Creamy Pearl Barley Risotto

Pearl Barley has a wonderful pasta like consistency, whilst being similar in size to rice, making it a good ingredient for risottos. It's high in fibre, lowers cholesterol and is good for our digestion, so go on give this recipe a go!


Creamy Pearl Barley Recipe Risotto
(serves 4)


1 Litre of vegan vegetable stock (£1.25 for 8 cubes from Ocado)
200g Pearl Barley (55p for 500g Ocado)
Cream Sauce:
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard (69p Ocado)
100ml Oatly Cream (75p 250ml Ocado)
8 tsp of Free & Easy Dairy Free Cheese Flavour Sauce Mix (£1.65, 130g, Ocado)
1 tbsp Coconut Oil (Coconut Merchant from Ocado-pricey but lasts a long time)
Half a bag of mixed frozen grilled vegetables (£2.49 750g, Ocado)
1 tbsp dried mixed herbs (70p Ocado)
Salt and Black Pepper seasoning


Bring the 1 litre of stock water to the boil and add the pearl barley. Simmer with a lid for around 40 minutes (you want the majority of the water to be gone and the consistency of the barley to be like rice). 
Whilst the barley is simmering, prepare the cream sauce by adding the Oatly cream to the cheese sauce mix, whisk until smooth and thick, adding a tsp of water at a time till the desired consistency has been reached. Add the dijon mustard and mixed herbs and set aside.
Start frying the frozen grilled vegetables in a pan with the coconut oil once the barley has only 15 minutes left to cook.
Add the cheese sauce to the barley for the final 10 minutes of cooking, stirring well so the barley is coated.
When the barley has finished cooking, add the fried vegetables and seasoning, mix well and serve!

Est Calories per serving: 400Kcal

Unicorn Bark

Yesterday I made Unicorn Bark for the first time...you may have heard of it or seen it on facebook, you know the brightly coloured marble that looks like dried playdough! I was drawn to the idea of making it as it's low in fat, full of vitamins and it actually tastes delicious. I, of course, wanted to share with you my Vegan alternative:


Vegan Unicorn Bark Recipe
(9 servings)

4 Strawberries halved
1 Mango peeled and chopped
1 Banana peeled and sliced
1 tub of Alpro Soya yogurt
3 tbsp Agave Nectar
2 tbsp Coconut Flakes

Heat each portion of fruit in the microwave separately for around 60-90 seconds each.
The idea is that the fruit becomes easy to puree. Add half a cup of soya yogurt to each portion of fruit and continue to puree until smooth. You may find the mango is a bit more tricky, especially if it's not fully ripe yet. If this is the case just pop it in a blender with the yogurt. Add 1tbsp of Agave Nectar to each portion of puree and mix in. 
Once the purees have been made. Line a baking sheet with parchment/greaseproof paper and pour the banana puree into the middle of the tray. Then get the strawberry puree and spread the mixture onto all four corners of the tray. Lastly, fill the gaps on the tray with the mango puree and cut through the mixture with a knife just to slightly blend the colours. Top with the coconut flakes, cover the tray with plastic wrap/cling film and freeze for around 3 hours so that the bark becomes hard enough to break without melting. 

Est. calorie intake per serving: 96 calories