Holistic Vegan

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

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'

Risotto has to be one of my favourite dinners these days - it's easy to make (especially the slow cooker method!) and can be made with leftovers in the cupboards too! This is a recipe that can be made oil free quite easily, especially if you're using a slow cooker. Serves 2-3   Ingredients: 4 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed 250g Chestnut Mushrooms 100g Asparagus tips 1 ¼ cups/220g Arborio rice 1 cup/250ml vegan white wine (plus more for drinking later) 3 ¼ cups/810ml hot vegetable stock (I use 2 stock cubes and boiling water) Method: Warm the olive oil on a medium heat in a large frying pan or non-stock wok and chop the onion, mushrooms & asparagus. Fry gently until tender and the onions are translucent and slightly yellow in colour, then add the garlic and gently fry for a couple more minutes. Reduce the heat and add the rice to the frying pan and stir until it’s completely covere