Simple meals...

Recently I have been finding work particularly draining so my meals have been pretty simple and boring. Despite this, I have still found them enjoyable!

A lot of my dishes have featured the addition of this sauce. It is scrummy; nice and spicy and gives any dish a really good kick! It is made with peppers and vinegar.



Below is a pasta dish made with wholewheat pasta twists, tomato sauce and soya chunks (they do not have a lot of flavour but have a great chewy texture that I love)

Next up is polenta chopped up in a spicy bean chilli made with tvp and mixed beans- it was really yummy!

The next dish features a new product I recently tried, purchased from Tesco. They are large patties made with butternut squash, chickpeas, potatoes, seeds, cranberries and lots of veggies. I wanted to try them but I fancied pasta so I decided to mash 'em up and have them as a pasta sauce.

Here is what they look like smashed up in my pasta:
I was not overly keen on these roasts as they tasted quite sweet (I think due to the addition of maple syrup as well as the butternut squash) but they did have a nice texture so I might try them in a more conventional meal next time (with a jacket potato or something perhaps).

I will hopefully be cooking some less boring meals soon!

Good and not so good eats!

Ah it is so nice to have the internet back! We lost it completely for a few days earlier this week and I missed reading all the blogs! Luckily, we got it back late on Friday night but I am still catching up on what I have missed!

This past week's eats have not been very exciting (no change there ; 0 ). I have been pretty busy (working over 45 hours) and so my food has not been very imaginative. However, I have enjoyed eating most of my meals and they have been healthy, which is good!

Remember that tofu pasta I bought from wholefoods? I loved it! I enjoyed it with a sauce made from the canned pumpkin (also from wholefoods) and some dried soya mince (for a nice bit of texture). It was sooo nice! I am definitely going to buy some more soon!

Also, I tried the Cherry pie larabar I picked up from Wholefoods. I am sorry to say I didn't like it! I found it very sweet and a little too bitter for my liking! I was really disappointed because I was expecting to really like it! : ( I will not be buying this flavour again! I found out from work yesterday that there is a market stall nearby that sells larabars really cheaply (4 for £1!!) so I am going to check that out soon and see which flavours they have! I think I will probably buy one of everything they have- haha!

I have eaten curry twice this week. I made one myself, using this Jalfrezi sauce:


It was bought from a health food shop and I was excited to try it because I find that lots of curry sauces contain milk : ( I was expecting to really like it because it said that it was really spicy. I used chicken-style soya pieces to make a curry with this sauce and served it over wholewheat couscous.

Unfortunately, I found the sauce to be pretty tasteless and it wasn't even that spicy! : ( I will not be purchasing this brand of sauce again.

Luckily, I did get the opportunity to eat a really tasty curry this week! I went for a meal at Wetherspoons (http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/). Wetherspoons is a pub chain here in the Uk that is known for it's bargain prices and usually pretty decent food! Until recently the only vegan item on their menu was chips, which can be nice every now and then but don't really make a a very satisfying as a meal on their own!

However, recently I noticed that they had added a Sweet potato, chickpea & spinach curry (vegan if ordered with extra poppadums instead of naan bread). The description of the dish sounded good: 'An award-winning dish with sweet potato, fried and tossed in a rich coconut sauce with chickpeas and spinach, served with yellow basmati rice, naan bread, mango chutney and poppadums. ' I was eager to try the new dish so asked a friend if she fancied going there for a meal and drinks.

Here is a photo I took of the meal:

This meal did not disappoint! It had lots of flavour and the textures really worked well together! I think chickpeas and spinach go really nicely together and the sweet potato was great as it made the dish really filling and satisfying. I would definitely order this again!

My friend also bought me a t-shirt, which I love! It really made me laugh! She knows my taste in clothes so well! Here is a picture of the t-shirt:

And here is a photo of my lovely friend (I think she was feeling a bit shy : ) )

Back from the festival!

I really am lucky to have parents that are so supportive of my veganism. My mum is always happy to whip up a batch of vegan chocolate cupcakes and yesterday my dad showed his support by accompanying me to a Vegan festival in Wolverhampton.

When we arrived in Wolverhampton, I got very excited when I saw this sign:


The festival was inside and consisted of about 40 stalls selling a wide range of different vegan items, with everything from food to cosmetics. They also had various speakers, who were giving talks on an array of topics.

My dad and I went to a Nutrition lecture given by Dr Stephen Walsh PhD (nutrition spokesperson for The Vegan Society and author of Plant Based Nutrition and Health). He covered the basics of good vegan nutrition and then allowed the audience to ask any questions. It didn't really teach me anything new but it was good to reinforce the importance of a healthy diet. I was impressed that Dr Walsh also talked about the importance of eating well within the context of a healthy lifestyle.

The festival was really busy so was it tricky to take any pictures there but I took some of the items that we came back with!

Pictured below is what we bought:



Soy jerky (BBQ flavour), a wallet with the vegan society logo (my dad bought this for me as a surprise present!) and a teddy bear (for my sister).

I had never tried soy jerky before and really loved the taste and texture! They had a nice flavour and were satisfyingly chewy. Sadly, I think this jerky is only available online but I think I will have to order myself some soon anyway!

Here is a picture of my sister with her bear:




Just in case you can't see what is written on the bear's t-shirt:

My sister is a big fan of French Connection (FCUK) so we thought it would make her laugh!

Here is me with my wallet and jerky:

We also bought two cupcakes back for my sister and my mum but they were gobbled up before I managed to take a picture! I took that as a good sign that they liked them though ; )

HAPPY WORLD VEGAN DAY!

I am so excited because today I am off to the West Midlands Vegan Festival: http://www.veganmidlands.org.uk/festival/home.html

I have never been before (I didn't know about it last year) and cannot wait to see all the stalls, listen to some interesting speakers and eat some tasty food!

I am taking my camera so will try and take some pictures!

Have a great day!