking to stop them burning.

Line an oven tray with greaseproof paper and spread across- you want the heat to get to as much of the mix as possible to bake it, so allow plenty of room for the granola to be spread out.

Bake for 15 minutes, then add in the cherries, mixing them through, and bake for another 10 minutes. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Once totally cooled down, pour the mixture into a jar or container and spoon in the sunflower seeds. Now all you need is soy milk, yoghurt, chopped banana, apple or pears, and breakfast is made! 

Off the menu: a breakdown

The long and short of it is eating out as a vegan in most standard restaurants pretty much sucks. There will be the odd, amazing place that are happy to make something up for you in the kitchen, but most restaurants will see you as a Meg Ryan circa When Harry Met Sally orderer (she is just the greatest though) and after all the caveats and cross examinations, you're left with chips and salad. And a slice of bread. Thanks, Wetherspoons.

There are a few places that make it very easy to order vegan. Orders without parenthesis or footnotes are sooo nice. Wagamama is one of these places. Their dietary menu filter (click here) makes it really easy to spot what's suitable. And although it would be great to have a little more to chose from than just the yasai itame (pictured above), it's sooo nice to be able to order straight from the menu.

Other places that I've found are great for this are Wahaca (just ask your server to show you the list of menu items they can change, and then usually they'll circle them all and then you can just order EVERY ITEM) and Pret are also improving on being clear about what is vegan, (now soups and salads).

Earlier in the year I was in contact with Eat over their sliiiiightly confusing (read: very) dietary listings. They've since added two new vegan soups to their menu, and taken away a salad dressing that had honey in it so it is now suitable for vegans. SO IT AINT ALL BAD.

The moral of the story? If you want to see vegan dishes on the menu, ask for them. If they're not on there yet, carry on asking, tweeting and writing emails, until you can order straight from the menu in all its minimalist delight, no ifs, no buts, just vegan.

The best things in life are free...

...and for everything else, there's always beans on toast, tea and Oh Comely...

For Issue 12, I wrote a wee short story about snacks sent in the post. It's a really beautiful issue so do have a flick through if you spot it on your travels!

Wahaca, veganised: Courgette, pea, sweetcorn and potato tortillas

I like to hum Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers whenever veganising a recipe. Just something to think about.

The original form of this recipe is Thomasina Miers' broad bean, pea and new potato quesadilla. I've swapped the broad beans for courgettes and added some sweetcorn for a little colour and flavour, after taking away the feta and cheddar. This makes an amazing lunch as just a wrap with some jalapenos, or as a dinner done as quesadillas in a grill pan. 

Makes enough for four

Ingredients
2 large handfuls of potatoes, peeled and chopped in half
Plenty of olive oil
1 onion, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green chili, finely chopped
2 courgettes, chopped down small as shown in photo above
100g frozen peas
100g frozen sweetcorn
Juice of one lime (I know there's lemon above but lime does work better-it's just all I had!)
handful of mint
handful of tarragon or tbsp of dried tarragon

Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are ready to mash. While this is happening, take a large pan and slowly sweat the onion, garlic and chili in plenty of olive oil- making sure none of it burns, for about ten minutes. Bring another pan of water to boil and add the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas.

With the back of a fork, mash the potatoes into the onion mix, adding the lime juice, mint, tarragon, some more olive oil, and seasoning to taste. Keep the pan on a low heat as you add in the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas. Taste the mixture once more and add some extra herbs/juice/ seasoning to your liking- you should be able to taste every flavour.

Serve with homemade corn tortillas, in flour wraps, or in quesadillas. I made this dish (centre in photo) for a Mexican themed dinner I had for my friends, and there wasn't any of this left by the end of the night! 

Vegan Summer Lovin' Spicy Bean Burger

So on my journey to finding the perfect vegan burger I've so far come across falafel, chickpea burgers and red lentil and rice burgers. But no mission would be complete without a pit stop at the SPICY BEAN BURGER aka the best food on the planet.

--- Cue Scooby-Doo time warp frame---

Way back when service stations didn't have Prets and M&S Food in them, all they used to have was a Burger King and a coffee kiosk. As my whole family were vegetarian back then, the only thing we could eat out of the entire menu was the Spicy Bean Burger, and I used to dream about that burger the whole four hour car journey to our stop-off point. See, spicy bean burgers mean fun is on the horizon and that summer has just begun. At least to an eight year old me, that is.

Now I won't be eating chez Burger King anymore, but this burger recipe is based on what I can remember them tasting like. Minus the bad stuff, obvs.

This recipe will make around 10 burgers, cost about £1.50 for the ingredients you use, and fill you up so much second portions become out of the question.

Ingredients
4 tbsp vegetable/sunflower oil
1 carrot grated
1 onion diced small
1 tin (drained) cooked kidney beans
1 tin (drained) chickpeas
2 garlic cloves
1 chili
1 small tin (drained) sweetcorn
1 handful peas (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1tsp ground coriander
Around 300g flour

Take a big mixing bowl or wok and add everything to it apart from the flour. Once thoroughly mixed in, give the burger mix a try to see if you want to add any salt or pepper, or maybe some lemon juice or extra chili. Using a hand blender or potato masher, roughly blend the mix so it can be shaped into patties, although I like to keep it so you can see some peas, sweetcorn and kidney beans in the burger.

Add around 200g of the flour, until you are able to make burger shapes in your hand, and then use the remaining 100g of flour to roll the burgers into to keep their shape together (as above).

Then heat 1 tbsp of oil and once this is hot, carefully add two burgers to the pan to fry, turning after around 3 minutes on each side. Make sure the pan doesn't get too hot- you want to cook the mixture the whole way through without burning the tops. Once your first batch is done, repeat with two more burgers, adding more oil when the pan begins to dry out.

While you're waiting for the burgers to fry (and keeping an eye on the pan at all times) you can make a quick cous cous salad like the one below, or slice up gherkins, or toast your burger buns. Whatever tickles your summer lovin' fancy!

What's that? You don't like lentils?