Vegan junk food?

There is no such a thing as vegan junk food.

Because even if its "junk" style its still billion times better than processed , awful stuff you would eat in a fast food.

Every now and then I make a vegan version of "junk" hahah. last night my very yummy Vegan big burgers.



Zucchini , mushroom and chickpea burgers. 

What you need ( makes 3 burgers)

1 medium zucchini (grated)
3 medium chestnut mushrooms (grated)
half of can of chickpeas (drained)
3 spoons of all purpose flour
1 spoon of vegan bouillon
3 tbs of water


3 wholegrain buns ( cut open)
a bunch of salad leaves
1 large onion ( cut in rings)
2 gherkins ( sliced)
1 large tomato
3 tbs of vegan ketchup or any other sauce


For the burgers:

Put grated zucchini , mushrooms in a bowl. Mix together with bouillon. In a meantime, bend together chickpeas and water, to create a paste. Add to mushrooms and zucchini. Mix well until combined. Add flour, mix again. Divide the mixture in 3, using your hands make 3 medium patties. Shallow fry on some coconut oil or olive oil. 

Once cooked until golden brown, set aside.  Add some more oil and fry the onion rings, once golden brown set aside. Brown the bread ( I used the frying pan but oven or toaster is fine).

The assemble. 

Bun, sauce,burger, salad,sauce, gherkins,tomato and then bun. 

Enjoy!

Summer is here?

The sun is back!!!

Amazing! Its all we needed!! Sun is out, birds are singing. Our favourite season is back!

Picnics in the park, splash park trips, visiting the woods. Possibilities are endless when the weather is great. 

We like using local produce to make our food. 

So tonight a recipe for one of our favourite summer soups. 

Broccoli Cream with extra veg and vegan dumplings

What you need:

1 broccoli
2 medium white potatoes
2 medium carrots 
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 bunch of fresh dill
2 spoons of vegan bouillon 
2 pints of water approx.

for the dumplings:

1 cup of semolina
1cup of flour
1cup of water
salt


Chop all your veg, set aside 1/3 of veg, the rest bring to boil in water and bouillon . Cook for about 45 min, or when very soft. Cool, then using an electric blender blend. If too think then add some water, bring to boil again, add extra veg and shimmer until veg is softened. 

To make the dumplings, mix together, water, flour and semolina with some salt. With your hands mould little balls of mixture, and put in your soup. Shimmer further until cooked through. 

Its a very filling soup and its great  for dinner or lunch. 

Enjoy

Lunch on!!!

I love food. I honestly love eating , and I love making it too.

But I also love it to be quick, tasty and real.

Quick is the most important part, as with work, two kids and being alone is pretty hectic.

Today I cooked the simplest dish, but I was amazingly tasty!

Noodle bowl!

What you need:

1 bunch of broccoli florets ( 1 cup)

3 large mushrooms ( sliced)

3 larde handfuls of fresh spinach ( use frozen if no fresh)

1 chopped garlic clove

chopped flat leaf parsley

1 handful of noodles (egg free Chinese noodles)

3 spoons of dark vegan soy sauce

2 spoons of olive oil

1. Put water in a large pan, bring to boil.

2. In a frying pan, heat up olive oil, throw in the chopped garlic, then broccoli, mushrooms and the spinach last. Shimmer for 10 min. Add soy sauce. 

3. Put a handful of noodles , boil according to instructions on the packet. Mine took 5 min

4. Drain noodles, then rinse under cold water. 

5. Put noodles in the frying pan and mix well , shimmer for further 5 min. 

Once cooked, transfer to a pan and sprinkle with chopped parsley. 

Enjoy!!!

I love quick fixes when it comes to my food. So watch this space and more is coming!!

Natural Beauty

I have a a go at making my own cosmetics tonight!!!

it was so much fun!!!

I cannot believe I have not done it before !!!

my skin is very sensitive and I have a strict routine when it comes to my face lol, i scrub and i rub and i pat and i smooth and do a lot of crazy stuff to my skin!

but I always struggle to buy a good cream to put on my face and body. And simply I terrified of the companies put in high street cosmetics. When you find a vegan friendly, cruelty free and paragon free cosmetics they cost heaven and earth :(

So making my own was a bit of a hit and miss and I tried a few times before I was completely happy with the outcome.

I also made the coffee body scrub. Which was fantastic and refreshing but it is very very messy!!!

Tea tree moisturiser:

3 spoons of coconut oil
4 spoons of shea butter
2 spoons of olive oil
5 drops of tea tree oil

In a bowl whip shea butter until frothy, add coconut oil, whip again, add olive oil slowly while whipping. Then add tea tree oil.  Whip for another 2 min.  And its ready. I keep mine in a glass container and in the refrigerator. Its great on your body and your face. Little goes a long way!



Coffee Body Scrub

1 cup of good quality fair trade ground coffee
1 cup of brown sugar
4 spoons of good quality organic olive oil

In a bowl mix all ingredients until fully combined.

The scrub is very intense, its messy so I suggest to use it under a shower rather than a bath. It will leave your skin feeling rejuvenated and smooth. Its an amazing body polish. 



So from now on, no more buying moisturisers or scrubs. I'm completely hooked on this now, soother is more to come!!!

3 nut biscuits and a very very long day

its been a very long 3 weeks. I'm still in the old house and not moved into my dream home yet. Things are so complicated and the whole bureaucracy is killing me.

I say its lot I know but being alone with 2 kids is not easy. I struggle for time to do anything for myself. I often dream about having a day to myself without work, houseworks and children. But then I catch myself thinking how ungrateful I became to complain about all that.

Because the truth is?? I love being a mother. My kids are annoying, they are loud and demanding. But they are their own little selfs and they are growing to be good and kind and compassionate ones.

I often spend my days with them being without them really. I catch myself starting a game or an activity just to escape 2 min later to do some chores, to check my phone, to check email. But why? Why I cannot just sit down and play one more round of monkey game, or build one more space ship out of lego?

I'm starting to realise how little time I actually spend with them. Everything else takes over.  Reality is a bitch and I now know that.

Last night we made our fav biscuits:

3 NUT biscuits. Gluten free and vegan

Ingredients:

Wet:

2 spoons of coconut cream

2 spoons of vegetable shortening( i used trex)

1 spoon of coconut milk

Dry:

3 spoons of coconut flour

3 spoons of almond flour

3 spoons of gluten free flour

3 spoons of brown sugar ( or any sugar you wish)

topping:

2 spoons of crushed hazelnuts

1 spoon of brown sugar

Ice water if needed

How:

In a bowl mix together wet stuff, once is soft and smooth add slowly the dry mix. Mix well until combined. I used electric mixer then hands. With hands kneed dough until is smooth. Wrap in a cling film and refrigerate for min 30 min. 

Once ready, roll out and cut shapes out. 

Sprinkle with crashed hazelnuts and sugar mix.

Bake for 10-12 min in 180 

These are so incredibly easy and taste great with a cup of tea. 

Giant Pasta

My kids call it the "Giant "pasta. I guess for them its sort of Giant!!

I promised to post this recipe last night, but I have run out of time. My apologies to anyone who wanted it!!

Here is is:

Giant Pasta Shells

What you need:

1/2 pack of Giant Pasta Shells

5 frozen broccoli florets ( frozen works better in this recipe)

5 chestnut mushrooms

2 tbs of coconut cream

1 tbs of all purpose flour ( we use gluten free)

1 tbs of coconut oil

1 tsp of vegan bouillon 

200ml of water

Step 1:

Pre cook pasta according to instruction on the packet. Drain, set aside

Meantime when the pasta is cooking, cook broccoli in plain water,  drain, that should take no more than 10 min. 

Grate the mushrooms and shallow fry in the coconut oil. Add 100 ml of water and pinch of bouillon.  In a separate bowl mix approx. 100ml of water with coconut cream and flour. Add to the boiling mushrooms. It should turn into a thicker sauce. 

Drain the broccoli. With a potato masher mash the broccoli and add rest of the bouillon. Then fill the pasta shells with broccoli mix. Line them up in a heat prove dish. Pour the mushroom mix over. 

Bake in the oven for 10-15 min.

and then eat up!

Milking the almonds

Yes, one of the most common vegan "problems"

MILK

My son once asked me how I milk the almonds. It made me chuckle but also sad to know that at this young age he knew cows needed to be milked to obtain milk by humans.

I don't go preaching to people to give up cows milk, but I'm open to educating people about what goes behind the closed door of dairy farms.

The reason why I went vegan was me watching the film called "Earthlings" , I'm not going to go into any details here.But it has opened my eyes and over night I decided to go vegan.

We drink homemade almond milk. Mostly because all the other milks I found in the supermarkets contain lots of additives. I completely understand that manufacturers need to make sure milks last longer as they will sell better but what they put in them is plain scary.

I'm raising my kids vegan because I want them to be healthy, so giving them milk full of chemicals isn't an option. We take pride and joy in our milk, its simple and delicious. We make it plain, but later add agave, dates to sweet it up.

Here is the recipe:

Almond Milk

Makes 2 small bottles:

200g of organic raw almonds 

400ml of cooled boiled water

1 cheese cloth ( or baby's muslim will work too)

2 small bottles ( sterilised with boiling water and cooled)

1 pint of boiling water

You will need a blender

Step 1:

Pour water over the almonds and cover with cling film. Leave it for 1 h

Drain the almonds and peel the skin. They should "pop" out of the skin. Some people like it with the skins on, and thats ok. We prefer it smoother and that is without the skins.

Step 2:

Put the cheese cloth over a tall dish, make sure its clean as its where your milk will drip to. Leave a generous amount of cloth sticking out, the weight of the milk will make the dish sink.

Put the almonds in a blender, pour the cooled water with the almonds. Make sure to shut the lid!!!

Blend on low speed for 30 sec, then on fast for another 30 sec. 

Once its all blended pour over the cheese cloth. Grab the edges of the cheese cloth and squeeze it tight. Repeat until no milk is coming out. 

Step 3: 

Pour the milk into prepped bottles. Shut tight. Refrigerate. 

Step 4:

Do not throw away the pulp!!!

Spread it on grease prove paper, and dry in the oven. about 2h on 140C

Once its dry, put in food processor and blend slightly to ensure even and smooth texture. 

Voila! you have made your own almond flour!! use it in cakes, sprinkle over chia puddings. Possibilities are endless!!