Seitan Sunday: Corned Beef Seitan

Growing up, my cousin Gemma was the closest thing I had to a sister and we used to spend most weekends at each others houses.

When we were at her house, the evenings always used to consisted of a tea of baked beans on toast (I was a fussy eater and that was one of the few things I'd eat) and watching Noel's House Party before heading over to her Grandparent's house, which involved watching Gladiators and Challenge Anneka.

Sometimes as a snack her Grandma used to give us a slice of corned beef (just corned beef, never on a sandwich), and corned beef always reminded me of happy childhood memories.

For my first Seitan Sunday, I decided to make corned beef using this recipe.

I couldn't find any ready ground mustard or cloves, so I ground mustard seeds and whole cloves in a pestle and mortar which took a while. Apart from that, once I'd gathered together all the ingredients it didn't take too long. I did nearly forget to add in the oil, but remembered just as I was shaping it to go in the oven, so I put it back into the mixing bowl, added in the oil, mixed, gave it another quick knead and re-shaped it.  Then it was just a matter of cooking it.

After it was cooked, I took it out of the foil to cool down on the side before popping into the fridge for an hour. Then, once cooled I sliced some up to make a sandwich.

The inside kind of looks like a darker version of the corned beef of my childhood.

I was planning on having a reuben sandwich like the recipe suggests, but I could find any sauerkraut in my local Lidl so I just had it with some vegan mayonnaise.

I don't know if it's because I've only had cheap corned beef, or American corned beef is different to English corned beef, but this didn't taste anything like corned beef. It tasted better- I could really taste the various spices, I was a bit worried as I managed to add double the amount of cloves and red pepper by mistake but it was just the right level of spice for me.

There is still loads left, I'm planning to visit our new Polish supermarket tomorrow and pick me up some sauerkraut for reubens throughout the week.

Northern Vegan Festival

Today was the second Northern Vegan Festival.

Last year, I think the organisers seriously underestimated how much interest there would be- the place was packed out, and if you didn't go early (like us) there wasn't much left.

This year they had learnt from their mistakes and had hired out the Empress Ballroom in Winter Gardens, Blackpool.

I'd arranged to meet with a friend, and fellow vegan blogger, Flash Gordonette and a couple of others and after wandering around a craft market that was being held in the same building we queued up and headed in.

On entry, as some of the first people in we picked up a few freebies- LABL magazines issues 1-4 and a choice of Love Beets juices- Super Tasty Beetroot and Beetroot and Cherry. No one was fond of the beetroot juice, however Flash, who hates wasting food downed three of them in one go, which she regretted afterwards! As for the magazines, they're not my kind of thing, they only have two pages of recipes and only one of the magazines actually has any that I would consider making.

After walking around the entrance area, scoffing any free samples we could get our hands on, we moved into the main ballroom, which was rather impressive and a lot more roomy compared to last year:

First stop was a stall selling vegan cookbooks, I have tons of cook books but not too many vegan ones, so when I spotted Vegan Eats World at a discounted price I grabbed it, however I regretted it later after realising just how heavy it is.  I'm looking forward to having a proper look through and giving some of the recipes a go.

After sussing out the main section, we headed for some lunch in the separate dining area.  I'd heard on the grapevine that The Vegan Grindhouse would be there, so I made a beeline for their stall.

I went for the bacon cheeseburger, with added vegan mayo and BBQ sauce. I'm pretty sure the cheese is Violife, which is one of the few vegan cheeses I actually like. The burger itself had a lovely smokey flavour.

After food, we headed back to the main area to make our final purchases. Lakeside Ethical Treats were there selling Go Max Go bars, I went for their Jokerz bar.

These are suppose to be a vegan version of snickers, and as someone who was a big snickers fan before going vegan I would say that they come pretty close. However at £2 a bar (and it's not like they are anywhere near the size of a Vego bar) it's definitely a one off treat.

Apart from the small pack of Goody Good Sweets I won on a tombola, I didn't actually buy any more food items. However I still came away penniless because I spotted these cute cat earrings at Bough To Beauty, and despite knowing I have a slight reaction to non-sterling silver earrings if I wear them too long I just couldn't resist.

I also won a Vegusto hamper from one of the stalls but they rang me when I was on the train on the way home and I had to collect if from the festival itself and they refused to post it out. That was a bit of a bummer, even if I was only after the No Moo Melty and mushroom burger.

The festival was a lot better this year, however now that they have a bigger venue it would benefit from a couple of more stalls, here's to hoping it continues to grow.

Barcelona Friday- Day 1

I got back from Barcelona on Tuesday after visiting for a long weekend.  I've decided to break down my review into each day. So, here is day one!

We arrived in Barcelona around 11am, and as we only had hand luggage it meant we didn't have to wait around (I love passport control in Spain- so much quicker than the UK!), so we headed straight for the train station at the airport to catch a train to Sants Estacio- which is the main train station in Barcelona and connects to the Metro,  They also have luggage storage (Left Luggage) at the station, which allows you to store your luggage in a secure locker whilst you explore the city.  As we couldn't check into our apartment until 3pm, this was really handy.

After dropping off our luggage, we got on the Metro to take us to the heart of the city, as The Boy had been to Barcelona before I let him act as the guide, and we headed to Catalunya Metro stop.  I had one thing on my mind- and that was ice cream from Gelaati Di Marco.

This ice cream place does various flavours of vegan ice cream as well as fruit sorbets. The lady at the counter pointed all the fruit sorbets and the various flavours of vegan ice cream, which were either soya or rice based. When I visited, they had rice, coconut, licorice, and cinnamon flavours.

 As both a chocolate and cinnamon nut, I obviously went for a scoop of each of those two.

The chocolate ice cream was probably the best chocolate ice cream I have ever tasted, it was so rich and dark. And in my opinion, (vegan) cinnamon ice cream should be more widely available!

After wondering round the city, we headed back to Sants to pick up our stuff and head over to our apartment at Hesperia Fira Suites which was located near the Hospital de Bellvitge metro stop at the end of the red line.  We chose this hotel purely as it was a five star and pretty cheap. Looking back on it, if  when we go back to Barcelona, we would probably go with something more central and pay more attention to good reviews on sites like Trip Advisor etc rather than the star rating. However, the apartment was perfectly OK. 

After checking in, dropping off our stuff and recovering a bit from the heat (it was very melty).  We headed out for tea, which again I had all mapped out!

We headed over to Jaumes I (apparently pronounced James the First) metro stop and after going the wrong way for a bit, we found out destination for tea- CAT BAR!

I'd heard so much about this place and it awesome burgers, and I was really excited about finally getting the chance to go. We walked in and was given a 'menu' and was asked to take a seat.  When I say menu, we got given a piece of paper with the options printed on it and you mark off which burger you want, along with sides etc. and take it to the bar to order. We both went for the black bean burger, with a side of fries/patatas bravas.

The burgers were extremely yummy, and we both agreed the patatas bravas were the best we'd every tasted. They came with a pot of garlic veganaise- I'd forgotten how much I love garlic mayonnaise and I was totally smitten.

Not pictured are our drinks- The Boy went for a lager and I ended up with a white wine. I was disappointed that they didn't sell cider as that is what I would have prefered with a burger- wine and burger don't really go and I hate lager/beer unless it's fruit beer.

After the meal, we went for another wander around the city and picked up some cakes for breakfast before heading back to the apartment.  

C-A-L-F Cafe, Scarborough

I totally didn't have time yesterday to do my Apple Thursday blog post, this is because we were in Scarborough visiting The Boy's twin brother.

I had been aware of C-A-L-F Cafe for quite a while now, when I first heard that we might be visiting at some point I started looking up places on Happy Cow (as you do) and C-A-L-F is the only place listed on Happy Cow in Scarborough.  The 100% vegan cafe helps to fund the C-A-L-F sanctuary, which rescues ex farm animals.

We arrived in Scarborough around lunch time, after over a three hour drive (Scarborough is further away than we thought!) and headed straight to the cafe which is on a fairly central road in Scarborough quite near the sea front.

Whilst researching this place, I found out that the outside of the cafe had been painted to look like a cow, which makes it super easy to spot!

From my experience of other vegan/vegetarian cafes, I was expecting the inside to be a lot plainer, with the school canteen style that seems to be adopted by most places. However, I was totally wrong, and the inside is just as impressive as the outside.  C-A-L-F also has a craft shop and an online stop and all their goodies are displayed around the cafe.

We took a table, which are all labelled up as all the different animals they have rescued, so instead of having to remember a table number when you go up to order, you remember the animal- we went and sat at the cow table.

After browsing their impressive regular menu and weekly specials, we both settled on burgers, I went for the mock chicken burger and fries, whereas The Boy opted for the mexican burger with homemade chips.

My mock chicken burger was super tasty, chicken burgers use to be a favorite when I was an omni and the texture was spot on. The Boy really enjoyed his  burger as well, and for once ate it all at once, like a normal person instead of eating each component separately which is what he usually does. The salad on the burgers included a few red and green grapes, which was novel, but it totally worked.

For some reason I only took a picture of the fries, but we ended up splitting the two types of potato between us, and we both agreed that the homemade fries were the best.

I was planning on having a dessert, and I had my eye on the gingerbread ice cream sundae on the specials menu, but I was far too stuffed after finishing the burger and chips. Instead I decided to get a cake to take away and had my eye on something that looked chocolately on the counter. 

However, when I got there I noticed they were selling handmade rum truffles. something I've loved from being a kid (I remember scoffing a box full of them sat in front of tv!) so I settled on a pack of them instead. I would take a picture, but in my excitement over rum truffles, I forgot that we were planning on walking around scarborough on a warm sunny day, and as a result they all melted! I've shoved them in the fridge to solidify again, but if you want a photo, check out their online shop.

Both myself and The Boy were super impressed by this cafe, however due to lack of business the cafe is only open Thursday-Sunday 12-4, which is such a shame as it funds such a good cause and the food is amazing. If you're ever in Scarborough I highly recommend C-A-L-F cafe. 

Before you go, I want to leave you with a few picture of Peasholm park.  Apart from yesterday I only remember going to Scarborough once on a camping holiday. I was very young and don't remember much, other than it was cold, wet and windy (I have a picture of my Dad in a dashing 80's patterned jumper near the seafront in the middle of summer). Therefore before this trip it wasn't a place I had any desire to visit. However, I have been won over- and my obsession with all things Yorkshire continues!

Wrap Wednesday: Slow Cooker Rice and Black Bean Burrito.

This week's Wrap Wednesday was slow cooker rice and black bean burritos using this recipe.

This is super easy, with no chopping involved and made with store cupboard staples- black beans can be tricky to find but you could easily sub them for kidney beans etc.  I subbed the brown rice for white rice as I was out of brown rice and used some homemade seasoning.

The white rice disintegrated during cooking, however the taste was OK for something that was so easy.

What I ate Tuesday- Plus an announcement

Today's what I ate Tuesday was a bit of a failure as we spent most of the morning and afternoon getting back from Barcelona.  But before I share the photos that I did manage to take, I have an announcement:

I'm engaged!

Enjoying a refreshing beverage on La Rambla, Barcelona

It happened on Friday, on our four year anniversary and the day before going to Barcelona.

So now that's out of the way, here is some of what I ate today.

After a morning croissant that I bought at Veganoteca the day before, I was feeling a bit peckish at Barcelona airport so had a few of these which I also got from there.

They reminded me of BN biscuits and had a lovely chocolate praline centre.

On the plane I had some of the snacks that I brought with me that I mentioned in this post.

The Boy's parents had offered to pick us up from the airport, and when we came back we found some engagement presents waiting for us, including this really cute penguin statue.

I really just picked at stuff until this evening when I made this peanut stew from The Vegan Stoner.

As well as the penguin statue, The Boy's mum had also made us a vegan engagement cake, and despite eating enough cake to last me a fortnight it would have been rude not to have a piece for dessert!

Kitchen Tour: Part 3

The final part of my kitchen tour is about things I've picked up along the way which I love.

On my windowsill is another spice rack (I have one near the cooker, and I also store more spices dotted around my kitchen- one of my kitchen ambitions is to have a spice cupboard!) which The Boy bought me as a birthday present. The thing in the middle, I think is some kind of juicer, it's never been used but I just like it. It belonged to my Dad but I stole it! The pink cookbook stand is a present of The Boy's older brother and his wife after they must have saw me admiring theirs. Please note the spiders web is on the OUTSIDE of the window. We really need a window cleaner!

I love Christmas markets, and every weekend December we go to a different Christmas market in the UK. Two years ago, I decided to start collecting the mugs that you get mulled wine in from the Manchester Christmas markets, so far I have two- the one on the left and the one in the centre. The white one on the right was a Christmas present. I like making my own mulled wine and it's great to have it in a Christmassy mug.

When it isn't the festive season, I like to have my hot beverages in non-festive mugs. At the moment, these are my favorites. The cat one was just a random gift from a friend who saw it and bought it because he knew I'd love it. The Wizard of Oz one (There's No Place Like Home) was  Christmas present and the one on the right is The Boys, he was given it as a present but he doesn't do hot drinks (except the occasional hot chocolate) so I acquired it. When you pour in a hot drink pac man characters appear!

I bought these as a set of six in Ikea in 2009(?). The other two had penguins on them, which broke. Unfortunately Ikea no longer sell them but I love them, I adore elephants and daisies are one of my favourite flowers.

When I first moved out in 2007 the first place I lived was a flat in Chorlton. This Hoegaarden glass had been left by a previous tenant who had got it from a pub that was closing down. When our Landlord decided to sell up and I moved out, I took this with me. We also have a smaller one which is identical but was in use at the time I took this photo. They are huge and heavy, and I love them.

These large wine glasses were an anniversary gift from The Boy. He bought them from MOSI in Manchester and they are beer bottles that have been recycled into wine glass. As the stem is the bottle neck, they can hold quite a large about of wine!



Most of my plates are boring, so I never took picture of where we keep them.  However these small plates (or toast plates as I call them) I love. The Mr Men plates are from Wilkinsons I think, however I don't know how they came into my possession. I'm a huge Friends fan, a different tenant from the flatshare mentioned previously, left this plate, which of course, I took with me!

At my work, we work with a German company on a lot of IT projects and at Christmas they give colleagues they work with a mug as a gift and they alway have different designs each year.  Sadly they have never given me a mug but a work colleague had loads and let me take one. She also gave me two plates that match. They're a fab shape for biscuits and a brew/milk.

Well, this concludes my kitchen tour, I hope you've enjoyed having a nosey around my kitchen.