nestled in it's box

Open the box and it hits you: that exciting, sugary Easter Egg scent from childhood. I don’t know why chocolate should smell different when formed into an egg shape, but it does.  Dark chocolate eggs are of course gorgeous, but altogether more grown up. This is the one for children and those who don’t like high cocoa content chocolate. The moo free egg is sweet and mild and could easily be mistaken for a milk chocolate product.

in the frost and sunshine

It’s a good 100g size and the bunny, butterfly and flower packaging is a nice change from dark eggs which are usually aimed at very mature people…

of course, once opened, it didn't last long in this house

Available from Goodness Direct and larger Waitrose stores. Moo Free Chocolates have full details of all stockists on their website

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sage and onion potato pie

vegan haggis from goodness direct and our old Burn’s Night blogpost from 2008 complete with poetry and music!

other Scottish recipes you might like for Burn’s Night:

skirlie (oatmeal stuffing)

cranachan – pudding of oats, (soya) cream, whiskey and raspberries

Balmoral Pie (scroll down through the mains, it has pics) – sausages and baked beans topped with mash

Scotch Broth

Scottish Macaroons

mince and dumplings

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brownies all in a row

But first to the crisps: completely guilt free, dried raw squares of tastiness. The three flavours are Beetroot, Spicy Thai and Red Pepper and they’re all very good…

beetroot crisps nestled in their bag

…but the absolute winner for us was the red pepper. Reminiscent of pizza, these would be very nice little crackers too. Topped with a small slice of tomato, a basil leaf and maybe half an olive… but before these musings could be made real and captured on camera they were all scoffed by other people.

red pepper crisps

The brownies are satisfyingly sticky, soft and rich, remarkably like a cooked cake but you still feel great after eating them. No sugar rush/up/down thing going on at all.

that's my favourite, the cacao cocobanana one

It’s deliciously coconutty and sweet. And just look at this cacao mint brownie coming towards you:

you want it don't you? well you should, it's good!

Excuse the food porn Other varieties are cacoa cashew which is pleasantly cinnamony, carob hazelnut and carob orange. The carob ones are nice, they got gobbled down fast, but chocolate is always preferred here.

All these delicious, healthy products are raw, organic, vegan and free from wheat and gluten You can read more about them and purchase on  Gourmet Raw’s website Use code GR003 for a 10% discount.

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the sky

and the flapjacks

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fresh out of oven

This is a dish we’ve had a lot over the years but never written up. Original credit goes to Sarah Brown’s Vegetarian Kitchen (BBC cookery series). It’s a wonderfully filling and wholesome meal. Topped with mashed potatoes, the base is made of aduki beans (goodness direct link there, which links back to our aduki bean cottage pie recipe!), brown rice and vegetables in a gravy. The name comes from the beans which are referred to as ‘red dragons’ in the East; their nutrient content is said to give you the strength of the dragon

Here’s how we do it:

Soak beans overnight if using dried ones. For the mammoth pie above which did dinner and lunch next day for four, we used 250g of dried beans. Place in a  large pan, cover well with water, bring to the boil and let simmer for a long time… (should be instructions on the bag). Throw in the rice (200g) about half way through cooking. Add more water if needed. Once it’s all nearly cooked add the vegetables. In this pie there were four carrots and one head of celery, all chopped. Onion is good too.

As that cooks up a bit, add a teaspoon of mixed herbs, a good  squidge of tomato puree and a teaspoon of yeast extract. Taste and add salt if needed. Stir well. Top with mashed potatoes – especially easy if using cookware that does hob and oven like our favourite Le Creuset Cast Iron Round Casserole – and bake in a hot oven until nicely browned.

dished up

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loch and sea

stone

ice

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sun sets on the Solstice over the garden

You will need:

1 square cake tin,  greased

2 100g bars of good chocolate

1 tablespoon of margarine

1 tablespoon of golden syrup

1 200g pack of bourbon biscuits (other biscuits will do), bashed up

and here’s the Christmassy part… a crumbled slice of  Christmas cake including bits of marzipan and icing

a handful of raisins

Method:

Melt 1 bar of  chocolate in a Bain Marie (bowl over pan of hot water) along with the marg and syrup. Once nice and smooth, stir in your other ingredients and press mixture into tin.  Melt the other bar and spread on top. We topped with sugar stars… chill in fridge until set and cut into squares.

It’s gorgeous… quite different with the Christmas cake but very, very good and dangerously moreish

your calorie requirement for the week in one handy square

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to make a Christmas cake or plan your vegan Christmas dinner

to buy a vegan cookbook or kids book  – today, Monday 19th is the last day for free shipping with Amazon but there are various other delivery choices all week.

to get a t-shirt  from us, the deadline is 20th Dec with express shipping

order from hotel chocolat by 4pm Friday for Christmas Eve delivery.

Ethical Superstore‘s last order dates are Tuesday 20th 12pm for standard delivery and Thursday 22nd for express

The Book People have next day delivery available until the 22nd.

Or you can just say, ‘no, I am not buying anything else,’ and go for a nice walk instead… probably the better option

in the woods

 In case we don’t blog before it’s all over, have a happy festive time

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