I have been super excited about Glastonbury festival for a few months now, it will be my first ever festival!

However my mood was dampened when I discovered the news Michael Eavis, founder of Glastonbury festival, supports the badger cull. I wasn't alone in my misery either, many more have displayed their upset, with a few now even refusing to attend the festival! But does it really have to come to that?

No, instead we can make a statement, to Michael Eavis and the world of the festival by showing we do not agree and are against the badger cull! Let us put anti cull posters on our tents!

Let us display our posters loud and proud. Gaffa tape it to your door, tie it to your tent pole or fly it as a flag.

We can make our mark and show we don't support the cull!

Get your poster here:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7938/tiyp.png

Or for more posters visit these sites:

http://www.rspca.org.uk/webContent/staticImages/Microsites/StopTheCull/Downloads/STCportrait%20white%20url%20cmyk.jpg

http://www.tbfreeengland.uk.com/index.php/video/poster-downloads/

http://www.save-me.org.uk/BAD_BTB_posterdownload.html

http://badger-killers.co.uk/action/gallery/ 

Please like my facebook page to show your support: www.facebook.com/FestivalGoersAgainstTheCull

I love pizza, so going dairy free I thought I would miss my usual pizza night on a Sunday, until I discovered I could make my very own tasty pizzas!

Ingredients

Base mix
Pizza topper
Vegan cheese (I used Cheezly Mozarella style)
Soya cream
Bute Island's blue sheese
Your favourite veggies (onions, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn, pineapple)
Salt and pepper


Method

Make up your base. I use a pre packet of base mix, just add water and knead away! Once ready roll into your desired pizza base shape.
Smear on your pizza topper, I like Napolina's pizza topper.
Cover with grated vegan cheese (this is non-essential as we will also make a creamy cheese style topping).
Make your creamy cheese style topping. Gently heat soya cream in a pan, when warm add grated blue sheese, add slowly and taste until you are happy. Gently pour mixture into lines on your pizza. Don't go crazy as it will spread over your entire pizza when cooking.
Next gentle saute your veggies until they are part cooked. Season veggies with salt and pepper and scatter over your pizza.
Bake in oven and voila, all done!

Verdict

I had great fun attempting to knead the dough, this is something I definitely need to practice! I got in a right mess. The rest of the cooking process I found super easy, and it is so customizable, just add the veggies you fancy on the day!
The pizza tasted absolutely heavenly as well, I found the grated vegan cheese on the pizza really wasn't necessary as the creamy blue sheese topping worked perfectly and really is all you need. It gave it an indulgent cheesy feel, and I loved it! This has become a Sunday favourite again.

Hot sunshine, great entertaintment and vegan food..... what more could you want?

Last Sunday me and my 'almost' vegan mum decided to head down to the Bristol Vegfest to get involved in some of the fun. The main reason I wanted to give it a try was to taste some of the samples on offer so I could finally get an idea of what I liked and didn't like.

We quickly headed into the main stalls tent and directly opposite was the stall Vx, a London and online retailer and cafe. I eagerly rushed over in hope to pick up some more wonderful violife 'cheese' slices but sadly they had already sold out, I did spot one last packet of the Vegg, a vegan egg yolk alternative I had always wanted to try. I quickly swiped that up!

We moved on round the stalls, there were so many lovely things to try, you really can fill yourself up on just the samples. Some of my favourites were koko strawberry coconut milk and the mouthwatering range by wheaty. There was more than just food too, gifts, t-shirts, toiletries, and with many animal rights stalls campaining for their cause I lost count of the number of petitions I signed!

My mum and her new statment t-shirt.

Next we headed outside to get some lunch. There were too many scrummy things to choose from! Pizzas, burgers, kebabs, noodles, and so much more! In the end I headed for a trusty favourite of mine, Fry's vegetarian, where me and my mum had a yummy hot dog. It made a real change actually being stuck for choice for once, and to be able to have a cooked hot dog at a festival... it was unreal!

Whilst tucking into our tasty hot dog we sat in the glorious sunshine and listened to a couple of bands play music while kids played around us with their hula hoops. It really was a fun day for everyone.

 My big gob enjoying a hot dog

Very busy!

We then headed into yet another tent full of stalls, and we fell in love with smooze, a delicous frozen smoothie. I did feel sorry for the stall owner though... his products were in such high demand he couldnt freeze them in time! My mum picked up a box to freeze at home later. I also finally got to try vegusto cheeses.... I was actually very disapointed, with so many raving reviews I had high expectations, but the flavours just didn't appeal to me... but then again I had eaten so much I probably wasn't able to taste them properly anyway!

Inside the tent

Lastly we headed round to some of the talk areas where we sat down for a campaign talk by Ben Frost about our relationship with animals. Whilst a lot of his views were very controversial he brought up a lot of interesting points. Why support charities like RSPCA when they approve companies as freedom food. The animals are still slaughtered. Another was why support a campaign like meat free monday. It gives people the impression that meat is somehow different to dairy. Both animals suffer and are inevitably slaughtered. Some interesting points to think about!

After a long and lovely day we decided to head on home. I had a fantastic time and will definitely be going again next year!

I have struggled to find a decent vegan cheese, so when I heard some raving reviews for veganic cheese I had to give it a try! Veganic foods supplies two type of cheese, pizza cheese and violife slices. I ordered both online from vx. They are quite pricey compared to normal cheese, but its worth it to have cruelty free tasty cheese.

First I wanted to try them cold. They both looked and smelt like normal cheese, so I had high hopes! I popped a violife slice into my mouth... hang on, I quickly flipped over the pack... this stuff was vegan right?!? Yep, clearly marked vegan, I couldnt believe it, this was the best vegan cheese ever. Buttery, and cheesy. They tasted very similar to the continental style cheese you would find on an all you can eat breakfast buffet, I loved it. I couldn't stop myself from eating another... but you only get a few in a pack, these would be gone all too soon!

Next the pizza cheese, it is very finely grated, so I pinched up a small portion and gobbled it up... I was actually very disappointed. Bland with a hint of salt was all I could taste. This really wasn't designed for eating cold.

I swiftly moved on to the meltability test. Cheese on toast, a traditional favourite. I popped two violife slices on a slice of bread and a generous helping of the pizza cheese on the other, under the grill they went. After a few minutes I could see the slices starting to bubble away, but the pizza cheese didn't appear to do anything. After a few more minutes the bread was threatening to burn so I took them out.

First appearances weren't great, they didn't look melted at all. I took a big bite of my violife slice toast. Mmmmm even better than cold, it had gone gooey inside and definitely melted really well. It tasted great, and was perfect on toast. Next up the pizza cheese, a little soft inside but the outside had gone a little crispy... and the taste? The same as it was cold... bland with a hint of salt, very boring.

I didn't want to give up on my pizza cheese though... I'd bought such a massive bag! I decided to give it a go with true purpose in mind... on pizza. At higher temperatures it seemed to melt much better, and created a gooey topping for my pizza, the lack of taste didn't really matter too much here, as it was more the texture you are after on a pizza which it worked really well for.

Overall I love love loved the violife slices, and cannot wait until they have released their upcoming new flavours. The pizza cheese however was overall rather disappointing, it was OK for its specific purpose only.. on pizza. Next time I may try MozzaRisella, which also has excellet reviews as a melty pizza cheese.

I have been volunteering for Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital for just over 4 months now. Every Monday I will help out at the hospital mucking out the endless amount of hedgehogs that were overwintered. I have also been out on a few visits, a road traffic accident deer, a couple of injured swans, and collected a wounded hedgehog.

I love knowing I make a difference to our wildlife, especially when you get to really see how it helps, when an animal goes back to the wild fit and healthy. Last week I got to do just that, Marilyn asked me to release a buzzard.

The buzzard had been discovered on the side of a busy road after a traffic accident so he had been brought in to the hospital to recover. After a few weeks he was strong and healthy again and was eagerly flying around his pen. He was ready to go back.

Marilyn swiftly popped him in a box and I went on my way with the buzzard destined for freedom. I made my way back to where he was found and drove a little off the main road to a gorgeous green field surrounded by woodland. Perfect.

As soon as I opened the box he easily took to the skies, he found himself a spot on a fence then as soon as he got his bearings he took off again and soared into the woodland in the distance. It really is amazing when you get to witness something so incredible. To know that Marilyn, Mike and the team at the Wildlife Hospital made a difference to this animal.

I look forward to continuing this hard work, and releasing more wildlife back to where they belong.

I'm not really that great at making desserts, but I wanted to give it a try as it is something deperately lacking in the dairy free world. I discovered this peanut butter pie on the Chocolate Covered Katie blog and it looked so simple.... and mouthwateringly tasty that I had to give it a go.

Ingredients

Base:
Cocoa powder
Chopped nuts
Shredded coconut
Salt
Pitted dates 

Topping:
Peanut butter
Bananas
Vanilla extract
Salt
Coconut Oil, melted
Sugar

Method
Blend the ingredients for the base together and firmly squish into a aluminium pie dish. Next simply blend the topping ingredients together and pour over your base. Pop into a freezer to set. When ready to serve defrost in the fridge and enjoy.

The base

On goes the topping

Verdict
Very very simple to make, just plenty of blending! I actually broke one of my hand blenders attempting to make the base... oops, so I recommend using a food processor instead. Its quite difficult to find coconut oil in the shops, and when you do its very pricey, but a little goes a long way!

The final result was much more cheescake than pie, which was a pleasant texture. The topping was still firm but creamy and the base lovely, crumbly and chewy. Personally I was not overstruck by the taste. It didn't feel very dessert like, it was something I could see myself eating at breakfast, but perhaps thats because I associate peanut butter with breakfast. The base was the best part, chwey and chocolately. My family all really enjoyed it however, and even wanted the recipe, so perhaps it was all personal preference. I served it alongside dairy free ice cream and soya cream but it may have worked better with a chocolate sauce.

After making vegan pancakes I started wondering what else I could possibly make without eggs, so I searched for vegan omelettes. I immediately discovered the blog vegan magic, by Adriana, giving a description of various vegan omelettes she made, and boy did it make my mouth water! The recipe came from Andrea on her blog, chocolate and beyond and it looked so easy I decided to give it a go myself.

From Vegan Magic

Ingredients
Oil
Onion
Garlic
Peppers
Mushrooms
Sweetcorn

For the batter:
Soya milk
Chickpea (gram) flour
Turmeric
Curry powder
Nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper.

Method:
In a jug blend the batter ingredients together and set aside.
Gently saute the vegetables in oil over a medium heat in a frying pan.
Once veggies are cooked pour over the batter mixture and swirl around to coat pan.
Once firmed up and slightly browned around the edge you can either flip to cook the other side or place under the grill.

Verdict:
It was very easy to put together, I did have a little trouble with cooking though, the underside was very slightly overcooked to ensure the omelette had firmed up all the way through, I think perhaps I made it a little too thick. It was only just lightly over browned though, so still very much edible, and boy was it tasty. It has a very distinct chickpea taste, not much like traditional omelette, but actually even yummier! I made this again for my vegetarian mum and she loved it too. This will definitely become a regular meal.

Edit 23/4/2013: I made this again today but made the batter much thicker (less milk more flour). I then cooked over a low heat and firmed up the top under the grill. No overcooked bottom and it was a little heavier due to the thicker batter which I preferred. Yummy! 

Half way through eating I thought how great this would have been with some aioli, a traditional Spanish garlic dip. I decided to attempt a vegan version.

Vegan aioli
Blend together two parts olive oil to one part soya milk with garlic, a splash of lemon juice, salt and pepper. If you need to thin it out more, add more soya milk, to make it thicker add more oil.
I was really pleased with how this turned out. It was a little creamier than the traditional version, but I actually liked it even more. Perfect with my omelette!

Kipper, a gorgeous silver shorthair cat has gone from this world at just 5 years old, he will be forever missed.

Kipper, or KP for short, joined our family when my mum met her partner, Clive. Clive brought with him his beloved two year old cat, Kipper. He immediately became one of the clan, which includes 4 Bernese Mountain dogs and two other cats, Mia and Panther. Mya and KP hit it off immediately and would spend hours rolling aroud on the floor together. Panther and KP took a while to bond, but eventually they warmed to each other and KP even let Panther join him on his favourite chair.

KP had a really strong character, with a hint of attitude. If he wanted to be fed, he was going to get fed! First he'd try the affection. He would sit on your lap and purr, if that didnt work he'd edge closer, lean right into your face and lick your nose. You would often wake up with a fright! If you pushed him to the side he'd have a back up plan. Plain annoying. With a swish of his tail he would puposefully knock something over. Whether it be a tin of firelighters (what a racket) or your favourite ornament. Then he would sit there and glare at you until you got up... It worked and he knew it! He was a little devil!

Kipper peeking out from the top of the wardrobe

So when I went home last Friday evening I was shocked to find he had been missing since Tuesday, 4 days. It was not uncommon for KP to wander, but he would eventually return after a day or two spent in a neighbours house! This was longer than usual though, and we had begun to worry. My mum and Clive had searched the village, knocked on doors and left notices, but still no news. So I decided to go on the search.

Early Saturday morning I walked around the village, calling for KP but to no avail. Then a horrible thought hit me. The road. I walked up and down one side with no signs so I crossed over and repeated. Then I felt the blood drain from me as I saw something, and I realised it was directly opposite the house. I rushed home and pulled Clive out, surely it had to be a badger... it couldn't be our Kipper. But Clive knew immediately and found his collar. It was his boy. Our Kipper. We were heartbroken.

We quickly took him to Raystede, a pet crematorium so Kipper could go on his way peacefully. Clive is planning to place a plaque there in his name.

Kipper will always be cherished, and it was so tragic for a cat of just 5 years old to be taken from us.

We love you Kipper, and you will always be missed.

 

Kipper in his favourite chair

I just wanted to say a huge congratulations to my little sister Jade for completing the Brighton Marathon on Sunday 14th of April.

I went down to Brighton to cheer her on, and made my way down to the half way mark to give her my support. It was an incredible atmosphere, everyone cheering the runners on, giving them support. Some people were even in fancy dress, with one very brave soul in a hefty rhino costume! Another was in a very impressive tiger costume.... so impressive that whilst taking a photo of the tiger I completely missed Jade run past me! I looked back on my picture of the tiger and Jade was even in the photo... oops!

I had to cheer her on though so I rushed to a point further down the road where they left the seafront, they went up round the houses then came back down to the same point at the seafront again. I sat their huffing and puffing expecting her to appear any second... and waited... and waited... why did I run here?... Then I spotted the tiger again... and next round the corner came Jadey! I bellowed with all my might at her, and she looked up and beamed at me, ran over and gave me a sweaty hug and continued on her 26 mile journey. Woop woop! Go Jade!

I spent the next hour pottering around Brighton and then headed for the finish line to watch her triumphant finish. My phone app started playing up though, and it seemed to have completely lost Jades position... eek! I had to keep my eyes peeled for that tiger! But little did I know she had overtaken it! Luckily I spotted her, all in black (she must have been sweltering hot), and she even made a sprint for the finish! The sun shone brightly as she crossed the finish line.

She finished in a time of 5.37.14, and managed to raise over £500 for ZSL. What an achievement! I am very proud of my little sister... all that and she hadn't even trained for over two months!! Jammy devil!

Congratulations Jade!

You can still support Jade by donating to her cause:
www.justgiving.com/Jade-Rothery

Removing dairy from my diet I knew the one food I would immediately struggle to give up.... milk chocolate! I absolutely love it, the way it melts in your mouth, its creamy heavenly goodness.... So when easter came around the huge amount of easter eggs filling the shelves were just trying to tempt me. But I held strong and decided to find an alternative.

A large variety of dark chocolate doesnt actually contain milk, but I've never really enjoyed it. It is always far too bitter, not sweet and creamy enough for me, but I decided to give it another chance and grabbed a couple of bars of Green and Blacks to take into work for easter.

Dark 85%
This one was the first I tried, and it was just as I remembered. Extremely bitter. Whilst one bite was ok, any more and I just found it nasty. I didn't enjoy it at all, and it just made me miss my milk chocolate even more.

Ginger
I didn't hold out much hope, after trying the first bar I didn't think I'd like any. I was pleasantly surprised. As soon as you put it in your mouth you get a full hit of ginger, then as the chocolate melts it warms on your tongue. It works beautifully with the dark chocolate and takes away that bitter taste. I really enjoyed this and of the three it was my favourite.

Spiced Chilli
I was eager to try this, because it souunded intriguing. When you first put this into your mouth the hint of chilli is very mild, but it builds in your mouth so when you swallow you get the kick of chilli in the back of your throat. I thought it was really tasty, but couldn't manage to eat loads in one go otherwise the chilli would end up too overpowering.

So what did my work colleagues think of them? Well the ginger one disappeared very quickly, it went down very well, and the dark 85% quickly followed. The spiced chilli remained relatively untouched, and I think I ended up being the only one eating it! I don't think people were brave enough to even try it, and got a couple of comments about not liking chilli.... oh well more for me!

Green and Blacks is labelled as 'may contain milk' due to being produced on a line that handles dairy. The actual product does not contain milk but due to a very minimal risk of cross contamination they have to add this label for allergy sufferers.

Cheetahs, the fastest land mammal, agile, elegant and super speedy! So what better way to see them than literally face to face.

The cheetahs were always my favourites when I was working directly with the big cats. Mucking out the cheetah house in the morning was great fun, the boys were really chilled out and Carl would even purr at me. The girls were a little more fiesty, hissing and spitting if you got a little too close for their liking. Each individual had a distinct personality and I really came to love them.

So when I moved into VIP driving I thought I would miss that closeness to them, but instead I now get closer than ever. As the land rover drives alongside them their attention is suddenly spurred, they quickly jump to their feet and come over to investigate, sniffing the tyres, eyeing up the mudflaps... then suddenly... hop up onto the bonnet! Now that really is a close encounter. With just the windscreen between each other we can literally stare eye to eye.

This photo of Longleat is courtesy of TripAdvisor.

Its incredible to see them from such a unique angle, it gives you a great oppotunity to study their beautiful physique. From every hair on their body to the claws on their feet. They have gorgeous piercing eyes that stare right back at you through the glass. Its definitely a big hit with the guests.

But why do they do it? It could be for a number of reasons, firstly it gives a much better viewing point. Cheetahs often sit on higher ground, such as termite mounds, so they can scan their surroundings, and a land rover becomes just that, a great vantage point. It could also be because its a great escape from other predators, you don't see a lion jumping up onto a vehicle, so it could provide them with safety. Perhaps they are just purely interested, they often peer in at the passengers, occasionally hissing, but more often just with curiosity.

And its not just our cheetahs at Longleat that do this, even wild ones do. Its become a common sight to see cheetahs up on top of vehicles, even when its practically roofless. Safari guests often have the fright of their life when a cheetah jumps up right next to them, literally inches away. So close they can feel their breath. The cheetahs seem to pay no attention to the people, and even relax and lay down just centimenters away from the awed guests.




What would you do if you got this close to a cheetah? And why do you think they do it?
 

Cheetah facts

They can reach 60mph in less than 3 seconds, with a maximum speed of 70mph.

They hunt during the day to avoid other predators, hence they have tear marks which act as sunglasses, absorbing the suns rays rather than reflecting them into their eyes.

They are one of the few cats with non-retractable claws, which helps grip the ground whilst running.

Females are solitary, but males will often live in small groups of 2 or 3 known as coalitions.

Cubs are born with a long grey mane, thought to deter predators by giving the appearance of the ferocious honey badger.

It is believed a previous natural disaster reduced cheetah numbers to only a few individuals. This means they are severly inbred, and have extremely poor genetic diversity. This has resulted in low survivorship, poor sperm quality and great susceptibility to diseases.

Its been 2 months now that I have been exploring alternative options in my quest to become completely cruelty free. With dedicating one day a week to eating without dairy and eggs I've learnt how to use tofu, with one hell of an amazing quiche, discovered that delicous pancakes are still possible and even fooled my cheese loving boyfriend, with a brilliant imitation blue cheese and brocolli soup.

I've had a lot of great success, but I've also had a fair few disasters, with a very messy stir fry, one rather dodgy breakfast and even spent one whole day drinking white milky coffee without realising... oops! But now I've come this far I've decided to take it all the way and make it permanent. Not just one day a week, but cruelty free forever. I've been going for over a week now. Hoorah!

Its been an eye opening experience and I've found plenty of options are still available. I thought yoghurts would be off the menu, but walk into any supermarket and you can find a whole variety of tasty dairy free options on the shelves. I thought I'd really miss my quorn, the staple freezer food of my vegetarian ways, but Linda McCartnery has nicely filled that gap, with sausages and pies all proudly displaying a vegan label, and just a short walk down to holland and barrett unveils a whole new territory, with redwood offering fresh 'fish' cakes and fingers and even 'duck' style pieces, and a company called Frys with great alternatives to frozen staples.

Eating out has also been suprisingly easy. On the way home from a long journey we popped into burger king for a quick snack, a tasty veggie burger with no cheese and mayo. Just as yummy with a dollop of heinz ketchup. Plenty of pizza companies actually use vegan dough, so hold the cheese and you have a tasty pizza! I was thrilled to discover my workplace, Longleat, make their pizzas with vegan dough. I know where I'll be having lunch!

Even eating at a friends turned out suprising results. They were serving a steak, chips, onions rings and garlic bread for the meat eaters, so I was just going to make do with a few chippies and onions rings. We then discovered the garlic bread had been made with vegan margarine so that made a home on my plate too. Hidden in the cupboard my host then found a Loyd Grossman balti sauce that had no animal products in, so with a few chopped veggies they rustled me up a quick tasty curry... I ended up with a tastier, bigger meal than the meat eaters!

There have been a few challenges, drinking coffee at work was one of them. I have always drank my coffee milky, and whilst I enjoy it with almond milk, lugging around a carton of it has just proven impossible. I've ordered a soya powder, in hope that it may end this frustration. Another problem has been cheese. I loved cheese and most of the vegan alternatives I've tried have been beyond foul, especially the cheddar style! My only saviour so far is blue sheese by bute island... heaven! However there are still plenty to try, vegusto has great reviews, and Ive just ordered veganics cheese which is new to the UK but with absolutely raving reviews. Fingers crossed!

So cheers to the future, and living in a cruelty free world!

Date attempted: 01/03/2013

Breakfast: Gooey peanut butter and banana oats

 

I cant get enough of the recipes on the chocolate covered katie blog, they all look heavenly, but I don't really have the funds to make desserts at the moment, so for now I thought I'd I'll settle for a yummy breakfast recipe. Peanut butter breakfast pudding.

Ingredients:

Oats

Peanut Butter

Almond Milk

Banana

Vanilla Essence

Sugar to taste 

Method:

Cook oats in almond milk according to pack. 

Once oats are cooked blend together half the oat mixture, with a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter, half the banana, a few drops of vanilla and sugar to taste.

Stir in rest of oats and top with rest of banana.

Verdict:

Very easy to whip it all together.... and it tastes amazing!!!! You really do have to be a lover of peanut butter to enjoy this, as its almost as if you are simply eating warm, gooey, peanut butter. I absolutely loved it! Its quite a filling, heavy breakfast, you don't need much!

Lunch: Lentil curry served with turmeric flavoured rice

 

This is a favourite recipe of mine that I have been making for several years nows, I made this for dinner the night before and had the left overs for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

Oil

Onions

Curry paste

Vegetable stock

Red lentils

Mixed frozen veg

Coconut milk

Salt and Pepper

Rice

Turmeric

Method:

Gently saute chopped onions in oil in a large saucepan. 

After a few mins add one or two tablespoons of curry paste and cook for another minute. 

Add in your made up veg stock and your frozen veggies. 

After 5 minutes add your lentils and leave to simmer.

Cook rice according to pack in water with a spoonful of turmeric.

When lentils are cooked and have absorbed most of the water add your coconut milk, salt and pepper and give it a good stir. Cook for a further couple of minutes and serve!

Verdict:

This is such an easy meal to make, you can disappear off to watch TV while your lentils are simmering. I always enjoy it, and Ive made it for dinner guests in the past who have also really liked it. You can't go wrong. Plus you can make is spicier with hotter paste and chilli, and omit the coconut for those who like their curries a bit stronger.

Dinner: Pancakes with a creamy blue sheese mushroom filling

Ooooh pancakes, something I thought I would miss out on going vegan, so when I found this recipe I really didnt think it would work, surely without eggs the pancakes wouldn't bind? I decided to opt for a filling I knew I'd love, creamy blue sheese and mushrooms.

Ingredients:

Pancakes

Almond milk

Vegan margarine(pure)

Flour

Water

Nutritional yeast

Salt and pepper

Filling

Oil

Onions

Garlic

Mushrooms

Soy cream

Blue sheese

Spring onions

Salt and pepper

Method:

Make pancake mix first, melt margarine then blend together with almond milk, flour, water, a couple of heaped spoons of nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a frying pan heat the oil the gently cook crushed garlic and chopped onions. Add chopped mushrooms and cook untildarkened in colour and soft. 

Pour in cream and cook for a further minute.

Add in grated blue sheese, chopped spring onions, salt and pepper. Cook until sheese has melted.

Whilst waiting for sheese to melt move over to cooking your pancakes.

Heat a tiny blob of butter in a frying pan to coat base on a medium-high heat. Pour in some of your pancake mixture so it coats the bottom of the pan. 

As it starts to solidfy and brown use a fish slice to check under bottom.

When just browned flip onto other side and cook for another minute or so.

Pop onto plate then pour on mushroom mixture and fold in half.

Serve with a lightly dressed baby leaf salad.

Verdict:

You have to get the hang of making pancakes, some people never seem to grasp it, for others its second nature (I used to watch my dad on shrove Tuesdays so I seem to be pancake queen). Its quite simple to put together, and you can alter the amount of flour/milk depending on how thick you like your pancakes. My first pancake got stuck to the pan and ended up a mess, so I canged my pan and then they worked beautifully.

They tasted absolutely delicous, definitely the best vegan meal Ive made by far! My boyfriend said he wouldnt be able to tell it was vegan, and tasted great. Ive since cooked it for my mum and Auntie who also loved it. This will definitely fo among my favourites now to make! Plus any leftover pancakes are great as a dessert smothered in syrup... yum!

11th of March will be a day to remember. A day that will go down in history for animal welfare. It was the day that any cosmetics that have been, or had their ingredients tested on animals, were banned from being sold in the EU. Hip hip hooray! Since 2004 the EU were banned from using animal tests for cosmetics, however they were still allowed to sell them if they had been animal tested abroad. So now we have real resaon to celebrate!

I have always only ever used non-animal tested cosmetics and spent hours sifting through websites to find out their policies. This could mark the end of that struggle. No longer will I have to scrutinize the back of the bottle when I pick it up from the shelf, it can go straight in the basket!

However the change may not be immediately noticeable, products may still be sold on our shelves if they were tested before the ban, so it may still be best to steer clear of some of those old favourites. At least we know any new products on our shelves are cruelty free, right? Wrong! Companies may still test products elsewhere in the world for sale in other countries, so if we buy a product from that company, even though the product we are buying may be cruelty free, the company may not be, so we would still effectively be giving our money to a company that endorses animal testing. L'oreal is one of these companies, who have said they will stop selling cosmetics that have animal tested ingredients in the EU, but this will not stop them from sellling them elsewhere in the world.

Photo by Hijukal

Another problem is also staring at us in the face, ingredients that have been animal tested for other products, may still be used in cosmetics. A serious loophole that really needs to be addressed! So effectively we could be buying a 'cruelty-free' cosmetic, that still contains an ingredient tested on animals because it is used in a different product!

Lush also highlights issues with REACH, the chemical legislation policy, which has passed a new law stating all ingredients must undergo a strict set of tests. Some of these have no non-animal testing alternative, and so many companies may be forced into third party animal testing. Surely this is a serious contradiction of statements?

So is the whole thing a waste of time? Definitely not. Europe is making a statement, its a start for the entire world to go cruelty free. We are setting the standards, and this will be the turning point for the rest of the world to ban animal testing. It has given us a glimmer of hope of what could lay ahead in the future. A cruelty free world. But for now, I will still only be buying products with the leaping bunny logo.

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Date attempted: 22/2/13.

Breakfast: Strawberry and banana smoothie

The idea came from this site (strawberry banana blast), Ive never made a smoothie before, only ever had them from a carton or made by a shop, so I was unsure what to expect.

Ingredients:

Frozen strawberries

Banana

Apple Juice

Almond Milk

Just blitz together with a hand blender.

Verdict:

So easy to make, just thrown it all in a jug and blend! Easy enough to do before bed the night before and eat in the morning, or even quickly whizz together when you get up. It tastes amazing too, especially if you love strawberries like me. I didnt think a drink could be filling, but this is more than a drink, very thick and satisfying!

Lunch: Creamy potato salad served alongside carrots and homous

Ive never really had much success when making potato salad, but I still wanted to give the vegan style a go anyway. I didnt think it would make a great meal on its own, so I served it with carrots and homous for nibbles.

Ingredients:

Potatoes

Peas

Spring onions

Vegan Mayo

Soya Cream

Nutmeg

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Chop and boil potatoes in salted water. Add peas 5 minutes before end.

Drain and leave to cool.

Once cooled mix in chooped spring onions, mayo, cream and a pinch of nutmeg.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Verdict:

Not dis-similar to previous potato salads Ive made before. Perhaps a little cooked red onion next time, and I added a little too much cream so it was a touch runny and was a little heavy handed with the nutmeg. It was rather boring as a lunch meal, would work better as a side salad for dinner. Next time I may find a dedicated recipe that will hopefully make it a bit more exciting.

Dinner: Mac n cheeze served with crusty bread

I remember those wonderful luch time meals my grandad use to make me, traditional macaroni cheese. Oh I will miss them, but I found this recipe claiming to be very similar in taste, so I had to give it a go.

Ingredients:

Pasta
Almond Milk
Nutritional yeast
Oil
Tofu
Garlic Powder
Turmeric
Mustard
Tinned peas

Onions

Brocolli

Salt and Pepper

Bread crumbs

Method:

Cook pasta according to pack, drain and set aside.

Blend together cheeze mix, milk, nutritional yeast, oil, tofu, garlic powder, turmeric and mustard and set aside.

In a frying pan heat some oil and gently saute onions, after 5 mins add brocolli and cook for a couple more minutes. Add peas and cook for a further minute then mix in cheeze mix. Cook for a further couple of minutes.

Mix with pasta in oven proof dish, salt and pepper to taste. Top with bread crumbs and nutritional yeast.

Cook in oven until golden brown on top.

Verdict:

This smelt so good as it was cooking, its pretty easy to put together as well, espeically for a rubbish cook like me! The colour was a dark, golden yellow, and looked absolutely heavenly. I was a little disappointed there wasnt much goey sauce, Soya cream would definitely be a great addition here. On first bite I was unsure, it definitely wasn't like traditional macaroni cheese, but after a few more bites I realised it was exceptionally tasty if you didnt expect it to be like the normal version. A unique tasty dish of it own. 

I served it with crusty bread, hoping to mop up the sauce but there didnt seem to be any sauce left at all, it had pretty much dried up and been absorbed into the main pasta. I had plenty of left overs, which I mixed with vegan mayo the next day....oh this tasted even better than the night before! A great lunch time meal!

Next time if I attempt to make a macaroni cheese I may attempt the traditional method with the vegan alternatives, melt vegan butter, mix in flour, slowly add almond milk, then melt in a vegan cheddar style cheese. It may work better for a copy of the original. I will still make this version though, as it was just as tasty if you dont go expecting it to be cheese like.

Date attempted: 15/02/2013.

Breakfast: Soya yoghurt and fruit

Simply top soya yoghurt over your favourite fresh fruit.

Verdict:

Throughly disappointed with this style of yoghurt, I really did not like it at all compared to others I have tried. It had a distinct soya taste, that I never like, as well as leaving a strange residue in your mouth. I regularly eat soya yoghurts now and my favourite has been the provamel forest fruits. Next time I'll go back to having this over my fresh fruit.

Lunch: Roasted vegetables and homous salad wrap

 

Cheese and coleslaw wraps have always been a favourite for a quick lunch box meal, so I wanted to attempt a typical vegan wrap to replace this with... homous of course!

Ingredients:

Oil

Mushrooms

Peppers

Spring onions

Baby leaf salad

Onion homous

Tortilla wraps

Method:

Chop mushrooms and peppers and place on baking tray, drizzle with oil and pop in oven to roast.

Once cooked remove from oven and leave to cool.

Spread a thin layer of homous onto wrap and top with chopped spring onions, salad leaves and roasted veg.

Wrap up and enjoy.

Verdict:

The nice thing about this is its so versatile, you can easily swap around your veg as you please, perhaps add onions, tomatoes or even asparagus (one of my favs). The downside is its not easy just to throw together in the morning before work. I roasted the veg the night before then left them in the fridge to pop in my wrap in the morning. I think the best bet would be to make a large batch of roasted veg to use over a couple of days.

The wrap was really tasty though, and the roasted veg was delicous alongside the homous. Would also work great in a sandwich, baguette or pitta.

Dinner: Blue sheese mushroom tartlet served with cripsy roast potatoes, roast carrots and crunchy green beans

Ive made this plenty of times before, and has always been popular when made with normal blue cheese. So far blue sheese has been an absolute godsend, so I really hoped it would work just as well with this.

Ingredients:

Oil

Salt

Pepper

Tartlet:

Red Onions

Mushrooms

Puff pastry

Blue sheese

Side veg:

Potatoes

Carrots

Green beans

Method:

Mushroom Tartlet: 

Heat oil in a pan and saute onions and mushrooms over a low heat. Mix in a small amount of blue sheese to taste, salt and pepper.

Roll out puff pastry and cut into rectangles.

Top with mushroom mix, a little more grated blue sheese and bake in oven until pastry has risen and turns golden brown.

Veggies:

Peel and par-boil potatoes, carrots and green beans. Gently fluff up potatoes, then place carrots and potatoes on a roasting tray. Drizzle with oil, salt and pepper then place in oven until crispy and brown. Place green beans in oil in a frying pan and gently fry until slightly browned.

Serve with gravy.

Verdict:

Yup blue sheese does it again. Very very tasty indeed. This is so easy to make, and it looks great too, especially if you use a mix of wild mushrooms, although using chesnut mushrooms works just as well. The only downside was the blue sheese on top didnt really melt or go gooey, just browned, but it wasnt a major issue. You could easily add a mix of herbs to this as well to make it even tastier. I made two of these, one I ate with my veggies covered in gravy, the other I saved and ate cold the next day for lunch. Both were just as yummy.

 

Once again blue sheese has wowed me, I really can't see myself cooking without this now! It works so well in every recipe. It would have been great in my quiche from my first 'cruelty free friday' attempt, or even over a baked potato. Next time I go to the health food shop I think I'll buy multiple packs to pop in the fridge. I really hope I can find a cheddar style vegan cheese thats just as good. I may give bute islands medium cheddar sheese a go if I can find it.