STAPLE: eating out!

When you're vegan it can feel like eating out isn't a viable option but YOUR FEELS ARE WRONG! It's totally doable but worth a bit of forethought. Anytime we're looking at eating out we check if they have a menu available on their website or UrbanSpoon, but maybe that's just we get excited about what food we're going to eat more than for planning. :) You can call ahead if you're worried thier menu doesn't have much that can be made vegan, to ask what vegan option they could do, but we usually just ask once we're there.

Our favourite way to get a junk food fix eating out is to go to Jus burgers! They have several vego options and will make them vegan upon request (ie. no mayo). My fave option is the Vego (ie. MYO) with Avocado, mushroom, balsamic onion and roasted capsicum! Mmmmmmmmmm

I was going to post a photo of my burger but then I ate it before remembering to photograph it. Not surprising really :) So here's a photo of Nadine's new fave option, a chick pea felafel burger made vegan :)

Another easy way to get a vegan junk food fix is a vego pizza with NO CHEESE. Or many vego options at Thai and Vietnamese  resturants are vegan - but ask if they use any fish /oyster sauce and watch out for egg in some dishes. 

And of course there are plenty of

Places to eat out that specifically provide for vegans. Some of our faves are;

- Veggie Mama in Mt Lawley

- CNR Kitchen in Northbridge

- Source Foods in Northbridge

- Raw Kitchen in Fremantle

- Solomon's Cafe in Mt Lawley

Nomnomnomnomnom

STAPLE Breakfast smoothie

This one is definitely a staple breakfast for me - my day feels weird without it. It could also serve as a snack. :)

This recipe changes slightly everyday according to what I have, but this is a typical day's breakfast smoothie recipe;

Ingredients

1 small /medium banana

4/5 small /medium strawberries

1 kiwi fruit or small plum

3 leaves of silverbeet or spinach fresh from the garden

2 leaves of kale fresh from the garden

1 Tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 cup water 

Directions

1. Remove stalks from silverbeet ad kale leaves. Wash an peel fruit.

2. Combine all ingredients except the chia seeds, into you blender and blend to desired consistency

3. Add chia seeds and stir immediately and well. Enjoy! The longer you wait, the more swollen the chia seeds get and that is also delicious XD

Some days I replace the spinach an kale wit 1/2 a cup to a cup of baby spinach that you can buy in bags from the supermarket if my garden doesn't have enough, but silverbeet and kale are super easy to grow and well worth it!

I've used all different fruits - always the banana, but any two other fruits are good. Nectarines, mangoes, apples are all good in varied combos each other and the ones above. 

Here's the chia seeds I se as they're a local brand. Chia seeds aren't cheap but they work out at less than 50cents a serve and are definitely a healthy boost to this delicious morning smoothie!

STAPLE: Corn and Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf

This is seriously one f our ULTIMATE Vegan Queery STAPLES!

Corn and Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf

Ingredients
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion - finely chopped
1 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp Finely grated ginger
1 tsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Corianda ground
0.5 tsp Tumeric
1 Cup quinoa, rinsed
2 Cups Water
300 g Brocolli, cut into small florets
2 Large corn cobs
2 Tbsp Corrianda chopped

Directions
In a saucepan heat oil. Add onion and cook until soft. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add quinoa and water. Bring to the boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
While the quinoa is cooking heat a griddle pan. Peel the corn and cook in the griddle pan turning frequently to char grill.
Add broccoli and return lid. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cut corn from the cobs and add to the quinoa. Sprinkle with fresh chopped coriander and serve.

Vegan Queery STAPLES SERIES: Nina's Energy Slice

Today at Freedom Centre where I work, a visitor at the centre asked me about how to eat vegan coz he'd been trying, but struggling. So I said I'd get him some basic staple vegan recipes for meals and snacks - ones that would ensure you get a balanced nutritional vegan diet. We got talking about what are essential foods to get in your diet to cover key nutrients that you need.

My favourite ingredients to include in my weekly diet to cover my essential nutrients are;

• Spinach, silverbeet, kale
• Chia seeds
• Quinoa
• Chick Peas, hummus, beans
• Walnuts, cashews, almonds
• Soy milk, Almond Milk
• Bananas, Strawberries, kiwi fruit, apples
• Broccoli
• Mushrooms, avocado, tomatoes
• Prunes, Sultanas, Dates

A couple of good websites with vegan nutritional info as well as recipes are www.peta.org.au and www.whyveg.com

So now I'm all motivated me to add more to this blog to share - hence this upcoming series of VEGAN QUEERY STAPLES XD

To Start, SNACKS. This blog already has a large proportion of snack options. Actually, I think all of it so far could classify as snacks. hahaha so here's another one! We made this for our friend Nina when she was a new parent of twins and had no time to eat!

Nina's energy slice

Ingredients
    •    3/4 Cup Sultanas
    •    1/2 Cup Dried apricots
    •    2 Cups Dates
    •    1/2 Cup Sesame seeds
    •    1/4 Cup Coconut oil
    •    1 1/2 Cups raw almonds
    •    1 Cup Raw unsalted cashews
    •    1/2 Cup Walnuts
    •    juice of 1 lemon
    •    1/2 Cup Unsweetened shredded coconut
    •    4 Tbsp Chia seeds


Directions
    1.    Combine nuts and seeds and pulse in food processor.
    2.    Add the rest of the ingredients and process
    3.    Flatten, compacting with your hands into a pan and refrigerate