AUTUMN!

I can't believe tomorrow is October 1st! Where has the time gone? Although I do love Autumn, partly because it was around this time of year I met the boyf, yay 6 year anniversary soon! But generally I just love autumnal food and getting home when its cold and windy outside and having something scrummy to eat or drink.

Progress report - I did my measurements yesterday and had only lot half an inch off my waist and nothing off my hips although I have consistently been losing weight so I am not too disheartened. My exam is two weeks on Tuesday, I'm pretty confident but will still be revising lots, I have my cue cards in my handbag for my commute! I even had a question on the quiz machine in the pub today that related to my studies!

On Thursday one of my vegetarian friends and I went to SAF in Kensington http://www.safrestaurant.co.uk/ as we had a voucher. I've been wanting to go for a while but it is a bit pricey so was saving for a special occasion, but with a voucher it was way more budget friendly!

To start I had Pesto au Poivre - Basil pesto between layers of cashew cheese with a dehydrated pink peppercorn crust, served with rocket salad, raw flaxseed crackers and drizzled with balsamic glaze.
I really enjoyed it, but felt there could have been a bit more cashew cheese compared to the amount of crackers you got. I wouldn't describe it as "cheese" it tasted more like a paté to me but had a real depth of flavour.

My friend has the Dolmades with Tzatzyki - Vine leaves filled with cauliflower rice, pine nuts, cumin, lemon juice and dill served with a vegan yoghurt and cucumber dip. These weren't your run-of-the-mill dolmades, they were very falvourful and I was really impressed.

For mains I had Slow Roasted Asparagus Farinata - Slow roasted asparagus tips in a chickpea farinata crepe served with lemon tarragon aioli and house salad. Again I thought this was delicious, the crepe was a lovely consistency - not too thick and the vegetables inside really shone. The aioli was a nice addition and I really loved the dressing on the salad.

My friend has the Saf Pad Thai - Julienne strips of carrot, courgette and mange tout with sprouted lentils, mung beans, enoki mushrooms and spicy cashews, tossed in chipotle almond sauce topped with fresh coriander, red chilies and nori. My friend said this wasn't what she was expecting, but she didn't know what she was expecting. The waitress told us this is one of their most popular dishes. The sauce was chipotle rather than a traditional pad thai sauce which I thought was a bit of a shame as it didn't resemble much of what you would associate with a pad thai you may have experienced before. 

What we had would have come to £43.30 including two soft drinks but as we had our voucher it was only £24. We had to add on desserts as well especially vegans are rarely able to have dessert in a regular restaurant. 

I had White Chocolate & Jasmine Tart - White chocolate and jasmine cream with cacao nib crust, caramelized apricot sauce and espresso syrup. This was a really nice cheesecake style tart. It had a rich flavour but didn't have the cloyiness you get with dairy. After my meal I felt full but not heavy, and definitely not guilty! I went over my calorie allocation for the day but not by much and I had less calories on other days to compensate. 

My friend had Chocolate & Hazelnut Cake - Rich and creamy  chocolate ganache, with crushed hazelnuts on a cashew, hazelnut and agave crust, served with orange coulis. I didn't try any of this myself, but how can you go wrong with chocolate cake?! The desserts were £5.50 each

Saf is situated above the Wholefoods Market on Kensington High Street with other restaurants. So after we had finished eating we decided to take a look around. We were pretty impressed at the sheer size and extent or the departments on offer. Lucky it was the day before payday else I could have ended up spending the mortgage money in there! I only spent £12. I bought a Coconut and Raspberry cupcake made by The Cat and The Cream which I ate the next day. It was delightful, not too heavy and not too much frosting as I find some cupcakes go a bit a mental and the frosting is double the height of the cake. I also bought a Luna White Chocolate and Macadamia nut bar. This was like a cereal bar with a white chocolate base and a drizzle on top. I found the white chocolate very sweet and I couldn't actually taste much in it. But overall it was enjoyable and I would definitely have it again. Lastly I bought two harlequin squash. I had one for dinner last night stuffed with curried lentils, onions, mushrooms and spinach. I love squash in all its forms and its one of my favourite things about autumn. 

I have signed up to take part in the Vegan Food Swap run by To Happy Vegans http://www.tohappyvegans.com/wordpress/uk-vegan-food-swap/ and have already been looking at products I want to send in my box, I'm really looking forward to this and will let you know what I send and what I receive in my package. 

I have written a lot so really need to go and do some studying now!

Later Veg heads

Vgirl Xx

Holidays

Last week we went to Center Parcs in Elvelden Forest, Suffolk. We stayed in the hotel so had to rely on the restaurants for food. Most were fine, I only had to make adjustments a couple of times like no cheese on pizza and no sour cream with Mexican. The only awkwardness I had was when I asked for a cheeseless pizza from the takeaway service. The operator asked why I needed it to be without cheese and told me "Well it will burn". When it arrived it was fine and loaded with toppings. I don't know if this was the usual amount they put on or whether they just did it because there was no cheese on it. Either way I way very happy with it. There were lots of places offering coffee but it seemed that Starbucks was the only outlet offering soya milk. The only other disappointment was that there weren't many lunch options, it would do well just to have a café with sandwiches, jacket potatoes etc. We did get a free bottle of wine and chocolates from the hotel as apparently one morning there wasn't any hot water although we weren't affected by it. The staff also put my teddy bear Edward in a funny position which made me and the boyf laugh as he is constantly leaving him in silly positions. There was lots of wildlife about and we saw a variety of birds as well as squirrels and rabbits and even a peacock!
We came back yesterday after a dreadful train journey with lots of signalling problems and delays. Today I have treated myself to a new handbag from New Look made even better with my student discount! Although the shop assistant did eye me suspiciously as I unfortunately no longer look 19! I also got some great handbag size handcream in M&S for £1 and BUAV approved as well, along with some gorgeous tarka dhal soup which went down well for lunch.
I got into a pair of cropped white linen trousers which I bought last summer and have never been able to get into! It's measurement time next weekend so hopefully this is a good sign!

Until next time vegheads

Vgirl Xx

Keep on keeping on

I lost a pound this week, so that's 1st 5lbs in total! Hopefully it'll be over 1 and a half stone ready for my Goddaughter's baptism at the beginning of October.

Tried a few good new foods this week. After our work night out I discovered this find at Liverpool Street Station  - Spinach and Potato Wrap with houmous from http://www.mediterraneanfoods.uk.com only 205 calories for the pack, great after the night out!



I also tried a couple of New Covent Garden Soups, its a bit annoying having to trawl through the ingredients and allergies to make sure it was vegan. One was Butternut Squash and Black Turtle Bean, 82 calories per half carton and the other was Jammin Jamaica - it was sweet potato and chilli with coconut milk, it was very tasty and 162 calories per half carton. I tried to find pictures on their website but couldn't find anything - so hopefully these aren't just a seasonal thing and will be in the range permanently!

I made some Sainsburys love veg Moroccan Style Burgers in pitta with chilli jelly and spinach with Mediterranean couscous with extra veggies. This was a very large meal, but I'm off to Zumba tonight so will easily work it off. My sister-in-law has been ill so we haven't been for 3 weeks, so hopefully it won't be too hard!

  


Until next time Veg heads!

Vgirl Xx

Trying out some gorgeous new food!

I did my measurements on Saturday and I have lost another inch off my hips and another inch off my waist! Its all going well just got to keep going!

Last Sunday I ventured into Camden to try out some goodies. I went to Ha Ha Veggie Bar and had a "Monkey Burger" which is a veggie burger in a seeded bun with peanut butter and banana, it sounds odd but was absolutely divine. I meant to take a picture but I was so hungry at the time I forgot. I also got two ring jammy doughnuts from Cookies and Scream which were very tasty too. I also discovered that the Co-Op's jam doughnuts and custard doughnuts are vegan, unfortunately I do not have a store locally but will have to stock up next time I go down to my Nan's.

I went to the Paralympics this week and saw Swimming, Table Tennis and Athletics. I really enjoyed myself. I had been warned that there wasn't much of a vegan offering at the Olympic Park so I took my own food. From what I could see there wasn't much. There was an Indian stand with vegetable curries and side dishes and a Jacket Potato stand that you could get a jacket and beans from but not much else. It was also very expensive so unless they had vegan food that was out of this world I doubt I would bought it there.

I tried two new recipes today. The first was a vegan chorizo tortilla from www.chocolateandbeyond.co.uk/2012/vegan-chorizo-spanish-tortilla.html#more The gram flour and soya milk made a really nice batter and I'm definitely going to try this out with different fillings in my tortilla. My Mum loved it too!

I also tried out a coconut semolina pudding that was so easy and tasty. I'm a bit young to have had semolina pudding at school, but this really hits the spot with a dollop of raspberry jam. http://vegan-ftw.tumblr.com/post/16088866915/coconut-semolina-pudding

Going to go cook some dinner now, all this blogging is exhausting!

Until next time, take care

Vgirl Xx