Being a Vegan while holidaying in Spain.

I took a trip to Pals in Catalonia, Spain for a week with my friend Naomi. Her parents have an apartment there and while her Dad was over for 3 weeks, we decided to head over for a week.
The area itself is beautiful and is surrounded by acres of farms with sunflowers and other various fruit and vegetables. I've been to the area many times before but I think I only apreicated how nice it was this time.

I was kind of worried about eating while there. I don't think vegetarianism is generally common in the country side. However, it turned out to be just fine! I packed a packet of falafels and some nakd bars to keep for going for a couple days. I bought fresh bread daily in the bakery around the corner, Heinz baked beans, fresh vegetables and fruit and LOTS of dark chocolate and fruit. I used to spend my time eating fresh chocolate croissants from the bakery, they were sorely missed this time.

Eating out is where it became a little bit tricky.  I enjoyed some fresh vegetables prepared in different ways, Catalonia bread, pizza sans cheese and mainly.

 I came across a ice cream shop that did vegan ice cream!

 Chargrilled vegetables with Basil Oil. Was very very good!

  I found this fairly funny. The chef knew I was coming (he is friends with my friends dad) and he made me some slightly stir fried veg. Fairly unimaginative.

 Catalan Bread. Bread coated in oil, garlic and tomatoes.

 The best pizza I've ever had! This was unbelievably tasty. The sauce was perfect and I got onions on top. This was enjoyed on the beach!

And sorbet to finish!

Quinoa and soy sauce.. who knew!

Here is another tasty and nutritious Quinoa recipe!
It is really easy to make and is full of flavor. Between the Quinoa and Sesame seeds in this dish, you're sure to get a sufficient about of protein and calcium.

Depending on  how many people you're cooking for, the amount of Quiona varies. I usually go for 100g per person.
This recipe includes Quinoa, Sweet Potatoe, Pepper, Chilli, Garlic, Soy Sauce, Seeds, Salt and Veg stock/Bouillon, parsley.

This recipe serves around 2 people, depending on how hungry you are! You can add as much and as little veg as you like.

1. Start by chopping your peppers and sweet potatoes. Chop them into relatively small strips, so you don't have to spend ages cooking them. Also add chopped garlic and chilli and olive oil. Sprinkle with a little bit of dried basil.

2. Just before you put your veg into the oven, throw some seeds onto a tray and sprinkle with soy sauce. And then throw them all into the oven. Cook seeds for aprox 10mins and veg...until done!

3. Now for the Quinoa. Put 200g of Quinoa into a pot and boil 200ml of water. ( 200g =200ml water, 300g + 300ml water..etc)

How to successfully cook Quinoa: Add the boiling water to the Quinoa, put the lid on (important you do), bring to boil and simmer for 15 mins.
Still keeping the lid on, after 15 mins of simmering, turn the hob off and allow it to steam for another 15 mins. And Voila, light and fluffy Quinoa!

4. When Veg is done and Quinoa is done, mix it all together with the toasted seeds.
Chop a spoonful of 2 of parsley and throw that in there too.
Add salt to taste.
Add a couple splashings on Soy Sauce. 

The final product!

 The toasted seeds in soy sauce. Cook some extra and eat as a snack!

Blazing Salads Cooking Demo

I've posted about Blazing Salads before, of course! Everything tastes great in there. For those who haven't heard about Blazing Salads, it is a Vegetarian /Vegan deli on Drury St, Dublin.
They have a seriously amazing vegan salad bar which contains a variety of different salads and toppings. You fill up a box with as much or as little as you want of the different salads. There is also hot food and soups which change daily, cakes, burgers, pizza and more!

Anyway, I got the opportunity to attend a Blazing Salads's cookery demonstration at the Dalkey Book Festival given by founders Pamela and Lorraine. They gave a very humble demonstation to a small crowd, provided great recipes, tips and most importantly, let everybody try the goods! They made a roasted vegetable quinoa salad and chocolate nut bars. The quinoa tasted amazing so I gave it a go this morning! They also gave great instructions for successfully cooking quinoa, see blow!

How to properly cook Quinoa:

I had never properly known how to cook quinoa before. Pamela and Lorraine gave a reliable method which works every time.This was great news for me because I like many people end up with wet and soggy quinoa!
It's equal parts quinoa to water. So 250g quinoa to 250ml water etc.

Cooking  Quinoa successfully: 1. Put the Quinoa in the pan along with boiling water salt and  vegetable stock (optional).
2. Put the lid on the pot and leave it on (this is very important). Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. The trick is to leave the lid on as you are going to be steaming it.
3. After 15 minutes of simmering just leave it to rest.

I find that to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan or get too compressed, pick the pot up and shake the quinoa around the pot while holding the lid on.

Roasted vegetable and Quinoa 
salad:

250g Quinoa
250ml Water
1 Aubergine
1 Courgette
1 Pepper
2 cloves Garlic
2 table spoons of chopped parsley
Basil leaves
Dried Basil
Salt
Olive Oil
1 tin of tomatoes

Cooking the Quinoa:
1. Put the Quinoa in the pan along with boiling water salt and  vegetable stock (optional).
2. Put the lid on the pot and leave it on (this is very important). Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. The trick is to leave the lid on as you are going to be steaming it.
3. After 15 minutes of simmering just leave it to rest.

While the quinoa is cooking prepare the veg. Chop the Aubergine, Courgette, Pepper into small chunks. Put the veg on a roasting pan along with the chopped garlic and olive oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and dried basil on top. Roast for about 20 minutes. Take the vegetables out and pour the tinned tomatoes over the veg and bake for a further 15 mins until soft.

Add the chopped parsley, basil to the quiona along with a few swigs of olive oil. Add salt to taste. When the veg has cooled, add it to the quiona. So yum and easy!

Toasted seeds

In the demo they talked about how great seeds are. I already knew this and always add them to my salads and hummous for extra nutrition. Sesame seeds in particular are very high in calcium. They introduced me to a delish new way to eat them, toasted with soya sauce! I always just eat mine raw but these cooked ones tasted amazing. Seeds are readily available and you can get packs like this in the whole foods section in Tesco. 

Anyway, if you simply pop them in the oven for about 5-10 mins and then pop some soy sauce on them, delish!

Really easy, Really quick, Kind of healthy cookies..

These cookies are an adaption of the vegan choc chip cookies I posted about before.
I call these chocolatey, oaty, raisiny, peanut buttery and coconuty cookies. They basically have a load of yummy ingredients in it.
They are slightly dangerously easy and quick to make though. I've found myself twice this week wiping up a batch for myself..

Anyway, here is a recipe and I highly recommend it.
I don't have exact measurements for most of the ingredients as it's really down to your own taste. Everything is optional in the recipe really!

200g Plain Flour
Cocoa powder..as much as you want! Depends of how much you like chocolate
spoonful of Cinnamon
Desiccant coconut..as much as you want! I just use a good sprinkling
Oats.. I use a good handful or 2
Raisins..as much as you want! The more the better, I find.
Chocolate chips (optional)
-
120ml Vegetable oil
100ish grams Sugar (I use a mix of caster and soft brown sugar) Anything goes!
60ml Water

Peanut Butter (couple spoonfuls)

Bowl 1 
Combine the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, Oats, Raisins, Chocolate in a bowl (The first half of the ingredients)
Bowl 2
Combine the oil, sugar and water together until well mixed.


Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together. Then just roll out little balls and flatten them down onto a baking tray!

Bake for aprox 10 mins!
And voila!

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.