‘Shall we just have a freezer tea?’

If you’re similar to my family then, especially mid-week, you’ll probably find yourself exhausted and a chore such as cooking being the last thing you feel like doing. This is when the life-saving freezer type dinners come in handy. Now, don’t be misunderstood – I am not implying that all health and wellbeing should be forgotten and that you should resort to some dreaded poison like a ‘pot-noodle’. No, a freezer is a magical thing which can be filled with almost anything you wish and stored until a convenient time. Whilst I remember, they’re also great for putting frozen fruit in and using them for smoothies if you don’t want to risk buying lots of fresh fruit and it going off before you use it.

I think things such as burgers or soup are great for making a big batch of, freezing and just taking out as and when you need them. They're also perfect if you live by yourself and don’t want to waste extra food. Although I keep on mentioning her I think Chloe Coscarelli’s book is pretty good for freezer type foods. If you're not the type who wants to make the big batches of food in the first place then I keep loads of different foods such as various quorn products (careful if you buy quorn in the UK as it isn't vegan) and 'Linda McCartney' veggies foods teamed with chips and beans - now that really is a classic freezer meal! Besides from freezer foods there are also the innocent microwaves pots which are vegan and simply need to be popped into the microwave for a few minutes (not a huge fan of microwaves so if you've got the patience for more washing up then heating them is another alternative).

The pictures are of a meal including some burgers Mum had previously made teamed with some homegrown beans, potatoes and sauces! Was pretty delicious and impeccably easy in all honesty. Now bearing in mind, if it hadn’t been for Mum I most likely wouldn't have gone to quite so much effort regarding the condiments, etc but sauces can be made and kept in the fridge for quite a while too - a great substitute for not always simply having mayo, etc. 

I hope you've found this useful as unless you forget what you've already put in the freezer it's can be a real life saver. Let me know if you’ve got any questions or suggestions!

Love, bean xx

Ultimate favourite of the month; Booja-Booja

I think out of the few videos that I've put onto my YouTube channel so far I have mentioned in pretty much all of them a heavenly brand which is a slight obsession of mine; ''Booja-Booja''. There we go, blogpost done; enough said.

Well, I may say slightly more. It's a brand which I came across a few months back when my Mum & sister got given a box which was an assortment of various booja-booja chocolates. Of course, due to my nosey disposition I had to try them too. I can think of few pleasures in life which I deem equivalent to those feelings that I had tasting those chocolates for the first time. 

I found that my favourite of all the chocolates were probably the champagne truffles, made with french champagne. Each time I eat one of those little wonders it reminds me of the fact that some of the best things in life really do come in small packages. However I do generally care very little for small things, especially when it comes to chocolate, but the compact chocolate sized treat that Mr Booja created is suffice. Well, this is dependant on the type of day you've had, some days call for a slightly higher dosage of chocolate.

Of course, the next best thing to Booja chocolate is Booja ice-cream. Now this stuff really is dangerous, my self-control tends to be fairly in tact when it comes to the truffles but for the ice-cream? Forget it. I can easily guzzle my way through a freezers worth. The simplistic recipe leaves me dazzled every-time, if something so simple with barely a handful of ingredients is so scrumptious then why are all our supermarkets filled with chemically, poisonous shit? Excuse my french.

Writing this post I realise I'm also giving away the secrets to winning my heart. It's a simple formula really: Bean + Booja product = Happy Bean. I feel I have done my good deed for the day, sharing the meaning of life for all people to freely read as they please. Happy eating!

love, bean xx

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Chloe's Mac & Cheese

So, on my latest YouTube video for 'Skills Saturday' (link below) I made the all time classic 'Mac & Cheese'. Due to the fact that I am a pretty awful cook it had many inevitable ups and downs. The recipe was taken from the amazing cookbook by one of my favourite vegan's Chloe Coscarelli, whose website is http://chefchloe.com/. I met her earlier this year and she is such a bubbly and smiley person, her smile was pretty contagious! 

During the video I found myself slightly overwhelmed when there were so many things going on (memory cards running out, pasta nearly done, etc) and in the end I wasn't able to film the entire process of making the sauce. Now, the video was also more than anything to show that if I can cook vegan food then you can too therefore it wasn't specifically about the dish. However, if you are interested in recreating the dish, which I hope that you are because it turned out so good, then you can get the recipe (and 124 more!) in Chloe's book which really is worth getting. However, the ingredients for this specific recipe are as follows:

• 1 pound macaroni
• 1/4 cup vegan margarine
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (I used gluten-free)
• 3 cups soy, almond, or rice milk (I used almond)
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (I used pink Himalayan)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (I used a bit of fresh garlic instead - worked a treat!)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (I just randomly squeezed 1/2 a fresh lemon in)
• 1 tablespoon agave
• 2 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs (I used 2 small slices of a leftover wholemeal hovis loaf!)

Don't forget, like I did, that the conversions are different in American books including the temperature that the oven needs to be set at. I also halved the recipe as it normally serves 6. I hope you enjoy the video and that you have as much fun as I did at trying to recreate this wonderful feel good dish. 

Love, bean xx

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYBOlJLJpPs&feature=youtu.be