Veganuary: A Weekend Weakend Resolve

Vegan smoky mushroom burger

My resolve weakened at the weekend. Don’t panic, not my Veganuary pledge – not eating cheese is a breeze. No, it was my ‘I’m not going to drink alcohol in January until the 30th when I go on a pub crawl’ resolve. But I fancied a drink on Saturday, so I had one. One bottle of wine, that is. Well, make that a bottle and a half. I should also probably confess that, according to Barnivore, it wasn’t even vegan wine (Hardys, if you’re interested) but as I don’t take too much notice of whether wine is vegetarian or not at the best of times (and certainly not if I’m drinking it in a pub), I’m not going to feel too guilty about that and, in my defence, it was a bottle I’d bought before Veganuary, anyway (although that doesn’t defend it’s non-vegetarianness).

Veganuary Day 16

Saturday’s breakfast had been a superfood smoothie containing spinach, apple, clementine, raspberry, wheat grass powder, acai powder and chia seeds. I said in Friday’s post that wheat grass is great for an energy boost and it certainly powered me through Saturday morning’s spin class.

warburtons-giant-crumpets-vegan

After burning all those calories at the gym, I ate them back at lunchtime in the form of a Warburtons Giant Crumpet with Vitalite, and a mug of hot chocolate.

Vegan smoky mushroom burger
Vegan smoky mushroom burger

I’ve made a few burgers from Veggie Burgers Every Which Way before, such as:

and although I’ve enjoyed them all, making burgers can be a bit of a time-consuming faff, as well as creating a lot of washing up. These vegan smoky mushroom burgers from Vegan – 100 Everyday Recipes, while not whipped up in an instant, aren’t too much of a chore and the results are worth it. I made the whole amount, cooked enough for two burgers, then froze the rest of the mixture to use another time.

The way I made these burgers is pretty much as it is in the book but I added garlic as cooking onion without garlic seemed wrong. I also left out the 30g coriander the original recipe has as I’m not keen on coriander.

5.0 from 1 reviews
Vegan smoky mushroom burgers
 
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Adapted from a recipe in Vegan - 100 Everyday Recipes
Author:
Recipe type: Burgers
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 425g can red kidney beans, drained
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 115g mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, coarsely grated
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 70g porridge oats
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • plain flour
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Place the kidney beans in a bowl and mash thoroughly with a potato masher.
  2. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the mushroom, carrot and paprika and fry for a further 4 minutes.
  4. Add the vegetables to the beans with the oats, soy sauce and tomato puree. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
  5. Divide into 6 portions and shape into burgers, then lightly coat in the flour.
  6. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and cook the burgers for a few minutes each side, until lightly browned.

 

Veganuary Day 17

I didn’t have any breakfast on Sunday and for lunch I had some of the cake my friend had sent me (which you can see on last Thursday’s post) and a mug of hot chocolate. Not the most healthiest of lunches but hey ho.

Dinner was a jacket potato with chilli, Violife and sour cream. Again. That’s the third time this month I’ve had it so I’ll spare you looking at the photo of it for the third time.

As I write this (on the 18th), there’s two weeks left of Veganuary. I still don’t feel any different. Maybe I should get a tattoo or a t-shirt or something (just kidding).

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Veganuary: Two Weeks In

Caffe Nero vegan hot chocolate and wrap

Two weeks of no dairy or eggs. Two weeks of no alcohol. Two weeks of exercising every day. And have I lost weight? NO, NOT A FUCKING OUNCE. Surely my diet hasn’t been that bad? Okay, so I’ve had a few Oreos over the last couple of weeks and a mug of hot chocolate every day but what about the four thousand calories I haven’t drunk in wine and the four thousand calories I’ve burnt off at the gym, huh? DON’T THEY COUNT FOR ANYTHING?

Oh well, maybe this is my body’s way of telling me I’m perfect as I am and don’t need to lose any weight.

I’ll just keep telling myself that.

Veganuary Day 15

Anyway, back to my Veganuary food diary. Yesterday I had wheat grass for the first time. Have you tried it? If you have, you feel my pain. If not, I can tell you it’s not quite as bad as spirulina and doesn’t taste as grim as it smells but the taste lingers afterwards and is as difficult to get rid of as LinkedIn notifications. If you can get over the taste though, it does give an instant energy boost.

On Thursday, I told you I’d planned to go to Caffè Nero and get a hot chocolate with soya milk and hopefully one of their vegan houmous and falafel wraps. My luck was in – there was a houmous and falafel wrap left, I didn’t get a funny look when I asked for hot chocolate with soya milk and there was even an empty table in the corner in which I could go and hide and read my Kindle. Result.

Caffe Nero vegan hot chocolate and wrap
Caffè Nero vegan hot chocolate and wrap

After last week’s success in making tofush to go with my chips from the chippy, I made it again last night. For some reason, the nori didn’t want to stay on the tofu this time and fell off while I was dredging the tofu in batter but that didn’t ruin it. Here’s the photo from last week and if you want the recipe, it’s here in last week’s post.

Vegan tofush and chips and tartar sauce
Vegan tofush and chips and tartar sauce

So, that’s two weeks of Veganuary done. I’m not tempted to eat cheese but I’ve got to admit my resolve when it comes to wine is weakening. And it is Saturday now, after all…

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Veganuary: Vegan Leek, Mushroom and Spinach Tart

Vegan leek, mushroom and spinach tart

Hallelujah – I cooked something that wasn’t stodge! This vegan leek, mushroom and spinach tart is something I’ve cooked before, at least a variation of, anyway. Usually when I make it, I cover it in cheese, like I’ve done previously on my leek, mushroom and goat’s cheese tart, mushroom, leek and mozzarella tart, and my courgette and tomato tart.

I’ve got to admit, I had a bit of a pang when I took both mine and The Meat Eater’s tarts out of the oven, and The Meat Eater’s was covered in bubbling, oozing Cheddar but the pang faded as soon as I started eating.

This vegan tart is a great way to use up any vegetables you have in the fridge – you can substitute the leeks, mushrooms and spinach for whatever you have to hand.

Vegan Leek, Mushroom and Spinach Tart
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Pastry
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • Two-thirds of a 375g pack of vegan ready-rolled puff pastry
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 2 leeks, sliced
  • 125g mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 large handfuls of spinach
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the leeks for about 3 minutes
  2. Add the mushrooms, garlic and rosemary and fry for another 3 minutes
  3. Add the spinach and stir until wilted
  4. Season with salt and pepper
  5. Cut the pastry in half so you have two rectangles
  6. Score a 1cm border round each rectangle of pastry and top with the leek mixture, keeping within the border
  7. Bake in the oven at 180C for about 15 minutes

 

Veganuary Day 12 – Lunch

Warburtons Thin salad sandwich

Yesterday’s lunch was a Warburton’s Thin with spinach, cucumber, olives, tomatoes, hummus and vegan mayo. Do you like my new plate? I got it in Tesco for £3. It’s almost as nice as the penguin slippers I also bought (£6).

penguin slippers
Gratuitous pic of penguin slippers




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Veganuary: Vegan Sausages, Chips, Beans and Onion Rings

Linda McCartney vegan sausages, chips, beans and onion rings
Linda McCartney vegan sausages, chips, beans and onion rings

My diet may not at the moment consist mostly of chocolate and cheese, as it did over Christmas, but I’m embarrassed about the main meals I’ve been dishing up so far during Veganuary. Although they’ve been nice enough, they’ve been unadventurous and stodgy and most days have involved potatoes. I don’t know whether this is a subconscious thing and I’ve been serving potatoes to keep The Meat Eater happy (he may be anti-vegan but he’s very pro-potato, even though I keep telling him potatoes are vegan).

Last night’s dinner must be the most unadventurous yet – vegan sausage and chips. Somehow sausage and mash seems more of a ‘proper’ dinner than sausage and chips, probably because mash is more ‘cooking’ and chips are more ‘bung in the oven’ but, after weighing up the pros and cons of mash or chips, there then came the decision of beans or peas and it all got too complicated so I bunged some chips in the oven and opened a tin of beans. Dinner sorted.

Lunch had been a salad wrap the same as I had yesterday and since I’ve been having just salad in my wraps, I’m wondering why I used to feel the need to put something extra like tofu or cheese in them – it’s really not needed (and before you say ‘what about protein’ – the wraps have had hummus in them and chickpeas are a source of protein). But now Friday chippy night is going to be tofush and chips night, I’m going to save my tofu for then.

Tonight’s dinner isn’t going to be particularly healthy either – it’s either going to be a vegetable tart or a vegetable pasty-type thing, i.e. I’m either going to lay vegetables on top of some puff pastry and keep it open or I’m going to fold the pastry over. Check back tomorrow to see which I choose. Get me and my cliffhangers.

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Veganuary: Vegan Thai Red Curry

Vegan 100 Everyday Recipes from The Works

The Meat Eater had no idea what to make on Sundays during Veganuary. His usual Sunday meals are omelette and chips or burger and chips or hot dog and chips. Obviously omelettes are out (no way would he make one or eat one made from chickpea flour) and although we had Tesco Meat-Free Hot Dogs in the freezer, when I looked at the label, I saw they contained egg. Bah.

I pointed towards the bookcase full of cookbooks but he still looked blankly at me, so I flicked through my copy of Vegan – 100 Everyday Recipes (that, according to the sticker that was still on it before I peeled it off to take a photo, I bought from The Works for £1.99) and found a recipe for Thai red curry. ‘You like Thai red curry,’ I said. ‘Hmm,’ he said, and grabbed the book from me, looked at the recipe and decided it didn’t look too scary.

The original recipe said to use asparagus but although I’ve almost got used to eating strawberries in the winter, I draw the line at eating asparagus in January. That’s just wrong.

I didn’t stand over The Meat Eater while he made this, only answering the odd question shouted from the kitchen, such as ‘what can I use instead of groundnut oil? and ‘Where’s the rice and do we have white rice, not that brown rubbish?’, so I’ll post the recipe as I imagine he made it. As mentioned above, I bought Vegan – 100 Everyday Recipes for £1.99 from The Works – it was a year or so ago so I don’t know if they still have it, but they always have lots of vegetarian and vegan books for sale, so it’s worth going into your local branch, if you have one.

Vegan Red Thai Curry Recipe

Vegan Thai red curry

Vegan Thai Red Curry
 
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Adapted from Vegan - 100 Everyday Recipes. Published by www.parragon.com/lovefood
Author:
Recipe type: Thai
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp peanut oil
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 100g mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 pack mange tout/baby sweetcorn
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp vegan Thai red curry paste
  • 1 head Chinese leaves, shredded
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a wok and add the onions and mushrooms and stir-fry for about three minutes.
  2. Add the mange tout, baby sweetcorn, coconut milk and curry paste and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the Chinese leaves and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until the Chinese leaves have wilted.
  4. Serve with boiled rice.

 

Veganuary Day 10 – Lunch
Vegan salad wrap
Vegan salad wrap

Sometimes the simple things are best, and that was certainly the case for this wrap. I didn’t have any tofu or other protein to add to it, but this spinach, spring onions, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, hummus and vegan mayo wrap didn’t need it.

Snacks
Wheat Crunchies are vegan
Wheat Crunchies are vegan, hurrah

Next time someone says to you BUT WHAT ABOUT BACON? shove a packet of Wheat Crunchies in their stupid face.

 

 

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Veganuary 2016: Another Day, Another Vegan Pizza

Vegan pizza and garlic bread

Saturday nights are perfect for pizzas and, although Papa John’s original crust pizza bases are vegan and I could order one without cheese, why bother when I can make my own vegan pizza at home and save about £15? And especially why spend all that money when I loved the vegan tortilla pizza and vegan garlic bread I made last Saturday so much.

A tortilla pizza is perfect for when you don’t want to mess around making dough or if you fancy something lighter.

Vegan Tortilla Pizza
 
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Author:
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 2
Ingredients
For the tomato sauce
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • A few basil leaves, torn
  • salt and pepper
For the pizza
  • 2 tortilla wraps
  • Toppings of your choice
Instructions
Tomato sauce
  1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, basil leaves and season with salt and pepper
  2. Simmer for a few minutes, then either blend it, or leave chunky
Construct your pizza
  1. Spread the tomato sauce on to the tortilla bases and add your toppings. Mine were:
    olives
    jalapenos
    yellow pepper
    mushrooms
    spinach
    chilli flakes
    Violife vegan cheese
  2. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 180C

Vegan Garlic Bread
 
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The best garlic bread ever. I add extra garlic powder to the crushed garlic but you can leave it out. The weight of the dairy-free spread was a guess - just use as much or as little as you like (I use tons).
Author:
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 part-baked baguette, sliced
  • 6 large cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
  • 75g dairy-free spread (I used Vitalite)
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl or ramekin, mix together thoroughly the garlic and dairy-free spread
  2. Spread each side of each slice of the the baguette with the garlic 'butter' and press the slices together (to re-form the baguette shape)
  3. Wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 180C for about 15 minutes, unwrapping the foil for the last 5 minutes, so the baguette gets crispy

 

And, yes, I did have a Nutriblast/smoothie for breakfast and lunch. Here’s what I filled my Nutribullet up with at lunchtime.

Banana, kiwi fruit, strawberry, blueberry Nutriblast

That’s spinach, banana, blueberries, strawberries (yes, I leave the stalks on – the Nutribullet will take care of them) and kiwi fruit, blitzed up with soya milk and water (I find it’s too thick if I use just soya milk, so I add some water to thin it down a bit). It’s not as pretty when it’s all mixed together as the spinach turns it a murky sludge-like colour but trust me, it’s delicious.

It’s currently Sunday and The Meat Eater makes dinner on a Sunday. I asked him what vegan food he was going to make for me tonight and he said, ‘Dust’. Then he said, ‘Oh no, dust is made of human skin, so you can’t eat that’.

Sigh.

 

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Vegan Tofush / Tofish & Chips Recipe

Vegan tofush and chips and tartar sauce

First, I need to share with you the vegan tofush and chips (also known as tofish) I made last night – it was so amazing (even if I do say so myself). As Friday night is chippy night and I usually have battered halloumi, I thought, as it’s Veganuary, I’d just have chips but then I thought why don’t I try and recreate the tofush from the Coach & Horses in Soho and have that with chips from the chippy? If you haven’t a clue what I’m on about and haven’t heard of the Coach & Horses in Soho or their famous tofush and chips, you can read my review of London’s first vegetarian pub here.

This tofush isn’t for the squeamish – the use of nori (sheets of dried seaweed) gives it a distinct fishy flavour so, if you don’t like the taste of fish, leave the nori out. But if you want an authentic fish-in-batter taste, leave it in and tell yourself it tastes of the sea.

Just in case making tofush wasn’t proof enough of my genius, I further excelled myself and made my own vegan tartar sauce by mixing together some vegan mayonnaise and pickle relish.

You may be wondering how I managed to go to the chip shop and make tofush at the same time. Even I’m not that much of a genius and I made the tofush while The Meat Eater was at the chippy, keeping it warm in the oven until he got back.

I’ll share the recipe for the vegan tofush below but I’ll just give a quick run through of what else I ate on Veganuary Day 8.

Breakfast

Yes, it’s the same as I’ve had for the last week – a spinach, apple, clementine and chia seeds Nutriblast. I’ve bought some raspberries now so I’ll be having a different breakfast Nutriblast soon. Get me and my impulsiveness.

Lunch

banana, kiwi fruit, strawberry, blueberry and soya milk Nutriblast

A gloriously healthy lunch, knowing dinner was going to be a full-on pig-out. This Nutriblast contains banana, kiwi fruit, strawberries, blueberries and soya milk.

Snacks

As usual, I spent some of the day drinking hot chocolate and eating Oat Flips and Oreos.

Recipe: Vegan Tofush 

vegan tofush

4.7 from 3 reviews
Vegan Tofush
 
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Inspired by the tofush and chips at Norman's Coach & Horses, Soho, London
Author:
Recipe type: Tofu
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 1-2
Ingredients
For the tofu
  • ½ block firm tofu, pressed and sliced in half
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt
  • ½ sheet nori, cut into two (so you have two strips of nori)
For the batter
  • 30ml water
  • 30ml soya milk
  • 60g plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • salt and pepper

    Oil for deep-frying
Instructions
  1. Mix together the olive oil, lemon juice and salt in a bowl/tupperware dish and marinade the tofu in it for a few hours (or minutes if you forget to do it earlier).
  2. Whisk together the ingredients for the batter in a bowl.
  3. Heat the oil for deep-frying (test it's hot enough by dropping a bit of batter into it - if it sizzles, it's ready).
  4. Meanwhile, wrap the strips of nori around the tofu and secure it with a toothpick or two (just remember to remove them after frying!)
  5. Dredge the nori-wrapped tofu in the batter and deep-fry for two to three minutes, until golden.




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The Top 5 Vegetarian and Vegan Facebook Groups

Facebook

I’m not the owner or admin of any of these vegetarian and vegan Facebook groups but these are my favourites. They’re all down-to-earth, friendly, unpretentious and non-militant – just how I like it.

What Fat Vegans Eat

Let’s face it; this isn’t just the best Facebook group, this is the best page on the internet for food lovers full stop. If you’re after vegan food porn, this group is for you. Considering there is – at the time of writing – over 36,000 members, it’s an astonishingly friendly place. Just don’t mention palm oil.

Update: Unfortunately, this page has gone waaaaay downhill with the recent updates to the rules with stupid restrictions like no faces or animals in the photos. There’s a lot of arguing now, too. If I were you, I’d head over to The Little Vegan Kitchen (link below) instead – it’s not so little now with over 2,000 members but it’s still a friendly place.

Vegetarian Slow Cooker Fans

Another friendly group. If you want advice on vegetarian slow-cooking, recipe ideas for your slow cooker or just want to drool over what everyone else has been cooking in theirs, head over to this page.

Veganuary

Originally started for those committing to veganism for the month of January, this group is a great place for any vegan newbies.

Vegan Special Offers UK

Found a vegan bargain in your local supermarket? Let others know about it here.

Little Vegan Kitchen 

A fairly new group but another friendly one and welcomes non-vegans and vegetarians as long as you keep your pics and chat about vegan food. Well worth a visit.

So, these are my favourite vegan and vegetarian Facebook groups. What are your favourites?




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