Summer Super Salad

Tags

dairy-free, lentil salad, lentils, plant-based protein, protein, pulses, Vegan, vegan diet, Vegan Food photography, Vegetarian, Vegetarian food photography, Where do you get your protein

So you don’t eat meat. But where on Earth do you get your protein? Are you ready to get your finger on the pulse?

Every single vegetarian or vegan in this world has been asked this question, without a doubt! As much as you may want to roll your eyes to the heavens, it’s easy to forget that there was probably a time when you researched this question yourself. I certainly remember the early months of scrutinising every label and reading up on calcium, protein, B12 etc. Choosing to take something out of our usual diets means something else needs to take that place. Quite a simple equation, really!

This pretty Lentil Salad is a sure winner to entice your taste buds whilst providing fabulous plant-based protein. It’s the kind of salad that tastes great with lots of different herbs and would also be lovely with finely slices spinach or colourful chard leaves.

I can’t wait to make it with my own cucumbers and tomatoes… At the moment they’re still looking like this:

But do you remember these?

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes (October 2013)

Last year’s tomato harvest was incredibly abundant and the pictures are exactly the kind of incentive I need to keep me watering the greenhouse enthusiastically.

For now, I’m happy to include my own fresh herbs and eye-catching borage flowers from the garden in this recipe. Alex, my four-year old, loves this salad and has especially requested it for lunch. It’s always such a joy to see my boys tucking in with gusto. During their toddler years they’ve both had phases of being picky eaters but since then they’ve developed a great sense of adventure when it comes to new tastes and flavours. Phewww, we did it…thank goodness for that 🙂

 

Lentil Salad

Good olive oil adds a wonderful earthy flavour to any salad dressing but for a low-fat version you can easily omit it. I’ve tried both versions and it works equally well without.
Serves 4-6

250g green or puy lentils (they hold their shape best and don’t go mushy)
4 ripe tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
20 pitted olives
1/2 red onion
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp soya yoghurt
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)
salt and black pepper
fresh chives, finely sliced

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the lentils. I like to use a vegetable stock cube in the water to give some extra seasoning to the lentils. Cook until tender, then drain and set aside to cool. Check the packet for timings as different lentils vary in cooking time.

Finely chop the onion. Cut the tomatoes and cucumber into small pieces and slice the olives. Mix with the cooled lentils. Stir in the yoghurt, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and add plenty of fresh chives – 2-3 tablespoons, at least. If you don’t serve this straight away, check the seasoning as the lentils always absorb a lot of the dressing flavours.
Best enjoyed with crusty baguette, a glass of wine and with good friends to share.
I’d like to submit this recipe to the first Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck (link here:http://wp.me/p4gISF-3dr)

Great resource from Peta

What’s your favourite way to include beans and lentils in your diet? I’d love to hear if they get your pulse racing?

 

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Website www.flavourphotos.com

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Top 20 Blogs to Watch… How exciting!!!!

Tags

dairy-free, humous, Mango Salsa, Party food, pea and mint, Summer recipe, The Vegan Woman Blog Guide, Top 20 Blogs, Vegan, Vegan Food photography, Vegetarian, Vegfest, Vegfest awards

The brand-new Vegan Woman’s Blog Guide 2014 is out and…. I’ve made it into the ‘Top 20 Vegan Blogs to Watch’.

I’m not going to pretend here that I’m all cool and like ‘yeah, whatever’ about this. I am really, really excited and also very grateful to the lovely people who have nominated me. The Vegan Woman’s site is a really useful resource. I’m particularly keen to see a site that, instead of focusing on a single aspect of veganism, covers a wide range of angles: Mind & Body, Home & Garden, Vegan Family as well as a gorgeous recipe section. “With so many new vegan blogs recommended by our community this year, the competition was exceptionally fierce.”  But TVW had some top judges on board: Vegan fitness coach and food enthusiast John Lewis (Aka. Bad Ass Vegan), Vegan Chef Avi Jean Levy (Vegan Food Artistry), and Vegan health and nutrition coach Emily Segal (Triumph Wellness) who rated and evaluated the multitude of recommendations they received. Click here for the full guide – there are many truly inspirational food writers featured… Feast your eyes! Today’s recipe is all about the colour green – nature, new life, growth and development. I won’t go into great detail about the psychology of colours, I just loved the the symbolism of something new taking shape, develop and grow… It’s also a good excuse to have a nice summery lunch, once I’ve photographed this scrumptious dip.

Pea and Mint Humous

1 tin (400g) chickpeas 50g frozen petit pois 1 small handful of mint (2 sprigs or more to taste) 1 tsp garlic puree 3 tbsp olive oil 3 tbsp water Juice of 1/2 lime Place all ingredients in a blender and whizz to a smooth paste. I like using garlic puree in this recipe as I find fresh garlic can dominate the flavours in humous. The minced garlic puree doesn’t overpower the subtle mint and pea flavour. Delicious on its own with crackers… But even better with mango salsa…  

Mango Salsa

Such a quick way to add flavour and striking colours to your table! If you’ve never tried mango and coriander in a salsa together you’ll need to try this. 1/2 small red onion 1/2 fresh chilli (optional) fresh coriander leaves 1/2 ripe mango 1/2 red pepper 1/2 yellow pepper 4 tomatoes lime juice to taste Finely slice the red onion, chilli and coriander leaves. Chop mango, peppers and tomatoes into small pieces and combine with the onion and fresh coriander. Drizzle with lime juice and serve alongside the humous. With crackers, tortilla chips or maybe on a jacket potato? What’s your favourite flavour? ————————————– If you enjoy this blog please would you nominate Flavourphotos in the Vegfest awards? Click here to vote: http://vegfest.co.uk/nominations 🙂 Keep in touch via Twitter or Facebook Website www.flavourphotos.com          

Umbrellas on a Sunny Day

Tags

Alpro, dairy-free, Easy vegan recipe, Hipp, Homemade Ice Lollies, Organix, Summer recipes, vanilla dessert, Vegan, Vegetarian, Vegfest awards, Zebra Lollies

If the first warming rays of sunshine and the sight of blue skies get you craving a frozen treat, I’ve got just the thing for you!
Home-made ice lollies are incredibly easy to make. Get yourself some lolly moulds and get slushing, mushing, freezing and slurping.

Who loves ice lollies? No, actually let me re-phrase this… Who doesn’t like ice lollies?
Exactly! My point entirely 🙂

I love ice cream and I will happily admit that it’s me who is passing this passion on to our children. In my family this fondness seems to run particularly strong in the female line!
My grandmother always used to keep a few tubs of ice cream in her freezer and my mum would often come home after work with a parcel of freshly scooped creamy deliciousness from the local ice cream parlour. I assume there are Italian ice cream shops all over Germany and Bavaria with its close proximity to Italy boasts an ‘Eisdiele’ (or more!) in most towns.

Zebra Ice Lollies

Makes 4-6 depending on the size of your moulds

These lollies are the easiest thing to make. All you need is a bit of patience to let them freeze properly and you’re ready for some summer chill-out time. The vanilla pudding has a wonderful texture when frozen. With most juice or even yoghurt based ice desserts you will get crystals forming but the pudding stays nice and smooth. I’m tempted to try this out with my home-made 5-ingredient chocolate pudding too.

3 dessert apples, peeled and cored
a little apple juice
2 heaped tbsp of berries, e.g. strawberries or blueberries
a pinch of cinnamon
2 pots of vegan vanilla dessert (e.g. Alpro’s 125g pots)

Cut the apples into small pieces and simmer with a little bit of apple juice and cinnamon until softened. Add the berries and mix with a hand blender until you have a smooth puree. You can stir in a bit of brown sugar if you prefer the extra sweetness and set aside to cool.
Take your moulds and layer vanilla pudding and stewed apples to get a nice stripy effect. Freeze until completely set! You can either warm up the outside of the moulds with your hands or let some luke warm water run over them to remove the lollies easily. Yum!

Top Tip: If you’re really in a rush you could use organic fruit pots for children (e.g. Hipp or Organix) as the fruit layer. We still use them occasionally for desserts or to top porridge etc.

Serving suggestion: Eat whilst wearing a big sunhat, sitting on a swinging hammock… ahhhhh, life is good!

If you’ve just stumbled across my blog and enjoy what you’re seeing, I would be delighted if you’d stick around for a bit and leave me a comment. 🙂
And for my regular readers… could I ask a big favour please? The Vegfest awards have just been opened for nominations and I’d be so happy if you could nominate Flavourphotos in the ‘Best Blogger’ category.
http://vegfest.co.uk/nominations Thank you very much for your support!

 

 

Yellow Thai Curry – sensationally seasonal!

Tags

Food photography, seasonal, Thai, Vegan, Vegan Wedding, Vegetable curry, Vegetarian

June is such a fabulous month for seasonal veggies!
Mangetout, peas, spring onions, watercress, rocket and broad beans are all coming into season in the UK… Choose your favourite ‘shades of green’ for this easy Thai curry.

Vegetarian Week has been and gone and I really hope you’ve enjoyed the daily recipe posts and have felt a little inspired too.

While thousands flocked to Vegfest in Bristol to celebrate all things vegan and vegetarian, we were making our way to Germany for two weddings. My cousin Margit got married first, followed one week later by my school friend Dani whom I’ve known for 26 years! Two gloriously sunny days for two great couples!

With my school friends Alice and Dani.

I will report a little bit more about the vegan food options at both weddings soon (yes, delicious vegan options at both weddings!).
One of the main courses was a flavourful Thai Curry. To reminisce about our German family adventure I’d like to share my own version of this recipe with you today. It’s great with any mix of veggies you have in your fridge and makes the perfect celebration meal… Fact!

Yellow Thai Curry

Serves 4

750g of lightly steamed seasonal veggies
3 sliced spring onions
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp mild curry powder
½ tsp turmeric
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stick of lemongrass, sliced in half
a thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
1 can (400ml) light coconut milk
2 tbsp line juice
½ tsp brown sugar

Choose a large sauté pan and gently fry the spring onions in a little oil. Add the curry powder, turmeric, crushed garlic, lemongrass and grated ginger. Stir continuously for 3-4 minutes until the spices are fragrant. Pour in the coconut milk along with the lime juice and brown sugar.
Season with salt, some crumbled vegetable stock cube (or bouillon powder) and chilli to taste. Now add your veggies and simmer over a gentle heat for another 5-10 minutes. You may need to add a little extra stock and adjust the seasoning.

For a family meal, you can start this off as a mild curry and serve with fresh chilli slices or cayenne pepper at the table.

This recipe was first published in Vegetarian Living Magazine (June 2014 issue). Best Publication in the Vegfest awards and a throughly enjoyable read… click here for more info. 
It’s such a tasty curry, I’m actually going to bring this to the VVLP to share.

When was the last time that you ate outstanding food that really ‘exceeded your expectations’? Maybe at a wedding or a work’s conference or even a quick bite on the go? I’d love to hear all about your unexpected finds.