Tuesday 31 July 2007

Holiday for the summer

I am going to take a break from updating recipes every day on the site for a while. I feel like I need a break from it and it will give me a chance to work on making the site easier to use. I want to give it a better search facility and allow the recipes to go into more categories. I'm not sure if that will be possible yet.

It would be helpful to know what people would find useful in the site so I can see if I can incorporate it.

I will be updating my blog but not as often so please keep coming back for new messages.

Monday 30 July 2007

Cheese Spread Faces

These cheese spread faces were made by Abbie when we were having a picnic last week. She loves makes patterns with her food, and she can sometimes mix interesting combinations together. This combination is pretty easy to do, and the tortilla chips are lovely if you use the left over cheese spread as a dip with them.


Sunday 29 July 2007

Orange Fizz

Todays recipe is another drink - orange fizz. Its a great alternative to the horrible fizzy pop sold in the shops that is full of additives and sugar. It is healthy and refreshing.

Saturday 28 July 2007

Two recipes today

Was busy last night so didn't have time to put up last nights recipe which was for peanut butter nibbles. Ok so it isn't really a recipe but a lovely combination that I'm not sure many people would think of, it also makes great sandwiches.
Today's recipe is for Carrot and Corriander pasta which also has mushrooms in. I was using up some leftovers and thought I would try it, and it worked really well. I hope you like it too.


Thursday 26 July 2007

Fizzy Apple Juice

This fizzy apple juice is a lovely refreshing drink, especially for those hot summer days!!
I find the lemon juice reduces the sweetness of the apple and makes it more refreshing and the sparkling water dilutes it a little and quenches my thirst better.


Wednesday 25 July 2007

Green Lentil Dahl

Todays recipe is for Green Lentil Dahl. The recipe hasn't got exact measureed ingredients because it really doesn't matter, just make sure that if you aren't used to making curries that you add the powder carefully so it doesn't get too strong.

Your views on Animal Testing

I found an interesting article on the BBC site this morning about animal testing. They never seem to print my comments so I have written my views on it on another site and would love it if you could add your comments too my discussion on the mylot site.

Tuesday 24 July 2007

Green Vegetable Noodles

Tonights recipe for green vegetable noodles was a real hit with my kids. They love noodles and this is a great way of getting them to eat their greens.

Kids Vegan Group

Now my eldest daughter is getting older, she is asking more questions about being vegan. I wondered if there were any kids vegan groups that she could join online, so she could talk to other vegan children. She does know a few vegan children, but most of her friends don't understand the concept of veganism at all.

Sunday 22 July 2007

Nut Roast with Mushroom Sauce

This nut roast recipe isn't really a recipe in its own right, but adding mushroom sauce to a packet mix of nut roast really adds to the flavour and makes it far less dry. We do have a nut roast recipe on the site if you would like to have a go at making your own.

Saturday 21 July 2007

Bean Sprout Pittas

I'm not that keen on bean sprouts but they are very nutritious. Adding them with other ingredients in this bean sprout pitta or in sandwiches or salads means the taste isn't a strong but you get all the goodness.

Friday 20 July 2007

Cheesy Pasta

Cheesy pasta is basically a white sauce on pasta with a parmazan topping. Its quick and easy to make but can easily have other vegetables with it to make it a more nutritious dinner.

Thursday 19 July 2007

Bubble and Leek

This bubble and leek is a really tasty alternative to bubble and squeak. It uses the same basic recipe but gives the dish more flavour and is still a great way to use up left over potatoes.


Wednesday 18 July 2007

Healthy Chips

Todays recipe is for healthy chips. I know that vegans are usually healthy but there are times when I want to lose a few pounds and I always seem to crave things like chips. These are much lower in fat even than low fat oven chips, and in fact you can cook them with no oil at all, just a little bit to grease the tray.


Tuesday 17 July 2007

Salad Pitta

Todays recipe is for salad pitta. This is great for lunchboxes, picnics or just for snacks at home. There are plenty of other ingredients that could be added to it to give it lots more flavours.


Monday 16 July 2007

Apple Slices

Todays recipe for apple slices is a nice one to get the kids to help with as its a healthy snack and is fun and easy to make.


Sunday 15 July 2007

Fruity Pasty

Todays recipe for fruity pasty is a great way to use up left over pastry if you are using it for another recipe. I particularly like it filled with tinned peaches and served with custard.

Saturday 14 July 2007

Sugar Free Spicy Biscuits

I made these spicy biscuits with my 2 year old. She loved being able to help me roll out the dough. She was really proud to take one to her sister when we picked her up from school.



Garlic Coated Potatoes

Yesterdays new recipe was garlic coated potatoes. These are really tasty, and only take a small amount of preparation.


Redesign

Sorry about the lack of blog entry last night, I was busy with a minor redesign of the recipes for vegans website. Hopefully it will be a bit easier to navigate around the site now. Let me know what you think.

Thursday 12 July 2007

Mushroo Stew

This is a simple recipe for mushroom stew. I would normally put a whole range of vegetables in a stew and add lentils, beans or tvp, but this time I thought I would try mushrooms instead.
Of course you could add a lot of other vegetables to it, but I wanted to keep this recipe nice and simple.


Wednesday 11 July 2007

Ratatouile

Todays recipe is for ratatouile. I love this dish but don't make it that often as my kids don't like aubergine or courgette. I do make variations of it but substituting those with different ingredients but it isn't the same. If anyone has made a nice variation it would be nice to hear from you.




Tuesday 10 July 2007

Stuffed Peppers

Peppers are really lovely stuffed, and can be filled with a lot of different things, rice, couscous and a whole range of vegetables. Today's recipe for stuffed peppers uses bulgar wheat which is an ingredient that we rarely use on the site, but goes with a lot of different dishes.

Monday 9 July 2007

Cheese Toasties

Todays recipe for cheese toasties is a favourite with my girls which is why Abbie wanted to put it on the site. It is an easy recipe and therefore is an ideal food to make with children.





Please forgive the poor photo, my daughter wanted to take it herself.

Sunday 8 July 2007

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

Today's recipe is a spicy variation on the butternut squash soup recipe I already have on the site. You can find the recipe here. It makes a great starter, or a lunch served with crusty bread.

Saturday 7 July 2007

Chick Pea Curry

This recipe for chick pea curry can easily be adapted to contain any vegetables that you happen to have left over.


Friday 6 July 2007

Mushroom and Onion Quiche

Todays recipe for mushroom and onion quiche was kindly supplied to me Ian Anderson from his Padley Wood website. . It was a lovely quiche and even the non-vegans I had round that day enjoyed it. We ate it with boiled baby new potatoes and ochra but it would also work well with a salad.


Thursday 5 July 2007

Thai Flavoured Noodles

Todays recipe is for Thai flavoured noodles. You can use a whole host of vegetables in this dish and it works well with rice noodles or white noodles as well as the wholemeal ones that I used.


Restaurant Reviews

I rather enjoyed writing my restaurant review of the Meadow Inn, even though it was quite brief. I wondered if anyone knew if there were any sites that had reviews of vegan restaurants where you could submit your own reviews. I'm sure lots of people would be interested in a site like this, so I would imagine there must be one.

Wednesday 4 July 2007

Mushroom Soup

Todays recipe is for mushroom soup. This is different to the other mushroom soup recipe I have on the site, and has a completely different texture and flavour than the other recipe I have on. This is a chunkier soup. I hope you like it.

Vegan Adam

This site appears to be fairly new, but has sections where you can add your own links to other sites, which will hopefully mean it will soon be full of content.
I was able to put some of my recipes on the site from Recipes for Vegans although I wasn't sure whether it was worth adding lots of them.
The forum seems to be squashed into its place on the site and has only a few entries at the moment but I am going to give it a try and see how the site develops.

Tuesday 3 July 2007

Falafels in Tahini Sauce

The http://www.recipesforvegans.co.uk/falafelintahinisauce.html falafels in tahini sauce was another one provided by my boyfriend. I love falafels but they do need a sauce as they can be dry and the tahini sauce works really well with them.


Monday 2 July 2007

Restaurant Review - The Meadow Inn, Ironbridge

Date: Friday 29th June at 7pm

I phoned ahead to explain that me and my partner were vegan and could they provide a meal for meal. I was told they would phone me back after talking to the chef and was told that they could provide ciabatta with roasted vegetables followed by penne pasta with a rich tomato sauce.

When we arrived they had knowledge of my booking but didn't remember that we were vegan and had to ask the chef again what they could provide. They came back saying we could have either the ciabatta or their vegetarian ministrone soup for a starter, and the pasta or a parsnip and celeric bake with lentils for a main course.

We asked for some olives to start, but they tasted like they they had anchovies in them. The waiter insisted that they didn't but neither of us liked the idea of eating them, they didn't taste like olives we were used to.

We both had the ciabatta with had plenty of vegetables but was still a bit dry. Some sun dried tomato paste or tomato sauce would really have helped.

I had the pasta which was with roasted vegetables again and the pasta was stuck together a bit. It was a little disappointing, but had plenty of flavour. The parsnip bake on the other hand looked lovely and is something I intend to try to make myself for the website sometimes. It had lots of lentils with it and was very filling.

I might sound overly critical, but really the food was of a high standard compared to what a lot of restaurants would be able to prepare for vegans at half a days notice. The price was reasonable too. With our drinks and the ciabatta and oil appetiser it came to under £30.

I would recommend it to other vegans, but would suggest that they give the restaurant more notice so they have a chance to prepare something more interesting, and also make it very clear from the outset what vegan actually means.

Chocolate Pastry Biscuits

These chocolate pastry biscuits I made today with my youngest daughter.



I had some left over pastry from a quiche I was making so let her cut out some shapes with it and we covered them in chocolate. The girls loved them and they are really easy to make. They do need a lot of adult supervision though.


Sunday 1 July 2007

Quick Pizza

Quick Pizza is a variation of the pizza toasts recipe with a different topping. It is quick and easy, and great for kids.