What's new!

So after a long time and many big changes taking place in my life, I have found myself back at a place where I would like to focus on my health and my cause: helping people to improve their quality of life by helping the planet.

My kids: This year is my first year of teaching as a primary school teacher. I have found the experience so far completely exhausting and sometimes quite depressing. I teach in quite a low socio economic area and the conditions in which some of the kids live breaks my heart. In the last week I have decided to bring something that is important to me into the classroom-sustainable gardening. I figure this helps the kids two fold: it gives them an insight and an interest into where food comes from, as well as encourages them to be more open to eating more healthy. So far we have started to grow some basil seedlings that I had brought in from my garden at home. I have also been collecting seeds from my flowering basil plants and brought them in to show the kids what the seeds look like. The kids found this so much for interesting than listening to the Science lessons that discuss life cycles and what not. I invited the kids to become part of a 'Garden Club' within our class. All the kids wanted in, so instead of having a few kids with me at lunch time, I was actually taking the whole class through (I didn't mind though, more the merrier). Our first garden club meeting involved us sowing some basil seeds into pots made out of recycle milk bottles that the kids collected from home.

Our little basil plants are starting to germinate!

We also started a compost bin. The kids loved talking about this and looking for things that they could collect around the school to put into the compost. At this stage, it's really just a bucket of organic matter. I would like to get a bin in the ground outside our room, just need to man up and ask for the okay from the Principal.

Me: Since becoming a teacher and moving out of home, my health has pretty much been on the back burner. I'm sitting here right now under a big blanket with the flu (?). First time I've been sick in a long time :( I've realised that I need to pull my finger out and start looking after myself. So, I've joined the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation, just to give me the kick up the butt that I need. My goals are to build muscle, gain fitness and become more strict with my food.

This is pretty much all I can be bothered writing right now, so I think I shall leave it at that. I hope to be posting a lot more frequently. Mostly to just vent and make me feel like I'm sharing some interesting things.

My Sprouting Adventure

So in an effort to eat more healthy fresh food, I have decided that I will incorporate fresh sprouted seeds, beans and legumes into my diet.

I followed the directions given by this chicky on her youtube video. It seemed like the easiest way, plus I had all the materials!

So my first sprouts I shall attempt are fenugreek seeds. I've read a little bit of information on them and they seem to have some pretty good properties. They are supposed to contain all of these vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B15, B17, C, D, E, H, choline, folic acid, inositol, PABA. Pretty cool huh? It's also supposed to be a good blood cleanser, good for detoxing, helps to reduce mucus (yummo!). So I may as well give these babies a shot. The seeds are ground up and often used in curry powders. But I'm going to sprout them and eat them as little sprouts and also let some grow leaves and add them to salads!


Here's how my little fellas look while they are in their soaking phase:

Szechwan Eggplant

I know I have been uber slack with my blogging, but what can I say, I've been busy!

In this post I want to add one of my family's favourites. My omnivore dad loves it! He said and this a direct quote, 'I would eat this every night of the week for the rest of my life', yeah it's yummy :)

Szechwan Eggplant

Ingredients:

• 2 small red chillies
• 2 spring onions
• 2 eggplants (about 1kg)
• 1 tbspn peanut oil
• 1 tspn grated fresh ginger
• 1 tspn finely chopped garlic
• 2 red capsicums, cut into strips
• 5 spring onions, sliced

Sauce:

• 4 tbspn of sweet soy sauce
• 2 tbspn vinegar
• 1 tspn sesame oil
• 2 tspn sweet chilli sauce

Method:

1. Slice the chillies and the spring onions into fine strips. Place in a bowl of iced water and set aside.

2. Cut off and discard eggplant stems. Cut eggplant into cubes about 2cm x 2cm. Place eggplant into an already hot large frypan. Add enough water to cover the base of the frypan. Cover with a lid. Keep an eye on the eggplant to make sure the water doesn't dry up and the eggplant starts to burn. You are aiming to get the eggplant tender. Once done, remove eggplant from the pan and set aside.

3. Combine sauce ingredients and stir well. On a low heat, add oil to the fry pan, and fry ginger, garlic, capsicum and spring onions until garlic is golden.

4. Add sauce and bring to the boil. Add eggplant cook over high heat until most of the sauce has been absorbed. Serve on a bed (approximately 1 cup) of rice or quinoa and garnish with chilli and spring onions.

This meal serves about 6. According to an online dietary tracker I use, it has about 151 cals per serving (excluding rice or quinoa).

Well there you go. I made this tonight with a big bunch of lightly steamed asian greens, topped with garlic and almonds. I intend to upload a photo, but tonight I ate too quickly before I remembered to take a photo:S

Meat Free Monday-Week 1

So after the recent publicised investigation of the inhumane treatment of cattle in Indonesia, I've heard that there has been a slight decrease in the meat consumption in the following week. If you haven't heard about it, please check this out.

Having been fully vegetarian for nine months, the thought, sight, and smell of meat makes me sick. Though I know for many, meat is still something that is eaten for convenience, habit, taste, tradition or whatever the reason.

However, my plan is to hopefully help people realise that eating less meat is not something that is hard, tasteless or strange. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Not to mention, the financial savings and the health benefits. As of this week I will be providing a daily meal plan that is completely meat (and dairy free). These will be some of my favourites that will have you kicking yourself that you hadn't tried it sooner!

So,

 

Meat Free Monday-Week 1:

Breakfast:

Oh my golly gosh, this breakfast I could just eat all day long. I always have something hot for breakfast. Definitely not a fan of cereal, or the big bowl of snot called 'porridge'. I always try to get as many veggies into my breakfast, just to be on the right track for the day, and just in case I miss out later in the day.

Ingredients:

Tempeh (Maybe a 5th of a block) I use the NutriSoy Tasty brand
Whole tomato
Baby spinach leaves (Out of the garden)
Cream cheese (I choose Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, as it's dairy free)
A slice of bread (We've been baking our own multigrain=awesome)

Method: 

1. Cut the tempeh into thick cubes. Slice the tomato into thick slices.
2. Cook in a fry pan over medium to high heat (if the pan is not non-stick, use a little oil).
3. Add some of your favourite spices and sauces. I use sesame seeds, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt and pepper. You could add garlic if you're game enough to breath that all over people all day ;).
4. Toast the bread. Rinse the spinach leaves gently and throw into the pan. Take the pan off the heat so that the spinach just wilts a little.
5. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese over the toast, whack all the other ingredients on top and then go to town on it!

 
Lunch:

I usually end up eating leftovers from the night before. Though there are many things you can have for lunch.

I love wraps with heaps of salad and a lentil pattie or veggie burger. You can make these yourself, or you can buy one of the million that are available at the supermarket. I also love toasted sandwiches! YUM! I put tomato, onion, avocado and Toffuti Cheese Slices. You can obviously use normal dairy cheese if you were just being meat free. You can also buy bacon and ham substitutes. Sanitarium make some great Deli Slices that you can buy from most supermarkets.



Dinner:

So I had looked at a recipe a while ago and hadn't had the time or inclination to actually make it. I now hate myself for not trying this earlier!!

It's Walnut and Edamame Ravioli and you can get the recipe here. Seriously. Go there now. Buy ingredients. Start cooking. Sooo yummy!

Even though this recipe is pure genius and just freaking delicious, I did make just a couple of adjustments to suit my liking:

• I ended up doubling the recipe, so that it would feed my family (plus leftovers!).
• I added the juice from about half a lemon.
• I also had to put a little water in the mixture while I was blending it, as it seemed too dry.
• I added some soy cream to the sauce, just because I wanted to:)

I also made a side dish of Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Macadamias. Though I swapped macadamias for cashews as they seem to have a stronger flavour.

The photo does not do it justice. Sooo YUM!

Vegan Lasagne

So today was my first day back at Uni for the year...so naturally I feel compelled to not do my study and rather procrastinate...So blogging shall now be my productive procrastinating.

A couple of things I've made lately that are blog worthy which I would like to share:

Firstly,

Vegan Lasagne and Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad

I got this recipe from someone on a forum discussion on Animals Australia Unleashed. He said it was a hit and it most definitely was! I believe the recipe was from a magazine or recipe book? He just sent me a picture of the recipe, and so I will copy it out for you now for ease of reading:)

Vegan Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 tspn olive oil
• 1 pack instant lasanga sheets (I used one and half packets because I made many layers)
• 2 tbsp savoury yeast flakes (nutritional yeast)

Bolognaise Sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 300g tempeh, grated
• 2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tspn sea salt
• 1 tspn raw sugar
• 1 tspn basil, rosemary and oregano (fresh or dried)
• Freshly ground pepper

White Sauce:

• 3 tbsp vegan margarine
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk
• Sea salt and ground pepper
• 1 tspn savoury yeast flakes 

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Heat olive oil in a large fry pan, add onoion and garlic and fry until onion is soft.
3. Add grated tempeh and fry over medium heat for 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes, wine, tomato paste, water, sat and sugar and stir to combine.
4. Bring to the boil then reduce to low heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the sauce is thick and chunky, but not too dry as the alsagna sheets will absorb the remaining liquid during cooking. ***I would recommend that you add some water or vegetable stock to make sure it is quite wet, otherwise the lasagna might turn out a little dry.
5. Add herbs and pepper, remove from heat and set aside.
6. In a small saucepan, melt the margaine then remove from heat and stir in flour to make a paste. Add soy milk slowly and stir to mix thoroughly. Return to medium-high heat and stir continuously until sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper and savoury yeast flakes.
7. Grease a large baking dish with oil and place a layer of lasagna sheets in the bottom. Spoon bolognaise (approx 3/4 cup) onto the lasagna sheets. Drizzle some white sauce on top and sprinkle with 1 tspn of savoury yeast flakes.
8. Add another layer of lasagne sheets and continue the process until mixture is used up. The top layer should have a thicker spread of white sauce to cover the bolognaise. Sprinkle generously with savoury yeast flakes.
9. Bake for 45 minutes, remove from oven and leave to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

 Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad

This one I made up and I think it served about 4 people. So just use how much you think of each ingredient and I will try to give a rough estimation of what I used.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 handfuls baby spinach
• 3-4 small sweet potato or 1 big one, diced into cubes, or into wedges (whatever gets that boat of yours afloat:P)
• 2 handfuls of cashews2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup almond cheese

Method:

1. Roast sweet potato with a little oil until it is browned and tender, let it cool down a little bit.
2. Arrange spinach leaves in a large salad dish. 
3. Combine the vinegar, olive oil, garlic and maple syrup using a screw top jar and shaking the bajevus out of it.
4. Add potato, cashews, almond cheese to the spinach and gentle toss the salad.
5. Pour over the dressing and sprinkle with the chia seeds.

Please be aware that the dressing will depend on individual tastes. You can add more or reduce any of the ingredients or try whatever you like.

 This meal was actually an a-freaking-mazing hit! I would definitely recommend trialling the lasagna with people who aren't really into vegetarian/vegan food!

Just realised that I actually need to get some uni stuff done for tomorrow. I shall add more exciting recipes for all you lovely munchkins at a later date.

Be well, safe and kind.

'Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.' His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Footy Food=Vegan Nachos

So I had the boyfriend around to watch the footy...Oh hell, the footy was on while the boyfriend was at my house, so we had to watch it...hoorah! :-|

I have been craving nachos for a while so I decided to alter the pizza cheese recipe a little and use it on the nachos.

Vegan Nachos

Ingredients:

• 1x Packet of corn chips (I bought the organic ones from Mrs Flannery's, they weren't too salty and nice and crunchy)
• 1 x can of red kidney beans
• 2 x bottles of chunky salsa
• 1 spring onion, chopped for garnish 

1. Mix the beans and salsa together.

Guacamole:

• 3 ripe avocados
• Lemon juice
• Taco/burrito seasoning
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1/2 tofutti cream cheese
• Half a red onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper

1. Mash up avocados, add lemon, garlic, burrito seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. 

2. Add cream cheese and using an electric blender, blend until it reaches a consistency that you like, you may need to add more lemon juice.

3. Once blended, stir through the onion.

Cheese Sauce:

This is the same recipe for the pizza sauce, with some slight adjustments.

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic granules
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/4 cup tufutti cream cheese
• 1/4 cup soy milk

1. Put all ingredients except the 2 tablespoons of water (include the 1 cup of water), oil, cream cheese and soy milk in a blender and process until smooth. 

2. Pour the mixture into a small saucepan, and stir over medium heat until it starts to thicken. Let it bubble for 30 seconds, remove from heat and whisk vigorously.

3. Whisk in the 2 tablespoons of water, oil, cream cheese and soy milk.

Once all the steps are done, assemble the nachos however you like. I like to layer everything on top of each other and garnish with the spring onions.

Delicious munchies:D

Vegan Sweets

I love chocolate and dessert! Om nom nom! I couldn't care less about boiled lollies or gummy lollies YUCK! But I am quite fond of chocolate, cakes, slices, muffins, cheesecakes etc.

So my first attempt at making a vegan dessert was a vegan mousse. I got the recipe from http://www.suite101.com/content/chocolate-recipe-vegan-chocolate-avocado-mousse-a289878 

*NOTE* this is not my recipe

 

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Makes About Six Small Servings

Ingredients:

•3 ripe avocados

•1/4 cup of cocoa powder

•3/4 cup of maple syrup

•1/2 tablespoon vanilla

•1/2 teaspoon sea salt

•1/4 cup vanilla soy or almond milk (1/8 of a cup if you want it thicker)

Method:

1.Remove pits and brown spots from avocados.

2.Spoon ripe avocado out of the peel and place in food processor.

3.Add cocoa powder, maple syrup, vanilla, and start blending.

4.Add milk slowly while it blends.

5.When smooth, chill and serve.

6.Add more cocoa powder or maple syrup to taste.

Okay, so my omni Mum, Dad and partner LOVED this! I on the other hand was completely freaked out by it and couldn't eat any of it:S I think it was because either 

a) I was feeling a little upset in the tummy when I was making it and tasted some and it made me feel worse, so when I tried it again it just made me think of feeling sick, or

b) Sweet avocado?? They were such yummy looking avo's that I would have looooved to have eaten on toast...but then I turned them into something very un-avocadoey.

However, bonus that the rest of the fam loved it!:)

Stay tuned for my attempt at making other (non avocado) sweets! 

Vegan and Athletic

So I write Vegan, when in fact I'm not. I am what is called a ovo-vegetarian. This means I eat eggs. However, I only eat the eggs produced by my lovely chookies and duckies. I have 3 duckies, 1 (mean, asshole of a) rooster, 4 young hens and 4 senior citizen hens-they are like 10 years old and are very lovely. We call them the 'retired girls'. I also have a beautiful cat Butters, who is seriously the apple of my eye. I love him soooo much and he loves me:)...I also have another cat, Kani, who isn't quite as cool as Butters, but she's still pretty special...Oh I have cockatiel as well who is the most beautiful bird I've met. I don't particularly like birds in cages, but my brother bought it and the abandoned it so Mum and I are looking after him.

Kani checking out the garbo out the front





My cheeky ducks checking out the pool.

Little Jerry being charming

He is so FREAKING ADORABLE!!!

Okay so pets, umm chooks, eggs, non-vegan...Oh yeah, so my point-I'm not a proper vegan as such but I do have a very limited intake of animal products (eggs). Basically I have been into the gym since I left highschool in 2005 (despised all forms of PE in school), and have been conscious of my strength and fitness. This year, my friends and I have set (the MASSIVE) challenge of participating in a 100km trek from Mt Glorious to Mt Cootha in Brisbane for Oxfam...I think I have the link somewhere in my old posts.

So I am in 'training' at the moment i.e. I go for jogs/walks at least 4 times a week, plus a cardio and strength based boxing session once a week. I'm hoping that my training will equip me for the trek as I want to be able to pull of such a feat without having consumed copious (well any) amounts of meat or dairy. I will keep everyone posted on how my training goes for 100km and eventual (fingers crossed)  completion!

Vegan Butter Chicken (Butterless and Chickenless)

Before I became vegetarian I was (and still am) an avid curry lover:). My favourite was 'butter chicken'. Once I became vegetarian, my friend suggested using tofu instead of chicken and just do the rest the same. This was quite yummy (though my partner didn't care much for the tofu).



Now that I am phasing out dairy this meant that I wouldn't be using the butter, cream or yogurt that the standard recipe called for.



This recipe I adjusted from a recipe I found on a random google search: http://indianfood.about.com/od/chickendishes/r/butterchicken.htm, I replaced the yogurt for coconut cream and was going to use nuttelex for the butter, but found I didn't need it.

Butterless and Chickenless Butter Chicken:

Ingredients:

 

•250gm packet of mock chicken strips (I got mine from a vegan restaurant, it was all written in Asian so I'm not sure of the specific brand)

•750gm firm tofu-cubed into approx 3x3 cm cubes

•Juice of 1 lime

•Salt to taste

•1 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to suit your taste)

•6 cloves

•8-10 peppercorns

•1" stick of cinnamon

•2 bay leaves

•8-10 almonds

•Seeds from 3-4 pods of cardamom

•1 can of coconut cream

•3 tbsps vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil

•2 onions chopped

•2 tsps garlic paste

•1 tsp ginger paste

•2 tsps coriander powder

•1 tsp cumin powder

•1/4 tsp turmeric powder

•1 can 400gm of diced tomatos

•2 tbsps tomato past

•1/2 litre chicken stock (Massels brand-NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS)

•2 tbsps kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)-I used Keens curry powder

•3 tbsps unmelted nuttelex**

•Salt to taste

•Coriander leaves and roasted cashews to garnish

 

NB. This is the basic Butter Chicken recipe, however, I love vegies and added the following:

•5-6 mushrooms, sliced thickly

•1/2 eggplant, sliced into 1 cm strips

•1 red capsicum, sliced into strips

•1 cup frozen peas

(I also just used what was available in the fridge, you can use more or less of the vegies, or even add cooked carrot, pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, zuchinni etc.)

Method:

 

1.Mix the mock chicken, tofu, lime juice, salt and red chilli powder in a large, non-metallic bowl. Cover and allow to marinate for 1 hour.

 

2.Heat a flat pan or griddle on medium heat and gently roast (stirring frequently) the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, bay leaves and almonds till they darken slightly. Cool and add the cardamom seeds. Now grind into a coarse powder in a food processor.

Yummy spices being toasted

 

3.Mix the coconut cream, above whole spice powder (from previous step), coriander, cumin and turmeric powders together and add them to the mock chicken and tofu. Allow to marinate for another hour.

4.Heat the oil in a deep pan on medium heat. When hot, add the onions. Fry till a pale golden brown in color and then add the ginger and garlic pastes. Add all other vegies and fry for a minute. Remove vegies from pan.

Separating the vegies stops them from over cooking and gives more room for the mock chicken and tofu to cook.

 

5.Add only the mock chicken and tofu from the chicken-spice mix and (leaving the marinade) fry until tofu is browned and a little crispy. You may need to add some more vegetable oil here. Also be careful of turning the tofu, as it tends to crumble. Let it cook for a little while on one side before carefully flipping it over.

Cook mock chicken and tofu until crispy and browned

 

6.Now add the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, chicken stock, curry powder and remaining part of the coconut milk-spice mix to the mock chicken and tofu.

 

7.Add the vegies and gently stir through.

8.At this point my sauce was quite watery, so I mixed about 4 tablespoons of corn flour with enough warm water until it created a smooth gooey consistency. I then poured this through the butter chicken and stirred through. Leave it uncovered to simmer until it is thick enough for you.

9.Melt the butter in another small pan and then pour it over the chicken. ***I omitted this step***It's up to you, I figured my dish was already oily enough from the vegetable oil.

10.Serve over brown organic rice and garnish with coriander leaves and cashews and serve with microwaved papadums.

Bon appetite

 

This recipe was actually quite easy to make. It makes a lot. Maybe enough for about 6-8 people. I had leftovers today and it tasted even better. Please note that you can vary indregients and quantities to your liking. I added another can of coconut cream towards the end to give it more of a creamy consistency.

My carnivorous father downed this meal in about 3 minutes and enjoyed it. Mum and my partner liked it too:) This would be a good 'vegan' meal for skeptical omnivores.

Homemade Cruelty Free Cheese

When I first decided to cut out dairy, I first started with butter/margarine, replacing it with 'Nuttelex' (a plant based spread). This was a very easy transition as it tastes pretty much the same and you can still use it for the same purpose. However, giving up cheese was one thing, finding a cheese replacement was another! I have tried a couple of different recipes for homemade cheese (as buying dairy free cheese is pricey business!).

Firstly I tried a cheese recipe that is quite commonly found on the internet varying slightly with different ingredients and quantities. This cheese used a plant based gelatine like ingredient called 'Agar agar' which comes from some sea plant. My initial reaction to my cheese was one of disgust:[, mostly because I stuffed up the ingredients and used 5 times the amount of Agar Agar powder (there are flakes and powder, the powder is apparently a lot more concentrated:P). Here is an example of the cheddar cheese I tried http://accidentalvegetarian.blogspot.com/2009/02/really-good-df-cheese-primer-with.html.

However, mine didn't turn out like that:(...Although I did substitute the coconut oil for olive oil for convenience. If I try it again I will see what difference the coconut oil makes.

Bottom line, it didn't taste like cheese:( However, I ended up 'marinating' the cheese in a mixture of olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper and capers. After a couple of days the 'cheese' was a lot nicer, still not quite cheesey, but something else. It was quite a salty cheese (probably from being marinated) and it was rather crumbly like a feta texture. I've used it in wraps, toasted sandwiches, mixed through pasta, on crackers etc. pretty much how you would use cheese, it adds the salty flavour.

So my other cheese adventures included a parmesan cheese which is rather awesome. Sooooo easy to make and it gives just that hint of flavour you need where you would normally use parmesan.

Parmesan Cheese:

Ingredients:

Equal parts Nutritional yeast flakes and sesame seeds (Maybe start with 1/2 a cup of each)
Sea salt to taste

Method:

Toast sesame seeds in a pan until they smell all toasty and yummy and have changed to a golden brown colour.
Once the sesame seeds have cooled down, blend them in a food processor with the nutritional yeast flakes.
Add the salt to your liking, only adding small quantities at a time.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge:)

My most recent cheese adventure has been a nut cheese that contains a probiotic. I used a combination of different recipes for this one. This cheese is slightly more time consuming but it results in quite a visually appealing cheese that would be suitable for a cheese wheel. I've been munching this on crackers and I put some on a breadroll with a felafel burger-it was quite the yummers:)

Almond cheese:

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Raw Almonds
• Probiotics (I used a sachet, which actually turned out was derived from whey fml, however I've read that you can just use a capsule)
• 1 cup warm filtered water
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon onion or garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 tablespoon course sea salt
• 3 tablespoon mixed peppercorns

Method:

1. Soak the almonds in water for up 24-48 hrs then peel the skin off. I ended up soaking for just about 19-20 hrs because I was really impatient. *However*, I will soak them longer next time, as I found the nuts were still a little crunchy. It will also make it a lot easier to peel the little suckers!

*NOTE* it's up to you whether you peel the almonds. It took me like an hour and a half to do this and I also had very sore fingers:(. The only difference I can imagine it would make would be the final colour and possible texture of the cheese. Leaving the peels on will also add fibre to your cheese. When I retry this recipe I will add another picture and review of how it goes with the peels.

2. Mix the probiotics into the water and then place the nuts and the water mixture into a food processor and blend until it is smooth as possible.

3. Prepare a fine mesh sieve over a bowl or jug and then line the sieve with a clean piece of cheese cloth (or teatowel for lazy people like me). Pour the cheese into the sieve and wrap the material over the cheese so it is completely covered. Place a bowl or small plate over the cheese and weigh it down with a bottle or a can. This will help squeeze out the moisture. Leave this in a warmish, dark position for 8-12 hours.

4. Once it is time to remove the cheese, carefully pour into a large bowl and discard liquid that came from the cheese. Mix in all remaining ingredients (**except Course sea salt and pepper) by hand until it is nicely combined.

5. Press the cheese mixture into a small non-stick springform pan or loose bottom cake pan.

6. Crush the pepper and sea salt with a mortar and pestle and sprinkle over the cheese to cover it completely. Press the pepper mixture into the cheese.

7. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Please check out the pizza cheese sauce recipe on my other post. I have used this through pastas and on toasted sandwiches, it's good:) and very easy:)

Pizza night Fridays

Friday nights have been pizza nights in my family ever since I bought a kick arse pizza oven a few years ago. So here's my dilemma- a cruelty free pizza, can it be done? Hell yeah it can!

When you think of pizza you might think of dominos or pizza hut, mmm lots of fat and oil and copious cheese (ewwies). Aside from the animal cruelty involved with making a nasty meat lovers pizza, it's not particularly nice to your waistline or heart!

Plus if you've tried homemade pizza I'm sure you wouldn't want to go back to the nasty stuff that comes out of fast food pizza stores anyway.

So here is my recipe for a yummy 'vegan' pizza.

NB: Pizza toppings are subject to what is available (i.e. not yet funky in the fridge).

Ingredients:

• Pizza base (you can buy one from the supermarket, but we make our own fresh dough in our bread maker)
• Tomato paste
• Dried herbs
• Fresh garlic, crushed

Topping ideas:

• Meat substitutes (fake bacon, tempeh, fake chicken schnitzel sliced up)
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Olives
• Capsicum
• Pineapple
• Roasted pumpkin or sweet potato
• Baby spinach
• Fresh herbs
• Tomato (fresh or sundried-though sundried it better as it’s so flavoursome and doesn’t make your pizza soggy)
• Grilled eggplant

You can pretty much add what you like, but the above are my favourites.

-Vegan pizza sauce (see below)

Method:

1. Spread the tomato paste over the base and add herbs and garlic.
2. Layer with your favourite toppings (TIP: less is more, you don’t want to overload as it might get soggy).
3. Dollop your pizza sauce over the top.
4. Place onto of preheated pizza stone and cook in over until you can’t wait any longer. Or place in pizza oven.
5. I like to chop up some fresh herbs like basil and oregano, as well as baby spinach and put it on the pizza just before I take it out.

Result, YUM!

Pizza sauce recipe:

I sourced this recipe from another blog ‘Vegan Grandma’ which you should check out.

It’s awesome and so easy to make!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic granules
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

Put all ingredients except the 2 tablespoons of water (include the 1 cup of water) in a blender and process until smooth. Pour the mixture into a small saucepan, and stir over medium heat until it starts to thicken. Let it bubble for 30 seconds, remove from heat and whisk vigorously.

Whisk in the 2 tablespoons of water and optional oil (the oil adds richness and helps the "cheese" to melt better. It adds only 2.6 grams of fat per 1/4 cup).

Drizzle immediately over pizza or other food (it’s good on steamed broccoli), and broil or bake until a skin forms on top. You can also refrigerate in a small covered container for up to a week. It will become firm when chilled, and cannot be poured, but it will still be spreadable, and can be spread on bread or quesadillas for grilling.

NB: This is NOT my cheese recipe. Credit goes to ‘Vegan Grandma’.

~Homemade pizza base~

~Bought pizza base~

The beginning of my journey

Welcome to my brand new blog!

  

So today, well the other day I decided that I would like to make a blog to document my journey into a cruelty free lifestyle...but today I decided to actually figure this blogging business out:)

  

In September of 2010 I decided that I wanted to become vegetarian. For a long time before that I would think about it and always wanted to aspire to it, but never thought I had the commitment or support to actually go through with it. So I spent a little while searching the Internet (what a useful device...I could not function without it!) for information on vegetarian diets and accounts from people who were/are vegetarian. I had a few concerns that were holding me back that I wanted to sort out before I started this journey.

  

These were:

• Will I be healthy not eating meat?
• How will my family and friends react to this lifestyle change?
• What can I eat?

The Internet was my first place to look. By 'googling' vegetarian health you find copious amounts of information from organisations like PETA, the Vegetarian Society and many others that will literally come up if you google 'vegetarian'. Once I had received some advice about making the transition from meat eating to not eating, it was just a matter of doing it.

Somewhere I read that it is easiest to gradually phase out meat. For example, firstly give up red meat such as beef and lamb for a few weeks, then once you are used to this, give up pork and poultry. Then finally give up seafood. After my first week the thought of not eating one animal and eating another, kind of got to me, I thought ‘which animal is more important? A pig or a chicken? Or a cow or a lamb? Or even a fish?’ I found it very easy to just not eat any from day one. I also found that it helped to mark my meat free days on the calendar, expecting some slip up days. However, I haven't eaten any meat since September last year (2010) and I am not even tempted to! I haven’t noticed any change in my energy or immune system. My iron is still within the healthy range and I am definitely eating much healthier than I was before (LOTS of vegetables and no greasy nasty junk food!). Oh I am also training for a 100 km hike in June 2011 for Oxfam.

I was a little weary about telling my family and friends. My partner was SUPER supportive and still is. My immediate family have also been very supportive; however it wasn't much of a big deal for them as we have always been open to eating vegetarian options. My extended family weren't as easily accommodating, not non supportive, but just seemed unsure why I was doing this and thinking it was just a phase...'Oh she's still doing that?'

I sometimes find it hard eating at my partners place and feel like I'm a big inconvenience. They are a typical ‘meat and three veg’ every night family, so a lot of the food I was into they had never heard of. In saying that though, they are still supportive and I know that they are doing their best to support me (even though sometimes their lack of knowledge can put me in an awkward position when I have to refuse a dish).

So this brings me to what I have been eating. There are actually quite a lot of vegetarian options in supermarkets (Sanitarium Vegie Delights) and restaurants and so I guess this is why I found it very easy to switch to vegetarianism. I have utilised the Internet to connect and communicate with other like minded people and have gained many different ideas for meals. On this blog I aim to share recipes that I’ve found, created and loved and offer some honest opinions on food.

In the recent months, I have been communicating on different forums and have been exposed to the cruel practices that occur in the dairy industry. Firstly, I watched a documentary called ‘Meat the truth’, which looks at the environmental impacts of animal consumption. This film reaffirmed my decision to become and remain vegetarian. Then even more recently I watched a lecture by Gary Yourofsky which was definitely eye opening. If you have any doubts about becoming vegetarian or vegan, please watch this! Immediately after watching this film I felt sick at the sight and thought of dairy and didn’t want to have any part in or support such a disgusting industry. Hence now I have cut out pretty much all dairy to my knowledge. This means milk, cheese, yogurt, ice-cream, milk chocolate, butter and anything else that contains milk. At this stage I do not wish to label myself as a ‘vegan’ as I still do consume the occasional egg from my own chickens (who are well looked after and are free ranged). I am at the point where I am still looking for alternatives, i.e. experimenting with different dairy alternatives. I have decided I like the Vitasoy ‘Soy Milky’, and am not overly impressed with store bought cheese (especially the prices of them!). However, I have and still am experimenting with different types of cheese recipes that I’ve found on the Internet; from parmesan, to pizza cheese sauce. I would like to provide these recipes (and where I sourced them from) for you to view and try yourself.

If you are thinking about becoming vegetarian, I praise you already. Carrying it out is a lot easier than it sounds. I hope that some of my experiences and advice will help make it easier for you, just as others’ advice had helped me so much.