Yes, you're still eating Meat...

Lately I have been a little sick of some people I know claiming to be vegetarian or vegan who are still clearly not.

 I know it is a little rich to sit here and quote my own definition of "vegetarian" and "vegan", but I will say that only cutting out beef or pork does NOT make you a vegetarian. It also doesn't mean that you don't eat meat.
Meat is the flesh of another animal. Whether it be a cow, pig, chicken, turkey, or (shock) fish!
I don't understand why someone who eats chicken or fish would presume to call themselves vegetarian? You have simply replaced eating one animal with another! (Also, someone that chooses to remove all meat except fish from their diet is called a "pescatarian")
Please don't get me wrong, I think that any reduced amount of animal products consumed by friends or family is a wonderful thing! But I don't believe that people should take something like being a vegetarian and brand themselves as such, without actually living by the moral code that comes along with it.
I stopped eating meat because I couldn't stand the idea of causing the pain of another just to satiate my own unnecessary desire for their flesh.. it is slightly repulsive to me to be honest.
I do not begrudge others who don't feel the same, I truly am not going to walk up to you on the street and pressure you into becoming a vegan! But I don't believe that anyone that does choose to eat meat (from any animal) should then brand themselves as something they are not.

Rant over.

Things I'd like to do this year

I thought if I write down some things that I have been meaning to do this year, then I might actually do them!

Things I want to do this year:

• Go to Bali - I already have this one planned for September, but I thought I'd add this one to the list mainly because I'm super excited to be going, and because it is something I want to do this year! ;-P (starting the list off easy)
• A cleanse!
• Go to the snow - Trav and I have a mutual  love for the snow and snowboarding (even though he is much better than I am), last year we managed to go down to the Snowy Mountains (3 hours south of Canberra) twice, and had so much fun there together! But this year it is half way through the snow season already and we haven't yet been :-( We will hopefully be able to go before we go to Bali.
• Renovate the bathroom -  this one is SO necessary! The villa we live in was built in 1980, and when Travis bought it the entire house was in nearly original condition (kitchen, carpet, paint, bathroom). So last year we renovated the kitchen ourselves, and we have painted the entire house twice (Ughhhhh! Painting is probably my most hated house-reno job so far!), but the bathroom is the one that we haven't gotten around to yet. Hopefully we can get it done by November at least! I am so excited to have a new bathroom already! 
• Teach Radley to shake - Radley is a lovely pup, who is so cute and snuggly, but he is very easily distracted. I would love to be able to teach him a few new tricks to distract him when he sees Domino - like shake and roll over - because at the moment he is woeful! 
• Cook a grand vegan feast! - I have wanted to try my hand at making a fabulous vegan feast for a while now, but I am still not super confident with  my cooking abilities.. So a goal for this year is to cook an amazing array of dishes to serve to friends or family and show them how delicious vegan food can be! (Unfortunately most of them still think all I eat is salad)
• Buy a new oven - I've been oven-less for over a month now... enough said :-( 
• Do a creative writing course - I love writing, I went to uni to become a writer, an editor, or a publisher, but became too scared of showing people my own work, and dropped out of the course. I'm not sure why, but I have always hated to show other people my own words... so I guess having a blog is a remedy of sorts. Now I think that I am finally comfortable enough to actually submit something, so I will give it a go! I will post more about the course once it starts...
• Finish all of the books on my "to read" list! Unless you couldn't tell by the ridiculous list above, I am a procrastinator from waaaaaaayyy back! I have trouble finishing things once i start them... (hence the list) and sometimes there are books that you may not be 100% enthusiastic about from the beginning, and those are the ones I have the most trouble finishing... Although I am proud to say that this year I finally finished Wuthering Heights, which I had notoriously picked up and put back down over 30 times before I finally did finish it....... needless to say I was devastated with the result....

If I think of anything else that I really should get done this year I'll make sure to add them, and I will cross things off as I finish them! 

Check out my Instagram, Pinterest and Goodreads for more! 

Vegan Cashew Cheese Recipe

So I thought I should post the recipe for the cashew cheese I used. I had seen lots of recipes for it, and thought it looked easy enough, so I tried my own :)
I used my food processor for this, but I think a good blender would work fine too, you may need to just stop and start a little more than with a food processor, just to push down the sides.
Also, I used a herb in mine to make it a little tastier.. for some reason I had seen dill at the supermarket and thought it would be nice, but as with most cheeses, any fresh herb would suffice!
I found that this cheese ended up tasting a like a ploughman's cheese. I used to love one certain brand, and this is very close to that! I was very pleasantly surprised!

Ingredients

Raw cashews - 1 1/2 C
Nutritional yeast - 1/4 C
Garlic Salt - 1t
Onion Powder - 1T
Juice from 1/2 lemon - be careful with not adding too much to make it overly lemon-y.
Canola oil - 1T
Dill (or other fresh herb) - diced - 2T

Method

• Soak the cashews - I've read a lot of people saying overnight, I only soaked mine for 4-5 hours, so if you know you want to make it that evening, soak in the morning, or if you want to the next day, then do it the night before :) easy. (I am very poor at remembering to soak things the night before, which is why I generally opt for the day soak)
• Drain and rinse the cashews, and place in the food processor or blender with the nutritional yeast, lemon juice,  garlic salt, onion powder and oil.
• Blend - scraping down the sides of the food processor every minute or so.
• Keep processing until it becomes smooth.
• Add in the fresh chopped herbs and blend until combined.
• Serve in a cute bowl, and eat with EVERYTHING! I stored mine in the fridge overnight covered in some plastic wrap and it tasted just as good the next day.

So far we have served it on fresh bread, toasted bread, crackers, and on our yummy Vegan Burgers!
Also, stay tuned to see how this cheese turns out in my Lasagna this weekend!

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The results of my cashew cheese experiment!

Creamy cashew "cheese" with dill

YAY!
I am so proud of myself! :-P Not that it was truly that hard to make.. I think I had just deluded myself into thinking that it was too hard to make anything that had the words "vegan" and "cheese" in the same sentence.
It has come out creamy, tangy, and delicious! We are eating this one with Jatz biscuits and yummy crunchy bread.
I will definitely be making this one again, Travis has suggested a lasagne this weekend after he tried the cheese.. SUCH a good idea! I have tried and failed a few times at the perfect vegan lasagne, but I think with this extra added cheesiness it could turn out well! I'll keep you posted on that one! But for now, back to the cheesy goodness...

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Vegan Burgers!

I love food that is quick, with little mess, and can be eaten with your hands. It is my favourite kind of food.

I had seen a few vegan burger recipes floating around the web, and decided to make my own a few months after going vegan, just to see if I could.. and surprisingly enough they turned out delicious!

We have eaten these quite a few times now, and it has turned into a weekend treat for us. 

I always use my signature bean for the patties - Kidney beans -  only because I always seem to have a can of them floating around somewhere. Lentils also make an appearance for this recipe, not sure why I used them, but I think they help with the texture of the patty.

This is one of Travis' favourite meals of mine, and I hope you like it just as much! It is simple, and rather painless, so I'm sure you will do fine :-P

Vegan Burgers

Kidney beans - 1/2 can
Lentils - 1/4 can
Mushrooms - 4-5
Worcestershire Sauce - 2T
Cumin - 2t
Paprika - 2t
Onion powder - 1t
Oil - 2T
2t chia seeds + 2T water - mixed to a paste
Avocado
Tomato
Burger buns - Turkish seem the best so far

• Combine the lentils and kidney beans and mash them in a bowl with a fork until there aren't very many lumps.
• Add the worcestershire sauce, the cumin, paprika, chia paste and the onion powder (or fresh onion can be used), and mix through the patty mixture.
• Chop up mushrooms, and cook in 1T of the oil until brown, then set aside. 
• Make 2 patties out of the beans and lentil mixture, and place in 1T of the oil in a fry pan - they will not hold together very well, so you will need a good metal spatula to scrape and mould them.
• Flip the patties once they start to crisp on the bottom
• Cut up the avocado and tomato, and anything else you like to put on burgers.
• Halve the buns and place under the grill until crisp

Serve as you like! (I also added a little of the cashew cheese i made yesterday..mmm)


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Sick Days

Home today! I hurt my back over the weekend - I think it's from too much washing, therefore I have told Travis that's the universe telling me I'm not supposed to do it anymore... Damn :-P

So I have decided to try my hand at cashew cheese! I have seen the recipes, and been jealous of lots of friends for making it, and I have had some raw cashews just sitting in the cupboard for weeks now, so I think today is the perfect day for it! 

I am pre-soaking the cashews now, and will be gathering a few extra ingredients after the chiropractor this afternoon then I will definitely be posting some pictures of my attempt (and a recipe if it is successful)!

There have been so many yummy "cheese" recipes that I have seen lately, and I have meant to try them all, but with limited time, and SO many house-chores to do on weekends, I barely get time to cook us anything exciting! 

Today also gives me an excuse to keep an eye on Radley, who was a very naughty dog on Sunday morning and broke into the cupboard where his biscuits are kept. He was nearly a quarter of the way through the (quite large) bag when I caught him! 

He was a very miserable dog all day yesterday, and with a belly as big as his was I can see why! 

Radley and his oversized belly!

Most unfortunate for me has been his unbearable gas (and that he is very attached to me when I am home)! 

Thankfully his tummy seems to have gone down overnight, but I was very worried about him last night, and am happy to be able to keep an eye on him and make sure he is a little more lively today - he is. 

Radley and Suzie 

Today also means that I finally have a chance to catch up on Game of Thrones season 3! Travis isn't a fan of the show, so I am lucky enough to be able to watch without having to worry about ruining the show for him when I tell him all about it later tonight :-P 

Why I love weekends! (And my Scrambled Tofu recipe)

My weekends are precious to me. Not only because I get to spend some time with my lovely boyfriend (Trav works every second weekend), and adorable pets, but because I get some time to spend to myself - cooking, reading and relaxing!
My favourite time on the weekends is when I get to make us a big vegan breakfast. YUM!
It's great, because it's the time when breakfast can become lunch, and you actually have the time to savour your food, you're not rushing to eat it because you're at work (check out my "desk breakfasts" here), and you have a chance to sit and decide what to do for the day over a cup of yummy tea or coffee.

My usual weekday breakfasts 

I came up with my own version of scrambled tofu - as everyone does - and I think what I like about it best is that it incorporates most of the foods I love into one meal!

Scrambled Tofu

My Scrambled Tofu! 

Tofu - around half a block depending on how hungry you are!
2 T Oil - I used olive this time because I ran out of coconut
Cumin 1tsp
2 cloves Garlic
Vegan Worcestershire Sauce - 1T
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Mushrooms - 4 medium
Savoury Yeast flakes - 1tsp
Sunflower seeds - 2 tsp
Crusty bread
Soy Margerine
Baby Spinach

Method

Roughly chop or break up the tofu and place in a medium sized bowl.

Sprinkle with Cumin, and pour in Worcestershire sauce - stir through the tofu. 

Add in the sunflower seeds and soy sauce.

Chop up the garlic, and heat the oil in a fry pan on medium heat.

Add the garlic to the fry pan, cook for a minute - stirring constantly - then add mushrooms and fry until browned around the edges.

Add the tofu mixture to the mushrooms, and cook until the tofu is cooked through and brown on most sides, then set aside.

Cut your bread into thick slices and toast (I like mine extra thick and cooked under the grill - mmm)

Butter your toast, place baby spinach on each piece then finish with the tofu and mushrooms on top - Et voilà!

(Best served with a delicious cup of coffee, or if you're me and constantly forget to buy coffee every time you're at the shops you will have a Chocolate So Good. )

Foods I'm Craving This Winter - and other things I generally can't live without

So Sydney does not get that cold.. But Sydney-siders like to complain about the cold as if it were Siberia anyway, and I am one of them. I can whinge with the best of them, and with feet that are permanent icicles in winter (it's true, ask my boyfriend), I like to keep myself nice and toasty with yummy comforts.... and bed-socks.

Some things I cannot live without in winter:

• Toast - with lots of soy butter and vegemite/peanut butter - mmm
• Chocolate - I am loving Sweet Williams individual mini chocolates at the moment
• Porridge - I soak my oats overnight in a jar with some soy/almond milk and add other yummies like dates, cinnamon, maple syrup, chia, blueberries and always banana
• Coffee - it keeps my hands warm!
• A huge printed scarf
• Vegan shepherds pie -there is nothing better than this dish when it's miserable outside! (I'll post my recipe soon)
• A good umbrella - one that's small enough to fit in a handbag!
• Waterproof pleather boots
• Individual chocolate mug cakes
• Lip Balm! The current favourite is Bonne Bell Baby Lips - Pink Lolita 

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