Vegan Challenge!

The last 3 weeks have been pretty interesting and I can actually say overall my insides feel good and I've definitely had my fair share of what being a vegan feels like. Often I've been asked 'what do you eat?' or on a few occasions I've been told this actually isn't Godly 'kill and eat' lol, but for the most part people have been intrigued to know more or just generally surprised that I've come so far.

To be honest it hasn't been easy all through, and there were times I wanted to satisfy the craving but I kept going guys! One of the hardest things for me, has been how restricted I've felt at times constantly checking the label of packages to make sure it contains no eggs, milk, gelatine and then just to find 3 lines down it contains one of the above. You become more cautious of what you put inside you and definitely become much more creative in the kitchen.

Being vegan has forced me to include more fruit and veg into my diet which by the way is obviously a good thing and also cook and use ingredients some of which I had never used before the challenge in my meals. Something I have noticed  on the challenge however is that on some days my face looked a bit grey and I sometimes felt tired. After a little research I found that most vegans take a supplement called B12, which helps in the production of red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body. This is usually obtained in meat, fish and dairy products so because it is not found in foods such as fruits and vegetables vegans tend not to get enough of this vitamin. A lack of vitamin B12 can thus lead to extreme tiredness, yellowing of the skin or a general lack of energy etc. However, after some advice I was told that I was probably lacking iron and not B12 which would take a bit longer than 30 days to suffer from any serious deficiencies.

Nonetheless, over the last few weeks I've had some fantastic meals.Here are some pictures of my vegan life :)

Origins: vegetable burger, curly fries and salad (this became a staple when on campus
as it was the only meal that I could actually eat that was vegan)

Chickpea and sweet-potato burgers with red onions and
sweetcorrn 

Chickpea and Sweet potato pitta with sweet potato fries

Butter bean stew with kale, tomato, scotch bonnet, garlic
and rice with salad

Swede and Carrot stir fry with coriander and lemon couscous

One of my favourite meals : Bean and carrot soup with dumplings
and vegetable fried rice

Carrot and Coriander soup with ginger and slice pitta bread

Jollof Rice and Sweetcorn with fried plantain

Butter bean stew with mixed veg and sweet potato squares

Spaghetti with vegetable pasta sauce

Sweet potato squares: fried in butter garlic and salt = divine 

Vegan Day 3

 Happy Sunday ,

So it's day 3 of my vegan challenge and I'm not sure if the days are going slow or fast but either way I'm still enjoying the challenge. I must admit I'm not finding it hard with the meals  but with snacking I definitely need more discipline. I have a tendency to put things in my mouth before realising I actually can't eat it *taps hand*.

Today at church I was helping out with the refreshments and I picked up a snicker (the small ones that come in the big tub of celebrations ) and I thought I would save it for after church so I did... and yup you guessed it was in my mouth finding its way into my digestive system before I realised I wasn't meant to eat it. I'm thinking maybe I should write on my right hand everyday 'I'm vegan' just as a reminder to myself .. what do you guys think..lol

My struggle aside today I was feeling for something a little light but filling so I made some spicy stuffed pitta with courgettes, some red peppers tomato and plantain and I must say they were actually quite tasty so there goes a new recipe added to my list .

Ingredients : 1 Courgette, Some red pepper, 1 tomato, 1 clove garlic, Some coriander,
1 tbsp Garam masala, 1 tbsp cumin, 3tbsp sesame oil and 4 slices of plantain

Mix the coriander, cumin, garlic , garam masala and oil together and then thinly slice the courgettes and mix in with the above. Then fry the courgettes adding in the tomato and red peppers for about 6-8mins. Fry the slices of plantain and then add altogether in a warm pitta and top with some sweet chilli. 

Vegan Day 1/2

I spent most of the day shopping and acquiring some new fruit and veg for my month challenge. I didn't have much to eat this day but I did manage to have some boiled plantain and baked beans with a slice of loaf bread. Nothing too exciting but it kept my belly happy.

Boiled Plantain, Baked beans and a slice of loaf bread

Day 2: I made some chickpea curry with some white boiled rice. This is my first time having and making chickpea, I enjoyed working with some new ingredients and also the taste of new flavours.

Ingredients : 1 Onion, Coriander, Garlic, Ginger, 1 tomato, pinch of salt
Some chilli power, 1 garlic clove, cumin powder and a pinch of garam masala 

Chickpeas curry

Chickpea curry served with some boiled white rice 

World Vegan Month

Hello Foodies!!

Happy New Month and Happy World Vegan Month! This month for me promises to be exciting as I will be participating in the Vegan Challenge !! This is basically where people around the world pledge to go vegan for 7-30days.

This means no animal products (fish, chicken, meat everything 'sheds a tear') and no dairy. I'm a meat eater so as you can imagine this month will definitely be a challenge but I'm really excited to try some new recipes and get cooking .

So why did I decide to do this ..?

Well firstly I'm the Vice - President of the Kent Foodians Society at my University and for us this was a challenge. I'm not an animal protester but I wanted to see if I could abstain from the things I currently eat and also include a whole new range of things into my diet that I've never made before.

So this week I've been shopping and just to name a few of the things I've bought : Chickpeas, butter beans, butternut squash, sweet potato, coriander , plantain and many more. Some of the above items I've never actually worked with before so this month should be fun!

If you've also made a pledge why not share some of your recipes ... I'll be blogging throughout the month to showcase my meals and also share how I'm finding being vegan!