This is certainly a year of unpredictable weather. Last week, most of Turkey’s airports were snowed to a standstill, we were hardly visible under our many layers of clothing and competing with the cats for space by the stove. This week we’ve felt more like ducks – paddling around in huge puddles and acres of mud, dodging the storms and trying to park our car under cover, where it won’t be hit by the golf-ball-sized hailstones. Eeek. Continue reading “Wickedly sticky pumpkin ginger cake (vegan)”
Tag: Vegetarian
Crusty cornmeal bread (vegan)
We rarely eat bread from our local bakeries – I am sure Turkish bread is a novelty if you are a tourist, but it’s basically quite a lot of very sharp crust filled with quite a lot of air. Oh, and the only bits in the middle that aren’t actually air are horrible chemicals which act as yeast accelerators so that the bakers only have to give the dough one rise (very poor behaviour). Continue reading “Crusty cornmeal bread (vegan)”
Spicy lentil ‘shepherd’s pie’ (vegan)
Another grey day, though it hasn’t actually started raining (so far). I feel a day of catching up with a few jobs coming on, interspersed with a spot of light blogging activity. I think we are having a 5:2 day too – I was put off eating any breakfast this morning by having to deal with the regurgitated remains of a mouse – at least I think that is what it started life as – which had been left in the middle of the kitchen terrace, so I’m off to a good start. (Thanks guys). Continue reading “Spicy lentil ‘shepherd’s pie’ (vegan)”
Super-quick lime & coriander hummus (vegan)
This only takes about five minutes to whizz up in a food processor. It is perfect with breadsticks or crudités as a pre-dinner nibble, or you could serve it as a light lunch with olives, cucumber sticks and crusty bread. Canned chickpeas are perfect for the job – they give a lovely light and creamy texture. Continue reading “Super-quick lime & coriander hummus (vegan)”
Vegetable ‘Harira’ (vegan)
We’ve just about recovered from our horrible Monday dinner experience, so Veganuary is back on track for now. We ate out with some friends last night and I managed to cobble together enough vegan-friendly items from the menu to form a very presentable meal. I may yet make it to the end of the month without giving in – at the moment, the only thing I am really craving is cheese. Luckily, the cheese choice here is not exactly exciting, so that’s helping my cause – if I were within a stone’s throw of Neal’s Yard Dairy or Paxton & Whitfield, it would be quite another story and very likely that I would be found face down in the nearest wheel of Brie.
Continue reading “Vegetable ‘Harira’ (vegan)”
Extra-gingery ginger fairings (vegan)
You can tell by the little flurry of blog posts that today has been rainy, windy and largely unpleasant. The rain has now stopped and we have a bit of weak sunshine, so Robin’s been dispatched to get more wood before it starts again (I can’t get the wood in, I’m far too busy using up oranges that he’s picked for me).
Some friends have just been for coffee, so I made a quick batch of ginger biscuits by way of a treat. As we are trying to follow a vegan diet at the moment, of course these are a vegan version – but the only change I had to make was to swap the butter from my original recipe for vegetable margarine. They turned out surprisingly well – in fact, I am not sure that they are not better than their buttery cousins, which can tend to burn around the edges before the centres are cooked. I may well stick to the margarine version even after the end of January. Continue reading “Extra-gingery ginger fairings (vegan)”
Herb-roasted vegetables (vegan)
The weather’s taken a serious downturn, so we are being treated to several thunderstorms each day, with short periods of sun in between the downpours. A perfect excuse to light the fire, stay indoors and catch up with a few chores.
Post-trip laundry and ironing are finished, so now I can turn my attention to using some of the produce from the garden. Our Seville orange trees are groaning with fruit, so I will make some more marmalade to share amongst my family next time we go back to the UK and I plan to make a Seville orange drizzle cake today, to take with us when we go out to dinner this evening. Our friend Cafer and his wife Sultan, who own our favourite restaurant in town, have just had a baby, so they are pretty busy with the new arrival, as well as chasing after their six-year-old and running a restaurant. All food treats are being gratefully received! Continue reading “Herb-roasted vegetables (vegan)”
Carrot, banana & apple muffins (vegan)
Day 2 of our vegan adventure and now we are starting to get organised. Supplies of some types of fresh food are not reliable around these parts, particularly in the winter, so it is sometimes difficult to plan ahead.
This morning, when we were out for a walk in the absolutely glorious sunshine we are enjoying at the minute, I popped into the little Migros supermarket in our marina, which often stocks items that aren’t available elsewhere. Triple score. Beansprouts, fresh coriander AND oat milk. I feel a Thai curry coming on.
When we first decided to take part in Veganuary, I had a trawl through some vegan websites to get some ideas of what we might eat (largely because we were going on a trip to Europe, and I thought I might bring a few goodies back with me). Although I did find some good ideas, many of the sites seemed more like a chemistry lesson than somewhere I might find a recipe for something nice I would like to eat. Continue reading “Carrot, banana & apple muffins (vegan)”
Vegan ‘Cornish’ pasties
Today is the first day of our vegan adventure, inspired by the Veganuary campaign. We really should have started yesterday – what with it being the first day of January and all that – but we only got back from our trip on Saturday and we’d invited Linda for Sunday supper, so it didn’t seem appropriate. (Roast chicken with all the trimmings, followed by mince pies, since you ask).
So far, so good. Breakfast today was Bircher muesli, made with apples and almond milk – slightly on the soggy side for my liking, but Robin pronounced it delicious. Luckily, I’ve made a large supply of super-nutty toasted granola this afternoon, so I won’t have to put myself through that again. Continue reading “Vegan ‘Cornish’ pasties”
A duo of easy-bake biscuits for cheese
I’m making our friend Linda a little Christmas hamper, so that she has a few yummy goodies to tuck into if she is at home in front of the fire over the next week while we are away. She does like a piece of cheese, and decent crackers are not something you can generally buy in a Turkish supermarket, so I thought I’d better get creative. Continue reading “A duo of easy-bake biscuits for cheese”
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