Saturday 17 December 2016

CHRISTMAS RECIPE: EASY, NO FAFF VEGAN 'SAUSAGE' ROLLS


Hi lovelies! I cannot believe how fast December has been going! I'd had big plans for lots of festive blog posts and things, but with a busy time at work, at home and catching the inevitable winter flu for a few days, that didn't quite happen! However, it's not too late yet and today, I wanted to share with you all a recipe that I'm super excited about for the festive season. This Christmas will actually be my first Christmas fully vegan, so I've been coming up with recipes for yummy festive foods so that I'm not stuck eating sprouts all day (ugh!).

For me, the best part of Christmas food was never the Christmas roast dinner (though stuffing and roast potatoes have a special place in my heart), but the evening food, the sausage rolls, sandwiches and crisps that we all probably unnecessarily snacked on later in the day while playing board games and drinking too much Prosecco. I decided that even though now I can't quite stomach the idea of an actual sausage roll, I still wasn't going to sit nibbling on pringles alone this year! So, the vegan sausage roll experiment began!

Now don't get me wrong, I love cooking. I love making things from scratch, experimenting with lots of different ingredients and flavours, but with these, I wanted to keep it simple and more importantly, fairly cheap and easy to do. So, you won't find a list of obscure ingredients and expensive spices and seasonings here, basically, these are just one big shortcut with a seriously yummy outcome, so while these sausage rolls aren't going to give any chefs anything to lose sleep over, they're still sure to be a hit with your vegan and hopefully non vegan friends this Christmas.

For these, I got almost all my ingredients from Aldi, all except the lentils, which for some reason they don't seem to sell, but you can get lentils at most supermarkets so that won't be a problem. So, you will need;
Dried red lentils (Any will do and you can also use canned as a shortcut!)
Sliced mushrooms (Again, any kind, I used frozen for speed)
Gravy granules (I used Bisto as it's vegan, the red box!)
Sausage casserole seasoning (again, I used Aldi as it's vegan)
Sage and Onion stuffing mix
Pre rolled puff pastry
Plant based milk

As with almost every other recipe I've ever done ever, I don't measure anything. I do think it's all dependant on taste, but basically, I use roughly equal parts mushrooms and, lentils and then adjust the stuffing mix as needed. So for example, one mug full of cooked lentils plus one mug full of cooked mushrooms, then enough stuffing mix to bind it all together. You can adapt as you go, but there's really no right or wrong here!

To start, I cook my lentils in veg stock on the stove. While they cook, I take my (defrosted) mushrooms, make up some thick gravy and add all the mushrooms and a little gravy to a blender, I then blend them up, adding a little gravy at a time until the mushrooms are totally blended and make a thick liquid/ paste. You don't want to make this too runny, but sort of like a super thick smoothie. When the lentils are cooked, you'll want to drain off all the liquid and add the mushroom smoothie (nice) to them. Add your sausage casserole seasoning and stir through, it'll all still be very runny at the point, but that's where the sage and onion stuffing come in! Add the dried stuffing mix to the mixture until it becomes thick enough to hold its shape. I then put the mixture into a greased loaf tin in the oven for around 20 minutes to cook through.

Once it comes out of the oven, take your pre-rolled pastry and cut the 'sausage' mix into strips. I doubt I need to tell you how to roll them into sausage roll shapes, but just a couple of quick tips; I always score the pastry a couple of times on each roll so that the mixture gets cooked all the way through, I also use a little plant based milk to stick the pastry together at the join, and use a little on top to give them a golden finish - no egg wash needed!

Sorry if this recipe is a little vague, I'm definitely no chef, but my non vegan fiance absolutely loves these, as do I and I promise these are super easy and self explanatory once you start making them! These will be the perfect addition to your Christmas feast and from what I remember, they taste pretty similar to the real thing, so you're sure to impress all your non vegan friends and family!

Merry Christmas!

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Saturday 3 December 2016

10 UNDER £10: FOR HER


Snow Fairy Gift Set - Lush
Jewellery Tray - Debenhams
Bodycare Set - Boux Avenue
Bobble Hat - Primark
Pyjamas - Primark
Pom Pom Keyring - Harrods
Makeup Bag - Harrods
Snowflake Cookie Candle - Yankee Candle
Rollerball Perfume Set - New Look
Revolution Lipgloss Trio - Superdrug

Hi lovelies! Another Christmas gift guide for you all! I know the blogosphere is full to bursting with festive posts right now, but I think inexpensive guides like this are much more reasonable and realistic for the majority of people. I see so many high end gift guides, which are lovely, but not always ideal if you're looking to buy a small gift for a friend! So, as the title suggests, everything in the gift guide is £10 or less, perfect for stocking fillers, or just a little something for someone special.

Lush is always a winner for gifts as they're not only gorgeously scented and fab for your skin, they also come beautifully packaged, which is great for saving a bit of time wrapping presents. One shop that I think is seriously on point with their gifts this year is Debenhams. The gift section in their stores is beautiful, you can find something for pretty much anyone and their prices are very reasonable too. The jewellery tray in particular is a favourite of mine. I love jewellery trays and this one is just too cute! Another favourite of mine at Christmas is Boux Avenue, I adore their underwear but their gift section is my absolute favourite. Like Lush, they also gift wrap beautifully with every online order or in store purchase. This little bodycare gift set is such a wonderful gift on it's own, but their gifts are actually all three for two, so that's perfect if you have a few people to buy for and the fancy packaging feels a little bit for luxurious too!

Speaking of luxury, I mentioned in my 10 under £10 for Him gift guide that anything from Harrods always feels a little more special, so for this post, I chose two of my favourite girly gifts. At the time of writing this, the makeup bag is on offer for £10, so I thought it was okay to include it! Fingers crossed it stays that way! The other is a Pom Pom key ring, I know these are everywhere right now, but who wouldn't want one from Harrods, right?!

From high end to high street, Primark has so many gorgeous things right now, but this bobble hat and satin pyjama set were two of my absolute favourites. Both perfect for the festive season, but they'll work throughout the whole winter too. For little gifts that will please just about any lady in your life, I thought the Snowflake Cookie candle, Rollerball set and Lipgloss trio were all amazing gifts. The candle is my favourite festive scent of all time, it's super sweet so it may not be your thing if you're not into sugary sweet smells but I'm obsessed! The rollerball set from new look is lovely as the scents are all different and can take you through the whole year, they're really handy to keep in your bag for little perfume top ups throughout the day. I love Makeup Revolution as a brand so any gift from them is going to be a winner. I think inexpensive makeup gift sets like this are great for any girl, but particularly for those just starting out with makeup, it's nice to receive a few things in one.

So that's it! What do you think? I for one would be more than happy to receive any one of these gifts on Christmas day!

Send any gift guides you've done over my way as I've found them seriously useful this year!

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