LONDON VEGFEST 2015

Hi guys!

I have been meaning to write this post for such a long time but I've been so busy at school. This is my post on what I ate and did at vegfest 2015. If you didn't know, vegfest is a huge vegan festival in the Olympia stadium in London. There was also ALOT of gluten-free and sugar-free food so that was amazing! 

My breakfast was banana porridge with mango coconut yogurt and chia seeds. I made it the same as normal porridge with almond milk but added a mashed banana while I was cooking. Porridge is a great breakfast to fuel you for a long day as it keeps you full for hours and hours with all the fibre!

The first thing I bought when I got there was my first ever bubble tea from Nosteagia. It was peach green tea flavour with tapioca balls, I didn't really like it because I didn't like the feeling of the bubbles in my mouth! But if you like bubble tea its a great alternative as they use only natural sugars.

Koko dairy free coconut milk is my all time favourite milk. I always buy the chocolate one to take in my lunches to school so I was really excited to see their stand. They were giving out free samples and I probably drank about 4 different types - all were delicious! I was also really excited to try their new coconut butter, which isn't in the shops yet. Here is a picture of me trying it.

I got these two nakd badges for free from their stall, and the Eat Kind badge I bought for 50p. While i was a that stall I also bought a wristband advertising Veganuary - where you go vegan for January. Badges and wristbands are a great way to subtly promote veganism without people feeling like you're ambushing them with your views!

I can't remember the name of this stall, but they sold the best gluten-free and vegan sweet treats! I had their raspberry brownie and it was amazing. It was so exciting to be able to find food that I can actually eat!! 

I bought some Rebel Kitchen mylk's as they had a special offer on, two for £1.80!!!! My favourite flavour is chocolate orange, I would definitely recommend these as a chocolate milkshake alternative, they're also refined-sugar free. I took these two to school in my lunchbox the following week.

For lunch we had this AMAZING gluten-free pizza from Venice Bakery. They even do vegan cheese!! We had the Mediterranean with peppers, olives and mushrooms.

For pudding we went to my FAVOURITE raw chocolate stand. Ombar is dairy free, gluten free and sugar free and completely raw! The orange flavour is my all time favourite, I always buy it in our local health store! Of course we made full use of the free tasters!

These are my veganuary wristbands, alongside one that says Vegan Police from the TeenVegan stand! My dad always calls me this so we bought it as a joke (although it is probably true!)

The TeenVegan area was great. There were loads of different activities, I joined the table of people that were making a zine! Everyone could design a page for the zine and it would be entered into a competition. Below are my pages!

 There was also a big poster where you could write what a vegan world would look like! I thought this was such a good idea - can you guess which prediction is mine?

After that I cycle-powered my own smoothie! This was so fun and such a great idea, plus it was only £1! It makes you realise how much energy your blender uses as it took quite a long time to power it on the bike! I had a blueberry, banana and coconut milk smoothie.

Finally thought I would add these pictures with some facts about the meat and dairy industry. I hope reading this post has made you realise how many vegan options there are nowadays and how easy it can be to find substitutes! I can't eat a lot of the meat substitutes as most of them contain gluten but there were SO many stalls selling them - and they're sold in most supermarkets and even corner shops now! It really is easy.

I had such a great day at VegFest, if you went too please tag me in your pictures so I can see them!! I can't WAIT to go next year!

Love Moo x

What I Eat In A Day (2) AND Chia Seed Pudding Recipe!

Hello

Today I'm going to show you what I eat in a normal school day. I love reading posts like this and watching videos on youtube so I thought it would be interesting for you all to see a typical day in my diet, especially as so many people always ask me 'what do you actually eat???'. 

I often make my breakfast the night before as it can be a rush to get everything ready for school in the morning, so I make things like this chia seed pudding so its really quick for me to grab and eat! This saves loads of time, especially as my friend comes to my house early in the morning so we can take her to school. Breakfasts like this feel like a treat as they're chocolatey and sweet but are so much better for you than having a chocolatey cereal like coco pops. This is full of fibre, protein and magnesium as well as healthy fats to keep you full until lunch time. 

You Will Need:

• 4 tbsps chia seeds
• 1/2 cup almond milk (I used chocolate almond milk to make it super chocolatey)
• 1 tbsp cacao
• 2 tbsps agave nectar
• Whatever toppings you want! I like fresh berries, flaked almonds and cacao nibs.

Simply mix all of your ingredients together, except the toppings, and place in the fridge overnight or for atleast 4 hours until it's thickened. Now add your toppings and enjoy!

For lunch I take a packed lunch to school (as most schools don't cater for glutenfree sugar free vegans, strangely!). I always pack quite a big lunch as I find that when you don't eat meat or dairy, you don't get those big bulk calories in one item (plantbased foods are low in calories in comparison to animal products) so you have to eat a lot if you're vegan! Also we don't eat lunch until 20 past 1 so I'm always starving by then.

 For lunch that day I had:

A cauliflower kofta, salad and hummus wrap. I used BeFree wraps, they're my favourite gluten-free wraps as a lot of them have dried egg and milk in! These wraps are 100% plant based and also aren't dry like a lot of gluten-free bread products are. I'm going to post the recipe to my cauliflower kofta's in a separate post so keep an eye out for that.

I also had an orange, some grapes and a nutty flapjack as dessert. Again, I'm going to post the recipe to the flapjack separately. As well as this I always bring a big 1 litre bottle of water with me, which I make sure to drink all of it before I finish school.

After school I'm always hungry when I get home, so I'll make myself a big fruit plate to share with my mum or sister. Here is an example of one.

For dinner I love having these huge simple tray bakes. They're a great way to use up veggies and also make sure you're getting all of your five a day. They're also really quick and easy to make and throw in the oven so perfect for busy after school evenings.

This one was made of chickpeas (these are amazing roasted in the oven!), potatoes, carrots, peppers, fennel and basil leaves. Alongside it I had my favourite sesame seed asparagus and mint chilli crushed peas. Again, I'll be uploading the recipes for these another time.

In the winter we always like to have a hearty pudding after our meals. However this is a twist on a traditional crumble as it has no gluten, sugar or dairy so it is completely nutritious and great for you! This is a blackberry and apple crumble, using the last of the blackberries from the field behind our house and cooking apples from our garden! Please let me know if you'd like to see the recipe for this.

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you'd like to make them a regular thing - maybe I could do one a week or one every other week? 

Love Moo x