Holy Guacamole!

"I don't know what to eat today" I hear you say.  Well, stress no longer because this guacamole is not only delicious and nutritious, but can pretty much be eaten at any time of day.  Win.  Oh and it is super easy to make.  Double win.  This recipe makes enough for a decent amount of guacamole.  How big is one serving of guacamole? I don't know! Let's just go with this was enough for 4 people to have for dinner with nachos. 

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados

60ml of fresh lime/lemon juice

2 tomatoes, de-seeded and finely chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped (if you leave the seeds in or not is up to you - how spicy do you like your guac?)

5 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp paprika

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 pinch salt

1.  Mash all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork.

2.  Season to taste.

3.  That's it.

Serve this up with fresh corn chips, nachos, with crudités, some freshly baked bread...whatever you like really! Just make sure you leave some coriander (cilantro) leaves to sprinkle on top before you serve it.

Enjoy!

Yummy & Healthy Vegan Summer Rolls with Two Dips

This is one of my absolutely favourite meals! I recently came up with a new sauce recipe, and got the tofu marination down pat, so had to share it with all you lovely people.

By the way, you have to excuse the incredibly small amount of peanut dipping sauce in the pictures...my family got hold of it before I got a chance to take photos.

So, this is enough to make about 8 rolls, but obviously feel free to play around with the amounts of veggies and noodles depending on your taste.

Ingredients:

Rolls

1 block extra firm tofu, drained (wrap in a paper towel for about 30 minutes to remove any extra moisture)

60ml soy sauce or mushroom soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp chilli flakes

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Olive oil for the pan

1 package cooked glass noodles (or rice noodles)

8 - 10 lettuce leaves (or kale leaves)

10 - 12 leaves of thai basil and/or coriander

1/2 cucumber 

1 carrot

1 red pepper

1 avocado

Rice paper

Peanut Sauce

2 minced garlic cloves

2 tbsp maple syrup

3 - 4 tbsp fresh lime juice

3 - 4 tbsp sriracha sauce

120ml hoisin sauce

Chilli powder, to taste

120g peanut butter

100ml water

Soy Sauce with a Twist

100ml soy sauce

100ml hoisin sauce

2 tbsp sriracha sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

Now, I know that is a mighty long list of ingredients! If you're making these just for yourself I'd recommend chopping up all your ingredients and making 2 or 3 of these depending on your hunger levels, then making the rest the next day.  Alternatively, if you're making these for lots of people just double the amount. Everyone's happy.

1.  To make the tofu, cut the drained tofy into thin slices and then pat dry with paper towels and leave for 30 minutes.  

2.  In a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, salt, sugar, sugar, chilli flakes, garlic powder, and a drizzle of olive oil.  Pop in the tofu and let is marinate for between 30 minutes and 1 hour.

3.  In a lightly oiled pan, fry the tofu until it is golden brown and slightly crispy from the outside.  Then set aside and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

4.  Cut all your veggies into thin strips.

5.  Dip your rice paper sheets into warm water (or just hold them under the tap) for a few seconds so that they become soft and pliable, then arrange your fillings in the middle.  Do this one at a time!  I like to put the lettuce leaf on the outside, pop in my carrot, cucumber, red pepper, thai basil and noodles, then roll it once so that those ingredients are covered.  Then I put 2 slices of tofu and some avocado on the rice paper and roll the rest up.  Make these as tight as possible, and don't worry if it takes a few tries for you to get them right!

6.  For the peanut sauce - blend together all the ingredients and then season to taste.  I like mine a bit spicier and so put in more chilli and sriracha sauce. Garnish with some crushed peanuts to serve.

7.  For the soy sauce with a twist - you guessed it, mix together all ingredients! Voila.

Deeeelicious!

Leopard Print Blouse & Vegan Leather Hotpants

 Not so serious.

Blouse from American Apparel || Shorts from Topshop

Boots from Primark || Necklace from Sportsgirl

Devilishly Tasty Vegan Peanut Butter & Choc Chip Cookies

YUM!

These bad boys are the perfect combination of gooey on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I made these the other day, and they were demolished in no time at all by the rest of my family.  Oh and did I mention that they are incredibly easy to make?

This recipe makes about 20 medium sized cookies.

Ingredients:

180g peanut butter

80g margarine

180g brown sugar

120ml unsweetened almond milk

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1/4tsp salt

1tsp baking powder

240g plain flour

120g vegan chocolate chips (I used more)

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C.

2. In a nice, big bowl whip up your peanut butter with the sugar and margarine, and then add your vanilla extract and the almond milk.  Mix it all up together until you have a creamy mixture.

3. Pop in the baking powder and then sift in the flour. Add in your pinch of salt and mix it all up.

4.  Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips. Use as many as you want!

5.  Place a piece of baking paper on a tray so that your delicious cookies don't stick. Roll your mixture into little balls, using approximately a tablespoon sized dollop each time.

6.  Stick the bad boys in the oven for about 10 minutes.

7.  Take them out, and using a fork push down on each cookie until its flat. Then put them back in the oven for another 2-3 minutes.

8.  Remove them from the baking tray and place them on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes.

9.  Voila!

These cookies make the perfection addition to basically everything from office treat days to birthdays to afternoon tea to a midnight snack to a cup of tea and a biscuit with friends.  You get the picture.

Enjoy! (And let me know of any tweaks you come up with to make them more delicious!)

Ireland in 2 Days - Dublin Edition

From Cornwall we made our way to Ireland, and stayed in lovely Dublin.  Unfortunately, we didn't give ourselves much time there and only had 2 full days to explore. 

I'll let the pictures do the talking for this entry. But let me tell you, it includes one of my favourite veggie burgers.

 

This beauty can be had at any Gourmet Burger Kitchen throughout the UK.

After a fair amount of sightseeing, it started raining (it is Ireland after all) and so we started our own little pub crawl.  Chewy made me try Guiness, which I wasn't a fan of, but good thing the Irish are also fans of cider.  We met some lovely people in the pubs, and had a raging good time with all the music and singing and dancing that was going on.  Happy days!

Samadhi Vegetarian Restaurant, Berlin

"We cook with fresh vegetables, love, and without stress" professes the menu of Samadhi, and it does not lie.

Amongst the many vegetarian restaurants that can be found in Berlin, Samadhi is one that has great recommendations online.  So guess where we headed to dinner? Oh yes.

 

We had dinner here with Chewy's parents, so I can show you all 4 delicious dishes! Actually make that 5 because we all shared a starter too, the remnants of which can be seen below.  There were 2 rice paper rolls filled with fresh salad, herbs, tofu, rice noodles and bean sprouts, with a hoisin dipping sauce.  In the background you can see the remains of a spring roll with chilli sauce, filled with tofu and vegetables.  I can whole heartedly recommend these starters!

 

So lets move on to mains.  Main number 1 was this beauty below - stewed tofu with ginger in caramel sauce with fresh pineapple, chinese bean sauce, vegetables, onion, pepper, mushrooms and morels.  Even though it may not look like much, it was delicious I am told!

Main numero 2 - gado gado.  I'm sure many of you have had this indonesian speciality before, it is such a simple yet beautiful dish simply consisting of blanched vegetables with peanut sauce.

I decided to have the pad thai, which they were happy to make vegan by taking out the egg.  Pad thai is one of my favourite meals, and this version with fried rice noodles and tofu, salted raddish, tamarind extract, chilli powder, bean sprouts, peanuts and fresh vegetables was one of my favourites ever.  I had it medium spicy, which was just right for me, but you can also ask it to be 'extra hot'.  Go on, I dare you.

Now Chewy's meal may just look like a right old mess, but this fried eggplant in satay sauce with tofu, carrots, chillies, onions and roasted mushrooms was a winner.  It was quite spicy, but really yummy, and the addition of the pineapple was just perfect.

The decoration on the wall I thought was just beautiful.

 For dessert we were all a bit naughty, and headed around the corner for some apple strudel.  Naughty.

 

Unfortunately this is the last of my restaurant recommendations for Berlin, but hopefully I've given you all a few ideas of where to go for some delicious vegetarian and vegan food.  Samadhi, Viasko, Amici Amici, Mustafa's vegetarian kebabs and Grandmeister Burger all provided us with incredible food in Berlin, and it was so refreshing to have so much choice.  Now tuck in and let me know if you enjoyed the food as much as I did!  

Heading off to my hometown in Germany next, so see you in Eutin.