Snacks

Vegan Smoky Garlic Mushroom Pâté

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vegan mushroom pate

Move on if you’re allergic to mushrooms or nuts – this vegan pâté is made with copious amounts of both.

My experience of pâté is limited to chicken liver pâté sandwiches as a child in the 70s (so you can imagine what that was like) and, more recently, to the mushroom pâté in the red tubes sold in Holland & Barrett (which, if you’ve never tried, is very nice indeed). I’m doubtful whether either of these are representative of ‘real’ pâté as, whenever I see it being made on Come Dine With Me or its ilk, it’s always served as a hard lump that can be cut with a knife and not the spreadable mush I’m used to.

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Main Meals

Portobello Mushroom Burgers & Potato Wedges

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Portobello mushroom burgers and homemade potato wedges

Portobello mushroom burgers are the best veggie burgers you can get. I’m all for the more ‘meaty’ veggie burgers, like the Linda McCartney ones but when you’re out and about, the veggie burgers on offer are usually more of the indistinguishable mushed-up vegetables coated in breadcrumbs variety. So, when I see mushroom burgers on the menu, that’s what I always go for, especially when they’re topped with halloumi which is how The Foundry pub in Canterbury serves them. The mushroom burgers in that pub are so good, even my meat-eating friend gets one when we go there instead of one of the many meat dishes they sell.

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Desserts

Two Ingredient Rhubarb Compote

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two-ingredient-rhubarb-compote

I said to The Meat Eater, ‘I’ve got rhubarb coming in the veg box next week’. He said, ‘oh noooooooo, I forgot to tell you there’s rhubarb in the garden’. Having a load of rhubarb is all very well, but what the flipping flop was I supposed to do with it? I knew you weren’t supposed to eat it raw, so I couldn’t juice it or put it in a smoothie, and a rhubarb crumble seemed too obvious. But other than a smoothie and a crumble, I couldn’t think of anything. Then I remembered enjoying the berry compote I’d had when I tried out the Bodychef vegetarian diet plan last year and looked for some rhubarb compote recipes.

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Articles

VegFest London 2016

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VegFest London 2016

I’ve been to the London VegFest a couple of times in the past. The two things that I remember most are a) it gets REALLY crowded; and b) I should have taken a bigger rucksack with me. It was at VegFest I first discovered Vego Bars. They were on sale for 3 for £10 and I thought WOAH, THAT’S REALLY EXPENSIVE but my friend Lynda said they were worth it and so I trusted her judgment and bought some. If you’ve never seen a Vego Bar, you won’t know how massive they are so when I saw them, I thought, ‘well, they may not be cheap but they’re so big, they’ll last a year’. HA. WRONG. They may well be massive but they’re so incredibly yum, they won’t last a year – you’d be showing restraint of epic proportions if a bar lasted a day, they’re that nice.

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Smoothies

Carrot, Apple & Swiss Chard Smoothie

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Carrots, Swiss chard and apple

I took part in a big cycling event over the weekend (although I should probably confess the lure of the train station just half a mile away was too strong and I wimped out of the second day) and, as I was away from home, my diet consisted of carbs, carbs and more carbs in the form of pizza, pasta and flapjacks. I have absolutely no problem with any of these essential food items but after three days of it, man, was I craving some good old fruit and veg.

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Soup

Asparagus and Swiss Chard Soup

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asparagus-chard-soup

Asparagus season in the UK doesn’t last long – traditionally beginning 1 May and lasting for seven to eight weeks – and although you can buy it imported throughout the year, it just feels more right to be eating it in spring, when the UK crops are harvested. I received asparagus in my veg box delivery last week and usually I enjoy it simply steamed and served as a side vegetable but, as I was away all weekend, it didn’t get used as soon as I would have liked and as it was starting to go a bit limp, I made soup with it, along with some Swiss Chard that also came in the box.

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Soup

Courgette & Broad Bean Soup with Chilli and Fennel

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Courgette and broad bean soup with chilli and fennel

I’ve made the best soup in the world. Yes, it sounds a bold claim to make but I truly believe this vegan courgette and broad bean soup is the nicest soup I’ve ever had. I used up the courgette and broad beans I had left over in my veg box and to spice it up a bit, I added some chilli and fennel which totally brought the soup to life, giving it a taste not dissimilar to Thai green curry.

If you like a smooth soup, you can fully blend it, or leave it chunky and just blend some of it, as I’ve done here. Blending some of it gives it a wonderful creamy taste and texture without adding extra calories from cream or cashews. As usual, I blended it in my Optimum G2.1 blender – I really can’t recommend this blender enough; it’s revolutionised my soup-making.

By the way, a few weeks ago I bought a big bag of frozen crushed garlic from Asda for 97p. It’s great – it’s 100% garlic and so convenient to have in the freezer on standby in case you’ve run out of fresh garlic (I should probably confess I haven’t bought any fresh garlic since buying this frozen garlic, it’s that good).

5.0 from 3 reviews
Courgette and Broad Bean Soup with Chilli and Fennel
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 125g broad beans
  • 1 courgette, sliced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 500ml vegetable stock
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • Chilli powder to taste
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until the onion is soft
  2. Add the sliced courgette and fry for another couple of minutes
  3. Add the broad beans, stock, fennel seeds, chilli powder and season with salt and pepper
  4. Bring to the boil and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the courgette and broad beans are cooked
  5. Pour a third of the soup into a blender and blend on high speed, then return to the pan and warm through

Disclaimer: I am an Ambassador for Froothie and any links to their products in this post are affiliate links which, if purchased through, won’t cost you any more but will earn me a small commission. I only endorse products I am happy with and I have not been paid for this post. For more information about the Optimum G2.1 blender mentioned in this post, you can read my review here.

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Other Drinks

Homemade Almond Milk – Just Two Ingredients!

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Homemade almond milk

Since switching from non-vegan instant hot chocolate to vegan not-instant-but-worth-the-tiny-extra-bit-of-time-it-takes-to-make-it (not its official slogan) Cadbury Hot Chocolate, I’ve been through a lot of soya milk. While I don’t believe the scare stories about soya being bad for you and if you eat or drink it you’ll grow an extra head or whatever the latest rumour is, I still like to make my own versions of shop-bought products when I can because a) they’re purer; b) I get to use my kitchen gadgets; and c) it gives me something to write about on this here blog.

Going back to ‘b’ for a moment, when I received my Optimum G2.1 high powered blender, one of the first things that came into my head to use it for was nut milk, especially as it came with a nut milk bag and the blender itself has a pre-programmed setting for nut milk.

Froothie Optimum G2.1 blender touchscreen

Nut milk bag

I had a nose around the internet for an almond milk recipe and a lot of them involved dates and vanilla and stuff, so I decided to make my pure almond milk purely out of almonds and water – nut milk doesn’t get any simpler than this. As you’ll know, almonds aren’t cheap, so this almond milk isn’t as cheap as a carton of almond milk you can buy in the shops but you can keep the almond pulp to use in other ways, so there’s no wastage. And in case you’re thinking, ‘I bet the nut milk bag is a pain to clean’ – it’s not. I thought it would be but it’s not like muslin/cheesecloth and it rinsed clean in a bowl of soapy water in a few seconds and if you haven’t got a nut milk bag, you can get one on Amazon for a few quid.

Homemade Almond Milk - Just Two Ingredients!
 
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Author:
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 750ml
Ingredients
  • 1 cup almonds, soaked overnight
  • 3 cups water
Instructions
  1. Put the almonds and water in a high speed blender and process on high for 2 minutes (or if you have an Optimum G2.1, choose the 'nut milk' option in the menu.
  2. Strain through a nut milk bag, keeping the pulp for another use and store the milk in the fridge
Notes
If the almond milk is too bitter for you on its own, you can sweeten it with a couple of dates and/or a tsp of vanilla extract. Also, you can soak the almonds in hot water for an hour or two instead of overnight if you're in a hurry.

This almond milk is lovely in hot chocolate – just be prepared to be asked ‘how do you milk an almond?’ if you tell your friends you made it.

 

Disclaimer: I am an Ambassador for Froothie and any links to their products in this post are affiliate links which, if purchased through, won’t cost you any more but will earn me a small commission. I only endorse products I am happy with and I have not been paid for this post. For more information about the Optimum G2.1 blender mentioned in this post, you can read my review here.

 

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Light Meals

Courgette, Tomato and Halloumi Tart

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Courgette, cherry tomato and halloumi tart

Originally, I was going to call this courgette, cherry tomato and halloumi tart, ‘Leftover Tart’, as I made it from the courgette and tomatoes left over from last week’s veg box delivery, along with the leftover puff pastry that was in the freezer. Then I realised it sounded like a derogatory term for someone’s ex, and this puff pastry tart deserves more respect than that and, while ‘Courgette, Tomato and Halloumi Tart’ doesn’t sound particularly exotic, it is at least descriptive.

It was a night for leftovers, as I’d taken out of the freezer the leftover Chinese takeaway (tofu for me, chilli beef for The Meat Eater) from a few months ago, then decided not to risk my life by eating it, and made the tart instead. The Meat Eater, on the other hand, decided to risk the possibly-food-poisoning-inducing takeaway but I can report that he didn’t die in the night.

I roasted the vegetables in oil and some Schwartz Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Recipe Mix before putting them on the puff pastry and you can use whatever vegetables you have lying around in your fridge, such as these tarts I’ve made in the past:

Vegan Leek, Spinach and Mushroom Tart

Leek, Mushroom and Goat’s Cheese Tart

Mushroom, Leek and Mozzarella Tart

Courgette and Tomato Tart

Courgette, Tomato and Halloumi Tart
 
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Author:
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Serves: 1-2
Ingredients
  • ⅓ pack ready-made puff pastry
  • 1 courgette, sliced
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, pricked once with a knife to prevent them exploding
  • ½ packet Schwartz Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables Recipe Mix (or use whatever herbs you fancy)
  • 100g halloumi, sliced into strips
  • Olive oil
Instructions
  1. Drizzle the courgette and tomatoes with a little olive oil, then coat evenly with the herb mix
  2. Spread the vegetables in a roasting tin and roast at 200C for about 10 minutes, until the courgettes are tender
  3. Lightly score a 1" border around the puff pastry, then layer the courgettes and tomatoes on top, keeping within the border
  4. Lay the strips of halloumi on top of the courgette and tomatoes and return to the oven for 20 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden and the halloumi has lightly browned

For more inspiration, have a look at these tarts from my fellow food bloggers:

Creamy Courgette Puff Pastry Tart by Family Friends Food

Honeyed Fig and Goat’s Cheese Tarts with Walnuts and Chocolate Balsamic Sauce by Tin and Thyme

Harissa, Kale and Roasted Vegetable Tart by Celery and Cupcakes

Mushroom and Walnut Tart by Supper in the Suburbs

Sun-dried Tomato and Pesto Tart by Coriander Queen

 

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