Mushroom broccoli & Vegan non Chickn Stir fry

A fresh easy & delicious stir fry. It’s loaded with mushrooms and fresh broccoli and you can add fake chicken (Seitan) or Tofu according to your preference. You can make this in under 20 minutes easily.

Ingredients

• 200g No Chicken – chicken substitute- tofu, Seitan or we used Linda Mcartney Frozen pulled chicken
• 2 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 lb broccoli cut into florets (about 5 cups)
• 1 small onion sliced into strips
• 1/2 lb mushrooms thickly sliced
• 2/3 cup vegetable stock
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp corn flour (mixed with 1 Tbsp water into a paste)
• 1 tsp fresh ginger peeled and grated
• 1 tsp garlic (2 small cloves) grated
• 1/4 tsp black pepper to season
• Rice or noodles to serve.

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a pan
2. Add the onions, garlic & ginger and gently fry for couple of minutes.
3. Add the chopped vegetables and the vegan chicn, tofu or Seitan. Stir fry for 3/4 minutes.
4. Add the sauce ingredients, stock, sugar etc and heat for 4/5 minutes.
5. You can thin the sauce by adding more water if you like. (The cornflour paste thickens the sauce)
6. Serve with noodles or rice & enjoy!!

This recipe was a real winner & so simple to make, tasted delicious. My son really likes it when I veganise a tradional recipe that’s one of his favourites. (Also one of the least vegan dishes you could think of!) The sauce was creamy & cheesey and perfect with the salty smoky chewy bites.

You can adapt and do with or without the mushrooms & the peas are something I like to add as they compliment the smoky ‘bacon’. Also I used to try to sneak vegetables into recipes – my son pointed out that I shouldn’t have to do that now as everything he eats is plant based anyway 😂

Ingredients

200 g mushrooms (optional)

50 g frozen peas (optional)

1 tbsp olive oil

150 g Vegan ‘bacon’ (we used Vivera plant bacon pieces)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1 garlic clove crushed

1 tsp Garlic Salt

Salt & pepper to season

200 ml Vegan Double Cream (we used Elmlea)

Chopped Parsley

Handful of Grated Vegan cheese (we used Violife)

200 g / 7 oz spaghetti

Directions

Cook the spaghetti- according to pack instructions.

Heat the oil in a big frying pan.

Add the crushed garlic & garlic salt. Stir and fry for a minute.

Add the vegan bacon & sauté for 3 minutes.

Add the frozen peas & fry for 2/3 minutes.

Stir in the nutritional yeast flakes (this gives it the slightly eggy flavour.

Add the plant vegan double cream & simmer & stir well for 2 / 3 minutes until it’s a consistency not too thin.

Serve immediately over the spaghetti.

Top with chopped Parsley & the grated vegan cheese. (We like the Violife as seems to melt better than other vegan cheese we’ve tried.

Enjoy!!

This was the best cake I ever made according to my boys.

It’s like a Bakewell tart but in a cake format. Really easy to make and nobody would guess its vegan. It’s everything good about cake – soft, fruity, moist, crumbly and deliciously nutty.

The ingredients are quite simple as all measure 150!

I made a couple of mistakes – we’d run out of baking paper, I was determined to make the cake anyway & was not gonna queue up at the shop! So I just greased the bottom of the tin with the veg spread. Then we were so excited about the cake I forgot to remove the bottom of the tin lol 😂 anyway the cake was still amazing it can’t not taste good!

Cake Ingredients

150g vegetable spread

150g caster sugar

150g flour

1tsp Baking powder

150g ground almonds

1tsp vanilla essence

150 ml warmed soy milk

1 /2 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

2 tablespoons 7 up or sprite

3 tablespoons black cherry jam

150g fresh cherries, pitted and halved

100g flaked almonds

For the icing

50 g icing sugar

Juice 1/4 lemon

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4.

Base line a 23 cm (8½-9½in) spring clip cake tin with baking parchment.

Beat the vegan butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder lemonade & vanilla extract together.

Mix the warm milk in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda, then add the apple cider vinegar. Beat all the ingredients together quickly. – The mixture becomes frothy & bubbly (will help the cake rise in place of eggs)

Fold the milk mixture into the batter.

Spoon half of the batter into the lined cake tin and smooth it over.

Dot the jam, a teaspoon at a time over the batter.

Scatter fresh cherries on top.

Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter over the cherries to cover it.

Scatter the flaked almonds over the top and bake for 45-50 minutes until well-risen and golden brown.

Cherry almond cake bake (vegan dairy-free)

Leave to stand for five minutes in the tin then remove by running a knife around, unclip and slide the cake onto a wire

For the icing, mix the icing sugar and lemon in a bowl stirring until smooth and thick.

Drizzle over the cooked cake.

We had this whilst it was still warm with some vegan Whipped spray cream. It was equally nice chilled the next day with a nice cup of tea!

There’s some really good vegan plant based meat replacements. I wanted to do something a bit different as we often make spaghetti bolognese or lasagne & my boys have never like shepherds pie – in fact my son labelled my attempt as ‘Shepherds Cry!’

This was a nice alternative; crispy, sweet & savoury dish like a Chinese takeaway. Just Marinade the plant beef with the ginger & spices before frying.

Ingredients

• 200 g Plant based Minced Beef (there are lots of brands for this particular one we used Viv era)

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

• 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger

• 1 teaspoon dry chilli flakes (or to taste)

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce

• 2 teaspoons Chinese 5 spice

• Tablespoon lime juice

• 1 x Spring onion chopped

• 200 G – of your preferred Fresh Veg chopped (Peppers, Beansprouts, Baby Corn , carrots are nice )

• Fresh Coriander

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• Rice or noodles to serve

Instructions

Mix the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, Chinese five spice, soy sauce & lime with the plant beef and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan.

Add the beef mixture and fry, stirring regularly until it gets very brown and crispy.

Add the spring onions & stir fry for a minute.

Add the fresh vegetables & fry for 3/4 minutes.

• You may need to add some more tablespoons of soy sauce and water (it is meant to be crispy & not much sauce but you don’t want the mixture to be too dry.

Add a sprinkle of the coriander.

Serve with noodles or steamed rice. This would also be nice sprinkled over a salad.

I made these chocolate chip cookies in honour of National Biscuit Day yesterday -29th May with a donation to The National Guide Dogs for the blind – Virtual Tea-party.

These delicious cookies are so easy to bake & can be enjoyed by vegans & non vegans alike.

(Makes around 20)

Ingredients

250 G Flour

200g Margarine or vegan butter

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

100 g Brown sugar

100 g granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tbsp Non-dairy milk

150 g Dark chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Tip the dairy-free margarine, sugars and vanilla extract into a mixing bowl Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt into the bowl and beat everything until thoroughly combined and almost smooth.

Add the and soya milk and mix again.

Mix in the chocolate chips.

Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours (or the freezer if you can’t wait that long lol)

Use an ice cream scoop or two dessertspoons to drop neat mounds of dough onto the lined baking trays allowing plenty of space between the cookies as they spread during cooking.

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking trays.

These cook quickly – they will look underdone and liquidy but when they cool down they firm up.

Perfect with a nice cup of tea!