Tea and Sympatico

The new range of Linda McCartney frozen products was launched the other week. We managed to get our hands on a bag of the pulled chicken and put it to good use last weekend. I decided to team it up with a jar of this free-from Bechamel sauce from Tesco. I always make my own sauces for lasagne and wasn't expecting much but it was ok and I would use it again. I definitely think I would take a jar of it on holiday for ease. One of my favourite lasagnas in my pre-vegan days involved chicken mince which made me come up with a chicken, mushroom and spinach lasagne. I fried an onion then added the bag of pulled chicken and some white wine. I also added a punnet of sliced white mushrooms and some homemade tomato pasta sauce that we had leftover. It was probably the equivalent of a jar of shop bought sauce. I simmered it for about 20 minutes and seasoned with salt, black pepper and a little dried tarragon. I layered up with the chicken mixture and the bechamel. On the middle ...

A few weeks ago I posted this picture in a blog post. We'd been mourning the loss of One 17 Bakery and it's fantastic vegan baked goods and were pleased to see that this new venture was also going to feature them. Glossop already has a reputation as a vegan friendly town with it's pub, The Globe , which has an all vegan food menu and some vegan drinks. There is also a vegan menu at Pico Lounge and some great vegan options at Ayubowan Sri Lankan restaurant. The People's Kitchen event every month at Glossop Labour Club also provides a budget friendly vegan community meal and we have a great health food shop in Peak of Health.  I'm pleased to report that the Pie Parlour has been an amazing addition to the town. Pictured above are a few of the cakes we have sampled. There's an oreo cupcake and the slices are chocolate and mango cakes which are gluten free too. I do find vegan, gluten free baking can be hit and miss but Dianne the owner of the bakery ...

Hello! I am back blogging after an absence of over a month! I'm afraid I've been laid low with back to back viruses. The first one caused acute sinusitis and the second a throat infection. Having the chronic cough condition and a type of bronchitis anyway means that getting anything on top of those is pretty bad. For the first week and a half I struggled to watch telly or read and even get out of bed. It really wiped me out but I'm feeling a lot better this week. It's a bit of a sparse round up for a whole month but here's some vegan finds we've been enjoying. First up is Grassmere Gingerbread . I started first feeling unwell on the weekend of a wedding of some dear friends of ours but luckily the full lurgy held off til the Monday and I was able to attend the wedding celebrations on the Friday and Saturday. They got married in a really beautiful place on the edge of Lake Windermere. As a lifelong fan of Grassmere gingerbread we stopped off on the way home ...