Vegan Burritos in Dublin!

Burritos are increasing in popularity in Dublin with a variety of new companys popping up. There will however be an ongoing argument of where does the BEST burrito. Most say Boojum, but I'd be moving more towards Tolteca!

Boojum - Mexican Burrito Bar

I had heard the Veggie Burrito was vegan but I contacted Boojum just to be sure. and the Veggie is 100% vegan ( minus the cheese and sour cream). I contacted Boojum just to see what they say regarding the burritos being vegan and John kindly informed me with the following information:

'Hi Hannah,

Thanks for contacting us. Rest assured that the pinto beans are in fact vegan. A lot of Mexican restaurants use lard or bacon drippings in their pinto beans for extra flavour, but we do not. We want to keep them vegetarian so we omit these items. The black beans are also vegan.

All of our salsas are vegan as well as the guacamole.'

A Boojum vegan Burrito consists of:

-The wrap

-Fried Peppers/Onions

-Pinto/Black beans (I go for half and half)

-Rice (Mexican/plain)

-Guac

-Salsa

-Lettuce

Boojum Mexican Burrito Bar is located on Millennium Walk Way in Dublin. Just behind Jervis Shopping Centre and across the bridge from Temple Bar. Nice and Central!
http://www.boojummex.com/ 

Tolteca Burritos:

Tolteca located on Baggot Street and recently open a city center location on Suffolk Street offer vegan friendly and vegetarian burritos, fajitas, salads and burrito bowls. Extremely tasty and 5 euro deals offered for students with free drink refills. I personally prefer Tolteca to Boojum. It is a bit more expensive here but the burritos don't make feel as sick and full as Boojum does. 

The Vegi Burritos and Bowls also contains:

-The wrap

-Fried Peppers/Onions

-Black beans (pinto not 100% vegi)

-Rice (brown/white)

-Guac

-Salsa

-Lettuce

Great for a causal meal or just a quick one. Compared to other Dublin Burrito joints, Tolteca on Suffolk Street has plenty of seating so no need to worry about getting a seat. 

Tolecta also claim to have 'happy food' meaning 'We work hard to ensure that our suppliers have the highest animal welfare practices and care about our environment. All our meats are certified Irish and Board Bia approved. Our vegetables, cheese and sour cream are of the highest quality and purchased locally where possible. Tolteca serves you caged free naturally raised Irish chicken and meats'. 

It's still animal products and farming but it's a better effort than most places!

I’m pretty sure the pinto beans ARE NOT VEGETARIAN! So double check if you’re taking a visit.

For more information see: http://www.tolteca.ie/

So that's 2 burrito joints in Dublin, perfect for a quick bite, especially when eating with no vegan/vegetarian friends! 

Cornucopia's Recipe for Chocolate Silken Torte (vegan cheese cake)

Cornucopia's recipe for Chocolate Silken Torte (vegan cheese cake)

This recipe for a vegan chocolate silken torte aka a vegan cheese cake is from Cornucopia's cookbook, who are vegetarian whole foods restaurant located in Dublin. A vegetarian restaurant that have taken Dublin by storm through churning out great vegi dishes time after time!  I am also excited to say that they are currently working on their second cookbook 'The Green Cookbook', which will include fully vegan and plant based recipes from Cornucopia's renowned chef, James Burke.

This was my first attempt at vegan cheesecake. I was very inspired by the silken tofu cakes I had in London (in a below post). So I tried given Cornucopia's vegan Chocolate Silken Torte recipe a go.

This recipe is hands down AMAZING! The cake however is very time consuming and expensive to make and takes a lot of patience but it is worth it. What is even more worth the wait is getting the opinion of how the 'cheesecake' tastes by people who don't know it's vegan. They always say you wouldn't know it was vegan, it tastes THAT good. So that's a good sign it's a great recipe right?!
The recipe lends its cheese cake like texture to the firm silken tofu. The texture at first made me feel a bit suspicious at first but once blended and baked you wouldn't even know its tofu.

Some recipe alterations I have noted:The recipe says leave set for 2 hours but its still runny and not firm at this stage. It takes at least 5 hours or even overnight in a fridge to completely set and firm up.

Chocolate Silken Torte - Vegan Cheese Cake

The Cheese Cake Filling:

• 2 packets of silken tofu (700g). Can find it Nourish health food stores. 
• 200ml soya cream. 
• 175g Tahini. 
• 120ml vegetable/sunflower oil. 
• 200g golden syrup. 
• 2 tbl spoons corn flour/starch 
• 225g chocolate.

The Biscuit Base:

• A packet of vegan biscuits. 
• Margarine. 

1. To make the biscuit base:
You can either make your own biscuit base with a simple flour, margarine and sugar mixture or just crush a pre bought packet of vegan biscuits. When you either bake the biscuit base or crush your pre bought biscuits, add enough melted margarine to evenly cover and wet the biscuits. Press the mixture into the base of a lined spring from tin and place into the fridge. 

2. Melt chocolate: Place the 225g of chocolate into a glass bowl and place on top of a pan with hot boiling water and stir until melted.

3. The cheesecake mixture: Add all of the required ingredients (minus the chocolate)and place in a food processor and blend until smooth.

4. Place about half or a quarter of the silken tofu mixture on top of the biscuit base lined tin.

5. Add the melted chocolate to the remaining cheesecake mixture and mix. Place that mixture on top of the cake.
Stick a fork in and make swirl motions to create a marble effect but that didn't really work for me!


6. Cover with cling film and leave to set in the fridge for several hours. Once a knife comes out clean, you're good to go!

Vegan Garlic Mayonnaise

I had gone to Cornucopia a few weeks back and got their Vegan Garlic mayonnaise Potato salad and fell in love. I couldn't believe they were vegan.

I remember seeing the recipe in the cookbook so I took it out and made a crack at it.

The recipe made way too much so I would half the ingredients.

-88g cashew nuts (soaked over night)

-63ml olive oil

-63ml water

-Juice of half a lemon.

-2/3 cloves of garlic chopped roughly.

Then just pop all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth.

It didn't turn out as smooth as I thought it would. It didn't resemble the mayo from the restaurant but still tasted good. I added some chives, salt and pepper into the mayo too and made a potato salad.

The recipe also called for mustard and hazelnuts. I forgot the mustard... and i had no hazelnuts but they are for sure a good addition.

Another London trip filled with food

I posted about Pret a Manger in my last London post but I ended up here again a couple times. The superfoods salad is always there and labelled vegan! Since there are Prets nearly on every street, it's handy to know you can eat something there.

I couldn't not go back to The Whole Foods Market on Kensington High street. I got lots of tasty treats. Slices of cake from Sprial veggie restaurant in Camden and MARSHMALLOWS!,

This was peanut butter cream tart. So yum!

And Carrot Cake. This was hands down some of the best carrot cake I've ever had. Tastes so good even without the cream cheese. I have been a bit weary about silken tofu, but it tastes great!

All the different flavour marshmallows available! Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana. I got Vanilla and Chocolate and of course they tasted great.

All the fancy vegan chocolates.

I finally came across a orange Fry's bar. I can never find them in Dublin.

Now, who would associate food poisoning with a vegetarian restaurant...? My Mum and I ate here, My Village Cafe in Camden. It's a falafel type restaurant. It was extremely tasty and they did amazing fresh juices. I got the falafel plate. And my Mum got the same but with yoghurt and Halloumi. Bad mistake. My Mum woke up that night at around 2.30am very the worst food poisoning. She was so sick. It was non stop until about 11am. And it's not possible it was from anywhere else. As we had breakfast very early and only had a banana and some carrots and hummus in the afternoon.

Breakfast in Giraffe Cafe on Kensington High Street. And they had a veggie breakfast and it was great! There was vegi sausages, Baked Mushrooms, Avocado, beans and toast.

Mildred s Vegetarian Restaurant. This was a good experience. It was good to be in proper sort of restaurant that served vegetarian and vegan food. I would recommend Mildreds. It's very central in Soho, just around the corner from Carnaby Street and Oxford Street.

I got the Vegi Burger and Sweet Potato Chips. This was AMAZING. It was the best burger I've ever had. I didn't want it to end.

And rhubard and apple crumble with vegan custard for dessert. It was really really good too. I was stuffed after the burger but when vegan desserts are available, you can't say no.

Vegan..Cosmetics

Cosmetics have almost been harder for when since turning Vegan. Trying to find and suitable vegan products.

I'm going to share what I've tried and what I use!

So the first obvious choice is Lush Cosmetics. I went straight to Lush once I turned Vegan to get some new haircare. And then for Christmas, I received a lot of different products.

Lush Haircare

https://www.lush.co.uk/

Daddy-O Shampoo.

This is an all time favourite of mine. It is for blonde hair in particular to stop blondes going brassy. It is a purple shampoo that smells exactly like those purple parma violet sweets. It smells unreal and makes the shower water turn purple. Most importantly, it gives your hair a good cleanse and brings out the blonde in your hair. What I love about it most is how shiny it makes my hair. People always say how shiny it is after I use it.

Veganese Conditioner

I have only bought this once. I have very dry hair and I need a conditioner that really moisturizes my hair. Unfortunately Veganese didn't do the job. So I would recommend it for someone with greasier hair maybe. It's a shame though cause name has VEGAN in it.

Lush skincare and shower care

Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser

I was pretty disappointed with this. Left my skin feeling pretty grubby. Plus I'm not the biggest fan of lavender!

Eau Roma Water Toner

This is just a simple toner that I use after I take make up off. It feels great and I just spray some on to cotton wool. You get a lot in the bottle.

Happy Hippy Shower gel

I love this a lot! It smells lovely and is great in the morning. It's full of grapefruit and feels really fresh.

Sweet Pie Shower Jelly

This is hands down the best smelling thing ever. It smells like blackcurrant and I could smell the tub all day long. The jelly itself is a bit awkward to use and it slips everywhere. BUT if you use a shower glove it stays in place. Using this in the shower makes everything smell UNREAL!

Simple skin care.

http://www.simple.co.uk/

There has always been Simple products in my bathroom. I always knew they didn't test on animals but I found out that the majority of their products are Vegan. From what I've seen, the majority of the haircare has honey in it.

I use the cream cleanser, which I can't fault.

I always use some of the exfoliaters and other cleansers/washes. I have very dry sensitive skin and I still react badly to the products.

Naked Body Care

http://www.nakedbodycare.co.uk/

I have just discovered this range in boots after a friend mentioned it. They are a company that use 97% natural ingreidents, don't test on animals and prettty much all of their products are vegan. The vegan products are marked! The great thing is also, is that the products are reasonably priced. I find Lush products to be pretty pricey. At the moment, they are doing buy one get one free in Boots too!

So I decided to try 2 conditioners! I like my Lush Daddy O shampoo and I have a whole bottle still to use.

Naked Rescue Intensive Care Conditioner – frizzy, damaged hair

I have only used this conditioner so far and I love it! It gave me all the moister I needed from a conditioner. It leaves my hair feeling soft and clean.

I also bought:

Naked Colour Protecting Conditioner – chemically coloured hair

They have haircare for every type of hair!

Raspberry chocolate bars and Vegan findings at Howth market.

I had another crack at the vegan baking books I have. I haven't had much luck making cupcakes so far. I decided to go for something no cakey. So I decided to make Vegan chocolate raspberry bars from 'Sweet Vegan'. The recipe involves a coconutty mixture, chocolate, oats and raspberry jam. Delicious combination!

They came out so good as well. I devoured nearly all of it! I'll post up the recipe next time.

Howth Market

Instead of heading to the market in Dun laoghaire, like we do nearly every Sunday. We decided to head out to the Sunday market in Howth and make a day of it. So we headed off on the DART to howth. It was a lovely day as well but freezing. There's 2 sections of the market. The main one is across from road from the seafront area and then there's a small section just beside the dart station. We headed to the main one first. All that was there vegan wise really was falafel. So, I had a falafel wrap..was okay. I really wanted a soya lattee but off all the 3 cafes I checked, none of them had soya milk :(. Unfriendly Vegan howth.

After we headed off for a walk and came back we checked out the other part of the market. There was a vegetarian and vegan Indian food stand! Wish I had seen it before but even better they had Vegan and Vegi cakes! I was so excited. They said they usually had more but because it was late in the day, most had been bought already.

What they had left that was vegan was a slice of chocolate cake and date and walnut muffins. They had a 3 for fiver deal so I was sold! I slice of cake and 2 muffins. They didn't last very long though haha.

I never got the name of the stand either. I've tried to google it but had no luck. The cake and the muffins both tasted lovely anyway! I was over the moon with this find.

So I'm going to write about a few things on this post. Once again, I regret that most of my photos are taken on my phone, so pretty bad quality!

Pesto Pasta Bake

I've posted about this many times before, but I can't get enough of it. I just made a big one for work lunches. I've started an internship and working smack in the middle of town on Suffolk Street. I have all the best food places right on my door step. I went a bit overboard on the first week and burnt a hole in my pocket. Blazing salads right around the corner, so expensive but so hard to resist. So from now on it's packed lunches.

Pesto pasta bake has been a favorite so far to bring in, so far. Roasting up lots of red peppers, sweet potato and whatever vegetable and stiring it in with whole grain pasta and home made pesto. The roasted vegetables are so tasty and sweet. I sprinkle a little brown sugar on top of them to bring out the sweet flavours more.

I bought some nutritional yeast during the week to add into my pesto and It tastes great. I had read about it's almost cheesy taste.

I sprinkle the top with Cheezly mozzarella after, along with bread crumbs. I have grown to love the cheese.

I want to use the pesto mix it up with baby potatoes and bulgar wheat too. Yum Yum.

Shepardless Pie

Here is a picture of a shepards pie I made. It had puy lentils and veg in a tomato sauce. It tasted alright but It needs work. At least it's full of goodness. The family liked it anyway. I'm thinking of adding cheese on top along with mashing some sweet potato into the mash.

New Alpro range

I came across Alpros new Hazelnut and Almond Milk. It was on special so I went with the Hazelnut. It tastes great and I way prefere it to soya. Tastes alot like normal milk, I find. It has a great nutty and kind of chocolaty taste. It tastes absolutely great with cereal. I plan on buying this from now on.

Blazing Salads

As I mentioned before, I have to stop myself going to Blazing Salads. Costing a good 6 euro to fill a box up. It tastes sooooo goood though.

Our orange lunch

I cooked a load of food for my friends 21st during the weekend. I made us a little birthday lunch involving sweet potato wedges and cous cous. :)

Cookies

Same cookies I have posted about many times before because they are SO GOOD. These are triple chocolate ones. Dark chocolate, vegan white chocolate and the cookie it's self is chocolate. Delisssh.

And this! Orange chocolate spread. I love orange chocolate. It tastes just like terrys chocolate orange. I picked it up in Nourish on Wicklow street. Highly recommended!