All posts by A lazy Girl Goes green

A self-confessed dreamer and wannabe hippy; I’m passionate about living greener; for a happy, healthier body and planet. But unfortunately, I’m also passionate about lie-ins, catch up TV and convenience food! Can I change?
Facts and Stats, Green Home, Green news, Sustainability, What to buy, Where to shop

Understanding: LED lighting

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Techy, I am not. And whilst I have fully intended to investigate making my home greener through clever purchasing of more efficient electricals – I just haven’t gotten around to it!

But with the evenings getting darker and cooler, I seem to  be spending more time indoors with the lights on; so I thought I’d better get to grips with greener options for lighting to help reduce my energy consumption. Often one to pass the butt, I’ve enlisted the help of itdoesthejob.com; experts in the field of energy, money and time saving products for the home. These guys know their stuff (so I don’t have to…) and have shared their insider know how for understanding LED Lighting; which they suggest is the most energy efficient lighting a lazy green home can have. Continue reading Understanding: LED lighting →

Recipes, Vegan

Lazy Vegan Recipe: Lemon and Ginger Tofu Cheesecake

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Mmmm cheesecake. The one thing that has potential to throw me off the vegan wagon, with its delicious sweet creamy yuminess. And as I’ve only been vegan for 6 months now, I swear I can still taste the last salted caramel cheesecake that touched my lips…and hips!

But for me, that sweet satisfaction of a cheesecake doesn’t justify the continuous and unnatural impregnation of dairy cows –to extract milk which was made for their babies, not for adult human consumption – so I am happy with this trade of my desires for the ethics I believe so strongly in.

So lucky for me, vegan cheesecakes are – in my cheesecake connoisseur opinion – equal (if not more) delicious and “creamy” than the dairy counterpart. And my Lemon and Ginger Tofu recipe is extra special as the base is made with my nans homemade ginger biscuit recipe. In fact, it’s been tried and tested on my granddad, who is a wonderful and traditional northerner who likes meat on his plate everyday of the week, and thinks veganism is a load of nonsense. He had two slices and could easily have had more…..enough said!

Continue reading Lazy Vegan Recipe: Lemon and Ginger Tofu Cheesecake →

Facts and Stats, Green food, Green health, Green news, Recipes, Sustainability, Vegan, What to buy, Where to shop

The wonders of Baobab: The New Super Food?

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I have been meaning to write about Baobab for a while now; something I have been in love with ever since I discovered it at Eden a couple of years ago. This delicious “super fruit” has been the subject of many exhibits at Eden over the years; from Baobab smoothies in the rainforest biomes and its own spotlight appearance during Harvest festival, to the baobab chocolate they sell in the Eden shop. I personally have been sprinkling baobab power on my cereal for a while now; as a way to add some extra sweetness to my breakfast, and harvest some of its super food value.

But in my traditional procrastinating style I had put this post to the side; never quite getting around to it! That was until the Guardian pipped me to the post (literally) and recently shared a fabulous article: Baobab holds out promise for Malawi’s farmers and forests. So I did a little lazy girl digging to find out once and for all about this wonderful fruit, and why Baobab is fast becoming the biggest super food extraordinaire…. Continue reading The wonders of Baobab: The New Super Food? →

Green news, Reviews, Seasonal, What to buy

Giveaway: Never Mind the Burdocks!

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Today is a very important day. Not only is it the big day for the Scottish Referendum, but it also happens to be A Lazy Girl Goes Greens 6 month anniversary!

I have been blown away by the amount of support and love I have received over the last 6 months; not just from friends and family, but from  all of the other amazing bloggers who have welcomed me into their green living gang and continue to inspire me. A massive thank you to everyone who has commented on my blogs, liked my facebook posts or shared my bits and bobs on Twitter. It’s this kind of blog love that has kept me going when I felt like no one was out there and I suspected I was just talking a load of nonsense!

What started as a little project to keep me out of trouble during the summer, has turned into an extra limb, in which a day doesn’t go  by where I don’t discover something new and think “oh…I must blog about that!” Now I’m hooked and there’s so much more to come 🙂

To celebrate this little milestone I wanted to give something back to my wonderful lazy green readers. So I’m offering up two copies of one of my favourite books this summer: the fabulous Never Mind the Burdocks: a year of foraging in the British Isles.

Continue reading Giveaway: Never Mind the Burdocks! →

General ramblings, Green food, Reviews, Seasonal, Vegan

A Summer of Vegan Dining

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OK, I admit it. I’m one of those horrendous people who insists on taking pictures of their food before eating it; no matter how antisocial or inappropriate the situation may be.  But I just can’t help myself. I’m a foodie who loves to look at, eat and talk about food. I’m also a shameless copycat for food I enjoy, and often take inspiration for my own cooking from photos I have taken of others culinary skills.

My photo collection of previous meals also serves another, more useful, function. It very easily answers the question of “what do vegans even eat anyway?” These days, I don’t have to give a well-informed lecture about the nutritionally rich and diverse foods available for vegan dining, I can simply hand them my phone to browse through millions of pictures of what I actually have eaten. Easy!

And browsing through my phone last weekend, trying to find a needle in a foodie photo haystack, I realised I’d had a pretty foodilicious summer. So I thought for a bit of fun I would share some of my highlights so you too can know what a lazy vegan foodie eats!

Continue reading A Summer of Vegan Dining →

Recipes, Seasonal, Vegan

Lazy Vegan Recipe: Summer Marrow Bolognaise Bake

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Happy Meat Free Monday lazy Green people!

I don’t know about you, but I’m really starting to notice the autumn kicking in! The days are getting a little darker and it’s almost time to stop living in my flip flops! But I’m actually really excited – despite a sorrowful goodbye to the heat of summer – I’m really looking forward to comfy jumpers, hot chocolates and beautiful orange leafed trees.

To celebrate this borderline period between summer and autumn, I thought I would share this warming veggie Bolognese Bake, using the deliciously filling summer marrow. It’s a great gluten free recipe – as the marrow replaces lasagne sheets – and it’s naturally dairy free and vegan friendly. It’s also one of the laziest recipes I know, which can be easily adapted to whatever you have at home. Continue reading Lazy Vegan Recipe: Summer Marrow Bolognaise Bake →

General ramblings, Green Living, Sustainability, Vegan

A Contradiction in Ethics: Can You Really Be Vegan and Green?

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When, about a month ago, the wonderful Zero Waste Millennial posted a blog titled “Is it possible to be Vegan and Zero waste?” and began it with the immediate answer “no”, it got me thinking. I have wondered myself if it’s possible to champion animal rights, human rights, environmental issues (which in itself is a huge subject…) and live as happily and healthily as possible; whilst still having fun and enjoying the pleasures in life!

But what happens when contradictions in our ethics occur? What if the vegan option isn’t organic but the meat option is? Or the products which avoid exploitation of humans are not sustainable or chemical free? Or your beautiful, naturally sourced fabric from a fair trade cotton producer in India incurred an incredibly large carbon footprint? Surely something has to give? Continue reading A Contradiction in Ethics: Can You Really Be Vegan and Green? →

Recipes, Vegan

Lazy vegan Recipe: Gooey Chocolate and Prune Cake

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For our last night on my France holiday, my grandparents hosted a big family dinner party which, in traditional French style, consisted of a lot of courses! I offered to help make the desserts as I wanted to show off how delicious Vegan sweets can be, and how you largely can’t tell the difference in the taste.

I made a very risky lemon tofu cheesecake (recipe to follow soon) and decided a good old fashioned chocolate cake was a good back up, just in case the tofu was a little too crazy for everyone else! My nan suggested adding prune paste for extra taste and moisture; something I now consider her a legend for doing so, as it was out of this world! The paste made the cake super soft and gooey, and gave it an amazing spongey glaze on the outside. Continue reading Lazy vegan Recipe: Gooey Chocolate and Prune Cake →