Make someone’s Christmas merry and bright with a vegan friendly sustainable gift. Searching for the perfect gift isn't always easy. And if the person you are buying the gift for happens to be vegan, well, things can get a little tricky as you search for eco-friendly and cruelty-free options that your person will love. But I'm here to help make it easier for you with these vegan gift ideas! Here are 12 different types of gifts you can get that vegan person in your life  ​

Flower & White, the low-calorie melting meringue and Fairtrade chocolate-based bars and bites, is adding vegan offerings to its popular range of ‘better-for-you’ confectionery. Two new vegan variants – Chocolate Dipped Strawberry and Double M!lk Chocolate bars are being launched in response to the clear growth of veganism in the UK, and the current demand for healthier, lighter snacks.  All products are available to order from www.flowerandwhite.co.uk and from selected Asda stores across the UK.
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​Natural cork colour tote bag with a horizontal red rectangle at the front. PrimaBerry’s logo is on a small metal plate at the bottom.
Made from Portuguese cork. the harmless harvesting for trees, its 100% biodegradability and its high quality make ck one of te most sustainable materials available today
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5 Vegan Dishes
Here are 5 different savoury dishes that you can make, that are  quick, simple, and tasty, using ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen, or if not, they are easily available locally.

The first one is pulled jackfruit, all the videos for these recipes will be listed below, at the end of this blog post. Pulled jackfruit has only become popular probably in the past 5 to 10 years. Jackfruit is a fruit that usually is eaten when it's ripened and it's sweet, but the young jackfruit before it's ripe can be used in savoury dishes. In the UK where I live, pulled jackfruit is made using tinned jackfruit, or some of them come in like a shrink, wrapped package. But in terms of getting fresh Jack fruit, that's quite difficult to get here in the UK. However, if you live in a country where you can get fresh jackfruit, I always recommend that you get fresh ingredients where possible. If you're using your fresh jackfruit, use the young jackfruit, not the sweetened. It goes well with some wild rice, basmati rice or whole grain rice. I usually put some baked plantain on the side, baked plantain goes well with lots of dishes. So, I put a link to that recipe below for you as well.

Number 2 is Butterbean Curry again this is delicious, and easy to make. Sometimes, when people want to make something vegan, they get stuck and think, “I don't really know what to do”. Here in the UK. curry is one of the most popular dishes, even though it's not an English dish, but Indian food is super popular. There is an abundance of Indian restaurants in the UK. I use tinned butter beans in this, but you can use dried butter beans. It is important to soak them overnight or cook them in a pressure cooker first to make sure they're not tough. For the lentils, I usually use red lentils because red lentils cook quickly. They're high in protein as well so when people say, hey where do you get your protein? Lentils are high in protein as well. This is a good nutritious dish, easy to make and I like to serve this with naan bread. I'm going to make a video on how to make naan bread in the future. You'll be so surprised how quick and easy it is to make naan bread.

So, the third one is stew peas, which is one of my favourite dishes. So, for those of you who don't have a Caribbean background, the name of the dish can be a little misleading for you. Stew peas is made with kidney beans. In the Caribbean, all legumes, beans, and pulses are called peas. So, when it says stew peas, it's actually kidney beans that are cooked in different seasonings in coconut milk and it tastes wonderful. The traditional recipe for stew peas does have meat in it. It has, either pork or oxtail. But if you follow the normal traditional recipe and just ignore the fact that there's meat in there, you won't miss it. I promise you, and you can put little dumplings in there as well. Some people put little vegetables as well and its taste wonderful. It's cheap to make as well. Particularly if you have people come over for dinner or afternoon lunch, this is cheap. And, if you are a student, you can also have it with white rice and a side dish. You could also thicken it and have it in a burrito with vegetables it's quite versatile. Or you can thin it out a little bit and have it as a soup. In Jamaica, we call it red pea soup. It's the same thing.

The next dish is Cauliflower steaks. Now I always used to think that cauliflower steaks are really complicated to make. I always try to make life easy for you guys, I always try to make the dish so that you look at it and think, oh yeah, I can do that. So yes, cauliflower steaks, they're quick, they're easy to make and If you're on a low carb diet or low-fat diet this is good for you. It's cheap as well. Also, if you're a student, this comes in handy or if you're just budgeting in general, we're in these lockdown coronavirus pandemic times. So, you know, everybody's trying to save a few pennies here and there.

And then the final one is chickpea curry. I always have chickpeas in my cupboard because they're so versatile. You can do so much with them and most people like chickpeas. You can have it with rice or potatoes. You can have it with whatever you like. Naan bread would go with it as well. It's nice. It's easy to make, it's a no brainer. So, it's going to make you feel more confident in the kitchen when it cooks to comes to cooking, vegan dishes. I had to suggest this dish once for an event, because I was at an event in a 4-star hotel, my friend, who was one of the organizers and she said, oh, could you just go in the kitchen and check on what it is that they're doing for vegans? And when I went in there, they were doing nothing. In fairness to them, even though the head chef was qualified chef, he just didn't know much about vegan cooking.
So, I said, “all right, let me help you out, So, do you have any chickpeas?”
He says, “yes, I have chickpeas”.
I said “have you got various seasonings and have you've got coconut milk. So just make a chickpea curry”
The chef’s response was “oh, I didn't think of that”
That's like an easy go-to dish that you can make if you have people coming over. Or if you just want to make something quick for yourself or if you're having any event and you think right, there's going to be vegans so what am I going to make? Chickpea Curry is the easy answer, it goes with so many other things as well.
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So there have the five dishes pulled jackfruit, butterbean & lentil curry, stew peas, cauliflower, steaks, and chickpea curry that you can make for a mid-week meal. Or if you want to cook something at the weekend, they're all quick and easy. You can prep some of these in advance. Because most of these dishes, I don't know about the cauliflower steaks, but everything else you can cook and freeze and have it later in the week or a couple of weeks later if you like. So, these are some great vegan dishes that you can make and feel more confident about making a plant-based meal. And if you do make any, please post a pic on Instagram and tag me because I love it when you send me pictures of what you're making. Is there a particular dish you'd like me to veganize please comment in the comment section below. I do read all the comments. I try to keep up with answering as many of them as I can, I will get round to you. I promise. 

Blanco Nino made a tasty change to ordinary tortillas. They have a great crunch and the flavour of the lime really came through but was not overpowering. Delicious by themselves or with a dip. Many major manufacturer of snack products have their own line of tortilla chips that range in shape from triangles to circles to strips to custom shapes designed to enhance the scooping and dipping experience. It's amazing what new innovations they come up with each year.
The main ingredients used are:

• Non-GMO white corn (78.7%)
• sunflower oil, sea salt (1.1%)
• Celestun salt (0.2%)

Blanco Niño use the authentic aztec recipe and freshly cooked, volcanic stone ground corn to create their tasty tortilla chips. Crunchy, morish, and so deliciously addictive, Blanco Niño tortilla chips will take your taste buds straight to the hills of Central Mexico.
A few years back, founder Phil set out on what would become quite a serendipitous journey across Mexico. Visiting the milpas, molinos and tortillerias of Mexico, Phil learnt how to make proper corn tortillas. Inspired by the tastes and traditions of Mexico, Phil returned to Ireland and in 2015, along with a great team, he opened the doors to the Tortilleria in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

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Erbology is food to make you feel good. I have been looking at this company and have found that they scour the world to source rare plant-based ingredients that nourish your body and create simple, delicious health foods. 
They are a thought-leader in plant-based nutrition and are taking powerful plants and making them accessible everyday in delicious foods and drinks.
Their range of delicious food includes:

• Sea buckthorn and aronia berry Granola
• Jerusalem artichoke and dark chocolate Granola
• Organic aronia shot
• Organic bergamot shot
• Aronia berry energy balls
• Nopal cactus energy balls
• Cashew cheese raw activated crackers
• Spicy kimchi raw activated crackers
• Tkemali Beetroot raw activated crackers

Plus many more tasty treats
want to feel inspired, and to inspire you to embrace healthy, happy living that
Erbology feel it’s also important to have a positive impact on the world around us. They work closely with independent farmers. Their products are organically grown and free from chemicals and additives.
They are constantly looking for new ways to integrate nature’s marvels into our busy lives. They believe healthy foods can taste great, and add a touch of excitement to everyday recipes.
 

Pelagonia roasted red pepper spread is versatile and delicious! It’s sweet with nice little chunks of pepper throughout. Its unique and versatile and is sure to add flavour and enhance any meal of your choice This spread has a wonderful robust flavour that is fresh, irresistible and secretly vegan.
 
It is a very diverse ingredient and goes well on the side of many dishes and has endless uses. You can also use it in pizzas, in sauces in pasta of your choice, as a dip to accompany with rusks, breadsticks and crackers or to prepare canapés the list goes on.
 
 
Recommended by Yotam Ottolenghi and Jamie Oliver Magazine, and of course me – Kirly-Sue. You can find Pelagonia globally in fine food stores across the world in 20 markets including UK (Waitrose, Sainsburys, Booths, Farmdrop), Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Slovenia, Dubai, Qatar and more
 
Pelagonia is an award-winning Macedonian food range based on the very best traditional recipes

The world celebrates national avocado day on July 31st!
‘How to plant avocado seed’ saw a 1500% increase in the last 12 months
thortful reveal three recipes that celebrate the avocado and go way beyond the avo-toast.
Avocados, the staple of every brunch and possibly the reason why millennials will never be able to afford a home?(1) 
Love it or hate it, this delicious fruit boasts high nutritional value all thanks to its high content of vitamins and minerals. And hey, if you don’t want to eat it, you can always use it as a face mask, like many A-list celebs do (looking at you Mrs Beckham). 

​But all that glitters is not gold… avocados are some of the least sustainable fruits out there, bearing the weight of a heavy carbon footprint. So to make sure you keep enjoying your favourite healthy fat and not negatively impact the earth, you might want to consider growing your avocado plant at home. Luckily thortful.com will launch a growing kit soon, which will feature a handmade ceramic avocado starter (available in different finishes) and a handy, hand-drawn booklet to share all your hard-earned avocado growing knowledge. Just add a jar and an avocado pit and you're good to go. 

Now you are all set to watch your avocado plant grow beautifully. But for those who just can’t wait to eat some avo-goodness, here are the top 3 recipes that go way beyond the classic avo-toast.
Avocado Ice Cream
It’s hot outside, so let’s make some delicious, vegan, wonderfully creamy avocado ice cream. Here are the steps to follow: 
Get 2 ripe avocados, mint leaves and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix with coconut milk, agave or maple syrup and a ripe banana. Blend it all together and once you have a thick, green smoothie it is time to transfer to the freezer and wait (impatiently) 4 hours.

Ombar is a brand well known in the vegan community for their delicious vegan chocolate bars. When I got the opportunity to review their chocolate I couldn’t wait for them to arrive. I say their chocolate is delicious because not all vegan chocolate is created equal. I have come across some vegan chocolate not fit for human consumption but this is NOT the case with Ombar. It is an incredibly creamy, ‘mylk’ chocolate made using the finest-flavoured, unroasted and organic Ecuadorian cacao which gives it deep, rich chocolatey notes.

​The ingredients list is a short one and consists mainly of unroasted cacoa, coconut sugar, creamed coconut, coco butter and vanilla extract. The chocolate bar itself is small in size and consists of 6 small chunks. I loved the texture of the chocolate it's quite soft and fudgey and melts in the mouth easily. The flavour is really tasty with plenty of rich cacao that is perfectly paired with creamed coconut, vanilla and a few other ingredients.

I cannot recommend this product enough I tried their gut friendly range. You can choose from Strawberry Mylk, Coco Mylk or 72% Cacao – all of which include added vegan live cultures (Lactobacillus Acidophilus), so you can enjoy an ethical, vegan snack and keep your gut happy too.

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The link between gut health and anxiety is becoming increasingly understood, it’s even been given its own name: the ‘gut-brain axis’. Diseases of the gut have been linked to mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression – so it makes sense that the incredible effects of probiotics on the gut also have the potential to address symptoms of anxiety.
Aside from the probiotics, Ombar’s chocolate also contains magnesium, a deficiency of which is linked to muscle twitching, palpitations and even high blood pressure – all symptoms of being highly stressed.
If you ever needed more of an excuse to eat chocolate, there you have it!
So get yourself a couple of bars today and let me know what you this of this tasty vegan treat.

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