Where do you get your protein from?

A very common cry from meat eaters to people who announce they are vegan is “Where do you get your protein from?” I am ever grateful my mum asked me this question at the age of sixteen as it sent me on a quest of finding out just what protein was. In my early twenties I had the good fortune of a naturopath telling me to eat protein with every meal and then in recent years another naturopath questioning me about complete protein. I can safely say I have been eating complete protein with every meal for a good many decades (except when I go out as it is not always an option on menus in cafes and restaurants).

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Mushroom Pepper Sauce

What pepper was used in your house? I couldn’t remember past the black pepper in the grinder but recently was reminded that I grew up with white pepper. I had completely forgotten this until one of the guest teachers who was teaching on the Vegan chef and lifestyle training requested I buy white pepper for him. I wasn’t really sure why he wanted it and ordered some organic white pepper corns from Santos (our local health shop).

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Quinoa lentil and Cauliflower Salad with a Currant Sauce

Book review time. Last Tuesday I went on a book shop binge and $269 later I walked out with two canvas bags full (I am praying my partner is not reading this blog post because that really was extravagant). Amongst those books was a great new cookbook called Neighbourhood by Hetty Mckinnon.

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Salad Remnoise with Sunflower Seed Dip

Where I live it is starting to warm up and I love this time of the year. It is warm enough to eat salads every meal of every day which brings me great joy as salad is my favourite food. What I especially love during spring is salad with some cooked components and some raw ingredients too. As I sat writing this blog last Thursday I thought I would embark on sharing a vegan Nicoise recipe or a vegan version of a Caesar Salad recipe and started to write my shopping list when I thought hey hold it lets go see what is in my fridges (I have three for the business) and low and behold I found enough veggies to create a taste sensation.

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Preservative Free Vegan Mayonnaise

When I was studying to be a primary school teacher way back in 1993, I took myself to the CSIRO for a science assignment. While I was waiting for the person I was there to meet, I noticed a guide on food preservatives. The guide listed what each food preservative number meant and the potential side effects of each number. I was shocked to see some of the possible side effects...

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Warm White Bean Dip with Raw and Roasted Veg

Vegan Fondue (is that even possible) the last recipe review of the book ' My New Roots'

For those who follow my blog posts you will remember last year I started a recipe review on Sarah Britons book ' My New Roots'. A month or so back the realisation that I had left that project unfinished hit me and then in the last foundation module  of The Vegan Chef and Lifestyle Training, two of the students decided to make a recipe from 'My New Roots'.

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Easy BBQ Sauce Recipe from Scratch

Are you up for a challenge? No meat May - an interview with one of the founders

Are any of you out there reading this up for a challenge? 

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Balsamico Herb Salt Olive Oil and Maple Syrup

An interview with Deva Premal and Miten on being veg(etari)an for life

In 1997 I was working in the kitchen at a music festival in Osho Leela in Dorset.

I was incredibly new to the world of Osho and there was a lot of hype about Miten and his girlfriend Deva Premal performing in concert. I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about and when someone asked me if I was going I replied probably not as I would be washing the dishes after dinner while the concert was on.

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Potato Patties with Sweet Brazilian Cherry Sauce

Is Christmas time an easy time for you or one fraught with all sorts of emotions. As a child I loved the build up to christmas but always noticed my dad had to work pretty hard during that time and the absence of our extended family was very felt. Missing all our relatives on christmas day reminiscing of how it used to be. Fortunately for us though my mum would always invite someone over on boxing day and I would be happy that there were more people around enjoying the food we had created.

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Making recipes vegan or dairy free is soooooo easy (3 fabulous vegan recipes from reviewing My New Roots)

What a great idea it is to review a cook book. Two blog posts ago I mentioned that I am reviewing recipes in My New Roots by Sarah Britton and changing the recipes  to vegan recipes. It is great fun and I completely recommend grabbing a vegetarian cook book and doing the same.

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