I love wraps, but sometimes they’re a bit heavy for hot summer days. Using romaine lettuce leaves as the wrap instead is a great alternative - here’s how I do mine! :D

Stage 1 - the ‘wraps’.

Stage 2 - hummus and cold brown rice (that’s been simmered in veggie stock).

Stage 3 - grated carrot and zucchini.

Stage 4 - cucumber, red bell pepper, sweet chilli sauce and black pepper.

Stage 5 - fold ‘em up!

Stage 6 - nom away!

Plenty of cereals are packed with processed crap, so why not make your own? It’s gluten free, raw, sugar free, has 40% of your dietary fibre and 12g protein. It has nutritional stats to boast about, but from natural sources! :D

I used:

• 1/4 cup GF oats;
• 1 tbsp raw buckwheat;
• 1 tbsp chia seeds;
• 1 tbsp chopped almonds;
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds;
• 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds.

Other mixes: You can use whatever seeds/nuts you have, more oats in place of buckwheat and I’m sure flax would work in place of chia seeds if you don’t have them. Raisins or dried cranberries would be lovely, too!

Soak everything in lots of water and drain it off in the morning, so it’ll look a little something like this:

Then top it with whatever you like! I whizzed up a frozen banana to create banana soft serve, added a few shakes of cinnamon, some almond milk and fresh pineapple. Dee-lish.

And that’s it! I love oatmeal but I don’t necessarily want something so stodgy and warming as it gets closer to summer. This makes a great, healthy, natural alternative! :)

Yup, you heard right. Isn’t it what you’ve always dreamed of? Or is that just me? Right, okay. Just me then.

Anyway. I love chocolate. Chocolate and I are romantically involved - it just gets me. Chocolate and peanut butter? Unf. But we’ll come to that another day.

So it’s vegetarian, vegan, easily made raw, soy free, refined sugar free and gluten free. And deeelicious.

What you will need;

• 1 avocado;
• 1 large banana, the riper the better;
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder;
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon;
• 1/2 tsp vanilla - to make raw, scrape a little bit out of a vanilla pod;
• And that’s it!

1. Mush the banana in a bowl with a fork until it’s like a puree, then add the avocado and do the same. Or, if you have a small food processor, whizz it all up in there. I was lazy and didn’t want to wash up the food processor so used a fork and pure woman power.

2. Add everything else and stir until combined. If it’s too thick, add a tiny amount of almond milk and stir again. This makes a very dark chocolate pudding, so add some agave to sweeten, or maple syrup, but maple syrup won’t make it sugar free! I added a tiny dash of agave and it was purrrfect. :D

3. Spoon in to two ramekins and chill for an hour or until you wish to serve them.

(As you can see, there are ~tiny clumps of unmushed fruit, due to the fork process. I’m cool with that, but if you’re fussy, definitely use a processor.)

4. Top with whatever you wish! I crumbled up some walnuts and added some cacao nibs, and that was awesome. I imagine dried fruit, more cinnamon, chocolate chips or even sprinkles would made good additions, too. :)

And voila! Two chocolate puddings. These come in at 230 calories each, with 4g protein, 44% of your dietary fibre, are high in vitamins C and B6, are packed with potassium and are also cholesterol free. Oh, and don’t forget cruelty free and environmentally friendly! ;D

Yum yum, in my tum.

EDIT: I just had a whole one (I’d only tried a few mouthfuls before) and chilling makes a huge difference. This is so decadent and rich and ugh. I want it all. Definitely my new favourite dessert. The walnuts add a great crunch, too. If I didn’t know what was in this, I wouldn’t believe it was healthy. Mmm.

Before going vegan I used to hate mushrooms. I’d run for the hills if anyone put one before me. Hell - before going vegetarian, I hated vegetables. Not anymooore!

If you haven’t tried using a portobello mushroom in place of a burger before, you’re missing out. I was surprised by just how much flavour there is, and how juicy and deliciously meaty it is. Mmm.

You can find how to cook your ‘shroom here, and layer with what you will, but here’s my take on this shroomy delight. (Basically clean it, brush both sides with olive oil then pan fry each side with a little salt until tender. But the video is cool too.)

STEP 1 - the bun and the washed, crisp spinach.

STEP 2 - sprouted beans/legumes (chickpeas, brown and green lentils, aduki beans) for crunch and to fall out of your bun mid-bite. Oh, and for protein.

STEP 3 - sliced cherry tomatoes and red bell pepper. For even more crunch and fall out of the bun fun.

STEP 4 - the pan fried ‘shroom. To, y’know, actually make it a portobello burger.

STEP 5 - Sweet chilli sauce and black pepper. Then you could close it all up and eat it like a burger should be eaten, but I forgot to take a picture of that, so let’s pretend I ate it open faced, okay? :D

Burgers made healthy and vegan. Thank you, Mother Nature, for the mushroom. It’s much appreciated. Keep on doing your thing.

When I’m bored, I bake. When I’m not bored, I bake. When I’m procrastinating heavily and trying to avoid the art coursework that’s shouting at me, I bake.

Basically, I bake a lot. It’s one of the view things I actually ~love to do. Another thing I love doing is eating. I ate two of these straight out of the oven, and waited like a good girl for a few more minutes until eating a third. It’s great how baking and eating work together… anyway, I digress!

These come in at 118 calories a cookie, are pretty low in sugar (only 3.8g, many cookies are 10g+), and are vegan, obviously. :) Makes 27!

Adapted from whisksandwhimsey. (aka, I made them healthier.)

What you will need;

• 1 cup pecans and 3/4 cup walnuts, or all walnuts;
• 2 cups rolled oats, divided;
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup wholewheat;
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar;
• 1 tsp baking soda;
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon;
• 2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil and 2 tsp apple sauce; (Vegan butter might work?)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 cup agave;
• 4 tbsp almond milk;
• 2 tsp vanilla extract;
• 2/3 cup dried cranberries.

1. Heat the oven to 350F, and line a baking tray with parchment paper, placing the nuts on the tray and baking for 10 minutes. Whilst they are toasting, stir together 1 cup of the oats, the flours, brown sugar, baking soda and cinnamon in a bowl.

2. Allow the nuts to cool for a few minutes, then pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Don’t pulse too much, or a nut butter will start to form! Add the dry ingredients from before and process for 20-30 seconds until well mixed.

3. Add the coconut oil to a small glass bowl/jug and microwave for 20 seconds to soften, then add all the wet ingredients, give a stir to combine and add to the food processor, processing until the dough comes together and is well mixed. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of oats and and cranberries by hand.

4. Using the lined tray from before and another lined tray, portion out roughly a heaping tbsp per cookie, rolling in to a ball then flattening with a fork on the tray. These won’t spread out very much at all, so press quite hard as this will be the shape of the cookie when baked.

5. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F and allow to cool for 2 minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack.

They’ll be firm on the outside but soft on the inside, just how a cookie should be. My omni Ma and brother both had 2 and loved them! They’re not good for a ‘vegan cookie’, they’re good, full stop.

My Ma didn’t believe these were vegan, but they really are 100% cruelty free and environmentally friendly. Use all organic ingredients and it’s even better! :D

You may regret many things in your life, but I can guarantee there are two things you’ll never regret - making these cupcakes, and eating the entire batch by yourself. Do you like light, fluffy cupcakes when you pick them up that magically transform in to a gooey, decadent heaven in your mouth upon first bite?

Thought so. (And did I mention they’re 160 calories each but taste like they should be at least 500?)

Slightly adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

What you will need; (Makes 12.)

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk;
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed;
• 3/4 C all purpose flour;
• 2 tbsp corn flour;
• 1/4 cup almond meal (ground almonds - you can buy these store bought or whizz some whole almonds up in the processor);
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder;
• 1 tsp baking powder;
• 1/2 tsp baking soda and salt;
• 1 tsp cinnamon;
• Pinch of cayenne (no more than 1/8 of a tsp);
• Just under a cup of granulated sugar;
• 1/4 cup canola/vegetable oil;
• 2 heaping tsp apple sauce;
• 1 tsp each of vanilla and almond extract.

1. Preheat your oven to 350F/170C and line a cupcake tin with 12 liners, then whisk together your almond milk and flaxseed in a bowl, leaving to sit for 10 minutes.

2. In a separate, larger bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne, corn flour, almond meal, baking soda and powder and salt.

3. Whisk the remaining ingredients in to the almond milk mixture, then gently add the wet to the dry, stirring until combined, but do not over mix. Using an ice cream scoop, place the mix in to the 12 liners and bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Transfer to a cooling rack and wait until cool before decorating. (You have to eat at least one whilst they’re still warm. It’s the law.)

5. Once cool, whisk together some icing sugar, a few shakes of cinnamon and a drop or two or almond extract with some almond milk, until runny. Spoon a little on to each cupcake, smoothing around to form a thin layer/glaze, then sprinkle with slivered almonds. You could do a butter cream frosting, but I find frosting too sweet. :)

You can thank me later. ;D