Vegan pizza night

I have always loved a good old domino's. The other evening me and my boyfriend came across an article that said if you order the domino's thin crust without cheese you could make a vegan pizza. So immediately we got on the phone to our local domino's to see if this wonderful news was true. Sadly it was not and it left us with shattered dreams of pizza. So we then planned a pizza night to make up for our disappointment. We knew how to make a base and really enjoy creating our own food, so the date was set. This was the result and my god was it worth the wait. So I'm now going to give you the best and simplest vegan pizza base and a whole load of ideas to make your pizza night great.

First off this is the recipe, this makes around 4 slices but we multiplied it by three because we're pigs and got too excited. You will need. 

125g Strong Flour
1 Tsp Salt
7g Instant Yeast
75ml of warm water

The method goes like this. 
Mix your flour, yeast and salt in a bowl, then make a little well in the middle and add your warm water. Mix this all together with a wooden spoon or hands and then kneed on a floured surface for around 5 minutes. Then its time to let this beauty prove. Leave it in a warm area in the bowl until it rises. Ours took at least 15-20 minutes. Cover it with a clean tea towel. See, simple. 

Now it comes to my favourite part, toppings. There is absolutely no need for cheese on a pizza, sounds strange I know, but its true. Some of the best pizzas Ive ever eaten have been cheese less. This time we did use some. we chose violife original which is actually really good, it melts well and doesn't go all chalky. My favourite base is a pesto but you can use BBQ sauce, tomato puree, brown sauce, hummus, caramelised red onions. You can literally just push that boat out. For me there must be pineapple and sweetcorn when it comes to toppings here are some other ideas

• Spinach 
• Mushrooms
• Peppers
• Asparagus
• Tender stem broccoli 
• Tomato's
• Onions
• Courgette
• Pine nuts
• Walnuts 
• Spring onions
• Garlic
• Fresh basil
• Mixed herbs

 but honestly apart from veggies there's a whole range of vegan goodies to put on top. In Holland and Barrett they have peperoni style slices, chorizo style bites, mozzarella style cheeses, chicken style strips, hot dogs (which you could slice up), ham style slices, chicken style slices. Go mental. One massive thing to remember is that stuffing a crust is easy and is the best thing that could ever happen on pizza night. Just grate up your best cheese or pop in your favourite sausage. Just place around the edge of the pizza and fold over, you could use a spot of water to seal it. 

Something else you could do is make up some garlic and herb wedges or even make a garlic butter to do a garlic bread on a pizza base. Get something nice to drink, invite your friends over and make a night of it. 

Enjoy!!

Vegan Lasagna midweek treat.

Lasagna is a lovely midweek meal and it's even better when you know that its completely cruelty free. Without garlic bread its absolutely syn free as well and it also contains some speed food. So if you're on slimming world that's fab. Make some nice wedges or a big salad or both. Chill out with something nice to drink and maybe a bit of your favourite show. Serve it on a romantic night in or make it for your family as a healthy low fat dinner. Either way you need it!

So lets get down to making it. 

Ingredients: 

For the sauce:
One tin of chopped tomatoes
Two tins of sweetcorn
One garlic clove 
1/2 tsp of salt 
Pinch of pepper 

For the rest:
Lasagna sheets 
Two garlic cloves 
Veggie mince 
Tin of chopped tomatoes 
One vegetable stock cube 
A hand full of chopped mushrooms, use as many as you like, I used 6.
One large onion
Salt to taste 
Tsp of dried basil
Red pepper optional.

First of all chuck your chopped onions into a pan. Spray them with fry light or use oil if your not a slimmer and fry them until they start to become clear. Then throw in your mushrooms and red pepper and fry for another minute or two. Pop your veggie mince in and mix all together. After another couple of minutes add your tomatoes and crumble in your stock cube, minced garlic and basil.
While you're mince fries put all of your sauce ingredients into a blender and blend together until smooth. 

Now layer up just like you would a normal lasagna. Mince then pasta then sauce. Repeat until your last layer was sauce and pop it into a 200 c oven. The sauce on top will crust and be delish. 

Enjoy!

We all scream for nice cream

This week I lost another three and a half pound's at slimming world, meaning I'm practically transparent. I was craving something naughty, so for a celebration this was the perfect treat. Technically this is called a "tweak" because I'm taking away the filling quality of the banana by blending it. In fairness its not like I can have that many of the free foods so I'm calling this free. It uses a teaspoon of choc shot which is half a syn. It went down so well and I'll be making it again for sure because in fairness nice cream is an amazing substitute for ice cream. Its no where near as bad for you, in fact its pretty good for you, so that's a plus! The pictures not great but we'll make the most of it guys.

This is probably the easiest recipe that's ever happened apart from toast.

• 3-4 bananas cut into small pieces and frozen overnight.
• A hand full of strawberries or fruit of choice. You could even use frozen fruit.
• choc shot or other low syn sauce. choc shot is proper amazing though and you can get loads of flavours like chocolate orange and hazelnut.
• Splash of vanilla extract 

You need a food processor ideally but some blenders manage. Just give it a go.

Get that frozen banana out, chick it into your food processor and blend away with a splash of vanilla. You will need to give it time to become a smooth creamy consistency. Then whack it in a pretty glass and shove some strawberries or frozen fruit in layers. I used the choc shot to cover the inside of the glass so its all the way through.

Pop something fancy on top and scoff your chops.

Pasta and meatballs vegan cheat

An all time favourite of mine was pasta and meatballs, full on comfort food. It's a meal that I missed, so I improvised and made a vegan cheats pasta and meatballs that's quick, easy and filling. Its also only 4.5 syns on slimming world if you're interested. Snuggle up on the sofa with a big bowl of this to warm you up whilst watching your favourite show.

Ingredients:

One can of chopped tomatoes

One stock cube

One large onion diced

One clove of garlic minced

3 Linda McCartney sausages

½ tsp of dried basil or fresh would be lovely also.

6 white closed cup mushrooms diced

Oil or fry light to fry the onions (fry light is syn free)

Pasta of your choice.

Optional:

Extra garlic

Red pepper thinly sliced

Cheese to top (violife prosociano parmesan is great) 

I used the original sausages which are 1.5 syns each but these two are amazing also. The chorizo ones are 0.5 syns each and the red onion ones are free on slimming world.

Method:

Put your pasta on to cook, then put your sausages into a 200 c oven for around 15 minutes. Whilst they are cooking fry your onions and mushrooms until soft. Add your chopped tomatoes, the stock cube, minced garlic and basil. When the sausages are ready, chop them into meatball sizes and chuck them into your sauce for another few minutes. By now your pasta should be ready, so strain and serve! Quick, easy and amaze. 

Pumpkin and coconut soup

When I was a young boy I always looked forward to autumn. I loved wrapping up warm when the nights drew in and the smells of the changing seasons in the air. My family was on that got excited about Halloween and bonfire night, as bonfire night is also my mothers birthday, and one thing that was a constant in the years growing up was her fantastic pumpkin soup. Unfortunately her recipe was not vegan or I would have found a way to persuade her into giving it to me. So over the past few years I have been making my own soup and now this autumn warmer recipe is my yearly addition to the season and is a perfect accompaniment for any Halloween or bonfire night get together. It's rich creamy and filling and will not leave you disappointed. So weather your huddled around a bonfire or watching some scary movies with friends be sure to have this to keep you cosy.

Ingredients:

• One large onion.
• 500g of pumpkin, peeled and diced. 
• 500ml of vegetable stock. 
• Two tablespoons of coconut cream scooped from the top of the coconut milk, more if you fancy.
• Oil or fry light. 
• Tsp of salt. 
• One clove of garlic minced.
• Pepper to taste.

Method:

Gently fry the onions in the oil or fry light on a low heat until they loose their colour, then add the diced pumpkin and fry with the onions. 

Whilst they fry, boil 500ml of water and stir the stock into it. 

Now the pumpkin has some colour add the stock, minced garlic, coconut cream and salt. 

Bring to the boil and then let simmer for 25 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.

Now its time to blend it all together in a blender or food processor and serve with some lovely fresh bread and lots of dairy free spread. 

Tip: To be flashy, Scoop out the flesh from the pumpkin and then use the empty pumpkin to serve.