Category Archives: Vegan

Lazy Vegan Recipe: Lemon and Ginger Tofu Cheesecake

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

The wonders of Baobab: The New Super Food?

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?

A Summer of Vegan Dining

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!

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Lazy Vegan Recipe: Summer Marrow Bolognaise Bake

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

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

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?

Lazy vegan Recipe: Gooey Chocolate and Prune Cake

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

Friday night in with a Cauliflower

Happy Friday lazy green people!

Now, this might sound a little odd; but I think the cauliflower might just have replaced my Friday night treat of Indian takeaway and a bag of crisps (not necessarily consumed together I might add…). previously, I’ve associated this classic vegetable  with the staple roast dinner dish: cauliflower cheese. But since going vegan, I have long lost hope of recreating a dairy free version, as Vegan cheeses and cheese sauces generally don’t float my boat!

But when, this week, a friend offered me a cauliflower that she wasn’t going to eat (a perfect example of zero waste sharing!), I decided to make a nice big curry with it in advance of a Friday night in. This way I could save money on takeaway AND the plastic they are often delivered in. Continue reading Friday night in with a Cauliflower

The Surprising Talents of Fruit Stones

It’s over half through Zero Waste Week already, and I’m slowly learning my lesson that the key is in the planning! Having gotten back from a lazy holiday away, to an impending week of daily blogging; I knew from the onset the easy task of doing “one more thing” to reduce my waste might actually be harder than it first sounded. But I have been eternally grateful to the impressive inspiration oozing from everyone involved in the week, and it has spurred me on to get off my butt and get waste fighting!

But after several days of feeling smug that not one part of my fruit or veg was being thrown away, I hit a wall. Well, more accurately, I hit a stone…a plum stone. I obviously didn’t want to throw it away, but I was smart enough to realise that it would do more damage than good if I tried to stick it in my juicer! Had I finally found the one piece of food I couldn’t eat?! Continue reading The Surprising Talents of Fruit Stones