Happy Sunday beautiful kittens! For today’s Recipe Sunday I wanted to share with you a delicious recipe, perfect comfort food for this time of the year: full of veggies and warming you from inside. This Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Dip by Running on Real Food is perfect as a delicious side dish!
As usual, I like to share recipes that are really easy and delicious, as I think we all need something nice to eat especially during these even crazier days.
This recipe has ingredients that are found in your regular vegan pantry and fridge like cashews, plant-based milk, olive oil, garlic cloves, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, fresh spinach and artichoke hearts.
Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C)
Soak cashews for 6-8 hours or for 15 minutes in hot water: drain and add to blender with milk, water, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and pepper until creamy and smooth.
Sauté minced garlic in non-stick pan.
Add garlic, spinach and artichoke hearts to blender until you get a chunky texture.
Transfer everything to a baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Hello dearest friends! I have been wanting to write about travelling as a vegan for quite a while and it would be safe to say that this was one of the main aims of TheVeganCatLibrarian. Then, reflecting a bit on the various themes as well as on what happens around you and the people that you meet, I thought it would have been better to set some foundations on veganism and take it from there. While I believe that there is more to say on the basics of veganism, I would like to get started on the travelling-as-a-vegan side of the blog. And I would like to start with Iceland.
Introduction to Iceland
Sooo, Iceland was on my bucket list for ages. All those that know me, do know that I LOVE the cold: this goes to cold weather, cold countries (maybe less cold people but some are okay). Since I was a child, I have romanticised on these cold places as where I grew up didn’t get much snow and even in Winter, there is a thermal excursion of up to 20° C (meaning that even if we were to reach -10°C at night, during the day it would easily go up to +10°C). Also, for a kid heavily bullied because of her physical appearance, cold weather means not having to strip off the essential layers of comfy protection (see oversized sweaters). And another reason for which I love the cold is that it’s much easier to cope with it than with the heat: if you have enough clothes, you can survive, and you can also move without fearing to faint. Note: I am talking of up to -15, being well wrapped up or being able to have a warm shelter and warm food; I am not talking of extreme situations nor I am saying going to below zero temperatures without being well equipped, I am not *that* naive; and I know that there are people who thrive in the heat. The fact remains, that I have always loved autumn and winter much more than spring and summer (so much so that spring makes me feel unwell and you can read more here).
Iceland sits on the Northern Hemisphere, almost in between the European continent and North America: it is very frequent for flights to stop in Reykjavik to refuel and people are also stopping there for one or more nights on their way to the other continent. Iceland is also close to Greenland and it is possible to do a day trip from Reykjavik (although it is expensive). From the UK, the easiest way to get to Iceland is by flight and it takes roughly 2hours.
The whole Icelandic island is a mixture of perennial glaciers, wonderful waterfalls, spectacular moon-like scenery and bare land; to this, add geysers, volcanoes and much tundra. It also has beautiful fjords, especially in the North-West of the island.
Okay, taking into consideration all this, clearly the main source of food is not vegan (see fish and cattle and all that derives from them: all of them swim or roam free during their lives, and while here we don’t really condone eating animals, there is this meagre consolation.). But, as we are resourceful vegans, we can survive and thrive even in a not-that-vegan-friendly place.
Jökulsárlón
Litli Geysir
Vegan Iceland
To be honest, the first time I went to Iceland in 2014 I didn’t look too much into vegan places: I booked the 6-day trip very quickly basically from one day to another almost as a spur of the moment kind of thing and I hadn’t planned nothing. Also, I wasn’t too sure about the chance of Iceland having dedicated vegan places. As I relied on hostels, I was able to cook stuff for myself and the meals were mostly sandwiches and fruit. The sandwiches were consisting of bread, vegetable spread and salad ingredients. The brilliant thing was the presence of few healthy shops like Holland&Barrett, so there was quite a lot to choose from for my sandwiches. I survived well for the whole trip, from Reykjavik to Akureyri in the North, the East Coast and back to Rekjavik passing by the Vatnajokull and Vik in the South. There were also many 7/11 markets where I would grab snacks and I stopped for a couple of dinners to get chips from local restaurants.
The second time I went was in 2017 for a Rammstein concert and I was much better-prepared thanks to a classmate who told me when she went to Rekjavik she actually had food in a vegan place, apparently quite famous: Mama Reykjavik. For my 3-day trip to the West Fjords (one part of the island that I didn’t manage to visit in 2014) I relied on some premade vegan-friendly food that I could find on the road as well as local cafes for small snacks along the road trip (that area is not very populated and you could go for several miles before being able to find some houses, but you would be surprised by what you could find in these isolated cafes these days -see vegan snickers at Stúkuhúsið – Café!).
Food from Mama Reykjavik Snickers by Stúkuhúsið – Café
As you can see, it is possible to cope well as a vegan in Iceland: you can go almost everywhere and be able to eat more than decently. I don’t know if it would be possible to live for months or years in this country, but there are vegan places in Reykjavik so probably there are some “permanent” vegans (as opposed to the tourist ones).
It must be said that this food is not very cheap, but also Iceland, like the other Northern Countries in Europe, is generally speaking quite expensive. Both times I went, it was on a budget (£ 1,000 for food, accommodation and travels for 5-6 days): I looked for the best flight deals, stayed in hostels (which, by the way, are the best, cleanest, friendliest hostels you’ll ever find) and ate out 1-2 times each vacation, relying as I said, on markets.
Conclusion
Iceland is a fascinating country and if you can go, do it because it is worth it. This was a tick on my bucket list, and I am extremely happy to have been able to go there twice. If you think that as a vegan, it would be difficult, I hope this post helped in showing you that there are really no issues! The only slight problem might be the costs, but even if you do only one holiday per year, go to Iceland to spend a few days in one marvellous land.
Please, let me know if you have any questions or feedback 🙂
Happy Sunday peeps! Still going strong with my Limpia detox (20th day!) and as I said in my last post, you can do this and still enjoy food. To show how this is possible, I am sharing a delicious sweet recipe that is nicely easy and quick to make and you’ll just love it!
Because I am on a more restrictive eating regimen, I cannot eat any flours or sugar making it a bit more difficult to have a nice dessert. But this is really not a problem, because there are many sweets that you can make. These Puffed Quinoa & Nut Bars are one of such recipes and absolutely a must. They are matching all the rules of the detox and it’s really delicious.
The ingredients are:
Dates,
Peanut Butter;
Vanilla Extract;
Cinnamon;
Salt;
Puffed quinoa;
Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds;
Chopped Almonds.
Put the first 5 ingredients on a food processor then add the remaining ingredients and pulse until everything is well incorporated but you are still able to see some puffed quinoa, almonds and seeds.
Line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment or wax paper and press the mixture evenly into the pan with your hands. Place in the fridge for 2 hours to set.
Cut into bars and store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Everybody is doing it, so I’ll do it too: “What I Eat In A Day”, but not on a regular day. As I am doing La Limpia again (but reduced, therefore instead of 50 days it’s 25), I would like to share what I have been eating these days which is something a bit different from other vegan “WIAIADs”.
As I hinted in this post, La Limpia is a way of detoxifying your body (from head to toe to reproductive system) by taking specific herbs first thing in the morning, then basically is just avoiding processed foods and any type of flour. Needless to say, it is advised to avoid alcohol, tobacco and drugs during this time. Last time I went for the whole 50 days: this time I decided to do it reduced because I wasn’t feeling great for few months at the end of last year and felt I needed to do some kind of detox.
The main rules are:
For 50 (or 25) days, you will have an herb first thing in the morning with empty stomach and the herb changes every 10 (or 5 for the reduced Limpia) days starting with Garlic (a whole clove of garlic to be swallowed with some water, like a pill), then Plantain, Dandelion, Horsetail and Mugworth;
No processed foods, from pasta&bread to sugar and all the flours (no chickpea omelette :((( nor crispy tofu made with cornstarch). Not even home-made stuff;
No deep-fried food.
So, as a vegan, what would one eat?! Is this the situation where one will be able to only eat salad? I can tell you that absolutely no! There is plenty of delicious food to enjoy even with these restrictions. And I am not even telling you that you’ll need hours of meal prep or just enormous quantity of time to prepare these dishes (however, a bit of meal prep is useful), because you can make food that will take just few minutes as well as more elaborate foods.
Generally speaking, as you can eat ALL the veggies and fruit (fresh and dry) and nuts and legumes and all the wholegrains, you already see that there is plenty of choice for foods.
Honestly, I like a bit of meal prep, but don’t get confused as my meal prep is actually very lazy: is the kind of putting beans to soak on a working morning while the kettle is boiling so that I don’t have to think about it until when I come back from work, when I’ll just change the water and put the beans to cook. And you can make an extra batch of rice/millet/quinoa while you get ready in the morning as if you put them in enough water you don’t really have to pay much attention for the next 15/20minutes. However, you can always get the tinned legumes if you are pressed for time.
While the rules don’t contemplate processed foods, you can still make your own patties and burgers as well as your own mayo. Tofu and tempeh are also in the midts.
In terms of sweets, things are just slightly trickier but don’t despair because we are resourceful vegans and we can definitely do this.
A Day Eating For This Regimen
Let’s get to the point: what am I eating during this time?
I am on my 16th day of Limpia, currently having Dandelion in the morning, and I’ve been almost always had porridge made with water. I have it with a spoon of peanut butter and either a chopped apple or banana.
Should I feel peckish mid-morning I’d have fruit, but the porridge it’s really quite enough to get to lunch.
For lunch, it’s usually millet or rice with veggies and/or legumes.
True, La Limpia is a restrictive diet and even more on a vegan diet. But, it is very rewarding because you’ll feel better: it is a small sacrifice to pay and it’s only for like 25 or 50 days. As I am writing, I am actually feeling quite energised: can’t still really get up at the time I would like to, but as soon as I do the day goes on quite smoothly without much need to rest. Is it La Limpia? I honestly don’t know, but I believe it is helping and I have fewer toxins in my body.
So, my suggestion is that it won’t do harm and you could even get something positive out of it.
I’ll try to update you at the end of this, but please let me know if you’ll try to or you want to try it so that I can give you some advice.
Beautiful peeps! I hope you are all doing great and have survived the holiday period (and maybe enjoyed it, too!). I have been lucky enough to have enjoyed this time as I had a few days off from work and oh my, I needed it: the last months of 2021 had been quite demanding at work and hadn’t managed to get a proper balance in my personal life, so getting almost 10 days off had been fabulous. A lot of relaxing and recharging, much needed. It has been also a good time to catch up with some reading and researching and I am going to share with you the fruits of such research!
Today I wanted to expand a bit on what I was writing about in my last post, where I was referring to the Veganuary website suggesting to use certain foods and ingredients as substitutes for their non-vegan counterparts, while they are owned by big multinational corporations such as Coca Cola, Unilever, etc. that are really not vegan nor have animal and environment welfare as part of their principles.
An example, is the Alpro brand. Oooft! I know, it is everywhere, it is convenient and it has a wide variety of non-dairy products. Unfortunately, Alpro is owned by Danone, a massive multinational company with a focus on dairy products (it literally started as a yoghurt producer).
These are just few of the most popular brands that are taking over the vegan and dairy-free market of milk substitutes.
You might find this frustrating because these brands are easy to find and fairly cheap, and now you might wonder if there can be alternatives to these plant-based milks, as it seems that as soon as a brand becomes just a bit more available, any of the multinationals want a bite of them! Well, don’t despair! There are plenty of smaller and independent plant-based milk brands that are fairly easy to find and still maintain their ethical essence.
Among these are (and no, I am not sponsored by any of them):
The good thing about these smaller/independent businesses (at least in theory and from what they advertise), is that they use fewer and more genuine ingredients and it is easier to hold them accountable for what they are doing.
I am going to keep a watchful eye on the situation and will keep you updated with any changes.
It’s officially 2022. Today it’s the very first day of a new year and I am very excited to see what it will bring (but I don’t want to jinx anything as we’ve seen how the past 2 years have gone, generally speaking). And with the new year, it comes also Veganuary. Let’s take a look into it.
Veganuary is an initiative by the UK organisation with the same name, that promotes veganism by simply asking whoever want to take part to try a vegan diet during the month of January. I think it is quite a simple and fairly effective initiative and it can surely benefit the vegan cause: they provide facts to raise awareness without being too pushy, in their website you can find recipes to get you started as well as nutrition tips. They are making it very easy for people to potentially go vegan, without excuses of not knowing what to eat, of vegan food, being too difficult to make or that the dishes are not balanced. On the Veganuary website, you’ll find all the relevant information.
The initiative started in 2014 and seems to go quite well. However… I still have to find a person that decided to go vegan because they tried Veganuary. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I live in a small rural town, but it also seems that the places where I can get a vegan takeout or even sit in for a meal, have either closed or significantly reduced the variety of vegan food on offer. Yes, supermarkets are providing some ready meals or quick to make stuff, which is great when you are in a hurry and didn’t manage to cook anything the night before. But they are not for everyday consumption. So I am wondering where are all these vegans? Are they only in the bigger cities? If you know, please share your knowledge.
Now, going back to Veganuary and its effectiveness. I applaud the initiative and the organisation because they are raising awareness not only in the UK but all around the world, and as the old saying goes “The more, the merrier”. But I have to raise a concern (no, I don’t have to-have to in the categorical sense, but that I feel I should. Then why you don’t say that? Because I don’t want to. Now let’s proceed.): some of the ingredients they are suggesting people should use, are from brands owned by multinational companies such as Coca Cola, Pepsi, etc, which we established are not vegan (you can find a list of non-vegan companies, as well as a chart of the multinationals and the brands that they own). I know that many vegans are very excited about this initiative, and again, I am too and I am very supportive. Also, I understand that they are promoting the use of certain foods because they might be cheaper than buying them from smaller, independent companies and it’s also easier than making them yourself: all factors that can help people approach veganism.
Nevertheless, I strongly believe that any money given to these companies is just protracting the suffering of animals: it doesn’t matter that that product is labelled as plant-based and vegan-friendly if it comes from a business that is exploiting animals, its employees and the environment (you can read some more of this here). There are really plenty of small businesses that make vegan food and ingredients, that are true to vegan ethics because they were born as vegan and ethical companies. There are several places where you can find lists of such businesses for vegan food, clothes etc. and if you find yourself stuck in terms of beauty products and snacks, FreedmStreet is the website for you (no, this is not a paid post, it’s just that I have been buying stuff from them for the past 3 years and I am always 100% satisfied, hence why I am suggesting it).
So, go vegan, try it for January, for a few months or for your life, but try to do also some research: there are many resources online that you can consult and this blog wants to make your life easier, plus there is a massive community online and many charities and organisations to whom you can talk about going vegan.
If you need any assistance, please leave a comment or get in touch!
And to conclude, here are some easy recipes to get you started
Happy Sunday, folks! I hope you are well. I don’t know you, but as it is becoming colder and colder, getting closer to the Winter Solstice (21st December) I feel that I am craving chocolate-y food. So today I made this recipe by Chocolate Covered Katie: it is a delicious, easy and comfortable dessert that you can make quickly and requires minimal ingredients. This Chocolate Yogurt Loaf is so easy to make and the result is just amazing!
All you need is
1 1/2 cups spelt, white, or oat flour (180g)
1/4 cup cocoa powder2
1/2 tbsp dutch cocoa (or additional regular)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp each: baking soda and salt
2/3 cup sugar, unrefined if desired
3/4 cup yogurt (or see substitution note above)
2/3 cup milk of choice
1/4 cup oil, peanut butter, or additional yogurt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (not optional)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp instant coffee (optional)
While the oven is heating up to 350F, mix all the dry ingredients then all the other ingredients. Set in a loaf pan (previously greased). Bake until the centre of the loaf is cooked through (i.e. toothpick inserted come out clean)
You can make a chocolate glazing, but the loaf it’s already perfect this way!
Let me know if you try it and enjoyed it as much as I did.
We’re back with Recipe Sunday! Since this is the first Sunday of December and it is getting colder here in the U.K., I believe we all need some hearty comfort food and these Scalloped Potatoes by Elavegan are doing just the trick.
I made them recently and thought of sharing their deliciousness with you.
As always, since I am usually looking for recipes that can be made with few ingredients and don’t require enormous amounts of time, this falls in all the right categories for me: an easy and quick vegan comfort food that will brighten up your dinner/lunch.
With the ingredients basically being potatoes (duh), cashews, small onion, 3-4 garlic cloves, bit of spices, tapioca flour and the longest part of the process is peeling and slicing the potatoes, this has the bonus point of being a perfect recipe for beginners.
I know, I am coming a bit late today for this weekly appointment, but I wnated to share with you this beautiful recipe, perfect comfort food for every time of the year. It is deliciously vegan and you won’t regret making it.
In another post I included this recipe as a suggestion for a Valentine’s Day menu.
The reason I am dedicating a whole post to this recipe is because is the perfect comfort food: it is easy to make and tastes divinely, while also maintaining a certain healthiness as you can use your homemade gnocchi (so that you knwo what the ingredients are).
This Vegan Gnocchi Bake is nutricious, with shallots, mushrooms and broccoli. At the same time it’s also very tasty because of the gnocchi themselves, the flavoursome bechamel sauce and the vegan cheese.
It requires no effort, while returning an amazing result.
I made it now three times and never disappoints: try it to believe it!
For this Sunday recipe I bring to you something that is so tasty, quick and easy to make and will bring back so many memories of Spring lunches and pic-nics. Do you remember deviled eggs? Well, here we have the vegan version!
Perfect for a snack, lunch or pic-nic
I made it yesterday and really had to stop myself from eating them all in one go because they are way too good. And it will be perfect for your Easter lunch: it will be a hit with your family and friends (if you don’t have too many restrictions, pandemic-wise).
When I grew up, possibly like many of you, deviled eggs were something that would be brought to a pic-nic as tehy keep quite well and are easy to manage. But also they remind me of Easter lunch with my family, with quiches and dumpling soups as well as refreshing salads.
There are few versions around, but I tried this because it seemed the quickest and usually Sam’s recipes come out always great.
The recipe
Without further ado. The recipe is the one by Sam from ItDoesn’tTasteLikeChicken: you probably are already familiar with her recipes. If not, go and have a look at her website because you’ll see so many easy, quick and delicious recipes for all the occasions.
You just need small potatoes, vegan mayonnaise, a bit of kala malak (black salt – this is fundamental to give the egg taste), bit of apple cider vinegar and turmeric. Boil the potatoes, half them, scoop a bit of the centre of the potatoes. Use the scooped bits of the potatoes as filling with the mayo and spices. You won’t believe they are not deviled eggs!
The Vegan Cat Librarian 