Tea and Sympatico

There's been lots of baking going on in my house this week! After making 100 cakes for the LRM launch last Saturday I did a lot more baking for work. My lovely work colleagues donated money for baked goods and raised another $95 towards Hillary's Go Fund Me to get her rehoused and her cats back. If you've not donated yet and can spare a few quid to help a vegan blogger friend then please, please pop on over to the site and also please share it. She could do with one last boost to get to the target and the money will greatly help with getting her and the animals resettled. The Golden Vanilla Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World are always a winner and are a recipe that works really well to double up on to make a big batch. The Chocolate, Orange, Walnut brownies are the same ones that I made when I won the Bake-Off competition at work last year. They are the vegan brownie recipe I've found that tastes most like a non-vegan brownie with a perfectly

I've been thinking a lot this week about community and what that means. In these times of political uncertainty when the media is bombarding us with bad news after bad news and the cost of living is shooting up it's easy just to want to become a hermit and not leave the house unless you have too! I have to admit, I've been feeling really affected but a couple of things have happened in the last week that have made me want to fight back against feeling like that. First of all we went to The Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival . Matt did his new Battle for the Ballot show on the first night and we got to spend a weekend in the sun catching up with lovely friends listening to inspiring music and speeches including a visit from Jeremy Corbyn. We've also both been involved with an exhibition organised by The Loiterer's Resistance Movement   I love what the LRM manifesto says - 'We can't agree on what psychogeography means but we all like plants growing out of the

A few years ago I asked friends both online and in real life for help after my friend Jan was badly injured in an accident on holiday in Uganda and an insurance loophole meant that we had to fund raise to pay for a medically assisted flight home. I was so proud when so many people I know stepped up and made it happen. I am asking for help again. Can you spare the price of a coffee, a beer, a bottle of wine? Can you spread the word of this campaign on your blog or social media platform? Vegan bloggers you may well know Hillary. She often comments under the name Vegan Peace and she writes the blog My Cat Loves Daiya . Hillary lives in Seattle and has had a run of bad luck. She moved to Seattle a year ago but then unfortunately experienced a relationship breakdown and loss of work. She was left with a twelve month lease on an apartment which she lost a week ago. She is homeless and has had to put her family of cats into a shelter. Anyone who has read her blog knows what characters t

The other week I had the house to myself as Matt was away recording the songs he's written as songwriter in residence at the People's History Museum . He's even been doing a blog about it here . I picked meals that were easy to put together and that I didn't mind eating more than once! This deceptively simple salad was so tasty. It took minutes to throw together and came from one of my Carol Vorderman Detox books. It's onion, cooked puy lentils, cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley and mint and toasted walnuts with a simple dressing made from red wine vinegar and olive oil. The herbs and the salad leaves were all 'free' from the yard as an added bonus. Also, not pictured I made a millet salad from the Candle Cafe book. I'd decided to dig out my copy of Candle Cafe and try out some new to me recipes as I always seem to do the same ones from it. Above is a Ginger, Miso Stir Fry I had with basmati rice noodles made by King Soba. I love King Soba noodle

I've had a bit of a blogging break, a combination of illness, a bereavement and just not having the energy or enthusiasm in the last few weeks. To be honest with what's been going on both personally and in the country in general food blogging has seemed a bit trivial but it's what I do and what I love so I'm back. First of all here's a couple of mini bakes. As there is only two of us in the household I've taken to baking half recipes of baked goods. I'll quite often chuck a couple of things from a bake in the freezer too then there's always something if we fancy a treat. Pictured are the mango and coconut muffins from Vegan Brunch . A friend gave me a bag of dried mango and apart from snacking on it and using it in these muffins I've also been loving it in overnight oats. The brownies are the recipe from Vegan Diner . I didn't realise until we tucked in that I'd accidentally used peppermint instead of almond extract but it turned out to be a