Mum2VeganTeen

We discovered that Biscoff biscuits are naturally vegan so I thought I would try to make a luscious dessert with them.

A simply delicious no bake Biscoff cheesecake with mandarin. Unbelievable that it’s dairy free – plant based & vegan.

I thought I would try mandarins to compliment with the caramel flavour of the biscoff, as well as have some fruit lol. An orange caramel delight.

The biscoff spread is also dairy free and amazing – it’s basically a creamy caramelly paste made from biscoff biscuits.

I had to adapt my recipe purely because the biscoff biscuits I bought – went missing as my teenagers had already eaten them before I started making the cake!! (I replaced the base with digestive biscuits)

Aldi actually do a good knock off – their caramelised biscuits I used for the topping.

Luckily enough I managed to rescue most of the jar of biscoff spread as they had started to spread it on their toast! (They never usually eat toast that’s how good the spread is!)

INGREDIENTS

The base

• 250 grams Biscoff Biscuits
• 75 grams vegetable spread (we use Flora)

The biscoff cream filling

• 1 pot (200g) vegan cream cheese, (Violife)
• 25 g Caster Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Biscoff Cookie Spread
• 150 ml plant based Double Cream (alpro)
• Small tin Mandarins

** Optional To decorate **

Vegan Whipped Cream Spray Can (Food Heaven)

• Few Biscoffi biscuits to decorate.
• 25 grams (1/4 cup) Biscoff Biscuits crushed (sprinkle over)
• 1 tablespoon biscoff spread – gently heated – to drizzle over the top

INSTRUCTIONS

• Lightly grease an 8 inch springform baking tin with vegetable spread and line the bottom with baking or parchment paper.
• Add Biscoff Cookies to a food processor and blend until they resemble fine crumbs. (Or Crush them in a bag with a heavy object like a rolling pin.

• Pour melted vegetable spread over the crushed biscuits and mix until it looks like wet sand.

Biscuit base

• Pour the biscuit mixture into prepared tin and press down gently using the back of a spoon to form an even layer. Pop in fridge.
• Add cream cheese, sugar and biscoffi spread to a bowl and beat until smooth.

• Whisk the double cream with an electric whisk in a separate bowl for a few minutes until it’s really thick.
• Gently fold the double cream into the biscoffi & cream cheese mixture.
• Spread the cheesecake mixture evenly over the biscuit base.
• Drain the mandarins before placing a few over the top.
• Decorate with the optional decorations.
• Chill for a few hours in the fridge or if you’re in a hurry the freezer! ( I think the mandarins are even nicer almost frozen)

Enjoy!!

This classic Thai curry is so simple to make – takes minutes and tastes amazing.

I definitely recommend using Fresh Vegetables & herbs in this curry which compliment the delicately spiced more-ish lightly spiced coconut sauce.

You can make this as a simple vegetable curry however I added Vegan chicken (Linda Mcartney- Pulled chicken) You could also use Tofu.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

5cm piece ginger, grated

5 tbsp Thai red curry paste ** (check the curry paste depending on the brand as some contain fish sauce) we used Blue Dragon ** ( or homemade recipe below)

2 Tbsp Soy sauce

Juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 Red, Yellow & Orange bell pepper , deseeded and diced (or just use Red bell pepper)

200g Vegan chicken

Can of coconut milk

½ vegetable stock cube (to make 75ml stock)

200 g Fresh Vegetables of your choice good ones are (Sugar snap peas, baby corn, green beans, mange tout, Chinese leaf cabbage)

1 tsp brown sugar

Handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Steamed rice, to serve

** Optional – I like to jazz up the rice by adding some grated carrot, crushed nuts, & finely chopped spring onion & coriander)

** Optional You can make your own Red curry paste: Blitz the following ingredients in a food processor:

4 Red Chillies, 4 teaspoons Red Chillies, 4 teaspoons coriander seeds, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 4 stems lemon grass, 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, 4 shallots, 6 cloves garlic, grated zest and juice of 2 limes, 2 spoons paprika.

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the onion. Cook for 3 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, ginger, and red curry paste. Cook for 1 min.
3. Add the red pepper, vegan chicken .
4. Continue to cook for 2,3 mins, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the vegetables stir through & cook for 2 minutes.
6. Add the Soy sauce, lime juice & teaspoon sugar.
7. Pour the coconut milk and vegetable stock into the pan.
8. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5/ 10 minutes.
9. Remove the pan from the heat, Scatter with coriander and serve with rice.

It’s hard to believe this delicious dessert is vegan & dairy free! It’s long been a family favourite and I’m happy to have ‘veganised’ it. It tastes just as good! Bananas, caramel, biscuit & cream it’s a winning combination!

Ingredients

The base

• 225 g Biscuits (We used Ginger Biscuits which are naturally vegan depending on the brand – check the packaging but you can use plain digestives)
• 100g Vegetable spread

The Caramel filling

**Cheat** You can cheat like i did when I discovered Betty Crocker Salted Caramel Flavour Icing!! – naturally vegan & – ready to spread straight out of the container!!

Or make your own:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegan spread
• 1/4 cup coconut milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

The topping

• 2 ripe bananas
• 150 ml Vegan Double Cream (Alpro)
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• 50 G Dark Chocolate

Instructions

• To make the base, butter and line loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment. Put the digestive biscuits in a plastic food bag and crush to crumbs with a rolling pin or similar object.
• Melt the vegetable spread.
• Put the biscuit crumbs in a bowl and Mix thoroughly with the melted vegan butter until the crumbs are completely coated.
• Tip them into the prepared tin and press firmly down into the base .
• Chill in the fridge for 1 hr to set firmly.
• For the caramel sauce – you can spread the Betty Crocker ready made icing over the base. Or:
• Bring brown sugar, vegan butter, and coconut milk to a gentle boil and cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat; add vanilla extract.
• Wait for it to cool before spreading evenly over the biscuit base.
• Slice & layer the banana over the caramel.
• Whisk the vegan double cream & icing sugar until it’s a thick consistency.
• Place the whipped cream over the bananas.
• Grate the dark chocolate over to finish.

Chill for an hour & serve!

Enjoy!

Hummus is such a delicious dip it even has a day dedicated to it! Today May 13th is international Hummus Day!!

Also a bonus as it is a naturally vegan recipe!

This Middle-Eastern Dip is fresh, healthy simple & easy to make within minutes, it tastes so much better than shop-bought that it’s worth the extra effort to make yourself.

I use a can of chickpeas but you can used dried ones if you follow the pack instructions before use.

You can make it with or without tahini (I couldn’t get any but it still tastes amazing without)

Ingredients

1 x 400 g tin of chickpeas

1 small clove of garlic: crushed/ chopped or grated

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

( 1 tablespoon tahini) if you can source.

Salt & pepper for seasoning

(Optional teaspoon baking powder)

Garnish options:

• Tablespoon of olive oil drizzled over the top

• Fresh Parsley or Coriander
• Chopped olives
• Paprika
• Chilli flakes
• Toasted pine nuts

Directions

The first step is optinial if you have time;

1. Drain & boil the chickpeas with the teaspoon of baking powder for 20 mins. – The powder reacts & boiling them results in a smoother softer consistency.
2. Mix the chickpeas (either drained from the can – or after cooled down from boiling. With the – garlic, lemon & olive oil, tahini & seasoning.
3. You can use a handblender or food processor to blend until it’s a thick, creamy consistency. If you want to make it smoother add a tablespoon or 2 of water as you go along.
4. Put in a bowl & garnish with your preference – paprika, herbs, olive oil etc.

Best served with – Raw vegetables – Carrot, Pepper, cucumber or with flatbread, warmed Pitta-bread, breadsticks or crisps!! Yummy hummus.

Fab for a special breakfast or brunch. You’d never be able to tell the waffles are vegan! We topped with fresh fruit, syrup & whipped cream.

We were very excited a few weeks ago to discover plant based single cream and even more excited now to have discovered Plant based Double Cream! This one was Elmlea. It’s a real game changer!! I Can’t wait to try some more recipes with it.

We whisked it the same way you would normal double cream – until it’s a thick consistency – you can add a spoon or 2 of icing sugar if you want to sweeten it a bit.

This recipe makes 4

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 cups of non-dairy milk

4 tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2 tbsps sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

(Optional – I added a mashed banana)

Instructions

1. Grease the waffle iron with vegetable oil and turn it on.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.
3. Add the plant milk, vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients
4. Whisk the mixture by hand until its a smooth batter
5. Pour the batter into the waffle iron according to its instructions.
6. open the waffle maker only when they are ready! The best way to tell is when steam stops coming out of the waffle iron.
7. Open the waffle maker slowly to allow them time to release.
8. Whilst you are cooking more waffles place them on a baking tray in a low oven until you are ready to serve them to keep them crisp & warm.

These waffles came out perfectly crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Enjoy with your favourite toppings!

This is a great tasting easy go- to recipe for a simple stir fry which you can adapt according to your taste or ingredients available. It’s also quick to make – literally throw the ingredients in the pan.

The sweet chilli sauce & soy sauce are the key ingredients. I always have a bottle of each in the cupboard & you cannot go wrong it’s a winning combination of flavours! Salty, sweet & spicy but not too hot, the kids love it!

We were having a ‘cheat day’ so used a pack of ready mixed Vegetable & Bean sprout Stir Fry.

You can use any fresh vegetables you like – Carrot, broccoli, cabbage, peppers, beansprouts are all great – make sure you chop them into small pieces.

We used ready to Wok Noodles. You have to check the noodles are vegan as I’ve made the mistake of buying noodles that couldn’t be eaten so avoid Egg noodles!! These ones are rice noodles so they’re ok & we tried curry flavour one which was nice.

If you don’t have noodles it’s equally nice with rice. You can jazz up the rice a little by adding some finely chopped spring onion, chopped coriander, grated carrot & crushed peanuts!

Ingredients

3 tbsps Soy Sauce

3 tbsps Sweet Chilli Sauce

1tbsp Tomato ketchup

200g No Chicken – chicken substitute- tofu, Seitan or we used Linda Mcartney Frozen pulled chicken. (Half a pack)

Vegetables of choice (about 4 cups) or ready pack

2 tbsps oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced

2 teaspoons grated or dry ginger

1 or 2 tablespoons water.

Salt & pepper to season.

150 g noodles

(Optional – fresh chopped coriander)

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in wok or big frying pan.
2. Add the vegan ‘no chicken’ , heat for couple of minutes or according to your pack instructions.
3. Add the onion garlic stir for a minute
4. Add the vegetables – stir fry for 3 or 4 mins. You can add a tablespoon or 2 of water so they don’t stick.
5. Add the ready to wok noodles (or pre-cooked noodles) stir through for a minute.
6. Add the soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, ketchup stir through and heat through for a couple of minutes. (You can add more of the sauce if you like – just up by 1 tablespoon of each of the chilli & soy sauce)
7. Sprinkle with the fresh coriander to serve.

Enjoy! This is one recipe you will try again and again!

We made a simple satay in one pan without any skewering or grilling. The easy option.

We used Tofu but you could also use a vegan ‘no chicken’ replacement. So delicious the flavours are a great combination of peanutty, salty, creamy spice. This recipe is enough for 2 portions.

(It’s best to drain & press the tofu before you start – according to the package instructions)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 can coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon reduced soy sauce
• 2 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice (fresh or from bottle)
• 200 g Tofu cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 tablespoon oil (we used just under half the pack – the packs are quite big)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE

• 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice (or from bottle)
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce, or more, to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (or powder or purée if you don’t have fresh)

Instructions

1. To make the peanut sauce, whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili garlic sauce and ginger in a small bowl. Whisk in 2-3 tablespoons water until desired consistency is reached; set aside.
2. Keep a 3rd of the sauce back.
3. In a plastic bag or large bowl, combine the tofu and two thirds of the satay mixture marinate for at least 2 hours to overnight in the fridge.
4. When it’s marinaded – heat in a pan with some oil for 5- 10 minutes.
5. Then add the other ingredients- coconut milk, soy sauce, curry powder, turmeric, garlic,ginger, brown sugar lime juice and gently heat for 10 minutes.
6. season with salt and pepper,.
7. Serve immediately with the remainder peanut sauce.

Perfect with rice – we had it with onion & pea rice – it was lush!

This is so simple to make & a delicious treat for a special breakfast/ brunch or even a dessert, tastes so good you wouldn’t believe it’s egg-free & vegan!

It uses nutritional yeast, (which seems weird, but it does give it an eggy essence. (Nutritional yeast isn’t the same as baking yeast. Look for yellow nutritional yeast flakes )

You can use any bread but a French loaf or ciabatta is best as it absorbs the mix without getting too soggy & falling apart. It should be at least a day or 2 old. – it’s a great recipe for using up leftover bread. Handy during these times of quarantine.

Ingredients

4-6 slices of French or ciabatta bread, sliced about ¾-inch thick

1 cup Oat (or plant-based Milk) We used the Innocent one as it is very nice, has a more luxury taste)

1 tablespoon syrup, plus more for serving

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon icing sugar

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast**

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Tiny pinch of salt

Coconut oil or vegetable spread.

Instructions

1. In a bowl whisk together the Oat milk, syrup, flour, nutritional yeast, icing sugar, cinnamon & salt.
2. Place the bread in a shallow dish (with sides, pour the mixture over the bread, leave it to absorb for a couple of minutes & turn over so all sides are covered.
3. Heat some vegetable spread or coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the bread slices, cook for a few minutes each side until golden brown.
4. Serve with syrup and fresh fruit.

This is a delicious easy to make pasta dish. Tasty & warming the peppers add another flavour to a classic tomato sauce.

Ingredients

4 x Vegan sausages

3 peppers (red, orange or yellow)

1 x Onion

4 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 x 400g Can of tomatoes

1 tsp tomato purée

Salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp Oregano

Fresh Basil & or Parsley

Pasta

Directions

• The peppers and onions (we cooked them on the barbecue the day before – in a foil bag – basically cut them in half & the onion with the garlic cloves whole & the olive oil turning regularly until they were gently charred. Alternatively you can roast in the oven for around 30 mins. (Chop in half or quarters) It gives the sauce a really nice flavour & texture.

• You can fry the sausages in olive oil in the pan – remove & then put in the tinned tomatoes. (Or grill the sausages). (You can use any vegan sausages you like – we used Linda Mcartney they have a good texture & taste great with this sauce.)

Linda Mcartney Sausages

• Put in the roasted or barbecued pepper & onion mixture. & herbs & seasoning.
• Blend with a hand blender until it’s a thick consistency.
• Heat for 15 mins
• Chop the sausages into small bite size pieces & add to the sauce.
• Cook your pasta according to packet instructions.
• Top with the sauce garnish with fresh herbs & enjoy!

Very simple to make – only 3 ingredients needed!! & is a nice home-made alternative to coffee-shop coffee.

The perfect Quarantine solution if you are missing Costa Coffee or Starbucks & you don’t have a fancy coffee-machine at home or maybe you do but you’ve run out of pods.

Basically put:

2 tablespoons of instant coffee, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of boiling water in a bowl.

(This was enough for 2 – you can double or triple the recipe – using tablespoon of each ingredient)

Use a hand mixer – whisk or handheld frother – whisk/whip it for a few minutes. You should get a frothy creamy consistency & the colour will lighten to a caramel colour.

Depending if you like a cold or hot one put some plant/ soy/ coconut/ oat milk in a cup or glass about 3/4 full.

Heat the milk if you prefer it hot like I did or use milk & ice cubes for a chilled one.

Spoon the coffee mix on top. It’s like an upside down latte!

If you’re feeling really decadent you can top with vegan whipped cream & grate some dark chocolate over the top! Or add a shot of whisky or brandy!

Enjoy!!