Today is not so much a recipe as a little holiday catch up.

Food is a huge part of my life and from day to day I am pretty much always in control of things, cooking up my meals from scratch since I don’t eat out all that often and when I do I have a pretty good idea of what’s on the menu and if not, it’s easy to make requests from the waiter. However in a foreign country when the native language is not your own and the food culture is unfamiliar things can be a little different!

When it comes to making a judgement call on a plant based diet I typically ask myself the question ‘would there be any reason for the dish to have been made with animal products?’ I appreciate that for those with allergies and for those who are strict ethical vegans that this may not be a strict enough response, but for me I am comfortable that I follow a 99% plant based diet, and at times if there are minor slip ups or an accidental selection of an item containing an animal product, I am not going to beat myself up about. This is purely my way.

I went on holiday to Turunc in Turkey and to a large extent eating was pretty easy since we were in an all-inclusive hotel and so I had free reign to ‘go crazy’ with the large buffet selection (mainly amongst the cold salad cart!)  One thing I did miss was the ‘milk’ since I have a tendency to drown my breakfast bowl of oats in soy milk each morning. However fruit juice- either from the fruit itself as I spooned it over the oats or on tap was a pretty good replacement.

Herbal teas also satisfied me nicely. The roll to the side I’m not convinced was vegan since it was a sweet roll and had a glaze which I hadn’t initially noticed. However its times like these I use the experience as an experiment so that I can appreciate the taste to be able to as closely as possible replicate the same thing (as a healthy vegan alternative) when home…this was a great example of that.

The roll was more like a cross between a hot cross bun and a rock cake in texture  with sultanas inside and raisins on the top.  I really want to make a gluten free vegan version of this very soon!

The one other thing I really, really want to replicate is Turkish baklava (although I’m not yet sure how I was healthanize it). Baklava is typically made with honey and butter, but I have found several vegan recipes on the internet and I’m sure I could use coconut butter and agave or maple syrup as replacements. Filo pastry is typically vegan anyway (although healthy!)…but to make this gluten free would be a double challenge. I’m so onto it!

Sometimes the simplest of things are also the nicest way to end a meal (or begin one).

Back with a new oaty recipe for you tomorrow!