Emma's Raw Apple Pie

The time has come for my first ever guest post! My lovely vegan friend Emma made a raw apple pie for this months vegan pot luck and I thought it would only be fair to share it with you. I'd heard a lot about how amazing this pie was so I was very excited to try it! It lived up to all my expectations, the flavours are better than any non vegan and cooked apple pies I've tried! Over to Emma:

This apple pie is great as it contains no sugar and is really healthy, as well as being a real treat.After reading so many different recipes online I decided to just make it up myself. I have discovered it is very popular with everyone, vegan, raw or carnivore!

Raw Apple Pie! 

Ingredients

Serves 4-6


350g dates

100g almonds, ground.
100g brazil nuts

8 apples

1 lemon

Cinnamon

Crust:

Put 250g of dates, brazil nuts (you can use any nuts) and almost all of your almonds into a food processor and blend.
The mixture should become a ball and not be too sticky, just add more almonds if it is.

Sprinkle the rest of the almonds thinly in your pie dish to stop the crust sticking.

Press the mixture into the dish tightly and evenly.

Put into the fridge while you prepare the filing.

Lovely Crust!

Topping:

Peel and core 2 apples and slice thinly.

Place in the juice of 1/2 a lemon and set aside.

Filling:

Start by peeling, coring and chopping 4 of the apples and placing them in a food processor along with the rest of your dates.

Originally I was only going to use dates in the crust but I wanted my filling to be thicker.

Add the juice of 1/2 lemon and a generous teaspoon of cinnamon.

Blend thoroughly.

Peel, core and chop 2 more of your apples and blend until chopped into small pieces, do not overdo it.

Mix the two together.

Spread the filling evenly over your crust.

Decorate with the sliced apple and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Put in the fridge for an hour to set.

Enjoy!

Read More

Vegan Pot Luck IV

After the success of last months pot luck there was no question that Emma and I wanted to go again to sample some more vegan delights. It was held in the Ms.Cupcake shop again, which means you can also browse their amazing range of cupcakes and other goodies. I really wanted to make something savoury this time, but the baking impulse in me took over and I ended up making chocolate shortbread sandwiches and Emma made a raw apple pie (I will post them both soon!). We were only twenty minutes late this time and it's lucky we were because the food went a lot quicker! Again, there was loads on offer including vegan pizza, corn dogs, banana bread, brownies and the wheaty dish from SSOV. Obviously I'm not vegan, but I do make a lot of vegan dishes and I find the potluck is great for inspiration for dishes without dairy. And of course I'd recommend it to any vegans in London who want to try new food and meet other like-minded people. Here are some (not very good quality, sorry) pictures :) 

lovely savoury dishes 

A bad picture of the sweet table, sorry! 

My dish at the potluck

You can read more about it and see better pictures on Fat Gay Vegan's blog here! Unfortunately he was on holiday this month so wasn't hosting the pot luck, but the ladies in charge did a fabulous job in his absence! 

Read More

Veggie Percy Pigs

As I've said before, in the last 7 years of my vegetarianism I have been on a quest to find nice veggie sweets! When Goody Good Stuff launched their range I was finally satisfied and gave up the search. But this week Marks and Spencers launched the geletine free Veggie Percy Pig, and obviously I was dying to try them.

The appearance is exactly the same, except for the green ear, which is great as it gives you peace of mind that a non veggie one hasn't slipped in to the pack. From what I can remember of Percy Pigs (I probably haven't had them in at least 10 years) they taste the same, and the texture is the perfectly chewy for a sweet with out geletine. Overall I am very impressed and the fact that they are so readily available is amazing! Hopefully they bring out more in the future (I'm looking at you Colin the Caterpillar).

Read More

Gourmet 'Meatball' Sandwich

I was flicking through Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals book the other day looking for something veggie for my boyfriend to cook me (he promised about 6 months ago!) and came across something very unveggie, but something I really wanted. Yes, the mighty meatball sandwich was calling my name and it became ingrained in my thoughts, until I finally made it this week. I still had some Redwood's gourmet meatballs left and decided it would have to have marinara sauce, cheese and jalapenos and to top it all off  it had to be contained in Tesco's salt and pepper baguette i.e BEST BREAD EVER! So here it is:

Serves 1:

3 meat free meatballs
Olive oil
1/2 a small onion chopped
1 small garlic clove crushed
1/2 tin tomatoes
A pinch of sugar and salt
a few handfuls of basil
1/4 salt and pepper baguette from Tesco
a few slices of emmental
some jalapenos (optional)

Start by cooking the meat balls according to the instructions on the pack (10 mins in the oven). While they're cooking make the sauce by softening the onions and garlic in a pan on a medium heat, then pop all the other ingredients in to a food processor (if you don't have you you can have it chunky) and leave to simmer and reduce. Remove the meatballs, chop in half and add to the sauce for a few minutes. Slice the baguette length ways, put the sauce and meatballs in and top with the cheese and jalapenos. Pop in to the oven for 5 minutes so the cheese is lovely and melty, plate up and enjoy!

Read More