Vegan in Budapest

I went to the beautiful Budapest with my mum for a few days in August. It is an amazing city and has plenty of vegan and vegetarian restaurants and cafes.

I got a map of Budapest and marked out on the map where all the vegi/vegan restaurants were. I did this with the help of searching 'Vegan' into google maps and of course with happycow.net. This is a very handy way of knowing what restaurants are near by. There was always options nearby the major attractions!


Breakfast was the only tricky part. I'm not much of a breakfast person as well. So breakfast consisted of bread, Starbucks and some fruit. Eden Vegan restaurant on Buda Hill do a vegan breakfast, but we didn't make it over for breakfast.

I stayed in the amazing Corinthia Grand Royal Hotel, Which was amazing! I never get to stay in very luxury places but we got a good deal so why not! The room service menu and the various bar/restaurant menus were very accommodating to those with allergies. Each dish stated if it contained eggs, diary etc. This was great to see. I had pasta on the first night.

Now down to the food. We were luckily located a few blocks away from Napfényes Étterem vegan restaurant. I had a great experience here and the food was great. The menu is available online so we were able to have a little look before. They have loads of vegan pizzas but I had a horrible cheesless pizza that day that was enough to put me off pizza for a while. I wasn't that hungry but I over ate anyway! Don't think I had ever eaten in  100% vegan place before. I went for the ''Fried Pancakes Filled with Vegetable Cream served with Mashed Potatoes and Onions (spelt wheat pancakes filled with spicy vegetable cream served with fried, mashed potatoes and savory tomato sauce)'' and finished it off with some sugar free choccy cake!   

Located at the foot on Buda hill is Edeni Vegan Restaurant.
The location is quite great, it's located right beside the Batthyany Terace metro stop which is on the red line. It is also located at the bottom of buda hill which is home to many many attractions. It's about a 10 minute walk up to the hill. So very convenient, you can grab a vegan breakfast before setting off to Buda castle or you can enjoy lunch after a morning of exploring. Down to the food, I'll be honest in saying that I can't really remember what I had but there was a great selection to choose from, including desserts and smoothies.

      

We ate at Hummus Bar  few times. There are a few located around the city and 2 of which are fully vegi. We never made it to one of 100%vegi ones! But we ate a couple of times at the other locations. They have a wide range of food to offer and lots of vegan falafel options. Seriously handy and very cheap. Also great if you're travelling along with non vegi friends! Each purchase comes with a shot of delicious lemonade which makes you want to buy a whole glass! We opted for the falafel wraps the few times we were there. There is one restaurant located around the corner from St. Stephen's Basillica and also on the same street as the Jewish synagogue. So close to the major tourist attractions, if you're visiting them!

  

    

Lastly we took a trip a Govindas. There are a few in Budapest. Govindas tends to guarantee delicious and filling food. We went to one located near St. Stephen's Bascillica. 

If you're travelling to Budapest as a Vegan, I hope you found this blog post helpful!

Vegan lentil meatballs

An easy vegan lentil meatball recipe!

I can't believe the thought of making vegan meatballs had ever crossed my mind. It hadn't until I came across the following recipe for 'Spaghetti and Vegan Meatballs' over on the Wholefoods Market Blog a couple of weeks ago. The recipe was so simple so I though I'd have a go at making my own meatballs. I didn't stick to Wholefoods's recipe as it called for a few ingredients I don't own. So my attempt at making meatballs, like most meals I cook was a 'bit of this and maybe a bit of that' type procedure. Therefore, I don't have an exact recipe with measurements to share but only the ingredients to easily make some vegan lentil meatballs!

Vegan lentil meatballs served with spaghetti and tomato sauce - Spaghetti and vegan meatballs.

You can enjoy the lentil meatballs in a spaghetti dish or as a sandwich filler. Both work extremely well. The meatballs are extremely filling and packed with energy filled lentils so they make for a great meal at home or on the go. These meatballs do make for a healthy recipe as they are baked not fried and filled with lentils. However, there this recipe calls for  breadcrumbs. 

Gather these ingredients for the meatballs:

Puy (green lentils)

Stock Cube

White onion

Garlic

Courgette (optional)

Mushrooms

Garlic

Dried chilli, basil (any herb to your tasting)

Fresh coriander

Breadcrumbs

Nutritional yeast/flax seeds (optional)

How to make the vegan lentil meatballs:

1. Preheat your oven.

2. Boil about 2 cups of puy lentils in stock until as much moisture is gone from them (without burning the pan)

3. Finely chop an onion,  chop half a courgette, a good handful of mushrooms into small chunks. Fry the onion until getting soft and then add the chopped courgette and mushrooms along with chopped garlic until the vegetables are cooked.

4. When the lentils are cooked and the vegetables are also cooked - transfer to a food processer or blender (or mash by hand) add your fresh coriander, chilli, dried herbs, seasoning and blend until the mixture is incorporated ( I like to leave a bit of chunk it). Add the mix to a bowl and add a couple of hand fulls of breadcrumbs and mix. Add breadcrumbs until the mixture is no longer wet and is thick enough to form balls.

5. Roll your mixture into small meatball size balls and place on a baking tray and bake for around 20 minutes or until crispy on the outside.

If you are going to add the vegan lentil meatballs to complete a 'spaghetti and meatball' dish, have your sauce and spaghetti ready to go when your meatballs are cooked.

Enjoy!

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!

First time vegan baking

I wanted to try vegan baking. Apart from the obvious healthier benefits from vegan baking (less saturated fat from the eggs and butter), I'm always conscious of my use of eggs in baking. I don't use them or like using them in anything else. I'm reading a book called 'Eating Animals'-http://www.eatinganimals.com/ , that has really opened up my eyes to the factory farming industry out there that I had always thought about. Every time I read it I'm thinking, go vegan go vegan. Maybe someday. I know one girl who read it and she turned vegetarian. If you are vegetarian or vegan allready, I recommend you read it! It's extremely interesting. Although most of the content in the book is based on US animal and agriculture standards. As far as I'm aware, EU laws are a lot more strict in the raising of animals in factory farms. I've been trying to find out some information on standards on certain EU websites but not to much luck, or just lengthy reports of small writing.

Anyway, I took a bit of inspiration from Glauce- (http://foodinmylife.blogspot.com) and decided to make cupcakes. I found a recipe for vegan cupcakes that was extremely easy.

I thought it was going to be very complicated and involve me having to buy vegan butter and egg replacer. But it was far from it. While researching I discovered that the stork block is vegan and the stork in the tub isn't, it has buttermilk in it.

All it involved with water,oil,vanilla extract, vinegar and caster sugar in a bowl. And then adding flour and cocoa powder to that. All ingredients I all ready had in my kitchen. They however, weren't fully vegan. The icing I made contained normal butter. I didn't have any vegan butter. So that kind of ruined it a little bit.

The cakes themselves turned out lovely and moist though. I am going to make them this way from now on. A lot easier, cheaper and healthier option :)

Vegan Package Swap - All about Vegan food

Glauce, a long time vegan, blogger, Mom and owner of All About Vegan Food set up the amazing worldwide Vegan Package Swap earlier on this year. The worldwide project which has nearly 500 subscribers allows vegans to send and receive vegan goodies from across the world every month! Sounds great right?


 Here are the rules as set by Vegan Package Swap:
The rules:
1. The Vegan Package Swap is open to everyone in the world. You don't need to be vegan to be part of it but all goodies in the packages MUST be vegan.
2. You need to register to the website and JOIN the Swap to take part (just once). We'll send monthly emails or newsletters to confirm your participation within 72 hours between the 3rd and the 5th of each month. If you DO NOT get the email, please go come to this page, login and click JOIN between the 3rd and 5th of each month (even if you did it before you'll be asked to do it again).
3. On the 8th of each month, you'll receive an email with the details of your match for that month.
4. Packages should have goodies up to the limit of $20 (or 15 Euro or equivalent in other currency). This value reference does not include the shipping value (it will vary from country to country).
5. The shipping deadline will be on the 15th of each month.
6. In the last week of each month you will receive an email to evaluate the package you received and the user (to help us to keep the quality of the project). - See more at: http://allaboutveganfood.com/swap-package#sthash.Thr0gS5U.dpuf

A package from Dublin to Germany and from Germany to Dublin

I finally took part in the swap last month. I chose to swap within Europe and got paired up with a lovely girl from Germany! You can contact your partner to find out what they like and how they found the package when they receive it!

My Irish package -> Germany

I tried to include as many Irish products as possible but struggled. I did however include The Happy Pear's sun dried tomato pesto because it's an all time favourite of mine. There was a buy one get one half price sale on in Holland and Barrett at the time so I took advantage of that and included lots of goodies! It cost me just over 7 euro to ship this to Germany

My German package -> Ireland

I received an amazing package full of German products I had never had before. It included some seriously addictive (gone within 5 minutes) Roc & Roll's crisps, chocolate spread, almond tofu, a pudding mix, jellies, soap, a cream and 2 pates! Such a good mix. I've finished nearly all of the products but most of them didn't last more than a few hours!

I hope this post influences you to take part in this amazing vegan project! If you are like me are love waiting for packages, this package is seriously exciting to wait for because you have no idea what you are getting.

For more information see: http://allaboutveganfood.com/swap-package

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! 

Vegan chocolate chip cookies invade my kitchen!

For those who haven't heard of the vegan cookie bible (Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar), listen up!

This great little book is packed with vegan cookies recipes that never fails to deliver.They're quick, easy and most importantly SERIOUSLY delicious vegan cookies. I've said before that the easiness and quickness of the recipes are the both good and bad news. I end up wiping up batches within minutes of a cookie or chocolate craving.

I have previously posted about the Carrot Cake Cookie recipe. A recipe I always come back to. Make sure to check that one out too if you're a fan of carrot cake. Anyway, onto the more traditional vegan chocolate chip cookie (Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar - Isa Chandra). Luckily, the recipe is up on Isa's Post Punk Kitchen site.

The Vegan Cookie Recipe

1/2 brown sugar

1/4 white sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)

1 tablespoon tapioca flour

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets.

Mix together sugars, oil, milk and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stuff so use your hands to really work them in.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes – no more than 9 – until they are just a little browned around the edges. I usually get 16 out of these so I do two rounds of eight cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.

My Tip: If you prefer yours with a bit of crunch add a table spoon or 2 of granulated sugar and leave them in the oven for just a couple minutes longer. Or if you like yours soft and chewy, keep a serious close eye on them. Make sure they don't brown too much!

Also if you're looking for cheap vegan chocolate, Tesco have Ryeland's 'Plain Chocolate', which are just over a euro!

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.

What's good.

Devonvale 

So today I discovered this bar. What grabbed my attention was the vegetarian society approved logo on the packaging on all of the bars. So I thought maybe some would be vegan. I first saw the range of these bars today in the Bus Stop Newsagent on Grafton street. I only looked at a few and none of the ones were vegan. However later on I was in the cost cutters on Aungier st and saw them again. I picked up the raspberry crumble and it said Vegan so yay! And it tasted sooooooooo delish. The pastry tasted so familiar. It was certainly delish and I plan to stock up next time. On the website , it says that the Apple and Blackcurrant and the Rhubarb crumble are also vegan. As well, a number of their flapjacks. So, I hope to see these around more.

The Counter, Dublin.

The counter are a custom build burger place located on Suffolk street in Dublin and in Dundrum. I have eaten here many times. They have sweet potato fries that are unreal. They also have a vegan option, a veggie burger which is really tasty.

You can choose:

-the size of your burger

-if you want it in a bun or in a bowl with salad (can choose type of bread and type of salad)

-type of cheese

-toppings (up to 4 and have a very wide range)

-sauce (again wide range)

Here is a picture of the menu, you tick it all off yourself. http://www.thecounterburger.com/menu/

If you're vegan, the burger in a bowl is vegan and none of the buns are vegan.

It is reasonably priced too. So just another vegan option in Dublin!

Vegan.. 3 and a half weeks.

So Vegan for about 3 and a half weeks! I've wanted to update this sooner but been so busy with college work. I am nothing but positive with my choice to become Vegan. As I said at the start of my diet change, I felt very weak and tired. That,however has gone completely now. I feel the exact opposite now! I have loads more energy and have even lost a little bit of weight. I still eat a bit of crappy food but I've cut most of it out. For example, my previous biscuit and chocolate bar habits have gone out the window. Baking cookies is probably my biggest downfall. I eat them all to soon. And I've just after buying a jar of vegan dark chocolate spread!

I went out to The Happy Pear today in Greystones for some lunch. I got a celeriac, pepper, squash and onion bake thing. It was the first time they had made it but it tasted good! I ate half of it before I remembered to take a picture.

And I had some cake for the first time in ages. It was a vegan coffee infused chocolate cake. It tasted good but was very heavy.

I made some more roasted Butternut Squash falafel, the same recipe as below but just minus the egg, which works perfectly the same! I had some in a wrap with hummus, chilli, cucumber and spinach ( pretty much all I eat).

More cookies! yummm.

I've gone to Dehli o Deli a few times in a the past few weeks. The menu now states what is vegan, which is great! The majority of the menu is vegan. I am in love with the samosa and chole. It is so good every time.

Puy Lentil and Quinoa. I've made this before and it tastes great. It is great for bringing into college. I roasted off some peppers and squash and mixed it in with the cooked lentils and quinoa with a lemon juice and chopped chilli dressing. It is so yummy and of course very healthy.

Some of the bad stuff I have to keep in my room to make sure I can get my chocolate fix when needed!

In terms of cosmetics, I have gotten some Lush products. They're fairly expensive though but I found out that Simple skincare and most of their haircare is vegan and not tested on animals so that is a bit better on the pocket!