Jade Green Vegan

Interview with Lindsay of lindsaylivingvegan.com

October 14, 2014Jade Green VeganLeave a comment

For the second post in the JGV Interview Series, I am thrilled to welcome Lindsay from lindsaylivingvegan.com to the blog to share her story. I recently connected with Lindsay when she interviewed me for her blog (you can check out that interview here) and it turns out we have a ton in common, including our love for animals being our motivation for going vegetarian at such a young age and more recently making the transition into veganism. Lindsay’s blog has lots of incredibly yummy recipes that are in a great easy to download format, so if you’re looking for food inspiration, you need to check her out! It was so fun for me to find out more about Lindsay’s vegan story and I’m sure you’ll love reading about it as much as I did ▷►▹▸

Q: How did your vegan journey start? What were your main inspirations and influences?

A: I guess you can say that my journey started when I was 4 years old. My step-moms dad has a ton of land in Wisconsin that people go onto for hunting. So when I was little we would drive up there and I would just be surrounded in that atmosphere. I remember that on weekends up there I would be so excited to spend all my time with their dogs that they used for hunting. I have always been the hugest animal lover and being around dead animals that people killed for fun just didn’t make sense to me. Being so young, I was terrified by the idea of eating animals so I refused to eat them and became vegetarian. I was an odd vegetarian because I also didn’t eat eggs or drink cow milk but I was addicted to cheese. About a year ago is when I started getting into nutrition and realizing how horrible the dairy industry is. I did a ton of research because I became obsessed with the subject and I quickly became full on vegan. Reading books and watching documentaries were my main inspirations!

Q: What would your top tips be for someone wanting to go vegan?

A: My top tips for someone wanting to go vegan is to get educated on the food industry and to start off slow to get your body and mind in check with becoming vegan. I don’t think most people really understand how the food industry works, especially here in America. People are addicted to chemicals and ingredients that are put into our food. Cutting out processed food is the best thing that you can do for yourself. I always promise people that once they know the dark side of the food industry, then they will want to cut foods out of their lives. Going slow and listening to your body is number 1.

Q: You have an awesome blog where you share recipes, beauty product reviews and so much more. Tell us about your blogging journey and the inspiration behind LLV.

A: Thanks so much! I have been following blogs for a few years now and I have always loved writing to express my feelings. I spend a lot of my time learning new things and creating recipes so I thought that since I am already doing all the work, I might as well blog about it! Blogging to me has been pretty life changing in the fact that I have finally found something that I love to do. I am now in the process of becoming a health coach and launching my own practice. I want to be able to help people live happier and healthier lives whether they become vegan or not. I have found that connecting with people and helping them with their health is my purpose in life. Oh and saving animals :).

Q: You’ve shared some incredibly yummy looking recipes on your blog. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life what would it be?

A: This is a super hard question for me. I have an addictive personality so when I get into a food, say zucchini noodles, I will eat it for 2 months straight. I love all types of food and love falling in love with new creations. I would have to say pizza is the one meal that I would choose to eat for the rest of my life. There are a ton of ways to cook it so I would never get bored eating it!

Q: What is your favourite cruelty-free beauty/ hair product?

A: I must confess that I don’t have a favorite just yet. I am still experimenting with brands and finding ones that I love. I am currently using Desert Essence shampoo and conditioner for my hair and the occasional coconut oil as a mask. I am actually going to go makeup shopping this weekend to find some vegan and cruelty-free products so let me know if you have any recommendations :).

Q: Going vegan has been an incredibly healthy transition for me, what positive effects has adopting the vegan lifestyle had on you?

A: Oh my… so much has changed! I have so much more energy that the only caffeine I ever need is a cup of tea in the morning. My skin has cleared up and sometimes I feel like I am glowing. I have lost a little bit of weight but nothing major. Oh and I now feel so much more connected with myself and my body. So much has changed since going vegan that I could go on and on about it.

Q: Describe a day in the life of Lindsay.

A: Well right now a typical day during the week for me consists of waking up in the morning, walking my dogs and getting ready for work (I work at an advertising agency). When I get to work I sip on a green smoothie and then have a cup of tea. When it hits lunch time I run home to have lunch, usually a salad, and be with my dogs. After work I sometimes go to a barre class to get a workout in or I go straight home to make dinner, blog and be with my boyfriend. Pretty normal stuff. We are planning on moving to Chicago soon so once we move I will be a health coach and blogger full time as well as being the marketing director for my dads kitchen design company.

Q: Do you have a favourite inspirational quote to leave us with?

A: ” I am going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life”.

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A huge thank you to Lindsay for sharing her story on JGV. Be sure to check out her lovely blog here: www.lindsaylivingvegan.com ♥

Liebster and One Lovely Blog Award

October 12, 2014Jade Green Vegan7 Comments

Whilst I was on holiday, the lovely Millie from The Little Country Girl nominated me to take part in the Liebster Award and this week the gorgeous girls of The Friendly Fig nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award – how sweet are they all?! I have been following Millie’s blog for a while and love how her kind personality shines through her posts so it was so lovely to hear that she enjoys reading JGV too. I have only recently discovered The Friendly Fig but it is quickly becoming one of my favourite vegan blogs as they have so many great posts ranging from recipes, to style, to useful tips.

liebsteraward onelovelyblogaward

As both of the awards are a fun way of sharing your favourite bloggers with your readers and getting to know a little bit more about them, I thought I’d mix things up a little and combine them into one post. Is that allowed? I hope so!

7 FACTS ABOUT ME

I have 4 beautiful dogs who are my world, they even have their own blog here
I am majorly into binge watching TV shows, my current fave is Pretty Little Liars – who the hell is A?!
My mum is my best friend
I love to sing and play the guitar
I speak french & would love to live in France some day
When I was 11, I was genuinely disappointed that I didn’t receive my Hogwarts letter and had to go to muggle school
My dream is to open an animal sanctuary

RESPONSES TO MY QUESTIONS FROM MILLIE

Q: When did food start becoming more than just food, and start becoming something you were excited about so much you wanted to rant and rave about it?

A: Since going from vegetarian to vegan a few months ago, I’ve become increasingly aware how daunting it can be to be a vegan in a non-vegan world. This inspired me to start my blog in order to show how easy and enjoyable it is to live a cruelty-free lifestyle.

Q: If in an alternative universe you were a child raised by animals, which type of animal would you want to grow up with and learn from?

A: Dogs, hands (or paws) down. They are the kindest, most loving animals and are the only species I have come across who give you unconditional love, wanting nothing in return. If I could be half as good a person as my dogs, I’d be a happy girl! I wrote a post a while back on 10 things I admire about my dogs on their blog (yes, they have their own blog!) If you’d like, you can check that out here.

What is your favourite quote?

This Ghandi quote is my all time favourite as it perfectly sums up why I’m vegan.

Q: Favoutite kind of potato…sweet or white? Baked, mashed, fried, boiled, roasted, chips, fries, curly, crinkled, waffles, hash browns…?

A: Oooh, now this is a tough question as I love potatoes… can I pick three? I’m going for it: mashed, curly fries & waffles. Now I’m feeling hungry!

Q: Have you ever gone out to a restaurant and only eaten dessert?!

A: I don’t think I have but after eating these zeppolis (dough balls covered in sugar, cinnamon & chocolate sauce) in Vegas, going out for just dessert is definitely something I’d be up for trying!!

Q: Did you have any pets when you were growing up? If so then what were their names?

A: I’ve been lucky enough to always have had animals to share my life with so CAUTION – long list alert!

When I was younger: Ollie – springer spaniel; Ruby – hamster; Sparkle & Glitter – guinea pigs; Harvey & Honey – rabbits; Lou-Lou – british bulldog

Currently: Poppy, Panda, Teddy & Kitty – cockapoos; Paris & Rome – tortoises

Did someone say crazy pet lady?!

Q: Do you have any food or meals/snacks that you personally associate with certain occasions? (Simple example – mince pies at Christmas).

A: Whenever I eat my mum’s veggie chilli recipe, it always feels like home. I absolutely love that chilli!

Q: What is your favourite time of day? Are you an early birdie or a late night owl?

A; I’m definitely a late night person, I often stay up until the early hours binge watching TV shows/ playing music/ working on the blog. Maybe that’s why getting out of bed is a battle for me every morning!

Q: If you could go back in time and re-live one moment, but only to re-live it, not change it, what moment would that be?

A: Ooh that’s a tough one, there are so many great moments I’d love to re-live. I think I’ll go with one of the many days I spent with my granddad when I was little, playing in the garden with his pet chickens.

Q: What snack food or meal do you wish grew on trees?

A: Vegan chocolate. YUM.

Q: What’s your favourite song to dance to?

A: There are so many but my all time favourite artist is Taylor Swift so anything by her.

BLOGS I LOVE

To conclude the post, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite veggie/ vegan blogs that are definitely worth checking out!

www.thelittlecountrygirl.blogspot.co.uk

thefriendlyfig.com

lindsaylivingvegan.com

vegiefoodie.com

myveganvalentine.wordpress.com

www.caring-cosmetics.com

southernblondevegan.com

kristinaplummer.com/blog

leilalina.wordpress.com

ohsheglows.com

World Animal Day

October 7, 2014Jade Green Vegan11 Comments

This weekend, I celebrated World Animal Day in the best way possible: hanging out with some of my best friends and lots of adorable animals at Pennywell Farm; of course all whilst my besty and I sported our matching Peta2 Animal hats.

I have always loved all animals and getting to spend quality time with them just solidifies in my mind how happy I am to be living a vegan lifestyle. The animals at Pennywell are all adorable, and we definitely came dangerously close to sneaking one of the tiny piglets and/ or bunnies out in our jumpers. How freaking adorable are they?!

I find it so strange that lots of people see dogs as pets, yet see pigs as food. Pigs make just as awesome companions as dogs and are such clever animals. Some fun facts about pigs: they have their own language, mother pigs sing to their young and some pigs have even been taught to play video games! That’s at least one thing that they’re better than me at… although admittedly given my shocking (lack of) FIFA skills, that’s not too surprising! If you need more convincing of how awesome pigs are, check out Esther the Wonder Pig. Esther is a total babe who is revolutionising the way we view pigs, one adorable picture at a time! I fully intend to share my home with a gorgeous piggy one day, but until then I will coo over cute pictures like this one on a regular basis ▶▷▸▹

How unbearably cute is that little face?!

Beautiful bunnies and micro piglets aside, we got the chance to chill out with lots of other gorgeous animals including: huge (and I mean huge) shire horses, cashmere goats, and lots of sheep. Here are some of my favourite pictures from the day ▶▷▸▹

Summary of this post: I seriously need to live on a farm one day so that I can chill out with lots of beautiful animals like these on a daily basis! I hope you all had an awesome World Animal Day too, let me know if you got up to anything fun.

One more extremely exciting thing that happened this weekend; I was featured on the awesome Lindsay Living Vegan‘s blog. You can check out the interview here and be sure to check out the rest of her blog whilst you’re there as she has lots of great posts ranging from beauty to health to recipes. A huge thanks to Lindsay for inviting me onto her blog; I’m looking forward to featuring her in the JGV Interview Series soon.

Interview with Sarah Argo of Southernblondevegan.com

October 3, 2014Jade Green Vegan6 Comments

Today I am beyond EXCITED to share the first post in the JGV Interview Series where I get a chance to chat to some truly inspiring people and share a little about their beautiful stories with you all. I have never felt healthier and happier than since I adopted a vegan lifestyle almost 6 months ago. I started my blog to show how easy it can be to live a cruelty-free lifestyle and thought it would be great to share the stories of people who are thriving on a vegan diet and inspiring others along the way. What better way to start than with the gorgeous Sarah Argo of southernblondevegan.com.

Sarah is a beautiful vegan mom who shares her healthy food creations with her 10,000 followers on instagram and recently on her new vegan food blog. Not only are her meal pictures mouth-watering, but her kind soul also shines through in her writing. It was great getting to know her a little better through this interview & I’m so happy to be able to share this with you all ▷►▹▸

Q: How did your vegan journey start? What were you main inspirations and influences?

A: My vegan journey started almost three years ago, following the birth of my daughter Maizy. My initial drive was to be the healthiest version of myself possible for her, and as the years went by and I began to do more research I learned just how important a vegan diet/lifestyle is for every living thing. Not just for our health, but for the injustice done to animals by our food industry and the devastating effects our over-consumption of meat is having on the planet we will one day pass on to our children. Although my daughter was a newborn at the time I decided to go vegan, she was my inspiration. She is my inspiration for a lot of things.

Q: It’s so great that you’re a vegan mom raising a beautiful vegan daughter, have you got any tips for someone planning on raising a vegan family?

A: The best advice I can give any parent wanting to raise a vegan family is to get your children involved. Take time to teach them about all the different incredible foods that grow from our earth, let them help make meals, and be patient with their little taste buds. There are certain foods my daughter wouldn’t touch a year ago that she loves now! I think our perception is warped a bit in thinking that healthy vegan foods are complicated and difficult to prepare. One of my daughters favorite foods are bananas – I don’t think it gets much faster, cheaper, or easier than that! Fruit is the ultimate fast food!

Q: You have recently extended your beautiful Instagram into an awesome blog, sharing lots of your yummy vegan recipes. Tell us about your Instagram journey and the inspiration behind your blog.

A: Instagram has been a really fun way to share more of our day-to-day meals, snacks, and tips for thriving in this lifestyle! I was hearing a lot of the same statements from people considering veganism – “I just don’t know what I’d eat.” or “I would get so bored with that food.”, and lots of “Do you just eat salads all day?”, so I wanted to share just how diverse and FUN eating a vegan diet is! I love the platform Instagram provides and how easy it is to use, but as it progressed I decided to start my blog to share more in depth reasoning behind my decision and detailed recipes with everyone.

Q: All of your recipes look so yummy. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life what would it be?

A: That’s such a hard question, haha! I love food so it would be very difficult for me to choose, but I think a big plate of roasted vegetables would be my number one meal. That may sound a bit boring to some, but it’s definitely the ultimate comfort food for me!

Q: Not only are you beautiful on the inside but also on the outside. What is your favourite cruelty-free beauty product?

A: That’s so nice, thank you! I have many favorites, but right now I’m really loving ELF‘s Mineral Lipstick. It’s extremely affordable, excellent quality, and cruelty-free! The colors are all super vibrant and beautiful!

Q: Since going vegan I have experienced so many amazing health benefits; what positive effects has adopting the vegan diet had on you?

A: The health benefits are truly never ending, and I just keep seeing more positive effects as the years go by! My skin and hair have never been healthier, my energy levels are higher than when I was a teenager, my weight doesn’t fluctuate much although I eat in abundance, my mental clarity is sharper than it’s ever been, I literally never get sick, and I’m a much happier person all around! I could honestly go on and on, it’s changed everything.

Q: Describe a day in the life of Sarah Argo.

A: I’m a stay at home mom, so my days are usually pretty simple! I get woken up by my sweet 3 year old girl, who always says the same thing – “hi mamma, lets play!”, so we get up and have breakfast and play, I walk/jog on the treadmill, we run our errands, make lunch, I catch up on emails and work on the blog, do some yoga, then my husband gets home and we all make dinner and spend time together until bedtime. Our house is extremely family oriented – we typically do things together! Spending the majority of your time investing in the people you love is food for the soul.

Q: Your positive mindset is something that really shines through on your blog/ Instagram; do you have a favourite inspirational quote to leave us with?

A; “Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.” – Mother Teresa. I think above all else – love, kindness, and compassion should be the goal. If we feed ourselves the best foods and treat our bodies well, it’s all empty without love for every other creature.

–

Thank you so much Sarah for sharing your story. Be sure to check out Sarah’s awesome blog at: southernblondevegan.com for lots of yummy meal inspiration ♥

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Skinny chips and salad

October 2, 2014Jade Green Vegan2 Comments

Now that I’m back at university, I’m enjoying having a lot more time to cook and experiment with recipes. One of my favourite dinners that has become a staple over the past couple of weeks is Skinny chips and salad as it is so quick and easy to cook, as well as being super yummy!

I love the homemade chips from this meal as not only are they skinny in appearance but also in that they have way less fat that regular chips. As I’ve been eating this meal a lot recently, I decided to mix things up and add some carrot ‘chips’ into the mix… they were a little unusual but definitely a great addition to the meal.

I wanted to share this recipe with you all and hope you love it as much as I do!

Ingredients (serves 2)

4 potatoes

1 carrot

1 squeeze of lemon

Sea salt

Ground black pepper

Paprika

1 avocado

Choice of salad (my favourites are onions, mushrooms, lettuce & beetroot)

Olive oil cooking spray (I use Fry light)

Instructions

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Preheat the oven to 250 degrees
Peel the potatoes and carrot and then cut them into long thin slices
Cover a baking tray in grease proof paper and place the sliced potatoes and carrots on it ensuring they don’t overlap so that they are all able to cook properly
Cover with approximately 6 sprays of olive oil cooking spray, then sprinkle paprika, salt and pepper on top
Cook in the oven for 15 minutes
Remove from the oven and turn each chip over (this is the most tedious part of cooking this meal – sorry guys; the yumminess is so worth it though!)
Put back into the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes
Whilst the chips are cooking, mash 1 avocado & squeeze a little lemon on top along with some group black pepper and paprika
Remove the chips from the oven and serve with the mashed avocado and salad of your choice
ENJOY! (Or if you’re anything like me, take a couple of pictures first ;))

If you do make this meal I’d love to hear from you/ see a picture so please do get in touch.

Have a lovely day,

Jade xo

My Vegan 21st Birthday Party

September 28, 2014Jade Green Vegan3 Comments

Just over a month ago I finally turned 21 and my mum threw me and awesome party! I’ve been meaning to write a post about this for ages; however, soon after my birthday my boyfriend also turned 21 and to celebrate both of our birthdays we went on an awesome 2 week trip around North America. We got to try so much amazing vegan food in each of these places, you can read more about this here, here & here! So now that I’m back I decided to back up a month or so and share more details about my birthday party.

One of the coolest things about it was that we found a caterer who was able to serve an entirely vegan menu. Most of the people there weren’t vegan or even vegetarian so it was really fun for me to be able to show them how varied and delicious vegan food can be. And it definitely worked as not only was the food a big hit with us veggies/ vegans but even some of my most carnivorous friends came up to me during the night to say they were shocked by how great it was! My favourites from the menu were: calzone with roast butternut squash, pine nuts, sultanas & thyme and falafel with a tomato and mint dip.

As a little momentum of the night, my mum made me this room decoration using an old candle holder and the fairy lights & table gems we used for party decorations. I love it as it’s a great reminder of the night and also… how cute does that look?!

One more thingI loved about my 21st birthday was the incredible present I received from my lovely boyfriend: a donation in my name to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. As you probably know, I love all animals and have a particularly soft spot for dogs, so for me helping dogs in need was the BEST. PRESENT. EVER.

Overall this summer has been amazing; going vegan has been the best decision I’ve ever made and I’ve loved sharing the experience on the blog. Now the summer is coming to a close and I’m back at university, I’ll have lots more free time to spend on the blog. I have some super exciting plans for Jade Green Vegan including: a little makeover for the site, vamping up the recipe section & interviews with some awesome people . I hope you’ve all had a beautiful summer too and continue to follow along this journey with me ❤.

Vegan eats in Mexico

September 27, 2014Jade Green Vegan2 Comments

On our way to Mexico from Vegas we had a short stop over in San Francisco, and all I can say is I’m a huge fan of the vegan food selection at the airport. The Plant Cafe Organic had so many great options including these amazing chocolate chip cookies. Yum.

After a jam-packed 8 days in NYC & Vegas, it was so nice to have 8 days to chill out in our beautiful all inclusive hotel in Cancun: The Now Sapphire Riviera waking up to this incredible view every morning.

As we didn’t venture out of our hotel on this part of the trip, the majority of my meals consisted of chips, spaghetti, salad & vegetables so I unfortunately don’t have any great restaurants to share with you like in NYC and Vegas. However, I did make the most of the huge fresh fruit selection in our hotel, and took it upon myself to arrange the fruit into lot of different shapes each morning before eating it. The desire to make my food look pretty is definitely something I inherited from my mum, as when I was younger (and even sometimes now) she’d arrange my food into smiley faces/ animals/ other cute shapes. What a babe. I didn’t realise how much this had rubbed off on me until one evening in Mexico we were playing pool with some Canadian guys and we got chatting about veganism. One of them said he thought I must be vegan as he’d seen me that morning with a huge plate of fruit, spending ages arranging it into shapes then taking lots of pictures of it… how embarrassing! At least I was enjoying myself, right?! Anyway, here are some of my favourite fruity creations ( I think the last one looks like a bunny cross butterfly… a bunnerfly maybe?!) Either way, they were all delicious!

Fruity breakfast creations aside, there was one meal we had in Mexico that was amazing: a private vegan dinner on the beach. Wow. It was by far the most beautiful dinner setting I’ve ever seen, and the food was equally amazing. To start, we had a cauliflower, tomato and onion salad; followed by melon soup (weird but good)! For main we had courgette ravioli filled with mushrooms and tomato sauce – a great, healthy alternative to traditional ravioli. And finally, for desert we had a delicious orange sorbet – so yummy!

So that concludes my posts about our amazing trip to North America; I absolutely loved every place we visited and the incredible variety of vegan food we tried in each of them. Aside from the beautiful memories, the main thing I have taken from this trip is that although it may include a little more planning/ research/ awkward conversations using google translate to explain what being vegan means, maintaing a vegan lifestyle whilst travelling is totally do-able. After two fun-packed weeks, it was so nice to get home to my gorgeous dogs & give them their presents – judging by that smile, I think Poppy likes her sombrero!

cockapoo in sombrero

I’d love to hear if you have any tips for eating vegan whilst travelling? Also, if any of you are weird like me and play with your food too?

Vegan in Vegas Baby!

September 22, 2014Jade Green Vegan2 Comments

Part two of our trip around North American was in LAS VEGAS!!!! We had so much fun & crammed a crazy amount into our 4 days there; from pool parties, to burlesque shows, to a helicopter ride, to gambling (and losing) a ton of money, to of course, eating lots of yummy vegan food! It was an amazing 4 days and now I can’t wait to go back. Here are some of the food and other highlights of our trip ♥

Helicopter Ride over the Grand Canyon (coolest thing ever!)

We had some big wins on the slots 😉

Veggie noodles whilst chilling by the pool

Night at Hakkassan

Slice of Vegas

The food highlight of our time in Vegas was checking out an awesome vegan-friendly restaurant: Slice of Vegas. They have an extensive vegan menu, with too much to try in one sitting, so of course we went their twice in our 4 day visit!

For appetisers, we had the ‘Not Your Mama’s Garlic Bread’ as well as the ‘House Shoestring Fries’. Both were great choices & so filling!

For main course they have a varied vegan menu, including but not limited to, lots of Daiya Mozzarella pizzas. We seriously need to find a way to get Daiya cheese to the UK as it’s just insanely good. There must be a petition or something? If not, I’m starting one. Anyway…

Enough of my rambling, back to the Pizza. We decided share a half and half; Matt had the meatless meatballs (that’s a whole lot of alliteration there!) and I had mushroom and onion. Both were a-m-a-zing.

Finally, for desert we had the best, and i mean BEST dessert I’ve eaten in my entire life: these yummy zeppolis! I am so excited to try to recreate these now I’m home, as I have been majorly craving them since we left Vegas.

In summary, Slice of Vegas rocked my world. If you’re in Vegas, you have to go check it out, you won’t regret it!

Cruelty-free in NYC

September 11, 2014Jade Green Vegan2 Comments

In the past month, Matt & I have both turned 21 and to celebrate we decided to go on a 2 week trip around North America! First stop was New York City, and to say I was excited to try out the vegan food scene in one of the vegan food capitals of the world would be an understatement!

The trip got off to a great start with this yummy vegan plane food courtesy of Virgin Atlantic. I get way too excited about plane food, and this vegan curry and potato salad did not disappoint!

Moving on from my weird plane food fetish, let’s get down to all of the amazing food we ate in NYC. On our first morning we found an awesome bagel shop right around the corner from our hotel. They had a varierty of delicious tofu cream cheeses that were so good that we found ourselves there every morning of our entire trip!!

Turns out tofu cream cheese bagels also make the perfect picnic snack in Central Park alongside a fresh fruit smoothie from a street vendor.

As well as eating a lot of bagels, we also visited some cool vegan/ vegan-friendly restaurants. Candle 79 – an entirely vegan restaurant – was my absolute favourite, so much so that we went their twice in our short visit. The servers were so friendly and helpful, the atmosphere was chilled and elegant, and the food was insanely good! We ordered way too many dishes both times we visited, but somehow managed to eat it all! Below are pictures of our favourite dishes…

Angel’s Nachos

Grilled Portobello Steak

Seitan Piccata

Black bean-pumpkin seed burger (my favourite meal of the trip!)

Another great restaurant that we visited with a varied vegan menu was Pala Pizza.

We both ordered the Funghi E Salsiccia Pizza and it was definitely a great choice (sorry for the poor quality photo – it was really dark in there!!) The veggie sausage had such a great flavour, and Matt & I fell in love with daiya cheese. I really wish we could get it in the UK as it is the best cheese alternative I’ve tried.

Despite being full, when we saw the table next to us eating this delicious chocolate cake we decided we could make a little more room for it. And boy am I glad we did, as it was one of the nicest vegan deserts I’ve ever had.

On the last night we found an awesome juice place, Juice Generation, on the way to Times Square. Their mango juice made a perfectly refreshing snack on a warm NYC evening.

They also had a great selection of vegan muffins; my personal fave was the pineapple + coco one. I wish we’d found this place sooner as I’m sure we would have been back to sample the rest of the gluten free, vegan bakery.

We had an amazing 4 and a half days in NYC, and the vegan food scene definitely lived up to my expectations. Until next time NYC xo

P.S. A BIG thanks to Matt for all of the arty photos for this post ♥, the rest of the sub par phone photos are courtesy of me – sorry guys!

Vegan Afternoon Tea Recipe

August 26, 2014Jade Green Vegan6 Comments

For as long as I can remember I have been in love with afternoon tea. I have been having major cravings for it lately, so this bank holiday weekend I decided to make the most of my time off and made my first vegan afternoon tea – it did not disappoint! Aside from looking forward to all of the yummy food, I was also super excited to use the beautiful afternoon tea set that my boyfriend bought me for my 20th Birthday!

How cute is that ?! ▽▼▽▼▽

For me, afternoon tea is all about the sandwiches, which is strange as under other circumstances I’m not usually a sandwich fan. There’s just something about the tiny, bite size, variety of flavours in afternoon tea that makes the sandwiches so much better than usual! …Or maybe I’m just weird. Either way, these sandwiches were amazing so I’m beyond excited to share the recipe with you! The rest of it was pretty awesome too, so here it is…

Sandwiches

I made 3 different types of sandwiches on a mixture of white and whole grain bread and used Pure dairy free spread!

1. Guacamole and pine nut

I love guacamole so I was super excited to make this sandwich. Peel & mash one avocado, then mix in one clove of crushed garlic and squeeze a little lemon in the mix. Stir together and season with sea salt and ground black pepper before serving with a sprinkle of pine nuts.

2. Roasted veg and hummus

For my roasted veg sandwich I used: mushrooms, red onions, garlic & carrot, but what’s great about this is that you can just use whatever spare veg you have lying around in your fridge. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees, then drizzle the veg in garlic oil, season with sea salt and ground black pepper and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. The veg is then ready to be served with hummus. Side note: this was my first attempt at recreating an awesome sandwich that I had on my trip to Amsterdam and it was just as delicious as I remembered.

3. Pepper and sea salt seasoned salad

The final sandwich is super simple but so yummy; even my salad fearing boyfriend loved it! It includes: a slice of cucumber, a slice of tomato, a few pieces of sliced red onion (lots of slicing going on here guys!), a piece of iceberg lettuce and a thin slither of beetroot, all seasoned with sea salt and ground black pepper.

I am feeling majorly hungry after writing that up! On to the sweet bits before I run downstairs and whack out the afternoon tea set!

Scones

In lieu of scones, I made my delicious oatmeal raisin cookies but shaped them into balls before cooking, giving them a softer, more gooey centre – yum! You can check out the recipe for these bad boys here. Alternatively, I’m sure there are some great vegan scone recipes out there, I was just too lazy to look; and plus these cookies are so good, I grab any opportunity to make them!

Cakes

For the cakes, I made the awesome Chocolate Covered Katie’s chocolate brownies. They didn’t turn out quite as I’d hoped… maybe because I cooked them in a yorkshire pudding tray (I’m a goddess in the kitchen, in case you haven’t already picked up on that) but I rolled with it, quite literally… I rolled the gooey brownies into little cake balls! Despite their questionable appearance, they were delicious and the perfect end to my favourite meal!

Tea

Last but not least, for the tea we had hot lemon water. I’ve spoken before in my summer favourites post about how amazing this is for you; it’s also really easy to make! Just put a couple of slices of lemon in the bottom of the tea pot, fill with boiling water, and then squeeze the remainder of the lemon into the tea pot.

hot lemon afternoon tea

I hope you enjoyed reading about my afternoon tea almost as much as I enjoyed eating it, which would be a lot! I would definitely recommend making this whenever you have a spare afternoon as it rocks! Aside from stuffing my face with sandwiches this weekend, I also went on a lovely long walk with my dogs in our local fields. Here they all are soaking up the sun!

I hope everyone else had a beautiful bank holiday weekend ♥♡