Mince pie pastry

Now to go with that lovely fruit mince i made earlier a sweet pastry. There is also a reason why i dont add almonds to my mince & thats because i add ground almonds to the pastry making it that little bit more sweet. If your after pure indulgence make chocolate pastry.

280g/10oz Sifted flour

125g/41/2oz Sifted icing sugar
50g/2oz ground almonds
Pinch salt
200g/7oz cold butter - i used vegan marge
2 eggs - I used flax seed as my egg replacer


Mix the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds & salt together.

Mix in the butter with your finger tips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Stir in the egg or egg replacer so the mixture comes together in clumps (if you need to add a little water do so) Knead the dough briefly until smooth, wrap in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

xmas fruit mince

I like mince pies but during xmas i always feel to full to eat them the fillings just to heavy & meat tends to take up a large portion of our xmas menus and meals & its just to much for me to handle. So i like to make fruit mince yes you guessed it mince made from fruit its light & still just as tasty if not more so! My mince doesnt contain candied peel because i dont really like it but if you wanted to add some in then feel free to tinker & play around with it to find what suits you best.

8oz pears

grated rind of 1 lemon & 1 orange

3oz raisens

3oz currents

3oz sultanas

4oz apricots

3oz apple

4oz glace cherries

4oz dates, chopped

2oz cranberries

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 nutmeg

1/2 ginger

4 fl oz sherry

3 fl oz brandy

3 fl oz water

Mix all the ingredients into a large bowl. Set aside to let the flavours mingle for 1-2 hours or over night. 

Transfer to a casserole dish with a lid & bake covered at 180 C/350 F/ Gas 4 for 1 hour

When complete store in an air tight jar ready to use.

Home Sweet Home

Iv been neglecting this blog a little due to not being able to cook my own food and cant help but feel bad. I was suddenly rushed away for work. I only arrived back last week but boy was it a definite welcome home i love cooking my own food and being away from it for 7 weeks is not easy by the end of my time i was missing it like mad! Restaurant food is enjoyable for a short while but ending up going to the same places all the time was just boring. The place i enjoyed the most was called wildwood there was a big selection of food and it always tasted as thought it was fresh. very nice.

Ill be away again this weekend spending it in London but once i get back ill be getting started on those xmas delights. Im starting with a light boozy tasty fruit mince for my mince pies.

xx

Liquid Creamer

I needed a non dairy liquid creamer for an ice cream i was making. I didn't really want to but any as i had some oat milk that needed using up so i made my creamer so i could make my ice cream!

I was making vanilla from the vegan scoop by Wheeler del Toro. Iv used the sugar quantities that are set in the book so i didn't add anymore sugar after that. I also used 2 cups of milk as the book states 2 cups of creamer. I changed the vanilla essence to vanilla pods and just blended it with the creamer because i like to see the vanilla bits in my ice cream.

Liquid Creamer

2 cups of milk (soya, rice, oat, nut whichever you prefer)

3/4 cup sugar

2 vanilla pods chopped

1/4 tsp Xantham gum

1. Chop the vanilla pods in half and in half again.

2. Combine the milk, sugar and vanilla pods in a blender and blend until smooth.

3. Add the xantham gum and blend till a little thicker. 

4. Place in a jar or container and keep in the fridge use within one week.

Quick Black bean salad

Well the days are warming up and summers starting to feel like its making its way i even had ice cream not made by myself though. Iv been thinking a lot about salads over the last few days and now iv been informed by my employer i have to make a trip to another branch so i decided id take a few things to eat for my journey as ill be up at the bright an early time of 5:30am to get my travels under way. By the time it gets to 10:30am ill be pretty hungry i think so ill be taking a little salad to go with what ever lunch i buy.

Heres what i made with what i have in the cupboards so theres no exact quantities for this unfortunatly =)

Black Bean Salad


cooked black beans
onion chopped
Red pepper chopped
cucumber chopped
carrot grated
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tamari or soya sauce



1 if your black beans havnt been cooked soak for 8 hours or upto overnight in water. Once soaked place the black beans in fresh water and cook following packet instructions.

2 Toss all ingredients together

3 place in the fridge to let the flavours combine.


This made a nice little snack for me to enjoy in the sun and not bad for a throw together at the last minute. Ill be making ice cream this weekend so hopefully the weather will stay as nice as it has been this week.

Welcome

This is my food blog where i will be exploring many different foods. Iv done some baking over the years & really enjoy it. As I've started to branch into veganism for over a year now although not being fully vegan or fully eating a vegan diet most of what i adapt tends to become a vegan recipe in the end. My baking has taken a slight vegan shape as i no longer use eggs in what i produce. For those of you who dont know what Vegan is it menas cutting out all animal products some people choose this as a lifestyle where there food, clothing, accessories are all animal free or you have those who only live off a vegan diet choosing not to eat any animal products. You may wonder why i bother to make vegan equivalents when im not vegan well the simple answer is i love exploring food and finding something tasty.

Iv cooked a few meals but with studying on the side im finding it less uninviting to stand over the hob cooking or preparing something to go in the oven. so with the idea that im off to uni next year & my studies will be doubled ill have less time to cook so my first adventure will be slow cooking. An ideal way for me to create meals with out spending to much time on them. Iv spent much time trawling the internet & checking out my library's catalogue of books to help me along the way. Many of the titles being Vegan or Vegetarian.

After years of anxiety creating physical effects witch impaired my relationship with food iv finally started to become more comfortable again. I created this blog more as a database for myself i suppose of recipes i enjoy & have adapted. I wouldn't strictly say this is a vegan blog however most of my inspiration has come from vegan sites.