Chocolate and Beyond

Recipe: Oaty Austerity Soda Bread

So called because it costs about 70p to make a large loaf of this bread (soda bread at the supermaket is much more expensive), and it also stays fresh for at least 5 days, my Oaty Austerity Soda Bread recipe is easy-peasy and very wholesome tasting. I actually prefer it to yeast-based bread, and at least it mostly tends to turn out okay for me (unlike yeast breads!).

This is a bread which is great to make if you're living alone, because of how long it lasts. I just wrap it well in foil and it still tastes good 5-6 days after baking. So one loaf lasts pretty much the week. For the price of making it, I can't grumble. Obviously the price is kept low if you use very basic, budget ingredients. Opting for fancy flours and organic oats and so on makes it less of an austerity option.

Recipes: Vegan Tuscan Style Rice Cake - Gluten Free

 

How to make this Tuscan Soft Rice Cake, vegan stylee, and then save it for eating the next day? THAT my dear vegan foodie loving reader, is the question! Having experimented a couple of times with this recipe now to perfect it, it is definitely best served the day after making, or several hours in the least. But I promise you, it is worth the wait. Especially if you are a fan of custard or rice pudding. Because a slice of this rice cake is like a sweet, delicious, solid slice of custard pie and rice pud rolled into one.

Even better, it is also gluten free. And being that really delectable desserts are not always easy to come by in a gluten free version, I beg you to try this out on any gluten intolerant friends. Or any friends, in fact. They will lick your shoes with gratefulness.

I've Signed Up to 'Live Below the Line' on £1 a Day for Action Against Hunger

Could you live on just £1 a day? The figure (well, $1.25 to be exact) was set by the World Bank as being the definition of 'extreme poverty'. Right now, around 1.4 billion people globally live in such extreme poverty. Think about it. Imagine having to pay for EVERYTHING out of £1 a day?

But what I've become conscious of lately is that hunger is a growing problem even in places like the UK. I have been reading the incredibly inspiring and also, in parts, heart-breaking blog of A Girl Called Jack, who has to survive on a £10 per week food budget. I found out that author, Jack Monroe, was participating in the Live Below the Line challenge - where you agree to live on £1 a day for five days, to get a (very) small sense of what extreme poverty feels like, and to raise awareness for it. So I decided to sign up myself.

Recipe: Spaghetti Alla Carbonara Vegan Style

Oh my, oh my, oh my. If you have been craving a serving of thick, creamy, pasta stodge, and haven't quite managed to find that in vegan form yet, then this Spaghetti Alla Carbonara Vegan Style is just the thing that you have been looking for. The essential vegan comfort food, very tasty, and very filling.

I have been itching to make an animal-friendly version of this dish, which normally contains ham or pancetta. Not that I ever ate it all that much, at least not with the pig flesh, though I probably had veggie adaptations. However, I just love creamy pasta (who doesn't?!), and sometimes a big, heaped serving of the stuff is just what you need to fill your boots. And if you want a quick, impressive supper in less than 15 minutes (other than the time for the cashews to soak), then this is your pick.

Recipes: Black-Eyed Bean, Celeriac & Wild Garlic Burgers (Gluten Free)

Are you are forager? If so, get out and start harvesting the wild garlic that is in season right now! It won't be around for much longer, and gone by June, but you can still find plants that are ripe for picking. I am lucky enough to have abundant access to wild garlic via my parents garden, which is overgrowing with the stuff. And I can't believe it has taken me this long to actually bother using it.

The leaves are edible as long as they are healthy-looking - though they turn more bitter once lots of flowers start appearing, you can still eat them if you don't mind the taste. In some recipes, bitterness of the later season leaves is not likely to come through - it would be more noticable eating in a salad. But if you find a crop of them, you may as well just pick and see what you think.

Lose Weight with a 'Late Breakfast, Early Dinner' Diet? Can Intermittent Fasting Work Intuitively?

Call me slow on the uptake, but I've just heard about this thing called 'intermittent fasting', after getting the latest issue Red magazine which has a plan formulated by Amanda Hamilton. And I'm intrigued, because the most palatable version of it - the 16/8 method (16 hours fasting, mostly while you sleep, and 8 hours eating) - seems like the easiest way of dropping pounds I've ever come across. But as with many new weight loss crazes, it sounds too good to be true?!

In its essence, for this plan, you basically finish eating by 7pm at night, or whatever time suits your lifestyle, and then you don't have your breakfast until 11am the next morning, or whichever time leaves 16 hours between when you last ate.

What you're 'supposed' to eat in between varies considerably on who is doing the talking, but it appears a standard, healthy approach (which means vegan, in my opinion!) with three meals and a snack or two could do the trick (read Mama's Weeds account).

Cabbaging Out at Bristol VegFest May 24th-26th & CARAVAN PALACE TICKETS GIVEAWAY!

I'm REALLY looking forward to the end of May bank holiday weekend this year. After all the fun at Brighton VegFest in March, there is now Bristol VegFest 2013 to get excited about. The festival is pretty much the veggie event of the year, and it's also virtually sold-out. The organisers think the horsemeat scandal has given rise to a massive increase in interest into all things vegan - which is good news for animals, and for all the amazing vegan businesses that will be there.

As well as exceptional, big-time artists and performers like the Happy Mondays (YES! Madchester comes to Bristol! I first saw the Mondays at a free gig in Manchester's Platt Fields Park, when I was 17!), Caravan Palace, Peter Hook, Macca B, and many more - there are going to be over 120 stalls at Bristol Vegfest 2013 representing all things vegan and animal-friendly.

Recipes: French Green Olive Vegan Tapenade

In France, among the gastronomics, there is debate as to whether tapenade was traditionally always a vegetarian (though I say, vegan) delicacy, rather than the fishy version. And Monsieur Rémy Pierre, olive grower and tapenade-maker in Octon, in the Languedoc, insists that this is the case.

Of course, many people will know tapenade as having anchovies in it, but these little fishes escape their deaths in the tapenade promoted by Rémy Pierre, and the recipe given by little old moi in this post. I whizzed up this simple tapenade for a vegan potluck evening, and along with some organic breadsticks (made with olive oil, of course), it was a tasty dip and accompaniment to the rest of the meal.

Recipes: No-Bake Raw Brownie-In-A-Jar for Truffles, Spread & Sundaes (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Versatile!)

I dreamed up this recipe and idea! Yes, I actually conjured it in my sleep! I was dreaming about whizzing nuts and cocoa in a blender with some oil to make a nut-choccy sort of spread, reminiscent of Nutella, and it turned out super-tasty. So the minute I got up, I tried it out while I was making my first cup of tea of the day!

Okay. So the end results are not really like a creamy, chocolate spread, as my dream intended. It has turned out more like a thick, spreadable brownie, hence the name, but very versatile. Yes, you can use this as a spread for toast, crumpets and sandwiches - it's dense, but delicious. Just gooey, sticky, sweet, chocolately, nutty heaven, really!

Win a Just Pure Minerals Vegan Lipstick of Your Choice (Plus 20% Discount on Orders)!

I cannot be MORE excited about vegan mineral cosmetics brand Just Pure Minerals and the fact that I am able to give my readers the opportunity to win one of their amazing products, a fabulous Luscious Vegan Lipstick in the shade of their choice (out of 22 amazing colours). SQUEAL!

Since discovering this 100% vegan brand and woman-owned company sometime last year, virtutally every single make-up product I have ever bought since has come from JPM. Yes, I love the stuff that much!

And whenever I make a new order, I camp by my letter-box waiting for my delivery. I don't know - from the process of choosing and ordering (the site just seems so personal to use, and the actual service even more so), through to the excitement of receiving and wearing the products - as well as the great value prices - I adore everything about Just Pure Minerals.

Recipes: Spinach & Tofu Ricotta Tart

This Spinach & Tofu Ricotta Tart is such an easy peasy and delicious way to knock up dinner for guests or for your family. It was one of my offerings to take to the latest Manchester Vegan Potluck that I went to last weekend. The potluck has become one of my favourite monthly events, and why wouldn't it be? There is a table laden with sensational and inventive vegan food, rustled up by the many talented cooks that attend, and you get to try it all, for free! And usually, there is so much food that I sadly don't get to try everything.

This month's event was a Mediterranean theme. Because of the Easter weekend, there weren't as many of us as usual. BUT it was still wonderful - with many dishes to try and I managed to get a bit of everything this time, with seconds on a few. Anyhow, as I say, this tart was one of my contributions.