A few product reviews - Gnaw, Choices, The Village Bakery Melmerby and more!!!

In the past few weeks I have discovered some really yummy vegan and dairy free products...

I found these in the reduced section of my local whole food shop, Rainbow, and they are amazing!! They are not vegan as they have eggs in them but they are dairy free :) and they are so gooey and super chocolaty.

To find out a bit more about The Village Bakery Melmerby have a look at their website.

I went hunting for these chocolates, I often have Choices Celtic dark chocolate bars so I knew these were going to be good. I managed to find them in the "free from section" at Morrison's for £2.50, a bit more than I normally spend on chocolate, but definitely great for a treat. I especially wanted these as I rarely find dairy free caramel chocolates.

Choices also do some lovely, affordable, dairy free/vegan easter eggs, I found them in Holland and Barrett.

I discovered this product a couple of years ago and I still adore them. They are the best onion bahjis around! I believe they are made by Gobblins but I get them from Rainbow.

I have talked about these guys before, I saw the Naked Pie on my last trip to Rainbow and with them at such a great price I couldn't resist and I love this flavour as much as the Ginger and Orange peel one :) I am yet to find a flavour I don't like!

Living in Norwich I have seen Gnaw a lot but until this week had not tried any of their beautiful looking chocolate. This one was another find in the reduced section of Rainbow and I was unsure if I would like the ginger as in the past I have not been the biggest fan of ginger (especially in chocolate) but I think my taste buds must have grown to really appreciate it as I have aged. This chocolate was gone in an afternoon and I wished I'd picked up a couple of bars, hopefully Rainbow will still have some on Monday!!

I love the letter detailing on the chocolate bar :)

Meat Free Monday - Dairy Free Fennel and Broad Bean Tart

For this week's Meat Free Monday post, I'm going to use a recipe I cooked the other night!

I had been looking at this recipe and wanted to turn it dairy free.

I started by subbing the creme fraiche for plain soy yogurt (I normally use Provamel or Alpro) and then I used Cheezly for the Parmesan, you could use which ever your favourite dairy free cheese is.

Instead of pre-made shortcrust pastry I made mine but which ever you prefer is fine!

I first rolled out the pastry into a circular dish and blind baked for about 10 minutes in a pre heated oven at 180-200 degrees C.

Whilst the pastry was baking I then sliced the fennel bulb and fried until soft with some salt, pepper and thyme. I also cooked the broad beans (about 100g) in a pan of boiling water.

Next in a jug I mixed the soy yogurt ( 200ml) and 2 eggs and the Cheezly (50g) and seasoned.

I then scattered the fennel over the bottom of the pastry case and the broad beans on top, then poured the yogurt, egg and Cheezly mix over the top.

Finally I baked in the oven for 20-25 minutes and golden brown.

I served mine with sweet potato chips, sweetcorn and salad vegetables.

I would love to hear what you would serve yours with?

Brunch and planting vegetables!

Today started with a gorgeous brunch of boiled duck eggs and soldiers, nom nom nom...

A great start to a day off I think!

Today was the first day off in a couple of weeks that wasn't cram packed with plans and places to go, so I fully enjoyed pottering around the garden in the glorious sunshine and finally started my vegetable garden.

Today I planted some basil, coriander and parsley and rocket.

I also planted some San Marzano tomatoes, Black Beauty aubergines and purple sprouting broccoli.

I am hoping to plant lots more vegetables so I one day just walk into my garden and pick produce to cook for dinner.

What have you all been growing, I am always looking for great seed recommendations!

Meat free Monday - Vegan Cannelloni

This week's Meat Free Monday recipe is another vegan one.

I had some cannelloni tubes to use up and took some inspiration from this recipe but adapted it to make it vegan.

Instead of ricotta I used Tofutti Cream Cheese and Cheezly instead of pecorino cheese.

I wondered if the cannelloni tubes were going to have an unpleasant taste due to not being baked in a sauce but they were lovely and having the delicious roasted tomatoes instead of a sauce meant we could pick up the cannelloni and bite straight into it :)

Product Review: Living Food Raw Chocolate Pie

I love this stuff :)

I first tried samples of this in my local health food store, I was dubious and would never have thought about buying one until I had tried it but they were so good.

I am a huge chocolate fiend so I was delighted when this had a really rich flavour. You only need a very small amount to get your chocolate fix and its all the taste without the sugar and dairy!

Meat Free Monday - Tempeh

This week I tried something new for Meat Free Monday...

Tempeh

"Tempeh is a soy product traditionally from Indonesia .

It is made by incubating cooked soya beans wit the Rhizopu Oligosporus culture. This grows through the beans binding them into a solid block.

Organic tempeh contains all the amino acids essential for good health. It is rich in protein, a valuable source of B vitamins, calcium and iron, and yet dairy, salt and gluten free!"

I am surprised it has taken me this long to try it.

I cooked it up in a broccoli and red pepper stir fry with sweet potato and buck wheat noodles.

I have to admit tempeh was not at all how I expected, to start with I didn't think I was going to like it but it grew on me. I thought it would have a similar texture to Tofu and a slightly "meaty" taste but it had a much softer texture than tofu and what I can only describe as a nutty flavour. In hindsight I may not put it in this dish again (or cook it differently if I do) but I definitely would like to cook tempeh again, maybe trying baking it. So anyone with some great recipes I'd love to hear them!

Wordless Wednesday

A Day in the life of Cats...