Tea and Sympatico

Recently Natural Balance Foods sent me a mixed box of Trek protein bars  to try. Whilst their sister product Nak'd Bars are a staple part of my diet (and always to be found in my desk drawer) I wasn't familiar with Trek bars at all. I think the reason I've shied away from them in the past is that they are protein bars which I tend to associate with people who spend a lot of time in the gym which isn't me at all! However, Trek's are definitely going to be on my shopping list now too. I loved the taste of these bars. I've found with some protein bars I've tried in the past that they can have a bit of a chalky aftertaste but there was none of that going on here. It's hard to believe that these bars are only sweetened with fruit as they are super sweet. The Berry Burst ones actually reminded me of the taste of fruit chews! The Banana Blast ones also have a big hit of sweetness from a fruit cocktail of dates, bananas, apples, pears and raisins. I thi

If your local Home Bargains/ Quality Save has any of these left then grab them! I think there were a few other flavours as well but the blood orange is the one you need for these overnight oats. I make overnight oats around 3 days a week, usually for the days when I'm working in the office rather than working at home. I can make up the jar the night before and then just grab it from the fridge in the morning to eat when I get into work. The joy of overnight oats is the infinite combinations of nuts, seeds, fruits and sweeteners you can add the oats and plant milk so it never becomes boring. Matt and I both agreed though that this was our favourite combination so far with it's delicious choco, orange flavours. Serves 1 1/2 cup of oats 1 tablespoon of chia seeds 1 tablespoon of cranberries or raisins 1 dessertspoon of cacao nibs 3/4 cup of almond milk with blood orange (half the carton) Method Place the oats, chia seeds, dried fruit and cacao nibs in a glass ja

A few weeks ago I heard about a Las Vegas hotel with a vegan food offer . I was interested to discover this as it's unusual for a hotel to do this and hopefully a sign of things to come. One of my best mates also wants us to go to Vegas for Viva Las Vegas the Rockabilly Festival to celebrate a big birthday so I'm starting my vegan research early! The Hotel is the called The Wynn and menu looked great with dishes such as Chick'n Breast with toasted almonds, green beans and mushroom sauce, Old Bay 'crab cakes' and American classics such as Pot Pie and Vegan Meat Loaf. There were also a couple of tasty sounding breakfast dishes such as Peach Pancakes and a Tofu Eggs Benedict. There was also one of my favourite things to make a home - wild mushroom risotto. Here's my take on risotto which has a good glug of red wine in it. Red Wine and Mushroom Risotto Ingredients - Serves 4 1 tablespoon of olive oil 1 red onion 2 cloves of garlic crushed 1 red pepper c

I have to say the thing I am enjoying the most about Vegan Life Magazine is the selection of recipes in each issue. I've tried out recipes from each issue and been delighted with them all. I blogged in my issue 3 post about the salad recipe I tried and I've since made another from the same issue with this amazing roasted broccoli salad below. This was seriously restaurant standard! From issue 4 I've already bookmarked a wheat grass guacamole, fruity chocolate cake and a gorgeous looking spinach and potato curry. There's one thing I've already made though, the amazing almond butter fudge. The weather was terrible last Sunday and we decided to have a rare day on the sofa watching box sets. I nipped into the kitchen between episodes of Portlandia and this came together in minutes. The recipe serves 8 but as there was just two of us I quartered all the ingredients and this made a small box of fudge which was just right for two people. It needed an hour in th

It was Matt's birthday last week so we had both our families over to celebrate. We made two huge roasted vegetable lasagnes served with green salad and garlic bread. If you've not discovered this super easy bechamel sauce recipe from Deerly Beloved Bakery you should definitely check it out. It's brilliant and is all done in a blender with no heating and stirring involved! It went down well and most people had seconds.  For dessert I made two cakes. The first was a coffee and walnut cake from the Cake Scoffer. This is an old favourite that I've made many times and is a great cake recipe particularly for new vegan bakers. The Scoffer series of booklets were written by Ronny who lives near me in Glossop and they are all brilliant. The sequel Return Of the Cake Scoffer is still available but the original Cake Scoffer is now out of print. There's a few copies on Amazon for over £20 so if you do spot one at a vegan fair you should definitely snap it up! There