missing in action
update
Havent done anything exciting vegan wise lately. Just living off budget food this week- vegies and noodles! Went to my parents house for dinner last night, they always do a big roast and ive always been served up a big plate of roast vegies when I was vegetarian anyway which is still vegan- roast potato & pumpkin, mushrooms, broccoli & carrots. Yum. So no need to change what I eat there! Was so nice to have a decent home-cooked meal like that though. I cant replicate my mums roast vegies at home, must be a mum thing. She just makes them so darn good! Plus I blame my oven anyway. Thinking about some cheap meal options for next week aswell, im hoping it wont be as bad money wise next week, I dont have any major bills due thank god but it will still be tight. Id like to try something quick & hot for breakfasts now its coming into winter here.
I was so devastated this morning, I got a letter from the vegetarian/vegan society of QLD which ive been a member of for many years and they usually send me out the 'Vegan Voice' magazine every quarter as part of my membership but apparently VV is no longer in production. And a few months ago I found out the 'Natural health & vegetarian life' magazine is no longer in production either!! What the hell??? Where am I meant to get my vegie fix now?? Does anyone know of any other vegan or vegetarian magazines out there? Preferrably in Australia, but if overseas can they mail to Australia. Im going to miss catching up on all my vegie goss at 3am at work which is when I usually catch up on all my magazines!
Recipe steal...
update
Vegie & lentil stew
What seriously budget buys does everyone do when money is tight????
Vegan bolognese
I used a vegan mince- vegemeal spicy beef mince for $6.80 from www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au its a dry mix which you add water to then cook. Along with some gluten-free pasta & some tomato & garlic pasta sauce. Word of warning- this vegan mince stuff is quite spicy! Im not a huge fan of spicy things but it was nice. I think next time I will definetely add more vegies and probably another bottle of pasta sauce to even out the spice! But overall was nice. I got 4 serves out of this, at $3 a serve.
In other news, ive lost another 1kg this week. I dont do an official weigh-in til wednesday so im a couple of days early but I was feeling particulary light this morning and fair enough, 1kg gone. So thats 1.7kg in nearly 2 weeks of being vegan. I have not counted 1 single calorie (I do look at the calories on the back of packets just for a rough idea & make sure its not massively high, but im not doing a total daily calorie count). Ive also had my fair share of vegan snacks this week! Note to self- do not purchase new & exciting vegan sweets or chocolates when doing my major thesis!!!! It will be devoured in 10 seconds flat with no memory of the event! Speaking of which, I have 17 days til my essay is due, and im working 10 of those days, so thats only 7 full days left to get this finished, and all ive done is a measly 200 word introduction! Time to pull my finger out!
I had to work in a ward yesturday. When its really quiet in ICU we get sent to other wards in the hospital to help out. I got sent to a general surgical ward and had the best shift! Its been a few years now since ive done general nursing and I was a little scared at first but turns out its like riding a bike! In ICU its 1 nurse to 1 patient as they are on life-support machines and are very sick but in the wards we had 10 patients to 2 nurses. The nurse I worked with was just loverly and was very appreciative for my help. It was just weird having patients with only 1 drip and who walk around-im used to heavily sedated patients lying in bed on breathing machines & dialysis and going into a cardiac arrest!
I have found a very nice studying companion though, soy chai lattes. My mother-in-law owns a coffee shop and I was reading the label of the chai syryp (seems all I do is read labels now- does everyone else do this?) and it was vegan yay! Ive found a brand of soy milk I actually like aswell and my MIL gave me nearly a full bottle of this chai to take home so ive been using my coffee machine to froth up some soy milk and its sooooooooooo good!!!! Yum.
Im still very unsure about some ingrediants, mainly the numbers on the back of the labels. I try to go for things with the least amount of numbers anyway. Does anyone know of a good book for vegan shopping??
Next week im going to break out my blender again and have a green smoothie for breakfast everyday! So baby spinach, a banana & ice. Ill take a photo to show how green it is! Its really nice though. I need to make the effort to make them more often. Last time I used my blender was to make mushroom soup then I left it too long til cleaning and it went quite nasty but ive been scrubbing it everyday for the last week in boiling water so hopefully its clean! Looks pretty clean. It was a $200 blender and I dont have any money to buy a new one!
Whats your most used kitchen appliance for vegan cooking??
A sad day
im losing count
Day 8
Dinner!!
Day 7
Day 6
Day 5
'Chicken' noodle soup
Day 4
Day 3
Day 2
food
Dragonfruit is very good for you aswell. It helps keep blood sugar levels stable, improves digestion, is good for the eyes, bones & teeth, and has vitamin C, vitamins B1 B2 & B3, calcium & iron & is low in calories. They are pretty expensive to buy where I live as they are imported, they are $4 each but I only have half of one at a time so its not too bad. Im pretty picky with fruit so if I find something I enjoy then ill get it.
What other exotic fruits or vegetables is everyone else into? Id love to know!
Day 1
tomorrow when the vegan began....
my family in pictures (warning:image heavy)
Leon at 10 weeks old looking cute