“sausage” and “egg” mcmuffin….

Ba da ba ba baa im lovin it!   i loooove breakfast muffins but there usually full of egg, cheese and some kinda meat patty and packed full of calories, cholesterol and fat…..its a heart attack waiting to happen, plus you end up with grease everywhere too…..not a good look in my opinion!!    Sooooo i decided a while ago that i would try it with veggie sausages (i used Linda McCartney sausages) but i couldn’t find a replacement for the egg part of the muffin…..so now iv discovered how amazingly versatile TOFU is and how much its like eggs but without the weird after taste and the eating of animals bits and bobs 🙂   i did my research before making it, as any good cook would do and discovered that everyone has there own way….i didn’t use any vegan cheese in this, as i haven’t found a good one in the UK yet (we need Daiya!)  but to be honest it doesn’t need it….i put some sunflower spread on it so it wasn’t too dry 🙂  

 

Ingredients:

• English muffins (1 per mouth) cut in two and lightly toasted (i used my health grill)
• pack of firm tofu, drained and pat off as much moisture as you can
• 1 vegan sausage per person
• Turmeric
• Cornflour with a little black pepper in it for dusting the tofu

 

Method:

1. I use a health grill to cook my sausage so i cook the sausage till its browned all around and i slice it into 3 length ways and put them back on the grill.
2. While the sausage is cooking its time to make your “egg” part….once your tofu is drained as much as you can you need to slice your block so you slice the biggest area into 1/4inch thick slices and give them a little pat dry but be very careful with them if there too damp they will fall to bits.  Now take a glass or round cookie cutter (i used a glass that’s the same size as my muffin) and press it through your tofu square so you have a circle….  now take each one and dip it in the cornflour and coat then dust off the excess…..sprinkle a little turmeric on top and rub Put your two halves of muffin on the grill to toast both sides lightly.
3. Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan or skillet and add your tofu….fry on both sides until both sides are golden and your done……unless you want to add vegan cheese do it while the tofu is in the pan so it melts the cheese a little.
4. To assemble just add a little sunflower spread to each side of the muffin and stack a layer of sausage then tofu then top of the muffin….and eat 🙂   easy 🙂 

 

 

Sweeeeet Potato Wedges with a Kick….

hey fellow vegetable lovers 🙂   this is just a quick recipe to spice up your life 🙂   there soooo simple you’ll wonder why you hadn’t done it already….and if you have had the pleasure of enjoying these little wedges then i hope you enjoy them more often haha    PLUS sweet potatoes have some benefits under all that yummy-ness ……they have Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Iron, Magnesium and Potassium…………all in one potato…..plus sweet potato is counted towards one of your 5 a day (5 is the least u should have in a day!!) unlike the white potato which is counted as one of your carbs for the day 🙂

Sweeeet potato wedges with a kick

Ingredients:

sweet potatoes washed but skin left on….slice length ways into wedges

drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

pinch of chili flakes

salt and pepper

Method:   preheat oven to gas 6/ 200c/ 400f / med-high

1. add your potato wedges into a large bowl and drizzle some extra virgin over them and sprinkle your chili’s and seasoning and get your hands in and massage everything into the potatoes….once coated set aside….
2. now you want to line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease-proof paper and scatter the wedges on them making sire none of them are touching or overlapping.
3. roast them in the oven for about 25mins depending on the thickness, but turn them halfway through….to check if there cooked just stick a fork in the middle of the fattest one and if it goes in easy peasy then there ready…..the your done and ready to chow down 🙂

I love these with a roast dinner lots of roast veggies and sage and onion stuffing and a nut roast……but i also enjoy these as they are as a snack or side dish to a meal….yum yum ❤

Eco Running …..

hey everyone, i hope your having better weather than where i am….it was beautiful yesterday but today is back to the normal grey clouds 😦

Anyways, today we got my husbands new running shoes delivered,  there eco friendly sneaks and they look nice too….they fit great, there light as a feather and you don’t even need to wear socks  🙂   not only are they eco/vegan running shoes the packaging is all recyclable too 🙂    i use my shoe boxes for storage 🙂   reduce waste and reuse ……..

“By utilizing recycled and other earth-friendly components, this striking—and strikingly fast—performance racing shoe breathes new life into the competition category—as well as countless post-race plastic water and sports beverage bottles, rubber that would otherwise be abandoned, and discarded Skid Row, Kix, and Ratt CDs. No wonder the Green Silence has so much personality.”   From the website.

Key Green Features:

• BioMoGo, the world’s first-ever biodegradable midsole for running shoes
• 75% of the shoe’s materials are post-consumer recycled
• Biodegradable insole and collar foams
• Laces, gillies, and reinforced webbing are 100% post-consumer recycled
• Water-based adhesives are used throughout
• All dyes and colorants are non-toxic
• Packaging is 100% post-consumer recycled

“Constructed with roughly half as many parts as comparable shoes, the Green Silence requires less petroleum and energy to make. Of course, the shoe manages all of this while delivering the premium performance expected from Brooks.”

“Reduce your carbon footprint. Move forward. Run Happy”

http://brooksrunning.co.uk/11/903/en/green-silence.html

 

   

Mouth Party Gyoza Dumplings ….

OH MY GOODNESS……you need to know about my lunch today!!    GYOZA …….say what?!  i hear you cry……well Gyoza dumplings are little Japanese dumplings with many names, such as “Jiaozi” (Chinese) or “Pot stickers” (North American)  you can find them on menus in any of these name so look out for them…… Every time me and my husband go out for dinner we go for Japanese as its an all over winner….he eats animals and i don’t…..But in our usual feeding holes they make there Gyoza different from me and i prefer my way to there’s if i’m honest,  iv noticed recently that they use processed veg instead of just cutting it up an putting it in so there’s not much colour and it looks like chicken which is unsettling……and another things there usually deep fried or steamed and i like a combo of the two which is actually called Yaki-Gyoza  🙂   Also would like to add that you get Gyoza skins in all oriental supermarkets in the frozen section.   then you have the dipping sauce…..now this dipping sauce is what makes this dish a mouth party haha    Its just perfect it makes you want to dance with joy and if i could marry a dipping sauce then this would be the one for me ….I’m not kidding… i danced in my kitchen every time i taste it …..its the kind of dish that you can throw together fast and and its amazingly tasty…..anyway that’s enough of me raving about it now its time for you to give them a try 🙂

 

**   According to folk tales in China, Jiaozi were invented by Zhang Zhongjing, one of the greatest practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine in history. They were originally called “tender ears” because they were used to treat frostbitten ears.

 

Mouth Party Gyoza 

serves 4 (i cut this recipe down allot for when its just me)

Ingredients:

• 20-25 Gyoza skins (leave them to defrost on the worktop, can be re frozen no problem)
• 1tbsp veg oil, to fry
• 4 dry Shiitake mushrooms, softened in hot water for 10mins, fine chop the mushrooms and save the soaking water for later
• 1 red onion, fine chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and very finely chopped
• 2 spring onions chopped fine 
• 4 leaves cabbage, i use savoy or green, finely shredded and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, fine chopped or crushed
• 1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 1tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 heaped tbsp cornflour

for the dipping sauce:

• 2tbsp rice vinegar
• 3tbsp Shoyu 
• 2-3 drops sesame oil

1. combine all in a mixing bowl and stir…..serve at the side in little dipping bowls.

 

Method for the Gyoza:

 

1.  throw all your vegetable ingredients including the chopped Shiitake mushrooms in a large mixing bowl and add your cornflour and sesame oil and combine thoroughly…..be careful when separating your Gyoza skins if they tear there no use….now take a skin in your hand and dip your finger in the mushroom water and moisten round the edges of the skin….now scoop some veg in a teaspoon and place in the middle of the skin, fold the skin over and seal the sides (like a taco shell but seal the sides)  continue until all the Gyoza have been filled and sealed.
2.  heat oil in a large wok (woks are amazing if you don’t have one then get one)  and add some of your Gyoza, fry on one side for about 3mins and flip over carefully with tongs or chopsticks till both sides are golden and set aside and keep warm, continue to do this until there all golden brown on both sides.
3. Now there all golden add them all back in the wok and pour a cup of cold water into the wok and cover with a lid (i use a large bamboo steamer lid you can use anything just to cover it)  let it all steam over a med heat till the water has gone and there ready…..
4. Serve with the dipping sauce at many time of the day 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Lets have a party in our mouths…. woohoo  🙂  

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Tofu & Spinach Cannelloni …..

Hey there 🙂   I made a yummy tofu and spinach cannelloni for Sunday dinner at my grans as they were having a meat packed pie 😦  i tucked into my vegan dinner and it was amazing……i was kind of surprised if i’m honest i didn’t think that it would be as good as it was 🙂    No-one else ate it, or tried it, which is disappointing but i loooved it 🙂  i had it with a salad on the side but it would be nice with garlic bread 🙂    So it tastes good……but its also super good for u too….low in fat….helps lower cholesterol…..rich in protein and iron 🙂   whats not to love about this dish….. 🙂  

 

Ingredients:

 

• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
• 50g pine nuts , roughly chopped and dry fried till golden
• 400g bag spinach
• pinch grated nutmeg
• 349g pack tofu
• 300g pack fresh lasagna sheets (or cook wholewheat pasta sheets in boiling water rand salt till al dente)
• 4 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
• splash of hot sauce (i use Encona)
• 2 bay leaves 
• tbsp dry mixed herbs 
• salt and cracked black pepper

 

Method:  

 

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic and onion and fry for 4 mins until softened, once lightly browned remove half the mixture and save for the tofu mixture later….. Pour tomatoes into the pot along with bay, hot sauce and season and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and cook for 10 mins until sauce thickens
2. Wilt spinach, then tip out excess liquid. Whizz tofu in a food processor or with a hand blender until smooth, then stir through the spinach, onion and garlic mix, nutmeg and a good amount of pepper and a pinch of salt. 
3. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Pour half tomato sauce into a 20 x 30cm dish. Divide spinach mix between lasagne sheets, roll up and lay on top of sauce. Pour over remaining sauce. Bake for 30 mins.
4. Sprinkle bread crumbs over top of dish, drizzle with remaining oil and bake for 10 mins until crumbs are golden.

 

  The lighting wasn’t very good at all when i took this pic but you get the idea 🙂

French Toast…….Vegan style

Good morning…..well its actually afternoon but its a Sunday so its ok to be lazy, theres a song about it by the Commodores lol    I woke up today with a hankering for some french toast (or eggy bread as my husband likes to call it)  but as we all know french toast is made with eggs and milk 😦    that will never do……so i had half a pack of tofu in the fridge left over from the “tofu and spinach cannelloni”  i made for todays dinner (recipe to come soon),  i decided to try makin some out of that…..i threw the tofu in a blender with lots of pepper an some salt and wizzed it up with some soy milk until it was of an egg like consistency……i poured the mixture into a shallow bowl and dipped my bread in (i used brown seeded bread, thats my fave)  and shallow fried it with some vegetable oil till browned all over…..easy peasy and tasted great 🙂

There’s allot of debate surrounding what you put on top of your french toast around the world …….but where i am (Scotland) we all tend to have KETCHUP with ours, either we dip it in or spread it on top 🙂    i know 1 person who put sugar on it and i was like what the heck are you doing your ruining it haha   Iv noticed from speaking to people all over the globe that most everyone outside Scotland eats it with sweetness on top…….so i figure were the weird ones in this whole story haha

But it sure does taste good with ketchup 🙂

 

all you need is :

 

your fave bread

tofu

soy milk

salt and pepper

 

*  Blend the tofu, soy and seasoning till runny like eggs……..dip the bread in the mixture and shallow fry……serve with ketchup 🙂

 

 

The Amazing Mr Kale

Who doesnt love to snack…..i love to snack and im a savoury person too so its chips and dips for me usualy…..untill i discovered the amazing mr kale 🙂   kale is a dark green leafy vegetable so its packed full of vitamins and minerals…..

*   High in Iron-  Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef. Iron is essential for good health, such as the formation of hemoglobin and enzymes, transporting oxygen to various parts of the body, cell growth, proper liver function……great way for us vegetarians/vegans to get some iron 🙂

*   Anti-Inflammatory food-  One cup of kale is filled with 10% of the RDA of omega-3 fatty acids, which help, fight against arthritis, asthma and autoimmune disorders.

*   Cardiovascular support-   Eating more kale can help lower cholesterol levels.

*   Vitamin A-  Vitamin A is great for your vision, your skin as well as helping to prevent lung and oral cavity cancers.

*   Vitamin C-   This is very helpful for your immune system, your metabolism and your hydration.

*   High in Calcium-  Per calorie, kale has more calcium than milk, which aids in preventing bone loss, preventing osteoporosis and maintaining a healthy metabolism. Vitamin C is also helpful to maintain cartilage and joint flexibility!!

*    Detox food-  Kale is filled with fiber and sulfur, both great for detoxing your body and keeping your liver healthy.

*    Vitamin K-   Eating a diet high in Vitamin K can help protect against various cancers. It is also necessary for a wide variety of bodily functions including normal bone health and the prevention of blood clotting. Also increased levels of vitamin K can help people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

*    Low in Calorie-  High in fiber and has zero fat. One cup of kale has only 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber and 0 grams of fat. It is great for aiding in digestion and elimination with its great fiber content. It’s also filled with so many nutrients, vitamins, folate and magnesium.

 

You can use kale in soups and stews too……WHATS NOT TO LOVE…. 🙂

 

 

Kale Chips   (kale crisps)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 Bunch of Kale

a drizzle of olive oil (use chilli oil if u like a bit of spice)

pinch of salt

 

1.   Preheat an oven to 350f / gas 4…. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

2.   Remove the leaves from the stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale in a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.

3.   Bake until the edges brown but not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

 

 

some sexy veggie stars :)

these celebs are all proud vegetarians or vegans……just look at how there skin glows….who doesnt want that?!

this is the beautiful alicia silverstone, actress and author of the amazing book “the kind diet” shes a vegan as is her husband and baby 🙂

heres mr mike tyson……hes a big scary vegan…..and people say that vegans are apparently “malnourished” ……eat ur words meatheads hehehe 😛 

the lovely, funny and talented Will.i.am who is a proud vegan 🙂

this is the beautiful jenna tatum (channing tatums wifey) who is vegan and cooks for her husband….hopefully he gets a taste for veg an changes over to the veggie side haha

kristen bell….actress….amazing body…..she gets that body as reward for not eating animals 🙂

steve-o ………notorious for bein crazy but did you know hes a vegan…..you do now 🙂  the only meat that touches him are penises hahahahaha

kellie pickler and carrie underwood…..country music superstars and both beautiful humans inside an out 🙂

 

Who doesnt love to look at beautiful people doing good ……and i hope that it inspires people to to realise vegan is good 🙂

 

xx

 

 

 

vegan “sausage” casserole…

hey 🙂

      ill start off by telling you that the weather here is grey and depressing…….as usual to be honest, but today was damp too so thats even worse……so i dragged myself out of the house on my bicycle and went into town to meet mummy bear and get some veg from the veggie man and cycled back with the veg weighing a tonne in the basket of my bike (i live at the very top of a hill haha)  so by the time i got home i was freezing cold, exhausted and hungry so i decided that today is the perfect kind of day for some sausage casserole to heat my tummy…..plus my husband had been up a mountain on his bike all day too!!    So if youve been out on your bikes and need a good cozy tummy this is your meal……soooo yummy!! 

My husband isnt a veggie at all and he loves this …………

 

vegan “sausage” casserole

 

Ingredients:

 

6 shallots, peeled and left whole (carefully remove the bottom and the hairy end)

3cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

4 carrots peeled and halved lengthways and chop into chunks

125g Baby button mushrooms, wipe off dirt and leave whole

5 new potatoes skin on, cut in half

8 cooked veggie sausages, chopped into inch long chunks (i use linda mccartney but use your fave)

2x tins chopped tomatoes

½ pint vegetable stock

1tbs tomato puree

Bay leaf

2tsp dried thyme

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Salt and black pepper

 

 

Method:

 

1. Add a a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to a casserole dish (with lid) and add your vegetables to the pot to brown for about 4mins. Add your garlic and fry for about 1min and pour in your tomatoes, stock, balsamic, herbs and sausage and stir and cover.

 

2. place in the oven on low for 2hours (or however long it takes till the veg is soft)….stirring from time to time to stop it from sticking….when you stir remember to taste your sauce incase it needs more seasoning.   when your veg is soft the casserole is done…..serve in bowls with some wholewheat crusty bread on the side! 

 

 

 

happy munching 🙂   xx

On yer bike…..!

Do you like everyone else grudge the amount we spend on fuel for your car?  i know we do…..luckily our car died a few months ago and we decided to wait and just use public transport to get around.  now that has its price too….and its not cheap!  we invested in bikes…..no not motor bikes were cooler than that…..we have bicycles….its the best purchase weve made in a while….its free to go shopping (i have a basket on mine to carry my groceries 🙂    its better for the enviroment and cheap to run too….as long as you take care of your bike it will be a good investment…..not to mention a fabulous all round workout…..as i write this my muscles are aching haha    Its not only us who have joined in the trend to ride bikes to be eco friendly and fit, lots of celebs are riding there bikes too…..look at all these people on bikes…then get one for yourself hahaha no excuses if you have kids just check out brad an angelina hahaha

so go on ……get yourself a bike, pack a lunch, get the kids into  there wagons and go outside…..theres a whole world outside lets go explore 🙂