Garlic Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Mushrooms (type of your choosing)

Olive Oil 

Garlic & Herb Salt

OR

Garlic, salt and herbs of your choice

Put the mushrooms in a saucepan with olive oil, then added Garlic & Herb Salt.   Best to start light on the salt and add more if you need.

 

The mushrooms soak up the olive oil so you are best to start them at a lower heat, but as the mushrooms cook, they generate their own liquid.  If you use too much olive oil, the whole thing gets a bit runny.

Once they are cooked, serve! 

 

Portobello Mushrooms

Portobello mushrooms
Sundried tomatoes
Walnuts
Basil
Garlic
Onion
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Brown sugar

Lightly baste the mushrooms with olive oil and dust with salt and pepper.
Blend the sundried tomatoes, walnuts, basil, garlic and onion together until a fine paste texture is achieved.
Place mixture on top of mushrooms and sprinkle the brown sugar on top.
Place in oven and bake until sugar is caramelised and mushrooms are hot

Lentil Canneloni

Lentils
Cannelloni
Italian herbs tomato pasta sauce
Various herbs and spices
Basil

Boil lentils in water infused with herbs and spices until soft. 
Stuff the lentils into cannelloni shells along with basil leaves.
Place stuffed cannelloni into a cooking dish, and cover with tomato pasta sauce (Italian herb tomato sauce preferable).
Place dish in oven and bake until the cannelloni is soft and cooked.
Serve with fresh spinach salad.

Homemade deodorant

Day 3 of deodorant trial. 

So far so good. I don't stink, and despite it not being an antiperspirant, I'm also not sweating as much. 

I shaved yesterday, and I think I must have put it on a bit soon, because my underarms felt quite raw, a similar feeling to putting spray antiperspirant on to freshly shaved skin. 

All in all going well, it uses so little that I've barely made a dent in the jar! 

Homemade deodorant

So I made my own deodorant today...

I found a recipe online which told me how to make deodorant which was aluminium and paraben free, as well as vegan. ( http://wellnessmama.com/1523/natural-deodorant/ )

So I decided to try it, since I'm trying to reduce the number of chemicals that come into contact with my body, as well as the fact that I'm sure that most deodorants/antiperspirants are tested on animals. 

I made recipe 2, as I don't know where to buy Shea butter. 

So the recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of coconut oil, and 4 tablespoons each of baking soda and arrowroot, with optional essential oils. Now, I had never heard of arrowroot, and sure as hell didn't know where to find it. A quick google search told me that it either is tapioca flour, or is interchangeable with tapioca flour, which confused me to no end. So I got this: 

I also used this brand of coconut oil, which I already had in the pantry:

I used Pam's baking soda, which is 1/2 a kilo for $2.50, and Thursday Plantation Tea Tree Oil for scent and antibacterial properties. 

To be honest I can't remember if I put 4 or 6 tablespoons of coconut oil in, but I suspect it was 4. 

You just mix the powders, mash in the coconut oil, and add essential oils for scent if you want to. 

I used some hot water in a sink, and placed the bowl I was mashing the ingredients together in into the water to soften the coconut oil so that it would mix better, as well as pour into the jar I was storing the deodorant in. 

So it's finished. How do I feel about it?

It smells heavenly! Like coconut with a little tea tree oil. It is solid until it touches skin, at which point it melts. 

Only a pea sized amount is required for each arm.

I've had it on for 3 or 4 hours, and I haven't had any irritation from the baking soda or arrowroot, which is good. 

I'm really proud of it, because despite the lack of effort, it feels like I've accomplished something. 

Fingers crossed that it works!  

https://twitter.com/paigeolsen27/status/499114820361134080

Pumpkin Soup for the Vege Soul

So I made soup yesterday and it was delicious. Here's the recipe (I made it up as I went):

Ingredients (Adjust quantities to suit your needs):

1/3 Large Pumpkin
1/2 A Butternut
1 Large Kumara (Sweet Potato)
1 Tin of Coconut Cream
2 Cloves of Garlic
Olive Oil
Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.

2. Chop the vegetables into large chunks.

3. Place the pumpkin chunks in the oven on a tray covered with tin foil and drizzle with olive oil.

4. Once these are cooked and soft replace the pumpkin chunks with the butternut and kumara chunks (drizzle with oil). Near the end of the butternut and kumara cooking, add the finely chopped garlic to the oil in the tray.

5. Remove skins from pumpkin and place in a large pot, then mash to desired consistency.

6. Once butternut and kumara are soft and cooked, repeat step 5.

7. Add nutmeg and salt and pepper, then stir through coconut cream until soup is creamy and is the desired consistency (I'm very fond of thick soup, which is hearty and warming during the winter months).

8. Add the garlic and more nutmeg, as well as salt and pepper..

9. Stir thoroughly and serve.

Makeup, hygiene products etc

So I'm a fan of Natio products now. I buy their makeup their shampoo and conditioner, their face wash, body wash, moisturiser etc.

I just love it. It's not tested on animals, and only a select few products include beeswax.

Literally my whole makeup bag is from their range, and it's a pretty standard price for makeup, which is great since I'm on a budget. The cleansers and stuff is more expensive, but I don't care because it's not tested on animals!

Check it out:

http://www.natio.com.au/

Juicing

So I received a juicer for Christmas, and have obsessively juiced the contents of my fridge since.

I like juicing because it's easier to consume than smoothies, which I tend to spend a long time drinking, as they're chunky (I don't have a super amazing blender, so my smoothies aren't overly smooth).

Anyway, my favourite recipe is:

1-2 cups of spinach
a stalk of celery
half a cucumber
an apple
a plum
a nectarine
some coconut water (added after the juice is juiced).

This one has heaps of nutrients, and it tastes great too!

Skinfood

So in New Zealand there's this brand called Skinfood... Now, it's not entirely Vegan, they use honey and beeswax, but they don't test on animals, which is the main point. Anyway, I don't buy it, but I thought I should write a post on it, because my Mum has it, and I used some of it last night. I had this gorgeous sea-green/blue nail polish on (two coats), and when I used the excess facial moisturiser to moisturise my hands, it literally removed the nail polish. I don't mean dulled it, I mean it removed it to the point where my nails started to come through. This scared the shit out of me. What kind of moisturiser is like that?! Do I really want that stuff on my skin? If anyone can explain this phenomenon, please leave a comment.

Vegan baking :)

New cookbook :)

Non-animal tested makeup

So I bought new makeup yesterday. I was really conscious that I needed cruelty free products, and I found them! I went to The Body Shop, a company that is very anti-animal testing. So I bought my foundation and mascara there. I was a little apprehensive as to what the quality would be like, having never shopped for cosmetics there. However, I needn't have worried, as, like their other products, their makeup is excellent. It's probably the best makeup I've ever found. I'm naturally very pale, and I have never once found a foundation that matches my skin tone. Until now :)

I'm back

So I was just thinking that I haven't posted anything for a while...

It is a lifestyle, a choice to take action against the suffering caused by humans.

Jenna Marbles

I'm a big Jenna Marbles fan. She's awesome. Anyway, I recently watched her video on her diet and exercise regime. It turns out that 6 days out of 7 she follows a vegan diet! She wants to stretch it out, but occasionally cracks, so gives herself one day a week to let go. But it's pretty cool that she is vegan 6 days a week, and that, as a public figure and popular YouTuber ( plus being super skinny and fit ), she is spreading the word on how great a vegan diet is! 

Tonight's smoothie

Tonight's smoothie is extra yummy. 

1 banana

1 Granny Smith apple 

1 Apricot

A couple of handfuls of spinach

Some red and orange capsicum

Some broccoli

Some freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 teaspoons of linseeds

4 teaspoons of pumpkins seeds

2 teaspoons of sesame seeds

2 teaspoons of slivered almonds

I had to add extra water to enable it to blend because there were so many ingredients. I put about half of it in this glass:

Also, yesterday's smoothie tasted terrible.

Today's smoothie

I haven't tasted today's smoothie yet, because I'm a little afraid of what it will taste like. We didn't have much in the house, so it's a mixture if stuff that I wouldn't usually put together in a smoothie with no fruit to help the flavour.

400ml water

A couple of handfuls of spinach

Some coleslaw

Some red and orange capsicum

4 teaspoons linseeds

2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

3 teaspoons lentils

Hoping it tastes alright :)

Human Arrogance

Humans do have a fantastic amount of arrogance. A certain relative of mine got in a debate over meat consumption etc with me recently, and I pointed out that if humans disappeared, all forms of life would flourish within 50 years. To this she responded "But without humans there would be no purpose." WTF?! That was the most pigheaded thing I've heard in a very long time, and to have it come from someone you're related to is absolutely shocking. I'm glad that I didn't inherit that kind of attitude towards my fellow creatures. 

Humour

Some vegan humour with a serious message :)