A Vegan Obsession

Friday Giveaway! A delicious FOODIE box. Gluten & lactose free. Burgers! Chocolate!

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I recently received some gluten free and vegan products to review from a company based in the UK called Amisa 

They have a range of organic products including gluten free porridge oats.  I tried the Apple & Cinnamon Spice.  Three ingredients. All organic; oats, apples & cinnamon. Nothing else. Not like some ‘healthy breakfasts’ purporting to be good for you which have more sugar added than you’d find in an evil sugary drink!  I enjoyed my cinnamon spiced oats with a dollop of soya yogurt and some pistachios and it was lovely.  Not just for gluten sensitive folk or diabetics.  Great for those who want to enjoy delicious food AND be healthy. Fab for kids, too if you want to avoid those sugary cereals.


I also had the rice and corn crisp breads smothered with homemade vegan pesto.  Yum!




AND the falafel mix.  It was so easy to prepare.  Soak the entire contents in 200ml hot water and mix.  Form into balls.  Fry or bake. I fried mine and they were so delicious I could not wait until lunch and so had them for breakfast, with some spicy mango chutney.  A good idea, not just for dinner (as I have demonstrated) but also for your lunch box, a spoon or two of hummus or a tasty chutney and you are all set.  I think a box of falafel mix in your camping food box would be ideal as well.  Think about it, flavourful food cooked on your campfire whilst sitting in a field or on the beach. 



The good folk at Amisa, a division of a small family run company owned by Windmill Organics, 
understand that there is a great need for healthy, tasty gluten/lactose free products.  We have a goodie box for one lucky winner (it could be you!).  In the box you will find..

Falafel Mix
Burger Mix
Lactose free Chocolate coated rice cakes
 and gluten free crisp breads!
If you were wondering (as I was) where the name Amisa comes from, two sisters work in the company and the name ‘Amisa’ actually comes from both their names combined (Amy & Elisa). So now we know! Cute.

If you want to enter to win..

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Click here to find out more about Windmill Organics

A WEEK OF GIVEAWAYS! Celebrate UK National Vegetarian Week. Today we have Beauty Without Cruelty Cosmetics!

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 The fun continues.  We are celebrating UK National Vegetarian Week by giving away goodies EVERYDAY 19-26th May!

Have you entered the competitions for the other awesome prizes? We’ve had cookbooks, raw bars, delicious flavoured coconut milks and more!
We are so excited about today’s giveaway from ethical cosmetics company Beauty Without Cruelty.  They are giving away matching sets of lips and nails to FIVE lucky WINNERS!!!  You have seven cool colours to choose from. I’m a bit partial to the Reckless Ruby!  Have a look at their totally vegan and cruelty free range here. Each prize is worth nearly £18!!

UK Residents only.

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A WEEK OF GIVEAWAYS! UK National Vegetarian Week Celebrations. Two Giveaways On Offer Today!

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We’ve got not one but TWO give ways today in our WHOLE WEEK of Giveways to celebrate UK National Vegetarian Week.  We had Rebel Kitchen Choco Mylk drinks on Monday, Tuesday  a sumptuous cookbook (click on the links to enter), today we have a duo of prizes for you.

Today’s Giveaways

One lucky winner will get to drink themselves healthy with the power of olive leaves, a potent antioxidant.  Two bottles are up for grabs so someone can sample it’s benefits for 2 weeks.  OVIVO Daily Antioxidant Plus Sure to put a spring in your step!

Next we have LoveRaw’s organic bars.  Totally raw and organic super food bars.  2 flavours to give way to one winner. GLUTEN, WHEAT and DAIRY free.  No added sugar or soy.

Enter both below.  Good luck!

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A Week Of Giveaways Celebrating National Vegetarian Week - Tibits At Home Cook Book

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Day 2 of our celebration of UK National Vegetarian Week.  Thanks for joining us!   Did you enter yesterdays competition for Rebel Kitchen Mylks?  Great.  

So today we have a cookbook to giveaway.  Everyone loves a cookbook and this book is true food porn.  Tibits is a modern vegetarian restaurant just off Regent Street in London.  I had the pleasure to review a dining experience there last year.   As with most good food hubs, beloved signature dishes develop and public demand for recipes grow.  So Tibits published a cookbook on their 10th anniversary called tibits At Home.  The hard backed book is seasonally compartmentalised, and full of beautiful photographs with simple recipes to try.  One of the staff told me that all the photos in the book were taken in the homes of regular diners in Switzerland.  Today, thanks to the generosity of tibits we have a copy to give away to one lucky winner!  It could be you.  Just enter below.

Good luck!!  Remember to sign up for our newsletter.  We are giving away prizes EVERYDAY this week!

Open to UK residents only.

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A WEEK OF GIVEAWAYS! National Vegetarian Week 2014. Celebrate With Us. Win A Box Rebel Kitchen Mylks!

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Happy UK National Vegetarian Week!! 

Our week of giveaways is finally here!  Make sure you subscribe to the blog to get all the updates.

First up is Rebel Kitchen.  A rather nice bunch of people who make exciting dairy-free and totally yummy ‘mylk’ drinks which are nourishing, affordable and very delicious.  Good for everyone.  They use fair trade ingredients.  Spring Water. Coconut milk. Date Nectar and natural ingredients, like orange oil, bananas or matcha, which make up the various flavour varieties in the range. 

We have a box of both ranges which are lactose/dairy free and suitable for vegans and vegetarians.  
‘Kids’ flavours are Choco, Banana & my personal favourite, Orange Choc Mylk. 
‘Grown Ups’ can indulge too with Matcha, Choco & Chai. Being healthy made easy and oh so good.

If you want to get your hands on a box of all six flavours then enter below and then cross your fingers!


Enter here and remember to sign up for the blog newsletters.  Come back tomorrow for our next giveaway!


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VegFEST Bristol 2014 - Free Tickets To Giveaway

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Preparations for one of Europe’s biggest and most unique vegan lifestyle and music festival VegfestUK Bristol 23-25th May, are gathering pace, with headliners announced and tickets now on sale.
This festival traditionally features a vegan food fayre during the day and lets it’s hair down with headline music in the evenings.  25,000 visited past 2 years.

This year’s headliners are:

- Boney M ft. Maizie Williams, Gwen Dickey’s Rose Royce, Abba Gold on Friday May 23rd
- Peter Hook and the Light, Ruts D.C., Goldblade on Saturday May 24th
- Zion Train, Black Roots on Sunday May 25th

Full admission info and advance tickets for the evening part of the show are at  www.bristol.vegfest.co.uk/ticket-information

Of course you want to be there!  We have 2 pairs of tickets to giveaway.  1 pair for Friday and 1 pair for Saturday. Each pair is worth £25!

Enter below for your chance to win.  Winners to be announced 1st week in May.

Meanwhile, the daytime events feature 140 stalls & caterers, dozens of talks and cookery demos, clay modelling workshops, hoola-hoops, kids cookery classes, art and craft tent, comedy hours, short films, 5 all-day bars and more!

Admission for daytime events is £3 (pay on gate) and free for kids under 16, with no advance tickets available.


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Interview with Tim Barford. Founder of VegFest UK

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With our GIVEAWAY currently running (have you entered yet?) for free tickets to VegFest London 2013, I thought it would be interesting to find out just how an idea becomes a festival. Also how one man morphs into an entrepreneur, and head honcho of everything hemp. 

Tim Barford kindly found some time out from running Yaoh and managing London Vegfest, to answer a few burning questions I had for him.

Why did you set up VegFestUK?  I set up VegfestUK back in 2003, just for the crack really, seemed like a good idea for a party at the time. The vegan thing was obviously a lot smaller then so it seemed a really good idea to get it all in one place and then throw a big party around it and invite everyone to come. It’s worked a treat. Loads of people have taken their first steps towards a veggie, flexi or vegan lifestyle by coming to one of our events.
How and where did it begin?. 
The first show was in Bristol at The Watershed on November 1st 2003 – we had 40 stalls, and around 1200 visitors, plus about 300 more in the bar next door! We had a room for live music and  some demos, and also a talks room, and it went from there. There was a classic moment when a Pink Panther went round the whole show and gave every stallholder a glass of champagne – that Panther must have known what was around the corner for VegfestUK, its turned out to be an incredible success story on every level.
How it has expanded over the years, as in venues and attendance numbers?
The first few years the show grew but not dramatically – we moved to the L shed in 2004 and the show grew to 80 stalls and around 4,000 visitors which was amazing. 2005 and 2006 continued at The L Shed with similar numbers and then in 2007 the L Shed shut and we moved over the river to our current home, The Amphitheatre. This gave us room to expand as it was all outdoors, and we now have a regular 140 stalls and around 20 – 25 000 visitors over the 3 days. It’s wonderful. Brighton has expanded too, with 135 stalls and 7,000 visitors since its launch 5 years ago. And with London in its first year, we await to see how that will go, as it stands a month ahead it’s looking like a cracker
Have there been any knock on effect achievements because of the Fest?  Lots of other shows including the West Midlands and the North East Vegan Festivals have taken inspiration from our shows and gone off and started their own, which is really amazing. And a lot of people have started eating more vegan food after coming to our events – hundreds of thousands of people. And with our media and PR presence growing every year, we are reaching more and more people through a lot of different channels.
What is your vision for future events?  
My vision for future events is that every food festival in the world is a vegan festival. Might seem a long way off but that is what I am working towards. Meanwhile we’ll keep what we doing and keep it interesting and going, it’s got its own energy now, the vegan thing, its growing of its own accord cos now so many people are on this tip. It’s for real.
What is your current favourite meal (is this an impossible question? probably, I can never answer it).  I love hemp (*I should have guessed he’d say that!), especially dehulled hemp seed in smoothies. hummus and pitta with salad and olives. And noodles with chilli and garlic. Just discovered raw courgette noodles and a raw pesto which is pretty cool.

What a guy!

I can’t wait for VegFest London.  Come too!  Enter to win free tickets.

I hope to see your there.  Please come say hello.



Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 6 - Free Festival Tickets - Friday GIVEAWAY

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Come to VegfestUK London in October!  Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th.

It is one of Europe’s biggest veggie events.  Tickets are selling fast but we have 7 tickets to GIVEAWAY!!  
The event has received the backing of Sir Paul McCartney’s veggie group Meat Free Monday and has lots of great guests, including Chef Chad Sarno and American Comedian Jamie Kilstein, London’s own Ms Cupcake will be brightening up the room.  A music line up is set to create a great atmosphere. Cookery demo’s, workshops and talks. There is always lots of vegan & veggie products and FOOD.  And the free samples?!  rave.rave!

The show features
- over 180 stalls
- lots of free samples
- one-off special offers on many products
- 12 handpicked veggie caterers
- talks on Nutrition and Lifestyle
- cookery demos
- yoga workshops
- Tai Chi demonstration
- live comedy
- live music
- kids’ entertainment
- celebrity presence from top chefs, athletes, entertainers, etc.
and much more!
This exciting event takes place on October 5th 6th (11am-7pm each day) at Kensington Olympia (West Hall), www.london.vegfest.co.uk
You can find out more in the event programme here www.london.vegfest.co.uk/programme

 
Tickets are £10 (standard), £6 (concession), £2 (under 16),But advance tickets available on BUY ONE GET ONE FREE (limited period only) at www.london.vegfest.co.uk/tickets

Enter the giveaway, if you’d like a chance to win free tickets.
Definitely come and TURN UP HUNGRY!!



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[Friday GIVEAWAY for Dog Lovers] Healthy Chew Bones For Your Darling Dog

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It’s the Friday Giveaway!  We’re have 1 bag of medium or large BREATHBONES (you choose, depending on the size of your pooch).

Full of natural ingredients like sweet potatoes, carrots, cinnamon, spinach. Even chia seed get stirred into the mix(sounds delicious…try not to eat the chews yourself!). Parsley is added to make your dog’s breath sweet. Grain free, free of known allergens, and non-GMO.

A couple of months ago I posted an article about Vegan, Allergy Free Dog Food and it got you guys talking.  Sometimes, something comes along that shifts beliefs we have had about how things are.  It makes us question.  That’s a good thing.  It seems many dog owners are helping to optimise their dog’s nutrition with V-Dog.  We really care about our pets and people are saying it helps manage their dogs diabetes, stops them itching, improves their digestion and keeps them bright.  Now V-Dog have agreed to let you their Breathbones for free. If you want to be in with a chance for your dog to try them, just enter our giveaway.


Giveaway open to USA residents only.

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Vegan Cookbook Review and Giveaway
Lemon, cardamon cookies encrusted with dark chocolate and pistachio crumbs.
[Friday GIVEAWAY for Dog Lovers] Healthy Chew Bones For Your Darling Dog
Artisan Raw Chocolate Giveaway from Fine & Raw
A WEEK OF GIVEAWAYS!! UK National Vegetarian Week. Today A HUGE Box Of Hand Cooked Crisps from Ten Acre
Baked Zucchini Fries with lemon aioli – Gluten free, low fat and crispilicious