Bitta Pitta Pizza

This weekend I've been experimenting with fake cheeses and meats. I decided to make some mini pizzas out of pitta breads, cut in half, smothered in BBQ sauce, then topped with tomatoes, fake Taifun Tofu Weiner pepperoni slices and Cheezly Mozzerella style fake cheese.












 

















I remember trying fake cheese a long time ago, back when I was vegan first time around, in university... it was disgusting. However, I'm much more of a foodie now and thought I'd give it another go to see how my tastebuds would react: verdict = positive! Cheezly really does melt like real cheese, I also prefer it to real cheese as it's not as strong tasting or as stringy, so it's not overpowering and it's soft and easy to eat. I was unsure of how long to actually cook it, so I think my first pizza was a bit undercooked, but it was still melty and really delicious. I've included a close-up photo of my second pizza, and you can see that the cheese has gone bubbly and slightly browner, like real cheese does. However, it was horrible when it was uncooked, straight out of the packet. I don't think I could bring myself to eat any fake cheese product which hasn't been cooked. I think this is what may have put me off fake cheeses when I was back in university!

I'll definitely be using this again, but I won't be keeping it as a staple item in my fridge, because I simply don't see the need to eat replacement products all the time.























































I haven't used the Vegi Deli Chicken Style Pieces yet, but have had them before and they are really nice in stir fries. I was going to put them on a pitta pizza, but just decided to stick with the pepperoni in the end.

Another quick thing to do with the Tofu Sausages is chop them up and put them in BBQ Baked Beans and heat them for a minute... it's really nice for a super-rushed breakfast, and they taste so much better than the real canned mini hotdogs in baked beans. In fact I'd definitely say these babies taste almost exactly like real hotdogs. The over-processed, soft texture is exactly spot on, and they taste smoky too, like the real thing... but better!

I picked up some more noodles from the Asian market as well this weekend, as I want to make mixed vegetable Ramen soup again this week. I could spend forever looking at all the different types of noodles in their crazy, bright packaging. There are rows upon rows of them in our Asian market, and they're all so cheap at around 35-40c each! I opted for the Mama Artificial Chicken flavoured noodles that I got last time, as they were good, as well as Mama's rice noodles. I had these the other day for a quick snack and I was NOT impressed. I always put all the flavouring in straight away, but there was something funny tasting about these ones, and the chilli powder burnt the roof off my mouth!! I had to wash some of the flavouring off, it was that bad. I suppose I should have checked the taste as I was adding it, but most of the time it's fine so I really didn't think to check. I won't be getting these again.

I also picked up some artificial chicken flavoured Pho Ga noodles. These must be my favourite instant noodles of all time. Yes, a bold statement to make, but they are really that good! They are super-thin and flat rice noodles and you get a really decent amount of flavouring, herbs and garlic oil included in the packet. I remember eating these exact ones as a student in Bristol and was really excited to discover that our Asian market stocked the same ones. I should have picked up more! I have been searching for another flavour that I used to love, but I haven't been able to find it yet. I remember it being bright reddy-pink and I think it may have been pickled cabbage flavour, or something like that. Sounds revolting, but it was sooo good!

Weekend Wanderings

I've had a fantastic weekend! On Saturday I met up with a very good friend and we went to the Hugh Lane Gallery. On the way we picked up a soya latte from Insomnia and some sushi and a curry from Kokoro, to eat in the Gardens of Rememberance opposite the Gallery. Kokoro didn't seem to have all its veggie and vegan sushi on the shelves, so all I got was the avocado, cucumber and sweet tofu rolls with a ginger soy sauce dip. My vegetarian friend got their tofu curry and we totally forgot to ask if it was vegan for the purpose of the blog! She said it didn't taste like it had any dairy in it though. The sauce tasted like a much better version of chip shop curry sauce, and the squash, cauliflower, peppers, onion and courgette were tenderly cooked. At just over €6.00 she was really impressed as it was a very decent, filling portion. My sushi cost €5.95 for 10 pieces and the dip, although when all the vegan sushi is available it usually comes to around €8.00 for a fuller bento with more pieces. I would have been so much happier if they'd had the oshinko and kampyo rolls available, as I find cucumber sushi quite boring...

We passed by the Nutz stall in the Ilac shopping centre. I am not sure how I managed to resist buying bags and bags of their treats, but I did! I love their dark chocolate brazils, peanuts and pieces of ginger. They also sell Japanese rice crackers, dried fruit and roasted / coated nuts.

After visiting the Hugh Lane - having a good nose around Sir Francis Bacon's studio and having fun deciphering the strange artwork of Ronnie Hughes - we went to the Live Food Market in Temple Bar. I love this place! My friend got a raw vegan cocoa & coconut energy bar from Natasha's Living Food stall to take home with her - I'll have to find out how she liked it. I remember getting it when my father was over and I really liked it, although I must admit that I can make nicer and cheaper ones at home from my Rawvolution book, and at the time I was really jealous of the blueberry cashew raw "cheese" cake that my father got! The fake cheesecakes and tarts were melting in the sun, which is why my friend opted for the more solid looking bar - but I guess that's not usually a problem in Dublin! I had to content myself with trying a few samples of their raw vegan flaxseed crackers and kale crispies, as I'm not rich enough to justify buying such decadent treats. Their salads and burgers always look so appealing though, so I'm determined to try these in the near future.

I decided to get some Indian snacks from the vegetarian Indian stall at the market, but as we were there quite late in the day most of their food had gone, which demonstrates just how good it is! I managed to nab the last Spicy Kofta, which they confirmed was vegan, as well as a vegan potato savoury. I think their samosas are also vegan (as most samosas are), and all their ingredients are listed on the labels. My friend bought a block of traditional Indian fudge, made from condensed milk. I used to love fudge and find vegan fudge rather expensive, so I just have it as a birthday or Christmas treat... I'm sure my teeth thank me for that!

We went for dinner at the famous Dublin vegetarian and vegan restaurant Cornucopia. I cannot emphasise enough how amazing this place is! If you ever come to Dublin, this is the place to go. I was still quite full from lunch (and my breakfast of BBQ baked beans on toast) so I asked for a small salad. I wasn't really expecting much for €4.50, but I ended up with a HUGE bowl of sprouted bean salad and a rice salad with tofu and mixed vegetables! The dressing on the sprouted bean salad was heavenly (lemon and ginger from what my tastebuds could determine?) but I wish I'd chosen a different salad to the rice one as it was nowhere near as nice as the sprouted beans and was rather heavy. My friend got the Lentil Dhal (for around €12.00), which came with brown rice and a choice of two salads. She struggled to finish it, so luckily for her I was on hand to help! We were both busting at the seams after this so we didn't get a chance to try dessert this time. I love their tofu cheesecakes. In fact I love ALL their vegan cakes! I think next time I go there I'll just go for a coffee and a cake :)

We visited the Secret Book and Record Store, a very well hidden little shop just down the road from Cornucopia which also houses Freebird Records, and I managed to pick up a virtually brand new copy of How it All Vegan for €6.00. I love this book and can't wait to try it out! Not only does it have the usual food recipes, but it also tells you how to make vegan toothpaste, lip balm, cleansers, cleaning products, face masks, scrubs, baby oil, sunburn lotion, perfume, bug repellant, mouthwash and treats for your pets, amongst loads of other really cool things! We stopped into Lush as well and my friend bought some of their solid Karma perfume and some Vanilla soap. We love Lush, there are so many vegan friendly products there that it's impossible to choose what to get!

Sunday was another good day. I had the Marks & Spencers Vegetable Curry  for lunch, that I purchased last week, along with the Kofta I got in the market the day before. It was really good! The Kofta was really crispy on the outside and tasted quite like an onion bhaji, but the inside was soft and full of mashed carrots, sweet potato and laden with the usual lovely Indian spices.

 
I was going to cycle out to Ikea this afternoon, but when I met the boy from work I was already dripping in sweat from the mostly downhill cycle, so we decided it was WAAAY too hot to cycle all the way out there. Instead we moseyed into town to do a bit of clothes shopping. Look at the lovely stuff I got below, from H&M, Top Shop, Pull'n'Bear and Awear - and it was all vegan, even the knitted hat (made from acrylic fibres).   We grabbed a quick bite to eat from M&S and had a picnic in the sun - I had falafels with a hummus dip, some oven baked crisps, and an orange and raspberry smoothie. The boyfriend had a brie, cranberry and grape salad sandwich (a vegetarian option - I'm so impressed with him!!), some of their vegan onion bhaji crisps, and a vanilla yoghurt drink (booooo!). I liked the falafels, I've had them before, but I was NOT impressed at all with their baked crisps. They tasted like cardboard, no lie! They also didn't taste very vinegary, so I was very disappointed. I hijacked the boyfriend's onion bhaji crisps instead and they were really good, I wish I'd got those instead!

I'm spending this evening sitting in the garden with a couple of cold Scotch whiskeys and some coke... this weather is just too damn good to be true! I wish we could have predicted it and had a barbecue! :) Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend.

Field & Vine

There's a chain of health food shops in Dublin called "Field and Vine". I've only ever visited the Rathfarnham and Rathmines Upper branches so I'm not sure exactly how common they are in Ireland. However, the times I have visited have been very positive experiences.

They sell anything from fresh organic veg (I was rather tempted by the large, plump artichokes although am not sure yet what to cook them with so managed to resist!), fresh sandwiches and cakes, and a fresh salad/olive bar, to gourmet meats/fake meats, fairtrade chocolate, preserves and extensive dairy produce/dairy alternatives.

The shop is not entirely veggie or vegan, but as you can see has a few lovely vegan options at the salad bar. Their chickpea salad, the tabbouleh, and the fresh courgette salad look nice (pictured below), as does their seedy grated carrot and coriander salad. The other side of the salad bar is dedicated mainly to different types of olives. I remember before this shop in Rathmines Upper became "Field and Vine" it was called "The Olive Branch", and I used to go here to get tubs of sundried tomatoes and several decadent varieties of stuffed olives: a real treat!

As I have so much food in the house at the moment I opted for a couple of things I could keep in the fridge for a long time: some Tofu Breaded Nuggets by Provamel, and this Smoked Seitan Steak by Wheaty. The seitan was quite expensive for such a small burger-sized portion (at just under €3.50), but I do love seitan so I couldn't resist. Seitan is hard to get hold of in Ireland, as is vital wheat gluten, so it's even more difficult to make it! I plan to have these little delicacies next week and would like to buy some mozerella style Cheezley to melt onto the seitan and add it to a bagel or a bun with some BBQ sauce and rocket. NYOM! :)
 

I also found this ginger dark chocolate by Butlers (an Irish chocolate company) in the picture below on the left. I was unaware that they did this ginger bar, and have only really tasted their almond and orange chocolate before... which I may add is really worth checking out!

Barbecue!

Today we went and bought a barbecue, seeing as the weather this weekend has been like Summer for the first time. I love it when washing dries on the line within half an hour and you can bask in the heat of the sun. We've been doing a bit of work on the garden this weekend while the sun lasts, and I even planted some seeds: cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, courgettes, cabbage, baby corn, oregano, coriander, beetroot & spinach for a start. I've never done this kinda thing before, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I can't wait!

Here's a photo of my lunch tomorrow - barbecued veg skewers with a side salad. They are marinaded in Reggae Reggae BBQ sauce, which my boyfriend assured me is vegan! On the skewers were cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, baby corn & onions.

And here's a photo of the BBQ in action - the obligatory meat for the omnivores, as well as some corn on the cob & a tofu burger wrapped in slivers of aubergine. Mmmm!

Hello people!

I thought I'd start this blog because I really have trouble tearing myself away from other people's vegan food blogs, and I thought I'd do something productive so other people can see what I eat! I'm not some kind of masterchef, nor do I cook everything 100% from scratch all the time - but what I do eat I try to be adventurous with and make it super tasty, healthy and good to look at! There are so many blogs out there written by people who have loads of time to cook amazing dishes and by people who obviously have a lot of talent in the kitchen - my aim is, however, to show you what the average vegan person eats: nothing too fancy or complicated, food that can be made easily by anyone on any kind of budget.

I'll also be documenting various new food products that I discover, restaurants and cafés around Dublin, and anything else of interest that is relevant to my life as a vegan.

I'll start with a few random pictures of things I've made in the past for you to see:

Here are some roasted chickpeas I made. All you have to do is get a can of chickpeas, drain them off and pat them dry, toss them in olive oil and sprinkle them with seasoning of your choice. Then roast them in the oven, turning occasionally, until crispy and golden. Leave them out to dry in the air so that they harden and become all crunchy... mmmm!














I love making bento boxes and taking them to work for my lunch. I really need to do this more often! Here is some sczechuan marinated tofu with brown rice and some Japanese umbrella cookies and peanut brittles for afters. I used to be pretty creative with my lunches, they were often concocted with leftovers from the previous evening's dinners.



I made this stirfry because I wanted to try out the lotus root that I'd bought from the Asian Market. There's mushrooms, onions, baby corn and sugar snap peas in there too. It was fried up in a bit of teriyaki sauce. The root is pretty hard to slice thinly. I served this with polenta cubes on the side, which were coated in southern fried style spices.



This is Moser Roth chocolate, available in Aldi stores. It is vegan, although is made on a line with chocolate that could contain milk, so that is mentioned on the package. I am totally addicted to this stuff! They make excellent varieties of dark chocolate, including mint, chilli and my favourite - almond and orange. They come in packs of 5 small, thin bars, perfect for snacking!



And of course... PANCAKES! Made from a simple batter of flour, baking soda, soya milk, cinnamon and a little bit of sugar. Who needs eggs? Decided to make these smaller, thicker American style pancakes instead of thinner ones. The toppings are warm red berries with agave nectar, peanut butter, and blackcurrant jam. I loved the way the hot juices from the berries soaked into the pancakes, it reminded me of the upside down summer fruit bread pudding my mum used to make when I was little - deelish!