Recipe #119 (Gluten Free) Falafel Burger

Ingredients

150gr dry chickpeas

3 tablespoons of gram flour

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 small - medium onion

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 teaspoons of cumin powder

2 teaspoons of black pepper

1-2 teaspoons of sea salt

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

3 teaspoons of turmeric powder

First soak the chickpeas overnight or for around 12h. 

After this time drain the water.

In a food processor chop the onion and the garlic cloves. Then add the chickpeas for about 1-2 minutes or until you have a smooth paste.

Now add all the remaining ingredients and blend again till its smooth enough to form patties.

[Optional: add a handful of fresh coriander: ]

That's the next step! with around 3 tablespoons of the Falafel mix form patties with the inside of your hand.

Fry them in a bit of olive oil in a pan for about 2-3 minutes each side.

Serve in a burger bread with hummus and ketchup, or however you like it !

Recipe #117 Homemade Soy Milk

All you need to have:

• Dry soy beans (around 50 gr)
• Filtered Water*
• Maple syrup 2 tablespoons
• Sieve
• Cheesecloth or a gaze dressing**
• Two empty bottles

* 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.

1. In a measuring cup add the soy beans and cover with a lot of water (around 3x the amount of beans). Leave them 4 - 6 hours, or better overnight, soaking. 

2. Drain the beans and add them to a blender, food processor or a powerful smoothie machine. Add about 550-600ml of water to the beans and blend on high speed for about 1-2 minutes.

3. Then take your sieve and position this over one of the bottles (or bowls). Transfer the soy water through the sieve - you will have some pulp which you can keep for other recipe types or throw away.

4. Then wash the sieve and pad the inner part of the sieve with the gaze dressing. Now transfer the soy milk from the bottle or bowl through the sieve again in order to remove the smaller soy pulp pieces.

If needed repeat this last step again.

5. Add the milk to a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
Here's when you should add your flavoring: maple syrup (or vanilla extract if you don't like it sweet) - I think maple syrup works best. Around 2 tablespoons per 600ml. When it starts to boil turn the heat off and remove any foam on the top of the milk.

6. Store it in a closed bottle in your fridge and it should be fine for around 3-4 days.

Recipe #118 Soya and Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 can of red kidney beans
• 1 + 1/3 cups of dry soya mince
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• salt
• pepper
• paprika
• garlic powder
• turmeric
• oregano
• 2/3 cups plain flour

No food processor required; only a bowl and a fork.

Start by placing the dry soya  mince in a bowl. Boil water in a kettle, measure and add the vegetable stock to the water. When the stock cube has completely dissolved then cover the soya mince with the water.

Drain the bean can and with a fork or a masher mash the beans as much as you can. 

Now season the soya with 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons of pepper, 2 teaspoons of hot paprika, 3 or 4 teaspoons of garlic, 2 teaspoons of oregano, 1 teaspoon turmeric and mix everything with a fork. To this add the beans and the flour. Mix with a fork and place in the fridge for a few minutes to cool off.

(You can see a lot of thing are from Lidl!)

Make patties with your hands and fry in some olive oil.

This recipe makes 6 medium burgers.

An open letter to Disneyland Paris on food

Dear Disneyland:

First things first: Disneyland is great, it's fun, it's huge, people are nice, character actors are living their roles as princes and princesses... Everything is, to the detail, thought of: easy access for parents with young toddlers, security, fast access to people with reduced mobility, etc

Well everything except the food. 

I was expecting a bit more care, more healthy options and less processed. Let's face it: your target group are children! In a time when sugar is being pointed as "addictive and the most dangerous drug of the times" ; where kids are eating at least 3x the amount of sugar they should per day all (causing childhood obesity) all I could find were sugary drinks, sweets, cotton candy and processed foods like hotdogs and burgers.

And believe me I've looked for healthy food. 

I'm vegan; if you don't know what this means it is a lifestyle by which we exclude any products made from or tested on animals. This means I also follow a diet that does not include meat, fish, eggs, (cow's) milk, cheese or honey. And yes, there is plenty of food out there, tasty and varied and even the UN has come out saying that a vegan diet is not only healthy but that we should be shifting towards a more plant based diet and less of a meat based diet.

Anyway, as a vegan I had a REALLY hard time at your amusement park. However I spoke beforehand to your reservation support team and they assured that I would have enough vegetarian dishes on the menus (which could be perhaps adapted by removing the cream or cheese) or in last resort I could use your Natama menu: a menu free from all allergy causing ingredients such as milk, eggs, gluten and soy. So we booked our holidays and did not worry about bringing our own food.

Also in no restaurant whatsoever could I find openly a book with the allergen ingredients! As per new UN Labelling Laws, 2014, any foods sold loose at a supermarket or at a restaurant need to have the allergen information readily available and accessible. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN in your park. Every time I had to ask someone working in the restaurant and they would have to find the book and consult the list themselves.

Check it here if you like
http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/labelling_nutrition/labelling_legislation/index_en.htm

But none of these points are being carried out by Disneyland!

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So our first bad experience was dinner at the Auberge du Cendrillon. The staff was nice trying their best to accommodate my 'allergy' to dairy. Unfortunately there was nothing on the menu I could eat or adapt. The chef served me some grilled vegetables as a starter (cold!!) and then as a main course vegetables, baby potatoes and potato mash (tasted like FISH!). And for dessert we got some melon mixed with canned fruit salad. Not too bad but I was expecting a wow effect for the 66€ we paid per person.

Second day we had a terrible time to find a restaurant to have lunch at. None of your fast food restaurants have heard about the Natama menu, I wasn't told this before.

Then we found out that the veggie burger (the only vegetarian thing on most of your menus) has MILK in it. 

So we tried to get food outside the park.

Annette's, sent us away, they had never heard about the Natama menu. We had food at Planet Hollywood which had a vegan dish (penne with pesto) a la carte.

Now for dinner we went to Walt's - the famous Walt's. Fine decoration, lovely staff and wait: they had the Natama menu. What I did not believe was that Natama is just a brand of allergy free food that you can buy ready in a package. Processed food... frozen food, which at Walt's was served exactly like that.

The soup is nice but the pasta is terrible (and was frozen in the middle) and the dessert seems more like something a baby would eat rather than a vegan adult.

We paid 36 euros (!!) to eat frozen processed food out of plastic containers. It is an insult to your customers.

The next day we ate at Bella Notte where they also have one vegan dish a la carte (rigatoni with tomato sauce) - all other fast food restaurants had the some lonely veggie option, the veggie burger with milk. In the evening I cancelled our restaurant in the park and we ate in the hotel - Newport Bay Club. And guess what: the hotel did not have vegan options but the chef served fantastic tasty food: vegetables, potatoes and rice with no butter or milk. And we took salad from the salad buffet.

On our last day we tried the Restaurant des Stars (buffet) and the chef said there was no food for us, everything had milk or butter. So he wanted to serve the Natama menu. I told him how disgusting this food had been the first time and he was ok with us leaving the restaurant instead of presenting alternatives. We ended having lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which was to say the least: not tasty at all and overpriced; 19 euros for a plate of overcooked udon noodles and overcooked asparagus served with tomato sauce. If someone would serve me this anywhere else I would be ranging, but as we were is Disney-over-priced-everything-Land it was starting to be normal.

At dinner time we cancelled again the restaurant in the park and ate at the hotel, where the chef cooked again huge dairy free meal on request.

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Not to talk about the amount of fresh fruit you find in park which is almost equal to 0. I only found fresh fruit on our 3rd day, in the Walt Disney Studio Park. Au contraire of the amounts of sugar you find everywhere and in every shop (cotton candy, popcorn, coke, ice creams).

 

For a park aimed at children, that plays these kind of videos in the hotel room:

This is a joke! You definitely need to revise some food issues!

Please provide more veggie options (one is not enough, 0 is not acceptable), more fresh fruit throughout the park, vegan or simply dairy free vegetarian options that would suit both vegans and ovo-lacto-vegetarians. 

You should be aiming at making vegetables and healthy food mainstream and not the odd thing. If vegetables are not tasty, or not available as an option, how are you supposed to order them or promote them to children? 

What happened this week at your park is not correct and in some way a form of discrimination. Especially after I asked your reservation desk what I could expect in terms of food. Note that I always mentioned at restaurants that I was allergic and not vegan, not because I am ashamed of my ethical stands but because I thought you MUST have an option for allergic people anyway. Not respecting someone's ethical stands is the same discrimination as the one towards someone not eating meat for religious beliefs.  I would really like that this letter opens your eyes to the bad, over processed, sugar inflated food you serve at Disneyland. You need to change this. And I hope quickly, so the next health conscious or vegan will have a better experience than mine.

Thank you, and maybe see you next time.

PS: maybe learn from IKEA who started serving veggie balls alongside their famous meat balls. These veggie balls are vegan, cheaper than the regular meatballs and are delivered frozen to the fast food restaurant. It's THIS easy to serve vegan healthy fast food:

Galway (Ireland): Raw - Sushi in the sky, review

One of my favorite restaurants to have dinner in Galway, in the west of Rep. Ireland.

They have loads of vegan options such as:

• Miso soup with tofu
• Umeboshi Sushi roll
• Temaki Umeboshi cone

• Vegan sushi roll (avocado)

• Vegan Sushi roll (cucumber)
• Shiitake mushroom Gunkan Maki pieces

• Inari Sushi (rice with a sweet fried tofu coating)
• Chirashi Bowl (with tons of raw veggies, shiitake mushrooms and umeboshi plum)

I rate this

10/10 for the quality of food

10/10 for the decoration

10/10 for staff's friendliness 

10/10 for the price*

* around 20 euros per person (with tea)

IKEA veggie balls

So on my way home from Disneyland I decided to have lunch at the airport. We were in terminal 1 and everything had either cheese or chicken or cheese or tuna. I ended up eating Pringles and cashew nuts and a little package of baby food pure.

The minute we got back to Ireland we made a stop at IKEA. Since they released their veggie balls back in April/May 2015 I hadn't been to their store yet.

We got there and I noticed several things:

1. veggie balls are located at the center of the hot food display

2. veggie balls are 50 cent cheaper than the meat version

3. they also have now a vegetarian hot dog meal

I went up to the lady serving the food and asked if there was dairy in them. Her reply "Let me just check here..." (looking at the allergen list right in front of here) "No they don't... these are even suitable for vegans. But not the sauce, I can leave the sauce off if you like"

WOW... great service! I didn't even have to say I am allergic; they have the list in front of them to advice people about the allergens; she knows what vegan people are (!a first in the last few days..) and she kindly suggested to leave off the sauce as the sauce contains milk.

Thank you IKEA.

This is great service, and this was exactly was I was expecting at Disneyland **. Plus how hard it is to make veggie balls and freeze them? While I was walking to our table I saw they have several booklets with the allergen advice and ingredients throughout the restaurant; again this is ideal for you to consult without asking someone that has no time, perhaps didn't have training on the matter or even patience to check this for you.

I tried the veggie balls and they are delicious, really tasty and even without the sauce they are not too dry. These veggie balls are delicious and a proof that any fast food restaurant can make delicious vegan food (and also cheaper than the meat version). So on our way out we got a frozen package of veggie balls to take home! (4,95€ for a massive package)

Regarding my previous posts during our holidays:

Disneyland: PLEASE LEARN from Ikea, or get them to cater at your theme park. I really felt that if I were physically handicapped I would have had an easier time at Disneyland than being the weird Vegan who doesn't eat dairy. This is not acceptable, Veganism is not a disease and it is not hard. Maybe someone should remind you that the UN urges people to swift from meat based to plant based... 

** for the Disneyland story check my other posts... tag/label 'Disneyland Paris'

Galway (Ireland): High Cafe restaurant, review

Great restaurant to have dinner or lunch in Galway, in the west of Rep. Ireland. You would need to book a table as the demand here is high.

Located very well, just off the end of the busy Shop Street, near to pubs and shops.

A Plus: this is a BYOD restaurant (Bring your own drink) meaning you can bring a wine bottle to the restaurant and they won't charge you corkage. No sodas or beer allowed from home.

They have several vegan options (although not marked in their menu as vegan) such as:

• Veggie couscous
• Vegan pizzas (on demand, below is the Grilled Veggie pizza with no cheese)
• Vegan calzone (you get to choose the ingredients)
• Pasta dishes (On demand, below is the king prawn pasta and instead of prawns just ask them for mushrooms)

They also have loads of gluten free options. I rate this

10/10 for the quality of food

8/10 for the decoration

10/10 for staff's friendliness 

10/10 for the price*

* around 12 euros per person (no drink)

Vegan Bronzing Powder by BarryM

Sometimes it's hard to find vegan makeup. I really like this bronzing powder. Usually for everyday I use this as a natural blush coloring on my cheeks or if I want a bronzing effect I'll brush it carefully on my face, neck and shoulders. It lasts the entire day and it's cruelty free !

Disneyland Paris Newport Bay Club Restaurant (part 2)

After my excellent experience the first time we had dinner at the Newport Bay Hotel we tried it again instead of the famous Chez Remy.

We were not disappointed. I had a huge salad plate to start off (I called it my first dinner :) )

Followed by a dish made by Chef Redouane which consisted of potatoes and pilau rice with asparagus and carrots. So easy and so tasty. This isn't hard for a chef to throw together and it makes all the difference for a paying customer.

Thank you again Newport Bay Club and especially your kitchen staff for making my last 2 dinner flawless and happy!

(proudly wearing my Veganuary tshirt in the land of anti-Veganism)

Disneyland: where's the fresh fruit (part 2)?

We found fruit ! After 3 days we found at the entrance of Disneyland Walt Disney studios a fresh fruit cart.

Bananas and Apples for 1€ a piece, a bargain considering that everything is so expensive.

Still, I did not see this at the Disneyland Park for several days and it is a shame - it should be easily found; at the hotel as well (they only have fresh fruit at dinner!)

Disneyland Paris: lunch time (part 3)

Walt Disney studio park:

1) We tried going to the only fast food restaurant with several entrances.

Huge fast food restaurant with one veggie burger option at 9.99€

And a salad option 6.99€

I asked Patrizia, a waiter, about the veggie burger. She said she was going to get the allergic menu and was gone. After 10 min with no Patrizia in sight we left. I am 99% sure it is the same vegetable burger as all the other fast food restaurants here, so not vegan, so watch out for this.

2) we went to the restaurant with buffet: 

Restaurant des Stars. Looks a bit like a diner from the 50s. The lady at the desk insisted they have loads of things for me to eat... I was suspicious about the way she talked. I asked to go have a look first. So I went in and looked around. Again as I wrote yesterday buffets have chefs supervising the food. I asked a chef but she did not speak English very well. She told me to wait a second and came back with the head chef. He almost did not speak English but was very nice. As I told him no meat no fish no eggs no milk no cream no cheese he looked worried.

Then he said to someone "bring me the allergy menu"

I quickly asked "Natama ??"

Yes..

I told him no. "Natama no, it's .." And made a puking movement.

He grinned and started to apologize. Everything in the buffet has animal ingredients: even the rice and potatoes have butter.

We thanked and left.

3) We then tried the Blockbuster Cafe next to the restaurant des Stars

We didn't enter but the menu seems to have a vegan bruschetta, and that's it

4) We left the park and headed to the Rainforest Cafe restaurant: 

They have two options: a veggie burger with mozzarella and a natural pasta with vegetables and Parmesan. They called a manager and he said it would be ok for them to remove the cheese.

We were shown to our table and the manager came and let the waiter know of my "allergy". I thanked and asked for the pasta with no cheese.

The plate consisted of udon noodles which were overcooked as were the asparagus (soggy and soft)

The vegetables looked a bit mushy after starting to eat:

My boyfriend had the soya burger with mozzarella (vegetarian) with avocado, onion rings and chips. I tried the onion rings and they were tasty.

I rate this

6/10 for the quality of food*

10/10 for the decoration

9/10 for staff's friendliness 

6/10 for the price*

* the mushy vegetables and udon pasta cost 19€

In other circumstances I would be ranging at the price vs quality but at Disneyland my standards have gone down a lot :(

The decoration is pretty cool: it's like a tropical jungle and they have two huge elephants that move from time to time and make sounds.

Disneyland: where's the fresh fruit?

I've found the fruit or rather, I haven't! It's a theme park for kids; where are the apples, bananas and natural orange juices?!? :( I can find popcorn, cotton candy, burgers, chips and cokes in every corner of this park at any time of the day, but the basics like fruit and natural fruit juices are hidden off. It's unacceptable in a theme park for kids that the food is marketed so unhealthily 

Dinner at the Disneyland Paris Newport Bay Club Restaurant

So we finally decided to try the buffet at our hotel. Ana Maria had previously suggested to eat at their hotel because the food was very good. We arrived and I walked around trying to spot what I maybe could eat and found some soup, potatoes with paprika, asparagus and penne pasta.

Easy enough around the trays of food supervising are the chefs! I told them (for once did not use the allergy excuse):

"I do not eat dairy or eggs can you suggest something I could eat?"

They promptly called a guy that speaks fluent English: Redouane.

He told me that the potatoes and the vegetables had butter in the stir fry but not to worry he would make a dish for me!

I went about to try the salad bar and got a nice (full) dish of veggie goodness:

Then the chef served me my dinner: potatoes, pilau rice and stir fry vegetables!

I seasoned this with olive oil, sal and pepper and it was delicious; the rice was perfectly cooked.

Then for dessert I got some frehs fruit: melon, watermelon and apricots.

They also had a chocolate fountain but I was too stuffed to ask if it was milk chocolate (probably it was..)

This was by far the best food experience in Disneyland Paris so far! I chatted to the chef and tomorrow he will cook again for me. Thank you thank you ! I have been starving since we got here :( 

I rate this

10/10 for the quality of food

10/10 for the decoration

10/10 for staff's friendliness 

10/10 for the price

Disneyland Paris: lunch (part 2)

Lunch options at Disneyland Park:

The Cowboy cookout BBQ has a veggie burger. A very nice guy at the reception, Frank, looked straight ahead the allergy guide but found that the burger has milk. I asked if that could be perhaps the bread but he guaranteed it was the burger itself. He apologized (!! A first one) and we found out that this is the same patties that are used throughout the park's fast food restaurants. So never trust the veggie burger !!

Such as the veggie at Hyperion Cafe.

The Hakuna Matata restaurant has one vegan option a la carte - a salad for 6.99€ see below:

All other options have meat... Oh but look the side dishes of the meat options (chips and salad) these are all vegetarian... You end up with a nice little menu with many green Vs (vegetarian friendly) when in fact you have ONE option. Meh.. This is how you make a menu look veg friendly when in fact it isn't.

Vegans and Vegetarians love food too... but it seems we are not welcomed at Disneyland.

Disneyland Paris: Bella Notte pizzeria

It's a sweet little pizzeria with the perfect decoration just like out of a south Italian travel guide!

They have several vegetarian options and one vegan straight off the menu. 

I took the Rigatoni with tomato sauce. I also ordered a mixed green salad and a bottle of water.

This pasta was superb! Cooked al dente perfectly and the sauce was simple but very tasty.

The salad had a vinaigrette dressing, white*. I asked for olive oil but they said they had none, which I found strange as this is an italian restaurant and no italian kitchen goes without olive oil. They checked the ingredients of my salad dressing and assured me the vinaigrette had no dairy or eggs.

For dessert I had an apple baby food pure. Tasty and easy to have in the pocket; I've learned that baby fruit is a great way to have fruit preserved in your pocket to eat. I'm still amazed how in a theme park aimed for children I have not yet seen an apple or a pear or a banana without being processed in some way. It's easier to get high on refined sugars like cokes and cotton candy !

I rate this

10/10 for the quality of food

9/10 for the decoration

8/10 for staff's friendliness 

9/10 for the price

This has been the best place so far for vegans to eat, tasty and not too expensive 11,99€ for the rigatoni with salad and water. 

* after some research we suspect the white colour comes from the ingredient  E412 which is made out of beans and is a white powder.