Meh, it's my life :)

“Airy as a Fairy” (But No Dairy) Chocolate Cake! 

Recipe here.

When I was in primary school, there was only one packed lunch I would eat: peanut butter sandwiches made with white bread. Woe betide any individual (namely my mum) who contaminated my sandwiches with butter or brown bread. White fluffy bread was to me, the food of angels.

Then I made friends with a girl with a peanut allergy, and suddenly I couldn’t have peanut butter sandwiches anymore.

Because I’m quite a nice girl, I sacrificed my dangerous lunch for a new favourite: pesto pasta. Ahh, even now (not that many years later, but let’s pretend it was) the smell of basil brings back memories of care-free lunchtimes spent noshing on pesto pasta and then half an hour playing kiss chase. Or hide-and-seek. Or being tied to a tree with skipping ropes (true as I live, but that’s another story).

Still, I can hardly dish out the recipe for pesto pasta, so here is a loaf-with-a-secret. Preheat your ovens people, it’s time to get kneading…(recipe here.)

This. This is hot chocolate. I will forever be faithful to real cocoa and refuse to insult my body with packet hot chocolate mixes with their addictive hydrogenated vegetable oils and soy lecithin. 

The-Oh-My-Goodness-I’m-So-Stressed Hot Chocolate Recipe.

• A mug of soy milk
• A cube of Hershey’s 100% cocoa baking chocolate
• 1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar (or a teaspoon if, like me, you like bitter hot chocolate)
• a vanilla pod

Heat everything in a saucepan and when the chocolate has melted, whisk like crazy.

I have an early start tomorrow so I thought it would be a good idea to prepare my lunch in advance.

That’s organisation.

Shame I’m not as organised when it comes to…everything else.

It only took about 10 minutes, but looks healthy and delicious (hopefully tastes that way too!) Also, it’s completely vegan so I’m still sticking to this week’s theme!

The beauty of a salad in a jar, is it keeps well, is easy to carry around and you can put whatever salad you like in it!

The salad I made was just what was in my fridge:

• Leftover pasta
• Cooked cold broccoli
• Kidney beans
• Carrot (I grated it for ease of eating)
• Cucumber (Japanese kind)
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cashew nuts

I will add some ready made dressing to it just before eating – which I would normally make from scratch but I’m too lazy tonight :)

Other tasty salad recipes:

Brooklyn Supper

Healthy Happy Life

Vegan Yum Yum

Healthy Food for Living

 Have a good evening!

xoxo.

Tofu-cake: heaven for vegans who dream of cheesecake.

Recipe here. 

Yeah, I like my alliteration.

Anyways, I was feeling a tad more peckish than usual so I decided a healthy, filling dinner had to be on the menu. Before I was a vegetarian, spaghetti bolognese was my favourite, and even after I became a veggie, soy mince was quite cheap in the UK. However, Japan is not known for being especially loving of vegetarians, so I’ve had to adapt the classic bolognese sauce to make it both vegan and affordable. Before I dish out the recipe, I thought I should mention another delicious vegan recipe that I tried out on Sunday. I got the recipe here, and it’s made my top 10!

(I actually don’t have a top 10, but it’s still great)

Better than Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients: (serves 4-5)

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 carrots, cut into tiny cubes

1x 400g can of chopped tomatoes

1/2 can red kidney beans

100g Puy lentils, pre-cooked and drained

150ml veggie stock

6 bay leaves

2 tbsp mixed herbs

salt and pepper

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and fry the onion, garlic and carrot for 7 minutes. Then add the stock, chopped tomatoes, bay leaves, mixed herbs and season well. Bring to a gentle boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes (if you’re eating this with pasta, cook the pasta now!). Add the beans and lentils and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with an enthusiastic “buon appetito!”.

xoxo.

Just over a week ago, I had a bake sale to raise money for children who were orphaned in the Japanese tsunami last year. All the recipes for these cakes come from my wordpress blog: Wake Me Up With A Smile

Recipe here.

I know it’s taken me a while to post a recipe, but this one is surely worth waiting for. I usually prefer a light spongy cake with a rich creamy filling, but this dense, fudgy, chocolately cake has converted me.

Recipe here.