Just Humans Being...

Oven baked potatoes with haricot bean hummus, baked tomato and mushrooms and silken tofu pan-fried with kale, onion and lots of crushed garlic. A simple tasty feast...vegan, organic and oil-free. Today's hummus is made with haricot beans, fresh lemon juice, fresh parsley, ground cumin, smoked paprika, a tiny pinch of Cornish sea salt and some crushed peppercorns.  We love baked tomatoes. These have fresh oregano pushed into the centres and a sprinkle of black pepper. We bake them for 30 minutes. Kale, onion and garlic frying in water and soy sauce, turmeric and cumin. We added silken tofu after 10 minutes and fried for another 10.  Sime's plate...piled high, as usual! Since we stopped using oil some years ago, we found that soy sauce, miso and lemon juice are great alternatives, though organic vegetables seem to be naturally more flavoursome, especially oven roasted vegetables. We rarely follow recipes and tend to make up meals wi...

                           It's a sign there are big changes afoot, when a company like Lonely Planet acknowledges that veganism is here. Although we are not into buying stuff anymore, we do have a passion for books...especially travel books! We have collected many travel guides over the years and we continue to use our French ones even though they are probably over 20 years old now. We bought our first Lonely Planet Publication in 1991... Europe On A Shoestring ! We found it to be a great resource, using it frequently to do research when planning trips, as well as taking it with us.  We love nothing more than sitting with maps and travel books, dreaming and planning our next or future adventures and always try to find whatever information we can about places to eat, so when we heard about a new vegan travel guide - we had to check it out. Click here for a preview of The Vegan Trav...

All this cold weather makes us crave warming stews or hippy slop as we usually call it! For this one we fried 1/3 of a butternut squash, half a red pepper, 2 carrots, a handful of green beans and a bulb of garlic with a good sprinkle of mixed herbs, water and a splash of red wine for around 10 minutes. Then we added a can of chopped tomatoes, 8oz water, 4oz washed red lentils, a teaspoon of ground cumin and simmered for around 20 minutes. We made the dumplings earlier, as it's good to let the batter stand for at least 15 minutes. We used to make the dumplings with vegetable suet, but have used rice as a replacement for years now. This time we used 6oz brown rice cooked in turmeric, 3oz wholemeal flour, half a chopped apple, 2 teaspoons of ground flax seeds, 1 teaspoon each of  baking powder, dried sage and thyme, a good handful of fresh parsley, a pinch of Cornish sea salt and a sprinkle of black pepper. Use a tablespoon to scoop enough of the mi...

We made these quick burgers for lunch today. In the food processor, we whizzed up firm tofu, garlic, leek, carrot, green pepper and mushrooms. With soaked sundried tomatoes, cumin, chilli flakes, black pepper, tomato puree and maize flour. We were hungry so we just used raw vegetables, but the burgers are tastier if you fry the veggies first in a little soy sauce, or better still - use a variety of roasted veggies.  Once all whizzed up - dollop on to a baking tray and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes, then turn the tray round and bake again for another 15 minutes...no need to turn the burgers over. Leave them to stand for around 10 minutes... And serve them up! We had them on sourdough rolls with dry roasted potato wedges. Delicious!!! Here's our Simple Burger Recipe again if you are interested in trying this method. Night, night, Love Kay and Sime xx

It is the final day of World Vegan Month and here is this morning's second breakfast! For the pancake batter: we use a 200ml cup each of oats and stoneground wholemeal flour, then a tablespoon each of ground flax seeds and maize flour. Add a teaspoon each of baking powder (baking soda), ground cinnamon and vanilla extract. 200mls plant milk and top up with water...around 100mls for thick pancakes and add more for crepe like pancakes. Whizz up with a hand blender and leave to stand for 10 minutes and then fry in a hot non-stick pan. Today we added blueberries and banana... Which kind of caramelise when the pancake is flipped over. Delicious! We love how the blueberries sink into the centre. We served them with a squeeze of clementine and soya yogurt. They are so easy to make and are lovely! Love from a cold, wet and very windy Cornwall! Kay and Sime xx

Day 29 World Vegan Month. This is what happens when we suddenly run out of porridge oats... We had enough for a spoonful each, so instead of our usual bowl of joy - we made smoothies with pretty much the same ingredients with added greenness: Spinach, apple, banana, raisins, rosehips, seaweed, cinnamon, ginger and turmeric. Our mix of flax, hemp and pumpkin seeds, a spoonful of porridge oats, matcha green tea powder and water.  Wonderful stuff!  And here's Fleaby - he just wanted to say hello! xxx

Day 28 World Vegan Month. Organic whole wheat spaghetti, butter bean, red pepper and mushroom pasta sauce with salad leaves. Such a busy time for us, so sorry we're not keeping up with the posts!    Night, night...Love Kay and Sime xx

World Vegan Month Day 25. We are doggie sitting and really enjoy cooking on the Aga here... And yet again, we have made a quick dhal - with onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and spinach, as well as the usual spices, red lentils and some passata. Bye, bye from us and little Mabel!  xxx

World Vegan Month Day 24. Cauliflower florets and greens, butternut squash, leeks, tomatoes, garlic, fresh ginger, dried cumin, coriander, turmeric and mustard seeds Whizzed up leftover beany pasta sauce. Mixed together to make a delicious curry. As usual we served it with brown basmati cooked with turmeric. We are off doggie sitting for a few days, but will try to continue sharing our posts. Love Kay and Sime xx

A bubbling pan of Brewer's Gold and Cascade hops with warming winter spices of cinnamon, cloves and ginger, sultanas and orange peel. Mixing brown sugar and barley malt extract in the fermenting bin. Straining off the hops into the sugar and malt.  Stirring to dissolve the sugar in the hot hoppy brew.  We added enough cold water to cool the brew and sprinkled on the yeast. We leave the yeast on top. Then the lid gets fixed on tightly... And topped off with a snazzy blanket to let it work it's magic for around 10 days. It's Day 23 of World Vegan Month...we're not being very disciplined with our blog posts, but hopefully we'll manage to share some foodie posts over the next few days.    Bye for now! Love Kay and Sime xx