The C Salad

So I made a salad a while ago and afterwards when eating it I realized most of the ingredients began with a C, and this is what was in it

• Cucumber
• “chicken filets” from quorn
• cous cous
• chickpeas
• “creme cheese”

separately I added in sauerkraut, mushrooms and some red onions.

The only thing that needs to be cooked is the “chicken fillets”, I just threw two onto a grill for maybe 5-7 mins and they were done.

I also made the cous-cous, this is one of those brilliant things if your a busy person because how I made it is

you pour some into a bowl, add in boiling hot water, just enough to cover it, but not too much, i cover it over, sometimes with a tea towel or another plate to keep in the heat, leave it for about 3-4 mins and its done, quick simple

all you need to do is kind of fluff it out with a fork, you can add in some spices, I always add a bit of garlic powder, some paprika and a little bit of sea salt, it amazing.

 

If I am having mushrooms, I usually just throw them in with the cous-cous and add in the boiling water over the two, it just softens them and makes them feel a bit safer.

Thats it! just chop the stuff while the cous cous and “chicken” is grilling and poof you’ve a flavour packed meal in litterly as long as it takes the chickn to cook.

 

Let me know if you try this, would love to hear about it 🙂 xx

 

 

 

Foods/ herbs I can’t live without and neither should you!

So I’ve embarked on a super interesting path of herbalism, I love everything about it and it keeps me learning everyday and exploring a whole world I never knew of!

Because of this I have made some changes to my daily food schedule, and I thought i’d share them! Spreading knowledge is what it’s all about after all.

1. Sauerkraut :

Guys I cannot express how much I love this stuff! I have it in everything!

I make sure I have at least a handful each day, it’s so easy to incorporate, I just put some on top of my avocado toast, or just on toast in general, I put it in salads, in my sauces, just everywhere.

I’ve always struggled badly with my stomach, with digestion problems, I’ve always gone to the doctor about pains and problems with certain foods I eat, I came across sauerkraut on Instagram one day decided to research it a bit, bought a jar and have never turned back! I feel like it really helps me to digest my food so I love getting it in in the mornings!

So the trick with sauerkraut is the probiotic properties that come around through the fermentation process- not as gross at it sounds I promise!

The benefits include:

• high levels of dietary fiber
• beneficial probiotics that improve immune, cognitive and digestive systems
• protects from bowel disorders and hormonal imbalances and various autoimmune diseases
• supports brain function
• helps control inflammation in the body
• detoxifies the body by combating toxins in the digestive tract

 

2. Turmeric :

So basically I have turmeric on and in everything, you name it, smoothies, salads, teas,

 toast, potatoes, on my face! I’m actually sure there is nothing that I won’t put turmeric in. I love it, so it made sense to buy a bigger bag and thankfully Indigo herbs have my back for it all!

honestly the benefits are endless, and the flavour is savage too! It’s not too strong that it’s over powering, but it packs a punch for that immune system!

 

Some of the benefits are;

•  Powerful anti inflammatory
• helps manage diabetes
• has anti-cancer effect – prevents and minimizing
• regulates cholesterol
• curcumin can manage pain
• and of course is brilliant mixed in as a mask to combat acne or breakouts

 

3. Mushroom powders ;

Reishi power;

I love this stuff, and surprise surprise it was another thing I stumbled across on instagram. With a long tradition in Chinese medicine and still being used today by certain practitioners, this mushroom powder is know as mushroom of immortality, so of course I’ve gotta get me some of that!

So I’ve used this nearly daily for quite some time, and I haven’t been sick! And I used to get sick quite frequently, like not badly sick but I definitely struggled with my sinus and getting 24 hour colds, but I’ve only had one bout of that since taking this in conjunction with the Lion’s mane powder, I really recommend it. Some of the heaps of benefits are;

• Immune modulator
• Anti-tumour
• regulates blood pressure
• improves cognitive ability
• fights infections and bad bacterias

Lion’s Mane powder;

So pretty much as the one before, I have been loving it ever since i started using it! I usually have a yummy turmeric and mushroom milk before I study and i feel like it helps me so much, I feel so energised and ready for learning, it might sound really odd but I remember everything I study when I’ve been using it, it works, I’m so upset I didn’t find it when I was in school and doing my exams! Some of this guys benefits include;

• improves brain function
• improves immune system functions
• fights bacterias
• and loads more

 

4. Herbal tinctures;

easy as pie you just pop them into a tea or into some juice or a smoothie or even some water, and boom health in a cup! I love these

Sage-

Usually used for digestive problems but impacts include

• ease of stomach pains, bloating and diarrhea
• used for over production of perspiration
• ease impact of hormones responsible for depression

Shatavari-

Used in Ayurveda practice, traditional Indian medicine, I got this because I stop taking birth control pills and I had trouble getting my body back into a rythem and  it went a little hay wire so I thought seen as this was used as a medicine for women and their reproductive system it would help.

•  supports healthy reproductive system
• encourages healthy breast milk production levels
• supports hormones
• soothing effect of the digestive tract

St. John’s Wort-

An all-rounder herb again, good for just about every aspect of the metabolism but some more focused benefits are

• Improves mood swings
• reduces anxiety
• protects against viral infections
• reduces inflammation

Just thought I would share the things I’ve used and that made me feel way better in fixing my body after the food abuse I committed to it!

 

Let me know if any of these helped you or ones that you want to try out! xx

Totally Tasty Tofu Pasta

Yet again this is another pasta dish! I’m sorry guys but I love past and its fun to make!

This time I decided to use aubergine in the sauce and it was so good!! Well I had leftover roast aubergine and courgette so I threw them in with some other bits to make the sauce and it was so good.

Ingredients:

• Pasta
• appx. 200g of firm tofu
• 1 red/white onion
• 1 roast Aubergine
• 1 roasted or steamed courgette
• 1 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 cup cooked cauliflower
• 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
• Herbs/spices eg, paprika, garlic granules, cayenne papper and some salt and peper to taste

Method:

• Cut aubergine into slices and season with salt and pepper, put into the oven for 15-20 mins on a high heat. Doing the same with the courgette/zucchini if desire
• While that is cooking put your pasta into a saucepan and put on the heat,
• Chop onions and add to a frying pan with a little water so they don’t burn, I didn’t use any oil in this dish I just used water
• wait until the onions are softened just a bit and cut tofu into chunks and add to the onions in the pan.
• cook the cauliflower, I use microwave bags and they take no time, but you could cook in a pot with water until soft.
• after about ten mins you should add the spices to the tofu and onions and add a little water to make sure they don’t over cook.
• when the cauliflower, courgette and aubergine is cooked add to a blender with the non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast and ½ teaspoon of garlic granules and paprika, blending until smooth.
• Drain the pasta, put on a plate, top with sauce and then the tofu chunks and serve.

Let me know if you try it ! 🙂 xx

 

 

Cruelty free favorites

So a bit of a different post this time, but I wanted to write up a post about makeup pieces that are cruelty free and good quality !

I wouldn’t be the biggest makeup fan and would only usually wear makeup for events or when I need to look more presentable. So when I buy makeup I try find the best price for the quality.

I bought everything except for on superdrug.ie.

So the few bits I wanted to talk about are:

Makeup revolution concealer pallet in dark ; £6.00/€7.15 > I find these are the handiest things ever, because of my skin tone it is so difficult to get a foundation that matches, but this pallet is perfect for it! I even have colours perfect for contouring! It’s perferct!

B. latex free blending sponge; £3.29/ €3.92

M.U.A matte lipsticks ; £1.00/€1.19, in shades (from top) Fancy Fawn, Mystic Marsala and Totally Nude.

M.U.A lip liner in caramel nougat; £1.00/€1.19

NYX lip liner (top) in shade peakaboo neutral; €3.50

NYX eyeliner (bottom) shade white pearl; €3.50

NYX prices based on Sam McCauleys pharmacy’s prices.

NYX jumbo eye pencil; shades cottage cheese and black bean; €7.00

And lastly my absolute favourite concealer in the world!

NYX HD concealer in CW06; €7.75, oh my days I love this so much, it’s not cakey at all but its still full coverage!

 

 

Falafel obsessed!

Guys the falafel obsession is real! Recently I’ve been straight up eating rice and falafels nearly everyday, they’re so simple and so easy!

So I don’t fry them of anything like that, I actually use an air fryer but you could fry them too.

Ingredients:

1 can of chickpeas

Handful of spinach

1 cup of breadcrumbs

½ cup of oat flour

½ can of sweetcorn

½ tablespoon of cumin

teaspoon of mixed herbs (dried or fresh)

½ teaspoon of paprika

Method:

Throw everything in a blender, starting with the chickpeas and the sweetcorn, then the spinach and herbs and spices then the breadcrumbs and then the flour.

Shape into balls and fry them by means of your choice, they take around 12 mins in the air fryer and until each side is golden if your shallow frying and around 14 mins in the oven 🙂

To make the oat flour I just put 1 cup of oats into a blender and blend it till it’s a flour.

Then for the breadcrumbs I just blended up two slices of wholewheat grained bread and voila, money saved!

Let me know if you try this recipe because id love to know how you did 🙂 xx

 

 

 

 

 

Vegan Pasta bake

So for this sauce I used a cauliflower sauce, It’s so much like cheese and it’s so light, the main thing I hated when I wasn’t vegan was how heavy pasta bake cheese sauce was. Some vegan recipe tests later I found this online so I just made my own changes to it and came up with this.

I first cooked the cauliflower, I used microwavable bags that are so handy, but you could use a steamer or whatever way you prefer to cook. I used frozen chunks, but you could use fresh cauliflower too, it would probably be nicer!

Ingredients:

for the sauce:

•A medium cauliflower

•1 cup of soy milk

•4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

•½ tablespoon of garlic powder

•¼ tablespoon of paprika

•½ tablespoon of onion powder or 3 tablespoon of caramelized onion

•I added parsley but it’s optional

For the rest:

•I used one packet of spaghetti (appx. 1kg)

•200g of firm tofu or 1 packet of vegan quorn fillets

•2 large white onions

•optional- vegan cheese to top

•Soy sauce

small amounts of the following(A pinch), paprika, garlic powder/granules,mixed herbs, cayenne papper, gravy granules.

Method:

• cook the cauliflower, meanwhile fry onions in a little water until softened
• Add tofu chunks or quorn chicken to the onions along with spices and gravy granules, add in a little water to make a thick-ish sauce and add in soy sauce.
• Cook pasta on a high heat with a little salt
• When pasta is ready, drain and add into a large baking dish
• To make the cheese sauce:  Add the soy milk first in the blender so it ill blend easily, Add in the cauliflower, then the spices and the nutritional yeast and blend until smooth.
• Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and stir so all the pasta is covered
• Then add the tofu/chicken on top and stir in a little bit, grate cheese on top of it
• Will take about 15 in the oven for the cheese to melt (for reference I used Violife pizza cheese)

This can also be made with a difference sauce, for example a butternut squash cheese sauce which i’ve previously posted.

Let me know if you try this 🙂 xx

 

 

 

Vegan cheese sauce

So I needed to use up my butternut squash up and the shops were closed so I couldn’t buy cheese to melt so I thought i’ll just blend in up.

Oh my gosh it was so good, I used a regular sized butternut squash, maybe a medium one.

This cheese sauce is so creamy, I’ve made it so many times since and it never fails.

Ingredients:

•1 butternut squash

•1 cup of non-dairy milk

•3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

•½ tablespoon of garlic powder

•½ teaspoon of dried/fresh parsley

•½ teaspoon of onion powder

¤ I also added about ½ teaspoon of paprika because I put it in everything, but it’s not nessisary.

Method:

So you can just cook your butternut squash thoroughly however you like it

You can steam them with the skin on and then peel the skin off afterwards or you can roast them with salt and pepper and again peel the skin off after wards. Also you could cut some of the skins off and steam like that, I use microwave steam bags and it takes about 5 minuets compared to the forever in the steamer.

Then you just throw all the ingredients in a blender, starting with the milk at the bottom so it all blends up easier. 

That is that, it’s so simple and is so tasty, you can add whatever other ingredients you want to add hat you might like.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you tried it 🙂 xx

 

Pesto Perfection!

So one thing I noticed when going vegan was that all the pesto sauce that I could get my eyes on had heaps of un-vegan things in there (eggs and milk). I was so gutted because I love pesto and was a huge part of my diet before taking the jump so I jumped on the chance of making my own!

So the amount of basil leaves is to your tasting, I used a medium handful so around a ¼ cup.

Ingredients:

• Basil leaves ( I have some sweet Italian basil growing at home but you could buy some fresh or preserved basil in a tube if its available to you).
• Grape seed oil
• ½ teaspoon of garlic granuals
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ cup of cashews of pine nuts
• 2 teaspoon of nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

This would be good just with pasta or with what ever you want.

I just thought it would be nice as a pasta salad, so I just cooked pasta and then added in some chopped peppers, cucumber, sweetcorn and spring (green) onion.

Let me know if you try this sauce!

thanks for reading 🙂 xx

Vegan Bean Burger

So a pure trial and error kind of dish, it’s mostly down to taste preference, but this is my personal favorite so I said I’d put it up here for to help other people.

This recipe makes about 12 thinish ones, I like to double the up so I can add ‘cheese’ in the middle of it. It could make 6 thicker ones if you prefer them thicker.

I brought these to a barbecue and the non-vegans actually liked them.

 

Ingredients:

•1 can of butter beans

• 1 can of chickpeas

•1 can of kidney beans

•(optional) cup of black beans

•½ cup of oat flour

•1 onion

•pinch of salt and pepper

•¼ teaspoon of cumin

•½ teaspoon of smoked/regular paprika

•½ teaspoon of garlic powder

•optional 1 tablespoon of gravy grannuels, I just added them for that extra flavour

Of course you can add other ingredients if you think they suit and you want it.

These are do easy to actually make.

Just put all the ingredients in a food processor, blender or you could mash the beans by hand and finely chop the onions.

Then you just pick up a piece of the mixture and shape into a burger shape and just fry them, oil is optional but it does help the texture.

 

Just like that you have some seriously tasty burgers that everyone can enjoy!

Thanks for reading, let me know if this helped you or you made these! 🙂 xx

Vegan Thai green curry ft. “chicken”

So this was surprisingly good, usually I don’t venture too far from my comfort zone but I decided to give it a go and see where it went, I’m so glad I did though because this was good so I said I’d share the way I made it 🙂

 

Ingredients:

•Chicken substitute (I used soy protein chunks because that’s all I had on hand)

•Thai green paste, You could always make your own, I just haven’t a clue how.

•Salt & Pepper

•Large onion

•Can of coconut milk

•About 2 Handfuls of mushrooms

•About 2 handfuls of peppers

Of course you can add whatever else you want to it, that’s just all I had to add into it.

Method:  Takes approximately 25 mins;

Fry onions until they soften down a bit, the soy chunks I used were dried so I had to dehydrate them with water in the pan, so I had to put the “chicken” and water in first to soften them.

So then I added in the onion and mushrooms to the pot with the chicken, I put in the paste and let it fry a bit. Frying the spices with the rest of the stuff enhances the flavours.

After about 5 mins add in the coconut milk, Then add in the peppers and cook for a further 5 mins, salt and pepper to taste.

Turn off the heat and allow to sit for another 5 mins and serve with rice, or whatever else you think would suit it for your taste buds.

Thanks for reading, let me know if you try this recipe! 🙂 xx