Browsing: vegan

Just to be clear the SAD* I’m talking about here is Seasonal Appetite Desires.

I don’t know about you, but as the temperature drops and daylight hours shorten I find myself craving different foods to those I cherish in summertime.  In July, ‘crispy organic lettuce drizzled with vinaigrette dressing’, is a phrase guaranteed to provoke an almost Pavlovian response within me, but come November my palate seems to change as radically as the weather.  It’s goodbye to ‘fresh’ and ‘light’ and hello to ‘hearty’ and ‘rich’! Whilst I’m not quite ready to start my menu planning for Christmas dinner just yet, comfort food has established itself firmly at the top of my menu wish list.
We all have our own favourite comfort food, that dish which we adore, not only for its pleasing taste but also for the sense of contentment that it delivers. For me it has to be Rice Pudding, and here’s my absolute favourite recipe for it. It’s inexpensive, uncomplicated, and easy to prepare, especially with the slow cooker.  I just can’t recommend it enough ,except, did I mention that it’s organic and suitable for vegans too?
Ingredients:
1L Provamel organic Vanilla flavoured Soya Milk
115g Suma organic Arborio Rice (uncooked)
95g Equal Exchange Fairtrade & Organic Raw Cane sugar
20g Suma Organic Desiccated Coconut
1 tsp Steenbergs Vanilla Extract Fairtrade 100ml
0.5 tsp Suma Organic ground Cinnamon
a dash of salt
1.5 tbsp vegan margarine

Preparation:
This is so easy.  Just combine all ingredients in a slow cooker.

(I used the Morphy Richards Ecolectric Slow Cooker)
Cook on high for 5 hours. Stir once every hour, until the desired consistency is reached.
Cooking time may vary, depending on your slow cooker and the consistency which you like your rice pudding.
Grate some of your favourite dark chocolate on top before serving, (I used Organic Seed & Bean Company Dark Fairtrade Chocolate Bar, 60g)

Serves: 4  hearty portions.
Looks gorgeous presented (as photographed) in our stylish, red, 100% recycled martini glass too.

*Sorry if you came across this page whilst searching for some relief from Seasonal Affective Disorder, you may want to check out some of light therapy products, click here.

It was with some sadness that I realised that after having feasted on a variety of incredible slow cooked lunches, today I’d be returning to sandwiches.

The week had been a real voyage of discovery for me. I’ll be forever grateful to Elaine for introducing me to harrissa relish and appreciate both Analisa and Twanna who have opened my eyes to cooking in drinks rather than stock.

However it was probably Analisa’s demonstration that the slow cooker is worthy of kitchen worktop space in the summer as well as the winter, that got me thinking most. I’d mentally pigeon holed the slow cooker as simply a hot comfort food provider on cold, dark winter evenings, but now I know better!

A slow cooker isn’t just for dinner; it can kick start the day too – as a hot comfort food provider on cold, dark winter mornings! With the unwelcome return of icy weather I decided to experiment. I left  the slow cooker on its low setting (the versatile Ecolectric slow cooker has a choice of three heat settings)  over night to see if what I’d heard was true – that – slow cooked porridge is amazing.

Last week we welcomed Rude Health Organic Foods to the shelves of Ethical Superstore. With a ‘Rude’ brand name it may not surprise you to learn that some of their product names sound a little cheeky too,

Read the rest of Rude Awakening! »

Lunchtimes in our office have seemed a little tame recently.  Following the success of the recent Ethical SOUPerstore challenge, when a number of us demonstrated it was possible to beat the credit crunch by sharing a tasty and ethical lunch, we’ve been developing a culinary itch we just had to scratch.  But how?
Enter the Morphy Richards Ecolectric Slow Cooker.

Slow cooking has much to recommend it
•    Convenient – fits a busy lifestyle, put all you ingredients in that morning and come home to a delicious meal in the evening.
•    Flavoursome – Slow cooked food is cooked in its own juices fully absorbing all flavours.
•    Economical – Low levels of energy are used to power a slow cooker.
•    Versatile – Cook everything from curry, soup, chowder, casserole and even desserts.

Environmentally, slow cooking has advantages too – slow cookers use low levels of energy, making them economical to run (rather than heating a large conventional oven). Better still the Morphy Richards claim that this Ecolectric Slow Cooker uses up to 44% less energy than other slow cookers on the market.

So four of us have got together to give it a thorough trial. . .

Read the rest of Ethical Cookerstore? »

With pancake day approaching fast I wanted to try my hand at making the most ethical pancake I could.

I’d read that it was possible to make perfectly good pancakes without eggs or even milk! So I thought I’d give it a try.  What follows is a vegan pancake recipe which, it’s fair to say raised a few eyebrows around the office.

Read the rest of So flippin’ ethical! »

please sir can I have some more?

Maybe it’s just me, perhaps I’m somewhat unusual in this respect, but I tend to be a little sceptical of simple ideas. I really should qualify that, I’m lacking in confidence when they are my simple ideas.  With an almost alarming regularity I find it easier to convince myself that it won’t work rather than trying it and seeing what happens.  Not so this week when I took the plunge and initiated the Ethical-SOUPer Store challenge.

My basic idea was to try and beat the credit crunch by sharing an ethical lunch.

Lately I’ve found myself thinking about how much money and time I spend on lunch.  Possibly it’s the current media deluge on all matters financial, or the fact that every day I pass a poster for Delia’s Frugal Food.  Maybe it’s that it’s so cold to venture out and wait in a queue, and in my case always get stuck behind that person. Let’s face it in the name of ‘convenience’ (the irony of this term assaults me as I type it) we can pay an inflated price for food which just doesn’t come close to that which we know we’re capable of making for ourselves.  So I talked myself out of talking myself out of it and sent a message to all of our staff to see if I could persuade 4 others to join me in each taking a day of the week and making soup for each other. (Amazingly within 10 minutes I had four co-conspirators).

Read the rest of Eat well, stress less with Ethical-SOUP-erStore »