Sprouting

I bought a mixed bag of seeds from one of the health food stores here in Bristol, but I found the sprouts to be too tough (it included ones like chickpeas). So, I tried a pre-sprouted bag of alfalfa and radish sprouts. I can now say with certainty that I am not a fan of radish sprouts >_<

But I wasn't going to give up on sprouting just yet. At the bulk store, I grabbed myself a small bag of organic alfalfa seeds. And voila! 6 days later I had wonderful, tender, CHEAP sprouts! This glass is on day 4 - sunlight day. It's amazing just how quickly green appeared. This was about 2 Tbsp of seeds and it made a LOT of sprouts.

On day 6 I rinsed out the hulls with my salad spinner and placed the still slightly damp seeds on a cookie tray to dry out overnight, then popped them in the fridge the next day. I think this is a good amount for one person for the 5-6 days it takes to create another batch. I usually eat them with my salads.

To sprout or not to sprout: what do you do? What are your favourite kinds?

Local Fruit & Veg

I have found my new place to buy fruit and veg in Bristol: Alex's Fruits. I picked up a huge bag of stuff - kale, green onions, zucchini, cucumber, mushrooms, red pepper, avocados, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, STRAWBERRIES - for only £5 (at Sainsbury's this would have been around £15!) , so I saved myself a ton of money AND it's better quality. Plus, I'm supporting small business, which is always a good thing.

Yesterday a few of us headed up to Stratford-upon-Avon for the day to check out the Bard's old haunts.


I knew we would probably stop for lunch, so I brought along a giant green smoothie with bananas, green cabbage, apple, cinnamon, and vanilla (I was quite happy with the cabbage as it blended really well). One of my travel buddies gave it a go and like it! (they've been hesitant to believe that any drink that's that green can taste good).

Zucchini Pasta with Marinara Sauce

Hey all. Last night I had an amazing zucchini pasta with a delicious marinara sauce:

Basic Marinara Sauce
3 medium tomatoes
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (soaked)
2 dates (soaked)
1/2 clove garlic
1 tsp of Herbes de Provence
salt & pepper


I used my blender, but I suppose you could use a food processor instead (mine leaks when it's anything too liquidy).

I've had a wonder week! Today is my 1-year Veganniversary ^_^ And last Monday for my birthday the Boy took me on a surprise birthday adventure to Newquay:

The sky cleared up and it was a gorgeous sunny day for the afternoon we were there. The tide was out so we were also able to walk along the beach. A wonderful way to spend a birthday :)

Something I'm looking forward to in the next few days: my first batch of alfalfa sprouts! Stay tuned ;)

Pineapple Walnut Date Bars

The Blueberry Walnut Date Bars on Addicted to Veggies looked so good, I had to give it a go myself. I made half a batch and didn't have everything on hand, so I had to make a few adjustments:

Pineapple Walnut Date Bars
0.5 cups dates (pitted and soaked in warm water for 5 minutes)
0.5 cups dried pineapple
0.5 cups walnuts (soaked)
0.5 cups almonds (soaked)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of sea salt

Blend, blend, blend! (All I have is a mini-processor, so I had to do it all in two batches and it took quite a while to get everything to an okay consistency. Blerg. The nuts were still rather chunky; I would suggest going for a smoother consistency ala AtV's bars).


Right now I'm enjoying a couple with a banana chocolate smoothie ^_^

Cabbage Salad

I threw this together to take with me to work today. I think it may be my new favourite salad concoction.

(sorry for the poor quality phone photo,
but I wanted to get a pic before I ate it all!)

sweetheart cabbage
shaved carrot
green onion
mixed sprouts
raisins
chopped pecans
nutritional yeast
fresh lemon juice
sunflower pate
(in a food processor: soaked sunflower seeds, lemon juice, sea salt, paprika, water - all to taste)

Quick snack: Pecans with Almond Butter and Raisins

Sometimes I just want a quick bite to eat between meals. I've found this treat to be both filling and to satisfy my sweet tooth. It's simply pecan halves with some raw almond butter on top. Feel free to add some raisins, too :)

Apple + Raisin Salad

Dinner last night:

Leaf lettuce
1 large apple
raisins (soaked briefly)
1/2 avocado
chopped pecans
green onion
lemon juice + balsamic vinegar
celtic sea salt