NEW Alpro Fromage Frais

Tags

Alpro, Vegan, Vegan Desserts, Vegan fromage frais, Vegan quark, Vegetarian

Great new dessert from Alpro – in Sainburys for just 50p!

Just a super quick post to tell you about these delicious little pots.

They come in three flavours, blackcurrant, mango and passion fruit. I spotted them in Sainsbury’s yesterday on offer for 50p.
The texture is gorgeous! Really thick and creamy, like strained yoghurt. So far I’ve tried passion fruit and it’s a lovely combination of flavours and textures.
Each pot contains around 120 calories and 11g sugar. Compared to their other fruit yoghurts that’s less sugar but 11g is still just under 3 teaspoons! Personally I would save them for an occasional treat… but how cool to wander into a shop and pick up an indulgent vegan dessert!

Have you spotted these already in other shops? If you’ve tried them already I’d love to know what you think.

Lots of love,
Chava

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!

 

 

Lemon Ginger Cheesecake Shots

Tags

Alpro, Cheesecake, cream cheese, dairy-free, dessert, Food photography, ginger, Gourmet Garden, herbs, low fat, recipe, recipe development, spices, Vegan, Vegetarian

Dairy-free and fabulous! If you’re a big fan of Cheesecake here’s the quickest, easiest recipe (with a little help from my friends).

Spring has truly sprung here in the UK! Vibrant blossoms wherever you look, bees buzzing busily and a windowsill full of green shoots getting ready for the greenhouse.
With the recent sunny weather my tastebuds seem to have changed from warming comfort food to lighter and more delicate flavours.
These bite-sized mini Cheesecakes with hints of summery lemon and ginger are just perfect for an eye-catching dessert and best of all… they’re ready in minutes.

Recently, Gourmet Garden kindly offered to send me a selection of their herbs and spices to review. This Australian company produces ready-to-use tubes of herbs and spices that offer a convenient alternative to fresh herbs. During the winter months, when I can’t just pop out into the garden to pick my own, I often end up with shop-bought herbs that never quite get used up or make it to the freezer. The Gourmet Garden products struck me as a great idea to avoid food waste as the packs will keep for up to three months in the fridge.

It turns out that most of the herbs and spices contain lactic acid from milk as an ingredient which makes them ideal for vegetarians. Currently only the ginger is suitable for vegans.
Obviously, there are endless options to use ginger in savoury recipes such as curries, stir-fries and marinades but I wanted to try something a bit different!

Lemon Ginger Cheesecake Shots

Makes about 12 shots
The gorgeous little shot glasses were lent to me by a friend and I’ve been thinking about the perfect recipe to photograph with them. These cute little desserts are exactly what I was looking for.
Are you ready for an incredible 6 ingredient recipe?

 

3 ginger biscuits or Hobnobs
75g dairy-free cream cheese
50g dairy-free vanilla yoghurt (e.g. Alpro)
1 tsp Gourmet Garden ginger puree
zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp icing sugar (more or less to taste)

Crush the biscuits in a pestle and mortar and spoon the fine crumbs into the shot glasses. Cheesecake is often made with a base of biscuit crumbs and melted margarine. If you prefer you can do that too but I wanted to opt for a lower fat version in this recipe. This way, it reminds me a bit of the Mueller yoghurts where you could snap a corner with granola into a creamy yoghurt dessert. Are they still around? I haven’t looked for a very long time!

Mix the cream cheese, yoghurt, lemon zest and ginger puree until you get a smooth, creamy consistency. Add icing sugar to taste and a little more ginger for an extra zingy flavour.
Spoon the cheesecake mix into the shot glasses and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Could this be any easier?!

Over the years I’ve attempted many dairy-free versions of Cheesecake. I’ve graduated from my first pretty strange attempts of baked silken tofu versions to my current favourites… Eating a vegan diet is definitely not about missing out but about finding the most delicious way to live life without causing unnecessary harm.

 

I love berries to top my Cheesecakes! What’s your favourite version? I’m keen to try out new suggestions.

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For food photography and vegan recipe development contact me via my website www.flavourphotos.com