Tips and resources for new vegans.

Are you taking part in Veganuary this year?

(Can you manage to say Veganuary without it sounding like vagina-ry?  Because I certainly can't!)

Veganary is here, 100,000 people have signed up to try veganism for a month, my 11 year veganiversary is almost here, and there's never a better time than the present to explore the concept of eating a little less meat and dairy to help your health, the environment and our animal friends.

Here are some nice resources I actually use and find really handy,  

Websites for vegan support and info.

The official Veganuary website has so much information, you can even click for a free online vegan starter kit. 

I love The Vegan Womble's website, for really, really extensive lists of vegan products available in supermarkets and highstreet stores.  Check out their vegan product lists to see all the yummy things you can still eat. 

The Vegan Society have loads of online resources, and a 30 day vegan pledge you can sign up to, anytime, for support and information while trying out veganism.  

Shopping.

My food shopping pretty much all comes from supermarkets and my organic veg box, there's no need to visit health food or specialist shops for vegan food anymore!  If you shop online you can type 'vegan' into the search box on the website of your supermarket of choice (eg. Morrisons) and all sorts of things will pop up.  If you're shopping in store you'll need to get real good at reading labels.  Either way check out this accidentally vegan account on Instagram for lots of inspiration.  

My staple vegan shopping items include Pure dairy free olive spread, Violife vegan cheese, Linda McCartney sausages, sausage rolls, vegan scampi and vegetarian burgers, Fry's chicken nuggets, Quorn vegan hot and spicy burgers, and for ice cream Ben and Jerry's vegan chocolate fudge brownie or Booja Booja hunky punky chocolate.  My favourite chocolate is Moo Free, Lindt 70% dark chocolate and Cadbury's Bournville, Tesco's own brand vegan white chocolate is really nice too.  

If you do want to find something special I like Ethical Superstore, The Vegan Kind and Vegan Store. 

Books and magazines. 

Vegan Life Magazine brings you monthly articles and recipes, and even a vegan agony uncle page - you can subscribe here.  

My favourite vegan cook books are Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Peace and Parsnips by Lee Watson and River Cottage Veg Every Day by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  To be honest though I usually just find recipes online, my favourite is Jamie Oliver's vegan chocolate brownie recipe, it's to die for and super easy to make.  

And if you want a fiction book that'll make you never want to eat eggs again then read The Hen Who Dreamed she could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang.  

Eating out.

Trip Advisor (just make sure you tick 'vegan options' under dietary restrictions) or Happy Cow are pretty good shouts for checking out vegan restaurants and cafes.

So many chain restaurants are really vegan friendly now, I like eating at Wetherspoons (onion bhajis and chips!), Las Iguanas (mushroom fajitas and chips!), Loungers (vegan all day breakfast!), Zizzi (pizza!), Pizza Express (pizza!) and Handmade Burger Company (falafel burger!) but there's a full list of vegan friendly chain restaurants provided by Peta.    

If you're trying out a vegan diet or lifestyle during January (or anytime!) good luck, enjoy it and check out my vegan posts for lots of recipes and ideas.  

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Disclosure - I receive a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine, in return for giving them a shout out.  I only work with brands I like and all opinions are my own.  

Things I've learned and things I appreciate after 10 years of being vegan.

2017 marks 10 years since I went vegan.  It's my veganiversary! 

In February 2007 I was 22 and I went to live in Spain with my friend for a while.  She's vegan, so I ate the same food as her, found it was easy and yummy (despite the lack of convenient vegan alternatives in Valencia 10 years ago!) and cutting out dairy and eggs cleared up some health issues I was having (twice weekly migraines, tummy troubles and rashes).  Veganism was something I'd tried before but failed when I discovered soya made me super itchy and poorly, it was so good to go vegan with the support of my friend.  I'd been veggie since I was 12 and I knew veganism was the next step in helping myself, the environment and animals.  I'm so glad I took that step.

I thought I'd treat you all to some photos of me eating vegan food for the last 10 years too!

IT IS SO MUCH EASIER TO BE VEGAN NOW!

You guys, we have everything vegan now, ice cream, cheese, yoghurt, marshmallows, cheese and onion crisps, it's so good!  When I was a new vegan in Spain requests for vegan meals or products were met with a 'Que?' or more usually a 'Por que?', now there's vegan convenience food in the corner shop!  It's amazing!

You can actually eat meals in restaurants!

I no longer have to order a side salad and chips, or baked potato with beans when I'm out.  Lots of my favourite places have special vegan menus, I love Las Iguanas, Novello Lounge, Pizza Express, and even Wetherspoons, they all have special separate vegan menus with lots of nice choices.  There are also loads more completely vegan or vegetarian cafes and eating places - yey!

You can avoid being or interacting with the 'vegan police'.

I try to be pretty chill with my veganism nowadays.  I'm sure in my animal rights demo days I was a bit pushy with my beliefs, and I've definitely been on the receiving end of shouty vegans which isn't pleasant (once when I was 'just' vegetarian a guy giving me a lift to a demo said I shouldn't even be there because my doc martens were leather, I was about 18 and mortified!).  It's easier to be nice and just live in the way you think is right, plenty of people will be curious and ask you about your lifestyle without you ramming it down their throats.

Vegan cheese!

I definitely appreciate vegan cheese.  I remember when Cheezly was the only choice, and that stuff makes me shudder!  Now I'm Violife for life.

I don't wear my vegan jumper any more.
It still fits, I wear it to do the gardening, but it seems a bit to much to wander round in public proclaiming what I eat in such big lettering.  I have some awesome, slightly more discreet, vegan pin badges though!

Social media is a vegan's best friend.

As soon as a new, exciting vegan product hits the shelves you can guarantee a vegan somewhere will be Instagramming and Twittering it.  The vegan network is strong.

Vegan magazines are awesome.

Veganism can't be that much of a weird thing any more if you can wander into your local newsies and pick up a lovely, glossy vegan magazine full of recipes and articles.  I prefer Vegan Life Magazine for my monthly dose of vegan inspiration.  

Being vegan makes you a better cook.

It's true!  I cook so much more and have to cleverly substitute vegan ingredients.  In the last few years there's been loads of vegan cookbooks out too, with lots of lovely vegan recipes. 

Vegan street food is a thing now.

And that's totally fine by me!  We go to an event in Digbeth quite regularly with street food trucks, and every single truck has a vegan option.  So good!

It's possible to marry a non-vegan!

Yes, if I'd have told teenage me I'd marry a meat eater I might not have believed it, but I have married a man who eats meat, and we don't even argue about it.  We don't cook meat in the house, anything he eats out of the house I don't comment on, and he cooks me yummy vegan meals and looks up if there's vegan options on the menu before we go out.  I think he's a keeper.

Most importantly, being vegan helps the environment and animals.

Climate change isn't getting any better and animals aren't being treated any nicer.  Not eating animals is one of the best and easiest ways to help the environment and ease suffering, and that's why I've been doing it for so long!

Finally, here are some of my bestest vegan food blog posts, 

Vegan Thai spiced noodle recipe.

Graze box - for vegans.

3 ways to eat vegan yoghurt. 

Vegan buckwheat flour and coconut milk pancakes. 

What do vegans eat in Birmingham? 

What do vegans eat in Rio de Janeiro?

3 easy vegan potato recipes.

DIY vegan cheese and onion crisps.

Make your own vegan cheese, from nutritional yeast and pine nuts. 

Vegan leek, lentil and potato bake. 

Disclosure - I get a digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for giving them a shout out every month.  I only work with brands I like and all opinions and ideas are my own.  Vegan Life Mag is ace, you can subscribe here.

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Vegan review, Vegan Life Magazine.

Vegan Life Magazine is my favourite magazine, I'm always so happy when my next digital copy pings up on my laptop!   I thought I'd show you a little peek at October's issue.

The cover always has something really, really yummy looking on it!

You can check out the vegan diary to see if there are any fun events going on near you.

One of my fave sections is the vegan finds page, I love finding exciting new vegan friendly products!

There's a monthly feature to give you ideas on how to use the contents of your veg box.  I don't get a veg box delivered, but there's still lots of inspiration for how to use up seasonal fruit and veg.

Each issue contains a few interesting and well balanced articles.  I liked this one about teaching animal rights.  

And I'll just leave you with this carrot cake pancake stack, the recipe is in October's issue of Vegan Life! 

Don't forget to check out my other posts about Vegan Life Magazine too!

Disclosure - I get a digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for giving them a shout out every month.  I only work with brands I like and all opinions and ideas are my own.  Images in this blog post are courtesy of and belong to Vegan Life Magazine.  Vegan Life Mag is ace, you can subscribe here.

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Vegan chocolate milk ice lollies, a recipe and some inspiration.

It's been too hot this summer!  So I've been making yummy and ridiculously easy vegan chocolate milk ice lollies!

I was sent some lovely Riso Scotti rice and oat milks to try so I used them to make my lollies.  I used the rice and quinoa, and oat milk varieties of Riso Scotti and both froze really well.  

You will need

dairy free milk (I used Riso Scotti)

vegan drinking chocolate powder (I used Cadbury)

ice lolly molds (I have some silicone, push up style ones from Ikea)

a spoon

How to make your yummy vegan ice lollies

These are really easy to make!  Fill your ice lolly molds almost to the top with vegan milk.  Then add a teaspoon of drinking chocolate powder.  Use the end of the spoon to get in your lolly mold and mix it all up properly.  Pop in the freezer for a few hours and then they'll be ready! 

Because they're made from Cadbury drinking chocolate these ice lollies actually taste like Cadbury milk chocolate.  But they're vegan.  Wahoo! 

Here are some more lovely vegan milk ice lolly recipe ideas,

Chocolate peanut butter dairy free popsicles

Creamy dulce de leche popsicles

Vegan peaches and cream popsicles

Coconut milk fudgesicles 

Mexican mocha fudge pops

Vegan mango ice cream popsicles 

Key lime coconut milk popsicles

Vegan cookies and cream popsicles  

  

This month's issue of Vegan Life Magazine has loads of lovely ice cream and popsicle recipes (and Cadbury's drinking chocolate - key ingredient in my chocolate milk lollies - gets a shout out in their accidentally vegan section!)  I like the look of these green monster pops!

photo from Vegan Life Magazine.

Disclosure - I was sent some Riso Scotti to try, I like it!  I get a digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for giving them a shout out every month.  I only work with brands I like and all opinions and ideas are my own.  Vegan Life Mag is ace, you can subscribe here.

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Easy and nice ways to campaign.

This month's issue of Vegan Life Magazine has a super interesting interview with Robbie Locke, who created a huge campaign against some restaurant advertising that wasn't very vegan friendly.  

I've done my fair share of big campaigning in the past (when I was much younger!  From organising transport to animal rights demos to speaking on the radio) but now I'm more about the low key, every day, do-able campaigning.  

Issues close to my heart are to do with looking after the environment, animals and people, but these tips will work to raise awareness in a non-confrontational way for whichever causes you like.

Wear pins and badges.

This is my favourite because I like wearing badges anyway!  At the moment I'm wearing a pin supporting a campaign to save services at my local hospital, on my lanyard at work.  Loads of people have asked me about it and then I can tell them about it and point them towards the right resources.  I like to spot people wearing badges too, even if I'm just passing them on the street, because I'm like 'yey, there's another vegan, I'm not alone!'.

Sign petitions.

Petitions are great for raising awareness.  The recent petition to ask for Jammy Dodgers to be vegan again got over 7000 signatures which lead to it being featured in the Metro and the BBC amongst others.  If you want to start your own petition try using change.org or gov.uk. 

Live according to your principles.

I think this might be the best way of campaigning because you can show people what you believe in without saying anything.  I put a compost collection caddy in the staff room at work, I take home snippets of paper from my Rainbow Guides group to recycle, I don't buy plastic bags at the check out, I eat vegan food.  The people around me see what I'm doing and sometimes think about why, or ask me why (I had an interesting discussion about sea turtles eating plastic bags with a shop lady the other day while refusing a bag!).  It's all good. 

Share resources.

I donate to some eco charities and get sent their magazines from time to time.  I pass the mags on once I've finished with it so the ideas in them keep in circulation.

Share your thoughts online.

If you use social media it's really easy to share or post articles or petitions onto your accounts.  This can be daunting if it's not something you usually do, I never used to share them, because my views aren't the accepted norm I was worried I would be ridiculed or questioned about my posts.  What actually happened was I discovered which friends had the same views as me, through a quick click of the 'like' button.  Hurrah.

Blog about it.
Go a step further than social media and include campaigns or causes on your blog (or start a blog!?).  I do a monthly round up post of online articles and actions with an eco friendly angle and it's easy enough to do the same for stuff you care about on your own blog!

How do you show your support for causes and campaigns you like?

Disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing it and writing about it monthly.  You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally or via their app for digital subscriptions.  I only write about stuff I like, and I like Vegan Life Magazine.

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What do vegans eat? Vegan meal and snack ideas.

When people find out I'm vegan they always ask 'what do vegans eat?'.  

These are the vegan meals and snacks I've been eating lately, 

VBites meat-free hotdogs.  Joe and I have been craving hotdogs so I found these VBites ones in Holland and Barretts.  They smell and taste extremely like meat hotdogs, so much so that I felt a little suspicious of them!  They're a little too salty for me, I can definitely only eat one at a time, but they definitely satisfied my need for a hot dog (I haven't had one for 19 years!).     

Morrisons sticky ginger buns.  I kept seeing these on vegan websites and twitter accounts and I had to try them.  They are very sticky and gingery and very nice for a treat.  And only £1 for 6.

Booja Booja hunky punky chocolate ice cream alternative and Almond Dream mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I have two tubs of ice cream in my freezer and I am a happy girl indeed!  The Booja Booja vegan ice cream is my favourite ever.  It only has 4 ingredients and it's super chocolately and delicious.  I'm not so sure about the Almond Dream mint choc chip, it tastes a little toothpaste-y and it's not as creamy as the Booja one, I probably won't buy it again but I'm struggling through it regardless!  I picked up the Booja Booja vegan ice cream from Holland and Barrett and the Almond Dream vegan ice cream from Asda. 

Jus Rol vegan croissants.  I've talked about these yummy vegan croissants before, but this is an extra special version.  I made vegan chocolate orange croissants by rolling Asda vegan orange chocolate buttons up with the raw dough, before cooking.  They were so sickly but so good!  

Koko dairy free plain yogurt.  I've been excited to try this vegan yogurt, especailly because I like the dairy free milk so much, look out for a review later in the month to see what I think!

Asda beastie bites.  Asda's own version of Monster Munch.   I'm so glad I read in the 'Accidentally Vegan' section of this month's issue of Vegan Life Magazine that they're suitable for vegans.  They come in roast beef and onion, sizzling hot and pickled onion flavours and I think pickled onion are my favourites!

Can you recommend any new and delicious vegan friendly meals or snacks to me?

Disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing this publication.  I even have my own page in the vegan bloggers section of their lovely website!   You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally.  There's also a handy app for digital subscriptions.  All opinions are my own and always will be.

(Please note - these products are vegan as far as I can tell - items have suitable for vegetarians or vegan labeling, no dairy/eggs in the allergy section and the ingredients list contains no animal ingredients that I can see, please remember recipes sometimes change, please check for yourself if you're in any doubt.)

 

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What do vegans eat at Christmas? Seasonal vegan treats and snack ideas.

People always ask me what do vegans eat, so here are some yummy festive vegan food ideas.

Morrisons Pigs and Blankets crisps.  These crisps only appear on the shelves at Christmastime and they are super yummy!

Jus Rol Pain Au Chocolat.  We eat these a lot in our household and we plan on having them for breakfast on Christmas day. 

Yummy food from a Christmas market.  This year we went to the German Christmas market in Birmingham, as usual.  I ate a pretzel and German fried mushrooms and potatoes, as usual.  Then we found a New and Exciting stall selling vegan churros!  Just goes to show it's worth asking the stall holders if their food is suitable for vegans, you might be surprised! 

Vegan Christmas chocolate.  Tis the seaon to eat chocolate, fa la la la la la la la la!  I look forward to Aldi's own brand Choceur dark chocolate reindeers coming out, they're suitable for vegans and yummy!  I tried a Mini Moos selection box for the first time this year, it's the best vegan 'milk' chocolate I've ever eaten, the bunny comb bar is the best, just like a crunchie! 

Vego chocolate bar.  Speaking of Christmas chocolate, have you tried a vego bar yet?  Perfect for you if you like your chocolate hazelnutty and as large as your forearm!  (seriously, it's huge!).  You can buy Vego vegan chocolate bars from Ethical Superstore.

New York Bakery Co. Cinnamon Pretzels. Isn't Chritmas all about the toastables?  These vegan soft cinnamon pretzels are a lovely snack warmed up in the toaster.   We're also fans of the new giant crumpets!

Satsumas.  Well, you have to eat something healthy in between all that yummy Christmas food!  

photo c/o Vegan Life Magazine.

December's issue of Vegan Life Magazine has so many ideas for festive vegan snacks and treats, triple chocolate brownies, canapes and a handy cut out and keep guide for veganising Christmas dinner.  You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally.  There's also a handy app for digital subscriptions. 

Disclosure - I was sent a Vego bar to review by Ethical Superstore.  I only write about companies I like and my opinions are, as always, my own.  

More disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing this publication.  I even have my own page in the vegan bloggers section of their lovely website!  All opinions are, again, my own and always will be.

(Please note - these products are vegan as far as I can tell - items have suitable for vegetarians or vegan labelling, no dairy/eggs in the allergy section and the ingredients list contains no animal ingredients that I can see, please remember recipes sometimes change, please check for yourself if you're in any doubt.)

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3 easy vegan potato recipes.

Potatoes are one of my favourite foods, so I was super happy to see lots of vegan potato recipes in this month's issue of Vegan Life Magazine.  

Here are my favourite easy, vegan potato recipes,

Chili baby potatoes with chickpeas.

• Slice new potatoes and pop them into a baking dish with some oil, chili powder, a little paprika, sea salt and black pepper.  Add in a tin of chickpeas and roast in the oven until the potatoes are cooked.

Potato cakes.

• Take some left over mashed potato, slice up a couple of spring onions and mix in flour, a tablespoon at a time, until it reaches a roll-out-able consistency.  
• Roll out the dough and cut it into squares using a knife, or with cute cookie cutters.  Fry the potato cakes in a little oil in a frying pan until golden brown, then they're ready to eat!

Potato wedges.

• Take a couple of big baking potatoes, prick with a fork and microwave them until they're cooked.  
• Slice the cooked potatoes into wedges.  You can add some slices of red onion, peppers or leeks to your baking tray too, if you want to add some extra veggies and flavour.  
• Pour a little oil onto a baking tray, add sea salt, black pepper and paprika to taste.  Add in the potatoes, a couple of whole garlic cloves and other veggies, coat with the oil and then roast until crispy.

Image c/o Vegan Life Magazine.

For more yummy vegan potato recipe ideas, check out November 2015's issue of Vegan Life Magazine. 

You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally.  There's also a handy app for digital subscriptions. 

Disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing this publication.  I even have my own page in the vegan bloggers section of their lovely website!  All opinions are, of course, my own and always will be.

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How to fill a raised bed using the lasagna method.

When I decided to get raised beds for our front garden I did some online research about the best way to fill raised beds.  I came across lasagna gardening, where you make lots of layers to add nutrients and to mimic the natural structure of soil, and thought that sounded like a good idea.  There's lots and lots of information on lasagna gardening online!  Some is very precise (add 1 inch of 'greens' to 2 inches of 'browns') and some is less so (I'm pretty sure they were joking when they said throw in a pair of old boots!), so I thought I'd show you what I did.

I bought my raised beds online, then Joe (patiently) taught me how to use a drill so I could assemble them all by myself! (nearly!)

First, I lined my raised bed.  The internet is full of people saying you must line your raised bed and people saying you must not line your raised bed.  I've lined mine with weed suppressant fabric that's supposed to let water through, but mostly it's to stop the soil coming out the bottom and ending up all over the drive.  I punched a couple of holes in the lining so the raised beds don't end up being waterlogged.

My raised beds are 90cm by 120cm, and 30cm tall.  I worked out that I needed about 325 litres to fill each bed. 

I added layers of cardboard, newspapers and magazines, then watered them so they were a little damp.

Next was half a bag of bark chips, which works out as 25 litres.

I layered in the kitchen scraps from the compost caddy in the kitchen and the one from work, 2 bunches of flowers from my birthday that had gone wilty and some lettuce that was past it's best in the fridge.

I wasn't planning on putting coir compost in, but I picked up a 50 litre pack from Home Bargains for £1.79, so in it went.

Dandelion leaves, nettle leaves, buddleia and magnolia leaves went in next.

Then I put in the contents of the paper recycling basket - lots of loo rolls!

Next was a 1/3 pack of straw, I gave the whole thing a little sprinkling of water again too.

I added a 25 litre bag of top soil.

I dug some soil from the garden beds, and from under the hedge at the bottom of the garden, it's full of worms and leaves and hopefully some good microorganisms to make my new raised bed healthy.  I added about 1 small trug full.

Next up I put some prunings from a wiegela bush, then a thin sprinkling of bark chips.  I watered this layer too.

Lastly, I put in the 7 remaining bags of topsoil I'd bought.  That's 175 litres.

And then I was finished, which I was happy about, because I was exhausted!

The total costs were £24 for 200 litres of topsoil (2 lots of special offer, 4 25 litre bags for £12 from Homebase) , £2.50 for half a 50 litre bag of bark chippings and £1.79 for a 50 litre bag of coir compost.  I had everything else already, so I think this turned out to be a very cheap way to fill a raised bed!

I'm going to grow onions and garlic in my raised bed over winter, and I've been inspired for future planting schemes by reading this article about growing in small spaces in October's issue of Vegan Life Magazine.  There are loads of great ideas for growing in square meter beds, that would be perfect for raised beds too!

Image c/o Vegan Life Magazine.
 

You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally.  There's also a handy app for digital subscriptions. 

Disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing this publication.  I even have my own page in the vegan bloggers section on their lovely website.  All opinions are, of course, my own and always will be.

Linking up with Green Thumb Thursday.

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