My favourite place

One of my favourite things about my blog is sharing my favourite veggie places! The Alley Cafe in Nottingham has to be top of my list. Their food is fab, the atmosphere is really relaxed and the staff are all friendly. Most importantly there's plenty of vegan options.

When I lived in Nottingham I was a regular but sadly now I live on the south coast I don't get to visit as much. One year I went there for my birthday meal and got a sparkler in my dessert, ace. Plus their chocolate biscuit cake is to die for! Needless to say when I do get back to Notts I always try and engineer a visit!

Easter weekend I was teaching back in my favourite city so managed to combine dinner with some good friends, with a visit to the Alley!

As well as a brilliant menu covering sharers, mains, light bites and sandwiches there's, always a specials board and a choice of vegan desserts which includes a 'cheesecake'.

While I was waiting for my friend I ordered a refreshing juice. The Alley offers a huge menu of fresh juices and smoothies. My favourite is the banana and chocolate smoothie if I'm in the mood for something sweet, in fact this could be a dessert in itself! This time however I went for a refreshing orange, carrot and ginger. I've always been afraid of trying carrot juice before but it was really refreshing and tasty - I felt much more awake afterwards! 

I went for something light and simple for my main - baked Alley nachos with soy cheese. Just what I fancied and it left plenty of room for dessert. Different to normal nachos these are an Alley special and are brill if you don't fancy a huge rich meal.

For dessert I chose vanilla and rhubarb cheesecake which was a wonderful sweet ending. In the past I've tried mint choc chip, Baileys, and various fruity ones, they really are yummy!

So if you're ever in Nottingham the Alley cafe is definitely worth a visit. It's quite small inside so can get pretty busy,  and there's can a bit of a wait for food, but it's well worth the wait! If you're going for a special occasion it's worth booking a table just to be safe. If you're heading out in the evening then make sure you check out their cocktail menu and look out for special events like Jumpers for Goalposts which are held regularly.

Check out their website for more info www.alleycafe.co.uk

Lattice Tart Experiments

Inspired by a wonderful lunch I had a few weeks back at the Beech Cafe at Petersfield's Sustainability   Centre, I was determined to have a go at creating a tartlet of some kind! As most of my cooking tends to be, this wasn't hugely planned out, I had no recipe, but figured I'd just give it a go and see how it turned out!

Amazing lunch at the Beech Cafe.

Deciding to cheat, I bought ready made pastry (who needs to be making pastry from scratch after a long day? Not me!) You can pick these up from the fridge aisle in the supermarket, I found mine in Sainsbury's. I'd never used this before but was delighted when I turned it over and found a recipe for a vegetable lattice tart on the back! Sainsbury's we salute you!

I had most of the ingredients called for, even the cream cheese, as happily I had discovered these super cute pots of Mini Tofutti in Holland and Barrett the day before!

I didn't have all of the ingredients though, so decided some improvising was needed! The recipe called for sun dried tomatoes (nope) and onions (not a huge fan) so I decided to raid the fridge and use up what I had. Here's what I used:

• 500g block of Sainsbury's Puff Pastry
• Box of chopped tomatoes
• Tbl spoon of tomato puree
• Half a green pepper
• Good handful of mushrooms
• Half a courgette
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• Mixed herbs
• Soy milk

The recipe asked for roasted veg, but I was hungry and it was late so I opted for a bit of gung ho recipe ignoring and scrapped this stage! I bet it would have been even tastier if I had roasted the veg, and sweet potato or butternut squash would have rocked!

First I cut the block of puff pastry in half and rolled out one half until it was roughly 30cm x 35cm. I greased a baking tray with marge (grease it well!) and laid this piece of pastry out on the tray.

Next I rolled out the other piece to the same size. This is a GREAT arm workout! Sainsbury's do a ready rolled version too though, phew! (Note: For some reason they don't seem to have the non-butter block I used on the website, just the ready roll - look out for Jus' Roll brand as many of these are vegan).

Following the recipe I chopped the garlic and fried it for a couple of minutes. Skipping the onion, I threw in the tomatoes, puree and some mixed herbs and let it all simmer for a bit, around 5 minutes. Next time I would do this for longer until the sauce was thicker, as I did end up with sauce running everywhere when I transferred it to the pastry. Oh dear! See recipes really do know best sometimes!

Next I threw in the veg and mixed it all up, before spooning it on to the tray, and added a couple of dollops of Tofutti on top. 

Then I folded the second sheet in half and cut diagonal lines in the pastry. I smoothed it over the veg and squished the edges together. Make sure these are pressed well together and that your tart has breathing holes, you may find the lines you cut have stuck back together again in the moving process.

Before you pop it in the oven brush soy milk over the top of the tart. Bake for around 25 minutes until golden (FYI it smells AMAZING whilst cooking). Mine was ready just in time for Game of Thrones, perfection! I served it with a side salad but had the leftovers the next day and it was equally awesome all on its own!

I've definitely been inspired to try more pastry recipes, maybe something sweet next time! If you have any recipes of your own, or ones that you've tried out I'd love to hear them! Have you ever had a go at making vegan puff pastry from scratch? Let me know!

For now, I'm off to catch some rays with my furry buddy Harry.

x

Raspberry Dazzle Nails

I'm a big fan of Barry M nail varnishes! Not only do they come in a huge range of vibrant colours, but it's a company with ethics! Most of the production is done in the UK and the company is a proud supporter of cruelty free! All of the products are vegetarian, and most of them are vegan, there's even a handy little green V symbol in the ingredients list on the website, so you know exactly what's vegan!

Most of Barry M's nail paints cost around £2.99 so having awesome nails doesn't have to break the bank either! Hurrah!

Here's a quick how-to for creating my favourite glitzy nail manicure - I call it Raspberry Dazzle! It gives maximum effect without needing a degree in art!

You'll need:

Barry M All in One 54
Barry M Vivid Purple 161
Barry M Magenta Glitter 336

* First a base coat - always use a base coat! Leave this for a minute or two to dry.

* Now apply a generous coating of the Vivid Purple. This is quite a thick paint so one coat should do the trick! Leave to dry for another few minutes.

* Next apply the Magenta Glitter. Once I've done both hands I go back over them again (starting with the first hand) to give extra sparkle!

* Once this coat is pretty much dry, paint with a top coat of the All in One. Leave for a minute or two then apply a second coat for an extra smooth and glossy finish!

The key to a fabulous finish is letting each coat dry in between applications. Don't rush it or you'll end up with a smooshy mess that takes forever to set (and we all love those duvet/jeans imprints or lovely dents - ick!)

Top tip

I swear by the All In One paint - it really helps a manicure last! I usually find that with a generous top coat my nails will remain chip free for around 5 days, and if you wear marigolds when washing up (or do what I do and persuade the OtherHalf to do it for you) it can last for more than a week.
If the finish starts to dull after a few days you can shine it back up by simply adding a fresh coat of All in One!

If you want to read more about Barry M's cruelty-free ethos and its vegan ranges visit  http://www.barrym.com/be-cruelty-free
If you're feeling creative why not take part in the #BeCrueltyFree competition as part of Cruelty Free Week!

Valentine's Vegan

Valentine's Day just happens to be my boyfriend and I's anniversary, this year we decided to treat ourselves and booked into Brighton's top notch veggie restaurant Terre a Terre. Well I say treat ourselves, we had vouchers so it wouldn't cost us anything - talk about a win win situation! :)

The Valentine's menu was very tempting with lots of mouthwatering dishes, all with cute Valentine's inspired names! Both the starter and dessert dishes were sharers, leaving us only one difficult decision - the main! I chose 'Kelp, I Need Somebody'!

Getting started

But first our starter of 'Slap and Pickle'...

This contested of 'Brûlée Vous' - which was Jerusalem artichokes served with bay cream, pickled Jerusalem artichokes, deep fried with Poire William and raisin relish.

And.. Arepas Chilli Candy - which was deep fried corn cakes rolled on spice dust served with chilli chelly jelly, avocado hash, oregano and lime mojo and a candied chilli. Phew.

Plus there was a mini Truffle Porcini and Chestnut soup with fennel seed tempura mushrooms.

I don't think I could have picked a favourite out of all these but the tempura mushrooms were to die for! 

Kelp I Need Somebody

Slow soft sake baked aubergine sizzled with tahini, sesame and white miso finish served with edamame wasabi and yuzo pesto, sesame ginger dressed Arame Wakame vegetable thread salad and a hibiscus, amchur, nori salt dusted puffed rice seaweed cracker.

Wow! Notice how the cracker looks like a shark fin hee hee! I have to admit this was really rich, so I did start to struggle towards the end, particularly with the aubergine, but worry not, my other half polished up the last of it. I love wakame salad and the cracker was really tasty, with a wonderful texture.

Sweet endings

Dessert! Orgy Porgy Pudding and Pie sharing platter - I thought I was full but apparently not - I still made an excellent dent in this little lot!

Spice up your life - Coconut milk, saffron rice pudding.

Miss Marble - Snappy pistachio wafers served with snow balls. Kalamansi clementine spiced ice, almond amaretto freeze, coconut rum balls and sparkles. 

Armagnac Tartine - Rich prune and chocolate almond Tartine served with cream finished with apple and pear syrup, prune purée, apple snaps and pumpkin seed praline.

The Miss Marble was really exciting. I know that popping candy is all the rage in gourmet deserts but I'd yet to try it and this was a wonderful surprise! So fun to eat! I also adored the Tartine. I literally couldn't eat another bite after this and almost had to be airlifted home.

Well done Terre a Terre for another amazing food experience!

If you've not been before then check out their website for their regular menu

www.terreaterre.co.uk

Lovely, lovely in Southsea!

What can be better in life than cake and a catch up with a good friend? This afternoon I spent a wonderful few hours with my old school friend and her little ones, we had lunch and put the world to rights over cake. Ace!

We'd heard that The Southsea Coffee Co. in Portsmouth sold vegan cake, and as her son has a dairy allergy we decided we had to investigate!

Set in Osborne Rd, Southsea, the cafe doesn't look much from the outside but the inside is wonderful; a really inviting space with plenty of seating and super friendly staff.

Although the menu wasn't huge the food was lovely - beautifully presented and tasted great too! Plus there was around 3 or 4 vegan cake varieties! The sandwiches are huge - I went for the hummus, sesame and carrot sandwich, just remember to ask for no pesto and butter. I also had a scrummy chocolate cake and the buttercream was to die for! 

My little companion had his heart set on porridge and jam. Unfortunately when ordering we hadn't remembered to check if it was made with milk and on arrival immediately realised it was. It couldn't be made without it either as the porridge contained milk powder. Totally our mistake for not checking but the staff couldn't have been nicer.

Instead the little man was offered toast and jam, which he happily spent a good 20 (sticky) minutes spreading on all by himself and then ate both the giant slices on no time at all. All washed down with fresh juice and raw flapjack. One very happy four year old.

We weren't charged for the porridge and the lovely lady even gave him a little treat to take home, as he'd been so disappointed about the porridge! What customer service!

The atmosphere is lovely - really relaxed and they even had a resident artist working on a mural. My favourite part was the chalk board wall at the back where your little companions can draw and scribble to their hearts content! (OK it was me!)

Well worth a visit if you're in the Southsea area and fancy a spot of lunch, or coffee and cake, I can highly recommend Southsea Coffee Co!

http://southseacoffee.tumblr.com/

Chocolate ponderings

My family have a massive sweet tooth, it's definitely some kind of gene, we are all choc-aholics! So, whilst visiting York everyone was desperate to visit The Chocolate Story - an interactive experience which explains York's part in chocolate making history.

Rowntree's was founded in York, although unfortunately it's now owned by ethically dubious corporate giant Nestlé. The Chocolate experience is sponsored by Nestlé and promised lots of chocolate tasting - so apart from not wanting to buy into it, I wasn't sure I was actually going to get much out of it, expecting it all to be the more kid-popular milk chocolate.

So when my family went off to get their chocolate fill, I headed off for a mooch around the shops of York, and treated myself to some scrummy chocolate and ginger tiffin from vegetarian deli Goji. An hour and a half later I got a call to say that they hadn't actually managed to get into the tour as it was fully booked so they had given up and decided to try again tomorrow! *sigh*

So today, after learning all about the grusome history of the Vikings at Jorvik it was time for take two. After umming and ahhing for a bit I decided I didn't want to walk around on my own in the cold again and to stick with the fam. It turns out I was pleasantly surprised! 

The chocolate tour

I learnt a whole lot about the history of chocolate in the UK (and beyond), more about the process of chocolate making, how to taste the full flavours of chocolate and lots more! There was plenty of chocolate tasting, including an Aztec drink. Nearly ALL of the chocolate offered throughout the tour was vegan, the only bits that weren't suitable were the lolly making, which I simply ducked out of, and the handmade chocolate demonstrated right at the end. I was very pleasantly surprised!

There was a fair amount of pro-Nestle, corporate self-promotion (to be expected) but despite this I actually really enjoyed the tour.

My favourite part was the chocolate demonstration at the end - the chocolatier Alison was so knowledgable and made the process look so easy. She was also more than happy to answer questions and even said if I had any difficulties in my experiments at home that I could email her! I love creating handmade chocs to give as gifts and made some for friends for Christmas this year, and while they usually taste fine they never look very pretty. Now I have have lots of new tricks to try which I'm looking forward to giving a go! I also now know how to create filled chocolates so am determined to be brave and try it myself!

Of course no good attraction is complete without exiting via the gift shop. Most of the chocolate in the shop was from UK based companies and there was a huge amount of vegan options to choose from including Booja Booja truffles, MooFree, Divine and Montezuma. It also has a chocolate bar which makes proper hot chocolate and has soya milk available. Of course I had to get a cup!

UK Vegan Food Swap October

Yay! My goodies from this month's food swap have finally arrived!

There's lots of healthy treats from this month's partner and I can't wait to try these Sweet Potato and Buckwheat noodles with the Chilli and Garlic Sauce in a stir fry.

The ground Hemp and Flaxseed are perfectly timed as porridge season is officially upon us now that the clocks have gone back. In fact I've been meaning to look out something like these as they are ideal for adding to porridge for an extra omega kick to your breakfast! So this is great!

The chai smells amazing and is currently filling my kitchen with a mouth watering aroma. I'll definitely be taking this with me to work for chilly days. I adore chai and haven't bought any in ages!

For more info on the swap or to join visit 

http://www.tohappyvegans.com/wordpress/uk-vegan-food-swap/