Make your lovely cakes for a friend’s Birthday party then take them round to your friend’s house in a pretty box. Don’t tell them it’s a box of cakes and watch them shake the box with excitement – there you have it! Deconstructed Piña Colada Cakes worthy of… well eating maybe?

I have to confess, this is a rehash of an old blog inspired by the pretentious use of the word ‘deconstructed’ . Gah!

Chop and fry an onion then chop and lightly steam half a bag of spinach with a generous pinch of freshly ground nutmeg and pepper and set aside. Mix the onion, spinach and cheese (I added a little crumbled plain tofu as I didn’t have much cheese). Stuff your cannelloni tubes (I do this with a small spoon and my fingers – a messy job but fun!) and put them in the sauce in a baking dish; the tops of the tubes should remain exposed… Make a white sauce and pour over the tubes. Bake at 180° for 20-30 mins until the sauce is browning. Serve with a leafy green salad. It was pretty good and I would use this again!

• ⅔ packet of vegan digestive biscuits (Hobnobs)
• 1 large tbsp vegan margarine (Pure spread)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (Ndali vanilla extract)
• 2 tubs of Toffutti vegan cream cheese
• 60g sugar
• 1 lemon, finely grate the zest from the lemon
• 1 bar of vegan white chocolate (Vantastic white chocolate with strawberries)
• 2 large tbsp lemon vurd
• Splosh Limoncello

Crush the biscuits up in bowl using the end of a rolling pin while the margarine melts in a small pan over a low heat. Add the melted marg to the biscuit crumbs along with the vanilla extract and mix well. Grease a medium-sized flan dish and spoon in the biscuit mix; press it down firmly using a spatula. Place a medium-sized pan on the heat with an inch or two of water in it and put a glass bowl in it. Break up the white chocolate and drop it into the bowl. While the chocolate is gently melting, place the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a bowl and mix well. Take the melted chocolate off the heat and spoon into the cream cheese mixing each spoonful in as you go. Pour the creamy mix onto the biscuit base and bake at 180° for 45 mins until golden brown on top. When you take it out of the oven it will look a bit runny still – don’t worry, leave it to cool and it will firm up beautifully! Place the sliced strawberries and white chocolate buttons around the edge of the cake. Mix the lemon vurd with limoncello and spread over the top of the cake then chill. Enjoy with friends!

1)      Scrambled Tofu. Crumble plain tofu into a small frying pan and cook on a low heat with herbs, finely chopped onion, turmeric and black salt. Serve on hot wholemeal toast with grilled tomatoes.

2)      Pancakes. Vegan pancakes are a doddle with this easy recipe (follow the links to the soya guide and go to page 38. Serve with fresh fruit and syrup.

3)      Fried Tempeh Sandwiches. Thinly slice your tempeh (or buy pre-sliced) and fry in a little olive oil until beginning to brown. Use freshly bakes white bread and ketchup for a naughty vegan bacon-style sarnie!

4)      Mushroom on Toast. Slice your mushrooms and toss them into a pan with some finely crushed garlic and a little olive oil. Heat thoroughly and serve with warm wholemeal toast.

5)      Bubble & Squeak. I like making this fresh even though bubble and squeak should really be made from leftovers. Steam some cabbage and mix well into freshly mashed potatoes – season well. Shape into little patties and fry until browned. Serve with chipotle baked beans and sausages if you are very hungry.

6)      Frankies. Frankfurters are great for a quick tasty breakfast. Heat as directed and serve either in a sandwich or with sauté potatoes and beans.

7)      Plantain. Fried plantain is hard to beat! Choose dark fruits that look like they are going to be black inside – they won’t be! Slice and fry in olive oil then sprinkle fresh lime juice on and tuck in.

8)      Tommy beans. If you can’t do much more than open a can, this is the best option for you! Combine half a can of beans with half a can of chopped tomatoes, add a pinch of smoked paprika and heat through. Serve on your favourite bread toasted.

9)      Fruit and yoghurt. Just as it says…

10)   Breakfast of Kings. All of the above! Sausages, tempeh, sautéd potatoes or potato cakes, beans (with spices or not), grilled mushrooms, grilled cherry tomatoes, toast… you know it makes sense!

That’s it! No nasty nitrosamines, no animal fat, no animal hormones, no excuses! Get cooking vegan-style breakfast now! Don’t even wait until the morning…

I fried some smoked tofu and we had them with blueberries, raspberries and strawberries with agave syrup and smoked chilli jelly – which it turns out goes very well with fresh strawberries – so there!

I remember going into school that day back in ’79 when she won her first election. A girl in my class who had Tory parents stuck her smug face in mine and said “We won”, and so it began… It became a time of battles; the Battle of Orgreave, the Battle of the Beanfield… Thatcher faced off the Irish republican hunger strikers in the early 80’s and set back the peace process decades. “You can’t trust the Irish, they’re all liars” she said to Mandy in 1999.

She took the country into war in the Falklands in a shameless display of electioneering. She allowed the US to put cruise missiles at RAF Greenham Common. She kept dubious company, friends with P.W. Botha (prime minister of South Africa and supporter of apartheid) and of course let’s not forget her sharing tea on more than one occasion with arms dealer and human rights violator General Augusto Pinochet.

She persecuted single parents, miners, travellers, the unemployed and the disabled. She demonised gay people with Section 28 – the first new anti-gay law in 100 years – repealed in 2003 and apologised for in 2009. She sold off the family silver including state utilities and Council houses. Then there was the Poll Tax which led to riots and widespread direct action. I was part of an anti-poll tax union in Bristol; we would advise people how to legally avoid paying this unfair tax that took no account of income or property value. I went to court on several occasions and what I witnessed there I will never forget – an old frail man who had been too ill to work and was just too poor to pay, asking for help, and being refused. Heartless. That finally sealed her fate in my opinion.

My overriding memories of Thatcher’s era are that characteristics previously frowned on (greed and selfishness), became admirable. Owning property and material possessions became the single goal in life to which we should all aspire. If you had money, you had made it! You were measured by what you had rather than by who you were. People my age will remember Harry Enfield’s character ‘Loads of Money’, well we all met a few of them too! We are still suffering the legacy of this – just look at the nasty little shits you get on TV show the Apprentice.

The fact that she was a woman and Britain’s first and only female leader makes no difference to me, in fact, she betrayed her female colleagues by ensuring that she was the only woman at the party. She betrayed all those misguided women who voted for her out of some notion of sisterhood.

However, I can say she did make her position quite clear. In some respects she had more bollocks than the weedy two-faced crew we have running the current government. It’s difficult to know what they really think about anything. With Thatcher, her feelings were clear; and I hope Thatcherism gets buried along with her. Ding-Dong the witch is dead!

Back to food soon…

• ½ block plain tofu, sliced into thick slices
• Splash of toasted sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 inch root ginger, finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 1 inch red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 large handful of purple sprouting broccoli, cut to similar sized pieces
• ½ red pepper, sliced
• ½ yellow pepper, sliced
• 1 handful green beans, trimmed and cut into similar sized lengths
• Small handful cashew nuts

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and fry the tofu at a high heat so that it browns, then add the garlic, ginger, soya sauce and chilli and reduce heat. Cook for a further 10 mins or so until the tofu is well-cooked then put in a warm oven to keep hot. Add a drop more sesame oil and stir-fry the vegetables and cashew nuts. You can add bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, mange tout, baby corn or anything else you fancy. Serve the crispy hot veg with the tofu and some jasmine rice. Nice!

Anway, when I got home I made a mixed beet salad (I love the earthy smell of beetroot cooking) with a pomegranate dressing – gurt lush as they say down here in the West Country!

If you want to join in the Happy Vegan box swap go to the website here.