sorry Vegebee is in temporary Hibernation!

Man Made Home

Currently on Channel 4 there is a fantastic programme, 'Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home.'
Kevin McCloud who presents 'Grand Designs' is turning his hand to constructing a cabin in the woods using only materials from the land, and from other peoples waste, unwanted items recycling and reusing them.
He is building the cabin with the help of friends and professionals, using eco friendly methods, where possible, and aims to have the cabin 'off grid' .
In the first episode he finds away to product crude oil out of fatty sewage waste, and makes his own ale!
The show is lighthearted, fun and inspirational. Showing ways and methods for how to build with sustainability and thoughtfulness in mind.

Answering the question: "Can a simple, more creative life make you happier?"

The first episode you can catch online at 4OD (OnDemand) whilst the second episode will be airing on Sunday 30th Sept at 8pm on Channel 4 (UK).

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/kevin-mcclouds-man-made-home

Spirulina powder

Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae which grows in warm alkaline waters, commonly grows well in Africa. Originally used as a food source by the Aztecs.

Spirulina is a wholefood and is arguably better for the body to digest and absorb than man made multi-vitamins. It is a very good source of a complete protein, with 60-70% of protein (of its dry weight), and rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Also very high in iron and is easily absorbed in the body. Health benefits of Spirulina include; help purify the liver, and therefore helps counteract toxins in the body, help fight viral infections, strenghten both the immune and nervous system, and can encourage weight loss.

I bought Spirulina in powder form because you only need a tablespoon a day, whereas the tablets, you need to take these three times a day 30 minutes before you eat - this does not work into my day to day living, so powder it is! You mix one tablespoon of powder into 250ml of cold water or juice. I recommend half water half orange juice, though you could throw it into your morning smoothie! I found mixing the powder into the juice quite difficult so I got one of these sport bottle and shake it up, which works really well.

The taste is quite subtle but unique! hence why I mix it in with juice and not water alone!  

Spirulina is considered a 'superfood' and a wholefood - much better for you than any processed man made pill.



Vegan Raspberry Mufffins

These lovely muffins are so easy to make and you can always change the fruit to one your would prefer, I like raspberrys and in this recipe they stay tart and give a burst of flavour.





To make 8 (ish) all you need is;
1 and 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of sunflower oil
3/4 cup soya milk
1 cup of frozen raspberries

You then mix the dry ingrediants together in a bowl, combine the milk and oil, then pour this into the dry mixture and stir. Finally fold in the raspberries. Spoon final mixture into muffins cups in tray.

Oven needs to be set to 200 degrees and they take 25-30 mins.

This is a very simple recipe and can be used as a foundation to make interesting an exciting alterations. I made these last night and I used 1 and 1/4 cups of flour and 1/4 of ground almonds, which worked really well.

Enjoy!

Soy Green Tea Ice Cream

I've rediscovered my ice cream maker this summer and have been playing about with a few recipes, but lately I've been reminiscing about my trip to Thailand last summer, so I've had a go at recreating some of my favourite flavours out there. (Incidentally, it's iced green tea latte - with the green tea pulled like a shot of espresso over ice, topped off with condensed milk - and cartons of soy milk that I'm talking about. Perfect in the heat.) I've adapted the recipe from an American site, but I think after tasting it I got the measurements pretty much right.

Ingredients
500ml soy milk (I used sweetened, and would probably recommend it against the sharpness of the green tea here, but you could easily go for unsweetened instead)
500ml soy cream
2tbsp arrowroot powder
2tbsp matcha powder
170g caster sugar

Method
1. Using about 125ml of the soy milk, whisk in a bowl with the arrowroot powder. Add the matcha powder, and continue whisking until you get a smooth, quite thick green paste.
2. Pour the rest of the soy milk into a large(ish) saucepan, and add the cream and sugar.
3. Over a medium-low heat (i.e. don't get all impatient like I was tempted to!), bring the mixture to the boil, stirring with a whisk occasionally. When the mixture starts to boil, take it off the heat.
4. Add the matcha mixture into the saucepan, whisk it all together. It should start to thicken up a bit.
5. Leave to cool for a while, then when cool enough, put in fridge for a few hours.
6. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and freeze "according to manufacturer's instructions" (I love how that exact phrase is used EVERYWHERE in ice cream recipes!) - mine took about 50mins (slightly longer than a usual batch of ice cream would take).

Enjoy!

Bistro 1847

Scott and I both went to Bistro 1847, seperately last week so you are today getting two reviews for one!

When we got to the restaurant we were surprised at how small it was - but it was really lovely and homely, the decor was really welcoming. It was a Friday night so the place was quite full, but wasn't excessive. The menu didn't overwhelm you, there were a handful of dishes, all of which sounded amazing but it was nice not to have to choose between 50 or so options.

In the end, I went for the beer battered halloumi (to be fair I just saw the word 'halloumi' and it was a no-brainer!) and Mike had the purple potato rosti with homemade hollandaise. Sadly the rosti wasn't purple but it still tasted amazing - Laura and I had already seen how it was made at National Veggie Week in Manchester a few weeks ago, and while the purple certainly looks striking on the plate, it still tasted incredible without it. My halloumi dish lived up to expectations, the tomato sauce with it was surprisingly good too, and all in all the portion size was spot on - we were pleasantly full after our mains!

But as our mains didn't get sent through to the kitchen properly, which we didn't particularly realise as we were well enjoying the wine and the atmosphere, we were offered free desserts, and I'm not one to turn down dessert at the best of times...!  Especially as there was vegan gin 'n' tonic cake which again Laura and I had the privilege of sampling and learning how to make at NVW. This was I think one of the yummiest desserts I'd ever had - the sponge was so light, but with a tonic icing drizzle and juniper berries to finish it just worked so well. I was also surprised at how good the sorbet on the side was - a really light and tasty accompaniment. All in all our bill, which included 2 mains, a bottle of wine (and then free desserts) came to £40, which was amazing value considering the quality of the food. A definite thumbs-up, and somewhere I'm already excited to return to! - Scott

  As it was my mums birthday, who is vegetarian, it only seemed right to head to Bistro 1847 to celebrate! Along with my dad, partner and two close friends of my parents we descended on 1847 on Saturday night. The restaurant is beautifully decorated and has a  boutique feel to it. Its quite small but has great atmosphere. The waiting staff were very friendly, bubbly and extremely helpful. 

The starters were lovely and light, the right weight to start with. We ordered, halloumi lollipop sticks with salsa, the cheese was grilled and the salsa was fresh and full of textures. Butter bean and sun dried tomato pate with homemade flat bread had a great basil infused flavour which made the pate have different elements each mouthful. Salt and pepper tofu with collection of sauces and baked Blacksticks Whitehaven which had an amazing strong flavour. I had to test all of them, you know just so I could give an honest review! and they were all truly wonderful, full of flavour.

Mains we chose, halloumi 'fish and chips' and the tofu option which was the first time I had seen this as an option. I really enjoyed my battered tofu, I was so impressed with the chips! seriously the best chips in Manchester! and the homemade mushy peas and sweet tomato sauce were great compliments. Savoury scone with mushroom ragu was a lovely hearty meal, great on an autumns day with a large glass of red and broad bean and leek pie with summer vegetables and a red wine reduction, which was a light summery take on a classic bean and vege pie. Again, all tried by yours truly and all delicious.

 Desserts....we decided to get three and share as we were all pretty satisfied with our two courses but they did sound good!
We selected rose sugared doughnuts with white chocolate and raspberry dipping sauce, this is like posh jam doughnuts, but better!
We also got salted caramel ice cream with peanut cookies which we were able to get as a vegan option, this was tasty but we all agreed very salty! and last but not least the famous Hendricks gin and tonic cake with a shot glass of cucumber and black pepper granite. This is such a beautifully sophisticated dessert. We finished with coffee, full tummys and big smiles on our faces! -Laura


The best vegetarian restaurant in Manchester city - amazing

where? 58 Mosley Street (Entrance on Booth Street)
Manchester
M2 3HZ
0161 236 1811

                     

Emotional Brilliance

Saturday 21st July saw the wholewide launch of Lush's brand new cosmetic range based around YOUR emotions.

Friday evening I went to see the new products with glass of bucks fizz and camera in hand!

The idea is that you select colours that appeal to you and those colours will indicate a certain emotion, thus being your colour of your emotion at that time. Everyday will be different and you can express that through the makeup that you wear.

Lush believe that you wear your emotion through the colours you have choosen which make them personal to you, instead of colours indicated by trend or fashion.

To choose your colours head into store and spin the wheel of colours, and choose three colours, these represent eyeliners and liquid eye shadows and lipsticks. All colours are beautiful and vibrant with such intense pigmentation.
These products are versatile as you can use the lipstick on you cheeks as blush and eye shadows as eyeliner.
All these new colours are vegan and cruelty free, packaging is recyclable.

My colours/emotions for the evening were Drive, Ambition and my subconscious emotion was Vibrance!

It was a great evening and the staff at Lush Arndale are always lovely and extremely helpful and bubbly!
Colours cost 14.50 for 5g and are available now in store and online.