Oh brother

As I mentioned in my last post, my brother, James, popped down to Brighton for a swift visit this weekend.
Despite usually eating really badly (his words) he was really open to trying some new foods and actually really liked them (his words again). Here's a quick round up of what we ate.
Friday morning, Brunch at Rock Ola:
We both had the anytimer breakfast, I couldn't persuade him to try the vegan option but I thoroughly enjoyed it (too excited to take a picture obviously). We (josh and I) have been to Rock Ola a few times, and I'm always excited to to see the kitsch salt and pepper pots and have some yummy grub. My breakfast included 2 sausages, bacon (I'm yet to find a vegan bacon that isn't just vegan ham in a different shape), lots of baby mushrooms, tomatoes on the vine, 3 hash browns and a slice of toast. Lovely and filling. I love having lots of different tastes on the plate and don't usually go to the effort to recreate this at home (I should though!)

For lunch we paid a visit to Vbites, I had a wrap with lime and coriander chicky with mint mayo which was a really good meld of flavours. I think it might have been better if the chicky was in smaller chunks as it felt a bit 'substituty' at points. James had my favourite, the Hickory Chicky burger and as expected, loved it.




I cooked a basic stir fry for dinner, with red pepper, brocolli, carrots, noodles and loving hut 'lucky chunks'.

And now that James is safely back home the house feels just a little emptier...

Tofu - Sweet&Savoury

I haven't experimented with tofu as much as I'd have liked to - mainly because I always run out of patience trying to find it in Sainsbury's and they don't stock it in my beloved ALDI. Luckily Mum bought me some tofu last week whilst I was home which I ended up using in a mid week lunchtime stir fry. At some point I'll write a blog highlighting how to make it yummy and not just solidified yoghurt (when i've done a little more research) but for now feast your eyes on this awesome pie by chocolate covered Katie. I made this for a certain person's birthday a few years a go and it disappeared in the blink of an eye, luckily I still got to lick the bowl so I can vouch for it being super rich and delicious.

Chocolate Fudge Pie

Stir fry is a great transition dish to showcase how similar dishes can taste/smell/feel once veganised, my basic process for stir fry is below but really it can be however any other recipe advises sans the meat and ensuring egg free noodles are used. Another plus, not much washing up!
I always start with roughly 1 tbsp each of sunflower oil, white wine vinegar, sesame oil and 2 tbsp soy sauce. After I've drained and pressed the tofu to make it firmer, I cut thin slices and fry until well browned (got to be patient here, takes longer than you want it to!) I remove the tofu from the pan for the rest of the stir fry preparation as it's kind of a wimp if you go near it with a spatula too many times.
The rest of the ingredients include some of the following depending on my mood/whats in the fridge:
thinly sliced carrot
thinly sliced celery
mushrooms
mange tout
baby corn
Once everything is nearly cooked to my desired level I add noodles, these ones from ALDI are cheap and easy and they've started doing wholegrain which are even tastier.

Then once the noodles have warmed through I add the tofu carefully and usually add a little more soy sauce. Et voila!

P.S. For my loyal readers, I'm working on making the comment box work - I'd love to hear your thoughts!