Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola

I find breakfast the hardest time to be vegan, I don't know if it is because my family all eat fry ups and bacon sandwiches. Egg on toast is a staple in our house or if it just seems like breakfast is boring. Toast and Jam can get a little old after a while as can porridge. If like me you struggle to find an exciting breakfast you can quickly eat on the go, this granola is perfect for you. Simply make a batch ahead of time and grab a load whenever you need it.

Ingredients

3/4 of cup of sugar (I used caster but any sugar will do)

1/2 cup of cocoa powder 

1/2 cup of soya milk (any non-dairy milk is fine)

1/2 cup of water 

2 or 3 tablespoons of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy will work)

8 tablespoons of oil (vegetable or olive)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

5 cups of oats

3 tablespoons of flax seeds

1/4 cup of pecans

1/4 cup of dried cranberries 

1/4 cup of flaked coconut 

50g of chopped dark chocolate 

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150c (fan)
2. Mix together in a large bowl sugar, cocoa, milk, water, peanut butter, oil, salt and vanilla. 
3. Add oats, flax seeds, pecans, cranberries and flaked coconut
4. Spread the mixture evenly onto two lined baking trays. The mixture will take approximately 45 minutes to cook and become dry. Check the mixture every 20 minutes and give it a stir and a mix up to create little granola nuggets. 
5. Allow to cool on baking trays for approximately 30 minutes. When cool, mix in chopped chocolate and store in air tight container

The granola will keep for approximately a month and makes between 10 to 15 servings. 

This is a perfect grab and go breakfast. I just pick up a tub full and mix with soya milk when I get to work. Simple and easy. 

Cruelty Free Products

Being a Vegan means more than just not eating any animal products, it also means not using them in other things too such as make up, shampoo, moisturiser and tooth paste etc. 

I started off by taking a look at my every day make up and skin care products to check those out. To check if a company was cruelty free I checked them against PETA and Leaping Bunny. I urge you to do your own research into the products you are using. 

As I use the oil cleansing method for my skin care, no changes need to be made there. My moisturiser is by Simple who are cruelty free so also no need to change that. 

Next I looked in my make up bag. I thought this wouldn't be that bad as the majority of my products are No 7 (boots). Oh how wrong I was about that. 

No 7 seems great on the surface as they say they don't test on animals but this isn't entirely true! The truth is they do not test on animals for products sold in the UK but legislation means that if a company wants to sell products in China, they must be tested on animals. No 7 sells products in China. This caused me a moral dilemma. My make up was cruelty free but the company I was using would test on animals for profit. 

I also had a few maybelline products in my make up bag, these products were not cruelty free and would have to go. 

Next on the list to have to go was my Johnson's body lotion and Nivea lip balm. My Pantene shampoo and conditioner would also be seeing the bin. 

With most of my products appearing to be in the bin, I turned to researching restocking my make up bag and bathroom. For make up, it appeared the go to cruelty free products were either from Too Face or The Body Shop. Budget depending on that one! 

For everything else it would be either Lush or The Body Shop. 

As I am trying not to be wasteful, any products that were not cruelty free I would be replacing once I had used my current product up. For all the replacement products I use I will review. 

------

Turns out my Dove deodorant and also colgate Toothpaste was not cruelty free. 

Vegan Apple Crumble

One of the hardest things about going vegan is giving up the home cooked staple foods that your mum makes. For me that means Apple Crumble and Custard!

Instead of giving it up, I thought I would try my hand at making it vegan.

Ingredients

Cooking Apples (I used some from my parents tree)

Caster Sugar

Plain Flour

Vegan Butter

Method

Now the amount of apples you decide to cook is up to you, but it will affect the amount of other ingredients you need.

For the two little ramekins that I made, I used approximately 4 medium sized cooking apples which i peeled, cored and cut into chunks. I then put the apples in a saucepan and stewed for approximately 10 minutes adding a little water if it looks like it is sticking.

What I usually do is cook as many apples as my parents give me in autumn when they fall and stew them and freeze them for whenever I need them. It is so quick and simple meaning whenever you get a hankering for crumble or pie, you have pre cooked apples ready to go, you just have to defrost them.

Once you have stewed your apples (or defrosted them), add them to a heatproof dish. I used two small ramekins as I was only cooking them for me but my mum always uses as casserole dish to put hers in. Then add approximately 3 to 5 tablespoons of caster sugar to the apples (depending on how many apples you have used and how sweet you like it). At this point you can also add cinnamon if you wish (I did - approximately 1 teaspoon).

Next comes making the crumble topping. When making my crumble topping, I used approximately 60g of flour, 30f of sugar and 30g of vegan butter to my 4 medium sized apples. If you are using a casserole dish, the average measurements are 120g of flour, 60g of caster sugar and 60g of butter.

Mix all those ingredients together in a bowl with your hands. Use your fingers and thumb to breadcrumb the mixture together. After this, transfer the mixture to a baking tray and cook in the oven at 170 c fan for approximately 15 minutes or until a light golden brown colour.

Once the crumble topping is made, add the topping to the apples. You can either leave this to one side and cook later as it will only need to be heated for approximately 5 to 10 minutes at 180 c fan to heat the apples and warm it back through as everything is already pre cooked or cook and eat straight away.

I found this vegan apple crumble simple to make and delicious to eat. Serve it with vegan vanilla ice-cream and people probably wouldn't notice the difference.

Vegan Curry

Curry - Simple, Warming and Perfect for a Friday night! This vegan alternative has it all. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of Tikka Curry Paste (I use Sainsbury's) - you can use whatever type of curry paste you want e.g. balti, korma, madras. The spiciness is up to you. 

1 tin of Coconut milk

100g of Red Lentils 

2 medium sized Potatoes

Half a large sweet potato

1 large carrots (chopped)

Half a red pepper (chopped)

1 clove of garlic (pressed)

1 onion (chopped)

Serves approximately 4. 

Method

1. Add 100ml of boiling water to the red lentils in a bowl and put to one side. 

2. In a medium sized saucepan add the chopped potatoes and carrot (no need to peel - the skin has all the goodness!), add water and allow to simmer until vegetables are soft. This will take approximately 10 minutes. 

3. In a large frying pan/wok, add a splash of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, mushrooms and garlic. Once the onions have began to brown, add the pepper. 

4. Once the potatoes and carrots are cooked add them to the mushrooms, onions and peppers. To this add the curry paste and allow to fry for approximately 3 to 5 minutes. 

5. Next drain the red lentils and add to the curry. Following this add the coconut milk and allow to simmer and thicken for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. 

6. Enjoy! Your vegan curry is ready to go! Serve with rice, popadoms, nan bread, pitta etc. 

Tip - this curry freezes really well so if you are like me and love to have food ready to go in the freezer this is a winner! 

Vegan Lasagne

I am a great lover of food you can make lots of and freeze because some days when I come home from work I really cannot be bothered to stand in front of the cooker and make food. Lasagne is one of those dishes. Make it in a large tin, eat some and then have enough left for 2 or 3 more meals. It also keeps for quite a while in the freezer to meaning if you make loads, you don't have to eat it for the next 3 weeks solid to use it up! 

Ingredients

500g of button mushrooms (sliced)

1 onion (chopped)

1 clove of garlic 

1 tin of chopped tomatoes 

2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar 

100g of vegan butter

100g of plain flour

1/2 pint of soya milk

vegan cheese to grate 

Lasagne sheets

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 160c (fan).

2. Add a splash of oil into a large pan (I use a wok because of the amount of mushrooms) and add the chopped onion and pressed garlic. Allow these to cook until they start to brown (approximately 5 minutes). Next add the sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are soft. 

3. To the mushroom mixture add the tin of chopped tomatoes and dark brown sugar. Allow this to simmer until the tomato sauce has reduced. (if it doesn't, simply add a tablespoon of cornflour to thicken). If the mixture is to wet, your lasagne will be soggy. 

4. In a saucepan melt the butter and then add flour. Mix continually until combined. Next add in small amounts of the milk, do not add it all in one go because this will stop the natural thickening of the roux. Once all the milk is combined, take off the heat. 

5. For my lasagne, I used a 9cm by 9cm deep tin (like one you would use to make brownies). Add a layer of the mushroom mix followed by lasagne sheets. Add a layer of your béchamel sauce and then a layer of cheese. Continue this layering until you have used all of the mixtures. I usually tend to get two layers. 

6. Cook in the oven for approximately 40 to 45 minutes. If your cheese begins to brown cover the tin with foil. 

This dish is really great because you can make it in the morning and then simply cook it in the evening or make the day before etc (just pop it in the fridge). 

Like I said, I make this dish to freeze because it is so simple and easy. 

Vegan Breakfast

Breakfast for me is one the of best things about the weekend. During the week I am far too lazy to be worrying about a fancy breakfast, grabbing toast is about as fancy as it gets. But the weekends are a different thing completely. Pancakes, french toast, omelettes, bacon, eggs, toast, porridge. I could go on forever but you get the picture.

I thought going vegan was going to be the end of that but I was wrong. Avocado on toast with tomatoes is amazing! It is so fresh and light yet filling. It is also so simple to throw together. Crush an avocado in a bowl and then spread it on toast, place tomatoes on top and there you go.

Vegan Cheese

Cheese for me has got to be one of the hardest things to give up. When I was veggie, I totally relied on cheese to get me through and now I am vegan, there is no more halloumi to keep me going.

After doing some research, I discovered that Tesco sells a vegan cheese - violate which comes in a block, slices or a cream cheese. I am yet to try the slices or cream cheese but the block of violate isn't half bad. It really does smell like cheddar cheese! Result. And the taste isn't too bad either.

It is quite a rubber cheese, it reminds me a little of a cheese string but never the less for vegan cheese, it seems like a winner. It tastes good enough to eat on its own or melted. As it is a rubbery, it is a little bit of a chore to grate but you can grate it.

Next on my list to try is the cream cheese! Watch out for the review shortly.