Cafe au ...

...lait almond milk!

I'm discovering there are things I like MORE now than when I was using meat and dairy!  I did not expect this to happen.  At all!

I may have already told you about the coconut milk on cereal - so yummy and yet I'd never have tried it before giving up regular milk, and now there's a new one...

Coffee!!  I used to like coffee - as long as it didn't taste like coffee.  The milkier/creamier the better.  Yes I know this isn't good but I love the smell of coffee it's just the taste has always been too bitter for me.  I have tried lots of different coffees and tried adding sugar but sugary hot drinks don't taste right for me either so it has always been a fancy non-coffee coffee from a fancy coffee shop (with a fancy price tag to match) or... tea.

Today I tried coffee with almond milk in and I realised whilst sitting with the family that I'd finished a whole cup of actual coffee and it tasted... nice!  I was double chuffed because I'd recently heard reports that one or two cups of coffee a day are actually quite good for you and I felt a bit miffed that I'd be missing out on said goodness. 

So, yes to coffee!

Unfortunately I've had a bad stomach the last few days, on and off.  I suffer from bouts of IBS so it's not been too bad to handle but I think maybe the extra fiber, nuts, pulses etc. might be irritating my insides slightly.  Fingers crossed it's a minor blip and my body will soon be used to actual good food. 

Tonight's dinner, as prepared by James, was stuffed aubergines and brown rice noodles.  It tasted lovely! 

Spoilt with a capital "Oi"

I couldn't have done this vegan thing without my husband.  There have been a lot of things in my life I don't think I would have done without him, including breastfeeding my second baby (the first one put me off so much I wasn't even going to try!  He asked me to give it a go, I did and had the best bf experience I could have hoped for and carried it on for a whole year!)

The night before I was due to start on the vegan lifestyle/diet (call it what you will) I was feeling like I had bitten off more than I could chew (more likely I was worried I wouldn't have enough to chew on!) and he told me he was going to do it too!  He's not into labels but is now basically as much a vegan as any and has cooked some amazing meals and lots of cake!

He's in the kitchen now, cooking dinner!  Whenever I fancy something to eat, he seems to just pop off to the kitchen and wow me with a meat and dairy free culinary delight or two!  What a man!  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be doing as well with this if it weren't for him.

Since my last blog we've eaten lots of lovely food including a spicy potato and leek rosti, almond cake and vegan custard, lime cake, coconut yoghurt, biscuits, roasted summer veg, home made houmus and vegetable curry!

Also almond milk is perfect in tea so I'm back on "normal" tea as well as all the fruity herby ones.

I will finish today's blog with some pictures (yes I've become one of those) of our food!

Like a strict diet, but you get to eat loads of yummy things...

Hello! 

I thought I should probably only blog every few days or once a week as there's only so much people want to hear (read) about food!

So, the last few days have been good.  We've eaten tofu fajitas, veggie curries, and a cheeseless pizza!!  Ok, so the pizza was a little different but we are working on a vegan cheese to complete the perfect vegan pizza. 

All in all it's been a lot easier than I'd expected so far.  The one slip I've experienced isn't even food related; I bought my son new school shoes and, although I was convinced the cheaper shoes probably aren't made of leather anyway, it seems that leather shoes are now the affordable ones and synthetic are going to cost a bit more.  Thus, he has leather shoes and I feel good that he has a decent pair of mid range school shoes but also pretty sad that I didn't have the time, money or enthusiasm to find a vegan alternative.  I'll chalk it up to experience and know better for next time.

As for food, we've got a lovely butter substitute in the old faithful coconut oil.  It was OK on toast and then James tried mixing a tiny sprinkle of salt in with it.  The result made me question whether he'd actually forgotten about the vegan thing for a minute or two... it tasted just the same as the butter we've been using.  Result!

We've also had some lovely vegan cake this week... delicious... and a few nibbles of dark chocolate... Maybe it won't be that difficult after all ;)

Stay tuned for more vegany waffle... now there's a thought!

Supply and demand

I've had some exceptional feedback on Facebook today regarding this blog.  I'm really pleased that people have been engaging and offering support and ideas for us - it's amazing!

We have two chickens, named Emily and Mia (after the lady Power Rangers, named by the children!) and we loved having really fresh eggs for a couple of years.  They're not laying now though and I've been asked if I would eat their eggs in my newly veganal (read it again!) state.  The answer is most likely no.  This is because I feel the market for selling birds is going to be similar to that of selling eggs, the male chickens don't get to live and the females are produced on demand in order to make money.  However, one friend did bring up an interesting thought one day recently; if I were to rescue ex battery hens, would that be different?  And yes, I suppose it would.  They have had a rubbish life and would be going to slaughter if not saved by good animal (or egg) loving folk.  I'm not sure how long they'd lay for after being in such conditions but I think I might partake in an egg or two from these lovelies.

The same theory could be applied to, say, having our own cow or goat to get our milk and with milk there is the added problem I covered breifly in my introduction to this blog.  Mamals only produce milk when they are pregnant or have young children.  So, even if we had our own cow, that cow would have to be made pregnant and the child either taken away so we can use the milk or we share the milk with the calf?  We certainly don't have room for any cows, goats or additional children (animal or human!) so again that's a no go for us.

James has quite rightly pointed out that having your own hens and using their eggs is a much better way of doing it than buying from supermarkets if you do want to include eggs in your diet, or maybe even a local farm shop where you know the chickens are being looked after.  Like anything, there are varying degrees between full on eating meat, fish and all animal products and being a fully fledged vegan eating only raw fruit and veg - and again, this blog contains my thoughts and feelings and is in no way intended to preach but just give thoughts and ideas that others may find useful.

Today we've eaten... cereal with coconut milk (very yummy), seed roast with onion gravy and greens for lunch (soooo yummy! - see pic) and currently eating a lovely but slightly over chillied salad.  Lots of fruit for snacks and a few more fruit and herbal teas going on.

Two days down, feeling pretty good!

The first day

I started on my new vegan journey yesterday.  The first thing I noticed that was different about becoming vegan, compared to vegetarian (or officially pescetarian as I was still eating fish occasionally) was will power.  In my introduction to this blog I mentioned how the very sight of meat makes me feel a bit sick, well that hasn't happened to me with milk, cheese, eggs etc.  (It especially hasn't happened in relation to the trifle left overs in the fridge!!).  I'm having to use my imagination a bit more on this one, remembering why it is perpetuating some very cruel practices. 

I don't' think I'll make a very good vegan while the kids are still living at home.  I don't buy meat so they eat a lot of Quorn products at home but they can have meat anywhere else, it's the buying part I don't want to do.  They have meat at school, at grandparents' house and when visiting friends, it's completely their choice whether they want to eat the meat or go for the veggie option like Mummy and Daddy.  As for dairy, I'm still going to buy that for them and probably for another few years as they are quite young and I'm not that good at "creative cooking".

Another reason I'm not going to be great - I love cats, we have two cats, cats like meat!  I buy meat but only for the cats and I can't really afford to go all fancy with the food I give them so for the time being, that's one thing that's got to give for me.

But with all this taken into account, yesterday, the first day, was a very good vegan day.  I had fruit for breakfast, herbal teas (not sure about the substitute milk in normal tea yet, a bit yuck still) a salad sandwich with home made dressing for lunch and we all had spaghetti bolognaise for our dinner.  The kids had quorn mince and James and I had squash and extra tomatoes in place of mince and we all had a pinch of chia seeds mixed in too - it was lovely!

Introduction

My husband, James and I decided to try not eating meat back in April 2014 following a few disturbing documentaries on how animals are treated, but not only that, the damage the mass farming does to the environment we live in.  The first few days were a bit tough, especially going to barbeques and the like, but it's now a new year and I haven't really missed meat that much at all.  In fact, I see it for what it is now, a dead animal - yuck!

I've always loved the taste of meat but for me, I cannot "unsee" what I've seen already.

So, the vegan thingie... we watched another documentary and I realised being veggie wasn't really going to solve anything and to make a real difference I'd have to abstain from all animal products.  Often when people leave out meat from their diet they substitute it with cheese and milky products etc.  I think I was probably eating more cheese as a veggie than I did when I was eating the actual meat and there are huge problems for me when thinking about dairy. 

There is the bit about milk coming from cows, often kept in horrible conditions.  How does a cow produce milk?  It is usually artificially inseminated (not nice but if I go into too much detail here... well I just don't have time frankly!) becomes pregnant and then has it's children taken away from it straight from birth.  Then, the milk that was meant for it's calves is sold to us lot because we like the taste!

Also there's male chicks, when thinking about eggs and that, male chicks aren't any good for much in the food circles - the odd one for helping make new chicks but that's it.  So the male chicks go into a big crusher machine thingie ALIVE - straight off a conveyor belt!  This, for me, is just so wrong.

The aim of this blog isn't to teach or preach or any of that but I know a few of my friends will be interested in my journey towards veganism and some may even want to give it a go, even just one day a week.

So please, don't take offence, it's just my opinions and a few facts which you can take with you and use whichever way you see fit.