Stuff I’m Loving – Autumn 2014

The market for tasty, healthy snacks and dairy-free alternatives seems to have exploded this year! Honestly, every time I visit the supermarket the ‘free from’ aisle seems to grow bigger and bigger! I love checking out new products and sharing my favourites with you in these posts. I also love to hear about your new discoveries so please do share them in the comments section below. I’m always on the look out for new things to try!

Here are five yummy goodies that me and the family have been loving lately…

Ombar Organic Coco Mylk Chocolate Bar
Dairy free / Gluten free / Vegan
Individual bars (35g) £1.99
Ombars are no ordinary chocolate bar. They’re made with raw organic cacao which not only gives them rich flavour, but also means that each little bar is packed with antioxidants and minerals. The bars are gently sweetened with organic coconut sugar (perfect for me as my body tolerates cane sugar less and less well these days) and some of the bars, like the Coco Mylk and Strawberries & Cream, also include probiotics (‘friendly bacteria’).

Ombar Coco Mylk

I’ve loved all the flavours I’ve tried so far but my absolute favourite has to be Coco Mylk. With its creamy flavour and melt in your mouth texture, it’s like a high quality milk chocolate, yet its 100% vegan. While the bars might seem pricey for their size, the chocolate is incredibly satiating, so I find that a little goes a long way. Since Coco Mylk is my favourite flavour, you can imagine how delighted I was to find a bar in my latest TVK Box!

TVK11

Ombars are currently available in the UK in independent health food stores and online.

Propercorn Sweet & Salty
Dairy free / Gluten free / Vegan
Individual bags (30g) – 75p, Family bags (90g) – £1.59
Lil’ L and I had never tried sweet and salty popcorn before, so when a packet arrived in our August TVK box, we couldn’t wait to tuck in! We were amazed at how well the flavour combo works, and loved how the brown sugar coating gave the popcorn a light ‘crunch’ as you bit into it.

Propercorn Sweet and Salty 400

Since Lil’ L discovered that Waitrose sells Propercorn, a family size bag seems to magically appear in my shopping basket every week. It’s his favourite treat for movie nights and, since it’s so light, he also likes to stash a bag in his backpack for school trips and biking adventures.

Lil L's Propercorn Snack Stop

Propercorn individual and family bags are currently available in Waitrose; individual bags are available in Tesco.

Nakd Bars
Dairy free / Gluten free / Vegan
Individual bars (35g) 75p; Multipacks (4 x 35g) £2.70
My family are big fans of Nakd bars and I like to keep a stash in backpacks and handbags for snacking on the go. I love how they’re made of 100% natural ingredients (basically raw fruits and nuts squashed together) with no added sugars, syrups or oils. They come in nine flavours and there are three in particular that I absolutely adore – Cocoa Orange, Cocoa Mint and Caffe Mocha. The packaging’s really cool too!

Nakd bars

In the shops, you can buy individual bars and four bar multipacks. Selection boxes are also available from the Nakd website. I love the ‘Find Your Favourite’ box which has one of each bar in the range. It makes a yummy treat for health conscious friends. I recently sent one to a friend that was going travelling as a ‘bon voyage’ gift.

You can get great deals on Nakd bars in the UK supermarkets, so I stock up whenever I spot them on offer. This month, Waitrose are offering two bars for £1 and two multipacks for £4.

Lil' L Nakd Bar Snack Stop

Oatly
Dairy free / Vegan
Oat drink (1 litre) £1.39-1.49; Organic Creamy Oat (250ml) 75p
I’ve only recently discovered the Swedish company Oatly, but they’ve been making oat drinks since the early 90s. In Sweden, Oatly is the number one milk substitute, and they’re rapidly growing in popularity here too. There are currently five Oatly products available in the UK. The Organic ‘milk’ only has three ingredients – oats, water and a little salt. For those that prefer fortified ‘milks’, the one in blue packaging comes fortified with calcium and vitamins D2, riboflavin and B12. There’s also a dairy-free alternative to single cream called ‘Organic Creamy Oat’, which is perfect for drizzling on desserts and can also be used for cooking.

Oatly has recently had a re-brand and the new packaging is really cool!

Oatly range

The Oatly ‘milks’ are available in most major UK supermarkets, and the cream alternative is currently available in Tesco and Waitrose. Since they have such a long shelf life, I like to stock up on the UHT ‘milks’ when they’re on offer. Both Waitrose and Sainsbury’s are currently offering multibuy deals (3 for £3; 2 for £2).

Hoots Snacks
Dairy free / Vegan
Individual bag (38g) £0.60
We first discovered Hoots through the September TVK box, and were delighted to meet the team behind this delicious snack at London VegFest last weekend Hoots sell a range of oven baked snacks made of wholegrains and mixed seeds (all free from added colours, flavours, preservatives and MSG). The pickled onion flavour is lush! For me, it tastes like a healthy version of my favourite childhood junk food – Pickled Onion Monster Munch! Lil’ L loves them too, and has enjoyed taking them to school and on trips as a ‘treat snack’.

Hoots Pickled Onion Snack

They’ve only recently launched in the UK and aren’t widely available, so I’ll update this post once they launch nationwide (Fingers crossed that will be soon!)

Over to you, lovely readers Have you discovered any new yummy plant-based products lately?

 

Rocky Road (Vegan Style!)

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’!

The Vegan Kind #TVK10

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….

Freedom Mallows

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…

Rocky Road Making

…bashing biscuits

Rocky Road Making

…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!

Rocky Road (Vegan Style)

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.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! xx

Coconut Milk Ice Cream & a Fab New Kitchen Gadget

I have always wanted to try my hand at ice cream making, but sadly my freezer drawers are way to narrow to fit an ice cream bowl, and I’m just not organised enough to hand whisk at half hourly intervals. I haven’t got a Vitamix or Blendtec either, which means I can’t use the freeze and blend technique.

However, when my blogging friend Aimee Ryan (who writes the wonderful Wallflower Girl blog) recently launched her recipe book for coconut milk ice creams, I just couldn’t wait any longer. Those scrumptious recipes were calling to me and I needed to find a way to make them asap!

Aimee Ryan Coconut Milk Ice Cream

After trawling the Internet, I found an alternative option available to me – an ice cream maker with in-built compressor. These machines don’t require any pre-freezing of bowls. You simply pour the mixture in and 40 or so minutes later the ice cream is ready. These gadgets are pricier than traditional ice cream makers (which you can pick up for less than £20), but for people with freezer storage issues like me, these machines are perfect.

I especially liked the sound of the Andrew James New Improved 2 Litre Professional Fully Automatic Ice Cream Maker. The reviewers had given it 4.5/5 stars on Amazon and, while a pretty sizable piece of equipment (43cm wide x 28cm deep), I love its sleek style and cool blue LED display. My kitchen colours are red, black and stainless steel, so this gadget goes perfectly. Last Friday I took the plunge and ordered the machine…. and it arrived the following morning.

Andrew James Ice Cream Maker

I’d carefully read through all the reviews, so I knew what I was in for. The main negative was that it was a bit fiddly to slot the bowl, paddle and lid into place. These reviews must be referring to the older model though because the set up on the new improved machine couldn’t be easier. I didn’t even bother consulting the manual as it was obvious how to do it.

The next step was to choose an ice cream flavour. Aimee’s ice cream recipes are divided into five chapters:

Healthy Spins on Famous Flavours – Vanilla, Chocolate, Cashew Cookie Dough Chip, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Brownie, Salted Caramel, Mint Chocolate Chip, Mocha

Fruity Flavours – Coconut, Mango & Passionfruit, Roasted Pineapple, Papaya & Lime, Roasted Plum & Cardamom, Pomegranate, Sweet Melon, Date, Strawberry, Caramelized Banana, Peaches & Cream, Orange, Apricot

Nut & Seed Flavours – Pecan Praline, Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl, Pistachio, Chestnut Caramel, Chocolate Hazelnut, Maple Glazed Walnut, Salted Almonds, Toasted Sesame Seed

Spicy Flavours -Fresh Ginger, Mayan Chocolate, Wasabi, Chinese Five-Spice, Sweet Curry

Aimee Ryan Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Dessert Inspired Flavours – Rhubarb Almond Crumble, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Red Velvet Beetroot Cake, Coffe & Walnut Cake, Christmas Pudding

Boozy Flavours – Pina Colada, Rum & Raisin, Apple Cider, Irish Cream, Roasted Cherry & Whiskey, Mojito, White Wine

Floral Flavours -Blueberry & Lavender, Chamomile & Vanilla, Elderflower & Lemon, Orange Blossom, Rose Raspberry Ripple

Herbal & Tea Flavours – Chai Tea, Lemon Green Tea, Fresh Basil & Mint, Malted Maca Chocolate, Earl Grey

Aimee Ryan Coconut Milk Ice Cream

With all these lush flavours to choose from, we ended up practically filling the entire book with stick it notes! We’ve decided we’re going to work our way through all the recipes (adapting the boozy flavours to make them child friendly) and, to kick off our ice cream making adventure, Lil’ L chose the Chocolate and Salted Caramel flavours 🙂

Following reviewers’ recommendations, I chilled the ice cream maker for 10 minutes before pouring in the chilled ice cream mixture. I didn’t bother using the pouring hole. I just poured the mixture straight into the bucket, slotted it into the machine, screwed on the lid and pressed the button. You can choose different churning times and for our initial trials, I chose 40 minutes. This was pretty much spot on. The ice cream was soft serve consistency and the paddle started to have difficulty rotating.

Making Ice Cream

We could have served it straight away as soft serve, but we decided to freeze it so it could be scooped into cones. Aimee recommends storing the ice cream in a wide, shallow dish so I used my Pyrex lidded glass dish (which I’d previously chilled as my house is so hot at the moment). After three hours we checked on the ice cream, and it was ready for scooping.

All the ice cream recipes in Aimee’s book are dairy free, egg free, gluten free and vegan. Though, at the time of writing, Aimee wasn’t vegan herself, she simply believes that coconut milk makes the best ice cream. The healthiness of her recipes is an added bonus. For the Salted Caramel ice cream, the flavour and colour comes from delicious coconut sugar.  After three hours in the freezer, the consistency of the caramel ice cream was perfect. It was silky smooth and soft enough to scoop right away. And it had the most amazing caramel flavour. I find most commercial ice creams sickly sweet, but Aimee’s got the sweetness levels spot on. It was utterly delicious

Salted Caramel Coconut Milk Ice Cream

The chocolate ice cream uses maple syrup as the sweetener (as do most of Aimee’s recipes) and, in addition to cocoa powder, it has dark choc chips melted into it to add even more chocolatey goodness. As a budget-friendly alternative to pure maple syrup, I use Clark’s Original Maple Syrup, which is a blend of maple and carob syrups.

Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream 500 copy

After freezing for a few hours, the chocolate ice cream was a lot firmer than the caramel one so, as Aimee recommends, we left it on the worktop for ten minutes and I heated my metal scoop in hot water. It then scooped perfectly. The flavour was incredible! It’s by far the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever tasted, and Lil’ L said that it was easily as good as the quality ice cream he’s eaten in Italy. And I couldn’t believe it when ‘M’ enthusiastically tucked in and said how good it was. He isn’t usually an ‘ice cream person’ and tends to decline if you offer it to him. However, these coconut milk ice creams have won him over.

It’s great that Lil’ L’s on his school holidays as he makes a very handy ice cream model 😉 It was pretty hard for him to resist the temptation to lick it…

Salted Caramel Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Five seconds later he caved in 😉

Salted Caramel Coconut Milk Ice Cream

I am so pleased that I finally took the plunge and got an ice cream maker. I know it’s going to get used a lot. It will probably take me the rest of the year to work my way through Aimee’s recipe book. I’m especially looking forward to trying the Christmas Pudding flavour! I’m also looking forward to making fruity sorbets, hopefully using fresh berries from my garden.

Many thanks to Betta Living for providing the ice cream maker for these tasty new recipes Both the Andrew James Ice Cream Maker and Aimee Ryan’s Coconut Milk Ice Cream recipe book are available to purchase from Amazon UK. For our US & Canadian friends, Aimee’s book is also available from Amazon.com.

Do you have an ice cream maker? If so, what’s your favourite recipe? If you’ve posted any vegan recipes online, please do share below.

Lovely readers, I just want to let you know that I’m about to take a little break from blogging & social media. I’ll be back towards the end of August. Have a wonderful summer and I look forward to catching up with you all on my return xx

 

Celebrating my 3 Year Blogiversary with a Yummy Scrummy Giveaway :o)

This week, it’s my blog’s three year anniversary so I think we deserve a little celebration 😉 And what better way to kickstart the celebrations than with a slice or two of my all-time favourite Yummy Scrummy raw chocolate brownie

Not only does it taste utterly scrumptious (the brownie is very aptly named) but it also makes me feel so good!

Yummy Scrummy Raw Chocolate Brownie

No it’s not one of those kinds of brownies! The ‘feel good’ factor comes from the cacao (raw cocoa) which is packed with mood enhancing nutrients, including magnesium, B vitamins, phenylethamine (PEA) (the ‘love’ chemical) and anandamide (the ‘bliss chemical’). For more details on the health properties of cacao, check out this post I wrote back in 2011. This post also included my first ever giveaway, which just so happened to be Yummy Scrummy!

As well as being raw, the Yummy Scrummy bars are free from dairy, gluten, wheat, refined sugar and anything artificial. Instead, they’re gently sweetened with natural fruit extracts (apples, grapes & carob) and filled with wonderful health-enriching ingredients including Ecuadorian Arriba cacao powder, dates, raisins, walnuts, brazil nuts and goji berries. Most of the ingredients are certified organic.

Yummy Scrummy

With all these amazing health and mood boosting nutrients, it’s no wonder that I was hooked after one bite! The combination of ingredients also makes the brownies have a wonderful satiating effect, which means that even a small piece will leave you feeling full up and satisfied. The brownies come in 60g bars, but I tend to slice them in half or thirds so I can savour them over a couple of days.

Yummy Scrummy bars

Over the past few years, I’ve tried other raw chocolate brownies (and made quite a few myself) but Yummy Scrummy is still the best I’ve ever tasted. The bars are lovingly hand made in Wiltshire by Paula Knowlson and I guess it’s her ‘magic touch’ which makes these bars so special

I’ve recently been in touch with Paula & Dan from Elements for Life and they have generously offered four prizes for our giveaway. The first prize winner will receive a whole uncut tray of Yummy Scrummy, and three runners up will win a trio of Yummy Scrummy bars. Yummy Scrummy - Uncut Tray

To be in with a chance of winning, simply fill in the contact form below. Add ‘Yummy Scrummy’ as the subject, then answer the following question…

Where does the vanilla used in Yummy Scrummy come from?

(Hint: the answer can be found on this page of the Elements for Life website).

The giveaway is open to anyone aged 18 or over, living in the European Union.

The closing date is Friday 27th June 2014 at midnight GMT.

Four winners will be selected at random (using Random.org) and notified by email.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!

In addition to Yummy Scrummy, Elements for Life sell a fantastic array of high quality chocolate-making ingredients and super foods. They’ve kindly given me an offer code for my readers. Enter scrummyinmytummy at the checkout to save 10% off any products on their website during June and July 2014.

 

N.B. I received 3 Yummy Scrummy bars to photograph/test but, as always, all opinions are my own.

Stuff I’m Loving – Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Snack Edition

In today’s post, I thought I’d take a break from home cooking and share my latest favourite store-bought snacks. Like most families, we don’t always have the time to create all our food from scratch, so I like to keep a stash of ready-made snacks and treats in the pantry. They come in really handy when we’re heading out for the day or travelling, as well as for serving at impromptu coffee mornings and play dates.

All the goodies I’m featuring have recently been launched, so I’m very excited to be sharing them with you today! In my opinion, they are easily as good (if not better!) than my home-made snacks.  They’re all filled with whole food ingredients, contain no junk, and taste totally scrummy. Oh and they also happen to be both gluten free and dairy free!

9bar Breakfast
I was really excited when I heard that a new range of 9bars were coming out this month, and especially that they were going to be vegan and gluten free! These new bars are designed to be a ‘breakfast on the go’ so perfect for those days when we need to dash out early, or when we’re travelling. I’ve found they also make a great refuelling snack for hikes and bike rides, and after-school snack (Lil’ L and his friends enjoy sharing a bar). They’re packed with nutrition – sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and hemp seeds, nuts, oats, puffed brown rice and soya ‘crispies’ (which give them a lovely crunchy, crispy texture). They come in a range of flavours – Cashew & Cocoa, Apricot & Strawberry, Almond & Raspberry and Peanut & Raisin. They’re all totally scrummy but, if I were pushed to pick a favourite, I would have to say the Cashew & Cocoa. I’m a sucker for anything chocolatey 😉

9Bar Breakfast

Nairn’s Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Biscuit Breaks
I would never have guessed that these choc chips biscuits are gluten-free. They taste just like regular oaty biscuits, well nicer actually… M is the ‘biscuit connoisseur’ of the family and he said he would choose to buy these choc chip biscuits over regular ones! Nairn’s oats are carefully farmed to ensure there’s no cross-contamination with gluten grains, and all their products are made in a gluten free bakery. These yummy biscuits (‘cookies’ to our overseas friends) make a great accompaniment to hot drinks, or as a ‘snack on the go’ (they come in pouches of four, so handy for popping in your bag). I have a number of friends that are coeliac or gluten-intolerant, so I’m going to keep a stash of these biscuits in the pantry ready for coffee mornings. They don’t contain dairy either, so perfect for vegans and the dairy intolerant (that’s me!)

Nairns Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Biscuit Breaks 400

Landgarten Organic Dark Chocolate Soya Snack
The Vegan Kind April Subscription Box arrived the day before our trip to Lanzarote and when I spotted the chocolate-covered roasted soya beans, I knew they’d make the perfect snack for the journey. As soon as I found my seat on the plane, I ripped open the packet and started tucking in. The packet is a pretty substantial size, but I was so absorbed in my holiday read (Chris Hadfield’s An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth) that, before I knew it, I’d scoffed the lot! I’m a bit of a fan of the Landgarten goodies. I featured their chocolate-covered pumpkin seeds in my January ‘Stuff I’m Loving’ post. I think I love the soya nuts even more!

Landgarten Dark Chocolate Soya Snack

Pudology Puddings
I very rarely buy shop-bought desserts as they tend to contain dairy, however as soon as I heard about the new range of Pudology indulgent desserts that are both dairy and gluten-free, I couldn’t wait to try them! They come in a range of flavours and, so far, we’ve tried three – Chocolate (chocolate ganache with Madagascan vanilla), Chocolate Orange (chocolate & orange ganache with Brazilian orange oil) and Banoffee (layers of biscuit, toffee, banana & chocolate). Oh my word they are good! Lil’ L described them as a “luxurious treat” which sums them up perfectly. These desserts make a wonderful weekend treat. They’re also perfect for treating your dairy or gluten intolerant loved ones

Pudology Puds

Rebel Kitchen Choco Mylk
This is another goodie that Lil’ L and I were thrilled to find in the The Vegan Kind April Subscription Box. We love chocolate milk, but find that the shop-bought brands tend to contain dairy or are too sugary for us. The Rebel Kitchen Choco Mylk is 100% spot on! It has a beautiful, rich chocolatey flavour and is definitely sweet enough to suit children’s palates. However, unlike other chocolate milks, this one is full of goodness and contains no nasties. It’s made with just four ingredients – water, coconut milk (11%), date nectar and cacao (2%). And what cool packaging too! I can’t wait to try out the other Rebel Kitchen mylks (they even have an adult range!)

Rebel Kitchen Choco Mylk copy

Have you discovered any tasty dairy- & gluten-free snacks lately? If so, please do share details below. I’m always on the look out for new products to try! 😀

 

N.B. This review contains samples that I was sent to try but, as always, all opinions expressed are my own. In my reviews, I only feature products that are ‘hits’ with my family and that I think would appeal to my readers ♥

Fresh Vegan Magazine & Day Radley’s Banana Notella Pancakes (Vegan and Gluten-Free!)

Fresh Vegan is a digital food magazine for the UK and Europe. Launched in Winter 2013, the magazine will appeal to anyone interested in plant-based eating, whether they be omnivores, vegetarians, vegans or the health conscious.

Fresh Vegan Spring 2014 Magazine Cover 300

The magazine’s 100+ pages are jam-packed with features, interviews and recipes from chefs, restaurant owners, street food vendors, food writers, authors, bloggers and food producers from all over the UK and Europe.

Oz from Sultan's Delight at Street Diner
Here’s the lovely Oz from Sultan’s Delight in Brighton (one of the contributors in the Spring issue)

The magazine also has great features on where to eat, sleep and shop for vegan goodies in locations around Europe and the UK. In the Spring issue, the spotlight was on beautiful Cornwall, Prague and Germany.

Prague
LoVeg vegan restaurant in the stunning old city of Prague

Alongside the features, the contributors share one or more of their favourite recipes. One recipe in the Spring issue that caught my eye was Day Radley’s Banana Notella Pancakes, which happen to be both vegan and gluten-free! I’ve had success with gluten-free American-style pancakes before (my favourite is this Blackstrap Ginger Cookie Pancake), but I’ve never tried a crêpe-style (ie. folding) gluten-free pancake before. Since Lil’ L is such a ‘pancake monster’, I knew this would be a great recipe to share with the family.

The pancake was filled with home-made vegan nutella. While I’ve made lots of versions of dairy-free nutella in the past (using both raw and roasted nuts), I’d never made one the same way at Day. I was intrigued to give it a try!

Healthy Vegan Nutella

And the verdict? Both the pancakes and the ‘notella’ were a big hit with the family! The banana pancake had a nice texture and flavour, and while much thicker than a classic crêpe, I was still able to fold it. I trialled the pancakes using Doves gluten-free plain white and brown bread flours, and both worked.

Vegan & Gluten Free Banana Nutella Pancake

The ‘notella’ was really yummy! Day recommends using a blender but I knew my blender wouldn’t be up to the job, so I used the food processor instead. I did need to add more water to achieve a smooth, spreadable consistency and I also added some vanilla extract, but that was just down to personal taste.

The ‘notella’ is also scrumptious served on warm toast

Here’s Day’s lovely recipes (with my notes and ‘tweaks’ in brackets)

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Day Radley’s ‘Notella’ (Vegan / Dairy-Free / Cane Sugar-Free / Gluten-Free)

Ingredients (for 8 pancakes) (makes about 1 cup)
150g / 1 cup hazelnuts
4 tablespoons agave syrup
4 tablespoons coconut oil (I liquefied mine before adding it)
2 tablespoons water (I needed 2-3 TBSP extra to achieve a smooth, spreadable consistency)
2 tablespoons cocoa or raw cacao (powder)
(I also added ½ tsp vanilla extract)

Method
Preheat the oven to 200c. Put the nuts on a pan and toast in the oven until the skins come off easily. Take out and leave to cool until you can handle them. Rub them between your hands roughly, this will remove the skin. (I roasted my nuts at 180C in my fan oven for 12 minutes until golden brown, then transferred them onto a plate and left them to cool down).

Put the nuts in a blender with the syrup, oil and water (I used my food processor). Blend until this is a smooth paste. (This will take a few minutes. Stop now and then to scrape down the bowl). Add the cocoa and blend again. (I then added extra water, one tablespoon at a time until I reached the desired consistency. After taste testing, I also added ½ tsp vanilla extract and blended it in).

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Day Radley’s Banana Pancakes (Vegan / Gluten-Free)

Ingredients (for one large pancake)
1 large banana (I recommend using a very ripe banana)
1/4 cup (45g) gluten free white bread flour (both Doves gluten-free plain white and brown bread flours worked for me)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons almond milk (I had to add another tablespoon to achieve a pourable batter).

Method
Cut 4 slices off the banana, these will be put inside the pancake. Put the rest of the banana into a jug with the flour, baking powder and milk. Blend with an immersion/hand blender until smooth.

Warm up a non-stick pan on the hob. Once hot, pour the pancake batter into the centre of the pan (and swirl to thin out). Flip once it is cooked on the bottom. To assemble, put the pancake on a plate, spread Notella in the centre, add the banana slices and fold up the pancake. Dust with cocoa if you want to be fancy. (I used cinnamon!)

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Healthy Vegan Nutella

SPECIAL OFFER: Fresh Vegan is offering Bit of the Good Stuff readers the chance to download the Spring 2014 issue in PDF format for just £1.95 (usual price £3.95). Click here to purchase. Offers end Sunday 25th May 2014.

And keep a look out for the Summer issue of Fresh Vegan. You must just spot a familiar face in there 😉

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! xx