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Fresh, greens and full of veggies this pasta salad is a firm favourite on the lunch rotation right now. We used our Thai inspired pesto but you can use whatever one is your favourite. Why not mix it up each time with red, green or even chilli. Yum! 

Ingredients -
200g penne pasta
1 can of peas
100g green beans
1 small broccoli
100g pesto
1 lemon
Mayonnaise to taste
Salt and pepper

Method -
1. Start by cooking your pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until tender.
2. Cut the broccoli florets into small pieces, cut the beans into 2cm chunks and add that into the boiling pasta for the last 2-3 minutes so that it’s cooked and tender but not too soggy.
3. While the pasta, broccoli and beans cook grab a big bowl and start prepping your other veggies and the dressing. Drain the peas and add them to thew bowl, zest the lemon and add in the juice of half of it. Season with plenty of black pepper (leave the salt until last) and add in your pesto.
4. Drain the pasta, broccoli and beans and run them under a cold tap until completely cool. Add them to the bowl with your peas and pesto mix. Stir well to combine and taste. Does it need salt? Want some mayonnaise
in there? Now is the time to add it to your preference.

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We're all about the picnic weather right now and love an all in one dish to take to the party. This spicy tuna pasta salad hits the spot with added kimchi for crunch. Yum! 

Ingredients -
200g dried penne
6 broccoli florets
1 red pepper
8 cherry tomatoes
2 spring onions
1 can of thai chilli Tuno
¼ cup kimchi
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method -
1. Start by cooking your pasta and broccoli. Bring a pot of water to the boil and add in your pasta and broccoli. Cook the broccoli for just a couple of minutes until tender and then run it under a cold tap to stop it cooking. Continue to cook the pasta until tender. Drain, run under a cold tap until cool to touch.
2. While the pasta and broccoli cook, grab a big bowl to put everything else in. Cube the red pepper, halve the tomatoes, cut the spring onions into 1cm chunks and give the kimchi a rough chop. Add them all to the bowl along with the Tuno, sesame oil, sesame seeds and soy sauce.
3. To finish give the broccoli a rough chop just to make it a similar size to the other veggies. Add it to the bowl along with the pasta and toss well to get everything mixed together. Enjoy!

Have you given this recipe a go? Let us know! Share a pic on our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and don't forget to tag us.  

Looking for a soy free version of tofu? Meet chickpea tofu! Made from chickpea flour this base recipe is a gateway to oh so many flavours. When putting together your dry mix why not add some curry powder for an Indian dish, some five spice for a stir fry or some herbs for sliceable sandwich filler. 

Ingredients -
120 g chickpea flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric optional
440 ml water

Method -
1. In a bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients before adding the water. Add the water gradually whisking until there are no lumps.
2. Pour the batter into a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir continuously as things will happen quickly in the end. The mixture will start to get lumpy as the pan heats up and then it will thicken quickly at around 4 to 5 mins.
3. Keep cooking for another 2 minutes so the chickpea flour gets cooked through.
4. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan or pyrex dish and smooth it out on top. Leave it to cool completely.
5. Once set the block should remove from the pan easily. Slice into cubes or your desired shape and store in an airtight container in the fridge ready for your favourite recipe.

Here we’ve served it cold topped with a chilli oil dressing but it also fry’s really well! Want the recipe for the dressing? Let us know!

Have you given this recipe a go? Let us know! Share a pic on our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and don't forget to tag us.  

Last year as lock down was easing we had a little picnic in the meadows to celebrate 2 years of Easter Greens being open and Fraser brought this simple but incredibly delicious Tuno salad. Since then it's been a firm favourite for packed lunches and picnics. As the weather is just so lovely right now it's time to share the recipe with everyone! 

Ingredients -

1 can of Tuno in mayonnaise
200g penne pasta
1 can of sweetcorn
½ red pepper
½ green pepper
½ small red onion
½ cucumber
1 small carrot
6 cherry tomatoes
1 lemon
Extra mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Method -
1. Start by cooking your pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until tender.
2. While the pasta is cooking it’s time to prep all the veggies. Grab a big bowl to put everything in with plenty of space for mixing the pasta in at the end. Dice the peppers, carrot and red onion. Scoop the seeds out of the cucumber and dice to the same size, quarter the tomatoes and finally drain the sweetcorn. Add it all to the bowl along with the can of Tuno.
3. Season everything well with the juice of half a lemon and lots of salt and fresh black pepper.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and run it under cold water until completely cooled. Add to the bowl with the veggies and toss well. Add in extra mayo to taste - personally I like a lot!

Feel free to experiment with veggies as the seasons change, why not add chopped green beans, asparagus, kohlrabi or courgette! 

Have you given this recipe a go? Let us know! Share a pic on our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and don't forget to tag us.  

Soft, nutty and with tasty chunks of chocolate, what's not to love! This dough also keeps in the fridge if you don;t want to cook them all at once and also... it works in the air frier! Just take a ball of dough, pop it on some parchment paper and air fry for 10 minutes. So good! 

Ingredients -
110g Naturli spread
200g white sugar
250g Meridian Almond Butter
90g chocolate bar
1tsp vanilla paste
190g plain flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder

Method -
1. Preheat your oven to 190c
2. Start with the butter and sugar, in a mixing bowl. Cream them together until the sugar has dissolved and it’s no longer gritty.
3. Add in the almond butter and vanilla then whip again until everything is mixed together well.
4. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powders and a pinch of salt.
5. Add the flour mix to the butter mix bit by bit until you have a smooth dough with no dry pockets of flour. If it’s a little dry add a tablespoon of your favourite plant milk at a time until it’s nice and smooth.
6. Break up your chocolate bar into chunks. They don’t have to be uniform, it’s nice to have different sizes dotted through your cookies.
7. Divide the dough into 15 balls and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Allow to cool completely before removing from the tray and enjoying.

Have you given this recipe a go? Let us know! Share a pic on our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and don't forget to tag us.  

Have you seen the tamarind paste on the shelves and wondered what can I do with that? It's perfect for adding a bit of a tang to dishes and this is one of our favourite ways to use it with creamy coconut and nutty tempeh. Yum!  

Ingredients -
200g Better Nature Tempeh (both plain and smoked work really well)
1tsp Thai Taste Tamarind Paste
2tbsp Thai Taste Sriracha
1tbsp ginger garlic mix
2tbsp Soy Sauce
100ml Suma Coconut Milk
½ Bunch Coriander
1 Small Red Onion
1tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method
1. In a frying pan heat the vegetable oil over a medium heat until shimmering and hot. Finely slice the red onion and fry until golden and starting to crisp.
2. While that cooks make the ginger garlic mix by crushing equal amounts of garlic and ginger, pop aside.
3. Crumble to tempeh into the pan and continue frying until the tempeh is golden. Then add your ginger garlic mix and fry until fragrant.
4. Dilute the 1tsp of tamarind paste in 100ml of water and add it to the pan, deglazing anything that has got stuck then add in your soy sauce and coconut milk. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the sauce has thickened and the tempeh is tender.
5. Finely chop your coriander (stalks and all) and and stir through the sauce.

Serve with noodles, rice, veggies or whatever you fancy! Here we've got Clearspring udon noodles and some steamed broccoli and green beans.

Have you given this recipe a go? Let us know! Share a pic on our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and don't forget to tag us.  

Where is your mask from? Where is your mask from? It's from Adidas but I think i stole it off my boyfriend.

When did you start at Easter Greens? I started in November, just before the Christmas rush. I actually started two jobs on the exact same day which was very intense.

What do you do at Easter Greens? Stock the shelves, help all our lovely customers, stroke dogs, occasionally quality control the pick n mix (important).

Why did you want to work at Easter Greens? Well, I worked in McDonald's for 5 years and one day I just woke up and I'd had enough, I decided life was too short to be unhappy and I wanted to work somewhere that aligned with my values and where I wasn't just treated like a number (plus the discount is nice).

What do you love about working at Easter Greens? All the new things that Ivy somehow manages to squeeze in the tiny shop haha! And all the customers who tell me how to cook things like jerusalem artichokes and kholrabi which I'd never even seen before I worked here. I'm a bad vegan I know haha!

What is your favourite item that we sell? This might be a weird one but i LOVE mushrooms. So probably the oyster mushrooms because they're just so pretty to look at. Or the little Rhythm 108 bars because they're so addictive.

What do you like to do outside work? I'm pretty much always working between my two jobs but on my rare days off I love cooking, video games and badly dancing the night away. I've recently started running after my friend spontaneously signed us up for a 10k in October so I suppose that too!

What gets you out of bed in the morning? Overnight oats with a TON of peanut butter (crunchy obvs). I love to sleep but I am also definitely happier in the morning so I'm always torn whether to sleep in or get up.

What are your ambitions in life? Just be happy I suppose? I spent a looooong time being deeply unhappy trying to please other people and I'm just excited to see what I'm capable of! Wow, that was deep, I'd also like to own lots of dogs and get tattooed!

Once lockdown/COVID is over, what's the first thing you want to do? Squeeze my many nieces and nephews, explore more of Scotland and see the beautiful mountains in Canada.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. My first word was 'broccoli', loving veggies from the start baby!

Who doesn't love the fresh flavour of a home made pesto? So let's do something a little bit different - Thai style pesto! 

Ingredients 
1 bunch of coriander
1 bunch of mint 
1 bunch of basil
1 inch of fresh ginger 
2 garlic cloves 
1 medium red chilli
Juice of 1 lime 
25g of salted peanuts
Olive oil as required 

Method
1. Peel the skin off your garlic and scrape the skin off the ginger using a spoon. Chop both into smaller pieces to be kind to your food processor. 

2. In said food processor add all the ingredients (give the herbs and chilli a rough chop too) and start to blend. If it's a little dry and won't blend smoothly drizzle in a little olive oil. Don't leave it running too long as you don't want your herbs to get hot but blend it enough to give you a smooth luscious green paste.  

Now it's ready to go and all you need to decide is what to put it on. We love it over roasted veggies and tofu. Yum! 

Many moons ago when we could all travel a bit more freely, Ivy (who you'll normally find in our Easter Road store) took a trip to Nepal and came across this simple but oh so delicious salad - sadheko! It comes in a few forms (seitan, peanut etc) but this recipe is using a shop staple - tofu!

Ingredients -

1 Block of Clearspring smoked tofu
1/2 Red pepper
1/2 Green pepper
1/2 Small red onion
2 Plum tomatoes 
1/2 Cucumber 
1/2 Bunch of coriander
1/2 Bunch of mint
2 tbsp Amaizin Jalapeno Peppers, drained
1 Lime
2tbsp Soy sauce

Method -
1. There is no cooking required here so just grab yourself a big bowl to put everything in, a good knife and a chopping board. 

2. Start by prepping all the vegetables. Wash and de-seed the peppers, peel the onion, cut the cucumber in half and scoop out the water middle, wash the tomatoes and cut them all into a small 1cm dice*. Throw the whole lot in your bowl 

3. Now for the tofu, open the package and let the water drain away. Give it a quick squeeze to get everything out. Unlike the veggies I like to make the tofu chunky, aim for 12 squares from the block. 

4. Next drain your chillies, wash your herbs and finely mince them so you get a little bit on all your ingredients. Add to your bowl of veggies.   

5. Last of all let get a dressing made, add into the bowl the juice of a whole lime and 2 tbsp of soy sauce. Toss and mix everything then leave it to marinate for a couple of hours before serving. 

Delicious on its own but personally I love it straight out the fridge with a side of fresh hot basmati rice. Yum!

*This is just how I like it so you get a bit of everything on the fork but feel free to go more chunky on the dice! 

Where is your mask from? A lady in the village near my parents made it. She made sure some of the proceeds went to charity which is rather lovely!

When did you start at Easter Greens? Erm, January?! I've honestly forgotten the start date but think it was late January!

What do you do at Easter Greens? I am a part time shop assistant so all sorts of jobs around the shop including serving and helping customers, stocking shelves, sorting deliveries and invoices. I also take on little projects like creating spreadsheets to keep track of dates on products!

Why did you want to work at Easter Greens? I'm vegan and thought it would be lovely to work in a shop with people who have the same ethics as me.

What do you love about working at Easter Greens? My colleagues are lovely for starters! I'm also a massive foodie so I enjoy helping customers with choosing ingredients and having chats about recipes and recommendations!

What is your favourite item that we sell? I know everyone says this but it's so difficult to choose! I guess tofu is one of my favourite ingredients; it's so versatile you can make so many things from it and marinate it with so many things. Also there are lots of flavoured ones if you want to skip the step of marinating it yourself. 

What do you like to do outside work? Cooking and feeding people! I also enjoy reading and keep up to date with current news and affairs. Finally with things properly opening up I'm hoping to have a holiday scuba diving again soon!! 

What gets you out of bed in the morning? Going on from my previous answer I like to start the day reading or listening to the news. I guess that makes me sound a little dull but I like being well informed! 

What are your ambitions in life? Oh gosh... It maybe sounds a bit lofty but I want to make a difference in the world; in some way make a meaningful contribution to stopping the Climate and Ecological Emergencies... I would also love to go skydiving one day if that's more cheerful! 

Once lockdown/COVID is over, what's the first thing you want to do? Travel! Travel travel travel! I love exploring the world, meeting new people, discovering new things and experiencing new cultures: with a heavy bias towards the food of course! There are so many places I want to see it's more of a database than a bucket list! 

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. Ooh can I tell you two? Greedy I know! But the first is I've played the violin since I was five years old. The second is I've logged over 120 scuba dives! :D

Fried rice is a favourite for a few of us here at Easter Greens. It's quick, easy, versatile and cheap but also filling and delicious. Here THIS™ isn’t and  Aye Pickled have done all the hard work for us with their meaty bacon for that extra bite and ready to go kimchi which just needs to be added straight from the jar. In a rush? Just add rice, cook and go! 

Ingredients -
300g cooked and cooled rice
(we used last night’s leftover brown rice)
150g Aye Pickled Kimchi
1 clove of garlic, minced
½ inch ginger, minced
¼ white onion
2 tbsp neutral oil
2 spring onions
Sesame oil (optional)

Method -
1. Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add in your neutral oil. While it heats, thinly slice the white onion and cube the bacon.
2. Start by frying the onion until it’s soft and translucent then add in the bacon and thirdly the kimchi (juice and all!). Cook for 3-5 minutes allowing the kimchi juices to caramalise. Next add in your garlic and ginger and cook for another minute or two so that it gets nice and fragrant.
3. Finally add your rice, it’s best to use cooked and cooled rice as it separates to give you nice and fluffy fried rice but you can also use fresh cooked rice, just be a bit
more gentle when stirring. Stir fry the rice and kimchi mix until the rice is evenly coated with your delicious spicy sauce, its starting to crisp on the bottom and its piping hot.
4. Serve with thinly sliced spring onion on top and a drizzle of sesame oil to finish if you fancy. Enjoy!

Where is your mask from? A box of 10 of them arrived at my door one morning, no explanation… very mysterious! If it was you who sent them thank you so much, they’re very comfortable!

When did you start at Easter Greens? 02/11/2021 at around midday… great times.

What do you do at Easter Greens? I am quite tall, so I enjoy reaching for the boxes of crisps and kitchen roll on the top shelf of the stockroom.

Why did you want to work at Easter Greens? I really wanted to work for an ethical local organisation, and Easter Green’s values align with my own. After doing loads of different jobs during lockdown, it’s nice to have something a bit more chilled that’s fulfilling as well! I’m at university at the mo, so it’s a perfect part time job!

What do you love about working at Easter Greens? All the vegan stuff! I have been vegan for 9 years, so it’s quite intoxicating to look around and think that everything in the shop is plant-based! All the customers are very friendly too, and it’s great to chat with them about food. 

What is your favourite item that we sell? The big chunky Vego bar baby! 150g of choccy, nutty gold!

What do you like to do outside work?  I like music, loving being able to go to live shows again. I’m booked to see so many bands that have been postponed again and again… until now! I also like running, a nice chilly few miles up the Braid Hills or Pentlands for me is stunning! Aside from that I live in the telly: Drag Race, Succession, We Are Lady Parts, Call the Midwife - I am always watching something!

What gets you out of bed in the morning? Often my eyes spring open full of vitality vigour at the first rays of dawn, I just can’t stay snoozing! I also have ‘Lonely’ by CMAT as my alarm. 

What are your ambitions in life? Time 2 get serious folks…

No to be honest at the moment I don’t really have a grand plan in mind, just try to stay as happy as I can and be kind to the people I care about. 

Once COVID is over what's the first thing you want to do? Hopefully we’re in the tail end of the coronavirus lockdowns, just need to take on the real disease now… Tories!

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. Mmm I’m not really sure to be honest, I think I like to try and stay pretty unremarkable. If you do spot anything noteworthy, let me know and I’ll do my best to tackle it.