The Aztec Superseed

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]Today I’d like to welcome my dear friend, and first time Vegan Chickie guest blogger, Nathan from blog – of – nathan. Be sure to head over to her blog to check out the adventures of Nathan and Frankie, as well as all sorts of other wonderful things like vegan recipes, product reviews and lots more.

CHIA POWER

There is a new super food being talked about but it’s not really new. Chia was cultivated by the Aztecs, Mayas and other tribes, and the Chia plant has been used by humans for centuries and is making a comeback around the world for a good reason: Chia is the highest known plant source of Omega-3 (8 times more than salmon!) and unlike other sources of this important essential fatty acid (eg. flaxseed and fish), it is highly stable due to its powerful naturally occurring antioxidants.

Chia is also a good source of potassium, phosphorous, folate, zinc, fibre, Vitamins A, B12 & C, and a great source of 18 amino acids. Chia seeds are packed with complete protein and 5 times more calcium than milk, 6 times more fibre than oatbran, 3 times more iron than spinach, 15 times more magnesium than broccoli and an ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) value 4 times higher than blueberries!

Chia is a more sustainable environmentally friendly agricultural choice for farmers being a bug-resistant arid crop producing seed even with limited water, and was so revered by the Aztecs as a source of supernatural energy and power that it was used as money!

How to Use Chia Seeds

There are unlimited ways to incorporate Chia seeds into your diet. You can substitute Chia seeds in any recipe that calls for flax seeds. You can sprinkle ground Chia seeds or whole Chia seeds on cereal or on salads or eat a handful of whole seeds as a snack.

One of the easiest ways to incorporate Chia seed into your diet is to use it as a garnish. Simply sprinkle 1 teaspoon of whole seeds into foods. You can also add one tablespoon Chia seed into a 250ml glass of water or juice, stir, let sit about five minutes, stir again, and then drink.

Chia Gel

You can use Chia seeds to make a gel, which can then be added to spreads, smoothies, cereals, etc. You can mix the Chia gel with all kinds of foods, thereby increasing flavour, fibre and nutrition, while reducing calories and fat. Always keep Chia gel on hand to mix in a variety of things. Chia gel can be used to replace oils in most baking recipes that call for oil or butter. It can also replace eggs in many recipes.

Mix 1 part Chia seeds to 9 parts water.
Whisk to break up any clumping and let stand 15 minutes.
Whisk again then place in an airtight container and refrigerate.
Will keep up to 3 weeks.

Chia Spread

100g chia gel
100g softened margarine or vegan replacement
Place Chia gel in a blender and blend until smooth.
Add softened butter or vegan replacement and blend until smooth.
Place in airtight container and use as you would normal butter from toast to melting for popcorn!

Chia Chiller Recipe

2 Cups Chia Gel
1 Cup fresh fruit, juiced
Pulp from juiced fruit
Mix the gel, fruit juice and pulp together and place in freezer for 1 hour and serve.
Use more than one fruit for this desert and enjoy!

Nathan bought her bag of Chia (pictured above) for just $8 for 250g.

For more information including distribution visit http://www.powersuperfoods.com.au/chia-seeds.html

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Mock Mince Vegan Bolognese

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]Based on a recommendation from T over at Blog-of-Nathan, I bought some Planet Organic Vegetarian Mince last week. I’m not usually one for mock meat products, I use them every so often but they aren’t really a staple in my vegan diet, but I stumbled across the box when we were checking out the new organic grocery in town so I thought I would buy it and give it a go. I didn’t actually take photos of the progress of this recipe because to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting it to be that good. Well, boy was I surprised! Lucky it was good, because I made a GIANT batch of the stuff. I’ve got masses of the stuff stored in the freezer now, but I don’t know if it was last very long because I’m pretty sure I’m going to eat the whole lot in a matter of days.. this bolognese is just that good! Beware, the amounts below make a massive quantity. Use your discretion for a smaller batch.

Mock Mince Vegan Bolognese

Ingredients:
1tbs olive oil
1 Leek, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small red chili, finely chopped
1 carrots, chopped
250g button mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
4 large cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 packet planet organic vegetarian mince
Fresh basil
Pasta of your choice

Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the garlic, chili, leek, carrot and mushrooms and cook for 5 – 10 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Add the red wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs, sugar, salt and pepper, mix well and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add the vegetarian mince, straight from the box, mix well, and simmer for a further 10 minutes (minimum, after this stage you can leave the pot cooking for as long as you wish, the longer you leave it, the more delicious it will be!). 5 minutes before serving, add the fresh basil. Serve with pasta of your choice.

Eating Animals – Jonathan Safran Foer

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]If you know me in real life you will probably have already heard me talk about Jonathan Safran Foer. He is my favourite author and has been since I read the first chapter of his first book all those years ago (thanks Adam), I have bought his books over and over and over again, because I keep giving my copies away to people who I think will enjoy them. After reading “Everything’s Illuminated” I wanted to name my first-born daughter Brod – Luke, wasn’t too keen on that one though – and halfway through “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” I went back to page one and started the book over again because it was so beautiful that I just didn’t want it to end. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that I love his most recent book, in fact if he had written a book in support of factory farming I probably still would have bought it, that is the depth of love I have for this man. As it turns out Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book “Eating Animals” is quite the opposite, thank goodness for that! Before I heard about the book, I didn’t really think that I could be MORE in love with JSF, I thought the love fest had reached it’s peak, imagine my surprise when I find myself swooning for him all over again.

I  pre-ordered the book on Amazon, literally within minutes of finding out about its existence, and waited – impatiently – for weeks for it to arrive. The day I discovered it in my postbox, I couldn’t even wait to get home before I read it, so I walked the whole way back to my house with my nose stuck in the book, I tripped once or twice on the treacherous terrain and twisted my ankle a little, but it was still worth it.

I haven’t finished it yet, it’s in my nature to devour books, sometimes I can read 5 in a week, and I always feel sad once they are over, so I’m trying desperately to savour it. Having said that, even though I’m only 111 pages in, I can confidently say that this book has changed my life. By page ten I had already laughed out loud, and had to mop my tears off one the pages. It’s the first non-fiction book to make it into my ‘top ten favourite books’ list, and in fact, it has even surpassed both of Foer’s other novels and found itself in first place. When Foer wrote about the first time he made the connection between meat and animals, I almost wept with my personal recollection of that moment from my own childhood.

“My brother and I looked at each other, our mouths full of hurt chickens, and had simultaneous how-in-the-world-could-I-have-never-thought-of-that-before-and-why-on-earth-didn’t-someone-tell-me? moments”.

Everything about this book is thoughtful and compassionate. Every description so moving and so heartfelt, JSF brings so much grace to this argument, which is usually filled with aggression and anger, he is truly a breath of fresh air. His book is really unlike any other on the subject, and I’m already trying to think of ways to work into my weekly budget enough money to buy multiple copies of the book just so I can send them to everyone I know. Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately for all the meat eaters in my life – I just don’t have the money to do that at the moment.

Anyway, I am not a book reviewer, and generally I’m not the kind of person who speaks so openly about vegan issues, preferring to keep a low profile and avoid the aggression from others that comes with voicing your opinion about such things – although that is changing! – so I won’t go on, the whole point of this post is to simply say:

Buy it! Read it! You won’t be disappointed!

I’ll leave you with this passage from the book which I think speaks volumes:

“Silently the animal catches our glance. The animal looks at us, and whether we look away (from the animal, our plate, our concern, ourselves) or not, we are exposed. Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something”.

Vegan Pancakes

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Another recipe with just an end result photo.. sorry about that! Will make sure I am better prepared with a charged up battery next time!!

This recipe is from The Joy of Vegan Baking.

I really LOVE this cook book and anyone who is even remotely interested in vegan baking really should get themselves a copy, it never ceases to amaze me. This pancake recipe is SOOO good.. even just thinking about it makes me want to make up another batch! Now if I could just invent a vegan nutella to slather my pancakes with I’d be all set!

Vegan Pancakes
(The Joy of Vegan Baking)

Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (or half all-purpose and half whole wheat)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup non-dairy milk (we used soy)
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons liquid sweetener such as maple syrup or apple juice concentrate (we used orange juice)
Additional oil or vegan butter for cooking (optional – depends on your pan)

Method:
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, oil and sweetener.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix just until moistened, a few lumps are okay (Don’t overmix or the pancakes will be tough).

Heat a nonstick pan over a medium head. (add some oil if required but with a nonstick pan you won’t need it)

Pour the batter onto the griddle to form circles about 10cm in diameter. Cook the pancakes for a couple of minutes on one side, until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip the pancake and cook the other side until golden brown.

This recipe makes 8 to 10 (super delicious) pancakes.

I served mine with fresh fruit and some vegan choc chips.. OMG! Delish!
For chocolate pancakes, use chocolate soy milk instead of soy milk, and add a cup full of choc chips!

Green Gourmet : Vegan Yum Cha

Okay Okay, so it’s been a while since we have updated this modest little blog. Life just seems to have gotten a little out of control with wedding plans and working and Christmas preparations. Seems like there has been barely time to speak to one another let alone cook delicious vegan meals or blog about them. We leave tomorrow for 6 weeks of sun and fun (and a wedding too) so there won’t be much cooking going on for the next little while. I will do my best to keep up with some restaurant reviews while we are gone though, and in that spirit:

Green Gourmet – Newtown

We are big fans of the Green Gourmet weekend yum cha. There was a stage a while ago where we visited this lovely little place in Newtown every weekend. This was our first visit in a while and it was just as good as I remember. Unfortunately I didn’t remember my camera so I didn’t get any photos but when we come back from our honeymoon we will be sure to go again so that I can get some nice pics.

This place is really lovely, the decor is basic and nothing to write home about but the service is fast and there are always a bunch of people here. Yum cha is served from 12 – 3 on weekends and it’s our preferred way to enjoy the Green Gourmet, we are yet to try something we haven’t liked but our favourites are: Mushroom Steak – meaty enough to fool even the most devoted meat fan, Not Pork Buns – better than the real thing and Seafood Rolls wrapped in bean curd. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

They serve tea all through the meal – you just pay once, refills are free – but if you’re not a tea fan they have a variety of organic soft drinks available in the fridge as well. Meals are bought out as fast as you can eat them and you can either load up the table for a vegan feast (as we tend to do) or just try a dish or two for a budget lunch.

We have taken many omnivorous friends here over our time, all of them entering with trepidation, and all of them loving it. We struggle to spend more than $25 per person, even after we eat so much we are practically rolling out the door.

Best of all, they even have the vegan choice grocery next door so you take home your favourite dishes and put them in the freezer.

We love this place (did I mention that?)

Naked in Newtown – Breakfast the vegan way.

This morning darling chef and I headed out to try a newly discovered vegan cafe in Newtown. I heard about it on the Happy Cow website (link to the right) which is where I get most of my vegetarian/vegan restaurant suggestions from. Anyway, we are pretty familiar with the Newtown area so we didn’t have a problem finding the place, although the signage left a little to be desired. The biggest sign out front was for ‘Basil’ which is a pizza place. From what I can tell, the cafe is a coffee place combined with a vegan breakfast cafe in the mornings and early afternoons and then a pizza place at night. Seeing the meat-lovers pizza advertised in the same shop where we were eating from an all vegan menu was a little odd but I guess it works for them!

It’s only a small place and there was only 1 other table taken in the place, but it was almost at the 1pm cutoff for breakfast so that could explain the lull. We were seated and given a paper menu with 6 vegan dishes listed, including a ‘morning after fry up’ with vegan sausages and bacon & ‘organic pancakes’ – buckwheat pancakes with fruit and maple syrup. The waitress came by and asked what we would like to drink, Chef ordered a latte – no problem – and I ordered a peppermint tea. It wasn’t on the menu (I didn’t think to look) but instead of asking me to choose something else, the waitress told me she would organise it before running out the front door of the cafe and going upstairs to her flat where she raided her own personal stash of organic peppermint tea! How about that for fabulous service!

Meals ranged from $7 – $16. We both ordered the “Big Aussie Vegan Feast” which came with fried, smoked tofu, hash browns, tomato, organic baked beans, mushrooms, spinach and organic sourdough toast. The meal came out quickly and everything was fabulous, a pet hate of mine is soggy hash browns but these were lovely and crispy! The sourdough was fabulous and seedy – and served with nuttlex – the beans were delicious and the tofu was wonderfully smoky. We will definitely be back to this great little place! Next time I’ll be ordering the scrambled tofu!

And, best of all it is even right across the road from the Vegan’s Choice grocery so we were able to dash in on our way home and stock up on vegan chocolate for our baking day tomorrow!