BRIGHTON BIRTHDAY

I wanted to get away from crazy city life for my Birthday this year (I must be getting old), so my boyfriend took me on a trip to Brighton for the day. The sun was shining and it couldn't have been a better day to have fun and enjoy the last of the Summer sun.

First we had a little stroll around the lanes then went for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called Terre a Terre (sorry don't know how to do the accent on the a!). We opted for the sharing platter which comprised of mini versions of all the popular main dishes - we were blown away! There were mini nachos and guacamole, sesame tofu, wasabi cashews, aubergine zhuganoush and a teeny weeny glass of kale soup to name a few. 

All of this was followed by a chorus of Happy Birthday which was sung to me by the waiter (highly embarrassing but very sweet) and an amazing dark chocolate ganache and mixed berry birthday cake to take home - all vegan of course. 

The food was out of this world and we will definitely be visiting this restaurant in the near future (if not just to sample the churros). I'd recommend this place to everyone from veggie to meat eater as the quality of food is top notch, the service is excellent and presentation is incredible - what's not to like! All in all it was the perfect Birthday meal. 

COOKIE CAKES

I'm calling these cookie cakes as they're a bit of a spongey/crispy hybrid, perfect for when you can't decide whether you fancy a cookie or a cake, well now you can have both!

The recipe for these can be found here, I used a muffin tin to bake them so it would give me a deep cakey cookie but you can just use a flat baking tray if you'd prefer. Otherwise I kept the recipe pretty much the same, the only addition I made was a 1/2 cup of walnuts (having found these are rich in Omega-3 I'm trying to amp up my intake!) I also opted for soya margarine rather than oil and added an extra 3/4 cup of almond milk to give them a spongey cake texture rather than a crisp cookie one. 

I love that the recipe is measured in cups, it's so simple to follow and means you can't really get it wrong, which means the quicker it's ready and in my belly!

Using a spatula for this part really helps get it all in as the mixture is quite sticky!

They will never come out brown so take them out when they are lightly golden, you don't want to burn them! I cooked my cookies in a preheated oven for 14mins at 180C.

I couldn't wait to tuck in, the perfect partner in crime for a cuppa tea! 

CAT & THE CREAM

On this dreary drizzly day, when all you want to do is tuck up at home with a cuppa tea, a good book and something naughty to nibble at I thought I'd share with you my favourite Vegan cake by a company called Cat & The Cream. My life became complete when a Wholefoods recently opened up nearby me, being a vegan it just makes food shopping a whole lot easier (and pricier!) but I've always thought it's important to spend your money where it matters i.e nutrition, health, wellbeing etc.

Ok so the cake isn't nutritious or healthy but it definitely makes me happy so that counts as wellbeing right?! So far I've tried the Banana, Cashew and Peanut Butter which was pretty amazing but my fav flavour has to be the Banana, Walnut & Choc Chip with Butterscotch Icing (drool). They are very rich and highly calorific at a whopping 509(!) cals per cake, so I often share one of these with my other half or save the rest for another time (literally having your cake and eating it too!), so while they retail at around £2.69 - which is quite pricey for a cupcake, you do get a big portion for your pennies. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into this product as they're so perfectly packaged, at halloween my cupcake even had a cute little dark chocolate ghost on top of it!

These cupcakes are: Vegan, Dairy Free, Wheat Free AND Soya Free, which must be quite a task to achieve. I really appreciate when food companies don't automatically use soya, as vegan products are often full of it!

Another great vegan cake company based at the Greenwich Market in London is Ruby Tuesdays, I bought my boyfriend a birthday cake from her stall this year and it tasted just like a real chocolate cake, my non-vegan/vegetarian relatives couldn't even taste the difference! They also offer a variety of completely vegan baked goods such as: banana bread, biscuits, brownies and even donuts(!). Their pretty little stall is worthy of a post in itself, which reminds me I must pay them a visit again soon...