Vegan – Page 2

BUTTERBEAN DIP

Published on January 26, 2018March 3, 2025 by simplycarinaxo9 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

I have recently been obsessed with this Butterbean dip for the Peace & Parsnips recipe book. It is soo good I just had to share it with you! I use my mini food processor to blend this delight together and recommend you buy yourself one (you can find a link on my Shop page) it’s cheap and super useful. The Cookbook is another I would recommend – even if you aren’t vegan I believe it’s great to try different healthy meals you wouldn’t usually eat and have some fun exploring new recipes. Anyway here goes the easy quick Butterbean dip:

Ingredients:

Garlic (I would use at least 4 large cloves – use this as your starting point and you can always add more or less depending on your taste)
Butter Beans
Parsley or Coriander (I like to use quite a lot of fresh herbs, more than in the recipe, but again start with a little and keep adding to suit your taste)
Pepper & Salt
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice

Method:

Depending on the size of your blender you might be able to make this in one go or like me have to split the ingredients in half and blend two lots.

Chop up you garlic and parsley/coriander and put into blender
Add the Butter Beans, the olive oil and the lemon juice
Grind some salt and pepper into the mix
Now blend together

Suggestion – I admit I never measure the lemon juice and olive oil, I just keep adding them into the mix bit by bit until I get a smooth slightly thicker than hummus consistency

Ways to use the Butter Bean dip:

This recipe comes in the cookbook as an accompaniment to the beetroot burger (which recipe I will most definitely be sharing at some point too as it’s amazing!) but I have since used it in many different ways and here are some of my favourite – have a go and see what you like and if you can think of any other ways to use the Butter Bean dip, do tell me because I would love to know!

Use it like a dip (make it less thick by adding more oil, lemon juice or a splash of water) then chop up some carrot and cucumber sticks or use bread sticks, dip in and enjoy!
My favourite is probably these pitta breads – pop a pitta in the toaster and spread the Butter Bean dip on then top with tomatoes or cucumbers or whatever topping you like!
I tried this one for the first time last week and though it was yummy – the Butter Bean dip works well in a wrap and filled with delicious fresh veg like carrots, cucumber and salad – you could also add some falafel which would be scrumptious.

LONDON BOUND

Published on January 24, 2018September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxo7 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

Yesterday my dad and I were London bound to go on a coffee crawl. The aim of this trip was to do some research for dad’s coffeehouse which is currently closed for renovation.

The day didn’t start well as I left the house a little too late and then saw that as it was prime time, rush hour traffic was soo bad that I didn’t think I’d make it on time and would be faster walking. So off I set on my quickest power walk getting more and more panicky by the minute as time kept ticking on. I ran in bursts, my heart started pounding and the closer I got to the train station the more I felt like I was going to die aha. I can laugh now, but I felt terrible thinking I was going to ruin this fun day for dad and myself by not arriving on time. However I eventually did get to the station with about 6 minutes to spare; I was wheezing as I collected our tickets from the machine and when I sat down to try and catch my breath the sweat dripped down my face as the same time as relief washed over me – I had made it! I had made it! Phew!

So after that nightmare of a start to the day we settled down into our seats and I began our journey with a much needed nap. Once feeling more recovered I got out my kindle and began reading Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven until we got closer to London and we went over the plan for the day. At 11.45 we finally pulled into Kings Cross and set off to find the first cafe on our list.

Disclaimer: In the end everyone’s tastebuds are different and everyone has their own preferences – this is just my opinion of these coffee shops.

Coffee Shop no.1 – Attendant

I liked the decor of this cafe, especially all the greenery, and the staff were friendly enough, however I was rather disappointed with the coffee. Dad’s flat white was ok I think, but the filter coffee I had ordered was the last dregs from a batch brew. When I inquired about it not being a fresh V60 (which is what I would expect it to be at £4 a tiny cup) the waitress just told me I could have a fresh cup if it wasn’t hot enough as she was about to brew a fresh batch, so obviously I wanted the freshest coffee not the last dregs and asked to please have a fresh cup, but she just told me to try it first. I was rather annoyed at this but couldn’t be bothered to complain so just drank the coffee which tasted ok but wasn’t hot and had coffee grind left in the bottom which a filter coffee shouldn’t have either, at least not the amount that was in my cup. Later on in the day I saw numerous other coffee shops have ‘batch brew’ on their menus but they were not disguising this by naming it filter coffee and they had a far more reasonable price margin for a cup, between £2.60-£3.

Coffee Shop no.2 – Ozone Coffee Roasters

This was my favourite coffee shop, it had a nice vibe with an open kitchen and brew bar in the centre of the cafe like an island and the scent of fresh coffee being roasted downstairs wafting across every so often. They had the biggest variety of coffees to try here from Filter and Aeropress to Siphon coffee. However when asking for more information on the coffee the waitress wasn’t overly friendly and didn’t seem to know much about the coffee they serve which was a disappointment, simply saying ‘Yeah it’s not too acidic I like this one’ isn’t very informative. In the end Dad and I chose the Aeropress coffee and the filter coffee. We preferred the flavour profile of the Areopress coffee which was a bean from Ethiopia and had flavour notes of strawberry and praline, it really did taste like strawberry chocolates! What we weren’t too keen on was the coffee being served in glass jugs with glasses to drink out of. Dad prefers a nice porcelain cup, it felt too much like we were on a coffee tasting course, which to be fair on this day I guess we kind of were.

Coffee Shop no.3 – Fix Coffee

We didn’t stay here long. My stomach needed a coffee rest so dad just had an espresso which he described as far to acidic to be used as an espresso bean. The place seemed nice at first but wasn’t the cleanest after further inspection and again not all the staff seemed to know their coffees, which when you are serving more than your average espresso based drinks, you should really know so that you can advise and answer customers queries. This was probably my least favourite place.

Coffee Shop no.4 – Catalyst

After a short tube ride and a bit of a detour we eventually found our next stopping point. I tried a long black/americano here which I tasted great. The flavour was good and smooth no bitterness and they also roasted they’re own coffee beans in this little corner coffee shop. The only vegan thing they had was some bread, but it did come with delicious homemade jam which I thoroughly enjoyed. This was probably my second favourite coffee shop after Ozone.

Coffee Shop no.5 – Curators Coffee

And last but not least coffee shop no.5 where I couldn’t drink anymore coffee. So dad ordered a filter coffee which was a fresh V60 but had a steep £5 price tag on it. We could see their brewing station here and it surprised us that they as so many others have a massive gap between the filter and the jug they are filtering into as this is quickest way for coffee to loose it’s temperature when using the drip filter method. Anyway, that coffee lacked lingering taste and dad thought they might have used too little coffee for the amount of water, unless that was the taste they were going for. but the ratio for us, I tried a little sip, was too weak, so sadly a disappointing last cup of coffee.

Leon’s @ Kings Cross

After walking half the way back to Kings Cross to avoid the ridiculously busy oxford circus tube station and getting on at Regents Park instead, we eventually collapsed in Leon for a bit of food whilst waiting for our train home. I had a yummy vegan kale and beetroot falafel salad whilst dad enjoyed some rice and meatball dish. As we ate our food it seemed like we had only arrived in London an hour ago let alone 6! Time had flown by so quickly we only got to about half of the coffee shops that were actually on our list! However it was a great and informative trip all the same. I realised that in general these supposedly more geeky coffee shops with various brewing methods on offer sadly didn’t actually seem to be that informed on coffee (at least the waitressing staff) and in general there just seemed to be a bit of coffee passion lacking which was a shame. We have some good ideas of what we want to add and alter I our own coffee menus for the reopening and are excited to share our passion for coffee with the public again very soon!

Platform 9 3/4

Anyway all in all I had a nice time coffee crawling through central London and checking out how other cafes do their thing. To top it all off Platform 9 3/4 wasn’t busy so I could finally get a photo hehe!

Any other coffee geeks and snobs out there?! Have you tried any of these coffee shops? I’d love to know!

FAJITAS

Published on January 19, 2018March 3, 2025 by simplycarinaxo19 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

The other day I made vegan fajitas – it’s one of my favourite easy meals to make and so I thought I’d share my recipe with you – I hope you enjoy!

(serves 4-5 people)

Ingredients:

1 onion
4 garlic cloves
1 red pepper
3 large tomatoes
1 chilli
1 can of kidney beans
Tofu (Instead of meat I use tofu, although I guess you could use vegan mince as well)
Fajita spices
Salad
Wraps

Method:

Chop up your onion, garlic, pepper, chilli and tomatoes
Drain the tofu and cut up, then marinate in the fajita spices. Tofu by itself is rather tasteless I feel, but marinate it in fajita spices and it changes everything.
Fry your onion and garlic in a little olive oil, once a little brown add the peppers and chilli. After 5 mins add the tomatoes and kidney beans
Wash the salad (I used Kale to fill the fajitas, but it is quite coarse so any other salad would work well too)
Fill your wraps (I recently discovered these amazing beetroot and spinach wraps in Tesco – I definitely recommend). Alternatively you can use romaine lettuce as a wrap which makes for a lighter fresh meal.

Now sit down and enjoy!

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MATE DATE AT THE BOHEMIAN

Published on January 12, 2018January 12, 2018 by simplycarinaxo1 Comment

Good evening beautiful souls,

On Wednesday I went to Newcastle to catch up with an old friend from uni. My friend Rachel was doing dry January and so we decided to meet up over lunch in Newcastle instead of over drinks as we usually would. I was excited to see what Newcastle had on offer regarding food because with my biggest new years resolution being to eat a vegan diet this was a great opportunity to try out a new restaurant I wouldn’t previously have given much thought. After some browsing I decided on The Bohemian which had great reviews. It took us a couple of minutes to find (google maps aren’t always helpful aha), but once we found it I realised I’d walked past it many times before as it was just past one of my favourite pubs in Newcastle, The Fourth. It has a cute vibe and is a mix of restaurant, bar and record shop. I didn’t look at the records this time round but will definitely have a browse next time I go!

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Once in and seated we were lucky to discover that The Bohemian was participating in the Newcastle restaurant week and so we got a special three course menu for £15, not a bad deal at all. After some deliberating (I’m actually glad we had a restricted menu as all the choices sounded so good) I went for the Shredded Peking Jackfruit, with hoi sin sauce, pancakes, spring onion and cucumber for starters, The ‘Greek’ Pizza for mains and the Cointreau and chocolate tart for dessert. Wow it felt like I was splashing out, I mean I never order three courses when I go out!

I really loved the starters, the peking jackfruit was ok on it’s own but wrapped up in the pancake with the spring onion and cucumber and dipped into the hoi sin sauce was an amazing combination!

The Greek pizza was also scrumptious; on what seemed like a homemade stone baked pizza base the vegan cheese was perfectly melted and flavours fantastic. Now I’ll admit vegan cheese can definitely taste different and isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the vegan mozzarella on the pizza tasted fab to me and I really enjoyed the pizza as it had been a while since I had a freshly made stone baked pizza.

After starters and mains I really was rather full, however I still managed to polish of my dessert! The chocolate tart served with a fruity sorbet was the perfect combination of light and tart with creamy and heavy chocolate – heaven.

So if you haven’t been able to guess – I would highly recommend The Bohemian in Newcastle. If you ever try out this restaurant do let me know what you think – I’d love to know!

Love Carina xo

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!

Published on January 7, 2018January 7, 2018 by simplycarinaxo8 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

It’s that time of year where inspiration is found around every corner and motivation fills my pores driving me to succeed. I don’t know if you enjoy making resolutions, but I personally love this time of year. Although every day can be seen as a new start, there is just something about the new year specifically that fills me with hope, a belief that this will be the year I succeed, that this will be the year I work towards my dreams.

2017 was good to me, although it had it’s bad moments and threw many learning curves my way, when I look back on last year there is so much for me to be grateful for and with this positive mindset I am excited for the year ahead and have made some resolutions I hope to fulfil; here goes:

Turning Vegan – I have reduced my meat and dairy intake in the last year and have felt soo much better for it. I have toyed with the idea of turning vegan for quite some time now, but always put it off making excuses thinking I’d miss certain foods such as eggs (eggs are definitely going to be the hardest part of turning vegan for me) however every time I watch a vegan documentary and am reminded of all it’s benefits and positive impact on our health, the environment and of course animal welfare it fills me with a deep longing to be a part of this movement and thus I decided that this year is my year to make the transition.
My Health & Weightloss – Last year I lost 2 stone and then slowly and annoyingly put 1 stone back on again. I always begin the new year on a high and then bit by bit get comfortable again eventually falling back into old habits. I am hoping that eating a Vegan diet will help me loose some more weight, but I know that the main culprit for me is sugar which I can still eat on a vegan diet of course! What I need to work on this year is curbing my sugar addiction. Now I know diet isn’t everything and thus upping my exercise is another thing I need to work on. Getting into a regular gym routine is back on the menu as well as making myself walk to work again rather than just hoping on the bus – this will also save me some pennies. So all in all, my resolution is to loose 2 more stone this year and keep them off.
Work On My Mental Health – I want to take more time for myself this year to work on myself. I know from previous experience that meditation works well to start my day on the right side of the bed and give me a more peaceful nights rest, so one goal is to start meditating in the mornings and evenings again. Another thing I want to work on is my anxiety, I want to learn to not let it hinder me from fulfilling my dreams.
Re-learn To Play The Cello – For Christmas I got the best surprise present ever, a cello on loan. I haven’t played the cello in over 6 years and so I want to make the most of this opportunity and re-learn how to play the cello maybe even take some lessons and really enjoy being able to make music again
Minimalise – Another big goal for this year is to become less attached to my possessions and slowly de-clutter and minimalise my belongings.
Start Saving – For the past few years I have had a deep urge to travel the world, but never managed to scrape quite enough together for a lengthy trip, so my last goal for this year is to begin a travelling fund!
Make More Time For Friends – Sadly so many of my best friends do not live close by, they are scattered across the UK from London to Edinburgh or even further afield like Germany and France. This means I rarely see them and I miss them greatly so I want to make a conscious effort this year to call more and hopefully actually visit them too.

Well there you have my main resolutions for 2018! I’m excited to start working on all of them and shall update you throughout the year as to how I am getting on! Did any of you make any resolutions for 2018 – I would love to know what goals you are working towards?!

AUGUST FAVOURITES

Published on August 30, 2017August 30, 2017 by simplycarinaxo1 Comment

Hey friends,

I love reading monthly favourites posts but have only ever written one so far, so I thought it was high time for another. August has been crazy busy for me, so here’s what I’ve enjoyed this month in between all the craziness!

Tea!

I have been loving the Pukka Cleanse tea this August. It is light in flavour and comforting. Nettle, fennel and peppermint are all great herbs to help settle the stomach, so this tea is great for your stomach when stressed. It is very calming in general, I like to drink it in the evenings when I settle down to read before bed.

My Glasses

Yes, ok, I’ll put it out there straight away – I don’t need glasses, these are fake – please don’t judge me haha! I just like the look of these pale pink geeky glasses. They are a fashion accessory to me and I kinda love them. I had wanted a pair for a while but couldn’t find ones that suited me. I kept browsing Primark’s collection whenever I was there and eventually I found these. They were about £2.50 so a bargain really, I don’t ever spend much on glasses for fear of breaking or loosing them haha.

Music

These four albums have been my most listened to this month.

Step Up is the perfect soundtrack for a productive morning as it makes you want to dance about the house.

Tropical Gypsy by Molotov Jukebox is a good choice for happy vibes. Upbeat somewhat crazy songs that will put a smile on your face and brighten your day. I saw them live at the Lindesfarne festival last year and they were great!

A Creature I Don’t Know by Laura Marling is a more peaceful CD and makes for perfect reading or game playing background music. I also love to listen to Laura Marling when having a relaxed breakfast.

Southpaw – another great soundtrack; this one is great for the gym or exercising because it has dome great paced beats.

My Best Friend’s Wedding

This is more of an event rather than a thing of course, but I couldn’t not mention it, because it has been a favourite this month. It was a beautiful day seeing my best friend get married and I was honoured to be a bridesmaid on her special day!

Game Time

Towards the end of August I had my friend Nadia and her fiance Roland visit me and it was lovely as I hadn’t seen her in four years!!! We spent so much of our time together playing games and it was great fun! I love board games! They are such a great way to spend time together with friends having fun. We played many rounds of Yatzi but I also rediscovered a favourite game of mine which is called Die Siedler Von Catan. If you like games and haven’t heard of this one I recommend you go buy it right now haha (you can buy it in English too, don’t worry). It’s about acquiring building materials and then gaining points by building streets and cities… I love it!

My New Piercing

I used to have the side of my lip pierced but took it out about a year ago because I wanted a change. Looking back on pictures I always missed it though so I decided to get my lip re-pierced, but this time in the middle where I had originally wanted it pierced. At first I wasn’t too keen as it pierced a little too close to my lip for my liking, however I have gotten used to it now and I love it! So glad I got it re-pierced!

Sainsbury Mugs

I bought these mugs in Sainsburys about 2 years ago and they are currently my absolute faves again! I originally resisted buying them but I couldn’t stop thinking about them so I just had to go back and buy them haha! I’m so glad I did! They are a good size easy to hold and nice to drink out of, wether coffee or tea, I have been using them every day this past month!

Vegan Pesto Pitta Pizzas

So quick and easy to make; using a pitta bread as the pizzas base, spread a little vegan pesto on and top with whatever you choose! My favourite toppings with pesto are definitely just some fresh tomatoes and vegan feta style cheese with a bit of seasoning – yummy! Pop in the oven for 10 minutes and you’re good to go – enjoy!

Watermelon

I have been absolutely obsessed with watermelon this month! When you get a good one they are so refreshing and tasty! Definitely my healthy go to snack this August!

I hope you have enjoyed my August favourites post. I think I will try and make monthly favourites a regular post on my blog because I have loved writing this post and sharing my favourites with you!

Love Carina xo

MY CURRENT CRUELTY-FREE & ECO EVENING SKIN CARE ROUTINE

Published on July 31, 2017 by simplycarinaxo7 Comments

Hey guys,

I have been wanting to blog my Cruelty-free Eco Skin Care Routine for quite a while now and I’ve finally got round to taking some photos and being organised again. I hope you enjoy and can be inspired to start in-cooperating your own cruelty free eco products into your skin care routine!

Firstly I want to introduce you to an amazing eco friendly cleansing pad hack which my best friend Emily told me about! I love it – it’s fab! Instead of using cleansing wipes or cotton pads which only add to our piles of landfil rubbish that can’t be recycled why not use Organic Nursing Pads which can be washed and reused time after time again and will save you a fair bit of money in the long run too! I find the nursing pads are gentler on my skin in comparison to the harsh chemicals on cleansing wipes which I used to use all the time!

Now as for my skin care routine, I’m feeling great knowing the things I ma now buying are cruelty free and mostly vegan too. In this blog post I am using products from the Bodyshop (a brand that doesn’t test on animals and which is mostly vegan bar products like the honey range) and BalanceMe (a brand that doesn’t test on animals and aims to be as natural as possible) just going to put it out there, I very often don’t use products the way they are designed to be used; eg. I might use a toner as as a makeup remover instead of using it as the last step in my makeup removal cleansing routine.

I begin taking my makeup off with the Bodyshop Vitamin E Hydrating Toner. I love this toner. It is gentle on my skin, works well at removing makeup and leaves it feeling fresh and bright. What’s not to like?!

The Bodyshop Tea Tree Clearing Foaming Cleanser is what I had originally bought to remove my makeup before using the toner, however even two pumps of the foam doesn’t go very far. It doesn’t wet the nursing cleansing pad well enough for my liking to efficiently remove makeup and just kinda disappears. Thus I use it after the toner to just remove the last dregs of makeup.

Next I use the Bodyshop Vitamin C Energizing Face Spritz. I’m not exactly sure it energizes my face, however it is very refreshing especially on a warm summer morning and I feel gives some hydration to my just cleansed skin.

Now these my next two products are testers I received in a magazine and I love them!!! I really want to repurchase them but they are on the pricier side of things although then again they do stretch quite far too. Both the BalanceMe Restore and Replenish Face Cream and the BalanceMe Wonder Eye Cream smell amazing! They really do smell like the natural ingredients that they use, which I love! I massage the eye cream onto my skin first and then follow with the face cream. I find they are also absorbed quite quickly into the skin and leave it feeling very soft and refreshed! If you haven’t tried any BalanceMe products yet but don’t want to splash out the big bucks, definitely keep you eyes open in magazines for testers!!!

Well that’s my evening skin care routine for you! I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Let me know of your favorite cruelty free/vegan products in comments below!

Love Carina xo

MY VEGAN MONTH REVIEW

Published on July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 by simplycarinaxoLeave a comment

Hey guys,

Firstly, I am so sorry that I have been MIA recently! I have now finally got the internet back and will be trying to get back to blogging regularly again!

As you know I spent the last month being vegan. I really enjoyed the challenge and only caved once to have a nibble, literally a teeny bite of an egg and of a teeny bite of a slice of salami. However although I managed pretty well I did miss certain things, or rather a month without was fine, but a forever without stresses me a little aha. Thus I have decided for now to allow myself the occasional exception, eg. 1 croissant a month and a dippy egg or something.

You may think well that’s not being vegan and no, it isn’t being 100% vegan, but you know what, I am still proud of myself for the changes I have made so far. Leading a mostly vegan diet is still making a bigger impact on my health, the environment and animal welfare than if I hadn’t made any changes at all! I used to eat a lot of meat and dairy and I do hope that I will eventually become 100% vegan, just not right now.

So here just a couple of my Vegan meals from the last month:

Hope you have all been keeping well!

Love Carina xo

VEGAN WRAP PIZZA

Published on June 22, 2017June 24, 2017 by simplycarinaxoLeave a comment

Good morning guys,

Yesterday I decided I would try making a pizza with wraps. I have seen so many people doing this and thought it was about time I tried it. I was plesantly surprised! It was yummy!

I started by putting a very thin layer of tomato pasta sauce on a wrap and then putting a second wrap on top. I thought a slightly thicker base would be nicer and the little tomato sauce stuck the two wraps together. Then I topped the second wrap with more tomato sauce, shallots, cherry tomatoes, vegan feta, salt, pepper, dried basil, parsley and oregano and cooked in the oven for about 10 mins till cheese had melted and the wrap looked crispy. Finally I topped it with fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic. It really was rather tasty and I shall definitely be making this again! Its so quick and easy!! And filling!!

Have you ever tried wrap pizzas?? What are your favourite toppings, I’d love to know!

Love Carina xo

COOKING A 3 COURSE VEGAN MEAL

Published on June 17, 2017 by simplycarinaxoLeave a comment

Hello friends,

Yesterday my sister came down from Edinburgh for the day and so I had the whole family over for dinner at my new place, which was really nice!

I love cooking for people and so I had great fun making a three course vegan meal for my family.

For starters I made an avocado dip which we ate with a yummy toasted organic white loaf, topped with tomatoes.

Mains was a kinda curry using all my leftover veg such as carrots and bean sprouts. The curry wasn’t spicy as my mum can’t eat spice, however my sister, dad and myself sprinkled it with some chilli flakes which gave it a nice bite of heat.

And for dessert we had a scoop of Alpro hazelnut and chocolate ice cream with warm berries – mmm!

I love having my own place and I’ve really settled in now. It was so nice having the family over! Catching up together and playing a game with dessert. Codenames by the way is an absolutely brilliant game and I urge you all to get your hands on it!

Oh and I know it’s random but I spotted my first ladybird today! It put a smile on my face so I thought I’d share hence the seemingly irrelevant cover photo!

Well I hope you have a great day guys!

Love Carina xo