Stuff About Stuff

Roast potatoes and lentils

2012-01-30T07:10:00.001+11:00

Well this pregnancy i have enjoyed potatoes a lot of potatoes, roasted,mashed steamed and in chip form.
I have always loved potatoes since i was a kid so i have found it quite easy to keep enjoying everything potato.

The other night i made this for dinner.

This meal had everything i have enjoyed lately, red lentils, peas! cheesy sauce, greens and of course potatoes!!
Here is how i done it:

You will need:

Lentil mix:

Red lentils
Pasta sauce
Stock cube
Frozen peas
Water

After rinsing red lentils really well, cook in a little water for a little while then add the pasta sauce, and maybe a little more water along with stock cube.
When it starts to look a little like mush add your peas.
And of course add and herbs and spices you want to the mixture.

Potato:
preheat oven 180

Wash the potatoes, then stab holes in them with a fork, wrap in foil and roast in oven until cooked, to test un wrap a little and poke with a fork.

When everything is cooked to your liking serve with steamed greens and cheesy sauce, then enjoy.

Here are a few other bits and pieces of random foods i have remembered to photograph.

Raw apple pie, nut and date balls with hemp seeds

Dijon potato salad

Charlottes cool new plate :)

This meal is baked BBQ tofu from veganomicon, this was delicious and i will be making this much more often since even charlotte enjoyed it :)

Lack of Motivation

2012-01-03T08:19:00.000+11:00

I have not posted as much i would like too about the food i eat this pregnancy, this is mainly due to some foods are still making me feel sick at 30 weeks in!
I have been basically living on potato and pasta meals.
So i do have a few photos i can post next time around but for now how about just last nights dinner from Vegan with a Vengeance:
Fettuccine Alfreda, it was pretty nice and a lot easier and quicker to make then i thought it would be, so that was a pleasant surprise.

The third trimester has hit, and with that iron is very important since baby needs a crap load more now and so do i, last pregnancy my iron levels dropped a little, which is normal for both pregnant vegans and pregnant non vegans, but not enough to concern my midwife or myself, this time how ever it has dropped a little lower again and i don't want to risk it getting much lower, So as well as taking an iron supplement, I am making it a point to include high iron foods throughout the day every chance i get, with baby not liking many foods, it seems i am learning what i can keep down and what i can't all over again *sigh* but baby does like blackstrap molasses (if only i enjoyed it more) and lentils seem to be a safe option, bland food is the easiest way to eat, and i think i will start to have a few more smaller meals rather then the 3 main big ones just to make it easier on my stomach and so i get more chances of including iron in my meals :)

My love for green leafy vegetables has also returned so yay! they seem to be slowly taking over the potato and pasta meals which i guess is a plus.

I have been referring to both vegan pregnancy books to help up my intake of iron and what not and they have some great tips.

According to The Everything Vegan Pregnancy book i need to eat more of these foods:

1. iron fortified breakfast cereals
2. cream of wheat or oats
3. tofu
4. sea vegetables
5. iron fortified energy bars
6. soy beans
7. Dark chocolate
8. lentils
9. spinach
10. chickpeas

Now i can easily enjoy oats in the mornings (after something dry like toast) I have my oats with blackstrap molasses almond butter and banana :) plus i can't forget the cinnamon :) I was adding quinoa flakes to this breakfast but it began making me sick (too much protein?) so i stopped i tried just oats yesterday morning and i managed to eat some i just have to eat it in smaller servings is all.

The book also offers menu make overs which are just simple ideas to change up your meals a little to make them more worthwhile

Menu Make overs:

Swirl prune juice into orange juice.

Sprinkle a spoonful of wheat germ on your cereal along with strawberries

Choose higher iron cereals or oats.

Try replacing peanut butter with tahini and top your toast with raisins.

If you usually snack on pretzels and fruit, make an iron rich trail mix with dried apricots cashews and pumpkin (peptia) or sunflower seeds.

Dinner makeover, if your menu consists of stir fried green beans,broccoli and carrots with almonds over brown rice:

Replace all or part of the vegetable with higher iron choices- peas,spinach,swish chard, kale for instance

Season the stir fry with nori flakes

Add higher iron protein like tofu cubes or some navy beans or other beans.
In place of adding beans to the stir fry add another dish containing beans like a hommus dip or lentil soup as an appetizer
chose another grain like quinoa.

Treat yourself to a small piece of dark chocolate for dessert.

(This information is from The Everything Vegan Pregnancy book, i highly recommend getting a copy. I am not trained in nutrition so don't think i am, these are just some tips from a book, not from myself!)

So i have the ability to enjoy oats, i just need to work on everything else a bit more and find out what
foods baby will actually let me keep down.

So if you have any tips on iron please feel free to comment so i can try them out and of course other pregnant ladies that need help with iron :)
I am now off to enjoy a smoothie with some added blackstrap molasses.

Awesome Pancake Breakfast Is Awesome

2011-12-10T08:37:00.001+11:00

I love Buckwheat pancakes :)

Also here is some more food :)

Vegan Calamari from a new store in western sydney just green.

My first attempt at snickerdoodles, they were so yum!

And we had this for dinner with pasta and corn.

Black beans

Olives

Carrot

Baby broccoli

Mushrooms

Tomato

Cooked in olive oil and oregano

More Food Please

2011-12-07T14:15:00.001+11:00

So here are just a few pictures of what i have made and remembered to take photos of :)

This is just a cooked breakfast since cereal usually makes me feel gross at the moment,

it's just mushrooms, tomato, baby spinach and green beans, cooked in olive oil and paprika.

Lentil loaf with roasted veggies and gravy

This is my first recipe i have made from the everything vegan pregnancy book,

I really need to include more grains into my diet and what better meal to start with then breakfast :)

Maple-Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa.

It was really delicious.

Rice pudding

2011-11-28T10:43:00.001+11:00

Ok so i loved rice pudding as a kid and yet i have never made it myself, i have a few recipes booked marked to try but juts have never gotten around to it.

Yesterday i really wanted to eat rice pudding so i had to make it, and it turns out there is a simple recipe in vegan diner, one of the books matt got me for my birthday :)

It was pretty simple to make and i will be having fun trying different variations of it now that i know rice pudding really isn't hard to do at all :)

Brunch!

2011-11-27T15:42:00.001+11:00

So in an attempt to make more of an effort with what i am eating during the day and not just dinner, i decided to make brunch this weekend, only because we are such early risers in this household (thank you charlotte) it still managed to be breakfast :)

Its the first time i have used the book vegan brunch even though i eye this book off all the time i haven't had a chance to make brunch, no better time to start then pregnancy!

I made the Samosa mashed potato pancakes, they were pretty easy and well nothing beats potato for me at the moment :) only thing i changed was we didn't have carrots so they had to be left out :(

I will be making these again some day thats for sure.

And look i got around to baking cupcakes again having to watch them like a hawk because of my moody oven but they worked out perfectly and no burnt edges! so yay

Also bright green mustard kale :)

this was a lazy saturday night dinner bread we made in the bread machine toasted sandwiches :)

the kale i just quickly stir fried in olive oil and mustard seeds

Plate full of colour

2011-11-21T16:29:00.001+11:00

Beetroot salad!

So yummy and colourful :)
all i did was roast the beetroots earlier in the day so they would be nice and cool by dinner time, i managed to keep the red mess to a minimum i was proud.

What i used:

Roasted beetroots, cut into small pieces
Tinned corn
Grated carrot
Steamed green beans
Slivered almonds

For the dressing
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
a sweetener
blueberry jam

Lentil salsa

It looked very christmassy and was really simple to make.

What i used

Cooked lentils

Red and red capsicum

Tinned pineapple

Olive oil

Juice of half a lime

Oregano

Salt/pepper

Then there are more scones i love the basic scone recipe from vegan with a vengeance it is so easy to make and super easy to add extras.

I always use a bit of all purpose orgran flour and a little of their self raising flour, and usually spelt flour too but i keep forgetting to buy more spelt flour so i used buckwheat flour this time and added some fresh chopped up dates

Served with blueberry jam, strawberry jam and cashew cream a great afternoon snack for company or yourself.

Not having any really strong cravings most things i have craved is lime fizzy drink but i don't buy any because fizzy drinks kill my stomach so i don't want to go down that road, so if you have any nice lime drinks send them this way!

Oh and potato :) yummy yummy potato.

Mini pizzas, cookies and pasta

2011-11-14T13:48:00.001+11:00

So over the weekend i managed to bake some cookies
I made the almond cloud kisses from the vegan cookie connoisseur, this is the third cookie recipe i have used from the book all have been delicious and easy to make.

Saturday after a lovely visit to a friends to catch up, and let charlotte play with her buddy, and meet the new baby we headed home to have mini muffin pizzas, which was meant to be pita bread pizzas but turns out they were well starting a garden? we only just got them so i was not happy! but was happy with dinner.

Then last night i was really sore after going crazy organising clutter and cleaning that i really didn't feel like cooking so matt put pasta on, he did learn that just because 1 cup of rice makes a lot doesn't mean 1 cup of pasta does the same.

I ended up making a separate meal for myself, while matt made his and charlottes dinner.

I used the pasta he cooked up,he did have to make a second batch for himself :)

I ended up making a really simple tomato pasta meal.

I used:

Small shell pasta

Tin diced tomato

Crushed garlic

Mushrooms

Zucchini

Paprika

Salt/pepper

Splash balsamic vinegar

I just cooked up everything minus the pasta in a fry pan then stirred in the pasta and ate it :)

A little quite here.

2011-11-11T08:31:00.001+11:00

So after posting often during VeganMofo i have gone quite.
I am still here and still pregnant just have forgotten to take photos and blog about what i am eating, so sorry about that.

But this pregnancy is exhausting! it was much easier the first time around when i could rest when i wanted to and not have to entertain a two year old :)
On top of that due to my knee dislocation back in march my knees have not being coping very well with the extra weight but they are not my biggest problem its my ankles! they kill me standing on tiles forget it, which means kitchen is not as clean as i would like, and walking long distance yeah not fun at all.
It is very annoying because we walk everywhere! and when pregnant with charlotte we lived further away from everything and i managed quite well walking so much that i believe it really kept me fit and healthy throughout the pregnancy :)

So it is my mission to strengthen my ankles and work on balancing my weight evenly, its amazing how i have come accustomed to putting most weight onto my right side, i just really didn't notice until now and this is why i am needing to work on it.

This is my bump at 22 weeks! a little bigger then i imagined but to be expected i guess :)

Ignore the bad skin we have not been eating very healthy because i have not felt like cooking thanks to crazy hot days and been sleepy.

I do have a yummy dinner planned for tonight which even if i am super tired it will be pretty simple to make so not much effort required, just the way i like it :)

VeganMofo: Cruelty free festival and curry

2011-10-31T08:09:00.001+11:00

Ok so yesterday was the cruelty free festival in sydney and as always it was a great day, my plan was to take photos of all the food we ate, but i failed miserably well i wouldn't say miserably it really just meant i was more then happy to enjoy the moment rather then stop to take a photo :)

i did how ever manages to take a photo of the delicious rubyfruit cakes we had.

What you see here is a caramel cheesecake, caramel mud cake and charlottes chocolate raspberry bliss cookie.

We love rubyfruit in this house, so much so that matt who didn't want to eat sugar couldn't resist his favourite vegan baked goods.

We also ate:

A few sweets from socially vegan cakes (while these were good our hearts are always with rubyfruit)

"duck salad" some kind of peppery mock meat thing and spring rolls from the tai food place,

way to spicy for me so i didn't really eat any, charlotte loved the spring rolls though.

Funky pies!!

I think thats it plus all the bits and pieces we got from other stalls.

We also had a sydney vegan parents meet up, which is always lovely we had a few new faces too so that was nice to see, and getting too meet the people you talk to on the internet is also a good thing.

Looking forward to the next picnic meet up :)

So that was our day now on to the curry!

I just used my favorite creamy vegetable curry recipe from how it all vegan.

I cooked the red lentils separately until they started to soften then just added it to the curry and made it the usual way, so really you could use any curry recipe and add red lentils for extra lentil goodness (which is a great thing when pregnant).

Now charlotte didn't eat any of this the night we made it or the left overs last night, But after eating a lot of sweet foods and spring rolls she did have a mix of her favourite foods which i am pretty sure she would eat every night if she could.

Charlotte as you can see loves getting her photo taken.

And just for a little extra here is two recent shots of me at 20 weeks pregnant :)

I would like to say i have really enjoyed my first attempt at vegan mofo and thank you to all the bloggers who have been reading and enjoying my posts :)

I have seen so many new inspiring blogs over this month and it has just been really great to see so many vegan food posts. I will still be continuing to post what i eat throughout this pregnancy for those who are interested in reading just follow away.

VeganMofo: Cookies and dinner

2011-10-30T17:02:00.000+11:00

Short post today, tomorrows will be better and my last vegan mofo post!

I made the iced caramel cookies from the vegan connoisseur they were amazing! i love caramel :)

Then this is what we had for dinner
more BBq tofu but this time i added onions.

I did have a red lentil and vegetable curry to show you but it seems it got lost from my camera to the computer but lucky i have left overs so it will appear in tomorrows post which will be all about the cruelty free festival we had in sydney today.

VeganMofo: Snack the day away

2011-10-28T09:35:00.000+11:00

So yesterday i didn't cook a meal so i don't have a recipe or great meal photo, i guess thats to be expect on the day where you really need to buy groceries :)

But charlotte and i managed to have the rest of the fruit and popcorn!

Then we had toast for lunch boring i know and really was not that filling so charlotte decided we need tofu and sauce? Well i ended up making BBQ sauce tofu and baked it in the oven.

All you need is BBQ sauce and firm tofu :) easy peasy and it was so good i may make it more often its a great snack.

Liebster Award

2011-10-27T07:34:00.000+11:00

Stuff about Stuff was given this award by Vegan miss, So thank you :)

“Liebster” is German and means ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’ but it can also mean ‘favorite’.

The idea behind this award is to bring attention to bloggers who have less than 200 followers and show your support during Vegan Mofo!

The rules of winning this award are as follows:

1. Show your thanks to those who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Reveal 5 of your top picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the www!

My top picks:

1: Kommoner
2: The compassionate cook

i am cheating and only choosing two because everyone else i follow have many followers

VeganMofo: Random dinner and Muffins

2011-10-27T06:59:00.000+11:00

The other night i was not feeling well so matt made dinner.
We just had a basic mix of raw things and soyco tofu steak.

For some reason charlotte loves this kind of thing for dinner and eats most of it.

Then yesterday i ended up making chocolate carrot muffins from this blog post,
With some changes i used carob powder since chocolate still gives me a bit of a stomach ache not as bad but still uncomfortable.
I also used brown sugar in place of the evaporated cane juice, so i added a bit of water in the mix too and made them into mini muffins :)

Even using carob powder which i am not really used to these were really nice especially still warm with nuttelex yum!

And two books matt ordered for my birthday arrived yesterday! i cant wait to make something from them, but next week as matt is having a sugar free week at the moment, i think its due to we will most likely over dose on sugar at the cruelty free festival this sunday!

VeganMofo: sun dried tomato and herbed polenta

2011-10-25T07:44:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was a very hot day charlotte and i ate so much fruit and decided on a big smoothie for lunch.

For the smoothie we used:

Handful of raw cashews

2 dates

Banana

Mango

Strawberries

Soy milk

It was so good i don't think i have ever seen charlotte drink a smoothie so fast.

Dinner i decided to try something new, we don't have polenta all that often as we are not very keen on it but i do like to try new things every now and then.

So i made the sun dried tomato and herbed polenta from the ultimate book of vegan cooking .

It was pretty good too the flavour was very strong, you can find the recipe here.

Its a pretty crap photo but the battery was dead on the good camera oops :)

VeganMofo: Delicious tofu, and a "not so white sauce"

2011-10-24T07:02:00.000+11:00

Been slack with posts the last few days due to been exhausted and not really wanting to cook much.
I have managed to make a delicious tofu that charlotte approved of, not that its hard she loves tofu.

I have been meaning to make a crispy/breaded tofu but keep forgetting to use the recipes i have found for them, so i decided to just use what things i enjoy for it and here is how that went.

You will need:

Firm tofu, diced or cut how you like it
Flour
Nutritional yeast (optional)
Paprika
Pepper
Salt
Onion powder

Place all ingredients minus the tofu in a container/zip lock bag and shake to mix, then add tofu and shake until coated.
Cook tofu in a fry pan with oil until it starts to brown. enjoy.

I served ours with lime and ginger stir fried veggies and bean noodles

Ok on to the "Not So White Sauce"

I used to love my mums white sauce and really felt like something similar to have on veggies and rice,
i was pleasantly surprised with how well i done, i am looking forward to making it for my mum so she can see how close it was to hers, well from memory i have not had it since i was a child.

"Not So White Sauce"

Nutritional yeast
Flour
Garlic salt
Soy/rice milk
Fresh chives finely cut

Mix nutritional yeast,flour and garlic salt in a saucepan until well combined, on a medium to high heat mix in soy milk to make a paste and stir well add more soy milk until you reach the desired consistency.
Stirring constantly.
Once cooked stir in Fresh chives and serve over whatever you want to eat it with.

VeganMofo: Why So Smooth

2011-10-22T08:01:00.001+11:00

So yesterday here was a beautiful day, sky was blue and it was sunny, mind you it could of been a little less hot, gave me a glimpse to how uncomfortable being heavily pregnant and summer is going to be.

Charlotte ate basically nothing but fresh fruit and and an avocado sandwich, We went to our friends place for a play date so i decided i would pack an after treat for them both and because charlotte was eating a lot yesterday :)

She had (in the back containers) strawberries,red grapes,dried blueberries,goji berries and cranberries.

(front containers) apple,dates, walnuts, pepitas and sunflower seeds. These are most of charlottes favourite foods all together so she was excited.

For dinner we had a simple meal of steamed veggies, rice, and a lentil and mushroom mix.

I cooked the mushrooms/lentils in olive oil, tamari, splash of balsamic and agave, it really had a nice flavour to it, Charlotte had some steamed veggies,avocado,mushrooms and rice, she picked the lentils off her mushrooms.

So it seems cereal has been making me feel sick again which is odd considering the one thing i have been eating most of this pregnancy is cereal it seemed the baby couldn't get enough of it until this week.

So this morning i really felt like porridge but didn't want to waste time making it all up and then just throwing it up anyway. So i made a smoothie something i have not done in a while but warmer weather inspires smoothies. This was really yummy and i want to make it again every morning since bananas are starting to become cheaper i can see a lot of pregnancy smoothies happening :)

So this is what i used.

Sarah's Breakfast Smoothie.

Soy milk

1 banana

a few strawberries

quick oats

almond butter

maple syrup

Blend everything together and enjoy.

A note, if you have a husband/toddler that also enjoy smoothies make more then you think you would need because when you go back for seconds you will find it all gone and the blender rinsed.

VeganMofo: Potato Love and a Baby

2011-10-19T07:21:00.000+11:00

I have always loved potatoes ever since i was a kid, there is nothing not to like about them thats for sure.
So i made two meals the other night and last night both contained potato.

First one was the veggie pot pie stew from appetite for reduction

I loved this meal! lots of flavour and it was just easy to enjoy, i didn't have any frozen peas so i used corn, and i didn't have and cauliflower so i just had normal mashed potato but added nutritional yeast.

I have added to the will make again list from this book, the book has yet to disappoint me.

Last nights dinner was just a lazy roast dinner, i was exhausted after walking to and from the hospital twice to see this little thing.

That is our little baby growing strong and healthy well worth the first trip, second trip was just a check up, i will post more about that on my other blog, stayingsarah.

So back to last nights dinner.

The roast.

Now we don't buy the veggie roast often but it is very yummy and its pretty easy to buy around here.

I forgot to steam the greens to go with dinner but thats ok there is always tonight to stock up on greens and i know it will be full of greens as i am not making dinner tonight the husband is for my birthday :)

VeganMofo: Food i love paying for

2011-10-16T18:33:00.002+11:00

So i haven't really made anything blog worthy this weekend But i did buy some :)

In cronulla we have a newish cafe that is vegan/vegetarian called heart and soul, they sell really nice fresh salads, kofta balls, curries and a few other things as well as now stocking Rubyfruits cakes! The menu has really expanded since they opened and their chai is amazing!

Today we went to cronulla after a breakfast with family in the city, i didn't take photos of food at breakfast because i forgot.
So this is what we got.

Matt had this tofu wrap which is new.

I had a large mix, kofta balls,brown rice,sweet potato salad, herbed green, and my favourite tofu salad.

The kofta balls are one thing that i always want to eat since been pregnant, must go more often.

And we cant forget the cakes :)

I had the lime and coconut cake

Matt has the choc raspberry bliss cake

Charlotte had a blueberry smoothie which didn't last the trip home because she drank most of it and we had a little bit too so that explains the lack of photo :), and of course she had a bit of each cake.

Every time we go to cronulla we eat here.

VeganMofo: great lunch, and mushrooms steaks

2011-10-15T06:34:00.003+11:00

Yesterday i cooked to meals one for lunch and of course dinner.
I was craving some kind of rice and tomato dish, and i had a friend coming over for lunch who has a two week old little boy, so lunch couldn't have onion,garlic and chili, the last one is easy for me to avoid as i don't like it but i use the other two almost daily.
But i ended up with a delicious meal.

Here is what i used:

Sesame oil
Mushrooms
Zucchini
Peas
Balsamic vinegar
Paprika
Salt and pepper
Oregano
Agave
Tomato paste
Water
Tomatoes diced or cut into small pieces.
Nutritional yeast
Rice

While the rice is cooking heat oil in a sauce pan and cook the mushrooms and Zucchini for a few minutes until they start to soften then add peas stir around.
Then add a splash or more of the Balsamic vinegar, paprika,salt and pepper,oregano agave and stair around until mixed well.
Add the tomato paste, water and tomatoes.
lower the heat and let cook until rice is done.
it should look like this

Of course taste for seasonings and to see if its too your liking.

Once rice is cooked drain and add to the tomato mixture and mix in well. Serve, this is what it ended up looking like.

So on to dinner.

I made the mushroom steaks from wild vegan by Angela stafford, with, roasted carrot,sweet potato and zucchini, with steamed beans and broccoli. Served with quinoa

The mushroom steaks had a great flavour and were pretty easy to make but i couldn't get past the texture so i didn't end up eating them all but matt ate all his so they must of been alright.

Charlotte ended up just eating the carrot which she called chips and some beans and just played with the gravy and quinoa.

VeganMofo: Slow cooked BBQ tofu

2011-10-14T07:32:00.000+11:00

This is a meal i made ages ago, and reminded myself i should really make this again over the weekend preferably tomorrow.
As always with toddlers/children slow cookers are a life saver to make sure dinner is ready by the time happy hour starts and it also means instead of being in the kitchen when the husband gets home you can enjoy a cuppa and sit around with him and spend more time together.
I do love my slow cooker thats for sure.
It will be used a lot more next winter with two little ones!

Charlotte loved this and had seconds and lunch the next day, how do i remember this? well having a toddler you usually remember the foods they actually eat over the ones they nibble at or just play with :)

you can find the recipe here, over at peas and thank you.

VeganMofo: Bits and pieces put together

2011-10-13T07:02:00.001+11:00

Last night was a last minute dinner since yesterday charlotte and i turned everything off for quite time, we do quite time in place of naps since she doesn't have her day sleeps any more, but it turns out we slept from about 2 until matt came home at about 10 to 5, oops.
But i still managed to get dinner cooked within the normal time we do dinner so yay!

As you can see simple yet again :)
salad
corn
sweet potato chips
spinach and chickpea sausages

And it made me remember how awesome corn on the cob is i wish i ate it more often.

VeganMofo: Just another pasta bake

2011-10-12T07:29:00.000+11:00

I had left over chickpea gravy from the previous night, and i wasn't sure what i could do with it, so i asked on twitter and got a few suggestions.
I went with ZuckerBabys suggestion and used it in a pasta bake with a few veggies and well pasta :)

Can you tell i like pasta bakes?

VeganMofo: Tantrums And Quinoa

2011-10-11T07:10:00.004+11:00

Well yesterday was one of those days that included several meltdowns from charlotte which started after we left the park of course, i find tantrums really hard to deal with but try my best to just sit with her and let her get all her frustrations out and then i get lots of big cuddles once she has finished.

That been said, after the 3rd-4th tantrum i had enough and just counted down the time till the husband got home which proved to make time slower.
So i caved and turned on the show Mr Maker charlotte loves it and it gave me the chance to clean up and figure out dinner, at first i thought i could easily make a soup!
But ended up going with balsamic roasted veggies & tofu quinoa and made my very first batch of punk rock chickpea gravy from "Vegan with a Vengeance".

what i used:

Balsamic roasted vegetables and tofu:

Veggies of choice
Firm tofu
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic powder

Toss all ingredients together making sure to coat the veggies well and bake until your happy.

Cook the quinoa

And make the gravy :)

I really enjoyed this meal and so glad the flavours went really well together,

my gravy verdict was this was a great gravy and i wish i had made it sooner, i have left over gravy which i will use in dinner tonight :)

Balsamic vinegar is one of my most used flavours just because it just makes everything taste extra awesome.

There is nothing better then finishing a long day of tantrums with a great filling delicious meal.

VeganMofo: When the husband cooks dinner

2011-10-10T07:30:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was not a great day for me, i woke with really sore hips after a crap sleep due to inconsiderate unit block people who partied to all hours of the morning on their balcony, so i got to hear everything from abusive phone calls to horrid conversations, one guy must of thought he was real tough when telling someone on the phone to come fight him. Idiots!
But enough about that i wasn't really on food mode that day until i saw this recipe for spinach cob loaf dip
I was thinking i could make this next family get together but once i told matt about it i dont think he could of waited that long, so we went and grabbed what we needed from the shops and made it for lunch.

Only thing i would do differently for me is less stock powder but f you like stocky taste it would be perfect. i always enjoy xMissMonsterx recipes.

As the day went on i ended up with a headache and even worse hip pain so i was not in the mood to do much so matt cooked dinner for us all because i couldn't stand, standing on the tiles in the kitchen,

As you can see matt did not feel like doing much either so we had a quick easy dinner thats for sure.

sweet potato chips with raw veggies and i had hummus, but i didnt really feel like eating so my veg and hummus are still waiting for me in the fridge.

VeganMofo: simple scrambled tofu

2011-10-09T09:17:00.002+11:00

Yup just a quick post today last night i wasn't sure what i wanted for dinner so decided on a breakfast dinner, scrambled tofu! This is the meal that when i eat it i always think why the heck don't i eat you more often.

I used:
Sesame oil
Firm tofu
Whatever veggies you want
Tamari/soy sauce
Herbs of choice
Salt and pepper
Sesame seeds.

cook it all up and serve.

VeganMofo: lentil salad and scones

2011-10-08T08:34:00.000+11:00

After the crappy eating the other day, yesterday i wanted to make sure i ate better so i made myself a lentil salad for lunch, the best thing about salad is you can put whatever you like in them i used,

Baby spinach

Red oak lettuce

Carrot

Beetroot

Tomato

Freshly cooked green lentils

For the dressing it was just sesame oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup

Charlotte had a peanut butter sandwich and a banana and wanted to have her photo taken.

After Lunch i felt like something baked, usually when i bake it will be something chocolaty

But at the moment i cant eat chocolate since it gives me a massive belly ache and i feel yuck so i haven't being game enough to try a chocolate cake :(

But i did make scones from vegan with a vengeance

I used orgran all purpose flour, some buckwheat flour and some self raising flour for the 350g of flour needed, i usually make them out of spelt and self raising but i am out of spelt flour.

Yes the little hand you can see is charlottes she couldn't wait to dip in the cream and steal the jam.

It was a perfect afternoon snack especially with dandelion tea i would love to say normal tea but i cant drink that at the moment *sigh*

So while i was munching on scones charlotte discovered what headphones actually do.

Then i had great plans for dinner to include left over salad from lunch,quinoa and crispy tofu, but i fell asleep on the lounge and woke up craving this.

Not as healthy but it was yummy.

VeganMofo: random foods

2011-10-07T07:22:00.000+11:00

So last night i didn't cook in fact i was a little disappointed in myself yesterday because i ate so crappy all day, apart from half a giant apple and some strawberries, but luckily i do have some photos of food i made a few days/weeks ago so i shall post them here just because it means another VeganMofo post done.

This is black bean salsa on pasta

Lazy Nachos

Fruit snack

Arabian lentil and rice soup from appetite for reduction

with a side of greens and pita bread and paprika.

Black bean salsa on sprouted grain bread with beetroot and olive salad

and avocado

VeganMofo: Brown fried rice with greens

2011-10-06T07:35:00.000+11:00

Yesterday i was not in the mood to cook but i had too anyway, My back and legs were really sore so i wanted a quick easy meal so i made this fried rice but added extra greens and pineapple! plus some of the juice that was in the tin, it was really delicious and kept this pregnant vegan very happy :)

Charlotte enjoyed it by only eating the mushrooms and a little bit of rice and left the rest, but mushrooms are always something this little miss will eat.

VeganMofo: last minute burgers

2011-10-05T06:58:00.000+11:00

So last night i was looking through the cupboards and fridge to see what i could make for dinner when all of a sudden i really wanted burgers, problem was we didn't have anything to use on them, so we made a quick trip to the shops to grab some ingredients and charlotte wanted nuggets (which she didn't eat thanks to eat hummus all afternoon).

In this house white bread plus processed foods usual equals bellyaches, and it did, but they were to delicious to care. We used frys "chicken" style burger patties and of course the "chicken" style nuggets.
It will be a while before we eat processed mock products again thats for sure, well unless i get lazy and crave burgers again :)

Vegan Mofo: Some kind of pasta bake

2011-10-04T08:09:00.000+11:00

Last nights dinner was just thrown together and i really felt like a pasta bake of some sort so i made one. Realising i don't eat enough lentils or as much as i want to anyway i wanted to include them in the meal. And you could always serve this with steamed greens.

What you need:

Red lentils, rinsed well
French lentils, rinsed well
Onion, finely chopped
Olive oil
Water, enough to cover + a little extra
Tin diced tomatoes
1 cube vegetable stock
Frozen peas
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Agave
Paprika
Other favourite herbs
Pasta
Nutritional yeast
Bread crumbs

Fry the onion in a saucepan until softened, add lentils water and stock cube, and tin tomatoes.
Stir them around a little then add frozen peas, splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, agave, paprika and herbs. stir and cook until lentils are soft. stirring occasionally to stop lentil from sticking.

Meanwhile cook your pasta.

Towards the end of cooking make the nutritional yeast melty sauce that can be found on the packet or use the recipe here.

Once everything is cooked add the pasta and lentil mix to a large baking dish and mix together.
layer the melty sauce on top of the pasta, then top with bread crumbs
bake in oven pre heated to 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

(still getting used to writing out the recipes as i just throw things together so no measurements sorry)
This is what mine looked like and i went back for seconds i also have enough left overs for matt to take to work and lunch for myself :)

And if you have a toddler who for some reason doesn't want to wait for for dinner to be ready like i did last night. I just took out some plain pasta (before mixing it all together) and she chose to have avocado and a soyco tofu steak with it for dinner instead, so here are some sleepy face photos of her enjoying her own special dinner.

First veganmofo post! visiting dads

2011-10-03T12:40:00.001+11:00

This is the first time i have ever done Veganmofo pretty exciting!

i will still be continuing to post what i am eating throughout the pregnancy so i guess that would be my theme :) So hopefully i do well so and keep my food looking really enjoyable.

So this long weekend we went and stayed at my dads which meant family BBQ and we are the only vegans in the family so we had to make sure we made yummy easy food that was quick and that was also for everyone else to enjoy so i made the usual salads you see at BBQS with the added extra of a quick easy tofu stir fry specially for myself matt and charlotte.

So for the stir fry i marinated the tofu in sesame oil, maple syrup and soy sauce.

Then cooked then i cooked the tofu until the sides were golden/brown took them off the heat and set them aside, while i cooked the veggies in the left over marinade, then at the end of cooking stir the tofu in with veggies and serve with brown rice or what ever stir fry favourite you have.

Now to the salads the potato salad is a must have at our family get togethers/BBQs

So i made my own using vegan mayo, mustard seeds and mixed in some sauteed kale.

Then just a normal garden salad and a pre mixed bag of coleslaw with vegan mayo

So thats what a pregnant vegan, husband and daughter ate at a family BBQ

with non vegans.

more food and 14 weeks

2011-09-19T19:15:00.000+10:00

So we are now 14 weeks will be 15 weeks in a few days :) so here is my baby bump.

Big for 14 weeks i think :) yes my shirt says you suck pretty cool huh?
But more importantly the food! i have had a cold that i just cannot shake so i haven't been very good with the healthy eating but i haven't been eating to crappy either but here are the two meals i've had that i think are blog worthy.

First meal is what my husband matt cooked for us on sunday night i was exhausted from the weekend we had and just had no energy to cook and barely had the energy to eat but it was pretty yum that i forced myself.

So its just a basic veggie stir fry with rice and tempeh steak pieces nothing to fancy but the flavour was great!

The next meal is from the book Appetite For Reduction, i have had this book for awhile but haven't really made anything from it but figured its about time i do because the meals are full of food that i should be eating and really nice recipes at that.

Tonight we had the Upside down lentil shepherds pie.

It was so damn delicious! i saved myself some for lunch yum yum!

I didn't have shiitake mushrooms so i used button mushrooms

i was too lazy to use french lentils so i used tinned which made it cook a lot quicker and instead of cooking in a saucepan i cooked it in the frypan and with my lazy short cuts we ate in 20 minutes instead of 45. Been a lazy cook pays off though one day i will make it and follow the recipe and cooking times to taste the difference :)

I think we will cook a few more meals from this book its full of delicious food.

Easy meal for a lazy pregnant vegan

2011-09-14T19:30:00.000+10:00

So the second trimester begins! and so does my new appetite last few days i have been eating like crazy, still get a bit of nausea but its calming down which is a good sign.
The first trimester i ate like crap! i ate so many hot chips, lazy processed foods and on top of feeling sick i felt crappy after eating every lazy meal. I am now motivated to make everything i eat worthwhile with the added bonus of still eating hot chips because lets face it chips and gravy will always be awesome!

I am reading or have read through the everything vegan pregnancy book which has such great information and is very helpful in what foods to eat, which when you feel unmotivated about food its exactly what you need, someone telling you eat this,that and this with a little of this but no that....

So my first meal of my new better eating for pregnancy was a quick easy throw together meal.

Quinoa and vegetable mix with lime and almond butter dressing

what you need:

Quinoa
Veggies of your choice (i went a mix of fresh and frozen)
Liquid vegetable stock or water with stock cube
Sesame oil
Cashews
Pepita and sunflower seeds (optional)

Rinse the quinoa well, then cook in the stock.
While its cooking sauté the vegetables in the oil stir for a few minutes, add cashews stir and remove from heat, set aside until quinoa is done.
Meanwhile make the dressing (recipe below)
Once quinoa is cooked in a large bowl mix together the vegetables and quinoa and serve topped with seeds and dressing.
enjoy!

Lime and almond butter dressing

What you need:

Juice from 1 fresh lime
Almond butter
Sesame oil (optional)
Maple syrup

whisk all ingredients together.

Variations

I think this would be perfect with shredded kale mixed through.
Also you can add lentils,chickpeas,black beans or any other favourite you have.

So there you go my first post on what to eat while pregnant will post more as i go and as i remember :)

Sarah's quick lazy vegan fried rice

2011-09-06T14:45:00.001+10:00

So last night i really felt like fried rice!
I have made this a few times and love it so thought i would post my recipe up.
I like simple recipes so you can expect this to be super simple and the bonus of charlotte eats it too :)

So here is what you need

Rice ( i have used both brown and basmati both are good)
Minced ginger fresh or from a jar
Minced garlic fresh or from a jar
Dark sesame oil
Tamari/soy sauce
Packet of frozen vegetable or any fresh ones you like
Mushroom
Slivered almonds
Paprika

What to do:

cook rice as you normally would.

Then in a fry pan heat oil ginger and garlic
Add mushrooms then veggies stir around for a few minutes then add your rice stir again
Add tamari/soy sauce stir then add almonds and paprika stir then serve.

I know its not a very descriptive recipe but it just makes it easy to make it your own add and take things out as you please.

I haven't put measurement because i don't use them when throwing meals together

If you make it i hope you enjoy it its just a simple dinner for when you feel lazy and don't really want to cook

Vegan pregnancy take two

2011-08-31T08:55:00.001+10:00

I have been really struggling with morning sickness this pregnancy to the point where i don't really ever want to drink peppermint tea again! (i say this but i probably will drink it again)

So with stocking up on peppermint tea food was really one of the last things i wanted, i quickly learnt what foods were easy to throw up and what foods i will avoid until it all passes. I think i have mainly lived of toast and kiwi fruit!

That been said it seems to of eased apart from the last two days its has decided to hang around again just no where near as bad so yay!

I think the morning sickness has made me even more grateful for multi vitamins, they put my mind at ease that if timed right my body will still get a bit extra even though the food wont stay down.

I got these tablets from The Green Edge, i actually enjoy the b12 they taste like lemon! have folic acid and B6 which is meant to be good for nausea so thats a bonus.

I have gotten bad at remembering to take them daily but hey i feel ok, especially when i remember :)

So with food slowly starting to agree with me again and the multi vitamins i can enjoy our second vegan pregnancy!

I have also ordered the two new vegan pregnancy books that are available

Found here and here so i am looking forward to these guys arriving, will try and remember to post what i think about them.

What are some of your ways to combat morning sickness?

Do you have any other vegan pregnancy vitamins?

New adventure

2011-08-30T22:04:00.000+10:00

Well i have not posted here in a little while and here is why!

Yup we are expecting baby number 2!

It's a little exciting, this time around i was very sick all day with "morning sickness" and then we all got the flu but now everyone seems to be recovered i am no longer constantly throwing up my food so we can enjoy the ride this has to offer.

On a similar note i have started up a new blog over here.

I decided to start a new blog so i can keep this one the way it is and focus on the vegan side of parenting while my new blog will be my mummy blog.

So don't worry this blog will still stay active i don't think i could part with this little blog.

So there you go my little vegan family of 3 will become a vegan family of 4 in march.

New bag and toddler nappy change set

2011-08-04T08:54:00.001+10:00

So this post is a little delayed but i am now getting around to it.
A few weekends ago i got the chance to head to spotlight on my own while matt watched charlotte,
It was an odd feeling, i kept thinking i had forgotten something and the walk is a lot faster without little miss thats for sure, but i did manage to get some lovely fabric in which i made the folklore bag from the book one metre wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins.

It was a very simple bag to make and a good size too this is what mine turned out like.

The owl fabric was way to cute to resist :)

From the same book i also made the Latte Changing pad.

its just a sleeve for you to put one nappy in along with a travel wipes case and the change matt that you also make with the sleeve which is perfect for short outings or when you have a toddler who needs less changes while out.

I made it using fabric i already had at home just sitting around waiting to be used for something.

So i got two sewing projects done in one weekend and was pretty proud.

I also made charlotte a dress sometime before the bags not in the same weekend though.

So they are the latest sewing projects i have done, i am sewing a top which is just about finished so will put it up once i am done and get the chance to post.

Life through phone photos

2011-07-11T09:52:00.000+10:00

So this is a post of photos from my phone so a recap of what's been happening in life lately :)

blog photos gone!

2011-07-10T13:05:00.001+10:00

So my blog looks a bit bare at the moment.
That would be because i lost all my photos from deleting an album on google+ which was stupid on my account but it should of stated that if deleted it will remove all photos from your blog not juts your google+ account! which it did not so i am not happy at all.
So please be patient and hopefully my blog will look better soon.

EDIT: All photos are now back! it took awhile but i went through and editing all posts.
Lucky i don't post everyday because that would of been a right pain!

Vegan parents feature: Family friendly cookbooks

2011-06-27T09:22:00.001+10:00

Something different this time around:

This is just a post about some books i think are great cook books to have in a vegan family household.
Mind you i can only say the ones i have are good and i am always on the look out for more so if you know of any please let me know!
So here is my list in no order at all.

1: The complete idiots guide to, vegan eating for kids:
as most of the idiots guide books its full of great information to help you out with what your child needs to grow up healthy and thrive on a vegan diet. i think this is a great reference book, it does have some recipes in it but i haven't made any from this book so i cant tell you how they taste :)

2: Feeding your vegan infant-with confidence, by Sandra Hood.
This is another great reference book for babies and toddlers, it really helped me put my mind at ease when i would get negative responses to bring charlotte up vegan when she was younger. It also has some great recipes for starting solids and also for when you baby gets older! i would highly recommend this book.

3: Vive le vegan! by Dreena Burton.
I love this book, it was one of the first family based cookbook i got, its full if healthy recipes, even has wheat free options or tip on how to make it wheat free for those who avoid it.
My favourite recipes from this book would be
Lemon-herbed tofu
Brown rice pizza
and Creamy Hummus.

One thing about this book is she uses hemp foods a lot which are not available in australia but still a book worth getting.

4: Vegan Lunch box, by Jennifer McCann.
its a great book for those who struggle with ideas for lunches, or if you just want some new recipes that are kid friendly, i don't need to say too much about this book as the title pretty much speaks for itself.
there is also Jennifer's second book vegan lunchbox around the world, which has an amazing mini cheesecake recipe!

5: The Vegan Family Cookbook, By Chef Brian p. McCarthy.
I got this book at the Sydney vegan expo from the vegan society, i have only made the sweet potato recipe, but aim to make a very simple quiche and by simple i mean simple, this book has a lot of recipes that are quick and easy (it is american based so some ingredients may be harder to find but most are easy)

6: Wild Vegan by Angela Stafford.

I adore this book its full of recipes that use ingredients i always have at home, and even if i don't have them i can just run up to the shops and grab what i need, it doesn't state that its for families but its a great cookbook for families especially if you are on a tight budget!

The one recipe from this book i have made over and over is the Lentil loaf.

7: Vegan Family Meals, real food for everyone, by Ann Gentry.

I only just received this book last week, its a very pretty book and reading through it i found it has great tips, and very yummy looking recipes! one i aim to make is lasagna rolls with tofu ricotta and everyday tomato sauce yup sounds delicious i know. Actually i made a breakfast from this book this morning,

Quick oats and Quinoa flakes it was delicious, as you can see.

So i think if your after a book with family recipes that could also impress a lot of people and show of your cooking skills i think this is one of those books and i really look forward to making more recipes from this book.

8. Happy, Healthy, vegan kids.

This book is not for mum and dad though supervision and help is needed for the younger ones, this book is for kids! (who are old enough to make basic foods themselves).

i think it would make a great gift for a child maybe about 8 and up, you could also get it for younger kids who like to see photos of cute animals and read about them and why we don't eat them, after you read about a cow for example they have a recipe to follow like a fruity tuti smoothie using non dairy alternatives instead of dairy its a very cute simple layout, i think vegan kids would really enjoy this book.

9: This isn't so much a vegan book to buy, It's a go to your local library and borrow some feeding your toddler books like i did, and take what recipes you can from them that are easily veganised. A book i found that i got quite a few recipes from was this one.

10: again not a book but a recipe! this is one meal charlotte will eat even when in a restless mood it may have something to do with she loves rice!

Baked Rice with Butternut Pumpkin.

olive oil

large red onion

leeks washed and sliced (optional)

garlic cloves crushed

butternut pumpkin

basmanti rice

vegetable stock (boiling!)- enough to cover

(i have not used measurements because its easy to make to fit how much you need)

1: preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius, heat oil, add onion,leeks and garlic sauté until soft.

2: stir in pumpkin and rice cook for 1 minute.

3: add to casserole dish, pour boiling stock over the veg and rice mix, cover and bake for 30-35 minutes until rice is tender and stock absorbed.

Well i hope this was a helpful post and again if you know of any family books or have any books you love that a great for families let me know so i can try them out! i love new cookbooks :)

Vegan parents feature: #8

2011-06-24T08:21:00.001+10:00

This week we nearly didn't have a feature post but luckily we do now!

We hear from Chloe, who blogs over at The Crabby Crafter

1:Name and age of your little person(s) and your family.

Beetroot turns 3 at the end of the month and Raygold just turned 1.

2: Was your pregnancy vegan?,

Yes! (I've been vegan for a long time.)

3: Do you have support from family/friends? If you have made new friends since becoming a vegan parent please add how you met and how helpful it’s been to have like minded friends.

My best friend from college is a physician (and a vegan) and she is very supportive. My husband is a vegetarian (mostly vegan, except for the odd bit of cheese) and is very supportive. That said, I live in rural Scotland and have yet to meet any other vegetarians or vegans here and a few people at our local health centre have not only been very unsupportive, but have actually been quite rude.

4: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being a vegan parent and how do you handle moments when you might doubt yourself?

For me, the hardest thing about being a vegan parent is all the criticism. There is the personal criticism, like from our health centre and from a few relatives, but there is also a general criticism of the vegan diet in the media. That is probably the worst -- if something happens to a child who is vegan, it is all over the media and the vegan diet is stressed as much as whatever happened to the child, even when it is usually totally unrelated -- and then lots of people just assume that's what all vegans do! It's frustrating because there are lots of children fed poor diets here (this is only really highlighted on those programmes where Jamie Oliver tries to encourage people to eat better), but when a child gets morbidly obese or type-II diabetes from their diet, it never makes the headlines. There was a vegan child in Glasgow with rickets that made the headlines a few years ago, but rickets has made a huge comeback there (http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Rickets-makes-comeback-as-generation.6729576.jp) and none of the other individual cases have made the headlines.

5: What do you consider to be the best thing about been a vegan parent?

My children won't grow up with a cheese addiction! ;p Actually, while that is true, I think having an unconventional diet kind of makes you challenge other social norms, too, and gets you thinking outside the box.

6: Please add any tips and favourite shopping and eating places that are child and vegan friendly?

Well, here in the UK, you can almost always get beans and chips, but I've found Wetherspoons (a pub chain) is very child-friendly and always has a vegan option or two.

7: Do you have any no fail foods for your fussy eater? Or please name some of your child's favourite meals/snacks, if possible please include recipes for other parents to try.

I'm lucky that my kids aren't usually too fussy. My toddler would love to live on apples, oranges, and broccoli if he could, although toast, waffles, pasta, tofu with soy sauce, any kind of bean dip (especially variations of hummous), and soy yoghurt are always winners.

I don't really have any fancy recipes, but I often serve pasta & a veg (we usually do broccoli or cauliflower) stirred into
- smooshed haricot beans (+ a dash of margarine or olive oil, a few tablespoonfuls of the starchy pasta water, lemon juice, thyme, and a dash of cayenne)
- marmite (+ a dash of margarine or olive oil and a few tablespoonfuls of the starchy pasta water)
- tahini (+ a dash of margarine or olive oil, a few tablespoonfuls of the starchy pasta water, lemon juice, and a dash of cayenne)
- smooshed butternut squash (+ a dash of margarine or olive oil and a few tablespoonfuls of the starchy pasta water)
etc. You get the idea.

8: How have you have adjusted to having children? feel free to describe your style of parenting. because we know it’s not always just about veganism, being a parent is a whole new world.

I think I'm a much happier person now that I have children -- I love being a mom. My parenting style sort of falls under the 'crunchy' label (breastfeeding on demand -- I've been breastfeeding for over 3 years straight! -- co-sleeping, baby carriers, etc.), although that's just sort of how it happened, I didn't even know that parenting style had a name until I was already doing it!

Make up and me

2011-06-15T09:19:00.001+10:00

For years i have felt uncomfortable without make up.
I was never called beautiful/pretty without it, i have fair eyelashes that you can't see with out mascara and most of the part bad skin.
So make up has been an everyday thing since i was about 13.
I have struggled with self confidence, even though i was outgoing i hated a lot of things about me i hide things pretty well when i want to.
Makeup really gives you temporary relief of feeling crappy about yourself.
For the last few months i have tried to wear less and less of it and leave the house a few time without it at first i really struggled with it, i am pretty sure matt got sick of me asking if i looked ok, but then i realised...
The people who mean the world to me don't love me any less if i'm not wearing any make up! i don't have to put it on everyday, and end up not liking how i look with it on due to looking the same every day.
I have started to feel pretty good about myself, still not quite sure how i feel about photos of me without makeup though because cameras can be harsh, but this morning i was mucking around with charlotte taking photos and found two photos that made me think that i can get away with wearing zero make up.

The hold that makeup and beauty have on the every day girl/woman is astounding at times i used to think i was never bothered by it when in fact i was apart of it for years and will most likely continue to be.

I never want charlotte to feel she needs to wear make up to be beautiful or loved, and her seeing me apply it daily will not at all help that cause. I want nothing more then charlotte to be comfortable being nothing else but herself throughout her life no matter what age.

I will still wear makeup of course because it is fun to wear, but it is a real relief to actually feel comfortable without it :)

Feature: Vegan Parents #7

2011-06-14T12:08:00.001+10:00

This week we have Alison and her family.

1: Name and age of your little person(s) and your family.

My husband, Mat, and I share our lives with our daughter, Anika, 7 and sons Jem, 4; Rowan, 2.

2: Was your pregnancy vegan?

All of my pregnancies have been vegan. I had been vegan for 8 years when I became pregnant with Anika, my first child. During that pregnancy, a GP told me that I ‘looked pale’ and must be anaemic. I was not at all surprised when a blood test confirmed that my ferritin levels were good and I did not have anaemia. I believe that she was quick to ‘diagnose’ me with anaemia because of my vegan diet. She said: ‘I wish you would eat meat, but I know that you won’t’. Suffice to say, she was not my GP for much longer!

During all pregnancies, I had confidence in my body’s ability to grow a healthy baby. I experienced morning sickness with all my pregnancies, but I did not have any complications or problems, and I did not suffer from excessive weight gain. I supplemented with B12 and vegan DHA. I also attended a weekly pre-natal yoga group.

3: Do you have support from family/friends? If you have made new friends since becoming a vegan parent please add how you met and how helpful it’s been to have like minded friends.

My family - and my husband’s family - are very supportive of our veganism. My younger sister, Susannah, has been a vegan for 15 years. My parents no longer eat animal products, and they credit my sister and me with ‘raising vegan parents’! One of Mat’s nieces, Jess, became a vegan about a year ago. I am happy that the existence of vegan family members normalises veganism for our children.

We share our lives with a large circle of diverse friends – all non-vegan. However, all of them are supportive and accommodating of our veganism. Some of our friends have become very skilled at making delicious vegan food and cakes. I used to pride myself on being the ‘great vegan baker’ in our family, but I think my Mum has now taken the title. Positively, Mat and I have never had to worry that my parents would give our children non-vegan foods, as they fully support our belief system. Moreover, they simply do not have any non-vegan foods in their house. My (non-vegan) mother-in-law has also become adept at making vegan food, and whenever we visit her in Sydney, she ensures that her cupboard and fridge are stocked with vegan foods, including yummy biscuits and scrumptious cakes that she has baked herself.

I recognise that we are lucky to have a supportive network of family and friends in our lives – and I am very thankful for it.

4: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being a vegan parent and how do you handle moments when you might doubt yourself?

Most of the time, I feel safely cocooned in our little vegan existence. However, there are occasional challenges. I am saddened by the thought that my children will one day be aware of the full scale of horrors that humans inflict on non-human animals. I feel sad that I cannot shield them from the harsh realities of a very non-vegan world. I lament the fact that some people- nutritionists, journalists and others - think that raising vegan children is irresponsible or risky. I feel angry that our public education system is regarded as a ‘tool’ by industry groups – such as Dairy Australia- to promote their unethical and unhealthy products to children.

I have never doubted that veganism was the right path for our family. I hope with all my heart that my children will embrace vegan values as they grow into adolescence and adulthood.

5: What do you consider to be the best thing about being a vegan parent?

I feel immensely happy that my children are being raised with a vegan ethos – that they do not regard animals as a source of food. I am proud of the fact that my daughter knows where gelatine comes from; that she believes cow’s milk is for baby cows. Jem and Anika understand where ‘meat’ comes from – they understand that an animal has died. My children demonstrate genuine empathy and compassion for non-human animals – and it fills my heart with joy that they are not contributing to the suffering of sentient beings.

6: Please add any tips and favourite shopping and eating places that are child and vegan friendly?

There is a fabulous vegan place in Lismore called 20 000 Cows – it is popular with vegans and non-vegans. They serve amazing food – spinach & nut cheese rolls, Yemeni mellawah, Lithuanian kugelis, nori fritters, tahini cheese cake.... it is impossible for me to nominate a favourite dish! Some of these awesome dishes are included in the owner’s cook book. We also enjoy yum cha at Easy House and dinner at Tian Ran when visiting the Gold Coast.

7: Do you have any no fail foods for your fussy eater? Or please name some of your child's favourite meals/snacks, if possible please include recipes for other parents to try.

All of my children love tacos – it is an easy way to ensure that they eat lots of raw salad vegetables. My daughter is very adventurous with food. I can usually guarantee that she will eat whatever we serve up! Jem, on the other hand, isn’t a big fan of dinner. He eats really well - and heartily - in the morning and at lunch time, but just ‘picks’ at dinner. I am hoping that Rowan will turn out to be as adventurous as Anika – so far, all the signs are good!

Positively, all of my children eat lots of fruit. Every morning, I sprinkle their breakfast cereal – weet bix or porridge- with ground linseeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds (I grind the whole seeds in a spice grinder). I find this to be an easy way of ensuring that they are getting a good source of essential fatty acids. We all have a sublingual B12 tablet each day.

An easy dinner that we all enjoy is a creation of mine called (very unimaginatively!) Baked Vegie Cous Cous Salad. Firstly, bake a selection vegies in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil (eg. carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin, roma tomatoes, garlic cloves); then prepare a cup or two of whole wheat cous cous in water or vegie stock. When the vegies are baked, add them to the cous cous and mix. Place the mixture in an oven proof dish, then add roasted pine nuts; chopped parsley; diced capsicum; sliced kalamata olives; sliced vegie sausages or marinated tofu; cannellini (white) beans or chickpeas. Mix well. You can also add sliced red onions and sundried-tomatoes. It is a very ‘flexible’ dish – you can add any vegies that are lurking in the crisper. Bake for about 15-20 mins on 180.

I have found the following recipe to be popular with children. I occasionally pop an Energy Ball in to my daughter’s lunch box.

Energy Balls

2 ½ cups dates

1 cup almond meal

½ cup linseed meal

¾ cup carob powder

½ cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup sultanas

1 cup water

1 cup shredded coconut for rolling

Chop dates and place in saucepan with the water and bring to the boil. Leave to cool completely and then roughly mash with a fork.

Pour the date mixture into a bowl and add all other ingredients, except coconut. Mix well.

Take spoonfuls of mixture and roll into balls (about 1 inch diameter). Roll balls in coconut. Store in fridge.

(adapted from ‘Vegan Cooking: Recipes for Health and Happiness’, Quinn, A & Lilburne, D).

8: How have you have adjusted to having children? feel free to describe your style of parenting. because we know it’s not always just about veganism, being a parent is a whole new world.

During my first pregnancy, I read copious amounts of books about attachment parenting principles and natural birth. I am a strong advocate of homebirth (my sons were born at home), co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding. All of my children have breastfed beyond 2 years of age - Rowan is still breastfeeding. I have spent a majority of the past 7 years as a stay-at-home mum, with occasional forays back in to the workforce (I am a social worker). My role as SAHM is definitely the most challenging and fulfilling ‘job’.

Email me at: stuff-about-stuff@hotmail dot com

Sweet potato polenta chips and update with added sweetness

2011-06-05T13:32:00.001+10:00

So first i shall get to the food because we all no food is pretty much awesome!
I have never really tried polenta and at the moment i am really trying to eat a lot more variety and what better way then to eat something new :) anyway at the Sydney vegan expo i got myself a copy of the vegan family cookbook which has a lot of simple recipes.

Sweet potato polenta:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced.
2 cups soy milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup polenta

boil the sweet potato until tender. drain and mash.
in a large saucepan combine soy milk and spices and whisk in the polenta. bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes stirring frequently (
stir in sweet potato.

mine cooked a lot faster so i stopped cooking when it came away from the sides of the pot which i have read else where usually means its ready?
i put the mixture into a baking dish and let it set in the fridge, once set i cut into chip shapes, crumbed them in dry polenta and baked them in the oven once i put a little oil on them, you could easily fry them up but i never have much success with that kind of stuff. i baked until the outsides went a little hard.

i really enjoyed them but next time i will just make the polenta with stock and then just add the sweet potato and see how i go.

So anyway an update on what's been happening well as you all know the vegan parents feature has been very popular! i would really like to thank renee and everyone else who has helped promote the feature i really don't think myself alone could of made it so popular.

As most know that the weekend coming is a public holiday and i will have visitors so i will not be posting a feature over that weekend but there is another one to come so dont worry :) and hopefully more!

As for charlotte well she is 2 at the end of the month so i guess i better finish birthday plans and menu :) i seriously can't believe she is nearly 2 it has gone by very fast!

so thats the update.

what is this added sweetness i spoke of in the title?

that would be these delicious things

I successfully adapted a recipe to make it vegan and super easy and not too sugary well if you don't include the peanut butter icing :P perfect for a afternoon snack and if you have visitors around and don't have much food left in the house :)

Mini vegan chocolate muffins.

1 1/2 cups self raising flour ( i used orgran self raising)

1/3 cup cocoa powder (you could also use carob which i intend to try myself)

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

egg replacer equal to one egg

1/3 cup oil

1 cup soy/rice milk

Preheat oven to 180

sift together the flour and cocoa powder the stir in the sugar.

then in a separate bowl stir together the wet ingredients including egg replacer , then slowly add it to your dry ingredients.

bake for 15-17 minutes until toothpick comes out clean :)

place on cooling tray

as for the icing i didn't use measurements but it was

melty icing: which is a must

smooth peanut butter

soy milk

icing sugar

mix together peanut butter until smooth then add icing sugar and mix well until you get a consistency you are happy with

add to slightly warm muffins and enjoy!

Vegan parents feature #6

2011-06-04T16:40:00.001+10:00

We have post number 6! and We hear from Valerie who has her very own blog

Valerie will also be starting vegan cooking classes, as apart of a health coaching service since she has received her certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

I hope you enjoy reading her story as much as i did.

1: Name and age of your little person(s) and your family.

We have 5 kids total ranging in age from 23 down to 5 1/2. We're a "yours", "mine" and "ours" family. Our 5 1/2 year old Julian(vegan since birth) is the "ours" baby. All the rest are grown and on their own.

2: Was your pregnancy vegan?

Actually no. I've been a vegetarian for 21 years now, with the last four years as a vegan. Julian was my first vegetarian pregnancy though.

I initially went vegetarian due to my research into health and nutrition and learning that there appeared to be less degenerative disease associated with those who followed a more plant-based diet. Diabetes is also an issue in my family of origin (on both sides) and I wanted to beat the odds and avoid that risk as much as possible.

My journey towards veganism started about 5 years ago as I became aware again through research and then the internet of what goes on behind the scenes in the production of animal products. I watched many of those undercover slaughterhouse videos and discovered podcasts with such persuasive voices as Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Erik Marcus, and Howard Lyman, that opened my eyes to such an extent, that I could no longer justify supporting such a cruel industry with my money.

My faith demands love and compassion towards all of God's creation. So, for me this is spiritual as well.

As far as Julian goes, I was in the middle of learning all of these things when I was carrying him and soon afterwards. I would say things like, "I don't want him to have any dairy before he's at least 2". But by the time he reached 2, I was already "ruined". I had made the decision to raise our son as a vegan.

3: Do you have support from family/friends? If you have made new friends since becoming a vegan parent please add how you met and how helpful it’s been to have like minded friends.

I would say for the most part, yes. My convictions are stronger now as a vegan than they were when I was vegetarian and my older kids were little. Because my reasons for my diet were strictly for health back then, I was pretty easy going about the kids eating meat sometimes and other animal products. I even cooked meat on occassion! I shudder as I think about it..

I also didn't really challenge the influence of friends and family very much. I was more concerned about junk food.

Our friends and family seem pretty supportive of our vegan lifestyle. My husband, Marc actually made the decision a couple of years ago to become vegetarian in support of my convictions but eats vegan at home. Of course, that's the only way I cook! ha ha

We have made friends in the last couple of years with other vegan parents through our local vegetarian society and it helps a great deal to have that support.

It's also so nice to go to a kids party once in a while where we know that Julian can eat everything there and I don't have to think about it or make sure we bring a vegan snack "just in case."

I discovered when I was a kid myself that I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. That's carried over into my vegan cooking today. As a result, I've been on a mission of sorts to prove that plant-based food(especially desserts) can be just as good if not better than those made from animal products. So, I think I've pretty much got our omni friends convinced!

4: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being a vegan parent and how do you handle moments when you might doubt yourself?

I guess I would have the say that so far the hardest thing would be sometimes feeling a bit of anxiety about going to an event or resturaunt where the food choices could be limited. Julian is homeschooled, so having to confront a traditional classroom or cafeteria situation is not an issue.

5: What do you consider to be the best thing about been a vegan parent?

Wow, I would have to say that having the opportunity to teach Julian in a very practical and I think holistic way about extending compassion and respect towards all of God's creatures both animal and human.

6: Please add any tips and favourite shopping and eating places that are child and vegan friendly?

We have some great healthfood stores here in our area of Humboldt County, Ca. There's one vegetarian resturant, Wildflower Cafe in Arcata, but no vegan ones unfortunately. But there are some very accomodating places here like Rita's Mexican food and Golden Harvest in Eureka. Both of them have great vegan and kid-friendly dishes.

Our fav Veg friendly children's books

Fruits I love and A Gift from Little Bear, by Victoria Boutenko

-Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon, by Jules Bass and Debbie Harter

-The Fruit Bowl/Vegetable Soup, by Dianne Warren, Susan Smith Jones, and Amy Lorvaag LIndman

-The Secret Life of Mitch Spinach, by Hillary Feerick and Jeff Hillenbrand

-Thats Why we Don't Eat Animals, by Ruby Roth

7: Do you have any no fail foods for your fussy eater? Or please name some of your child's favourite meals/snacks, if possible please include recipes for other

parents to try.

Julian loves green smoothies! I've been giving them to him since he was 2. If you're not familiar with them, it's basically a fruit smoothie with fresh greens added. You can use kale,collards, spinach, chard, dandelion, etc. When I discovered them a few yeas ago, I was amazed at the nutrient level of greens. Protein, calcium, vitamins C, A, K. If a kid(or adult) is adverse to the green color, just add lots of berries and it turns the smoothie a more appetizing purple color.

Kid-friendly green smoothie recipe

Add to blender and blend well in order listed

-2 cups water or orange juice

-2 cups washed, chopped, or torn greens(spinach is good to start with due to it's mild flavor. If using kale or collards, be sure to remove stems first.)

-2 bananas(chopped and frozen makes the smoothie nice and frosty)

-1 mango, orange, or peach peeled and chopped.

Veggie "ribs" are also a favorite at our house. I grew up on what's known as "soulfood", so these are a real treat. I've made different versions of a recipe from Susan V of Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/05/barbecued-seitan-ribz.html

Another recipe that Julian loves are my chocolate chip cookies. They're actually gluten-free. We're not a gluten-free household(obviously, hence the seitan ribs above.) but these cookies are full of fiber,protein and good fats.

Gluten free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups blanched almonds*(dry), ground finely in food processor

(as close to a powdery consistency as you can get)

2/3 cup brown rice flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup yellow flaxmeal(light colored)

1/2 cup + 2 tsp agave or maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 to 1 cup fair trade vegan chocolate chips

water

1. Spray a large cookie sheet with a good vegetable oil spray and preheat the oven to 350.

2. In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients in the given order.

3. Mix well.

4. Add water a couple of teaspoonfulls at time, stirring, until mixture holds together.

5. Chill cookie dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes or until stiff.

6. Drop dough on cookie sheet a teaspoon(an eating spoon) at a time and flatten slightly with a fork.

5. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges. Check often to prevent burning.

5. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet.

Makes about 2 dozen

If stored in a sealed container they become more moist over time and the flavor instensifies.

*This recipe can be adapted with many different nuts, combinations and flavors

8: How have you have adjusted to having children? feel free to describe your style of parenting. because we know it’s not always just about veganism, being a parent is a whole new world.

Well, I would say that I adjusted a long time ago, since my oldest is 23!

But seriously though, I do feel more relaxed as a parent at this stage of my life compared to when my other kids were young. I know more of what to expect, because I've been down this road before. I know it's cliche', but becoming a parent changes you. Life ceases being just about "me" and forces a person(in a good way) to become more sensitive to the needs of another.

email me: stuff-about-stuff@hotmail dot com

Vegan parents feature #5

2011-05-27T08:09:00.001+10:00

This week hear from Caroline and her big vegan family.

1: Name and age of your little person(s) and your family.

We have 5 children, our eldest son Bj is 18, DJ our eldest daughter is 14, AJ is turning 10, Megan is 4 and Elijah is turning 2 this year.

2: Was your pregnancy vegan?,

no but we were Vegetarian at that stage. I wish i had been vegan though, as i think i would have been healthier.

We have been on and off Vegan since we were married but made a total commitment to being vegan for our health and our children's health 2 years ago. We have encountered so much evidence about how a meat eating and dairy eating diet is so bad for your health. The crunch for us becoming totally vegan was listening to Dr T Colin Cambell the guy who wrote The China Study. We just couldn't give our children dairy or animal protein laced foods knowing what we knew. Funnily enough the children have never asked for any of those things that we used to have.

My eldest daughter and i love to shop at organic markets and try new vegetables and fruits. We have just moved down from sunny NSW to Vic, so we are missing the awesome markets up there but are excited about growing our own.

We are pretty eco minded and our next project is to be self sufficient.

Buying organic and locally is important to me but not always something we can afford or do.

Its an attitude you have about life,vegan is more than just eating the right foods and treating animals right. Its how you feel about life and what you value, if you value others and this world we live in it will show and come out in all that you do.

There is a lot that makes us different from the normal, we homeschool, use cloth nappies, don't immunize and i make and sell cloth pads. This can be very confronting for other people but don't ever be afraid to stand up for what you believe is right for you and your children.

3: Do you have support from family/friends? If you have made new friends since becoming a vegan parent please add how you met and how helpful it’s been to have like minded friends.

My family is accepting of us becoming vegan as my youngest sister has been vegan for quite sometime. She pathed the way for us. They have seen the positive health change it has had on her. They also see that our children are healthy, happy and in a normal weight range. Friends have also been good about it, some take time to prepare vegan meals for us. But we do get a bit of negative reactions, my husband is the one who stands up and gives them the information when they start having a go at us. He is awesome with the facts and because people dont research they have nothing to say to us. I think because our choices are made on firm decisions with lots of facts that when we meet opposition they back down. I find it crazy that people just accept what the media tells them.

4: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being a vegan parent and how do you handle moments when you might doubt yourself?

I just asked my husband this question and he things there is nothing hard about being vegan! LOL! I think its making sure they have enough protein, calcium, iron etc etc. If i feel we haven't had enough of these things i go to the books. I also keep a suppliment handy. I do believe though that if you low in something, say vitamin C then you should just go and eat an orange.

5: What do you consider to be the best thing about been a vegan parent?

That you are giving them the best! All the food choices that are available are amazing, There is just so much variety. I feel sorry for the people caught up in the "meat and 3 veg" syndrome. Its crazy that they "worry" about vegan children's diets when they are having more variety than 90% of the population.

6: Please add any tips and favourite shopping and eating places that are child and vegan friendly?

We love going to The Vegie Bar in Brunswick st. We mainly eat at home as eating out is expensive with 7 to feed. :) I definately like organic stores, the atmosphere is so different to regular stores, I think growing what you can at home makes a difference, a few herbs etc, there is great satisfaction in growing your own. We also love going to Eastfields an organic shop in Croydon, it always smells so good in there.

7: Do you have any no fail foods for your fussy eater? Or please name some of your child's favourite meals/snacks, if possible please include recipes for other parents to try.

Aj doesnt like nuts at all, so i hide them grounded up in food. but apart from that we make our children eat a good range of things as we believe that they will eventually start liking them. letting them be apart of what you are buying, cooking helps. The eldest three regularly cook the main meal.
Aj just told me that she loves my carob cake. Its hard to name a favourite we really enjoy food at this house. A quick and easy recipe we like to make is pancakes with vegies in them.

Vegie pancakes

Make a basic pancake mix with SR flour and oat or soy milk, blend up vegies such as broccoli, carrot, zuchini, tomato, pumpkin, etc mix it together with pancake batter, salt, massel stock (we use chicken for this one) yeast flakes, onion powder and fry.

We stack them on our plate with a little BBQ sauce and vegan mayo. Yummo!

Carob shakes are always a winner at our house.

carob powder, soy milk, banana, dash of flax seed oil. we also sometimes throw in a few blueberries.

8: How have you have adjusted to having children? feel free to describe your style of parenting. because we know it’s not always just about veganism, being a parent is a whole new world.

Having happy adjusted children i believe involves parents being selfless, giving and giving till it hurts, Loving their children always, loving discipline, good principles that are demonstrated by the parents. we cant seriously expect our children to not do what we are doing ourselves. This is hard when you are grounded in bad habits.

For us having children has made us better people, better communicator with each other and more fun. I totally advocate big families! :)

stuff-about-stuff@hotmail dot com

Vegan parents feature: #4

2011-05-21T06:57:00.003+10:00

This week were have Rachael With a school aged vegan child.

1: Name and age of your little person(s) and your family.

our family consists of me Rachael (vegan 12yrs), Matt (vegan 8yrs) and ocean aged 7yrs who has been vegan since conception.

2: Was your pregnancy vegan?

when Matt and I found out I was pregnant we moved our housebus up to bangalow near Byron bay and picked macadamia nuts until I was 8mnths pregnant. I didn't have any doubts about staying vegan whilst pregnant, my body was telling me that it really appreciated what I was putting into it so I saw no reason to change that. It also helped having a doctor who was open minded when it came to diet.

My iron levels only fell lower than average once and they were still well within the healthy range but my doctor suggested I freeze pineapple chunks and blend them with parsley to make a kind of sorbet and this worked wonderfully.

3: Do you have support from family/friends? If you have made new friends since becoming a vegan parent please add how you met and how helpful it’s been to have like minded friends.

whilst both our families may not 'get' our reasons for being vegan they do try and cater for us and don't give us a hard time for being vegan. They have never questioned our right to bring ocean up on a vegan diet and I think they can see that he is a normal healthy 7yr old who gets sick alot less often than most of his cousins.

We haven't met any other vegan families since having ocean but there are families at oceans steiner school who are vegetarian.

4: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being a vegan parent and how do you handle moments when you might doubt yourself?

I don't know what the hardest thing is about being a vegan parent is. I think the hardest thing about being a conscious parent is interacting with families and people who are less conscious and trying to counteract any negative influence this interaction causes. Even at a Steiner school we have had times when peoples thoughtlessness has caused a bit of a kerfuffle. Oceans teacher decided to reward the kids with some 'natural' lollies from the healthfood shop which contained milk and gelatine. Ocean asked me if we could eat them (which he always does if he is unsure) and was very upset when I told him what was in them. I sat him down and said I totally understood if he would like to eat them and that it was his choice as he was old enough to know what he was choosing to do but he shook his head and made it very clear that wasn't an option so we took him to the healthfood shop and bought him a vegan treat and he was very content.

5: What do you consider to be the best thing about been a vegan parent?

the best thing about being a vegan parent is watching my healthy happy 7yr old be conscious of what he is eating, where it came from, how it was grown and why it is good for him. It is also great to see other kids being brought into awareness of these things through interacting with ocean.

6: Please add any tips and favourite shopping and eating places that are child and vegan friendly?

where we live at present pretty much has zilch opportunities for eating away from home so we have alot of picnics instead. When we travel we try and find places before we leave where we can stop and enjoy some great vegan food. Ocean always wants to stop in Newcastle when we head south so he can have either a funky chunky pie or what he calls a pumpkin pie which is a vegani pie made by Byron bay gourmet pies I think.

7: Do you have any no fail foods for your fussy eater? Or please name some of your child's favourite meals/snacks, if possible please include recipes for other parents to try.

oceans favourite meal is vegan lasagne, closely followed by nutmeat w/ gnocchi both with lashings of nutritional yeast flakes. He also loves any type of nut butter with a vengeance! He has a great appetite and is always willing to try new foods. If he says he doesn't like something after trying it then I respect that and do not make him eat it, Although I will try and introduce it later on as I have found his tastebuds go through phases.

8: How have you have adjusted to having children? feel free to describe your style of parenting. because we know it’s not always just about veganism, being a parent is a whole new world.

I'm not sure Matt and I have adjusted to being parents yet!!!!! I guess we have always tried to respect ocean as a person with his own ideas and feelings rather than just as a child to be steered this way and that. At times when I am exhausted and fed up I wish I didn't care so much and could just give in to the mindless crap that surrounds us but there is always an instinctual part of me that won't let that happen. I think the main thing Matt and I have tried to do is to make sure each decision has been thought about and made consciously instead of out of fear or pressure from other people

If you would like to be apart of vegan parents please email me: stuff-about-stuff@ hotmail dot com

Sew, what's up?

2011-05-16T12:50:00.001+10:00

Well it has been awhile since i have done a sewing post so i think its about time i show you what i have made lately.

I made charlotte some wings, she loves birds and is also getting to the age when dressing up will become a daily adventure and i saw this post and just had to try and make some, this is what mine turned out like.

Charlotte enjoys wearing her wings and been a bird its fun to watch.

Been cooler weather these days i have made myself a hooded scarf found here

i also wanted a simple scarf i could just wrap around and not worry about coming loose or having to readjust

I am also super excited about my new book i received this morning and i cant wait to get sewing :)

Well there you go this is what i have been up to lately

Feature: Vegan Parents #3

2011-05-15T07:50:00.001+10:00

So now we have number 3! This time we here from Simone who has a facebook page Being Vegan .

1: Name and age of your little person(s) and your family.

I'm Simone and I'm a single mum of Connor, 19 months.

2: Was your pregnancy vegan?,

No, I became vegan 6 months after Connor was born. I became vegan because I couldn't eat meat without thinking that what I was eating was alive at some point, and a living, feeling being, with parents or even children. It really upset me as a new mum. I saw dairy as stolen breastmilk from cows and as a breastfeeding mother, this broke my heart. If I ever have another child I will definitely have a vegan pregnancy. I know my diet gives me everything my body needs right now and will be beneficial in pregnancy. As an omnivore, I just ate to live and didn't know where any vitamins, minerals, etc came from. Now I know so much about nutrition, and am nearly a qualified vegan and vegetarian nutrition consultant.

3: Do you have support from family/friends? If you have made new friends since becoming a vegan parent please add how you met and how helpful it’s been to have like minded friends.

My mum is a vegan, which is great! I have had family members express concern to other family members, who know nothing about nutrition and assume that my diet, and my son's will be lacking in iron. I'm very strong in my opinions so family and friends don't say anything. I live my life confidently and try to be a good role model. I think if you don't believe in what you are doing, nobody else will. I obviously believe what I am doing is the best for our health and that shows to people. I have influenced people in my life to lead a more compassionate lifestyle, and some have even given up animal products. I have met many vegans on Facebook and I consider many of these close, lifelong friends. Its great to have support, because sometimes I feel like the only vegan in the world. Its helpful on those days where I feel like nobody cares about the treatment of animals, and i just speak to them, and I feel better.

4: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being a vegan parent and how do you handle moments when you might doubt yourself?

I think at the moment its easy being a vegan parent, but my son is only 19 months old. I think the hardest thing will be when he gets older and goes to school and birthday parties. I will do my best to raise him vegan, and ultimately let him decide whether that is what he wants to do. I believe I will raise a compassionate boy and he will choose this lifestyle. I don't want him to see it as annoying, because he may rebel and eat animal products. I will never doubt how healthy a vegan diet is, because I recently had a blood test, and I am 110% perfect and that's as a breastfeeding vegan!

5: What do you consider to be the best thing about been a vegan parent?

I know I'm giving my son the best start! He has a mad diet, full of superfoods, fresh fruit & veggies, wholegrains, and delicious treats. His diet is very alkaline and will benefit so much from being vegan. I also feel good knowing that no animal had to suffer for him to eat a meal.

6: Please add any tips and favourite shopping and eating places that are child and vegan friendly?

I think if you know how to spot an animal ingredient in a product you can easily pick out vegan friendly options wherever you are. There are some good iphone apps available if you don't know all the ingredients. And if you are going to a pizza restaurant for example, just order a vegetarian pizza without cheese. Its so easy eating out, there is always something you can order or change a little.

7: Do you have any no fail foods for your fussy eater? Or please name some of your child's favourite meals/snacks, if possible please include recipes for other parents to try.

My son loves chocolate smoothies!! They are healthy, but kids will never know hehe! I blend a frozen banana (or tray of ice), non-dairy milk, agave nectar, cacao, vanilla extract and flaxseeds. The flaxseeds give it a texture like crumbled cookies, and tastes awesome!! He also loves soy cheese, soy yoghurt and his favourite dinner is pasta. I fry a can of Sanitarium casserole mince and add it to an organic tomato pasta sauce. I use a gluten free Orgran kids pasta because I think its better on his system. Then I sprinkle some nutritional yeast on top for a cheesy taste and for b12. Here are some yummy kid-friendly recipes:

Not Pigs In Blankets

Ingredients:

Pack of vegan sausages

2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted

Directions:

1. Wrap sausage in enough puff pastry to cover and press pastry together to seal.

2. Bake for about 15 minutes on 175'C.

3. Serve with mustard and sauce.

Zucchini Pasta

Ingredients:

Zucchini, spiralised

Pasta sauce

Can of vegan mince

Nutritional yeast

Directions:

1. Fry mince.

2. Heat pasta sauce and add mince.

3. Pour over zucchini and sprinkle nutritional yeast on the top.

Honeycomb

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp golden syrup
1/3 cup white sugar1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Directions:
-In a large saucepan, heat the golden syrup and sugar together, bring to a boil then simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
-Remove pot from heat and add the bicarb soda. Quickly mix it in because the mixture will foam up instantly (Make sure its mixed well or there will be clumps of bicarb in it.) Pour immediately into a cake tin. Leave to set for about 10 minutes.

8: How have you have adjusted to having children? feel free to describe your style of parenting. because we know it’s not always just about veganism, being a parent is a whole new world.

I've adjusted really well I think. I use to be an out of control teen, but settled down as soon as I became pregnant. But since having my son I have completely changed and became a positive, healthy, calm person. I consider my style to be natural parenting. I breastfeed, co-sleep and I don't believe you can ever spoil a child with love and hugs. I never knew about baby-wearing or cloth nappies, but if I ever have another child I will do these things.

If you would like to be apart of the feature please email me at stuff-about-stuff@hotmail dot com

Feature: Vegan Parents #2

2011-05-10T15:21:00.001+10:00

Welcome to the second vegan parents feature.

The first one proved very popular with over 260 views! That is a lot for my little blog.

This week we will hear from Sarah and her little miss.

1: Name and age of your little person(s) and your family: I have an almost 2 yr old daughter (approx 20 months), her name is Alison Constable-Kerr, my name is Sarah and Ali's dad's name is Owen. We also have 2 cats (Jack & Pepper), 3 guinea pigs & 1 dog (Toby).

2: Was your pregnancy vegan?, My pregnancy wasn't vegan, not because of any health reasons, but because, I only just went vegan not long before I fell pregnant and didnt know much about it, wasn't familiar with all the foods yet and hadn't gotten myself used to the diet yet, so when I fell pregnant, the cravings got the better of me and the main things i craved were cows milk, cheese and milo, but as i said, i didnt know much about the vegan substitutes back then like I do now.

I became vegan when my daughter was about 3 months old. Mainly because I was breastfeeding and didn't know much about the nutrients I needed, etc, at the time, I was doing my research, so when I knew I could do it, I went vegan.

3: Do you have support from family/friends? If you have made new friends since becoming a vegan parent please add how you met and how helpful it’s been to have like minded friends.

I didn't have any support from friends at the time, and the only people in my family I had support from was my dad (he is vegetarian) and my twin sister (vegan), and my partner who eats meat. Since then I have new friends and they are vegan,vegetarian or just love animals alot and respect who I am.

My mum absolutely HATED the fact that I was bringing Ali up vegan and told me I was cruel and not giving her a choice, but i always told her-"Mum, forcing a child to eat meat is exactly the same-its not giving them a choice." I have told her that I hate the fact that she brought me up eating meat, I wish I was vegan since birth, so bringing Ali up as a vegan is actually giving her more choice and she wont have any regrets about eating the animals she loves!

My partners family (Ali's grandparents and cousins, uncles,etc) were the same and it took me ages to be able to trust them alone with Ali because alot of them would make stupid jokes about giving her steak,cheese, etc. But I trust the grandmother now because she has done her research and knows the benefits of a vegan diet and knows it isnt bad at all!

It is so much easier having like-minded friends, it feels great to let out everything you have inside about veganism, why you're vegan,etc that you can't talk about to someone who eats meat. I met these vegan friends when I started attending Animal Liberation meetings.

4: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being a vegan parent and how do you handle moments when you might doubt yourself?

The hardest thing about being a vegan parent is the fact that we have SO many negative people out there that will be happy to tell us that what we're doing is wrong,some people think a vegan diet will actually kill a baby. (I've been reminded many times of the 2 babies that died from malnutrition which they called a vegan diet)

I panic sometimes because I know its up to me and me only to make sure Ali gets the right amount of nutrients she needs every day, I know I am giving her enough but being a worrying parent, I worry about things like that a lot. But a lot of the reason I get worried about what to cook her, is because I can't cook and don't have imagination when it comes to cooking haha!

5: What do you consider to be the best thing about been a vegan parent?

Knowing that I'm feeding my daughter healthy food! knowing that I'm not putting something in her body that had been slaughtered for her. I feel good when I see Ali pat an animal and know that she doesn't eat them!

I hate seeing parents feeding their children animals that they love to hug and pat, and the fact that these children have NO idea where the food came from is wrong!

I also love the fact that she is on a totally different diet than most kids around her, I love talking about it, I am proud of it and love telling people WHY i chose her to be vegan.

I love when people say how beautiful and healthy looking she is and when I tell them she is vegan their mouths drop to the floor, they do not expect it at all!

6: Please add any tips and favourite shopping and eating places that are child and vegan friendly?

I don't really know which places are child friendly but I know of a few vegan restaurants in newtown including green gourmet. There is a shop in penrith called croc foods that sell vegan food (frozen), and an organic shop on the same street that sells vegan and organic food!

A VERY important thing to remember is-just because your child can't eat animal products it doesnt mean they have less of a choice when it comes to meals-A vegan can make ANY meal that anyone else can have and they arent restricted at all! You can still make cakes, spaghetti, nachos,casseroles,ice cream,anything!

I have actually had ppl that have never liked any cake before-taste one of my vegan cakes and they are shocked and say they love it! they have more and even take some home to let their family try it!

7: Do you have any no fail foods for your fussy eater? Or please name some of your child's favourite meals/snacks, if possible please include recipes for other parents to try.

Ali LOVES avocado, if she doesnt like a meal I have made her, I put some avocado in it and she eats it! one of her fave meals are meals made with cous cous, and her fave snacks are the corn flavoured cruskits spread with avocado. She also loves steamed carrots. I take them out with me for a snack and she eats them all! I usually make up a months worth of food and keep it in containers in the freezer so when its dinner time and we're in a hurry to get things done at that time, i can just take out an already made meal and defrost it, it has made life so much easier for me at dinner time which is always a rush around!

8: How have you have adjusted to having children? feel free to describe your style of parenting. because we know it’s not always just about veganism, being a parent is a whole new world.

I LOVE being a parent, obviously it is very time consuming and I wish I had more times to do a lot more things but no matter what the cons are, its worth it. I don't know how to describe our style of parenting, we are not strict but we still tell her whats wrong and whats right and what she can and cant do and touch, etc. I don't breast feed anymore, I only did the first 4 months since birth and I got mastitis so I stopped, it was way too painful.

If you would like to be apart of the vegan parents feature please email me: stuff-about-stuff@hotmail dot com