Holistic Vegan

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

In my search for wheat free bread products a couple of years ago, I stumbled upon Masa Harina.  I was originally hunting for recipes for cornbread, having never tried it and thinking it could be a useful staple to replace the wheat I'm no longer able to eat. Masa Harina is dried corn dough, often called corn flour, but not to be mistaken for the cornflour we use for thickening sauces here in the UK! I've also had a go at making corn tortillas with Masa Harina and they are really stunning.  I'm also working on sweet and savoury cornbread receipes for you all that I'll share soon. All in all, Masa harina is now one of my favourite non-wheat flours to work with. Arepas are small fried corn cakes that are traditionally eaten in South America. They are often sliced in half and filled. I've tried a few different fillings, including tomato & mustard, vegan sausage and vegan cheese and they make a pretty good wheat free replacement for a muffin or savoury bun

Well it may be May here, but the weather doesn't seem to realise this, so I'm posting one of my favourite winter warmers to keep your tootsies warm on these chilly spring nights! Double carrot and coriander soup is my twist on a classic recipe that I accidentally created (I meant  to add cumin - oops!) and instantly loved. It's very yummy and warming too, so I know you're going to love it. This was also one of the recipes that I first put up on my YouTube channel as part of my Veganuary series in 2017: This video also features Dylan the Cat who is sadly no longer with us, but thankfully even without his "assistance" you can still make a success of this simple recipe. I normally use my slow cooker for recipes like this one, but I've also included instructions for making it on the hob. You could even make it in a microwave at a push. Ingredients 1 tbsp oil (if used - omit to make recipe oil free) 1 medium onion (add two for extra fl

This is an interesting recipe that I tried for the first time recently. Some people call this one a tortilla, but I personally found that the texture is more like a crepe than a true tortilla, and the slightly nutty flavour goes just as nicely with sweet fillings like vegan chocolate spread as it does savoury. It definitely rolls and folds nicely if you want to make a wrap, so that's a huge bonus. It's also tasty, high in protein and low in fat, gluten free and super cheap to make, so well worth a go in my opinion. The process to make them can seem rather lengthy, and it seems like a lot of effort for a few flatbreads, but this is a useful recipe to have to hand if you've run out of other ingredients and need an alternative to having to spend money at the end of the month! You will need quite a powerful blender for this one, so have your Vitamix at the ready! Ingredients 200g (1 cup) Red Lentils (split peas) 500ml (2 cups) Cold water 1tsp Salt Method R

A newly made batch of Burmese Tofu, cooling in the tin. I've accumulated quite a lot of exotic recipes since going vegan, but this one has to be one of my favourites, and as it only needs 3 low cost ingredients, it's a brilliant vegan hack too! Much as I really like the normal soya tofu products, tofu can be expensive and it's not something my rather tight budget can stretch to very frequently as I'd like. I came across Burmese tofu for the first time in Autumn last year, and I absolutely love it. It's easy to make, cheap and has a really satisfying texture that reminds me of boiled eggs. And best of all, it's made using one of my favourite vegan and wheat free ingredients - gram flour. The texture is firmer than silken soya tofu, but softer than the firmer varieties. And a word of warning - don't try to put it in a tofu press to make it firmer, that won't work. (I've tried, it was messy!) This tofu can be cut into slices or cubes, an