Costco now stocks Vegan Protein from Weider

I have been a strict vegetarian since 1988 – ever since I left home and began cooking my own meals. During the 90s, for about a decade, I went a step further and became vegan. Even though I used to be a trained chef, and I know a fair bit about nutrition, one of the challenges I encountered following a vegan diet was getting enough protein. In general, animal products such as meat and eggs contain far higher concentrations of protein than vegetable sources.

Being vegan means that extra care needs to be taken to ensure you achieve and maintain a balanced diet. Protein deficiency can cause serious health problems. Symptoms include muscle wastage, hair loss, flaky skin, brittle nails, decreased immunity and poor concentration, to name just a few.

In the past few years, it has become much easier with vegans being better catered to in supermarkets, cafés and restaurants. There is a greater choice of ingredients and ready-made meals. A great example of this is the range of Vegan Protein from Weider which you can purchase at a select number of Costco stores across the UK. Namely, Glasgow, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Coventry and Farnborough.

Made from a blend of organic brown rice and peas, Weider Vegan Protein is a high quality, lactose free and gluten free vegan protein product. It is also low in fat, low in sugar and cholesterol free. It is available in half a dozen different flavours; Brownie Chocolate, Vanilla, Iced Cappuccino, Piña Colada, Green Apple and Berry Mix. You can use it to make nutritious shakes, smoothies or frappé. Add a few scoops to your cooking & baking in things like protein bars, pancakes and waffles or delicious cakes, muffins, brownies and flapjacks.

Whether you’re a vegan for health, ethical or religious reasons, Weider Vegan is an excellent source of essential protein.

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Keto chocolate almond chia seed pudding

I’ve said many times that I always like to round off my evening meal with a little bit of sweetness. However, as I’ve been restricting my carb and sugar intake of the past couple of months, it has become a challenge. A little bowl of keto chocolate almond chia seed pudding gives me the sweet finish I crave after finishing my dinner.

I’m a new convert to chia seeds – like goji berries, they’ve been hailed a new ‘super food’. You can buy a small packet in the supermarket for less than a couple of quid. They’re a great source of Omega 3 (great news for vegans & vegetarians), thiamin, niacin and dietary minerals.

These guilt-free puddings can be whipped up in under ten minutes – just give the chia seeds an hour or more to swell. Their incredible ability to absorb liquid is the reason they help you feel full. If you’re a fan of tapioca (I am) – you’ll love chia seeds!

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Keto chocolate almond chia seed pudding

2018-09-12 13:35:05

Serves 2

Ingredients

5g/1tbsp cacao powder, unsweetened
120 ml/4fl oz almond milk
25g/1tbsp almond butter
75g/60 ml/2fl oz coconut milk
30g/1oz chia seeds, whole
3 tsps Natvia or other no-cal, low carb sweetener
2tsp raw cocoa nibs (optional) and/or
2tsp toasted flaked almonds (optional)

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Instructions

In a measuring jug, combine the cacao powder and a couple of tablespoons of the almond milk to form a paste. Add the rest of the almond milk and stir to mix
Add the almond butter and stir to combine
Add the coconut milk, chia seeds and sweetener. Stir well until fully combined
Pour into glass coupes or small bowls and refrigerate for at least an hour
Sprinkle with cacao nibs and/or toasted flaked almonds before serving (optional)

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Nigella’s lemon tendercake

Justin saw Nigella’s recipe for lemon tendercake online somewhere and immediately submitted a request for me to make one.

I’d never heard of a tendercake before, so I searched the internet for other versions – I couldn’t really find anything else.

The recipe is three separate stages – the cake batter, the coconut yoghurt topping and the blueberry compote.

There isn’t a lot of flour in the batter recipe – it’s quite runny. But don’t despair, that’s what makes it a tendercake; the texture is melt in the mouth.

And, quite unintentionally, this cake is 100% vegan – no eggs, no butter, no milk!

In my opinion, the amount of coconut yoghurt topping and blueberry compote is a bit much. The quantities can probably be reduced by about a third; I shouldn’t have put it all on top of the cake. What I should have done was combine the excess into home-made blueberry yoghurt for breakfast!

And Justin’s verdict? Very nice indeed! He says the coconut yoghurt topping tastes just like the frosting you get on a carrot cake (which is a good thing, in his book). There’s a nice balance of sweet and the slightly sour. A great-tasting and attractive cake. It will undoubtedly be revisited in the future.

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Nigella's lemon tendercake

2018-09-04 16:34:40

Serves 8

Cook Time

30 min

Cook Time

30 min

For the cake

225g/8oz plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
150ml/5¼fl oz vegetable oil (plus more for greasing)
150g/5¼oz caster sugar
275g/9¾oz coconut milk (see recipe introduction)
2 lemons (finely grated zest, plus 3 x 15ml tbsp of juice)
1tsp vanilla extract

For the compote

150g/5¼oz blueberries
1 x 15ml tablespoon lemon juice
1 x 15ml tablespoon caster sugar
50ml/1¾fl oz cold water plus 1½ teaspoons
1½ tsp cornflour

For the topping

250g/8¾oz coconut milk yoghurt
1tsp vanilla extract
2½tsp icing sugar

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/350°F/Gas mark 4
Grease the sides and line the base of a 20cm/8" spring-form cake tin with baking parchment

For the cake

Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a mixing bowl large enough to take all the other ingredients later
In a large measuring jug (or another bowl), whisk the oil, sugar and coconut milk together, followed by the lemon zest and juice and the vanilla extract
Pour the jug of liquid ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, whisking to combine, then pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, by which time the top will be golden brown, the sides shrinking away from the tin and a cake tester should come out clean
Transfer to a wire rack and leave the cake to cool completely in its tin. It may sink slightly as it cools, but this need not concern you in the slightest. While you're waiting, you can get on with making the blueberry compote

For the compote

Put the blueberries, lemon juice, caster sugar and the 50ml/3 tbsp of cold water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer, stirring gently every now and again, for a couple of minutes until the blueberries have softened in the now garnet-glossy liquid. Remove the pan from the heat
In a small cup, slake the cornflour with the 1½ teaspoons of cold water and stir this paste into the pan of blueberries, making sure you scrape every last bit out
Stir together, put the pan back over the heat and stir gently for about 30 seconds, by which time the sauce will have started bubbling again and will have thickened. If you feel it has become too jammy and thick, simply add a little more water and stir it in over the heat
Pour the compote into a small heatproof bowl or jug to let it cool. It will set once cold
Do not assemble the cake until just before serving. So: unclip the completely cold cake from its tin, unmould it and turn it over (so the underneath is now on top) onto a cake stand or plate

For the topping

Mix the coconut milk yoghurt and vanilla extract together, spoon the icing sugar into a tea-strainer, then sieve it over the yoghurt and stir it in, too, before spreading and swirling this soft mixture over the top of the cake
Thrash the blueberry compote a little with a fork to loosen it, and gently spoon it on top, leaving a gleaming white frame
Serve immediately

Adapted from At My Table: A Celebration of Home Cooking

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Vegan lemon meringue pie

We’re more than halfway through January – did you make (or break) any new year’s resolutions? We’ve been having a ‘Dry January’ and other people may be having a ‘Veganuary’. I’ve been vegetarian for 30 years (and vegan at one point) so I thought that the former would be much more of a goal. Nevertheless, I thought I should try a vegan Cakes & Bakes dish to say that I got into the whole January swing!

This lemon meringue pie is surprisingly completely vegan. No butter in the pastry, no eggs or gelatine in the filling and no eggs in the meringue. Brilliant!

Despite being veggie for most of my life, I’ve only recently heard about aquafaba. It’s a versatile egg substitute that was ‘discovered’ by a French chef in 2014. It’s the cooking liquor from (usually) white beans such as butter beans, chickpeas or cannellini beans. If you’re using tinned, buy ones that are unsalted. If you’re making your own, it’s not the water that you soak dried beans in – that contains toxins and gets discarded – you use the water in which the beans have been boiled. I made my own and used the ‘discarded’ chickpeas to make a batch of hummus.

Many of the vegan lemon meringue pie recipes I found on the ‘net included a pinch of turmeric; I obliged but found the resulting filling to be on the orange side and resembled pumpkin pie. It didn’t affect the flavour, however. If preferred, you could use a tiny amount of yellow food colouring.

Making the meringue was a bit tricky. I think I under-whipped my first batch as the lovely peaks softened and sank in the oven. Some people prefer to pipe the mixture on to a lined baking sheet and cooking it separately. I did this with some of the leftover mixture and I couldn’t tell the difference from egg white meringue! It was soft and gooey and cracked when I broke into it.

I quickly & carefully blow-torched the top before it went into the oven on the lowest setting for at least 2 hours. This seemed to help it keep its shape. If you go with latter cooking method, The meringue doesn’t get as cooked thoroughly and will sink and begin to liquefy. It will be best eaten on the day you make it.

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Vegan lemon meringue pie

2018-01-18 09:23:07

Yields 1

For the pastry

200g/7oz plain flour
70g/2½oz 'tant pour tant' (35g/1¼oz icing sugar + 35g/1¼oz ground almonds)
pinch of salt
100g/3½oz very cold vegetable spread (e.g. soya, olive) or coconut oil

For the lemon pie filling

550ml/19fl oz milk substitute (e.g. soya, almond, hazelnut, cashew, coconut, oat, rice)
80g/2¾oz custard powder (Bird's is vegan)
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
125ml lemon juice
100g/3½oz caster sugar
small pinch of turmeric

For the meringue

125ml/4⅓fl oz aquafaba
1 tsp cream of tartar
110g/3¾oz caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

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If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it

For the pastry

Put the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds and salt in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine
Add the butter and pulse again until the mixture begins to get lumpy - like dry scrambled eggs
Empty the pastry on to 2 lengths of cling film layered one over the other at right angles
Bring the dough together into a ball by lifting & bringing together the 4 ends of the cling film. Flatten and chill in the fridge for an hour
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6
Once chilled, generously flour a work surface and roll out the dough to ½cm thick
Line the pie dish with the pastry so that it has some overlap all the way around.
Put a length of parchment paper on top of the pastry and fill the pie dish with baking beans
Blind bake for 15-20 minutes, until the edges begin to turn golden brown
Remove from the oven, remove the beans and parchment paper and allow the pie case to cool

For the lemon pie filling

Combine ⅓ of the milk with the custard powder, sugar and turmeric
Whisk to remove any lumps
Pour into a saucepan with the remaining milk and lemon zest
Heat, stirring constantly, until the custard begins to thicken
Add the lemon juice, and continue to stir until it thickens further
Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry case and allow to cool and solidify while you make the meringue

For the meringue

Preheat the oven to 90ºC/200ºF/gas mark ¼
Using a stand mixer with the balloon whisk attachment or an electric hand whisk (on a high setting), beat the aquafaba for 5 minutes
Add the cream of tartar and beat again until soft peaks begin to form
Add the vanilla extract and continue beating for a few seconds
Add the sugar, in stages, one tablespoon at a time, continuing to whisk on the high setting
Continue whisking until you reach the stiff peak stage - this could take 10-20 minutes
Spoon or pipe the meringue evenly over the top of the pie filling
At this stage, you can (if you have one) carefully blowtorch the top of the meringue to get attractive brown bits
Bake in the oven for 2 hours
Allow to cool completely before slicing & serving

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/