vegetarian

Vegan at YO! Sushi

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Last night, after a bit of Glastonbury shopping with my mum (I just can’t help myself!) we went to Yo! Sushi for dinner. Now that I’m transitioning from vegetarian to vegan, there are obviously quite a few dishes in my favourite restaurants that I no longer eat; so I was beyond excited to discover that as a vegan I can still enjoy all of the same dishes I had as a vegetarian in Yo! Sushi. For this week’s ‘Being Vegan at’ post I thought it would be great to share last night’s eats with y’all.

Vegetable Gyoza – this is my all time favourite dish; they’re like little parcels of heaven!

Yo! Sushi Vegetable Gyoza

Pumpkin Karoke – these strips of pumpkin covered in breadcrumbs are awesome, and the ‘fruity’ sauce is just too good!

Yo! Sushi Pumpkin Karoke

Aubergine Salad – last night was the first time I’d tried this salad and it has become a new favourite;  the harusame sauce is delicious and I can’t wait to try to recreate this healthy snack at home!

Yo! Sushi aubergine

I was definitely full up after these 3 dishes but I’m also a big fan of the Kaiso Salad and Vegetable Yakisoba.

For a full list of vegan options currently available at Yo! Sushi, check out the Allergen section of their website here.

How to do Glastonbury… Vegan style

Jade Green Vegan8 Comments

At the end of this week, I will be heading to Glastonbury Festival for the first time ever! Excited does not even begin to describe how my boyfriend feels about this; we’ve spoken about nothing but tents, line ups, and portable chairs for the past few months. I, on the other hand have been feeling a little, okay a lot, apprehensive mainly due to the showering/ toilets/ general personal hygiene issues a festival presents, but also about how I will find food that fits in with my veggie/ vegan lifestyle.

Recently I was trawling through online vegan forums where I stumbled upon a plethora of comments saying that Glastonbury is THE best place for veggies/ vegans. Some people were even saying that Glastonbury was the one time of the year that they ate veggie, simply because the food is so good. After finding this out, I’m definitely giving my boyfriend a run for his money in the too excited to function department, and can’t wait to head to The Green Fields (where all the veggie/ vegan action happens). I’m so excited to share all of my Glasto-food instagram pics with you all and will be writing a full blog post about all my vegan eats when I’m back. For those mornings where we don’t have the energy to roll out of our tent for breakfast, I have packed some Fruitina snack bars; they’re the perfect festival snack: light-weight, healthy and filling!

fruity snacks

To mitigate my no-shower panic, I decided to go on a mini-toiletry shopping spree. I am passionate about using cruelty free beauty products, so shopping for tiny toiletries is as exciting to me, as shopping for collapsable chairs that fold into the size of a shoe (yes, we have those!) is to my boyfriend! So for all you compassionate festival go-ers, here is my:

Festival Shopping List

1. Moisturising Hand Sanitiser (Festival must have!)

Crabtree and Evelyn at Marks and Spencer 

crabtree and evelyn hand sanitiser

 

2. Wet-Wipes (as an alternative to showering, aaaaa!)

Dr. Organic at Holland and Barrett

dr. organic wet wipes

 

3. Dry Shampoo (I’ve been told by seasoned festival goers that realistically, I won’t be washing my hair :o)

Superdrug own brand

superdrug dry shampoo

 

4. Mini bottles of my favourite shampoo and conditioner (just in case I can’t go 4 days without hair washing)

Tara Smith at Marks & Spencer

tara smith hair products

 

5. Mini bottle of body wash (for that shower that may or may not happen)

Original Source at Superdrug

original source shower gel

 

6. One large bottle of sun screen (this is the one thing that my mum insisted I didn’t downsize)

Ultrasun 100ml  at Amazon

Ultrasun 400ml at Amazon

ultrasun

 

Glastonbury – here we come!!

Vegan at Nandos!!

Jade Green Vegan4 Comments

For this week’s ‘Being Vegan at’ post, I have chosen my favourite restaurant: Nandos!

Being a long-time vegetarian, and now transitioning vegan, people always find it weird when I say that Nandos is my favourite restaurant, but it is. I really love Nandos. I go there several times a week in hope that they’ll recognise me and finally deem me worthy of a black card. I’m still living in hope. Sidenote… check out Example & Ed Sheeran’s Nandos black card song below, absolute genius.

Anyway, back to the food. Their veggie burger is the best; so I was praying I could still have it when I became vegan. Good news is, on reading their website I found out that I can still have the burger filet, peri peri sauce (thank the lord!), salad garnish, and chips. However, the bad news is that this yummy burger cannot be sandwiched by one of their buns as they contain dairy. I decided to try the burger sans bun and actually really enjoyed it.

Next time, which of course was a few days later, I tried the veggie wrap without the mayonnaise and chilli sauce and this was even better. Another bonus is that when I said I was vegan, the staff were so helpful and accommodating. The manager brought out a huge, and i mean huge allergen menu and went through it with me to see what I could have. This (and the amazing food) is why I love Nandos!

vegan nandos

All of their bastes are suitable for vegans; and they also have a great range of vegan friendly sides including corn on the cob and a mixed leaf salad!

You can check out their vegan recommendation on their website here; and it’s definitely worth asking to see the allergen menu in the restaurant if you fancy mixing it up with some other sides as they are always adding new ones.

 

Vegan at Pret-a-manger

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One of the things that worried me most about becoming vegan is eating out, as I’m not an ‘I’ll just have the side salad’ kinda gal.  I initially anticipated that this would now involve me dragging my friends & family around all of the London vegan restaurants; or picking at a plate of leaves in a more ‘mainstream’ restaurant whilst they ate. However over the past couple of weeks, as well as trying out Vegan restaurants such as Mildred’s & Bistro 1847 (yum!), I have become acquainted with a lot of Allergen menus in my favourite chain restaurants. I have been pleasantly surprised by the vegan options available and thought it would be great to share my experiences of eating out as a vegan  in mainstream restaurants in a series of ‘Being Vegan at…’ posts.

What better place to start than PRET-A-YUMMY (Pret-a-manger)?!

My job sends me all over London, so I am constantly grabbing breakfast and lunches on the go from coffee shops. Pret is my all time favourite, and turns out when it comes to Vegan options, they don’t disappoint.

Breakfast

For breakfast I have been loving the Super food fruit salad. It’s so refreshing, and with all of its goodness this yummy little pot is the perfect way to kick-start a busy day.

pret super fruit salad

Their smoothies and juices are also amazing; my favourite is the mango smoothie.

pret mango smoothie

Lunch

Last week, I tried Pret’s vegan friendly superfood sandwich for the first time. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have been putting this off for a while now, as I thought it looked ‘too green’ but I am so glad I tried it because now I am addicted!

pret superfood sandwich

They also do a great vegan-friendly butternut squash soup.

butternut squash soup

Snacks

On the snacks front, there’s a great range of vegan options: selected crisps, pretzels, drinks & of course fruity treats like dried mango.

Check out Pret’s allergen menu here for a full list of all of their vegan options. I have this bad boy downloaded on my phone, ready to whack out at any time!

Bistro 1847

Jade Green Vegan5 Comments

This weekend, my boyfriend Matt and I visited Bistro 1847, a Birmingham vegetarian/ vegan restaurant. It has been voted the best vegetarian restaurant outside London; so needless to say, as a vegetarian and a vegetarian/ wannabe vegan we were very excited to try it out!

The restaurant is small and intimate and is conveniently located in the Great Western arcade near to Snowhill Station. The staff are so friendly and helpful, and the restaurant has a great, chilled-out vibe. Then of course, there’s the amazing food. Everything looked so good, so we decided to go all out and get 3 courses!

For starter, we both ordered the vegetable tempura with sweet chilli sauce and it was delicious! The broccoli was my favourite and it was complimented perfectly by the chilli sauce.

Bistro 1847 - battered vegetables

For main, we both ordered the vegetarian/ vegan ‘fish and chips’… are you noticing a pattern here? We don’t always order the same thing! This is a vegetarian dish as contains halloumi cheese; however, it can be made into a vegan option by trading the halloumi for tofu, so this is what I did. The variety of sauces made for a unique infusion of tastes, and we both absolutely loved this dish!

Bistro 1847 - tofu and chips

Although we were full up after our amazing starters and main courses, we of course managed to make a little room for desert. Once again, we ordered the same thing… the apple crumble, and it was a good choice. The apple was really sweet and was the perfect way to finish the meal.

Bistro 1847 - ice cream

We had such a great evening and can’t wait to go back and try out the rest of the menu; I’m particularly excited about having the afternoon tea, as this is my all time favourite! We are also planning on attending some cooking classes with 1847’s incredible chef so are very excited for this!

As you can see from the pictures, the presentation was impeccable, and the food was equally great. It is clear that everyone who works there is so passionate about what they do and this translates into a great dining experience for everyone who visits Bistro 1847.

 

My top three vegan summer must-haves (or must-eats!)

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I have been LOVING the heatwave we are having in London at the moment and have been making the most of it by chilling out in the sun (of course with my dogs and torts), and enjoying some vegan summer treats. Here are my favourite 3 that I wanna share with you.

summer fun

 

1. Fresh lemon and lime water

I nearly always start my days of with a mug of freshly squeezed hot lemon water, because as my mum has been telling me for years, lemon is a great antioxidant and helps to push our bodies to the required ph alkaline state; which in english means it makes you feel great! In this hot weather, a chilled version of this is perfect. One of my favourite drinks has always been lemon and lime flavoured water, and nothing beats the natural version!

What’s great is that this super healthy drink is so yummy and also really easy to make:

  • Slice 1 lemon and 1 lime in half
  • Squeeze half of each into a glass
  • Pour in water and stir
  • Decorate glass with 1 slice of lemon and 1 slice of lime (if you’re a little OCD about making your drinks look pretty like me)

lemon and lime water

 

2. The summer smoothie

Fresh smoothies are so good for you, and also happen to be incredibly yummy; win, win. This morning, I created my first Jade’s Vegan Diary smoothie recipe: the summer smoothie. One word, yummy!

Ingredients

  • 2 bananas
  • 1 cup raspberries
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 2 kiwis
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 tablespoon of pomegranate

Instructions

  •  Chop bananas and kiwis into chunks
  • Put all fruit and almond milk into a blender/ smoothie maker
  • Blend until smooth
  • Pour into a glass and sprinkle pomegranate on top (love those bad boys!)

summer smoothie

 

3. Orange sorbet ice cream 

Orange sorbet is the perfect desert for a hot summer evening, and I was really surprised when I found out how easy it is to make. I think I will definitely be having a lot of orange sorbet this summer!

Ingredients

  • 2 oranges
  • 1 cup/ carton soya milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Instructions

  •  Chop oranges into chunks
  • Blend until smooth
  • Add in soya milk and vanilla essence
  • Blend until mixed together and smooth
  • Pour into tub and put into freezer
  • Stir after one hour (to prevent crystallising)
  • Leave in the freezer for another hour before serving
  • Add raspberries and pomegranate (mainly for decoration, but also because they’re yummy )

orange sorbet

 

 

Mildred’s Veggie/ Vegan Restaurant in London

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Earlier this week, I dragged my three most veggie friends (2 vegetarians and 1 wannabe vegetarian) to Mildred’s a London vegetarian/ vegan restaurant with me!

The restaurant was packed and had a great atmosphere; so whilst we waited for a table, we started the night off with cocktails at the bar. I ordered the Porn Star, mainly for the fun of ordering it (it never gets old ordering a cocktail with a naughty name, right?! …Maybe that’s just me). Despite my immature ordering tactic, it turned out to be amazing… until I spilt it all over Maria and myself when we sat down at our table. This happens at some point on most nights out with us. I really need to work on getting my clumsiness under control.

porn star cocktail

After wiping up the spilt cocktail (and of course ordering another!) we checked out the menu which is entirely vegetarian and almost entirely vegan or can be turned into a vegan option. As two of us have been life-long vegetarians, we’re used to choosing from the small vegetarian section of menus where there is rarely more than 2 choices; so it was strange, if not a little overwhelming to be so spoilt for choice. Everything looked amazing and it definitely tasted just as good!

To start, I had the gyoza dumplings with mirin and soy dipping sauce. They were DELICIOUS!image

Then for main, I had smoked tofu and white bean sausages, with carrot parsnip and potato mash, wilted kale and pear cider gravy. So. Yummy.

IMG_5215

We all had a great night, with amazing food and maybe a few too many cocktails! Mildred’s is definitely worth checking out, I think we’ve found our new hang out spot…mildreds

 

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookie Recipe

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Last night, something very strange went on in our house… my mum and I baked cookies for the first time EVER!! My dog Poppy barked at me as I was stirring the ingredients in the mixing bowl as if to say, ‘you don’t belong here?!’  and she’s probably right. As far as domestic goddess-ness goes, I’m less Martha Stewart, more Miranda! This was definitely highlighted when I was reading measurements from my iPhone and asked my mum how to tell the difference between tablespoon and teaspoon (tsp – it could be either, right?!)  and she replied with, “Well, teaspoon is the one you use to stir tea”, assuming that instead of not knowing the abbreviations, I didn’t know a tablespoon from a teaspoon. Oh dear.

cooking meme

Since becoming vegan, I have realised that there are lots of yummy treats I won’t be able to buy in shops anymore, so I have decided to step up my game and take this opportunity to make my own healthier AND dare I say yummier versions! I decided to start with mine and my mum’s favourite cookie: oatmeal and raisin with a dash of lemon and apple. Bakery abbreviation blunders aside, our first baking session went really well and the cookies turned out to be DELICIOUS.

So, enough of my rambling, and here is the recipe to make these bad boys (and I’m going to spell out tablespoon or teaspoon for y’all just in case anyone finds these abbreviations as confusing as I do)!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup margarine
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tea spoon baking soda
  • 1 tea spoon cinnamon
  • 1 tea spoon nutmeg
  • 3 cups oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup sultanas
  • 1 apple
  • 1 lemon

 

 

 Cooking instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 250°c
  • Mix together the sugar and margarine until smooth
  • Add in the almond milk and stir until the milk has combined with the mixture
  • Add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until well mixed
  • Add in the oatmeal, raisins, sultanas, and apple (peeled and chopped into small chunks and soaked in lemon juice) and stir
  • Squeeze 1 whole lemon’s juice into the mixture and stir so that it is even throughout

  • Spoon small balls of the mixture onto a baking tray covered in baking paper and flatten

  • Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes or until done (note: staring at them the entire time like Poppy did is optional)

  • Finally, leave them to cool for 10 minutes, then enjoy your yummy cookies!

My first entry in Jade’s Vegan Diary (Exciting!!!)

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Hey and welcome to Jade’s Vegan Diary! I have been a vegetarian for the majority of my life and recently decided to become vegan. This decision was not only fueled by my love of animals, but also by the amazing health benefits that this awesome diet offers.

I am lucky that a lot of the people I’m closest to are either vegetarian or pescetarian, so I have never struggled in maintaining this diet. However, I know zero vegans so this lifestyle is completely new to me and has already been a massive learning curve since I started transitioning into it around a month ago.

In such a short space of time, I have already had so many amazing experiences and have learnt so much. On top of that, I am feeling the healthiest and most energised I have ever felt. I am so excited about living all aspects of this lifestyle, so  decided to start this blog as a way to share my experiences and connect with like-minded people.

On my blog, you can expect lots of yummy recipes; vegan and mainstream restaurant reviews; exercise and general healthy living  posts; vegan beauty product reviews… and really all things vegan! I’m sure I’ll also find a way to work in lots of stories about my amazing dogs, as everyone who knows me knows I always find a way to bring them into the conversation. They even have their own blog here; yep I’m one of those people!

One more thing to note about me, is that prior to becoming vegan my culinary skills were probably less extensive than those of most 5 year olds, so learning to cook and bake all of these yummy vegan foods has been a completely foreign but amazingly exciting experience for me.

I hope you enjoy getting to know me through this blog, and hopefully finding some inspiration is my stories and recipes. I’d love to hear from you so please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Jade xx