Just Humans Being...

Day 16 of  World Vegan Month. We eat lots of fresh seasonal organic food, so the ingredients are often similar for a few weeks - we are using a butternut squash and kale from the vegetable garden here at  Cotna and all the other veg is from  Riverford . We fried onions, garlic, ginger and butternut squash with soy sauce and dried spices - cumin, coriander and mustard seeds. We added kale and savoy cabbage, while at the same time cooked up the red lentils... They look dreadful...Hahaha! We decided to add some soya cream, which made it look strange - but it tasted great, especially once all the veg was added. We served it up with brown basmati cooked with turmeric. And as you can see, Sime really enjoyed it! Here's Our Curry Recipe from a previous post, if you are interested in making a similar dish. Enjoy! Love Kay and Sime xx

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Day 15 World Vegan Month. Yesterday we were out all day.  A glimpse of sun through the clouds and torrential rain. We didn't expect to be finishing work in the dark, but one of our jobs was on a closed road and in the freezing wind and rain we had to leave the car and walk with all our cleaning equipment. The job took longer than we thought and on leaving we realised that we would have to return to the car in complete darkness...our only head torch was running low, needing a  recharge and there are no streetlights on that road, so not only was it very cold (the road is quite exposed and high above the sea), but we could barely see!  Lucky for us, we had earlier called into  Baker Tom's - a surprise discovery in St Awful and bought vegan pasties, which were very welcome...it was too dark for a photo, but they were ok. Anyway, our leftovers from Wednesday were put aside for this evening and what looks like a dish of

Day 13 World Vegan Month. Tonight's dinner has a spicy and nutritious kick. All organic, our chilli contains: onions, garlic, fresh ginger, butternut squash, red pepper, mushrooms, finely chopped tofu, brown lentils, red kidney beans and haricot beans.  Fried up in red wine, turmeric, cumin, chilli flakes and smoked paprika. We also added yesterday's leftover potato wedges, which we chopped into bite size pieces, some French passata and the juice of one lemon. Served with brown rice cooked in turmeric, as well as crispy kale and sesame seeds fried in soy sauce and black pepper. This meal contains lots of plant protein, calcium, iron and various B vitamins, as well as numerous other minerals and vitamins. It's also oil free, easy to make and absolutely delicious! Here's another version of  Our Chilli Recipe if you are interested - this previous post also features our cornbread recipe. Enjoy!!! Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 12 World Vegan Month. We like to make nut roasts, bhajis and burger-like patties and we pretty much follow the same process. Today we made these Walnut and Mushroom Burgers and potato wedges and we were so hungry by the time it was all ready - that we basically shoved it on the plate and ate it! The bread rolls and salad leaves were just cheap out-of-date supermarket ones that Sime picked up yesterday for a few pence (he can't resist a bargain). The recipe we use is similar to the one on this previous post: Our Simple Burger Recipe We used our food processor to whizz up around 200g of breadcrumbs, added 100g of walnuts and 100g of  mushrooms fried in soy sauce with 1 onion and 6 cloves of garlic.  Easy, stodgy...perfect for a cold day like today! Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 11 of World Vegan Month. For lunch today, we stir-fried onions, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms and kale with soy sauce, fresh ginger, ground cumin and a good handful of peanuts. We cooked it up for around 15 minutes and added a heaped teaspoon of miso paste, juice of half an orange and a sprinkle of ground black pepper. Easy to make and a delicious combination of flavours! We served it with whole wheat spaghetti (which works well as noodles) and a green salad underneath. Sometimes we add peanut butter to the pasta/noodles, which is lovely too - if you like peanuts! Let us know if you try it and if so, what do you think? Night, night Love Kay and Sime xx

We have arrived home to a chilly and wet Cornwall, where our lovely Fleaby was waiting in the barn for us and has wanted lots of cuddles and fuss. We took a ferry from Roscoff in Brittany to Plymouth and for the first time, we experienced armed military police on board the ship...apparently for our security! As always, we take our picnic basket with us and enjoyed our usual feast of salad with rustic baguette and a vegan forest vegetable p âté. Last night, we were welcomed home with a supper of foraged food prepared by Sara at Cotna, which was delicious...unfortunately, we didn't get any photos. Today, we have cooked a simple stir-fry for Day 10 of World Vegan Month. We fried carrots with spring onions in soy sauce, ground turmeric and cumin... Then added chunky cloves of garlic, mushrooms and kale. Plus a Puy lentil and soya bean mix from France and some brown rice.  Finishing off with the juice of a whole lemon and some ground black pepper.

Day 7 of  World Vegan Month and our last night in France for this year, so we decided to treat ourselves to a vegan pizza.... With onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes, olives and potatoes. We are now staying near to Roscoff in Brittany and will be taking the ferry to Plymouth tomorrow.  The pizza came from a pizza emporter in St Pol de Leon, a few minutes from where we are staying - another lovely place...and the owners lit the wood burner before our arrival, which we were thrilled with, as it feels so much colder up here...but at least the cabin is toasty! We will take some photos of the place tomorrow in the light. It's always a joy to be back in Brittany, having spent a winter here some years ago - we know it very well and love it's uniqueness. Visiting the monument for the Breton Resistance Fighters. Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 6 of  World Vegan Month. We've been out all day exploring the Golfe du Morbihan...which is lovely and on return, we wanted to make something quick. As we had a few carrots and lentils, we decided to make a quick version of our lentil soup. It turned out a bit thin, but was tasty, warm and perfect with the crusty bread we had picked up. The place we are staying in has a blender, so we were able to whizz it up. We used 4 cloves of garlic, 1 onion, 4 carrots, 1 potato and approximately 2 tablespoons of red lentils (we would normally use more, but it was all we had). We boiled/simmered the lentils, added the potato and fried the rest of the veg with soy sauce and also added cumin, smoked paprika and black pepper. We whizzed it all up with some soya milk too and unfortunately this was the only photo we took, just after we put the soup back in the pan to warm through... Here is a more reliable recipe from a post some years ago...you can add fresh cori

We have travelled from the Auvergne, through the Loire and are now on the south east edge of Brittany in a lovely space. Finding places with kitchens is always important, as we like to cook! Tonight's dinner was fresh organic broccoli from the Biocoop, which we steamed for 5 minutes, then fried with 5 cloves of garlic and 1 red onion in soy sauce with dried basil and black pepper. We also added a tin of mixed beans and sweetcorn and finished with the juice of half a lemon. We served it with last night's leftover tabbouleh and a mixed salad. It's always good to have an opportunity to cook when travelling and it doesn't have to be difficult or long-winded. This place is perfect and it's obvious that the owners are enthusiastic cooks themselves, as the kitchen is well-equipped!  Another nice space to be!  This is Day 5 of World Vegan Month. Love Kay and Sime xx

We were travelling from the Auvergne to the Loire Valley and had a plan to visit the Biocoop in Saumur to buy supplies for dinner, but as usual we got distracted - stopping off and taking different interesting routes and consequently arrived too late. We had a few things to eat, but not really enough. On our journey, we had the spinach and spirulina cuppa soups, some peanuts and bananas. Then we felt a need to "carb up" and had just 15 minutes to fly around the supermarket and make our purchases. We bought tabbouleh, carrot salad, salad leaves, cornichons, baguette and as Sime was craving potatoes - we bought some very cheap tinned spuds! We already had this vegetable and basil chutney... And houmous from our last Biocoop visit. For desert we found these soya red berry yogurts. Day 4 World Vegan Month. Our feast while on the road...More tomorrow! Love Kay and Sime xx

Tonight's dinner has been leftover Haricot Bean Bolognese which Sime added tofu and borlotti beans to make it go further, he fried the tofu in soy sauce and we served with rice, which we always cook with turmeric (yes we do eat a lot of rice!) and green salad. The Bolognese also has lots of garlic, onions, mushrooms, red pepper and courgette. Tomorrow we are off on the road again, so it we will show you what foods we pick up and eat on our travels! Love Kay and Sime xx

Today is Day 3 of World Vegan Month. We hope you will watch the video and if you are not vegan - perhaps you will consider a change. The Vegan Society have lots of information to help you make a start on How To Go Vegan And we are always more than happy to help. Please DO IT!!! Love Kay and Sime xx

The light is terrible in this kitchen at night, but here is our Day 2 food post for World Vegan Month. We've made a Bolognese with haricot beans and veggies and served with a green salad. Here is a previous post for the recipe: Our Bean Bolognese Recipe Enjoy! Love Kay and Sime xx

We have set ourselves the challenge again to share posts of our food every day during November for World Vegan Month. As we are eating leftovers tonight from last night's stew, we thought we would show you our rather bland looking, but delicious lunch... Rice with miso and sea vegetable soup thrown in! We always have some sachets of miso soup or paste in our picnic basket for a quick snack and they are great for when we are travelling. If we're on the road, we can usually fill our flask with hot water for the day, although there are not many French hotels with kettles in the bedrooms - we usually ask the staff on reception or if we're having breakfast, just fill our flask then. We've not managed to find a French alternative that we are happy with, so we usually make sure we have plenty for our trip...Clearspring is our favourite. Happy World Vegan Day! Love Kay and Sime xx

We hope you have enjoyed our month of vegan posts in support of World Vegan Month & if you feel inspired to improve your health & want to avoid the unnecessary murder of our animal friends - then here is some ongoing free help from Viva's  30 Day Vegan Plan . We keep forgetting to take photos of our meals, but since our Wednesday veg box delivery we have had: Wed - spinach pasta with red pepper & courgette in fresh tomato sauce, with steamed broccoli on the side. Thur - chilli (from leftover pasta sauce) & brown basmati rice, with added mushrooms, kidney beans & sweetcorn. Fri - red lentil hippy slop with mushrooms, mashed spuds, steamed cabbage & carrots. Sat - leftovers made into cottage pie with dry roasted brussel sprouts... Tonight's dinner - red cabbage & shallot stew (cooked in the slow cooker), served with baked sweet potatoes, dry roasted courgettes & scrambled tofu with mushrooms, garlic & fresh turmeric. We

My childhood best buddy died last week, she had battled with breast cancer for 8 years. We had been friends since we were 4 years old, though we had practically lost touch - she found me via social media a few years ago. We were pretty inseparable in our teens, more like sisters & very much a part of each other's families. We attended the same college after finishing school & even lived together in North London for a while... We shared a house with the guy she would eventually spend her life with & I think I knew it before they did. I returned home to care for my siblings when my mum was taken ill & within weeks of returning, I was offered a well paid post with the local authority. A few months later, when Sime & I got together - I realised my return up north was meant to be! My friend & I continued to meet up occasionally, but our growing families meant it was difficult, we had various commitments & so time went on, moving further & further aw

If you live in or near Bristol go along to this tomorrow...  Taste a whole range of vegan foods from international dishes you can whiz up at home to ready-to-go convenience foods Receive one-to-one nutritional advice Pick up free recipes and helpful factsheets Sit in on cookery demos and informative talks Browse and buy lots of vegan goodies – from chocolate to cruelty-free cosmetics, bags to books, convenience foods to clothing, wallets to wallcharts and cuddly toys to T-shirts and more! Find out how you can get active Take a break with a cuppa and veggie snack  So if you've ever given the idea of going veggie - or even better vegan - a go but need a helping hand, come along, and pick up your free copy of our It’s Time to go Veggie magazine (all vegan!), packed with tips, recipes, celebrity views, nutritional info and detailing the many reasons why "it's time to go vegan". Sounds like it's going to be a great day!!! Kay &am

We've been debating what John McDougall is saying in this video about salt & sugar... I agree that if helps a person to stay on track, then salt & sugar are ok in moderation, but Sime thinks he should be talking about the alternatives, because iodised table salt & white sugar are really not good at all. We use sea salt sparingly & did buy a bag of  Breton Marais natural sea salt last time we were in Brittany, which is great in bread. We occasionally use organic dark sugars or maple syrup in baking, but mainly stick to medjool dates these days. We have found since cutting out oil that our taste buds have improved, so we don't need to use much in the way of seasoning & definitely feel better for it! Kay xx    

Wednesdays are always exciting as it's the day our veg box & extras arrive... We have a large box, which is supposed to be enough for 4 people per week - it used to feed up to 6, but a recent regrade brought in a new bumper box for more pennies... It costs £17.25 & this week's contains: potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, broccoli, red cabbage, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, sweet potatoes & a salad bag.  Although it's mainly just the two of us eating - we do eat lots of vegetables, so each week we buy extras... Our regular weekly order is: 2 bags of bananas, 1 bag of apples, 2 tubs of mushrooms, 2 lemons, 3 garlic bulbs & a pack of tofu.  This week we added a bag of courgettes, 3 peppers, a tub of blueberries & a cabbage...  The total bill came to £42.18   We buy from Riverford , not the most ethical of veg box companies, but the best we have found delivering in our area. They also will take all the packaging for recycling. The re