Dinner: Ultimate shepherd’s pie (recipe from Vegan Planet – used a Goodlife spinach & lentil grill and a nut cutlet in place of burgers) with steamed broccoli and carrots.

Dessert: Whortleberry tart (recipe soon!) with Alpro soya custard.

I feel like I should embark on a quest to find the perfect nut butter…what else could be crammed into my food processor and blitzed to a gooey, irresistible finish?  I’ve tackled the classic peanut butter, heavenly almond butter, and now cashew…hazelnut, brazil, macadamia, pecan. Let’s all go nutty for nut butter?

To make this simple cashew butter, I toasted 350g of raw cashews under the grill, turning with a spatula until golden brown on both sides. Blitz in a food processor until the nuts break down and the natural oils are released – the cashews took a little longer than almonds or peanuts, but after 15-20 minutes, a smooth, creamy butter will form. Definitely worth the wait. This is quite possibly my favourite yet!

- Miss Kent xox

This incredible dessert is the perfect antidote to whatever craving you may be “suffering” at any given moment. It’s chocolate heaven, a decadent tart when teamed with ice cream and cut into delicate slivers, and a chunky, satisfying pie when tucked into for an afternoon snack. It can be heated up or eaten fresh from the oven for a gooey, unbelievably indulgent after dinner pudding and for those of you who can’t get enough nuts in their life, the marzipan gives each slices a rich almond flavour that you won’t be able to resist.

Plus, the recipe yields one massive pie. So in theory it will last you a while.

Hey, I did say in theory.

You’ll find the recipe for both pie crust and filling in Allyson Kramer’s Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats. As well as the masterpiece photographed here, there are recipes for many other tempting desserts, as well as creative savoury dishes. There are over 100 colour photographs (a welcome break from vegan recipe books that contain nothing but text and pages of nutritional waffle) and helpful suggestions for food alternatives.

A lot of the ingredients used are American, but I’ve so far been able to find close substitutes, if not the actual product, in shops or on UK websites. The book’s layout is very visually pleasing, so as well as getting something tasty, you’re also getting a good book to sit down and pore over when hunting for ideas.

Allyson keeps a famous and fantastic food blog – Manifest Vegan - so once you’re done demolishing the eats in her book, you can find even more recipes on her website.

- Miss Kent xox

Strawberry & banana smoothie

With sunshine finally peeking out from behind the grey of a (very!) long winter, a cool, summery drink  is most welcome. Try a sweet blend of frozen strawberries and banana for a refreshing afternoon distraction.

Ingredients:
4-5 frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana
1 cup almond milk
1/4 cup water

Method:
1. Chop the frozen strawberries and banana, and place in a blender with the almond milk. Blend for a few minutes, until smooth.

2. Add the water and blend for another minute. You can use more or less water, or omit completely, depending on your desired consistency.

3. Pour into a glass, grab a straw, put your feet up and enjoy!

Bananaberry crumble

A good crumble recipe is a dessert-minded weapon that can be altered and improved in innumerable ways. Combine different fruits, nuts and fillings, create new toppings, eat it with custard or ice cream, red hot out of the oven or cold off the back of a spoon the next day. Whatever you do, make sure you have plenty and swap ideas with a friend.

Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 4-6
Suitability: Vegan, Gluten-Free

Ingredients:
120g brown rice flour (or a plain gluten-free flour mix)
120g golden caster sugar
120g soya ‘butter’ spread (Pure is a good brand)
100g ground almond
200g frozen raspberries
6 bananas
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
lemon juice
cinnamon

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190c.

2. Place the sugar, flour, ground almond and butter alternative in a bowl. Mix, then use your fingertips to rub together until fine crumbs are formed.

3. In a separate bowl, slice the bananas and toss in lemon juice. Stir in the spoonful of sugar and raspberries, then transfer to a pie dish.

4. Evenly coat the fruit with the crumble topping, and finish with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Remove, leave to cool whilst you heat up the custard (or get the ice cream out of the freezer!), then get stuck in.

What would your ideal crumble combination be? Apples and blueberries go great together, too, as do bananas and chocolate…and you can’t forget the classic choice that is rhubarb. Decisions, decisions…

Why buy jars of processed peanut butter from the supermarket, when you could whip up a batch of your own in no time at all? No need for added oil, sugar or salt. Just get yourself 500g of monkey nuts (I paid £1.88 for a bag from Sainsbury’s), spend a few minutes shelling them, then get read to make some magic.

The method is exactly the same as for almond butter – just evenly toast the nuts under a grill and blend in a food processor for 10-15 minutes. I found that the peanuts turned into smooth, creamy butter much more quickly than almonds. The finished butter is a tasty, healthy snack that is just begging to be spread on toast.

- Miss Kent xox

The Beached Lamb Café in Newquay is the perfect place to visit if you’re in the area for a spot of seaside sight-seeing, or surfing. As well as offering space for diners, there’s also a chill-out room, open mic nights and reggae music – you can’t help but feel relaxed and welcome! The menu offers a wide variety of meat, vegetarian and vegan dishes, with several gluten-free options, too. Super healthy salads, sandwiches, burgers, homemade cakes and “the best milkshake you will ever taste” – it’s all here, and it all looks too good to be true!

We ordered the fern-valley wrap (usually served in a tortilla wrap, but the hostess kindly offered to make mine a sandwich so that it would be both gluten-free and vegan – so kind and accommodating!) and the Roopy panini. The (would-be) wrap is filled with hummus, avocado, salsa, beetroot, alfalfa sprouts and spinach – giving a delicious mixture of texture, colour and taste! The (vegetarian) panini also contained hummus, as well as garlic mushrooms and spinach – not a combination I’d think to try at home, but I was assured it was just as delicious as it looks.

For dessert, we decided to put the milkshakes to the test – we ordered a dairy-free peanut butter and banana shake, and a Bounty and mango shake, which came topped with cream. There were lots of interesting combinations on the menu, or you could choose two flavours for yourself – we went for the ‘regular’ size shake, which was very filling. The large would definitely have defeated me.

I don’t need to tell you how much I loved the milkshake. Peanut butter and banana is probably the greatest flavour pairing of all time – seriously, it’s my OTP – so to enjoy a nice, cool glass of milky bliss on a sunny afternoon was just heaven.

With friendly, helpful staff, a bright and welcoming interior and a fantastic menu, The Beached Lamb is a real find that is well worth a visit if you’re ever in Newquay. I don’t know when I’ll next be in the area, but this little place will be high on my list of priorities!

Kent says: An absolute pleasure!

What better way to wile away a dreary Saturday afternoon than by baking a chewy, hearty chocolate chip banana bread?

I used this recipe from Ambitious Kitchen as a starting point, and made a couple of adjustments – I used golden caster sugar instead of caster sugar, halved the quantity of chocolate chips and skipped out on the salt. I also added a few tablespoons of non-dairy milk as the mixture was very dry. The resulting loaf still went according to plan – using ground oats instead of flour is a great idea I’ll bear in mind for future cake endeavours!

Dinner: Mushroom & fennel hotpot.

Dessert: Raspberry & lemon bake with dairy-free raspberry ice cream.

Jennifer Katzinger’s Gluten-Free & Vegan Bread just might be my new favourite book! It’s filled with recipes that prove just how simple and satisfying it is to bake bread that’s free from wheat (and spelt, soya and oats!) and 100% vegan-friendly, too – have you noticed how annoying it is that supermarket loaves almost always contain egg?!

Well, the time for frustration is past – there are so many creative recipes here to inspire you, it’ll be hard to know where to start. I baked a soft, delicious millet loaf that’s packed with ground flax, chia seeds and quinoa, and when spread with a thick layer of almond butter it’s pure heaven. I followed the recipe exactly – the only change I would make is to use fresh dried yeast, as I think mine was past its best! – and was so pleased with the results, I’m planning to bake a second loaf on my next day off.

As well as sandwich loaves there are flatbread recipes, a guide for growing your own wild starter, and some truly delectable sweet breads towards the back – you’re spoilt for choice, and if every loaf comes out of the oven tasting as good as this one, you can sleep well knowing lunchtime will never again be a dull occasion.

- Miss Kent xox