Ingredients:
- 3 baby fennel bulbs
- 2 large handfuls of radishio
- 2 large handfuls of rocket
- 3 tablespoons of ground almonds
- olive oil
- the juice of half a lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Slice the fennel into thin strips, slice the radishio and rocket roughly and combine in a bowl. Dress with the ground almonds, squeeze the lemon over the salad, drizzle with olive oil and season.
I made a decision to eat more raw foods, the evidence is overwhelming that it is good for you, nutritionally superior to most diets and it can be quite delicious. It is, however, quite a challenge to eat raw food all the time, especially when you go out a lot. My initial transition involved going completely raw for three days, which felt great, but it wasn’t realistic for my current lifestyle so for the moment I’m eating one to two raw meals a day and one normal vegan meal. I find that the raw food is quite filling, possibly as it is fiberous and also from a nutritional point of view, when your body has the nutrients it needs, you feel content and full. I’m finding that raw food takes some getting used to from a preparation point of view, as well as in terms of the ingredients you use. Taste wise, I find raw food to be really good and satisfying, although the more creative you are, the better as eating salads all the time is boring. I may look into getting a dehydrator soon because this will enable me to make a wider variety of dishes. I think that the transition from vegan to raw, or mostly raw, is not too difficult and I’m feeling the benefits of more energy and overal health.
This cauliflower mash was great served with a chopped salad of cucumber, tomato, onion and parsley.
Ingredients:
- one small head of cauliflower
- one large handful of raw cashew nuts
- the juice of half a lemon
- a drizzle of olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- chopped italian parsley to garnish
- chopped red chilli to garnish (optional)
Method:
Cut the cauliflower into chunks and place in your blender/food processer (if using a blender, smaller chunks will be necessary. I used the Blendtec for this and it did the job easily (you can get one over here). Then add the cashew nuts, lemon, seasoning and olive oil. Blend everything together, you may require a little water, depending on the machine you are using, to get it to blend. Sprinkle some parsley and chilis over the cauliflower mash and serve.
I prefer lentils, chickpeas or beans as a protein source over soya any day. While vegans (and vegetarians) typically make their spaghetti bolognaise with soya mince, it actually tastes way more wholesome and good made with lentils (okay and some other cool ingredients).
Ingredients:
- One onion chopped finely
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 4 stalks of celery chopped finely
- 2 cups of grated baby carrot (they’re sweet and flavourful!)
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup of white wine
- 1 tin of lentils drained and rinsed
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 500g of spagetti cooked according to the instructions on the packet
Method:
On the stove, add some olive oil to a pot, add in the onions and cook on a low heat for around 20 minutes until they are soft and fragrant. Add the garlic, carrots and celery, stir and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and the wine, bring to the boil and simmer lightly on a low heat for around an hour (yes this is a long time, but the flavours are amazing!).
When you are ready to serve, add the lentils to the sauce (because they come from a tin and are pre-cooked, if you simmer them for too long they will break up and become mushy). Bring the sauce back up to a simmer for 5 minutes.
Combine the sauce and the pasta and sprinkle lots of parsley over it before serving.
This is one of my absolute favorites at the moment, its really nothing new, but sometimes basic ingredients can be whipped together into something delicious!
Ingredients:
- 1 large avocado
- the juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon of mustard
- himalayan salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- a little bit of water
- toast of your choice
Method:
Remove the avocado skin and pip and place in your blender with the seasoning, mustard, oil and a little bit of water – you want it to blend easily but not become liquid, so use your discretion. I used the Blendtec (which you can get here). It is an amazing blender, no vegan should be without one, pricy but it has so many amazing functions you can make things that are normally plain or boring far more exciting…it even makes ice cream!
So when your blending, start off at a lower speed and increase it up to the highest speed, this creates a whipped up effect, putting air into the avocado and making it creamy. Serve on toast.
Delicious vegan breakfast!
This is a place I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time and I’m so glad that I eventually got there! The Sophea Gallery and Tibetan Teahouse is located in Simon’s Town in a red corner house overlooking the ocean. The teahouse is in the front portion of the house with the gallery behind. The energy here is calming and relaxed, with spiritual art on every wall, crystal jewellery and delicious vegan and vegetarian food.
The menu excited me to no end, with most of it dedicated to vegan baked goodies! I find that as a vegan, unless you bake something yourself, your not going to get cake, biscuits or desert. The teahouse however does not disappoint in this department! There were so many options to chose from, but eventually I settled on apple crumble with vegan ice cream, my mom had a scone with jam and vegan cream and my dad had chocolate cake. All vegan, all delicious!
Apple crumble with vegan ice cream, decorated with a sprig of lavender. This was declisious, homely and flavourful. I loved the contrast of warm crumble with cold ice cream. Really lovely.
Quite possibly the biggest scone I’ve ever seen!
Amazingly decadent chocolate cake!
I know I’ve focused on the cakes but that is not all the teahouse has to offer. There is actual tea! They have a wonderful varied selection of teas which can be served with rice or soya milk. I tried the chai tea with rice milk.
Some of the teas are served in these cute wooden cups!
Their menu also boasts lots of vegan and vegetarian meals which sounded wholesome and delicious, but we were more in the mood for sweet stuff.
All in all, an extremely pleasant experience. I really enjoyed the peaceful, spiritual atmosphere of the teahouse and of course I had a poke around the gallery which showcased some diverse spiritual art, some more buddhist in nature, some more esoteric. I’ll definately return the next time a craving for cookies hits.
The only thing I must mention is that this is a leisurely experience, don’t expect anything to arrive in a hurry, the service is just as relaxed as the atmosphere :)
The view from the teahouse terrace is absolutely beautiful and very tranquil – wind chimes and an ocean breeze – bliss.
I came across this list of restaurants which have collaborated with Beauty Without Cruelty to offer special deals or promotions during vegan week – which is happening from 25 to 31 October. (The image is from the BWC website and have placed it below). It would be great to visit one or two places to see what they have on offer in terms of vegan fare! As an aside, in case you don’t already have one of these, Woolworths offers what they call a “My School Card” which they swipe before you make purchases, it gives you certain discounts on some merchandise but also donates a portion of what you’ve spent to a nominated charity or school. There are lots of charities to choose from, my card is linked to Beauty Without Cruelty because I think they do really great work and I greatly appreciate that you can get cruelty free beauty products from Woolworths. Its pretty easy to get a card by completing an application on the Woolworths website.
Have a happy vegan week next week :)
TRAVELLING….
When ever I am going to be travelling locally for a day or two, I stash a few avocados and a box of soy/rice milk in my bag. That way when you wake up to a breakfast that would make a omnivore delighted and your feeling sorry for yourself, you can whip out your trusty avo, smear it on some toast, get a grilled tomato and a some mushrooms and feel ready to take on the day. You can also add your veggie milk to cereal/oats/tea and coffee…this all makes you feel like a happy traveller! An avo can also be useful when you are forced to order a garden salad as it is the only thing on the menu…it adds depth, flavour and nutrition!
You can even be more prepared and make some muffins or cookies to take along in a tin, these last a few days and are great for snacks/meal substitutes if your desparate. Nuts and raisins/dried cranberries are useful to carry around with you also.
An easy meal that you can purchase at the store and isn’t too difficult to prepare without a kitchen is hummus, some bread and olives.
It helps to call ahead and tell the place your staying at that you are a vegan, so they can prepare themselves to feed you better or you could just stay in vegan friendly hotels/guest houses….not many around but a few exist :)
And finally, know what your emergency food is…you may not want to eat fast food, but its an option – for me it would be a Steers veggie burger (hold the sauce + add extra garnish) or if there is a Kauai around there are a few vegan options on their menu.
Ingredients (for two):
- one tin of chickpeas
- two large handfuls of baby spinach
- two large carrots
- three medium courgettes
- olive oil
- the juice of a large lemon
- a teaspoon of ground cumin
- a teaspoon of chili (to taste)
- seasoning
- an avocado
Method:
Chop the courgettes into thin slices and add into a pan on the stove with some olive oil, allow to cook on a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Peel and grate the carrots and add to the pan, allow this to cook for around 5 minutes so the courgettes and carrots are soft. Chop the spinach finely and add it to the pan. The spinach will cook quickly, after a minute or so add in the chickpeas (drained and rinsed). Squeeze in the lemon juice, season and add the chili. Mix everything in so it is well coated in the juices. Serve with some sliced avocado.
This is ultra healthy but also super delicious and really quick to put together! Broccoli provides a high amount of vitamin C, which aids iron absorption in the body so ideally you may want to add some chickpeas or beans to this meal or have have it as an accompaniment to a bean dish. Broccoli also contains lots of folic acid, potassium and calcium.
Ingredients:
- One head of broccoli cut into bite size pieces
- Three tablespoons of soy sauce
- A teaspoon of olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Some brown wild rice cooked according to the instructions on the packet
- Some cashew nut “cheese” made according to this recipe to serve
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a pan on the stove and add the broccoli, stir it around occasionally and keep it at quite a high temperature. Add in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and season (not too much salt because the soy sauce is pretty salty on its own) after a couple of minutes and cook for a further 5 minutes, you want the broccoli to be a little crunchy but not raw. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce to your brown rice and mix in then add the broccoli and sprinkle the cashew cheese on top. It sounds pretty simple but it is delicious and fresh.
