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Tuesday 4 August 2009

Singin' in the Rain

Helloooo,

Can you believe it's already August? You wouldn't think it if you looked out the window though, the Great British Summer - gotta love it, eh! Although yesterday it was actually pretty sunny, but I was ill so spent most of my day on the couch watching episodes of Huff and Jeremy Kyle! haha.

Well I am in the final week of my diet. I'm not calling it a cleanse because I've been rubbish at eating raw stuff, aside from juice & smoothies for brekkie with salad for lunch. I am gonna weight and measure myself friday to see if I've lost any weight (cross your fingers people!!). So here are some eats from the last week....

Dinner on Sunday for me and my friends. I made lasagna, got it all ready then finished it off and stuck it in the oven when we got back from the gym. I used gluten free (corn) lasagne sheets, sauteed up some veggies, made a tomato sauce and a tofu layer. I was gonna make tofu ricotta but I was way too lazy to dig out Veganomicon. So I just threw a packet of thawed cauldron plain tofu (250g) into the blender, along with the water it came in, added 1/3 cup of cashews, a couple of tbsp of soymilk and a pinch of salt & pepper and blended it super smooth. So it wasn't really like tofu ricotta, just a lovely smooth creamy sauce. It rocked.

The top was a sauce I made out of 1 cup (250ml) of soymilk, mixed with 3 level tbsp of cornflour, a tsp of paprika and a pinch of salt & pepper. Then I boiled it stirring constantly until it went really thick and then added a tbsp of tahini and 2 tbsp of nooch and checked seasoning. It made a perfect cheezy topping. The whole thing then got baked for 30 minutes and went with some steamed greens and a True Blood marathon! :)


I also had my best friends round last Thursday (and again tonight!) and I made the chickpea sensation patties from ED&BV, but I didn't get a photo! They were not bad but did fall apart a wee bit. Maybe because I subbed gluten free breadcrumbs for the oats, to keep them gluten free? But anyway, I cooked WAY too much brown rice for these so had loads leftover. Some went into....
Rice salad, just rice, veggies lemon juice and an avocado and some salt & pepper. Easy but yummy.

This was breakfast on Sunday. I really was craving porridge, but as oats aren't gluten free, I decided to use up the leftover brown rice. I just cooked 3/4 cup of cooked brown rice in 1 cup of soymilk, with a tsp of arrowroot for 15 minutes (arrowroot added last 5 minutes) until thick. Then I added some agave and some Dark Chocolate Dreams (gluten free and no refined sugar - woop!!). This was SO good. I got some of the White Chocolate Wonderful in my swap and I found the Dark Chocolate Dreams in Sainsburys (I did a massive SQUEEEEE when I saw it and had to stop myself buying 6 jars of it!). I just wish they sold more flavours in the UK!! Get on it PB&Co!!


As well as brown rice leftover from the patties, I had leftover chickpeas. YAY - this means Punk Rock Chickpea Gravey from VWAV. I had it with mashed butternut squash/sweet potato, peas and some awesome tofu. I just dipped it in cornflour, then (gluten free / low sodium) soy sauce, then in Orgran's Gluten Free crumbs (these have come in really handy lately!). Then I baked them at 200C for about 20 minutes. Yum.


One night I really couldn't think of what to have for dinner. I haven't had many tofu scrambles lately, I used to always have them on a Saturday but it's rare that I fancy them lately. But I had this for dinner one night and it was awesome. Baked sweet potatoes with a scramble - I threw all the the veggies in right at the end (except the onion) so they were crunchy and awesome! Topped with an avocado tossed in lemon juice and a dollop of low fat hummus. Tasty good.


I got this idea from Jessy's eggplant parm! I just dipped two pieces of aubergine in cornflour, then soymilk then the Orgran crumbs mixed with some nooch. Then fried it in a little cooking spray. To go with, I made a rice mixture with veggies and some more nooch and tahini. I stuff this into a big fat tomato and baked it for 20 minutes at 180C/350F. Delicious!! SOOOOO delicious.


That's it for the food - but something I'm excited to share.... my newest ink!! I have been dying to post this since the 6th of June when I got it done, but I only had a bloody, just taken pic and kept forgetting to get my friend to take a better one.

This was my 30th birthday present from my best friends. I wanted a fairy sitting on a sunflower. I wanted the sunflower to represent the vegan society logo, but I wanted it prettier than that logo (which is a bit boring), I wanted it to be a realistic sunflower. When I discussed it with my artist, we agreed the stem would be too long if she was sitting on top of it, so this is what she came up with. I just showed her 2 pics of fairies, one of the sort of style I liked and one with the wings I liked. For colours, I just said greens and blonde hair please. I was in love with her sketch but the finished article was even more awesome than I hoped for.



A close-up. I wish I could get you a better close-up because the detail's she's put in the face is awesome. She has green eyeshadow and pink lipstick - she is one hot (vegan) fairy!! Plus these pics do not do the colours justice but you get the idea!


Laterz
xXx





19 comments:

  1. The food looks incredible, Sal. Total yum!! And the fairy is beautiful!!

    I have never made Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy (I know.. bad, bad vegan!!) Everyone raves about it, but I have yet to try it. Must make a note for myself to incorporate it soon.

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  2. I like the tattoo, it's really cute!

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  3. That tomato looks awesome! And so does your tattoo.

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  4. Love the new ink - and all that food looks so tasty you'd never know you were on a cleanse!

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  5. yay for healthy eating and pretty tattoos! as for diets, i'm against them. a lower weight doesn't neccesarily give someone a clean bill of health, but again--i fully support people wanting to eat healthier or lighter if that makes them feel better.

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  6. Love the new tat! I have a fairy on my back.

    The lasagna looks amazing, and I'm so in love with that chickpea gravy recipe. Yum!

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  7. I don't know why you'd need a recipe book, as all the stuff you just throw together looks and sounds delicious!
    Your tattoo looks great, too! If I were about 40 years younger and not such a coward I'd love one like that!

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  8. I love your fairy!! She's gorgeous!

    And I'm loving the food too!! It all looks amazing!!!

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  9. That tat is boootiful! What a great birthday pressie to your self. Is that your first one?
    I can't believe I've not made that Gravy from Vcon yet! If it gets the alien's thumbs up (tentacles up?) then I really must give it a go.
    And I've had my eye on Jessy's Parma recipe for a while now - especially as I've just recently discovered a new type of Aubergine at my local supermarket. It's got white stripes on it and is so much sweeter and tastier than regular Aubergines. When I go next I'll pay attention to what it's actually called. That stuffed Tomato looks totally yum - it's positively bursting with yumness.
    And the Rice Salad looks good - Avocados make everything good in my opinion.
    :)
    All your food looks fantastic, as always Sal.
    I'll keep my fingers crossed for your weigh-in. I had mine today and although I put on half a kilo I have lost body fat and 2.5 cm's all over. The weight gain is due to me building muscle 'cos muscle weighs more than fat. So bear that in mind if you've been working out. I know you were doing spinning which is the BEST cardiovascular exercise for burning fat.

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  10. Jeni - no it's my third! :) I've been babbling at my friends forever that I wanted a fairy tattoo and recently I wanted something vegan related too without actually having the word vegan tattooed on me. So they offered to pay for the tat as my 30th b-day pressie to shut me up I think! haha

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  11. Ha, yeah. Our summer is behaving like an English summer, too.
    I spot a lot of avocado there, which I love! And that's a cute fairy.

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  12. Everything looks great Sal! Your tat and the food..haven't done a lasagna in forever...mmm...

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  13. Yummy, that all looks delicious especially the eggplant parm thing. I've not been eating wheat for about a week now so I'll have to get some of those Orgran crumbs. The only sad thing about the wheat free thing is that I haven't been able to try your sausage recipe.

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  14. I can totally tell by the food you're eating that you're not getting any hot days there. Seattle (which has more of a UK summer typically) has been really hot lately. today we have a break and it's cool and gloomy, but i'm loving it. and so is the dog :)

    The food looks amazing as always! good thing I just had a cucumber sandwich or I would have fainted from hunger just seeing them!

    Love the tatt!

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  15. Beautiful food, as always!

    I love your little fairy, she is gorgeous!

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  16. nice tat!

    and nice eatz! i'm not great at dieting either, but i'm feeling the need for an end-of-summer semi-cleanse. good luck to you!!

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  17. Lovely new tattoo! Makes me pine for another one... I'm trying to wait for my 21st birthday at least, but it's been tempting... ;)

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  18. wow, Sal! your new ink is fuck'n awesome! i love it the most! i'm glad you got the sunflower spruced up a bit - it's gorgeous! such an awesome 30th birthday present. you have some great friends, indeed!

    i love that you used your leftover brown rice for porridge - totally gonna have to try that out. i have found gluten-free oats here in the stores, but to be honest - i'm not sure they're entirely gluten-free. maybe they are & my tummy hates oats now - but i do notice that when i have the "gluten-free oats" my tummy hates me, when i have other oat & gluten-free hot cereal - my tummy = fine. hmmmm....... i love the smashed butternut squash - and your crusted 'n baked tofu looks amazing! i wish i had 'fu in the house right now 'cause i really want some for lunch time now! :) i can't believe i'm never made that gravy - totally need to try it out, and i'm glad your eggplant parmesan came out to be super stellar! damn, it looks so good! thanks for the shout-out too, Sal! awesomesauce. that's one helluva lasagna, and you always make the best scambles! fingers crossed for your weigh-in! have the most fantastical weekend, Sal - i hope it's the sunniest! superw00t!

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  19. All the food looks delicious, always love lasagna - can't believe I haven't made that chickpea gravy yet - great tat too! Very cool b-day gift, love the design.

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