Recipes

Until you get into the total creative mindset of plant-based cooking it's easy to get stuck in a food rut with safe old veggie favourites. 

When I started to 'create' as opposed to 'replace' foods, it really started to get exciting in my kitchen and now I find that the variety of plant-based foods is totally limitless.

I've delved into several vegan recipe books and I regularly use the UK's most popular vegetarian cookery magazines as well as the Internet for recipes. People across the pond seem to be doing wonderful things with vegan food and it's been a real inspiration to read some of their absolutely amazing blogs.

So on this page I share those books, magazines, websites and blogs that I've come across on my culinary travels. And throughout my blog you'll find some of my favourite recipes - both adapted from other peoples and created, from scratch, by my good self. Enjoy!

Chantal xx 

VEGGIE SOUP FOR THE SOUL RECIPE INDEX

For some delicious vegan meal inspiration check the food diary collections I've done for:

National Vegetarian Week 2013

VeganMofo (Month of Food) this September 2013 week #1, week #2, week #3.

And there's 90 more great vegan meal ideas to come for World Vegan Month 2013 - watch this space!



My recipes on this blog:

Soda Bread in a Flash (vegetarian) try it!
Stuffed Peppers a la Noughties (vegetarian) try it!
Rich and Indulgent Ratatouille with Red Quinoa (vegan) try it!
Roast Rhubarb with Vanilla (vegan) try it!
Thai-Spiced Butternut Squash Soup (vegan) try it!
Cream of Wild Nettle and Garlic Soup (vegan) try it!
16 minute Chilli Non Carne (vegan) try it!
Speedy Sweet Chilli Sauce (vegan) try it! 
Homemade Blackcurrant Cordial (vegan) try it!
Very Vegan Vanilla Ice-cream (& flavours) try it!
Heavenly Hazelnut Pancakes (vegan) try it!
Malaysian Laksa-style Soup (vegan) try it!
My Nan's Vegan Apple Pie try it!
Smokey Aubergine Dip with Golden Garlic Flatbreads (vegan) try it!
Tabouleh-Style Salad with Hot Griddled Basil Tofu (vegan) try it!
Beetroot and Chilli Burger (vegan) try it!
Sweet Potato and Chilli Empanadas (vegan) try it!
Super Shoots & Seeds Salad with Omegas & Protein (vegan) try it!

BOOKS & MAGZINES

Vegan food can be as creative as your imagination allows!


The Vegan Lifestyle Association offers a great page of books and magazines to inspire you.


Get the list here.

WEBSITES

Vegan Lifestyle Association features dozens of vegan recipes by the UKs top vegan food bloggers.


Easy vegan meal ideas - a great resource for getting started!


Recipe image search.


Recipe text search.




Fettle Vegan
This is where it all started for me - my interest in rethinking vegan cooking was peaked by the discovery that people were making coconut 'bacon'! (No it isn't an urban myth!) And I knew then that anything was possible...
Simple ideas, lovely photos and great writing.



Go Dairy Free
I found this site when I succumbed to the charms of its 'coca cola cake with fudge frosting' recipe - the picture alone had me reaching for my cake tin... If you love baking and love delicious cake then this is a recipe you simply must try! And its also a cake to feed non-veggies - who will be amazed at just how wonderful it is. There are 1 or 2 meatie recipes here, but most are veggie/vegan and the homemade dairy alternative page is quite an interesting read.

Veggieboards
This is a user driven site as the name implies. I found it through their useful guide to stocking a vegan pantry - but some of the input recipes look wonderful and better still you get to interact with other vegan cooks, get recipe advice and share ideas.

Vegan Baking.net
The apple spice cake caught my attention on this site as we always have a few apples looking forlorn in the fruit bowl. But beyond this, when I started reading the site it gave me total hope for a future in baking vegan-style! You would think that removing butter, milk, dairy and eggs would mean no baking ever again? Turns out they're not needed at all and this site will prove it to you!

Veg News
This e-zine is quite a varied and interesting read. It was their article on how to veganise different foods / recipes that first drew me to it and I then discovered some really lovely dishes that look divine. I like its light contemporary style.

The Gourmet Vegan
Intrigued by how to make a vegan quiche I found this site to have the answer! It's quite a different site in that it contains some very classical style dishes - so will suit you if you love this style of cooking. But the content is thorough and very user friendly so it will even have the French saying 'ooh la la' over it's wholly vegan cuisine :)

Chocolate and Beyond
Originally a weight loss concept, the author of this site has now gone vegan and shares some wonderful info with us all such as how to make a chilli bean and carrot burger for just 11p and homemade vegan mayo! (I must get round to making this - it's my all time fave condiment). The site is great for those who love to read something that reflects real life, written by a real person.


Tree Hugger
This site is actually a mixed bag of very interesting ethical info - check the 'Living' tab for recipes. I came across it whilst looking for wasy to make my favourite condiment - Mayonnaise and they had a recipe for 3 ways to make it! Yay!


C-a-l-f
Any website that has a seperate section for Vegan curry recipes is good by me! Lots of other good stuff here and the site as a whole is full of interesting Vegan info.

BLOGS

Lunch Box Bunch (Kathy Patalsky)
This is a beautiful site with fresh ideas that will have you racing to the fridge. Kathy has written a book on smoothies and also founded www.findingvegan.com which has some stunning recipes all well described and with beautiful photography. It must take a long time for her to produce this info and its wonderful. She is also very approachable online - and will tweet / email you back willingly. That's what its all about!

The Vegan Kitchen
As with coconut bacon, when I heard about vegan 'Parmesan' it was a bit of a must-try, because I was really missing Parmesan sprinkled on all my pasta dishes. This recipe proved to be a great idea and a batch of this tasty topping is now pretty much always in my fridge. There aren't a vast amount of recipes on this blog but it's a sweet little site written by a lovely real home cook.



Mondays are Meatless
This is a lovely little blog written by a Canadian family - one of whom is vegan, one veggie and one trying it! Click on 'Recipes only' rhs for the food stuff. I was tempted by their vegan icecream cake and am now looking for an occasion to go and make it! Yum.