Shellac!

This going Vegan is very hard so I have decided not to beat myself up about it too much when I have something which is not quite vegan, rather I will praise myself that I am at least trying.

I get let down by snacks, I have a very sweet tooth and fruit just doesn't do it everytime, sometimes I need sweets, well chocolate, well carob really.
Now I have discovered that the carob covered raisins and Brazil nuts I buy from my lovely local health food shop, are actually covered in shellac! Why? My little pleasure has now turned into a no go area. GRRR! makes me mad.

I have soya milk, have done for years, Don't have eggs anymore or cheese, by the way I really dislike the fake cheeses, I'd rather go without. So really on the food side I'm just about there. Not started to think about the rest of the minefield of animal derivatives in everyday items.

Chocolate - my nemesis

One of the hardest things I've had to try and give up has been chocolate.
I gave up cheese, no problem, eggs, no problem, milk and margarine, no problem, but Chocolate? That has been so hard to do.
A few years ago I gave chocolate up for Lent which worked, I think because I knew it wasn't a permanent thing. Well this year I'm doing it it again and this time I intend to stick with it.

There are other sweet things I can eat. :)

New tutorial

I have another blog called Polynana's Place. It's where I post about anything polymer clay related, my beads, things I like, tutorials etc.
Well I have posted a tutorial on there if anyone is interested.
here's the link

Back home and getting back to reality

Well I have been home a week now after my Dad's funeral, still quite emotional but trying to get back to some sort of normality.
Whilst I was in Essex helping to nurse Dad it was very difficult to stay vegan. Now I'm home, I've been back to work for a week and this weekend I did a bake for the week.

Spinach soup from a recipe in Vegetarian Living magazine, this is simply delicious, one of the best soups I've ever tasted, I'll make this again. (looks quite unappetising though, I'll just shut my eyes when I eat it )

I also made some spring roll type things using Filo pastry, I filled some with a sweet, apple and raisin mixture and others with a curried lentil, sweet potato and yellow pepper mix.

Also I came to the conclusion that I eat too many soya products and as you know, too much of anything can be a bad thing. So I have decided to stop using soya milk in my tea and on my porridge. I have tried rice milk, which is so watery my tea look almost like chocolate and so strong, it also curdles so that it's undrinkable, next I tried a new milk out called Oatly, made with oats strangely enough :), this was a bit more creamy so the tea looked better but this also curdled.
I read on the internet that others who had had this problem heated the milk before adding the tea bag and water, which I did. The rice milk still curdled, not too bothered about that as I didn't like the taste of it anyway. The Oatly worked, Hooray! A decent cuppa at last.

My Dad

Well it has been a very emotional time for the family these last few months.
My lovely Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer 19 months ago and finally lost his battle in the early hours of 22nd February.

We had his funeral this weekend, my brothers and I read poems and spoke our thoughts. Dad was cremated in a wicker casket, all his family and friends from far and wide were there to say goodbye.

I am going to miss him very much, God Bless Dad x x x x x

kidney bean pies

Pictures as promised. I froze half of them, they defrosted and reheated very well.

A successful experiment

We had a stressful week last week , illness in the family and a visiting mouse meant no time in the kitchen all week. Last night I managed a couple of hours to bake.
The date and orange cookies went down a storm so I made another batch of those, this time I had all the right ingedients and I'm happy to say they taste just as good as my adapted version. :)

Next I made some wholemeal pastry using Pure margarine. What do you put in a vegan pie?
I had a bit of a blank moment, usually a pie filling would involve cheese. After looking in the larder, I grabbed a tin of kidney beans and a selection of vegetables.
I used a muffin tin to make individual deep pies, that way I could freeze some for another day.

Vegetables I used were, Leek, red onion, carrot, sweet pepper, a bit of vegan marigold stock and a spoonful of Marmite, then half a tin of kidney beans.

Pictures to follow

Cookies!

I went to our little library yesterday and browsed the recipe shelves. I found the only Vegan book in the whole place. It turned out to be a gem.
There are some really great recipes in it. I just had to try the Date and Orange Cookies.

They are absolutely delicious. I made a few minor changes as I didn't have any oatmeal or wholemeal flour, so I used white flour and rolled oats.

Here it is...
150g soft dark brown sugar
150gvegan margarine (I used Pure)
150g Self raising wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
75g medium oatmeal
75g chopped dates
finely grated rind of an orange

1. Cream together the marg and sugar then add the orange rind.
2. Mix in the flour, baking powder and oatmeal.
3. Add the dates.
4. Place well spaced apart on greased trays and cook for 15 - 20 minutes.
This made 20 good sized cookies.

The title of the book is Vegan recipes, Edited by Nicola Graimes, published by Southwater


I would like to thank Jennifer Airs for the Rose Elliott book she sent me, another very helpful tool for my venture.

So far, not bad

Well a week in and it's not going to badly. I am craving sweet things but not fruit unfortunately. So tonight after my yummy tea of lentil and butternut squash bake, made by my own fair hands,
I chopped and apple into a saucepan, added a few blueberries and a little water and boiled it down. In another pan I put a couple of spoons of oats and a sprinkle of sugar, then heated until the oats were nicely toasted and the sugar had covered them with a crispy coating. With the oaty topping on the fruit it made a delicious pudding and satisfied my very sweet tooth. I wish I'd taken a picture as it looked pretty too.

I've been browsing the web and found some great, helpful vegan sites.
Indestructibles -some really good recipes

This site has some helpful information for new vegans

And some great blogs too from this site

New Year, New Start.

2011, the year I become vegan.
Well it started off a bit wobbly as we had some chocolates left over and some cream in the fridge, it had to be finished and I hate throwing things away. But it's all gone now, I'm off to the shops to stock up on Tahini, Tofu, Gram flour and Carob etc.
It's going to be an exciting if scary journey. I'll need help from friends and books and other bloggers.
Hopefully, this year I will have a little more time for making more polymer clay beads as they have been sorely neglected lately and I miss them. As soon as my work room is cleared of all the clutter and I can actually get into the room I will be in there like a shot.
Back to work on Tuesday though :(