#veganuary day 25 part 2

Some days only a fishless finger sandwich will do:

#veganuary day 25

Today, chipolte stew and cheesecake for afters.

We had lovely people round for dinner last night. They aren’t vegans, actually they raise sheep, but they like our food all the same.

I made the stew with mixed beans potatoes and a variety of veg:

And a bought sauce along with nutritional yeast, vegetable stock and tomato paste.

We ate it with extra roast potatoes, garlic naan and a salad of avocado, tomato and cucumber.

Then for afters we had cheesecake which was coconut cream and cashew nuts with an Oreo base, mango to decorate:

#veganuary day 22

Today, vegan gumbo.

It took a while to prepare and cook, but it was fairly straight forward.

And it was really tasty. I had been looking for a gumbo recipe for ages, so was glad that both R and i enjoyed this.

It was also good reheated the next day, making it great for work lunches. We both recommend it!

@channel4 and @weareveganuary

According to the channel 4 Instagram page, channel 4 “champions unheard voices” and “stands up for diversity”

Apparently that is, unless you are a vegan:

As such I, along with many others have complained to channel 4, because let’s face it, unless they unequivocally and publicly apologise, they are a bunch of complete hypocrites. Below is the complaint I sent via their website. I encourage you to do the same.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to complain about a post (now removed) on your Instagram page. Apparently channel four thinks its okay to call vegans asswipes. I appreciate that in the public realm, it is perfectly acceptable to make jokes about other people and as vegan my friends do make jokes. However being called an asswipe is not funny. What it is, is school bully tactics to deride someone different to you. I am genuinely insulted and it being on Instagram, it doesn’t lessen the rudeness. I can’t imagine you would allow a news caster on channel four news to say such a thing. And to make matters worse, it appears nobody can be bothered to apologise. Would channel four be happy to call women asswipes? What about a particular religious group? Or perhaps a particular age or class demographic? If not, can I ask why as a vegan, who has chosen a particular lifestyle based on care for the environment and respect towards animals, I am a legitimate target?
I would not only appreciate a reply to my complaint, I would also like to see a genuine apology from channel four via your Instagram account.
Might I also suggest some education around kindness and respect for the employee who thought it was okay to post such an offensive picture and message.
Yours faithfully,
Karen Turnbull

#veganuary day 21

Today, Chestnut Mushroom Bourguignon.

This was a quick and easy meal that we both really enjoyed and it was a change from the kind of spices we often use.

We had it with rosemary and thyme roast potatoes.

Another dinner in the repertoire.

#veganuary day 20 #wickedkitchen at @tescosuk

We thought we would have a treat and we were interested in what tescos new range of plant based ready meals were like, so we tried a couple:

I have to say, they were both totally delicious.

They aren’t huge, and R would need more food for the main meal of the day, although they were right for me.

Also at £4 each, they make an expensive meal, but they are cheaper than takeaway and really good quality, making them a valid treat in our opinion.

All in all we loved them and will be buying more.

#veganuary day 15

Banana and raisin cake…

2 bananas mashed

3tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp soya or oat milk

150g self raising flour

3 tbsp of xylitol (or sugar)

1tsp mixed spice

40g raisins

Mix all the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately.

Then mix them together and bake in the oven at 200C until brown on top and you can stick a knife in it which comes out clean.

#veganuary day 10

Home made chocolates…

The big ones are almond and date truffles covered I’m chocolate and the rest are either plain or have a cherry or crystallised ginger added.

The recipient I use is:

100g cocoa butter

100g cacao powder

100g agave syrup

3g vanilla

Melt the cocoa butter, stir in the vanilla then the cacao. Add the agave syrup and stir 100 times.

Pur into silicone moulds.

The truffles are soaked dates blitzed to a creamy consistency and ground almonds added until you have a dough like texture.

Eat… Once set if you can wait 🙂

#veganuary day 9

Big Mac n not cheese..

Ahh I love Mac n cheese, and as it happens you can still eat it as a Vegan:

The Big Mac I used was..

And the cheese on top…

So I cooked 200g of the pasta, and while that was on the go, I made the sauce with:

2 tbsp chickpea flour (you can use ordinary plain flour)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

10g nutritional yeast

2tsp English mustard powder

400ml soya milk (use oat milk if you can’t have soya)

Salt and pepper

This is the mild version, if you fancy it stronger add

1tsp extra mustard

10g more nutritional yeast

10g of the violife

Mix the cooked pasta with the sauce, grate some violife on top and bake in the oven till brown.

It makes about 700g cooked. Yum…