Welcome to the Blog

Hi everyone! If you are here for the yummy, satisfying and indulgent vegan breakfast cookies recipe, then please scroll down to the end of the blog post. You'd find the delicious recipe there. If you're happy to read me rambling on about my office food debates, then please read on and get to the recipe later.

Picture this: I'm sitting in the office, minding my own business when one of my work colleagues starts taking about baking and healthy eating. My ears perk up. She's rather negative about vegan baking, so I'm definitely all ears now! Then she says: ''I don't like vegan desserts. For me desserts have to taste like proper desserts and that means they have to be made with lots of butter!''

What?!? She didn't just say that, did she? Ok, she's got my complete and undivided attention now! Firstly, let me be clear here. I greatly appreciate her honesty and completely respect her views (no, really I do). Secondly I must say, she's a total sweetie and I love her no nonsense approach, but there is no way in the world I can hear that comment and not respond. With words initially, but then with a much more powerful weapon: The best out-of-this-world-finger-lickin'-good vegan cookies ever (massive statement, I know - totally subjective, I know - but I stand by it 100%).

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Hi everyone! If you are here for the quick, easy and delicious vegan beetbutter recipe, please scroll down to the end of the blog post. You'll find the yummy vegan recipe there. If you're happy to read me rambling on about my exams and Valentine's Day, please read on and get to the recipe later. 

I wish I could say something inspiring, clever, thoughtful, reflective or funny even. And how I wish I could include a quote from some literary master. But the truth is life's been pretty hectic at the mo' and I gotta keep it short and sweet today. You see, motherhood has kept me busy :) as well as this MASSIVE biochemistry/nutrition exam I've been revising for. It's on Friday. :(. YIKES! So, everything else has kinda had to go on hold.

Thank goodness there was time to celebrate Valentine's day with my 3 loves though – hubby, son and... kale. I know the kale bouquet has nothing to do with today's recipe but it was so cute, I HAD to share it here with you guys. (Can you blame a proud mama?) 

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In December (oh gosh, that seems so long ago now!) I hosted a winter yoga workshop in a converted warehouse in South East London. Some lovely yoginis joined me for a sweaty and fun ashtanga yoga practice. Their hard work didn't go unnoticed and certainly didn't go unrewarded because after nearly 2 hours on the yoga mat, I made sure they had the opportunity to enjoy a nourishing and delicious vegan winter soup. 

We all tucked into my seasonal curried butternut squash soup, a firm favourite from the blog. It was super yummy and I am proud to report that not a drop remained uneaten. Cheekily I also did some recipe testing on my students and 'made' them try some home-made Swedish crisp bread. I'd discovered the recipe during a girly get-together a few months earlier and wanted to make sure it was blog worthy. The recipe is on the blog today so I am sure you can figure out what the feedback was ;)

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URRIED POTATO, CAULIFLOWER AND BROCCOLI SALAD (V+, V, NF, GrF, GF)

'You will run and try to hide
but I will never turn away 

I know you
are tired and broken

I know you
are fallen and feeling held down

so you raise another glass to fall apart

I know you
are tired and broken' 
 SUMERA

Isn't family a wonderfuly funny thing? I mean has it ever crossed your mind that we don't get to choose our mother or father or our sons or daughters? And we certainly don't get to choose our brothers or sisters. Yet that bond we establish with these special people is incredible. No matter what happens, no matters what c**p you go through together, at the very end of the day, they are there for you, just like you are there for them. Always. No questions asked.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! It's sooooo good to be back. I really, really, really missed writing, creating recipes and taking pictures for the blog. And I missed being part of the blogging community :). But the 3 weeks off did me well and I can't think of a better month than January to start blogging again with these delicious flue fighting winter juice recipes! I know lots of people think the first month of the year is too dark, too gloomy and too depressing but you know what? I am rather fond of January. That's because the beginning of the year to me means a chance to make a fresh start and to be a better, healthier and happier me :).

Like many of you, I tend to make a wish list of things I want to accomplish and achieve . (I don't like using the term New Year's resolutions as it kinda implies that it'll all fall to pieces before Jan is even over ;). Whereas wish list is more positive, more attainable and less conspicuous, don't you think?). I always post my New Year's wish list on my personal facebook page because the scrutiny of family and friends, as well as their support and encouragement, makes me work harder at completing all items on my list.

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NOTE: The pictures were updated in September 2015.

Hi everyone. If you are here for the festive, flavourful and fun sun-dried tomato pate recipe, then please scroll down to the end of the blog post. You'll find the yummy vegan recipe there. If you're happy to read me going on about the Liebster Award, then please read on and get to the recipe later!

A few weeks ago the lovely Ksenia - the blogger behind At the Immigrant's Table - nominate me for the Liebster Award (remember I mentioned Ksenia last week?). Please, don't get too excited, the Liebsters ain't the Oscars ;), but the award is a superdy duperdy cute way of making the food blogging world feel like a real, caring and tangible community. Consequently I was delighted and rather flattered that I'd been chosen for this award. Thank you soooo much Ksenia :). 

First things first, the Liebster Award Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you by providing a link to their blog
2. Display the award badge
3. Answer 11 questions provided by the blogger who nominated you
4. List 11 random facts about yourself
5. Nominate 11 bloggers
6. Pose 11 questions to said nominees
7. Go to each nominee’s blog and notify them of their nomination

YIKES! I got my work cut out!

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Before the arrival of 3-layered pistachio and pomegranate cake with buckwheat crunchies, before triple chocolate, gold-swirled brownies with salted caramel frosting and even before raw vegan cheesecake with popcorn flavoured fruit layers, there was the good old apple pie. (Please note I am using 'apple pie' as an umbrella term here. It in fact covers the following: apple cake, apple crumble, apple turnover, apple muffins and aything else apple/dessert related). Yup, this post is all about the humble apple pie, which has been so cruelly overlooked as things have become more and more extravagant in our kitchens of late. But I'm determined to change all that and take us back to the good old days with this delicious gluten-free apple and parsnip cake.  

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A few weeks ago, Agnes, who writes the beautiful blog Cashew Kitchen asked me on Instagram what 10 things made me happy (besides this delicious vegan butternut squash and chestnut pie recipe). Little did Agnes know though that the day she posed this question, I was anything but happy. 

My son had just started school, so I was feeling quite fragile. We had builders and gardeners turn our house upside down and it resembled more of a chaotic pigsty than a stylish family home. And I had literally tried to juggle way too many things with just two hands, resulting in me dropping and breaking my laptop :(. 

Not the best time to thinking about happiness, or was it?

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No one can claim that opportunities to learn about cooking aren’t all around us. For starters, the internet is such a wonderful source of cooking inspiration; the array of creative food blogs out there is near to overwhelming! And then of course there are 100s of cookbooks to fall in love with, countless stylish cooking magazines to subscribe to and free recipe cards galore to grab hold of at your local supermarket. I mean, come on, there was never a better time to be a food geek. 

And though I have indulged in all the options noted above, this week I thought I’d go all old school and do something a little bit different with this delicious vegan tahini dip and almost raw kale chips... To celebrate ‘Homemade Bread Day’ I decided to emulate what women did centuries ago i.e. hang out near a big fire, catch up on village gossip whilst preparing a delicious meal together. To recreate a modern day version of this girly tradition I invited some pretty cool female friends into my kitchen where we chatted, cried, giggled, moaned about the pressures of being working, middle-class moms and baked some yummy scrummy goodies.

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