In today’s post, I’m delighted to share with you a new book that’s dedicated to one of my favourite foods of all time… HUMMUS! This stylish book, humorously title ‘Hummus Where The Heart Is’is the latest publication by cooking teacher and cookbook author, Dunja Gulin. It features over 50 vegan-friendly recipes, each one accompanied by a stunning photograph taken by London-based food & lifestyle photographer, Mowie Kay.
If you thought hummus was a bit dull and bland-looking, this book will completely change your perception. The pages are filled with a riot of colours, from the vibrant oranges of spicy lentil hummus, fresh greens of pea and basil hummus, through to the rich browns of cacao and rum hummus… yes there is even chocolate hummus in this book!
YES, my book is about to launch! I can’t quite believe it myself but after five years work, the book is finished and will officially launchonNovember 9th.
I’ve been itching with excitement to do the cover reveal.
And here it is…
My friend designed the book and I love her choice of colours for the front and back covers. It’s really eye-catching, don’t you think?
Rome has to be the most vegan-friendly city I’ve visited so far. Today, I thought I’d share our top tips on how to find vegan eateries in the city and our recommendations on places to eat
Before we headed to Rome, I did some research online. I checked out the reviews on HappyCow.net and TripAdvisor, as well as asking my lovely readers for recommendations on my Facebook page.
I also found this really useful website called Vegan Quo Vadis? which has a Google map with all the vegan-friendly eateries pinned on it, including cafes, restaurants, delis and gelaterias. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw all those pins. There are literally hundreds of them!
Of all my kitchen gadgets, hands down it is the blender that gets most use. At least once a day I use it for blending smoothies or soups, as well as for grinding oats, nuts, seeds, making ice cream, chia puddings and much more besides.
Until now, I’ve always used mid-range blenders but, since the beginning of this year, I’ve become increasingly disillusioned with them. I don’t know if it’s just bad luck, but I’m finding that after about a year of use (usually just as the warranty expires), either the motor burns out or the jug starts leaking. I need a blender that’s powerful, reliable and going to last a good few years. After all, it’s not great for the environment (or my bank balance) if I’m having to buy a new blender every year.
When the jug on my latest blender started leaking a couple of months ago, I seriously started to wonder whether it would be worth taking the leap and investing in a high-end professional blender. I started to look around at options and was excited to discover that the Australian company Froothie had just launched in the UK.
I’d heard great things about Froothie, and their Optimum 9400 blender has been pitched as the number one rival to Vitamix. While it has a similar spec to the Vitamix 500 series (even slightly better!), with a price tag of £399, it’s over £200 cheaper. Though double or triple what I’ve spent on blenders in the past, if the Froothie lasts even a few years, then it would actually be saving me money in the long run.
As well as looking for reliability and longevity, I also had a few niggles regarding the performance of my mid-range blenders which would hopefully be resolved with a professional high-end blender.
I was recently in touch with the Managing Director of Froothie UK & Ireland and he kindly arranged for an Optimum 9400 to be sent to me so I could check it out for myself. For the past month, I’ve been using the Froothie and comparing it with my existing blender. It’s now really obvious to me what you get for the additional investment. Here’s a lowdown on the main differences I’ve found…
Power My mid-range blender is described as having “an incredibly powerful 1,200W motor”. With a 2,238W motor, the Froothie has almost double the power. In fact, it is so powerful, that it can blend stones! You can imagine how Lil’ L’s eyes lit up when I told him this. He was dying to try it out but since I didn’t fancy filling my Froothie with stones, he had to be satisfied with watching the video demo instead.
“The Optimum 9400 has an extraordinary 3 Horse Power motor able to easily withstand the toughest ingredients and outlast most other domestic blenders”
Noise With my mid-range blenders, I’ve found that more power = more noise. My existing blender is so noisy that it makes my ears ring. The Froothie is noticeably much quieter.
The Blade All my mid-range blenders have had a four prong blade which, in my experience, hasn’t been wide enough. Food gets stuck around the sides of the jug and I have to keep stopping to scrape down. The blades also tend to sit too high from the base of the jug, which means that unblended food gets stuck under the blade. Compare this to the Froothie blades which are so wide that they almost touch the sides.
The Froothie also has two extra blades positioned underneath the four blades, which means that nothing escapes the blend. Never again will I finish the pouring of my smoothies with a ‘plop’ as rogue pieces of banana land in the glass.
Speed I’m not sure of the speed of my existing blender, but I know it’s not fast enough to blend cashews into a smooth cream. I can never get beyond a ‘gritty’ texture, which isn’t nice for frosting or ‘cheesecakes’. The Froothie has a speed of 44,000 RPM, which is even faster than the Vitamix. There’ll be no gritty creams in this kitchen from now on.
Tamper Tool My mid-range blenders have never come with a tamper tool, which means that I can’t add large amounts of light ingredients like spinach, nor can I fill them with frozen ingredients, as the blade just whizzes round and never touches them. I’ve used the Froothie tamper tool so much this past month that I can’t imagine going back to a blender without one. In the Froothie, soft whip ice cream and frosted smoothies are blended in a flash.
Heating and Freezing Incredibly, the Froothie has the ability to heat soups and freeze ice cream. My mid-range blender doesn’t have these magical powers.
Reliability As I mentioned at the top of this post, I’ve wasted a lot of money on blenders that have lasted little over 12 months. My latest blender lasted even less time. It started leaking from the base of the jug within 10 months. It was still under warranty so I got the jug replaced. I’ve only been using it for a few months, and the new jug has already started leaking. Though I’ve only used the Froothie for a month, I have confidence that it’s going to last years. It’s a commercial grade blender that’s used by juice bars and cafes to churn out hundreds of smoothies each day. Though I’m classed as a ‘heavy domestic user’, I’m sure it’s going to cope with my 1-2 times daily usage.
“While ordinary blenders have a fan motor that runs at maximum power at all times, leading to rapid motor burn out, the Optimum 9400 uses a proprietary carbon brush motor optimised to only use the power demanded – so you get a motor life of decades rather than months.”
Here are a few of the extras that have given me further reassurance…
One Month Trial – Froothie offers a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee (including postage). No questions asked.
5 Year Warranty – This comes as standard but can be extended to ten years (for a fee), or an additional two years for free (see end of post for details).
Support – An expert team is available by phone, Monday to Saturday, 9am – 7pm, with plans to extend the opening hours to 7 days a week, 6am-5pm.
I am so impressed with the Froothie – the design, the quality of the build, the power, the speed, the customer service. When they invited me to become one of their Ambassadors, I was happy to jump on board. I’m very careful about the companies I promote on my blog (hence why there are so few adverts) but I’m proud to display my association with Froothie. Any funds that I receive through commissions will be invested directly back into Bit of the Good Stuff.
If you’d like to find out more about the Froothie Optimum 9400, and watch it in action, check out the video below. They even show a fork lift truck driving over the jug and it still doesn’t crack!
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More Bit of the Good Stuff Blender Reviews and Offers….
Sorry I haven’t been around much these past few weeks, but I’ve been hanging out with Lil’ L. He’s growing up fast, and since this could be the last summer that he actually wants to hang out with me, I’ve been savouring every moment. We’ve had so much fun! This week’s highlights (so far) have been hiking, biking, playing tennis, picnicking in the park, a trip to the cinema (How To Train Your Dragon 2) and playing in the kitchen 🙂
Last weekend we got back from our vacation and there was a postal delivery card waiting for us. First thing Monday morning, we hopped on our bikes and pedalled down to the post office. I jumped with glee when I saw that the mystery parcel was the latest The Vegan Kind Subscription Box. I couldn’t wait to do the big ‘reveal’!
As usual, the box was filled with interesting brands and products that I’m excited to try out. Lil’ L’s eyes especially lit up when he saw these….
While regular marshmallows are made with gelatine (a slaughterhouse byproduct), Freedom Mallows are gelatine free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free and nut free, and thus suitable for vegetarians and vegans, as well as people with gluten, dairy and nut allergies/intolerances.
And it’s incredible how similar they are to regular marshmallows, both in taste and texture. My mum loves marshmallows and even she can’t tell the difference.
Over the winter, Lil’ L enjoyed slicing and sprinkling vanilla mallows onto his hot chocolates. This time round, we thought it would be fun to make some Rocky Road. While I stood by, Lil’ L set to work melting chocolate and coconut oil…
…bashing biscuits
…then adding mallows and mixing it altogether. Since our mallows were strawberry flavoured, we thought it would be nice to finish off our Rocky Road with a sprinkling of freeze-dried strawberries (which we had left over from these Chocolate Crunch Hearts).
After a couple of hours in the freezer, the Rocky Road was ready to slice and sample. It got a huge thumbs up from Lil’ L!
So far this week, he’s enjoyed it as a treat snack at the cinema and the tennis courts. While it’s a little too sweet for me, Lil’ L reckons it’ll be a hit with kids or anyone with a sweet tooth. It would be great for sharing at children’s tea parties or selling at charity or school fundraisers. It would also make a lovely home-made gift for sweet-loving veggie friends, wrapped in a special box or tin ♥
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Rocky Road… Vegan Style!
Got a sweet tooth? Then this treat is for you! It’s easy and fun to prepare. It makes a great rainy day activity for veggie kids, young and old alike!
Makes about 12 pieces
Hands-on time: 15 minutes Ready in: 2 hrs 15 minutes
Ingredients
200g / 7oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
2 TBSP virgin coconut oil, plus extra for greasing
200g / 7 oz Digestive biscuits (or Rich Tea, Oreos or gluten free cookies)
75g / 2½ oz veggie marshmallows (e.g. Freedom Mallows)
Icing sugar, for dusting
Method
Grease and line a freezer-safe container about 12cm x 22cm (5 inches x 8½ inches) with baking paper. (I used a large loaf pan, but you could use a plastic, silicone or foil container).
Add a small amount of water to a saucepan and place a heat-proof bowl on top. Break the chocolate into chunks, place it in the bowl along with the coconut oil and gently heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate has fully melted.
Meanwhile, place the biscuits (cookies) in a freezer bag. Press out the air and tie the bag shut. Bash with a rolling pin until you have a mixture of crumbs and small pieces.
If your mallows are large, slice them into halves or thirds.
When the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat and stir in the biscuits and mallows. Tip into the prepared pan and press down hard with the back of a spoon to remove air pockets.
Place in the freezer for about 2 hours, until solid. Using a sharp knife, slice into rectangles about 4 cm (1½ inches) in size. Add a light dusting of icing sugar for decoration.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer, where it will keep for weeks.
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In the UK, Freedom Mallows are available from Holland & Barrett, independent health food shops (including Harvest in Bath) and online.
