You know that feeling when you try a new recipe and the kids stare at it like it’s an alien life form? Yeah. That used to be dinner at my house.

Hi, I’m Rachel Dawn — a 34-year-old mum of two little tornadoes (5 and 7), part-time referee, full-time food lover, and the slightly frazzled human behind Sensational Vegan Recipes.

I didn’t grow up vegan. In fact, I was pretty sceptical of the whole thing for a long time. But somewhere between my daughter’s dairy allergy, the climate anxiety, and my own sluggish energy, I knew something had to give. So, I gave plants a shot.

What I didn’t expect? How awful some of the vegan food was. Dry veggie burgers. Sauces that tasted like dishwater. Cakes that somehow managed to be both wet and dusty? Not it.

So I started cooking.

Not fancy, Pinterest-perfect cooking. I mean real, scrappy, try-it-and-see cooking. Late-night attempts with kids asleep, “oops I forgot the garlic” kind of cooking. I wanted food that didn’t just check a vegan box, but made my family go “Mmm” — not “Do I have to eat this?”

And over time… it worked. Slowly, stubbornly, deliciously — it worked.

That’s what this blog is. A collection of recipes born out of frustration, curiosity, and a bit of chaos. Recipes that are:

Kid-approved. Not always quietly, but they come back for seconds.

Familiar-but-surprising. Think mac and cheese, Sunday pancakes, tacos — all plant-based, all actually tasty.

Zero fluff. No sea moss tonics or powdered moon dust. Just good food.

This isn’t a space for perfection. It’s for real people who want to eat better, feel better, and maybe prove to a meat-eating friend that vegan food can slap.

You don’t need to be a “vegan.” You don’t need to be anything, really — except hungry and willing to try.

So welcome. Browse, cook, taste, laugh at the failures (I still burn things), and let’s make vegan food something people crave — not just tolerate.

Rachel x
(Usually in an apron, always with oat milk in the fridge.)