Introducing the Vegetarian Society Approved vegan trademark and free Just V show tickets!

Last month I was invited down to the Vegetarian Society Cookery School in Altrincham to celebrate the launch of the brand new Vegetarian Society Approved vegan trademark, this is the Vegetarian Society’s second trademark, which will complement their highly successful vegetarian one that currently certifies over 15,000 products.

Along with a small group of foodie bloggers, I was given a fabulous introduction into the world of vegan cookery in the form of the vegan toolkit workshop. 

As a special treat for my readers, I also have news about how you can get completely free tickets to the Just V show in London this weekend, read down to the bottom for full details!


This new Vegetarian Society Approved vegan trademark offers the assurance of strict checks to ensure products’ vegan credentials making sure they are free from:

• animal-derived ingredients,
• cross-contamination during production,
• GMOs,
• animal testing either directly or via commissioned processes.

As well as food products, the new trademark will soon be seen appearing on cruelty-free cosmetics, beauty products and even vegan cafes and restaurants such as The Retreat Kitchen in Richmond.will carry it across their homemade range.

I've found the original Vegetarian Society Approved trademark extremely useful over the years when shopping for packaged produce and I will be looking out for the new trademark appearing in shops, especially to provide reassurance and clarity on cosmetic and skincare products.

I've been a vegetarian for over twenty years and despite a brief dalliance with veganism during my university years, I've always had some reservations about cooking meals without dairy, being a rather fussy eater anyway, I was worried it would significantly limit my options.

However, I am always open to trying new things and I am very glad that I did. During the day I learned some great tips and tricks, from how to make perfect vegan meringues and eggless mayonnaise to great recipes for vegan pesto, cashew cream, how to best prepare tofu and  I even discovered entirely new foods to me such as Jamaican Ackee and breadfruit.

Photo courtesy of the Vegetarian Society

Our day was led by Alex Connell, the friendly, funny and passionate principal tutor of the Vegetarian Society Cookery School. Under his expert tuition, I was delighted to discover that vegan cookery is nothing to be scared of. In fact, I have come away with so much inspiration that I am introducing a vegan day at least once a week in our house and so far the whole family has happily embraced it!

Photo courtesy of the Vegetarian Society

After learning some basic skills in the morning, such as pureeing garlic, chopping onion and celery, as well as making pasta, pesto and mayonnaise, we each chose a recipe to follow to contribute to a wonderful vegan feast that we enjoyed later in the afternoon.

 My recipe of choice for the day was a Spicy Chickpea Tagine with Aubergine Harissa, which I enjoyed so much (despite not usually being a lover of aubergine/eggplant) that I have made it again twice already!

Photo courtesy of the Vegetarian Society

Photo courtesy of the Vegetarian Society

I enjoyed a wonderful day filled with delicious food and fabulous company and I'd like to thank everyone at the Vegetarian Society Cookery School for making us all feel so welcome as well as my fellow bloggers Jenny, Nicky, Helen, Ellie, Annabelle and Emily.

You can follow the Vegetarian Society on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube to keep up to date with their latest news!

As I hinted above, I also have new of a great freebie for you...

The Vegetarian Society will be at the Just V Show at Olympia in London this weekend ( 7-9th July ) and you can claim FREE tickets to the Just V Show via the Vegetarian Society website, what's more, if you stop by the Vegetarian Society stand you'll be treated to a fabulous goody bag full of samples and vouchers to take home!

This post was commissioned by the Vegetarian Society. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Halloumi and Pepper Stack - Quick Summer Meals

In the hot weather we've been having recently it can be hard to make too much of an effort  when preparing food so I like to have a few really simple and quick meal ideas to hand . This delicious  vegetarian grill stack was first created based on what was left in my fridge the day before my weekly shop! The ingredients compliment each other really well though and  and it soon became a regular favourite.

What you need (to serve 4):

A 250g block of Halloumi Cheese

Two large Peppers (I chose Yellow and Red)

100g Cous Cous (either a ready spiced mix that you can buy in the supermarket or plain cous cous and your own spices to taste.)

Dressing (I used a sweet chilli, soy and ginger dressing, but I think sweet chilli, or a balsamic glaze would go equally as well)

What to do:

Start by slicing your Halloumi into 8 pieces and place under grill, (To make it super quick and easy I used our George Foreman).

Next chop each of  your peppers up into 6 large pieces and also place on the grill.

Make up your cous cous as per the packet instructions (usually adding boiling water, stir, leave for five minutes and stir some more, adding a little olive oil if preferred.)

Turn the cheese and peppers after 5 minutes and continue to grill for a further 5 mins.

Serve by dishing the cous cous onto the plates then stacking 3 pieces of pepper and two pieces of Halloumi alternately on top to form a 'tower'.

Add dressing and season to taste and enjoy!

A deliciously simple vegetarian meal from fridge to plate in just 15 minutes, perfect for a warm summer evening!

Also great on a budget: this worked out at just 95p a serving for me!

I've linked this post up with #Recipeoftheweek, click on the badge below to check out more delicious recipe ideas...

Easy Veggie Pizza to Make with Kids

My children love to help me in the kitchen and it makes me sad that during the week we are so rushed in the evening that it's not possible. So at the weekend I always try to involve them in the process of making dinner, whether it's shelling peas, washing salad or stirring the pasta sauce they really enjoy the involvement and I've come to realise that they have a lot more of an understanding about where the food on their plate comes from than many of their peers.

We also like to grow what we can and although at the moment we only have a small yard we currently have tomatoes, peppers and some herbs growing and both Ben and Elizabeth love to help me tend to them.

This weekend we noticed that we had some lovely ripe peppers ready to use so decided to make a pizza for tea. The children love making izza because it's something they know hey can do with minimal assistance!

What we used:

Ready made pizza bases
(we had these in the cupboard but you could make your own or even use tortillas )

Grated Cheese

Tomato sauce
(I heated some olive oil in a frying pan added chopped garlic, oregano and basil, and half a tube of tomato paste, heated until the sauce darkened.)

Toppings:

We used a tin of sweetcorn and two green peppers but you could use whatever veg you have in the fridge.

What we did

I popped the sweetcorn, peppers, tomato sauce and grated cheese in small bowls and let the children get creative! 

Starting by spooning the sauce on to the bases and spreading out to form a thin layer.

Then sprinkling the cheese on top.

Followed by the toppings - sometimes we do this in the shape of a smiley face but the children decided that their pizza was a treasure map today!

Then pop in the oven for 10 minutes on approximately 180 / gas mark 4. We use a pizza stione but you can also pop straight on to the shelf.

Take out and Enjoy with a simple summer salad!

The children always enjoy dinner more when they have contributed to making it so there were clean plates all round.

 

Eat Well For Less with Sainsburys - Winter Warming Vegetable Curry

There's no denying it, it's getting colder and that means I want our family meals to be be hearty and warming, keeping the whole family filled up and ready to brave the icy temperatures outside! We love a good curry and I find a  good old vegetable and lentil curry is a great way to feed the whole family a delicious meal on a budget. By combining tinned foods such as chopped tomatoes, lentils and chickpeas with fresh vegetables I can save cash without compromising on quality!

Being vegetarian, I buy a lot of fresh vegetables and find they can get rather costly, which is why I love the 'no frills' ranges in supermarkets. Sainsbury's Basics range offer great quality fruit and vegetables at fantastic prices, the only difference I find between these and the higher priced alternatives s that they may not be quite as appealing to the eye, but what does that matter when you chopping them all up anyway? Perfect for making curries or stews!

Sainsbury's challenged myself and some other lovely bloggers to create a a tasty meal using their basics range as the building blocks of simple, nutritious food.

The idea was to combine budget ingredients with more expensive ones to make a little go a lot further...

So off we went to Sainsbury's.

For less than £10 I purchased:

Sainsbury's taste the difference Sweet Potatoes (my luxury item!)

Basics Cauliflower

Basics Carrots

2 x loose onions

A large loose Red Pepper

2 x Basics chopped tomatoes

Sainsbury's tinned green lentils

Sainsbury's tinned chickpeas

A packet of Sainsburys Basmati Rice

2 x Sainsburys garlic and coriander Naan bread

Sainsbury's ground coriander

Sainsbury's fresh coriander 

(I had Garam Marsala mix and some other spices as well as mango chutney in the cupboard)  

I'd love to say I have some extravegant recipe to follow, but this is a really easy vegetable curry that I've been making since my student days and to be honest you pretty much chuck it all in!

• Start by chopping up the vegetables
• Then heat some oil in a pan, 
• Add the chopped onion to soften, then add the red pepper
• Add some Garam Marsala mix, corriander and any other spices required and stir in the lentils
• Cook for a few minutes before adding the rest of the vegetables and stirring
• Add in the chopped tomatoes
• Cook for a few more minutes while stirring and add some water if required
• Cover and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes on a medium heat stirring occasionally
• Add some fresh coriander and season to taste...

Serve with basmati rice, Naan bread and Mango chutney!

Tada! 

So easy even a student could do it!

Watch it below...

This makes a great alternative to a takeaway too!

How do you live well for less? What is your secret 'budget' alternative?


Disclaimer: I was sent a £10 Sainsbury's voucher to take part in this challenge.

Check out some more great recipes here...

A Summer BBQ - The #charcoalchallenge

The weather we have had recently is just perfect for al fresco dining so when moneysupermarket invited me to take part in their charcoal challenge I jumped at the chance to host a Summer BBQ!

We were given £50 to show how creative we could be and throw a good old out door shindig for family and friends! I wanted to show just how creative you could be on a budget, so set out to create a varied selection of outdoor culinary delights that catered to both our vegetarian and meat eating guests...

I like to support our local community so although we did visit the supermarket to buy some of the food, we also paid a trip to our local Deli to buy the hummous, feta and halloumi cheeses and some bread.

For the meat eaters we had burgers, sausages and chicken drumsticks to go on the barbecue. These were all purchased  fresh from the supermarket, although there was a variety ready marinated meats to purchase these were much more expensive, so I bough plain drumsticks a threw together a marinate myself using olive oil and herbs and spices that we already had in! Saving some pennies and (i'm told) they tasted fab!

When it comes to vegetarian burgers and sausages I find that I actually prefer the frozen ones so for just £3 later we had six Glamorgan sausages and 4 bean burgers.

I also chopped up some peppers, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and halloumi and laid them out with soaked bamboo skewers ready for guests to create their own Veggie Kebabs! These were a huge hit with adults and children alike, I must admit I went back twice (but no mushrooms on mine! Urgh!)

To compliment the food from the BBQ I made a delicious Cherry tomato and Goats cheese tart, a mouthwatering Feta and Beetroot Salad, Hassleback potatoes, a selection of crudites and dips and some crisps and popcorns to nibble on, yum!

Of course we couldn't forget about those with a sweet tooth so the children came on board to help me make some gorgeous but simple summery deserts including fresh fruit and milk frozen ice-lollies, caramel covered popcorn and mini strawberry ice-creams with multi-coloured sprinkles and fresh strawberries.

Can you believe  all of the above came to just £30?! That left us £20 to spend on drinks! We had just received our brand new Sodastream that I was lucky enough to win from Britmums Live so the children had some great fizzy fun with that and the sample syrups that were included, while I bought a nice  of Rose Wine and a case of Carling zest with some fresh limes for the adults! 

Perfect for sitting in the sun and enjoying one of the hottest days of the year!

We had a really lovely time, enjoyed the food and drink and the sun provided the entertainment! We had the paddling pool out in the garden, a ball to kick around and a water-pistol to cool us down (this was particularly popular with the adults!

Thank you Money Supermarket for giving us the chance to show that you can throw a great BBQ on a budget!

We were sent £50 by moneysupermarket.com to take part in the challenge.