iPhone U, uPhone Me

Just a little update. Not a food related one, unfortunately, but I thought I'd share some photos I took with my iphone. I am TOTALLY IN LOVE with it! The lomo, instagram and hipstamatic apps that enable you to take vintage inspired photos are just so lovely and I'm addicted to them... so here are a few snaps:

I really wish I had something interesting to blog about... tonight my boy is making us a vegan pie containing curried chickpeas, lentils, onions and garden peas. I really can't WAIT to get home and try it! I'll take a photo of it, but it's so simple - and just pretty experimental on his part - so I don't think there will be any need for a recipe ;) If I had my way there would be spinach in there too...

February also brings with it Valentine's Day and our 7 year Anniversary, so I'll be sure to blog about the nice meals we'll be making or having out :)

You Can't Beat the Beatty!

[Picture has disappeared?!! No idea where it went!! It was here for weeks!!]

So a friend and I went to the Chester Beatty Library in town today and decided to try out the Silk Road Café in the building. The staff were quite helpful when I mentioned I was a vegan and told me that the Falafel Sandwich and the Salads were fine for me to eat. I ended up getting a lovely big plate of mixed bean and chickpea salad, roasted vegetables, lettuce and different types of olives. It was a little pricey at just over €8.00, but it did taste very good! My friend is a vegetarian and he chose a puff pastry covered spinach pie. I'm not sure what was in it that made it unsuitable for vegans as I didn't ask - all I could really identify as unsuitable was a tiny cube of feta cheese on the top. I'd definitely eat there again if I was at the gallery but wouldn't go out of my way especially to eat there again, even though the atmosphere is pleasant and there is free guest wifi.

More Cheap Eats, Fun & Friends

I went to Govinda's again last night... yes I know what you're thinking, I'm addicted. You'd be right too, I really am - what do they put in their food? I swear there's some sort of narcotic in there that keeps drawing me back in!

I met with my good friends from Kildare, Rob and Katie. They are not vegan, but love veggie and vegan food. Katie has successfully been a vegetarian now for the last 6 months and admitted to being surprised that she hasn't missed meat one bit. She is an excellent cook so I'm not surprised! It was the first time I'd seen my friends since Christmas so we exchanged gifts over a lovely meal. They gave me a book you're all probably quite familiar with called Vegonomicon, which I was ecstatic about! I've never managed to obtain a copy and have only heard good things about it - it's meant to be the Bible of vegan cookery books and I can't wait to start trying out the recipes.

As for the meal - Govinda's impressed me as always. I got Sweet & Sour Veg, Cous Cous, Broccoli & Carrot, Beetroot, and Chickpea Salad. OMGosh it was good. My friends also got the Vegetarian Lasagne and the Paneer dishes, which they said were really tasty. Here's a picture of my plate, the Broccoli & Carrot mix was actually my favourite part. I have no idea how they managed to make it taste so amazing, but it really was! The Sweet & Sour was not like the conventional type of Chinese Sweet & Sour that immediately springs to mind when you think of that kind of dish, but had a more subtle "curry-esque" flavour which was neither too sweet nor too sour. Perfect!

Give Me Govindas!

I've been to Govinda's a few times recently while out and about in Dublin doing some shopping in the sales. I'm even due to go AGAIN tonight to meet a couple of friends. Here's a photo of a typical plate, costing €8.50 - a bargain if you ask me - Spinach & Butterbean Bake, Curried Chickpeas and two salads. The bake was utterly delicious, with its creamy butterbeans blended with wholesome spinach and topped with crispy breadcrumbs. The curried chickpeas were nice and rather like a mild chana massala, but kinda average, a dish I could easily cook at home... not that that's a complaint, it's a compliment seeing as it's hard to get a meal when you're out and about that is healthy, hearty and has that homecooked feel about it. The salads were a nice accompaniment as they were very fresh tasting and provided an excellent palate cleanser when alternating between the two dishes.

I've had a couple of mouthwatering soups there too in the recent past - including Garden Pea soup, and Lentil soup. The lentil was quite salty and they warned me of this beforehand and offered me a taster before ordering it, but I love salty things so it went down well with me. It was very comforting, warming food. A dish I've sampled there recently that I also do not have a photo of is their Vegan Shepherd's Pie, made with lentils, which was definitely another hit.

Pop along to the Govinda's on Abbey Street if you get the chance - I really do prefer it now to the one on Aungier Street which I always used to go to. They always seem to have a better selection of food, the staff are lovely, it isn't overly busy (maybe a forgotten gem?), and their seating arrangement is far nicer with little booths or alcoves made with back-to-back sofa type seats, which makes it much more intimate. If I worked in town I'd eat here all the time as it's always super tasty and you get a good variety of food on a huge plate, at an astounding price.

Apologies!

Sorry I've been so bad with the updates... I've been working extra days recently, and of course have lots of things to do as Christmas is approaching.We had a Christmas party last weekend and things got pretty mad, which was quite unexpected seeing as it was meant to be just a few people over for a couple of drinks... but that's the way we roll! ;-)

Here's myself and the G-dog. He's dressed in his little Christmas jumper ready for the party, with his little elf-booties. I know, I know, I'm really mean to him, right? C'mon though, it's Christmas, and he'll be getting a stocking full of lovely treats to make up for it!

Here's a photo of what I'm putting in his stocking: a little kitty toy from Ikea, a new lead, some vegetable based toothbrush shaped chews, and my father sent over three packs of "Organic Pet" vegetarian mini biscuits in three different flavours (mint, sundried tomato & spinach, and banana). They aren't exactly vegan as they have honey in them - but they are healthy treats for him so I'm sure he'll be very happy!

Human food-wise, here's a photo of two new packets of soup I found in Aldi, by Soupreme. The vegetable and minestrone ones are vegan - you have to cook them up in a pot with some boiling water, and they are essentially just a big cuppa soup, nothing special and certainly not very healthy... but they are good for a quick snack with some barley, rice and lentil "soup mix" added into them to add some substance. The other packet is a fake chorizo tortilla flavouring from Aldi, which you are meant to add into an egg tortilla - I was thinking it's probably possible to make a tofu-based tortilla, so I'll be giving that a go soon :)

So anyway, I'm sorry for the lack of proper vegan cooking in this update, as always recently, I am way too busy to be experimenting in the kitchen and have just been sticking to making things I've always made: bolognaise, thai curries, pasta and rice dishes, veggie sausages with beans and waffles, etc. I've been trying to get back into eating salad a bit more too.

Hope you are all well and looking forward to the Christmas holidays!

Snow Days

Not much going on in the Velovegan household at the moment. It's been snowing for 2 days, so I thought I'd share some lovely pictures of what we've been up to recently...

Ikea Goodies!

We went to Ikea today, to get a few Christmas presents, some of their adorable wrapping paper and gift bags, as well as some food. Here's a picture of my haul:

















From the left, clockwise:

Elderflower Cordial - I love Elderflower and it's normally so expensive to buy the cordial, so this decent sized bottle at under €3.00 was a steal.

Applecider Vinegar with Lingonberries - I've never actually used applecider vinegar. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do with it? It looked really nice and was only about €1.25 if I remember correctly.

Oat Biscuits & Cappuccino Thins - I've had the spiced orange version of these so I expect they will be just as yummy. The Oat biscuits are gorgeously crumbly and very moreish. They are quite rusk-like and not too sweet, and I tried them with some jam spread on top of them - delish!

Sour Cream and Onion Kettle Crisps - These are vegan despite the "cream" mentioned in the title. They are so good, really crunchy and crispy. I've had the ready salted version of them too, in smaller packets from their canteen.

Filter Coffee - For only €2.00 I couldn't really resist buying some.

Mustard Dressing with Dill - Surprisingly vegan, this is usually served over smoked salmon. I love it so much, it's so tangy and sharp, with a sweet mustardy taste. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, maybe use it as a raw vegetable dip or a salad dressing.

Dark Chocolate - The usual Ikea favourite, I can't not get one at only 45c a bar!

Strawberry Laces - My German friend, if you remember, sent me the toffee version of these and I hadn't seen them in Ikea before, but they were there this time so I decided to try a different flavour.

And below is a Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine and some Blackcurrant and Raspberry Jam. The wine can be mixed with vodka and served hot with raisins and almonds... can't wait to try this traditional Swedish drink!









































And guess who couldn't stop looking at me as I ate my oatie biscuits with blueberry and raspberry jam??? YES... GERRY. He had a taster and give it the Gerry Seal of Approval (the GSA).

Here he is in his new little Christmas jumper! ^_^
He doesn't look impressed...

Field and Vine Salad Bar

I went to sample the salad bar at Field and Vine that I blogged about here a while back. It was sooooo good! Not that expensive either. I was quite cautious at how much I put in to the tub at first, but it only came to €2.50... so next time I filled a medium sized tub and it came to just over €3.00 which was still decent enough. Their chickpea salad is gorgeous, it comes with roasted red peppers, mint and parsley (from what I can deduce), and the tabbouleh is really nice too.

Gerry's Diet Update

Since swapping Gerry onto Connolly's Red Mills Junior complete dog food he's been doing really well. As I mentioned before, it is made from pretty simple, organic, pure ingredients sourced in Ireland, with hypoallergenic qualities. The chicken in it is the only 'meat' he gets at the moment, and since stopping feeding him treats with any dairy or any cheap animal derivatives in them, his skin has improved greatly. I have read up extensively on vegetarian and vegan diets for dogs with skin disorders, and think that after Christmas has been and gone I will be swapping him onto Yarrah complete dog food which I have heard works wonders with dogs with food allergies. Originally I thought it was quite expensive, but I've come to realise that you have to pay more to get any decent quality dog food, and it works out the same as the Red Mills if I buy in bulk. I am also aware that some dogs can be allergic to soy however, so his transition onto Yarrah will have to be rethought if this is the case.

At the moment, although he is still on a meat based kibble, he is extremely happy with all his vegan treats that I have managed to find in local pet shops and over the internet - these range from dried sweet potatoes, to toughened rice bones, to vegetable based crunchy biscuits to chewy dental stars. He goes crazy for them! I'm still mixing some rice, beans and peas into his Red Mills as well. He's one happy, bright, sparky doggie! :)

Stuffed Courgettes (Zucchini)

I love courgettes so much, as you know from my last entry. Best of all I love them steamed with a bit of butter, you really can't get any better than that... but of course that wouldn't make for a very exciting entry... so tonight I decided to have a baked courgette stuffed with a mixture of puy lentils, tomatoes, onions, garlic and salt & pepper to season. One if the halves is pictured below, and I made so much of the filling that I'll be serving the rest of the mixture with some yummy brown spaghetti tomorrow. Happy Days! :)

Survey Thingumy...

1. What is one food you thought you’d miss when you went vegan, but don’t?

Definitely cheese. I didn't think I'd miss meat much as I love meat substitutes, but I thought cheese would be something I'd be craving all the time. I used to love sitting down with a chunk of brie on some crackers and dipping it into warm vegetable soup... but I really don't miss it at all! I prefer pizzas without cheese (with refried beans instead) and I love tofutti cream cheese on crackers with cranberry sauce at Christmas and melted cheezley on pitta bread. I don't know how I used to like that smelly, salty stuff before!

2. What is a food or dish you wouldn’t touch as a child, but enjoy now?

I pretty much used to like everything as a child... but dark chocolate has really grown on me, as well as things like dates and prunes.

3. What vegan dish or food you feel like you “should” like, but don’t?

Since I was a kid I've hated raisins, sultanas, currants and rhubarb. So anything with those in is a big no-no for me. I never used to like bananas and was convinced I was allergic to them for about 28 years of my life! However I discovered I was ok when I ate one a few years back but I still don't like them in their raw fruit format, only mixed into baking and desserts. Also, I got pretty sick after eating tempeh not so long ago. I used to love the stuff but now I can't even bear the thought of it.

4. What beverage do you consume the most of on any given day?

I am really bad at drinking water. I really just don't like the taste of it. So I'd say coffee is what I usually drink, especially on work days! However whiskey may come a close second ;)

5. What dish are you “famous” for making or bringing to gatherings?

I am not famous for any dish I don't think!

6. Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?

I like to eat desserts with a teaspoon, and sometimes I leave the best thing on my plate until last :)

7. What’s one food or dish you tend to eat too much of when you have it in your home?

Bagels with vegan nutella! I try not to buy them very often nowadays...! I'm also a big sucka for crisps and marzipan :)

8. What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available prepackaged?

Pretty much everything. I love cooking from scratch as it always tastes so much better, but sometimes I'm just too lazy to do that, so I make do with the prepackaged stuff. Homemade soup is just THE BOMB though, but sadly I'm just way too lazy to make it all the time. Hmm, this reminds me - I really need to make some winter stews again soon!

9. What ingredient or food is worth spending the extra money to get “the good stuff”?

I don't really ever spend huge quantities of money on any groceries. I just try to find the best quality foods at the best prices possible! Asian and Indian markets are a real gem when it comes to this. However, that said, I do love to shop in gourmet shops from time to time but mostly won't buy something if it's extortionately priced. Although I do spend a long time sourcing the best alcohol, there's no compromising there!! ;)

10. Are you much of a snacker? What are your favorite snacks?

Yeah I snack all the time! I prefer to eat small portions throughout the day than eat big meals. I find it keeps me ticking over throughout the day. Nakd bars are my favourite snacks, or a toasted bagel, dried wasabi peas and broad beans, or some soya yoghurt. NOM!

11. What are your favorite vegan pizza toppings?

Definitely pineapple, refried beans, gherkins, sweetcorn, onions and BBQ sauce. Sliced seitan sausages are great too!

12. What is your favorite vegetable? Fruit?

It's impossible to choose one of each. I'm more of a veggies person than fruit though. I love butternut squash, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, roasted peppers, onions and courgettes. The fruit I like most are raspberries, melons, pineapples and mangoes.

13. What is the best salad dressing?

Balsamic vinegar, or just plain salt and pepper.

14. What is your favorite thing to put on toasted bread?

Pure sunflower oil spread, raspberry jam, blackcurrant jam, peanut butter or vegan nutella.

15. What kind of soup do you most often turn to on a chilly day or when you aren’t feeling your best?

Sweet potato and butternut squash, lentil, carrot and coriander, creamy broccoli or chunky vegetable. I love all soups!

16. What is your favorite bun flavour? Icing flavour?

Coffee, hands down!

17. What is your favorite kind of biscuit?

I love bourbon creams, hobnobs, pink wafers and anything homemade from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

18. What is your most-loved “weeknight meal”?

Lentil or textured vegetable protein bolognaise with spaghetti is a favourite comfort food of mine. Or vegetable thai curry. Then again pizza is good too!

19. What is one dish or food you enjoy, but can’t get anyone else in your household to eat?

Aubergines! Everyone else seems to hate the texture.

20. How long, in total, do you spend in the kitchen on an average day?

Probably a couple of hours, if I'm not super busy.

P.S. IT'S NEARLY CHRISTMAS, GUYS! WAH-HOOOOOO! :-D

THE Nicest Pumpkin Soup

1 small Pumpkin
4 small Onions
2 medium Sweet Potatoes
Olive Oil
Vegetable Broth
Garlic Purée
Pepper

Dice the pumpkin, onions and sweet potatoes. Stir fry them in a pan for 5 minutes with some olive oil and garlic purée. Add vegetable stock and water to cover the veg, bring to the boil and then simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft. Grind in some pepper to taste, then put everything into the blender.

Result - two portions of amazingly sweet, comforting, yellowy, homely, warm, mushy goodness. It's so creamy and light it's hard to believe there's no soya milk or cream in it!

I also made Gerry some Sweet Potato Chews of my own:

I sliced them raw and put them in the oven at 140 degrees for almost 3 hours. They were really good, I ended up stealing some from him, and he went CRAZY over them, begging for more (hence the blurry photo)! I will have to wait for the ones I ordered to arrive in the post, to see what kind of texture they are meant to be. They are meant to be a veggie alternative to rawhide, so they are meant to take a while to chew, but mine were gone in an instant - maybe because they were too small (they shrank a lot as they were dehydrating). I'll have to experiment more...

Cuppa Soups, Bones & Sweet Potato Chews!

Everyone's blogging for Vegan MOFO (Month of food) at the moment. I feel like I should be joining in, but it's not really me. I've always been one to go against the grain and refuse to participate... not in a bad or selfish way, I mean I just prefer to do what I want, when I want. Is that so bad?? It makes sense to me!

After my last entry I revisited the shop in Terenure (Nolan's Food Fare, if anyone is interested) and while stocking up on another couple of cans of soup for work I also noticed these babies: Organic cuppa soups by Just Wholefoods. They are both vegan and apparently there is also a carrot and coriander flavour available. They cost around €1.50 for a packet of 4 sachets and are really delicious. It's so difficult to find vegan cuppa soups as most seem to contain milk protein or powder of some sort even if they are vegetarian. The only other, which I've blogged about before, that I've come across, is the minestrone flavour from Lidl.

I made another couple of vegan purchases for Gerry today as well. When we stopped at the pet shop after his run in the park and splash in the lake, I noticed this Marrow Bone treat by Yuppy Puppy. It's like a Nylabone, so lasts for ages, and is filled with a vegetable based jerky flavour paste. It's great for conditioning doggie gums and keeping teeth healthy. Here's my little monster doing his best advertising for the Yuppy Puppy company. I reckon he should get paid!

The other vegan treats I purchased were from the Treatsfordogs Ebay Shop - a few Antos Cerea rice bones which are hollow and can be filled with peanut butter or veggie paté, and some dried sweet potato chews which are a vegetable version of rawhide and apparently last longer! I'm going to try making some of my own for Gerry, according to instructions over at Sable's Supper.













I've been eating pretty unhealthily and sporadically over the last few weeks, I need a kick in the butt to make me start cooking again. I think it's just a temporary hitch, brought on by the new lifestyle of owning a dog. Now that I have someone else to feed and worry about I've been neglecting myself! I am determined as of tomorrow to get back into the swing of things, I can't be setting a bad example for the furry dogchild, so I must start being more healthy from now on!

Workday Autumny Warmers

Here are some new lovely Winter (Autumn!) Warmer discoveries for you. I went to a local Gourmet shop today in Terenure and picked up some Carrot & Coriander soup by Suma, and some Moroccan Chickpea and Shrilankan Lentil & Coconut soup by The Really Interesting Food Co. All soups state that they are suitable for vegans on the labels, and are ideal organic lunches for me to have quickly at work. Really tasty and quite a bargain at just over €1.50 each. The Suma soup was oddly watery, I'm more of a fan of a stodgy carrot and coriander soup, but it was still tasty and is fine soaked up with some brown bread.

I'm really slacking in my updates recently due to trying to save money and eating quite cheaply and unadventurously. I haven't really made anything new and interesting to blog about, just sticking to my old staple favourites. I didn't even do anything on Hallowe'en to warrant an update - horrific in itself, I know! I did see quite a few bonfires and fireworks, played with sparklers with my boyfriend's nieces, stole their sweets and watched The Evil Dead, but we didn't go to a party this year and I mostly stayed in and made sure Gerry wasn't scared. He actually didn't mind the fireworks one bit... probably because he's used to us being noisy most of the time, and our doorbell miraculously ceased to function for one night only, so I don't know if we got any Trick or Treaters! My cute little pumpkin is still sitting in the kitchen waiting to be hollowed out, carved, and turned into a delicious soup. I won't get around to it til the weekend, but I'm still going to do it! I'll have to think of a different design to carve on my lantern, as it's a bit late for something frightening...

Below are my last two years' Hallowe'en costumes. A Flight of the Conchords Style Robot and Old Gregg from the Mighty Boosh. I love dressing up so much and put all my effort into my costumes. I just adore rifling through charity shops to find everything I need, it's such a challenge and I enjoy anything creative so wherever possible I try to make what I wear.

Gerrywise, I do not have much news on his diet. I still have not managed to swap him onto fully vegan food. I think it is going to take more time than I anticipated, because at the moment I am still trying to determine what is causing the rash on his belly and mouth. The DSPCA vet thought it may be mange, and gave him an injection, but it doesn't seem to have cleared it up, so I am convinced that it's an allergy of some sort. I am giving him some Piriton allergy tablets and keeping him away from long grass. I don't know whether it's an environmental allergy or a food allergy, so I've swapped him to the best food I can find locally at the moment, with the purest and simplest Irish ingredients available. This food is Connolly's Red Mills Leader Junior, which is much better than the Bakers' Puppy food that he was raised on, as it has no sugar, salt, artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives. The fewer ingredients in his kibble the better, so as to reduce the risk of allergies. He seems very happy and healthy on it so far. I am going to see how he copes on this food for a while, and continue to research the best vegan / vegetarian kibble to buy him. It's extremely hard to get hold of here in Ireland, and what you can get hold of (Yarrah or Wafcol) is quite expensive. So at the moment the best I can do is to feed him organic meat kibble of the simplest and healthiest ingredients, supplemented with fresh rice and veg, with some special vegan treats from the Veggie Pets website now and again.

Fry's Polony Sausage

I was in town the other day and came across this in a freezer section of a health food shop: Fry's Polony. It was quite expensive at just under €5.00, but I decided to give it a go because it was pretty large and would probably do me 2-3 meals. I was actually looking for seitan, and this was the closest I came to it that day. It does, in fact, taste EXACTLY like paté, so for people who used to like that sort of thing then this is a winner! It's garlic flavoured and you can eat it raw, heat it up in a microwave, fry it, grill it - do anything with it really. It's not very spreadable though, but I think this would be pretty amazing filling for a sausage roll. I don't think meat eaters would be able to tell the difference! It sort of tastes like the fake meat in Linda McCartney's vegan sausage rolls. Here's a picture of the sausage cut in half, you can get about 6 thick slices out of half a sausage. I had to hold it up to take a photo as Gerry kept sniffling it and trying to eat it!
















I fried it lightly in a frying pan and served it with some steamed green beans and broccoli as I was starving and didn't feel in the mood for cooking when I came home. Granted, it doesn't look very appetising or adventurous, but I did enjoy it! I'll try something a little more exciting with the other half over the weekend. I'd say it would be nice as breadcrumbed burgers, or in a warm bagel with fake cheese and rocket.