Veganuary Inspiration & Recipes...
So unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last few years, I'm sure you have heard of the term 'Veganuary' where many take part in removing animal based products from their diet for the month of January (a whopping 500,000 people this year!). There are a whole host of reasons why people tend to take part in Veganuary; the environmental benefits, due to animal welfare concerns, for health reasons or perhaps just to see what all the fuss is about? Whatever the reason, we salute you! After all it was a Veganuary 3 years ago that started us on our journey to veganism and what we didn't realise at the time would then lead to us never wanting to go back. We immediately felt the health benefits of bringing more plants into our diet with an enormous serge of new found energy and after further research affirming the reasons why it was important to us in the first place this is why we could never turn back; the main reason for us being animal welfare, closely followed by the devastating environmental impacts that come from including meat and dairy in your diet, and so many more reasons which we won't go into today, as to try and keep the tone light and airy!
Now, eating vegan doesn't necessarily mean a healthier diet than those on a vegetarian or omnivorous, especially with all the vegan junk food that there is available at the moment (but hey we're not complaining!). However, eating a wholefood vegan diet can have enormously positive impacts on our health and overall well-being, studies have even show that a wholefood plant based diet can reverse some diseases such as type 2 diabetes, it can improve health problems such as reducing blood pressure and can even reduce the risk of getting diseases in the first place, such as heart disease and cancer to name a few.
So we wanted to share with you some of our favourite plant based recipes, which will hopefully help you to see vegan food as being delicious and wholesome and not just lettuce leaves and tomatoes! Whether you're trying Veganuary this year or are just interested in introducing a few more plant based meals into your life, every little helps enormously, just look at the positive impacts from the facts below of being vegan for 1 day, to see for yourself:
EVERY DAY you eat a Vegan diet you save...
💧4,164 litres of water - that is equivalent to 92
5 minute showers 😳
🌾20kg of grain
🌏10m2 of forest land
💨9kg of CO2
🐮1 animal life
Below you will find the recipes to a few of our weekly food staples such as:
- Eggless Omelette
- Chocolate Orange brownies
- Creamy Pumpkin Soup
Show me the food...
Egg-less Omelette - Makes 2 crispy omelettes or 1 thicker omelette
The basic version of this recipe is extremely delicious as it is. We often enjoy it for breakfast, in a sandwich for lunch or alongside a curry for dinner instead of rice. It is fabulously versatile, extremely nutritionally dense and is SO easy to prepare and make, so it's easy to see why it is a firm favourite of ours!
Ingredients:
Basics
- 100g Chickpea Flour (Gram Flour)
- 200ml Water
- Good Pinch of Salt (for a deliciously eggy taste use Kala namak salt instead - Himalayan Black Salt)
- Good Pinch of Pepper
- Coconut Oil (for frying)
Optional Extras - For Extra Flavour!
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1tsp Dill
- 1tsp Chives (fresh if you have them but dried work well too)
- 1/2tsp Onion Granules
- 1/2tsp Garlic Granules
Instructions:
1. Sieve the chickpea flour into a large bowl and add all of the rest of the ingredients into the bowl with the flour (except the oil for frying) and whisk until you get a smooth batter.
2. In a medium/large frying pan heat up 1tsp of coconut oil on a medium to high heat. Then pour half of your omelette batter into the frying pan (or all of it if you prefer a thicker omelette) and tilt it around the pan so that it fills the base of your pan.
3. After a few minutes the edges will start to crisp and you should be able to peek under the omelette to see if it is crispy enough to your taste, simply flip and repeat on the other side.
4. Get your chops around that! It is honestly that simple.
5. For a scrummy brunch serve with cooked onions, mushrooms and wilted spinach, or baked beans!
Photo Credit: Our friend Emma, vegan for nearly 10 years! Check out her Instagram below for more plant based inspiration.
Chocolate Orange Brownies - No Baking Required!
These brownies might be raw and healthy but don't be fooled, they are still incredibly rich, uber fudgy and taste super naughty!
Ingredients:
- 250g Pitted Dates
- 400g Dark Chocolate (roughly chopped)
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 200g Ground Almonds
- 200g Oat Flour (you can whiz up whole oats in a blender until fine if you don't have oat flour)
- 3 Oranges (Juice and Zest)
Instructions:
1. Prepare a square baking dish with greaseproof paper.
2. Cover the dates with water in a pan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for around 5 minutes until the dates breakdown and it starts to become a paste.
3. Once broken down take off the heat and add 200g of the chopped chocolate, stir until melted and then blitz with 2/3 of the orange juice (a blender or hand stick blend will work well for this).
4. Mix the oat flour, almond flour, zest (save a sprinkling of the zest for the top) and salt together in a separate bowl. Once mixed, add this to the chocolate mixture and combine well.
5. Spoon the mix into a tray, push down into all corners and level out the mix. Set aside awaiting the topping.
6. Melt the rest of the chocolate with the remaining orange juice, mix until smooth and combined and then pour onto the brownie and smooth down.
7. Top with the leftover zest and refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting and enjoying! Keep in the fridge for maximum shelf life.
Creamy Pumpkin Soup - Serves 4
This soup is so easy to make but is so creamy and delicious at the same time that it will be sure to impress anyone your dining with. It's a must try and works just as well with Butternut Squash if you can't currently get hold of a pumpkin.
Ingredients:
- 1 Medium Pumpkin or Butternut Squash (approx. 1 kg)
- 1 Medium Sweet Potato (approx. 250 g)
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 1 Onion (chopped)
- 2 Cloves Garlic (minced)
- a Small Thumb of Ginger (minced)
- 1 can Coconut Milk or Cream (400 ml)
- 2 cups Vegetable Stock (480 ml)
- 1 tsp Paprika
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- ½ tsp Ground Coriander
- Salt
- Pepper
Optional Toppings:
- Handful of Fresh Coriander
- Handful of Peanuts / Crispy Chickpeas
- Sprinkle of Crushed Dried Chillies (if you like the spice!)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Halve the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Slice each pumpkin halve in quarters. Prick the sweet potato a few times with a fork. Brush pumpkin quarters and sweet potato with a little olive oil and place onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Roast for about 40 minutes or so, until the flesh is soft.
3. Heat the coconut oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the onion for around 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further minute making sure it doesn't burn.
4. Scoop out the sweet potato and pumpkin flesh from their skins and add to the pot with the spices. Pour in the stock and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 5-10 minutes, to give the flavours time to mingle.
5. Remove the soup from heat and either blend this soup in the pot using a hand blender, or transfer to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
6. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Add more stock if you prefer a thinner consistency.
7. Garnish with optional extras if using.
8. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading! If you try any of the above recipes please do let us know how you got on, we'd love to hear your feedback :) More easy plant based recipes coming soon!
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