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...

These are definitely a favourite of mine, and in a year when everyone has been baking their own bread I thought this was one to share! I only use organic wheat now, as I explained in my blog Why I'm No Longer Wheat Free  and this is a recipe for wheat flour only.  If you are wheat & gluten free by necessity, you can find different flatbreads on this blog including Gram Flour Flatbreads  and Millet Flatbreads  and you can of course make traditional Corn Tortillas instead of wheat ones. I really like these, and they are quick and easy to whip up when you're a bit short of ingredients! Ideal for accompanying curries, chili, houmous and dips, these are a favourite in our household. Tortilla recipes tend to give you quite small flatbreads, not like the giant ones you may be accustomed to buying in the supermarket.  I normally use this recipe to make 6 flatbreads because I like mine on the large size, but you can make 8 smaller ones. Ingredients  9oz / 250g P...

I've been addicted to these for brunch at the weekend ever since I went to stay with my friend Alexis when I was 14.  Her Mum (who was a loveable vegetarian hippy) made these amazing pancakes and I vowed to learn how to make them one day! When you think of pancakes, you generally think of all kinds of non-vegan ingredients like butter, dairy milk, eggs, but the good news is that you don't need any of those things to make stunning pancakes. Serve these up to guests and they'll have no idea they're vegan! This recipe works very nicely with gram flour too - it does have a slightly different flavour to wheat flour so I like to make the cinnamon or banana variation if I'm not using wheat. I personally prefer to use Orgran No Egg egg replacer for this recipe, but it will work with flax eggs or your preferred egg replacement too. Just make sure you adjust the water accordingly (see below.) Dry Ingredients 7 oz / 200g Self Raising Flour (For Gluten free you can use gram flo...

Whilst this is a store cupboard staple for many of our friends across the pond, this was something that I had to research this year as I've never had it before!  Spoiler alert - it doesn't contain any actual pumpkin 😁 The ingredients were mostly the same in all the recipes I researched with the exception of one ingredient - Allspice. It seems that some people add it and some don't.  I didn't have any in my cupboard when I made my spice mix, so I omitted it and the spice mix is still delicious, so you can do without it. I've used larger quantities than many of the recipes out there, because I do a lot of home baking and I didn't see any point in only making a small batch! So here is my quick and easy recipe for Pumpkin Spice Mix for use in all your Autumn baking... Ingredients 4 tbsp Ground Cinnamon 2 tbsp Ground Ginger 1 tbsp Ground Cloves 2 tsp Ground Nutmeg 1 tbsp Allspice (optional) Method Mix all the spices together and store in a tightly sealed jar.  Can b...

Pumpkin madness is still quite a new thing in the UK, and when I was a child Halloween was something that happened across the pond.   I'm relatively new to the whole pumpkins spice thing, but I have to say it's a spice mix that I find very enjoyable so I decided to make some cookies as we are streaking towards the vernal equinox and the cooler weather has arrived. Whilst the ingredients include golden syrup, this is a surprisingly easy dough to handle that doesn't stick to your hands nor does it require chilling before use. As an impatient soul, this is a bonus for me and keeps the preparation time down too. These lovely cookies also retain a little chewiness in the centre and are excellent dunkers.  If you don't have access to ready mixed pumpkin spice, it's very simple to make. I've included a Pumpkin Spice Mix recipe here  and you may be surprised to find you already have the ingredients for in your kitchen cupboards! You'll need two baking trays for this...

I wanted to share some information that can help you earn some money for doing very little.  A few years ago I heard about the Brave browser and after a while I decided to finally install it and give it a go. Brave is all about privacy, they don't track you and they block ad trackers and ultimately save you a bit of time and bandwidth with pages loading faster. The best thing though, is the option to earn cryptocurrency for using the browser. They show you a few ads now and then, which I find quite unobtrusive, and you earn BAT or 'Basic Attention Tokens' every month for the privilege. I thought I'd give it a go, because why not? I wasn't expecting to earn much, but after just over a year of using Brave as the main browser on both my phone and laptop, I've just realised that I've earned the equivalent to 30$ US! Pretty good! If you have a website, you can also sigh up to be a Brave creator and earn BAT when people visit your site. They can also tip you in BA...

2020 is shaping up to be quite a year eh? It truly is the year of 2020 vision where everything becomes clear and we have the opportunity to see the world for what it really is, and to see other people for who they truly are. The following video is a public service annoucement - please like, comment subscribe and of course share!

Like many other people across the world right now, I am now working from home full time and the authorities do not want me to see any clients in person.  I count myself among the lucky ones who are still able to work and earn a living right now, and my heart goes out to those who are left struggling financially or emotionally as we enter week three of being shut in our houses. The biggest thing that has jumped out at me about all this, is the sheer amount of fear and panic, and the harm this is doing to people. Fear is a powerful emotion, and it can be a useful one. All our emotions have their place, and serve as messengers to tell us something we need to know, or to think about. The problem we have now, is that many people have found themselves 'stuck' in panic or fear and have nowhere to go with those difficult emotions.  As a general rule I avoid watching the news like the plague, but even I felt myself being pulled into the fear vortex as my own country was on the...

I still can't believe that I haven't posted this recipe on here until today! I was searching for this recipe to make a batch for myself today, having recently discovered that I'm able to eat organic wheat flours, and I realised that it's actually some time since I made these.  Here's a batch I made in 2014 before I came up with the genius idea of adding chocolate chips ^_^ Up until recently, I've been sticking to the tummy friendly coconut flour version of this recipe (which I will post very soon too) which is also delicious even for those who aren't wheat or gluten free! This is one of my go to recipes at the end of the month when I'm running out of food and fancy a little treat. The peanut butter could be substituted with another nut butter if you prefer, and you can mix it up a bit by adding chopped nuts, replacing the chocolate chips with sultanas or anything else you have left in the store cupboard. Go wild and use whatever you fancy!...

I'm really excited to share this news with you, but I felt it was important as it could help other people finding themselves with the painful symptoms of a swollen, achy tummy that I endured for a number of years until I realised that I had a problem with my diet. I went wheat free almost a year ago as I announced in my blog Is it time to Ditch Wheat? on May 19th 2019. I did however wonder and discuss in the article the possibility that our favourite grain was being made indigestible by a number of factors - the cooking method and more importantly the now common practice of using glyphosate as a desiccant on wheat crops to maximise yield. Since then, I do still have the occasional Gregg's sausage roll which I always regret two days later when the painful symptoms show up. Sometimes it's worth it because they're so darned delicious...but as a general rule, I've stayed wheat free as far as possible. A few weeks ago, I remembered the curious story told to me by ...

It's that time of year again, and although I'm a couple of days late for Shrove Tuesday (always been a rebel!) I wanted to share my pancake recipe with you ready for the weekend.  Not everyone has the time or energy to stand over a hot stove making pancakes on a school night, and let's be honest it does take some time to do. I like to heat up a dinner plate in the oven to put mine onto straight out of the pan, so they stay warm before serving. One of those little plate warmers they use in Indian restaurants with a tealight to keep dishes warm would work pretty well too. I used organic plain flour for this recipe as I've found my tummy is quite happy with that - it seems my suspicions that it was pesticides upsetting my tummy rather than the wheat itself were founded! To read more about this hop on over to my blog about wheat and why it may be causing havok with your stomach. I've used vegan margarine here because I prefer the flavour, but you can use v...

Took a little trip into town to see if I could find an adequate deodorant as I've run out of my favourite one from Lush! I'm also looking to replace my plastic storage containers with glass & metal alternatives, so the charity shops are a great place to start. I really want a big cheese bell! Subway have just brought out their Vegan Meatball Marinara AND there's a gluten free bun option - check it out!

Now you won't often hear me bemoaning my diet, because to be honest I love being vegan and wouldn't change it for the world.  Something I have really missed since going vegan however is decent ice cream.  Even in today's veganuary-gripped world, the vegan options in the freezer cabinets are still woefully limited and horrifyingly expensive. Last summer I promised to buy myself an ice cream maker and have a go myself, but I never managed to muster the cash or the enthusiasm for it.  But now things have changed - I've discovered a way to make a whole array of frozen desserts without an ice cream maker and I'm hooked! Now spoiler alert - you do need some specialist equipment for this, but few vegan households are without one. Yes, you know what I'm about to say - this recipe uses a high powered blender. As a vegan who has always been on a budget, I balked at the prices of some of the branded blenders by Vitamix and others. Much as I'm sure they'...

Anyone who knows me will know that I like cards - I mean I REALLY like them. I probably have about 30 packs of various tarot, oracle & angel cards by this point, and I have no plans on stopping! After all, being a professional psychic they are the tools of my trade and technically tax deductible... Anyhoo, as a card reader, I'm often asked which packs are best. Now that's as difficult to answer as which flavour of icecream is best, but there definitely are some pros and cons to different decks, and it's good to know what might suit you before you take the plunge and spend your money. I was lucky enough to be given the Angel Tarot Cards by Radleigh Valentine at the end of last year, so I've reviewed them for you in a new YouTube video below...