New Domain - Vegantearoom.com

Hi, if you were wondering why I dropped off the face of the Earth for... a long time - I haven't! I've got a new domain, vegantearoom.com and I've been posting lots of recipes, travel blogs as well as branching out into posts about sustainable, fair trade, vegan fashion. So if you're interested, you should definitely check me out over there.

Thanks so much for reading and come join me on my new blog!

Visiting the Apartheid Museum

Ultimate Travel Bucket List

Here is my ultimate travel bucket list. In the next few years I would like to travel to every country in Europe and every country in the world in my lifetime. Below is a list of must-go-to destinations, things to do and where to stay. Once I've completed something on the list, a picture will be inserted as photographic evidence. Pics or it didn't happen! I hope you enjoy this. Perhaps you'll find some holiday inspiration from it!

Tomato and Basil Soup

I am back with my Recipes That Cost Less Than £1 series with a classic. Good ol' tomato soup. If you think there's nothing special about soup, you'd be wrong. This recipe is simple, easy to prepare (although it does require a blender so keep that in mind) and it's cheap as chips (except much much cheaper than chips). I hope you enjoy!

(Serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

• 400g Sainsburys basics chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 400ml Vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 handful of chopped basil

1. Add the olive oil and the onions to a large pan and cook on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until they are browned.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes and stock. Once boiling, simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper if you wish.
3. Add the basil and leave to cool.
4. Once cooled, add the soup into a blender and blend until smooth.
5. Reheat on the stove, this time be careful not to boil and serve when hot.

The Maths:

• 400g Sainsburys basics chopped tomatoes cost £0.35
• 1 onion (roughly 20p depending on where you buy them from) halved is £0.10
• Marigold Swiss vegetable Bouillon is £2.00 for 150g. We're using 1 tsp, so that is 5g. This is £0.06
• 100ml of olive oil cost £0.32. Tbsp converted into ml is 17ml per tbsp = £0.06
• Sainsburys fresh basil costs £0.80 in a packet. We would use about 1/4 of this which is £0.20. If you want to save even more money, consider growing your own basil or purchasing a basil plant.

All together this adds up to 79p

Lentil and Vegetable Pasties

In my year seven food tech class, I was labelled the pasty queen. I burnt my cupcakes, I somehow managed to scramble my quiches and boil my brownies (I know, right? How does that even happen?) But trust me when I say, pasties were my jam.

These pasties were an experiment because I had some random veggies in the fridge and an ever-looming best before date on the puff pastry. I decided to have a little bit of fun and created these magical little things which are, by far, the most delicious things I've ever made.

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of Jus-Rol Puff Pastry
• 1 tbsp of plant based milk
• 2 tbsp of vegan gravy graduals
• 1 tsp of vegetable stock powder
• 1 tsp of nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1 potato
• 1/2 carrot
• 100g lentils
• 1 leek
• 1 tsp of coconut oil
• 1 tsbp of flour

1. Chop the potato, leek and carrots into small cubes. Sweat in a pan with the coconut oil, then pour in some boiling water and boil for 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
2. Meanwhile in another pan, cook the lentils for roughly 10-15 minutes. Before you do this, make sure you rinse the lentils as they contain an indigestible starch.
3. Cut your pastry into 6 squares and set aside to soften.
4. Once the lentils and vegetables are cooked, drain the water and mix together in a bowl.
5. Cook your gravy, stock, nutritional yeast and flour together in a new pan, until it is thick and there is no lumps.
6. Pour the gravy over the vegetable and lentil mixture. Mix together and cool in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7. When the mixture is cool, add a spoonful to the middle of the pastry squares and fold down the top corner to reach the bottom corner to make a triangle shape.
8. With a fork, indent a pattern on the edge of the pasty where the pastry meets.
9. With a knife pierce two holes in the top of the pastry. I like to make a 'v' for vegan shape.
10. Brush the pastry with the plant based milk.
11. Cook in the oven on gas mark 7 for roughly 20 minutes or until they are browned. Enjoy!

What I did/ate in Provincetown

From what I've heard, Provincetown is like the Brighton of Massachusetts. All year round, it's pride time and there's no stopping the rainbow flags, the day time drag queens, or the proud flamboyance. However, despite the progressive liberal take, it's still Cape Cod, and that means one thing. You're having fish for dinner. You're a vegan, yeah, we don't care, you're eating fish.

Luckily, thank goodness for Happycow am I right?, we managed to find an amazing little vegan place  called Grab 'n' Go along the main road. I ordered a vegan acai bowl, and if it had not been for the magnificent portion sizes, I would have ordered everything else on the menu. Smoothies, soft serve ice cream, raw vegan tacos, and so much more. My friend ordered a chocolate serve so I did get to try some. Having never been a fan of soft serve, I have to say, that stuff could have turned me.

I have to say, Provincetown was beautiful. It was definitely out of the way but I think it was well worth the drive. There, I purchased a vegan cookbook (you can see it in my bag on the picture above) and I tried paddle boarding for the first time. We hired the boards at Provincetown Aquasports, and the whole experience was extremely well priced. I expected to pay a lot more than $20 for an hour boarding, a locker and a waterproof case to put my phone in. If you're not into paddle boarding, they also offered canoes and kayaks for people a little less lazy than us. If you want to see the video I filmed of our time in paddle boarding, you can watch that here, although be warned, it's a lot of shaky camera work and trying to figure out how GoPros work.

Golden Ponies Shoes

I know, I know, I'm talking about shoes again. I can't stop, guys. I have a real problem.

This shoe brand is a Guatemalan company who make affordable, cutesy made-to-order shoes and accessories including bags, coats, socks and more. You can visit their website here or their etsy account here.

Here is a selection to show you some of their shoes and what they have to offer.