Holistic Vegan

The Royal Medical Academy of Belgium recently published their findings on the suitability of vegan and vegetarian diets for children on 14th May 2019. In light of the alarmist media articles in English speaking publications such as The Telegraph and the New York Times, I've taken the time to translate the press release for you. In case you were wondering, I'm a fluent French speaker and former professional translator. If you wish to peruse the original French for yourself, the original document can be found here , the full document her e, and the short version here . My Comments I am frankly very disappointed, not only with the choice of experts chosen for the commission, notably Jacques Rigo is a consultant for Nestle in respect of dairy based infant milk product preNAN. The findings are not only extremely short sighted, worded in an excessively emotive tone that I feel is inappropriate for a supposedly scientific document, and the studies they rely upon for thei

There is no need to fear the humble dried chickpea! Dried pulses make for cheap and easy vegan yum yums, you just need to know how to prep them properly. Dried chickpeas take some time to prepare so it's best to plan in advance if you are going to use them. I've heard many complaints from people about the farty smell they give off when cooking, which also puts people off doing this. Don't worry - I've fixed this problem with this method and made them extra tasty too! Ingredients 1 cup dried chickpeas Water 1 stock cube or 1 dessertspoon of all purpose seasoning Method Place the dried chickpeas into a large glass bowl or jar. Glass is best because it allows you to easily see how much they have expanded, and whether you need extra water (or a bigger bowl...) Add about 1 pint of cold water. The chick peas will soak a lot up and expand to almost double their size - hence why I always say to use a large bowl or jug. In the video, I use a 1 li

One of the most annoying things about being vegan is coffee. No seriously, it is. As an adult, you take for granted the fact that you can make your own instant coffee. It's not hard is it? Well... I've lost count of the number of cups I've had to throw away because the soya milk curdled. Plant milks, and I mostly drink soya, have a nasty habit of curdling in hot coffee and you really can't drink it once that has happened - seriously, don't, it's gross. It looks bad, tastes sour and gives you indigestion. I made it my mission to find a method to make instant coffee at home without the curdling, and I'm going to share my secrets with you today. Take back your coffee power! #adulting How to make perfect instant coffee with plant milk Put your instant coffee, preferred sugar and plant milk into your mug. Note: It's important that you use a microwave proof mug for this.  No fancy gilt edged nonsense - metal is not allowed

I enjoy traditional potato rostis and hash browns, but I've always thought that the flavour could use jazzing up a bit. After discovering gram flour and learning how to make vegetable pakoras from my friend's Persian Mummy, I decided to make my own twist on the humble potato rosti and make it even more delicious. This special rosti is very tasty and makes an ideal to accompaniment to your dinner and is perfectly suited to a 'morning after the night before' fry-up. I don't have a photo at the moment because I keep eating them and forgetting to take a pic... (oops!)  They should end up looking something like this handy library image... The secret to making them in a neat circle shape is to use egg poaching rings or crumpet rings to form them into a coherent shape. You can even use a heart shaped one if you like! You only need one ring to make a batch, as you use it over and over again. So here we go...knives and forks at the ready! Makes 8 approx

I've been missing the lovely sundried tomato and herb bread that I usually make recently. Obviously the recipe I've always used includes wheat flour so I've bee racking my brains as to how to make a wheat free version that tastes nice. I came across some receipes online for a kind of no-yeast bread made with one of my favourite ingredients - gram flour . After some tweaking, I came up with this Italian style bread which is very tasty (unlike a lot of gluten free bread!) and also has a good crumb, good structural integrity and responds well to toasting or frying for a cooked breakfast. The gram flour gives it a slightly yellow colour, and a slightly nutty taste which works well with the savoury flavours. Makes 1 Loaf Ingredients 225g gram flour 335ml water 1 tbsp baking powder 1.5 tbsp sugar 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt 1 tbsp dried oregano or Italian herb mix 2 tbsp olive oil 3 sundried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces Method Grease and fully li

I recently had to take this subject seriously because I've been struggling with a painful, sore and bloated tummy which has been getting worse for a few months now. I was told back in 2016 that I should avoid wheat as I had a mild intolerance to it, ironically whole wheat affects me worse, so I was told if I did eat wheat to stick to good quality white flour but to avoid it as much as possible. I did try going wheat free for a while, but it was a pain. And the shop bought bread was so expensive! I quickly got bored and wheat crept back into my diet again. Everything seemed ok, but I did notice that my tummy was always more bloated when I ate wheat than not. I reached a point earlier this year when I realised that I needed to take another look at my diet because I was starting to really struggle with nasty symptoms. I took the decision to ditch the wheat as advised, and after a couple of slip-ups (darn you, Gregg's vegan sausage roll!) I'm now entirely wheat free. My

If you've ever spent any time with anyone from what I refer to as the "Spiritual Community," you will have heard the terms "love and light" and "lightworker" being used rather a lot. You may even use them yourself, or describe yourself as a lightworker. I want to be clear that this isn't a rant or a bashing article; Lightworker is a term I used to use to describe myself, but I realised after a time that it represents a basic misunderstanding of our spiritual purpose here on earth at this time.  When I talk about the Spiritual Community, I should clarify that I mean those of us who are mostly outside of mainstream religion, but who work with our psychic and spiritual gifts in some capacity, whether paid or not. Many of us work as alternative healers, holistic therapists or clairvoyants, and most of us feel drawn to a common cause for good. There is a lot of good, but there are also a lot of egos, which I suppose is to be expected, but the one