Where have you been?

That's what I'm sure you are all crying at the moment. Short answer - not blogging. Slightly longer answer, between houses for months without internet, eating lots of lovely stuff and pulling sad faces that I can't blog about it. But here I am, in, wait for it... my own home... sigh! Ready to blog my bot off. So ladies and gents, weep no more, expect much, and you shall receive. That's a promise. Erm, not right now though - I'm off to work.

But before that I will be having nettle tea and a bowl of porridge, FYI.

Much love ♥

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Brought to life with cosmic dust...

Alright, so I don't want to jinx it, but since being vegan I haven't been ill. When I started I had the hangings on of a cold, but after that, not one cold. Which for me is incredible. I'd normally get a cold a month, and a 'generally run down' couple of days a month. Not any more!

Now, I won't lie, I've had a migraine. An absolute killer of a migraine. But I get headaches from stress as it is. And my allergies haven't gone. (Why would they? I've had eczema since I was born. I have the photos.) Nonetheless, this is the longest I have ever gone without a cold, or tonsillitis, or flu, or an ear infection or sinus pain.



I do not agree with Tommy's mother's methods of healing. Especially the 'hey, use paper and plastic then throw it away!' methodology. It's a cold, not diphtheria!

Evidently dairy is not for me. Which is something PETA agrees on- http://www.milksucks.com/

I can't say that it's down to a sudden increase of the intake of fruit and veg, because all I've done is switch milk for soya milk, Quorn for Tofu, chocolate for dark chocolate, and cut out eggs. And honey is now agave nectar. I don't eat vegan cheese (too expensive and inevitably dodgy) unless it's Parmazano, which is maybe once or twice a week. I weigh exactly the same as before as well (more's the pity!)

If only I could cut out refined sugar too (gives me headaches and aggravates the eczema) I'd be a very healthy lady! Oh and bread, cut out bread and I'd lose the pot-belly. One day, my friends, one day...

The corner-stones of childhood health.

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Pizza [Advertising causes therapy]

I've been craving pizza like a crazy lady lately. I even had a takeaway one from Dominos with my good friend Mr W on Saturday.

All my pizza dough attempts have been somewhat poor, so I gave in and bought a base and...

mmmm. Lazy.

It would seem however that wasn't enough to satisfy the little man shouting pizzapizzapie in my head, so I did something I've frowned at when I've read of it, grimaced when I've heard of it. How can it support the weight? Doesn't it taste weird? .... I used a tortilla as a base.

 And it was ace! I made two!

Pizza goodness. Here's some SOAD for you. Ahh, barbecues in secondary school with SOAD and lager. I want lager now...

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Massive Catch Up - Savoury

Back, blah blah, you know the score...

And once again I begin with something non-food. Toothpaste. Non-vegan toothpaste can contain all sorts of nasties like animal glycerine, and big corporations like Aquafresh are owned by even bigger ones like (evil) GlaxoSmithKlein. So, I bought myself Kingfisher mint toothpaste. Yes it still contains SLS but I like my toothpaste foamy.

I also have a new(ish) set of vegan friendly hair care things. They smell good and do the job, I just wish the conditioner were more conditioning!

Lentil, kidney bean and oat spicy sausages with sweet potato and green veg. These freeze brilliantly, I just shape the uncooked putty substance with cling film, freeze until firm, unwrap and freeze in a tupperware tub. Means I can re-use the clingfilm and they won't get freezer-burn.

 Pasta mess. I got sick of spices and just wanted the whole wheat pasta and the veg. There isn't even salt on this. Shock horror!

 Cauliflower spinach mess. I can't remember making this or eating it or what it was. Ideas, anyone?

Oh my god I love kale. I'd never had it, and it was reduced to 50p in Morrisons, so I found this amazing recipe, added tofu, more spices and some seeds, and good god.

Tofu scramble! I wish I'd had the prerequisite turmeric to give it that eggy glow. Shortly after this photo was taken I drowned it in ketchup. It was good. Doesn't really taste like scrambled egg but the texture is bang-on.

Worryingly, Morrisons are selling off their health food and free-from items. Non-vegan, gluten laden cereal bars are filling their shelf space. I feel a letter coming on... Anyway, the above chutneys were dirt cheap, and I do loves me a dip selection! The dipping bowl set was a fantastic birthday gift from my sister, it's been great for bread with olive oil and balsamic too.

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Massive Catch Up - Sweet

Okay, too long, too long, various excuses, blah blah blah. This will be a post on sweet food. Now, down to business!

Or not. So this isn't food. And it's only half sweet, half savoury. What it is, is my quest to replace everything I run out of with vegan alternatives.

First up, None of Your Beeswax lip balm from Lush. Intended to replace my beloved Carmex, of which I've been a devotee since the days Junior Wind Band, aged eight. (Clarinet, in case you wondered.) It tastes nice, I rather like the texture, but it just isn't as good at combatting the dryness. And I miss that telltale Carmex tingle. At £4.75 a pop too it isn't exactly the most purse-friendly alternative. But Yaoh's balms resemble chapsticks, which I hate, so what is a vegan to do? Persevere I suppose in hopes my lips will adjust. Le sigh.

Oliva has been more of a success. I like clean smelling soap. In particular, I like Dove's clean smelling soap. But, Dove is evil,  and contains all these ingredients. Oliva contains olive oil, water, and mineral salts. They smell no-where near the same but it feeds my clean soap smell craving and is nice for my sensitive little handies. And it's 89p at Holland & Barrett.

Okay, down to the food!

 Vegan easter egg! As requested by me as my birthday was on Easter Sunday. It was eaten very quickly and was made by Celtic.

 

Okay so I've forgotten what went into this milkshake. Soya milk and banana, and presumably something else given it warranted a photo. Perhaps agave nectar, my recent investment and a damn good replacement for honey.

A half-eaten brownie cupcake! Amy M's hand modelling skills on display there. This recipe is fantastic, use it. Use it now. I've tried a lot of duds and dud this was not.

I made iced tea! Now this recipe needs some work, so I won't give you it until I've worked it out. I think it needed more sugar, or maybe a better quality tea-bag to get it to the Liptons quality I love so much. However this was still good, I drank it all to myself.

Next time... savoury, which will be distinctly more exciting...

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