Recipe: Filling Hemp “Oatmeal” within 5 minutes

Ingredients for vegan hemp oatmeal

• ½ a cup of oats
• 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds*
• 1 tablespoon of raisins
• 1/4 of a tablespoon of ground cinnamon
• ½ a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk

How to make vegan hemp oatmeal

1. Add all dry ingredients into your favourite breakfast bowl
2. Add plant-based milk of your choice
3. Enjoy a nice, filling, sweet without being a sweetened bowl of oats!

Notes *You may add more seeds if you'd like just be aware how much you add as hemp seeds are high in calories and fat--good fat, but even so, it is not beneficial to have too much of anything.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Braelynne Morrow.

Recipe: Mango Passionfruit Pie

Tools needed

- Blender
- Food Processor
- Dehydrator (Optional)
- 7.5” Pie Tin

Ingredients for the vegan mango and passion fruit pie crust

• 1 ¼ cup Macadamia Nuts (soaked and dehydrated)
• 3 tablespoon of Desiccated Coconut
• 1 tablespoon of  Coconut Oil
• 1 tablespoon of Coconut Palm Nectar*
• ¼ tablespoon of Salt
• ¼ tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

*This is not raw – for a fully Raw recipe replace this with Date Paste

Ingredients for the vegan mango and passionfruit pie filling:-

• 1 cup Chopped Sweet Mango
• ¾ of a cup of Sour Passionfruit Goo
• ¼ of a cup of Coconut Palm Nectar*
• ¼ of a cup of Irish Moss Paste
• 3 tablespoon of  Coconut Oil
• 2 Vanilla Beans
• 1 pinch of Salt

How to make vegan mango and passionfruit pie

1. Blitz Macadmia Nuts and Desiccated Coconut in food processor until it's almost powder
2. Add the remainder of the ingredients for the crust and blitz until well incorporated and it compresses easily between your fingers
3. Gently wipe down the pie tin with coconut oil and press crust into it
4. Blend all of the filling ingredients until it's smooth and creamy
5. Pour the filling into the crust and let it set in the fridge for 4 - 6 hours or in the freezer for 2 - 3 hours
6. Garnish with Desiccated Coconut or Mango Chunks and Serve!

Mango and Passionfruit pie (whole)

Photos and recipe courtesy of Jonny Freesh

Recipe: Strawgo Cheesecake

Strawgo Cheesecake is a great recipe, which is quick, easy and involves no cooking! A sure quick fire dessert to impress at any time of the year.

Michael and Victoria

Ingredients for vegan Strawgo cheesecake

• 500ml tub of Strawgo
• Half a packet of vegan digestive biscuits
• 1-2 tablespoons of vegan margarine spread
• 1 punnet fresh strawberries
• 1 large mango - alphonso is preferable

How to make vegan Strawgo cheesecake

1. Put the vegan biscuits in a food processor until they turn to a light crumb texture
   • If you don't have a food processor or just want to do it without using one; just put into a sealed plastic bag and bang away with a rolling pin
2. Once you have your biscuit base in a light crumbly texture add in the margarine spread and mix together until the biscuits turn slightly darker and thicker in texture - your base is then ready
3. Pour into your baking try base and simple flatten and smooth with a spoon until compact
4. Now get your tub of Strawgo (to make the frozen fruit dessert easier to spread leave it to thaw for 5 minutes)
5. Once it has softened scoop it onto the base and smooth - Be quick otherwise it will melt
6. Finally top with your punnet of strawberries and sliced mango in whatever way you fancy - We like to do a mixture of leaving the chopped and whole strawberries with stalks for a more pretty effect
7. Cut up and serve
8. If you are not going to eat it straight away, pop the dish into the freezer and take out a few minutes before serving or serve frozen for a great frozen cake

Recipe and photo courtesy of Michael and Victoria

Recipe: Sugar-Free Hazelnut Spread

This recipe makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients for hazelnut spread

• 1 cup organic hazelnuts - roasted
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons of organic cacao powder
• 3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup of almond milk
• 1 tablespoon of organic coconut oil
• 1 pinch of sea salt

How to make vegan hazelnut spread

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
2. Lay out the hazelnuts onto a baking sheet and pop in the oven for ten minutes
3. Watch them carefully as oven temperatures vary and these can go from perfectly fine to burnt quickly
4. Remove hazelnuts from oven
5. Using your fingers or a paper towel, remove skins from hazelnuts - they will come off easily but it doesn't need to be perfect
6. Place the hazelnuts in a food processor
7. Process at high speed for 2-3 minutes until you have a paste
8. Add coconut oil and process for another minute, until it looks smooth
9. Add all remaining ingredients, process for another 2-3 minutes until you have a creamy texture
10. At this point it will be quite thin and liquidy
11. Place it into a jar (I use mason jars) and refrigerate for one hour
12. Remove from fridge and it will be a spreadable texture

If you store this in the pantry, it will remain fresh for about 2 weeks. I like to make it in small batches so we never get to the point that it’s gone bad because we didn't use it quickly enough.

Use the spread on your favourite baked goods, fresh fruit (like apple slices) or on sprouted grain bread.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Sophia.

Recipe: Unleavened Fougasse with Rosemary

Fougasse is a traditional Provençal flattish bread which is similar to Focaccia. This recipe serves 1

Ingredients for vegan unleavened Fougasse

• 100g of wheat flour
• 4g of Baking powder
• 10g of Olive oil
• 50g of water
• 0.5g of Rosemary
• 0.5g of salt

How to make vegan unleavened Fougasse

1. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl
2. Add the water and oil and mix vigorously until you are able to form the dough into small balls
3. Flatten out the balls of dough on a flat surface
4. Oil them on both sides and sprinkle with the rosemary
5. Bake them on a floured baking sheet for 25 mins, or more if a crisper crust is desired

To create a leaf pattern in the bread use a sharp knife or pastry scraper to create a slit down the middle of the bread, as well as, five slits on either side of it. Carefully separate the slits open to create a more prominent design.

Recipe courtesy of Constantin. Translation courtesy of Sarah.

Recipe: Houmous

This recipe serves 1.

Ingredients for vegan houmous

• 15g of dried chick peas
• 20g of lemon juice
• 10g of Rapeseed oil - also known as Canola oil
• 10g of Tahini

How to make vegan houmous

1. Soak the chick peas in cold water overnight
2. Rinse and cook until they are soft enough to purée
3. Mix the drained chick peas with the Tahini, lemon juice and oil
4. Blend the mixture
5. Add salt to taste

Note: the flavour and digestibility of chick peas is improved if they are peeled after cooking.

Recipe courtesy of Constantin. Translation courtesy of Sarah.

Recipe: Pasta with a twist within 25 minutes

I didn't make this but I definitely enjoyed eating it! :)

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for the pasta

•    2/3 of a tablespoon of olive oil
•    3/4 of a bunch of broccoli – torn into edible sized pieces
•    1 fresh chilli – finely chopped
•    2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves – left whole
•    salt to taste
•    pepper to taste
•    8 cherry tomatoes – left whole
•    130g of pasta – I  use rigatoni
•    1/2 tablespoon of vegan margarine – I  use Pure sunflower margarine
•    2 carrots – grated
•    1 small (200g) can of sweetcorn
•    vegan sausage – thin circular slices – I  use Taifun Tofu-Wiener
•    1 tablespoon of salt – for the pasta

How to make the pasta

1.    Add the olive oil to a pan and heat it
2.    When it’s hot, add the broccoli let it cook for 2 minutes before adding the chill
3.    When the broccoli has become a little bit 'burnt', add the spinach, salt and pepper
4.    After 2 minutes, add the cherry tomatoes
5.    While this is cooking, boil some water and use it to boil the pasta in a separate pan
6.    Add the salt to the pasta and stir
7.    Check the pasta after 7 minutes and if it’s the way you like it, drain the water and add the pasta to the vegetables
8.    Add the margarine to the pan (with the vegetables and pasta in it) and stir
9.    To serve, create different sections on a plate, separating the carrots, sweetcorn and Wiener, and the pasta. 

Pasta served with grated carrots, sweetcorn and Wiener

Recipe: Banana Muffins within one hour

This recipe creates 12 regular sized muffins.

Ingredients for vegan banana muffins

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoons of vegan margarine
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 a cup of granulated sugar
• 1/4 of a cup of light brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of Baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of Baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon powder
• 1/4 of a cup of Walnuts that are toasted and chopped
• 1/4 of a cup of vegan dark chocolate, chocolate chips

How to make vegan banana muffins

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree F or 190 degree C for at least 10 minutes
2. Place the oven rack in middle of the oven
3. Put muffin liners in a tray
4. Put the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder in a bowl
5. Mix it well
6. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl
7. Add the margarine, oil and vanilla extract
8. Mix it together and then add granulated sugar and light brown sugar
9. Mix it and add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
10. Mix it but do not over mix it
11. Then add the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips
12. Fold them in and divide the batter in the muffin liners
13. Bake them in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes
14. Serve warm or let it cool completely

A tip:-

Check the muffins a few minutes earlier than the stated time by inserting toothpick in the middle of it. If the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are done.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Sheela Shah.

Recipe: Butter Beans Shaak (curry) within 15 minutes

This Shaak is simple, filling and quick to make. It involves minimal preparation and tastes delicious.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for butter beans Shaak

•    1 (240g) can of butter beans or use dried butter beans which would need to be soaked for 12 hours, the water drained and then boiled in fresh water
•    2 tomatoes - blended
•    1 fresh chilli – blended
•    3/4 of a tablespoon of sunflower oil or olive oil
•    1/2 a teaspoon of mustard seeds
•    1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
•    2 sweet neem leaves
•    1 pinch of asafetida
•    1 pinch of turmeric powder
•    salt to taste
•    1 teaspoon of dried coriander powder
•    1 handful of freshly chopped coriander
•    6 wholemeal mini wraps

How to make butter beans Shaak

1.    Heat the oil in a pan and then add the mustard seeds, cumin, sweet neem leaves and asafetida
2.    After the seeds have popped add the tomatoes and chilli
3.    After a 2 minutes, add the butter beans, turmeric powder, salt and dried coriander powder
4.    After 3 minutes add the chopped coriander, stir and let it cook for 5 - 7 minutes
5.    Fold each mini wraps in half and serve the butter beans alongside it

We enjoyed this with mini wraps. It can also be eaten with rice or Rotli.

Recipe: Pinwheel Biscuits

Ingredients for vegan pinwheel biscuits

• 2 & 1/4 cups of wholemeal wheat flour
• 3/4 cups of vegan butter - I used Vitalite
• 1/2 of cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of Flaxmeal
• 3 tablespoons of water
• 1/2 cup of vegan dark chocolate
• 2 - 3 tablespoons of Almond milk
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence

How to make vegan pinwheel biscuits

1. Mix the Flaxmeal with water and leave it to stand
2. Cream the butter and sugar until it's fluffy
3. Add the Flaxmeal mix
4. Melt the chocolate in a Bain Marie
5. Blend the flour with the butter cream to form a dough and add some milk as required
6. Add the vanilla essence
7. Divide the dough into half
8. And the melted chocolate to one of the half mix
9. Knead the dough for 5 mins - the dough should be fairly stiff
10. Divide each portions of the flavoured dough into 2
11. On a cling filmed rolling board roll out the dough to create 8 -9 inch round shapes
12. Ensure that the vanilla dough and the chocolate dough is kept separate
13. Place the chocolate rolled out circular shapes onto the vanilla and fold together to form rolls - like a Swiss roll
14. Wrap in cling film and leave in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours
15. Once set, cut out equal pieces of the biscuits and bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius until golden brown
16. Cool them on a cooling rack and enjoy!

Recipe and photo courtesy of Jigna Malde.

Recipe: home-made yoghurt

This was quick, easy and really rewarding. I'm not sure why I was so chuffed about it. Perhaps it was because it reminded me of the enjoyment I got from the yoghurt that my Grandmother used to make yogurt at her home. Either way, I think anyone who likes yoghurt, should try it at least once! :)

Ingredients for vegan yoghurt

• Boil 1 mug of milk

• 3 teaspoons of your yogurt starter - I used Tesco Free From Natural Yogurt

How to make vegan yoghurt

1. Boil the milk - I used soya milk but I plan to try it with oat milk soon

2. Let it cool until it feels hot if you put your finger in it but it is tolerable

3. When it is the temperature described above, mix in the yogurt starter

4. Put a bowl of water or something in the microwave and heat it using full power, for 2 minutes

5. While the microwave heats up, put the yogurt mix in an airtight container

6. Put the container within another airtight container, which has a lid and put the lid on it securely

7. Wrap a towel around it

8. Without turning it on, put it in the microwave and leave it there for about 6 hours

9. Don't open the microwave during this time

10. When you remove it, it will be warm and should have set

11. Put it in the fridge so it's cold and ready to eat 

Home made vegan yoghurt