Tag: foodphotography

Homemade SWEET POTATO VEGAN BURGER.

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It has taken me 3 attempts before getting it right. I seriously wanted a nice flipping burger that doesn’t contain meat and egg and whatever other non vegan stuff they put in burgers. So I refused to give up trying.

It could still be better though, only because after a few bites, it kind of became really squashed. Not sure how else to describe it, sorry, I probably sound really illiterate right now. If you know of an ingredient I can add to make sure it does not happen again, please tell me, I’m dying to know, is it breadcrumbs? 😌

INGREDIENTS makes 3 burgers – 4 if you wanna be stingy.

3 sweet potatoes – peeled and cut into small squares

1 chopped onion

2 chopped cloves of garlic

Handful of parsley

2 tbsp of sunflower seeds

Half a cup of olives

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp Paprika powder

3 tbsp of hot water

2 tbsp of flaxseed!

Some vegan buns, I just used bagels!

Toppings:

1 pineapple cut into circles

1 avocado cut into thin slices

1 onion

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METHOD:

1. Put the sweet potato in the oven and cook until soft.

2. While they are cooking, chuck the onion, garlic, parsley and olives into the blender and literally just pulse it. If your blender doesn’t have any options like mine (Why do they even make them like that?) then blend for literally 1 second. Don’t allow it to become soggy!

3. Take it out of the blender and put aside. While you are still waiting for the potatoes to soften, mix the hot water with the flaxseeds and let them soak together for 5-10 minutes. It should become quite thick. This will stop the burger from crumbling.

4. Once the sweet potatoes have cooked, mash them up! I warn you, it’s effort. Try not to leave any large lumps.

5. Add all the ingredients together including the flaxseed and water, paprika and lemon. Mash it again and then start preparing the burgers by shaping them into thick circles.

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5. Place the burgers onto a very hot non stick frying pan, no oil! And cook for 15 minutes, turning them over every couple of minutes.

6. When you see that they are starting to harden, fry the onions, pineapple and your buns/bagels if you wish.

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7. Top it off with avocado and serve 😌

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‘Budgie Smoothie’ according to my mum…

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So it kind of went like this,

Me: “Mum if I wanted to name this smoothie, what would be a good name?”

Mum: “Hmmm, I’m not sure”

Me: whilst holding it and walking next to my budgie: “Omg look, it matches lily(my bird)”

Mum: “That’s it! Name it budgie!”

Me: “No mum that’s weird”

Mum: “Oh shit, you can’t any way, it’s supposed to be vegan”

😂😂😂

This yummy smoothie contains:

• Two large handfuls of Spinach and 1 pear.

• A whole mango with half a banana just to thicken it up so that I can layer both flavours because my blender is absolutely rubbish that it can’t really blend frozen fruit. Should probably invest in one. I much prefer frozen fruit to layer. But the smoothie still tastes quite amazing 😌

• Blend the different layers separately and place in the fridge to thicken and cool before pouring it into your glass.

Xxx

GRAPEFRUIT and GINGER juice

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My mum came home about an hour after I made this, walked into the kitchen, looked at the other half of the grapefruit casually laying on the counter by itself, and laughed. She then said, “WHAT on earth are you doing with that grapefruit Christina? I hope it’s not what I’m thinking” and looked at me in the most dirtiest way. If you’ve seen the movie Girls Trip then you’ll know. We both just burst out laughing.

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TO MAKE THIS JUICE… 

 

Add the Juice of half of a grapefruit – add a bit of the grapefruit itself

A tsp of grated ginger

2 tsp of Maple Syrup

Juice of one lemon

1 cup of coconut water

AND BLEND IT

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Dates and Banana chocolate cake

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I admit, I actually had no idea what I was doing whilst making this cake. But somehow that’s when it ends up being better because you have no expectations.

So the day before making this, I made some vegan chocolate brownies (coming soon) and had left over chocolate sauce that I did not want to go to waste because it tasted like heaven 😍 Also had 2 bananas that were so so soft and I would have no eaten them like that. So here it is…

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of oats

2-3 bananas

1 cup of gluten free self raising flour

 

For the chocolate sauce

2 bars of dark chocolate

1 cup of almond milk

 

For the dates topping

1 Cup of dates

1 cup of almond milk

2 large tbsp of vanilla soy yogurt

1/2 cup dried banana

DIRECTIONS

1. Firstly pour the self raising flour, oats and chopped bananas into a bowl

2. Melt the dark chocolate by heating up 1 cup of almond milk into a bowl using the microwave. Once heated, put the chocolate into the milk and stir until melted an combined together.

3. Pour the chocolate sauce into the bowl with your oats and flour and stir. If it’s too lump add some more almond milk.

4. That’s it! Pour your mixture into a non stick cooking tin and top with some bananas and dates.

5. Cook on low heat for 40-50 minutes

Now for the date topping. Mmmm…

1. Chop the dates into little pieces and put into the blender.

2. Add almond milk and vanilla yogurt to it.

3. Blend until thick and smooth. If it ends up quite runny just add more dates, the dates will thicken it up.

Once your cake is cooked, leave it to cool down before putting your date topping over it. Decorate with dried banana and place into fridge xx

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Coconut, White Chocolate, lemon and Pistachio Fudge

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Just typing the name of this is making me crave it. Okay so I made this just before turning completely vegan hence the white chocolate…

INGREDIENTS 

2 large bars of White chocolate

3-4 cups of Desiccated coconut

1/4 cup of maple syrup/Agave nectar

2 large lemons (For juice and zest)

 As many Pistachios as you like (For topping)

2 tbsp of Vegan Butter

1 tbsp of Coconut oil

DIRECTIONS

  1. First thing you want to do is blend the desiccated coconut until it gets really silky and smooth. Set aside.
  2. Put some oil onto a frying pan along with the vegan butter. Once melted, throw in your white chocolate and heat until it melts.
  3. Add the melted white chocolate into the blender with your liquified coconut. Add the lemon juice from your 2 lemons and then the zest – Just grate the skin of the lemon over the blender to make your life easier. Blend it until very smooth and thick.
  4. Evenly pour into a non stick baking tin and top with some pistachios, making sure you flatten the fudge as you go along. Put into a fridge for 30 minutes until it hardens.

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If you are anything like me and have a sweet sweeeeeeeet tooth, you’re gonna love it!

 

xxx

Layered smoothies

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GREEN SMOOTHIE – Bottom layer is Kale, grapes, pear, chia seeds and tsp of Spirulina. Middle layer is Spinach and Banana. Top layer is Kiwi blended with almond milk and Maca Powder
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Frozen Mango and Strawberry
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Coconut milk with chia and hemp seeds. Topped with frozen blueberry and banana.

🍓 Vegan & Gluten free Strawberry Cupcakes 🍓

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Makes 18 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS 

1 tin of Chickpeas

2 cups of Gluten Free self-raising flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

A box of strawberries

2 tbsp Maple syrup

2 tbsp baking soda

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp of apple cider vinegar

2 large tbsp of vegan butter

Ingredients for the Strawberry icing

2 cups of powdered sugar (I just used icing sugar)

1 tsp of pink colouring

1 tbsp of strawberry flavour

2 tbsp of vegan butter

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Drain and blend the chickpeas until there aren’t any lumps left and empty into a bowl.
  2. Add all the ingredients into the bowl except the strawberry and stir.
  3. Now chuck the strawberries into a blender and blend. (Remember to leave some strawberries for topping of your cupcakes). Pour it into your bowl.
  4. If your cupcake mixture is not turning out so smooth just add it to the blender for a bit (this is exactly what I done). My blender is quite rubbish so it didn’t blend the chickpeas properly so that is exactly what i done.
  5. Evenly pour your mixture into cupcake holders and place in the oven for 35-40 minutes. I put my oven on its lowest heat to make sure they cook properly from the inside. But bare in mind, chickpeas will make your cupcakes quite moist.

Now for the icing – Best part of any cake 

  1. Mix the icing sugar, vegan butter, pink colouring and strawberry flavouring all into a bowl and just keeeeeeep stirring. God it is so tiring without an electric mixer. I kind of need the arm workout so I embraced it. Mix until fluffy.
  2. If your icing is not thick enough just add more powdered sugar to it. Leave it out or place in the fridge, whilst your cupcakes cook.
  3. Once your cupcakes are ready, leave them to cool down. You don’t want to add your icing when they are still warm… it will melt. 
  4. Decorate as you wish and enjoy 🙂