My Highly Subjective List of Awesome Vegan Superfoods (Nutritious and Delicious)

I really love food and what always makes food even more awesome for me, is finding out a food I love is incredibly good for you. So I’ve decided to compose a list of my favorite nutritionally and deliciously dense vegan foods, hope you enjoy!

1. Nutritional Yeast
   Aside from the fact that it makes for a really good and super yummy vegan substitute for cheese, nutritional yeast is jammed packed with protein and overflowing with B vitamins. For something that bares a very strong resemblance to fish food this is really impressive indeed. Just two tablespoons of the stuff has 8g of Protein and 130% of the RDA for B12, a whooping 640% of B1(Thiamine) and 20% of Zinc. Eat nutritional yeast everyday and you are pretty much guaranteed to be getting more than enough of nearly all your B vitamins. 
2. Chia Seeds
   Hailing all the way from South America, These nutrient dense power houses were once regarded as medicine and prized more than gold due to their powerful health benefits. The word Chia actually means strength in Mayan. Just two tablespoons of these little seeds contains 30% of the RDA for magnesium, 18% for calcium, 30% for manganese and 27% for phosphorus, all of which are super good for them bones! ‘Them bones need milk?’More like them bones need chia, am I right? 
3. Hemp Seeds
   Hemp is an excellent source of plant protein. Just three tablespoons of shelled hemp seeds has 11g of Protein. That’s 22% of your daily protein requirement. It also contains 16% of your daily iron requirement, 48% of your magnesium requirement and 23% of your zinc requirement. Most importantly though, shelled hemp seeds taste glorious. They have such a wonderfully nutty flavour to them and are a perfect topping for oats, yogurts or salads. 
4. Quinoa
   Quinoa is another south american food which was once worshiped by the Incas. This super grain contains an impressive 13g of protein per 100g serving. Not only that but it is also considered a complete protein and has all 8 essential amino acids. In particular it is high in Lysine, typically the least abundant amino acid in a plant based diet, making quinoa an extra super food when it comes to the vegan diet.
5. Lentils
   Lentils are a god damn gift. They are so versatile and a killer (figuratively not literally lol humour time) meat replacement. You can easily replace the meat with lentils in so many of your favorite typically meaty dishes e.g bolognese, lasagna, curries and salads. Lentils are a really healthy protein source, they are like meat without all the bad stuff ;100g of lentils contains 8g of protein and 18% of the RDA for iron, all the while being extremely low in fat. Not to mention they are really cheap. A can of lentils costs around 70 cent and a 500g bag of dried lentils should cost no more than 2 euro.
6. Ginger
   Ginger is a tummy miracle worker, it relieves nausea and reduces bloating. A Cup of ginger tea is my go-to remedy when ever my tummy isn’t feeling up to scratch, and it always does the trick. Ginger is also really high in vitamin C and Magnesium, a cup of hot water with grated ginger root and a lemon is an awesome immune booster when you feel a nasty cold coming on. Also I absolutely love the taste of ginger so I’m always throwing it into my smoothies, stirfries and curries. It gives everything an extra kick, especially smoothies. Yum! 
7. Lemon 
   Speaking of vitamin C, it is now time to appreciate the cold curer, sore throat rescuer and immune booster gift from the gods that is the lemon. Lemons are loaded with vitamin C, with just one lemon providing more than the RDA of vitamin C. If you ever feel a cold coming on, a glass of warm water with lemon and the peel (there is vitamin C in there too, gotta fish it out) should ward it off. I know it always  does for me! 
8. Avocado 
   Avocados are one of my favorite foods on this planet, they are also one of the healthiest. Avocados contain monounsaturated fatty acids which are essential for a healthy heart and brain. A full avocado contains 40% of your daily vitamin K requirement, 24% of vitamin C, 14% of vitamin E and they are also high in B vitamins: folate, pantothenic acid and B6. All the nutritional benefits aside, avocados and especially when they are transformed into guacamole, are beyond delicious.   
9.  Raw Cacao Powder 
   Cacao Powder makes an excellent chocolate sauce when mixed with water and can also add a yummy chocolate flavour to smoothies and in baking; it’s used in many vegan dessert recipes, boosting health and taste all at once! Aside from the taste factor it contains 20 times the antioxidant power of blueberries. It is also high in iron, magnesium and fibre. What more could you ask for? 
10. Valerian
    Ok so I don’t know If I can really call this last one a food but it’s awesome and you drink it so I’m going to throw it in here. Valerian is basically a herbal sedative (mild but helpful). For anyone who finds it hard to sleep supplementing with Valerian or having a cup of Valerian tea before bed could really help. It has certainly helped me and a lot of other people I know. It’s also known to be beneficial to those who suffer from anxiety due to its calming effects. If that’s not super, I don’t know what is. 

That’s the end of my list, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Please let me know some of your favourite vegan super foods in the comments, I would love to hear them 🙂 

Peace & love, 

Karen xxx

 

 

My love affair with tofu: a story of versitility and perseverance.

First off, What is tofu? It is a gift from the soya gods originating from China almost 2000 years ago. It is made from coagulated soya milk and then pressed and compacted into white blocks called tofu. It’s low in calories, high in protein, calcium and iron. Just 100g of tofu contains 162mg of calcium, that’s 20% of the RDA (100g of chicken has 17mg of calcium btw). On top of that it contains zero cholesterol. You can 100% rest assured tofu will provide you all of the health minus the nastiness that comes with animal protein sources.

Honesty time: The first time I bought tofu I was really confused. It’s safe to say there wasn’t much food experimentation going on in my family home, our meals were very traditionally Irish, you know, bacon and cabbage, chops and spuds that sort of thing. I thought you could only buy tofu in Asia (I’m not exaggerating does that make me backwards? I’m not sure). So you can imagine my confusion when I first brought it home. I cut open the packet and stared at it for a while wondering why it was so sloppy and gross looking. I was determined though so I cut it up into pieces, I didn’t even dry the tofu. This was my biggest mistake. I just through it into the pan straight away with my veg and it turned into mush. I did not enjoy that meal and I avoided tofu for a long time after that. Dont you worry though this tale has a happy ending; eventually I figured out the best ways to cook it and I haven’t looked back since. It took a lot of trail and error, I’ll admit that much, but I think I can say with almost certainty now that I have become a tofu master and I’m here to share my top tofu tips with you.

MY TOP 5 TOFU TIPS:
1. It is essential to get the correct type of tofu. You can get soft/silken and firm types. I always get the firm type because I just find it easier to work with. The tofu that they sell in the veg section of both dunnes and tesco are both firm. I usually buy my tofu in either of these places.
2. Press and dry. Put your tofu between kitchen paper and place something heavy on top like a plate or a book and leave it for about 10 minutes.  This removes a lot of moisture from the tofu and gives it a much better texture.
3. Season the hell out of it. Tofu has a very plain taste but it is really good at absorbing flavours. My go-to seasoning is a mixture of tamari, garlic and pepper. 👌
4. For that extra crispiness, stick it in the oven. After you have seasoned the tofu place it in the oven for 20 min on a medium heat to give it a crunchy texture. This is definitely my prefered way to eat tofu.
5. Experiment with and appreciate the awesome versitilty of tofu. Tofu can be used in stirfries/curries, to make tofu scramble, to make creamy pasta sauces, as a meat replacement in veggie lasagna or to make vegan sour cream. I have even seen it used in vegan desserts. 😍

Overall I hope you picked up on how passionate I am about tofu, this passion was freshly ignited this morning when I had scrambled tofu for the first time. I was blown away by how good it tasted. I hope this post has inspired you to experiment with tofu (if you have not already) and that it was at least a little bit helpful.

Guess that’s me signing off for now ✌
Peace & love,
Karen 🐌

Side note: For those of you who care (like maybe my mom or something) I cannot believe it has been almost 2 months since I last posted. What was I doing with my time? Lol who am I kidding I know exactly what I was doing; I was btsing it up. Bts are a kpop band composing of 7 astonishingly glorious human beings, I won’t get into it now but all I’ll say is I regret nothing. I will leave a picture of them below though perhaps that will make things a little clearer 🙈

Vegan grocery shopping on a budget

Today I’ve decided to post a list of what I typically buy when grocery shopping once a week. I hope that maybe it can help anyone else out there who struggles with their cash flow like me. Also this is a solid list of food for people who don’t like/cant bring themselves to plan ahead (also like me). I’m not a very organised person so I don’t plan my meals for the week in advance. I prefer/can only be bothered to wing it. To be honest I usually buy almost the same things every week, I find I can make a lot of different dishes with the food listed below and it works out super cheap too. So here we have it, feast your eyes on my grocery list (I understand if you’re not interested, it’s a flippin grocery list after all). I hope it blows your mind (lol). 

~Fruit & Veg ~
– Bananas
– Some sort of frozen berry (my favorite is raspberry)
– I usually get another type of frozen fruit.
– Lemons
– Limes
– Avocados (I always get more than I need cos I have the fear when it comes to bad avos)
– 2 bags of green leafs. (Usually rocket and spinach but sometimes kale or lettuce)
– cherry tomatoes
– cucumber
– onions (red are my favorite)
– garlic (obsessed)
– ginger (fuck yes)
– A bag of potatoes (white or sweet sometimes both)
– A bag of carrots
–  Mushrooms
– Broccoli or Cauliflower
– Frozen peas
– Frozen corn on the cob

~ Pulses  & Grains ~
Always:
– Bag of oats (usually last me 2 weeks)
– Lentils (so cheap so versatile)
– Black beans (my fav beans)
– Chickpeas
– Tofu
– Wholegrain Rice
– Wholegrain pasta

Sometimes:
– Quinoa (if I can afford it that week)
– Pinto beans
– Refried beans
– Kidney beans
– premade falafel (need for speed)

~Nuts & Seeds~
I can’t usually afford to buy these things because they are pretty expensive but I’m obsessed with toasting sesame seeds in tamari at the minute so I splash out.

~Other kitchen essentials~ 
– Tinned tomatoes
– Tinned coconut milk
– some sort of non-dairy milk (Usually almond or soya)
– Weetabix (need for speed pt.2)
– Bread (too tasty, I try buy wholegrain)
– Hummus (an absolute must have)
– Peanut butter or if I’m really treating myself or if its on sale cashew butter (drool).

~ More expensive things I don’t have to buy so often but always have ~
– Tamari (it just tastes so much better than soya sauce)
– Maple syrup
– Vegan vegetable stock powder
– Balsamic Vinegar
– Coconut Oil
– Sriracha sauce
– Chia seeds
– Flax seeds
– Shelled Hemp seeds (I don’t always have these cos price but they are honestly the tastiest things in the world)

What I make with these foods:

For breakfast, I can make smoothies, porridge and weetabix (so swift, so fast) oh and pancakes (when I have flour). For lunch, I’m a sucker for tofu/falafel sandwiches and buddha bowls. Also I sometimes make soup with the weeks left overs. Then for dinner, I normally make curries (so versatile), lentil bolognase or mexican dishes like burritos or black bean salsa with extra guacamole of course.

I hope this was somewhat helpful/interesting 🙂

Peace & love, 

Karen xxxx

 

Why I’m vegan for life

For my first post I thought I would make a list of the reasons why I’m vegan. Here I go: 

1. It just feels right:It helps me feel more at peace with myself and the universe around me.
2. For the animals: I cannot bring myself to murder/bring immeasurable pain to the other sentient creatures with which we share this planet.
3. For the Earth: Animal agriculture  is destroying our planet. I cannot be a part of this.
4. For humanity: I truly believe veganism can heal humanity from the inside out. Veganism helps me live a more compassionate life, not just when it comes to animal cruelty. This compassion extends its way into all other aspects of my life.
5. For my health: eating a wholefood plant based diet really does make me feel 100% healthier. Trust me, you will notice a difference.
6. It excites me: eating such a colorful, abundant and healthy diet genuinely excites me. My food is full of life and so it gives me life. It also really excites me to see veganism grow. More and more people are becoming vegan every day and its seriously noticeable; even in a small city like Cork where I live. The city’s first 100% vegan restaurant opened last week and its so exciting.
7. Its easier than you would think: there are vegan options everywhere nowadays. Even the big supermarkets here in Ireland have way more vegan options than they did 4 years ago when I first started my cruelty free journey. They have everything from vegan cheese to vegan mayonnaise to vegan sausage rolls and bacon strips (if you’re into that). It’s crazy how fast the movement is growing in such a small country. Eating out while vegan in Ireland especially in the cities is really easy as well. In Cork  alone there is so many options. Its simply not an issue. In smaller towns and the countryside, it is more difficult of course. But hopefully that will change soon.
8. Its cheap. The idea that being vegan is expensive is a myth. Trust me, I’m a student who is terrible at money management and I manage it no problem. Of course some of the vegan ‘alternatives’ like fake meats and cheeses are expensive. But if you eat a diet based on vegetables, whole grains, beans and pulses, veganism is far from expensive. In fact, you are likely to save money.

That’s all for now. I will be making more blog posts expanding on each of these points in the future and I’m super excited about it.

Peace & Love,

Karen xxx

P.S  below are some pictures of food I’ve cooked myself, food I’ve eaten while out in Ireland and abroad and some tasty vegan deserts.

Organic garden produce

Lentil bolognase + spinach overload

Feasts at osho gardens while travelling

super healthy super easy

Vegan option at Bacoa burger Madrid

Quay Co op, Cork, delicious

Vegan Cupcake. Yum.

Vegan doughnuts, oh my doughnut, Cork.

Vegan Icecream, Tesco, Cork.