Getting my Falafel Fix

Al'Fez make some really good Mediterranean and Moroccan products. Today I tried their Falafel mix, purchased from Tesco. It's ever so easy to make and one packet (which costs under €2) made 12 decent sized falafel nuggets. I shallow fried them briefly, and they tasted much nicer than any pre-made, shop-bought falafels I've tasted before. I would make my falafels from scratch, but at that price and with such a healthy ingredients list why bother going to all that effort?! ;)

I will have to check out more in their range. They have a lot that is vegan - Kofta spice, Tahini, Houmous and Harissa sauce to name but a few... I shall definitely be on the look out for these. In the meanwhile, I think I will be having falafels on a regular basis! They are so delicious in a Mediterranean pocket wrap (like a thinner, but slightly larger pitta), with grated carrot, onion and sweet chilli sauce. Mmmmm!

Gerry's Vegan Transition

I can't believe that I have finally done it - I've taken the plunge and bought vegan dog food for Gerry!

In the past it has been difficult for me to find a good enough deal on vegan dog food to justify spending that amount of money when I have only had a part time job. How ironic it is that now I have been made redundant I am splashing out on it! Actually, getting this deal from Zooplus with the discount for first orders brought the total for 20kg of Yarrah down to just under €65, which is very reasonable indeed.

I really hope Gerry likes his new food, and I shall probably supplement it with rice and veggies depending on how he gets on (I've heard some dogs lose weight on vegetarian food, even though it does make their coats and skin a lot healthier), as well as his other treats. Of course, I can always go back to his normal good quality German organic food if the vegan lifestyle doesn't suit him... but it's worth a try for a couple of months at such a good price, isn't it?!

Chilli'n Out!

Today I made a lovely black bean, sausage and apple chilli. I found the recipe on my Vegan YumYum iPhone app and it looked so simple and tasty that I decided to give it a go. The recipe can be found below, but I used half a can of chopped tomatoes instead of two diced plum tomatoes. The TSP (Textured Soya Protein) I used was the frozen kind from Tesco so there was no need to rehydrate it and it was already lightly seasoned, and the sausages I used were Linda McCartney. It was really lovely! This made loads and there was no need for any rice as the beans were so filling. The Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce really soaked in and flavoured the sausage and mince, and the black beans and carrots were slightly al dente which contrasted the mushy texture of the meat substitutes. We will definitely be having this again as it's so cheap and easy to make!  

My boyfriend has been eating vegan with me for the past few days, after I had a little breakdown and told him that I didn't think I could cope any more with him eating meat around me. This may seem a little selfish on my part, as I've never been one to tell anyone what to and what not to eat... but he does love vegan food and it's going to make it so much easier for us to eat together. I think it will do him good to eat healthier too! What he does when he's out of the house is his own business, but I am glad that he's done this for me, and he's really taking it seriously as he loves to cook and has been enjoying researching new recipes.

Chipotle Sausage Chilli with Apple and Black Beans 
Makes two hearty servings

- 1 Can Black Beans, mostly drained
- 2 Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 Plum Tomatoes, diced (1 Cup, scant)
- 1 Cup Rehydrated TSP, see directions
- 1 Veggie Sausage Link, diced
- 1 Apple, diced (any kind, really)
- 3 Tbs Tamari
- 3 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce (make sure the label says it’s veg)
 - 1 tsp Cumin

Heat 1 scant cup of water to boiling and mix it with 1 Cup dried TSP (or follow package directions). While that is soaking, heat a large skillet with some vegetable oil. Add carrot and stir every once in a while to soften. Meanwhile, dice apples, tomatoes, and sausage. Add these plus the beans and cumin to pan. Stir and cover.

Check on your TSP. Dump out excess water as soon as it is fairly soft and add to pan. Add tamari and Worcestershire sauce, stir well, and cover. Let simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes. Serve with fresh cilantro or parsley.

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In other news, I've booked my ticket to Wales for Christmas to see my father. It's going to be ever so quiet as it's just going to be the two of us for 4 days, chilling out and eating good food. I can't wait! It will make a change from Christmas at my boyfriend's parents' place where there is usually 11 of us around the table! I think it will be nice to have a more relaxing time, as Christmas is usually so manic. I will definitely miss my Gerry-pups though!
























Oh and if you're looking to buy some Christmas treats, Lidl have some wonderful boxes of coconut ice... hint hint!! ;) The Turkish Delight in the picture isn't vegan as it's covered in milk chocolate, but they do sell a version with no chocolate. They are also selling their scrumptious dark chocolate Marzipan bars and raspberry liquor filled dark chocolate barrels again this year - hooray!

I'll leave you with some nice photographs I took recently:

More Ink!

Yup, he's done it again. Joe Deegan has exceeded all expectations and given me a bitchin' new tattoo! A very rare Welsh bird of prey called a Red Kite, with some daffodils and a pink ribbon. It's in memory of my mother and also a symbol of my nationality. I love it!

For those who haven't heard of them before: Red Kites are pretty awesome birds. There are breeding centres for them in the part of Wales where I am from, where there are now 600 breeding pairs. However at one time they were so rare that the entire population of Red Kites was down to just a few pairs and came from one single female bird! These birds have a wingspan of 5 and a half feet would you believe it... that's taller than me! 

Joe and I ate the yummy vegan croissants I made... and I forgot to take a photo! Oh well, I'll just have to go buy more pastry won't I? ;-) 

Aside from this, not a great deal has happened lately. Gerry is thankfully the coolest and most laid-back pup known to the history of dogkind, so the fireworks at Halloween didn't bother him one bit. In fact, it was me that was freaking out in the garden when on the phone to my dad and a few dozen fireworks suddenly went off over my house and rockets started landing on the patio!! The only time Gerry lifted his head was when he saw a beagle on the telly. And that was for about all of 10 seconds. I was quite shocked at how many dogs I saw wandering on the local green with no owners in sight, being left alone to sniff at burning bonfires and trot up to kids with fireworks. There were dozens of dogs barking like crazy, you'd think their owners would have the sense to bring them inside tonight.

My father also came to stay for a few days and even though Dublin had some pretty bad flooding we still managed to get out and do a few things like visit the Japanese Gardens at Kildare National Stud, go out for nice vegan food at Delhi O'Deli in town and Bits'n'Pizzas in Dun Laoghaire, and just generally mooch around and go to a few galleries and drink mojitos. It was a nice relaxing visit.

In other news, I have been made redundant so I have to look for a new job. Whoop-de-doo. Not really looking forward to that. I hate starting afresh. Luckily I kinda saw it coming so I'm quite prepared and not really very phased by it at all. Hopefully I'll be sorted with something by the new year.

Here's a few pics I've taken recently of random goings on :)

Wonderful vintage lighthouse necklace I got the other day.

The Japanese Gardens at Kildare National Stud - so beautiful.

Chilli Corn Soup, a veganised Jamie Oliver recipe, I'll post it up soon.























Gerry out on a walk early one morning.























Autumn leaves.

Remember Logan?

Do you remember Stretch? The little lurcher I rescued?

Well here are some more recent photos! He is now called Logan (Logi for short) and was transported from the rescue centre last month over to the UK by Erin Hounds. He was fostered by a lovely girl who I befriended on Facebook and who posted up these beautiful pictures of him. He looks so much better now and is really coming out of his shell, wanting to play with toys and always running over for a cuddle.

Logi is still looking for his forever home and a soft couch to sleep on and call his own... so if you would like to adopt him or know of someone who's looking for a new friend to share their home with, then get in touch with Erin Hounds today - his rescue information and more photos can be found here.

CROISSANTS!

I was just catching up reading through friends' recent posts, and I came across this entry over at Blueberries' blog about Jus-Rol's vegan home-bake croissants.

I love croissants. I think I could happily live off croissants and only croissants for the rest of my life - so finding out that you can make your own vegan croissants so easily has just totally blown my mind! And putting Spar's own vegan version of nutella inside would make them even more mind-blowing!

I am going to try this very soon and I'll post all about it here. This better not be a let-down. I am already salivating and dribbling all over my keyboard as I type. I am just SO excited.

Delphi Delights

I really love Delphi but have not been able to find a website for them, which is odd seeing as they make so many delicious products. I have tried everything from their fake chicken pieces to their stuffed vine leaves, and have enjoyed them all. I was in Field & Vine today in Rathmines Upper and came across this - their Avocado & Houmous dip:

I am going to try it tonight spread on some bread with some salad. I can't wait to see what it tastes like as I'm a big fan of avocados but it is very rare to find ready-made guacamole which is vegan, and being a big fan of houmous too I think I really can't go wrong with this! I also feel a homemade experiment coming on... Houmous is so easy to make and I've tried making beetroot, red pepper and of course original recipe houmous in the past. I think I should start getting more creative!

It's Just Food...

There's a company that have recently come to my attention called JUST FOOD, who's soups and salads have been popping up lately in Supervalu and Superquinn. They are a 100% organic food company who were established in 2004 by Deirdre Hilliard who began selling her homemade food on a stall at the Midleton Farmers Market in Cork. Since then she has expanded her company, but still believes in cooking fine quality food in small batches from her commercial kitchen in Cobh.

I decided to try a couple of their products as they are currently on offer for €2 in Supervalu. The Spicy Lentil soup and the Moroccan Chickpea soup are both vegan and the ingredients lists are very impressive indeed. There's absolutely nothing artificial in there at all, and everything is organic, right down to the very tiniest ingredient. Yes, even the seasoning and oil are all organic.

The Spicy Lentil soup is probably one of the nicest soups I've ever tasted. If you like curry, you're going to love this. And it is literally packed full of puy lentils. The Moroccan Chickpea was blander and more tomatoey but you could still taste how good and fresh it was. I popped some chana massala spice in there for a bit of an extra kick, because I just love spicy food.

I think I'm going to be buying the whole of Supervalu's stock of the Lentil soup while they are on offer because they are so handy for work. I think I could even make it quite easily myself, so I'm going to give it a go in the near future.

Yummy Gummies!

How glad am I to see GOODY GOOD STUFF sweets in Holland & Barrett!

This company sells sweets with no gelatin, no dairy, no artificial colours, no gluten... and they are fat free! All of their sweets are vegetarian, and a lot of varieties are also vegan. These are the vegan ones - take a look!

Fizzy Cola Bottles
Summer Peaches
Sour Fruit Salad

Holland and Barrett also now have a Reward Card. You can collect 4 points for every €1 you spend, so sign up today and get 150 points free! I just registered to create an online account so will be sent one in the post. You can also sign up for one at any H&B store.

New Ink!

Here's a picture of my new tattoos by fellow vegan and rescued lurcher owner, Joe Deegan... I was almost 6 hours under the needle and was ready to scream at the end - but it was well worth it as you can see!

I'm so happy! :)

There's my Gerry on the left, and a cute girlfriend for him on the right.

Chinese Sweet Porridge

I've often seen cans like these in the Asian Market, and I needed a snack at lunchtime and for breakfast tomorrow, so I decided to try something new and bought a couple of cans.

I'm SO GLAD I did.

Made from mixed beans, glutenous rice, oats, longan fruit and sugar... these are just a perfect balance between healthy and naughty! I will probably strain them in future as I found there was a bit too much syrup for my liking, but I shall definitely be having them again as they are filling and I can imagine it keeping me going for quite some time considering it's such a small can.

So if you love Asian food, have a real sweet tooth, but still want to feel like you're not being totally unhealthy - give it a go!

Git Me Some o'That!

They have a bit of a funny name alright, but Gits Food Company make some lovely products so they do!

I was at the Asian Market a few days ago and happened upon this lovely sachet of Chana Massala for only €1.65. As a fan of Chana Massala I just had to try it. One sachet serves two people, and the boyfriend went crazy over it! The chickpeas are so super soft, and it's obviously been marinading for so long in the packet that all the spices are soaked right into the tender pulses. WOW. Loads of their other Ready Meals are vegan as well, but be careful to check as some contain milk solids...

Gits also have a range of many different Bombay Mixes, which look fantastic! Check them out!

The site also has videos on how to make up their savouries and desserts. Easy Peasy :)

Vegan Inking!

Take a look at tattoo artist Joe Deegan's website. All his inks are vegan... and he owns a rescued lurcher!  I simply love his work, which was brought to my attention by the lovely tattooed beauty Glauce... budding journalist and vegan cupcake-baker extraordinaire :)  Beautiful stuff!!

"You Smell LUSH Today!"

Lush Cosmetics now have their own perfume range and all of them, bar one, are vegan!

I've never been a fragrance kinda girl in the past, I absolutely detest most perfumes on the market and having to walk through the perfume section of a large department store is one of my worst nightmares! I feel like I'm suffocating! Even Lush shops are rather overbearing for me, with all the smells mingling into one another it can be very overpowering and makes me sneeze and my eyes start watering... although, of course, I love their products and individually they smell divine.
























While I was in town with my friend Katie the other day, she pulled out a Lush solid perfume from her bag and I could not stop sniffing my wrists all day after I tried some on! I just had to research them when I got home, and spent ages on their website reading all the descriptions of the various fragrances and the customers' reviews. I came to the conclusion that I simply HAD to go and buy the Vanillary and Love perfumes as they sounded really "me" - and I certainly wasn't wrong!

I am now particularly obsessed with the Love fragrance. I adore its rich, warm apple and cinnamon scents and subtle hints of citrus. Vanillary is gorgeous as well, and is much stronger and sweeter than Love. My friend's boyfriend says she smells like a cake shop when he picks her up after work, and that's hours after she's applied it! It does seem to stay on the skin for a long time, much longer than Love, which only seemed to last me half a day before I had to reapply. Gerry also seems to agree that Vanillary is like a cake shop in stick-format, as he keeps trying to lick it off my wrists whenever I'm wearing it!

What I like about these fragrances, is that they are quite unique in the fact that they can smell different at various stages of the day. For example, when I first applied Love, the smell of flowers and apples was quite apparent. Later on, the warmth of the cinnamon began to come through, then the citrus became stronger, before finally just a slight flowery scent before it vanished. From reading all the reviews online it seems most of these perfumes react differently on each individual person, which I think is quite unusual and also another favourable point seeing as it makes it more unique.

Both fragrances I purchased cost €8.00 each, which is quite a bargain because the solid perfumes have many advantages over the sprays. They are not as strong, not alcohol based so do not irritate your skin, and will not cause a lot of mess like bottles do when they spill in your bag.

Go HERE to view their full range of solid perfumes, and also their limited edition perfumes which are available in the Dublin stores for a select amount of time. Some of the fragrances (Dirty and Ladyboy in particular) apparently also appeal to men, so beware...... they may be stolen by male occupants of your household! Next time I get around to trying another perfume I think I'll go for the Ginger one :)

Another new Lush product that I have tried which is totally vegan is their Toothy Tabs. These are solid tablets of toothpaste that you crush between your teeth then as it begins to foam you brush your teeth with a wet toothbrush. I tried Ultrablast, and I can definitely say that due to the slight abrasive nature it really made my teeth feel cleaner than ever before! They cost €3.45 for a packet of 40 tablets, but the cheapest comes in at €2.50 for 40. They come in an array of different flavours and one that even helps whiten your smile :) I'm really not going to go back to tubes of toothpaste after trying these. I just love them, and also the fact that there's less packaging and they are also fluoride, SLS and preservative free! WIN!

Delhi-cious!

Over the weekend I visited the superb Delhi O'Deli on Moore Street in Dublin twice. I just had to go back for more!

This little vegetarian and vegan Indian café is tucked away just off Henry Street, the main shopping area in Dublin, so it's very convenient if you are out in town for the day and want a small (or large!!) meal at an unbeatable price.

The menu is quite extensive, and it was difficult to choose from, but the dishes are so cheap you can order a few and try several different things without breaking the bank. Most dishes are around €2.45-2.95, and some are even cheaper! They also have daily specials for €5, for which you get a really decent amount of food.

On my first visit, with my lovely friend Katie, we were greeted with a smile and everything vegan on the menu was explained to us. There certainly was a lot that was already vegan or easily veganizable. I opted for the Papri Chaat (a mixture of homemade Indian crisps with chickpeas, potatoes, green chillies, chutney and fresh spices - without the yogurt) and the South Indian VADA Samber (lentil donuts in a spicy sauce served with coconut dip). 

The VADA Samber arrived first. Two large donuts in a sauce which was very flavoursome and not too spicy. My friend had the IDLI Samber which was the same kind of dish only the donuts were made mainly from boiled rice. It was a filling dish but I think the donuts were quite heavy and stodgy, but it was nice all the same. I was extremely impressed with the Papri Chaat though, the chutney was deliciously sweet and the puffy little crisps at the bottom provided an interesting texture. I really enjoyed this and wanted more! My friend had a paneer dish and she said it was the best Paneer she had ever tasted (and she is a big paneer fan).

We decided to get dessert as well (why not?!) and although the only dessert on the menu that was vegan was the Gajar Ka Halwa (carrot pudding drizzled with fruit and cardamom) I was also offered a plate of Soan Papdi - wonderful little sweet square biscuits with almonds and pistachios in them, which reminded me a little of a drier version of the Turkish Baklawa. They had boxes of Soan Papdi behind the counter for sale for €6, and I was very tempted to get one... but I knew I'd eat them all at once as they were just too good, so my tummy advised me otherwise! My friend had the Pistachio Kulfi, which is an Indian ice cream (but is not vegan) and she was also raving about this, saying it was the best kulfi she had ever had.

The chai tea that I ordered was very nice also, but unfortunately I cannot give an accurate opinion on this because the food was so spicy I couldn't actually taste the Chai!!!

On my second visit, I took my boyfriend. I was so eager to get eating that I don't think I gave him enough time to browse the menu so I think he would have chosen differently if he'd had more time. I really wanted to get the Papri Chaat again, which was as good as before, although had a little less chutney than last time. He ordered the same thing but with the yogurt. Unfortunately he didn't really like it, he said that the yogurt didn't mix well with the flavours of the chutney and he'd have preferred the vegan version. I shared my Onion Bhajis with him (such good value for €1.95 as there were two and they were huge!) which were the best bhajis I've ever tasted. They were light and fluffy, not at all like the dense bhajis I've had before in takeaways (or even some of my favourite Indian restaurants!). My boyfriend was very impressed with them too. He also got the Aloo Chaat which was a serving of shallow fried potato cubes in chutney and spices, and we ordered an Onion Parantha to share.

The Onion Parantha was.............. VERY HOT. I had to eat it all as my boyfriend just couldn't cope with it! It was soooo nice, but at the end of it I had to get him to ask for some water. I drank over half a large jug...! This is unusual for me as I rarely need to drink while I eat, and I am a big fan of spicy food. This though, really blew my mouth off, and my stomach was actually burning about an hour afterwards! I just can't believe that it was a breakfast item!! I'd be tempted to get it again though, if I could share it with someone and have a jug of water at the ready at the time of consumption!

We both ordered one of their non-alcoholic cocktails - a Strawberry Mojito, made with fresh strawberries and mint... and "loads of labour"! It was so good that I wanted another, but the whole "loads of labour" bit on the menu made me feel a bit guilty to ask them to go to the effort to make me more ;)

I just can't wait to go back there! I might try a five euro special next time, or go for the Chole Bhature, which is a dish of seasoned chickpeas with onions and cilantro, served with fried breads and served with salad and chutney. I think someone on the table opposite had this and it looked amazing!

The staff were so friendly and helpful, made us feel at home and were very helpful in explaining to us what was and was not vegan on the menu. I think I am going to keep returning here until I've tried everything vegan that they have to offer.............. and then I'm going to start from the beginning all over again ;)

Here's their Facebook page for those who are interested.