10 k Visits ! Thanks !

Try this instead !

Why do we eat animal derived foods? 
1. Because they taste good
2. Because we were taught that these are essential sources of calcium, protein and omega 3. 

People say they could never go vegan because they would be missing their protein and calcium and would not get enough while on a plant based diet.
See the below table, it's as easy as this. Nuts, legumes and seeds have all the protein, calcium and omega 3 (and 6) you'll need.

The bonus: you'll cut out your cholesterol intake by 100% and increase by far your fiber intake. 
Did you know that only 11.3 % of people meet the daily recommended intake of fiber but that most people consume 400% of their daily recommended intake of protein?

Recipe #116 Homemade Seitan

Start by using

• 800 gr of plain flour
• 450 ml Water

Knead the flour and water into a firm dough. Cover this with water and let rest for 30 min - to up to a couple of hours. 

Drain the water, it will be white, and knead again. You'll see white water coming out of the dough, this is starch. Repeat this process under running water and over a sifter until the dough is small, firm and sticky, at this point the water should be clear and not white anymore. It will take a while, maybe 30-40x rinses until it's like this

Now add the seasoning:

• 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of oregano
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 2 teaspoons of hot paprika (or smoked paprika)
• 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin

Knead everything together. Add 

• 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast 
• 1 tablespoons of gram flour 

Knead everything either into a "meat" loaf, burgers or into small "meatballs". Leave the seitan in the marinade for about 30 min-1 h before cooking it.

Here I chose to make meatballs:

Then heat water in a saucepan, around a litre, add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and a stock cube. When this is boiling place turn the heat down to medium and put the meatballs carefully in.

(Terrible picture sorry!)

After around 30 minutes (or 2-3h if you prefer to use a slow cooker - temperature: high) scoop them out to cool down and use in any recipe that requires meatballs, such as tomato sauce and pasta!

With 800gr of plain flour I got 195gr seitan and ended up with 9-10 meatballs. It's enough to feed 3 - 4 people depending on the end recipe you'll use them in. It's a very cheap meal !

Comfort food #2

Lentil bolognaise with basil leaves and wholewheat pasta 

Recipe #115 Cocoa Smoothie

Ingredients for a 300ml smoothie

150ml soya milk,
50ml water,
60gr raspberries,
1 frozen banana,
2 pitted dates
1 teaspoon of raw cocoa

Blend and serve!

#tryVegan #Veganuary

If you want to try vegan, why not sign up for Veganuary?

Veganuary is a great online community that helps people transition to a vegan lifestyle. During the month of January you commit to a 30 day change cutting out all animal products from your food, clothing and cosmetics. The remaining time of the year you can count of their support via website, facebook, instagram, etc to provide tips, recipes, inspirational stories, promote new vegan brands, etc
Who knows, maybe next year you are the inspiration for someone to ditch meat, milk and eggs... !
Go give them a like on facebook and sign up for next year :D

Recipe #114 Rye Wholewheat Bread

Ingredients:

• 375gr strong wholewheat flour
• 125gr rye wholewheat flour
• 1 + 1/2 teaspoons of dry fast yeast
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar 
• 360 ml water

I use a bread machine. Program 1 (basic loaf) or 3 (longer, wholewheat bread). These are programs between 3h20min and 3h50min.