Vegan Gingerbread House

13:12 Soph 0 Comments


 Can you believe its Christmas Day in a matter of hours?! I hope that everyone is finished with all their prep and is relaxing by the fireplace, eating Christmas cookies or mince pies and watching Christmas films with their families because that is exactly what I am doing right now!! I thought that I would leave the most vital part of Christmas baking until the last day of my series, and that is THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE!! My sister and I have a tradition of making a gingerbread house every Christmas Eve and this year was no exception! 100% vegan, 100% delicious and not so 100% easy to assemble (but fun none the less) this gingerbread house is a perfect activity for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or even Boxing Day!! Get creative, get baking and have fun creating this treat with family and friends! Happy Holidays!! 
VEGAN GINGERBREAD HOUSE

This recipe creates as close to an authentic gingerbread as I could find whilst being 100% vegan, however it does hold room for substitutions! If you wanted to make this recipe Gluten Free flour feel free to create your own gf flour blend, and if you want to sub your molasses for black treacle you can do! 


Ingredients
1 Flax Egg (1 Tbsp Flax Seed + 3 Tbsp Water)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Almond Butter
1/4 cup Vegan Butter (such as Stork)
3 Tbsp Molasses (more if it want it richer)
3/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Bicarb of Soda 
1 1/2 cup Plain Flour
To Decorate:
Icing Sugar
Water
Vegan Sweets

1. Make the flax egg in a large mixing bowl and leave to set for around 5 minutes
2. Add all ingredients except flour and cream together with a mixer on a low setting or using a wooden spoon 
3. Once combined, add the plain flour slowly whilst continuously mixing with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined
4. Wrap your ball of dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours or preferably overnight 
5. Once chilled, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and roll out your dough on a floured surface until your desired thickness (not too thick as it will puff up too much but thick enough so that the walls are strong enough)
6. Cut your dough using a template such as this one, if you have excess dough you can also use cookie cutters to make Christmas Trees and gingerbread men!
7. Once cut, place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown - they should be fairly soft when removed from the oven as they will harden as they cool
8. Leave until completely cool before decorating!! Otherwise the icing will not stick and it will fall apart!
9. Once cooled, make your icing by mixing together sieved icing sugar and water until a thick icing is formed (if too runny it will not stick together your house)
10. Put your icing into a piping bag (or sandwich bag with the end snipped off) and assemble your gingerbread house!! Leave the icing to set before you begin to decorate
11. Decorate with sweets, edible sparkly snow, shimmer spray! Anything you can think of and ENJOY!!!


Keep your soul happy! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!! - Sophie :)

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Christmas Morning Breakfast Ideas

16:19 Soph 0 Comments


Considering its Christmas Eve Eve I thought it was finally time to write a post of festive breakfast ideas for Christmas morning!! I don't know about you guys but in my house we have a tradition of opening stockings at the first sight of morning, then heading downstairs for a breakfast filled with our favorite foods before we open the under-the-tree presents. This year I thought I should step up my game and truly immerse myself in the Christmas spirit by transforming my favourite foods into their true festive potential. 
CHRISTMAS MORNING BREAKFAST IDEAS


Christmas Vegan Waffles
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup Non-Dairy Milk
1 tsp Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Maple Syrup
1/2 cup Oats
1 3/4 cups Spelt Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Flax Seed
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Strawberries
Soy Whip Cream
Blueberries
Choc Shot
Sprinkles

1. Combine the almond milk and vinegar in a small bowl and leave to curdle 
2. Add in all the other wet ingredients and whisk until combined
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients before adding in the wet ingredients and stirring well
4. Let the batter set and thicken whilst you heat up your waffle iron 
5. Once the waffle iron is heated, coat with coconut oil and pour in your batter, cook your waffle according to the instructions that accompany your waffle iron
6. Once cooked, its time to add festive designs to your waffles! I decided to make one of my waffles into a Santa's head and the other into a Christmas Tree! 

For the Santa's head: cut your strawberries and arrange them at the top of your waffle for Santa's hat, leave one sliver of strawberry for the nose. Then use your soy whip cream to create Santa's beard and the bottom of the hat, before adding blueberries for the eyes and a smile made of choc shot syrup. ENJOY!
For the Christmas Tree: cut your waffles into 4 triangles (works best if you have a round waffle iron) and arrange into a tree shape, place your blueberries, strawberries and sprinkles onto the tree along with the choc shot syrup. Place a star shaped biscuit on top (you can find the recipe here) and its complete!! ENJOY!

Christmas Oatmeal 
Ingredients
1 cup Oats
1 cup Water
1 cup Almond Milk
1 Tbsp Flax Seed

Strawberries
Chia Seeds
Coconut Sugar
Flax Seed
Coconut
Cacao Nibs

1. Add all the ingredients into a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat, stirring continuously until thickened and bubbling 
2. Once cooked, pour into a festive bowl and top with ALL the toppings listed above and any others you want to add! Enjoy with a mug of Christmas Tea or hot chocolate - recipe for my ULTIMATE vegan hot chocolate can be found here and a festive book (one of my favourites being Dash & Lily's Book of Dares)

Green & Red Smoothie Bowl
Ingredients
Handful of Spinach
Almond Milk
3 Bananas
Non-dairy Vanilla Yoghurt
Strawberries / Raspberries
Coconut

1. Add the spinach, bananas, yoghurt and milk into your blender and blend until smooth before pouring into a bowl
2. Top with strawberries, raspberries (or any other red toppings you like) and coconut flakes  and ENJOY!! 

For other general breakfast ideas you can check out the post I did here as it is jam packed full of delicious vegan breakfast options for any occasion! I hope you enjoy these festive breakfast ideas and if you end up trying any out please send me pictures over at my instagram / twitter @positivesoph. Have a good Christmas !!!

Keep your soul happy! - Sophie :)

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The Ultimate Vegan Christmas Dinner

15:44 Soph 0 Comments


Following on from my post yesterday on the perfect main for your Vegan Christmas Dinner (you can read it here if you missed it), today I have a whole host of recipes to complete the ultimate roast!! The perfect Vegan Christmas Dinner in my opinion consists of a slice of mushroom loaf (or nut roast / veggie pie), roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, vegetables (especially SWEDE - which wasn't featured here because I ran out BUT I will definitely be having those on Christmas Day!) and lashings of veg gravy!! All of the recipes for these components will be below, so check them out, cook them up and enjoy your Christmas Dinner (whilst attempting to convince potential meat-eaters in your family that vegan doesn't just mean potatoes and veg!!)

THE ULTIMATE VEGAN CHRISTMAS DINNER

If you aren't a fan of mushrooms or nut roasts (just like my vegetarian sister) then a vegetable pie might just be the perfect option for you on Christmas Day! This recipe makes 5-6 individual pies so this would be perfect if you have a number of vegetarians and vegans coming over for Christmas or if you want to make them and then keep them for another day that would also work! 


Vegan Roast Vegetable Pies

Ingredients
1 Packet Jus-Rol Shortcrust Pastry (check its the vegan one)
4 Cups Butternut Squash (diced)
1/4 Cup Minced Shallot
4 Cups Diced Veggies (Carrots, Potato, Onion, Peppers)
2 Cups Cooked White Butterbeans / Kidney Beans
2 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Vegan Margarine
1 Tbsp Sage
1/4 Cup White Wine
2 Tbsp Mixed Herbs
4 Tbsp Plain Flour
50g Dairy Free Butter
500ml Almond Milk
100g Vegan Cheese 
OR
Dairy Free Cheese Sauce Powder
Salt and Pepper
Cumin

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius 
2. Toss the butternut squash and shallots in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper before roasting in the oven on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 30-40 minutes  or until golden brown
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and margarine in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat and ad veggies, beans, garlic and 1 tbsp sage 
4. Turn all ingredients to coat with oil before seasoning with salt and pepper. Then reduce the heat to medium and cover
5. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly, until veggies are cookies and golden
6. Remove the lid and add wine, cool until reduced
7. Add the braised veggies to the pan of roasted squash and sprinkle with herbs before tossing together, set this aside to cool whilst reducing your oven to 180 degrees
8. Add the almond milk, flour and butter to a saucepan over a medium heat and whisk together last as the butter melts and the mixture comes to a boil - the flour will disappear and the sauce will begin to thicken
9. Whisk for 2 minutes whilst the sauce bubbles and becomes nice and thick. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese and cumin to taste (alternatively - use a dairy free cheese sauce mix)
10. Pour this cheese sauce onto the vegetables and combine
11. Take your pastry sheet and cut off 2/3rds, roll out the dough on a well floured surface to between 1/8" to 1/4" thickness
12. Cut the dough into circles big enough to fit your individual tins with some hangover to allow the lids to attach
13. Mould the pastry into the tins and fill with cooled veggie filling (as much as you can)
14. Roll out the remaining dough, cut out lids for the pies and press the lids onto the edges of the bottom crust
15. Cut venting slits in the lids and brush with almond milk
16. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden


Roast Potatoes
Ingredients
Roasting Potatoes
 (how ever many you think you need)
Rapeseed Oil

1. Once peeled and cut into the desired size, put the potatoes into a pan of cold, salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Drain well, return to the pan and shake gently to rough up the edges of the potatoes
3. Melt the oil in a roasting tin in the oven until hot before adding the potatoes and tossing to coat
4. Cook in the oven for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and crispy 


 Dauphinois Potatoes
Ingredients
8 Large Moris Piper Potatoes
500ml soy cream
500ml soy milk
3 garlic cloves

1. Place cream, milk and whole garlic cloves into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer whilst peeling and thinly slicing the potatoes.
2. Add sliced potatoes and mix gently to separate and coat with the cream. Simmer until only just cooked. Empty pan into a shallow dish and discard the garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Bake in the oven at 190 celcius for 30 minutes. 


Pudding 
Ingredients
280g Self Raising Flour
115g Vegan Butter (eg stork)
Water

 1. Mix together sieved flour, margarine and enough water to form a stiff dough
2. Grease a loaf tin and spoon in batter, cook for 20 minutes at 200 degrees.

Cauliflower Cheese
Ingredients
1 Large Head of Cauliflower
500ml Almond Milk
4 Tbsp Plain Flour
50g Dairy Free Butter
100g Vegan Cheese

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the cauliflower (once cut into florets) and cook for 5 minutes
2. Drain the cauliflower, then tip into an ovenproof dish, and heat the oven to 220 degrees
3. Put the saucepan back on the heat and add the almond milk, flour and butter, whisk together last as the butter melts and the mixture comes to a boil - the flour will disappear and the sauce will begin to thicken
4. Whisk for 2 minutes whilst the sauce bubbles and becomes nice and thick. Turn off the heat and stir in most of the cheese before pouring over the cauliflower
5. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbling


Steam the vegetables until cooked, if using swede you can either mash this or keep it diced. For the gravy you can either make your own using veggie stock or use veggie gravy granules and boiling water! 
Once all cooked - serve up and drown in vegan gravy before tucking in!! ENJOY! More vegan desserts for Christmas Day coming soon!


Keep your soul happy! - Sophie :)

0 comments:

Vegan Christmas Dinner - The Main

13:54 Soph 0 Comments


As Christmas is only 5 days away (can you believe it?!) I decided it was finally time for the Vegan Christmas Dinner recipes as I have gotten so many people asking me for roast dinner ideas vegan / veggie style !! Today I thought I would dedicate a whole post to the main event at Christmas Lunch - the Mushroom / Nut Roast, and then tomorrow's post will have details on all of the other components to create the perfect Vegan Christmas Dinner!

VEGAN CHRISTMAS DINNER - THE MAIN

I have included a recipe on a homemade mushroom loaf, however I thought I would also provide a more convenient shop bought option for if you don't have the time to make your own this year! The one that I have chosen is a Butternut Squash and Kale Nut Roast from Tesco's vegan range (which I must note is incredible, they have such a wide variety of vegan ready meals in store now!), it cooks in 50 minutes and even includes a pink peppercorn sauce to top your nut roast with. I think this would be a perfect addition to any Christmas Dinner if you just don't have the time to make your own! If you aren't a fan of nut roasts or mushrooms then just hang on for tomorrow's blog post as I will have a recipe for vegan vegetable pies that would also work as a great main for your Christmas Dinner!  


Ingredients
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Red Pepper
1 Carrot
1 1/2 a Medium Onion
1 Celery Stick
300g Chestnut Mushrooms
200g Vegan Cheese (e.g. Vegusto)
1 Large Spoon of Nut Butter (or Marmite)
110g Breadcrumbs 

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat whilst you very finely chop the pepper, carrot, onion and celery. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius (160 fan)
2. Add the chopped vegetables to the oil and cook for 8-10 minutes whilst stirring continuously, then finely chop the mushroom (ideally in a food processor) and add to the pan to cook for 5 minutes
3. If they produce a lot of juices, cook these out before transferring all the vegetables to a large bowl
4. Fold in the nut butter, 150g of the cheese and 100g of the breadcrumbs
5. Mix well and season before transferring to a greased, base lined 28.5cm x 13cm x 6cm deep loaf tin
6. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs before baking for 50 minutes to 1 hour 
7. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out, slice and serve with gravy 


Keep your soul happy! - Sophie :)

0 comments:

Christmas Vegan Shortbread

14:16 Soph 0 Comments


Shortbread Biscuits are such an essential in my house at Christmas, especially when they are festively shaped and complete with peppermint icing!! Baking shortbread is a perfect activity for the weekend before Christmas as its so simple and easy, and if paired with Christmas music and either friends or family members, its sure to get you in the festive spirit! You can even make your biscuits into Christmas decorations to hang on the tree, or wrap them up for your friends, the possibilities are endless...
CHRISTMAS VEGAN SHORTBREAD

As there are only 4 ingredients in this simple recipe there isn't much of an opportunity to substitute, however I did run out of plain flour whilst baking and had to use Gluten Free plain flour, and it seemed to turn out fine! So if you did want to make these gluten free then feel free to try it out! And don't forget to let me know how it goes over on my instagram (@positivesoph)


Yields 25 - 30 
Ingredients
200g Dairy-Free Butter 
100g Caster Sugar
300g Plain Flour
1 tsp Vanilla (extract / paste)

Icing Sugar
Water
1tsp Peppermint Extract

1. Cream the butter, vanilla and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and creamy 
2. Slowly add the flour into the bowl and mix using a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined
3. Use your hands to mould the mixture into a dough and then wrap in clingfilm before placing in the fridge for 30 minutes - an hour
4. Once chilled, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius
5. Roll out the dough and cut into festive shapes before placing in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown
6. Remove from the oven and if using for Christmas Tree Decorations, use a skewer to create a small hole in your soft biscuit before it cools and hardens 
7. Once cool, prepare the icing : combine sieved icing sugar, peppermint extract and water until a thick paste forms, place this into a piping bag (or if you're like me and don't possess such a thing, use a ziplock bag / sandwich bag, cut a small hole in a bottom corner and insert a piping nozzle) 
8. Pipe your desired designs onto the biscuits before leaving them to set
9. ENJOY with a hot chocolate or class or non-dairy milk


Keep your soul happy! - Sophie :)

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