Vegan store cupboard essentials!

After getting asked lots of questions at the Veggie fair about what I use, how did I transition from being vegetarian to vegan, and how to stay on a healthy and vitamin rich vegan diet,I thought I would show you some of the things I always have in my cupboard for making delicious and easy vegan meals!

Okay so first of I will start with the spices, I am a bit addicted to mustard seeds! They are of course great in curry but I pop them in cous cous and on potatoes, I also use paprika for its sweet heat in goulashes and stews, cumin in curries and my all time favourite in anything, turmeric for it's anti inflammatory properties!
Next are tins of pulses and beans! My cupboard is always full of these guys! They are great for hummus and try butterbeans as an alternative to mashed potato! They are great to add to stews and soups and add protein and fibre!
Sundried tomatoes are my favourite thing! I use their oil in my cashew nut cheese recipe which is on the blog here http://deerlybelovedbakery.blogspot.com/2011/10/wonderful-and-quick-cashew-nut-cheese.html I also roast veggies in the oil and I use the tomatoes on pizza and to make sauces richer!
Olive oil is a must, try and buy a nice quality olive oil, it doesn't have to be an extra virgin Olive oil as most of this favour will be lost in the cooking, but a good quality one that can be used in hummus, dips and dressings is I think,a great investment.
Soya sauce or tamari is great for adding colour to gravies, marinating mushrooms, in stir frys and in noodle soups.
Nutritional yeast is my wonder ingredient! I call them magic flakes! They are cheesy and packed full of B vitamins which are often missing in a vegan diet! I pop these in the cashew cheese, make white sauce, sprinkle on wraps, make 'cheese' on toast , add to soups and stews and on jacket potatoes. I would advice to add them at the end of cooking so not to lose any of the nutritional value by over cooking.
Limes, garlic and chilli's are my staple, garlic in soup, dips, sauces. Lime in dressings, desserts, guacamole and to add zing to stir frys. Chili in curries, shepherds pies mix, stews and batters.
Good quality sea salt is so much better than chemically made table salt. Buy the best you can and you will need to use less as it will have a better salty flavour.
Marigold Bouillon is the best stock. It can be bought in gluten free and reduced salt too.
TVP mince, okay so I don't like using to much processed stuff but this is great for a quick chili. Add it to a bowl with hot water and add your flavourings to it first before adding it to the pan. It will soak up so much more favour that way.
Olives in a jar are great and are ready for salads, tomato sauces and wraps. I am addicted and can be found eating them from the jar with a folk.
Hazelnuts, great for cakes, but I love to whizz them up, make 'cheeses' and stuffing's for pies and vegetables.
Vegan pesto, okay so you can make your own but I think this stuff is rather great. It's not fresh like just    picked basil but has great flavour for pasta, potatoes or mixed into a tomato sauce. It's a great quick meal maker too!
And finally Tahini. This bitter nutty paste is what makes a good hummus, it's great on rice cakes with sultanas for a quick halva moment and is packed with iron and calcium!

I hope this has given you a few ideas of how to make basic, healthy and quick vegan food for yourself and your family! If you have any questions about vegan diet and recipes, as always just ask!

1st Norwich Veggie Fair!

What a wonderful day we a had at the 1st Norwich Veggie Fair yesterday! I made so many new contacts, friends and bumped into some old ones too! It was so nice when people came up to me and said 'Are you Kayleigh'? And I would say, 'Yes'? For them to reply with, 'I love your Whoopie Pies, they are amazing'! Or 'Your Bakewell tart is the best vegan cake ever'! It is so nice to get feedback from customers, so thankyou! I chatted so much to people that I had nearly lost my voice by the end of the day!
There was so much going on, Lush had an amazing smelling stall, vegan cheeses from Vegusto, Plamil chocolate, Viva, The Vegetarian Society, Veggie Mums, home made babyfood from Harry's Choice, a fresh vegetable stall, lots of yummy vegetarian and vegan cakes, amazing african cakes by Tendai, a Green Party stall, and the most amazing 14 year old Miranda who had her very own animal right stall all by herself with info and petitions to sign! Go Miranda!
Here are some pics from the day!

And just a little reminder that I will be at the Norwich Arts Centre Clutter Market in the bar area on the 10th of December with hand made chocolates and truffles, 10 different cakes including whoopie pies, biscottis and maybe even a chocolate crossant or two, and of course Certosinos and recipe jars! See you there!

Busy times ahead!

It is getting pretty busy with Christmas and birthday orders here at Deerly Beloved Bakery! So I might not have any recipes up for a few weeks, atho I will try and keep you all updated with what is going on!
I had an amazing time at the Lane's Christmas Fair on Thursday night! The atmosphere was wonderful, with singing elves and story tellers, fireworks and wafts of mulled wine! My camera decided to break that night and so I haven't got my photo's of my pretty stall! Hopefully I will be able to find somebody who has the right leads and bits to get these photo's uploaded soon, but in the mean time I have this lovely picture  (above) from the Norwich Lanes photographer! Thanks for that! Thanks to everyone who came and bought cake and had my lovey real hot chocolate with spices or caramel! I have to say I had a big cup of hot chocolate to keep me warm, as it was the coldest night I think we have had yet!


The recipe jars are now ready to order! Christmas Blackstrap Gingersnaps, al dry ingredients (just add soya milk) with a deer cookie cutter, full recipe and method booklet, all in a kilner jar and topped off with a bow. £10. Please inquire for P&P if you don't live in Norwich!

And mini 4.5''Certosino Christmas Cakes hand wrapped in brown paper with a bow ready for Christmas, £8. The Deerly Beloved Certosino Christmas cake is an Italian cake filled with pine nuts, chopped dark chocolate, whole almonds, fennel, cardamom, cinnamon, unsulphured glace cherries, candied peel, apples, raisins and a little tipple of Apple Brandy! All bejewelled with nuts, glace fruits and apricot glaze. Available in gluten free and alcohol free too!

I am getting pretty booked up for the rest of the month and December now, so please order now to get your hands on one!

Christmas ~ Support local and small businesses!

It's that time of year again when what to get people and late night shopping are upon us! With this current economic crisis, occupy wall Street and the 99%, small shops closing,  and with retail giants and energy suppliers getting fatter pockets, we have to start shopping differently to save our local businesses.
Little changes are great, for all those people you normally get  'smellys' (that's pamper bath sets to you and me) think of buying a small bottle of handmade amazing quality hand lotion or bath oil. We have got to learn that, yes, we can get a set of bath stuff for £4 containing 5 bottles of foamy stuff but it's made of shit, and for that £4 we can buy one bottle of great stuff, quality over quantity! We don't that love that person any less because we haven't bought them a lot of stuff; we love them more because we want them to have the best with great ingredients that won't give them a rash or even cancer! We should apply this principle to all presents. Or give our time. Make cakes! Are you great at jam making - give a jar! Good at knitting - make a scarf or jumper! Every year I make cakes or handmade items for my family, I then buy them something small that I think they will like from a local shop or I give vouchers like '' This entitles you to a half hour foot rub''!
So here are my picks of great local shops and gifts to help our local economy. Remember £1 spent in a local shop will stay in the local economy for another 7 transactions!

http://www.etsy.com/ etsy is a great place to find everything vintage handmade and are all from small shops. Take a look and I doubt you won't find something for the most awkward people to buy for!

For children take a look at these amazing wooden toys, made by an amazing woman who is trying to bring up her son while doing wood work at night while he sleeps. Her blog is amazing and she is such an inspiring person. There is also a link to her etsy page on the blog http://abarefootlife.blogspot.com/

Why not have some amazing art work made by the lovely Sarah Hoyle who did me a lovely design for my bad day Cookie jar. Maybe have a beautiful bespoke design for your wall, tshirt, Christmas cards? Speak to her and she will make you dreams come true http://sarahhoyle.co.uk/

Why not have your hair cut and styled by the amazing Flamingo Amy? She is a hair artist and is in high demand for retro hair styles. You could book a session with her for your loved one for a special occasion in the coming year or just as an amazing pampering experience, who doesn't want to look like a movie star? http://flamingoamy.co.uk/

Look for second hand books at http://www.greenmetropolis.com/ and save the planet as they donate 50p from every sale to The Woodland Trust.

Mamphii Button makes amazing jewellery from vintage buttons and are beautiful and pocket friendly! http://www.folksy.com/shops/mamphii

Alot of my friends are musicians and one great friend of mine Major Matt runs Olive Juice Music, which is a distro for amazing American antifolk music. The artists get a fair deal for there CD's and the service is amazing! Check it out! http://www.olivejuicemusic.com/

Also my friend Tammy runs Mole in the Ground Records and supports great artists from all over the world. http://www.moleintheground.co.uk/records.html

The Amazing Antidote vintage sells amazing vintage clothes and has a shop on Upper St Giles. It has stock from 20's, 30's 40's 50's and beautiful jewellery and handbags http://antidotevintagefashion.bigcartel.com/

My friend Laura Manfre makes amazing retro storybook art prints! She is so talented! Here is her blog, so check out here great work! http://chewychewychewybubblegum.blogspot.com/

Also if you live in the USA please check out this amazing chocolatier Lagusta's Lushious! She is an amazing vegan chocolate maker and is just a totally amazing woman! I hope I grow up to be half as great as her! http://www.lagustasluscious.com/shop/

Essential Care are an award winning skin care line that are made in Suffolk. They are are real success story as a few years back when I used to manage a organic shop and used to order their products in, they were a mother and daughter team, making it by hand in a garage! http://www.essential-care.co.uk/


These are just a few of the amazing businesses that are in Norwich and abroad and we all need to do our bit. It's easy to get bogged down and to feel it's only the big guys who can change stuff. Stop supporting them and lining their pockets, support people who can then support their families directly!

Here's some ideas of things I have made in the past if you you want to have a handmade Christmas!

Bonfire night.

Saturday was the annual Bonfire party at my mum and stepdad's house, and it was great as always! My vegan-ness is rubbing off on my mum, as she managed to make her own vegan sausages for us all! And they tasted great! I am going to get the recipe from her!

I hope you all had a great Bonfire night too!

In other news my cakes are now available at the lovely Biddy's Tea Room on Lower Goat Lane! They are stocking my Green Tea and Pistachio Whoopie Pies and  my Coconut and Mango gluten free cake! With fairtrade mango and organic coconut! So go have a cruelty free, delicious afternoon tea!

I also had a quick go at making some quick Breakfast Chocolate Croissants! Which were divine!

I normally use a rough puff recipe that I got off the internet and veganise, but this time I managed to get hold of some bought puff pastry! Cheating I know! But I am so busy these days. I cut the pastry into long kite shapes popped in some chocolate and rolled the up, a quick soya milk glaze and straight into the oven, yummnesssss!

A lovely comment, salted caramels, ganache and coconut truffles!

photo by Naomi from Inannas Festival.

Today I recieved this lovely comment form Naomi at Inannas Festival.

'Now THIS was a birthday cake for me SO DIVINE I cannot begin to tell you!! A lit...tle package from Deerly Beloved Bakery arrived at the shop containing: a Hazelnut sponge of unutterable lightness & sweetness, topped by a chocolatey layer of supreme deliciousness! It melted in the mouth, with a warm hazelnut nutty flavour! Mmmm! Next to it nestled a little similarly bird-decorated 'scone' shape: but no scone: a spiced Green Tea cake: with a sweet layer of some kind of creamy-cheesy but TEA-scented sweetcream in the middle! WOW wow wow! THANKS SO MUCH! ~ N x'

 

It is so lovely when you get great feed back from lovely people! Thanks Naomi!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/inannasfestival

 

I have also been very busy making an order of coconut truffles, 62%cocoa ganache truffles and salted caramel chocolates for a party tomorrow!

 

coconut truffles and plain 62% ganache truffles.

salted caramels 62% cocoa chocolate with a runny caramel center.

 

 

You can order yours for £6 for a box containing 2 coconut truffles, 2 plain original ganache truffles and 2 salted caramel chocolate. They are made with 62% cocoa chocolate , which is organic and fairtrade. The coconut is cold pressed, organic,unrefined coconut oil. All hand rolled, dipped in chocolate to give them a crunch as you bite in! They will also be available at all the fairs I will be doing in the coming months!