Holistic Vegan

Pasta bake has long been one of my favourite winter comfort foods, providing a warming and easy cooking option at the end of a long, cold day. The only problem was when I changed to a vegan diet, I had terrible trouble finding vegan friendly pasta bake sauces. All my favourite brands were full of dairy so I went without for some time. As I tend to cook everything from scratch nowadays and that can be tiring, I went in search of vegan friendly pasta bake sauces again recently. I didn't find any. Thankfully I remember a tip from a friend years ago who told me you could basically use any jar of pasta sauce as a pasta bake if you want to. With that in mind, I bought a couple of basic, accidentally vegan pasta sauces and had a go at making my favourite dish. They were nice, but not as creamy as I remembered pasta bake being, so I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands! I've included both my versions of the recipe so you can make this completely from scratch, or using

Vegan gravy that tastes like proper gravy! With Christmas just around the corner, and the days drawing in, I thought this was a good time to share my gravy recipes with you. Especially as shopping is a bit more difficult at the moment, this is a very simple but stunningly delicious gravy recipe that you can whip up with a few cupboard essentials. No more panicking when you run out of Bisto! This recipe does use wheat flour, so if you need a gluten or wheat free option, try my Onion Gravy recipe. Although not quite instant, this is very fast to make, so I recommend not preparing this until near the end of your cooking time.  I'm something of a gravy lover, and although I'm from the South of England I do make quite a lot of it! I am quite fussy though, it needs to have a good flavour with real depth and I like it THICK! Gravy makes anything comfort food for me, and I've most recently been pouring this over some homemade root vegetable pasties. Although it might seem intimidat

  I'm really excited to share this news with you all - I've finally made the leap and started a podcast to support all my spiritual & holistic peeps during these challenging times.  2020 has been one heck of a year for all of us, and I felt that there wasn't enough support and positive encouragement for those of us undergoing huge spiritual transformations, sensing the giant shifts and trying to hold the space for everyone else to evolve and ascend.  So the Spiritual Support crew podcast was born! Episode 1 - Holding the Vision is now available on the following platforms:  Anchor Breaker Google Podcasts   PocketCasts RadioPublic Spotify

The humble cornflour (cornstarch) has always been a staple in my kitchen, and I really don't know where I'd be without it sometimes! It's an unassuming white powder, reminiscent of talc (and yes you can use it as a natural talc - I do!) that I recommend always having in your cupboards.  It's a simple, cheap and gluten free and way to thicken sauces, stews, gravies and more.  If you're cooking a disk like a curry or a chili and it's a little bit too watery and you don't have time to reduce the sauce any further, then cornflour is here to save the day. The way to use it is incredibly simple - mix 1-2 tsp cornflour with a dash of cold water and mix together to form a thin paste that looks a bit like single cream.  It also makes your sauces a little lighter in colour and creamier, but without all the calories of actual cream! Here are three simple ways to thicken your sauces. Adding cornflour to a pan on the hob Bring your dish, sauce or  gravy to a simmer, and

 I've always loved a good chili, and as the weather is turning here in the UK and the days are getting colder, I'm finding myself fancying warm comfort foods more and more.  This is my version of the classic chili con carne, which translates from Spanish as chili with meat. I don't eat meat, I amended the name to "chili sin carne" or "chili without meat" which I think is a better name for a bean chili! This is a very easy and low cost meal that you can also make in the slow cooker in about 2.5 to 3 hours, so it's one that I use quite frequently because it's convenient and easy too. As with all my recipes, there is lots of room for you to tweak it, add ingredients you like or try new things and I would encourage you to do so. Most of my recipes are born from me basically trying stuff to see what tastes good, and the best recipes are the ones that we adjust for our personal tastes.  This dish goes very well with tortillas, boiled rice or on a jacke

I've tried a lot of oat biscuit recipes in the past, and some of them were really disappointing - I love oats in flapjack, but to make an oat biscuit I will enjoy, you really have your work cut out! These cookies are surprisingly nice, firm and not too "cakey" with a good spice mix and plump, juicy raisins. I was surprised how much I liked them, so I wanted to share this recipe with you all. I learned a few years ago that you should soak your raisins in water for 30 minutes then drain before adding to scone, cookie or flapjack recipes. It helps to stop them from burning or going too hard and getting stuck in your teeth. It really does make a difference so I recommend doing that for this recipe too.  This is a nice recipe for the end of the month when your cupboards are looking a little bare, and you've spent your budget, but you'd like something sweet to eat. You'll note I use flax egg for this recipe as I think it lends itself well to these cookies, but feel

Anyone who has ever been to my house and seen my spice cupboard will know that I'm a HUGE fan of all things Indian in the kitchen! This is my version of one of my favourite Indian breads. I've loved naan bread even since I first tasted it, and the shop bought ones are rarely very good so I decided it was time for a good quality vegan recipe to make at home. After a little research, I came up with this recipe which is always a hit.  This recipe doesn't use yeast, so it's quick to make and useful for anyone who can't tolerate yeast.  I use soya yoghurt for this recipe, but you should be able to substitute for a different plant-based yoghurt if you can't eat soya. You can actually omit this ingredient entirely, but the yoghurt makes for much fluffier and more moist breads so it's well worth adding.  The nigella seeds are the secret ingredient here that give these breads their authentic flavour, so these are well worth investing in if you don't have any. A s