GREEN FENNEL JUICE (R, V+, GRF, GF, CHF, NF, P)

I've posted some really long blog posts recently and you'll be glad to hear this one's gonna be short and sweet. Why? Cuz I've got a massive nutrition exam coming up at the end of the week and I am waaayyy behind schedule. Which in turn means I'm in a total panic :(

BUT I made a commitment to this blog and to you so here is my bi-weekly post as promised. And, it's a pretty good one too. In fact it's a super good one - my all time favourite green juice! Yup, this delicious Green Fennel Juice is one of the juices that helped me find my green path and I bet it will help you on your wayy too.

Read More
THE PERFECT LEAFY GREEN SALAD! AND THOUGHTS ON FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY 2 (V+, V, R, P, GF, GRF, NF)

WARNING: This is another looooong blog entry, mainly about food photography and food styling. So if you're just here for the delicious Leafy Green Salad recipe – no offence taken – just scroll way down to the bottom of this post and you'll find what you're looking for :).

You still here? Great, cuz it's a blog post I've been feeling really excited about sharing with you. But first the backstory: I'm a complete total first born. I think as a first born you always feel responsible and you always want to make things better for everyone. So if someone comes to me and tells me their problem – I go into first born mode. I'm a sympathetic listener, sure, but mainly in the back of my head I'm thinking: OK, this person is upset/sad/frustrated, what can I do to make everything alright? How can I solve their problem and make them smile? Cuz that's what you do as a first born, you fall into that psydo parenting role, right? At least I do.

So what's that got to do with food photography? Well, loads actually. See this time around I was the one with the problem that needed fixing. I just got so bored of hearing myself moan about not knowing how to take good enough pictures (BTW I don't feel that way anymore, but at the time I did ;)). So, I thought about all the ways I could make things better and solve my problem. Ah! Attend a food photography and food styling workshop of course...

Read More
EASY CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY TART WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE MATCHA GLAZE (V+, CHF, GRF, GF, V, P)

Hi everyone! If you're here for the easy, yummy and colourful vegan chocolate strawberry tart recipe, please scroll down to the end of the blog post. You'll find the scrummy recipe there. If you're happy to read me rambling on about my nomadic life, please read on and get to the recipe later.

In many ways I have always been a city girl at heart. I was born in a big city - New York in case you were wondering - and have lived in countless cities all over the world. My frequent moves were partly the result of my parents' work (they were in the airline industry when I was growing up) and party the result of my gypsy ways getting the better of me in adult life. 

After spending time in the lovely, small and quaint Williamsburg, Virginia (of all places right?!) for my undergraduate studies I knew with every bone in my body that I desperately needed to get back to the bright lights of urban life. Hence it's no coincidence that after a few detours here and there, I eventually landed in London.

Read More
MY NEW ROOTS' MUNG BEAN SALAD (V+, GF, GRF, NF)

Hi everyone! If you're here for the fresh, yummy and fun vegan mung bean salad recipe, please scroll down to the end of the blog post. You'll find the flavourful recipe there. If you're happy to read my musings on recent UK politics and embracing diversity, please read on and get to the recipe later.

''And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'' - Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

I have mainly viewed my little corner in cyber space as an opportunity to share my passion for good, healthy plant-based food. Sure, there has been a gentle undercurrent of wanting to empower myself and my readers to cook more and make informed food choices. And I've perhaps jutted down a note or two about eating local, organic plant food. But it's never been more political than that.

However a few weeks, as the run up to the UK elections was hotting up and pretty nasty and disturbing comments about immigrants and other disadvantaged groups in society were being batted about, I felt I needed to speak up and use this nook for more. I mean how could I 'just' talk about yummy food when there was all this 'stuff' going on around me?

Read More
VEGAN ASPARAGUS TART (V+, GF, Gr, P) AND THOUGHTS ON FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY 1

So here it is. My blogiversary and an opportunity to share this delicious vegan asparagus tart recipe. It's gone so quickly and - it might sound cliché but - it feels like only yesterday when I pressed the publish button and sent this vegan carrot cake out into the blogosphere. 

I know that blogiversaries are supposed to be a time of joy, but as the the date drew nearer, I felt quite ambivalent about it all or, dare I say it, even slightly downcast. I'm a pretty upbeat, positive sorta person, but I couldn't help but feel a sense of overwhelming disappointment. All this work that I put into the blog and I had nothing to show for it. No thousands of instagram followers (What did I read the other week? Someone got 72,000 in their first year?!), no million blog hits a week (Yes, someone else mentioned that staggering figure on social media just a few days ago. Amazing stuff, right?) and nothing exciting on twitter either (I don't even get that platform, do you?). So I turned to my husband and asked him if I should just call it a day and stop blogging. 

Read More
WHAT WILL BE ON THE BLOG NEXT WEEK? YOU DECIDE!

Next week is a pretty significant week for The Little Plantation Blog (more about that next week of course ;)). To mark the special occasion I wanted to share a recipe on the blog that YOU really want to see. So I am handing over the reins and letting you decide what's next. The choice is between a vegan, gluten-free and grain-free savoury asparagus tart OR a sweet vegan, gluten-free and grain-free rhubarb tart. They are both seasonal, easy to make and utterly delicious.

How it works: Please just leave a comment below telling me which you prefer by FRIDAY, MAY 8TH. Alternatively, you can just 'like' the picture of your preferred recipe on facebooktwitter or instagram and/or comment on those platforms too. If you're really shy, please feel free to e-mail me and tell me which you prefer;). I shall count the votes on Saturday morning and then post the most popular recipe on the blog on Monday, May 11th, 2015. 

The cutest, sweetest and best commentator will also win a little recipe card for a vegan dessert which I've not featured on the blog yet as a little thank you for participating. So, what are you waiting for, get voting. 

Terms and Conditions:
You can vote and comment as manytimes as you like on as many platforms as you wish.
I will draw the winner at random.
Open to everyone anywhere.
Recipe card will be sent via e-mail within a week of the competition closing on the 8th of May.

Please don't take these terms and conditions too seriously. It's all just a bit of fun ;)

Read More
K J Espinel
MUSHROOM SERIES 3: THOUGHTS ON MACROBIOTICS + EASY MISO SOUP WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS (V+, GF, NF)

Meet my new favourite breakfast buddy: this easy Miso Soup with Shiitake mushrooms! I know it might sound weird, but I can promise you, it's weirdly wonderful :).

Actually, let me backtrack a little bit and tell you how I got to swap my fruity porridge for soup...

As those of you who have been reading the blog for some time know, I'm studying to be a nutritional therapist (Yup, Still. In year 2. One more year to go. And in case it's not blatantly obvious: I CAN'T WAIT TO GRADUATE! ;)). As part of my studies we were asked to partake in a diet experiment; we had to live a particular diet and lifestyle for one week and then write a report about our experience. Cool huh? 

By the time I had a chance to look at the options available to us, most of the diets were already taken:(  and I was left with only 4 possibilities: FODMAP, the GI diet, macrobiotic diet and the blood type diet. Sorry, but this was a no brainer for me. As a massive Madonna fan (this is her best album ever and this my favourite tune) I knew full well that Madonna partly attributed her healthy body to her macrobiotic diet and so I HAD to give it a try.

Read More
vegan recipeK J Espinel
MUSHROOM SERIES 2: INTERVIEW WITH RUSSELL JAMES + RAW AVOCADO SOUP AND SOUR CREAM (GF, GRF, P, V+, R)

Though still in the midst of Winter, the sun was shining brightly the day I got to hang out with the most influential Raw Chef in the UK – Russell James and developed this yummy raw avocado soup and sour cream recipe, based on one of Russell's own. Many of you will know Russell from his youtube channel and other may know him from his popular blog The Raw Chef. I was lucky enough to meet him at an uber-cool converted South London warehouse which is his live/work space. It houses not one but two stunning, envy-worthy kitchens; the first kitchen Russell uses to teach his super popular raw food classes, the second one (an electric blue one nonetheless), is his personal kitchen which is as high tech as it is inviting and beautiful. 

Now what do you do when you meet a vegan foodie superstar with more than 190,000 facebook followers? Talk plant-based food of course ;)

Read More
vegan recipeK J Espinel
MUSHROOM SERIES 1: LEMON, POPPY SEED AND CHAGA MUSHROOM COOKIES (V+, NF, CHF, GF)

Let's talk about the elephant in the room, shall well? Mushrooms in these delicious lemon, poppy seed and Chaga mushroom cookies, what's up with that? Before I explain, let me just say:

1. No, I'm not going mad. Not yet anyway ;)
2. These cookies taste AMAZE!
3. Your kids won't know there are mushrooms inside these cookies, I promise. 
4. And YES, it's TOTALLY worth adding in this weird but wonderful Chaga mushroom.

As you may remember I am not a massive fan of the 'superfood' tag. Basically I feel it's so overused. BUT after my encounter with a raw food expert (more about that in this blog post) and a fascinating lecture about medicinal mushrooms (not magic mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms ok?:)), I can honestly say that I am completely sold on them. So much so, that the next 4 recipes I'll post here on the blog (this one included) will contain a different medicinal mushroom.

Read More
vegan recipeK J Espinel