Post Sugar-induced coma from the wonderful winter market in Annandale last weekend, I felt it totally apt to bring up our fun adventure into being Vegan (for a week) today on the blog.
I find there are times in life when food-filled holidays and events compile to make even the healthiest of people feel a bit bloated and in need of a restart. And instead of trying a lemon detox diet and passing out on the first day from malnutrition, eating soup for a week and losing the ability to chew, quitting sugar and losing the will to live, we experimented with being vegan to force us to eat beautiful, healthy food and to put an end to daily indulgence. Since we weren’t saying no to sugar or starving ourselves in any way I thought it would be a breeze.
I did my research and found incredible recipes. I replaced our milk with Almond milk so breakfast porridge was practically undisturbed. I put a big block of tofu in the fridge in the hole where the cheese had been and I made some beautiful Tahini and Hummus to ensure we could continue to have salads for lunch sans cheese or meat.
Vegan Observation No.1 (part confession)
I love cheese too much to be vegan for life.
Vegan Observation No.2
Eating out is a pain in the bum and you really need to plan ahead if you want to have a special meal out. Below I’ve listed some of Sydney’s top vegan-friendly restaurants to try in vegan week/month/life and I would visit them vegan or not. No-one likes to feel deprived due to dietary requirements.
Vegan Observation No.3
If you thought friends and family took you turning vegetarian badly, they are going to be so much worse when you break the vegan news. To my surprise (especially since it was only a week) people totally don’t mind voicing their disdain for vegans.
Vegan week 101: What do I eat?
Monday: Celeriac pasta from my food blog god ‘My New Roots’. This “pasta” feels healthy but oh so delicious. If you love olives and capers, it is definitely one for you!
Tuesday: Broccoli, basil + Avocado toss from ‘The First Mess‘. This citrus-y, crunchy dish is absolutely yummy! Looks beautiful and tastes just as great.
Wednesday: Four Corners Lentil Soup from ‘My New Roots’. This is now a staple in our house. Signor Pot squeals with delight when he sees me making it. Insanely easy and comforting and really just give it a go, you won’t regret it.
Thursday: Date night @ ‘The Nourishing Quarter‘. Such an adorable space, filled with little vintage paraphernalia. This restaurant feels so homely and good for you in every sense. It’s dimly lit and perfect for a beautiful vegan date night.
Friday: Salt & Pepper tofu with lemon soy dipping sauce from ‘Bills Everyday Asian’: This was the man choice for vegan week and offers a bit of a Friday treat since you’ve been good all week.
Weekend breakfast: Garam Masala Tofu Scramble w. side of Spiced coconut spinach from ‘101 cookbooks‘ . The perfect big breakfast, vegan style. You won’t be missing eggs.
Weekend Lunch: @ Sadhana Kitchen in Newtown. I highly recommend the mushrooms on toast but everything is super tasty here and so pretty. You can even get the vegan equivalent of ice-cream (cocowhip) which will make you feel like you aren’t missing out on weekend treats.
Weekend Dinner: Moroccan Carrot and Chickpea Salad from ‘101 cookbooks’. This is quite a sweet salad which is amazing if you haven’t had much sugar in the week. Really moreish.
Weekend snack: Sprout Wholefood Café – vegan options and vegan dessert for desperate times.
Definitely give a few of these recipes a go and visit some of the restaurants around Sydney. Also, here is the recipe for the tahini and hummus which I made and intend to make time and time again.
*
- ½ cup tahini
- Juice of 2 lemons
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Ice Water (a couple of tbsp)
- Mix tahini, lemon juice and salt (taste and add more salt or lemon juice if desired)
- Add ice water (a couple of drops at a time) mixing till desired consistency is reached
- To make a dressing just add a tiny bit more liquid at the end.
- 2 tins chickpeas, drained
- 2 medium cloves Garlic, peeled & roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4-1/3 bottle Tahini
- 1 1/2 Lemons, juiced
- 1 tbsp paprika (optional)
- Water
- Combine oil, salt and garlic in a blender
- Add drained chickpeas and blend to create a paste
- Add tahini and blend
- Add lemon juice and blend
- At this point taste and add more tahini if desired
- The mixture will be stiff after adding the lemon juice so slowly add water a tbsp. at a time and blend till the desired consistency is reached
- Scrape down the sides and blend again
- Add paprika and blend till light and fluffy (approx. 1 min)
- Taste and add more salt, lemon or paprika
- Add half a bunch of coriander with the garlic if you want a green hummus
xxBlighStBistro
beautiful styling. x
I have mentioned this before but I thought it might be good to comment here too.
Lentil As Anything in Newtown is a must to visit. It is donation only so everyone no matter what budget can afford to eat tasty and healthy vegan food. It is a great nonprofit organisation to support as well.
Vegan is an ethical stance. It includes dairy as dairy is the meat industry, calves are killed to supply the milk we consume meant for them. Vegan includes all products you use switching to cruelty free. People seem to not like Vegans as they either don’t understand the cruelty involved in all animal exploitation industries, don’t understand the ethics, or think it’s extreme to protect animals by giving up things we don’t need to stop their exploitation. It is understandable when we are raised in a world to think nothing of it. It really comes down to equality. Treat them as you would have them treat you. As someone not something 🙂
On top of that, it is better for the planet, environment and human health, so there are a lot of positive reasons to find alternatives to animal products 🙂
Great recipes and food ideas 🙂 Thanks for sharing, And I hope it’s ok to add this info here for more insight 🙂
Annette thank you for your comment. I think it is so important to talk about it as much as possible because awareness is always a good place to start when inspiring change in habits.
Lentil as Anything is a fabulous suggestion for a place to try in Sydney and come to think of it I had dinner at Govindas on Saturday and it was fantastic and inexpensive too. Perhaps I will have to work up a second post for some new suggestions 🙂 xxBlighStBistro
I love govinda’s too! It’s great & they have good meal & movie nights, We went together for one on my 27th, time flies to think that was over 6 yrs ago now 🙂
I do think it’s important to add a little about why people are vegan or the cause itself to bring awareness as it’s the main reason people choose to go vegan, apart from the health & environmental concerns.
It’s great that now days there are heaps of alternatives available, perhaps trying some dairy free cheeses would be a great post as there a quite a few, also dairy free icecreams & gelato could be fun for spoils! Gelato Blue in Newtown now has 20 vegan flavours and Ben & Jerry’s have 5 new vegan flavours. I buy So good vanilla bliss ( 1tr tub ) from Woolworths, but it’s easy to make your own too.
It’s great that going Vegan doesn’t mean missing out. It’s often just about swapping over or swapping a few ingredients in any recipe 🙂 There are lots of egg alternatives when baking for example.
‘Thug Kitchen’ is a fun cook book, it tells you all the staples needed for the pantry and has great food recipes. It doesn’t advertise as a vegan cookbook but it is. 🙂
If you ever want more info or ideas, feel free to ask anytime 🙂