Happy late Thanksgiving!
What did you all cook and enjoy yesterday?
I was fortunate enough to have my close friends come over - big shout out to Amy, Richard & Matthew, who came and enjoyed a Thanksgiving buffet type vibe but with food and recipes from my book - UNITED TASTES OF AMERICA.
We enjoyed: An overload of sweet potato fries - baked in coconut oil & seasoned. I normally add cayenne pepper but I didn't want to blow anyone's heads off.
Corn on the cobs - LOVE them, brings back memories of summer and BBQ's.
Allergy-free Caesar salad- which I changed a little bit, I had the dressing on the side incase people didn't like it and I added tomatoes and dairy free cheese flakes ( to act as parmesan ) to the salad and I didn't make my rice flour bread strips on top just because I was serving cornbread too.
Cornbread - Matthew and I adore cornbread and it one of the things we miss most about the East Coast of America. Of course this had to be a mission of mine to recreate cornbread (Sophantastic style). I also served the cornbread with Sweet Freedom's fruit syrup rather than maple syrup to see if everyone liked it and it went down really well and really worked with the corn! Amy and Richard had never had cornbread before so it was lovely to see them enjoying it and trying something new. In my Thanksgiving video I show the 'base' of my cornbread recipe but I haven't filmed it all as I didn't want to reveal my secrets from my book. Though I do add corn to the flour mixture and blend to give the base that cornmeal taste. It really does work.
Potato Chips the BBQ flavour - I had eaten the salt and vinegar ones on a movie day with Trish, Alex and Matthew. I personally enjoyed them and everyone else did. So when I found the BBQ flavour in Sainsburys ( Sainsbury's please stock the salt and vinegar ones too!) I thought perfect this flavour will go with the American vibe. They are simply potato baked in rice flour not wheat flavour and flavoured. Now we have to watch the flavours that some they may add may contain wheat but these were all good. Again they all went - the whole giant pack. Amy fell in love with them and is going to purchase some for herself and Richard on their next trip to Sainsbury's. That is amazing news ! In my book I do use Nothing But's veg crisps which are also so nice and baked not fried. However not everyone loves beetroot and parsnip and I am trying to experiment with new products so this is why I didn't use Nothing But's crisps from my book. Though PLEASE try them, you can purchase them from Holland and Barrett. They are really tasty and come in a normal 30g single pack, a perfect snack or to put with a sandwich/wrap dish.
Cauliflower BBQ Buffalo Wings - I am guilty of eating most of these as I do love the flavours, I didn't make them as spicy as I normally like ( I don't want to kill my guests) but Amy tried some for me and she seemed to enjoy the ones she added to her plate.
I then simply baked some battered chicken for Amy, Richard and Matthew because they are meat eaters and I asked them beforehand if they fancied some chicken. It is only fair to accommodate their diet when they are prepared to try my food and diet - it's a two way road. So for vegans with strong beliefs I apologise if you think I was wrong to cook meat for my guests. I always do allow guests to bring meat to add to my dishes or I will add meat in for them. I see this as a fair deal.
After stuffing ourselves ( and for me having 3 plates of fries ) it was DESSERT time. My fave part of any meal. Unfortunately when eating out I can rarely have a dessert so I enjoy creating them at home for guests or as birthday cakes etc. The only time I was able to have dessert whilst travelling Route 66 was in Vegan Thai and Thai Dishes where both myself and Matthew enjoyed coconut sorbets. Of course my FAVE recipe had to be on the menu - COOKIE DOUGH BALLS. They went down well, everyone tried at least one ( as I had made the balls a little bigger - I made 8 big balls rather than 16!) I also then tried a new flavour out still using the cookie dough base but adding almond butter and coconut, these were so yummy as well but they don't quite match up to the cookie dough! I did film myself making my cookie dough balls but for the full recipe please check out my book - United Tastes Of America which you can purchase via the link below.
I also added Lazy Days Rocky Roads to the dessert menu for my guests to try and these also went down very well! Luckily I saved some today for snacks - though I have already been in the cookie dough balls box. OOPS! Luckily I have a stash of Lazy Day's ginger tiffin that I got with my Nana the other day - the tiffin is AMAZING. HELLO FRIDAY NIGHT TREATS!!
I also want to mention that I served a number of sauces on the table as I didn't know what people's fave's were. I got Matthew to bring some tomato sauce as I can't eat it due to it having wheat in so I found it silly to buy it in and then never use it again when Matthew uses it a lot and has some at home. Though I got a gluten free chilli sauce with Mama about two weeks ago and I have been enjoying it with my rice dishes. It is really nice and does taste like normal chilli sauce, so I added it to the table and luckily both Amy and Richard enjoy chilli sauce so tried some and loved it - couldn't tell the difference which again is perfect! As if you are cooking with family and friends it means you can use these products and everyone will enjoy them and not be able to tell the difference so you don't have to cause a fuss by using other pans to cook in to use different sauces etc when you go round to their homes for dinner. I am so grateful for products like this because it takes so much stress and anxiety away from eating at friend's and family's.
We also completed the meal with a chocolate santa ( yes I know it was a heck of a meal but we didn't have a starter and it was a night of celebration). This was by Free From in Sainsbury's - Matthew prefers their chocolate over chocolates like Booja Booja and Plamil ( my fave ) due to Sainsbury's containing more soya milk so the products are creamier and more like 'milk chocolate'. Where as Plamil are soy free as well and therefore the chocolate is darker and has a more bitter flavour to it. So the Santa's didn't last long either they were gone quickly.
Also thank you to Amy for trying a ginger and green tea with me after dinner. So many people hate ginger but it is amazing for nausea and settling upset tummies etc. I start every morning with one and often finish off my meal with one at night, along with some ginger chocolate ( I am a little addicted!) Thank you Plamil.
So that rounds up all that I served yesterday.
I was SO pleased that Amy and Richard especially enjoyed the meal as Matthew of course is used to my foods now and ALL the food was eaten, empty plates all round apart from a little salad left in the centre of n the middle of the table. So there you go! Oh and the extra treats I made for myself ;) - well if you are making a batch why not.
I hope that Amy and Richard will join me again and that it hasn't put them off eating dishes based on a plant-based diet excluding so many allergens.
We also wrote our 3 things we were most grateful for and we all except Matthew who tried to be funny by putting air, water etc first before changing his list to family and friends which everyone's lists included.
A lovely evening. Thank you guys :).
I will link Goodness Direct where you can purchase so many amazing products, the link to my webpage where you can purchase my book and my YouTube video! I hope that the weekend will also be a time I can spend creating more videos. So watch out for those.
I will also have a date for my book signing in January very soon and my EBOOK should be out before XMAS rather than in January due to high demand. So I will keep you up to date on that! The price will be £6-7 it is yet to be confirmed but just to give you a rough idea and will be sold and a Ebook and Kindle version for this price. ( So for messy chefs- like myself this is perfect you won't be getting any pages messy!)
You may have noticed some changes to my website - I am currently improving and working on it to add more features, and make things easier for you guys. Also setting up for a possible new business path in the future. So just bear with the site layout just for now. Thank you!
One week in from the release of the United Tastes Of America and it has just been the craziest week. I am so overwhelmed, happy and taken aback by the amazing response and support I have received. I AM TRULY GRATEFUL ! It is fair to say I am completely worn out now but with a busy weekend ahead there is no rest for this one. So much on my mind, so much to sort. Again thank you, thank you! I really hope this buzz continues, it makes really me proud and excited for the future.
Have a beautiful weekend - Love and peace. xo
DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE VID :) SUBSCRIBE, LIKE AND COMMENT AS THIS REALLY DOES HELP.
THANK YOU.