Vegan Eating in Tenerife

view from our apartment in El Medano, Tenerife
The view from our apartment. Home from home, really

Vegetarian – let alone vegan – food is difficult to find abroad and now I’m back from my short break in El Medano in Tenerife, I wanted to let you know how I got on finding vegan food there. I’m going to say now though that I hadn’t planned on being vegan throughout the holiday but would choose a vegan option if available.

Vegan salad at Gatwick Airport
Vegan salad at Gatwick Airport

Let’s start with the airport. Tracey – my friend and travelling companion – had booked us into the No. 1 Lounge at Gatwick Airport where she said we could get unlimited food and drink (including alcohol, yay). There was a printed menu listing the food on offer but it was only about 11am and I didn’t fancy anything big to eat so I got a couple of vegan-looking salads from the table (the ingredients were listed so I avoided the salad that contained honey). Tracey said a day or so later that most pasta has eggs but when I got home and investigated, it seems that that’s mostly fresh pasta, not dried, so I’m going to assume Gatwick used dried pasta and my salad was vegan. (I should probably confess here that yes, I did choose vegan food but got myself a hot chocolate from the machine, which probably wasn’t vegan.) It’s a good thing the food is unlimited, as Gatwick must have borrowed the plates from Weight Watchers, they were so tiny and you’d definitely need to go back for more.

Tracey ordered beans on toast and I thought, ‘oh, I could have that without butter, then it’d be vegan’. Her beans on toast arrived in a tiny ramekin and was more toast on beans, than beans on toast. She later on ordered two more – one for me and one for her. In the meantime, we took advantage of the unlimited alcohol (which was only a couple of drinks as the queue was massive. You can always rely on free alcohol to create a large queue).

The worst pizza in the world ever
I ate this so you don’t have to

We arrived in Tenerife at about 6:30 and, after dropping our bags at Tracey’s brother’s apartment (lucky sod lives there all winter with his fiancée, Jo), we went straight to a bar/restaurant where I ordered a pizza without cheese. Go me.

Damn, this pizza was shit. It wasn’t even the worst pizza I’ve eaten – it was the worst anything I’ve eaten. The base was cracker-like, topped with a watery sauce that was an insult to a tomato and some embarrassed-looking undercooked vegetables had been scattered on top. I was pleased I dodged the cheese because NOTHING would have improved this thing. It soaked up some of the beer though, I suppose.

Not a vegan teacake in Tenerife
I should have gone for the chips

The next day, I thought I was being clever when I ordered a teacake and only spread it with the jam, not the butter. It was only while getting the photos ready for this post that I thought, ‘Are teacakes vegan? They might be made with butter.’ And guess what? Yep, they’re usually made with butter and/or eggs. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, right? (In case you’re wondering, yes, I did have a non-vegan hot chocolate to go with it. We did ask if they had soya milk though but, alas, they didn’t.)

I’m not sure if it was later on this day or the next day that I had a salad baguette. It was called ‘Special Vegetarian’ on the menu and if Tenerifians, or whatever they’re called, think warm (the baguette was toasted) lettuce is special, then they’re thinking of the wrong kind of special. I can’t find a photo of it so just imagine a toasted tomato and lettuce sandwich.

Vegan menu Tenerife
You’re once, twice, three times a vegan. Okay, just the twice

On our last night as we drifted about looking at menus in windows, I was spectacularly excited to see a dish labelled ‘vegan’ not only once, but twice. Get in! When it said ‘vegetable pasta’, I thought it meant vegetables and pasta but no, this was spiralised courgette and carrot. The tofu bolognese was tasty – I would have preferred normal pasta but vegans can’t be choosers on holiday and I’m just moaning for the sake of it as it really was fine. Plus, thinking about it now, the restaurant probably makes its own pasta which means it probably would have had egg in it which means there would have been nothing vegan on the menu so I should definitely not be moaning about it.

Tracey (a vegetarian) had the ravioli with spinach with mushrooms but without the Gorgonzola, as Gorgonzola is never vegetarian, and the waitress checked with the chef to make sure the Gorgonzola wasn’t inside the ravioli.

Vegan tofu bolognese Tenerife
Quite literally vegetable pasta

And that was the last thing I ate in Tenerife. I’m going to ruin everything now by saying, as I didn’t eat before getting on the plane at 2pm the next day, I got mega-hungry and in the absence of anything vegan on Monarch Airline’s menu except salt and vinegar crisps, I had a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich.

Sorry.

It wasn’t a bad vegan effort on the whole on my part though. Especially given how much I drank and how big the drinks were.

Cheers!
Cheers!




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Vegan Gobi (Cauliflower) Masala and Onion Bhaji Bread Machine Bread

Gobi (Cauliflower) Masala

‘I can’t think of any way this would be improved by adding meat to it’, The Meat Eater said as he ate this gobi (cauliflower) masala. I’d been tasting it as it was cooking and knew I wasn’t going to get any comments about it being thin, as this dish is tasty, thick and substantial.

The original recipe came from Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. The main difference is that Isa’s recipe contains okra (therefore making it a bhindi masala), while I used cauliflower instead (therefore making it a gobi masala). The Meat Eater doesn’t like okra and while I don’t eat much cauliflower, I’m happy to have it in a curry. I’m definitely happy to have it a curry as wonderful as this one. If you like neither okra or cauliflower, you could use any other chunky vegetable, for example aubergine – which would make it a brinjal masala.

Vegan Gobi (Cauliflower) Masala Recipe

Gobi (Cauliflower) Masala
 
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Adapted from Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • ⅓ cup chickpea (gram) flour
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
  • 2 cans chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp mild curry powder
  • 300ml vegetable stock
  • 1 small cauliflower, broken into florets
  • 1 can black-eyed beans, drained and rinsed
Instructions
  1. Heat 1 tbsp of the coconut oil and toast the cumins seeds for 1 minute
  2. Add the remaining 2 tsbp coconut oil and sprinkle in the chickpea flour and stir consistently for 3 to 4 minutes
  3. Add the onion and salt and stir to coat the onion in the flour mixture and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
  4. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 more minute
  5. Add the chopped tomatoes and curry powder and stir for a few minutes
  6. Add the stock, cauliflower and black-eyed beans and bring to the boil
  7. Simmer for about 30-45 minutes until the cauliflower is tender

 

Bread Machine Onion Bhaji Bread 

Bread machine onion bhaji bread

I hadn’t planned for today’s blog to have an Indian theme to it but I wanted to share with you the bread machine onion bhaji bread I made the other day from The Complete Bread Machine Book by Sonia Allison (there are currently loads of copies on Amazon for 1p if you want to snap one up). Unfortunately, it doesn’t taste like onion bhajis but it’s tasty all the same, and was nice toasted and spread with Vitalite, and also as the bread for my chickpea ‘tuna’ salad sandwich (that I had today, so I’ll post a photo of it tomorrow).

The recipe below is almost exactly the same as in the book but I used those dried crispy onion things you find in the salad dressing bit of the supermarket. I had thought about drying onions myself in my dehydrator but on reading up about it, I decided against it as apparently it stinks the whole house out and all the articles I read said it can be dangerous to pets and advise having all the doors and windows open while you’re doing it, which may be okay if you’re living in Hawaii or something but it’s not okay in January in the UK.

Onion bhaji bread with Vitalite

Onion Bhaji Bread Machine Bread
 
Adapted from a recipe in The Complete Bread Machine Book by Sonia Allison
Author:
Recipe type: Bread machine
Cuisine: Bread
Ingredients
  • 400g strong white bread flour
  • 50g gram (chickpea) flour
  • 6 tbsp dried onions
  • 275ml water
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • 3 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp powdered ginger
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1½ tsp fast-acting dried yeast
Instructions
  1. Thoroughly mix together the two flours
  2. Pour the water into your bread machine bucket, the add the oil and half the mixed flours
  3. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar, garam masala, ginger, cumin and dried onions
  4. Cover with the remaining flour mixture and mound the yeast into the centre
  5. Fit the bucket into the bread machine and set to a medium size, basic loaf
  6. When ready, cool on a wire cooling rack

 

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Vegan Smoky Bean Hotpot Recipe

Vegan smoky butter bean hotpot

While flicking through my Easy Vegan cookbook, I came across a recipe for Smoky Hotpot of Great Northern Beans. It looked tasty in the photo and the ingredients were all easily available so I thought I’d give it a go and make it as a change to the stew I usually make. Although this hotpot was nice enough, I’ve got to admit I prefer my usual one.

I’d never heard of great northern beans, so I used butter beans instead. There was also a stick of celery in the original recipe, which I left out because I’m not keen on cooked celery. Scooped into hummus, yes – cooked, no.

I served the hotpot with dumplings and crusty rolls.

Vegan Smoky Bean Hotpot Recipe

Vegan Smoky Bean Hotpot Recipe
 
Prep time
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Adapted from a recipe in Easy Vegan, published by Ryland Peters & Small
Author:
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 2 medium potatoes, diced
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 500ml vegan stock
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened
  2. Add the garlic and paprika and fry for 2 minutes
  3. Add the carrot, potatoes and red pepper and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to coat the vegetables in the oil
  4. Add the stock and beans and bring to the boil
  5. Reduce the heat and partially cover with a lid
  6. Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are cooked
  7. Season with salt and pepper

 

Veganuary Day 25
Lunch – Vegan chickpea ‘tuna’ mayo wrap with salad 

Vegan chickpea tuna mayo wrap

For lunch, I made some vegan chickpea ‘tuna’ mayo and had it in a wrap with salad. Chickpea tuna is simple to make – just mash up a tin of chickpeas with a potato masher or fork, mix in some vegan mayonnaise, along with some torn up bits of nori (dried seaweed) and season with salt and pepper. How much mayo and nori you add is down to how unhealthy (mayo) and how fishy (nori) you like it.

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Veganuary Catch-Up: Days 22, 23 and 24

Vegan Betty Crocker brownies

Don’t worry, I haven’t fallen off the Veganuary wagon, I just didn’t get round to posting on Saturday because I got excited about a friend inviting me to Tenerife this coming Saturday and then on Sunday I was too hungover after celebrating being invited to go to Tenerife this coming Saturday (yes, I fell off *that* particular wagon again).

So, here’s a quick catch-up of Veganuary Days 22, 23 and 24.

Veganuary Day 22

Breakfast
Kiwi, frozen summer fruits, cashews and dates nutriblast
Kiwi, frozen summer fruits, cashews and dates

Leftover smoothie from Day 21.

Lunch

Ainsley Harriott szechuan hot & sour soup vegan

Spinach, olives, cucumber, tomatoes, sundried tomato paste and harissa paste wrap, and an Ainsley Harriot Szechuan Hot & Sour Cup Soup (which, as far as I could tell, is vegan).

Dinner

Vegan tofush and chips

Home made tofush and chips from the chippy. Go here for the tofush recipe.

Snacks

Snack Organisation Lightly Salted Rice Crakcers

Hot chocolate (Cadbury’s Drinking Chocolate and soya milk) and rice crackers.

Veganuary Day 23

Breakfast

Nothing. Naughty.

Lunch

Vegan potato cakes and Vitalite

Potato cakes and Vitalite. I love potato cakes.

Dinner
Vegan smoky mushroom burger
Vegan smoky mushroom burger

I fried up some of the leftover smoky mushroom burger from last Saturday.

Snacks

Vegan Betty Crocker brownies

I keep reading about how most of the Betty Crocker mixes are vegan and you can add a can of fizzy drink instead of egg to keep them vegan and I’ve wanted to test this on the packet of Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix I’ve had in the cupboard for ages (so ages it was out of date).

I’d read that you should use a bit less than a can’s worth, so I used 300ml of Coke but this was too much and although the brownies taste divine, they’re a bit gooey. But, who cares about a bit of goo when you can have a vegan brownie, eh?

Veganuary Day 24

Breakfast

Nothing, as was too hungover.

Lunch

Nothing as I’d gone back to bed at lunchtime because I was hungover.

Dinner

Vegan pizza and garlic bread

The Meat Eater made a tortilla pizza and even made some vegan garlic bread (it wasn’t as good as mine though). The photo above is from a couple of weeks ago.

Snacks

Tesco vegan free from chocolate dessert

I thought I’d give these vegan Free From chocolate desserts from Tesco a go and I wasn’t disappointed. Yum.

So. Just a week left of Veganuary, although if I can’t find anything vegan to eat in Tenerife my Veganuary’s going to end before February. The friend I’m going with though is also a vegetarian (in fact, she’s practically vegan as she’s intolerant to dairy) and I’ve got a list of vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Tenerife so hopefully we can find something to eat that’s not pizza (which is what I usually eat when I go abroad) although I suppose I could ask for pizza without cheese.

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Vegan Aubergine and Chickpea Penne Recipe

I made something healthy, hurrah! Okay, so I served it with a most definitely unhealthy homemade vegan garlic bread but the thought was there. This vegan aubergine and chickpea penne is a dish I’ve made before but I’m going to post it again because it’s Veganuary and, as you might have noticed, I’m posting each – or at least almost each – day to show you what I’ve eaten and if I don’t post what I ate last night, all you’ll have to look at is this photo of the kiwi, frozen summer fruit, cashews and dates Nutriblast I had at lunchtime.

Kiwi, frozen summer fruits, cashews and dates nutriblast
Kiwi, frozen summer fruits, cashews and dates

Vegan Aubergine and Chickpea Penne 

Vegan aubergine and chickpea penne

This aubergine and chickpea penne recipe was another from the Vegan – 100 Everyday Recipes cookbook that I’ve been getting a bit of use out of so far during Veganuary. This is the third dish I’ve made from it – the others being Vegan Smoky Mushroom Burgers and Vegan Thai Red Curry (as I’m typing this, I’m flicking through the book and have seen a recipe for a sparkling wine sorbet. Oh my).

The original aubergine and chickpea penne recipe calls for cinnamon and coriander, both of which I left out of my version.

Vegan Aubergine and Chickpea Penne Recipe
 
Prep time
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Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • large pinch of saffron threads
  • 450ml vegan stock
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 350g aubergine, diced
  • 1 red or yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped
  • 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 300g dried penne
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Toast the saffron threads in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 20-30 seconds. Place in a small bowl/ramekin and crumble with your fingers. Add 2 tbsp of the stock and set aside.
  2. Heat the oil in the frying pan, add the onion and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the cumin and fry for another 20-30 seconds, then add the aubergine, yellow or red pepper, chopped tomatoes, saffron liquid and the remaining stock. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Add the chickpeas to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Uncover and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
  4. Serve with pasta.

And now it’s Friday again, which means I get another excuse to make my tofush to go with my chippy chips. Yay.

pasta please linky

I’m adding this post to the Pasta Please linky, hosted by Thinly Spread and Tinned Tomatoes.

 

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Vegan Haggis Stuffed Pepper Recipe

vegan haggis stuffed pepper
Veganuary Day 19

I’ve been slacking off my breakfast Nutriblasts recently and the 19th of Veganuary was no exception. A side effect of slacking off breakfast means hunger kicks in mid-morning and today when the munchies kicked in, my healthy choices got pushed aside in favour of the vegan cake that’s on the kitchen worktop.

Even I don’t have cake for lunch though, which was a Warburtons Thin filled with spinach, cucumber, olives, tomatoes and sundried tomato paste.

Warburtons Thin vegan sandwich

Vegan Haggis Stuffed Pepper Recipe

For dinner, I made a vegan haggis stuffed red pepper. I’ve made these a couple of times before, although I can’t find any blog posts about them so the photos must have been bad – even for me.

vegan haggis stuffed pepper

I mixed the vegan haggis up with mushrooms and spinach but you can use whatever you fancy, e.g. leeks, tomatoes, onions, etc. I don’t add any spices or seasonings to Macsween’s haggis, as it’s tasty enough on its own.

I’ve seen on various vegan and vegetarian Facebook groups people saying they’ve bought Macsween vegetarian haggis in Sainsbury’s and Tesco. I haven’t seen it in either of those two supermarkets but I did find some before Christmas in Waitrose (it was by the cheese for some reason). My Facebook friend Cath tried making her own from this recipe in the Guardian but she said it was ‘horrible’, ‘impossible to eat’ and ‘cost me more in ingredients than if I’d just bought a Macsween veg haggis’.

Vegan Haggis Stuffed Pepper
 
Prep time
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Total time
 
Author:
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • Olive oil spray
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 250g Macsween vegetarian haggis, chopped
  • 50g mushrooms, chopped
  • 2 red peppers, destalked and deseeded
  • 2 large handfuls of spinach
Instructions
  1. Lightly spray the peppers with the olive oil spray and put in an ovenproof dish and bake for about 20 minutes at 180C
  2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms for about 2 minutes
  3. Add the vegetarian haggis and fry for another 3 minutes
  4. Add the spinach and stir until wilted
  5. Stuff the peppers with the haggis/mushroom/spinach mixture and return to the oven, covered, for 20 minutes, uncovering for the last 10

 

Veganuary Day 20

As I was off on a walk this morning and there are rarely toilets at the start of the walks I go on, I didn’t want to fill myself full of liquid, so I didn’t have any breakfast (yes, I know there are other things than smoothies/Nutriblasts to have for breakfast but I can’t face solid food first thing). As it turned out, there were toilets at the start of the walk so I could have had a Nutriblast before leaving the house but I’d brought two Tribe Bars with me and had one of those on my arrival (I’d cycled 4.5 miles and been in a car for 35 minutes by then, so I was up to eating something).

After the 6.5 mile walk round Shorne Wood Country Park, a friend and I went into the cafe for a drink and something to eat.  I studied the menu and wondered if the veggie sausages were vegan, before deciding I wasn’t hungry enough for a sausage sandwich anyway and diverting my attention to the flapjacky type things on the counter. As I picked up each one and studied the labels for dairy and eggs, I had an insight to how vegans must feel each time they go out to eat. I settled for an apple crumble slice type thing which stated clearly it was dairy-free and I couldn’t see eggs on the label (unlike on the other products they sold) and couldn’t think of anything else I should be looking out for and asked the girl at the counter if she had any soya milk. She didn’t, so I had to go without hot chocolate and have a fruit tea instead. What do hot chocolate drinking vegans do? Take a flask of vegan hot chocolate with them everywhere they go? I don’t drink tea or coffee. I drink hot chocolate. The cranberry and raspberry tea I had was very nice but I WANT HOT CHOCOLATE, DAMMIT.

Still, I never run out of hot chocolate at home (although since doing Veganuary, I’m buying about ten times the amount of soya milk I used to as the instant hot chocolate powder I usually use contains milk) and that’s what I had when I got in, along with the last of my vegan cake (Jacqui, if you’re reading this – thank you again for sending me the gorgeous vegan cake).

Fry’s Meat Free Crispy Prawns

I had planned to make a vegan aubergine and chickpea pasta dish for dinner but I was feeling lazy after the walk so I heated up the Fry’s Vegan Prawns I’d bought from Holland & Barrett a couple of weeks ago.

Frys crispy vegan prawns
Frys crispy vegan prawns

Part of me had wanted to try these meat free crispy prawns for ages, especially since Linda McCartney stopped making their fish-free prawns and scampi (sob) but, because 99% of the times I’d seen them mentioned on Facebook groups, people had said they’re more like chicken and nothing like prawns, the other part of me didn’t want to try them a) because they’re not cheap (they’re £3.99 in Holland & Barrett) and b) that’s a lot of money to pay just to be disappointed.

Now I’ve tried them I can tell you that no, they’re nothing like prawns and are definitely more chicken-like in texture but there is a slight prawn-like taste so, to put it succinctly – they’re like a prawny-tasting chicken. I’m not disappointed with them and if they were cheaper, I’d buy them. I certainly wouldn’t pay £3.99 for them but if you’ve got a money-off voucher for them like I did, they’re worth trying.

If you haven’t got a Holland & Barrett loyalty card, they’re worth getting. I thought I didn’t go into H&B very often but I keep getting discount vouchers sent to me, so I must spend more in there than I thought I did.

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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
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
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
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
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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