In a time where financial struggles are perceived more strongly, we have to keep in mind that we have things to be grateful for: from your heath, to your family, your friends, your pets. Be grateful
I am eternally grateful for all of the blessings I have in my life
Last Saturday, I went out in the city with a friend and while we were going to the place we were supposed to go, we saw a person asking for money: he was leaning on a cane and trembling, and there was a dog near him all dressed in Christmas attire (a Santa’s hat and a red jacket). It broke my heart: I couldn’t thin about anything else for the whole day and was difficult to enjoy the day out thinking about all the people that are suffering and their pets. Their pain that is more visible now that everybody is just thinking about getting nice presents, and how they can give nice stuff to their loved ones.
Everything is so insignificant when you think about all those who can’t afford a roof on top of their heads, let alone getting nice stuff for their loved ones.
It is frustrating seeing these things, the inability to give them a safe place to stay – the rotten system that has them asking for money in the street and using (exploit?) their pets in the hope of getting more money.
So, while I am thankful that I don’t have to worry about how to pay my rent at least for a few months, I also think “What I can do to help?”. Find the nearest and most local charity and give something to them: if you can, donate money, otherwise you can give food, clothes, and other basic necessities.
It might not seem much to you, but it will help alleviate someone’s day.
Make a cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, then sit down and start making a list of all that you need to do: from last gifts to food arrangements and people to see.
Make a list, meditate – this will help you get some clarity on the situation and get a better idea of what you can and cannot do. Don’t stress about what you can’t control, but learn what you can do.
Anxiety and stress are always ready to creep up, especially for the December Holiday season, so for today (and also for the next few weeks) let’s say
Anxiety has no place here
You have done your best and that’s enough – take a step back and breathe. It will help you regain control on your situation and assess what you can and what you can’t do. You got this!
Hi everybody! I hope you are well – as I said in the last post, things aren’t looking great for my library and this is contributing to the already stressful time of the year. As part of my morning routine, after I finish yoga I repeat some affirmations to get me through the day – I also chose one word that I can remember easily and that I repeat during the day (something like “balance”, “patience” or “serenity”). Because not everybody loves this period, as it can bring a lot of anxiety, social and family expectations and pressure. There is this idea that we all have to be jolly happy, ready to give and receive presents, participate in conversations with relatives that sometimes are not all that comfortable, and feel the absence of loved ones who are not with us anymore.
So, I thought I could share some affirmations, words, sentences that are helping me look at this time with more gratitude and try to find serenity and balance in the next few weeks or so.
Happy Sunday, dear cats! How has the past week treated you? Here it has been really cold: you know me, I love the cold, but the heating has stopped working in my library and it’s been really cold inside – luckily, we have quite a few portable electric heaters and we are allowed to wear hats, gloves, extra layers and have a bit more tea breaks to keep us warm. The price to repair the system is probably going to be too much for the current financial situation and this is causing stress and anxiety to my colleagues and me. It has been a long week and the whole affair just calls for some serious comfort food and what’s better than a Mac and Cheese? This 5 Ingredient Vegan Baked Mac and Cheese by TheBananaDiaries is a nice, easy, and quick recipe that will lift the spirit of anyone who eats it. Trust me! Also, I would suggest adding 1 tablespoon of mustard to the cheese sauce, I’ve tried it once and now I am adding it in most of the white sauces.
480 ml unsweetened dairy free milk (oat milk recommended), room temperature
8 ounces shredded vegan cheddar cheese
8 ounces shredded vegan mozzarella cheese
5 tbsp oat flour
66 grams salted vegan butter
Optional: 2 tbsp plain pea protein
Vegan Gluten Free “Breadcrumbs:”
45 grams rolled oats, ground into flour
66 grams salted vegan butter, melted
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a large casserole dish with olive or cooking oil and set aside. Measure out all ingredients before beginning.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in the macaroni pasta, and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain the pasta and set aside. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water. While the pasta is cooking, you’ll make the vegan cheese sauce.
In a medium pot, heat the vegan butter until melted, then add in the oat flour. Whisk for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Then add in the dairy free milk, along with the reserved pasta water, and whisk until combined. Allow the mixture to begin to boil then reduce the heat to medium. Add in the vegan cheeses, and whisk together on medium-low heat until the vegan cheese has completely melted into the milk mixture. This should be about 4-5 minutes. (this is where I added the tablespoon of mustard).
Stir the pasta into the cheese sauce until evenly coated. Then spoon the mac and cheese into the casserole dish and set aside as you make the breadcrumbs.
Combine the oat flour with the rosemary, thyme, and nutmeg. Whisk in the melted vegan butter, then sprinkle the oats over the mac and cheese.
Place the casserole dish into the oven to bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are lightly browned. Turn the broiler on for the remaining 2 minutes of baking to evenly brown the breadcrumbs.
Remove the mac and cheese from the oven, and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving and enjoy!
Hello kittens! How are you? It’s finally getting colder and it makes me so happy! It’s time for cozy clothes and comforting food and after the madly hot summer, Autumn couldn’t come any quicker! And while I was enjoying the mindless scrolling on Instagram of a weekday night, I found this account of a vegan macrobiotic person and she was suggesting that in order to prepare our bodies for the colder months, it would be good to do a “detox” for a week following a macrobiotic diet. Since it was ages I wanted to go back to my macrobiotic practice, I thought this would have been a good time to do that. I signed up for the detox, and decided to extend it to the whole month.
Years ago, in 2012) I attended a course on Macrobiotics and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t quite agree with the teacher of said course as he said that it’s difficult to be a vegan Macrobiotic: bizarre because Macrobiotic is very much a pescatarian diet that can easily be turned into vegan. The course itself had a nice structure with a theory part followed by a dinner and lo and behold, all the dinners had only vegan dishes! I liked the theory part, very holistic and made you understand the interconnection of how what we do and what we eat has a significant impact on our lives. After the course was finished, I tried to maintain some of the Macrobiotics principles, but I slowly lost touch with it. The occasion of this detox was the perfect chance to go back and refresh my practice.
Why have I done this? I thought “I can do the Limpia for 50 days, meaning not being able to eat chickpea flour, so I can do this”. Mmmh, well. It’s not that easy. True, I can make vegan omelets but I can’t have potatoes! Oh goodness.
This is difficult. And I’ve fallen into the temptation of chips, once a week – potatoes are a big no-no in macrobiotic! But before I talk about this experience, I’ll explain what a macrobiotic diet entails.
Principles of Macrobiotics
Macrobiotic is a philosophy that takes a lot from the principles of yin and yang. The world and everything in it need balance in order to function properly. When there is a good balance between yin and yang in an organism, then it will have a good energy. For example, people should also have a balance, but many times they might have an imbalance and be too yin or too yang. Then there are also the dichotomy of acid and alkaline and the 5 elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Metal and Wood) – if you want to learn more about all this, the Macrobiotic.org.uk website has a clear and short page on the Principles of Macrobiotic.
The very positive thing about Macrobiotics, is that it’s basically intrinsically pescatarian so it’s very easy to make it into a vegan diet.
A Lifestyle, not just a Diet
You can see that Macrobiotics is much more than a diet – it is a lifestyle. It seeks to create a balance in your life and in your body by thinking of what is your body type (are you more yin, or more yang?), and then by thinking of the characteristics of what we ingest and how we cook this food.
We should open at least one of the three main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) with a miso soup so to prepare our digestive system to receive the food. It shouldn’t surprise that there is also a lot of mindfulness involved in Macrobiotics because we should eat without distractions and very importantly we should chew each bite for a long time – possibly more than 20 times, until the food is smooth and the digestive system won’t have to work for too long, in doing so to make digestion easier. One “experiment” or “exercise” when starting Macrobiotics is to chew a spoonful of plain boiled/steamed whole rice for 100 times!
Main Foods for a Macrobiotic Diet
When preparing a Macrobiotic dish, another big rule is to compose the food as 1/3 cereal, 1/3 protein, and 1/3 veggies. For example, at dinner, you could eat wholegrain rice, sauteed tofu and onion, celery, carrot.
So, what can you eat?
All the wholegrains: rice, millet, pasta too if wholegrain; All veggies; All legumes (especially adzuki beans and chickpeas); Seasonal fruit; Fermented dressings (i.e.miso); Seaweed; Brine food (Olives, sauerkraut); Gomasio; Ginger and turmeric.
What can’t you eat?
White flours; Nightshades (potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant); Refined oils; Meat; Cheese; Dairy products; Tropical fruits and vegetables (bananas, avocados, mangos etc.) Coffee, tea and alcohol; Refined sugar.
In moderation
Olive and sesame oil; Tofu and Tempeh; Good quality bread like sourdough; Raw fruit; Wholegrain pasta, cous cous and bulghur; Cereal malts; Nuts.
Methods of cooking
There is some theory also on how to cook stuff. In order to maintain or alleviate the yin/yang characteristics of the foods, the best way to cook is by steaming or lightly sauteeing. Baking is another acceptable cooking method.
When preparing any combination dish using more than one ingredient (i.e. soup), we should start with the ingredients that are closer to the soil and going up: for example, the order in which we would make a soup would be to start with onions and carrots (closer to earth) then celery, cabbage, broccoli etc (above earth).
What Have I Been Eating?
Breakfast
Porridge with apples and raisins
Rice pudding with seasonal fruit and raisins
Baked oats with apples and raisins
Lunch
Wholegrain rice with veggies and hummous;
Pumpkin soup with cereals + sauteed tofu and veggies
Millet with spiced chickpeas and steamed veggies
Dinner
Broccoli soup + sour and sweet tempeh and baked onions
Miso soup + scrambled tofu and steamed veggies
Chickpeas and broccoli soup
These are just some examples of what I have been eating: there are many different things that you can do!
My Findings
The “Not so good”
I have tried to follow this detox as best as I could, although I found some difficulties: it was really difficult to let go of coffee especially because I had 3 big events just after the start of the detox and I needed all my mental faculties to organise stuff at work. The potatoes (or more correctly, the lack of) were another issue for me – as I said, I fell into the temptation of chips once a week. I love potatoes, in every form and I use them to make cozy soups as well as roasted or mashed, etc. So that was difficult, but except for the Friday chips I haven’t used any.
The “Very Good”
Despite these little setbacks, I quite enjoyed the simplicity of the dishes and I liked to think more about what I was going to make, how it was going to affect me, was I making something too yin or too yang? Did I do a lot of exercise and so I was too yang? Was it cooler or warmer outside? And so on.
The past weeks I have also used a lot of apples, a fruit of which I am not too fond, but using them in porridge and rice dishes made me appreciate them more.
Energy-wise I wasn’t totally 100%, but again I had a lot on my plate at work, so that surely impacted how I felt.
Conclusion
While I wouldn’t follow a Macrobiotic lifestyle full-time, would definitely recommend this detox. The Macrobiotic lifestyle is something that adheres to principles of balance and mindfulness, something that most of us need to lead a healthy life. Similarly to the Limpia, you can try it for a short period and see how you feel.
Let me know what you think or if you would like to see other Macrobiotic recipes!
Happy Sunday, beautiful kittens! How are you? Autumn is definitely here and it couldn’t be sweeter! Again another super busy week as we’re getting the last things ready for a big event next Saturday at the library. But I wanted a homemade, sweet something that I could eat for breakfast or as an after-dinner treat. Since I’ve been so lucky as to be gifted literally bags full of organic apples from a customer of my partner, and the weather has really been so autumn-y, I couldn’t resist to the temptation of an apple cake. This is the go-to cake for my mom, everybody loves the apple cake that she makes almost every Sunday, but I’ve never been too much of a fan even before going vegan (after that, I couldn’t have it because she uses eggs). And now, I had this craving, for a comforting homemade apple cake: maybe I am turning into my mom or maybe it’s the Autumn – who knows. What I do know, is that I am here to share the recipe that I followed (not all of it, I didn’t have the yogurt, but it came out just lovely) to make a very easy yet delicious Vegan Apple Cake by AVirtualVegan.
3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour, (plain flour in the UK)
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda, (bicarbonate of soda in the UK)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, not table salt
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (144 grams or 150 mls) vegan yogurt, vanilla or plain, preferably unsweetened
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (180 grams)sugar, cane, white granulated or light brown
1 cup (240 ml) unsweetened plant milk
5 tablespoons (75 ml) liquid oil , any neutral tasting oil like sunflower, vegetable, canola or melted refined coconut oil. For oil-free see the recipe notes.
1 teaspoon (5 ml) apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract
5 medium apples, about 700g (1.5 lb) of apples weighed before peeling/coring
For the topping
¼ cup (50 grams) coarse sugar, like turbinado or demerara
¼ cup (25 grams) flaked almonds, OPTIONAL (omit for nut-free)
Method
Preheat oven to 360 °F (182 °C) and make sure you have a shelf placed in the middle of the oven.
Grease a 9-inch springform cake pan that’s at least 3 inches deep or a 9 x 13 dish/pan. If using a cake pan cut a circle of parchment paper and put it in the bottom.
To a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Whisk them up to combine.
In another bowl, add the yogurt, sugar, milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Whisk them all up until well combined.
Peel, core and chop the apples into chunks of about ¼ inch.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir them together. Don’t over mix or beat it vigorously. Just stir gently until you can no longer see any dry flour.
Pour in the apple chunks and fold them gently and evenly through. Again don’t over mix.
Spoon into the prepared pan and level the top with a spatula. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds and the coarse sugar and place immediately in the oven on the middle shelf.
If in a cake pan bake for around 1 hour and 15 minutes. It might need up to 1 hour 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick or skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready. If you see any signs of wet batter return to the oven for another five minutes. If baked in a 9 x 13 pan/dish check it at about 55 to 60 minutes. It might take a little longer though. The time will vary depending on whether you’ve used a metal pan or ceramic. Insert a toothpick or skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready. If you see any signs of wet batter return to the oven for another five minutes.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave for at least 15 to 20 minutes in the pan to settle. Before attempting to remove from the pan carefully run a knife or long spatula around the edges to free up any sugar or caramelized apple pieces that might have stuck to the side. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack. If you baked it in a 9 x 13 pan/dish, allow it to cool in the pan/dish and serve straight from the pan/dish.
I hope you’ll enjoy this for your breakfast, snack, after-dinner treat or any way you want!
Hello my beauties! How are you? Another week has gone by and to be honest, apart from work I haven’t been able to do much. Yesterday I had my Taek Won Do grading – it was a fairly big one as I went for the blue belt so it’s a bit of an achievement. But I wasn’t feeling it, I wasn’t feeling the same as I used to when I was doing Kung Fu and I’ve been feeling this for a while. But it’s the only martial art available in the rural area where I live, that could be sustainable and I am able to do it in winter too – so I do it. But yesterday I wasn’t feeling it. Oh well, it is what it is, right? I’m not saying anything against TWD, every martial art is different – yes, there are similarities among most of them, but they have different applications and especially different theories, so sometimes it might be more difficult to get into that TWD mindset after 7 years of Kung Fu. So, not complaining, just some reflexions. Anyway, the main thing here today is food! Lovely, delicious, easy-to-make food that satisfies your senses! And I’m presenting you the easiest yet most delicious broccoli soup – this is my go-to soup (almost at the same level as the Potato and Leek one!) and I’ve learned how to make it by PlantBasedFolk. Without further ado, the Easy Vegan Broccoli Soup by PlantBasedFolk.
Hiya my cats! And Happy Sunday! Last week was mental and I had an extremely busy weekend doing some more cleaning and tidying up, meaning that I wasn’t really able to sit down at my laptop for long. And while I had this week off, it was my birthday and my parents came to visit so I have been focused on spending time with them. Because between me being vegan and my mom being allergic to many various ingredients, I decided that I would make the birthday cake, or to be fair, cakes: I made a variation of the Pear Galette with Rooibos Glaze and also a Victoria Sponge by LazyCatKitchen. They both were a success with my parents! To make it more special, I used a homemade strawberry jam that a colleague made for my partner and me – delicious! So here is the recipe for this cake.
150 g / ¾ cup softened coconut oil or vegan butter block
300 g / 1½ cups sugar (coconut sugar for GF version)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract (optional)
430 g / 3½ cups AP flour or GF flour mix
30 g / ¼ cup cornstarch/cornflour
½ tsp xanthan gum (only if using GF flour)
2½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
FILLING / TOPPING
250 ml / 1 cup vegan whipped cream (like Oatly)
2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
2 tbsp icing sugar, to taste
160 g / ½ cup quality strawberry jam
500 g / 1 lb fresh strawberries
METHOD
Heat up the oven to 180° C / 355° F (without the fan function) and grease and line two 20 cm / 8″ round cake tins.
Combine soy milk and lemon juice in a small pot and warm up until just barely lukewarm. It will curdle – that’s what it is meant to do.
Beat softened coconut oil (or vegan butter) and sugar with an electric mixer until nice and fluffy.
Once whipped, fold in about a third of the lemon soy milk mixture and both extracts.
Place a sieve over the bowl and sift in approximately a third of flour and all of the cornflour. Gently fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by making small circles in the middle of the bowl with your spoon to minimise lumps. It will take a while to incorporate well, don’t rush this step. Alternating dry and wet ingredients like this prevents the batter from being too runny to begin with and therefore lumps from forming.
Next, fold in another third of soy milk, followed by another portion of sifted flour.
Finally, add the last of the soy milk followed by both raising agents, salt and xanthan gum (for GF version) with your third batch of flour. Fold really gently so that you don’t knock too much air out of the batter.
Divide the mixture between two tins and bake until a toothpick comes out clean of cake crumbs, about 30-32 minutes.
Allow the cakes to cool down completely before removing from the tins and icing.
FILLING / TOPPING
Whip chilled vegan whipping cream in a clean bowl according to the instructions on the packet. Add vanilla and a bit of sugar to taste.
ASSEMBLY
Spread jam and cream on top of the first sponge cake, decorate with a few fresh strawberry halves.
Top with the second sponge cake, decorate the top with more cream and strawberries or if you are after a more traditional look, simply sprinkle the top with some icing sugar.
I hope you’ll enjoy this cake, whether for your birthday or for another Sunday 🙂
The Vegan Cat Librarian 