I am OBSESSED with dates at the moment! 

If you’ve never tried to make your own protein bites then I highly recommend doing it! The best thing is there’s no right or wrong recipe, just throw everything you’ve got into a blender and you’re good to go...



Ingredients
1/2 cup mixed nuts
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tbsp chia seeds 
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup soft dates, pitted
1 tablespoon water
Cocoa powder for coating

Method
1. Mix your ingredients in a blender until a sticking 'dough' type texture has formed.
2. Dust in Cocoa power until the ball is fully coated.
3. Mould into balls and put on a lined plate in the fridge for 2 hours.

4. ENJOY!

Ingredients 
1 Cauliflower head
1 Cup Hot sauce (I used Franks Hot Sauce )
3/4 Cup plant milk
3/4 Wholemeal Flower
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Pepper

This is on a both in one wrap with shredded lettuce, shredded red cabbage, half an avocado and sweet chilli sauce...this also didn't last long! It was wolfed down like I hadn't eaten in a week...

I wanted a meal that was free on slimming world but also felt substantial and a little bit 'treat' like.

When I was baking a few weeks ago and desperately searching for the missing whisk in the depths of the draws I came across these kebab skewers and It gave me a prompt to give tofu kebabs a go.

These are SO EASY to do!

Ingredients
1 Block Extra firm tofu
1 Red pepper
1 Green pepper
(Add any other veg you fancy)
Kebab sticks
Tandoori Spice mix

Method
1. Press tofu to remove excess moisture
2. Marinate in tandoori spice mix in the fridge for a few hours then chop into chunks
3. Chop your vegetables and place on the kebab skewer alternating the tofu and the vegetables
3. Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and spray the skewers with a low calorie oil spray
4. Cook at gas mark 6 for 20-35 minutes or until crispy and slightly charcoaled

Over the years, I have taken the liberty of trying every vegan mayo out there possible to find the best one!

I’ve narrowed it down to these...

@followyourheart a true classic!

@tescofood a newbie but it’s my go-to mayo at the moment (when you can get it out of the bottle...)

@sriracha_fg THE GREATEST CONDIMENT ON EARTH 🌏 .

And finally @mr_organic who do the best garlic mayo ever (I could eat this stuff with a spoon!)

When people ask me what I miss most being a vegan, I only ever have one answer.

Violife ties me over for most of my cheesy cravings however halloumi is the one craving that hasn't been satisfied by any vegan alternative.

So I scoured the internet for a solution to this problem!

Here we have....vegan tofu halloumi



The key to this recipe is using extra firm tofu and freezing it the day before to change the texture (i know, annoying but it makes the difference trust me)

Okay so here we go...

Ingredients
1/2 Block of extra firm tofu (frozen then thawed)
Chopped mint to taste
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp himalayan salt
1/2 cup nutritional yeast



Method
1. Press liquid from thawed tofu and slice into halloumi size pieces.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and add 1/4 cup of boiling water to make a paste.
3. Baste tofu on both sides and leave in the fridge for a few hours.
4. Dry fry in a non-stick pan until crispy and golden
5. You're ready to eat half a block of tofu in a very short amount of time.......

You'll have to excuse the caps but I just get so excited about these damn pancakes!


I got this recipe from Genius Kitchen

I've made these SO many times that I can confidently say this recipe is foolproof.

Ingredients
1 Cup flour (whichever you like)
1 Tbsp sugar (I used coconut sugar)
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/8 Tsp salt
1 Cup plant milk
2 Tbsp oil (I used coconut oil)

Method

1. Combine the 4 dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Add the plant milk and oil to your mixture
3. Mix until smooth
4. Spoon the mixture into a heated pan (I added some coconut 1 cal oil spray) and flip when you see bubbles in the middle of the pancake
5. Serve with whatever toppings you fancy and finally, EAT!

This recipe came up on my newsfeed from the amazing guys over at Bosh so I have tweaked it ever so slightly to make it syn free and slimming world friendly!

This recipie will CHANGE YOUR LIFE ⭐️ 



Ingredients
1/2 block firm tofu

For the Batter
1/2 cup plant milk
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

For the coating
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Oregano 
1/2 tsp Basil
1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt 

Method
1. Press the excess liquid out of the tofu and cut into rough pieces.
2. Mix the batter mix and coat the tofu pieces
3. Coat the battered tofu pieces in the coating mix
4. Put on a lined baking tray and spray with a spray oil (I used 1 cal coconut spray oil) and cook for 20 minutes at gas mark 7 (or until golden)
5. Serve with sriracha mayo because sriracha mayo is life.

You can fry these until golden if you're feeling extra indulgent but I find that baked in the oven is just as good!

I never grasped or truly understood the concept of limbo until recently. The thought that you’re drifting between moments of 'whatever' with no solid direction; just a mindless and trivial routine that eats away at all hope. I don’t feel alive anymore. I keep searching in the darkest corners of the internet for some relief from this feeling to no avail. I then usually fall into a YouTube wormhole of cat videos to stir some sort of emotion other than anxiety in my belly.

But after the frustrating and demoralising panic/distraction cycle, I always seem to end up back in front of my reflection, forced to gaze upon my (perceived) continuous failure as a human being.

Everyone else seems to be managing okay, why can’t I?!

This brings me nicely onto what I now what to write about...success.

What is success?

Everywhere I look, I see success, but it always feels beyond my reach. Completely and utterly unobtainable for someone like me.

I made the mistake of logging into my Linkedin account the other day and upon the slow and agonosing loading of my home feed I was met by a wave of happy, smiling, suited and booted #successful people thrusting motivational quotes in my face like they were going out of fashion.

I want to state for the record that I am happy for these people. This is in no way bashing them for being this way, but rather a pick me up for those people who, like me, find themselves comparing their lives with people like this and feeling inadequate or feeling as though they've gone wrong somewhere if their life doesn't look as 'together' as someone else's.

I can't pretend i'm not envious of those people who always seem perfectly preened and walk around leaving a sense of 'everything is working out for me' in the air as they glide gracefully past you.

But the truth is, despite appearances, most of us don't really have our shit together and life is just a string of trial and error moments where we try to figure out what the hell we're doing whilst trying to keep our heads above water. Sometimes I turn up for work in full power dress, complete with polished nails and eyelashes...and other times I turn up for work looking like Miss Trunchbull, in gym pants and a baggy top with an obvious breakfast stain staring all my colleagues in the face. It's a life lottery, I wake up and deal with whatever card has been dealt to me on that day.
No sleep, panic attacks all night, wallowing in desperate sadness = Miss Trunchbull day...but you know what, that's okay.

There are certain societal expectations that are thrust upon us from birth and reiterated to us at most of life's milestones (I'm looking at you people who remind me that i'm not married yet and don't have a baby) and that somehow once we acquire these 'life points', we will win at being successful.
Get good GCSE's, go to University, travel, get a good job, find a partner, buy a house, get a dog, have some children, retire...congratulations you've got the top score in life. You are a winner.

The problem with these expectations is that they never factor in any the bumps in the road we may face along the way which often result in us diverting down a different path, which in turn won't always result in any of the things i've listed above.
But we are conditioned to believe that it makes us inferior or that we have failed if we don't have the good job or the house or the spouse or the children.

Our society is one in which success seems deemed by the figures your salary, the houses you own, the businesses you run, the cost of your car.
But this isn't Monopoly. And it's crucial to remember that mental illness does not discriminate.

So just because from where you're sitting it looks as though someone has it all, you should tell yourself that looks can be decieving and more often than not, everyone is going through their own personal struggles.

That's why it's imperative to concentrate on your own journey, and not let yourself be swayed by someone else's.

I'm here to remind you what I tell myself when I start punish myself for not being 'normal' or 'successful' or my envy of other peoples lives begins to cast a cloud on my own self worth (note to self: must stay off Linkedin!)...

Sometimes success is still making it to that relatives birthday party despite having a panic attack a few hours prior.
Sometimes success can be revealing to a friend how bad you feel.
Sometimes success can be calling the samaritans when you are having suicidal thoughts.
Sometimes success is holding down any job despite having crippling depression.
Sometimes success is putting one foot in front of the other and hoping for the best.
Some days success to me is getting out of my bed, showering and getting through the day...

Success is subjective and intangible.

Success doesn't have to be counting your banknotes in your mansion, or flashing your expensive watch on Instagram, or letting everyone know how much of a #girlboss you are because you run three businesses...

Success is found in the moments when you feel like you've achieved something...anything...that enables you to find some hope in the day when everything around you is telling you to give up.

True success is within each and every one of us, it's that fire in our belly that keeps us pushing forward, it's the dreams of a future we keep in our minds and that hope that we hold in our hearts.

Don't allow anyone or anything to take that away from you!

The best thing about these chocolates is the surprise of biting into them and having gooey salted caramel oozing out of them!

Did I mention they were vegan too?! (No insects were harmed in the making of these treats)


I picked up this fabulous and very affordable insect silicone mould from Amazon in order to make these.

All you will need is:

1 silicone mould
360g of vegan chocolate (I used 2 x 180g Bournville bars)
Vegan salted caramel sauce - recipe can be found on my previous post here

Method

1. Melt all the chocolate via whichever method you prefer - i'm a traditional glass bowl over a saucepan kind of gal.

2. Place the melted chocolate into the moulds filling them halfway up, then place in the freezer for 15 minutes.



3. Remove the moulds from the freezer and pour on 1 tbsp of your salted caramel sauce, then spoon over the remaining melted chocolate until the mould is full.

4. Leave at room temperature to solidify (avoid placing in the fridge to avoid the chocolate from sweating)

5. ENJOY!

Amazing and ridiculously easy vegan flapjacks ☀️



(But not healthy ones 🙈)
Ingredients:
175G Vegan Butter
125G Brown sugar (I used coconut)
2 TBSP Golden Syrup 
350G Porridge Oats


Preheat oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Grease a 28cmx18cm baking tin and line with baking parchment.

Place the vegan butter, syrup and sugar into a large saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and the Pure spread melts. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the porridge oats until well blended. Press the mixture into the tin.

Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove the flapjack from the oven and cool in the tin for 5 minutes.

Turn out from the tin and remove the grease proof paper. Cool the flapjack on a rack before cutting into squares. 

The best thing about this recipe is that it's ridiculously easy to make with very few ingredients (and as long as you're a seasoned date consumer, you'll definitely have them all already in!)

All you will need are:
1 cup of dates (soft and pitted)
1/4 cup plant milk (I used almond)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

Blend together in whatever blender you have until smooth and creamy and you’ve got yourself a salted caramel sauce! 

Don't eat this with a spoon like I did, it will never end well...

I figured i'd give blogging a go again.

I can't promise consistency...i did that last time and didn't blog for two years...

But as I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment, i feel an impulse to write and create and share so this kind of feels like the natural home for the impulsive outlets.

Bx