Suma Bloggers Network - Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse - Quinoa Style

Hi there! Long time no post! I can't believe over two months has passed since I last wrote and published a post, how time flies!

I've been spending a lot of time down my allotment, which needed a hell of a lot of work doing to it. All my hard work has paid off though and I've been busy harvesting and preserving my produce. Thank golly I have a chest freezer now! 

I love spending time working on my allotment and its where you'll usually find me every weekend. Its like an oasis of calm especially after a mad week at work. Marco loves it too and is spoilt rotten by everyone down there. There is still much to do and I'll write a post soon with an update and some before and after photos so you can see why I've been busy.

Anyway time for this posts recipe! And its another Suma post and I decided to do another sweet dish rather than savoury just to steer me away from 'cheese' again! :o)

I've been experimenting with quinoa recently and I must admit I'm loving it, it really is such a versatile seed. I've been doing a little research too, and I've found out that it is a seed rather than a grain as I first thought and it is the seed of the goosefoot plant.

It is reported to have a number of health benefits too including anti-inflammatory properties. Quinoa is also a complete protein source containing all essential amino acids. This wonder seed is also a good source of folate and zinc. So you can see why I've been experimenting with it? I've used it in savoury dishes and used it instead of rice for chilli's etc, see my Winter Wellness Chilli Goodness Recipe and yes I've even used it in a 'cheese sauce' recipe! However, I've also attempted to use it in sweet dishes too as in this recipe. The result is good! To jazz it up a little I used a few raspberries from the allotment and the new flavour choc shot which is orange and cardamon. If you've not tried it yet then you should its amazing.

Chocolate Mousse - Quinoa Style 

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
75g Red Quinoa
250ml Boiling water
200ml Almond milk
100g Fresh raspberries
40g Pitted dates
40g Cocoa powder
1 Tbsp Date syrup
1 Tbsp Choc shot (I used orange flavour)

Method

First add the quinoa and the boiling water to a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes.Drain and leave to cool.

While the quinoa is cooking add the pitted dates to the almond milk to soak.

Once the quinoa has cooled add to your blender along with all the other ingredients. Blend until the mixture is smooth and mousse like.

Transfer the mixture to glasses and refrigerate, the mixture will stiffen slightly.

Enjoy :o)

Jasmine x

Notice Board: Savvy Spreads Review

A while ago Katie from Savvy foods got intouch with me to ask if I was interested in reviewing the two vegan spreads Savvy foods make. The two varieties are Chocolate Super Spread and Date and Sesame Luxury Spread. 

Of course I wanted to try them and I was more than happy to review, who wouldn't want to, chocolate was involved! So earlier on this month a parcel arrived and I couldn't wait to try them.

The spreads are 100% natural and have no added sugar, oils, dairy, gluten, additives or GMO's, which makes them a healthier alternative to other sweet preserves on the market.

Both spreads use tahini (sesame) as an ingredient which provides depth to their flavour and balances out the sweetness of other ingredients used. The tahini used in the Chocolate Super Spread (yes, it lives up to its name) is combined with carob, agave nectar, cocoa powder and spices to give it an individual taste which is not too sweet and has a hint of bitterness, not unlike a piece of good quality dark chocolate. The tahini used in the Date and Sesame Luxury Spread is combined with dates, carob syrup, agave nectar and spices and has a rounded taste which was luxurious and therefore also lives up to its name. It reminded me of toffee, with the added benefit of not breaking your teeth! 

My favourite of the two spreads was the date and sesame luxury spread but it was a close call, a very close call! I'll let you into a little secret; the jar is sitting next to me, well what's left, which is not a lot and I keep dipping into it for another quick sample, it really is hard to stop going back for another taste!

Suggested uses for the spreads include spreading on toast, crackers or pancakes and stirred into porridge or drizzled over ice-cream as a sweet topping. I wanted to go one stage further though, and try them out as an ingredient of a dish, could I cook with them and what could I make. I wasn't disappointed! The first dish I made didn't even need cooking, I was too eager to see what it was capable of and I made banana and chocolate ice cream and wow did it taste good! Even better it was actually good for you!

Using my favourite piece of kitchen equipment I was able to knock this wonderful dessert up in seconds.

Banana and Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)
3 Tbsp Vanilla yoghurt, I used Alpro
1 Banana, frozen
3 Tsp Chocolate Super Spread
6 Ice cubes

Method
Put the ingredients into your blender (make sure you can use ice in your blender) in the order listed and blend until a soft serve ice cream is made. 

If it starts to melt just return to the freezer for 30 minutes before serving.

Serve with a drizzle of the Chocolate Super Spread over the top and a sprig of mint.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next recipe I created had to use the Date and Sesame Luxury Spread before I ate it all just out of the jar! My first experiment was to mix it with warm almond milk and it actually made a pleasant drink, but I knew this spread could be pushed further.......

Quick & Easy Oat Bars (with chocolate and nuts)

Ingredients (makes 12 bars)

1 Tbsp Flax Seed
3 Tbsp Cold water
100g Date and Sesame Spread
1 Banana
125g Rolled oats
50g Mixed nuts
50g Dark Chocolate drops

Method

Turn on your oven to a medium heat, around 180 - 190°C.

Next mix the flax seed with the water and put in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Line a baking tray or oven proof dish with grease proof baking paper so the oat bars are easy to remove.

Place the date and sesame seed spread into a large glass bowl and heat in the microwave for 20 seconds just to loosen the spread. 

Slice the banana into the bowl with the date and sesame spread and mash.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients; oats, mixed nuts and chocolate drops.

Take the flax mixture out of the fridge and add to the bowl of wet ingredients; date and sesame spread and banana and give everything a good stir. 

Transfer the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until everything is combined.

Spread the mixture into the baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbling. The cooking time will depend on the size of your baking tray and the depth of the oat bars.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes to cool down then tip upside down on to a board and peel off the baking paper from the bottom of the oat bars.

Wrap individually in baking paper and store in the fridge or freezer if you want to store for longer.

I'm so pleased I had the opportunity to try these two spreads and I'll definitely be buying more as they are so versatile. If you want to try them for yourself you can purchase them from a range of health food shops and more recently Suma! For a full list of stockists please visit their website.

Thank you Jonathan and Katie :o)

Specials Board: Courgette & Chocolate Brownie Cakes

Courgette & Chocolate Brownie Cakes & Vegan Mofo Day 3

My courgette plants are still producing fruits, in all I have 3 different varieties, pattypan squash, eight ball courgette and courgette Atena Polka F1. The most productive have been the pattypan squash but a close second is the eight ball courgette, pictured below.

Eight Ball Courgette

This one was huge and I only used half of it for this recipe! When they get this big they do have a cavity like a winter squash where the seeds are growing. I normally scoop them out when the courgettes are this big! You can dry out the seeds and try planting them next year!

Now, I love courgettes, but when you have so many, you need to be creative on how you eat them. One can only eat so much ratatouille! Shaheen over at Allotment2Kitchen made a gorgeous looking chocolate and courgette loaf cake, (which I need to bake soon) but today I fancied something a little different. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted brownies or cupcakes so my recipe is somewhere in between, hence the name!

I'd still got a packet of unopened coconut sugar in my cupboards which was included in a past vegan kind box. I'd been meaning to try it for ages so I thought this might be the perfect opportunity.

Ingredients 

250g Plain flour

50g Cocoa powder

1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 Tsp Baking powder

½ Tsp Salt

165g Coconut sugar

80ml Light olive oil

250ml Soy yoghurt

1 Tsp Vanilla Paste

315g Courgette, grated

100g chocolate chips

Method

Set your oven to a moderate heat, as a regular reader you will know that I have 'cleaned' off my  oven temperatures from around my oven knob! 

Sieve the first 5 ingredients into a bowl and add the coconut sugar. 

In a separate bowl add the soy yoghurt and olive oil and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla paste and whisk again, then add the grated courgette and mix. 

Tip the wet ingredients into the dry.

Give everything a good stir until all the dry ingredients have been mixed into the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips and stir through so they are evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into cup cake cases and fill to two thirds up. I use silicone cake cases as they are easy to remove after baking. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you insert a skewer into a cake and it comes out clean. The tops should spring back too if you press them lightly.

Leave the brownie cakes to cool in the cases before removing, especially if you have used paper cupcake cases.

Enjoy! Now I have a freezer, I like mine served with a dollop of vegan vanilla ice cream and some melted chocolate drizzled over. Naughty but nice! 

Vegan food Swap Box - December - Part 2

OK, so I'm one day late posting this, but yesterday just seemed to fly by and before I knew it I was falling asleep on the sofa, trying to watch the final series of breaking bad!

I still have so much to do for Christmas, bake cakes, make the bread sauce, make my vegan main (or even have an idea!), make my chestnut and mushroom soup for the Christmas dinner starter and make my parsnip and butternut squash bake for a side. All this and wrap the presents and even make some, but more about that later. I don't want to spoil the surprise for those who are getting my hand made present and its not food!

I still have some Christmas shopping to do but looking outside at the weather I really wish I didn't have to go out now! At least my food shop was done yesterday and that was a nightmare!

Anyway enough of my whinging, this post is to tell you what I received in my December vegan swap box from Christine. I sent Christine a vegan swap box in March so it was really nice to receive one from someone I had already swapped emails with. This one was different to all that I had received before as it contained products from around Europe and none of which I had tried before.

Christine had kindly applied post it notes to all the products, so I knew what they were and how to prepare them. 

There were two savoury items, a mustard and rocket spread from Germany which I can't wait to dive into, and some Italian home-made pizza seasoning, which will be used on my next home made pizza.

The sweet items included:

- Sprinkles for bread from the Netherlands
- Drink mixes from Poland
- Jelly mix from Poland
- Soy dessert from Spain
- Cappuccino chocolate from Germany

I'm hoping to save the chocolate for Christmas day, but my hopes are not high! I'm going to attempt making a vegan trifle with the jelly and sprinkles, so watch this space.

The drink mixes look tempting too, I wonder if I could make a non-alcoholic cocktail with them?

As you can see a very European box of goodies and I can't wait to try using them over the Christmas break. Thank you Christine for a fabulous box of vegan goodies.

May Vegan Food Swap - What I Sent

A week ago I told you about the amazing goodies that I received from Lucy the Vegan in the May vegan swap box. I had been partnered up with Dan who works for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). 

PETA is a well worthy charity, infact I don't know why I'm not a member already. But this has been resolved and I am now a fully fledged member and my donation is already doing some good to help protect animals.

Please check out their website it is full of information some which you may find distressing, but we can't close our eyes to what is happening, we need to help PETA put a stop to what happens to our fellow creatures. 

PETA have a free vegan starter kit too which I downloaded, it is full of useful information and gives you links to some tasty recipes. You can also find some tasty recipes here, just click on the recipe tab and it will give you a list of all the dishes I have posted.

Now, I can imagine Dan is extremely busy and sometimes the last thing you want to do when you get home is cook up a feast so I thought I would add some ingredients to his vegan swap box so that he can rustle up a tasty vegan meal in no time at all. I also included some sweet and savoury snacks that Dan can keep at work for those times when you just need a little something. And to round it off I included some chocolate. I hope Dan likes my vegan swap box, I enjoyed putting it together.

In my vegan swap box I included the following items:

• Sharwoods Thai Green Curry paste
• A Box of Pure Creamed Coconut
• A Packet of Silken Tofu
• Uncle Ben's Basmati and Thai Rice
• A Sesame Bar
• A Peanut Bar
• A Packet of Pitted Green Olives with Chilli
• A Packet of Hot Chilli Potato Hoops
• A Packet of Graze 'Wasapea'
• Kallo Organic Belgian Dark Chocolate Rice Cake Thins
• Hale & Hearty Deliciously Wholesome Date & Chocolate Flapjack

I saw the Thai Green Curry Paste in Sainsbury's and I bought some for myself too, which I haven't used yet but will do soon. I don't think you can go wrong with having some olives to hand, they are a delicious healthy snack, but I think you either love or hate them and I hope Dan is an olive lover! I normally include a Graze box with my swap but this time I decided against it and instead I just added one packet from my latest Graze box, wasapea. 

My favourite treat at the moment is the Hale and Hearty Deliciously Wholesome Date and Chocolate Flapjack. It really is delicious and I can't get enough of them at the moment. They are a little on the expensive side but so worth it. The Belgian Chocolate Rice Cake Thins were provided in a previous swap box I received and they are now a staple food cupboard item in our household.

To see what I received from Lucy the Vegan check out this post.

May Vegan Food Swap - What I Received

I can't believe that its time for another vegan food swap box, it comes around so quickly, which isn't a bad thing as I'm always excited to see what I will receive and I love putting together a box for a total stranger. If you've never heard of this before it's something that To Happy Vegans organise and every month you are assigned a partner to send a parcel of vegan goodies to and in return you receive your own parcel of surprise delights!

This month Lucy from Lucy the Vegan blog sent me a parcel of goodies, which included the following delights:

• Hot Wasabi Soya and Corn Crisp Thins by the Food Doctor
• Marks & Spencer Refried Beans
• Primal Strip - Meatless Vegan Jerky Seitan - Teriyaki
• Primal Strip - Meatless Vegan Jerky Soy - Chicory Smoked
• Bounce Natural Energy Ball - Spirulina & Ginseng Defence Boost
• Ombar - Acai & Blueberry Chocolate
• Yu! Jus Fruit- Blueberry Pieces
• Yu! Jus Fruit- Cherry Pieces
• Trek Cocoa Coconut Protein Flapjack

As you can see it was a real parcel of goodies, so far I've tried the hot wasabi soya and corn crisp thins, which were very hot indeed! I didn't eat them all in one sitting they were that hot! Even hubby thought they were hot and he eats vindaloo curries. The wasabi really does catch the back of your nose when you eat them, but that's not to say that I didn't like them, I did.

I've also tried the Ombar which was delicious, I could really taste the blueberries, vegan chocolate as it contains no milk can be very bitter, but this was quite the opposite and very sweet, mmmmm delicious.

Lucy has sent me a box full of goodies that not only haven't I tried before but I've never seen before and I can't wait to try everything else in the parcel. I'm thinking something Mexican for tea so I can use the refried beans.

Thanks Lucy I loved your swap box, I hope you received a fantastic one too.

Birthday Cakes

Its my Birthday! Well it was 1 week ago, but I didn't post anything on my blog, I was off having too much fun with Hubby and Marco. More to follow.....

When it's your birthday it is custom to take cakes in to work for your colleagues and this year was no exception. Although this year the cakes I was baking were all vegan. A few weeks ago I took in a selection of vegan cup cakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World: 75 Dairy-free Recipes for Cupcakes That Rule by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope". I was testing the water so to speak and thankfully I had some good feedback.

After my disaster with the lemon drizzle cake I decide to use pre-tested recipes and went searching on amazon. I bought "Divine Vegan Deserts: Over 100 Delectable Dairy and Egg-free Recipes, by Lisa Fabry". This book is amazing and all the recipes look so tasty, so I decided to give a few recipes a go. I ended up doing 4 recipes; Chocolate torte, Coffee & Walnut Cake, Chocolate Cake and Lemon Cake. As with most recipes I didn't follow the recipes to the letter! I made the lemon cake into a lemon drizzle cake and I altered the measurements for the Coffee & Walnut Cake as my cake pans were so much bigger. I didn't have any soy milk so I used almond milk for the Lemon and the Coffee & Walnut Cake and I used Chocolate Coconut milk for the other two cakes!

I only took three of the cakes to work as hubby always complains that he never gets to taste them! Although he was dubious after he thought they might all be vegan. Even though he loved, and I mean LOVED the chocolate cupcakes I made, which were all vegan he really has a phobia with vegan food. If he knows its vegan he won't even try it! It's so frustrating. It doesn't matter how good the food looks he just won't try it. So I have to tell a few white lies and don't eat the same food at the same time he eats it. Strange but true.
I decided to keep the Chocolate 
Torte for home and took the Coffee & Walnut Cake, Chocolate Cake and Lemon Drizzle Cake to work. The Chocolate 'ganache' on both the Chocolate Torte and the Chocolate Cake is made with silken tofu. And I was pleasantly surprised it was beautifully silky and had a rich chocolate taste without being over sweet.

Hubby said that the Chocolate Cake looked lovely but then asked if it was vegan (!). He hasn't tried the Chocolate Torte yet, so i'm waiting on the verdict!

My work colleagues were happy though, and didn't bat an eyelid that the cakes were all vegan. Another success story,, the chocolate cake had the most compliments, all I need to do now is make up my own cake recipe. I fancy adding ingredients that you wouldn't normally expect. 
I'm thinking beetroot ...........

Cupcake Baking Day

A few days ago I shared with you that I had 9 vegan recipe books, which I hadn't used, so I set to and made the Happy Herbivores Brownies and Baked Tofu with Mustard sauce. BUT it also sparked off something else. I realised I didn't have any recipe books for vegan cakes and as I reported previously I don't have enough confidence to start from scratch (yet). So I found myself searching the internet for a book that would teach me the basics and offer some yummy recipes. I wasn't disappointed with my search, I found and bought: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World: 75 Dairy-free Recipes for Cupcakes That Rule by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope.

The day it arrived I went to bed early and read it from cover to cover! I couldn't wait to try some of the recipes. As from previous experience it actually took me time to do just that. This makes 10 vegan cook books with very few recipes made! This is getting to be a habit.  I'm too engrossed in the kitchen coming up with my own creations to have the time to cook something from one of my now 10 vegan cook books.

However, I had the perfect excuse, I wanted to say thank you to all my friends and colleagues at work who had donated money to the Guillain-Barre Syndrom Support Group Charity. Regular readers will already know that a close family member, S, had been diagnosed with this awful disease a few weeks back and was in critical care. I'm please to report that S has started the road to recovery and is out of critical care. S has a long way to go but is surrounded by a positive Support Group Family. We wanted to give something back and two of us (not me!) are running the local half marathon to raise money for the national charity Guillain-Barre Syndrom Support Group. 

I went a little mad and made over 30 cupcakes! I didn't follow the receipes to the letter as I hadn't got all the ingredients and substituted other ingredients when it felt appropriate. I know I'm terrible I'm just not built to follow orders! ☺ 

I made the basic chocolate cupcake recipe and added extras to make the following:

• Choclate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
• Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
• Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Ffrosting
• Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
• Chocolate Mocha and Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

They went down an absolute treat and I was praised on the moistness of the sponge, no-one could believe they were vegan. RESULT!

Once again, and I apologise, the photograph is rubbish! It does not give these marvelous beauties the justice they deserve.

Vegan Swap Box - What I Sent

This month was my first vegan swap box which the to happy vegans organise every month. I was super excited at sending a swap box and even more excited to see what I would receive.
The person I sent to was Bindy, who told me that this was the first and last time she would be able to take part in the vegan swap box, as she was moving away from the UK at the end of the month. So I put my thinking cap on and thought the best thing to send her was snack foods, naughty but nice! Here is what I sent her:

I ordered a graze box to send and this was made up with a sachet of lightly salted popping corn, lightly toasted pistachios, seedsational (roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds roasted with soy sauce) and lost army (a classic rice and peanut cracker mix). 

When I first went vegan I had a mentor that was set up by the vegan society and she told me that original hobnobs were vegan. I was amazed and I always have a packet at hand for those emergencies! Another good stand by is the packet of savoury snack mix.

I also included two "9bars"; original and flax as well as 3 "nakd" bars; cocoa and orange, pecan pie and cashew cookie. My favourite is the cocoa and orange version which I am going to have a go at making myself sometime soon.

To top off the naughty but nice I included a packet of little love heart sweets and ASDA free from choc and orange bar.

To balance all the naughtiness out, I added a carton of rice dream, a milk alternative that I use quite a bit in my cooking and 2 earl grey and 2 green tea with lemon tea bags. I hope Bindy enjoys the swap box, I enjoyed putting it together. 

My delivery is here!

A couple of days ago I did my first vegan shop online at veganstore.com thanks to a recommendation from Vegan in Brighton. All I wanted was some Wheat Gluten but I got carried away and bought:

• Soy Whip
• Rice Whip
• Seitan Fix Mix
• Mini Moos
• Chocolate Covered Raisins
• 4 packets of sweets

I also received some vegan chorizo, which I didn't order. It had a sticker on to say that it had just passed its best before date, which I must admit doens't bother me especially when you see what I have in my cupboard! But after reading the packaging it was two weeks over the use by date so I'm afraid I threw it in the bin. I'm not a massive fan of fake meats, I don't see the point of them, I'm more of a tofu and vegetable girl. Although I won't say no to a vegan sausage, such as Linda McCartney's sausages, but that's as far as I go!

I've never considered myself having a sweet thought but I think I need to reconsider this, especially looking at what I bought! Now I'm not sure when I'm ever going to use either the soy or rice cream and lets face it they'll probably sit in my cupboard for a few months before I get round to making something with them. Any ideas, please let me know!