Love it when leftovers and things that need using up made a great meal.

I made a nice stew with 1 onion, some leftover potatoes, 1/2 jar leftover pasta sauce, 1/2 can baked beans, some leftover tomato puree, 1 red pepper that needed using up, sausages from a dry mix that was well past its best before date and ground almonds that were best before the end of April. Yummy and enough for some tomorrow too!

Brick Donkeys – Unspeakably Cruel 

Please sign the petition to stop abuse against brick donkeys in Nepal: http://dld.bz/c2aS2 ~Countless working equines face unspeakable abuse in Nepal's brick factories. While carrying bricks to and from the kilns, equines are overloaded, overworked and continuously beaten. Most are made to work till they drop, literally.

New vegan social network launching soon!

http://ble.at/coming-soon

Made vegan snickers bars from this recipe but substituting sweet freedom instead of maple syrup or agave syrup. http://www.damyhealth.com/2012/10/raw-homemade-snickers-bar/

Verdict: love the chocolate, but the date syrup was too sweet. Will try again and maybe use raisins instead of dates and see if thats better or perhaps I should just use agave syrup as the recipe states. Sorry no photo's.

Also note there was more filling than chocolate, so next time i'm going to double the chocolate.

Jamie Oliver's vegan recipes

I didn't realise Jamie had a vegan page, here it is. If only he would have a vegan show!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/lifestyle/vegan

Sausage Crumble!

Use up what I have to sausage crumble!

This is not really a recipe. Just use how much you think to make the amount you want to serve. This is what I did to serve 3-6! I basically made a sort of dry sausage casserole and topped it with crumble and baked it. But the amounts are totally flexible

1 onion
16 bitesize rolls of vegan sausage meat mix made up. Sorry don't know how much of this, as I made the whole packet up and will be using it over three days making different things.
Large handful of cranberries
1 apple
some sweet yellow and orange pepper. I used about half a pepper in total
1 mushroom
a sprinkle of black pepper
3 slices seeded bread
handful of oats
3 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp nutritional yeast

I made up the dry vegan sausage mix. I then rolled up 10 balls of it. Although the shape doesn't really matter as I ended up chopping them up anyway. Chop the onion. Fry the onion and sausages in rapeseed oil. Add the cranberries, a chopped apple, any other veg, I added pepper and mushroom. Adding a drop of water to make a slight sauce from the bits that stick to the pan. Put into contain/s to bake.

Crumble up the bread, rub in the margarine and then stir in the oats and nutrition yeast and black pepper to taste. Put on top of the bake and cook for about 30-40 minutes at about 190. Serve with steamed veg.

Banana and cranberry soft flapjacks

Banana and cranberry soft flapjacks

125g margarine (I used vitalite)
40g rapeseed oil
4 Tbsp Sweet freedom
240g oats
2 bananas
60g raisins
60g cranberries

Put the oven on at gas 7. Melt the margarine, add the oil. Add the bananas mashing into the oil, add the sweet freedom and fruit. Then mix in the oats. Press into a baking tray and cook for about 25-30 minutes in the pre-heated oven. Turn the tray half way through. The edges can get very crispy so I cook it on a low shelf to try to prevent this. When golden and firm, take out and leave to cool. Cut into 16 pieces and serve.

Christmas on a fork!

Sticky cranberry sausages veganised from Nigel Slater's 12 Tastes of Christmas

Recipe and video

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sticky_cranberry_64655       

I used rapeseed oil because that is what I use and white onion as I didn't have any red in. It was delicious and has Nigel described it Christmas on a fork! His recipe is designed as party food to pass round at a party and serves 10. I used 2 linda mccartney sausages chopped up, one onion and probably the same of everything else and served one, but could of split it to two! Although I loved it as is, I will buy some red onions and try this again with some sausage mix that I bought reduced that I have to use up.

Vegan Shepherd pie

Look at the presentation on this vegan shepherd pie. I usually just put the stew part on my plate then top with mash. I think I will try this when the family come over with the piped mash, its looks so good.


http://www.feastingathome.com/2012/11/shepherd-less-pie.html

http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/

A great site full of questions on how to reuse or recycle a product with suggestions and answers! You can suggest an item. From bizarre to very useful!

The frugal queen in me had to share this article on what to do with pumpkin seeds.

http://www.godairyfree.org/news/what-to-do-with-pumpkin-seeds?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GoDairyFree+%28Go+Dairy+Free%29

Interesting ethical shopping site.

http://www.gooshing.co.uk/

Recipe testers wanted

Anyone want to test any recipes for a banana themed recipe book i've wrote? Cakes, muffins, biscuits etc.

Anyone fancy testing cakes, cookies and puddings?
Flapjacks
Banana chocolate and bread pudding Banana and date pudding cake
Banana sponge cake
Banana bread and butter pudding
Fruity chocolate crumble
Banana wheat loaf
Banana nut muffins
Banana jam pudding
Banana fudge torte
Banana coconut bars
Fruity slice
Chocolate banana pudding
Apple and Banana Crumble layer
Fruit and nut mince pies
Carrot and banana cake
Almond, Orange and Coconut cake
Fat free banana cookies

Or perhaps cold puddings?
Almond glory
Banana pudding dessert
Tropical mouse
Banana split
Banana fool
Chocolate pudding
Banana Cream pie

There is more recipes, but will see how it goes with recipe testing first.

Natural fabric dies

http://anjouclothing.com/2011/06/24/dye-job-au-naturale/

Sandwiches

Following on from the sandwiches I ate last week. I did try stuffing with sage & onion slices and apple sauce today in a granary roll and it was delicious. Glad I thought to add the stuffing. I had a wholemeal and mixed seed stuffing, but any stuffing flavour would be good in a sandwich.

Fish alternatives

Fishless fishcakes and fish hitting the stores this week!
http://www.redwoodfoods.co.uk/newsletter/may.html

Sandwiches

After putting the sandwich list together I gave myself a challenge of having a different sandwich filling every day this week (m-f) with only what I had in the cupboard/fridge. This is what I had.

Peanut butter and pickled beetroot

Peanut butter and black cherry jam

Sage & onion slices with apple sauce (needs something else, perhaps stuffing!)

Sage & onion slices with mayo, picked beetroot and crispy fried onions

Peanut butter and tinned pears

I think I will have stuffing today so that I have some left over and will see if it improves the sage & onion slices with apple sauce sandwich.

The convenience way of vegan sandwich making!

In response from a local veggie cafe I put this list together, hope some of you may find it useful.

These are useful to have in to make sandwiches extra special:Roasted red peppers, vegan pesto, vegan mayo, vegan salad cream, crispy dried onions, chutney, curry powder, dried herbs, vegan horseradish, picked onions, picked red cabbage, picked beetroot, picked guerkins, sweet freedom, golden syrup, jam, yeast extract such as vegemite or natex, mustard, sun dried tomato paste, pickle, seeds, raisins, cinnamon, sundried tomatos, capers, crisps, salsa, saverkraut, apple sauce, tapendade, cranberry sauce, mixed bean salad, salt and pepper.

Redwood meat slices (ham, turkey, chicken, beef, sage & onion, bacon, garlic sausage style, pepperoni) or chorizo chucks made up in the traditional ways such as

Ham and cheese

Ham, mayo and dried onion

Ham, Dijon mustard, sweet freedom and sesame seeds

Chicken with mayo, chutney and raisins

Chicken with mayo and curry powder

Beef with horseradish and dried onion flakes

Sage and onion slices with apple sauce

Turkey with cranberry sauce

Garlic sausage style with mayo and olives

Chorizo with vegan mayo

Pizza style – sundried tomato, olives, roasted vegetables, pepperoni and optional cheese

Also seitan slices as above.

Redwoods vegideli – duck, chicken style pieces, beef, falafels, sage & marjoram ready to eat sausages, ready to eat pork style sausages.

Redwoods vegideli mushroom pate, tuna pate, beanfeast pate (11 different beans and seeds), Brussels style pate.

Redwoods also have vegan cheese cheezly in 9 flavours , Sheese also has 9 flavours and makes the tesco own brand free from cheese. So vegan cheese with all the usual combinations.

Sundried tomato paste and vegan cheese

Vegan cream cheese such as sheese (5 flavours) tesco free from range or tofutti (a few flavours)

Vegan cream cheese and strawberry jam

Cream cheese with dried fruit and sunflower seeds

Cream cheese with pickle

Yeast extract and plain vegan cream cheese

Tofutti also do vegan cheese slices in more than one flavour

8 Vegusto No-Moo range cheeses

8 vegusto sandwich slices

4 vegusto Luncheon rolls

2 vegusto pates

Nut butters/seed butters with jam, cheese, jam and cheese, coconut, beetroot, vegemite, chocolate spead, chocolate chips, sultanas, picked onions, agave, golden syrup, raisins and cinnamon etc etc

Houmous with roasted red peppers or pickled beetroot or guerkins or picked cabbage instead of just olives.

Also what about other flavoured houmous's. This is tesco's vegan list for example:

Houmous

Jalapeno and Red Pepper Houmous

Organic Houmous

Reduced Fat Houmous 300g

Chunky Houmous 200g

Tesco Reduced Fat Red Pepper Houmous

Oaktree Estate Houmous

Reduced Fat Piri Piri Houmous

Broad Bean, Asparagus & Mint Houmous

Italian Houmous

Greek Houmous

Chargrilled Vegetable Salsa 200g

Caramelised Onion Houmous

Reduced Fat Houmous

Lemon & Coriander Houmous

Sweet Chilli Houmous

Tartex or granovita Pate – mushroom, herbs, tofu, tangy tomato, Vegetarian Tofu Pate - Spicy Mexican (contains palm oil though)

Marinated tofu (such as cauldron) with vegan mayo, hummus and sundried tomatoes

Taifun have lots of flavoured tofus that you could serve with different fillings such as

Smoked tofu with sweet chilli relish/mayo and roast peppers

Other flavours are

Smoked with almonds & seseme seeds

Smoked with herbs & sunflower seeds

Tofu Roso (flavoured with olives, tomatoes and pepperoni)

Tofu Basil Tofu olive

Hazelnut chocolate spread (asda or anthony w thompson from sainsburys) with raisins or chopped nuts or both

Plamil ‘milk’ chocolate spread

Plamil Orange milk chocolate spread

Vegan mayo, walnuts and sultanas

Baba ganoush (aubergine dip) with picked beetroot or roast peppers

Green/black olive tapenade with cheese or roasted red peppers

Onion bhaji and mayo

Salsa and mixed cabbage

Avocado with roasted peppers

Also many mock meats etc in cans such as

Nutolene

Braised tofu

Mocked duck

which will make great sandwich fillings with the right accompliments.

Pancake Day

Old post with my favourite pancake recipe!

http://theveganwomble.blogspot.com/2009/03/scotch-pancakes.html#comment-form

Blog is three years old today!

Can't believe its three years since I started this blog! Should really make something and post a recipe, but too busy today. Something to celebrate coming soon...........Will take more nice photos too!!

Valentines day!

Don't really celebrate valentines day, but I did decorate the kitchen worktop with hearts and words next to the chocolate and love hearts I bought us to show how much I love my hubby!

T-shirt pom poms

I want to make t-shirt pom poms!

http://pinterest.com/pin/50595195783646673/

Moroccan spiced carrot spread

Cook carrots, add garlic and Moroccan spices. If its too thin, use as a dip or thicken with breadcrumbs. Idea came from The Heretic's guide to vegan cookery by Andy Murray. I don't want to post the recipe that inspired mine because of copyright and I don't want to post mine, as it will be in my future book to be published later in the year!

Dr Who and Toys on museum display

Photos taken in the lancaster museum last year when there was a Dr Who exhibition on.

Lovely to see all the toys from my childhood!

The reason I am just posting them is because I have only just worked out how to get the photos off my phone! That is why I keep taking photos and having photos of the day - love having a camera with me all the time! Now I know how to use it, I know it was worth me getting a phone with camera.

Photo of the day!

Tardis door! Photo taken at the Dr Who exhibition in Lancaster last year. More photos tomorrow!

My attempt at make up art!

Been painting with make up. I have some beauty without cruelty make up left over from when I used to wear make up and decided to see if I could 'paint' a canvas with it. I should of really kissed the canvas to get better lips, as these are not good and out of proportion!

Foundation base, powder and blusher added over. Eye shadows and eye liner finished with diamante eye lashes and lipstick! The lipstick didn't really want to dry, so I had to pat it a lot and then I coated it all in hairspray to set.

Savoury log cabin!

Look at this great food log cabin! Made mainly with sandwiches and pretzels. Chopped cucumber for the path, carrot for the chimney. Tomatoes for windows and doors and radishes for flowers in the garden. Make sandwiches of choice and use something like houmous to stick the pretzel roof, fence etc on with a bit on top of the carrot for smoke! How fantastic. Would definitely look good at a party for children or adults.

Apple and Prune Cake

112g plain wholemeal bread flour (or ordinary wholemeal flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1.5 tbsp sweet freedom (or golden syrup)

112g dried chopped prunes (or figs)

62ml pineapple juice (or apple juice)

62ml rapeseed vegetable oil (or sunflower oil)

1 eating apple

optional 1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Grease a 20cm round cake tin or use a silicone one like I did - no need to grease!

Heat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4 or 160C fan oven.

Sift flour into mixing bowl, returning the bran, add the baking powder and spice. Add the sweet freedom, chopped prunes, juice and oil. Grate the apple into the bowl. Beat until mixed, then put into the cake tin and spread to level. OPTIONAL: sprinkle with sunflower seeds

Bake for 30 mins. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool. Enjoy! Can also be served with soya cream.

This recipe was adapted from a apple and fig recipe and all the bracket options are the original recipe choices. I have made the original which was double this recipe in a deeper 20cm tin and baked for 1 hour. The original I thought had too much spice, but this one was just fine. I have also made the recipe lower fat by 32ml oil and an additonal 32ml or juice and it worked fine. Original was from a book called 'eat to beat the menapause', author was a Linda I believe, as I only have a page I photocopied from a library book

Photo of the day!

It was so weird getting a 72 carriage train to ourselves, I just had to take a photo!

Baked sweet potato fries

Made these today with mixed herbs, powdered garlic and powdered onion for flavour.

http://www.savoringthethyme.com/2011/12/baked-sweet-potato-fries/

Upcycling chairs

What great ways to upcycle wooden chairs

http://blog.justinablakeney.com/2012/01/multi-talented-chair.html

Hairy Bikers learn about vegetarian food!

Just caught a segment on Hairy Bikers best of British on bbc 2. They explore the history of the vegetarian society and attend the vegetarian societies cooking school and make ocean pie. If your interested why not catch it on iplayer. They also visit a Indian supper club in Manchester where one of the dishes served was lotus balls made with lotus root which look rather interesting. Must find out more! So many vegetables I have never tried. When visiting an Indian shop I hardly know what any of the vegetables are, never mind what to do with them.

Running out of time!

I have been addicted to following blogs for the last year, with an ever increasing amount of craft and cooking blogs I seem to follow. Then I discovered pininterest and my craft 'to do'/ideas list got even longer! Then last week after following one of the pins I discovered craftgawker and then today after following a food item on craftgawker I discovered there is a foodgawker too! These are part of gawkerverse which also features a wedding and dwelling gawker sites. I will be spending all my time collecting ideas and recipes that I won't have time to do any! I could easily spend all day on the computer! What with checking my emails, facebook, blogs, pininterest and gawker sites when will I get time to create craft items/sew and cook/bake or simply go for a walk. Not to mention work and the occasional tv watching. Do you ever get to the end of the day and wonder what you have done? There is no wonder that I rarely post on this blog!

Lentil pate revisited

Had lentils to use up, so out came the lentil pate recipe that I made a couple of years ago. I can't believe i've left it so long as I really like it. I did increase the lentils to 175g as this is what I had to use up and I added a couple of extra garlic gloves. It was the texture of whipped potato, firming up when cold. So I could of also added a extra slice of breadcrumbs!

http://theveganwomble.blogspot.com/2009/03/lentil-pate.html

pumpkin day!

I had a pumpkin to use today.

I had peanut butter and grated raw pumpkin sandwiches and a soup made out of roasted pumpkin, roasted sweet potato, roasted onion, roasted garlic and vegetable stock. This made a thick and creamy yummy soup!

Couldn't resist taking this picture with the silhouette of the seagull as the sun rose. The sun breaking through also looks like a bird in flight.

This wasn't taken today mind, no sun in sight with all this rain!

Well I had another base to use up as two came in the pack. So another sweet and savoury pizza.

Savoury - tomato sauce, spring onions, chickpeas, tofu, oil, ground almonds.

Sweet - bramble and liquorice jam, desicated coconut, chopped dried apricots that had been soaking in water, chopped nuts. I served this one with coconut cream.

Yum Yum!!

Savoury and sweet pizza

Inspired by the pizza on food hospital of roasted veg and chickpeas I decided to create my own. Only I didn't fancy a whole pizza, so made half of it into a dessert. I devided up the base so one half was slightly bigger than the other, as I wanted a larger savoury slice.

Savoury: I covered the base with passata and then topped with roast vegetables which had been roasted earlier (carrots, spring onions, sweet pepper). I then added a splash of balsamic vinegar and rapeseed oil and topped with a few slices of tomato. I then sprinkled ground almonds on top.

Sweet: I spread with cocoa and hazelnut spread, then topped with sliced bananas. Sprinkled over some dessicated coconut and ground almonds.

Both sides were yummy.

Busy busy

Here is a picture of my work area covered with pieces of jewellery. I've been busy upcycling belts, bracelets and necklaces into necklaces, bag charms and hanging decorations. I just love been surrounded by beads. Now need to upload the photos to sell them on my website.

Marking Occasions reopens!

7 days to the official reopening of my business Marking Occasions!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran this business for 4 years and then temporarily closed in 2007 with the intention of 'reopening shortly'. I then realised this wasn't going to happen, but kept the website name 'just in case'. It has took me 4 years to come back to it, but I am raring to go. So please like and follow me on facebook to find out what new one off handmade gifts are available and help me spread the word to anyone that might want a custom decorated keepsake box, album or guest book.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marking-Occasions/195899917145729

Also visit my site and let me know what you think.

www.markingoccasions.co.uk

Launch has been delayed due to unfortunate circumstances. I will reopen in early 2012!

Heart hanging

Well I got my new sewing machine today and wanted to do something with the leftover fabric from yesterday project. So I made a heart hanging decoration with a seaside theme! Also gave me a chance to use up a bit of spare red ribbon and a bow and bead I had leftover from a hair slide project. I didn't have any stuffing, so I improvised with some carrier bags, I mean who's going to go around squashing it anyway!

Wall Hanging storage

This is a wall storage hanger that I made for a request to go in a bathroom with a seaside theme. I now have order for a teddy bear themed one for Christmas. Its going to hang from a teddy bear coat hanger. Now need to find some teddy bear fabric - good excuse to go round the charity shops, not that I need any!

I've got eco felt and look what i've made!

Skirt and decorations made from leftover fabric!

Don't look at the size - look at the fabric!!

I bought a little girls dress (age 4
-5) from a charity shop for 50p recently. I thought the fabric was pretty and thought I might make a bag out of it. I cut it into the different components, dress with lining, bib, trim, ties, straps, and several pretty

buttons. When I cut it up however, I realised there was enough fabric to make me a dress with extra left over! First I pulled the lining up to the top. This was the basic of the dress. I added elastic to the waist and top and cut a large section out as it was far too big. Finished dress including belt!! Anyway, this was a great challenge, but unfortunately I didn't like the dress. I made a skirt out of it instead and some crafty decorations with some of the leftover fabric. I still have some leftover patterned fabric, lining, trim and buttons for future projects. Still find it hard to believe that there was enough fabric out of a 4-5 year old dress to make a size 14 dress with left over fabric!!

I am very busy and don't plan to blog again for some months and then only occasionally.

Upcycled bangles

On the theme of upcycling and what to do with items instead of putting them in the recycling bin. I decided this evening was the day for making two bangle type bracelets out of a water bottle. I took the strip with three grooved straight sections from behind the label on a empty bottle and cut them down into a single strip and a double strip.

On the double piece of plastic I attached a piece of leftover trim that I used to make a skirt long enough to where for work (no mini skirts allowed!). I still need to put a press stud on the ends to fasten, but I couldn't wait to take a picture. I started to put the press stud on the wrong way round, so decided to abandon for the night and finish tomorrow. I think I may also add a few beads to trim.

On the single piece of plastic I covered with organza ribbon that I had attached a 3 flower piece of ribbon that I had sewed on three buttons. I stuck the flower trim to the organza ribbon with double sided tabe and then sewed on the buttons and then attached the whole thing to the plastic with double sided tape. Don't know how long it will last but it was a great was to use some odds and ends up. I will also finish off with a press stud tomorrow.

Precycling jars

Well after my post about precycling of jars etc. I decided to save my jars from the last week or so and give them some hats!! Take 3 pasta sauce jars, a pickled beetroot jar, a jam jar and a peanut butter jar and make some pin cushions for the top and decorate with ribbon and pom pom trims and a large button with ribbon on one of them, stuck with sticky dots so that I can use the button if necessary. Organised buttons, ribbons, pompoms, beads, cotton reels and miscellanious crafty bits. So whatever I'm sewing with, I will always have a pin cushion handy. I think I will have to save some cans and see what I can do with them next time.

Bag

Well I thought i'd better do some precycling and upcycling on my couple of day off before going back to work. 11 days off and only had time to do some crafts yesterday and today. Well today I turned a childs coat (that I bought at a charity shop because I liked the fabric) into a bag to be used for my packed lunch or for when popping to the library for books. Not sure what i'm going to do with the leftover arms or hood yet. It isn't a clear picture. But basically the front has 2 pockets and its lined. I also used a childs belt from the charity shop for the strap.

Precycling and Upcycling

You may never have to recycle again!! Recycling is supposed to be one of the best things for the planet, but it also has its own footprint. Its takes a lot of energy to recycle, so why not precycle/upcycle.

Before you thow that jar/can in the recycling bin think about turning it into something else. A good wash, a bit of paper and crafty bits and some creativity and you can turn your recyclables into unique items for your home or presents. Such as this pin cushion or this pencil holder calender.

Decorate a jar or empty tall yogurt pop, wash and take off the label. Cover in handmade mulberry paper, some buttons or other fancy crafty bits and some ribbon and a fancy label tag and fill with epson salts and a few petals and give as a nice bath salts gift.

Making homemade jam, sauces etc is also a good use for the jars, but if you don't want to make homemade jam etc, why not pass on your jars to someone that does using freegle.

Why not decorate a biscuit or chocolate tin left over from christmas and make survival kits for presents

A friend of mine has just started a new years resolution upcycle challenge where she plans to upcycle clothes, food etc and not buy any new clothes for a year, just crafty bits to do the projects, check out her website and blog for inspiration. Or why not follow and do the same or something similar. I shall be doing more upcycling this year and we plan to get a group of us doing the same via Preston Green Centre. I will post what I do as I do it.

Enjoy precycling........

Chocolate

I usually give up chocolate for new year, but with putting an order together for Beautiful Planet, the new Preston Green shop for lots of organic and fairtrade vegan chocolate there is no way i'm giving it up! So I decided to make chocolate today, as I had cocoa butter, cocoa and agave syrup in the cupboard. It wasn't perfect, but ok and could be played with if I want the expence again, as it certainly wasn't cheap to make!!

Aduki bean burgers

I decided to cook all the beans that had gone out of date and make some burgers. Taking inspiration from a recipe I had saved from asda magazine. In the kids cooking section there was a bean burger recipe using canned adzuki beans and there was no onion chopping, as bonus when your in a hurry.

I didn't have all the ingredients such as onion chutney, but I substitued mango chutney and it worked superbly. No real weighing here, but this is what I used.

Cooked aduki beans, probably about the equivilent of just about a can full!
2 sun dried tomatoes from a jar, drained and chopped.
Mixed dry herbs
2-3 slices of bread, broken up into crumbs by hand
1 tsp of oil fromt he sun dried tomatoes jar
1 tbsp mango chutney

Mashed together and shaped into 6 burgers. Brushed with oil and baked for about 15 mins.

Yum

Its funny how the burgers that don't follow an exact recipe seem to turn out better than the ones that I follow a exact recipe!

Made these today for halloween using the purple potatoes they sell in Sainsburys. I used raisins instead of chocolate chips though. They were scary looking, but very light and yummy.

Creamy Parsnip and Chickpea Soup

Made a big batch of this lovely soup with lots to freeze. Although the original recipe said to serve 4, this adapted one, certainly serves more, especially if you add the soya milk.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 large cloves garlic, sliced
2-3 large parsnips, washed and chopped
3 medium potatoes, washed and chopped
1 can chickpeas including water (this is why there is no salt listed to season)
900ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp lemon juice
black pepper to season
soya milk - up to 600ml (optional)

Heat oil, stir in onion and garlic. Cook gently for 8 minutes. Add chopped parsnips and potatoes and stir. Then add can of chickpeas including water. Add stock and lemon juice. Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are softened.
Puree soup in a food processor. Serve as is or add soya milk to make creamier. If you are freezing portions, freeze before adding soya milk, so that it takes up less freezer space and add soya milk when you are warming the soup to serve.

Adapted from a parsnip and butterbean soup recipe in Linda's winter kitchen by Linda McCartney.

Nut roast

The old question of what to have for dinner. The vegetables was already prepared this morning, it was what to cook with it and that would be made and cooked in the 20 minutes it takes for the vegetables to steam. Well I looked in the fridge and bread bin to see what needed using up. Several slices of different breads and a breadroll, a few cashews, a few brazil nuts, a few sliced almonds and a few mixed salted nuts and half a tin of beans. So I made a microwaved steamed nut roast. I have never used a microwave to cook a nut roast, it only usually gets used for a rare sponge pudding and to warm wheatie bags!

I chopped and cooked an onion in the microwave for a couple of minutes with a bit of water. I had no idea if this would work, but it did. Whilst this was cooking I whizzed the bread into breadcrumbs. I then mixed these in a bowl with the onions/water and a teaspoon of yeast extract and a teaspoon of mixed herbs. I then whizzed up all the nuts and added these and then the leftover baked beans. Cooked for 7 minutes and served with the steamed potatoes and veg and instant gravy. A quick meal, that was enjoyable and has made some room in my fridge!

Although not the best nut roast I had, it was quick tasty and could easily be made into a tasty regular meal with a bit of tweaking.

Banana and Fig Loaf

Made cake and its was delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would say it did raise this time and was more cake like then pudding, don't know why, same ingredients, different oven!

Burgers into cottagey pie!

Well its no food waste week..........

I made mini oat burgers and when the recipe said 2 tsp of yeast extract I was too generous and they had a very strong yeast extract taste. This was a shame as the burgers formed perfectly and didn't fall apart when fried. But I don't like the taste of yeast extract, I use it because its full of B vitamins and a ingredient in many recipes and you usually cannot taste it in the final product. Anyhow, I had only fried 3 to try and had lots left and as I don't like to waste food, so I broke them up, added some baked beans and lots of chopped cherry tomatoes and topped with some leftover mash which was potato/sweet potato, carrot and parsnip. This made a lovely cottagey style pie for 4. Well it was yummy. So none of them got wasted and I made a lovely meal. So now I will have to invent a cottagey pie recipe based on what I did and post it at a later date with pictures.

Dips into sandwich spreads

If you see a dip recipe that you might fancy as a spread don't be scared of thickening it with breadcrumbs or beans to make it into a spread or add less liquid then the recipe says instead and it might work.

I made a Pea and mint dip into a spread last week. I don't have the recipe I based it on know as it was out of a library book, but basically as far as I remember it was pouring boiling water over frozen garden peas in a colander and then whizzing them with mint and water. I then added some breadcrumbs to thicken and left in the fridge to firm up. Odd, but tasty!

Garlic mushroom stuffed bubble and squeak

Was going to make garlic mushroom stuffed bubble and squeak, but forgot to cook the cabbage! So I am making a note of it here for a later date to try, as the idea has come from a library book!

Cooked potatoes/sweet potatoes/parsnip/carrots, mashed
Cabbage shredded and cooked
Vegan margarine
seasoning
Oil
Mushrooms, chopped finely
garlic, crushed
breadcrumbs
sesame seeds or chopped mixed nuts
1 tbsp soya flour mixed with 2 tbsp water

Oven 190/375/Gas 5
Mix veg with marg and season.
Fry mushrooms and garlic in oil
Make a burger shape with the mash and put a tsp of mushrooms in the centre and cover with more mash.
Chill
Mix breadcrumbs and seeds/nuts in a shallow dish. Dip each patty in the soya paste and then roll to coat in the breadcrumbs.
Bake for 35-40 mins, until golden, turning once.

This recipe idea is from simply good food by the vegetarian society. Although I won't be using the exact same quantities or mash mixture, the idea sounds good and a bit more interesting than a bubble and squeak and we often have mushrooms that are only good enough to cook. I hope to try it when I next have left over mushrooms even if its means cooking from scratch, rather than using leftovers.

Apple and almond coleslaw

I made a simple coleslaw with the following ingredients. The almonds, dried fruit or salad cream were not measured.

1 apple, chopped or grated
50g cabbage, finely shredded
flaked almonds
Raisins, sultanas and currents
Mix with lots of vegan salad cream until the right consistency!

Eat and enjoy. This was still good after 3 days.

Sun-dried tomato, chickpea and basil spread

This is what I used, feel free to play with amounts, use different beans or perhaps add garlic.

lemon juice (I used a squirt of bottled juice, but about 1/2 a fresh lemon I think)
2 tbsp tomato puree
14 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped up
2 tbsp flaked almonds (ground almonds would be better)
12 basil leaves
1 can chickpeas
ground flax seed (started off with about 1 tbsp and add more to thicken if necessary)
black pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to the food processor and whiz until desired consistancy, adjusting quantities as required. This does make quite a bit, so if its only for one person, reduce quanties to perhaps half and make a chickpea salad or something with the other chickpeas.

Cheap Family Recipes The new planner has just been launched, so go check it out! It has 1 piece of fresh fruit daily, plus is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans - AMAZING and still under £100/month!

Carrot Soup

1 onion chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 tbsp oil

675g carrots, chopped

1/2 tsp ground ginger

black pepper

900ml/1 1/2 pints vegetable stock

1 tbsp chopped parsley to garnish

Chopped cherry tomatos to serve

Fry onion and garlic in a covered pan without browning. Add the carrots and ginger. Cover and lightly fry for a further 10 mins, stirring occasionally.

Add stock, bring to boil and immer for 15 mins. Puree, heat and serve with parsley and cherry tomatoes. Serves 3

This recipe has been taken from Simply Good Food by Lyn Weller. A vegetarian society publication that I have just got on loan from the library. Quite vegan friendly and a few recipes to try.

Italian Pate

This is the sandwich spread I made this week. Please note depending on how well you manage to drain the tofu and how watery the tomatoes are, you may have to pour off some liquid the next day.

approx 200g tofu
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
6 black olives
2 tomatoes, chopped
12 basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp mustard powder
dash black pepper
1 slice of bread broken up
1 tbsp tomato puree

Drain the tofu. Put all ingredients in a food processer and process until smooth. Taste and add extra black pepper if required. If the spread is too sloppy, add another slice of bread too firm up. Chill and garnish with basil leaves (optional). Keeps for about 4 days.
Adapted from a recipe in Simply good food by Lyn Weller

Sponge Pudding

I have probably linked to this recipe before, but just wanted to say how versitile it is.

Microwaved steamed sponge pudding

I am not a fan of microwaves and only bought one to warm wheat bags for when we have bad backs. But I just can't resist this recipe if I fancy a cakey type pudding as its so quick. I guess you could do it in a steamer, but I wouldn't have the patients to do it and see how long it cooks. Who knows, it may take up to 3 hours!

You can vary the jam filling, the original has golden syrup, but I have tried it with many different fruit spreads and I always add more so that each person gets a good dollop! I think i've done it with apple pieces also and apple sauce. It serves 2-3 (possibly 4) depending on how greedy you are!

I have made this many times and each time make it different and it seems to work. I have made it with less oil and more water and less sugar. I have also replaced some of the flour with ground almonds, added almond essence and sprinkled flaked almonds on top for a bakewell tart type of pudding. I have also used a mixture of wholemeal flour and gluten free flour. Next time plan to try all gluten free to see if it works. Basically don't be afraid to experiment. It may not turn out perfect, but it will probably be edible. If in doubt reduce the recipe to save money incase it goes wrong.

Sorry

Doesn't time fly, so sorry to of abandanded the blog this last week. I have had a very busy week, which included stock taking at work, in a haberdashery department that means counting thousands of buttons, ribbons and trims to name a few things!
Well last Sunday I made another vegan sandwich spread, will post about that separately. Then I went to the first meeting of the Preston Vegan society, which was a great success with about 14 people turning up. On Wednesday I was at the hospital all day with my dad. I only managed a couple of recipes this week and will post them later. I also opened a facebook account. I can't believe I did it, after refusing for so many years. I have now met all these lovely vegan friends and want to keep in touch with the group and this is where the discussions take place, so I caved in and did it. So one more thing to follow and update as well and my blog and all the blogs and forums I follow which I now have to catch up on too! Busy week next week too as my dad goes in hospital Monday until Wednesday so a heads up to let you know I will not be posting much next week.

Free Recipes from a new Vegan Dessert Cookbook

There is a new cookbook soon to be released called 'Are you sure thats vegan?' At the moment there is a offer to download 5 free recipes from the forthcoming book. This is a for a limited time, until the print version is ready (there is currently a PDF downloadable book). They have given me a chance to download 5 more if I refer my friends. So please follow this link to download the recipes!

http://www.areyousurethatsvegan.com/?ref=kDF6Ds2K5QcOAoak

Thanks and for more info visit: http://www.areyousurethatsvegan.com/

Red veg soup

Roast chopped red pepper, garlic and red onion with oil, a sprinkle of brown sugar and chilli powder. Add stock and canned tomatoes. Put in food processer to make smoother. Warm through to serve.

I used 1 red pepper, 1 red onion, and 2 garlic cloves and just 250ml veg stock.

You can of course roast fresh tomatoes and use those instead of canned. I roasted the veg and then later made the soup, so it doesn't need to be all done at once.

Tofu and veg flan

Made a crust out of ground almonds, sesame seeds, breadcrumbs, mixed herbs, paprika, oil and tomato ketchup.

Filled it with roasted onions, roasted peppers, roasted sweet potato and grated raw carrots.

Topped it with a mixture of silken tofu, herbs, soya milk, cider vinegar, which I had blended together.

I ate it cold with salad.

Butterbean sandwich filling

This weeks sunday sandwich spread was based on a tin of butterbeans mixed with garlic, mint, black pepper and lemon. Similar to hummus but with a minty taste.

Tomato savoury pate

I have decided to have make a different sandwich filling every Sunday for the weeks sandwiches and this is the one I made last week. Sorry not an exact recipe, but these are the ingredients I used and it was lovely and it will give you inspiration to experiment.

olive oil
nutritional brewers yeast
tomato paste
red onion
dried mixed herbs
stock cube
garlic powder
soy milk
chickpeas

Another bag out of a pair of jeans

I've made another bag from a pair of jeans . Couldn't resist buying these embroidered kids jeans from the charity shop. As the decorative colours are orange and pink, the colours I seem to live in, it was ideal. They are easy to make. Chop the legs off, leaving a pair of shorts. Unpick the seams to about half way up and then lay fabric opening flat over each other and resew seams. You now have a mini skirt. Turn inside out and sew it into a bag. Make handles out of one of the legs. Make a lining and sew inside by hand. For detailed instructions search the web or you tube for tutorials.