Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a rested break between Christmas and New Year, enjoying a lot of good food and quality time relaxing with friends and family. So any New Year's Resolutions?
I do not bother, I mean another year saying a "new me".. go to the gym more, eat healthier, drink less etc - does anyone actually do it.. and more importantly stick to it?
This year my resolution is spending more time for me. Making more time to relax, read, blog more and cook more.
I am starting my January with the trend that has taken over... "VEGANUARY". For me it is not a huge change as I have been Vegetarian for over 10 years, but a challenge to ditch the eggs and dairy for a month. Then hopefully to continue throughout the year by swapping up ingredients in bakes for Vegan alternatives.
I mean the eggs I eat I do not have a problem with, they are collected fresh daily from my ducks and chickens - therefore I know how they are kept, what they are fed and that there is NO suffering. They are as happy as Larry.. and treated better than me sometimes ;-D
This is not the case with everything you buy, even if it might be suggested on the packet, can you ever really know how the animal is treated? This is why I am choosing to do VEGANUARY to raise awareness of animal cruelty and suffering. I will be posting how I am getting on, so check my Instagram and Facebook accounts.. I will be sharing tips and recipes to help you, if you are also giving it a go.
So back to the festivities, NYE I made a scrummy cake to see in 2018. However not Vegan as I was using up loads of eggs that have been lurking, so I am glad there is none left to tempt me! My cake was a GF vanilla sponge with a banana buttercream, simple to cater for all tastes (as I was entertaining for friends and family on NYE). A really light, fluffy sponge with a big kick of banana. I like my cakes to taste of what they say they are... and this did ;-)
As you know, I do bake Vegan occasionally and my goal for 2018 is to experiment with more ways to bake Vegan. So I will be sharing with you ideas of how Vegan cakes can be easily achieved:-)
Previous desserts and bakes of 2017 included macarons, cookies, fondants and souffles.. so it is time to reinvent bakes with dairy free alternatives. Not everything I will be able to change but I am also going to try and experiment with bread and pastry and new cakes. The goal for 2018 is to bake Vegan where I can, so let's see how I get on!