Mad Cucumber: Bournemouth's Vegan Lounge

As I have previously mentioned, I am a newly-complicated eater, meaning I don't eat any dairy, egg, or gluten. Eating out can be an ordeal so when I discover eateries where I don't have to worry about what's on the menu or ask someone what is in the dish, I become a bit like a kid in a sweet shop. So overwhelmingly excitable and happy. There are no words. 

I stumbled upon Bournemouth's 'Mad Cucumber': a self-described vegan lounge. Even though I am still very much a carnivore, the prospect of eating out is just easier if I call myself a vegan. I know I'm not and I'm sorry to all those loyal vegans but my word, it makes life easier. People just understand your diet difficulties a lot better. Besides, I love healthy food, vegetables and all that so vegan food suits me pretty well. 'Mad Cucumber' has a delightful food and drinks menu that almost makes you question how on earth it is all vegan. Quiche, cakes, brownies (which I did take some home and they were amazing)- it is baffling how this all vegan. I even saw someone have a rather extravagant hot drink with whipped cream on top. I now live in my regret for not asking what the cream was made from- cashews? Suppose that's another reason for me to return...

I love eating out and the interior is just as cool as the food. The lounge had a very hippie and casual feel about it- lots of reused furniture and mismatching accessories. The walls were covered in lots of interesting... erm... nick nacks (?!) which made us look around the cafe like a couple of tourists. 

I get the idea that the menu changes quite a bit. We decided to opt for the 'Greek Style Beans' with rice and a Quiche with salad and neither disappointed. The price was reasonable, with my bean lunch being only £3.95. There was also a long list of juices which I aim to try them all out. We had banana, apple, ginger and cinnamon, which to be honest, would have been better without the cinnamon. It would best suit a cold winters day. Maybe that's because I associate cinnamon with Christmas. 

Before I left I grabbed a couple of takeaway desserts. For someone who has such a sweet tooth, the world of puddings, desserts, and chocolates is a world I can no longer enter *sobs* so having a large array of loveliness to chose from made my week! I decided on the chocolate brownie and the raw lime cheesecake to takeaway to enjoy over the weekend as I simply didn't want my vegan experience to end. 

Now, whenever I pop into Bournemouth's town centre I will have to go and stock up on vegan cakes and puddings. It is an ideal lunch spot, or even a drinks break when you fancy somewhere else other than Starbucks. With no queues, overpriced goods, and unnecessarily unhealthy foods, 'Mad Cucumber' is my number one choice. Even though my non-vegan friend loved it, I now have to persuade the rest of them!

Where else is good to eat out as a vegan/gluten-free? 

Vegan & Gluten-Free Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Since I am now a very complicated eater, meaning I cannot eat a lot of the everyday foods like dairy, eggs, or gluten, I have become a bit more experimental in cooking and baking. Creating the luxuries like cakes and biscuits using wholefood ingredients has had some pretty surprising results. After all, I will not let these intolerances stop me from having an indulgent pudding/snack every now and then. Behold the vegan and gluten-free peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie bars! These wonderful, cakey delights are made with chickpeas- not your average pudding ingredient some would say. The outcome of these cookie bars has a gooey texture that makes you wonder whether you are actually eating chickpeas as a sweet snack. Yes, it is true. Chickpeas have provided something quite revolutionary in the healthy cooking world. 

I found this recipe on Pinterest (my favourite website ever) but I have adapted it to make it a little better (sorry original recipe). It uses only a few ingredients and are so easy to make that I read over the recipe twice before I put it in the oven just to make sure that I did everything. It only took 5 minutes! All you need is:

1x can of 400g chickpeas

1/2 cup of peanut butter

3/4 cup of maple syrup

tsp of baking powder

tsp of vanilla essence

2oz of gluten-free flour

1/2 cup of dark chocolate buttons

(sunflower margarine for greasing)

And all you need to do is:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 celsius

2. Blend everything together (minus the chocolate buttons) with a hand blender (or food processor) until it is lovely and smooth

3. Stir in the buttons to give it some chocolate lovin'

4. Put it in a fairly deep baking tray and sprinkle some more chocolate buttons on top so it looks delightful when it comes out of the oven

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes

6. When the knife comes out clean, it is ready! Allow it to cool for 30 minutes before cutting it into squares

What I love about this recipe (besides the taste), is that it is so simple and does not use ingredients that are expensive, which is common in healthy, vegan recipes. Being a student, my bank account would not allow it but 80p for a can of chickpeas is more like it! 

These cookie bars are perfect for a snack or warm with some ice cream (my favourite is Booja Booja). Now that my first batch has run out, I think it's time to make some more mmm... 

Healthy Flapjack Recipe...

I made these healthy flapjacks the other day- copying from Mrs Jackson's blog as I was instantly drawn to their low-calorie element. 88 calories a slice?! Even though they were nice, I undercooked them a bit, put whole hazelnuts in them (they needed to be chopped), and overloaded on the dried fruit so the oat to fruit ratio was 2:4, when it should've been 4:2- a very important matter! So, I decided it would be fair to adapt it and perfect it before I do a blog post on it. I admit. I did add some extra ingredients that aren't on the original, just to make them a bit more wholesome and healthy so I can always eat them as a breakfast on the go. Also, with being 88 calories a slice- you can totally afford to put more ingredients in, and if their healthier it's even better. Here is the finished and final healthy flapjack recipe: 

200g/7oz Porridge Oats

300ml Apple Juice

2 tbsp Maple Syrup

2 tbsp Honey

2 tbsp Milled Flaxseed

40g Whitworth's Cinnamon Apples

30g Pumpkin Seeds

40g Chopped Hazelnuts

55g Californian Raisins

55g Dried Cranberries

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees celsius and line a shallow square baking tin with greaseproof paper.

2. Pour the juice, maple syrup and honey into a saucepan and lightly heat until it simmers- stirring it occasionally so it heats through evenly.

3. Once it's simmering, add the porridge oats. If the juice isn't fully absorbed, then heat it lightly so the juice just glazes the oats. 

4. Remove the oat mixture off the heat and add the chopped hazelnuts, cinnamon apples, pumpkin seeds, raisins, flaxseed and dried cranberries. Mix these into the oats- making sure all the ingredients are evenly spread.

5. Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin and push it down into the corners, so it is tightly packed in there!

6. Put in the oven for 40 minutes, until it is golden brown on top and doesn't feel too soft to touch (if you press your finger down in the centre, it should have a chewy/sticky texture and bounce back to it's original shape).

7. Leave to cool before cutting into 9 even squares. This is where a square baking tin comes in handy as it ensures equal sizes!
8. I then put them on a flat baking tray and baked them in the oven for 7 minutes- just to coat the outer edges with a golden brown. This is of course optional, but I like them to have a crunch on the outside and then be soft in the middle.

You can adapt this recipe according to your own taste, or if you want them to have less/more calories. What I love about this recipe is that it is all natural ingredients- even all the sugary stuff. They are perfect for an afternoon/morning snack and stay fresh for about 7 days. I'll definitely be making more of these over the next few weeks whilst I'm still at home because I definitely don't have all of these ingredients and equipment at uni. However, saying that, most of these ingredients are so useful anyway so porridge oats and maple syrup might be on my weekly shopping list from now on!

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