Busy bees

Well there hasn't been much time to cook this week as I've been working extra hours in preparation for going on holiday. I haven't been abroad in 5 years and I am extremely excited to finally be going to New York City, something I've been dreaming of for as long as I can remember. Having done some reading it looks as though my week there should be amazing. I've been busy swotting up on the galleries, museums, architecture and, of course, the food! I can't wait to report back when I return but the next few weeks while I'm preparing and making sure everything is done so that my day job doesn't suffer will keep me fully occupied.

The last couple of days I've relied on food from the freezer and my parents. Mum made some cauliflower cheese and gifted me a portion for today's dinner (she reassures me that the cauliflower was big enough for several meals!) Yesterday I had one of the flans that she made for me at the weekend (a mixture of Stilton, veg and seeds contained in a spelt pastry base). Tomorrow however the boyfriend is coming round and my options are to do something really lazy like cheese on toast or something more adventurous. I have a few hours at work and some appointments to organise before I make that decision!

Eating out in London

I absolutely love trying new places to eat when I'm visiting London for a day but sometimes I find it's better for planning purposes to think ahead. For this reason I have some 'go to' places across central London where I know that I, and anyone travelling with me, will be happy to eat. This weekend my 'go to' was Tibits on Heddon Street. Heddon Street is a small pedestrian area full of eateries just off of Regents Street. What makes Tibits so different is that it's an exclusively vegetarian buffet where you help yourself to anything from the giant "food boat" and pay by the weight of your plate (plus a bread roll which comes with every plate). This may sound weird but if you apply logic when loading up your plate it's pretty easy to see if your plate will be a cheaper meal or more expensive one. As for the food itself: celery salad sits alongside beluga lentil salad, onion rings alongside Asian glass noodle salad, potato wedges alongside Moroccan spiced carrots. Such is the variety of things they offer you may not get the same thing every day and the menu changes with the seasons. The staff are friendly, even on manically busy days like yesterday, and the restaurant is clean and stylish.

In the name of research I even tried out the sticky toffee pudding and traditional cheesecake - both absolutely scrummy!

Tibits also operate a loyalty card scheme by which you get a free glass of fresh juice when you buy your 6th meal. I got my free glass yesterday!

I also took the opportunity to visit the Real Food Festival. This festival takes place on weekends behind the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank. I wasn't sure what to expect but what I found was a diverse range of stalls offering hot food to enjoy there and cakes, breads, cheeses and meats to take home. Riverford Organic was there selling fresh veg and promoting their veg box scheme and John Quilter the food busker was doing his thing in front of a tv camera (hopefully I'll find out when that's being broadcast). I got some baklava from an Lebanese stall as well as some gorgeous spring greens and sanguinello oranges from Riverford. I look forward to my next London trip where I hope to find some new recommendations!

Pie and cleansing

So it's been National Pie Week here in the UK. Pies have been popular for thousands of years and were designed as a way to easily contain ingredients for consumption later on. Pies and pasties have been especially popular in the UK as a way for working men (farmers, sailors) to take a meal to work with them, meat and potatos - staple foods - are simple to hold together in a pastry cake along with some gravy to eat on the go.

I rarely eat pies and pasties due to the calorie count of the pastry but I went shopping with my mum and the store was celebrating Pie Week so I gave one a go. This particular pie contained sweet potato, goats cheese, onion, spinach and garlic along with a smattering of sesame seeds over the top of the pastry. I must admit that it was utterly delicious! A one off treat admittedly but lovely for a change.

After all of the naughtiness my body needed some goodness! For tea I made a nice big plate of stir-fry veg with garlic and served it up with a small pile of rice noodles and shoyu sauce. Healthy, lovely and vegan!

Breakfast grains and Caribbean beans

This week has been one of experimentation. I've been inspired by various blogs and websites and mind-worms to get on and experiment with certain things. Some of which I'll write about in greater detail when I've gathered more information (tofu, tempeh and other protein products are the general theme!)

I've had a pack of red quinoa in the cupboard for a while now and wasn't too sure what to do with it. After the barley revolution last month I decided that quinoa for breakfast isn't too scary a thought. I boiled up the grain (2 cups water to 1 cup quinoa) with some ground nutmeg and ginger, kept the boil rolling for a few minutes until most of the water was absorbed and then removed from the heat until the rest of the water had been soaked up. This has made 4 breakfasts with the quinoa kept in the fridge and then half a cup reheated each morning and then served with nuts and fruit (in this case a mix of pistachios or walnuts, berries or banana).

Carribean beans came about because I found a jar of cook-in sauce in the cupboard that was nearing its use by date. I rarely buy sauces but this one appealed to me at the time and has been sat around for months waiting for its time to come. That happened this week. I was looking for a quick-n-easy dinner solution that would cook itself while I was exercising. I emptied 3 cans of pre-cooked beans (black-eyes beans, chickpeans and kidney beans) into a casserole dish and added some diced squash then covered it all with the Carribean 'Reggae Reggae' sauce, added an extra jar full of water and popped it in the oven for 40mins at 200 deg C. I only ate a third, which was a LOT of beans, and the rest has been frozen for future use. The sauce was really spicy and if I'd had more of an appetite it would've gone beautifully with some white rice. Photo to follow...

Looking for restaurant suggestions....

I'm going to be visiting New York City soon and am looking for vegetariant restaurants to visit while I'm there. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. I'll be reviewing everywhere I go on my return!

Thanks x

Cake (and cleansing)....

Today was a happy day!

On the first Saturday of the month from March thru December the team from Honeybuns, a wheat and gluten free bakery, open their Bee Shack cafe to the public for light lunches and cake. Despite not being far away from where I live I haven't been able to visit previously due to lack of transportation so once I got that side of my life sorted I was enthusiastic about the first Bee Shack day of 2012! The weather was lovely as we headed out of Somerset and into the neighbouring county of Dorset, along winding country roads. Once there we opted for the 'Tapas for two' - a sundried tomato, red onion and cheddar tart between two and a selection of local cheeses, houmous, olives, pickled cucumber and honey roasted nuts. The tart was utterly delicious, as were the accompanying nibbles. Being at Honeybuns it would be rude to skip dessert and it was a choice between a warm chocolaty 'Heathcliffe Brownie' or a lemony 'Snowy Hills' with cream. I went for the lighter lemon option and it was divine!

Given the opportunity to stock up on cakes for home I bought some triple chocolate Tinkers and a tray of Heathcliffe brownies for freezing. Their cakes and tarts are for sale via their website if you're unable to make it to the Bee Shack. I have tried about 95% of their range over the last couple of years and can recommend everything!!!!

Having somewhat over indugled at lunchtime my body was craving a light dinner so I opted for a salad wrap. I grabbed a couple of handfuls of rocket and placed these in the middle of a tortilla, added half a diced pepper and then warmed some sundried tomatos and pesto before adding this to the top of the pile. Wrap the wrap and enjoy the taste! To follow this I had a bowl of mango wedges and an orange to top up my vitamins.

Down Mexico way....

It is true that I love Mexican food and this has been even more the case since I went to the Mexican cooking day at the Vegetarian Cookery School in Bath. This course is only held once per year, when the chillis are perfectly in season. In southern England we are lucky to have a number of chilli growers who can supply plants and seeds as well as sauces, chutneys and a variety of other products enhanced with this wonderful spice. It was amazing to be surrounded by such variety and colour of chilli and I think most of us were surprised that there were so many to choose from. My new favourite chilli became the habanero, it looks good and has a fantastic amount of heat!

Today I enjoyed a big bowl of sopa de maize and for dinner I had a tortilla wrap filled with frijoles negro (black beans) and creme fraiche along with a side salad of rocket and some grated cheddar. The sopa de maize and frijoles negro are completely vegan too so they're suitable for anyone who avoids dairy - winner!