possibly my favourite veggie hangout spot in manchester...

Sadly I've not got any photos to go with this one (yet), but I've not posted in a while so I thought I'd get back into this whole blogging business by sharing my favourite veggie place in manchizzle. I love Northern Quarter, and it's probably where I'd opt to go when in town, but I live nearer the unis and am on campus more often than not. Eighth Day is all great and lovely, but for me I've always found it a tad on the expensive side, that's a bit of a personal taste thing I guess, but on my home campus back at UoM, next to John Rylands and under the postgrad bar is Herbivores cafe. It doesn't strike you as the most chic of places, but it's got loads of seating and the friendliest staff on campus, and some of the tastiest food in M'CR, all freshly prepared. My favourite is by far the smoked cheese and apple sandwich (I think just under £3), but there's loads of choice for both veggies and vegans alike. And between lectures it's a cheap and cheerful option - coffee and tea is all under £1 (and they also do hot apple yumyum), cakes are all around the same price (and the bakewell is my achilles heel...!) and if you're lucky, you might meet the resident dog. Couldn't recommend this place enough. Thumbs up!

We are now on facebook...join us :)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BeeinGreen/104536936348610

EcoTools Makeup Brush Set

Ive been quite a lucky person that I have been able to accomplish certain things that a young 'Laura' always wanted to achieve - one of these was to become a Make up Artist. As a Make up Artist I have used alot of different types and brands of brushes!
But I have to say that these EcoTool makeup brushes are the best quality of brush I have used, and the ones I use daily.
Not only are these brushes good quality they are eco friendly.
The handles are made from bamboo, which is a highly sustainable plant. Metal used is re cycled aluminium and the bristles are 100% cruelty free, using only synthetic materials, and they are incredibly soft and dont fall out! and they are affordable!
The company also donate 1% of their annual sales to 1% For The Planet®, an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging their resources to create a healthier planet.
Im a great fan of these products and recommend them to friends and family....beauty doesnt need to harm the planet or animals in the process :)

Where to find them? Boots or here...www.ecotools.com/

Mocha 'cheese' cake

So I went to my parents recently and used my mums very lovely kitchen and appliances to make this lovely cheeseless cheesecake cake! I made it and didn't tell my dad that the main ingredient was tofu! and he was nicely surprised! - we all enjoyed it even my dessert lovin' sister - thou she did say that she would have preferred a more chocolaty taste! and covered it in cream! lol
The recipes is based on one I found from 'Mouthwatering Vegan Recipes', which is a great blog full of lots of vegan recipes.

Base
14 vegan digestive biscuits
1/2 cup of walnuts
1/2 of vegan butter (melted) - I used 'Pure' dairy free butter
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
1 tsp of coffee powder - I used Starbucks Via coffee
1 heaped tbsp icing sugar
zest of orange
2 tbsp of coffee
pinch of salt

Grease an 8 inch tin and line with greaseproof paper. Break up digestive biscuits into processor and process until crumbs are formed. Add cocoa powder, coffee powder,icing sugar and walnuts-pulse of a few seconds, try not to make this mixture too powdery! Add melted butter and process for 30 seconds. Add zest and coffee and process again.
Now spoon this mixture into the tin and press down to create the base - its quite a sticky mixture so I used the back of a metal spoon which I had warmed up with hot water to help even out the top. Place this in fridge for an hour.

Filling
1 packet of drained Firm Silken Tofu
125g of dark chocolate (melted)
3 tbsp of cocoa powder
2 tbsp of maple syrup
1 tbsp icing sugar
shavings of dark choc of topping!

Put tofu in processor, add remaining ingredients, process for minute or so until smooth.
Spoon onto base and even out with spatula-add shavings-cover with foil and refrigerate overnight....serve....yum :)

Easter eggs....

Happy Easter everyone, the official day of chocolate!

I was very lucky to wake up to vegan chocolate egg which was bought from Sainsburys from their Freefrom section. It a lovely dark chocolate egg with a wee box of plain chocolate discs. Its also gluten free.
I got my bf the adorable Lindt Gold Bunny, dark chocolate which is also vegan.....bonus!
Its great that there are vegan chocolate egg options out there and they taste amazing!
Hope you all have a great day eating lots of chocolate and spending time with your loved ones x

Happy Easter!!

card mum and dad sent me...it makes me giggle!!!