fudgy chocolate brownies

Just posting this for someone who was after a brownie recipe. This was featured in Stylist magazine and was written by Gwenyth Paltrow
ingredients
200g spelt flour
100g cocoa powder
1.5tbsp baking powder
pinch salt
125ml vegetable oil
250ml maple syrup
125ml agave nectar
125ml brewed coffee
125ml soya milk
1tbsp vanilla extract
175g choc chips

method
pre heat oven to 180 degrees C, 350 degrees F or gas 4
grease baking dish with vegetable oil
sift flour baking powder and salt together
in a separate bowl whisk together the oil, syrups, coffee, soya milk and vanilla
mix wet ingredients into dry
pour half mixture into a dish and sprinkle half the choc chips on
then add the other half of mixture and sprinkle remaining choc chips on top
bake for 30 mins
cool cut into squares and serve
Voila!

Lots of cooking!

I have tried to cook lots of dishes recently. I really love cooking in Autumn and thought I'd share some of my dishes.

Watercress soup with homemade flatbreads

 Roasted tomato, pepper and lentil soup with extras for vegetarian colleague!

Pesto Pinwheels, easiest snack ever, roll of jus-rol puff pesto jar of Meridian pesto slather it on roll it up cut and bake for 20 mins at 180 degrees!

Homemade pumpkin ravioli (a first!) in tomato, chilli and olive sauce

Sausage hot pot, easy dinner on a school night

Even omni boyf has been getting on the act and made me this lovely roast! next is to work out vegan yorkshire puddings!

The other lovely foodie thing this week was receiving my vegan food swap box from Jojo in Brighton (http://www.veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.uk/) http://www.tohappyvegans.com/wordpress/uk-vegan-food-swap/ 

I had only tried two of these 10! (count them!) treats before, the pop chips and the fruit yoyos, which were as lovely as remembered. The apple crisps were really tasty and sweet and a lovely mid-morning snack at only 66 calories. The trek bar was a great breakfast replacement and reminded me of a giant nakd bar. The clearspring seeds with cranberries and soya were different from your normal seed mix and again a great office drawer snack. The primal texas bbq soya jerky was a great savoury snack, its not as chewy as its meaty counterpart but I loved the smoky taste and its a flavour I really crave. The chocolate covered raisins were a delight and the bitter chocolate and raw cacao powder is a nice contrast to the sweet raisin. I only need a couple of these to sate any sugar craving so I think they'll keep me going for a while! The strawberry pepper dark chocolate had a nice flavour but I couldn't really taste the chocolate. The two treats I have yet to try are the raspberry brownie and chocolate, raspberry bar, but I'm sure they will be just as tasty as the rest of the box. Can't wait for next month's Christmas box!

Hope you've enjoyed the pics

See you next time Vegheads

V Girl Xx

a very vegan week

I made a stew with dumplings last week and I'm definitely going to make this more often. So warming on a cold winter's night.

As Thursday was World Vegan Day I baked some cakes for work and gave out a few leaflets.

I made Chocolate Walnut Fudge, Peanut Squares, Brownies and a Raw Chocolate Ganache that all went down really well. 

On Thursday evening I went out with my vegetarian friend to Amico Bio www.ammicobio.co.uk we had a groupon voucher which entitled us to 3 courses each and espresso for £12 each. We both had the polenta with mushrooms to start, then I had roasted seitan with roasted parsnips, carrots and potatoes while my friend had spaghetti with white beans and courgettes. The portions were really small, I only had half a roast potato! For dessert I have cinnamon and sharonfruit ice crean and my friend had a rum baba. I was surprised there weren't more vegan options for dessert as usually vegetarian restaurants are quite good for them. We both felt we could have eaten double, which is definitely rare for me when I've had a three course meal. On the bus home someone got on with a bag of chips and I had to contain myself not to reach over and nick a handful! It was an ok meal seeing as we only paid £12 but I wouldn't pay full price. 

On Friday I attended Fat Gay Vegan's (www.fatgayvegan.com) Dia de los muertos (day of the dead) Mexican Fiesta. We were served up 7 courses of deliciousness, starting with fried potatoes with sauces. Followed a bean soup and a dish of corn cooked with chilli and lime smothered in vegan mayonnaise. After that we had jackfruit taquitos a re-working of the pulled pork version and for dessert we had churros with chilli hot chocolate all accompanied with tequila. It all tasted great and I met some lovely people. 

Yesterday I met up with some people in Brixton to go to the Vegan Tart stall. www.thevegantart.co.uk I had the savoury mushroom and spinach tart and bought the spiced cake to take home. I also had some Ethiopian food consisting of lentils, okra and vegetables in bread. I had a look in at www.mscupcake.co.uk I've never been to the shop but I've tried their cakes at different events. I didn't buy anything as I already had the tarts. After that we headed to the pub to defrost after being outside for a good long while and I again got to chat to some lovely new people. 

Today my Dad is coming over for dinner, the boyf was supposed to be cooking a pork joint for the pair of them but as he was really ill last night he is still in bed so think I'm going to whip up a shepherdess pie as the meaty version is one of my Dad's favourite (and signature) dishes. 

Until next time Veg Heads!

Vgirl Xx