Sunday 24 May 2015

My weight loss journey

It's been 10 months so far that I started the blog and my new veggie lifestyle. It took some time to go 100% vegan but it has been the best decision ever. For the planet, for the animals and for me! I've never been healthier (haven't been sick since I started), my back pain and sciatica have improved drastically and I've lost weight. The first 4kg were gone without effort... Just by eating healthier and avoiding all those animal fats. I started then to go to the gym... And by burning additionally 1500 calories per week through workout I've come down to 10 kg lost in 10 months!! However more than weight I've seen great improvement on my clothes, and most are now baggy, as I've dropped 2....2!... Dress and trouser sizes. I feel healthy, happy and it's noticeable :) 




My preferred cardio workout: 2-3k run followed by 10 minutes crossfit, 10 min rowing and 10 min crossfit. Planks, squats and burpees in between.



Recipe #111 Mushroom "carbonara"

Ingredients:


  • 350gr sliced white mushrooms 
  • 200gr pasta 
  • Sea salt
  • Black pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • Hot paprika powder
  • 3 tablespoons of plant based milk
  • 125ml plant based cream
  • 1 tablespoon of plain flour
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Makes 2 portions

Cook the pasta according to package instructions, reserve a cup of the boiling water.
Sauté the mushrooms with 1 tablespoons of olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons of the pasta's boiling water, garlic powder, black pepper, hot paprika dash and salt. Drain water if the mushrooms sweat too much liquid.
Now prepare the sauce: 
Heat the cream, with the milk, nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper and 2 tablespoons of the boiling water.
When it is bubbling add the flour and don't stop stiring. If needed add another 1-2 tablespoons of water. 
Throw the pasta into the mushroom saucepan and cover with the sauce. Stir well until everything is combined.
Serve sprinkled with vegan Parmesan! 


Recipe #110 Lentil Burgers

Ingredients:



  • 1 can of green lentils
  • 115gr dry chickpeas
  • Sea salt
  • Black pepper
  • 1 onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 red chilli (optional)
  • 5 tablespoons of plain flour
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
Extra flour to dust your hands and either olive oil or sunflower oil to fry the burgers.
For a healthier version see below.

You'll need a food processor for this.



Start by placing the chickpeas in water for about 1-2h. 
Get a food processor and with the chopping blade chop the onion, the garlic cloves and the chilli. Now add chickpeas (drained) and the lentils (rinse well so they are loose). Blend again for about 1 minute.
Now add the lemon juice, olive oil, flour, cumin, salt and pepper. Blend until this forms a paste (around 2 minutes should be enough).

Flour your hands and with about 2 tablespoons of the burger mix shape this into a burger patty. 



1) For a healthier version of this recipe you can shape the burgers and place them on baking paper on an oven proof tray. You can bake them for around 20-25min on 180oC.

or you can fry them, just like meat burgers.
2) In a frying pan heat some oil and carefully place the burger shaped patty into the pan. With a skimmer carefully turn them so they fry on both sides. Around 4 minutes on each side should be enough to cook the burger and give it a golden colour.




The amount in this recipe makes 5 big burgers. Estimated cost for 5 burgers = under 40 cents (€) per burger.


Tuesday 19 May 2015

Recipe #109 Chickpea Omelette

Ingredients:



  • 100gr Gram Flour (aka chickpea flour or besan flour)
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • Sea salt
  • Black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • Pinch turmeric
  • Pinch paprika powder
  • 3/4 tablespoon of baking powder
  • 150ml almond milk
  • 3 tablespoons of water
  • 125gr sliced mushrooms
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil


Mix into a bowl the dry ingredients: flour, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, turmeric and baking powder.

Now slowly add the milk and with the help of a fork whisk the batter so there are no clumps. Add the water and whisk again.

In a frying pan heat the olive oil. Add the mushrooms and allow them to cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour the batter over everything and (without stirring) let it cook for about 5 minutes. With a dish flip the omelette and let it cool on the other side too. You are ready to serve your egg free omelette! :) 


No cholesterol, packed with protein and fiber... even iron ! Much healthier than any egg omelette you can get!





Monday 18 May 2015

BBC FutureNews 2050 All meat sales banned





What would happen if people would stop eating animals? Would cows take over the world? Would cows start eating us?



...this is what WILL happen if people stop eating meat. Yes, the old fashioned farmers will go out of business, but instead new businesses will rise ... Technology could bloom even more. This has happened time after time in other sectors (such as automobile or ice deliveries) why not with the one with most suffering? I hope to see this happen during my lifetime ! x

Sunday 17 May 2015

Recipe #108 Homemade Oat Milk


All you need to have:



  • Rolled oats
  • Filtered Water*
  • Cheesecloth or a gaze dressing**
  • Sieve
  • Two empty bottles/ bowls

* Filtered water is better in taste but you can use tap water instead if you usually drink it anyway.

** it is much cheaper to get the gaze dressing (from any pharmacy or health shop) and it will do the same trick as the cheesecloth.


In a measuring cup add rolled oats up to the 200ml line and fill with additional 400ml water. Let the oats soak for at least 4h, best  overnight.
Blend this mixture. 

Now with only 2 accessories: 


Make your milk. Transfer your oat "shake" through a sieve into another bottle or bowl. You will have some oat pulp which you can keep for other recipe types or throw away. Then wash the sieve and pad the inner part of the sieve with the gaze dressing. Now transfer the milk from the bottle or bowl through the sieve again in order to remove the smaller pulp pieces.
Done ! Cheap, easy and tasty oat milk at home !
This gave me around 500ml of oat milk, keep refrigerated for 2-4 days.


Friday 15 May 2015

Recipe #106 Cucumber and Banana Smoothie

Shopping list


  • 1 peeled kiwi
  • 1 peeled banana
  • 15 raspberries
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 partially peeled cucumber
  • 1 tablespoon of chia seeds
  • 300ml water 


Method 

Blende everything in a smoothie maker or blender or food processor ! Gives 600ml of smoothie.
125 calories per 300ml portion.


Saturday 9 May 2015

Recipe #107 Mushroom Soup

Shopping list


  • 500 gr sliced fresh mushrooms (or frozen)
  • 1/2 cup cashew nuts
  • 1 onion
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 stock cube 
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  • garlic powder
  • paprika powder
  • fresh parsley
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour
  • 1/2 cup soya or almond milk
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast


Method 

Place the cashew nuts in a big bowl and cover them with hot water. Set aside.

Chop the onion and heat in in a big pan with the olive oil. Now add the mushrooms and let them cook partially for 1-2 minutes. Add the seasoning, the stock cube and the water. Add a handful of fresh parsley and cover to allow to cook for 15 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the cashew nuts. Drain the water and place the soaked cashews in a food processor. Chop them. Now add the milk to it and blend until you have a smooth paste. Set aside until the mushrooms are cooked through. Take 1/2 cup of the mushroom liquid and add this to the cashew/milk and blend again.
Pure the mushrooms (either in a blender or with a hand blender). Heat it again till it boils and now add slowly the cashew mix into the soup. At the end add the flour and the nutritional yeast and allow the soup to thicken. (add more flour if needed).




Tuesday 5 May 2015

Recipes Featuring in Veganuary

3 recipes of this blog are featured on Veganuary.com - go check them out and other wonderful recipes of the world www.veganuary.com/recipes