Last day of vegan MOFO and happy halloween!

Today is the last day of vegan month of food and what a great blogging month it has been! I have made some great new blogging friends and it is so great to see so many amazing vegan dishes being made all over the world! Thanks to the vegan MOFO team for all their hard work, they are truly inspirational! I will definitely be MOFOing again next year!




Happy Halloween!

Kyle and I at Jamboree.

Kyle and I as Jack and Jill or Hansel and Gretel. Who knows?

Quick almond truffles and coconut truffles! Everyone loved them and my vegan food doubting step dad said he could eat the whole plateful! Result!

I hope everyone has a great day and will or has eaten their weight in chocolate over the weekend! I had a great Halloween weekend! My boyfriend and I run a gig night called Jamboree, and Saturday night was amazing! The musicians dressed up as well as some of the crowd, and it was a great happy Halloween treat! Then last night I had my niece and nephew over for my traditional Halloween party and had a lovely time eating and playing wink murder!

Once again I hope you all have a fun Halloween!

Yummy green kale 'crisps'!

I have been a little bit obsessed with these in the last week. I love kale, and if I can turn it into a crunchy 'treat' that I can sit and eat from a bowl while watching season 4 of Dexter with Kyle then it's even better. There are no bad oils in these 'crisps' just a tablespoon of olive oil and a healthy punch of nutritional yeast flakes! They are cooked at a fairly low temperature too so they retain all their green goodness!


4 cups of chopped kale
2 tbsp of Nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp of olive oil
A pinch of sea salt

Wash the chopped kale and pat dry with a clean tea towel or kitchen paper. Pop it in a bowl and drizzle over the oil, yeast flakes and salt. Give the kale a really good massage so that it is all coated in the yummy 'cheesey' mix. Pop on a lined baking tray and spread out so you have a nice thinnish layer of kale. You don't want a big pile of kale as this will steam and not go crunchy! Place in the oven at around 120c, depending on the size of your kale it may need less or more time but check it at 30mins, bring it out of the oven, wait a second and give it a little, gentle squeeze with your fingers (be careful as it will be hot) If it feels crunchy and dry it's ready to eat! If it is still soft and steamy feeling, pop it back in and check in another 10 mins.

Pop your favourite movie on and enjoy a big bowl of this delicious kale goodness!

Photos from the weekend

catering the Earthlights festival

Kyle shows me his moves

Butterscotch pear tart

Tempeh curry with fruity cous cous

Occupy Norwich

Occupy Norwich

My Raspberry Bakewells now have little birds!!!!

A very busy weekend and spiced mustard seed cavolo nero and potatoes recipe

The last few days have been sooo busy here at the Deerly Beloved Bakery kitchen! It was the Earthlights festival yesterday and my little team and I were asked to do the catering! So Friday I was busy making and prepping enough food for 100 or so people. By Friday evening I was pretty cream crackered but was excited and had my happy baking feeling going on. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing ingredients turn into meals for people to enjoy, and who doesn't like 60 pieces of pizza sitting in their fridge? So Saturday Kyle and I stocked up the car (the first car I have ever owned which we got last week, it's small and nothing special but it is ours) and set off to Stowmarket. I was so proud of Kyle as it was the first time he had driven any distance (we had a mini drive round town when we got the car last week) in 10 years! 10 years! God I am soooo proud of him! We got a bit lost (because I have never driven and never had to navigate A roads and B roads before. Normally I rely on my feet and I know my city pretty well) and we ended up asking a few people how to get to the festival, a kind lady in a pub said we were two minutes away and said ''follow me'', she jumped in her little yellow car and let us follow her! It is lovely when things like this happen, there are good people in the world! We had a great time and it was a steady buzz all day! It was so nice and some of my regular customers came down to support me! Thanks to everyone who came and ate my food and for the Earthlights team for inviting us!! It has reinforced how much I want a bakery/cafe one day!
There will be pictures of the festival to follow but my camera doesn't seem to want to upload them at this point in time! I think my lead is broken :(


So Cavolo Nero or black cabbage is my favourite green. It is so beautiful, so nutritious and delicious! It has little pockets all over it that allow delicious things to sit in them and make it taste even more wonderful!
This was a quick supper that I made the other night and I thought I would share it! I was so hungry and tired that I didn't take a picture of the finished dish (I had eaten it before I realised I wanted a photo for the blog! Doh!) But you can imagine it!

 

Ingredients:

8 large Cavolo Nero leaves washed and sliced into pieces.
10 new potatoes
1/2 cup of cashews or hazelnuts roughly chopped
1 red onion sliced into thin strips
Glug of olive oil for frying
1 tbsp of mustard seeds
2 tsp of cumin seeds
1/4 of a tsp of Cayenne pepper
1/4 of a tsp of sweet paprika
Sea Salt

Right so pop the potatoes on to boil in salted water. If they are small boil them whole if they are larger chop in half. They should take about 20 -30 mins to cook. In a pan pop in a glug of oil, and add the cumin, mustard seed, cayenne and paprika. The seeds will start to pop in the heat. To stop yourself getting spat at, hover a saucepan lid over the pan until they have all popped. Then add the onion, fry for 5 mins and add the cashews. Then add the cavolo nero. It will turn from black to a luscious green! season to taste and set aside until the potatoes are tender. Drain the potatoes season and add a glug of olive oil. Pop the cavolo nero mixture into the potato pan and gently mix. The potatoes will suck up all the gorgeous spices and turn a wonderful golden yellow brown. Serve immediately!

Pre order Certosinos and Mince pies special offer!

 

The Deerly Beloved Certosino Christmas cake is an Italian cake filled with pine nuts, chopped dark chocolate, whole almonds, fennel, cardamon, cinnamon, unsulphered glace cherries, candied peel, apples, rasins and a little tipple! All bejewelled with nuts, glace fruits and apricot glaze, wrapped in brown paper with a bow. If you pre order in the month of october the 10'' cake will be £26 instead of £30 the miniture 4.5'' cake will be £7 instead of £8. So get pre ordering now and have a wonderful vegan Christmas!

 Make sure you have delicious treats for when your friends drop in this winter time! Mince pies with orange shortcrust pastry Box of 6 for £7! Available now for pre order! Available as pictured with a hint of edible glitter on request! Order at msredmond@aol.com or call 07768762998

Alphabet kale soup.

I have succumbed to the sniffles which along with the bakery being really busy with getting ready for up coming Christmasy stall things, meetings and baking orders I haven't had a chance to post for about a week! Tut tut! With this changeable weather I felt like a hearty soup but thought I would make it fun by adding some alphabet pasta! I am such a big kid and couldn't resist popping some into this soup and actually most soups I have been making recently! It doesn't add any flavour or really texture (it cooks super quick!) but who doesn't want to be able to spell out there name while eating? Or save their favourite letter (u) to eat last?

So here is a nice little kale and mixed vegetable soup recipe which added alphabet love:

1 large onion sliced
1 large carrot sliced
1 stick of celery sliced
3 cups of washed chopped kale
3 cloves of garlic sliced fine
1 sprig of rosemary
1 bay leaf
Pinch of dried sage
1/2 cup of alphabet pasta
Glug of olive oil
1 tbsp of bouillon stock powder
salt and black pepper to taste

In a large pan add the oil and garlic and gently fry, add the onions, carrots and celery and fry on a moderate heat until the onions start to sweat down and become translucent. Pop in the Bay leaf, rosemary and sage and then add enough water to nearly cover the vegetables. Bring to the boil and add the stock, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes. then remove the bay and the Rosemary stick, the leaves will probably have fell off, this is fine! Then with a potato masher gently mash the vegetables in the stock mixture to create a chunky but thicker soup. Then add the kale and the alphabet pasta, continue to cook for 5 mins check seasoning and then serve! This is great with toasted sourdough. Enjoy!

Dinner party catering.

Did you know that Deerly Beloved Bakery offers dinner party catering? If you are having a girly night in, a special birthday get together or just want the family over but don't want the hassle of cooking, then look no further!

Our main meals with a side of vegetables or salad start at £5 a head. Choose from Moussaka, Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie, Harrisa Roasted vegetables, Chilli Refried Beans with Guacamole and Salsa, Aubergene, Hazelnut and Parsley Pinrolls with a rich tomato sauce, Vegetable Sushi, Portobello mushrooms stuffed with chestnut and herbs, Chestnut pie, and many more!

Desserts start from £4 and include Chocolate mousse with Rapsberries, Chocolate Torte with berries, Pear tart, Lemon Citron tart, seasonal fruit crumbles and many more just ask!

We can also do whole cakes and individual cakes. Please inquire for prices! All meals will be supplied in plastic tubs with a deposit of £1 per tub when returned with your next order ( as we don't like to use disposables as we love our planet), and orders must be over £20 for free delivery in Norwich.

Earthlight festival and raspberry and cucumber smoothie.

Deerly Beloved Bakery has been asked by Earthlights Festival to be the official caterer at the festival cafe! This is hugely exciting! The festival is on saturday 22nd October  from 10-5pm at the Stowmarket Centre with a suggested donation entry of £2 which will be going straight to EACH East Anglian Children's Hospice and The Suffolk Wildlife Trust. There will be lots of stalls which a holistic and eco theme, advice on green living, demostrations including African Drumming, Poi and Tai chi and lots more!

The menu my little team and I will be serving is:

Spicey bean and mixed salad wraps (Vegan)

Hot Racheros with polenta cakes and salsa (Vegan and Gluten Free)

Olive, Tomato and cashew nut 'cheese' pizza with pink gem cous cous and salsa (Vegan)

Pea and Mint soup with bread (Vegan)

Green Tea and Pistachio whoopie pies (Vegan)

Cinnamon Whirls (Vegan)

Chocolate brownies (Vegan and Gluten Free)

Hope to see you there!

With this strange October summer global warming weather we have happening, I have been feeling a bit sniffly and there is a cold going round my family at the moment, so I thought  I should try and pack some more veggies into my diet! Lets get this straight, my diet is predominately vegetables but I wanted to get even more in! So I decided to make a green smoothie, not a juice. I tend to like smoothies more than juice as it fills me up for longer and I like the extra fibre to chew! But this would work just as well as a juice minus the soya milk! So today I decided to go for a raspberry and cucumber smoothie with a few added sniffle fighting extras!

Ingredients:

2 Cups soya milk
4 finger wedge of cucumber
1/2 Cup of Raspberries
1 Cup of spinach
1 small banana
And a tsp of elderberry syrup. ( This is home made but you could sweeten yours with some agave)

Wash everything thoroughly and pop into a blender. Add the wet ingredients first as this will help your blender motor no end! This will make enough for several glass fulls and is a great breakfast or snack alternative! And your sniffles will be gone in no time!

Spicy baked cauliflower, roasted sweet potato and spinach, tomato and avocado dressing wrap.

Wow what a title and what a meal! I had a cauliflower that needed some love so I thought I would make it the main star of this dish!

This makes 4 large wraps
Ingredients for the Spicy baked cauliflower:

1 Cauliflower washed and broken into florets
1 tsp of harrisa or home made spice paste
1 Red chili finely chopped (You can leave this out if your spice paste is hot, mine wasn't so I added it!)
2tsp of tomato puree
3tbsp of olive oil
Good pinch on salt

Ingredients for the Roasted sweet potatoes

1 large sweet potato cut into wedges
Good glug of olive oil
pinch of dried thyme
1/2 cup of cashews
Pinch of salt


Ingredients for Spinach and tomato salad with avocado dressing:

2 cups of spinach washed
6 ripe cherry tomatoes washed and cut in half length ways
1 ripe avocado
Half a lime
Pinch of salt

Okay so start with the cauliflower. Arrange the florets in a large baking tray, in a bowl add all the other ingredients together and mix well. Pour over the cauliflower and massage in, making sure every bit of the cauliflower is covered. Put to one side until your wedges are prepped. Next lay your cut sweet potato wedges in another baking tray, add the cashews, thyme, salt and olive oil add massage into the wedges. Now pop these into the oven with your cauliflower and let them both bake for 30 mins.
Next scoop out the avocado flesh with a spoon and place it in a bowl, add the juice from the half lime and the salt, mash together with a fork to make a creamy dressing. Then add your spinach and tomato's to the bowl and mix together to get everything well coated with the dressing!
Warm up some tortilla wraps in the oven. Then plate up! Pop a tortilla on the plate and pop on some of the spinach and tomato salad then on top layer some of the spicy cauliflower, and then finally a layer of sweet potato! Wrap them up and devour!

How do I get enough protein being a vegan?

This is a question I get asked alot and one I asked myself when I first became vegetarian and then a vegan. It is an important thing to think about as protein or amino acids are used for every cell in the body. It is however a common misconception that you need to eat lots of it! A small amount, the size of your fist, or some people like to say the size of a deck of cards, is needed a day! That's it! And this protein can come from lots of sources, that's whats so exciting about vegan cooking. It doesn't have to be a dense lump of processed soy product or TVP. Altho these are good sources they sometimes can be full of salt (BAD, BAD) and I like to eat anything processed as least often as possible. Altho they are great for vegans in transition I think it is very easy to become an unhealthy vegan and get stuck in the 'meat' and two veg rut! I am not saying fake meat is bad I would much rather people be eating it than real meat, but I think it is good to think about how good wholefoods are for your body too!

Anyway, so I am going to tell you a bit about proteins and how to make sure you are getting the right mix. Few plants, grains and seeds are 'complete' proteins. This is to say they contain all eight amino acids to make a complete protein essential for human health. If you can imagine a string of eight coloured beads that have to be strung together to make a pretty necklace, and if one bead was missing then the necklace wouldn't be complete. This is how it works with proteins. Soya beans, nuts, tofu, and quinoa contain all 8 pretty beads of amino acids, so are a complete protein or 'necklace'!
However you don't have to eat these every day to get your protein needs. Imagine again our little pretty necklace of amino acid beads, rice, oats, lentils, cous cous, beans, vegetables, seeds, bread, buck wheat, polenta, rye, potatoes, bulgar wheat, all contain one or two pretty beads! So if we eat a few servings of these foods a day then our body will take these beads and string it's own protien necklace! How clever is that!
So variety is the key and just make sure you eat plenty of servings of these little guys for all you protein needs!