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.