Protein

Many people believe that vegetarian diets do not give you the protein you need.
Just not true btw.
A plant based diet supplies all the protein you need (as long as you do it properly!), furthermore plant based protein contains fibre and complex carbohydrates which animal proteins don't, and they don't contain chlesterol or high amounts of saturated fat which meat, eggs and dairy do.
In fact, eating plant based proteins eliminates those other problems that eating too much animal protein can give you - heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Bean, nuts, seeds, lentils and whole grains contain lots of protein - vegetables also contain protein. Beans have not always been (no pun intended!) my friend but I am open to enjoying them more now. Still not comfortable creating and contructing recipes with them now but I do find bean things palatable now where once I did not. Prediet cleanse nuts, seeds, lentils and whole grains were a common part of my diet so no big adjustment there.

Dinner is left over spinach and mushroom pilaf with some eggplant, zucchini and orange bell pepper, YUM!

Spinach and Mushroom Pilaf

Something new tonight!
I have been trying to remember a thing I used to make in Timaru that I loved - have not been successful in remembering what it is but I know it had flat leaf parsley in it.
Today while talking food with Beth in the office I found a pilaf recipe and maybe the thing was pilaf... anyway... pilaf for tonight! (recipe link and photo below). It was MEGA YUM. I am really enjoying cooking with spices.
Most of the food I was eating (and I think that a majority of people eat) relies on sugar salt and fat for flavour. Spices are so much more flavourful, healthy, ancient and fun!
it didn't take long to make and I used some things from my garden!

Lunch was corn thins, avocado (one dud) and tomato.. and no humus because for some reason I didn't see it when I opened the fridge at work and thougth I must have taken it home the day before, then when I put the one good avocado half back in, there was the humus, right at the front, where I left it and thought I looked for it (?!) so I just was not meant to have humus today.
















I did add a little of my special smoked garlic salt from the Saturday market man and I only used half a cinnamon stick, (which I almost ate!) he smells so good!! And I have lots of left overs... might take some to work tomorrow. YUM!
Spinach and Mushroom pilaf <--- that is the link to the recipe I used

Chickpea curry

Was wretched cross about somethign when I got home and coudln't relax and was worried I would snack on all sorts of rubbish so I made a chick pea curry from scratch and it turned out GREAT! It didn't take very long to make and smells so good...

Chickpea curry
2 tins of chickpeas (I used one tin)
3 tablespoons of oil (ghee would be better but it's dairy)
2 medium onions chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger (I keep ginger root in freezer then grate as needed)
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1-2 chillies (seeded and finely chopped - depends how hot you like it!)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 large well ripe tomatoes chopped
1 tablespoon ground corriander (I ground my own from seeds)
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons fresh chopped corriander

1. Drain chickpeas and reserve liquid (I didn't)
2. heat old in large pan; add onion, ginger, garlic and turmeric and cook over low/medium heat until onion is SOFT and GOLDEN (not thin and dry and brown lol)
3.Add the tomato and cook until soft. Add corriander and chickpeas and cook for five mins. Add a cup of liquid (whatever you decide to use, I used water with a bit of stock) and cook for another ten mins.
4. Add garam masala, lemon juice and corriander and cook GENTLY for only another 2-3 mins (add more liquid if you want more sauciness).

Yum!!

Weekend food

I made sure I went to the market on Saturday morning - got some amazing raspberries, cherries and blueberries - also some special yumy crackers free from everything and some asorted vegetables and the smoked garlic salt YUM!

Made pumpkin soup for dinner tonight but for some reason it was YUK and more like a soup-in-a-cup, not like my usual yummy pumpkin soup at all.. but wiht the same ingredients so, weird.
Also experiemented with two ways to make potato rosti - one with raw potato and one with boiled. Raw is more to my liking.















I made some hummus - need to work on that mixture and also try to make my own falafel.
Hoping to do some lentils this week too.
Have had another run of dud avocadoes. Blech.

The Books

I had opporuntity today to have a better read over the books as I wanted to lend the main Quantum Wellness one (not the cleanse one) to my chiropractor (who is awesome!) who is starting to expand into conscious eating concepts.


I had fun highlighting parts and writing my own comments in the margins (as the cleanse progresses I will dredge some up for blogging - well, when i get it back from John!).
I enjoyed it because some of the things she says in the books I agree with and some I don't which is perfect as it gives me a chance to clarify what I think to myself: to actually think about it and put into a physical form (writing and then action) what I think.

The cleanse, remember, is part of Kathy Freston's Quantum Wellness idea which includes 8 "pillars" of wellness - the cleanse is one of these (not sure I mentioned that before).
It is Kathy that I picked up the term "leaning in" from.
I like this leaning in thing - you take bits of her ideas, or parts and do what you can, move forward with some of it - no need to do it all strictly at once or even ever do it all. For instance I certainly don't believe there is a need for me to be a strict vegan or even vegetarian. But, like her, I am open to the fact my beliefs on this may shift more towards the strict side at some point (we will delve into these ideas in later entries I am sure).
The leaning in thing is a sustainable approach of creating change.

No picture of dinner tonight - it was falafel, hummus, kumara and a pompadum.

Roast chicken...

Roast free range chicken for dinner.
One step closer to clearing out the non cleanse food in readiness for the Quantum Wellness cleanse.

There is dwelling to be done on the long term merits of veganism vs setting a good example/supporting the humane treatment of animals by buying and requesting humanely treated animals products.

Veganism does little to improve conditions for our fellow living beings.
The commercial power of choosing free range does.