Mmmm pasta!

Recently, the weather has really taken a turn for the worse. It has been cold and wet nearly every day since the beginning of September. It is so depressing!

Since the beginning of September, I have also started a new job. My university course includes a 1 year work placement of my choice and I have chosen to work in a secondary school as a Teaching Assistant. I really love my job because it involves working with special needs pupils, which I find so rewarding but it can be exhausting! All this has meant that I haven't been very inventive with my evening meals so pasta has been on the menu frequently, as per usual!

Anyway here are a few piccies:

1. Pasta 'carbonara' with a creamy cheezy sauce and vegan bacon pieces:

2. Pasta in a creamy tomato sauce with some red and green peppers

3. Pasta in a bolognaise sauce with tomato pieces

The last two meals pictured above used a new purchase of mine- animal shaped wholewheat pasta! It is very tricky trying to determine exactly which shapes are supposed to represent which animals but it is definitely fun trying to guess!

Holiday!

I have just returned from a lovely holiday to Lake Garda, Italy, with my family! We booked a last minute deal (my family nearly always do this) and we quickly packed up our stuff and made for Italy!

During the holiday, we stayed in a small town close to the Lake but also visited Venice and Verona. I was actually a little disappointed by Venice as I was expecting to be blown away by its beauty but I felt that it was very tourist-y. It certainly did not help that it was really busy but you had to be really careful in all the restaurants and cafes, especially around the centre, that you did not get ripped-off. However, I absolutely loved Verona. It is such a beautiful place. The buildngs are beatifully preserved and the modern city is a lovely contrast to the old buildings and landmarks. I would definitely love to return there some day.

The weather there was very hot and the Lake was really beautiful. Food-wise, it was not so great as a vegan because the holiday was half-board and the hotel food was not particularly vegan friendly. This was because all of the pasta was made with egg and the main course each night was meat/ fish and potatoes. Still, they had a salad bar which always had some beans, so I managed to get something every night. For my lunches, I also found that pasta was not an option because of the egg, or the waiting staff did not understand that I was asking about egg in the pasta, rather than the sauce (lesson- learn the phrase for I am allergic to... rather than just the words for egg, milk etc). However, I did get to enjoy some seriously yummy vegetable pizzas without cheese!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my holiday:

Venice:

Verona:

View of Lake Garda:

Pizza!:

My family:



And me:

I like birthdays!

So, it was my birthday last Friday (I turned the ripe old age of 20 so have officially left my teenage years behnd me!) Anyway, my lovely friend decided to treat me to a meal out at a restauarant of my choosing! I just knew that I wanted to try this place: http://www.222veggievegan.com/menu.html 222veggievegan! As the name implies, the whole menu is completely vegan! I was so excited and kept looking at the menu before I went because I knew that I was going to have such a hard time selecting what I wanted to order!

We shared some garlic bread to start but we were both pretty hungry so dived in before I remembered to take a photo!

For my main course, I chose the Pasta with wild mushrooms (Wild mushrooms, wholemeal pasta and leek well sautéed, turned in lime, fresh herbs, and finished off with cashew cream. An excellent combination). It was so yummy, really creamy, yet not heavy at all. Sadly, I managed to lose the photo I took of my meal : (

My friend chose the 222burger (Organic tofu and veggie mince burger on a wholemeal roll, served with fresh leaf salad, oven-baked chips, and home-made ketchup.) My friend is a vegetarian yet doesn't eat much tofu so I wasn't sure that she would like the burger but she loved it! I did manage to take a photo of her meal:

Also on my birthday, my mum baked a batch of vegan chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate butercream-style frosting. They were really yummy and devoured quickly by me and my family!

A few days after my birthday, it was my dad's birthday so my mum whipped up yet another batch of vegan cupcakes. This time, she made lemon ones, by modifying the chocolate recipe. She was a little unsure about how they would turn out but all was okay! My mum will definitely be requested to make these again sometime soon!

And lastly, here is a picture of my dad about to blow out his candles!

Things that are tasty for stir fries and a treat for myself

I am always eating stir fries (as anyone who reads this regularly knows!) but recently I have tried a few new things in them, which I have enjoyed.





First up is a Hot Pepper Creole sauce, which is really scrummy! I have never tried it before. It is quite tangy and gives my stir fry a nice kick! It makes a nice change from the usual sauces I use so I will definitley be buying it again!



Here is a tofu and veggie stir fry using the sauce:




Next up is a Chow Mein mix I bought from a local health food shop. The box contains dried wholewheat noodles with dried veggies (I thought that was weird) and a spice mix. I thought this would be great for when I was feeling especially lazy as the whole thing cooks in about 5 minutes!
The noodles were short and curly and looked really cute. Here is my stir fry with added tofu pieces:

Although the packet was fairly tasty for an instant mix, it didn't have loads of flavour and I think I prefer adding fresh or frozen veggies rather than dehydratying dried ones! However, I think it is good for when I haven't got many veggies to hand and fancy a stir fry.





I also tried using hummous as a stir fry sauce. My mum bought me a few mini tubs of different flavours of hummous. The flavours were lemon and corriander, caramalized onion and roasted red pepper. I don't really eat sandwiches much (just not much of a bread girl) so I fancied using them in my all-time favourite dish- the stir fry!

I thinned out the hummous mixture with a little water and then threw it in with my veggies and tofu. I tried all of the different flavours and I think that lemon and corriander and the red pepper ones worked best. I would definitely use hummous again in a stir fry!

Also I have been on the hunt for new snacks and decided to treat myself to some treats from Veganessentials.com:

I ordered a dozen Clif builder bars! These bars are not available in the UK but I really wanted to try some so decided to go for it! I would have treated myself to some other items (they also sell a white chocolate peanut butter that I have my eye on) but the shipping was really expensive!

I bought 3 different flavours to try: chocolate, cookies and cream and peanut butter. So far I have just tried chocolate and it was really tasty. The bar was like a chewy brownie inside and was covered in chocolate. I couldn't believe it was actually healthy! The nutritional information is seriously impressive: http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_builders/1230

The box isn't going to last me long.... ; )

Some old faces and some new tasty foods!

My dinners have been the usual pasta and stir fries mostly (I am such a creature of habit!) I'll post a few pics but they aren't too exciting!

Below is an old fave that I hadn't actually eaten for a while- spag bol made with soya mince and ots of chillies because I love it nice and spicy! It was eaten on newspaper so as not to get any sauce on the table (my mum had just cleaned it!)

Below is a tempeh stir fry that I really enjoyed. I thought that tempeh would be just as yummy in a stir fry as it was when I had it with pasta and I was right! It has such a nice texture and makes a nice change from tofu (although I do love tofu in a stir fry!)
Anyway onto some new foods that I have been enjoying:

I really liked the vanilla swedish glace ice cream but I spotted this new flavour in a health food shop and had to try it! I loved it even more than the vanilla. It was creamy but not sickly and had just the right amount of sweetness. Yummy!

I have also been enjoying larabars recently. I had never tried them before but they were on special in a health food shop near me so I bought a few to try.

I was not so keen on the banana bread flavour. The bar contained bananas, dates and almonds. Although I like fresh bananas I don't often enjoy banana in other products. I think this bar was a little too sweet for my liking because of the dates and the bananas. I think just bananas and nuts would have made for a tastier bar.

Despite my dislike for the banana flavour, I liked the pistachio flavour very much! It contained dates, pistachios and cashews. This combo made for a very yummy snack!

I also enjoyed the apple pie flavour. It contained dates, walnuts, unsweetened apples, almonds, raisins and cinnamon. I sometimes find that cinnamon can be a little overpowering but I certainly didn't find this to be the case with this bar. It was nice and sweet and I liked the nuts in the bar for a little crunch. I will definitely be purchasing this flavour again!

I know that there are many other flavours of larabar but sadly I haven't seen any other flavours available in any health food shops near me. I will be on the hunt though and will post about any other flavours I try.

Another snack I enjoyed trying were these:

These were basically crisps made from lentil flour with added spices. I am not usually much of a crisp person (I tend to prefer sweet snacks) but I polished off the whole tub so I guess I must have liked them ; ) They reminded me of pringles, which I used to like (pre-vegan days):

I love Mr Man!

There are not many vegetarian restaurants near where I live. However, there is a lovely Chinese Restaurant called Mr Man (strange name I know) that my parents and I have now visited on two occasions.


The first time that we went, we enjoyed a lovely buffet consisting of lots of mock meat dishes, noodles, brown rice, veggies, spring rolls etc. I knew that the restaurant was vegetarian but our server informed us that the whole buffet was vegan! I was literally in heaven!


My parents and I recently returned to the restaurant in the evening, where an A La Carte menu is served, rather than a buffet. We looked at the huge menu and could not decide what to order! We decided to order several dishes and share them so that we could have a taste of lots of different items.

I took pictures of most of our food but I was really hungry so forgot to take a picture of the appetizers. Here are a few food pictures anyway:



This dish is a 'prawn' dish with stir fried vegetables I have to say the taste was a little scary to me because it tasted exactly how I remember seafood as tasting! I had never eaten any mock seafood before either so this was certainly a taste I have not had in a very long time! My parents also enjoyed this dish very much.








These were Singapore-style noodles and were really yummy (I could not believe the noodles did not contain eggs- they didn't taste like rice noodles I have had before) The noodles were cooked with lots of veggies and deep fried tofu pieces:

This was my favourite dish. It was mock chicken in a spicy tomato sauce with lots of crunchy stir fried veggies. It had lots of chillies in so I loved it!

And here is a photo of my omni parents looking happy after eating yummy vegan Chinese food:

I really like this restaurant so we will definitely be taking a trip there soon. My birthday is coming up soon (August 8th) so we might take a trip there then!

Old favourites with new twists!

More of my usual eats for dinner this week- pasta and stir fries! I have tried some new foods though, which have been yummy!

Stir fry 1:
Seitan stir fry

I have never been able to buy seitan before. However, recently I went to a health food shop which had a jar and I bought it to try. I loved the chewy texture and really enjoyed it in the stir fry. Unfortunately, the shop is not somewhere I can get to often, so I may have to try making some seitan myself for next time!



Stir fry 2:
Soya mince stir fry

I tried using soya mince, just for a change really. I also used some beetroot in this stir fry. I thought it would add a bit of colour (it turned the mince sort of pink in places!). I also thew in sugar snap peas, which I love in a stir fry. They are so lovely and crunchy!

Stir fry 3:

Tofu stir fry in a garlic and lemongrass sauce sauce

I bought a new stir fry sauce to try when I went shopping the other day. I usually alternative between black bean and spicy tomato szechuan sauces or I just season with a little salt. However, I fancied trying something different and so picked up a garlic and lemongrass sauce, with I thought would make a nice change. It was really tasty as the garlic was really strong in flavour, so it is definitely a sauce I would purchase again.

Pasta dish 1:

Basil tofu pasta with tomato sauce

A pasta dish, which I enjoyed this week, used a packet of basil tofu that I purchased from a earlier in the week. It is basically firm tofu, marinated with olive oil, basil and some other herbs. It smells just like pesto! I chopped it up and put it in a tomato sauce with peppers and mushrooms, which I served with wholemeal pasta twists. Yummy!

Pasta dish 2:

Tempeh with noodles in a creamy sauce

Another pasta dish this week used another new find of mine- tempeh. I loved it! I have been desperate to try tempeh for ages and finally tracked some down in the freezer section of a health food shop I visit regularly. I was really excited to use it but couldn't decide what to cook! I didn't want to use it in a stir fry because I thought that it would get lost with all the veggies etc and I wanted to really taste it. In the end, I made a simple creamy sauce for the tempeh and ate it over rice noodles. I found the texture really unusual but really, really delicious! I hope that the health food shop continues to stock it- next time I think I will have to buy several packets!