New Foods!

I have been enjoying some new larabar flavours that received in my lovely Valentine's Day package. I have tried the coconut cream pie so far and the cocoa mole flavour- both are really scrummy! The cocoa mole flavour was lovely and chocolate-y but had a little spicy kick to it- yummo! The coconut cream pie was really tasty too. It had a nice texture because of the coconut and tasted really nice and sweet.

I will definitely be stocking up on these flavours when I next go to Wholefoods! Sadly, I don't think I can get these flavours in any shops nearer me : (

On the savory front, I have been loving these:

I am a huge fan of regular baked beans (I eat them cold straight out of the can!!) but these are even better! They are soya beans instead of haricot (the usual beans in baked beans) so have a totally different texture and are in a rich tomato sauce. Now, I have eaten these both hot and cold and they are scrummy either way! I have actually just eaten them on their own as a snack (I know I am strange!) but I bet they would be great to cook with too.

Branston also do soya beans in a sweet chilli sauce, which I did think about trying but I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Maybe I will try them next time!

I also found these cutie and threw them into a stir-fry recently:

The finished product;

I really loved this gnocchi. They held their shape really nicely and absorbed all the flavours of the stir-fry really nicely. I will definitely be buying some more soon!


I have also picked up these, which I have yet to try:



These are Grassington's 'chicken style nuggets'. I have never eaten vegan chicken nuggets before so I was really excited when I saw these in the supermarket where I was shopping. I have like the other Grassington's products that I have tried so I am hoping that these will not disappoint!

I also bought these noodles, which will be making an appearance in a stir-fry very soon methinks:

They are fresh ramen noodles and come with a little bottle of 'Wakame dressing'. I assume that because it is called a 'dressing' rather than a 'sauce' that they are meant to be eaten cold but I am not sure I fancy cold noodles! I will let you know what I think of them anyway!

Valentine's Day Package!

I was soooooo excited yesterday to receive my Valentine's Day package as part of the blogger V-day exchange (arranged by Lee of For The Love Of Peanut Butter- http://philabundanceoflife.wordpress.com/). I was lucky enough to receive an absolutely amazing package from the lovely Katie of http://lilveggiepatch.wordpress.com/.

Here are the fabulous treats:

They are: 'Fudgy Wudgy Brownies' (from Veganomicon), Candy Bar Bites (gluten-free), Hazelnut Caramel Clusters (also gluten-free) as well as 4 larabars!!

Close-up of the home-made treats: I cannot express how impressed I am that Katie made these herself- all look and taste amazing!)

Close-up of the larabars:

The flavours I received were coconut cream pie, cocoa mole, pistachio and chocolate coconut chew. I had only tried the pistachio flavour before so I was really excited to have the chance to try the other flavours!

I ate the cocoa mole bar today and it was absolutely delicious (my new fave larabar flavour methinks!) I bet Wholefoods in London stocks these so I will have a look next time I go and stock up if they do sell them!

Katie also sent me a lovely letter along with the yummy goodies:

Along with the choccie treats, I have been getting my veggies in. Here is my dinner this evening, which featured a yummy mix of stir-fried veggies from Tesco (cut up and everything so very little prep needed!)

It also featured this sauce:

It is a sample-sized packet of a Peri-peri sauce, which is served in the UK restaurant chain Nando's (which I have blogged about before). They were giving away free samples and vouchers to buy their sauces in the supermarkets!

I actually was not particularly keen on the sauce in my stir-fry. I don't know whether that is because I needed more or whether it just goes best in dishes similar to those served in the restaurant (ie burgers etc). I have not bought a full bottle with my voucher yet but when I do i think I will have to experiment a little to see which dishes it works well with.

The finished dish (served with wholewheat pasta twists and soya chunks)

Anyway enough babbling for now, I am going to relax and watch a good film methinks!

x

Snow!!!! (and some food pics!)

It has been snowing loads here recently, which has meant that I have been treated to 2 days off work (Monday and Today- wohoo!)

I thought I would show some pictures of the views around my house:

This is what my drive looked like:

This is what my mum's car was like:

This is the view outside in my backgarden:

Of course I have some food piccies as well:

The usual stir-fries:

The dish above was made with edamame (soya beans). You can buy these frozen now in my local supermarket which is cool!

This dish also involved edamame and some wholewheat pasta shells (I love trying new pasta shapes!)

This dish feature lots of green veggies, soya mince, wholewheat penne and adzuki beans (one of my fave beans I think- great both raw and cooked)

For snacks recently I have been eating lots of my fave bars by Naturalbalancefoods- the nice people who sent me the freebie package!

I love these babies:

This is a trek bar, mixed berry flavour (sorry I don't have my own picture!) Trek bars are protein bars made with 'unsweetened fruit, rolled oats, nuts, soya, spices, and herbal extracts' so no junk in them. They are really yummy!

You can also buy these bars in cocoa and peanut and oat flavours but the mixed berry is my fave.

I have also been eating Nakd bars, made by the same company. I like the apple pie and 'cocoa loco' flavours of these best:

Like all Nakd bars, it is made using just raw fruit and nuts. They do taste just like a brownie but are not sickly at all! I have yet to try these warm but I reckon they would taste amazing warmed up in the microwave!

I am the queen of stir-fries! ; )

So basically I have been eating stir-fries loads! I have been working lots recently and when I get home at 8.30pm they are the easiest thing to prepare and eat! I never get bored with them though because I always add different veggies/ protein/ sauces etc!

Here are some of my recent ones:

This was made with wholewheat noodles, beansprouts, cabbage, carrots, chillies, soya mince and a tin of mixed beans

A similar one with a tin of kidney beans:
This was made with green veggies (apart from the chillies!) and soya chunks:


This was made with chopped up Grassington's 'beef-style steaks' (http://www.grassingtons.co.uk/range/meat-free-peppered-steaks.asp) (by the way I have ever eaten steak in my life so could not tell if they taste like meat but I think they are yummy, they have a great peppery taste and are really moist)


I also eat pasta on occasion, like this dish which was wholewheat penne in a creamy mushroom sauce

I also used wholewheat penne and mushrooms to make myself another pasta dish but this included soya mince and chillies

Sorry for being boring with my food I will try to post something more interesting next time- maybe some of my other meals or snacks?

My recent eatings...

As usual I have been eating lots of pasta and stir-fry meals in the past couple of weeks. They aren't very exciting but here are a few piccies:

Above is a stir-fry made with soya mince, mixed veggies and wholemeal spaghetti

Above is a vegan maccie cheese dish made with wholemeal animal pasta, nutritional yeast as well as carrots and broccoli for a nice bit of crunch and extra nutrients!

Above is a stir-fry made with soya chunks, spring greens and is served over some straight-to-wok noodles (egg free of course : )

Above is a pasta dish made with wholewheat penne, soya mince and loads of broccoli!


Above is a noodle dish made with udon noodles, a spicy tomato sauce and tofu.

I also went out for a meal at Nando's with a friend earlier this week (http://www.nandos.co.uk/index.cfm). Although this restaurant chain is known for it's chicken meals, it is possible to get a tasty vegan meal there. They do both 2 burgers (a bean one and a soya one) that are vegan if ordered without mayo. They add a spicy sauce to your burger and you can specify how hot you want it (I always go for extra hot). I enjoyed my burger with a side of chips (you can get healthier sides if you are so inclined but I definitely wanted chips! ; ) )

Here is my meal below:

In snacking news, I have recently tried the bar below as a snack and it was really tasty. It was like a vegan nutri-grain bar (an oaty bake surrounding a sweet blueberry filling). I bought it from Holland and Barrett (a health food shop chain here in the UK). I will definitely be eating this again soon!

I was also lucky enough to be treated to some vegan chocolate cheesecake. I went around to a friend's house recently and he had made some (yes a guy that not only bakes but does vegan baking!!!!)

A lovely Christmas!

I had such a lovely day yesterday! I always enjoy Christmas but yesterday seemed particularly perfect!

The day started when I opened a lovely box of vegan treats that arrived from the lovely gal who has this amazing blog (http://www.cosmicwild.blogspot.com/), Thanks chica!

She also made me this adorable little guy: 'Herb' the 'teabug'- he looks just like a tea bag- he is sooo cute!
Above are the fabulous gifts inside the box! Clockwise from the back is:

*a box of Apricot biscuits (perfect with a cup of tea methinks)

* a face mask (my skin will be looking good!)

*chilli pepper puree (cannot wait to use this in a stir-fry)

*gummi bears (gelatine free- wohoo!)

*rice stuffed vine-leaves (great for lazy people like me who would never be bothered to make them myself!)

* red pepper and tomato salsa (yummy as a dip for crisps!)

* fruit flapjack (filled with sultanas : ) )

I cannot wait to try all of these treats! They all look absolutely scrummy! As you can tell I was pretty excited with my stash of goodies (I somehow managed to grab them all without dropping them for a quick piccie!)

I also received some yummy goodies from my family for Christmas: snack bars!

I have never tried a Pecan Pie larabar before so I can't wait to find out what it tastes like!

Yesterday, I also took a picture of our Christmas tree (yes it really is that huge!):


Here is the table, which my sister and I enjoy decorating every year:


And here is my family sitting at the table about to dig into the Xmas dinner:


Along the left hand side is my sister and my mum, my dad is at the back and then on the right is my cousin and my two aunts.

As Christmas always involves turkey, I always prepare my own dish which I have with the veggies (my mum cooks them without butter- yay!) I was feeling pretty lazy and uninspired this year so I decided to buy something to eat rather than making it myself. However, it was yummy nonetheless (also not very festive!)

My meal was a vegetable curry!

I ate it with lots of brussel sprouts (my fave traditional Christmas veg) although I forgot to take a picture of my plate!

I followed my meal with some Chistmas pudding (I bought my own vegan one as my mum's has eggs in) Here it is:

So all in all a great day- I hope everyone else had a great Christmas too!

It's getting closer to xmas!

I have just under 3 days until I have the xmas holidays- yay! This has meant that I have been really busy (everyone is ill at work so we've all had to work extra hard to make up for it!). This has meant unexciting eats (as usual!)

I have also had a few meals out recently, which has meant I have eaten loads of chips (the vegan option!). Therefore, I have been enjoying lots of stir-fries when I have been cooking for myself. I love them soooo much! They are so quick and easy to make and I can get in loads of veggies to keep my immune system up and make up for the lack of nutrition in the chips I have been eating!

Stir-fry 1: With udon noodles, soya chunks, a tasty mixture of veggies and some green chilli peppers for some heat!

I used these noodles (so quick to cook because you can shove them straight into the wok- hence the name 'Straight to wok')

Stir-fry 2: Stir-fry with soya chunks (again), loads of different veggies, green chilli peppers and I think it was some wholewheat noodles that were buried underneath!

I also tried a new product- this Spelt tortellini (filled with veggies) which I ate in a creamy cheeze sauce. I bought it from a trip I made to wholefoods. Sorry for the awful pics- I was hungry!

I was a little disappointed by this product as I didn't think it has much flavour. I preferred the other pasta I tried from this range, made with tofu and spices so next time I will buy that instead.

I also tried this ready meal:

I was so excited to see this in my local health food shop as I have never seen an Amy's meal there before. I enjoyed this meal for lunch earlier this week, which made a nice change from my usual lunch dishes. It was so quick to cook too- only 5 mins from frozen, which is great because I was feeling hungry and lazy!

I still haven't got around to making my Pumpkin pie but I hope to make it soon and I will post a picture of how it turns out!