Hotel Chocolat Milk-Free 'Milk Chocolate' Review

Last week, news spread like wildfire among the online vegan community that Hotel Chocolat had launched a range of milk-free 'milk' chocolate. Whilst Hotel Chocolat already have quite a good selection of dark chocolate products in their range, the option of having vegan 'milk' chocolate is another huge step for veganism. Chocolate (along with cheese) is often the downfall for people trying veganism, as not everyone is a fan of dark chocolate, and not everyone is impressed by the existing vegan milk chocolate products on the market. I love both dark chocolate and vegan milk chocolate so I have no worries in that department!  Having eyed up Hotel Chocolat's exciting new range, which is made with almond powder instead of milk powder and currently includes Easter eggs, buttons, bunnies and a bunny-shaped lolly, I sent the link to my boyfriend Jamie and told him that I would definitely be getting one of the eggs for Easter. A couple of days later, a surprise parcel from Hotel Chocolat arrived at my door (my postman informed me that I was lucky to receive it as he was feeling peckish) - Jamie had very kindly treated me to an egg, what a sweetie!The egg Jamie bought me was the Milk-Free Milk Scrambled Egg which retails at £15 and weighs 150g. It is a hollow egg decorated with swirls of dairy free white and dark chocolate. The egg also comes with a packet of six Nutty Fruitcases, which are squares of milk-free milk chocolate, whole hazelnuts and raisins.  

 

I couldn't wait to tuck into my egg, and I wasn't disappointed. The chocolate was thick and quite creamy. It did however taste more like dark chocolate than milk chocolate, and I have read similar comments from others. This may be because the chocolate is made with 56% cocoa, but looking at Hotel Chocolat's dairy chocolate range, they do tend to use a higher cocoa content in their products (their dairy milk chocolate can be anything from 40% to 75%). As Hotel Chocolat make more luxurious chocolate products rather than everyday ones, I feel that they like to use higher cocoa content to keep their products rich and indulgent.

I thought the Nutty Fruitcases tasted more like milk chocolate than the egg, despite the cocoa content being the same. I love nutty chocolates so these were perfect for me and I really enjoyed them. 

 If you're not a lover of dark chocolate and were expecting a milkier milk chocolate then you may be a little disappointed with Hotel Chocolat's new range, but if you want to try it then the best option would be to buy the bunny lolly, which retails at £1.95, before splashing out on a big egg. Otherwise I would definitely recommend it, and I will almost certainly be getting another egg for Easter! I am sure with feedback Hotel Chocolat could improve the range so it caters for more tastes, possibly by reducing the cocoa content even more, but as I mentioned earlier I think this is another huge step towards veganism becoming mainstream. Well done to Hotel Chocolat for catering so well for vegans, here's to other big names following suit! 

Vegan Life Magazine Issue 3

Issue 3 of Vegan Life magazine contained a marvelous mix of articles, interviews and recipes, with a focus on detoxing after the festive season. 

  Some of the features I particularly enjoyed were some delicious-looking recipes for a mushroom & walnut pesto tart and a chocolate lime tart, and a debate on whether or not vegans should eat honey (I personally think no).  

 One article I found especially interesting was 'Ebola and the Bushmeat Connection'. At the time the article was written, the death toll for the current Ebola outbreak was around 5,000, with over 10,000 identified cases in eight nations. There has been a big campaign to help fight Ebola, from curing those already infected, to developing a vaccine to help prevent further cases arising. As a practitioner of complementary therapies and a great believer in looking at the cause of illness, not just the cure, I feel we should be working more to prevent diseases occurring in the first place. Of course, I could write so much more on this subject, but basically I believe that many illnesses can be prevented by living a healthy lifestyle (both physically and emotionally) and there is increasing evidence that this is true. I was interested (and saddened) to learn that the Ebola crisis originated from the hunting and eating of bats, which is a common practice in many parts of Africa. The Ebola virus can live for years in bats without harming them, but can be transmitted to humans if infected bats bite or scratch hunters, or if their blood enters a cut on a butcher's skin. Ebola can then be passed to other humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. By hunting bats, people are not only harming animals, but they are potentially harming other humans as well. 

 What did you think of issue 3? 

Win Tickets to Vegfest Brighton 2015

I'm giving away a pair of weekend tickets to one of Europe's biggest veggie food events, VegfestUK on March 28th 29th at the Brighton Centre!

VegfestUK combines a fantastic collection of sublime food, excellent shopping, exhilarating entertainment and solid food education all under one roof on a top day out. Features range from:

- a Food Village with 15 caterers, 3 all day bars, juice and smoothie bars

- over 160 stalls with free samples and special offers aplenty

- the UK's first Vegan Comedy Festival with over a dozen quality comedians, 

- a Party Political Conference with various parties' manifestos on green issues unveiled

- a Global Food Sustainability Conference with a string of short presentations of solutions to food sustainability

- a LifeWell Hub covering natural healing and holistic health

- a kids area with cookery classes and magic shows

- a speed-dating session

- an LGBT social

- a bodybuilding contest

- live music 

- talks and cookery demos on the various aspects of a plant-based diet

- cinema with short films on plant-based lifestyles

and more!

To enter the competition, simply email your full name to crueltyfreecottage@hotmail.co.uk. I will pick the winner at random on Monday 16th February. The winner will be notified by email.

You can also buy tickets online now at www.brighton.vegfest.co.uk/admission Tickets in advance are £5 per day and £8 for the whole weekend. These tickets are available on BUY ONE GET ONE FREE until February 28th, and on BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE until March 21st. Kids under 16 get free entry to the event.

I have yet to experience the delights of Vegfest, I always get so jealous of everyone's Instagram pictures of vegan cream cakes and hot dogs! I won't be able to make it this year but I'm definitely going to try and go next year, especially as Brighton is on my list of places to visit. Until then I will just have to drool over everyone's pictures a little longer!

Avocado & Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe

I've never really been a massive lover of eating salad on its own; limp lettuce and soggy cucumber taste just as boring as they sound. But as I'm trying to expand my cooking repertoire and eat more healthily after Christmas, I decided to search for some more interesting salad recipes to try out. I like to make things that are quick and easy yet tasty and nutritious, so after browsing other recipes for inspiration, I came up with an avocado and pesto pasta salad. Pesto pasta is one of my staple dishes as it is so easy to make and is great to throw together when you can't be bothered to cook. I usually make it with roasted or stir-fried veggies but I never thought of having it with salad before.  All you need to make this simple dish is some pasta, some vegan pesto, a ripe avocado and a bag of ready-washed salad such as Florette Salad. I made this for lunch, but if you wanted it for dinner (or just want a bigger serving!) then just increase the quantities as you wish.Ingredients (serves 2): ♥ 150g dried pasta ♥ 2-3 handfuls salad leaves, such as spinach and rocket ♥ 1-2 tablespoons green pesto ♥ 1 avocado, cut into chunksMethod1. Cook pasta according to instructions on packet.2. Drain the pasta, return to the saucepan then wilt the salad leaves by mixing them into the warm pasta.3. Add the pesto to the pasta and salad leaves and mix well to coat.4. Stir in the avocado pieces and serve warm or cold.

I am really pleased with how this recipe turned out and I will definitely be making it again. It was really creamy and full of flavour. I can't wait to start experimenting with other ways to use salad - let me know if you have any good vegan recipes!

*This post contains sponsored content.

Homeware Wishlist #1

I love reading other bloggers' wishlist posts so I thought I'd start doing some of my own! I'm going to split my wishlists into beauty, fashion and homeware. I thought I'd start with a little homeware wishlist as I've seen some lovely things around.

Faux Fur Throw | Jack Russell Cushion | Fairy Lights | Paris Clock | Table Lamp | Lantern | Heart CanvasesI especially love the Jack Russell cushion! 

An Autumn Wedding

A few months ago Jamie and I went to our friend's wedding in Arundel. We stayed at the Hilton Avisford Park, where the reception was also held. The service was held in the beautiful Arundel Cathedral. We didn't have time to explore the area, but the parts that we did see looked lovely. 

  I wore a navy lace pencil dress that I got from Dorothy Perkins. I teamed it with shell pink faux-suede heels and faux-leather clutch, both from New Look, and gold and pink coloured jewellery.I curled my hair using the BaByliss Curling Wand Pro (review coming soon!). 

 

 This was my first wedding as a vegan, and although we had arranged for the hotel to cater for me in advance, I wasn't informed of what I would be eating until we arrived (I do like surprises though!). When my food arrived I was really impressed. The starter was a salad of avocado and char-grilled asparagus, which was absolutely amazing and was my favourite dish of the meal. I definitely want to try making this at home! 

 After the starter was an intermediate dish which everyone had: tomato and basil soup. It was really tasty and warming. 

 My main course was a cauliflower and spinach curry which was delicious. I couldn't finish it though so I gave the rest to Jamie :) 

 Dessert was a bowl of strawberries and raspberries, which was also had by a gluten-free guest on our table. Not the most exciting of vegan desserts but I was grateful to be catered for and it was nice to have something light and refreshing after having eaten three courses already! 

 We had a lovely weekend and were delighted to be part of our friend's special day. 

Christmas 2014

Happy New Year! It's almost time to take the Christmas tree down and I'm already counting down the months until I can put it up again (I'm a crazy Christmas fanatic)! I had a really lovely Christmas; spending quality time with family, eating amazing vegan food, listening to all the Christmas songs ever released, watching Christmas films and wrapping and unwrapping presents.  

 

 On Christmas Eve we went to see the Robin Hood pantomime which was really entertaining. We went last year to see Cinderella and it is starting to become a bit of a Christmas Eve tradition! We wore our Christmas jumpers to the panto and on the way home we had lunch at Pizza Hut. The deep pan bases (and the gluten free ones) are suitable for vegans so I had the veggie pizza minus the cheese and it was lovely. In the evening we went down to a local beach in the hope that we would see the International Space Station (or Father Christmas!) pass across the sky but it turned cloudy and started to rain when we got there. 

 

 On Christmas morning we opened our presents (even Jack, who excitedly pawed open everything in his pile). We were all really spoilt this year and received some lovely things. I got loads of vegan chocolate, some Faith in Nature products, jewellery, pyjamas, scarves, gift vouchers, Harry Potter books/Trivial Pursuit and an ice cream maker. I have been wanting an ice cream maker for a while now and I couldn't wait to use it. So far I have tried mint choc chip and chocolate honeycomb and they both turned out really well.  

 

 

 We had Christmas dinner at my sister's house this year; I had a nut cutlet with roast potatoes and veg, and we all had a Co-op Christmas pudding afterwards. I picked up some vegan wine from Sainsbury's to drink over Christmas as they are really good at labelling their alcohol.On Boxing Day we have another Christmas dinner at my mum's house with more of my family. This year I made a version of my chocolate tofu pie, or cheeseless cake as I like to call it. I used Lyle's butterscotch syrup (labelled vegan) in place of the golden syrup, and I topped it with dark chocolate chunks and honeycomb pieces.  

 

 I made my own crackers this year which was really fun. I put some dark chocolate coins and a scratchcard inside each one, along with some Christmas confetti! I had planned some fun and games for after dinner which included pass the parcel (featuring little prizes such as vegan chocolates) and a quiz. 

I really do wish it could be Christmas everyday, it's such a magical time of the year and I love everything about it! I'd love to hear about your Christmas :)