Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

What I've Cooked Lately (Massive Photo Update!)

Tempeh Shepherdess Pie from the Veganomicon

Roasted Broccoli from the PPK

Tempeh Shepherdess Pie with Roasted Broccoli

Scrambled Tofu from the PPK

Garlic Sesame Soba Noodles from Chef Chloe

Coconut Curry Caramel Corn by Mama Pea

Tempeh Orzilla from PPK
(And somehow I managed to pick the dodgy photo I took of it).

Marbled Banana Bread from the PPK

Slices of the Marbled Banana Bread

All-Purpose Apple Sauce from Get It Ripe by Jae Steel

Brown Sugar Peach Muffins from the PPK
(More adventures cooking with spelt flour!)

Lower-Fat Banana Bread from the Veganomicon

Slices of the Lower-Fat Banana Bread

Friday, November 04, 2011

Update on Christmas

We've had some discussion with the extended family today about the menu for Christmas. I came home and discussed with my mother what we would (or should I say I would) do for lunch.

It's been sorted to the following: -
Scalloped Potatoes (minus the Eggplant Bacon)
Leaving out the eggplant bacon elimantes an extra step on the morning and requires less time hogging the oven.

Roasted Broccoli
I've just tested this and I love broccoli I really do, but like brussel sprouts once you've roasted it you'll be reluctant to going back to cooking it any other way by itself.


Raw Strawberry Cheesecake
This hasn't been tested and won't be tested before hand, I'm just going to wing it on Christmas Eve and see how it goes. I just got a new 9-inch springform (it's like kismet!). Sadly I have no where to take a cheesecake that feeds 16 prior to Christmas lunch with the extended family so they all have to be guinea pigs.

Which leaves some sort of main protien, since they all be tucking into turkey. Probably some sort of seitan cutlet since I can pan fry that. And I really want an orange vegetable in the mix. I'm tempted to do a modified version of the Buttered Swede and Carrot Mash out of the latest Family Circle Christmas issue.

And something I am a little bit behind on, Kittens Gone Lentil nominated my blog for the Liebster award.
I am completly unfamiliar with this so I have borrowed KGL's description:-
"The word “Liebster” is German for ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’ but it can also mean ‘favorite’. The idea behind this award is to bring attention to bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

So the rules are as follows:
Show your thanks to those who gave you the award by linking back to them.
Reveal 5 of your top picks and them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Post the award on your blog.
Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the www"

Here are my 5 blogs:
Darkside of the Mushroom
Confessions of a Gothic Homemaker
Hot Vegan Chick....Peas!
Body by Chickpeas
2paw


Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Timeline of gaining health...

June 2010 - My doctor told me I'd never lose the excess weight I was carrying unless I had lap band surgery and promptly wrote off a referral to the surgeon.
The day after this appointment I went out on a mission and revamped my pantry, changing how I shopped and what I ate. There was this thing called the Low GI diet and I jumped on that band wagon with gusto.

November 2010 - I saw a dietician and stepped on a set of scales for the first time in forever. A very, very daunting experience. We set a mini goal of 10kgs to start as my dietician told me the fastest way I could lose weight safely was a 1kg (2 pounds) a month.
This is the month when I went vegetarian again and started looking into veganisim.

October 2011 - 11kgs (22 pounds for the non-metric) down and I finally see the surgeon about the lap band surgery. We discussed, I say discussed, basically he talked and I listened. The surgeon packs me off with a bunch of "home work" to read up on, come back and see him in Feb 2012 with any questions I have from all my "home work".

Come Feb 2012 if I decided I want to have the operation are we good to go? No, I will need to see the hospital dietician and psychartrist and get the OK from both of them and I can go on the waiting list.
It's already been 16 months, add on another 4 months before I go back, about 20 months in total? Plus how ever long it'll take for the two other appointments + on the waiting list time.

Is it an understatement to say I am underwhelmed?

November 2011 - Where I stand now, well 19kgs (or 38 pounds) to go, my dietician thinks the fact I can consistently lose a kilo a month means I have got a fix on the food and its time to up the 30mins a day exercise. I need to increase it a tiny bit each day to bring it up to an hour and we'll (hopefully) see results of about 2kgs (4 pounds) a month.

What I've learned on the last 16 months trek up the mountain?
- When throughly fed up with myself and feel like I am never going to get to the top I think about Roller Derby. I have never wanted to play a sport ever, till I discovered derby. Maybe if other sports let you have ridiculous names and tacky outfits I'd have moved a lot sooner.
Next month my local league is holding a Fresh Meat session in prep for their intake in Feb 2012. I need to get myself along, nothing ventured nothing gained.

- I like parsnips/eggplants/shitake mushrooms/savoury yeast (aka nutritional yeast)/tempeh/tofu/oyster mushrooms. These things are all cool now.

- A whole new world of culinary adventures has been opened to me, along with the opportunity to shop for new gadgets and gizmos for the kitchen. Basically I'm still obsessed with the kitchen/food/eating but in a new way since I started eating more vegan food.

- Portion control! I can not talk about what an absolute must this is, it wasn't when I converted to a Low GI diet just changing what I ate but how much of it I ate. I'll admit it took me from June 2010 to November 2010 to wake up to just how important that really was.
I've never been one of life's fast learners, unfortunatly I need to spectacularly crash and burn at something, well anything, to learn from it. I lurch on to the bloody end, the world burning down arounrd my ears just about. What? That didn't work? Oh well, we'll start again.

Isn't it a Chinese saying, there are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view is always the same.
I'll see you at the top. Eventually.