November 21, 2014, by International students

Chloe’s Autumn in Nottingham – pancakes, pumpkins and pampering

As the weather starts getting bone-chilling, the night arrives sooner than later, I realize October has passed secretly and it’s already mid November! (which also means Christmas is coming soon!) Reviewing the previous month, it’s fulfilling and blissful as I have done quite a lot of things. Most of all, I have been trying to eliminate milk from my daily consumption and find myself digging online vegan recipes and get quite excited. To my surprise, I found my flatmates are quitting milk too, just two weeks before I did.

I’m going to share a couple of my new favourite recipes:

Banana Oatmeal Pancake

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas
• 2 eggs (I used 2 tablespoons mashed pumpkin and 1/2 avocado to replace eggs.)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Honey/ maple syrup (optional)
• Cinnamon powder (optional)
• Personal choice of fresh fruit, to serve

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients with a blender (or you can whisk). Add few drops of olive oil, heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and fry spoonfuls of the batter until golden brown on each side. Serve with drizzle of honey/ syrup and fruits.

Home-baked Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoon cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 cup fat free plain Greek yoghurt (this time I used 1 mashed banana & 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to replace yoghurt)
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin
• 1 egg (this time I used mashed avocado to substitute egg as the cookies already contain mashed pumpkin)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Icing ( what I have done was an epic fail as I didn’t have confectioners’ sugar and maybe the pumpkin is a bit too watery. So I guess it’s necessary if you want a good looking icing)

• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 tablespoon milk (soya/ coconut/ almond milk can be used as alternatives)
• 1 tablespoon melted light butter ( can try mashed pumpkin/ avocado with feew drops of olive oil)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F, which is 180°C. Combine the first 7 ingredients and set aside. In another bowl, combine yoghurt and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract and mix till smooth and creamy. Mix 2 bowls of ingredients into one, drop batter on foil into round shapes, with the help of a tablespoon. Flatten slightly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool cookies and drizzle icing with a fork. For the icing, just mix everything together. Done!

Aubrey’s Traditional Creperie, 14-16 West End Arcade, Long Row, Nottingham NG1 6JP

The other day I went to a café with my flatmates. The café offers both savory and sweet crepes. I ordered lemon and apple tea and a rasberry jam and vanilla crepe. The crepe’s very nice and soft with the aroma of creamy vanilla. Most of all, it’s vegan! I like the delicate vintage style of the petite café as well. The waitresses were friendly and food was served within reasonable range of time. It would be warm and cozy sitting indoor but this time we tried outdoor, still nice but a bit chilly though. There were juices, jams, and tea to be sold too, in case you would like to make your own crepe/ tea at home.

Lush, 17a Clumber Street, Nottingham NG1 3ED (near Victoria Centre)

Seriously, I’m not a shopaholic. However, I have to confess that I’m a big fan of LUSH. As I believe when we eat, we eat fresh. So it should be the same for the products we use on our skins. All the products of this company are freshly handmade and vegetarian, around 80% are vegan as well.

Fantastic products to pamper yourself after a long work day!

I like the idea of black pot recycling. You can exchange for 1 free fresh mask when you bring back 5 clean black pots (any sizes and no time constraint)!

Chloe Leung, international student from Hong Kong studying BA Management Studies at The University of Nottingham.

This post is also available in: Chinese (Traditional)

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