snacks

smoked salmon toasts with pickled cucumber and wasabi cream

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If you like smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, this sandwich recipe is based on that but really ramped up flavour and texture wise. I made these last night for a dinner party, and they went down really well. They are a great combo of tangy sweet savoury crunchy and creamy. I replaced the smoked salmon with slices of avocado for one of my veggie friends who doesn’t eat fish and she really loved it. You need to make the pickled cucumber and pink pickled onions in advance, the methods are below and in my recipe archive, and they are beyond easy. I really can’t wait to make them again, I really love them and they are perfect for a date night.
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refried beans

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Fancy a Mexican? I do… this recipe is really easy and delicious and perfect as a TV snack or a starter. I even like to serve it on tiny tortillas as a canapé. I like to serve refried beans (or Mexican hummus as I like to call it) on toast, corn tortillas (you can get gluten free in supermarkets now) or tacos and it also goes with anything you fancy…avocados, my pink pickled onions, my quick pickled red cabbage, roasted veg, salsa, lettuce, sour cream, a squeeze of lime, cheddar or jalapeño peppers. You can pick n mix.
Perfect with a margarita or two.

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baked falafel

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These slightly sweet falafels are soft and moist. They are perfect with humus, pita bread and salad, but I also like them warm with Apple sauce which I first had as a starter at the restaurant Caravan in Exmouth market and still remember it as a surprisingly brilliant combo. You can double or triple the amounts from the recipe and bake them in batches if you want to make more. My friends who I’ve tested this recipe on said that they’re the best falafels they’ve ever had!

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love cookies

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These shortcakes are very chocolatey, fun and vegan. Anyone can make them. All you do is mix the ingredients, bake them, dip in warm chocolate and leave to cool. They taste amazingly buttery even though there’s no butter in them and are perfect as a gift for your loved ones (…or loved ones),  in a cellophane bag or a small box with a red ribbon because I think a homemade present is really thoughtful. I’ve tried these out on friends who can’t tell they are dairy free, in fact they even preferred them to normal biscuits made with butter!

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tuna sashimi with sesame dressing

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this delicious easy recipe lower carb sashimi style tuna has a fab dressing which is sweet and savoury with the flavours of sesame and soya sauce. I serve it with the Japanese pickled ginger and a wasabi sauce as you would with Japanese food. It takes  about 5 minutes to make and there’s no cooking. So it’s perfect if you fancy sushi and a bit of a sushi scenario and you don’t want the carbs. Make sure the tuna you buy is the colour of watermelon and has not gone brown, so it’s the freshest possible which tastes the best. I hope you like it as much as me…

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chocolate dipped ginger shortbread

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These shortcakes are really fun easy and dairy free, but you can make them with butter if you prefer. Anyone can make them. All you do is mix the ingredients, bake them, dip in warm chocolate and leave to cool. They taste amazingly buttery even though there’s no butter in them. They are perfect as tree decorations if you make a little hole in them before baking so you can thread a ribbon or piece of string through to hang them up.  I’ve tried these out on friends who can’t tell they are dairy free. You can also use any shape cookie cutter if you haven’t got this one.

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chocolate dipped spiced cookies

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As I’ve said before, its challenging converting a tasty recipe to vegan as the flavours and textures can be very different from the standard ingredients that are usually used. I think vegan recipes also need to be more fun, so I am trying to come up with fun recipes on this blog that are not only vegan but look and taste as good if not better than the original with animal products in them. I’m trying these cookies out at a dinner party and will get back to you with their verdict.
Result! They wanted the recipe and they think they’re perfect for Christmas and as a homemade Christmas gifts!

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moroccan carrot salad

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I love this recipe so much. I got it from the Moro cookbook and have tweaked it a little to make it easier. Every time I serve it everyone adores it and wants the recipe. The taste is sweetly delicious and very Moroccan because it’s really fresh and fragrant with the perfume of cumin and coriander. It’s great with meat, salads and couscous dishes or with my vegetable tajine. I don’t peel the carrots because I can’t be bothered and I assume most of the goodness and taste is in the skin and no one notices if you do or don’t.

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artichokes with vinaigrette

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This recipe is a French classic. It is a perfect way to prepare artichokes, simply steamed or boiled for 45 minutes and steeped in my dressing. They are worth the effort and there’s something luxe about eating the soft creamy heart as the prize after eating the soft ends off of the leaves. If you don’t know how to prepare or eat them, follow my recipe and I promise they are divine plus artichokes are a super food packed with antioxidants and liver cleansing properties..just google them for their list of health giving benefits.

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moroccan orange salad

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I had this salad as a starter in a Moroccan restaurant in Paris and I have made it ever since. It’s divine and reminds me of that restaurant I think was called the Star. I went there twice with my boyfriend with a ten year gap between visits and when we told them that we loved it there and had come back ten years later they were very blasé and not interested, however the food was fantastic still. This salad is great as a dessert too. It’s perfumey with orange flower water so you feel transported to an exotic place in Morocco, at least I do, and it’s pretty healthy. So give it a try….

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