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.