Iced Coffee (Eiskaffee) For Lazy Summer Days

Tags

Coffee Walnut Cake, dairy-free, Eiskaffee, Iced Coffee, summer drinks, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian, Vegfest awards

Who says it always rains in England? Over two weeks of blue skies and unbroken, glorious sunshine! What a start to the holidays and what a perfect excuse for a nice, ice-cold drink in the garden…

It’s 6.49am and I’m awake and trying to get a blog post ready for today! My two ‘little helpers’ will be around in a while, so this is going to be short and sweet… and yet decadently delicious!

With the forecast set for another hot day I’d like to share one of my all-time favourite summer drinks with you – iced coffee. Many years ago, my mum showed me what you can do with a little water, instant coffee and a handblender. After a couple of minutes of whizzing the liquid starts to turn into the most creamy-smooth froth. Not in an airy cappuccino sort of way but really thick and velvety. I’ve used decaf coffee as I’ll be sharing mine with two little people.

Just before I get to the recipe I’d like to ask for a big favour… Huge favour, really! I’ve been nominated in the Vegfest UK awards this year. As I’ve written previously, these awards are like the ‘vegan Oscars’ – I am so excited and honoured to be nominated. Please (PRETTY, PRETTY PLEASE 🙂 ) make my day, click on the link below and vote for me in the ‘Best Blogger’ category. It will only take a minute as you don’t have to vote for anything else if you don’t want to… just scroll down to the very last category and pick Flavourphotos. I would be so grateful for your vote and promise to keep posting delicious new recipe ideas and beautiful food pictures every week!
Click here www.vegfest.co.uk/vote
💜💜 THANK YOU!!! 💜💜

 

Iced Coffee for two.

2 heaped tsp instant coffee
50ml cold water
dairy-free milk
2 big scoops of vegan vanilla ice cream
about 8-10 ice cubes
vegan spray cream (optional)

Pour the cold water and coffee granules into a measuring jug and blend with a handblender for about 2 minutes.
Divide between two tall glasses and add ice cubes and vanilla ice cream. (I’ve used Swedish Glacé Vanilla.)
Top up with your favourite dairy-free milk, e.g. almond milk and some whipped cream if you like.

My boys were really keen to make a cake with me yesterday and our Coffee Walnut Cake complements this chilled drink beautifully!
And I’ve discovered something fun along the way: I’ve always made coffee icing by dissolving the instant coffee in a tiny amount of hot water before adding the sugar and margarine. This time I’ve stirred the coffee straight into the margarine and crushed it a little with the back of my mixing spoon. That way, it leaves a lovely speckled effect. What do you think, isn’t that so pretty?

Blogging with kids on holidays… It’s only taken me 7 hours from starting this post to getting it finished 🙂
I’m looking forward to bringing this iced coffee treat to the VVLP and Fiesta Friday this week.

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Creamy Dreamy Sandwich Swirls

Tags

children's party, dairy-free, Food photography, Party food, Sandwich spirals, sandwich swirls, Vegan, Vegan Canapés, vegan fingerfood, Vegetarian

Can you eat a vegan diet and still have great party food? Too right, you can!

These cute little finger food sandwich swirls are great for any gregarious gathering or fun-filled festivity. Whether you are organising a kids’ birthday treat or an indulgent cocktail party with bubbly and canapés, these will be the best thing since sliced bread. (aarrrhh, sorry just couldn’t resist the pun!)

In the last couple of weeks I’ve had so much fun joining a couple of virtual potlucks. If you’ve never come across these before please let me introduce you to Angie’s (The Novice Gardener) Fiesta Friday. It’s a real feast for the eyes and includes mouthwateringly tempting dishes from all around the world. If you can’t be at a party in person, this has got to be the best virtual foodie gathering there is  – the atmosphere is incredibly supportive, encouraging and kind!

Another exciting new venture was started by An Unrefined Vegan blogger Annie with Bunny Kitchen’s Poppy and Angela from Canned Time. The Virtual Vegan LINKY Potluck has been going for three weeks and has attracted delicious offerings from Banana Avocado Mint Ice Cream to the cutest Mini Cinnamon Rolls (plus plenty of savoury dishes too, in case you’re wondering about my sweet tooth!). Can’t wait to see what everybody is sharing this week.

I’m sure to bring my offerings to Fiesta Friday #26 and VVLP this week. These little canapés are just made for sharing.

Sandwich Pops

 

Pinwheel Sandwiches

Makes 16
The little sandwich spirals are also a fun way to add variety to lunchboxes.

4 slices of sandwich bread, crusts removed
Savoury filling:
100g dairy-free cream cheese
2 tbsp each of finely cubed yellow and red pepper
1 tbsp finely sliced chives
¼ tsp mild paprika

Sweet filling:
100g cream cheese
5 strawberries, finely chopped
1 tsp icing sugar
zest of ½ orange

Blend the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, then add the remaining ingredients. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the bread slices.
Spread the filling right to the edges and carefully roll up until you have four ‘mini Swiss rolls’. Freeze for 30-40 minutes (they’ll slice more easily) and cut each roll into four pieces.

In case you’re wondering about the vegan cream cheese, here are the two varieties that are most commonly available in the UK.

They come in various flavours but my favourite is the plain type as it’s so versatile. Anything goes, from chocolate cheesecake to stirring into a savoury pasta sauce.

This recipe was originally published in my monthly column for
Vegetarian Living (July 2014)

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Chocolate Cherry Cakes

Tags

Chocolate cake, dairy-free, Romantic recipes, Valentines Day, Vegan, Vegetarian, Vegetarian food photography, World Cup 2014

World Cup winners 2014! Unless you managed to hide away under a very thick duvet, could you have possibly missed this?

Germany’s football team is proudly returning home today to show off the trophy to the hundreds of thousands who line the streets of Berlin, celebrating, singing and dancing. I’ve been thinking about a fitting tribute to the team and here’s my ultimate celebration food: World CupCakes
While I’m writing this I’m keeping an eye on the live stream from the Brandenburg Gate, where the atmosphere is simply ELECTRIC! To see the whole world come to Brazil to ‘play together’ seems particularly poignant at a time when thousands are continuing to flee their homes because of war and unrest. I hope some of that spirit and sportsmanship will leave a longer lasting legacy than any trophy ever could.

During the tournament, Alex (my 5 year old) has taken an real shine to Bayern München player Thomas Müller: ‘He’s so cool!’ and ‘He’s just the best, Mummy!’.
And out of the blue he popped his most important question during the World Cup final: ‘Mummy, is Thomas Müller vegan?’

I promised him to look it up online (answer, as far as I can tell, is no). He insisted that I should find out his address so that he can send him a letter ‘because being vegan is sooo much better’. Following in the footsteps of veggie and vegan athletes like Carl Lewis, Ed Moses, Martina Navratilova and the Olympic cycling medalist Lizzie Armitstead? He’s got a point… gotta love the innocence and passion of a five year old!

Chocolate Cherry Cakes with Cream Cheese Icing

The German colours black, red and gold definitely needed to feature in today’s post. There were various ideas, including dark rye bread with red pepper humous and yellow tomatoes…  But I think we’ll stick with scrumptious cupcakes and I hope you’ll approve of my choice 😉

Makes 15

Chocolate cake:
180g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
225g sugar
5 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp vinegar
275ml water

For the icing:
75g dairy-free cream cheese
225g icing sugar
1 tsp red cabbage powder

30 cherries, half of them stoned
gold sprinkles and edible gold leaf

Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
Mix all dry ingredients for the cake and then slowly blend in the combined liquid ingredients until you have a smooth, runny cake batter. Should you end up with lumps you can give the mix a quick blast with a hand blender.
Line a muffin tray with cupcake cases and place a cherry into each case. Pour in the cake mix until just over half full as these cakes rise quite a bit.
Bake for about 25 minutes, then set aside to cool completely.

In the meantime, combine the cream cheese with the icing sugar and red cabbage juice powder. I really wanted to use a natural food dye in this recipe and I bet you could experiment with very concentrated blueberry or beetroot juice too. Just remember that by adding more liquid you will also need to use more icing sugar.

Pipe the icing on the cakes and add a cherry and golden sprinkles.

For the first time in my life I have experimented with edible gold leaf. It costs a whopping £4 for two tiny sheets but it seems worth the investment for the beautiful celebration cakes below! Wouldn’t they make the most gorgeous dessert for a romantic meal too?
I’m looking forward to bringing these to the 3rd Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck and also to Angie’s super fun Fiesta Friday #25.

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The Vegfest Awards 2014 – ‘Best Blogger’ Nomination!

Tags

Best Blogger, Vegan, Vegan Oscars, Vegetarian, Vegfest, Vegfest Awards 2014

Are you ready to cast your vote in the ‘Vegan Oscars 2014’? Let’s get voting… Yippppeeee!!

As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of the three annual Vegfest events – the largest vegan festivals in Europe.
These awards are THE vegan lifestyle awards in the UK and I’m just over the moon to be included in the ‘Best Blogger’ category. I’ve only been doing this for 8 months or so and this has given me such a boost. A heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to all of you who have nominated me. 💜
Here’s a little reminder of some of the recipes so far…

Now, here’s the important bit: Please cast your vote by clicking on the banner below. There are some wonderful, passionate companies, organisations and individuals. I’m delighted to see so many in this list who have become clients and friends over the years. Congratulations to you all!

or click here to vote.

 

 

Rainbow Chard and Smoked Tofu Tart

Tags

buffet food, dairy-free, Food photography, rainbow chard, seasonal eating, smoked tofu, spinach tart, summer lunch, Vegan, vegan main course, vegan recipes, Vegetarian

Ever been told to eat your greens? Now you can eat your pinks, yellows and reds too with this stunning Rainbow Chard Tart.

A mouth-watering combination of crumbly shortcrust pastry and creamy chard, spinach and smoked tofu filling…

Our friends Sean and Tammy are the most knowledgeable, green-fingered gardeners! Tammy, who lives across the road from us, kindly offered me some of her rainbow chard plants earlier this year. I’d grown some of these before and so I was really pleased – chard grows very easily, looks gorgeous and makes a versatile alternative to spinach. Oh, and Tammy is also responsible for the success of this dish in another way. Halfway through cooking the filling, I realised that I’d run out of cornflour. Good neighbours are such a blessing! And this is what my little plants have turned into… I’m in awe of nature’s palette, aren’t these leaves stunning?

Rainbow Chard and Smoked Tofu Tart

While I was harvesting the chard I also grabbed a bundle of spinach leaves and some parsley from the garden for this recipe. The tofu I’m using here is my absolute favourite. It’s by a German company called Taifun and it’s so good that I could (and occasionally do!) eat it straight from the packet. It has added sesame seeds and almond pieces as well as a lovely, dense texture.

For the filling: 1 onion, finely chopped olive oil 2 cloves garlic, crushed 200g chard and spinach leaves, finely sliced (remove the tougher stalks) 100g smoked tofu 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley salt and pepper 1-2 tbsp lemon juice vegetable bouillon powder 150ml oat cream (or soya) 2 heaped tsp of cornflour, mixed to a smooth paste with a little water And also 1 pack of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry (or your finest home-made pastry) Line a tart tin with the pastry and set aside. Sauté the onion gently in olive oil until translucent. Add the crushed garlic, sliced greens, and smoked tofu. Cover your pan and let the greens wilt. Season with fresh parsley, salt and pepper, a little crumbled stock powder and lemon juice. Start with 1 tbsp of lemon juice and add a little more to taste – I like this quite tangy but go with your tastebuds. When the chard is soft, add the cream and cornflour. Stir until the sauce begins to thicken and adjust the seasoning to taste. Set aside to cool down while the oven preheats. Spoon the filling in the prepared pastry case. I had enough to fill a 20cm tart tin and a smaller heart shaped tin as well. Bake at 200˚C for about 25-30 minutes.

I’d love to submit this recipe to the Second Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck, Meatless on Monday and Fiesta Friday #24 this week. Have you ever grown chard before? I’m sure to need plenty of inspiration this year as it’s already growing abundantly. Who’s got any good recipe ideas?

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