These delicious veggie cakes are a treat to have for a main meal! They are a combination of savoury pancakes, scones and veggie burgers! They are also a great way of using up any leftover vegetables you have in the fridge!
Makes 12
Ingredients
1tbsp Coconut Oil
1 Small Red Onion
1 Garlic Clove
80g Mushrooms
1 Carrot
1/2 Sweet Potato
Handful Spinach
75g Quinoa
75g Brown Rice
1tbsp Desiccated Coconut
1tbsp Ground Flaxseed
500ml Almond Milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C. Bake the sweet potato for 45 minutes.
Now prepare the batter. Add the quinoa, brown rice, desiccated coconut, flaxseed and almond milk to the Vitamix blender. Blend on full power for 30 seconds.
Next, melt the coconut oil in a hot pan. Add the chopped onion and sliced mushrooms. Fry for a few minutes. Add the finely chopped carrot. Lastly add the chopped garlic, cooked sweet potato cut into cubes and the handful of spinach. Now add the cooked vegetables into the batter in the blender. Mix with a spoon.
I use a specialised pancake pan with 4 moulds to cook 4 veggie cakes, but you can add spoonfuls of the mixture to a hot pan to cook. Add 2 dessert spoonfuls of the batter mix to the hot pan, cooking 4 veggie cakes at a time. Cook for 5 minutes on one side then flip over and cook for another 5 minutes or until golden brown on each side. Place the cooked veggie cakes on a plate then cook 4 more.
This tasty Autumnal dish is high in protein with the mushrooms and quinoa.
I went out to the woods on the day and picked wild mushrooms which taste amazing! Had to identify them first as many wild mushrooms are poisonous!
You would cook the quinoa as you would the rice in a risotto, by simmering and adding water as necessary.
Serves 2
Ingredients
1tbsp Coconut oil
1 Small red onion
80g Mushrooms
1tsp Thyme
150g Quinoa
500ml Filtered water
1/4tsp Pink Himalayan salt
1/4tsp Black pepper
Method
Melt the coconut oil in a saucepan. Chop up the onion and add to the hot pan. Now slice the mushrooms and add to the pan. Fry until the mushrooms are browned.
Now pour in the quinoa. Add the thyme and stir in. Fry for a minute, then pour in the filtered water.
Bring to the boil, then put the lid on and simmer for 20 minutes.
Check the pan regularly and add extra water when the quinoa is looking dry. Quinoa absorbs water very quickly!
When cooked, add in the salt and pepper and serve immediately!
It is really rewarding making your own cashew and almond milk. It is so quick to prepare and just as tasty as the shop bought almond milk, but without the artificial preservatives! I added cashew butter for extra deliciousness! Store your cashew and almond milk in glass bottles to be eco-friendly.
Makes 1.2L
Ingredients
100g Almonds
1tbsp Cashew nut butter
2tbsp Agave nectar
¼ tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
1000ml Filtered water
Instructions
Soak the almonds overnight, changing the water at least once.
Drain the almonds.
Add all the ingredients to a blender and mix for 1 minute.
Pour into glass bottles and store in the fridge.
You can pour your almond milk onto cereal or use it in smoothies!
Hummus is my favourite food! I love it on bread or on my baked sweet potatoes! It is a tasty dish that originated in the Middle East. This recipe is so delicious I had to share it with you immediately! It is based on an Abel & Cole recipe (my new favourite all organic supermarket!). It is super quick to make (20 minutes). I have been wanting to post a hummus recipe for a while. Hope you enjoy it!
Makes 2 pots
Ingredients
400g can Chickpeas
150ml Filtered water
1/2 Lemon
1 Small garlic clove
3tbsp Tahini
2tbsp Hemp oil
2tbsp Olive oil
1/4tsp Pink Himalayan salt
1/4tsp Black pepper
Method
Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
Place them in a pan with the filtered water. Simmer for 7 minutes.
When the chickpeas are simmering, cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice of one half into a blender. Finely chop the garlic clove. Add in the tahini, oils and 3tbsp filtered water. Season with salt and black pepper.
Next add the cooked chickpeas into the blender. Blend on a low speed for 10 seconds until the hummus is completely smooth.
Pour the hummus out into a container and leave it to cool. Then put it in the fridge to set.
Enjoy it spread on bread or as a dip for carrot sticks! Keeps in the fridge for 3 days.
Note: Ideally store in a glass container. If storing in a plastic container, ensure it has a triangle symbol with a number 5 or 24 inside as these are the only types of plastic that don’t leach into the food!
The delicious sweet flavours of the roasted root vegetables combine with the tomato sauce to create a tasty Autumnal dish! I will be making something similar for Christmas dinner with the addition of parsnips and brussels sprouts!
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 Carrots
2 Sweet Potatoes
1 Red Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
2tsp Cumin
3tbsp Olive Oil
1 400g can Chickpeas
350ml Passata
1tsp Oregano
¼ tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
¼ tsp Black Pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Wash the vegetables. Cut the ends off of the vegetables and slice them lengthways, arranging them in layers in a baking dish. Add in the peeled garlic cloves. Sprinkle with cumin and generously drizzle over the olive oil.
Place the baking dish in the oven for 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Drain the chickpeas and add to the baking dish with the passata. Season with oregano, salt and pepper.
Return the dish to the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Scoop out a portion onto a plate and serve immediately.
This light and fluffy porridge is delicious and takes only 5 minutes to make! The quinoa flakes are much quicker to cook that ordinary quinoa and can be purchased from most health food stores. Chia seeds and flaxseed give you a boost of omega-3. Quinoa is a good source of protein to keep you feeling full.
There are many reasons why I’m vegan which are listed below. Some of these reasons may shock you. The methods used in the animal industries are disturbing and people should be make aware of how animals are treated.
Meat – meat is produced by murdering another living being. Animals have a right to live and enjoy the freedom of their lives.
Meat is difficult to digest and contains the vibration of fear, suffering and death. The animals queue up and watch their friends, brothers and sisters being slaughtered in front of their eyes! They hear the screams and wait in fear for their turn. Their bodies are flooded with the stress hormone cortisol. And upon slaughter these hormones are still present in the meat. So when you eat meat you are consuming cortisol, adding to the excess cortisol that floods most of our bodies due to the stressful lives we lead and puts a strain on the adrenal glands.
Seafood especially tuna contains mercury and if consumed regularly can cause mercury poisoning.
What is meat? – Meat includes beef, lamb, veal, pork, chicken, turkey, duck, liver, other organ meats, all fish (yes fish is meat so if you eat fish you are not a vegetarian, you are a pescetarian!) and all seafood such as prawns, muscles, crab etc.
This video broke my heart when I saw it. How can a dog be more compassionate that a human being? We will sit by a watch a fish suffocate while the dog tries to save its’ life. The dog understands how precious life is. And we are supposed to be more intelligent?
Eggs – eggs have the potential to form into a chick if they are fertilised with sperm from a rooster. However the egg industry is one of the most cruel industries and the males chicks are ground alive on a machine with metal blades. The hens are used to produce eggs for our consumption. Many are confined to cramped, unhygienic cages and not allowed to roam free outside in the sunlight. I had tears in my eyes when I saw a picture of a male chick about to be cut up on a blade.
Dairy – Cows are abused. They are pumped full of growth hormones to build them up for slaughter as well as antibiotics which remain in the milk we drink. Dairy is acidic and mucus forming. There are some farms that treat their animals well. If you are going to buy milk and cheese it is better to buy organic and buy goat’s or sheep’s dairy as they are less intensively farmed that cows.
Leather – leather is cow’s skin! Would you wear human skin?
Merino wool – I discovered the horrors on the merino wool industry in the following video. The sheep are transported across the ocean on board freight ships in cramped conditions. When they reach land, they queue up to be slaughtered alive. Their throats are cut and their legs cut off in front of the other sheep just for the sake of getting their wool. I will never buy merino wool. 50% of merino wool is from Australia and it is hard to tell the source and the treatment of the merino sheep.
This video presented by Pink is very distressing. I was very shocked and upset when I watched it. If you are sensitive to gore then please don’t watch it.
Honey – I have been informed that honey is used to feed the baby bees and when we take it for our consumption, they have nothing to eat. So I avoid eating honey.
High vibration – to eat a plant-based diet you are consuming nutrient dense foods with a higher life-force energy and it will nourish your body and give you more vitality.
Alkaline diet – A plant-based, vegan diet is alkaline, anti-inflammatory and full of antioxidants. Therefore it protects your body from damage and inflammation.
Thank you for reading my reasons for why I’m vegan. The methods used in some of these industries are shocking. I hope you understand more about the animal industries and the morals of eating animal produce.
Halva is deliciously sweet and easy to make! The dessert is popular in the Middle East. This version is made from chana which are chickpeas. It is vegan as I have replaced the butter with coconut oil and the dairy milk with almond milk. My family found it very tasty!
I am fond of Middle Eastern dishes especially hummus, dhal and falafel. Perhaps I had a past-life in Egypt!
Makes 9 pieces
Ingredients
150g Chickpeas
3tbsp Coconut Oil
150ml Almond Milk
½ tsp Ground Cardamom
6 tbsp Agave Nectar
50g Cashew Nuts
50g Almonds
Method
Soak the chickpeas in cold water overnight.
Drain the chickpeas and blend them while still wet to form a paste.
Melt the coconut oil in a non-stick pan. Add the chickpea paste and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
Now pour in the almond milk. Bring to the boil and then simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add in the agave nectar, ground cardamom and roughly chopped cashew nuts and almonds. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly until you have a sticky dough.
Pour the dough into a square baking tray and leave to cool for 30 minutes.
Put in the freezer overnight.
Next morning take the halva out of the freezer to defrost for 1 hour. Cut the halva into rectangles and enjoy!
Kitchari is used in an ayurvedic diet for detoxing the body. It is simple, nourishing food that is easy to digest. Usually I make a large batch and store the extra in glass containers in the fridge to eat for lunch for the next few days.
You can find the full recipe below.
For more video showing how to make my gluten-free, vegan recipes check out my YouTube channel! Cooking to Heal ME
Serves 4
Ingredients
1tbsp Coconut oil
½ tbsp Mustard seeds
½ tbsp Fennel seeds
1inch Root ginger
½ tbsp Ground turmeric
½ tbsp Ground cumin
½ tbsp Ground cumin
150g Mung beans
150g Brown basmati rice
500ml Filtered water
1 Medium Sweet potato
1 Carrot
50g Frozen peas
¼ tsp Pink crystal salt
¼ tsp Black pepper
Method
Melt the coconut oil in a hot pan.
Add the seeds to the hot oil. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the finely chopped root ginger, turmeric, cumin and coriander.
Now add in the mung beans and rice, followed by the filtered water. Cut the sweet potato into slices and then quarters. Add to the pan with the chopped carrot and pour in the frozen peas.
Bring to the boil. Now put the lid on and simmer for 45 minutes.
This delicious curry is full of flavour and takes only 30 minutes to prepare! It is my favourite curry and I often take the leftovers into work to have for lunch the next day! It is vegan and gluten-free! I like to cook the rice in with the sauce to save on washing up!
Serves 4
1tbsp Coconut Oil
1 Leek
1tsp Nigella Seeds
2cm Root Ginger
1tsp Mustard Seeds
1tsp Fennel Seeds
1tsp Poppy Seeds
1tsp Ground Cumin
1tsp Ground Coriander
½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ tsp Ground Cloves
600ml Filtered Water
75g Frozen Peas
2 Small Sweet Potatoes
150g Basmati Rice
75g Creamed Coconut
¼ tsp Pink Crystal Salt
¼ tsp Black Pepper
Melt the coconut oil in a large saucepan over a low heat. Chop up the leek and add to the pan. Finely chop the 2cm piece of ginger and add to the pan followed by the seeds. Leave to cook for 5 minutes.
Now quickly add in the spices so they don’t burn. Slowly add in the filtered water. Wash and chop up the sweet potatoes into chunks. Add to the pan with the peas. Rinse the rice in cold water and add to the pan followed by the creamed coconut.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for 12 minutes. Stir occasionally and add in extra water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper.
Scoop into a bowl and serve immediately.
Store any leftovers in a container in the fridge and eat within 3 days.
This tasty Autumnal dish is high in protein with the mushrooms and quinoa.
