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

Lots of Goodies!

I went to the Vegan Summer Fete organised by Vegan Campaigns on Saturday in Holborn and met up with some members of the London Vegan Meetup Group.
There were lots of food stalls, but they were mainly cakes and chocolates and I think it could have done with a bit more savoury and complete meal offerings. I had a lovely salad from Rainforest Creations and some delicious Bessant & Drury`s chocolate ice cream. I was also very interested in Inspiral`s products but I had already purchased four cupcakes from Ms Cupcake to take home and I am going to Camden next Sunday, so will check out their shop while I`m up there. I think they should have had some clothing lines there especially shoes as vegan`s often struggle to find affordable footwear.
After the fete Mother and I ventured north to Vegan Cross through the pouring rain. I bought some crisps, a twilight bar, (like a mars bar) a chickenish pasty, some Hickory Smoked Tofurky deli slices, some Topastofu paté and a bottle of Fritz cola. I really enjoyed it all but thought the twilight bar was quite expensive for what it was.
I visited some friends in Brighton on Sunday and had a vegan hot dog and some veggie kebabs with them. Glad to find out that Sainsburys love soya sausages are now egg free and vegan-friendly although it wasn't clearly advertised on the packet.
Fellow blogger Fat Gay Vegan has started a campaign to get Fry's into Sainsburys - I hope it succeeds as I think their products are great but rarely eat them as it involves a trek to Holland and Barrett. http://fatgayvegan.com/2012/08/25/petition-time/

Next time I will be including a review of a vegetarian restaurant in the Lake District once I have the comments from my friend.

Laters Veg heads!

Vgirl Xx

Faking it!

I've been invited to a themed vegan barbecue "If you were an animal what would you be?" and it got me thinking about fur/animal skins etc. Also I recently saw an article about Lady Gaga condoning fur saying it was "fun". Now most people I know don't agree with the use of fur and agree it looks better on the animal, but is the use of fake fur still wrong as it perpetuates the belief that fur looks good and is trendy/fashionable? If it is obviously fake as in lime green, does that make it OK?

I have a pet corn snake, Popcorn, who is 7 years old and I have a fondness for snake print as I think the pattern is very beautiful. (whole other post about vegans keeping pets will come in the future) I recently bought some snakeprint canvas/microfibre sandals, but I would not buy something like a faux snakeskin handbag as I think that looks too real and a bit wrong. But I still feel a bit guilty buying anything animal print.

In food matters, three of my colleagues have signed up to my fitness pal. So hopefully we will have a healthier happier team - could even increase productivity if we're lucky! I had a lovely mushroom and leek risotto last night made by the omni boyf. Tonight I was quite lazy and had Linda McCartney sausages, McCain smiles, beans and dried fried mushrooms. I couldn't go to Zumba tonight as my sister-in-law is going away tomorrow so the boyf and I did two laps of our local park and down to the shop and back, took us about an hour. Got some BBQ Llama's which were very tasty, would highly recommend. We saw lots of dog walkers and joggers out so hopefully everyone is in a fitness mood. Can't wait until the Paralympics begin and hope the coverage is as good as it was for the Olympics!

I was very pleased to see Paul O'Grady has spoken out about his vegetarianism in the Sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4495506/Paul-OGrady-talks-about-his-love-of-animals-and-hatred-of-cruelty.html some of the comments from readers show some people's ignorance, but the more people who speak out the more mainstream the cause becomes. It is also the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) 32nd Birthday today, here are just a few of the amazing things they have done over the years http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2012/08/21/20-rescues-we-will-never-forget.aspx

Take care!

Vgirl xx

Getting Started!

Right! I've been wanting to start a blog for a while and decided today was the day!

It's 7 weeks until my Goddaughter's christening and naturally I want to look fabulous! I have lost 1 stone 4 pounds since May, my current weight it 11st 4lbs and my target is around 10st I'm only 5'4" so this is a healthy weight for me. In the past I have managed to lose over 3 stone but always put it back on. so my mission is to get the weight off and keep it off! I have been vegetarian since December 2009 and was vegan for the first nine months and then fell ill and found it difficult to keep up with so fell into a routine of vegetarianism since May I've gradually crossed back over to veganism and this has aided my weight loss I have also been using myfitnesspal.com to to track my calories and exercise. I have a feq friends and relatives on there so we spur eachother on. I'm also swimming once a week with my Mum and going to a Zumba class with my sister-in-law.

I share ideas and recipes on vegan and veg life UK on facebook and attend events with the London Vegan meetup group as well as following other bloggers including fat gay vegan, the happy herbivore and the vegan option.

My other mission at the moment is to pass my Insurance Law exam on 16th Oct in order to obtain my Diploma in Insurance, I know thrilling stuff!

So I'll be updating both missions here and any more I start!

Today I tried the Jus-Rol pain au chocolat which are vegan and delicious! I will also try to post a pic once I know how! I also had aome vegusto smoked sausage which I really enjoyed. That smokey flavour is something I have missed since turning vegan.


Well I think that's enough for a first post!

Vgirl xx