2400 Miles in a Mondeo |To Slovenia and Back Again|

Well, I'm home and slowly getting sorted back to normal. Washing spinning and drying on the line, clothes put away, snakes fed and happy! I thought I'd just share a few of my holiday snaps (all Slovenia, bar one from Oktoberfest!) and a few tips on eating Vegan abroad. You can see my other snaps on my Instagram!

 

 

We stayed near Lake Bled when we were in Slovenia for two nights and it is the most beautiful place. Very alpine and chocolate box looking. The Lake has a church on an island in the middle of it with a wishing bell (no you can't know what I wished for, I'm working on the same principle of birthday wishes here!!) and a Castle on a cliff overlooking it, with stunning views of the valley.

 

 

We climbed up to the castle (knackering, but worth it, although there is a car park too!) and rowed out to the island in a swan rowing boat and generally had a wonderful day of touristing! The lake is so incredibly clear, I wish I'd taken my bikini and swum now!

If you're travelling to one country, it's a bit easier, but make sure you know the basic food stuffs you can't eat in the local language. Dairy, Eggs, Milk etc as well as Vegan and Vegetarian. Most people seemed happy to help, but it was still a real struggle a couple of times in more traditional places.

If you can take some of your own food with you, or periodically stock up a little on fresh produce, salad and fruit etc for lunches and snacks. I took soy milk and cereal for breakfasts but did just fine with bread and jam most days.

Research before you go and find a couple of places along your way that you can be sure to find something to eat. We tried a Vegan Restaurant in Cologne called Past and Future and the food was delicious, everyone was incredibly friendly and I'd love to go back!

If in doubt, order salads with no dressing and chips! I feel like these balance each other out nicely!!

We had an amazing time and I'd love to go back and visit Slovenia again, and can't wait to go back to Germany. Already planning the next trip!

 

Jo :)

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Flat-cakes |Vegan Recipe|

Another recipe for you! It's becoming rather a habit. Partially because I don't buy that many clothes and have nothing new to share with you Pin Up wise! As a little aside from the recipe, this is my tenth post on “A Vegan Pin-up” and I have to say I'm actually pretty proud of that fact. One post a week for ten weeks is good for someone who tends to be a bit flaky with stuff like that. Proper photos taken on my camera instead of my phone, decent recipes and a review or two. So yeah, I'm quite a happy little blogger today!!

On to the more important things: food. I originally wanted to make something more burger like, and I vaguely remembered that sweet potato and chickpeas go pretty well together, so I cobbled together some basic ingredients and went at it. I've made chickpea patties before, but always found them too dry, so this is kind of a better version of those! I think with more beans than potato these could be more burger like, but that's am experiment for another day!

 

Easy to copy and paste recipe at the end as usual….

 

 

Peel and slice your sweet potatoes (about 700g or two large potatoes) and set them to boil for fifteen to twenty minutes until they're soft and cooked through.

 

While these are cooking add some oil to a frying pan or wok. Mix your spices into this and heat through. Add your drained chickpeas and butter beans as well as your diced green pepper. Get these sizzling nicely. Once they're also cooked through stir in the peanut butter. It could get a little dry and want to stick to the pan and if this happens take a bit of water from the sweet potatoes and mix it in as well.

When the potatoes are done, whiz half of everything up in a blender with some more water from the sweet potatoes. Mash the remaining potato in a bowl, add the purée and chickpea mix and stir well. Add the two table spoons of gram flour through a sieve (or sub in plain) and mix thoroughly.

Put the oven on if you haven't already. Get a clean frying pan lightly coated with oil to a medium heat and spoon portions of the mix into the frying pan. Mine fitted three at a time. Four minutes on each side, flipped with a clean spatula. I'm not being picky here, but they will get stuck and you will curse them if you have any mix left on it!!

When you've done both sides, put them in the oven and do the next three, removing and swapping the flat-cakes over when they've been done on both sides. Obviously the last three you do will have eight minutes in the oven with nothing in the frying pan, but this just gives you time to wash up!

I had mine in a bread roll with some sliced tomato. Also good with ketchup, BBQ sauce, probably vegan mayo and if you're feeling fancy I think a peanut satay type sauce would be seriously scrummy too!

 

 

How do your kitchen experiments usually end up?

Jo :)

Ingredients:

700g or 2 large Sweet Potatoes

Can chickpeas
Can butter beans
Green Pepper
2 Tbsp Gram or Plain Flour
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter

Method:

Peel and chop your sweet potatoes. Boil for twenty minutes

Fry your spices, chickpeas, butter beans and green pepper
Add your peanut butter and a little bit of water from the saucepan to thin out if needed
When cooked, blend half the potato and chickpea mix
Mash the remaining potato and mix the purée and remaining chickpeas etc in
Sieve the flour into the mix and stir thoroughly
Turn the oven on to 180 degree C
Fry portions of the mix over a medium heat for four minutes each side
Finish off for eight minutes in the oven
Serve hot immediately or cool on a rack and re-heat as required.

Marrow with Bolognese |Vegan Recipe|

I was recently given a massive marrow by a lovely friend's Mum, and despite knowing that I should probably stuff it with something and cook it, I basically had no idea! A quick google recommended that mince or Bolognese was a good starting point, so I went with that. I've got my personal vegan Bolognese recipe pretty much down how I like it now, so I thought I'd share it with you all here. It's pretty simple, easy to modify, and doesn't use any meat substitutes.

Easy to copy and paste recipe at the end as always!

 

 

First off cook your dried lentils according to the packet instructions. I've used tinned before and they've been fine, but these were actually much nicer and a better consistency. Get them going and while they're boiling away on the stove, chop your veg. Basics are grated carrot (again for consistency, I used to put it in meat Bolognese all the time too!), mushrooms and a nice green pepper.

Once you've done that, drain your chickpeas and kidney beans. When your lentils are about ten minutes from finished, heat up a frying pan or wok with a little oil and start frying your vegetables. After a couple of minutes add the chickpeas and beans. I add my spices here so the flavour comes out more. Let it all fry up for a few more minutes before adding your chopped tomatoes. I'm using cherry tomatoes here as I fancied switching it up a bit and it worked just fine.

Here comes my (or rather my Dad's) secret ingredient! Powdered minestrone soup (although I have added a whole tin before but it gets a bit too liquidy!). Mix that in well and if timings are somewhere near right your lentils should be done and you can add them (along with some of their water) too.

 

While this cooks away a bit more, chop your marrow into slices, take the foamy seedy core out of the middle and arrange in your baking dish. Then pour on the nice thick Bolognese sauce.

 

Bake it in the oven at 200 degrees for twenty minutes, bring it out and top with some vegan cheese if you fancy, put it all back in again for fifteen more minutes and then enjoy! I served mine with mash and green veg.

 

 

I use this basic Bolognese for everything. Spaghetti, Vegan Meatloaf and I'm intending to try a Vegan Lasagne with it soon too!

What's your go to recipe that works with everything?

Jo :)

Ingredients:

Marrow

200g Red Split Lentils

200g Grated Carrot
1 Bell Pepper
400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
400g Tin Chickpeas
400g Tin Kidney Beans
Packet of Minestrone Soup
2tsp Paprika
2tsp Smoked Paprika
2tsp mixed herbs
½tsp cayenne pepper
½tsp Garam Masala

Method:

Cook lentils as per packet instructions

Chop and grate veg, add to frying pan for a few minutes
Add chickpeas and kidney beans to frying pan
Add herbs and spices
Add chopped tomatoes and once that's hot through, add the minestrone soup
When the lentils are cooked, pour any water in the top of the saucepan away and add the lentils and remainder of water to the frying pan
Cut the marrow into slices, de-seed and arrange in a baking dish
Pour Bolognese over
Bake in 200 degree oven for 20mins, add vegan cheese and bake for another 15mins!

Easy From Scratch Pizza |Vegan Recipe|

I was so excited to have pizza a couple of weekends back on my birthday. My dear friends made the base and we topped it with tomato sauce, mushrooms and the Vegusto vegan cheese I got specially for the day! I had quite a bit of cheese left and did a review on it and Tesco's version last week and thought I'd make it from scratch as I've not made pizza in ages. My skills with yeast in the kitchen are limited and my patience even more so, therefore this is a quick and easy pizza base. The sauce took longer than I expected though...and Charlie's use of bolognese sauce is going to stay my go to as well...

Easy to copy and paste recipe at the end as always!

Start by setting your tomatoes out in a tray to roast cut side down. Sprinkle them with a little oil, some paprika, a smidge of cayenne pepper and some mixed herbs and basil (fresh if you have it, dry is fine if not). Whack that in the oven for half an hour to forty minutes until they're nicely crisped up.

While they were cooking, I prepped the veg that I wanted on my pizza. Mushrooms and two different coloured peppers suited me, but you could add anything, I'd recommend sun dried tomatoes if you want to add tomatoes on top too as I've made it with fresh before and it always seems to end up soggy! Maybe that's just me!

Once your tomatoes are roasted, blitz them up in a blender and strain them through a sieve to get all the seeds etc out. Make sure to really press it with the back of your spoon and get all the extra off the underside of the sieve after!

Set the sauce into a pan to boil and reduce down for about ten minutes until it's a nice thick, pizza sauce kind of consistency. While it's simmering, get your bases ready.

 

Thank-you Rose for gorgeous mixing bowl/jug from TK Maxx!

Sift your flour into a bowl and add your margarine. Get your (hopefully washed!) hands in there and rub it all together to form breadcrumbs. Start adding your soy milk, it wants to be a slightly sticky dough. Bring it all together into a ball and put on your well floured surface ready for kneading.

 

 

I split my dough in two here and it will do two smaller pizzas or one massive one depending on your preference.

Roll out your pizza bases to about one cm thickness and put them on your tray ready for topping.

 

Spread your lovely tomato sauce on, top with your veg and cheese and bake in a 190 degree oven for around twenty minutes.

Hey presto, yummy pizza!

It's better than takeaway I reckon! What's your favourite takeaway dupe?

Jo :)

 

Ingredients:

Base:

225g Self Raising Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

60g Margarine

100ml Soy Milk (you may not need all of it!)

Tomato Sauce:

12 Medium Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Basil

Garlic

Paprika

Method:

Cut the tomatoes in half, and fill baking dish with them cut face down

Drizzle over a little oil and preferred herbs and spices

Roast in 190 degree oven for 40 mins

Sift flour and salt into bowl

Rub margarine in with fingers to form breadcrumbs

Bring together with required amount of milk to form slightly sticky dough

Roll dough out onto floured surface till 1cm thick when you're ready to top it

When roasted, blend tomatoes into sauce and strain through sieve using back of spoon to push through

Simmer for ten minutes until thickened

Top pizza bases with sauce and preferred toppings

Bake for 20mins at 190 degrees until crispy!

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 :)