Vegan MoFo: Chocolate Avocado Cake.

Well I had some avocados getting mushier and mushier by the day, and wondered whether they would make a good egg replacement- kind of like mushy bananas. So I did some good old googling and found a few recipes which raved about avocado goodness with cake. I figured that chocolate cake would probably be the best move, just to be sure that the cake had no hint of avocado! This lovely site gave me the perfect recipe: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/ they also have some great vegan recipes, and plenty of beautiful veganizable ones too. The photography is so lovely. I have adapted the recipe, adding and omitting things that I didn't have and things that I love to add to chocolate cake recipes.

3 cups plain flour
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups golden caster sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1 medium avocado
2 cups water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Handful of ground almonds

Plenty of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180c. Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar. Set that aside too. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the super mashed avocado.
Add sugar into the wet mix and stir. Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat with a whisk (by hand) until smooth. Pour batter into a greased cake tins. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting the cake. The recipe I began with used avocado icing- no butter!- but I decided on some vanilla buttercream, with just a smidge to glue the two cakes together. The chocolate cake is really moist and I wanted that to shine through. Ideally I would like to make some cream cheese buttercream frosting! I finished the cake with a dusting of icing sugar.

Vegan MoFo: Best Burritos in Town!

More burrito cravings occured today, and as we were at London Bridge we took a detour and stopped off at Tortilla! We asked if they could make us a vegan burrito, and without hesitation the kind gentleman explained that we could have everything except for the meat, cheese and soured cream. We had a HUGE burrito filled with tomato rice (or a choice of lemon and coriander), two choices of beans, guacamole, salad and salsa verde (or a choice of mild salsa and HOT salsa. Salsa verde is medium heat).

I was a stupid head and didn't bring my camera, but they were delicious and packed full to the brim and super satisfying! You can choose exactly what goes into them, how spicy you would like your salsa, and you can buy bottles of various spicy sauces. Two large burritos, an extra pot of habanera sauce, a bottle of corona and a bottle of water came to 15 pounds.

They also offer fajitas, naked burritos (oh my) and tortilla baskets.

I pretty much looked like this afterwards:

And here's a kitty!!

http://www.tortilla.co.uk/

Vegan MoFo: Tasty Treats!

Without getting ahead of myself, I think my mouth might be getting a little better...!
I've halved the amount of painkillers I'm taking, and had my first coffee in what feels like a month!
Must be all the positive thinking, mushy food and all the lovely comments people have been leaving for me here, and on twitter.

Today I even managed to eat...

Gingerbread Waffles!! Yummm. I used the recipe from Vegan Brunch It's the best <3

I drowned them in maple syrup and chopped up some fresh strawberries (still UK!).
And for a midnight snack while I watched Question Time on iplayer:

Using a pizza cutter I divided up some wraps which had been lolling around in my kitchen cupboards since last weekend, into 8 triangles. I brushed both sides with a light coating of oil and popped them in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up. Let them go a golden brown, and they'll finish crisping as they cool down. I tossed them in a bowl with sea salt, before serving them with some sweet chilli dipping sauce.

I'm still going to stick to my routine of resting and runny-food, but dream that by the weekend I can go to Borough Market and buy a nice loaf of crunchy bread and some olives and maybe even have some wine (!!!)

Vegan MoFo: Mushy Food.

So here are the delights that I've been whipping up today, to sooth my weary mouth:

I used the ingredients for Omelette, in Vegan Brunch, but added some roasted veggies from last nights dinner, and turned it into a kind of omelette scramble. I chopped some tomatoes and had a slice of buttered wholemeal bread with it, and served it on my favourite plate to cheer me up.

You can't see because of the food, but it has lots of drawings of cakes and biscuits and Minnie Mouse on it!

For dessert, some stewed apples with cinnamon, on a bed of porridge and a swirl of maple syrup. Beige food, yes! Hopefully my mouth will thank me for this brown bonanza, as I'm off to work soon!

Vegan MoFo: Food For Friends.

So since Thursday I've pretty much just been napping, eating mushy food, watching a lot of iplayer programmes and taking lots of painkillers! I had two teeth removed, right in the middle of Vegan MoFo, how inconvenient! I've eaten soup. Tomato soup. Minestrone soup. Tomato soup some more. Risotto. Do you see a pattern emerging here? When I gave up and ate 'proper' food (chinese takeaway, I love thee!) it hurt like billio afterwards, and was only just worth it.

On Saturday the sedative was out of my system which meant a) I was no longer completely exhausted all of the time, hurrah! But did mean that b) I was in a lot of pain. I wanted to get out of the house and enjoy my time off work though, so we headed down to Brighton, where my flatmate came down as well to join us for some lunchies. I planned on being good. Some nutritious soup from Infinity maybe. Or a nice salad maybe. But then all the goodness of Brighton tempted us, and we settled for Food For Friends. I haven't been here for so long; it was my favourite restaurant in Brighton, before I tried Terre a Terre. I spent many happy birthdays there!

This time I was slightly disappointed though. Maybe it's because I've broadened my restaurant visits, and tried some truly amazing food along the way. But something was just missing with the meal. As a shared starter we had Three Tahini Dips, and Roasted Seeds, Nuts and Olives. The dips looked interesting enough, but there was no substance beneath the vibrant colours and swirl of olive oil. The houmous was good, but a little too runny for my liking. It just lacked the punch that a small dip should- I wanted intense flavours, and interesting ingredients. The olives are sundried tomatoes were good enough, as were the roasted seeds and cashews.

For main I tried to stick to my mouth-induced diet, and ordered sausages and mash. It was warm and comforting, and definitely some goodness for my mouth. The handmade sausages had a lovely flavour, were spiced delicately, and lay in a bed of mash. Tucked in between was a layer of wilted spinach, and the meal was dressed with a beautiful onion and red wine gravy. No root vegetable crisps as the menu advertised, but maybe that was for the best. Nothing overly inspiring with this meal but it was tasty and hearty and good.

Mr T ordered Paprika Mushrooms with Polenta. This looked fabulous; really well presented, the colours were vivid and alive, and each part of the meal had been assembled and inspired. I am NOT a fan of mushrooms, but these were brilliant. The texture and smoky flavour gave them the appearance of some kind of soya meat, but they were light and rubbery (that might not sound positive, but it is!). It came with yellow and green courgettes, beautiful polenta pieces and an interesting carrot and mint mash. The flavours were present and correct, I'm just not sure that it worked, or that I could have eaten quite as much as was dished up.

And for dessert! This really is fantastic: Chocolate Truffle Torte. It has a snappy hazelnut biscuit base, the torte is smooth, creamy and not-too-dark, and the bright summer berries sweeten the dish, bringing it to a light, delicious finish. Brilliant.

With the shared appetizers, a main meal and dessert each (x3), a glass of wine, a non alcoholic cocktail and an orange juice, the meal came to 70 pounds (not including tip).

http://www.foodforfriends.com/

Vegan MoFo: Smashed Chickpeas and Banana Bread.

I've been dreaming of this recipe for a few days now, after being inspired by The Larder Lout's entry, which included a nice slab of dead animal. Not for me, plus chickpeas are the greatest food invention this side of soya beans, so I stuck with using them as my main meal!


Smashed Chickpeas.
Makes enough for two light meals, with salad and bread.

1 tin of chickpeas
1 chilli
1 lemon
Parsley
Garlic
Salt&Pepper

I used one Scotch Bonnet Chilli:

They're super cute and have a great flavour, but they're pretty spicy! I used one whole chilli, so if you're not into spicy food I'd say use half.
Rinse the chickpeas and boil in a pan of water for 5 minutes.
Chop the garlic and fry lightly with the sliced chilli.
Drain the chickpeas and add to the garlic&chilli pan, throw in some chopped fresh parsley and squeeze the lemon. Mash together using a potato masher. Season well, and drizzle with olive oil so that it becomes slightly smoother. Dish up and sprinkle with a little paprika. I served it with spinach leaves and ciabatta for lunch. For dinner I would like to make some roasted veggies, or maybe make some fresh sauce like a bright mint pea sauce, or something creamy.

For dessert; banana bread! I love this recipe, it's not quite bread and it's not quite cake. It's not too sweet but it's comforting and delicious, and easy to make. Can you tell I'm preparing for winter with all these recipes? I'm like a squirrel gathering nuts.



Banana Bread.
Makes one large loaf. Serves 6-8.

125g butter
175g light brown sugar
2 eggs
280g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
125ml milk
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
Vanilla
Cinnamon

1. Blend the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs (I used powdered egg replacement) and half the flour. Combine well, adding the bicarbonate of soda and salt. Pour in the milk and add the rest of the flour.
2. Mash the bananas well and add to the mixture, followed by the vanilla and cinnamon.
3. Bake at 180c for at least an hour. Mine took around an hour and ten minutes, but I baked it in a giant cupcake tin and not a bread loaf tin, which might explain why it took longer! I also had to cover with foil as the top was browning quickly.
4. Leave to cool in the tin for at least twenty minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve with a big mug of your favourite hot drink, whilst watching an amazingly cheesy movie (I suggest Waitress, which is also about baking, and troubled marriages).

www.thelarderlout.blogspot.com

Vegan MoFo: It's Winter!

The best kind of meals...

... are the meals that are cooked for you! I came home to the first roast of winter; and many more will follow! This roast includes the roast beef which you can find in Holland and Barratt (plus other health food stores), the best roast potatoes I've ever had (thank you rosemary and garlic), mashed swede, broccoli, stuffing and home made GRAVY! For pud was cherry crumble with ice cream. Washed down with glasses of lovely Rioja and some margaritas! Brilliant.

Vegan MoFo: Selfridges and InSpiral.

I am STUFFED! So full of good food! The last 24 hours have literally been a food fest, and my tummy is very happy, if not bursting a little! Last night my boyfriend had another one of his desperate Mexican cravings (he gets these a lot, particularly after we visited Dolores in Berlin, which hosts the best burritos in the WORLD!) so we decided on fajitas, which are totally one of the best, and easiest, foods to make for dinner. I sliced some peppers and onion and fried them slowly with Cauldron's marinated tofu, and the seasoning cap of a Discovery fajita sauce jar. Cheating? Yes. Delicious? YES!
Then we poured in the sauce and let it simmer, whilst shredding some crispy iceberg lettuce and onion. We wrapped it up (get it? do you SEE?) with some guacamole, yum!

For lunch I wanted to use up the rest of the bacon from a previous BLT blog, so we had BLT wraps with houmous, and some amazing jalapeno tortilla chips. I tried to eat light because we were going out for dinner, but this didn't work and I polished off nearly the entire bag of crisps. WOOPS.

Dinner was booked for the amazing and wonderful Bustaurant that is Routemaster, just off Brick Lane. But NO they were fully booked (yes the food is that good) so we headed off to town to do some shopping and decide on dinner later. I went to Selfridges for the first time, tried on some beautiful Vivienne Westwood perfume, and visited the foodhall. Oh my! It was like a dream. American Oreos!! Are the double stuffed ones vegan? I wasn't sure, but please say that they are, I want to purchase them!! The selection of vegan food was very impressive; yes there are stacks of cheese and meat and fish and things I don't even want to think about- but their houmous, oh the houmous! Basil houmous, spinach houmous, houmous houmous...! Falafel, olives, pastry things, nutty things, parcel things! Turkish delight! I could have gladly spent a weeks wages in the foodhall, and one day we shall return and have a selection of these goodies!

So for dinner I FINALLY got to try InSpiral Lounge in Camden! I have been dreaming of this place for what feels like years! We got there fairly late for dinner, and on a Saturday night it was quite busy. It's a bar with a DJ and some people were eating, some were drinking, and some were tripping. It had a pretty nice relaxed atmosphere, and reminded me a lot of my Brighton friends, which made me miss them- and Brighton- even more. The staff were approachable and friendly, and you didn't feel like you were their 700th customer. They took the time to make sure your meal was what you want, and filling.
They offer six options of main meal, which come with 2 side orders and a pot of houmous of vegan mayo. You can add bread, olives and extra salad for extra pennies. I chose a green thai curry, with quinoa and wedges, and a pot of houmous. My boyfriend had vegan lasagne with salad and wedges, and an extra bowl of olives. With a can of organic cola the meal came to around 15 pounds. Fairly pricey but we got quite a lot. The only downside was that his meal (and the 5 other options) were kept in a heated cabinet, which meant his lasagne was luke warm, not piping hot like my curry, which was kept in heated trays with the wedges and other side orders. The olives were fantastic. For dessert we had to try the ice cream, and had a scoop of the strawberry with strawberry pieces, and the butterscotch. It was smooth and creamy and so good! We also bought a chocolate chip cookie, and a black forest cookie, which had cherries and white chocolate pieces. You can see why we're stuffed! The desserts came to around 7.50.

The also offer cocktails, juices and other soft drinks, chilled desserts, wonderful looking truffles, muffins... They all appear to be vegan, so all in all what a great place! I would like to return during the day when it's a bit quieter and more relaxed, to enjoy a coffee, sit outside and watch the water run past you.

http://www.dolores-online.de/1000.html
http://www.selfridges.com/index.cfm?page=1158
http://www.inspiralled.net/

Vegan Mofo: Eating Out.

I'm not burning out just yet- it may be Day 8 for the dedicated Vegan Mofo participants, but for me it's around Day 3!- but at the moment I'm working evenings and have little time during the day so I'm finding it tricky to make exciting recipes! I'm so jealous when I see all the wonderful photographs of beautiful and inspirational vegan food!

I do have time to write things though, and so I think as the month continues I will include more article-based blogs.

I've been considering the pros and cons of eating out for a while; is it better to eat at a dedicated vegetarian/ vegan restaurant, or to dine at a meat serving restaurant? I'm not suggesting that we turn up to Big Bill's Carvery and demand there to be a vegan option- but is mingling with meaties really making us more 'approachable'?

The Vegan Society have been working hard with Pizza Express to get a vegan pizza listed on the menu, for all to see. Vegan's in the know simply order a pizza from the menu and ask for the cheese to be removed (I suggest Campo di Fiori, with extra jalapenos). Maybe the option would appeal to dieters, those with allergies, and those whose stomachs turn at the smell of cheese.

I certainly enjoy my pizzas, and pasta at Italian restaurants, curries at my local takeaway, my bean curd in yellow bean sauce and extra cashews, with lightly spiced Singapore rice noodles. I also enjoy trying out all of the choices that are around for vegans in all the cities that I've been lucky enough to travel to. I love having a choice, a range of extensive dishes, and a choice of desserts! Hands up who orders a fruit salad whilst dining at a veggie restaurant with doughnuts and sticky toffee pudding on the menu!

I do admit, though, that I love the feeling of normality which comes with sitting alongside friends and family, ordering off the same menu, with no awkward 'what's vegan' conversations. I embrace restaurants who submit an online menu telling me exactly what's suitable, and reject those who ignore curious emails or reply with 'we can't confirm'. You have a kitchen, with chefs (trained, I presume) and you don't know what goes into the food that you serve? OK then.

I'm not saying that eating at veggie restaurants offers a smooth dining experience; I've been served what can only be described as a steaming plate of cheese before, and have asked if certain options are vegan (such as onion rings) and being replied with a helpful shrug and feeble, "yeah?". Thanks, thanks for that.

I think one of the best things about dining in vegan restaurants is the wine list. Knowledgeable V's next to certain bottles is reassuring. Yes, I am one of those vegans who blindingly orders wine. If I know that it's not vegan, then I won't order it (so, Hardy's, Jacobs Creek etc are off the list) but if I don't know, then I'll go ahead.

There's also the issue of where your money is going, and what you're supporting by spending your money in omnivorous restaurants. Is it better to spend your money supporting those who believe the same things as you, and are actively aware in where their food comes from (as well as all the other wonderful issues which many vegans and their cafes seem to be aware of; ethically sourced, fairtrade, organic ingredients) and where their money (and your money) is being spent. There's literally nothing nicer than spending time and money in an environment which is ethically sound and which dishes up wonderful food. Two places which come to mind are the Pogo Cafe (Hackney, London) and Infinity Foods Cafe (Brighton)- both have fed me some of the most memorable meals I've eaten, and where I've spent a relaxing few hours.

So which do you prefer; relaxing in the knowledge of a meat free (if not egg, milk and cheese free) kitchen, or the satisfaction of fitting in amongst other food choices? For me, as long as the kitchen dishes me up something delicious then I'm happy, but nothing beats the surprise and joy of discovering a new vegan eatery, or tucking into a dessert that I haven't baked myself!

Vegan Mofo: BLT.

So I'm still way behind everyone else in the Vegan Mofo league, but today's lunch was pretty tasty. After reading a blog by Quarry Girl announcing a celebration in the form of Sandwich Day, and from not having any meat replacement for a while, I was craving a BLT! I bought all the good stuff and stuffed my face!


It goes: baguette, ketchup, bacon (little extra salt), lettuce, big beefy tomato slices, lettuce, bacon (little extra salt), salt, mayonnaise, baguette. Yum!

It's been a while!

Finally!! Internet connection!! As sad as that sounds, I have been sans internet at home for over a month, and I've missed blogging so much! Thanks to having the net on my phone, I haven't been completely cut off from the vegan world, but I'm super happy to be back! And to get on with giving some kind of contribution to Vegan Mofo!

To start off I'm going to give an update on the food highlights that I've been enjoying over the last month!

Vegan croissants! All the way from sunny Spain. My lovely flatmate's mother brings them over for me from Barcelona, and they are wholemealy goodness in a little flaky parcel! Amazing.


A quick lunch of chickpeas, tomatoes, chilli oil dished up with salad, plenty of olives, slices of pitta and dollops of houmous!

These are all the goodies which I picked up at the London Vegan Festival! It was a super fun day, and I spent way too much as usual!

And here's my little munchkin enjoying one of his presents!

My new favourite breakfast; WAFFLES! I received the awesome gift of a waffle machine for my birthday! Put that together with the amazing recipes in Vegan Brunch, I have been enjoying gingerbread waffles a lot lately!

And here are my birthday cupcakes; all of the cupcakes have a banana cupcake, and topped with vanilla buttercream, finished with a variety of sprinkles, fruit, popcorn and other sweet treats! They went down well!

Well that's my update for today; fairly random and unspecific but I haven't blogged for a month and needed to catch up with everything! Hope everyone has been eating delicious foods!x