Veggie Dublin: May 2015

Chia seed banana strawberry smoothie

08:48

Well isn't this just fab, two days before the first festival of the year and I get sick.. Great, just perfect!

I mean don't get me wrong I love an excuse to stay in bed, watch tv and gorge myself on food as much as the next person.. But not this week, ok? How am I supposed to sing my heart out when I can hardly breath... seriously. So I'm attempting to get better fast with healthy foods! First stop, vitamins!

Ingredients (these are a guesstimation.. I did it all so quickly!):

- 1 banana

- 5 strawberries

- Half a pack of blueberries

- Handful of chia seeds

- Handful of oats
- Few glugs of orange juice

- Few cubes of ice

Method

1. Throw all the ingredients in a blender and, guess what... Blend!

2. Yep it's done!

Enjoy x

Spaghetti

Veggie Spaghetti Bolognese

09:27

Hunger makes you do incredible things people, and being too lazy for Quorn to defrost turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I present to you, all veg spaghetti bolognese! Please, please, hold your applause!

Ingredients:

- Red pepper

- Half a courgette

- 1 onion

- Clove of garlic

- Stalk of celery

- 1 tin chopped tomato

- 1 carrot

- Hand full of mushrooms

- Few stalks of broccoli

- Salt and pepper

- Parmesan to taste

Recipe:

1. Heat a few tbsp of oil in a pan. Brown onions and mushrooms with garlic.

2. Add in rest of chopped veg and allow to soften.

3. Add chopped tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes adding salt, pepper and oregano if you so please.

And there you go! So simple I could make it with my eyes closed! (Please don't make it with your eyes closed... That's a real recipe for disaster!)

Enjoy x

granola

Granola Bars (and yogurt Pots)

11:26

Oh these? No, don't worry about these.. These arnt for you. They are all mine!

Last weekend I jumped at the chance to visit The Happy Pear in Greystones with my friend, Sophie. It is like a meca for all things vegetarian. A much cooler, tastier cornucopia! I was instantly hooked on their recipes that I only gone and bought the book!

Oh yea baby. My first dish to experiment with was also the easiest, (no connection there) granola bars!

Ingrediants:

- 160ml oil ( I used olive)

- 150ml honey

- 200g rolled oats

- Few handfuls dried cranberries

- good bit (40gs) of decanted coconut

- As much almond and hazelnut as you like

- About 100gs mixed seeds

- A sprinkle of cinnamon wouldn't go amiss

Recipe:

1. Preheat Ivan to 180 c degrees.

2. Mix oil and oats.

3. Mix in dry ingrediants

4. Stir in honey (works better if you heat the bottle in a bit of hot water first to make it more runny)

5. Pour out onto parchment paper lined dish.

6. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes.

7. Wait until cool to cut!

If you're like me and you constantly forget to prepair lunch for work this little guy does the trick. I got the idea from mm boyfriend. Just grab a jar, fill the bottom with fruit or nuts, pour on Greek yogurt and then crumble your granola bar/ flapjack over! Simple!

check out Cormac's granola for some seriously delish sprinkles. And why not pop on this tasty nugget to get your booty shaking!

Enjoy x

cake

A Tale of Two Sponges

01:59

'I'll bake a cake for nannys lunch tomorrow mom, don't worry about buying one' -god I'm such a great daughter, and granddaughter.

What did she do? She bought one right under my nose this morning! Traitor!! 'I didn't need the anxiety of not having a cake anna'. Well she has a point there, dessert anxiety is real, but with 4.5 hours to complete the job she's having a laugh! Well get ready mom, this sponge is gona knock your socks off!!

Betty's Victorian Sponge cake in all its glory (dressed in delicious chocolate and fruits - that's my genius shining through folks)

Ingredients:

- 4 eggs

- 4 ounces flour

- 4 ounces caster sugar

- 1tsp baking soda

- 200mls cream

Toppings you can go nuts! I put raspberries in the centre and strawberries a crushed flake bar and giant buttons. 😊😊😊😊

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C

2. Whisk the eggs and sugar until you can draw a figure of 8 in the mixture.

3. Sieve the flour and baking powder in the mixture - a little at a time - and fold in.

4. Grease the cake tins lightly and flour them.

5. Divide the mixture between the two tins.

6. Cook for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Allow to cool fully.

8. Whisk cream with a tbsp of sugar.

9. Let your imagination run wild with designs!

Well... Betty, how's that for a cake! Take your dunnes stores roulade and shove it! A happy bank holiday had by all! Especially me 😊😊🍰🍰🍰

Enjoy the little victories friends x

cucumber

Veggie Sushi

04:34

Time consuming and very filling... That's how I would describe the process of making sushi! Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the challenge of making it and we laughed so much after so many failed attempts (you gotta laugh) but it's not something I would be rushing back to make. The combination of so much seaweed and Chinese rice wine (similar to saki) was also a mistake, guaranteed sore tummies in the morning... Don't ever try Chinese rice wine. Ever.

We decided to make cucumber and mango sushi, then if we were still hungry we'd make avocado rolls. In hindsight this was a ridiculous idea.. We were so full we couldn't even finish the mango and cucumber! I think we made a grand total of 4 rolls and ate about 2.5!

You'll need:

- 1 cucumber

- 1 mango

- 1 packet of seaweed nori

- About 50gs rice

- 1 tsp of rice wine vinegar

- 2 bamboo rolling mats (or cling film will work!)

Recipe:

1. Cook the rice and leave to cool until cold.

2. Chop up all veggies

3. Mix vinegar with rice to make sticky

4. Place seaweed on bamboo mat (shiny side down)

5. Place a thin layer of rice on the seaweed leaving an inch at the top free.

6. Insert veggies

7. Use bamboo to roll the seaweed over the rice and veggies. Continue to roll until you reach the free inch. Wet inch with water. Then continue to roll!

8. Hold it in place for a little bit and then you're ready to chop it up!

This can get very messy with sticky rice going everywhere, but that's part of the fun! I actually really enjoyed the challenge of making it myself, however the taste is something i'll leave to the professionals!