it's been a while....

Wow, I have actually lost track of how long it's been......that's how long it's been.

To say that life has been busy is an understatement, however, being busy is good, and I think I rather be busy than standing still.  My boy always tell me I don't know how to relax, maybe that's true, but I like to think that I don't like to let an opportunity pass :)

I have a few little recipes, some raw, some cooked, mostly with no sugar as I am doing No-sugar-Vember at the moment.

Let me tell you, it's a struggle.  It's true, I love sugar, and although I don't actually eat much refined sugar, I do LOVE LOVE LOVE fruit.  

I did read somewhere, to my disappointment, that fruit is just sugar with fibre.  Agh, I hate that!!  It's like someone calling my bestie a mean name!  But, you can't go through life forgoing all the things you love.  That would be hell, and not really life at all.  Life is meant to be enjoyed, cherished, learned from, laughed at, and best of all, captured and stored as little snippets of your own movie, in photos, scents, tastes and memories.  

So here are a few of the 'treats' I came up with to get me through this sugar-free challenge.

Raw Vegan Tacos

Serves 4 

Ingredients

Walnut Meat

2 cups raw walnuts

2 Tbsp tamari

1/8 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse just to mix. You want the mixture to resemble mince.  Don't over mix or you'll end up with mash.  I'm sure it'll still taste good though so no drama if you do.

Sour 'Cream'

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight or at least 2 hours

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 TBS unhulled tahini

5 Tbsp water (or up to you depending on how runny/thick you want it)

Method

Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender.  If I had a vitamix or other high speed blender I'd definitely use that as it gives the smoothest consistency.  But I don't so I use my food processor.  Still tastes good :)

Raw Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

1 cup tomatoes cubed

1/2 cup red capsicum diced

1/2 cup yellow capsicum diced

1/2 cup cucumber diced

1/2 red onion diced

1/4 cup fresh coriander chopped 

1/2 lemon juiced

Rainbow chard stems chopped

sea salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place all ingredients in a bowl, and toss gently with lemon juice and seasoning. 

Guacamole

Ingredients

1 large avocado

1/2 lemon juiced

2 TBS fresh coriander chopped

1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

sea salt to taste

Method

Place all ingredients in a blender (I only have a handheld so that's what I use), and blend until smooth.

You can mash it up if you prefer it chunky but I like mine smooth.

Wraps

Ingredients

8 rainbow chard or spinach leaves

Washed and ends trimmed 

To eat, you simply lay it all out and assemble tacos to your liking.

If you don't already know that I love tacos, then consider yourself informed.  I love tacos. 

I you don't have walnuts at hand, you can make the following variation.  However, it's not raw, but if you don't care about that, then go get em'!

 

Mushroom Tacos

Serves 4

1 Guacamole Mix

1 Salsa Mix

1 Cabbage salad Mix

6 large field mushrooms

1 taco seasoning mix sachet

8 kale leaves (I used Tuscan Cabbage)

Mushroom Meat

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius.  Line a baking tray with baking paper and put aside.

Chop cleaned mushrooms into strips, place them in a bag with the contents

of the taco mix sachet (make sure you check ingredients so that you agree with what's in it).

Shake the hell out of it until it's all mixed in and mushroom pieces are coated.

Place coated mushroom strips on prepared baking tray and cook in oven for about 20 minutes, or until cooked and a little brown.

Cabbage salad

Ingredients

2 cups red cabbage

1 lemon juiced

sea salt 

Method

Finely shred cabbage and mix with lemon juice and salt.

Now assemble, wrap and enjoy.

Sometimes you don't get a lot of time to whip up meals, that's why I like to be prepare and always have some cooked grains, or baked sweet potato or pumpkin in the fridge.  When times get busy, I pull out whatever is in the fridge, throw it all together and call it:

Leftovers Salad

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 cup red rice

1/2 cup baked/steamed sweet potato

1/3 cup avocado cubes

1/4 cup lentils

2 TBS coriander (or whatever herb you like)

1 TBS sunflower seeds

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1/2 TBS white wine vinegar

sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

Method

Place mustard, oil, vinegar and seasoning in a screw top jar, shake it until it emulsifies.

Place all other ingredients in a bowl, pour over dressing and gently mix to combine.

YUM!

Here's one with an Asian flavour.  

Enoki, tofu and Carrot salad 

serves 2

Ingredients

Enoki mushrooms (about a handful)

1 large carrot julienne

200g marinated tofu

1/3 cup fresh coriander chopped

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 TBS tamari

1/2 TBS sesame oil

Fresh chilli chopped(optional)

Method

Slice your tofu into thin slices and add it to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Toss gently to combine.

I served it with some grilled baby eggplant and mushrooms which I brushed with some tamari.

You can serve this with steamed fish if your family is not vegan.

Easy peasy!

And whilst we're on eggplant territory, I have to say that it is one tasty vegetable which is really simple to prepare.  Here's a little recipe I whipped up in less than 30 minutes.  Give it a go next time you're hungry and just can't wait! 

Eggplant, pumpkin and spinach stack

Serves 1 as a light meal

Ingredients

4 eggplant slices (1.5 cm thick)

handful of spinach, shredded

1/4 cup of pumpkin slices (0.5 cm thick)

1/2 TBS pine nuts

1/4 cup tomato pasta sauce

Method

Heat up a non-stick frying pan.  Add your pumpkin slices and cover so that the heat and steam will cook them faster.

In another non-stick frying pan, add your eggplant slices and cook until brown on both sides (approx. 4 minutes each side).

Once you have some room in your pan, add the spinach leaves and cook until just wilted.

Heat up your pasta sauce.

Now assemble the stack.

Here's my order:

Eggplant, pumpkin, spinach. Repeat.

Top the whole lot with the pasta sauce and sprinkle the pine nuts on top.  You could add some nutritional yeast to give it a 'cheesy' taste if you like.

Super easy, fast, no oil added and good for you. 

If you don't have pumpkin, you can substitute with any other vegetable you have in your fridge.  Here's one I made with mushroom as the filling.  It felt like I was eating a burger.  I added a kale and sprout salad and some baked sweet potato and I had one very satisfying, low fat meal.

And I'll finish off with a soup.  Like tacos, I love soup too.  It's such a good way to pack as much vegetables as possible into your meal, it's comforting, and best of all, filling!!

Zucchini cream soup

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 cup spinach leaves

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley + 2 TBS 

2 cups zucchini chopped

1/4 cup brown onion

1/4 cup celery chopped

4 cups water

1 garlic clove

1/2 vegan stock cube

1 TBS nutritional yeast (optional)

2 TBS red capsicum diced

1 TBS pepitas

1 japanese pumpkin 

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

Wash your pumpkin thoroughly and cut in half.  Place them on prepared baking tray, skin side down, and place in oven. Approximately 30-40 minutes depending on oven. 

Meanwhile, Place zucchini, onion, garlic, stock cube, water and celery in a medium saucepan and cook gently until mixure begins to boil.  Reduce heat and cook at a simmer for another 10 minutes or until zucchini is soft.  Add spinach leaves and parsley and cook for a further 3 minutes.  If you need more water, add it.  I like my soup thick.

Blend soup until smooth.  I use a stick blender and just do it in the pot.

Once your pumpkin is cooked, remove from oven and scoop out seeds.  Keep scooping out the flesh until you get a hollow big enough to cradle some of your soup.

Ladle soup into your pumpkin bowl and sprinkle with some nutritional yeast, capsicum, parsley and pepitas.

NB Keep the scraped out flesh to make into pumpkin hummus or to add as butter to your sandwiches, or scoop into smoothies, or add to brozen bananas with some spices to make pumpkin ice cream!!

                     WASTE NOT WANT NOT

peas, love and mungbeans

xxb

week 8

Week 8 is nearing it's end and I've got some lovely recipes for you.  Not all of them are mine, in fact, the majority are from my lovely non-vegan friends.
We had a long overdue get-together over the weekend and being the amazing girls that they are, they all made vegan meals so that we could all eat to our bellies content.
All of them cooked vegan recipes that they had never cooked before, and it all turned out amazingly yum.  This just goes to show, that there's nothing to be scared about when it comes to vegan food.  In fact, it's probably easier and less time consuming than waiting for a roast to cook, or making sure you don't overcook the scallops, e.t.c.
I must admit though, vegan food can take some preparation, specially when making raw meals.  Otherwise, I think it's pretty simple.  But don't let me tell you that.  Give it a go and see for yourself.

I'll start with my dish because I've been flogging it since it was made for me.  This recipe was inspired by my neighbour, she is a self-described non-cook, but she made me the loveliest, most moorish salad I've had in a long time.  I've used the base of her recipe and added some plump juicy figs that I thought really worked well with the flavours.  Thanks Leanne for the idea, I think you're a great cook :)

I made the grains and legumes the night before and stored them in air-tight containers.  This meant that I could assemble it quickly the next day and not worry about being stuck in the kitchen the whole time.  In fact, you can prepare all the ingredients ahead of time and just assemble when you are ready to eat.  Perfect!


Protein Power Salad
serves 8 as a side

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice
1 cup quinoa 
1 cup french lentils
1/2 Tbs coconut oil
1 1/2 cup fennel diced
1/3 cup raw almonds
1/3 cup sunflower seed and pepita mix
1 cup fresh mint chopped
6 figs quartered
1/2 lemon juiced
evoo
sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

Method

Cook brown rice, quinoa, and lentils separately and to packet instructions.  Remember to always rinse your grains and legumes, especially quinoa, as the rinsing removes the bitter taste you can get otherwise.
Heat up your coconut oil in a frying pan and add your fennel, heat gently until fennel is soft.  Put aside to cool.
Heat the frying pan again, this time no oil is needed, and roast your almonds until golden.
When they are cool enough to handle, chop them into slivers.
Rinse your grains and lentils once they are cooked.  About 20 minutes for quinoa, 30-40 for brown rice, and 30 for the lentils.
To make the salad, you just toss all the ingredients together in a bowl, adding the figs last so that they don't break apart when you are mixing it.
Check your seasoning and adjust as required, same for the lemon juice.  I like mine zingy but everyone is different.

The following recipe is by the lovely Natalie, and it's one she got from here.  It was really delicious, and so colourful and the dressing is THE bomb.  I have made the dressing since then and have added it to other salads and also the rice salad and i'm happy to say that it goes really well with just about anything.  You could even use it as a dip, it's that good.

The next dish was made by the sweet Angelica.  She's little, she's Italian, and she makes the best pasta this side of Sicily.  And would you believe it, she made egg-free pasta for us! There was no left-overs of that one, otherwise, we would've all been fighting for the last perfect little ravioli.

I'm still to get the recipe for this, but patience is a virtue and I will practice it.
The ravioli was filled with a mixture of baked pumpkin, garlic and spinach and it was divine! I could have eaten the whole platter.
Ange tells me that it was really simple to make, just flour, water and some olive oil for the pasta.  But I have never made vegan pasta before and I'd rather have the right amounts before I go covering myself in flour and oil.
The sauce itself was outstanding too, so I will post up this little gem as soon as I get it.

As you can see, there was no real theme for our lunch, just that it had to be vegan.  This next recipe was so yummy and for some reason, silky comes to mind when I'm remembering the textures.
This dish was cooked by a crazy Indonesian girl called Dea, and it was just delish.
It was a delicious blend of enoki mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, tofu, and chinese greens with a vegetarian oyster sauce.  A side of soba noodles, the perfect accompaniment.  You can get the recipe here.

Of course, every good kitchen needs a good prep chef, and we had that in the lovely Briana aka Jazzy. Thanks lady for the cheese (yes, the non-vegan kind for the non-vegans) and for your assistance in making the dishes happen.

And last but not least is the dessert I made.  
I must admit, this was a first for me.  Not the dessert making, but this recipe. I was initially going to make a salted caramel and chocolate tart and I still did make that but it just turned out different to what I initially had in my head.  I was aiming for a dulce de leche type tart that I was going to cover in melted dark chocolate so that I would have a hard chocolate top with a soft caramel centre and a crumbly base.  However, the dulce de leche was an experience in itself and I thought that it would be too rich to have the caramel and the hard chocolate on top, so instead, I made a more creamy chocolate topping to go with the salted caramel.  Enjoy.

WARNING: This dessert requires you to have a lot of time, and is best to make ahead of time as you will need to soak, freeze and stand in one spot for at least two hours!  But well worth it.

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart
Makes 20 cm tart 

Ingredients

Crust

3/4 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup walnut and pecans
6 pitted medjool dates
1 Tbsp coconut oil
pinch of sea salt

Method

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until crumbly but able to hold together when pressed.
Press the mixture into a lined springform tin, using some to come up the sides.  Bake in a moderate oven for 10 minutes or until lightly golden.  This last step is optional, but I like it because it gives it a toasted coconut taste.  Alternatively, you can toast the coconut before you process your ingredients. I just didn't think of that at the time.

 Dulce de Leche
Yields about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

2 cans of coconut milk full fat
3/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of sea salt

Method

Place coconut milk and sugar into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat stirring occasionally.  When it begins to boil, turn heat down to low and cook for about 2 hours.
Yes, that's not a misprint, 2 HOURS!!
Add the salt at the end and stir to dissolve.
Make sure you keep stirring every few minutes to stop the mixture from burning or sticking to the bottom.
Now this is what happened to mine, I left the stove because I could no longer wait to go to the toilet and when I came back, the mixture had curdled.  ARGH!  You can imagine my annoyance, having stood in front of it patiently, crossing and uncrossing my legs, for the past two hours!  Now what was I to do? My dream of making vegan dulce de leche had gone, just because I had to wee.  
But not all was lost my friends.  In my desperation to make this work, to not let the past two hours be a waste of time, I did what any self-respecting girl would do.  I drained off the liquid that was floating on top, which was just oil after all, and after a little bit more stirring, about 5 minutes, I was left with the most delicious dulce de leche.  YEEEAAAHHHH!!
This taught me a very important lesson.  Always trust your gut, it'll let you know what to do :)
Pour dulce de leche in a jar or glass container and let it cool in the fridge.

Liquid Gold!

Chocolate Filling

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup raw cashews soaked overnight or for at least 4 hours
1/3 cup coconut oil liquid
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)

Method

To liquify your coconut oil, stand the container in boiling water.
Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until creamy and smooth.  
You will need to scrape down the sides a couple of times.

Assembly

Pour your cool dulce de leche into prepared tart base.  It will be considerably more thick than when you first poured it into the container.
Smooth it out to cover the bottom.
Pour your chocolate mixture on top of the dulce de leche and smooth the top.
Cover and place in freezer.  Take out of freezer a couple of hours before you are going to serve it.  Store left overs, if any, in the freezer and just cut off a slice whenever you fancy.

Ta-Dahhh!

So that was our vegan cook-off, not bad if I do say so myself.  We all had happy bellies and I was floating on my happy cloud for days afterwards, it's amazing what good company and good food can do :)

With the end of the challenge nearing, and feeling pretty confident about eating a plant based diet, I've decided to add a little more challenges to my challenge.
So for the month of October, I will be doing Gluten Free and for November, I will be bidding farewell to my friend Sugar.
I anticipate that both will be, to say the least, um, challenging.  But, I'm always up for a hard slog so there you are.
I anticipate that No-sugar-vember will be a tough battle.  No sugar means no fruit, which means no green monster smoothies, no berry-chia jam, no chocolate tarts, no vegan dulce de leche, no dried fruit, no stewed apples in my porridge, no banana peanut butter gelato, no raw vegan chocolate......oh dear, the list is endless!!
I have done a no sugar challenge before so I know what lies ahead. The nausea, the headaches, the lethargy, the irritability.  Yes, I will be a sugar junkie seriously crashing from a sugar high.  I plead with you to keep your treats to yourself and away from my face, or I might eat your face!
But seriously, the bad part only lasts a few days and then it's all good.  I'll be on top of the world, feeling smug and silently snickering behind your back when I see you eating a chocolate, feeling rather holy at the fact that I can kick sugar, even for just one month.  Maybe I'll have a cat, maybe the cat and I will sit by the window sill and drink liquorice tea and read books and stuff.  But hold on, I'm not sugarless yet, why am I delirious?  Oh yes, it was just the idea of having no sugar that's sent me loopy.  Oh dear.
But then I will become normal again and celebrate, and we can hold hands while we slurp a delicious green monster smoothie, filled with sweet bananas, yay!

What will October bring I wonder?  A month of no bread, no cakes, no pasta.  It really is the only way I can see to ease myself into dreaded No-sugar-vember.  Yes, babysteps indeed.

Til next time lovers, dreamers and cat owners

Peas, love and mung beans

xxb

ps, i don't have anything against cats or people who love them.  I just prefer dogs.

half way mark

Before I go into what's been going on, I should point something out.  Maybe I should have clarified this at the beginning, my apologies but here it is.

When I use the word vegan, I am not by any means stating that I follow a vegan way of life.  I love shoes way too much.

I use the word vegan to describe a plant based diet that I am currently following.  That is not to take away from those individuals who live the vegan lifestyle, it is just to simplify my life and so that I don't have to write 'plant based diet' all the time.  Hopefully, I haven't offended anyone and I'm sure that who ever owns the word vegan, will not mind.  I think this because I imagine that most vegans are non-judegemental, loving, peaceful humans.

Phew, ok, is anyone else getting annoyed by that word?!

So, the last week and a half have been rather eventful.  I had a birthday, I worked a lot, I got really sick and I tried to squeeze as many new recipes as possible into one day so that I had something new to give you.  

I should also inform you that I finally went to see my doctor, figured I needed a blood test so they were probably the best bet.  Plus, I've got a really good relationship with my G.P and he's a very open individual.  Didn't even bat an eyelid when I told him of my challenge. I really thought he might try to talk me out of it as some non-vegans (there we go again) do.

I get my results next week so will keep you posted (unless it's super embarrassing than I might not).

Ok, so my birthday was awesome although I did leave my party after only an hour of getting there.  No dancing with my girls as planned, no hangover the next morning, just in bed by midnight like cinderella (although I had my prince with me, bonus).

That wasn't the bad part, the bad part was feeling like something was not-quite-right for four days before it hit me.  The worst nausea and many trips to the loo.  Had to leave work early because it was THAT bad.  Who would've thought a tinie tiny little bug could cause so much grief?  But it eventually got better and here I am.

Whilst sick, I hardly ate.  This is not good.  I love food and the sight of it made me sick sick sick.  Not to mention it was the prelude to many uncomfortable situations.

But, one must nourish the body in order for healing to occur so this is what I made.

Save Me Soup

serves 4

Ingredients

1 zucchini 

1 carrot 

1 brown onion diced 

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 parsnip

1 sweede

2 stalks of celery

2 cups of spinach shredded

1 handful of vermicelli noodles

1 cup of creamed corn (i use fresh corn, kernels removed and whizzed with some water)

1/4 cup fresh parsley

1 litre of water

1 tsp of vegetable stock

Method

Chop vegetables roughly (except those as above).

In a medium saucepan, add the water, vegetable stock, onion, garlic, carrot, swede and parsnip.

When the water starts boiling, reduce heat to simmer and add the rest of the vegetables except parsley and creamed corn.

When the carrot and swede are soft but not mushy, add vermicelli, spinach and corn.  If it's too thick, add more water at this stage.

Cook for another 5 minutes, then turn off heat and stir in parsley.

I don't have a photo for this and it doesn't actually look very pretty but it tastes delicious and it was the only thing I could keep down.

I had it with a slice of organic sourdough spelt toast.

Yum.

I have also been trying new ingredients and one that's been interesting me of late is buckwheat.  Now, I am trying to eat less gluten (very hard, I love bread) and buckwheat actually has NO wheat in it.  Sometimes they just really get the names wrong don't they?

Anywhoo, here's a recipe that I came up with for lunch today.

Buckwheat and Kale Salad with Ranch Dressing   

Serves 3 as a light meal

Ingredients

1/2 cup buckwheat

1 1/2 cup kale shredded

1 1/2 cup tuscan cabbage shredded

1/4 cup char-grilled capsicum* chopped

1/3 cup baked pumpkin cubed

1/4 cup fresh coriander chopped

1/4 cup ranch dressing

Method

Soak the buckwheat for 20  minutes, rinse and steam for another 20 minutes.

Fluff with a fork when it's done.

In a large bowl, add all ingredients and toss gently to coat.

Add more seasoning if required.

Easy peasy japanesy.

*To char-grill your capsicum, place whole washed red capsicum over your gas stove element and cook until black and charred on all sides.  Once done, place in a bowl of cold water and leave for a while until cool enough to handle.

The blackened skin will peel off easily.  Remove seeds and store left over in a container with olive oil and add some peppercorns for later use.

But you can't have a salad without the dressing, and I got this beauty from here: http://www.yumuniverse.com/2012/01/11/creamy-dairy-free-soy-free-ranch-dressing/

It's a great recipe but next time I will change a few things.  I'll repost the updated version once my stock runs out.

I should also report that my man has decided to go on a bit of a health kick.  No, I have not been able to convince him to go meatless but it does mean that he's happy to have more than one meat free night a week.  Good for him and good for me because I get to try out some more recipes.

As a family with two young kids, spaghetti bolognese is a favourite at our place and the lover is usually in charge of making it so I thought it might be a good time to introduce my version.

Spaghetti Veganese (he he he) 

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 large eggplant

2 zucchini

1 carrot

1 brown onion

2 cloves garlic

3 stalks celery

1 Tbs coconut oil

1 can organic diced tomatoes

1 Tbs tomato paste

1 Tbs dried oregano

1 tsp vegetable stock

2 Tbs fresh basil

Savoury yeast flakes

Cracked pepper to taste

1 handful of dried spaghetti (about half a pack)

Method

Make pasta to packet instructions and whilst that is cooking, make the rest.

Place all vegetables into your food processor until finely chopped (or looks like mince).

In a large frying pan, heat your oil and add minced vegetables.  Once soft, about 3-5 minutes, add your oregano, paste and vegetable stock.

After 2 minutes, add your canned tomatoes.  If too dry, use a little water to rinse your tomato can and add that to the mixture.

Cook until it starts to boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes.

Once cooked, turn off heat and add fresh basil and cracked pepper.

Once your pasta is cooked, rinse and add to sauce.  Mix well until all pasta is covered.

Serve with a sprinkling of yeast flakes and season if desired.

I added some raw fresh spinach also but that's just because I love it so much.

What was the verdict?  Empty plates! And that's good enough for me :)

And here's another meal that I cooked for them.  You can make it meat friendly by serving it with a side of free range grilled chicken.  I marinated the chicken in mexican spices.

Black Bean Chilli   

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 Tbs coconut oil

2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup brown onion diced

1/2 cup carrots diced

1/2 cup red capsicum

1/2 cup zucchini

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp smoky paprika

1 Tbs dried oregano

1 tsp chilli flakes*

1 tsp vegetable stock

1 can organic black beans rinsed

1 can organic diced tomatoes

1 Tbs fresh coriander chopped

Freshly cracked pepper

Method

In a large fry pan, add your coconut oil, garlic, brown onion and carrots.

When onion is translucent, add the rest of your vegetables, stock powder and spices and cook until fragrant.

Add canned tomatoes and add a little water if too dry. 

Turn down heat once it reaches a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add your beans and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Turn heat off and add fresh coriander and cracked pepper.

I served it top of some left over rice that I had and topped it with a basic avocado, red onion and tomato salsa with a lemon and evoo dressing.

*Omit the chilli flakes if your children don't like it.  Mine don't so we just add some once on our plates.  I don't think it compromises the taste.

  

After my terrible hiatus from food, albeit brief but terrible none the less, I was craving the baked goods I missed out on those few days.

So what's a girl to do?  

Well bake of course!

I revisited a fond friend in the pumpkin cake and this time I used a recipe I found here:http://joythebaker.com/2010/11/vegan-pumpkin-cranberry-apple-pecan-everythinbread/

This recipe is to-die-for delicious and results in the moistest, crumbliest, most delicious bread you'll ever sink your teeth into.  If you love pumpkin, you will love this.  The only change I made was that I used 1/2 cup of raisins and 1/2 cup of dried cranberries as I didn't have any fresh ones.  I also added 1 tsp of ground ginger.  Still delicious in my opinion.

My girls loved this as an afternoon treat which always makes me happy.

This bread is still high in sugar so as a random treat it's ok. 

I'm mindful not to feed my girls too much sugar (and I'm trying to cut down also) so I've had to play around with recipes to come up with something they like.  There has been plenty a time when my nearly 4 year old has told me "mum, it's a little bit yum but not very yum".  She's so sweet, always trying to let me down gently.

Here's a recipe that they both loved, phew!

Bananut Cake Bars

Ingredients

2 medium bananas mashed

1/4 cup sultanas

1/4 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup almond milk

1/3 cup unhulled tahini and sunflower oil mixture (half and half)

2 Tbs maple syrup

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/3 cup wholemeal self-raising flour

Pinch of sea salt

Handful of flaked almonds

1 tsp chia seeds

Method

Line a brownie pan with baking paper and set aside.  Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees celcius.

Carefully mix bananas, dried fruit, tahini/oil mixture, syrup and cinnamon.

Fold through flour and salt but don't over mix, this will result in a tough cake.

Spoon into prepared tin and spread out evenly.  Mixture will be thick, that's cool, it's meant to be.

Sprinkle with almonds and chia seeds and gently press into the batter.

Bake for about 35 minutes but start checkin at around 25 minutes as all ovens are different.

It's ready when your skewer comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack (if you can wait until then).

Store in an airtight container.

Can be warmed up and served with freshly made coconut custard.

And I'm spent!

Peas, love and mung beans

xxb

end of week 3 and start of week 4

Wow, it's nearly a month into my challenge. I don't know about you but to me, the older I get, the faster time seems to pass.  Must have something to do with wanting to try more things, having more responsibility and never, ever, enough time!

This last week I've really been thinking about nutrients.  Am I getting enough? Am I eating the right balance of foods, am I not eating enough of the right stuff, should I combine some foods and leave out others?

It can feel a little overwhelming at times, and the plethora of information out there, although great, can also compound this.

I have found some amazing blogs in the process of my research though, and HOLY KALE and THE WELLNESS WARRIOR are among my favourites.  They are packed with good, practical information and some super duper delicious recipes.  

But back to me :) I guess the only way I'm going to be able to know if I'm on the right track, nutrients wise, is in how my body feels.

At the end of week 3, this is what I've noticed:

1. I'm really hungry after lunch and this leads to snacking non-stop until dinner.  At which time I'm bloated but eat anyway.

2. I've developed some dry patches on my face and have some minor breakouts on my forehead. NOT good.  This could also be due to my lady time approaching.

3.  My hair is falling out and it reminds me of the hair loss I had just after babies, except a little less intense.  But hair loss is hair loss and it points to something not being right.

All is not bad news though.  I still have the same energy levels and am still able to exercise as normal.

I'm sleeping better and I feel more calm in general.  

So, I'm thinking I'm maybe developing some kind of deficiency.  I'm going to make an appointment with a naturopath to sort out what's going on and to get some guidance around what I can do to rectify the situation.  After all, it would be completely silly that in the pursue of health I end up unhealthy!!

There are so many vegans out there who are healthy and great so there must be something I can do to fix this I'm sure.

In the meantime, I have purchased some liquid iron and I'm trying to squeeze in as much protein as I can at each meal.

It's been a super busy last couple of weeks for me so not enough time to play around with recipes, but here's one that I made for dinner tonight.

Mexican Quinoa Wraps

1 Tbs coconut oil

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup brown onion chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp smokey paprika

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 vegan stock cube

1 Tbs tomato paste

1/2 cup quinoa

1/2 cup red kidney beans

1 cup of water

Method

Fry the garlic until soft and translucent.

Add spices and chilli and fry until fragrant.

Dissolve stock cube in water and add to onion mixture.

Add tomato paste and stir until all combined.

Add quinoa and cook with lid on for about 20 minutes or until quinoa grains are cooked (will look translucent).

Turn the heat off and stir in the beans.

Put lid on to keep warm whilst you make your salsa.

Avocado Salsa

1 cup avocado cubed

1/2 cup tomato deseeded and chopped

1/4 cup red onion thinly sliced

1/4 cup coriander chopped

1 Tbs evoo (I used chilli infused)

Freshly squeezed lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together, being careful not to mash avocado.

You will also need some wraps and what ever other topping you will like to add.

I added some purple sweet potato that I had previously baked.

Assemble and enjoy.

Serves 2

I also have a couple of dressing recipes for you to try.  

As you know, I eat a lot of salads and to be honest, the same ol' dressing gets a little bit boring.  So here are a few that have been on high rotation over my veges of late.

Try them out and you'll have fun adding them to yours based on flavour combinations.

Green Machine Dressing

1 avocado

1/2 clove of garlic

Lemon juice

sea salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsley

water

Place all ingredients in a bowl and whizz it up with your hand blender until smooth.

Adjust the seasoning to taste and either add more lemon or water depending on how zingy you like it.

I love this dressing on my kale salads and I get my hands into it so that every little bit of leaf is covered.

Today I had this with some crispy wholegrain flat bread which i spread with unhulled tahini and warmed in the oven.

Tahini Dressing

2 Tbs unhulled tahini

2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp horseradish

sea salt and pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a screw jar lid and shake til combined.

Good on basic garden salads.

Balsamic & Curry Dressing 

Sounds weird I know but you will love it!

3 Tbs balsamic vinegar

3 Tbs evoo

1 tsp curry powder

Method as above

I use this dressing when I make a baked vegetable salad.  I will make some soon and post a picture because it really is delish.

Peas, love and mung beans

xxb