For those of you have tried vegan ice cream of this nature its main base is nuts, more often than not cashew nuts and the process to make the  home made vegan ice cream is really straight forward.

For my recipes so far I have always used cashew nuts as the basis (but I will be trying other types of nut soon so watch this space) as this is what is used in all Booja Booja Ice Cream.

For the basis of the ice cream you need a ratio of 1:1 nuts and water, and the key to the ice cream is how the nuts are processed.

How to make home made vegan ice cream

In a blender place a large mug of cashew nuts (about 200g), then pulse initially to break up the nuts. After a few pulses put the blender on constant for a few minutes. The nuts slowly break down so that they end up in tiny pieces so that when pressed with your finger they are almost paste like. This is when they are ready, if you are not sure then blender for longer as more pulsing will ensure the ice cream is not bitty.

In a jug add a mug of filtered water  (same volume of water as nuts). Whilst blending the nuts slowly slowly add the water to the mixture – the slower the better. After a about a third of the water the mixture will change to almost cream like, and then become more watery as the rest of the water is added. Once 1/2 the water is added give the mixture a stir with a spatula to make sure everything is combined and then carry on blending and adding the water until all the liquid is added. You will then have a watery cashew tasting mixture. This is when the fun starts.

Once the nuts and water are blended you can start to flavor your home made vegan ice cream. So far I have tried raw cacao (choccy style) and today raspberry, both are delicious. For my raspberry version I added a punnet of frozen raspberries and a two big squeezes of Agave Nectar, then blended to combine. At this stage taste to check for sweetness and flavouring  as one point to bear in mind is once the mixture freezes the tastes are weaker so over flavour slightly at this stage, else the mixture can end up tasting just of cashew nuts.

Amazing what you can do with some nuts and a few berries

Once the mixture is ready, place in a bowl and in the freezer for 10 mins. This puts it at a good tempurature before you add it to your ice cream maker. After 10 mins remove from the freezer and place in your ice cream maker mine takes 30 to 40 mins and then its home made vegan ice cream Mr whippy style. I like to have a sampling at this stage and then add the ice cream to a few small tupperware containers (each being the size for one large portion), this way you can easily get them out of the freezer as individual portions to slightly defrost (say 10 mins) before eating and they are less likely to go icey.

NB. If you give my home made vegan ice cream a try not in an ice cream maker, let us know how you get on.

Straight from the ice cream maker dairy free raspberry icecream

It still amazes me that I can make ice cream from nuts – healthy, delicous and just yummy. I will update with some more home made vegan ice cream recipes soon…I am thinking perhaps apple and cinnamon might be good?

Saf Restaurant is a delight in many ways and here are a few highlights to tempt your tastebuds.

For our starter, we went for the tasting platter which enabled us to try a sample of a range of dishes on the menu. The highlights for me were the olive cashew cheese with flaxseed cracker and surprisingly, the raw cauliflower rice wrapped in vine leaves – both were delicious.

For main course, between us we chose the lasagna, raw mexican tacos, pad thai and the thai green curry.

The lasagna was tasty, though slightly one dimensional, with the flavour being very samey throughout the whole dish which was a shame as the dish was presented beautifully. The tacos were very clean and with the taco shell being made from celeriac were very interesting to try, but again they unfortunately were slightly one dimensional. The pad thai and the thai green curry however, were packed full of incredible flavours. The pad thai was made with courgette and carrot noodles, topped with sprouted lentils, enoki mushrooms and mixed with a chipotle almond sauce bringing the whole dish together. The thai green curry, one of few hot dishes on the menu, had a real depth of flavour with the coconut, coriander, chilli and sweet basil combination. 

We ended the evening with desserts.  We ordered a papaya sorbet, an apple cake and a coconut cheesecake served with apple sorbet – yum, were they good. The papaya sorbet was very smooth and cleansing, a great dessert if you’re feeling full but fancy something cool to finish.  The apple cake was moist and flavoured with cinnamon which is always a great combination.  The winner by far was the coconut cheesecake with apple sorbet – wow, wow, wow! I was grinning from ear to ear and when Miranda tentatively suggested we order a second, I jumped at the chance. A great excuse for a pre-birthday celebratory pudding!

Saf Restaurant prides itself on offering nutritious and flavoursome raw vegan dishes. The menu changes daily to take advantage of seasonal produce and the dishes are complimented by an extensive range of organic and biodynamic wines. They also have a great Mixologist who will be happily whip you up a Horse’s Neck, a Kiss Me Kate, or whatever takes your fancy from their inventive cocktail list, both alcoholic and non alcoholic.

Saf Restaurant offers incredible food and drinks and the staff make the whole experience an absolute pleasure. Saf Restaurant comes highly recommended by us at Fussy Foodie and if you pay them a visit, we are sure you will agree.

There are three flavours: Raw Pumpkin Pie, Raw Chocolate Mousse and Raw Lemon Cheesecake.

NB. They are all raw, dairy & egg free and have no added sugar, sweetened purely by Agave Nectar.

The chocolate one is silky smooth with a deep chocolate taste, whilst the tang lemon cheesecake with its smooth and crunchy bottom is richer and tangy to taste. After much deliberation and lots of tasting my favorite might even be the surpise Raw Pumpkin pie; deeper in flavour with the extra crunch can’t wait to visit Planet Organic in London for my next tasting session of these seriously tasty and Fussy Foodie friendly raw desserts.

I love guacamole and have often felt disappointed when fancying a lunchtime snack of guacamole and nachos only to find pre-prepared guacamole can contain sour or double cream.  Making guacamole from scratch at home, is so simple and quick, I now love having access to Dairy Free Guacamole which suits all my dietary requirements.

Dairy Free Guacamole Ingredients: (serves 6)

• 3 avocados
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 3 ripe plum / vine tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped (optional)
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• Salt & pepper to taste

Dairy Free Guacamole Recipe:

Peel and stone the avocadoes, roughly chop the avocado flesh into pieces and add to a mixing bowl.

Finely chop the red onion, red chilli and tomatoes and add to the bowl.

Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lime and add to the mixture.

Mash the avocadoes using a fork, mixing in the red onion, chilli, tomatoes and lime juice.

Taste and season accordingly with salt & pepper.

Cover and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Dairy Free Guacamole is a tasty and healthy lunchtime snack served with Toasted Corn Tortillas and crudites or spread on Herb Oatcakes, Corn Thins or in a sandwich. It is also a delicious, cooling and creamy accompaniment to chilli con carne, fajitas and burritos. Yum!

I discovered The Living Food Kitchen during my latest visit to Planet Organic where I was tempted into buying the Raw Chocolate Mousse and the Raw Cashew Lemon Cheesecake, both of which were divine.

The Raw Chocolate Mousse is made using almond milk, agave nectar, extra virgin coconut oil, dates and cacao powder, and has a really rich chocolate flavour with the bubbly texture you associate with a proper chocolate mousse.

The Raw Cashew Lemon Cheesecake is made using almonds, dates, coconut, cashews, agave nectar and lemon. The cheesecake topping is really tangy with the base having a nice crumbly crunch.

It’s foods like these that I can really miss having, so to find products which taste this amazing and knowing they are good for you at the same, is very very satisfying.

If you live in the London area or are looking for gourmet vegan catering, give The Living Food Kitchen products a try as they really are something special!

Flavouring soya yoghurt is a fantastic way to liven up soya yoghurt which could be used with many other fruits / nut combinations for some fantastic flavour alternatives.

For my dairy free banana yoghurt simply add a few spoons of soya yoghurt, 1/2 a banana, tsp agave nectar (optional) and a few cacao nibs (optional) to a food processer and blend. Voila Dairy Free Banana Yoghurt done – love it!

Raw oat bar ingredients – makes two small bars:

• Cup of oats
• Tsp of almond butter or other nut butter
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger powder or raw ginger (finely chopped)
• 2 tbsp of nuts ( I used hazelnuts)
• 4 pieces of tinned pineapple and a tbsp of  juice
• Agave nectar squeeze optional (1 tsp)

Place the oats, nuts, cinnamon, and ginger  into a food processor and blitz until broken up. Add your nut butter, agave nectar (optional) and pineapple pieces to the food processor and blitz again. Slowly add the pineapple juice to mixture and keep blending until the mixture starts to combine. It should be a dry dough like texture so that you can mould it into a bar shape.

Once the mixture is ready, remove from the food processor and mould into a bar shape – pop in the fridge for a few mins to chill. That’s it the raw oat bar is ready to rock and roll.

This raw oat bar recipe is very flexible, I wanted to make a bar with no dried fruit, but you could use soaked dates instead of the pineapple, milk instead of the juice, banana instead of pineapple and all sorts of seed/nut combination. Give it a try and let me know you raw oat bar version and what you think.

Nakd Ginger Bread Ingredients: Dates (48%), Almonds (32%), Pecans (18%), Ginger, Cloves & Cinnamon.

Nakd bars are a 100% natural wholefood bar a delicious blend of unsweetened fruit, rolled oats, nuts and spices. Unlike most bars, these bars contain no artificial ingredients of any kind, no-added sugar and are made raw, never cooked.

This Nakd ginger bread bar is my favourite in the Nakd bars range so far, I love the texture and ginger kick – really worth giving it a try.

So I decided to investigate more about being a vegan; what it means and why people do it. So far I have found some fantastic dessert recipes to try that with some tweaking, mainly to make sugar free, should be the ultimate in Fussy Foodie friendliness.

Definition of a vegan via The Vegan Society:

• A vegan will not eat any animal products, for example: No meat, fish nor other products that come directly from killing an animal, such as animal fats and gelatine
• No dairy products such as cows’ milk, cheese and yogurt; nor goats’ milk
• No eggs nor foods containing eggs such as Quorn
• No honey

According to The Vegan Society, the main reasons for being vegan are “…concern for animals, people and the environment. Other people adopt a vegan diet to help improve their health.”

I really like the idea of not eating meat, but I just enjoy it too much and with excluding lots of  the other food groups from my diet, I just don’t think I could do it. However for health reasons I do try to limit the amount of meat, especially red meat, that I consume in my diet. I think its a truly English culture to feel the need to have meat in every main meal, one of my favourite meals is infact vegan.

For anyone else on either a vegan diet, or a meat eating vegan (avoiding eggs, dairy, honey). Here are some great tips on products:

• Milk alternatives – the great news is there are loads of great milk alternatives. Anyone I know who has given up milk, including men, has found after not drinking the smell is unpleasant and you really don’t miss it as to replace it is fairly simple. It’s just a question of knowing what products you need to buy to replace standard milk products. It’s more of an issue when you eat out but cooking at home should be no problem with choices such as soya, rice and oat milk.
• No eggs – There are lots of vegan no egg recipes for dessert. If however you are also avoiding sugar and gluten free then this is more of a challenge. I am currently researching into some egg replacers to try and improve my egg free baking – so watch this space.
• Tofu – Tofu (made from soy milk) is nutritious and versatile. Plain tofu is bland so can absorb any flavour, savoury or sweet. It can even be used in stir-fry, pies, scramble, salad and sweet dishes such as chocolate mousse (might have to give that a try).
• Gelatin - Can be replaced with the light and versatile Agar Flakes
• Margarines – check out Soya Pure for a fantastic vegan and dairy free spread, as check any vegetable spread as they may contain vitamin D3, fish oils & whey.
• Hidden milks – It is important to ensure that your check for milk in any packaged products, as dairy is often sneaked in so look for milk or whey on the ingredients, you might not think it but lots of crisps and cereals have milk powder in.
• Sweeteners – Honey is an animal product so not vegan – Instead of honey try maple syrup, agave nectar, date syrup, molasses or concentrated apple juice and fruit jam.
• Pasta – can be made with eggs, use egg-free pasta instead – this is an easy swap just check the packet and in any restaurants.
• Thai curry paste – Some makes contain fish paste, however this is a great Thai paste.
• Chinese noodles – Can be made with eggs. Use rice noodles e.g thick rice noodles.
• Worcester sauce, usually contains anchovies – so try Geo Organics Worcester Sauce
• Dark Chocolate – Some contains butterfat so for a real cacao kick check out 100% Pure Cacao
• Ice cream – Vegan and totally tasty Booja Booja Ice Cream

Some other foods vegans need to look out for are:

• E471 – Can be animal OR non-animal based.
• Cochineal (E120) – A food colouring made from crushed beetles so not vegan (Nice – not!)
• Wine and beer – Sometimes fined with animal products – Ask your wine merchant for vegan wines and beers.
• Quorn – Contains egg so is never vegan.

So life as a vegan has the same hidden ingredient challenge as those of us with food intolerances. There are some fantastic vegan products and recipes out there and I can not wait to start trying more of them.

Vanilla Booja Booja is made of just pure water from reverse osmosis, agave nectar (diabetic friendly syrup from the agave cactus. Contains 74% fructose with low GI. Raw), Cashew nuts, Vanilla Oil 0.1%

I really can’t say anything more about Vanilla Booja Booja, other than grab a spoon and dive in – divine! You can buy all the Booja Booja varieties at: www.goodnessdirect.co.uk