Cheddar is something I still really miss being cruelty free especially when its all gooey and smothered over lashings of macaroni.... mmmmm... but I will never again be selfish enough to enjoy something at anothers expense... so I have learnt to live without it and in the meantime I will search for a good alternative!

Most of the recipes I have attempted have not matched up to the traditional macaroni cheese, I have even tried dairy free cheese sauce mix, but it tasted too much like celery for me - bleugh. It was when I first became cruelty free that I heard of a vegan cheddar known as 'Daiya', sadly unavailable in the UK, however Amys Kitchen make a ready meal macaroni cheeze using it, I have been on the hunt for it ever since.

It was a couple of weeks ago that I discovered it in a health food shop near where my mum lives so I took the opportunity to snap it up quick. It wasn't cheap, and for the tiny portion I felt I had been seriously ripped off! Now Ive never really been a ready meal eater but when I opened the pack it looked to me what you would expect a ready meal to look like. Cheap and nasty! However I persevered and popped it in the microwave. When I think of macaroni cheese from my childhood I remember it bubbling beautifully in the oven, a crispy surface developing on top, the smell of cheddar wafting through the house. Staring at this tub whirling round in the microwave definitely did not bring those memories back!

As the microwave pinged I eagerly pulled it out and popped it on a plate, I would say the portion size was more equal to that of a small child's, however I'm sure if you made a delicious side salad and served it with crusty bread it would make a main meal. It looked exactly like it did on the box, no thrills macaroni in a yellow sauce. Pretty boring.

I then licked the fork I had scooped it onto the plate with.... and I was suddenly swept back into my childhood, nan making that delicious macaroni, that smell wafting through the kitchen.. oh my! As I was suddenly brought back into the present I peered back down at my plate... did that slop really just make me feel like that? I dashed into the living room with a huge grin and set the plate down for my mum, sister (both vegan), my mums partner (vegetarian) and me to tuck into. Between the four of us we had finished it in seconds with only a few forkfuls each.

It was like heaven! This is THE macaroni cheese I had oh so wanted to find! The taste was just amazing, creamy and cheddary, I just couldn't fault how much like the original it tasted! Even my mums partner who has only recently started venturing into vegan options loved it! The cheddar flavour was rich and spot on. We all agreed that there was hardly any difference from the original! This little gem had passed the taste test with flying colours!

Even though we all loved it I think it would still only be bought on the rare occasion, due to its price and portion size it just isn't value for money. It has given me a new love for Daiya cheese, and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that one day it will be available in the UK!

Appearance 4/10
Taste 10/10
Value 3/10

*Yawn* *Stretch* Oh why hello there!

I seem to have just awoken from a long hibernation! 10 months in fact!

A few people have mentioned they missed reading some of my posts so now its time to bring my blog back!

So whats been going on in the last 10 months?

I returned to the safari for my fourth season in January, my second season as a VIP driver. And I still love it! Who wouldn't love driving around talking about beautiful animals all day? There has been a lot of heartache and I have had to say to say goodbye to some of the amazing animals I grew close to as they step out of this world. However, there has also been a flourish of little ones appearing, Nola, Neve and Olivia the spritely baby Zebra who love to bounce around their reserve, Nora the elegant giraffe who struck up a bond with Kibibi the Zebra, and Orlando the timid Camel who is slowly becoming bolder. Those are just a few of the cuties that have been born in the last 10 months! I have also been able to watch Klaus, the gorgeous blonde lion develop into a handsome boy. He was born only a few weeks after I first started on the Lion reserve at the safari and now to see him become the dominant male of the pride is just beautiful!

Nora and Kibibi

I have now been cruelty free for an entire year! Woohoo! Ive experimented with new things, tried lots of new foods and eaten at some ooooh so delicious restaurants. Two I can highly recommend are Terre a Terre in Brighton (review) and Acorn in Bath (review), both are so totally divine! I cant wait to go back for seconds at both! Being vegan is much easier than I first anticipated, once you learn what you can have and where to buy it shopping and cooking is simple. My meat loving boyfriend has also enjoyed my veganism, he told me he loves the challenge of finding new ideas and foods to cook for me!

So what foods have become a staple at home? I love the dairy free garlic and herb spreads you can buy, either by Tofutti or Tesco. They are amazing for cooking, either as a creamy pasta sauce, inside a roasted pepper or added to mashed potato. Yum! The entire Fry's range is just delicious and so versatile. A quick pie to pop in the oven served with sweet potato mash and green beans, the crumbed schnitzels sliced up in a curry or in fajitas, or the polony sausage in a sandwich or fried in a cooked breakfast! There are so many foods i could list here that I have fallen in love with but I will save them for future posts!

  Frys Pies

I have also taken another huge step... I have challenged myself to complete the Brighton Marathon on April 6th, yes that's right, only two weeks to go! I wanted to take my love for wildlife a step further, so after being inspired my little sister who completed the marathon last year for WWF I decided to take the leap as well. I have chosen to run for Care for the Wild International raising funds for their Last Chance for Elephants campaign. They are fighting to stop the killing. They fund anti-poaching units and have given over £1 million to assist with the rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned elephants. They support education of our future generation so they can become custodians of this beautiful creature instead of poachers. This is why I have chosen to support Care for the Wild. To endure the pain, and through the blood, sweat and tears I will run the Brighton marathon to raise funds for this worthy cause. All 26 miles and 385 yards of it. Every mile, every step, and every breath I take will be for this mighty animal, the elephant.

My training has gone well, with a distance of 16 miles reached and clocking in over 200 miles since I started in November! I have had a lot of help along the way, with constant support from my family and friends and my wonderful bf bought me a proper pair of running trainers! Im now counting down the minutes until the big day! Please help make all the pain worthwhile by sponsoring me! https://www.justgiving.com/Karra-BrightonMarathon2014 Thank you!

There have been many other things going on in the last 10 months, a new passion for surfing after a holiday to Fuerteventura, moving into a new home, crazy animal rescues with Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital (a partridge in Dorothy Perkins!) and goodbyes to pets that have gone to rainbow bridge. Its been 10 months of some amazing highs and a few lows, but I'm sure there will be plenty of good times to come!

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!