OK, so I had some pesto left over from Angela's recipe on Oh She Glows and I told you I had another idea for a recipe. The pesto was truly delicious and tasty on it's own so I spread it over a tortilla wrap and added chopped cherry tomatoes, rocket, cucumber, spring onion and a garlic mayonnaise (vegan of course). Absolutely yummy! So there was another two days lunch boxes sorted. I felt pretty content with myself.
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Pesto Pasta
Today I searched my favourite overseas bloggers to give me some inspiration, my fridge was bare and only contained some sundried tomatoes in oil, basil, walnuts, soy cream and garlic to name a few ingredients! I had a few vegetables left in my crisper drawer too but nothing that reached out to me and said "cook me!"
Angela at Oh She Glows came up trumps with her 'lightened up Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto Pasta'. I didn't follow the recipe to the letter and changed the veg in my pasta (I used up all the sundried tomatoes in the pesto), but it was delicious! Thanks Angela.
Please click the link if you want to see how Angela made the pesto.
As you can see from the picture I also added a little drizzle of soy cream to the pasta and chose green beans instead of Angela's, tomatoes, basil and walnuts for the pasta. The pesto coated the pasta beautifully and gave me two portions of pasta for my lunch box. There was lots of pesto left over too, which gave me an idea for my next recipe.............
Angela at Oh She Glows came up trumps with her 'lightened up Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto Pasta'. I didn't follow the recipe to the letter and changed the veg in my pasta (I used up all the sundried tomatoes in the pesto), but it was delicious! Thanks Angela.
Please click the link if you want to see how Angela made the pesto.
As you can see from the picture I also added a little drizzle of soy cream to the pasta and chose green beans instead of Angela's, tomatoes, basil and walnuts for the pasta. The pesto coated the pasta beautifully and gave me two portions of pasta for my lunch box. There was lots of pesto left over too, which gave me an idea for my next recipe.............
Monday, 7 January 2013
Birthday Lunch
Today it was the birthday of a friend and colleague and it was a birthday that you celebrate the age! So 7 of us went out to lunch at a 'posh' restaurant. I say 'posh' because there has been a lot of press about this restaurant and it has been reported that the chef is being paid mega bucks in the hope that the restaurant will gain a michelin star. When I booked the table 4 days before, I asked if the chef would be able to cater for a vegan, I was amazed by the response "the chef will only cook what's on the menu". I was then handed the menu and was advised that there was chicken salad, fish dishes and olives and feta cheese. I was astonished, and it was obvious that the person dealing with me had no idea what a vegan was. I asked again if the chef could prepare anything for me as there was nothing on the menu which was an obvious vegan choice. Again I was told that the chef would only cook what was on the menu so I replied that other restaurants had been more than happy to cater for a vegan and the individual responded "What do you want!". I bit my tongue and said that the easiest thing the chef could do was either a vegetable stir fry or a vegetarian mushroom risotto without cheese and cream. This was then typed into the booking database by the rather unpleasant individual.
When we arrived I had little faith as the previous conversation had left me flabbergasted with the rudeness and lack of help from the individual. Considering I had previously advised that we would be celebrating a birthday we were ushered into the back room and our view was looking out onto the back which was the tradesman's entrance. We wouldn't have minded but the restaurant was empty! We were not made very welcome and our drinks order was taken. Two of us ordered a diet coke and another a regular coke. The same individual I had dealt with 4 days ago was our waitress. On bringing the drinks to the table we were advised that they were out of stock of two drinks and she held in her hand a glass of coke. She said "coke?" and we asked if it was a diet coke or a regular coke, she just replied "coke". We asked her again but got no further detail so assumed it was the regular coke.
Our food order was taken next and before I could request my vegan option the order was repeated and concluded until I piped up and said and my order is............ It really was like the individual couldn't be bothered with us. I asked what my vegan options were and was advised that it could either by a vegetable stir fry or the mushroom risotto, so she had obviously remembered me. I answered that I would like the risotto and thanked her.
When we arrived I had little faith as the previous conversation had left me flabbergasted with the rudeness and lack of help from the individual. Considering I had previously advised that we would be celebrating a birthday we were ushered into the back room and our view was looking out onto the back which was the tradesman's entrance. We wouldn't have minded but the restaurant was empty! We were not made very welcome and our drinks order was taken. Two of us ordered a diet coke and another a regular coke. The same individual I had dealt with 4 days ago was our waitress. On bringing the drinks to the table we were advised that they were out of stock of two drinks and she held in her hand a glass of coke. She said "coke?" and we asked if it was a diet coke or a regular coke, she just replied "coke". We asked her again but got no further detail so assumed it was the regular coke.
Our food order was taken next and before I could request my vegan option the order was repeated and concluded until I piped up and said and my order is............ It really was like the individual couldn't be bothered with us. I asked what my vegan options were and was advised that it could either by a vegetable stir fry or the mushroom risotto, so she had obviously remembered me. I answered that I would like the risotto and thanked her.
Favourite Bloggers
When I became vegan, one of the first things I did was search the web to find ideas/inspiration for vegan food. I found lots of blogs, some good, some bad and some ugly. I'm hoping this falls in the first category. One thing stood out above all the others, the majority of good ones were written by bloggers who lived abroad, America/Canada mainly. I thought these countries were predominately meat eaters. How wrong can one be? I'm still looking but I'm yet to find a vegan blog from England who posts often. I know how time consuming this can be and I hope that I can keep it up! Here is my list of the top 5 vegan bloggers:
Fat Free Vegan
Bad news! The last post of Vegan Dad! He has come to the conclusion that his blog has run its course. Please still visit, there are hundreds of recipes on there for you to look through and he knows his stuff especially when it comes to baking.
Good news! Vegan in the Sun is back on line! This blogger advises that she is back from a long hiatus.
Another good site to visit is Vegan Baking
I'm hoping this blog can fill the void of vegan food for England, fingers crossed.
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