Happy March!

It seems that Spring is a million years away here on the Costa Blanca and the glorious day we had a while back was nothing but a big tease. I so can not wait for it to warm up a bit. I know lots of you are still having severe weather, like wingraclaire for instance, so I feel a bit of a fraud for saying what I'm about to say BUT this winter has just dragged on and on for me. I'm not a sufferer of SAD by any means but my body so needs to come out of hibernation mode and get some serious amounts of Vitamin D into it. Lots of exciting things to report anyway - we put a deposit down on our house last week so if everything goes according to plan then we should be moving in by the end of March! Mr treehugger keeps telling me not to get too excited as nothing is guaranteed as yet but I can't help myself, I've mentally decorated the rooms and dug the vegetable patch already! I have also started clearing out a lot of junk too. Isn't it amazing the things we accumulate over the years. When we first came to Spain we had a tiny little Bedford van full of our belongings - and here we are seven years later with a three bedroomed house full of stuff. So I feel like I'm in limbo at the moment - but in a good way. Neither here nor there - which is what some people would say to describe me anyway! LOL! February the 28th saw my first Veganversary! A whole year! I have learned a heck of a lot in this first year and 99.9% of it has been from you awesome bloggers! I guess I can't call myself a noob anymore and I only hope I can help the next noob who comes along as much as you guys have helped me. BIG VIRTUAL HUGS TO ALL YOU AWESOME BLOGGERS! Food wise we are still eating lots of Soups and Stews and stick to the ribs food to help insulate us but I do have an awesome recipe to share with you. Since my Follywood Biryani escapade I have been wanting to make Biryani again, never one to shy in the face of disaster that's me! I'd had my eye on Vegan Dad's Recipe but I didn't have all the ingredients and couldn't be bothered to go to the supermarket, so I did a bit of critical googling to come up with this little corker - it really is YUM! Vegetable Biryani serves 6 Ingredients 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 large Potato, peeled and cubed 2 Large carrots, peeled and diced handful of Mushrooms, cut into quarters 1 large Onion, sliced 1 litre hot Vegetable Stock 3 tbsp hot Curry Paste (or your regular one that you always use - we use a HOT one) Pinch of dried Chili Flakes Large pinch of Saffron 2 tsp Mustard Seeds 500g Basmati Rice 1 head of Brocolli, broken into small florets Cup of frozen Peas Salted roasted Cashew Nuts Method Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7/fan 200C. Pour the oil into a large roasting tin or ovenproof dish and put in the oven for a couple of minutes to heat through. Add all the vegetables to the tin, except the Peas and Broccoli, stirring to coat them in the hot oil. Season with Salt and Pepper and return to the oven for 30 minutes until beginning to brown, you may want to give them a swirl round halfway through. While the Vegetables are roasting, stir together the Stock, Curry Paste, Chili, Saffron and Mustard Seeds. Mix the Rice, Broccoli and Peas with the Vegetables in the tin, stir them round well to coat them in the Olive Oil then pour over the Stock mixture. Lower the oven to 190C/gas 5/fan 190C. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake. Now, in my cruddy oven this took 50 mins to cook but I suggest you check after half an hour anyway and give everything a good stir. When it is ready, stir in the Cashew Nuts, check the seasoning and serve. You'll be glad you made so much because this is even better the next day for leftovers! (I'm so glad for Firefox because I can never remember how to spell Broccoli!) One final word goes to Chocolate Covered Katie and her awesome Chocolate Give-away! Head on over there to be in with a chance a of winning this amazing chocolaty prize, you have until the 19th March to enter and the competition is open to anyone anywhere in the world! GO! GO! GO! Thanks to Carla for giving me the heads up about this.

Beach, Salad and Bread Pudding YAY!

I don't wish to gloat but it has been a glorious day here on the Costa Blanca - the whiff of Spring is most certainly in the air and I feel my nerves a-twitching to do some much needed Spring cleaning and airing out of nooks and crannies. But rather than do that, I went for a walk along the beach instead. HURRAH!

Sea and fresh air always gives me an appetite and I enjoyed a delicious dinner of Tuna Friendly Tuna, Baby Leaf Salad, Avocado and Cauliflower Salad. It was gorgeous and I could eat it all over again. Everything except the Chickpeas in the Tuna Friendly Tuna was raw too!

Yummah!

But onto the Bread Pudding recipe 'cos I know I promised you all and I've been keeping you waiting long enough. This is a childhood favourite of mine and the fact it uses up old Bread just appeals to my thrifty nature even more than the fact it's delicious - well maybe not more but it's pretty darn close! My mum always made Bread Pudding by using Tea and though I've not tried this recipe with Fruit or Herb Teas - I'm sure keen on doing some experimenting with them 'cos I reckon that would be a winner too. Bread Pudding makes 8 slices Ingredients 8 slices stale white Bread (crusts or a mix of half and half) 1 1/2 cups (300ml) of cold English Tea Handful crushed Almonds 12 Dried Prunes, roughly chopped 12 Dried Apricots, roughly chopped 80 grams/half a cup Sultanas 1/2 teaspoon Mixed Spice 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup 60ml/1 third of a cup Soya Milk Method Tear the Bread up into chunks and place in a big bowl. Pour over the cold Tea and stir round. Leave for an hour stirring every so often to make sure all the Bread soaks up the Tea. Beat out any lumps. Add the Almonds and Fruit and give a good stir. Add the Mixed Spice, stir. Add the Maple Syrup and Milk and give everything a really good stir. Grease a 7 by 10 inch pan with Marg and spoon the mixture in, making sure to even it out with the back of the spoon. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for and hour and a half. Keep an eye on it and if the top goes really brown then cover with aluminium foil for the remaining baking time. Use a spatula to loosen the edges when it comes out of the oven but leave it to cool before removing from the pan. Sprinkle with white Sugar and cut into 8 equal slices.

Nom Nom Nom