Recipe #4 Spinach vegan-Ricotta cannelloni

This amazing recipe is from JAMIE; See for details his link
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/awesome-spinach-and-ricotta-cannelloni

I gave it a twist, veganizing it; so here's my recipe for 4:

• Olive oil
• Hot paprika powder
• Dry oregano
• Dry nutmeg (optional)
• 1 stock cube
• 600 gr of baby spinach leaves
• 2 cans of 400 g chopped tomatoes
• salt and pepper
• 1 block silken tofu
• Mozzarella violife cheese, grated
• 12-15 cannelloni tubes
• 1 tablespoon of soy milk
• Nutritional yeast

In a wok add a bit of olive oil and place the baby spinach leaves on top. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. Let the spinach cook until the leaves stick to each other. Drain the water and oil. Chop the spinach and transfer to a bowl; 

Prepare the tofu: 
in a food processor blend the tofu and the milk with some salt and pepper. Now add the tofu and the spinach leaves. Spoon this into a clean plastic bag and cut a SMALL tip off. Squeeze the mixture into a cannelloni tube very carefully and place the cannelloni in a oven proof dish.

Sauce: 

Blend the tomato cans with 2 tablespoons of dry oregano, salt, pepper and the stock cube. 

Now cover the cannellonis with the tomato sauce. Add grated violife cheese on top and 2-3 spoons of nutritional yeast. Let it cook in the oven around 30-35 minutes on 180oC.

If you're an animal rescuer you shouldn't be eating this

If you're an animal rescuer I am sure you find it unacceptable to abandon a pet.
If you're an animal rescuer I am sure you are against killing shelters.

If you're an animal rescuer I am sure you are against people who do not neuter their pets.

We have three rescue cats, have helped in the past in some rescues and have encountered several people in the business (so to speak). Passionate, good hearted people who will sacrifice their money, time and tidy houses to rescue a (another) stray cat or dog. People who let their dogs and cats sleep on their beds, pillows and even give up for them their favorite chair in the house. People who have a connection with a pet know that they feel, they love and they feel sadness, joy and even miss their owners when they are gone. I have heard many times "only people who haven't had a pet in their lives think animals do not feel!". 
And of course they do! 

They are intelligent and they have a connection with you. You are part of their pack, their family, they are loyal to their own kin in the same way humans are (or sometimes even more!).You can find thousands of videos online about how smart cats, dogs and other pets are, playing ball, finding & hiding items, opening doors, stealing our food... But so are other animals:

- a chicken is smarter than a dog: they can complete simple puzzles and play games
- Pigs are as smart as a 3 year old child; they can even recognize themselves in the mirror (a test dogs and cats don't pass).

- cows are extremely social animals: they have great memory to find the best spots to graze and drink; they have best friends

- sheep have incredibly great memory for face recognition. They recognize sheep in their flock and are aware when these sheep are missing. 
(If you want to know more about animals, please read The Pig Who Sang to the Moon - it is a wonderful book about how animals are in the wild)

Even given the above some people, who would do anything and spend whatever it takes on their pets' well being, continue to eat the flesh of other (as social and (sometimes) more intelligent as their own pets) animals, such as cows, pigs and chickens. Some say they only buy organic, humane-killed animals, because the animals suffered less and were well treated during their life (or due to health reasons, such as antibiotic growth). But they ended, never the less, in the oven; you might be petting your beloved dog while eating a cheeseburger, the flesh from a cow. 

But why is it that we so strongly advocate against violence towards dogs and cats while we are eating a cheeseburger? Would we REALLY be ok with the fact that someone had a pet during years, fed him the best food, let him sleep in his bed only to kill him for a Christmas dinner? Of course we wouldn't ! In the same way we find it horrible to abandon your pet just to go on holidays!

Even if humanely killed, that cow still was dragged into a slaughterhouse, got her throat cut and got butchered into meat pieces.

How much suffering is really on your plate?
How much necessary suffering is on your plate?

How come do we fight everyday at the shelter to save a cat or a dog from a lethal injection; just to go home and eat a cheeseburger?

If people would truly love animals, and not only cute and furry pets, they would be against ANY type of violence towards ANY type of animal; any type of killing (PTS, slaughterhouse...) because in the end they all suffer in the same way they all feel. You cannot assume animals feel because you love your pets but then prefer to think they do not suffer when it comes to dinner.

Worse is that most of the meat people consume, doesn't even come from those humane farms, these meats account for less than 5% of the meat consumed worldwide. So most of the people are supporting a terrible industry that mistreats animals, makes them suffer for the duration of their entire life (short life...) and kills them in terrible ways (but cheap). We just WANT to believe the nice farm pictured on the front of that mince beef package.

So next time you go out and find a stray cat or dog and rescue him/her, think twice at dinner time; give it a second of your time to think that behind 'your' meat was a living animal, as gentle natured as this stray, as loving to their babies as the dog was to her puppies but to whom nobody cared to look twice on his way to the slaughterhouse. He too was scared, alone and didn't want to be killed but nobody saved him.

Do you still want that burger now?

If you are a feminist you shouldn't be drinking this

If you're a feminist I am sure you find it unacceptable to separate mothers from their babies. 

If you're a feminist I am sure you are against sexual slavery and rape.

If you're a feminist I am sure you have a formed opinion on the abortion subject.

I am not a mother. I can only imagine how it would be like; that first moment when you hold your newborn baby and you suddenly know how to hold him, how to reach out your breast to nourish him and provide what he needs without anyone teaching you. You would probably turn into a lioness if someone would rip him out of your arms and take him away. You would probably sob and never forget him. Most of these motherly instinct are deep coded animal instincts; the same way a mother cat, a mother dog, a mother pig, mother cow, mother chimpanzee or mother dolphin know what to do and how to nourish their newborn.

I find it amazing how your body knows it needs (and does!) produce milk / food for your infant. Your body made a tiny person and is also producing the only food he/she will ever need for the first months. Stop for a moment. Isn't that incredible?!.. And this isn't exclusive to us; nature gave this ability to several species on this planet whom we all mammals, because well we all have mammary glands and produce milk for our babies. Our babies. Why don't we see people giving human breast milk to orphaned baby cats or dogs? But this would be weird ... giving them human milk, human milk is intended for humans not cats.

So why do we enslave female cows, rape them (to get them pregnant) and then take their babies away... To sell their milk to humans? Have you ever stopped to think about this? For a long time I did not. Can you imagine the suffering of an animal to be ripped from their offspring? They do not understand why, and if we could explain this to them... how would we justify this terrible act on basis of selling their milk to another species? In the end we all are animals, we all live by our animal instincts and suffer in the same way in those basic connections (mother-baby); the same raw animal pain a women has if her newborn baby is taken away from her is in every cow, every day, whom baby's taken away from her so we can drink his milk and eat his (veal) flesh; both things that we have no nutritional need to ingest to be healthy (actually quite the contrary, we are much healthier if we don't...)

If you are a feminist fighting for women rights, start at breakfast, and don't support female suffering of another species, they are not so different from us after all.

My weight loss journey (part 2)

After loosing 10 kg in the past 10 months (5kg due to just eating vegan & healthy and the other 5kg due to working out) I have just adjusted my plan. Now starts the hard part. I am 10 kg from my ideal weight (for my height) and 15kg far from my perfect weight, which is my current goal.

So I would like to share my current workout plan & diet

• Cardio for 45 minutes (these 45 minutes are / should be measured against the time you are in "the zone". Your target heart rate ranges from 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. If you exercise in the fat burning zone, your heart rate stays in the lower end of the range, not exceeding 70 percent. ). This consists usually of a 30 minute run, followed by 15 or 20 minutes cross-trainer. 4x a week

• Weights (leg and arm exercises): a tailored plan to get arms and legs strong enough to endure more and more cardio. Building up muscles makes you burn more fat.

• Reduction of carbs in my diet (especially in the evenings). My usual dinner now consists of a low carb soup such as Butternut squash with baby spinach leaves or vegan protein burger with side salad.

• Increase of protein (and especially on workout days). I try to eat at least 1 Nakd bar (strawberry crunch bar, 5.5g of protein), 1-2 tablespoons of chia in my smoothie in the morning, 1 cup of soya milk per day and 1 meal with protein based ingredient (chickpeas, Wheat protein, tofu, beans, etc), hemp protein in my shakes.

• Drink plenty of water. I drink at least 2lt of water (plain water, not counting my juices or smoothies) and sometimes up to 3lt. This increases your metabolic rate, making you burn more calories and also cleanses your body from toxins.

Moodley Manor Bolognese

So we recently bought Moodley Manor burgers ... we still had 2 left and did not want to eat them with bread again so we decided to try a bolognese.
We chopped them up really small and added

• 1 onion
• 1 package of tomato passata
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• garlic powder
• black pepper
• sea salt
• dry parsley
• olive oil
• hot paprika
• spaguetti pasta
• 1 stock veggie stock cube

And turned this into a great pasta dish !

Recipe #112 Zucchini Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients:

• 200gr sliced white mushrooms 
• 175gr dry fusili 
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
• 1 cup plant based milk
• 1 tablespoon of plain flour
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• Handful of cut scallion
• Dry parsley
• 50gr vegan cheddar cheese 
• 1/4 cup water (pasta cooking water)

Makes 2 portions

Cook the pasta according to package instructions, drain the water and reserve 1/4 cup of the boiling water. Set aside.

Cut the mushrooms into thin slices. Cut the zucchini into small chunks.

Sauté both with the scallions and the olive oil. Season with garlic powder, black pepper and salt. 

In a separate saucepan prepare the sauce: 

Heat the milk, with nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper and 1 tablespoons of flour.

Stir all the time to avoid that the sauce burns. When it is bubbling add the cheese (cut into small chunks so it melts easier). Add 1/4 cup of the pasta's boiling water and stir.

Throw the pasta into the mushroom saucepan and cover with the sauce. Stir well until everything is combined and sprinkle with dry parsley.

Happy 10 months to me !

Happy 10 Months to me ! 10 months ago I went vegetarian (no milk, no eggs but the occasional cheese) and 6 months ago 100% vegan. Really happy about my choices, they have made me healthier, they have made me feel better about myself, turned me into a more ethical and spiritual person. I don't understand how I did not make the move earlier. I truly love animals and want them to lead happy free lives. Go plant based, go vegan... for the animals, for the planet and for yourself. 

Moodley Manor Meats

So a few weeks ago I placed an order for the all new vegan burgers from Moodley Manor: MoodleyManor.com/moodleymeats

(picture from Moodley Manor facebook)

A new company, handmade wheat-protein based burgers that promised to taste exactly like meat: without the animal cruelty! Locally based, Dublin, couple Aisling and Gav sell their Burgers and Bacon slices for Meatless BBQ sessions.

So our first 4 burgers arrived this week: excited ! (Notice how I said "first" burgers ? Ahah) 

1st Great packaging: they arrived in a styrofoam cooling box with an ice pack. Sorry to say but i did not find they looked very tasty in the plastic packaging. However once they were in the pan they turned into this fantastic tall, textured meat-like burgers. Like magic in the pan ! My boyfriend made his famous burgers with caramelised onions and a slice of dairy-free Violife cheese, semi melted. 

Our first reaction "are you sure this isn't beef?" The texture is unbelievably great, tall burgers that have all the flavour vegans look for in a burger! Can't wait to BBQ them and also to try their vegan Bacon slices. 

Well done, congrats on these babies and all the luck in the future for Moodley Manor Meats!

(picture from Moodley Manor facebook)

Dessert Idea

A cup of strawberry slices, sprinkled with chia seeds and some whipped cream (from Soyatoo) and dark chocolate shavings on top.