Vegetarian Chatter #2

Hello all :)

Cherished1 - Hope your dinner goes well tonight, did you end up deciding on a dessert? Pistachio icecream sounds delish. I saw I cooking show the other day (good chef/bad chef maybe?) and she made rice milk ice cream by blitzing frozen ricemilk with pistachios and some vanilla bean (and maybe more but I can't remember). Looked so easy and tasty!

Krystals - I've never made dahl, how did it go in the SC? I have a SC but now I'm single I can't really find an excuse to use it... I could probably do a big cook up and freeze stuff but then again... meh. They're super useful for families though hey.

Audax - I hope tiny vegan (how cute :lol:) has settled for you :hug:

I'm flirting with the idea of a vegan diet again. I have ordered the book "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone, its meant to be quite good, I'm looking forward to reading it. I must admit I read her blog in her "Cher" Clueless voice so I think reading her book will be interesting :rofl:

I think I am going to slowly start the transition into vegan... already drinking ricemilk and not using butter, I don't really eat eggs, so I just have to cut out cheese (omg how??? lol) and part with my dearly loved yoghurt. I want to cut out as much processed food as possible, I am over all the additives and junk in EVERYTHING. So yes, so begins my journey :lol: wish me luck!

I did end up making nacho's the other day and oh my word were they good... mmm. I love mexican style beans I could LIVE on them. So good. I went to my grandparents the other night and my Nan cooked up a full on vegetarian fare - we had asparagus quiche, and a huge roast veggie salad. So good. And she gave me heaps of left overs so I have been living on that. Not sure what I will make for dinner tonight, something easy & lazy being a Friday... lack of inspiration at the end of the week!

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL relaxing weekend, I hope the weather behaves itself. I'm off to the art gallery tomorrow to see the terracotta warrior exhibition, so excited!

well the dahl in the SC worked okay- it's way quicker on the stove though! haha (well 'duh' it's a slow cooker) excuse the outer monologue!!!

Audax thanks for the tip on more water- you were right! I hope bubba is feeling a lot better, it can be a good excuse for more cuddles! Not that I never need an excuse!

Sibbie I don't use the SC a lot, but we had someone over for dinner last night and I wanted something that I didn't need to cook just as they were arriving, I had so much to do yesterday! It's also handy for cooking up big batches of things- I'm doing a bit spaghetti sauce today with the masses of tomatoes we have! It's nice to be able to just dump it in the pot and go about the day!! Good luck with becoming vegan, it can be a difficult transition, it's truly a change in lifestyle, take it slow if you want to stay committed!

I've been wondering about people's reasons for deciding (?) to live a veggo life. Mine change, as does my lifestyle- sometimes I eat meat, as I did in pregnancy, at the moment I'm vego/local produce. I simply feel better when I'm eating vegetarian food. I like the taste of it, and I don't mind saying I'm a good veggo cook! I also live on a property that caters for large groups of people and there is a lot of food wastage- so my 2011 resolution is to reduce the waste here- which is mostly fruit and veg. Wonderful results! We have at least 2 litres of orange and apple juice a week (which is only because I don't have the time for more!) plus sorbets, jams and cordials. All of DS food is taken care of and we have plenty to share with neighbours. It's a good way of keeping busy and saving money and sharing!!!

I have a lot of reasons for being vego when I do take the time to think about it, it changes every day, environmental reasons, animal respect, but that's where I'm at right here and now.

hi girls and thanks for you help! Yesterday I served scones at around 11:30 rather than lunch and they were totally yummy as I whipped some cream up with coconut in it and have rhubarb and ginger jam. Tonight I've made a tofu, bean & lentil curry and dh is making a vegi one. I've also made my tom chutney , cucumber raita, veg samosas and a sweet chilli dipping sauce to go with it and the dessert.... a banana and coconut mousse which is yummo (taste tested already) due to never making it before. How great does that pistachios icecream sound though!!!

Now I need a soak in the bath, can't wait for dh to get home this arvo so he can look after DS while I do that, in the mean time I'm going to cut my nail and soak my feet in the foot spa then paint my nails! :D

Cherished, how was your delicious feast?

Sibbie, when you cut out cheese you just have to go cold tofurkey on it. Don't try to replace it, just cook cheese free recipes for a few weeks. You will soon stop craving all that fat and salt.

Daddy Vegan took Tiny Vegan and I out for dinner to Asian Fusion, our fave. We had Mongolian tofu and Gai Lan with Chinese [mock] sausage. Well, the grown ups did. Tiny Vegan had YesMilk.

Yummo Audax! How old is tiny vegan?

We had a brown rice salad tonight. Very simple and so delicious! Brown rice with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, sultanas, sunflower and sesame seeds and soy sauce. I don't think I've left anything out! I really wanted to make a recipe a friend had given me, but didn't have all the ingredients, so this was the mish-mash!!! DELICIOUS and glad I have some for lunch tomorrow!

Hehehe, sounds delicious Audax!
DH made some vegie sausage rolls today, as DD went to a party. The food was typical children's party junk - cheezels, greasy pizza, red cordial, lollies, white bread ham and cheese sangas, you get the drift....We turned up with enough vegie sausage rolls for everyone. They didn't last long. I will post the recipe later.

Sibbie, how was the terracotta warrior exhibition? Good luck with your transition to veganism. I haven't looked back! I've been vegan 15 yrs now. You will get over cheese.
Have you read The China Study. (terracotta warriors reminded me!). Awesome book.

ETA love your avi Sibbie!
krystals, your brown rice salad sounds delicious.

DH has burgers made from the leftover dahl on the cooker!!! Can't wait...will have them with some spicey chutney, tomato and cucumber (because we still have too many!).

Does anyone have any good ideas for cucumbers???

krystals that salad sounds yummo and pretty darn easy!

It's too late, but I do a cucumber and mint pasta salad (or potato salad if you want)
It's two chopped cucumbers, a handful of mint, a clove of garlic, a block of silken tofu, splash of white vinegar, teaspoon of sugar. Whizz it up and pour it on your cold pasta or potatoes. It's yum.

Ash - that sounds lovely. Party fare sounds revolting. I read something on the different kinds of vegan, and classed myself as fodie vegan, because anywhere we go I obsess about my food being better than everyone else's, or garnering at least one comment of "that smells/looks/is amazing"

I had dairy on Friday. Someone got my order wrong at a cafe, and I couldn't tell the difference :redface: Only afterwards when I went to pay, I figured it out. Bit annoying, lucky I'm not wildly allergic. It made Tiny Vegan super-spewy. Yuck. Tiny Vegan is not that tiny these days. She's a chubbalubb.

Lets dust the cobwebs off this thread :)

Thats a pain about the cafe stuffing your order up Audax. How good are chubby babies? I cant wait to have another fat baby!

How is everyone going? After over two months of trying to survive severe MS Ive made it through to the other end and am back to eating good food, and cooking(DP is so happy :)) I am off so much though, cannot stand garlic, onion, pizza and sushi, all of which are usually staples in my diet.
This week made a lentil cottage pie which was nice, between DP and DD meals just dont seem to go far these days. Its so rare that we end up with leftovers which I guess is a good thing.

Gonna try and talk DP into getting thai take out fo dinner, Im craving a cashew stir-fry.
hope everyone is well :)

Hi Peach! It's lovely to 'see' you again.
How many weeks pregnant are you now? Sorry, I've lost track.
I hope you haven't gone off rice paper rolls ;)

we are having mushroom pizzas tonight- sliced Swiss brown and button mushrooms cooked in oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper, then spread on puff pastry and topped with fresh majoram and baked in oven. DS 4.5 yrs likes potato pizza- thinly sliced potato and fresh Rosemary mixed with olive oil and salt, then spread over puff pastry and baked in oven. Will have them with steamed broccoli and salad. I will have mine with a glass or two of red wine!

Hi Audax- sorry to hear that Tiny Vegan suffered when your order was stuffed up.

Hello Ash, long time no 'see' :) How are you and your brood going?
Im just over 16 weeks now, Im starting to get really excited. Fingers crossed for another princess!
Luckily Im ok with rice paper rolls although I cant stand tofu unless its in small slices and masked between something now. And I despise chickpeas now too! sigh. So into enchiladas at the moment though.
I remembered DP works late on thursdays so there was no thai for us :(
Any of you ladies have your own vegie patch? Or chickens? Im starting to build a coop this weekend so excited. Hopefully it dosnt tun out like Homer Simpsons spice rack :P

I'd love chickens. Have to wait till we return to Australia I think. We have an empty 4x4 metre-ish veggie patch which we need to fill up and get growing (in my spare time...)

I need some dinner help please!! :D

I am boiling some 4 bean mix at the moment and I want to cook something... I have tomatoes, a general mix of veggies, rice, corn chips... I was thinking a tomato stew on rice? But I'm feeling braindead- a basic recipe please? Needs to be gluten free. We're just gone GFCF so I'm now almost vegan (apart from eggs) and no more noodles or old school pasta.

ETA: I have some red wine too... not sure if that would be GF? I guess so...

Can you get GF tortillas? Maybe enchiladas or burritos? Or nachos?

Thanks! We do have some GF tortillas but I ended up making beans & rice. Felt like I was back in South America. I love nachos... how to you make them dairy free? We have some fake cheese but I'm dubious.

Well, I'm no longer vegetarian :crying:

It breaks my heart and I never, ever understood people who "used to be vegetarian". Why on earth would you start eating animals again??!

My son has autism and through a great deal of research we have decided that there appears to be a lot of merit to the idea that autism (esp. regressive autism, as he has) is a transitional state of being caused by the internal chemistry of the body and digestion getting out of wack. We've decided to try and heal his body through a diet approach and as much as I hoped we might be able to remain vegetarian, the inclusion of animal products within that diet really is essential. So we're going to do this for a couple of years and then we'll reassess as to whether he can be vegetarian again (I'm sure my H and I can be again).

Why not just give him meat and not us? I'm trying to protect my second son from developing the same issues and to avoid the wrong foods in my breast milk I need to supplement my diet or I'll end up sick myself. The cooking will also be fairly intensive so it'll be hard to be a short order cook. Long story short, we've decided one in, all in. This will help with role modelling too given that it's going to be VERY hard to get our son onto this new diet and off his 5 foods that he eats now. That's another whole sob there.

Anyway- why am I telling you? I don't want support and pats on the back that being vegetarian was unhealthy anyway. I don't believe a vegetarian diet is unhealthy, or stupid. I don't want to tell omnivores and hear "yeah, I don't think it's healthy to be vegetarian". And I hate that the books I'm reading have their stupid "let's bag out the vegetarians" sections. I am losing a bit of my soul to do this, don't bag me out while I'm at it.

So for now, it's my dirty secret. We're living OS and it's probably good timing because we're hoping to return home to Oz as vegetarians again and we can skip even telling most of our friends.

Hope you're all well and enjoying your wonderful delights. I'll be enjoying every delish vegetarian meal I have. I'm going slow at the moment, only introduced a small amount of non-veg and adjusting to the concept as we transition and expect to be on the full new diet within 3 months.

Wow, that is massive, meow.

You won't get any judgement from me. We can only make the decision that we think is right for our own family. I hope your heart can heal.

AFM, I have shocking ms at the moment so food is not much of a pleasure at the moment. Had a yummy lasagne last night- with roasted capsicum and eggplant. DH is doing most of the cooking at the moment.
I hope everyone is well in this quiet thread!

Hey, meow, I missed that post. Bummers... I hope it all works out for you.

I am living on a lentil and barley soup at the moment. Very Small Vegan eats her vegie finger food dipped in the lentil base, and I just go nuts for this soup at every opportunity. It is delicious.

Went to the local school fete today and was pleasantly surprised to find lentil burgers at the sausage sizzle as well as vegan stuff at the cake stall, AND another vegan mumma!!! We MUST get our baby girl into that school, it is sooooo lovely :D

Dinner tonight: Lentil and barley soup.