Vegan Box Swap

Here's what I got inside my first ever vegan box swap. I only just discovered that vegans all over the world are swapping boxes of their favourite foods with other people, so I figured it was about time to get involved.

There's a Facebook group for box swaps, but I got talking to Tessa through the Just Vegan group that's been set up by Youtuber's Henya and Jason. It's a group for vegans across the world that meant to be peaceful given all the fighting that's been happening among the online vegan community in recent weeks.

Tessa filled my box with a mixture sweet and savoury vegans items from The Netherlands. My favourite thing in the box so far has been the Tony Chocolonely bar at the back of the photo. It was orange and rosemary flavoured, and I pretty much ate the whole thing in a couple of days. I also loved the carmel biscuits at the back of the photo and the chocolate truffles.

I still have lots of things to try because I'm attempting to make the box last rather than eating everything at once, but so far everything I've eaten has been really tasty. It's also making me want to visit The Netherlands now I know there's so much good vegan food on offer.

Whoever said being vegan meant restricting food got it really, really wrong.

What I Ate Wednesday - Week 16

I'm back with another What I Ate Wednesday post. I have been meaning to do this every week, but things have been a bit stressful and busy lately, and I just haven't really wanted to sit down and blog as much.

I had my usual oats for breakfast made with almond milk. I've been using gluten free oats lately and I've been noticing a big difference in how I feel. I topped the oats with frozen blueberries, linseed, date syrup, coconut and almond butter and mixed seeds. YUM!!!

I was pretty hungry before lunch so I had this mango fruit bar from my Netherlands swap box (I'm posting a blog on this tomorrow) and a litre of water with lemon and orange.

I had a really simple lunch today of just toasted pita bread and hummus topped with a hot sauce. Then I tried some figs for the very first time. I wasn't sure how I felt about them at first, but they were actually really, really tasty.

I made one of my favourite quick dinners which was macaroni cheese with broccoli and topped with nutritional yeast to give it even more of a cheesy taste.

Then I had some strawberries, banana, figs, date syrup and chocolate sprinkles for an evening snack.

Guest Blogging - Grams Edinburgh

This week, I did a bit of guest blogging for Grams Edinburgh on the subject of protein on a vegan diet. It's something I've been wanting to write about for quite a while now, so when Grams said they were looking for some people to guest blog, I thought I'd finally sit down and write about it. I still find it completely baffling that people continue to ask me about my protein intake, especially if the person asking doesn't have a very good diet.

You can read the post here - http://www.gramsedinburgh.com/blog-1/2016/4/12/the-vegetarian-diet-high-carbs-low-protein

And you should also check out some of the raw cakes that Grams make. You can find some in Grounds Coffee Shop and Real Foods in Edinburgh. They also sell them at Stockbridge Market.

SourcedBox - April Box

Once again, I forgot to take a photo of this month's SourcedBox before I started eating everything inside it, so I've had to take this one from their Twitter page.

My favourite item in the box was the Rawr Chocolate bar. I've had a few before, but never the goji and vanilla one, and it's definitely my favourite one yet. I also loved the Rhythm 108 bar. It's a desert bar that you put in the microwave to heat up, and it was delicious. I got the lemon one, but I really want to the apple pie one next.

I also loved the Creative Nature goji goodness bar and the Inspiral raspberry coconut pecks. Both of them were really tasty, and I'm going to try get hold of more soon. I should also mention how good the Hectares salted sweet potato crisps were. Sweet potatoes are probably one of my favourite foods, so these are the perfect snack.

The only thing I really wasn't a fan of was the Rude Health bar. I'm not a beetroot fan, so this just wasn't a flavour that I was ever going to really like.

There's still a few products I need to try, but I'm trying to make the box last this month instead of eating it all as soon as the box arrives.

If you're looking to sign up to receive your own box then just visit the SourcedBox website here.