Vegan Recipe Competition

Don't forget that you only have 4 days left to enter the recipe competition on www.recipesforvegans.co.uk go to the site to get full details of how to enter.

Don't worry if you recipe seems simple we are looking for something tasty, not something complicated.

I didn't have time to cook something exciting for dinner tonight.

My daughter came back starving from a party with a bag full of sweets and cake she couldn't eat, so I just did a simple stir fry.

Sometimes the easiest recipes work the best.

The kids loved it and ate it all without moaning - which makes a change!

I guess as they like noodles too that helps.

Shopping in Sainsburys

I went to do my shopping today and went to Sainsburys which I haven't been to for a while. The first thing I noticed was that they have brought back their vegan margarine and are also stocking it in my local store which they didn't before. However, thats where the good things end.
They have repacked a lot of their foods and this new packaging no longer says the items are vegan. So either they have changed a lot of the recipes or they are no longer labelling all their items.

I did manage to find some vegan easter eggs for my girls. They have 2 types there a simpsons one and a bang on the door one for £1.99 each which I thought wasn't bad, and certainly cheaper than my usual option which is the expensive Green and Blacks one.

Animal Shelter Killings

I found this article on a site today which made me so mad.

http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/779944.aspx?ref=michelledarcy

Amonst other horrific things, it is saying that animal shelters in the USA kill animals that have been there for a week. Is this true of animal shelters in this country, and if so, is there anything that can be done to stop it. It is so curel to kill an animal just because they haven't found a home yet.

Back to the real issues of this blog and today I made a lasange with my daughter. Instead of following our usual recipe (http://www.recipesforvegans.co.uk/lasagne.html) I changed a few things. I used aubergine and spinach instead of sweetcorn. I also made the tomato sauce with tomato paste, ketchup and some onions, garlic and herbs. When serving the white sauce had separated which it doesn't normally do, does anyone know which of the ingredients that I added could have been responsible for that?

Did you have a good valentines day?

I had a lovely valentines meal. I cooked basil and tomatos with mushrooms as a starter. The main was asparagus with potatoes and tofu in a mustard sauce, with strawberries and soya cream for dessert. It was lovely.
It would be great to know your valentines recipes. What did you cook? Our recipe competition is still open, so if you would like to enter you recipe click here to find out more.

I have taken the link to the valentines recipes off the vegan site. I was wondering whether to keep a link to it in the nav bar like we have to the Christmas recipies, what do you think? Would you ever use it?

Hope you all had a great valentines day.

Snow, snow and more snow

Well snow has hit us here in Telford and I'm sitting here freezing with the fire on full blast, trying to dry our wet clothes ready for picking up my daughter from school. I am in the mood for something lovely and warm to eat so I might be making on of the soups from our site. If you want one too take a look at Recipes for Vegans soups section.

Here are a couple of pics of the sort of soups we have recipes for:

I am still feeling sad about the culling of the turkeys because of bird flu and am amazed at some of the attitudes of people towards it. I can't believe we are living in a world where people class birds of such little importance that they don't even care if they are slaughtered even in those huge numbers.

I started a debate about it on a website the other day and was astounded at some of the replies. Click here to go to the site. To find my discussion type 'murdering birds' into the search box and highlight mylot at the top. Then click search. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion and support my views as at the moment I feel very disheartened about peoples comments.

Poor Turkeys

I was going to write today about the new valentines recipes on Recipes for Vegans, but instead my attention has been drawn to the bird flu epidemic. I think it is truely terrible that so many birds have to be killed. I am sure that there is a better solution, but because little thought is given to the life of these (as they were going to be dead soon anyway) they were just all slaughtered.
It makes me so mad that we breed these animals so that we can eat them, put them in such poor conditions that disease spreads quickly and then think nothing of killing them all rather than vaccinating them because it is cheaper.
I sometimes dispair at the terrible world we live in.

New Competition

Congratulations to Claire the winner of our January recipe competition with her lovely Blueberry Muffins.

If you have a vegan recipe you are itching to share with us but missed last months deadline, then don't worry as there is a new competition online now. So enter here for a chance of winning.

I have found a new site this week called Mylot. It encourages people to have discussions on a whole range of topics and will reward you for doing so by giving you real cash!! I have only been a member for a few days, but what has struck me is the lack of vegans on the site. It would be great to draw veganism to the attention of more people through a site like this. If you are interested in joining click here to have a look at the site.

Todays recipe on Recipes for Vegans is a simple hearts and kisses salad. If you don't want to cook on valentines day, or want to make something in advance, this is a great meal for you, as it can be kept in the fridge until you need it and is eaten cold.