Vegan Food and Fitness

Daring Bakers

2009-08-28T08:21:00.002+01:00

Just a quick note to say my daring bakers challenge won't be up for a while, I have my masters dissertation due in 6 days! eeeep! then I will be finished uni, probably forever! So I haven't had time to make the challenge yet and last night my oven broke!! unlucky! hopefully I can get it fixed before Thurs when the work is due and make it on Friday cause everyone's look great and I can't wait to make mine!

Daring Cooks August Challenge

2009-08-17T15:12:00.003+01:00

Rice with mushrooms, tofu and artichokes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Equipment:

1 Chopping Board
1 knife
1 medium saucepan
1 Paella pan (30 cm/11” is enough for 4 people. If not available, you may use a simple pan that size)
1 Saucepan

'Sofregit'

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (optional) - used red pepper
4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional) - used
1 Bay leaf
Salt
Touch of ground cumin
Touch of dried oregano

Directions:

Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.
Taste and salt if necessary (maybe it’s not!)

gratuitous close up!

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 Artichokes (you can use jarred or freezed if fresh are not available) - used marinated as couldn't find any others
12 Mushrooms (button or Portobello)
1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)
1 glass of white wine
2 Cuttlefish (you can use freezed cuttlefish or squid if you don’t find it fresh) - tofu, just patted dry to soak up the flavours, this worked really well
“Sofregit” (see recipe above)
300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain. This kind of rice absorbs flavor very well) – about 75 gr per person ( ½ cup per person) Please read this for more info on suitable rices. - used brown pudding rice
Water or Fish Stock (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice) - veg stock
Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder) - used turmeric, poor student over here!
Allioli (olive oil and garlic sauce, similar to mayonnaise sauce) - optional - I ran out of time and added some garlic to some store bought so I could taste it together..

Directions:

Cut the cuttlefish in little strips. Tofu into triangles
Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish in the pan. missed step to add tofu later so it didn't break apart
If you use fresh artichokes, clean them as shown in the video in tip #7. Cut artichokes in eights.
Clean the mushrooms and cut them in fourths.
Add a bay leaf and the artichokes and the mushrooms.
Sauté until we get a golden color in the artichokes.
Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed, getting a more flavorful dish.
Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit. - more like 4-5
Add all the liquid and bring it to boil.
Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.
Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon.
Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”) - mine took a lot longer cause it was brown rice
Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Cooking away..steamy!

almost done!

plated up, see tub of sofregit in the background, this recipe made far too much which is a bit annoying cause I don't have any room in my freezer or any other use for it...

little close up

Hope everyone enjoyed this months challenge.. to my blog readers, sorry I've been so inactive lately I still have tonnes of uni work and 20,000 words to finish before September, thanks for being patient, I'll try and update more regularly when the dissertation is a bit more on the way... it's going very slowly at the minute.. stress!!!

Daring Bakers: The good, (the bad) and the UGLY!!

2009-07-28T15:41:00.005+01:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Milan Cookies

For the Milan cookies I used a the DB recipe with a few aterations.

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

(I halved the recipe)

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (oil)
• 1 cup and 2tbsp powdered sugar (xylitol + 2 tbsp cornflour)
• scant 1/2 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs) (egg replacer)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon lemon extract (orange extract)
• 3/4 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour (W/W pastry + 2tbs cornflour to make 3/4 cup)
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (soy milk)
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (bitter chocolate)
• 1 orange, zested (1 tsp orange extract)

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

tada!

I quite liked how these turned out but I would add less xylitol next time as they were a bit overly sweet.

Chocolate covered mallow cookies.. except mine weren't mallow!

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour (W/W pastry flour)
• 1/4 cup white sugar (xylitol)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (accidentally omitted)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (omitted)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3 tbsp oil, 3 tbsp blended silken tofu)
• 1.5 eggs, whisked together (flax eggs)

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

For my mallow alterantive I made a tofu type mousse with agar flakes, I didn't have half the equipment needed to make vegan marshmallows or the money to buy any so.. make do! I used most of a packet of silken tofu, blended it then heated up some soy milk, about half a cup and dissolved 3 tbsp agar flakes.. this took a while.. when they were almost disolved I sweetened the mixture with xylitol. I halved the tofu mixture and added a strong espresso shot to one half and some peppermint extract to the other half the mixed half the soy milk mixture to each bowl. I set them in silicon bread tins.. I tried to cut star shapes out to match my biscuits but it wasn't terribly succesful, hence the ugly!

peppermint flavour

Mocha money shot!

3 mocha flavoured biscuits

I much prefered the mocha flavour biscuits, the peppermint ones were a bit too.. er.. pepperminty... ohh well! fun challenge though, I sent most of the milan cookies to my brother and he liked them, as did my dad, my mum thought they were a bit rich like me.. must be girly looking manly tasting cookies haha.

I'll try and do a fitness update soon, I joined a boxing gym last week, I'm pretty sore but it's a really good workout and I'm enjoying learning all the technical moves, I'm off there now on my bike with my boyfriend :-)

Strawberry picking

2009-07-09T15:00:00.003+01:00

I was going to bake some lovely strawberry cupcakes... but we just ate them all!! Maybe next time!

fitness bits!

2009-07-09T14:06:00.003+01:00

Finally I've got round to writing a workout update! I've been doing my usual running intervals, taken my boyfriend's sister's dogs out a couple of times which is loads of fun, I'll try and remember my camera next time! The best (or worst..) workouts I've done lately have been the jokers from the crossfit hopper deck of workout cards! We had to slightly modify them to be able to do them in the flat with the equipment we have here but they were still really tough, don't worry!! The first one was the 'filthy fifty' - appropriate name! I finished this in just over 20 minutes - ouch!

50 box jumps
50 band slams
50 dumbell swings (10kg)
50 lunge jumps
50 v-ups
50 pushpress (used 12-15kg sandbag)
50 medicine ball slams
50 burpees (HELL)
50 double unders

This workout was really tough, but I love tough workouts, definately going to get my time under 20 mins next time!

The other joker workout was 'fight gone bad' we modified this quite a lot as we did this workout the day after an impromptu run with the dogs - it's amazing how much difference good footwear does! I was wearing flat plimsole converse type shoes and I was on the way to developing shin splints but luckily I took it easy and didn't do too much leg work the few days after and it subsided... anyway.. the workout!

You do three rounds with a minute on each station and the idea is to beat your score next time... I tried to beat Mike but he beat me as usual.. I did unintentionally do a harder move for the push press.. I was only supposed to take the sandbag to my chest but I did it above my head each time.. that was tough!

Burpees 19 18 18
High Pull 23 24 29
Crunches 50 49 50
Push Press 11 10 15
Shadow Boxing -- -- --
Totals 105 103 112 320

So next time I need to beat my scores! And maybe Mike... although as he scored 395 that is doubtful, but I always try, he's very fit so he's a good marker to aim for even if the only thing I ever beat him on is out sitting him on a wall sit!

We've been doing some fun static hold finishers lately, we both hold a position for as long as we can, wall sit, plank, bear hold, weights etc... The person who drops the hold first has a punishment from the other person, so when I dropped the plank first Mike gave me 50 crunches to do.. But when I beat him on a wall sit I gave him 50 lunge jumps... had to get him back for the crunches!

Daring Bakers Bakewell Tart

2009-06-28T20:27:00.004+01:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Oh dear.. I'm a day late! Better late than never eh! I wasn't terribly excited by this challenge, I wasn't feeling too creative so I went down the traditional route, I also went down a less traditional route but they didn't work out so well!

The Challenge

• Rough Durations: Please see individual recipe elements to see how much time you’ll need. You may pull it together in more time or less—it all depends upon your kitchen’s pace. You can complete the tart in an afternoon, or break it up into a couple of days by making the pastry one day in advance.
• Measurements: These recipes were developed using weight and not volume metrics, so for better results, pull out your scales. We’ve done our best with the Metric to Imperial conversions.
• A giant tart, medium tarts or little tartlettes: We’ll leave that to you.
• Mandatory and Optional Elements
Mandatory element 1: Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
Yes, it’s a pie pastry. Don’t look at us like that. It’s sweet and tender and it’s not scary…and we’re encouraging you to do it by hand and put the food processor away (but if you really want to pull out the gadget, go ahead).

Mandatory element 2: Frangipane
We love onomatopoeia of frangipane: it’s rich, sweet and feels slightly luxurious, and can be used in several confections.

Optional element: Home made jam or curd
We know several amongst us are rather jammy with making their own jams and preserves. Go ahead get wild and creative or simply showcase whatever’s local and in season. If you haven’t jammed before and want some hints or recipes, take a look at Bernardin’s homecanning.ca. If you want to just make some jam for this challenge and not go through sterilising jars and snap lids, you can try a pan jam, similar to Jasmine’s Blackberry Pan Jam. If you do use homemade jam, please include your recipe or the link to the one you used in your post.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

I didn't use the challenge recipe, I decided to use a low fat vegan pastry as I felt the recipe already had much more fat in it than I would normally use in a recipe. The recipe I used can be found here, I added 2 Tbsp of xylitol to the pastry, it worked really on the big tart but not the little ones, I think that's because I made the small ones from the offcuts.

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened (soya marg)
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs (3/4 cup blended silken tofu)
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour (wholemeal)

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

The finished product!

I wish I had put more cherry jam in! I also put some whole cherries in which was really yum!

I made a few mini chocolate tarts too, these ended up too dry but the flavours worked well.. again didn't put enough in the bottom and a chocolate sauce or ganache as well as the chocolate chips might have done the trick!

Workout post is next, I promise! I'd completely forgotten about the DB challenge until I saw them all appear the other day!

Allergy free cinnamon buns and other bits 'n' bobs

2009-06-26T15:10:00.004+01:00

It's bin a while! I was so tired after I finished all the uni work I had due a earlier this month I haven't really been up to much but I have been in the kitchen doing some nice relaxing baking! I decided to try Angela's Skinny Mini Glo-buns last week. Oh yum! They were so good my cinnamon hating boyfriend smelt them cooking and asked me to try making him a gluten free, soy free, sugar free version... I'm always up for a challenge so I had a go, to my surprise, my first attempt was pretty much the same as the wheat version I'd cooked up for myself, and if you're not worried about being sugar free you can always ice them up! Here's my recipe which is based on Angela's... These would be cool for a children's party as they go a wierd green colour from the avocado!

Green Cinnabuns
Wet
1 medium banana
1 small avocado
1 T rice milk
1/4 t apple cider vinegar

Dry
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt

Method

pre-heat the oven to 205c/400f
blend the wet ingredient (should come to around 7 tablespoons)
sift the dry into the wet
form a dough and roll out onto a floured surface (I like to roll it onto parchment which I then use to roll it up as the dough is fragile)
take a third of a cup of date paste (made by blending dates with just enough water to cover, hot water helps them blend quicker) mix a generous half tablespoon of cinnamon into the date paste and spread on the dough.
roll up using the parchment and chop into slices
for extra sweetness sprinkle with xylitol
bake for 16 minutes
Enjoy!

Green cinnabuns and skinny mini glo-buns in the background

skinny mini glo-buns with green cinnabuns in the background

green cinnabun

Skinny mini glo-bun

If you like the look of these desserts Sweet Freedom would be a great cookbook for you, I'm really hoping to get a copy soon but I'm short of money at the moment. :( sadface! Anyway if I'm lucky I will win a copy! Check out Shelly's blog, to win a copy and you can also be in with a chance of winning the book over at The Healthy Green Kitchen, fingers crossed!

Here's some yummy pasta I made by reducing lots of cherry tomatoes with garlic, mushrooms and spinach, I then added mange tout, green olives which were stuffed with sunblush tomatoes, sweetcorn and fresh basil, yum, yum, yum! The pasta is wholewheat with extra protein from ground lentils and chickpeas. Fairly simple but really tasty!

Stay tuned for a workout post soon.. I did an absolute killer of a workout on Tuesday!

Daring Bakers Apple Strudel

2009-05-31T09:02:00.006+01:00

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Stretching the dough

Dough with caramel apple filling

just out of the oven

not quite as flaky as I'd hoped, if I hadn't been so busy I would have tried this recipe again!

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips
- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

Both Courtney and I did a trial run on making the strudel. Below are our notes:

Courtney's notes
- She could't get it to stretch to 2 feet by 3 feet, it turned out more like 2 feet by 2 feet. But the dough was tissue thin nevertheless;
- She got some serious holes, but after rolling it wasn't noticeable;
- She used a large cheese cloth which helped manipulate and stretch the dough more than a heavier cloth would have.

My notes
- I made the dough by hand, just mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Kneaded it for about 5 min like you would bread dough. This worked as well. Haven't tried using a standmixer so I don't know how it compares.
- Instead of cider vinegar I used red wine vinegar;
- I used bread flour;
- Picking up the dough to let it stretch didn't work well for me, holes appeared pretty much instantly. Instead I stretched the dough while it was lying on the tablecloth by putting my hands underneath and stretching it out further and further;

busy bee

2009-05-15T18:19:00.003+01:00

I've been soo busy lately with uni work I'd been putting off writing my blog entry for Ricki's book Sweet Freedom: Desserts You’ll Love without Wheat Eggs, Dairy or Refined Sugar that I ended up writing a specific entry and missing the competition by a few minutes, gutted!! I still can't wait to buy this book though it sounds fab! I hope to start blogging a bit more frequently again soon when my uni work calms down a bit and I stop being such a big stresshead! My next deadlines, yes plural aarrrghhh are on Thursday, wish me luck!!

My first Daring Bakers challenge!

2009-04-27T21:07:00.007+01:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

So I have two firsts in this post, my first cheesecake and my first daring bakers challenge! It turned out pretty well I think! Here's the recipe with my alterations in bold, I thirded it as it would have gone to waste otherwise.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs 2/3 cup hobnob light crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted 40g pure soya spread
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar 1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/2 tsp vanilla

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature 225g cream sheeze
1 cup / 210 g sugar 1/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs 1/4 cup blended silken tofu
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream 1/3 cup soyatoo
1 tbsp. lemon juice (omitted to add other flavours, see later)
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean) 2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake (omitted to add other flavours, see later)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Some variations from the recipe creator:

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool)

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.

**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

Bashing up my hobnob biscuits for the crust

Mixing in the soya spread... just realised I forgot to melt it, I wondered why it was so hard to mix in!!!

Putting the crust into my muffin pan, I chose to do the cheesecakelet version as I couldn't decide on a single flavour! Gotta love the old school oven facilities in my flat!!

Here I am mixing the cream sheese and sugar

My vegan adaptions (silken tofu not shown)

Ready for the oven, clockwise from top left, Tirimasu, Black forest gateau, Chocolate, Caramel, Chocolate and caramel, Cherry.

And out of the oven cooling...

Cherry version
For the cherry version I used a plain unadultered cheesecake and topped with a sour cherry sauce made by defrosting some sour cherries, stirring in arrowroot and sugar to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer, chill before using.

Choco-caramel
This is a combination of my two favourite cheesecakes as a child. The cheesecake mixture has melted chocolate and caramel sauce added to it and it is topped with a simple ganache, caramel sauce and chopped fudge. The caramel sauce didn't really work as planned and separated in the fridge, I still used the top thick layer and discarded the bottom. Since it didn't work I won't bother with the recipe but if anyone really wants it let me know!

Choco-caramel birdseye view

Tirimasu
This variation worked best I think, a really sophisticated way to get your chocolate! This has Tia maria liquor in the cheesecake mix and is topped with the simple ganache with a small glug of tia maria, on top of that is soyatoo and a sprinkle of cocoa powder.

Caramel
This cheesecake had caramel sauce in the mix and is topped with yet more caramel and chopped fudge

Chocolate
Melted chocolate in the cheesecake mix and topped with ganache. Simple but yumm!

Black Forest Gateau
This was my least favourite, and least photogenic.. a case of piling on far too many toppings I think! The cheese cake mix was marbled with melted chocolate and topped with a sour cherry sauce, soyatoo and drizzled ganache.

This was a yummy challenge and I will definately make this recipe again!

Summery food

2009-04-22T16:28:00.005+01:00

It's been so warm and sunny the past few days all I've been craving salady type foods, I made a really yummy salad platter today! A HUGE lunch! Mike didn't think I would manage it all but I did (with only a teeny bit of help from him hehe...didn't want any til he saw it!!). I love a plate of food which has lots of variety on it! This plate had spicy couscous (shop bought), penne vodka (from vcon, homemade minus the vodka), roast veg, mixed seasonal baby leaf salad, and tabouli, everything was homemade except the couscous.

Penne Vodka

Roast veg and baby leaf salad

Spicy couscous

Tabouli (recipe follows)

Tabouli
My tabouli recipe is based on the one my local vegetarian restaurant cooks and doesn't have mint or spring onion as other, perhaps more traditional recipes do but it is really yummy, Mike doesn't like tomatoes and he ate loads hehe
1 cup bulgar wheat
1 cup boiling water
1 scant Tbsp lemon juice
1 small red onion
3 smallish cloves of garlic
3 big vine tomatoes
big bunch of parsley
salt to taste

What you do!
Measure out a cup of bulgar wheat into a large mixing bowl, pour over the boiling water, a teaspoon of salt, crushed garlic and a few drops of lemon juice. Next finely chop your red onion and pour over the rest of the lemon juice, the acidity in the lemon juice will cook off the red onion a little bit and take the edge off. This step is not necessary but I don't like a strong onion flavour so I like to do it this way. Leave the bulgar mixture to soak up the water for about half an hour and the onion to cook down in the lemon juice if you are using this step. When all the water is absorbed and the mixture has cooled add in your chopped up vine tomatoes and parsley, check the seasoning and add more salt and lemon juice if necessary, enjoy!

Mango, Pineapple and Strawberries = yum!

Closeup!

It's competition time at Life, love violin's blog for a yummy bar and peanut butter giveaway so head over to enter and have a read of a fellow musicians blog!

Pizza Night!

2009-04-20T17:07:00.006+01:00

What two posts in one day after nothing for so long?! Yeah... I know! I've been meaning to upload these pictures for aaaages! These are the pizzas Mike and I made about a week and a half ago now!!
Veg ready for roasting (in the oven at 200c for about 20 minutes then 230 for 20)

Wholemeal and yeast free pizza dough
Makes 2 mini pizzas (thin crust)

1cup wholemeal flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

Mix the dry ingredients then add the water, roll out into one big pizza or two mini pizzas and pre-bake the base for about 10 minutes just to help it cook, top with your choice of toppings and put it back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes until the base is crispy and yummy!

The topping station!
Grilled tofu
kalamata olives
sundried tomatoes
red pepper
mushrooms
not pictured but used;
hummous (me)
fake tuna (Mike)

The base with tomato puree, oregano, rosemary and onion powder

add some mushrooms

and sweetcorn

Mike added mushrooms, sweetcorn, red pepper and fake tuna

He couldn't help but lick the spoon (caught ya!)

Next up for mine was some grilled tofu

Sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives and red pepper

Almost ready for the oven (mine had a few dollops of hummous added before cooking but I forgot to take a pic oops!)

Roasted veg from the oven

Being served up by Mike, served with some homemade ketchup. We were going to have these with the pizza but someone couldn't wait..not me haha!

The kitchen was pretty messy by this point!!

Finished pizzas

Managed to snap a quick pic of Mike's as he impatiently waited to eat it!

And here's mine

Yummy!

If anyone remembers me stressing a few posts back about a clarinet exam I got my results this week, I passed with distinction :) what a relief! I didn't think I had played my best, I never do, I'm always so nervous!!

Some workouts

2009-04-20T14:35:00.004+01:00

I seem to start every blog entry with an apology for being so rubbish at updating! I don't know why it's been so long since my last entry.. I have no excuse! Anyway... here's a few workouts I've done since I last updated, I've been interval running twice and done the barbell complex twice, with dumbbells as Mike uses the barbell but you've heard about those before so I'll tell you about some new ones!

This workout absolutely fried my legs, I was out of action for three days!!!! If you do this I would recommend lowering the number of squats if you struggle with them like I did otherwise you will not be able to get down onto a chair for the next three days (not a good look..) anyway here's how it goes, you do it in the order written;

50 chair dips
200 resistance band slams
200 squats (we were going to do 300!!! silly idea!)
200 crunches
50 chair dips

Amazingly only my legs were sore after this, I was really surprised as I normally think of squats as a fairly easy exercise! Oh I did three planks to finish too! just in case I hadn't done enough..?!

Magic 50
This is a workout by Ross Enamait see his website ross training for lots more useful workout info he also has three books out, all of which have great workouts for strength, endurance and conditioning and are well worth buying. For this workout I did Clean and Press instead of Snatch which slowed me down a bit but not too much. I used a dumbell with 11kg and finished the workout in 10.55.

10 Burpees
5 Clean and Press each arm
5 Swings each arm
repeat 5 times... it's harder than it sounds!!

After this I did a deadlift hold with 40kg three times for as long as I could.. then Mike wondered if he could deadlift me... he could of course! So I decided to see if I could deadlift him and to my surprise I could!!!

Max strength
Push press with the barbell 25kg 4x4
Wall band press
Calf raise using resistance band
Ab Rollouts
Tabata punchouts as a finisher

This was a pretty rubish workout, I was completely bored and I hurt my wrist so I don't think I really did as well as I should have done but never mind.. win some lose some..

ICT
10 Medicine ball Burpees (aka hell on earth)
20 Lateral jumps
30 Star jumps
20 Knee push-uos
10 Burpees
I managed 4 rounds in 14.01 and Mike did 5, I was a bit dissapointed at not keeping up with him but the medicine ball I used was the same weight as his so way too heavy for me considering he usually lifts more than double what I lift. I was still frustrated though, I don't like getting behind!!
After this we did a finisher
55 chair dips
70 resistance band slams
210 chinnies

On top of these workouts I've been working at my pushups and chinups, I can now do 2 chinups in one set and my max pushups in one go is 10 with good form not on my knees like I do in some workouts!

Penne... vodka?

2009-04-03T17:50:00.003+01:00

We had absolutely no idea what to have for tea tonight so I pulled out my copy of veganomicon and started flicking through, after several meal ideas we couldn't agree on we settled on trying the Penne Vodka. I've been wanting to try this for a while as I was interested to see how the almonds worked in the sauce. We only had one problem, no vodka... I've probably comitted some cooking blasphemy here but we went ahead anyway, it's unlikely I will ever have vodka in the house, neither of us like it or drink it so I figured it couldn't be bad without. It was really yummy! Since I'd already ignored the recipe and omitted the vodka we decided to ignore it a little more and add spinach and sweetcorn to get a bit more veg action into the tea! It was really good and reeeeaaally filling, we'll definately make this again!

This is the pasta we used, it's yummy and v. healthy!

I haven't done much baking lately :( I need some willing guinea pigs! I'm going to make Mike some truffles later that'll have to do for now!

I mentioned in my previous post about the 20 pull-up challenge and the 100 push up challenge, see links for more info. I'm starting the push ups tonight and I'm in week -2 of the pull-ups, the only thing I don't like about it is that it starts at -2, that's kind of annoying to have to start before week one! It would have been better to just add 2 weeks IMO, but that's just me being penickety! According to these websites I should be doing 100 push ups in 6 weeks and 20 pull-ups in 8!! I'll keep ya posted, I hope I get these results it does seem a bit optimistic but I'm gonna give it a go.

We've been having a back-off week this week to let our muscles recover, on Wednesday our workout consisted of 100 chair dips, 100 push ups (girly style on my knees!), 100 squats and 100 sit-ups.. doesn't sound too bad does it... it was!!! I'm still aching! I didn't even feel too bad when I'd finished but I woke up on Thursday sooo sore!

On Thursday I played badminton with Mike and my dad, they both always beat me but it's still fun, anyway this week I beat my dad, amazing lol I'm not sure if he was being kind though I told them not to let me win though, it's not so sweet that way hehe

Today, Friday I did the Randy Couture circuit I've mentioned before, I did it light and had 3.5 kg on each dumb bell as opposed to my usual 6kg so it gave me a light workout without stressing my muscles too much, my legs still hurt today and I'm hoping to go running tomorrow so I didn't want to burn out..

Cupcakes and workouts

2009-03-30T19:21:00.005+01:00

Here's some cupcakes I made for my cousin's birthdays they both visited this weekend, so any excuse to get baking! They're the basic chocolate recipe from every vegans cupcake bible, vegan cupcakes take over the world, they seemed to go down well I didn't have one cause I didn't really like the frosting, my dad said it was good but I thought it tasted fatty.. Maybe the shortening I used wasn't right, I used Trex any UKer's use trex and have good/bad results? It's the first time I've used it..

Trudy likes the sun!

A Few Workouts I've done since I last posted
Running
Jogged to uni 1 mile
15 50m sprints with 50m jogs in between each sprint
jogged home

Strength Work
I did the nightmare workout again!! This time I kept it closer to the original and it was maybe even more horrible than last time but I felt great when I completed it, I did 5 rounds with 2 6kg dumb-bells.
-Bent Row
-Upright Row
-Military Press
-Split Squat (left/right)
-Thruster
-Straight-Legged Deadlift

I did a few other strength based workouts too but they weren't terribly exciting, I've been really tired lately and I've been finding the strength stuff harder than usual.. I've started a pull-up programme and a push-up programme so I'm hoping my numbers for each exercise will begin to improve soon, I'll keep you all posted!

Baking galore!

2009-03-24T21:29:00.011Z

Wow this post was promised aaages ago wasn't it! I hope it was worth the wait! How's everyones week been? I had a better week, busy with uni work and I have a clarinet exam on Saturday so I'm feeling a bit stressed, I'm prepared for it but I always feel I could do more, it's always the case though, a bit more time probably wouldn't change a thing! Anyway on to the food! That's what you're here for right?

Maple cupcakes with sugared cashews (instead of walnuts) from VCTOW
These were really good actually, I didn't think I would like the sugared cashews but they turned out really nice. I also made a frosting based on the one in VCTOW but I don't really like cooking with fat, I always sub apple sauce for oil and don't often do proper frostings unless they're for other people.. So my frosting recipe, basically it was soy protein powder added to maple syrup until the consistency felt right and it tasted right, i.e. not too protein-y! It needs some work, it tastes great but it doesn't stay on the cupcakes so they don't look too pretty!! Maybe some powdered sugar would help but I think that might make it too sweet.. If anyone tries this let me know how it turns out for you!

Next up, another modified VCTOW recipe.. The cake recipe is the Almond version of the Hazlenut cupcakes, the first set is topped with a chocolate ganache and vegan crunchie (honeycomb - recipe below) unfortunately the crunchie pieces melted into the ganache but I'm assured by my Gran who I baked them for, that the taste still shone through, in fact I know it did because I didn't tell her what it was and she knew! The second lot are topped with a lemon cream cheese frosting leftover from the carrot cakes shown below. I had also made a blueberry compote to go with the lemon ones, recipe in VCTOW but my gran forgot to serve it with the cupcakes so my grandad will be getting a treat with his breakfast!

Mother's day Carrot cake cupcakes from VCTOW
As you may remember from earlier posts my mum loves carrotcake so what better to make her for mother's day? I had the bright idea of spelling out Happy Mother's Day in marzipan carrots, it took aaaaaaages but she loved it so it was worth it, she did point out I'd missed the apostrophe out though cheeky mum!

Vegan Crunchie/Honeycomb
These were sooo yummy! I'm kinda scared to make them again for fear of eating them all!! I'm failing to find where I got the recipe from so I'm sorry to the person I'm not crediting, I did modify it though... I used one cup of sugar and half a cup of water and I think 1 tbs of baking soda. In a deep pan heat the sugar and water to hard crack stage, with a thermometer around 300° F– 150° C I actually took it off before it reached that heat as it smelt like it was burning and it still worked well, once off the heat add the baking soda it will fizz up a lot (that's why you need a deep pan!) then chill the honeycomb until it's hard, it didn't take long at all for me. I then broke it up and coated it in melted dark chocolate yum yum!

Soda Bread
My Gran saved me a recipe for soda bread in the Daily Telegraph Magazine, it was not vegan but I made some changes and it turned out great!
500g wholemeal flour
10g salt
15g baking soda
150g oat flakes
1 tbsp molasses
500ml oat milk plus 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

mix the oat milk and vinegar so it has time to curdle
preheat the oven to 200°C
line a baking sheet
mix all the dry ingredients
add in the wet ingredients
shape the dough into a loaf with floured hands and mark the top with a knife
bake on the top shelf for 45mins until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped
transfer to a wire rack to cool, the recipe suggests draping a damp cloth over the loaf to help it stay moist but I like a really crunchy crust so I omitted this stage. (Sorry for the bad lighting!)

Sugar free, no added fat almond choc chip cookies
I'm working on this recipe and a PB variation, it's not quite there yet but I promise I'll let you know as soon as I nail it!

Some workouts

2009-03-18T15:26:00.003Z

I had a tough week last week so didn't really feel like posting. My hamster Missy died really suddenly and it was quite a shock, I miss her a lot she used to come out and play every night so it's strange without her.

I have quite a legnthy food post to come but I'm just going to do my last weeks workouts for now as I need to resize all the pics!

Workout 1
I think I did this last Friday.

Shadow boxing to warm up
Clean and Press 5 each arm, 9.5kg, 11kg, 13.5kg, 13.5kg
Bent over row 20kg reps 5 then 3
Assisted pull-ups and chin-ups reps 10-10-10-10
Push-ups reps 4-2-4-2
Hammer curls 8kg reps 8-8
Russian Twist 10kg reps 30-30

Workout 2
yesterday

Jogged to uni, 1 mile
Suicides! as bad as the name suggests!
4 reps of 50m, 100m, 150m, 200m
6 75m sprints

Workout 3
today.. (i just mispellt workout, woe-out that's about right, todays workout was HORRIBLE!!)

It was based on a Randy Couture workout, a barbell complex, this is the original workout
-Bent Row
-Upright Row
-Military Press
-Good Morning
-Split Squat (left/right)
-Thruster
-Straight-Legged Deadlift

I had to change a few things, I used a set of dumbells for example as Mike used the barbell, here is the exercises I did for round one and one half round (I twisted my knee doing lunges so I had to change the workout) I had 6kg on each barbell, that sounds puny but it was actually so hard I wanted to cry! I did 5.5 rounds half a round cause I had to stop at the lunges on the second go cause I was in pain, think I've twisted my knee somehow. gahh.

-Bent Row
-Upright Row
-Military Press
-Good Morning (cut after second round cause I couldn't do it with dumbells)
-Split Squat (left/right) - I did lunges rounds 1-2, from round 3 onwards I did a benchpress
-Thruster (squat to push press) from round 3 onwards I did a benchpress, it took me ages!
-Straight-Legged Deadlift

This workout was really nasty but I'm so happy I managed to finish it by round 3 I really didn't think I would be able to!

Food pics in the next post... coming up soda bread, vegan crunchie chocolate, maple cupcakes with a high protein, low fat frosting, sugar free, fat free almond cookies... until I put the chocolate chips in that is!!

Interview and todays workout

2009-03-11T20:10:00.005Z

We'll do the workout first, today I jogged a mile to uni then did 6x300m intervals followed by two 50m sprints cause I still had a bit of energy left! I ate half a banana before I went and it seemed to combat some of the sickness I felt last time. I've done a little bit of light strength work this evening, some push-ups, assisted pull-ups and some arm exercises with a light dumbbell (4kg)

We found some old pictures yesterday, here is one of my beautiful hamster Scarlett, we had three dwarf hamsters, Scarlett, Natalie and Winnie and sadly they all died last year, I really miss them.

Now I have an interview from Kiersten over at Full of Beans! The information to playalong is after it!

1) Of all the blogs you read, which one is your favorite? Why?
This is such a tough question, I love reading all the blogs I follow. I think if I had to pick just one it would be Susan V's Fat Free Vegan Kitchen I've chosen this one as it's probably the blog I've made the most recipes from so far and I don't like adding fat to food so it's given me a lot of ideas of alternatives to use.

2) What is your favorite vegetable? Your favorite way to eat it?
At the moment it would have to be kale in the form of kale chips, bake your kale in the oven sprinkled with a good amount of apple cider vinegar and sprinkled with salt, delicious! I wish I had some kale in my fridge!!

3) What would your ideal 3 course meal be?
This is such a good question! I think I would have to go for one of those sharing plate style starters that you can get from most chinese/thai restaurants, this would include spring rolls with tofu, tempura vegetables, seaweed (minus the icky dried fish of course!!) with sweet chilli dipping sauce. For mains I'm torn between black bean tofu and plain boiled rice and cashew tofu with noodles....... can I have half of each!! For dessert chocolate and caramel cheesecake, that's a dessert I haven't yet veganised so it's imaginary.. but I think it would be good!

4) What is your favorite book?
I love Stephen King's Dark Tower series, I'm still reading the last book at the moment, when I get chance to break from uni work long enough to really get into it.. That's my favourite at the moment I think... I'm very indecisive!

5) If you were a superhero, what would your super power be?
Ooooh this is a toughy! So much to choose from (maybe the ability to make up my mind would be a good one to pick..)
I'm gonna go with....... flying! Sounds so cliche but imagine the freedom and the things you could see, all the places you could go.. it would be cool!

To play along:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." If a few people want interviews, I will randomly pick 2.
2. I will respond by commenting on your blog with five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Yesterdays workout

2009-03-06T16:21:00.003Z

I went running for the first time in about a year yesterday and today my legs are killing me haha, I jogged a mile to uni and then did some intervals on the field (at 6.30 am so no-one could see me hehe) I did 8x200m then walked home sweaty and dishevelled!! It wasn't too bad (ignoring the sore legs today) except for the fact I felt really sick the whole time, this often happens in work outs if they're conditioning based... other runners or cardio people what do you eat before a workout and how long before? I just can't seem to get it right!

After my workout I had a nice big mug of coffee, it's incredibly rare you get me to leave the house before having one so I was really looking forward to it when I got home, I also had a nice big bowl of high protein cereal and dried apples yummmmm

Redwood co

2009-03-03T14:15:00.004Z

is one company I will no longer be buying from. They make Cheatin' meats, VegiDeli, Cheezly and are behind the fabulous fudge company.

As always I bought a celebration roast for mine and Mike's christmas dinner, the date on it was til sometime in January so no worries about it going off right?? Wrong. It was mouldy before the christmas dinner so that threw a spanner in the works. I emailed the company on Jan 1st with pictures including the date on the packet, expecting at least a refund. The shop I bought it from were closed for refurb for a month over christmas so I couldn't take it back there and I wasn't keeping mouldy food in the fridge. I did not hear from redwoods.

2 weeks later I'm beginning to wonder why they haven't emailed me back so I send another, apparently the first never arrived.. that's a little odd, my email server confirms it was sent. After this I get asked my address, they will send a refund....

Fast forward another 2 weeks, the shop is back open so I mention it to someone who works there, he says he will ring them this is Feb 13th, I get an email back the same day, what is your address, we'll send you a refund.............. nothing arrives again!! On Monday I'm in the shop I bought it in again and Scott, the man who works in the shop enquires as to whether my refund has arrived, he says he will ring again, finally this morning my refund arrives. They have sent me a cheque for less than the celebration roast, I can't even be bothered to get the rest of the money off them. (they sell for £5.56 direct from them and they sent me a cheque for £5.00 what's that all about??)

Should it really be this much effort to get a refund for a faulty product. I really feel like they should have offered me more than the value of the product since they have messed me about so much, over 2 months and far too much effort to get that partial refund. I'm really fed up with this company. Thank goodness 'Frys' frozen vegetarian foods and Sheese cheese are far nicer than the Redwoods alternatives, I did enjoy buying their products fresh but I will not give them any more of my money. In a way it's good I have got so fed up with them because I hadn't tried the Frys veggie meats before so I didn't know I would actually prefer them, but still annoying!

Has anyone else had any problems with redwoods foods going off well before the date? It's the second time it's happened to me, a pack of chicken pieces went off well before the date but the shop I'd bought them from sorted that out for me so I didn't have to deal with all this time wasting!!

ETA, seems I'm not the only person who has had these problems, it seems to be their company policy to ignore complaints and hope they go away... scroll down about 2/3s of the page

todays work out

2009-03-02T18:14:00.005Z

Again.. I've been neglecting the fitness part!!
Today I did;

Clean and Press, 5 each arm
8.5kg 9.5kg 12kg 12kg 12kg 12kg

Tabata pushups, 8 rounds

Squats 5 each time
17kg 17kg 17kg 22kg 22kg 22kg

After the workout it was pretty much time for tea so we had some good vegan comfort food, biona lucky stars, tofu and vegetable stars, mildly curry flavoured yummy! With those we had some rice cooked in stock, garlic and a bay leaf then mixed with sauteed green peppers, celery, mushroom, jalopenos, peas and sweetcorn and some tomato puree, pretty tasty, ohh and a bit of tabasco for some extra bite. I also made some oven wedges no extra flavours on these just plain ol' salt 'n' vinegar. There is also some homemade ketchup (from Bryanna's blog) on my plate and I had some wholemeal bread for a chip 'n' star butty! Here's some close ups, just cause..

Free chocolate...

2009-02-27T20:05:00.008Z

...over at Katie, the chocolate covered vegan's new blog click here for the new blog and here for the giveaway post. Katie is giving away a whole case of jocalat! I hope I win, I haven't seen it available here and would love to try it... oh and if you make one of her recipes your name will go into the draw three times! So here I give you my version of Katie's Choco-licious Chocolate Pudding recipe here. The only alterations I made were to add orange extract and some orange zest instead of the almond extract... I also added more cocoa powder and agar powder cause I mis-read teaspoon for tablespoon... in my defense I'm not 100% at the moment!! Nonetheless, the pudding was scrummy! Here are some pics..

I've been eating the veganomicon ceasar salad again yummmmmmmmmmmm, the recipe for the tofu crust as promised ages ago is....
in a third cup, mix;1 stock cube
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
top up with polenta

coat the tofu, the moisture in it is enough to hold it on then grill until crispy and yummy! I've tried this with both pre frozen and fresh tofu, I think the frozen version works best, the one in the picture is the fresh.

Another thing we've been eating a lot of lately is fake tuna salad. Mike can't get enough of this! It's basically the combination of several recipes I'd seen altered to our taste. The ingredients are kind of rough but I'll give you the idea..
2 stalks of celery
4 pickles
2 tins of chickpeas (450gram)
2 tbs vegan mayo
2-4 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 sheet of nori, toasted and crumbled or chopped
about 2 tbs of dulse chopped up
salt to taste

Chop the celery and pickles finely and blend with 1-2 tbs apple cider vinegar, when smooth add 1 tin of the chickpeas and the vegan mayo and blend until smooth, add the nori and dulse and blend some more. Roughly mash the other chickpeas and combine both mixtures, add salt and more vinegar if it needs it.. try not to eat it all at once!

Lots of baking!

2009-02-23T11:25:00.015Z

Wow it's been a long time since I got round to posting, I'm a bad blogger! I'm going to have to blame uni work and general tiredness! Here's lots of pics and a bonus pic of my beautiful hamster at the end to make up for it!

It was my mum and dad's birthday yesterday, they're both the same age, born on the same day, very odd coincidence.. We had tea at their house so I helped with the veg and my mum did their main meal, I also brought all the deserts. They request carrot cake, the apple spice caramel cupcakes from vcon and something chocolatey... I tried to make a carrot cake but for some reason it didn't work and wasn't cooked right so I decided to make the carrot cupcakes from VCTOW I did a lemony cream 'cheese' frosting to go on top... that's right, I had a full family of omnis eating vegan cheese!! I also decorated the carrot cupcakes with some marzipan carrots, my grandad loved them! For the something chocolatey I made the chewy chocolate raspberry cookies from vcon but I used ginger preserves and made them chocolate ginger cookies, my brother ate two before we even sat down to eat!

The spread at my house before I took it all round

Carrot cake cupcakes with lemony cream 'cheese' frosting and marzipan carrots!

this one looks like it has a smiley face!!

Caramel apple spice cupcakes
My mum didn't like the nuts on these last time so I roasted some cashews and brought them in a bag for people to put on if they wanted to

Chocolate ginger cookies

Bonus hamster pic!

Vegetable Love

2009-02-10T22:00:00.007Z

When I saw Susan V's vegetable love competition on her Fat Free Vegan blog I just had to enter. The competition details are here. My first attempt was a quinoa dish with little beetroot hearts but the shop I was going to buy some heart cookie cutters from decided to close for a week and my cardboard heart shape didn't work so well, it didn't look too pretty, and in all honesty didn't taste as great as I'd hoped it would either! So I scrapped that idea and started wracking my brains, what else could I do, I really wanted to do a dessert but I was not feeling too inspired.
This morning I remembered some sweet potatoes in the fridge, I have only ever had sweet potatoes in their savoury form, roast, crisps, mashed, in curry etc.. I've never tried, or really wanted to try sweet potatoes in their truly sweet incarnation. As I was pondering the sweet potatoes I decided that actually the texture might be quite good in a cookie.. hmm... cue a quick experiment before uni, this was my last chance to enter as by the time I got home there would be no light to take a picture! I quickly cooked my sweet potato in the microwave, I used a really small one as I only made one big cookie, in hindsight these cookies would work better smaller as the edges were the yummiest!

Sweet potato and almond cookies

Wet
1 heaped tablespoon of sweet potato puree
3 tablespoos of soy milk (almond milk would be great here)
1 teaspoon of almond extract
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of beet juice (I added this for colour and as you can see that didn't work so well, 1 T of soy milk could be substituted)
1 tablespoon of maple syrup

Dry
1/3 cup wholemeal flour
1/3 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dried fruit sweetened cranberries

Preheat the oven to 177c or 350f. First mash the insides of a small sweet potato, I got a heaped tablespoon from mine, I slowly mixed in the soy milk a tablespoon at a time, then added the rest of the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl I sieved the flour and added the other dry ingredients. After incorporating the dry ingredients, add the wet and mix, I poured this onto a a cookie sheet (shaped into a heart later so don't worry, the dough is supposed to be runny!) as one giant cookie but as I said I think it would be better as smaller cookies, it didn't spread much. I baked mine for 12 minutes but smaller cookies will probably cook quicker so check them after 7.

Whilst the cookie was cooking I made some red marzipan hearts just cause I was going a little love heart crazy and hey, it's an almond cookie, and marzipan is always good! After the cookie was done I let it cool and cut it into a heart shape, after devouring the leftover edges and realising it was in fact not only edible but pretty yummy I felt quite proud of myself! I'm not sure if it was the almonds or the sweet potato but the texture of the cookie was the best oil/marg free cookie I've had yet, it was slightly crisp round the edge but still lovely and chewy, the cranberries added just the right amount of tang to a cookie which might have been slightly sickly without.

I have to show you another photo, whilst I was getting myself ready for uni my boyfriend found the marzipan hearts and made a little message for me... not strictly great for this post as it was made out of soyatoo and I'm not sure we could call that low fat!! but here it is, what a sweetheart <3

And finally here is the aftermath of the morning love heart themed baking special!

Happy Valentines!

Todays work out

2009-02-06T15:42:00.002Z

Considering I called this blog vegan food and fitness so far there has been far more food than fitness! So I thought I would post todays work out, I did strength work today.

Dumbell squats each weight I did 5 reps (weight is always in kg)
16 - 17 - 20 - 20 - 20

Clean and press, 5 each arm
8.5 - 10 - 10 - 10 - 10

To the pull-up bar
1 chin-up (my first in AGES, well since we moved the bar to a higher spot)
failed pull-up
negative chin-up
negative pull-up
negative chin-up
assisted chin-up x 10
assisted pull-up x 10

50 dumbell swings each arm at 10kg weight

surprisingly this workout took me almost 2 hours!!

I had a nine bar (one of my own with no honey) as my post workout snack some quick sugar and protein from the nuts and seeds. Lunch was veganomicon caesar salad with the herby savoury crusted tofu.. recipe to come think I got it this time!

Some shopping

2009-02-05T13:54:00.005Z

I've seen posts on other blogs where people post their weekly shop, I liked that idea so I'm going to show you some shopping I just bought. This is not my weekly shop (nowhere near enough vegetables) just a midweek top up!

I went to the mini chinese market, my local wholefoods/vegan shop, green grocers and the mini supermarket, basically the shops walking distance from my house.

Chinese market goodies
2 packets of tofu, firm
1 packet of silken tofu
mock duck
red curry paste (for Mike to try)
and mysterious dried gluten stuff.. more on that later!

Grain wholefoods goodies
Soyatoo squirty cream
Frys strips
Engevita nooch
maple pecan protein ball (a little treat for Mike)

Mini supermarket
Wholemeal bread
Salad

Green grocers
Raspberries (a bargainous 69p each!!)
Red grapes
mushrooms

Now then, this wheat gluten... does anyone have any ideas what to cook with it?! I know I have to rehydrate it and flavour it somehow... It looks kinda spongey wierd hehe, the ingredients are just gluten and water...

Veganomicon Caesar Salad

2009-02-04T16:17:00.007Z

with herb crusted tofu.. no recipe for the tofu yet as it wasn't quite perfect.. this salad is sooo good!

Time for truffles?

2009-02-04T15:58:00.007Z

Chocolate Almond Truffle Balls (high protein)
This makes quite a lot but my boyfriend LOVES these and is half way through the plateful (see background.. he's already eaten quite a few though hehe) even though I only made them on Monday! He also doesn't like them very chocolatey so if you're a chocolate fiend like me I would up the cocoa to 1/2 a cup

3 cups of chopped dates
2 cups of boiling water
1/3 cup pea protein
1/3 cup cocoa powder
6 and a half cups of ground almonds (1 and a 1/2 is for dusting)

blend the dates and water in a blender, I use a smoothie maker which is not great, that's why I use boiling water it helps the dates along!

When the dates are smooth add in the pea protein and blend until combined

In a bowl mix around 3 cups of ground almonds with the cocoa powder, mix well then pour on the date mix. Mix in thoroughly and slowly add the further almonds (2 cups).. the mixture should now be hard to stir and well combined.

Pour 1 cup of ground almonds into a bowl and drop spoonfuls of the chocolate almond mix into the dry almonds, roll into a ball shape and completely cover with almonds.

I'm back!

2009-02-04T15:51:00.004Z

Well, uni work took over the past week or so, I had 5000 words and a presentation due in last Friday and it all ended up a bit last minute! But I've been baking lots to make up for not doing so whilst working!

First up, Chai Brownies, inspired by le.petit.haricot on the PPK boards, I didn't follow her recipe as I'd been wanting to make some brownies using silken tofu and prunes as I like the texture these ingredients give in brownies by themselves so why not combine them! I topped one tray with the peanut butter cream cheese topping from Joni's blog, I used almond butter though, I think if I were to make it again I would add a little sugar as it was a bit too savory for my tastes. On with the pics and the recipe!

1 cup of strongly brewed chai tea
1/2 cup of dried prunes
1 Flax egg
1 packet of silken tofu
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup WW flour
1 cup Spelt
1 and 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

First off mix the prunes and the tea in a blender, when smooth add in the tofu, flax egg and vanilla extract and mix until completely smooth.

In a large bowl sift together all the dry ingredients, stir in the wet ingredients and don't over mix!

Bake in a 9x9 pan at 175c or 350f until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20-30 mins, I used a 9x9 pan and a loaf tin but the brownies were a bit thin so I would up the time a little and use a 9x9.

Well, blogger has decided to stop letting me upload pictures, I'll be back soon with a recipe and pics of high protein almost raw truffle balls and pics of vcon caeser salad with herb crusted tofu (sooo yummy!)

9 bars

2009-01-19T20:34:00.006Z

My mum and dad always make me and my boyfriend a vegan hamper at christmas, this year some of the things we got were vegan mayo, soy parmasan, st dalfours jam (it's fruit sweetened and all natural ingredients, we got marmalade and black cherry - delish!), chocolate marzipan bars, nakd bars and 9 bars. I hadn't had the 9 bars before but they were really nice, I started buying them for myself, well today I realised they actually had honey in the ingredients list - no more 9 bars for me. But I thought, why can't I make my own? So, I set about an experiment in the kitchen, measuring as I went! I'm pretty pleased with this recipe and don't think I would change anything, it's not exactly the same but, the real 9 bars are chewier, I guess this could maybe be acheived by halving the caramel and adding some agave to the mix, anyway heres what you need for vegan 9 bars

Nut/seed mix
1/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds
1/2 cup mixed seeds (I used Tescos own brand which included pumpkin, sunflower and sesame)
1/2 cup musli mix (I used Tescos musli base without fruit but you could use a fruity one if you like) can sub more seeds or nuts

Caramel mix
1 cup light brown unrefined sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ganache topping
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup soy milk

Method
Put nut and seed mix (minus musli mix) in the oven at 220.
Whilst the nuts roast make the caramel by heating all the ingredients together, keep stirring it and watch it doesn't boil over.
Pour the nuts and seeds into the caramel, I then added a half cup of musli as it was too wet, you could just add more seeds but I kinda liked the musli in the finished product!
Leave this to set in the fridge, I put it in a silicon loaf tin.
Whilst it's cooling make the ganache by heating the soy milk to boiling and adding the chocolate chips off the heat, stir vigarously, I would have added a touch more vanilla here but I've run out :(
Leave this yummy mixture in the fridge to set for as long as you can wait!

Chocolate orange cake

2009-01-19T20:09:00.008Z

I made the Chocolate Orange Cake from Fatfreevegan last week, I made a few minor alterations like using all wholemeal flour and alpro chocolate pudding instead of soy yoghurt, I also just added orange juice instead of the water as the first time I tried to make it I felt I wanted a more orangey kick! I really wanted to experiment with a frosting for the middle, I had some silken tofu in the fridge so I tried blending it with icing sugar and cocoa powder, it was horrible and too thin even if it tasted ok!!! What could I do to rescue my tofu? I added some arrowroot and put it in a pan to heat it to help thicken it for a start, while it was heating I had a good idea, why not add some chocolate in and make a sort of ganache but frosting ganache... I did this, about a third of a big bar, a little vanilla essence, orange zest and chilling time later and it was yummy! I would even serve this by itself, but not in a big portion cause it was very rich.

I then topped the cake with a glaze made from icing sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice and yes, more zest.. I really wanted the orange kick! This cake got 9/10 from my gran who is the best cook/baker ever! Even my mum who hates both chocolate cake and icing liked it, all in all, a big success with the family - who needs eggs and dairy with all these great vegan recipes available

Mexican

2009-01-16T11:52:00.001Z

Yesterday I cooked us some Mexican food for tea, home-made chilli, guacamole, home-made tortilla chips and brown rice. I cooked the chilli in the slow cooker using 2 tins of tomatoes, 3 tins of beans, white beans, haricot beans and a three bean salad which was adzuki, canelini and flageolet. I browned off some onions in a pan, with water, I really don't like cooking with oil, I don't actually own any oil, I think you can substitute other things most of the time so I try and avoid it. I also put two bell peppers, one red, one yellow and lots of mushrooms in. To spice the chilli I went really simple, just some cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and some green tabasco sauce which is really nice. I was going to add some fresh red chilli also but I couldn't find it... still haven't found it but I'm certain I bought it cause I went out specially for it... I'll probably find it somewhere really silly.. The chilli tasted really nice but it was actually a little thin for my liking, I should have added some lentils at the beginning of cooking it and that would have thickened it up nicely whilst adding some extra protein.. not that it needed too much! I also normally add some tomato puree but I ran out making Bryanna Clark Grogans fabulous fruit sweetened ketchup yum!!

The guacamole was my favourite part of this meal, I've only had it twice before but decided to attempt making it, I looked up a basic recipe and then just kinda went off on one a did my own version... this happens a lot, I suck at following recipes, I just have to tweak! Anyway, this time it worked out! It was really hot cause when I was pouring on the jalapeno tabasco it wasn't coming out so... I shook it a bit too violently!

half a finely chopped red onion
juice of half a lime
2 cloves of garlic
1 avocado
1 big vine tomato
cayenne pepper to taste
salt and pepper to taste
green jalapeno tabasco, a generous glug
lots of fresh coriander (cilantro)

Chop the red onion and put it in a bowl, squeeze over the lime juice leave while you prepare everything else so the acidity in the lime cooks the red onion slightly. Next add your garlic, chopped tomato, chopped avocado and seasoning add a little at a time so you get the right heat for you, I say mine was hot but I'm actually a total wimp when it comes to spicy food, Mike's mild is my mega hot! Finally I left it in the fridge for a few hours before serving so all the flavours could come together, yum yum.. I also discovered how to take macro pictures on the digital camera... doesn't it look pretty!

Edit: I found the elusive little chilli... it was just in the fridge, I swear I searched it twice and got Mike to search... the phrase 'can't see for looking' comes to mind..

Fitness goals

2009-01-13T23:56:00.000Z

My short term fitness goals are;

to squat half my body weight, currently I can do a third
to do a chin-up and pull-up from fully extended
to clean and press 20kg (currently at 15)
to learn proper push-ups and do more than 10
one legged squats (without looking totally uncoordinated..)
to start doing burpees with the push-ups
to do a plank for 2.30 minutes

After I've managed that..

Squat 2/3 my body weight
2 reps of fully extended chin/pull-ups
clean and press 25kg
25 push-ups strict form
15 one legged squats each leg
to get 50 burpees under 2.30 (with good form)
to do a plank for 3 minutes

To reach these goals I'm aiming for at least two strength sessions and one conditioning session per week and I hope to achieve the first set of goals before summer.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

2009-01-12T21:25:00.000Z

I baked these last night (I'm not sure why I'm underlined...I'll get the hang of this eventually I hope..must have pressed something wierd and I don't know how to put it back!).. anyway, I baked these cookies last night and they were great! I'm now wishing I'd measured everything a bit more carefully but I'll post my rough measurements.

Dry
3/4 cup WW flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup brown sugar

Wet
about 1 cup soy milk or slightly less.. add slowly!! I added half a cup but it wasn't enough so I just added more until it was the right consistency
1tsp peppermint extract
1 flax egg

Pre-heat the oven to 175c. Make the flax egg with 1 tbsp of ground flax and 3 tbsp of warm water and set aside. Mix the wet into the dry then stir in about half a bar of plamil mint chocolate all smashed up. Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 8-10 mins

Enjoy fresh from the oven with a cup of warm chocolate oat milk!

EDIT: I have since found out chocolate oatly and also normal enriched oatly are not vegan. I assumed they were a vegan company since they specialised in non-dairy oat milk but no, they have vitamin D from sheeps wool in their products. Annoying, much. No more chocolate oatly for me :(

First Post!

2009-01-12T16:02:00.000Z

After being vegan for around 4 years I've only just discovered a love for vegan baking and I've been inspired by lots of the blogs I've seen. I live with my boyfriend, also vegan, our two guinea pigs, Gracie and Trudy and hamster called Missy, or full title Missy the ginger ninja, they called her that in the pet shop and we decided to keep it when we got her home. Gracie is the long haired piggy and the picture was taken on christmas morning with their presents, carots and a hay cookie! it doesn't take much to make those two happy. Missy is pictured testing a small piece of blueberry muffin cake which was the first thing I ever made and was made using a recipe from Fatfreevegan for berry spice muffins, at this time I did not own a muffin tin so cake it was!

That's a picture of me and Mike at Hebden Bridge a lovely scenic town in England with a very vegan friendly attitude, we stayed in a vegetarian B&B who catered for vegans and ate out with ease, we even saw a fish and chip shop which advertised vegan options in the window! Nowhere else in the UK have I seen anything like that unless the eatery was specifically vegan! I'm also going to blog about my fitness gains as well as post recipes and meal ideas. I'm intending to build strength mainly, I used to be able to do pull-ups and chin-ups and a really busy christmas, uni work and part time work schedule left my training at the bottom of my to-do list but I'm going to get back into it for the new year. I have less work commitments as the christmas rush is over so that just won't cut it as an excuse anymore!

Well I'll leave my little introduction for now next time I'll be back with food pics!