Photos from Cat's potluck

Brian is skiing on the Nintendo Wii...
Morven's walnut banana loaf...
Penny's chocolate cake- recipe here
Just desserts(because we ate the starters and mains before I remembered to take photos!)
Isla, Cat and Brian's dog

Dad Brian and daughter Bree...

Potluck Food, and (more) wedding talk!

I'm going to a Yahoo! Scottish Vegans' group potluck tomorrow, and I'm bringing this chocolate and coconut fudge. I used this 3 minute fudge recipe here with all coconut oil, and replaced the chopped nuts with dessicated coconut. I then lined the bottom of my tray with more dessicated coconut, then after spreading the fudge in, sprinkled even more coconut on top.

So I do hope everyone likes coconut- especially as the savoury dish I'm bringing is a mixed veg and mushroom korma!

I'm still wedding planning, and will be looking into booking a table at a venue for an all-vegan meal after our wedding this week- I've been emailing a few local hotels and restaurants asking if it was do-able, and The Watermill and Raeburns@ Ashtree House Hotel have gotten back to me saying they could cater for vegans- which might be handy for you to know if you ever need to book a table in the Paisley area!

Jay had been looking to hire a vegan kilt but we've been tring to find a hire service without any luck unfortunately- now there's a niche in the market if anyone is thinking of starting up their own business, kilt hire for vegans and vegetarians!

He's now decided he'll probably wear a suit instead, but I'm still going to post some of the information I've found on here in case anyone else reading finds it useful...

George, a member of the Scottish Vegans group(whom some of you who read The Vegan may recognise from the front cover of the Autumn 2009 edition wearing his kilt!) told me he got his tartan from Marton Mills, it's a polyester viscose named "Caledonia" from their Balmoral Range. His is a "Great Kilt" and here are instructions on how to fold it-

http://www.garbtheworld.com/pgs/foldkilt.html

Plus you-tube video instructions here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jE__DYSM6U

Some kilt tailors will also make you your very own bespoke kilt using a non-woolen tartan but of course this is very pricey.

Although many of the cheaper casual kilts available from tourist shops are not woolen, all of them we've come across do however have leather straps so unfortunately are not vegan friendly.

Vegan Sporrans to buy and belts- http://www.vegansporrans.co.uk/catalog/index.html

Bespoke vegan sporrans, kilt straps and belts- http://sporran-nation.co.uk/vegan.html

Cappuccino Cupcakes- with recipe! :)

200g self-raising flour
150g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp instant coffee
190ml hot water
110ml sunflower oil

-preheat oven to 180C

-make coffee by adding the hot water to the 3tsp instant coffee

-line a 12-cake tray with cupcake liners

-sift together dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients, and whisk

-spoon batter into liners, then bake for 22 minutes

-leave to cool then ice if desired


Icing recipe-

1/8 cup Pure marge
2 tbsp soya milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups icing sugar

-mix together then spread over cakes

- you can garnish these cakes using cocoa powder sprinkled on top, or alternatively grate chocolate over them, or pop on some chocolate-covered coffee beans. Best served with a nice cuppa! :)

Hope you enjoy these cupcakes if you decide to try them out! :)

In other news Jay and I have set a date for our wedding- 24th of August this year, and I've found my dress at last! It's a completely vegan heavy jersey material, but I'm not going to tell you readers any more than that, you'll have to wait for the photos! ;)

I've been getting a lot of spam comments left on this blog lately for me to moderate, is anyone else using blogger having this bother? At least, I think they're spam, as they're written in some sort of asian-looking script which I can't actually translate! Spam fail.

Illustrated Recipe- Fridge Cake

Live cooking action photos by Jay!

You will need...

8oz vegan digestive biscuits(I use Morrisons' Value ones)
4oz vegan margarine
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 heaped tbsp syrup
2 bars of plain chocolate
dried fruits and nuts of your choice(optional)

Crush the biscuits into crumbsMelt the marge, sugar, cocoa and syrup in a pan. Now add the biscuits to the melted mixture
Now press into a sandwich tin then put into fridge to set (should only take 20 mins)
Melt the chocolate bar over a bain marie(or a makeshift bain marie using a pan and a pyrex dish like I did!)Spread melted chocolate with optional added fruit or nuts (I used almonds and dried cherries) over the biscuit mixtureNow press more nuts, like these walnuts, on to to garnish if desired, then ut back in fridge to set

...Voila, you have a fridge cake! Slice into pieces and serve!

Chocolate Chilli Recipe (as brought to potluck)

(serves 2-4)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

75g textured vegetable protein OR vegemince

1 ts yeast extract(eg, marmite, vegemite or equivalent)

1 can chopped tomatoes

2tbsp tomato puree

1 tin red kidney beans, drained

3/4- 1 1/2 heaped tsp chilli flakes(to taste)

1-2 squares high cocoa content(minimum 70% cocoa, the higher the better!) dark chocolate

optional vegetables (you could use chopped mushrooms, jalapeno peppers(sparingly! They're hot, so cut the chilli powder content!) or bell peppers)

Top Tip!- if someone you’re cooking for is a spice wimp and doesn't like their chilli quite so burn-the-roof-of-mouth-and-make-eyes-water hot as the others, the solution to this, is to move their milder portion of the chilli to a seperate pot once you've cooked it, then add extra spice to the other pot, then let simmer separately. Just remember which one’s which!

-saute onion and garlic (and vegetables if using) in olive oil until transparent

-add tin of chopped tomatoes, vegetable protein, kidney beans, tomato puree, stock, chilli flakes, yeast extract, and chocolate, and bring to the boil, simmer for 15 mins and serve!

~ideal served with rice, tortillas or other grains~

~alternatively, omit tvp and use a drained can of chickpeas or other beans, to make a bean chilli~

Honest Scrap!

I've been nominated for an honest scrap award by Penny at Scottish Vegan Homemaker and DJ at Skint Vegan- so thank you both!

The rules of the award are simple:
1) Thank the lovely person who has nominated you and link back to them. Thanks again both of you! :)
2) Tell your readers 10 honest things about yourself.
3) Link to other blogs you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap and whose blog you find brilliant in design and/or concept.

So here's my honest scrap.

1- Pink Wafers are my latest food addiction! I've just discovered some of them are vegan(I'd always assumed they contained milk) so I'm making up for lost time, and am shovelling into some as I type!

2- I'm trying to grow my hair for my wedding(and to enjoy after it as well!), and as long as it looks nice and healthy, I'd like to get it down to my waist. Much easier and lazier than that traditional bride-to-be ritual of going on a diet and having a goal weight!

3- When I go shopping I tend to tidy things up- must be because I'm frustrated at people leaving stuff in a mess at their backside at work!

4- Hubby-to-be Jay is my toyboy at just 27- I'm 30 this September. And I do not feel nearly that old!

5- I love gently massaging Fudge the cat's front paws, and he loves having them massaged and puts them in my lap to be done! This makes Jay jealous as he also loves receiving foot and hand massages and asks if he'd get his done more often if they were covered in fur and he purred!

6- Despite being a vegan, I love all things vampire-related, from Buffy to Twilight to Anne Rice, and I watched Count Duckula, the Vegetarian Vampire duck when I was a kid! I'm currently reading the Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris(which the True Blood TV series was based on). I like werewolves too!

7- I honestly never imagined myself getting married- always thought I'd end up a crazy cat lady spinster type!

8- I have lots of things in the cupboard that I've bought for trying out a complex recipe I've read somewhere, and never got round to doing yet. I usually manage to squeeze in the recipe just before it's due to go past it's sell-by date!

9- My handbag carries a lot of nonsense, from a variety of medicines to an umbrella to a book currently being read and sometimes if I'm near the end, the next one in case I finish the first one before I get home, but I'm not taking anything out and making it lighter because I carry all these things "just in case" and if I do, I'll probably regret it!

10- I have a great memory for trivia and can often answer obscure questions on game shows etc, but anything important I'll probably forget!

My nominations are

Darmok The Green -

Kitchen Dancing -

Skint Vegan -

Scottish Vegan Homemaker-

Half Pint Pixie-

Two Vegan Boys-

I'm getting married!!!!!!!!!1111!

I apologise to readers for not mentioning my engagement earlier, as I was engaged in November, I actually thought I had, although Penny did mention it in a reply to one of my posts! Jay proposed after he went shopping while I'd been at work, and said he'd bought me an early xmas present, then gave me this box......Which had this card inside...
He had looked at rings, but wasn't sure what style I'd like, so he wanted to take me shopping to pick my own. So I chose this ring, which is tanzanite(Jay's birthstone) with diamonds on white gold...
:) :) :) :) :) :) :D !!!

We haven't set a date yet, although we would like to get married ASAP, and are currently looking into the details(venues, dresses, honeymoon destinations...). It's going to be a small and intimate wedding, close family only, in a registry office because we're both atheists, and we're going to go for a meal after it(vegan of course!).

I've been looking at dresses, and so many wedding dresses have silk in them, but I have seen a few I've liked that don't and are vegan-friendly. This 100% polyester number from Debut @ Debenhams is my current frontrunner , although they didn't have a size 12 in stock. I tried a size 10 on, which I liked although it was a little too small, so I'm really hoping the 12 fits and I'm not, as I often irritatingly find to be the case, a perfect size 11!

A close runner up, which was a perfect fit and also my mum's favourite out of everything I'd tried on, was this dress here, also Debenhams Debut. I'd highly recommend a look in Debenhams Debut to vegan brides to be as they have a lot of non-silk vegan-friendly fabrics in their collection.

BHS is also worth a look as they have lots of animal friendly fabrics too, although nothing I tried on was a good fit on me- but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be the case for everyone, as I should mention that I wear an unusual bra size anyway. I did see lovely shoes there though!

Back with more wedding gossip soon!

Yours excitedly,
Kris xxx