A week of VEGAN - Meal plan - DAY 7 -

I made it!  I got to the end of my first WEEK OF MEAL PLANNING.  Yey!  Obviously I'm not victorious at meal plan numero uno, reaching it's zenith,  but 'clap my hands happy' to have posted it all for you.  I think I had varying heights of taste and photographic success along the way. 

So, what did I eat on DAY 7?

I spent a creative morning mixing, sifting and baking for a future recipe I will share with you, so when my stomach started making itself known (surprisingly loudly seeing as I'd eaten SO much cake mix) I thought best, to balance out the mornings excesses, to have something light and redeeming.

zucchini pasta with sundried tomato pesto

It takes about 10 mins (with a little pre prep) to make and is rammed with flavour.  To get the spirals you will need a spiralizer.  I got mine from Amazon.  If you do not have one of these gadgets cluttering up your cupboards then use a vegetable peeler to create pappadelle type ribbons. 

You will need the following to serve 2

3-4 large zucchinis (courgette) - ribboned or spiralised

For the sun dried tomato pesto

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes either in oil or dry - soak the dry SDT for 20mins in a cup of water. retain liquid

1/4 soaked sunflower seeds (easier to blend AND digest)

good handful of basil (about 20g)

1 clove of garlic

1 tbs good olive oil

* for low fat version use a tbs of the retained tomato liquid or add extra tbs of oil

salt & pepper to taste

pop all the pesto ingredients into a blender and process.  I like mine to be a bit coarse as I love the textures

To serve either spoon the pesto on top or mix into the 'pasta'.

It was joy in a bowl and exciting as I rarely prepare raw pasta.  The UK weather gives me cravings for warm food.

The name of the game for the evening was 'junk food' night.  Ridiculously healthy and SO GOOD.

Black bean burgers

Don't you love it when you've got a freezer full of meals you can grab out for dinner?!  I'd made the burgers a few weeks back so all I had to do was pop them in the oven.  I served with cassava chips (crisps), onion kale chips (crisps) and a carrot, orange and sesame salad.  I used Vegan A Go Go recipe to make vegan mayo (my first EVER batch).  I tried the low-fat soya milk version first and it was a runny disaster (where did I go wrong?) so then made the tofu version;

3/4 cup soft/med tofu

2 tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil

pinch of fine ground black pepper

blend on high until thick.

now that had me whooping with delight and doing a little joggette on the spot (the excess excitement always finds an exit from my body!)  If I had the skills I'd have given it a little wolf whistle, sadly it would have just been me blowing air into the room and making a eerie wind sound).  Ra ra.





cake CAKE cake Cake CaKE CAKE CAKE CAKE

This cake was so GOOD I had to give a humongous slab of it it to my sister to take home to her family, else I would have SCOFFED the lot!

I fished around with my rod and interweb net to scout out a cake befitting of a visit from my sis, her hubster and my monosyllabic but lovely teenage nephew.  I wanted to make it gluten free, not because any of them have a gluten intolerance  (they are don't) but because, it is all about me!  I remembered Chef Chloe the pretty one who won Cupcake Wars in 2010, so she was my to go place for a recipe.

I of course adapted it because I am a rebellious know it all.  This is the original winning vegan recipe.  But yes, I did change it.

For the flour I used 1 cup chickpea flour and 1/2 cup coconut flour.  Instead of, 'send me all twizzly' sugar, I used 'zen' fruit syrup.  All else I followed to the letter.  Well, ok, I didn't 'tiramisu', it.  I instead just used her sponge recipe and made up the rest myself.

For the filling I spread a layer of St Dalfour Orange cut Jam and then made a 'cream'.    3/4 cup tofu, 1/2 cup coconut flour, 1 tbs chocolate chips, 1/4 cup fruit syrup, 1/2 tsp salt.    For the frosting I used a carton of Cremovita - organic-soya-cream which whips and thickens beautifully, to which I added 1 1/2 tbs instant esspresso (made in coffee filter with 1 tbs of grounds) and whipped it into the cream before making pretty on the top of the cake with walnuts and choc chips. Coffee, creamy, gooey, soft, spongy, crunchy, chocolaty, swee...tie (but not too sweet).



I did it!  Blogged every meal for 1 week. I take a bow and exit left of stage..... to go bake/cook some more.