Category: Food & Drink


Oct
2017

Eating a Whole Food Plant Based diet

categories: Food & Drink

Back in September, we decided that we were going to start following a whole food plant based diet. We made this decision, knowing that it’s better for our health, our wallets and the planet. I have not regretted our decision one bit and we are committed to this new lifestyle. I call it a lifestyle because it is not just about what we eat.

Going into this, we knew that we would have to spend more time thinking about what we eat, planning our menus to make sure we had something for every mealtime, including sweet treats, and it has to be easy to make. Before we got going, I knew that we would have to make a few meals in advance. We don’t have much time in the evenings, which has led us to eat cheap, processed, junk foods in the past. I noticed lots of people online would premake or prepare meals in advance. So this is what we do. How sustainable it is long term, I don’t know. But for now, every other Saturday, we’re cooking for most of the day. This is what we make.

Dinners

Chickpea stew

Chickpea stew – My sister’s recipe, and I’m not sure I’ve got it right. Chickpeas, chopped tomatoes, red pepper, onion, spinach & lots of spices to make it hot and spicy, especially paprika. I love paprika.

Planet Organic curry

Skin Glowing Curry – Planet Organic. Mine has a thicker sauce than the picture on the Planet Organic website and we don’t put in LoveRaw Immunity Blend, because we’re not near a Planet Organic. This is really nice and goes well with steamed kale.

Three Bean Chilli

Three Bean Chili – Forks Over Knives. This is amazing and we enjoy ours with a jacket potato and any veg we have. It is super hearty and I use any beans I can get my hands on.

Taquitos

Minimalist Baker’s Smashed Black Bean Taquitos. (Link takes you to a video of Easy vegan Life making them, as the recipe is from the Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking cook book, which I can heartily recommend.) While I didn’t have the green chili ingredient that Dana uses, I just chopped up a few green jalapeno chilies and it is super tasty. This meal is really easy, and very tasty, especially if you make your own salsa and guacamole, like I did. It doesn’t take long either and goes well with fresh corn on the cob and sweet potato wedges dusted in paprika.

Weeknight stirfry

Everyday Stir fry – Keep it Vegan by Aine Carlin. We’ve been eating this for a while and it is delicious. It’s turned us into soy sauce addicts. If you’re interested in a vegan or whole food plant based diet, then Aine Carlin’s book is a great place to get started.

Vegan Roast

I saw a similar roast by @agirlvstheworld on Twitter and this worked really well. It took 45 minutes and was cooking away nicely Sunday evening, while I was making some of our lunches for the week ahead.

Lunches

Grated salad

This grated salad is another recipe I pinched from my sister. It consists of grated carrot, grated courgette, sauerkraut, chopped pepper, chopped tomatoes and salad, mixed together with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It’s delicious and best eaten a while after the dressing has been added.

Warming Pasta

This might sound ridiculous, but I’d never made a tomato sauce before! It’s ridiculous because it’s so easy and this one is especially. Plus it’s delicious and has become a weekly lunch staple. This is Warming Pasta, which I make with cherry tomatoes, and you can find the recipe by Healthy Living James here.

Tuna melt

This chickpea tuna melt has to be eaten to be believed. The consistency is uncannily like tuna and the vegan cheese works really well in this. You can find the recipe here.

carrot soup

Another of Healthy Living James’ recipes, the carrot and coriander soup. This is delicious and easy to make, perfect for a late evening tea. I have soup every Thursday, as I get home late from the gym.

Breakfast

Granola

Most mornings I have chia seed porridge but on the weekends I like to have something different. This is some of Delicious Ella’s granola, with natural Coyo and as much fresh fruit as I can get!

Snacks

Minimalist Baker cookies

I refuse to live a life without treats. Being vegan or wholefood plant based shouldn’t change this, which is why I was really happy when Phil said he wanted to make these Almond Meal Chocolate Chip cookies by Minimalist Baker. They are easy to make and, if they make to the freezer, you can eat them frozen. Trust me, it works!

At the moment, cooking and eating this way is definitely helping me. While weight loss is not my goal, I’ve lost over half a stone. I’ve got more energy and it means I can get myself to my spinning class after a hectic day of work. We also have less waste going in the bin, both recycling and landfill, and our food bill has gone down. Pretty much a win win. Hoping to get some lovely autumn and winter recipes to try soon too. Gotta love the winter veg!


Apr
2017

Zizzi Vegan Pizza

categories: Food & Drink

I’ve been vegan for about a year and a half now, and I don’t regret anything, other than not doing it sooner. One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is how veganism is being embraced by mainstream restaurants. Zizzi have led the way with not only have a vegan offering, but by developing their own vegan cheese, they have put themselves on the map as a vegan friendly place. Others have followed in their footpath, but I wanted to try Zizzi’s cheese. The reason being is because I struggle with vegan cheese. I’ve not really found a vegan pizza cheese that is anything remotely like regular cheese. As a result, I’ve quite happily gone without cheese on all my pizza. That being said, I wanted to see if Zizzi had nailed it.

Zizzi Vegan PizzaThe pizza itself was really tasty. I added red onion, mushrooms and green chilli and it was great combination. I wasn’t overly impressed with the cheese, as it was very wet, so that it melt like mozzarella. I was never a huge fan of mozzarella, and maybe that’s why I wasn’t that keen on this cheese. It had a decent flavour and there was plenty of it, but I wasn’t keen on the texture. I realise that nothing is ever going to be the same as regular cheese, and I’m really pleased that Zizzi have made such a huge effort for their vegan customers. Not only do they have vegan cheese, they also have vegan desserts that aren’t sorbet. I know, right?! How cool is that? Naturally, I wanted to give the vegan calzone a try, despite being pretty stuffed.

Zizzi vegan puddingMy first impression was that it was way smaller than I was expecting! This is because I’m a huge greedy guts and wanted one as big as my pizza! It had pecans, banana and blueberries inside and had chocolate and coconut ice cream on top. It was delicious! The first vegan pudding I’ve had in a mainstream restaurant! I really enjoyed it. It was warm and doughy and filling. Well worth leaving room for.

I hope that other restaurants who aren’t being as forthcoming with vegan options take note. My friends and I, one of which is gluten-free, purposely went to Zizzi because we knew we would be catered for. The vegan revolution is beginning!


Dec
2016

Healthy Vegan Diet

categories: Food & Drink

When I first became vegan, over a year ago, I thought it was a matter of time before I lost a load of weight, had bags of energy and was eating kale by the bucket load. This hasn’t happened. Why, I hear you ask? Well, very simply, it’s easy to follow an unhealthy vegan diet or a vegan diet that includes a lot of processed or unhealthy foods. Lots of people find this quite surprising and some people take a look at me and are surprised to find that I’m vegan as I am carry a few extra pounds. And this is before I eat my own body weight in vegan mince pies and tofurkey over the Christmas period.

tofu stir fry

I’ve made no secret over the fact that I don’t enjoy cooking. Add to this the fact that I’m a comfort eater and I work a lot and want convenience foods, means that I have spent the first year of my vegan life seeking out all the sfv (suitable for vegans) snack foods, take aways and unhealthy short cuts. While this is not what I wanted, it’s not surprising, considering my unhealthy relationship with food. (As a teenager, I had to go to Weight Watchers!) While I knew this wasn’t what I wanted to be eating, I wasn’t really sure how to correct my diet. Then I watched Food Choices and this confirmed what I already knew – that I should be eating a whole foods plant based diet. On the documentary, they mention a vegan who existed on fizzy drinks and crisps. While what they are consuming might be vegan, it isn’t healthy and I know I want to be eating well. Because I work a lot, I know I need to nourish my body so that I sleep well, manage my stress and have plenty of energy. Eating processed junk foods isn’t going to do that, even if they are sfv. Any dairy products will have been replaced with other equally unhealthy ingredients. Watching Forks over Knives reaffirmed what I already knew – that I had to find a way of making sure my diet consisted of whole food plant based foods, not just vegan foods, as that’s the best thing for my health. While I’m generally pretty healthy, I could stand to lose a few pounds and I want to make sure that I’m eating the best for my body.

spaghetti

In order to eat a more plant based diet, without spending hours in the kitchen, we knew we needed some new recipes that are quick, healthy and easy. Phil bought Keep it Vegan by Aine Carlin and it has a number of simple weekday meals that are easy to put together. We’ve already tried the stir fry and were really pleased that we had a healthy plant based dinner made in under twenty minutes. This is the kind of thing we need. I’ve also bought the Minimalist Baker cookbook, as I love the meals on her blog but want to have everything in one place.

vegan cookbooks

This is not a diet or a ‘new year, new you’ fad. This is a change I feel like l have to make. And yes, there will be times when I get a take away or over eat on some junk food, but this should be much, much less than I’m doing right now. Hopefully, I’ll feel the benefit of a whole foods plant based diet really soon.


Nov
2016

My one year Veganiversary

categories: Food & Drink

On 1st September 2015, I became vegan. Having been a vegetarian for twelve years or so, it was the logical next step. If I’m honest, I wish I’d done it sooner. I don’t know why I waited so long, especially as my reason for being vegetarian was animal cruelty and there’s no real difference between how the dairy and meat industry treats their animals.

So, what’s changed? Well, I can now speed read a list of ingredients as if my life depends on it. You’d be surprised how many products have milk, egg or some other animal derived product in. Just this week I found that the satsumas I bought from Waitrose had shellac on them. Why would you do that?! It’s kind of scary when you look into it. I have to plan my meals and cook a lot more (though Phil does most of the cooking, so that’s not really an issue!) I can’t rely on picking something up at school for lunch or just stop in a supermarket to buy some sandwiches. While supermarkets are making great leaps in providing vegan food and options every day, there is still a long way to go. Eating a plant based diet is the way forward, and it’s not just about animal rights. It’s best for our bodies and our planet. Don’t just take my word for it, take a look at the Food Choices trailer (full documentary available on Netflix right now.)

I honestly thought when I became vegan, and would be eating so many vegetables, that I’d lose a ton of weight and look the picture of health. Well, I’m still waiting for that to happen! I’m eating loads of veg, kind of have to, but there is so much junk food available that I’m still about the same kind of weight. There are lots of products on the market that are ‘accidentally vegan’ and have no animal products in them, but there are also a lot of vegan chocolate and cakes and crisps to be had. And I’ve had a lot! My favourites are the Jokerz and Twilight Go Max Go bars, which I usually get from Vegan Town. Round Ups are another favourite and they’re bloomin’ epic. The first vegan chocolate I had was the mighty Vego bar. There are also lots of wine, cider and gin that’s sfv, not that I’m a big drinker, but it’s worth knowing about it. We shop at Ocado and their vegan shop is really useful. They often have offers on their vegan products, including the wine, which is when I usually stock up. I do eat more veg, both in regularity and variety and despite the junk, my diet is healthier than it’s every been. Recently, I’ve been thinking about how much junk food I eat and the impact that will have on the environment and animals, as a consequence. I recently read an interesting article in Vegan Life about palm oil and it is a hugely controversial ingredient in lots of items, not just food. There’s no doubt that it is very difficult to avoid it, if you buy processed foods. So I’m going to try and limit how much I consume and try to reduce my reliance on processed stuff as much as possible.

I’m often asked what’s the hardest thing about being vegan. Once you get past the horror of the fact that everyone else is still continuing to use and abuse animals, it’s not really difficult at all, though you do have to be prepared that people will become nutritional experts around you and demand you explain just exactly where you get your protein from every. damn. time. You’re simply just changing your consuming habits. The thing I’m most sad about is wool because I love jumpers and all things knitted, but the way most of the fashion industry treats its animals is horrific so it’s a no brainer to give that up.

I try not to shove my beliefs in peoples faces, so I decided to set up a Pinterest veganism board, which is where I put all the comments about veganism I agree with! I also changed my vegetarian food board to a vegan food board and while I don’t do much cooking, it’s always nice to see what healthy and delicious food I *could* be eating! If you’re interested in having a go, then there’s more information over on the Vegan Society website. Why not take the 30 day pledge?