What do we want? We want PIE.......

When do we want it?

NOW! OK so this wasn't the cries of my Salad overdosed family but they wanted something good and hearty and by gads they were going to get it! Served with Salad of course. In all honesty this isn't really a Pie. It is a Tart. But there's something about saying "I made a Pie" that deeply satisfies me where as saying "I made a Tart" just doesn't cut it. So I shall name this Tarty Pie. It's a Pie with it's summer wardrobe on - i.e no top. Or a skimpy tarty little top at that. I was inspired to make this from a little book called - 101 Veggie Dishes but that recipe called for Feta Cheese - YUK! So in true heathen vegan style - I completely re-worked it and me and my family were totally bowled over by it's deliciousness. You shall be too. Ingredients serves 4 2 tablespoons Olive Oil 2 large yellow Onions, thinly sliced half teaspoon Salt 1 tablespoon Demerera Sugar 1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar Sheet of ready made Puff Pastry 4 Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil, drained a little bit 8 Black Olives, sliced Fresh Basil to garnish Method Preheat your oven to 200ºC or 390F. Heat the Olive Oil in a frying pan and add the Onions along with a teaspoon of Salt. Fry gently for 10-15 minutes until the Onions are caramelised. Add the Sugar and stir then add the Balsamic Vinegar and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring all the time. Roll out the Pastry and use it to line a rectangle dish 6 inches by 10 inches or there abouts. Chop the excess Pastry off so as the crust is only about an inch and a half high. Of course if you have a swiss roll tin then this would be even better to use. Cover the base of the Pastry with the Onion mixture, scatter over the Sundried Tomatoes and Black Olives and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Scatter over the Basil Leaves and serve.

served with Patatas Bravas (recipe to come soon) and fresh Corn Salad

GO VEGAN!

Samosas famosas

Hi peeps. I'm still here, I haven't melted away! Though it might be a different story this time next week as the temperature is meant to be rising even more! We've been eating lots of really good Salads and cooking indoors as little as possible which explains my lack of bloggage as the food generally hasn't been very exciting or very pretty to the eye. We've been having lots of BBQ's - see

BBQ'd Corn, Patatas Bravas, Salad and Veggie Kabobs in an awesome Marinade of Peanut Butter, Olive Oil, Soy Sauce and Wholegrain Mustard - seriously good.

We were invited to a friends on Tuesday for a BBQ and I came up with the brainwave of making Samosas. I had a huge bowl of Curry leftover which helped me in my decision to make these as all I had to do was make the dough and VOILA! I had never made Samosas before so a bit of googling was necessary to give me an extra boost of confidence and boy - did I get that or what. Check out this awesome lady - Manjula. Her video is amazing.

There's a part two as well which skips the filling and gets onto the making and frying and the bit I was interested in mainly, seeing as I already had my filling made. But I am SO going to make these again and I'll use Manjula's filling next time. The recipe I used for the dough is as thus 225 grams plain Flour 2 teaspoons Salt 2 table spoons Canola Oil 80 ml warm Water This made enough for 26 Samosas - plenty for everyone!

HURRAH!

They were seriously good and the making of them was peculiarly therapeutic. I really enjoyed making them and they will be a regular dish in the treehugging household from now on. The possibilities of the fillings are pretty endless too and they are a GREAT way to use up leftovers. GO VEGAN!

Quick Catch up

Hola mis amigos. 42 degrees here on the Costa Blanca today - that's a staggering 104.0 Fahrenheit. Spain has been given a severe heat wave warning and for Spain to declare that - you know it's gonna be bad!! Just wanted to give you a quick catch up on what I've been doing since I blogged last - and what better way to do so than by pictures. Hope everyone is well and keeping cool and for my Southern hemisphere buddies - hope you're keeping warm!

This delicious Mushroom and Spinach Omelette was fashioned from Fat Free Vegan's recipe. I did do it a bit differently though. I omitted the Corn Starch/Potato Starch completely and instead of using regular Salt - I added 1 teaspoon Black Salt. This Omelette was delicious and even Mr treehugger was impressed with it (he's not vegan). So ya all gotsta try this recipe 'kay.

This is a Tuna Friendly Tuna Salad and was Über YUM! I took a tin of fried Gluten gloop (a.k.a Mock Duck) mixed it with some Plamil's Mayo, flaked Seaweed and diced Gherkins (Pickles) and tossed it all together with Lettuce, Tomato and Onion. Deeeeeee-liscious! And a few photos of some little visitors in my garden this past week

This is Bob - he's gonna be a Swallowtail Butterfly when he grows up. Isn't he divine!

This is an Albino Praying Mantis!! Isn't he cool. I've never seen an Albino one before. These birds make the most AMAZING noise EVER! Not sure what they are 'cos I'm not up on my birds at all. Notice the Spanish wiring!!!

GO VEGAN!

Vegan MoFo Day 29: Being Vegan in Spain Part Dos

Most bloggers probably get fed up with me moaning about "I can't get that here" or "I've never seen that in the shops round here" or "Oh I've never tried that!" etc etc ad infinitum...... Go on - you can all admit it. I do sound like a broken record sometimes. So I thought this little MoFo entry would be about some of the wonderful things I CAN get. HURRAH!

Nooch! The ever elusive VWG The creamiest yummiest Yoghurt ever!! All Pulses including my beloved Dried Peas!! Nori (still haven't used this) Nuts, Mock Duck, Tofu

And that doesn't include the wonderful Fruits and Veggies that are available when this lazy MoFo'er gets off her butt and gets to the market on a Sunday morning!! So what I'm trying to say is - living vegan here in Spain is pretty darn good if you know where to look and what you're looking for and you're not frightened of cooking meals from scratch. And I haven't even mentioned how cheap the booze is! RESULT!!! Today's song is Rehab by Amy Winehouse - this was playing in a shop I went in to and I can't get the darned thing out my head - it doesn't even matter that I don't even know the words....GRRRRR!!!! *starts singing Pink Floyd*

Pinch Punch First of the Month

Not only is it the first of October (Ocfreakingtober!!!) but it is also World Vegetarian Day AND the first Day of Vegan MoFO! HURRAH! A Triple Whammy! I would like to start off my Vegan MoFo by telling you about some of the trials and tribulations involved in my transition from vegetariansm to a vegan lifestyle here in Spain. Spain, whilst a very beautiful country, is not sympathetic towards the animal rights movement what-so-ever. I know I am generalising here, but when you consider that less than 3% of the population is veg*an then you will forgive my little discrepancy. The attitude of many Spaniards is - if it moves, eat it. And some of the "food" that is consumed in this country is just unfookingbelieveable. An example is required here me thinks:

Cuttle Fish Goose Foot Barnacle (which actually look more like Turtle feet and totally freaked me out the first time I saw them at the supermarket) Sea Urchins

The thing that freaked me out the most was seeing someone scrape the flesh from out of a Sea Urchin and eat it - I almost blew chunks! I know this attitude to eating animals is not exclusive to Spain and I know that there are worse countries in the world, but I don't live there I live here so indulge me. The only real problems I have experienced by living a vegan lifestyle in Spain, besides from my own ethics and pre-conceptions, is really narrowed down to two categories: Buying Vegan products that match my budget Eating Out Eating out is cheap here in Spain, so it was a regular occurrence in my household and something we would indulge in two or three times a week before V DAY. Now it is more like once every two months. But I don't see that as a problem and I know there have been no complaints from my other half either, so it is no hardship really. When we do eat out we are lucky that there are three really good restaurants that I can trust not to sneak in some dairy or meat somewhere in the cooking process,and these are the ones we stick to. We also have a really good Pizza and Pasta Restaurant 3 mins away that understand what I mean when I ask for "No cheese on my pizza please". The biggest hurdle has definitely been buying every day Vegan products like deodorant, washing-up liquid, washing powder, shampoo etc etc. I have been using a Crystal Rock Deodorant for the last few months and also from the same company Soap Nuts which are both amazing products that I highly recommend. I also get a lot of LUSH products as well but only because my brother works for them and lets me abuse his 50% staff discount! But these products are luxuries and are no way every day essentials like Shampoo and Shower Gel - these were more of a challenge for me to source here in España. Lucky for me I found a superb source of friendship and information in the good old medium of Forums and Message Boards. Foro Vegetariano has been a wonderful support network for me (the chicos y chicas there have been so patient with my apalling grasp of the Spanish language - they all deserve medals). With some research and lots of helpful information I was able to compile a list of Cruelty Free Vegan items for every day use. Like most things in life that you care about - you are willing to make the time and the effort that they deserve, and this is more true of my Vegan Lifestyle and choices than anything else of importance in my life.