Old Fashioned English Tea Loaf (Dairy-Free / Egg-Free / Fat-Free)

* This recipe was originally posted in March 2014. The page was updated in August 2019.

It might be old-fashioned, but tea loaf rocks! It’s perfect for serving for ‘elevenses’ or as a mid-afternoon ‘pick me up’ with a lovely cup of tea. It also makes a tasty after-school or travel snack. This is one of my all-time favourite treats for road trips!

Continue reading “Old Fashioned English Tea Loaf (Dairy-Free / Egg-Free / Fat-Free)”

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Cups

In this month’s Vegan Life magazine, one recipe that instantly caught my eye was Niomi Smart’s Banana Mocha Ice Cream Cups.

I love chocolate banana ice cream!  It’s so simple and cheap to make (costing literally a few pence per serving), yet it feels like a real treat. It also happens to be packed full of healthy ingredients, including an array of minerals and antioxidant goodness.

Healthy, decadent, cheap and quick. No surprises why this is one of my favourite desserts to make!

I’ve been making banana ice cream for a few years now, and have learnt a few tricks along the way to make the process even quicker and easier. For example, I used to slice the bananas and arrange them in single layers in freezer bags prior to freezing, however I’ve since discovered that bananas can be sliced from frozen using a sharp knife. These days, I simply pop whole bananas in the freezer stacked in plastic containers with a layer of parchment paper in between to stop them sticking together.

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Smoky Yellow Split Pea Soup

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful break over the festive holidays. I spent a magical five days with my mum and her three dogs in Verwood, Dorset. It was so relaxing, which was just what I needed after a busy year finishing the cookbook.

We went for daily walks in Verwood Forest, had a glorious day on Bournemouth beach, and spent our evenings watching films and munching our way through all the Christmas goodies. As you may have seen on my social media channels, I was totally spoilt by family and friends this Christmas and received lots of beautiful boxes of vegan chocolates. Needless to say, most are empty now.

And after all the excesses of the festive season, this month I’m looking forward to getting back to my favourite way of eating – simple meals filled with natural ingredients and packed full of flavour and nutrients.

To kickstart my recipe shares for January, I have one of my family’s favourite winter-warming dishes – Smoky Yellow Split Pea Soup ❤️

Not only is this soup easy to make, but it’s incredibly cheap too. A 500g bag of Suma yellow split peas costs £1.15 and we only use half a bag in this recipe. Add in the remaining ingredients and this soup costs about £2.25, which works out at 56p per portion. Bargain!

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Chocolate Waffles with Crushed Nuts and Raspberries. Dairy free. Egg free. Vegan.

When it comes to weekend treat breakfasts, waffles are a firm family favourite. They are so easy to make and take very little time to prepare. We love experimenting with different ingredients and flavour combinations. I’ve already posted recipes for our Easy Vegan Waffles and Gingerbread Waffles and today, we’re sharing the recipe for our quick and easy Chocolate Waffles.

Chocolate Waffles with Crushed Nuts and Raspberries

These waffles have a decadent dark chocolate flavour, which works in perfect harmony with the nutty, berry toppings. Continue reading “Chocolate Waffles with Crushed Nuts and Raspberries. Dairy free. Egg free. Vegan.”

Indian-Spiced Cauliflower Rice and Vegan Life Issue 9

Vegan Life Issue 9 Cover collage

It’s been just over a year now since Vegan Life launched here in the UK and, for me, this magazine just gets better and better. I love the variety of features it covers. This month, I especially enjoyed the interviews with Born Free president Bill Travers OBE, who explained the reasons why he has recently gone vegan,

Born Free Collage

and the interview with Earthlings director Shaun Monson. After reading the article I checked out the trailer for his new film Unity. It looks awesome! Has anyone seen it yet? Continue reading “Indian-Spiced Cauliflower Rice and Vegan Life Issue 9”

Vegan Gingerbread Waffles

The waffle obsession continues! And for this month’s Suma Blogger’s Network entry, I thought I’d share another one of our favourite vegan waffle recipes. Filled with the warming spices of cinnamon, ginger and Blackstrap molasses, these waffles are perfect for this time of year  

Suma-Bloggers-Network-Logo 300

I wrote about the amazing nutritional profile of Blackstrap molasses in this Gingerbread Cookie post. With just one tablespoon containing 3.6 mg of iron (more iron than 1/2 cup of cooked lentils, beans or spinach), it’s easily one of my favourite ways to boost iron levels.

The recipe is largely an amalgamation of our favourite gingerbread and banana pancake recipes, with a slight reduction of the liquid to make a sturdier batter. Banana acts as a great binder for the waffles and adds a touch of extra sweetness.

Gingerbread Waffles

I’ve really enjoyed reading about your favourite waffle toppings under last week’s Easy Vegan Waffle Post. As I would have expected, maple syrup came out on top. Nuts, banana and chocolate were very popular too, and I’m totally with you on those. One of my favourite lazy Sunday breakfast/brunches is these Gingerbread waffles, served with banana slices, chopped walnuts and pecans, and a big drizzle of chocolate sauce.

Gingerbread Waffles with Chocolate Sauce

Sometimes I make the chocolate sauce myself, other times I simply grab a bottle of Sweet Freedom Choc Shot. Have you tried Choc Shot before? As well as tasting yummy, I love the fact that it contains all natural ingredients, is free from cane sugar and has a low glycaemic load (GL). Can you see how shiny it is too? It’s got the most awesome sheen!

And if I’m going all out, I’ll also top them with a sprinkling of desiccated coconut.

Pure. Waffle. Heaven

Gingerbread Waffles with Chocolate Sauce

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Makes around 10-12 waffles
Hands on time: 20 minutes Ready in: 20 minutes

Waffle Batter
1 ripe banana, sliced (or ¾ cup frozen banana slices)
180ml / 6 fl oz / ¾ cup soya milk
140g / 5 oz / 1 cup wholemeal (wholewheat) or chapatti flour (or GF flour mix e.g. Doves Gluten-Free Brown Bread Flour or Doves Gluten-Free Plain White Flour)
50g / 1¾ oz / ½ cup rolled oats (use certified GF, if needed)
2 TBSP Blackstrap molasses
1 TBSP maple syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

1 tsp oil or coconut butter, for greasing

Suggestion toppings
Banana slices
Chopped walnuts and pecans
Chocolate sauce
Desiccated Coconut

Method
Place the milk and banana in a high speed blender and blend until smooth (alternatively you can use a bowl and hand blender). Add all the remaining batter ingredients and blend to combine. The batter should be thick, but pourable. (If you’re using GF flour, you will need up to 4 tablespoons of extra liquid). Pour the batter into a bowl and leave to rest for a few minutes (this can happen while the waffle maker heats up).

When the waffle maker is hot, brush with oil or coconut butter using a silicone brush. Add the appropriate amount of batter according to your waffle maker’s instructions. (I have a VonShef Quad Waffle Maker and drop two tablespoons of batter into each of the four waffle quads). Close the lid and leave to cook for 3 minutes before checking (with my waffle maker, I leave the waffles until the green light goes out). If the waffles are golden brown, they are ready. Transfer them to a wire cooling rack while you prepare the remaining waffles.

Serve warm with your favourite toppings.

Any leftover waffles can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or frozen for weeks. Heat them through in the toaster before serving.

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Products used in this recipe
Doves Farms Gluten Free Brown Bread Flour  or Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain White Flour
Meridian Organic Blackstrap Molasses
Sweet Freedom Choc Shot

And now for my favourite part of the photo shoot. Tucking in time! 😛

Gingerbread Waffles with Chocolate Sauce