Vegan Cheese - Tesco vs. Vegusto |Review|

Cheese. One of the most lamented and perceived losses from the diet according to most who contemplate the vegan way. (Aside from chocolate, but have you tried bournville?!)

I was certainly a bit worried about it as I did enjoy cheese a lot before. I've tried a few different brands and mostly been disappointed. The solid soy versions seem to have a weird after taste an I just can't get on with them. However, it was my birthday last weekend, and I haven't had pizza since last year, so I decided to treat myself to the No-Moo Melty cheese from Vegusto having read very good reviews on the stuff. Coincidentally, the friend my Mum was staying with had bought some of Tesco's Creamy Cheddar Style Spread to try as well. So a comparison was born.

I'll admit to having high hopes for the Vegusto cheese and low expectations from Tesco which may have influenced me somewhat, but they both had to go through rigorous testing to see which I preferred! It's a hard life!!

 

 

Cheese on Toast

 

Pre-Melting

The late or lazy dinner staple.

The No-Moo Melty cheese can be sliced to put on things, but I found it was better to grate it for more even coverage, as although it sort of melts and feels creamy when you eat it, it doesn't spread, so the circles just kind of sit there….it does crisp up nicely on top making it feel more authentic. It's got a pleasant taste, although a lot of it can be quite strong and tangy. The creaminess is really nice, but definitely more like a sort of mozzarella than the cheddar that would normally grace my toast. It will burn fast though if you don't watch it.

 

 

The Spread went on rather crumbly straight out of the fridge, and it, like the Melty, got creamier as it was heated, but held it's shape. It tastes really good, I wouldn't have said like cheddar, but like a smoky sort of cheese. I really liked it. It doesn't crisp up which was a little disappointing even if it was not expected.

 

 

Melty: 7/10 pleasant flavour, good crisping, creamy texture.

Spread: 6/10 good flavour, no crisping, creamy texture.

Baked Potato with Cheese and Beans

I sliced and spread two halves of a baking potato with the cheeses and topped with piping hot baked beans. The Melty again went slightly creamy but kind of held it's shape and didn't really mingle with the beans at all, whereas the Spread being slathered all over the potato, mixed in quite nicely as I cut it all up.

It all tasted the same as before, and to be honest the Melty behaved more like real cheese, perhaps I should have grated it on top rather than sliced underneath? I preferred the Spread though as I preferred the flavour and the fact there was no real difference in texture as it blended well.

Melty: 7/10 behaved like real cheese, nice and creamy.

Spread: 8/10 blended well, I preferred the flavour.

Pizza

Tesco Spread on Pizza!

The real test! Plus it's the reason I bought the Melty in the first place!

A bit sticky to grate the No-Moo Melty...

I made both pizzas from scratch (recipe next week!) and the only difference was the cheese topping. The Melty actually had the better flavour on here which surprised me (more is more with Melty?) and crisped up really nicely. Plus because it grates it's more authentic than the Spread. I really, really enjoyed this pizza, and it's also amazing cold. Just like the real (non-vegan) thing!

No-Moo Melty Crsiped up Nicely

The Spread was difficult to get onto the pizza in the first place. I warmed it slightly in the hope of it spreading easier, but actually I think you'd be better putting little chunks on straight out of the fridge. (and now I'm wondering if you could freeze and grate it, but that's an idea for another time!!). It went nice and creamy again, but not quite as good as the Melty. It also crisped up a bit which I think was a function of being in the oven for longer than on the cheese on toast. It had a very strong taste in fairly large quantities, and it was a little overpowering….I was a tad (lot) greedy and ate rather a piggy amount of pizza and the Spread slices left me feeling a little blegh. In moderation though it's almost certainly fine!!

Even the Spread crisped a bit!

Melty: 10/10 I really think this is the closest you'll get to real cheese on the pizza front!

Spread: 5/10 It was good, certainly tasty, but difficult to use and the quantity required made the taste overpowering.

ALL IN:

Vegusto No-Moo Melty: 24/30 (£7.49 plus shipping for 400g)

Tesco Creamy Cheddar Style Spread: 19/30 (£2.25 for 255g)

Both Delicious Pizzas

All in when you consider price as well I probably won't buy the Vegusto except for special Pizza occasions. It was undeniably better on the pizza (I'm restraining myself from eating more right now…) but sadly the cost puts it out of my reach for an everyday cheese. The Tesco one I have bought a few times now and I think it's brilliant. It'll do all your basics of sandwiches, crackers and anything else cold, and it's great hot too. I've mixed it with pasta, and added it to baked potato skins. It's been great every time.

Too much Vegan Cheese?

Now, I've eaten far too much cheese this weekend, so excuse me while I go detox!! Have you tried Vegan Cheese?

Jo :)

Bargain Retro Bikini |Review - eBay|

Well here's something I never thought I'd willingly allow to be posted online, let alone take the photos myself!

Bikinis. Swimwear. A minefield for a lot of us no matter what shape or size. I stopped wearing them a long time ago. When I was lucky enough to be taken on two trips to India in the January's of 2013 and 2014 I thought I'd better get some new things. I was very happy on holiday in 2013 and wore my bikini a lot, roll on 2014 and what with one thing and another, despite being slimmer than in 2013, I was rather unhappy. Cue the ruched black full swimsuit, which I still wasn't comfortable in. My rather round about point is that I think it's happiness and confidence that lets you rock your clothes, be they outfits or swimwear or lingerie.

Being a lot, lot happier this year, I thought I'd buy one of those high waisted, gorgeous retro style suits. Being the cheapskate I am and also not knowing how flattering it would be on me I opted for eBay for £7.29 and a long wait as it travelled from China. Jut search "Retro 50s Bikini" and a whole plethora of options will appear to you!

 

 

I like wearing the top on hot days like today and have worn it for an entire afternoon of mucking about the airfield under a t shirt and been perfectly comfortable.

 

I ordered the XXL which fits my measurements on the bottom half but was a little large on the top. It does have a tendency to gape a little (not revealing the nipple god forbid!! Check out #freethenipple it's hilarious and informative) and I've had to stitch it together a little more in the middle to make it a little more fitted on my chest!

 

 

The cups are sturdily padded but I personally wouldn't say very supportive, although this could change if your measurements matched up a bit better! The straps tie so you can make them as secure as you like, although again I found that they had to be quite tight to get a good fit on me which means they are skinnier looking than seen in the advert photos.

The bottoms fit great around my waist and hip, I've got quite large thighs and find the leg holes a little tight when I first put them on but they've relaxed a bit and stretched out a tad now!

 

The colour is great, the fabric feels sturdy, the ruched detail flattering and I have much more confidence in myself on the beach with my stomach covered! Although I did wimp out of posing in the garden fully bikini'd up and retreated inside for those!!

I would definitely buy more of the patterns if I'm in need of a bikini again.

I have not had the opportunity to swim in it yet though…. I suspect racing lengths will not be it's thing. Casual dip in the pool. Probably fine!!

How's your summer been?

Jo :)

Stow Marie's Fly-In |August 2015|

A little late to the table for my usual weekend blog post, and expect it to be very photo heavy! I have a good excuse for once, and I was having an amazing time! Last weekend was a very much anticipated fly in at WWI Aerodrome, Stow Marie's. It's the first they've had one where the new, resident aircraft have flown.

What's so special about these I hear you ask! Well, they are incredible works of art built by The Vintage Aviator way down in New Zealand and are full scale, completely authentic replicas of three incredible WWI aircraft. World War 1 Aviation Heritage Trust (WAHT) has helped make it all possible.

First up we have the beautiful (if slow!) BE2.

Pilot in the back, gunner up front. A stunning big ol' four bladed prop attached to that beast of an engine pulls her up into the clouds where she admirably evaded our next visitor for all of a few seconds!

There's a bit of a gap in reality between the BE2 and the Albatross, but they still looked great together up in the sky. Unlike my only photo of the two which I apologise for now!

 

 

The Albatross with it's stunning wooden fuselage and painted decals has been a long time favourite of mine since I saw the other at the Shuttleworth Collection a couple of years back  (who's chief engineer was doing much of he flying at Stow this weekend. See, engineers can be pilots too!). Woodwork is something I love at work and the purely varnished ply skins call to me in a very similar way to soft dresses and cats. I just want to stroke them. And if that makes me odd, so be it!

The last of the three is the Snipe, a blunt nosed aeroplane that looks exactly the little vicious flyer part it was designed to play. It's apparently the nicest to fly out of the three, but I expect still a long way off from the comfort and ease of today's aircraft!

It also has an authentic rotary engine, which means not only is the propeller whizzing around at the front there, but the majority of the engine is too, making it interesting when coming in to land as the throttle is not adjustable, you just blip it to cut power temporarily. Multi tasking? I did hear it mentioned that perhaps it's a girls job!

 

 

Another WWI aircraft visiting this weekend was the gorgeously finished Bristol Scout. Built from a Grandfather's memories and painstaking research! It's still in it's last stages of test flying so was a static display, but I bet they can't wait to get behind the controls!

Last, but no means least, I've got some photos of Stow Marie's Aerodrome's long term resident who has so far delighted crowds prior to the New Zealand crowd turning up. She's an SE5a seven eighths replica with a modern engine (and gun and smoke system!) and she's always a delight to see flying around.

Flown around on Sunday by my boss, she looks brilliant in the sky, if a little on the small side once back on the ground!

 

Although as they say, it's not the size, it's what you do with it that counts….

 

Jo :)

|Practical Pinup|

The majority of my outfits need to either be sensible (sort of!) enough for work. Leggings for the win. Or able to withstand a two year old and all of her whims. My goddaughter loves paint, messy play and today we made mud pies. So I need things in my wardrobe where I don't care if it gets messy, or pulled, or I have to crawl through the grass etc.

Enter the high street...and Primark in particular. My photos are a little different from my norm today, so be gentle with me!!

Pinup?

I picked up this stretchy pencil skirt in Primark ages ago for a couple of pounds, it's perfectly practical. Not blown about by the wind, doesn't really restrict my movement and still looks pretty sassy!

Good prop that table!

I have a few different colours and I know they defintely still had a beautiful forest green in my local store that I've had my eye on!

The little cropped, shirred peasant tops are a steal too.

 

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I got one in red, black and white as they were £2 each in the sale, such a bargain! Pretty enough that I wore one to a dance last night, and cheap enough that it doesn't matter a huge amount if they have to work a bit harder than my dressy clothes! They're a great length too. Don't ride up too much even with your arms raised.

I had my hair in rollers ready for the evening's 40s dance, and the belt came from a charity shop at some point in my shopping history. I love picking up little accessories and bits from charity shops as you normally get good value for money, and you don't need to worry too much about damaging them!

I definitely don't advocate the disposable culture we seem to have with clothes, I just altered two Primark skirts to fit me again! Plus I'm always sewing up holes in leggings! I just feel that for those of us on a limited budget and with a bit of mess in our lives (who hasn't!?), it can be a good place to look for clothes. Charity shops are still a winner for me though.

Where do you get your practical clothes?

Jo :)

Perfect Pancakes |Vegan Recipe|

I was rather worried when I decided to turn vegan that I would end up missing out on a lot of things, and I'm thankful to say that it's not been the case at all! Except for one occasion. Shrove Tuesday. Now I have always loved pancakes and I suspect always will. From learning to flip a specially made cold pancake with my bestie in primary school (and calling her mum the best tosser ever apparently!!) to delicious Morello Cherry and ice cream pancakes on a Friday lunch time when I worked out in Germany.

So when pancake day came around earlier this year, being the disorganised soul I am, I panicked, and suddenly found myself scouring the net for pancake recipes! Three attempts (and a ridiculously messy kitchen) later, and I came up with these! A bit of a mash up of a couple of recipes, and handily using things I already had in my kitchen!

As always, there's an easy to copy and paste recipe at the end if you want to print it out!

Ingredients

Go grab your ingredients!

Dry Ingredients

I get my Gram Flour (or chickpea flour if you prefer) from Tesco in the world cooking section...along with various large bags of spices, but that's last weeks recipe!

Sieve all your dry ingredients into a bowl, mix 'em up a bit. I feel other non wheat flours such as soya or perhaps even corn would work instead of the gram flour, it's just to help with the binding in the way the egg does in non-vegan pancakes.

Stir in your soya milk. I'm using sweetened as it's what I like to have on my cereal, unsweetened would be fine I'm sure as there's sugar in the batter anyway. Then beat in your water bit by bit until you get a fairly runny consistency, you can always add a little more than the recipe says if you like.

Batter

Get your frying pan nice and hot, carefully swirl some oil into it and wipe around with a bit of kitchen towel or a clean cloth. Tip your batter in a tip it out to the edges as you would with non-vegan batter.

Bubbling away...

When the bubbles start to appear and the mix seems set, flip your pancake over (extra points for not using utensils).

Turn the hob down to medium and let your pancake cook for another minute or until you're happy with the colour.

Too much sugar?

Turn out onto a plate and eat with whatever topping you fancy.

Muscavado Sugar and Lemon

My personal favourite is (too much) muscavado sugar and lemon juice. Mmmm.

Perfect Pancakes

Perfect Pancake Memories. If I didn't know these were a different recipe, I'd never guess from the taste!

Enjoy! Jo :)

 

Easy Copy Recipe

 

Ingredients:

225g Plain Flour

30g Gram (Chickpea) Flour

30g Caster Sugar

120ml Soya Milk

300ml Water

Method:

Sieve and mix dry ingredients

Add soya milk

Add water a bit at a time until you get a runny consistency

Heat a frying pan up as hot as possible, wipe around with oil

Swirl in your batter

Turn heat down to medium

When bubbles are visible and the batter is firm, flip over and cook for another minute

Serve with lemon and sugar or other toppings!