"Coming Soon"

That is what it says on my very own brand new website!

I am so excited - it is actually happening!

I have dreamed of having my own website for years. What exactly this website would consist of, well, I wasn't quite sure, but I just knew that I wanted something that connected people, had a vegan theme and somehow made the world a better, more interesting place. Simple, right? Well, whilst I was busy pondering over what I would turn my website into, my little blog that could, the one that I started just for my own enjoyment, rather than views, kept growing! So my idea was born...

An interactive vegan blog. It's where you get to blog, as many times as you wish! You can have your own blog, or contribute to the existing ones. Share your story, your recipe, anything you wish!

I hope for it to be a place that people go to for inspiration.

And, of course, a little shop! Vegan, cruelty free cosmetics, starting with lipsticks.

I am very excited about my website, which I hope becomes a thriving community, and I hope you can get excited too!

VeganConnection.com.au

Would you like to be amongst the first bloggers on my website? Do you have an idea for a blog? Please share your ideas with me, Leesa@Cosentino.com.au

Golden Gaytime Icecream

This is neither additive free, nor is it healthy, but it is really, really good! 

Remember Golden Gaytime ice creams? They were my favourite, until I became vegetarian (they contain gelatine), so as you can imagine, I haven't had them for a while, I think about ten years. 

Recently, though, at a vegan dinner party, our host served a dessert, that accidentally tasted like Golden Gaytime, and I was hooked! Michael and Kat have an amazing way of throwing food together and it coming out amazing, so this is my version of their wonderful dessert.

Ingredients: keep in mind that these are estimates, and using the exact amounts doesn't really matter.

2 Tbsp butter (Nuttlex)

2-3 Tbsp maple syrup

Half a packet of  Nice biscuits, crushed into crumbs

Half a tub of So Good vanilla ice cream

Method:

Melt the butter in a saucepan on low heat, add the maple syrup and stir.

Turn off the heat and add the crumbs, stir well.

Spoon the crumbs over scoops of ice cream and enjoy!

Lx

Simple Summer Spaghetti

A simple summer spaghetti, that is easy to make, and very tasty. The entire meal will only take you about 20 minutes to cook.

Ingredients:
1 clove of garlic (kept whole)
a splash of olive oil (plus a bit extra)
1 piece of pita bread, cut or torn into 2cm squares
2 punnets of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
a handful of spinach leaves (optional)
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp salt
1tbsp sumac (this is a middle eastern spice, you can get it from your local deli)
1 packet of spaghetti or angel hair pasta
*As always, if you are cooking for adults, feel free to add a little more salt, and some freshly ground pepper

Method:
Place a large pot of water on the boil, meanwhile, in a large frypan or wok, heat up some oil and add the garlic clove (whole), pita bread, pine nuts, and roughly half of the salt and sumac.

When the water is ready, add the pasta, and cook until al dente.

Continue frying for about 2 minutes until the bread becomes crispy and golden brown, then add the tomatoes and spinach leaves, and continue frying until they are cooked.

Turn off, remove the garlic clove, and set aside until the pasta is ready.

Drain pasta, and add your bread/tomato mixture, the rest of the salt and sumac, and some extra olive oil, toss to combine and serve!

Lx

One Pot Wonder: Creamy Rice and Veg

This is a great mid week meal that is so easy to cook, and tastes delicious.

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 onion, diced
1 litre of vegetable stock (Cambell's Real Stock is safe)
about 3 cups of diced veg. I used carrot, zucchini and potato
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
1 and a half cups of white long grain rice
1/4 cup of soy or almond milk
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (you can get this from a health food store)
1/2 tsp mustard powder (add more if cooking for adults)
Dash of soy sauce (use kikkoman naturally brewed)
pinch of salt
**If cooking for adults add a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Method:
In a heavy saucepan or pot sauté the garlic and onion in the olive oil for a minute or two. Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil, stirring regularly. Continue stirring, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked.

Take off the heat just before the rice is cooked, and cover and allow to sit for about 5 minutes - the rice should finish cooking during that time.

If your dish is too dry, stir through some extra milk.

Organic foods and Fruit Wellbeing

I believe that buying organic fruit and vegetables is so important for a number of reasons, your health being the first and most important.

When you get down to the brass tax of things, pesticides ARE sprayed onto the foods that we are ingesting. Nobody can dispute that, despite your standing on organic foods.

So what are pesticides designed to do? Of course, they are designed to kill insects, so why are we ingesting this poison?

The very food that is supposed to give us life is covered in a substance that is purposefully designed to do the opposite. 

Pay the farmer now, or the doctor later. 

Have you ever heard this saying? It should really say "organic farmer", but you get the point.

To save money on our organic produce I follow the dirty dozen/clean fifteen rule, where produce that uses very little pesticides can be purchased conventionally, and produce that requires higher amounts of pesticides I always purchase organic. *Buy corn organically, to avoid GMOs. **Buy organic tomatoes, to avoid bland tomatoes.

Washing your food will only get you so far, the pesticides are designed to withstand rain, and when sprayed numerous times on a growing organism, it must be within the fruit too. 

And don't get me started on GMOs! They don't even need to be sprayed! Why? Because the pesticide has been genetically grown within the food! No thanks.

You can learn more about GMOs by clicking here, or here, or even here.

Aldi have a large range of well priced, organic foods, including pasta, soy milk, pasta sauce, tomato paste, muesli and baby food. Unfortunately they don't have any fresh produce. 

We have been eating organic fruit and veg for a few years now, and the hardest part is sourcing good quality produce at a reasonable price. This is where Lachlan and Fruit Wellbeing come in. 

I recently discovered Fruit Wellbeing- an organic fruit and veg delivery company and haven't looked back! They stand ahead of anyone else in the game, for quality, price, and service. 

Your first order is 5% off and if you order more than $100, your delivery is free. Lachlan also offers a variety of fruit and veg boxes that he will deliver to you free of charge. 

Delivery is only on market days (Monday and Thursday), so the produce is guaranteed to be straight from the market- what is purchased that morning is on your doorstep that afternoon- you just can't get fresher! 

I can't recommend Fruit Wellbeing enough, I hope that you get the chance to enjoy fresh and delicious produce, the way its designed to be! 

Best Ever Spag Bol

This bolognaise is so delicious, and you could be fooled into thinking that it is made with real mince!

It is super quick to make, and can last in the fridge for a few days to make another easy meal.

The mince replacement is something called TVP (textured vegetable protein) which is completely additive free, and a really healthy and cheap alternative to mince. You really have to try it once, to see how lovely it is to work with. You can buy it from health food stores, and 500g will cost you about $8, but once you have prepared it for use, it will make 1kg of mince, which would roughly compare to 2kg of meat mince, because the TVP is a lot lighter.

Ingredients:

Dash of olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1-2 cups of vegetables, chopped (I used eggplant, but you could use carrot, zucchini, peas, the list goes on)

2 cups of TVP, prepared as per package instructions.

1 jar Aldi's organic pasta sauce

1 can Aldi's organic tomato

2 dashes of Kikkoman naturally brewed soy sauce

1 cup Cambell's real vegetable stock

Pinch of salt and pepper

Method:

In a large and heavy saucepan sautée the onion and garlic in the olive oil until onion is clear, add the 1-2 cups of vegetables and allow them to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring. Add in the rest if the ingredients, and bring to the boil, and then simmer for around 20 minutes, stirring. Serve over pasta, or use in a lasagne. 

Additives- where do I start?

The curiosity surrounding additives is overwhelming. Almost every mother I speak to wants to know more, and wants to know how to cut these nasties out of their families diets. I wish I could go through everyone's pantry, or go grocery shopping with you, but unfortunately I just can't. So here are the ABCs of becoming additive free. 

A. Decide what you want for your family. Why do you want to do it, and what will you be looking for? Is it your son who is showing ADHD symptoms, or your daughter with athsma? 

These nasty additives can cause a myriad of nasty reactions, from tics, to anxiety, rashes, to tantrums, so your list could end up being quite long, but if you don't know what you are looking for, you won't know if it has worked. 

B. Choose when you will start your two week trial. 

Two weeks without any additives is long enough to see the difference (if any). You will have to plan for it, by letting grandparents and carers know what you are doing. Make the transition as easy on everyone as possible, by having meals and shopping lists planned, and plenty of back up foods.

Cutting everything out at once, instead of changing one thing at a time, will find you more success.

C. Time to memorise! 

Knowing what to look out for when reading ingredients will become easier as time goes on. In only a few weeks of being additive free I became an ingredient list speed-reader! I could point out a nasty from 20 feet away! Really. The first step is the hardest, it gets much, much, easier as the days go on. 

Below are the ingredients to watch out for. 

Flavours: 

Flavours are unregulated. Anything could be used to flavour a food. Steer clear of them, as usually they are nasty.

Flavour enhancers:

620-625 glutamic acid and all glutamates, MSG mono sodium glutamate

627 disodium guanylate

631 disodium inosinate

635 ribonucleotides

Yeast extract (most common) HVP HHP, hydrolysed vegetable/plant protein (most common)

Artificial sweeteners:

951 aspartame (found in diet and sugar free foods/drinks)

Maltodexrin

Colours:

102 tartrazine

104 quinolone yellow

107 yellow 2g

110 sunset yellow

122 azorubine, carmoisine 

123 amaranth

124 ponceau, brilliant scarlet

127 erythrosine

128 red 2g

129 allura red

132 indigotine, indigo carmine

133 brilliant blue

142 green S, food green, acid brilliant green

151 brilliant black

155 brown, chocolate brown

160b annatto, bixin, norbixin

Preservatives:

200-203 sorbic acid, potassium & calcium sorbates

210-213 benzoic acid, sodium, potassium & calcium benzoates

220-228 sulphur dioxide, all sulphites, bisulphates, metabisulphates

249-252 all nitrates and nitrites

280-283 propionic acid, sodium, potassium & calcium propionates

Antioxidants:

310-312 all gallates

319-321 (most common) TBHQ, BHA butylated hydroxyanisole, BHT butylated hydroxytoluene

D. Bonus round!

Don't worry if you mess up. If the kids eat something that slipped past your fingers, well, tomorrow is another day. But it gets easier. And as you begin to notice the difference in your children, you and the people around you will want to avoid these nasties, and then it doesn't seem so hard. 

Please email me your questions. I will also publish FAQs in a blog post to come... Leesa@cosentino.com.au. 

Lx