Tuesday, February 28

Monday 27 February 2012

Day 5 of vegan challenge.

Breakfast
Tip Top Fruit Toast with Nuttelex and a glass of breakfast juice.

Lunch
Pasta with homemade sauce which was made with a tin of tomatoes, a carrot, an onion, a garlic clove, teaspoon of powdered Massel chicken stock, water, tomato sauce, red wine, salt and pepper.

Dinner
Baked potato with Nuttelex, red capsicum, tinned corn, tinned pineapple, and Masterfoods Bacon Flavoured Chips.

Snacks
A LOT of choc chip biscuits that me and Jeff made.
 We used a Coles packet mix that we had in the pantry and left out the packet of chocolate pieces that came with it. I would never buy this product as a vegan because the money supports a product that contains milk but as it was already in the house I decided it was ok as long as we left the chocolate out. We replaced it with Sweet William vegan chocolate chips and used egg replacer and soy milk. They were great and we ate them all in one day.

Sanitarium So Good Chocolate Ice-cream with Sweet William chocolate chips and Cottees chocolate topping. Mmm... chocalicious.

Monday, February 27

Sunday 26 February 2012

Day 4 of vegan challenge.

Breakfast
Tip Top Fruit Toast with Nuttelex and a Glass of Sanitarium So Good Chocolate Milk.

Lunch
Had a little get together with some friends and family. I served Original Doritos with Mild Doritos Salsa, zucchini cups with tomato concasse, and smashed cannellini bean and garlic spread on some sliced Vietnamese rolls.

I also made some lemon and ginger iced tea. I used the juice of half a lemon, cut the other half of it into slices and put them into the jug too, put in 2 ginger tea bags, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and filled it up with cold water and some ice cubes. After about an hour all the flavours have blended and you have a nice refreshing drink.

I felt like some comfort food last night so I had a tin of Amy's No Chicken Noodle Soup, which my mum very kindly bought for me. It looks like cat food but tastes like awesome. You'll have to trust me on this, it's the most delicious soup ever!
This is what the tin looks like in case you want to keep an eye out for it. Most health food shops stock them. There's also a lentil soup that I love, but there are heaps of kinds of Amy's soups to choose from!

Snacks
I made some delicious peanut butter fudge for some more comfort food. I hope my heart attack is as enjoyable as eating this was.

My favourite cookbooks

I love cookbooks. I have so many that I've had to stop buying them because I can't fit any more!

Ok, so maybe I still buy them and then just cry when I get them home and can't find a place for them. Mostly I don't even use them, I just have a few reliable favourites and a folder full of recipes gathered from friends, family, cookbooks I don't own, the Internet, magazines, packets and boxes. This post will be about those old faithful cookbooks that keep me going back time and time again.

My absolute favourite cookbook is an English one called The Student Vegetarian Cookbook by Beverly LeBlanc. Being English, there are a few ingredients with different names to what they are called in Australia but mostly it's very easy to use here.
I just can't sing the praises of this cookbook enough. It is the heart and soul of my kitchen, with its food stains and tattered pages. Every recipe is easy, cheap, nutritious, delicious, and mostly quick to make. It's aimed at uni students so I really can't stress the quick, easy, and cheap aspects enough. It also has a whole page called 'There's More to a Can of Baked Beans Than Just Toast' which is a favourite of mine, followed by another page called 'Can Cuisine'. It's little additional things like this that mean that you can read the whole book a million times and still discover new recipes or variations you've never noticed before. As well as sections such as 'Cooking When U R Broke', 'Party Time', and 'All-Day Breakfasts and Comforting Drinks' (which are always nice), the book also contains a whole discussion on vegetarianism, smart shopping, eating a balanced diet, and what to stock a pantry with (for the real newies out of home). In addition, the author uses symbols by the recipe title to indicate things such as Vegan, Quick, or Hangover Buster, very handy.

My next favourite cookbook would have to be the Family Circle Best of Kids' Cooking (1995) which I got when I was about 6. This classic Australian cookbook is an oldie but a goodie.
While a lot of these recipes contain meat, many can be made vegetarian or vegan, such as (strangely enough), the Sausage and Bean Bake, which is a favourite of ours. This cookbook is home to the best Potato Bake recipe ever, the most awesome Corn Fritters, a delicious Fried Rice, and my famous Savoury Rice, which everybody loves.

Then there's Sweet Treats from Frankie Magazine, based in Australia.
This cookbook is full of whimsy and old-fashioned treats such as Sticky Apples, Peanut Brittle, Candy Hearts, Sherbet, Lollipops, Musk Sticks, and Truffles. I've made the Fruit Jelly Chews, Caramel Popcorn Balls, Sweet Honeycomb, and Old-school Boiled Lollies. You have to watch out though as some recipes use gelatin, which is not vegetarian! The photos are all very nice and cosy which makes me look at this book a lot and sigh and smile.

A new cookbook I have is The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. This cookbook is American so many of the ingredients have different names in Australia or are difficult to get, especially brand names. However, just because you can't get the brand suggested in the recipe doesn't mean you can't make it!
I have to admit, I haven't actually cooked anything out of it yet but that's not because of lack of desire, I just haven't got around to it yet and since I've had the book it's been too hot to bake. As well as a lifetime's worth of baking goodness of all sorts, this book has a section called 'The Whys and Wherefores of Choosing Vegan', and a useful and informative chapter on 'The How-to's and What-Nots of Vegan Baking'. I like to imagine Colleen Patrick-Goudreau as the homey, hardworking, resourceful, creative, hippie grandmother I never had. No offense to my actual grandmother, you're very nice too.

Another newie, Party Vegan by Robin Robertson (I hope that's not the name their parents gave them), is a great resource to have, especially when searching for finger food ideas. Again, this book is American and so many of the ingredients have different names and measurements are in ounces, inches, and degrees Fahrenheit. A conversion chart (ie the Internet) will help you here.
This cookbook says it is "dedicated to party animals everywhere who don't serve animals at their parties", which I rather like. For the party-planner, this book will be your best friend. It organises things into categories, uses symbols telling you if something can be made ahead of time, offers ideas for themes, and gives you a party countdown schedule. It reminds me of Monica from Friends even more than I remind myself of Monica from Friends. The recipes are split up into themes or party types such as A Picnic Lunch, Crowd Control, Effortless Potluck, A Child's Birthday, A Teen Party, Be My Valentine Dinner for Two, A Superbowl Party, Mothers' Day Brunch, Fathers' Day Cookout, Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah, and A New Year's Eve A-list. You can also mix and match the recipes to create you own kind of party, and indeed, being the organised book it is, Party Vegan offers some suggested mix and match menus for you.

Another faithful cooking friend of mine is Grandma's Best Recipes by Sandra Baddeley and Valerie Barrett.
This English book is full of simple, classic UK dishes (most of which are not vegetarian but I just like to look at the pictures on a cold wintry day), but also has an exciting and daring section called 'Grandma's Travels', featuring exotic, foreign-inspired foods. I imagine Grandma to be a lovable old English lady with china figurines, little dogs, and a colourful past that you only get glimpses of every now and then. She would always have something cooking when you came over and would sit you by the fire to eat while she told you stories of times past. Not that my actual grandmother is not good, you're very nice too. Grandma's Best Recipes has simple gems like Tomato Soup, Winter Vegetable Cobbler, Macaroni Cheese, Souffled Baked Potatoes, Cauliflower Cheese, Chili Con Carne (which you can always make with lentils), Vegetable Korma, Apple Pie, Rhubarb Crumble, Bread and Butter Pudding, Baked Rice Pudding, Blueberry Pancakes, Lemon Drizzle Cake, Scones, White Bread, and Banana Splits. There's also an entire Christmas section, and I am fanatical about Christmas! Along with Perfect Roast Potatoes, Honeyed Parsnips, Christmas Pudding, and Spiced Christmas Punch, there is a recipe for Mixed Nut Roast with Cranberry and Red Wine Sauce. I have eaten this many times and thought it was delicious until recently when I suddenly felt it was horrible. I'm sure I'll like it again though, I'm like that, and I'm sure that you'll like it.

The newest of the lot is PETA's Vegan College Cookbook, which I only got today. I may not have had it long but this book is already a firm favourite.
Again, being American there are some ingredients that we don't have in Australia, or things that we call a different name, but it's still very user friendly. The book was also written with the intention of not assuming that everyone has a stove so if you don't have a stove, it's broken, or you're just feeling lazy, this is the book for you! All the recipes are cheap, quick, and easy, and most of them are even good for you! I'm only halfway through it, so stay tuned to hear me sing the praises of it when I'm done (I've already sung a few praises here), but I'm sure that it will become the vegan equivalent to The Student Vegetarian Cookbook. It may not have a page of baked bean recipes, but it does have a whole 21 page section on peanut butter.

Happy eating! :)

Sunday, February 26

PETA Vegan College Cookbook

My mum bought me a new cookbook today! It's the PETA Vegan College Cookbook, full of yummy recipes and great food for thought as well. All the recipes either don't require cooking or can be cooked in a microwave (as American college dorms don't usually have stoves!), this means that they are quick and easy. You can of course use a stove if you want to and I think that in some cases it would be tastier if you did (eg shepard's pie). The meals are all cheap, easy and nutritious...well, maybe not all of them are nutritious, for example, Peanut Butter Fudge, which they call Finals Week fudge. It is a very amusing, tongue-in-cheek book, with recipes such as Peace Rally Pea Soup and Half-Assed Chili. It also has a whole 21 page section on peanut butter! Now that's my kind of book! Everyone who is anyone should buy this book, vegan or not.


Happy eating! :)

Stir fry

So I didn't feel like cooking but I'd told Jeff I'd have stir-fry waiting for him when he got home. I decided to make one just for him and thought I'd blog about it because it looked good.

I used Asia at Home Szechuan sauce

And Hakubaku Organic Udon noodles, both of which you can get at either Woolworths or Coles. We just go to whichever supermarket tickles our fancy on the day so I can't say which of the two they came from.

I also used half a red onion, a carrot, green beans, half a red capsicum, and some broccoli. I would have put in some raw unsalted cashews too but Jeff wouldn't be home for a few hours and they'd go soggy. The finished product looked like this:

And then I just popped it in the fridge ready for when he came home. So easy, not to mention a good way to 'eat a rainbow' as the nutritionists say.

Happy eating! :)

Peanut butter fudge recipe

This fudge is delicious, addictive, and very bad for you! Enjoy!

3/4 cup Nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)
1 cup peanut butter (either smooth, crunchy, or both)
1 1/3 cups icing sugar
Little bit of extra nuttelex for greasing

1. Put the nuttelex in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, or until mostly melted.

2. Stir in the peanut butter right away, while the bowl and nuttelex are still warm.

3. Add the icing sugar gradually using a sieve, mixing well.

4. Pour into a greased tin and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Cut into squares or just spoon it out and enjoy.


Happy eating! :)

Recipe for zucchini cups with tomato concasse

This recipe comes from Party Vegan by Robin Robertson.

Makes about 24 cups

4-5 small zucchini, ends trimmed
6-8 ripe roma tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh parsley
Salt and pepper

1. Cut the zucchini into 1 inch pieces with flat bottoms so they stand up. Use a small spoon or melon baller to scoop out some of the center of each piece of zucchini to form little cups. Blanch the zucchini cups in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 1 minute, to soften slightly. Drain, run under cold water to stop the cooking process, and drain again. Arrange the zucchini on paper towels, cup side down, and set aside.

2. Cut an X in the bottom of the tomatoes and immerse them in a saucepan of boiling water to loosen the skin, about 30 seconds. Remove the tomatoes from the water and submerge them in a bowl of ice water. Peel the skin form the tomatoes, then cut them into wedges and remove the seeds.

3. Put the parsley in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the tomato and blend until tomato is finely chopped. Transfer tomato mixture to a bowl and add oil and salt and pepper. Mix well.

4. Place a small spoonful of the tomato mixture into each zucchini cup. Arrange on a platter and serve or covere and refridgerate until needed.


Happy eating! :)

Smashed cannellini bean and garlic spread recipe

This recipe comes to you from the ever-wonderful The Student Vegetarian Cookbook by Beverly LeBlanc.

1 400g can cannellini beans
1/2 a red onion
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of paprika or cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper
Chopped fresh coriander or parsley (I usually skip this though)

1. Drain and rinse the beans, be sure to get rid of any excess water. Put the beans in a bowl and mash using a fork or potato masher. Add oil and mix together well.

2. Peel and finely chop the onion and add to the beans. Crush the garlic and add to the beans.

3. Grate the lemon rind into the beans. Add the cumin, paprika or cayenne pepper to taste to the bowl, and the coriander or parsley. Stir until all the ingredients are blended. Taste the spread and add lemon juice or extra salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve on bread or pita, or use as a dip.


Happy eating! :)

Head Veg and Rice Pilaf Recipe

You know how nutritionists say you should eat a rainbow a day? This is a great way to do that! One of my favourite recipes, Head Veg and Rice Pilaf has no set vegetable ingredients, you just use whatever you have! As the recipe, from my favourite cookbook, The Student Vegetarian Cookbook by Beverly LeBlanc, says: "It gets its name because you have to use your head to decide what ingredients to include". However, be smart, don't use vegies that are getting old and soft. No matter what, fresh is best. Anyway, as I said this is a great meal and makes a lot. You know it's good when your favourite, most used cookbook falls open to the page!


Cookbook says serves 2, I find it serves 3-4 though I always use way more vegies than it says!


About 200g mixed veg
- I don't weigh it, I just use however much I want, again, use your head! Use whatever you have but crisp, firm ones are the best, such as carrots, celery, zucchini, onion, capsicum, spring onions, peas, corn, chickpeas... I often use 4 bean mix. Basically, you're only limited by your imagination.
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 tbsp sunflower or canola oil
200g long grain rice
400ml vegetable or vegan chicken stock, or water
1 1/2 tsp salt
Pepper


1. Peel and chop all the vegetables as required into small pieces. Peel and crush the garlic clove.


2. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, a heavy based one works best. Add the garlic and stir it around for 1 minute. Add the firmest vegetables, such as carrots, celery, and onions, and continue stirring for 2 minutes.


3. Add the remaining vegetables and stir for about 1 minute.


4. Add the rice and stir it for 1-2 minutes until the grains are coated with oil and become translucent. Stir in the stock or water, salt and pepper to taste, and bring to the boil.


5. Stir once, reduce heat to low, cover the pan and leave to cook, without uncovering, for 18 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the surface of the rice is covered with small indentations.


6. Remove the pot from the heat, re-cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and adjust the seasoning if necessary.


Happy eating! :)

Cutest milk ever

Oh my god. Is this the cutest soy milk you've ever seen or what?
Who cares how it tastes or what it costs? It has a panda on it. Look how blissful that panda is. This must be the most heavenly of drinks. You can buy it from Vegan Online.

Happy eating! :)

Saturday 25 February 2012

Day 3 of vegan challenge.

Breakfast
Freedom Foods Pancake Shake. Apparently this is supposed to make 6 pancakes of 10cm in diameter. It made 2. I don't know why, I followed all the instructions and everything. Anyway, I had lemon juice and sugar on mine. After that I had a bowl of Lowan Wholefoods Swiss Musli with Sanitarium So Good Soy Milk.

Dinner
Head Veg and Rice Pilaf which I made with zucchini, red capsicum, brown onion, carrot, celery, a tin of corn, and a tin of four bean mix.

Snacks
Sanitarium So Good Chocolate Ice-cream with Cottees Chocolate Topping.

Friday 24 February 2012

Day 2 of vegan challenge.

Breakfast
Kelloggs Sustain with Sanitarium So Good Soy Milk. Sorry, no photo. Use your imagination.

Lunch
A snack lunch of an apple, dried apricots, a Leda fruit bar, four Arnotts Criskit sandwiches with Vegemite, and what I'm calling a vegie mix. The vegie mix was half an avocado, chopped up cucumber, a tin of corn, and a tin of four bean mix, with a squirt of lemon juice, all mixed up. It was great.

Dinner
Spaghetti with a Leggos Tomato, Garlic, and Red Wine Stir-Through Sauce and a salad of mixed lettuce, grated carrot, and cucumber, with olive oil, lemon, and salt and pepper on top. Also a glass of cabernet merlot. Which turned into half a bottle.

Snacks
Lindt 85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate.

Friday, February 24

Thursday 23 February 2012

This was the first day of the Lent Vegan Challenge and may I say it was a day of mighty good eatin'!

Breakfast
Kelloggs Sustain with Sanitarium So Good Soy milk and a glass of breakfast juice.

Lunch
Homemade cold rolls, an apple, Goulburn Valley peaches in mango puree, and a chocolate Aribar (like LCMs).

Let's get a close up of those cold rolls because they were awesome. So easy to make yet they look so fancy, especially that one on the bottom left which looks very artistic (that's the look I was going for with the others too but, you know...). Inside they had a little bit of flat leaf parsley, 1/6 of an avocado each, grated carrot, cucumber cut into tiny little sticks, and finely chopped lettuce.

Dinner
Dinner at Burp Burrito in the city. I had a vegan burrito and a Bundaberg ginger beer. The burrito had rice, capsicum, 2 kinds of beans, mild salsa, fresh tomato, corn, guacamole, and lettuce. Also a plus, all meals at Burp are customizable and vegetarian and vegan meals are cheaper than ones with meat! Yay for saving money but getting the same amount of food!

Snacks
When I got home it was time for some Sanitarium So Good Soy chocolate ice-cream before bed. Mmmm. I don't think the rest of this will last long!

Thursday, February 23

Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 February 2012

Over the past two days I've been spending some quality time with Jeff instead of blogging. So shoot me. Here are the highlights of the past two days.

Nachos made with baked beans, a tin of chopped tomatoes, mexican chilli powder, cheese, and plain corn chips.

As it was Shrove Tuesday we had some pancakes for dessert. I made them from scratch using a recipe I found on the internet. They were really good!

Went shopping on Wednesday to prepare for the Lent Vegan Challenge. I saw these cold rolls and thought they'd be a good shopping centre meal when I go vegan, as long as they didn't have egg in them. So I tried them and they didn't and they were yummy. I'm going to make my own.

After putting off the Lent Vegan Challenge for one day because Wednesday's dinner was already planned, we didn't even end up having it! Instead we had hamburgers made with Fry's burgers and the only rolls we could find in the supermarket that weren't glazed with milk and egg! Lucky they were nice rolls, and cheap! I had a piece of cheese on mine to say goodbye to the dairy days. From now on I will be vegan until Easter Monday!

Tuesday, February 21

No they do not just eat salad...and tofu.

Doing a google search for "vegan recipes" and everything either has tofu in it or is a salad. Or a salad with tofu. Back to the reason I made this blog in the first place...

Some more thoughts on veganism

Thinking about going vegan, I have obviously been thinking about the way we treat animals and why we treat them this way.

I've been thinking about chickens, eggs, and what this means for my veganism. I don't want to consume eggs anymore because even if the chickens are treated well, are "free-range" and everything, they are still slaughtered, and slaughtered at a young age. This is why I don't want to support the egg industry anymore. It's just not right. However, what if I had my own chickens? Would I eat their eggs? Would I cook using their eggs? That wouldn't be vegan. But I know that those chickens are kept in good conditions and that they will never be slaughtered, even when they grow very old and stop laying altogether.

See, I'm not opposed to the eating of eggs, I know that wild fowl don't lay eggs everyday and that chickens have been selectively bred and manipulated by humans to produce eggs, but that's not the chickens' fault. Should I let my chickens' eggs go to waste because I don't think people have a right to manipulate other animals? It's the treatment of the chickens, but mostly the slaughter, that makes me want to stop eating eggs. But as I said, this would only be an issue with commercially farmed eggs, it would not be an issue of I had my own flock. I wouldn't be able to buy any food with eggs in it though, at restaurants or anything, because those eggs would still come from the egg industry. And no matter how progressive the restaurant or how progressive the company, it is not in an "egg grower's" interest to maintain a flock that is not at its peak production. If I only ate eggs that my chickens produced, could I still call myself a vegan though? Not really. Also, there's still the issue of roosters. Even backyard chicken farming supports the slaughter of roosters. For every hen you have, there was a rooster that the breeder killed. I don't think I'd be able to have any roosters either as most councils have made them illegal here. Even if they weren't illegal, all it takes is one neighbour to complain and you're left looking for a no-kill home for a rooster.

I've also been thinking similar thoughts about honey. I'm not opposed to stealing bees' honey, though I don't believe in taking all of it and then giving them sugar-water, which is what honey producers do. What I am opposed to, is the cruelty towards queen bees. Queen bees, as you probably know, live much longer than their children. They live for years, rather than the months that the workers live for. However, bee-keeping practice is to squash the queen bee every 6 months and replace her with a "virgin queen" - a queen that has been artificially inseminated with sperm collected from a crushed male. The virgin queens have their wings cut off (obviously without anaesthetic) so that they can't swarm, which is the natural mating behaviour for virgin queens and drones. I find these practices appalling and disgusting. Honey production is just like the factory farming of any other animal. I've looked around on the internet, thinking that surely there must be an ethical, cruelty-free, honey producer, only to find none. Bizzarely, I did find a beauty company that uses honey in all of its products and then says that all products contain "no animal ingredients". What about wild honey? I thought desperately, there must be someone going around and harvesting honey from wild bees? Nope, wild honey is honey produced by farmed bees who get to choose what flowers they go to, or ones who are put out in the bush. I've thought about keeping bees myself but the costs involved in buying all the equipment would be extrodinary and I feel that there must be some kind of reason beekeepers keep replaicing the queens, maybe if yuou just have the same queen the hive will die after a few years. Then you'd have to buy a new virgin queen who would have gone through everything previously described. Plus, I don't like honey that much to warrent having my own hive. It's easily replaceable in cooking too. The thing I do love, which I wouldn't be making, is mead. If yuou don't know what mead is it's an alcoholic drink made from honey. It's delicious and we drink heaps of it. I really like it but I know that it supports the honey industry. But I don't want to stop drinking mead.

Then there's the issue of wool. I've always thought that wool was ok because the sheep didn't get killed when they got old. However, as for most "farm" animals, life for these sheep isn't too great, especially not since mulesing is still practiced in this country.

Why isn't life black and white? It would be so much easier. Why can't life be easier?

Vegan lent challenge

So I have been doing a lot of thinking about veganism, how I want to go vegan, and the barriers to me doing that. The main thing holding me back is dairy. I eat a lot of it, it's in most of the main meals we cook, and I don't like vegan alternatives. Also, Jeff not even being vegetarian makes me going vegan difficult. What will we eat? Will we have to make separate meals? I don't want him to miss out on anything.

When I went vegetarian in 2007, I knew it was something I personally would be able to do. The question was, how would it work within my non-vegetarian household? After talking to my family, I decided I would go vegetarian over lent. At the end of lent we would sit down and review how the past 46 days (there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, weirdly) had gone and whether we thought my being vegetarian would be workable. We decided it was all working fine so I stayed vegetarian. However, my mum said once that if I wanted to be vegan I'd have to wait until I left home. I have left home now but that still doesn't make it any easier because now I live with Jeff.

After a night of barely any sleep, worrying all night about dairy cows, chickens, and queen bees, I was racked with guilt. I looked up the dates for lent 2012 to show myself that I'd already missed the boat but... lent starts this Wednesday! Now I'm faced with a whole new set of problems and worries. Do I trial being vegan over lent to show myself that I can do it? What will I do then? Stay vegan? Aim to do lots of research, collect recipes, etc and then do it again next year with the aim of staying vegan? How will this work living with Jeff? What about parties, dinners, etc that are already organised for the lent period? Where will I go out for dinner? What about on holidays and stuff? It's hard enough to find vegetarian food in some places, let alone vegan. What about family members who cook for me? What about Jeff's poor mum who, bless her, tries so hard to cook vegetarian food. She'll die if I say I'm vegan. How, oh how, can I live without dairy? And mead! I love mead! And crunchy nut cornflakes,and milo, and nutella, and porridge! The honey porridge with the bear on it that I've been eating my whole life! I feel very sad but at the same time I know that I can't keep supporting the cruelty I am supporting.

So I'm thinking I'm going to try it and play it by ear. I'll start on Thursday though because dinner for Wednesday is already planned and has cheese in it. I'm worried I don't know enough recipes off the top of my head to stop me from becoming vitamin and mineral deficient. It's far too easy to eat a crappy diet when you first become vegetarian or vegan. I'm also not a big fan of tofu.

Monday, February 20

Sunday 19 February 2012

Breakfast
I experimented and invented a sweet risotto using the pea and lemon risotto recipe as a guide as to how much liquid (milk) to how much rice. I halved the recipe and used 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp caster sugar, and a good sprinkle of ground cinnamon. It was very nice but very filling and sweet. It would be good with stewed fruit in it.

Dinner
A Villis Vegetarian pasty with a salad of celery, carrot, and corn.

Dessert
Bulla Cookies and Cream Ice-cream

Snacks
After writing this post I decided I was going to try the vegan cheese that has been sitting in my fridge for a long time. It didn't make me feel like vomiting but I still can't say it was plesant. The texture wasn't appealing. This was a soy-free one so maybe I should try a soy one? I don't know, eating a lump of processed soy just seems really gross to me. How will I be vegan without a cheese substitute though? It's the dairy that is really holding me back because I've tried and tried vegan alternatives and I find them all disgusting.

Saturday 18 February 2012

Breakfast
No breakfast, just lots of....

Snacks
The rest of my The Yoghurt Shop honeycomb yoghurt.

An orange.

Some Cadbury Chocolate Bubbly

Dinner
Minestrone soup with Helga's Wholegrain Sandwich Thins with Nuttelex (vegan). I have no idea why I can't turn this picture around, I couldn't yesterday either. Oh well, you'll just have to look at things from a different perspective.

Night-time shenanigans
A friend invited me over for a drink at her place with a few other friends. My raw vegan friend Mia, made us a great salad of mushroom, tomato, corn, cucumber, lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. She has a facebook group, Vibrantly Raw Recipes by Mia, if you want to check out some of her yummy and healthy recipes. I had 4 bowls of this salad.

I also had some Smith's Thins Original chips at 2am (vegan).