So it looks like my March monthly favourites didn’t materialise at all. Despite all of my enthusiasm about getting my blogging mojo back, I’ve found myself with a different problem – time. March and the first half of April have been a bit of a whirlwind so here’s a round-up of my highlights and vegan foodie finds from both months!
In March I had a wonderful 24 hours away in Liverpool, a weekend in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, and a weekend spent with my mom for Mother’s Day. There were also some great events in Leeds that I can’t wait to share with you all in the very near future – keep an eye out for lots of vegan-friendly beers and cocktails-a-plenty!
Both my trips to Liverpool and to Cambridgeshire lead me to some amazing vegan food, including pizza with vegan cheese at Crust Liverpool, vegan brunch at Leaf in Liverpool, and vegan “fake & chips” at the Dog in a Doublet pub near Peterborough. The last one of these was a great find for somewhere so rural – a country pub with a dedicated vegan menu! You might be wondering what the “fake” part was too; they were battered slices of aubergine and courgette!
I was also excited to see quite a selection of my recipes in print in the new Vegan Food & Living Magazine, including my popular vegan beetroot brownies. The magazine is available in various UK supermarkets as well as online so I’d highly recommend picking up a copy.
April got off to a very busy but very exciting start with the #Jet2Sunchester event in Manchester hosted by Jet2holidays. Any day that involves talking about travel all day is my kind of day. Brightly coloured paper lanterns, striped deckchairs, giant inflatable flamingos and glitter gave the venue such a summery feel and got me craving sunshine (and I say that as someone who rarely thinks about the weather too much when I go on holiday!). The timing couldn’t have been better, however, as a week later I headed out to the Dominican Republic and spent a blissful week by the beach. Much more on that to come soon!
Foodie Finds
As always, the past two months have been full of vegan discoveries and here are some of my faves:
1. Vita Coco Chocolate Coconut Water
More akin to a milkshake than plain coconut water, this new addition to the Vita Coco range is a creamy not-too-sweet treat. It’s fully vegan and comes in both 330ml and 1l cartons. I also discovered, happily, that it is delicious added to coffee to create a coconut mocha!
I only recently heard of T2 teas when I tried their hot cross bun tea at Easter but I’m already in love with their realistic dessert flavours. This creme brulee loose leaf tea is almost good enough to replace dessert all together.
3. Moser Roth Sea Salt Dark Chocolate
This was an “accidentally vegan” discovery in my local Aldi. Sea salt and chocolate is a combination that’s just meant to be. These little bars didn’t last too long but I’m desperate to get my hands on some more to try with my next find…
Silken tofu is becoming a much more accessible ingredient, which is great news as tofu in this form is incredibly versatile for both sweet and savoury creations. I’ve used silken tofu before in this vegan mocha pots de crème recipe and I think the recipe would be wonderful adapted to include melted sea salt chocolate in place of the cocoa powder.
I LOVE a good curry and am always looking to improve my homemade curries. Though I’ve never really used ready-made curry pastes in the past, I was excited to try out these curry mixes from British Indian Curries. They’re exceptionally easy to use (and there are great tutorials on their site to make it even easier) and give very full-flavoured curries without the added oil you get in a shop-bought paste. The chilli is packaged separately allowing you to adjust the spice level too, although I went with full spice each time and enjoyed the good kick these curries have!
Phew – there’s two months of monthly favourites in one! Well done if you’ve made it this far!
Have you tried anything new in March and April?
Some items sent for review. All thoughts, opinions, images, etc. are my own.
