Become Pro Vegetarian Chef

I made this soup last week, or was it the weekend before...I can't remember now.  What I do remember is wanting to make French Onion Soup for a long while.  I think the idea had been planted in my head during Vegan Mofo when I saw a good looking vegan variation of French Onion soup that got me drooling.   This one is not vegan though it could easily be by replacing the butter with vegan margarine and vegan 'cheese'. Previous to making this soup, I have only ever had French Onion soup once in my life.  No it was not when I was in  Paris, France  for my honeymoon; or when I was in Brittany visiting friends . No it wasn't even when we went to Marseille quite recently, no I had my first ever French Onion Soup in  Loch Lomond , when I lived in Scotland.   We had friends visiting us from America and we went to the shores of Loch Lomond.  It was the only dish on the menu, other than Ploughman's Lunch that was marked as suitable for vege...

I made this soup last week, or was it the weekend before...I can't remember now.  What I do remember is wanting to make French Onion Soup for a long while.  I think the idea had been planted in my head during Vegan Mofo when I saw a good looking vegan variation of French Onion soup that got me drooling.   This one is not vegan though it could easily be by replacing the butter with vegan margarine and vegan 'cheese'. Previous to making this soup, I have only ever had French Onion soup once in my life.  No it was not when I was in  Paris, France  for my honeymoon; or when I was in Brittany visiting friends . No it wasn't even when we went to Marseille quite recently, no I had my first ever French Onion Soup in  Loch Lomond , when I lived in Scotland.   We had friends visiting us from America and we went to the shores of Loch Lomond.  It was the only dish on the menu, other than Ploughman's Lunch that was marked as suitable for vege...

Refugee Week  is often celebrated between 2- 26 June. It is a unique event as it brings people from all backgrounds together to highlight and celebrate the contributions that asylum seekers and refugees make to the U.K .     The theme for Refugee Week for 2016 is  Welcome.    Throughout this week, my Simple Act  through my blog has been to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness of that particular country through its cuisine. Today I will share some vegetarian and vegan Eritrea plates, but before I share the recipes, I'd like to begin by admitting that I had never heard of Eritrea until the refugee crisis.  Eritrea's neighbour Ethiopia had been imprinted on the memories of many thanks to Bob Geldof's  'Feed the world' campaign; but Eritrea  a small country in the Horn of Africa  was to come to our attention in the mid 1990s when  many vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees from Bosnia, ...

Oh my goodness is it July already?!  Once again #EatYourGreens cooking and baking challenge is welcoming your vegetarian and vegan recipes this time for the month of July. Please share with us your recipe made with a green vegetable and they will be featured in the round up at the end of the month.   For further details on how to participate, see here , but otherwise its  really easy, just add a link to your recipe to the comments section below to take part.   Right now , please click here to see the recipes shared with The VegHog my co-host in June 2016.   Happy July and don't forget to #EatYourGreens and more importantly share them with us.

Today I thought I would share some of my Naked Violet Coconut Bars too - Is it a fudge, is it a 'Bounty' bar, is it a cake....it indeed is a sweet treat.  These are just a variation of my  Coconut  Ladoos  aka Bliss Balls  from last month generously coated in edible violet crystals.     As Dr Oetker have confirmed that the violet crystals are suitable for vegans. I also want to share something amazing whilst we were gardening today.  A swarm of bees elegantly, yet loudly buzzed over us on their way somewhere, it was a little thrilling, exciting and a little magical.  It is with this reason, that I am sharing this picture once again on my blog.  D my husband took a while back.  It a fuzzy bee bumbling and buzzing in our garden around a purple  allium .   Naked Violet Coconut Bars You will need some silicon moulds Makes Lots  Ingredients 4 tablespoons violet crystals 180grams dessicated coconut 125...

Its been almost a month since I shared progress in my garden, so I am joining in again with Harvest Mondays and sharing my wild strawberries and red gooseberries.   These alpine wild strawberries were not planted by me or the neighbours, but by its very nature of being 'wild' and invasive they have self seeded and have been creeping from the neighbours into our front porch, not even the garden plot - winding and weaving its way in the paving slabs - I love it actually.  And they are the most sweetest berry I have ever eaten in my life, proper natural sugar berry burst.  Whilst I was weeding at the back, I discovered, a pot of red gooseberries.   I had forgotten about it  actually, we picked it up from a garden centre last yer and wow - look at these berries, hardly a harvest, but a unexpected present from the garden indeed. I have put the red gooseberries into a larger container, until I can decide where to give it its permanent spot.  We an...

I have quite a lot of new ingredients in my kitchen.   Some that I have had before and some that I have never had before, but its all good.    I kick off with Organic Coconut Sugar that I have used in the past for a vegan Vanilla-Coconut Creme Brulee .  I guess I could also use it in my Coconut Bliss Balls too, but at the time I did not have it.  I also have some Polenta.  I do like polenta and often use it in my take on Mexican Tamale Pie - except the Mexican girl I met in Wales, she had never come across a Tamale pie before, but gave mine the thumbs up. I have a number of new recipes to try out with it.   I am looking forward to trying these Red Lentil Fusilli pasta.  I want to do more with it than make a bog standard cold pasta salad lunch - so any suggestions are welcome. I have been looking out for Marigold Liquid aminos, so many vegan recipes these days call for it, so I am pleased that I now have it to hand Those of you wh...