A few years ago I fell in love with gardening. I grew everything from chilli peppers, courgettes and herbs; to pak choi lettuce and spaghetti squash. It was an effort and a lot of hardwork, which was made harder by the fact that I had to use plant pots to grow my crops. Nonetheless, I persevered and nurtured my plants like a new mother and received an abundance of squash and vegetables that Summer. Continue reading “Spaghetti Squash in a Mushroom,Garlic & Parsley Cashew Sauce”
Full Day of Eating: What Are Your Macros?
I haven’t had as much time to cook or bake this week, which is why my Instagram posts have been quite mundane and chocolate free. Meals have been simple, although, still delicious, balanced and healthy. Today, I decided to roughly track my macros for this specific post; mainly out of curiosity as to whether I am getting enough calories now that I’m not eating any butter, dairy, or as many eggs. If I have learned one thing today, it is how much I loathe tracking macros. It’s such a tedious chore, so please don’t expect this every week or even once a month because I just don’t have the focus for it anymore.
NB: The macros are a guess as I don’t own a weighing scale, but I think the guesstimating is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself 😆
Breakfast -11am
Ihad breakfast around the same time as I always do – 11am – straight after my first coffee of the day. Today I decided to try something different, something which I have never made before – a smoothie bowl. If you are a part of the social media community you will know that these smoothie bowls have become very popular over the last few years: smoothie bowls are a thicker version of a smoothie drink which you eat from a bowl and with a spoon; you can then top them with whatever you like. My smoothie bowl was my jungle protein shake recipe that I made a few weeks ago, only with the addition of two frozen bananas and alpro plain yoghurt. This smoothie bowl had all sorts of nutritious ingredients in it from; turmeric, to spinach, and vegan plant based protein powder, and so much more. I topped mine off with 1/3 cup of all natural muesli, blueberries, blackberries, choc shot, sultanas, pumpkin seeds and pecans. It was delicious. I was surprised because essentially it’s just blended fruit and vegetables with almond milk, but I throughly enjoyed it and it filled me up for over three hours which is quite rare. I will definitely be making more of these in the summer because it is just too cold to be eating these in the spring, as I learned today.
Macros
Cals: 706 | Carbs: 88g | Fat: 19g | Protein: 40g | Fibre: 18g|
Lunch – 1.45pm
As I haven’t had time to bake any healthy bakes this week; I have had to resort to snacks that I have in my cupboard. Today’s choice of snack was half a bakewell flapjack from Holland and Baretts own range (I promise I’m not sponsored by them) these came from the same massive order I made the other week and I will say I was very disappointed. Flapjacks are my absolute favourite thing in the world, I love them. But, this bakewell flapjack was very bland with a white chocolate topping and loaded with unnecessary calories and sugar.I definitely won’t be purchasing these again or eating them. I washed the bland flapjack down with a matcha green tea, rebel kitchen mylk drink which again I got from Holland and Barrett.
The rebel kitchen mylk was different to how I imagined it to be. I’ve never tried matcha before and this was my first time trying anything matcha flavoured too and I’m not sure what I think about it. Firstly, I was expecting a green drink, close t0 the colour green on the packaging. So, I was surprised to be faced with a chocolate colour, that was watery in texture: I’m guessing the colour was from the use of date nectar as there is nothing on the label that indicates the use of cacao. I did shake the bottle before pouring the drink and even then it still separated, so the drink was quite grainy and it left residue on the glass. As for flavour, I can’t really compare it to anything; it wasn’t bitter, but it wasn’t overly sweet either and I guess the flavour which I wasn’t familiar with, was the matcha. However, it was pleasant and I enjoyed it. I probably should have shook the bottle a bit more aggressively, but it was nice and if I see this again on offer I’ll definitely pick it up, as it was a welcome change to drinking water all day, plus it’s extremely nutritious, all natural and vegan too. The only complaint I had with it was that it did have a funny effect on my stomach and made it all gurgly; I’m not sure why either. So, I probably wouldn’t drink this out in public, from fear of embarrassment *insert gritting teeth emoji here*
Macros
Cals: 380 | Carbs: 52g| Fat: 17g | Protein: 4g| Fibre: 2.6g |
Dinner – 5pm
I had a Linda McCartney style burger for dinner; in a white roll with salad, and onions; I also made a relish sauce with cherry toms, white onion, maple syrup, cayenne and ACV to top off my burger and I ate it with roasted broccoli and asparagus, plus some baby beets and mustard on the side. I rarely have white bread because it does upset my stomach, but as the matcha drink had already made it feel slightly unsettled I threw caution to the wind and ate the damn bread anyway and I enjoyed it. This was actually one of the best meals I’ve eaten this week.
Macros
Cals: 622 | Carbs: 58g | Fat: 20g | Protein: 45g | Fibre: 17g |
I have also had 2 pieces of dark chocolate, a few M&S, a cup of tea and around four coffees, macros aren’t included for the burger ‘relish’ or beets either because I have better things to do than track vegetables 😉
And that concludes another full day of eating for this week.I would usually eat something around nine, but I don’t have any snacks left and cooking is out of the question. But, I do have some weird vegetable crisps and propercorn on order from – you guessed it – Holland and Barrett, which hopefully will be here by the weekend.
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A Full Day of Eating
Here I am staying true to my word with the Full Day of Eating post I promised you all last week. Although, if this had been yesterday then I’d still be writing the post today because I ate a lot of food and I enjoyed every morsel; which is the whole point I guess. I’ve noticed since I’ve been eating more carbs that I haven’t been craving sugary foods as much as I usually would and I hadn’t actually eaten any white or milk chocolate for three weeks before Pancake Day, even then I didn’t feel like it; I just ate it for the sake of eating it. These days I tend to crave natural sugars such as: stewed berries, bananas, natural syrups, sultanas, white rice and anything with oat flour. I think people think that I don’t eat very healthy because of the stuff I post to Instagram, but the majority of what I do post is made from healthier whole ingredients and when I’m not posting to Instagram, I’m chowing down on foods like I’ve posted below; which the folks of Instagram don’t really appreciate as much, as the chocolate and peanut butter. Even I go through my Instagram feed sometimes and question the food, but then I realise that I have finally found balance and a better relationship with food, so who cares!
I did my monthly food shop on the weekend and It always shocks me when I get around to it because even though I keep certain foods stocked up throughout the weeks, you can bet when it’s time to do my monthly shop I need more than I thought I did. Although this food shop was different to all of my previous food shopping lists because this time I didn’t buy any of my usual staples: eggs, butter, cheese and milk. It was a first for me, as I’ve never gone a day without dairy or eggs before, so not buying them is a first. While I haven’t cut them out completely from my diet, I haven’t been eating them as much either, so I felt it wasn’t necessary to buy them. I’d like to think that saved me a pretty penny, but I doubt it. I did however, buy some items that I swore I would never buy: soy yoghurt and tofu. I think I have started to fear these foods more than anything else because soy does have a lot of stigma surrounding the effects it has on the thyroid gland, which is why I have always tried to stay away from it. However, I decided that I already have a messed up thyroid anyway and as the soy content in the products isn’t very high, I would eat these in moderation. Plus, they were on offer so that swung it for me too.
Breakfast – 11pm
I never really ate muesli until recently. I’ve always been a savoury breakfast kind of girl and eggs, cheese and Quorn sausages have always played a huge part in that. So when I wake up fancying something sweet, it’s always a surprise to me. This muesli concoction, while delicious is more of a summer-time breakfast, which it most certainly isn’t. But, as the muesli had plenty of different elements to it, it wasn’t boring and I enjoyed it. I topped the muesli with stewed berries, sultanas, pumpkin seeds, coconut syrup and Alpro, vanilla dairy free yoghurt. 
I did also make a vegan mocha protein shake from the gardenia plantbased protein too and I also added Sukrin brown sugar alternative to it with half a cup of Almond Breeze, reduced sugar almond milk as well; but the protein powder ruined it for me. So I didn’t end up adding it to my breakfast because it was VILE!
As for the Alpro vanilla yoghurt, it was so good. Although, I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe tofu blended into a yoghurt. But it tasted like the real deal: nicely sweetened, creamy and I noticed it had loads of tiny flecks of vanilla through it too. I also bought the plain Alpro to use as ‘mayonnaise’ in sandwiches.
Lunch – 1pm
Did you see those huge protein oat pancakes that I posted to my Instagram yesterday? They were delcious and topped with about 10 different toppings. I’m sure of it. I loved them and I came so close to making them again today for lunch. But as I ate sweet for breakfast I needed something savoury for lunch. I decided to try and make a protein spinach wrap out of oat flour; which I wasn’t sure was going to work and it didn’t – they sucked! Although, my dog ate them and seemed to enjoy them. Instead I made a quick minestrone soup with whatever root vegetables I could find in my fridge and tossed in some Rizopia pasta shapes for a touch of nostalgia. It reminded me of the kid soup that I used to eat when I was younger, but with chunky veg, a little kick and a lot of nutrition. Obviously there was a slice of buttered crusty white bread on the side too, which I spread with vegan spread – don’t say the M word please *eye roll* 😉 I will be posting the recipe for the minestrone soup next week and you can check out the Rizopia Fantasia pasta shapes here.
Afternoon Snack – 3pm
I’ve been craving nutri-grain bars for months, but from experience I know that high sugar foods never taste as good as I remember and they always leave me dissatisfied. So I made my own cereal bars this morning. They are vegan and the batter/dough was so bloody good. I guess I rolled them out too much before I baked them though, because the filling was sparse in the finished product. I still enjoyed far too many: they weren’t overly sweet and had a nice grainy texture to them. I also fed one to my sister and she enjoyed them; even went as far, as to say that they tasted like the real thing. I’m not so sure about that, but I did enjoy them. I filled my ‘nutri-grain bars with the date jam that I made a few weeks ago and coated the bars in extra oats too – they were good: packed with nutrition and naturally sweetened. My dog definitely didn’t get to eat these.
Dinner – 6pm
The weather this morning was lovely, but extremely cold. Although, I do I enjoy the cold, Spring, icy mornings. But come the afternoon it changed: the heavens opened and down came the rain. I would sell my right arm to go somewhere warm right now and FYI that is my most dominant arm, so you can see how desperate I am 😉 Comfort food was definitely on tonight’s agenda and a hot steak and gravy pie by Quorn was exactly what I needed. I served it with some roasted baby parsnips, carrots and hassleback potatoes with a homemade gravy that could have a killed a man. I’m just so glad I didn’t add it all to my food because I would have probably been in A&E from dehydration and liver failure – so salty! I ended up making a small amount of Bisto vegetable gravy and thoroughly enjoying this whole meal, plus those baby parsnips were to die for. Quorn have always done very nice vegetarian pies and they are packed with flavour, in my humble opinion. I just hope they get a move on with their vegan range and start adding more products to it.
Evening Snack – 9pm
I picked up these bags of chips the same time I made my Holland and Barrett order the other week. The propercorn has all gone now, but I did get a few bags of these weird chips that seem to be all the rage at the moment; over social media. I did plan to save them for nine, but around a certain time of the month I become uncontrollably ravenous, so I opened them not long after I ate my dinner and boy are they good. They remind me of the Square crisps, but with a lot more flavour and a huge kick from the chilli; plus a nice crunch. I couldn’t taste the lemon as the chilli was very overpowering. The best thing is that there is approximately 130cals in a 28g serving – just over half of the bag – and they are much lower in fat than potato crisps: healthier and tastier too. I would definitely recommend these. I can’t wait to try the Quinoa chips and also the Hummus chips I bought too.
And that’s it. Another full day of eating which was mostly vegan. I did have three or four cups of coffee too and I had a rare can of diet pepsi, which I never have, but I fancied and it tasted awesome.
For more recipes, reviews and ideas follow me on Instagram and tag me in any of my recipes you decide to try.
Jungle Protein Milkshake
For a while I’ve seen people adding vegetables to their smoothies and I swore that I would never do such a thing – vegetables are for plates and not for drinks and I was happy with that, until this morning. I don’t know what happened, but I had an urge to make a milkshake and something inside of me was telling me to add spinach. Now, don’t worry. I’m not that cray cray, that I’m now hearing voices. No. It was more of a craving deep from within my body and I couldn’t ignore it. I’ve been having spinach with everything lately and I go through phases like this every so often then get sick of it, so I decided to give it a whirl why I was going through my phase and oh boy, did I enjoy this jungle protein smoothie. And before you all wince at the thought, no, I couldn’t taste the spinach.
Although, you can see bits of green that my blender failed to blend, but that wasn’t a problem for me, because I enjoyed it nonetheless and it was the thickest, richest, chocolatiest, milkshake I’ve ever had. Plus, it was also packed with nutrition, antioxidants and turmeric to boost the immune system. What I loved most was that I finally got to use the vegan protein powder and enjoy it thoroughly, because all the other flavours masqueraded the pea protein – it’s a miracle.
I would just like to add that this milkshake is quite thick and I did eat mine with a spoon, but you can add in more milk if you prefer to drink it with a straw
Ingredients
- 2 Bananas
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1/2 Cup Spinach Leaves
- 1 tbsp Peanut Flour
- 1 tbsp Cacao Powder
- 1 tbsp Date Jam
- 1 Scoop Vegan Mocha Protein Powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1/3 Cup Coconut Cream for topping (optional)
Directions
This is as simple as adding all of the ingredients (minus the coconut cream) to a high speed blender and blending until everything is completely smooth.
Now, pour the milkshake into a glass, top with some coconut whipped cream, put your feet up and enjoy.
For more recipes follow me on Instagram – @TheHungryWelshGirl and tag me in any of my recipes that you try – I would love to hear what you think.
Peanut Butter & Chocolate Ganache Flapjacks
I used to love flapjacks growing up as a kid, the chewiness from the oats combined with the sugar made the little treats so moreish. Now i’m all grown up, I crave flapjacks every so often and as I’m wiser; I now know how easy these babies are to make. But also how easy they are to make healthier too.
I realise that flapjacks in other parts of the country are in fact pancakes, so to omit any confusion, these flapjacks are peanut butter and chocolate ganache breakfast bars and you do not have to cook them. Although, you can the bake for 10 minutes if you want.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Rolled Oats
- 1 Cup Natural Muesli (No Added Sugar)
- 1/2 Cup Pure Honey or Maple Syrup
- 1/2 Cup Natural Peanut Butter
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil (optional)
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 100g Dark Chocolate 75% or higher
- 80ml Milk
- 1 Square White Chocolate (optional)
Directions
- This part is as easy as placing the oats, muesli, honey, vanilla, coconut oil (if you are using it) and the peanut butter into a bowl and combining the ingredients until the muesli and oats stick together, then add the mixture to a baking tray and press the mixture into the tin evenly. Place in the fridge for 1 hour or the freezer for 30 minutes to harden.
- Take your dark chocolate and chunk it into smaller pieces and place half of the mixture into a saucepan to melt. When the chocolate has melted proceed to add the milk and the second half of the chocolate and leave on the stove, on a low heat until the chocolate thickens. Remove and leave to cool.
- When your flapjack base has set, add the cooled chocolate to the top and place back in the fridge or freezer until the ganache has set completely, this may take longer than 1 hour.
- Lastly, chunk the White chocolate and place in a small dish and into the microwave for 1 minute, stir and drizzle over the flapjacks when they are set.
- Slice the flapjacks into bars and eat on the go, for a snack, or as part of your kids breakfast or lunch.
NB: For better results bake for 10 minutes on a medium heat and then place in the freezer to harden. The base seems to set better with the coconut oil. For more recipes, reviews and ideas follow me on Instagram – @TheHungryWelshGirl and tag me in any of the recipes you try. I would love to see what you create and hear what you think.
Peanut Butter Crusted French Toast
At the beginning of the year I made and ate so much protein French toast that eventually the mere sight of it, made me want to gag and the same goes for proats too. I just couldn’t stomach the thought of making either ever again – until Christmas eve. As most of you know or should know, I follow a flexible/balanced approach to eating and I practise this all year around. So when Christmas sneaks up on me, I never feel the need to overindulge and I rarely do. But, when I came up with this idea late on Christmas eve, eve; I couldn’t wait to create it and I definitely felt like I was overindulging, but I didn’t care and I ate every morsel. Continue reading “Peanut Butter Crusted French Toast”
Mince Pies for Santa
We all know Santa loves a mince pie or two, but we also know that sometimes mince pies contain alcohol and drinking and driving is strictly prohibited – even for the elves – which is why these mince pies are alcohol free. I haven’t had a mince pie all year, so I was anxiously anticipating for the day to arrive when I could make my own and that day just so happened to be Friday – a week away from Christmas day – and they were worth the wait. I used the marmalade which I had left over from my St Clemente tartlets in my own variation of mince meat and I was impressed; I also added some Irish cream flavouring from the Skinny Syrups range too.
For the pie cases I used the same recipe that I made for the St Clemente tartlets, but doubled it so I would have enough pastry for the lids too. I would recommend making the mince meat a few days to a week prior to when you plan to make these mince pies as the longer it has to soak the better the end result, especially if you decide to use alcohol. I made my mince meat two weeks ahead and the flavour was delicious.
Ingredients: Mince Meat
- 100g Dried Figs
- 100g Soft Dates
- 100g Sultanas
- 50g Walnuts
- 60g Chunky Apple Puree
- 60g St Clemente Marmalade
- 45ml Orange Juice
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice/Pumpkin Spice
- 45ml Irish Cream Flavouring or Irish Whiskey
- 1/3 cup Sweetener
Ingredients: Pastry
- 100g Rolled Oats
- 50g Sukrin Coconut Flour
- 60g Grass-Fed Butter or Coconut Oil
- 1 Free Range Eggs
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/5 Cup Sweetener
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 2 tbsp Ice-Cold Water
Directions
- Pre-heat an oven to 170c
- Add the rolled oats to a food processor and blend into a flour, before adding the eggs, baking powder, sweetener and coconut flour and proceed to blend the ingredients together.
- Cube the butter and add it to the mixture and pulse the food processor so that the butter isn’t blended up completely, but chunked through the flour. Continue to add the ice cold water to bring the ingredients into a ball of dough. Cover and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Sterilise a countertop and dust with some flour, before rolling the pastry flat and cutting 8 round shapes from it. Press the pastry into a greased muffin tin and fill with the mince meat. Follow the same process to make the lids, place over the top of the cases, press gently around the sides and pop into the oven for 20 minutes.
NB: You should have about half the mince meat left after you have made these mince pies, you can double the pastry recipe and make more mince pies, or save it and make the mini Christmas cakes I have coming up over the next week.
For more recipes and ideas follow me on Instagram – @TheHungryWelshGirl and tag me in any of the recipes -I would love to see what you create and hear what you all think.
© The Hungry Welsh Girl 2016
All photos, recipes and texts are copyrighted unless otherwise stated.
All Rights Reserved.
Sticky Toffee Date Pudding
I’ve never actually eaten sticky toffee pudding before. Although, I have always fancied it. Who wouldn’t? A rich, gooey vanilla date cake drowned in a sweet, sticky toffee sauce – the words on their own have me drooling. I don’t know why I’ve never eaten it, I guess I don’t eat out very often and when I do, I never have dessert. This cake is so easy to make and because there is a large amount of dates in the cake, the amount of fat required is pretty non-existent which is why I went all out for my toffee sauce and used grass-fed butter.
The sticky puding itself was so unctuous and delicious: gooey and crunchy with pecans on the inside. I loved it. Every bite I had, had me craving for more and it took all the willpower inside of me, not to eat the other three t00. These sticky toffee date puddings are small: ramekin sized, but do not be fooled by the size of these gems because only one kept me full for hours. I did use Kodiak Cakes power cakes pancake mix for these puddings, which I bought from Cardiff Sports Nutrition, but wholemeal flour can be used as a substitute.
Ingredients
- 200g Soft Dates
- 70g Kodiak Cakes Pancake Mix
- 30g Sukrin Coconut Flour
- 60ml Vegan Milk
- 35g Pecans
- 100ml Water
- 3 tbsp Maple Syrup
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
Sticky Toffee Sauce
- 250ml Maple Syrup
- 25g Grass-fed Butter (Margarine or Coconut Oil for vegan)
- 30ml Milk
- 1-2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Directions
- Place the dates in a saucepan with the water and bring to a boil for 10 minutes, reduce the heat and boil for another 10 minutes or until the dates are soft. Blend them into a puree, in a food processor.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and in a separate bowl beat the egg, add the egg into the dates and then stir the dates into the dry ingredients. The pudding mixture may be a bit sloppy.
- Grease 3 ramekins and evenly fill them with the pudding mixture. Place the ramekins in a rectangular dish, with enough water in the bottom of the dish to cover it – cover the puddings with foil and cook the toffee date puddings for 25-30 minutes. The bain marie will steam the puddings and stop the sides from burning and sticking. But, it will also keep the inside of the puddings moist.
- After 20 minutes remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes. Insert a knife into the centre of the cakes and if it is clean when removed, the cakes are done.
When your puddings are cooking, you can make the toffee sauce.
- Bring the maple syrup to a boil in a saucepan for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat and stir in the butter, vanilla and milk. When the toffee sauce has thickened remove from the heat and pour over the warm toffee date puddings and serve immediately.
For more recipes, reviews and ideas follow me on Instagram – @TheHungryWelshGirl and tag me in any of the recipes you try as I would love to see what you create and hear what you think.
© The Hungry Welsh Girl 2016
All photos, recipes and texts are copyrighted unless otherwise stated.
All Rights Reserved.
Vegetarian Herb Pate
Do you have a vegetarian or vegan visiting you over the Christmas period? Are you are at a loss as to what to serve them? I know it can be stressful to cook at Christmas time – there’s just so much to get done – then throw a vegetarian or vegan into the mix and you have yourself a very stressful little Christmas; as you not only have to be extra vigilant with the ingredients, but you also have to be aware of cross contamination too. Well, look no further my little beauties because I have you all covered with this delicious vegetarian herb pate, which can also be adapted to suit vegans too. It’s so good in fact, it will have your guests singing the famous words in chorus – “Please Sir, can I have some more?”.
As always I used Quorn in this pate recipe, as I have a lot of respect for the brand and everything they have tried to accomplish over the years for not only vegetarians, but also people who are trying to lead a healthier life and cut back on fat and meat. I’ve eaten Quorn since I was 11 years old and like a fine wine, it has only got better with time. It’s funny because most people assume humans can only get their essential amino acids from meat, but Quorn products actually contain all of the amino acids that an adult requires; it’s also high in protein and fibre too with some of their products being low carb, gluten free and now vegan as well. I know what you’re all thinking ‘She must be affiliated with Quorn in some way or another!’ and that’s simply not true. I just love their products, as they are all versatile and I think this vegetarian herb pate is a perfect example of just how versatile it actually is, not only that, but I love the flavour too.
Jar Sterilising
If you plan to make this ahead of time then you will need to sterilise the jars which you intend storing the pate in, but don’t worry, it’s not hard. Take your jars, wash them in hot soapy water, then place them in the oven for 40 minutes to an hour at 200c. Remove them and leave them cool at room temperature. Do not run the jars under cold water, as they will crack.
Ingredients
- 120g Quorn Mince
- 100g Quorn Chicken Pieces (they do a vegan version too)
- 2 Medium Shallots
- 100g Chestnut Mushrooms
- 1/2 Scoop (15g) of Pea Protein
- 60g Low-fat Soft Cheese (Whipped Coconut Cream for vegan)
- 20g Grass-fed Butter (Margarine or Coconut oil for vegan)
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 2 tsp Mixed Herbs
- 1 tsp Chilli Powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- Salt to taste
NB: I urge you to flavour the pate based on your own taste. It took me quite a while to flavour the pate, so please use the above measurements as a guide and base the end result off, of your own taste buds for best results.
Directions
- Chop your mushrooms and fry them in a heated frying pan on a medium heat until they start to soften. Peel and chop the shallot and toss it in with the mushrooms. When the shallot starts to soften, add in the Quorn mince and Quorn chicken pieces, as well as the garlic, herbs, spices and ACV and leave to cook until everything has softened and warmed through – leave to cool. If the ingredients start to stick to the frying pan then drizzle a little oil or butter.
- When the mixture is cool, add the cooked ingredients to a food processor and blend until the mixture is almost a puree. At this point you can add in the soft cheese and pea protein.
NB: If you are making the vegan version of this herb pate, after you have blended the ingredients once; whip some coconut cream with an electric whisk and gently fold the cream into the ingredients. As I haven’t tried this version before I’m not sure if there will be a hint of coconut in the pate, but it may be able to be masqueraded by adding some more herbs: taste as you progress. A better alternative would be a vegan soft cheese ( if you can find it) or blend tofu instead. The purpose of the soft cheese is to give the pate a mousse-like texture that is reminiscent of the meat pate, but also because it makes the pate easier to spread. You could omit the whipped coconut cream altogether, but I can’t guarantee the end results will be as successful as the vegetarian version.
- When your pate is complete it should have a bouncy, airy texture to it. If the mushrooms have made the pate too liquid, then add a touch more pea protein and blend again; spoon the mixture into your sterilised jars and cover with equal amounts of melted butter.
For more recipes, reviews and ideas follow me on Instagram – @TheHungryWelshGirl and please tag me in any of the recipes you try as I would love to see what you create and also hear what you think.
© The Hungry Welsh Girl 2016
All photos, recipes and texts are copyrighted unless otherwise stated.
All Rights Reserved.
