When I first looked through River Cottage Veg Everyday after getting it as a gift from my best friend for Christmas, I knew immediately which recipe I just had to make:

Sweet Potato? Peanut Butter? Hell yes! However the main ingredient in this after sweet potatoes is double cream, not exactly vegan friendly, so I decided to do a Laura version of the recipe. I changed up some of the flavours adding ginger along with the garlic and extra chilli instead of the lime, using silken tofu to replace the cream and because I’m such a fan of the sweet potato and almond butter combo, switching up the nut butters.

While this is still a rather rich recipe, the omission of the oil and cream from the original recipe reduces the amount of fat, and the inclusion of the tofu brings some protein to the party to balance out the carbs from the potatoes. A healthy makeover indeed!

Spicy Sweet Potato and Almond Butter Gratin (Adapted from Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin: River Cottage Cook Veg Everyday, vegan, serves 2)

• Approximately 500g of sweet potatoes
• 1/2 block of mori nu silken tofu
• 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp of finely chopped red chilli (I used lazy chilli from a jar)
• 2 tbsp of almond butter (add a little salt if your nut butter is unsalted)
• salt and pepper

Pre heat the oven to 190c. Begin by making the tofu cream – blend the silken tofu in a food processor or blender with 1/2 a cup of water and combine with the ginger, garlic and chilli. Peel the potatoes and slice into thin rounds about 2-3 mm thick. Add the potatoes to the tofu cream along with some salt and pepper and mix well.

In a separate bowl mix the almond butter with 2 tbsp of hot water until smooth.

Grease a baking dish (I used two individual ones) and fill half full with the sweet potatoes. Spoon the almond butter on top:

Layer on the rest of the sweet potatoes pouring on any remaining tofu cream in the bowl.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 40 minutes. The potatoes should be tender and browned on the top. Serve!

This is rich, sweet and spicy with a lovely hit of salty creaminess from the almond butter. The topping becomes slightly crispy and caramelised, so good! Due to the ginger, garlic and chilli this has quite an Asian flavour and would go really well with some stir fried veggies like broccoli or a fresh green salad. Obviously this isn’t as creamy as the original recipe would have been, but you could add more of the tofu cream if you wanted a more creamy result.

Delish!

Are you a fan of the sweet potato and nut butter combo?

Halloween has to be one of my favourite ‘holidays’. I wish we did more to enjoy it here in the UK, although I do think that if I have children I will definitely be making the most out of it! When I was little pumpkins seemed to be quite rare here. Instead my Mam painstakingly carved out the insides of a rock solid swede – or turnip as we always called them. Add a black bin liner and some green eye shadow and me and my sister made mighty fine witches!

When I saw a big fat pumpkin in Aldi last weekend I thought I would indulge my inner child and buy one to carve and I have to admit I was already thinking of how I would use the flesh in a tasty recipe!

This is based very loosely on my old Thai Green Sweet Potato and Leek Soup, reimagined with a pumpkin twist:

Thai Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Soup (vegan, serves 4)

• 1 large onion or 3 small leeks
• thumb size piece of fresh ginger – optional, I use because I like a bit of extra warmth
• 2 tbsp of Thai Red Curry Paste (I used Thai Taste brand which is vegan)
• 200mls of coconut milk (I used full fat)
• 4 cups of coarsely chopped pumpkin flesh
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• hot vegetable stock (I used hot water from the kettle and a tsp of Marigold Swiss Bouillon powder)
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce or tamari (if needed and according to taste)
• Pumpkin seeds and extra coconut milk to serve (optional)

1. Begin by scooping out the insides of your pumpkin, roughly chopping the flesh and setting aside. Keep the seeds and make this – they taste amazing! If you aren’t making a Halloween lantern out of it then you can just slice it up and cut the flesh off the skin.

2. Finely chop your onions or leeks, grate the ginger if using and chop the sweet potatoes – skin an all, into cubes.

3. Warm some oil (coconut oil would be good) over a medium heat in a large pan adding the ginger and curry paste first. Once that has become fragrant, add the onions or leeks and fry gently until they soften.

4. Add your pumpkin flesh and sweet potato and fry for a few minutes before adding the coconut milk.

5. Cover the vegetables with hot vegetable stock and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes until the sweet potato is very soft.

6. Give it 5 minutes to cool and then puree using a regular or immersion blender.

7. Taste for seasoning and add the soy sauce / tarmari if desired.

8. Serve topped with pumpkin seeds and an optional swirl of coconut milk.

This soup is a fantastic way to use up pumpkin. The sweet potato adds rich sweetness as sometimes I have found fresh pumpkin a little watery. If you wanted you could easily switch up the pumpkin for another type of squash or use all sweet potatoes.

The warmth from the curry paste is nicely mellowed by the coconut milk to create a creamy filling soup.

This is definitely one of my all time favourite soup recipes as it is so easy to make, is full of flavour and has the added benefit of being extremely healthy – the pumpkin and sweet potato are rich in antioxidants, the ginger and spices give it an immune system supporting boost and the coconut milk adds healthy fats. 

A pretty perfect recipe for the grown ups this Halloween, even if it does allow you to indulge your inner child…

What do you make with your Halloween pumpkin?

What a totally amazing chilled out day I've had!

I think the clocks going forward must have left me feeling a bit weird as I woke up at midnight and could not sleep. I ended up having to take some herbal sleeping tablets. They worked but when I woke up my head felt really fuzzy. I did something I haven't done in ages and had breakfast in bed while watching the Australian Grand Prix (go Button!). I had a mug of warm water then some home made muesli mix containing puffed brown rice, jumbo oats, quinoa flakes, ground flax and grape nuts with skimmed milk and some red grapes for sweetness.

I pottered about a bit then got on with my workout - 20 mins of Davina Body Kick Fit section followed by my weights routine as laid out in my March training plan. After I'd done that I had a serious craving for a green monster so I blended up a load of spinach with a frozen banana, vanilla rice milk, a scoop of vanilla whey, a spoonful of peanut butter and a bit of water. It was absolutely yummy!

I then started on my cooking. Firstly I made some Courgette and Watercress Soup, taken from Sophie Dahls cookbook, Miss Dahls Voluptuous Delights. 

3 Courgettes, chopped
Bag of watercress
1 large white onion, chopped
Veg Stock
Olive oil

I fried off the onion in a little olive oil on a meduim heat until translucent, then added the chopped courgette followed by the veg stock. I let it simmer for 10 mins then added the watercress and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. I let it cool, then used a hand blender to blend till smooth.

This is slightly different to the original recipe as that included cream which certainly isn't in my fridge! For something so simple, this tastes really lovely, like spring in a bowl! This recipe made 4 portions. I'm going to freeze two and have the other two during the week.

The second thing I made was some Veggie Burgers (more on that in a mo). After I'd cleaned up the kitchen I went and did 45mins of my Yogalates DVD, I had planned on doing the full hour but my mind was just drifting on to lunch. I made myself an amazing salad of spinach, little gem lettuce, cucumber, grated carrot, red onion, roast red pepper, beetroot, and feta cheese. It was quite possibly the best salad I've ever had!

I also had a couple of little chopped apples.

After chilling out in front of the TV some more, I got on to making some Cherry Bakewell Babies! I had some cocktail cherries to use up after I made my Chocolate Mousse with Cherry Compote a couple of weeks ago. I was inspired by both Chocolate Covered Katie's fudge babies and Averies Oat and Raisin raw cookies and I came up with this.

Cherry Bakewell Babies

1/2 cup of porridge oats
1/4 cup of dates
1/4 cup of whole almonds
1 tablespoon of raisins
6 Cocktail Cherries

I started by blending the oats in the food processor to a semi fine powder. I then added the dates, almonds and cherries and blended some more until the mixture started to clump together. I then added in the raisins and blended some more. I rolled the mixture into balls and popped into cupcake cases.

These are far too tasty! They taste just like cherry bakewells! I know that cocktail cherries aren't the healthiest ingredient, but theres not much of them in this and they give a wonderful flavour. I'm sure that dried cherries would also work well. I ate two of these with a cup of green tea as a mid afternoon snack (plus some of the mixture out of the food processor and another 6 cocktail cherries may have found their way into my mouth in the process!). I also had a bowl of red grapes.

For dinner I had one of the Veggie Burgers I'd made earlier using a recipe inspired by Angela at Oh She Glows. I used:

1 tin of chick peas
1 small red pepper, roughly chopped
1 small red onion, roughly chopped
1 small carrot, roughly chopped
a handful of spinach
3 garlic cloves crushed
1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder
Wholemeal spelt flour
1 tbsp of pumkin seeds
1 tbsp of sunflower seeds

I basically whacked all the ingredients, except the flour and seeds, in my food processor and blended till smooth. I then added the seeds and mixed in flour gradually until the mixture reached a thick consistency. I got 4 burgers out of this mix, I wrapped the rest in clingfilm and popped them in the freezer. I fried mine in a hot pan till browned and cooked through then served it with some steamed brocolli and brussel sprouts.

I followed that with an orange.

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

The weekend has flown over again, I can't believe its back to work tomorrow. At least its a short week, I'm really looking forward to Easter this year. I'm expecting a bit of a blow out food wise next weekend so I think I'll be trying to be as healthy as possible this week in preparation! I think that I saw a Lindt Dark Chocolate Bunny at my Mam and Dads yesterday and I know that J has a secret stash of Cadbury's Creme Eggs somewhere. Whats your favourite Easter treat? Hope you have all had a lovely weekend x

Next weekend the U.K will be celebrating the Queens Diamond Jubilee! I don’t mind the Royal Family so much, and any reason for us to get a double bank holiday is fine in my book! I also love how the Jubilee and Olympics have given the country a bit of a party atmosphere too!

Next weekend I’m throwing a little party for some of my friends and family so I thought it would be great to make a special recipe to serve on the day. I was also challenged as a member of the Dairy Free Dream Team to submit a recipe for their Facebook bake off – not that I need any more excuse to bake a cake! Last week I had made a batch of tofu cream that tasted so good with strawberries and blueberries and I thought this combination would work wonderfully with a traditional vanilla sponge cake. I also thought the red, white and blue would be very patriotic!

This recipe is so so simple, its vegan, pretty healthy as far as cakes go, and most importantly it tastes fantastic!

Jubilee Vegan Vanilla Cream Sponge Cake (adapted from Vegan Society Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe)

• 125g plain self-raising flour
• 75g spelt or wholemeal flour
• 4 level teaspoons baking powder
• 115g natural caster sugar (or a combination of other sweeteners such as xylitol or stevia – I used 75g sugar and 50g xylitol)
• 140ml vegetable oil (I used rapeseed oil)
• 310ml Rice Dream Rice Milk (or other non dairy milk)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the vanilla cream:

• 1 package of Mori Nu Silken Tofu
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp of agave syrup

Strawberries and blueberries to decorate

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Place all wet ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Sieve in the flour and combine. The batter will be quite runny, but don’t worry! Divide the mixture between two well-greased round tins.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, turn out on to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

To make the vanilla cream: blend the tofu, vanilla and agave in a food processor or blender until smooth. Scoop out into a bowl and leave in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.

Once cake has cooled and ‘cream’ has chilled, spread a layer of the cream on one half of the cake, adding fruit if desired. Sandwich the other cake on top and add more of the cream and berries. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 3 days although I highly doubt it will last that long…

I’ve never felt so much like a domestic goddess!

If left in the fridge for a little while the cream soaks into the sponge, so yum! That sponge recipe is fantastic, it would also be great simply with a layer of strawberry jam and a dusting of icing sugar on top.

Are you a fan of cream and sponge cakes? Are you planning on celebrating the Jubilee?

Around this time last year I was enjoying a love affair with a simple yet delicious salad featuring fresh figs and walnuts with honey and sea salt inspired by another blogger (this blogger appears to be no longer active sadly). As delicious as that was, I always felt that what would really make it pop would be the addition of some creamy salty goats cheese. Being vegan (apart from honey) at the time, I resisted that addition, however now that I am embracing a more liberal approach to eating I could not wait to try it out!

Fig, Goats Cheese and Walnut Salad with Honey and Sea Salt (Vegetarian, serves 1 generously)

• 4 cups of shredded greens – I used romaine
• 3 fresh figs
• 100g of full fat soft goats cheese (I used organic)
• 1/4 cup of walnut halves roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp of honey
• pinch of salt

Add your greens of choice to a large bowl. Cut the figs into wedges and scatter over the greens then crumble over the goats cheese. In a small bowl mix the honey, sea salt and walnuts until the walnuts are well covered in the honey mixture and scatter on top of the salad. To make the dressing combine all ingredients well and then pour over the salad, serve immediately!

You could easily veganise this by replacing the goats cheese with a tofu ricotta or a nut cheese and replacing the honey with agave or brown rice syrup.

This salad would also taste delightful with any number of changes made to the combination of fruit, nuts and cheese depending on the season and your tastes, for example peaches, cherries or pears would be great in this as would pecans or macadamia nuts and feta or cheddar.

Even an apple, pecan and Cheshire cheese combo would be amazing!

I can certainly see me enjoying a variation of salad on a regular basis from now on!

Do you like the addition of fruit in a salad? What’s your favourite fruit and nut combo?

Hello how’s your Tuesday going? I’ve had a nice day at work followed by an awesome Body Pump class but more on that tomorrow!

I thought I’d share the recipe for the delicious bean burgers I made at the weekend:

Spicy Rye and Bean Burgers (vegan, makes 4 burgers)

• 1 medium onion
• 1 small courgette
• 1 slice of rye bread (I used quinoa and amaranth)
• 1 tin of kidney beans
• 1 tbsp of ground flax mixed wih 2 tbsp of water
• 1 tsp of hot chilli powder

Finely chop the onion and courgette – I used a food processor or you could just chop very finely with a knife. Crumble the rye bread into crumbs – or again, use a food processor. In a separate bowl combine the flax and water and leave to gel for a few minutes to create a flax egg. Add all ingredients to a food processor or bowl and either pulse to combine or mash together. Divide the mixture into 4 burgers and wrap in cling film or foil, chilling in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking. To cook, place on a greased oven tray and bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes, flipping carefully half way through (they will seem ‘wet’ but will firm as they cook. If you prefer to fry in a pan add 2-4 tbsp of flour of your choice at the blending stage to create a firmer burger.

These are lovely spicy, hearty burgers with a great taste from the rye bread. They would taste great served in a bun with ketchup or stuffed in a pitta with some spinach and sweet chilli hummus. I cooked them both ways, in the oven and in a pan (with some extra spelt flour added) and both ways turned out great. If your not a fan of spice I think they would still taste good without or you could even try them with other spices and herbs.

Other lovely eats include yesterday’s breakfast, something I haven’t had in ages, muesli:

Alara Maca Muesli with brown rice puffs, a chopped apple and rice milk. This was really lovely, the texture of the muesli was perfect and went all mushy in the milk!

I also made myself a gorgeous Asian flavoured salad for lunch:

Romaine lettuce, red and green pepper, carrot, cucumber and some baked tofu marinated in ume vinegar, mirin and Chinese 5 spice powder with a simple but delicious dressing of toasted sesame oil and more ume vinegar.

I also had this simple but tasty bowl of soy yoghurt with a chopped peach and flaked almonds:

I adore plain soy yoghurt!

Before I go the lovely Sarah and now also Nicky have tagged me with the current 7 Links thing doing the rounds, so here we go!

• Your most beautiful post – I think my post on Changing Perspectives from Skinny to Healthy that I did for Caitlin’s Operation Beautiful link up was one of my most beautiful posts in terms of meaning :-)
• Your most popular post – In terms of the most page views (excluding giveaways) I was surprised to see that my simple socca post is very popular along with my Finding Balance post (my response to the controversial post below)
• Your most controversial post – without a doubt my Being Vegan for a month post when I discussed my on going weight loss which attracted a number of challenging comments.
• Your most helpful post – my Big Budget challenge tips No1 and No2 
• A post whose success surprised you – I think the post I did on Healthy Eating in a relationship was surprisingly popular and I was surprised at how many people could relate to it!
• A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved – this is very tough! This is cheating a bit as its not actually a post here on this blog but a guest post over at (never home)maker I did on my Healthy Living Journey, I think at the time I completely forgot to link to it on the blog – please check it out! 
• The post that you are most proud of – easily my Great North Run recap :-)

I’d like to tag Tam, Jessica, Jemma, Eleanor and Ffion to do the 7 Links next!

What would be the ingredients of your dream burger? I think my spicy rye and bean burger is pretty close to mine but I would love experimenting and making one full of some of my favourite foods such as kabocha squash, quinoa, gram flour, peanut butter, edamame and sweet chilli sauce! In fact I may have to just try that…

A few weeks ago I ordered Super Natural Everyday from Amazon. I was already a fan of Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking, and her blog 101 Cookbooks so was excited to see what recipes would be included in her latest offering.

Her recipes are all vegetarian and many are vegan or are easy to veganise if you wish. As soon as I saw the recipe for the Wholegrain Rice Salad I knew it would be on my ‘to make’ list. The recipes introduction states: ‘cherries don’t have a season, they have a moment’ and as that moment is now I didn’t waste anytime in making my own version of that recipe!

This salad is a great way to use some sweet cherries that are currently ‘having their moment’. I’m a lover of fruit in things like salads instead of the usual desserts and this is a great example of that. Even if you don’t make the actual salad give the dressing a try, you won’t be disappointed!

Cherry and Brown Rice Salad (vegan, makes 2 servings, adapted from Wholegrain Rice Salad recipe in Super Natural Everyday)

• 1 cup of fresh cherries, pitted and halved
• 1/2 cup of brown rice (wild rice or a brown and wild mix would be extra tasty too)
• 2 cups of baby spinach
• 1/2 cup of walnuts
• 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp of olive oil or hemp oil
• 1/2 cup basil

Start by rinsing your rice and cooking in twice as much lightly salted water until fluffy and tender. While the rice is cooking make the dressing by blending about 3/4 of the pitted cherries with the vinegar and the oil until smooth. Taste the dressing and add a pinch of salt if needed. Once the dressing is made, toast your walnuts (if desired) in a hot pan and finely chop the basil. When the rice is cooked toss it with the spinach so that it wilts. Add the remaining cherries, walnuts and the dressing (you might have some dressing leftover) and sprinkle with the chopped basil. Serve warm or leave to cool in the fridge.

This makes a lovely side dish, I had some with tofu and broccoli:

If you wanted to make it a meal in itself, you could add some protein in the form of beans or tofu directly into the mix – a tofu feta, or vegetarian feta, as in the original recipe would be delicious too.

The dressing on its own is fantastic as well, I had some with a basic leafy green salad and it added a wonderful sweet and sharp flavour.

A great way to use up those cherries indeed! How have you been enjoying your cherries?

Hi everyone, happy Wednesday! Half way through the week already :-) Hope you are having a good one!

This is what I got up to on Monday. As usual I started the day with some warm water and lemon before making myself a pumpkin scramble:

I scrambled a couple of farm eggs with some egg whites then added tinned pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of salt. I added a nice big spoon of almond butter on top. Love this meal!

I also had a mug of my favourite Clippers Indian Chai tea with unsweetened almond milk and stevia:

I was working from home so it was great to be sat at my little desk getting things done at 7am! Another great thing about working from home is being able to make multiple pots of tea and stay warm in slipper boots:

I think I must have made about 4 pots of loose leaf green tea throughout the day to keep me going.

Mid morning I took a break and decided I fancied a smoothie. I blended frozen spinach, a couple of cooked beetroots, chocolate sun warrior, unsweetened almond milk and a little ice with some added water and stevia:

I topped with some bee pollen and it was delicious, I love beetroots in smoothies no matter how random it sounds ;-)

For lunch I went with leftovers from the night before. I had been mentioning to you that I was going to try eating some red meat again and I did! I bought some organic lean minced beef and fried it with garlic, onions, celery and courgette then added some tomato passata and Italian seasoning:

I had it with roast spaghetti squash. I just loved this and my body was totally fine with the meat. It certainly helped me with that red meat craving!

Mid afternoon I started getting the munchies so had a chopped apple and carrot with a pot of peanut flour paste for dipping:

Then a little later I was practicing a recipe for some one I’m doing some health coaching with - 3 ingredient no bake breakfast (or snack) bars! These were so easy to make and of course I had to try a couple for tasting purposes ;-)

3 Ingredient No Bake Protein Bars (makes 6, can be vegan if using vegan protein powder, can be gluten free if using GF oats)

• 1 cup / 100g of porridge oats
• 3 scoops of protein powder of choice (I used peanut swirl spiru-tein)
• 2 tbsp of nut butter (I used peanut butter)

Combine ingredients in a bowl, adding water a few tbsp at a time until the mix becomes doughy. Line a square pan or lunch box with cling film and press the dough into the pan (I used another sheet of cling film on top as it was sticky!) Leave in the freezer for up to an hour to firm up then take it out of the pan, remove the cling film and slice into 6 bars. Wrap in foil and store in the freezer.

Due to the protein powder already being quite sweet, these didn’t need any sweetener so you will have to see what works with your ingredients. You could also add dried fruit, nuts, seeds, cocoa powder etc to change up the flavour. I just ate mine pretty much frozen and they had a great chewy fudgy texture.

Those bars fuelled me nicely for my yoga class! I did mention a couple of weeks ago that I was going to stop traveling to Newcastle for Hot Yoga now that the nights are getting darker and I’m getting busier. I emailed Jambo the yoga teacher just to let him know why I wasn’t coming to class anymore and he said his colleague Conrad ran a class in Durham – not a hot class but still the Forest Yoga style that Jambo teaches. I was chuffed to try it!

Source: Jambo Yoga

I love yoga but the more gentle styles don’t seem to suit me very well – and the other classes going on around Durham tend to be too gentle for me. This class was awesome! It was a very small class and we did a few challenging sequences and even practiced headstands up against the wall. I was knackered after the class and I can still feel my quads two days later! The class is also held just a 5 minute drive away from home. I will certainly be doing this every week from now on :-)

It was getting a bit late by the time I got home and as those bars had fuelled me pretty well I just enjoyed a big mug of Leek, Greens and White Bean Soup:

Followed by a mug of cococardio with some mint extract added for a minty hot chocolate!

After that I chilled out with James and had some cuddles then made a hot water bottle for bed:

I know its not that cold at the moment but I’ve been finding that just warming the bed up slightly helps to relax me into a deeper sleep.

How is your week going?

Have you busted out the hot water bottle yet? Even though the temperature hasn’t been that cold this week, it has been so grey and foggy its just nice to have it for comfort! 

If you’re a yogi, what style of yoga do you prefer?