Who is the Vegan Chickie?
Well, I am a dreadlocked, vegan, Australian living in New Zealand. I’m a freelance writer and I have a teeny tiny problem with procrastination. I’m messy and a little neurotic, I go to bed late and I like to sleep in. I’m rarely in photos because I’m usually the one behind the camera. I’m a feminist, a eudaemonist, an environmentalist, a daydreamer and an activist – among other things.
Most of all though, I’m passionate about veganism and about food, and about showing the world just how easy and satisfying it can be to live a cruelty free life.
Basically, I love food and I love to eat. I also love to write, and take photos. The combination of all those loves inspired me to start keeping this blog (well that, and my efforts to procrastinate when I was supposed to be writing my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel!).
Ultimately I want this to be a place to write about my experience as a vegan foodie, whether it be to share recipes, or to complain about that Italian restaurant down the street doesn’t offer a single vegan dish. I’d also like to use this space to share with you some information about veganism and animal rights. Some of the recipes will be my own, some will be my husbands (who is an omnivorous chef, experimenting with vegan cooking) and some will come from various vegan cookbooks in the mountainous pile of books that are stacked in my kitchen. It stands to reason that most of the restaurant reviews will be Queenstown reviews but as we go about our lives there are sure to be a few restaurants in other cities or countries that get a mention.
Anyway, this concludes the ‘about me’ section of the blog.. lets get cooking!
NOTE: When this blog was started, I was vegetarian, so some of the earlier recipes may not be 100% vegan, I can only think of one (the vegetarian calzoni’s) but if you are vegan, you might want to check just in case before you get cooking.
Vegan Chickie 
Well, now I am hungry and feeling grateful that I have a laptop, so that I can take it into the kitchen, follow the bare-chested chef’s instructions and cook up some vegan/vegetarian quisine! I am having a dinner party early in the new year, so I am keeping a close eye on your recipes. I might try to trick 8 people into eating 3 courses of vegan/vegetarian food without even realising it!!
I am really enjoying the Adventures of a Vegetarian Foodie!
I like your blog!
I stumbled across it while looking up vegan gnocchi recipes, and like the stuff that you two make.
Thanks for your message Janessa! Glad to hear you like the recipes!
Love getting new recipes from a fellow veggie! Thanks for the good looking out 🙂
terrific job with this site Nikki. I haven’t visited as often because, well I’m not that way inclined, but I don’t see why I can’t be- recipes look magic. You may just convert me… :-0
Thanks Sharni! You’ll have to keep me up to date if you make any of the recipes.. after your 3 course meal night that is!
Maybe you can start meat-free Monday and take it from there, you don’t need to be a full-time vegan to enjoy good vegan food! Great for the waistline too! 🙂
you are doing so great with this. Maybe we can start a meat free monday campaign on my Sharnanigans website which I will link in to your site (launching FRIDAY!!!!!!) you could write a guest post about benefits and then I can cook up etc…
That sounds great Sharni! I’m definitely into promoting Meat-free Monday! That sounds like a wonderful idea. You can maybe have a feature recipe each Monday as inspiration for the Sharnanigan readers (not just mine, but other people’s too) and I can put you in touch with a few other vegan bloggers as well if you want to get some other people lined up.
SO looking forward to Friday!!!
I’m really glad I discovered your delicious blog! 🙂
Yeah, awesome blog! And I just realized you’re in New Zealand. We were thinking about a job in Wellington recently….Never been.
New Zealand is beautiful! I haven’t been to Wellington, but I really want to get there at some point. The South Island is gorgeous though, every day I’m blown away by how pretty it is here.
Hmmm. I am not vegetarian or vegan, but I found you through Sharnanigans. I must say that peanut-crusted tofu and pb and chocolate chip muffins look FAB. I’ll give them a whirl.
Nice to see you here! I think you’ll love the peanut-crusted tofu, it’s a favourite around here! Be sure to come back and let us know how you go with the recipes. For new veggos I definitely recommend the chocolate pie for a dessert, it’s always a favourite.
Hi – Rad vegan site! I’m planning to feature it on a VegVine.com browser bar for vegetarians. We are a group of vegan volunteers connecting people with veg resources like yours. Our goal is a world with greater compassion. It seems like we share that. If you can squeeze it into your schedule I’d love to chat. Ryan, president http://www.VegVine.com (Ryan@VegVine.com or 215-589-2437)
Hi Nikki,
We just came across the blog and thought that it was a great resource for vegans and prospective vegans alike. We also think that it contains a lot of information that will help to convince more people to become vegetarian and vegan. Great work!
We wondered if you might like to swap links with us as we believe that it would be something that many of our existing vegan customers would also find interesting too.
We have three online shop websites that sell entirely vegan products with more ranges being added all the time. The websites are at http://www.shopvegan.co.uk, http://www.gvtc.co.uk and http://www.veganhealthandbeauty.com. We are a vegan owned/run company and are also registered with the Vegan Society too.
We will be very happy to add reciprocal links back to the veganchickie.com site from each of our vegan shopping websites in return so that we might both benefit from additional visitors and exposure.
Hi Nikki,
Great blog. Love the recipes and photos make them look even better. I’m not a vegan, but your Uncle Brad gave me the link to your blog after I gave him the link to my website.
I’m a Permaculturist(if there is such a word), and he thought you may find my site interesting.
Keep up the good work.
Jodah
My husband and I had friends over on New Years eve and we cooked together; we made your Vegan Beef Wellington… I had bing-ed “vegan Wellington” and your recipe came up. Wow!! It was delicious. Instead of making individual packets, we decided to make one large Wellington, and it sliced beautifully.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Suzanne in Colorado
Hi Suzanne, That’s lovely! Thanks so much for coming and commenting! I’m so pleased you loved the recipe, have a happy new year!
Hi! I found your blog last night, and I have already bookmarked a heap of recipes! Thank you!! But I noticed your blog stopped at the end of 2010. Do you have another blog, or just busy with life :).
Hi Danae! Thanks for your comment. I keep meaning to come back and update the blog but life has gotten quite hectic. In early 2011 I had a daughter (a little vegan chicklet haha) so this past year has been a haze of nappies and sleep deprivation. I hope to get back to it soon though, and now I’ll have a new focus of vegan kid friendly meals as well as my old favourites. 🙂
No worries :). Sounds like a very hectic time! But rewarding at the same time! Ooooh, it’d be great to hear about your experiences with raising a Vegan child! And you know, sometimes even adults like to make kid meals for themselves, so it would appeal to everyone!! :). Look forward to it! But I will definitely keep coming back till then, to try out all these recipes you’ve posted! 🙂