The Veganlovlie Blog Has Moved...

After almost eight years spent on this platform, I thought it was time for a change to something more accommodating with enhanced features. For those of you who were accessing this page with the address veganlovlie.com, you have nothing to do. You probably have already found us on the new redesigned website. But many of you were still reading this blog through veganlovlie.blogspot.com. So, please update your links to veganlovlie.com and rss feeds to feeds.feedburner.com/veganlovlie to continue receiving updates of new posts.

Here are some new features on the revamped website:

Homemade Coconut Milk | Vegan Non-Dairy Milk Substitute

Ranging from nuts, grains, seeds to beans, plant-based milk has now gone mainstream taking more than just a spin on the dairy-free market with quite a wide choice on offer. Without a doubt, these incredible advancements present a great convenience as more and more people are looking for non dairy alternatives. For practicality and to make my life easier, I do stock the pantry with a few cartons of store-bought oat, rice or coconut milk. However, everything does come with a price and not just the price tag itself.

Vegan Pear Custard Pie with Oil-based Pie Crust

The custard pie rests among the much sought-after favourite with the wide range of decadent patisserie that fashions the customary Mauritian tea-time culture. An afternoon cup of tea or a 3pm snack would bring pastries, pies and cakes au rendez-vous, more promptly than an after dinner treat.

Oil-based Vegan Shortcrust Pastry Recipe (No Butter/Margarine) | Made with Aquafaba

Unless you are making a crustless pie, for me, no matter the filling, a great pie is one that has a good base - a flaky, buttery crust. What’s different in this pastry is that it uses oil instead of butter or margarine.

While there are a few brands of vegan butter or margarine available on the market, the thing is, they are not available everywhere. So, this recipe makes it possible for those of you in that situation to still enjoy a good flaky delicious pie crust without the need for butter or margarine.

Vegan Dessert Platter with Fruit Terrine, Fruit & Date Rolls Kabobs/Skewers and Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

With the holiday season merrily approaching, much of the planning and preparation no doubt revolves around food, whether simple or elaborate. While most of the time I keep the holiday meals relatively simple, I do look forward to the dessert part.

Most would agree that dessert is really the much exciting course of any meal. No holiday menu would be complete without it, no matter how full we are. Desserts just add the satisfying sought-after sweetness at the end of our day. But preparing them, nor the guilt of having eaten a lavish one, need not be cause for stress! What I have for you today is a vibrant dessert platter that is not only easy to make, and can be prepared in advance, but also steers more or less on the healthier side; you could actually make it even healthier if you wanted to.

Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf Cake with Fudgey Chocolate Glaze

With half of a sugar pie pumpkin lying around in the fridge and waiting to be used up, it is time to share another decadent sweet treat. Five weeks away from the holidays and the house is already feeling quite spirited with the frequent baking and festive dishes. So, by popular demand, chocolate loaf cake is au rendez-vous with a twist of fresh pumpkin which is from where this cake packs in its luscious fudgey appeal. While you cannot distinctly taste it, the pumpkin contributes much to the texture of this relatively low-fat cake. Married with warming hints of cinnamon, coffee and molasses, it adds just enough of a rich caramel flavour for that feeling of contentment that we all look for from a bite of chocolatey indulgence or from life itself. Whoever claims not to like chocolate is just lying with a passion.

Take the Time to Live | Musings and Inspiration on Living in the Present Moment

From time to time we need to stop, and smell the roses, or eat chocolate cake, for there are no ordinary moments in life.

Mauritian Vegan Briyani with Okra and Soya Chunks (Textured Vegetable Protein)

Briyani, in Mauritius, is quite fittingly synonymous with celebration. Traditionally this dish is served at many special occasions and gatherings — weddings, engagements, religious ceremonies, having guests at home, the new year celebrations, office parties or even just for a picnic at the beach. The latter is probably one of the most typical Mauritian scenery, as I stroll down memory lane and recall the fascinating days of my childhood and teenage years. You would think that a picnic down the beach would call for light and easy meals, but for many families, spending a day at the seaside would also mean meeting relatives that they might not have seen for a while. For cause of merriment, a big pot of briyani placed on a camp fire, was the highlight of the day.

Stuffed Acorn (Pepper) Squash Recipe with Creamy Dill Potato and Tofu Filling

A little bit further up from where I live, the streets are decked with huge pumpkins sitting in big cauldron-style pots outside every shop. In a battle of David, aka the squirrels, against Goliath, aka the pumpkins, well naturally David won — some of these gigantic squash have already been victims to the pesky yet adorable nibblers, with big holes carved out of them. Although, in this case, it seems that Jack's lanterns have been sabotaged! But the tougher pumpkins are just sitting outside, quite wastefully (in my opinion), to the whims of the weather. The idea of carrying one home crossed my mind but I did not. When I mentioned before that I wished I had food bigger than me that I could bite in, well I realised I had just found it! Pumpkins can really grow to be huge — an excellent food source for the cold months if they are well kept or preserved.

Pumpkin Date Roll Cookies | Vegan Recipe

As pumpkin season gears into full swing, I just could not forgo the chance for another addition to the already bountiful amount of pumpkin recipes on the internet. While Cinderella's fairy godmother is busy transforming an ordinary pumpkin into a magnificent carriage, food bloggers around the world are also magically turning pumpkins into delectable dishes. Pumpkinfy everything!