RAW VEGAN COOKIE DOUGH + BERRY BARS (V+, CHF, GF, P, R, GRF)
Warning: This is yet another long post about food blogging. (Sorry I know I sound like a broken record). If foodie talk is not what you came for, just scroll down to the end of this blog post and you'll find the recipe for easy and delicious Raw Vegan Cookie Dough + Berry Bars. No offence taken.
Gosh so what am I on about this time? Well, to answer that question I need to take you back a few weeks to late June . It was the My New Roots Cookbook Supper Club, which I attended with two friends, one of whom knows me really well. Seeing this was a supper club hosted by gorgeous plant-based blogger Sarah Britton, it was impossible to escape food blogging talk. So when I was asked about my blog I mentioned nonchalantly that it was a lovely, pleasant hobby of mine, but certainly nothing else. My friend interrupted, looked me straight in the eye and said: 'But Kimberly, The Little Plantation means soooo much more to you than that.'
What? What was she talking about? I just shrugged it off at the time and thought nothing more of it.
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VEGAN CEVICHE (V+, R, GF, GRF, NF, P)
Hi everyone! If you are here for the raw, easy and fresh vegan Ceviche recipe, please scroll down to the end of the blog post. You'll find the yummy recipe there. If you're happy to read me rambling on about coming home from my summer holiday, please read on and get to the recipe later.
After 6 long weeks 'on the road' and a rather bumpy, arduous and exhausting 20-odd hour trip door-to-door, we're home. Though it hasn't quite sunken in yet, I must confess. You see, I still keep getting confused about what time of the day it is and what day of the week it is. I am getting all muddled language-wise and speaking more Spanglish than ever. And when I wake up in the morning it takes me a second or two to remember where on earth I actually am.
But that will all pass, I know, as will this mix of emotions I am currently experiencing (saying goodbye is horrible, but coming home is the most amazing feeling ever). Well, it's got to pass presto because I'm going back to work tomorrow and the little one is returning to school on Wednesday :(. So I just have to get on with it, right?!
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SIMPLE VEGAN BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE (V+, V, GF, CHF, NF)
WARNING: This is a long post mainly about food blogging, food styling and food photography whilst abroad. If that's not what you came for, feel free to scroll down to the fresh, yummy and sunny vegan blackberry crumble recipe. I won't be offended ;).
As those of you who read the blog regularly know, I'm on a 6-week adventure this summer. My first stop gap was the beautiful island of Curaçao where I stayed for a week. Thereafter, my son and I continued our journey and headed to our second destination for the summer: Ecuador. Our first week was spend in Quito, the capital city where we stayed with numerous relatives and friends. It was a joy seeing my son run riot with his cousins, but I was starting to miss my time in the kitchen and the creative process of blogging.
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SUPER VITAMIN C JUICE (R, V+, P, GF, CHF, GRF, NF)
Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a little while since I posted a recipe, but I hope you like this fresh and easy Super Vitamin C Juice, inspired by my holiday. As you know I like to post bi-weekly, but the last few weeks I've been away from home meaning it's been rather complicated to access the internet or a kitchen for that matter. I'm glad to report though, that I may have found a way around this problem. For now. More about that soon...
Firstly, I wanted to tell you a teeny tiny bit about my week on the island of Curaçao or Curadise as I like to call it. If you've been following me on instagram, you know I enjoyed lots of gorgeous and fresh juices whilst I was there. Honestly, I can tell you that they were all as tasty and refreshing as they looked!
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VEGAN MANGO AND COCONUT FLOAT (V+, P, GF, GRF, NF, CHF)
Hi everyone! If you're here for the light, refreshing and fun vegan mango coconut float recipe, please scroll down to the end of the blog post. You'll find the yummy recipe there. If you're happy to read me going on about my holiday and my family, please read on and get to the recipe later.
As you read this post I'm either at the airport, perhaps I'm even on a plane high up in the sky or maybe I've already landed in my first destination. Either way, I won't be in London. In fact I won't be in London for the next 6 weeks (eek!). Needless to say I'm excited and not just because it's a holiday and a nice long one too. Nope, it's more than that. Actually it's really all about my son. He's just finished his first year in school and with me being so busy over the last 12 months, we've not seen each other as much as we did before he was in full-time education. So, I though it was worth making the most of the school holidays and spending the entire time together.
During the first week of our journey, we will be on the gorgeous island of Curaçao which forms part of the Dutch Antilles. Curaçao has the most beautiful beaches I know and it's also the place my mother is originally from meaning that part of my roots as well as my son's roots are from this stunning little country too.
When I was a child growing up in the Netherlands and subsequently Germany, my mother really wanted me to know where my ancestors came from and so we often visited Curaçao, probably about once a year or once every other year. I have so many fond memories of time spent there and the frequent trips across the Atlantic meant that I got to know and love my heritage and culture tremendously.
I very much want my son to know where his ancestry comes from too. I want him to feel the soil of Curaçao under his bare feet and breath in that incredible, fresh island air. So off we go to spend 1 amazing week with some of my favourite cousins and their children, to live island life to the full and visit as many beaches as we can in the space of 7 days. After that we set off again, but more about that another day ;)
What will this mean for the blog? The honest answer is I don't know. I do know that I should have prepared my bi-weekly blog posts well in advance and have them all nicely lined up for you. But the truth is, I don't because I didn't have a minute's time to do anything other than run around like a headless chicken (sorry, not the best metaphor for a plant-based food blog) putting everything in place to make this trip possible.
However, I am taking my camera and phone with me and hope I will have the opportunity to cook some food, take some photos and share some awesome recipes with you all over the coming weeks. But, I'm not going to stress about it too much cuz what will be will be.
Now, I may not be able to cook as much as I normally do and might not have any recipes to share on the blog as a consequence, but I am really hopeful that I can still share some of the plant-based foods I eat on my instagram gallery and facebook page and I would love it if you joined me for the ride.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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?
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