#now i got veggies and fruit and SPICY TOASTED CORN YUM

[purplesurveys]

900

1. What’s the last thing you ate? Shawarma. It was a usual meal of mine at school so I’ve been missing it a lot during this quarantine, and I was happy when my dad got me a couple ones yesterday.

2. What’s your favourite cheese? I haven’t been super experimental when it comes to cheese mainly because the better ones are a little expensive and I’m more willing to spend my money on other foods...but the best one I’ve had is feta.

3. What’s your favourite fish? My favorite cooked or grilled fish is tilapia and eel; as for raw fish I love tuna.

4. What’s your favourite fruit? I don’t really like fruit but I’m open to eating avocado-flavored things like shakes and cheesecake; and I’m okay with strawberry-flavored candy hahaha.

5. When, if ever, did you start liking olives? I’ve never liked olives. I take them out of my pizza and such.

6. When, if ever, did you start liking beer? I never *liked* beer but sometimes I’ll have a bottle if and only if it’s to socialize at a party. I just keep the grimace to myself lol because I personally never found it good. I had my first beer at Marielle’s debut, four years ago.

7. When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish? High school. That was when my palate started to expand and I wanted to try being more adventurous with food. I got into shellfish pretty early on and my mom even used to buy a kilo of mussels just for me. 

8. What was the best thing your mum/dad/guardian used to make? I love my dad’s laksa, risotto, curries, and chicken wings. My mom doesn’t cook much but I do like her spaghetti.

9. What’s the native specialty of your hometown? My city doesn’t have native food of its own; and I’m not sure about my province’s specialtes either only because cuisines from other provinces are far more popular. I can say though that most visitors who come to the country often try adobo, sinigang, kare-kare, and bulalo.

10. What’s your comfort food? Cheeseburgers, samgyeopsal, pad thai, and chicken wings.

11. What’s your favourite type of chocolate? Milk chocolate. And it gets a lot of flak because it’s not actually chocolate, but I do enjoy the flavor of white chocolate too.

12. How do you like your steak? Rare.

13. How do you like your burger? I like mine with caramelized onions, a mayo-based sauce, and brioche buns; barbecue sauce or jalapeños are add-ons I have no problem being put in my burger. I don’t like tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce.

14. How do you like your eggs? Scrambled if on toast; omelette with cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, and bell peppers if with rice; and obviously, poached if on top of an Eggs Benedict. I don’t have a preferred style for eggs.

15. How do you like your potatoes? As French fries or mojos.

16. How do you take your coffee? If someone is making the coffee for me, I request for lots of cream and sugar. I’d drink any kind of coffee but black. If I’m at a coffee shop I typically get caramel macchiato.

17. How do you take your tea? I enjoy lemonade iced tea. I don’t really like hot tea.

18. What’s your favourite mug? I suppose my favorite is the only mug I own, which is a white mug that changes colors depending on the temperature of the drink inside.

19. What’s your biscuit or cookie of choice? I can’t stand biscuits anymore because those are what my grandma/mom packed for my recess nearly everyday throughout grade school. I don’t like store-brought cookies either because they taste super processed, but my favorite as a kid were the Presto peanut butter cookies.

20. What’s your ideal breakfast? Garlic rice, a packed omelette, and hashbrowns if I’m somewhere fancy. Scrambled eggs and hotdogs when I’m at home.

21. What’s your ideal sandwich? Monte Cristo or banh mi.

22. What’s your ideal pizza: Quattro formaggi. If we’re talking more experimental pizzas, barbecue pizza is a guilty pleasure.

23. What’s your ideal pie (sweet or savoury)? I’m not a big pie person but I do love savory a lot more, like chicken pot pie. I think most of the sweet pies out there are fruit-based anyway.

24. What’s your ideal salad? Spicy tuna salad. I’ve been having such a craving for it :(

25. What food do you always like to have in the fridge? We always have white bread, eggs, my mom’s cranberry juice, and veggies.

26. What food do you always like to have in the freezer? In the freezer we never run out of various meats and frozen meal packs, like frozen bangus, hotdogs, chicken nuggets, French fries, etc. We also often have ice cream, but it’s not a must-have for us obviously.

27. What food do you always like to have in the cupboard? Pasta, canned food like luncheon meat and corned beef, cup noodles, various condiments like soy sauce and fish sauce, 3-in-1 coffee.

28. What spices can you not live without? I can’t cook but I do know I like salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin. I’m sure I’m missing other essential ones lol

29. What sauces can you not live without? Sriracha, bagoong, banana ketchup, gochujang, peanut sauce, gravy, barbecue sauce, aioli, mayonnaise.

30. Where do you buy most of your food? My parents don’t have a supermarket preference; they just go to wherever is most convenient for them at the moment. Once I start doing my own grocery shopping though I would rather go to a supermarket where they’d have a wider selection for foreign foods, like those that would have Pop-Tarts and sriracha sauce. Just the foodie in me that constantly has to have food from other cultures.

31. How often do you go food shopping? My parents do the groceries once every two or three weeks, I think.

33. What’s the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own? Aside from the obvious ref or cooking range, probably the coffee maker. Not sure how much it cost my parents but it’s supposed to be branded haha.

34. What’s the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen? Dad bought a couple of pans because he didn’t like how our old ones were starting to get too many scratches.

35. What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without? Refrigerator. So many things would spoil without it...that’s why when we get blackouts the first thing we worry about is how long the ref would stay cold.

36. How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients? I’ve only done it once.

37. What’s the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients?

38. What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig and poultry? Crocodile, carabao, lamb.

39. What’s the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor? Don’t remember exactly when but it has to be sometime recently. I’m not too grossed out by this.

40. What’s the last time you ate something you’d picked in the wild? I have never done this.

41. Arrange the following in order of preference: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Sushi – Indian, Thai, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican. This question is a teeny bit annoying and a little offensive. How would you like it if I referred to American food as ‘ribs’ lol

42. Arrange the following in order of preference: Vodka, Whiskey, Brandy, Rum – Vodka, rum, (some) whiskey. I don’t drink brandy because that’s what my grandpa, who had alcohol issues, used to drink.

43. Arrange the following in order of preference: Garlic, Basil, Lime, Mint, Ginger, Aniseed – Aniseed, garlic, basil, ginger, lime, mint.

44. Arrange the following in order of preference: Pineapple, Orange, Apple, Strawberry, Cherry, Watermelon, Banana. –

45. Bread and spread: I don’t really munch on this particular food. Toast and butter is enough for me.

46. What’s your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order? It’s either KFC or Jollibee. In KFC I get a Zinger and a brownie; in Jollibee, I usually order the chicken-spaghetti set, large fries, and a Yum Burger. If they have tuna pie on the menu I’d get that too. My appetite gets exceptionally large when it comes to Jollibee hahahaha.

47. Pick a city. What are the best dining experiences you’ve had in that city? I no longer remember what exactly I ate but I had a blaaaast eating in Bali. I also had a sushi platter in Fukuoka that I’ll never forget.

48. What’s your choice of tipple at the end of a long day? I don’t drink regularly but if I’m out with friends and we want to chill after a tiring day, we get a pitcher of a mixed drink.

49. What’s the next thing you’ll eat? Eggs and hotdogs for breakfast. Probably with bread.

50. Are you hungry now? A little bit, considering it’s nearly 10 and I still haven’t had breakfast.

51. Do you eat your breakfast everyday? I’ve been having it everyday now because I’ve been home for...most of the year...sigh. But I skipped it all the time when I was in school because getting to class on time and having a clean attendance record mattered to me more than filling up my stomach. 52. At what time do you have breakfast? On weekdays I have it between 9-10 AM. On weekends when my parents are home, we have brunch instead at around 10:30-11 AM because they wake up late.

53. At what time do you have lunch? I normally skip lunch now. In school I just had tiny eating breaks throughout the day, but I didn’t have lunch per se.

54. What do you have for lunch? My usual purchases were instant noodles/kwek-kwek, tapsilog from Rodic’s, or shawarma rice. Thrived on these three for my entire college life.

55. At what time do you have dinner? 7-8 PM, depending on whenever my dad is finished cooking.

56. What do you have for dinner? My dad likes changing up our dishes everyday :) It’s one of my favorite things about quarantine. Outside of the quarantine, I’ve never had a main dinner dish.

57. Do you light candles during dinner? No.

58. How many chairs are there in your dining room and who sits in the main chair? 6 chairs. We don’t have a ‘main’ chair that’s larger than the rest, but my dad is the one who sits on the chair on one end of the dining table, or what we call the kabisera in Filipino. My mom, siblings, and I sit on either side of him. 

59. Do you eat and drink using your right hand or the left one? I use my right hand for the spoon and my left hand for the fork. I drink with my right hand most of the time.

61. Mention the veggies that you like most: Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, asparagus, string beans. Idk what eggplants and bell peppers are but I like those too.

62. What fruit and vegetable do you like the least? Cucumber and ampalaya. 63. You like your fruit salad to have more: Air. Hahahaha I do not like fruit salads.

64. You prefer your vegetable salad to contain more: I love vegetables but don’t really eat vegetable salads? I don’t think I’ve even heard of those.

65. What’s your favourite sandwich spread? Whatever goes on banh mi.

66. What’s your favourite chocolate bar? Whittaker’s peanut butter chocolate.

67. What’s your favourite dessert? I really love macarons, cupcakes, and cheesecake.

68. What’s your favourite drink? Just water. Other drinks make me fuller more quickly.

69. What’s your favourite snack? Pringles, French fries, corndogs...anything deep-fried, really.

70. What’s your favourite bubble gum flavour? Strawberry, or just the original bubblegum flavor.

71. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour? Salted caramel, queso real, or cookies and cream.

72. What’s your favourite potato chip flavour? Original or sour cream and onion.

73. What’s your favourite soup? Miso. Have to have it whenever I have Japanese food.

74. What’s your favourite pizza? Already answered this, but I will always order quattro formaggi if I see it on a menu.

75. What’s your favourite type of dish? I have lots of favorites, but I think chicken curry takes the cake for me. 

76. What food do you hate? Fruits, any dessert with fruits.

77. What’s your favourite restaurant? Yabu. It’s a Japanese restaurant that doesn’t even serve sushi (because I’m still ticked off by that sushi question lol).

78. Do you eat homemade food, or food delivered from outside? These days I eat food cooked by either parent. But when I’m on my own, I buy my food.

80. Who cooks at home? My dad does most of the time. My mom will make breakfast on the weekends.

81. What kind of diet (e.g. low-fat, high-fiber, high-carbohydrate, balanced diet etc.) do you have? I’m not on any.

82. How do you keep yourself fit? I just moderate my food intake in general and make sure I stop eating once I feel full. I don’t work out or count calories and stuff.

[healthyworthyofficial]

20 Ways With Tinned Tuna

Way earlier than Lockdown, if I noticed a particular on tinned tuna, I might replenish. Why? Because tinned tuna is a flexible, ready-to-eat, good-for-you protein. And it might usually kind part of my work-day desk lunch rotation. In truth, I saved tins of tuna in my desk drawers for emergency lunches! So, to be trustworthy, when tinned tuna specials got here on throughout Lockdown (5 for R65 — I’m looking at you Woolworths), I purchased in…

Now in the event you consider tinned tuna, I guess you'll be able to consider perhaps 3, Four or 5 methods you should utilize it… however 20? I’ll admit, it was a stretch for me too… But then I began remembering recipes my gran would make once we had been youngsters. And recipes from the Jewish aspect of my household (as a result of in case you don’t know, you can't combine milk and meat, ie: no cheeseburgers for you)… So, right here, a complete checklist of recipe concepts that includes tinned tuna. READ MORE: 5 Delicious Lockdown Recipes That Won’t Need A Trip To The Shops

1/ Tuna-mayo sandwich

Okay, let’s begin basic right here. Tuna and mayo are a successful mixture. How to fancify this up? Add a squeeze of lemon juice, some freshly — and finely — shopped spring onion or crimson onion. Serve it on 100% rye toasted in sizzling olive oil with layers of chopped tomato and lettuce. YUM.

2/ Tuna-avo sarmie

Orrrr on rice truffles… Okay, so it is a WH HQ fave, particularly now when it’s avo season! Easy sufficient: mush one ripe avocado and mix it with one tin of tuna. Spread on sandwich bread or on rice crackers or in butter-lettuce leaves (relying on what number of carbs you’re chopping…) and munch. Why that is such a success: avos are actually good for you and full of vitamins. Yes, they're excessive in fat — the great type although — and once we’re speaking getting in nutrient-dense energy, avos trump mayo.

3/ Egg-mayo sarmie with tuna

Brunch you say? Who has the finances for salmon on this financial system anyway? Now once I grew up and we used to go on street journeys — all the youngsters squeezed at the back of a bakkie — my gran used to make egg-mayo sarmies. Easy sufficient: you boil the eggs, you mash with mayo, salt and pepper and unfold on a sarmie. Now, we already know eggs and tuna work nicely collectively, because of the French and recipe quantity 5. So why not double up on that good protein and add some tuna to the combination? It works! READ MORE: Yummy Vegan And Gluten-Free Healthy Chocolate Cereal Bars Recipe

4/ Basic tuna salad

Think of this extra like a inexperienced salad with tuna thrown on high. This is de facto what it’s about: you could have some salad substances and also you wish to add some protein. Oh, hey there, handy tin of tuna! Simply add on high with a primary olive oil and balsamic vinegar combine.

5/ Salade Niçoise

A way more intentional and fancy salad made handy by the ready-made tuna. This salad has the next fundamentals: tuna, boiled egg, olives, tomatoes, child potatoes and inexperienced beans. There are variations of this salad that embody lettuce, anchovies and capers… Mix it up as a lot as you want! It’s certain to maintain you fuelled for a busy day forward.

6/ Chopped Israeli-style tuna Salad

Think Israeli-style chopped salad: all the things chopped into same-size 5mm cubes. Tomatoes, carrots, peppers, cucumber… and chickpeas! It’s a leafless salad with a whole lot of crunch. Now add tuna and a few scrumptious avo (once more, chopped into little cubes) and you've got a filling dish that’s full of all the great things.

7/ Tuna salad wrap

Take recipe no.Three above and place all of the substances right into a wrap.

8/ Tuna salad wrap with mealies and mayo

The above recipe bulked up with flavour. I don’t know why sure combos work… Like Tuna and corn aka mealies. But they do! So combine your tuna with some mayo, add corn kernels, then wrap with greens in a big tender tortilla.

9/ Warm tuna pita

In a bowl, mix chopped celery, chopped crimson onion, tuna and mayo. Layer this right into a pita. Add grated cheese of your alternative (have you ever heard of Eatlean Cheese?). Bake within the oven for 10 minutes till the cheese has melted. This is critical consolation meals. Salad on the aspect non-obligatory.

10/ Tinned Tuna (not) Tartare

A play on the French delicacy, you should utilize the rules to assemble a similar-looking dish, simply with tinned tuna. Use finely chopped avocado as the bottom, then layer with chopped child rosa tomatoes, layered on high with tinned tuna. The secret is to decorate the substances beforehand. A beautiful lemony French dressing will do nicely, with some seasoning. Top with leaves and herbs, and serve. Thin slice of toast non-obligatory.

11/ Tuna pasta salad

A quite simple dish I used to make once I was a pupil, tuna-pasta-salad takes the instance of recipe 4 (primary tuna salad) and combines it with mayonnaise and penne pasta. It retains within the fridge for 3 days and it’s simple to pack in a Tupperware. It’s not very fairly to take a look at, however it’s easy and tastes good.

12/ Lemony zesty tuna pasta

A really quick-and-easy recipe that may be served heat or at room temperature the following day. What you want: lemon (zested and juiced), olive oil, garlic, 1 tin of tuna and a few pasta of your alternative, plus herbs of your alternative (parsley is an efficient one). Make it fancier: add wilted child spinach to the combination. Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Add chopped garlic clove. Allow to sizzle for a minute or two, then add the tuna, lemon juice and parsley and stir till heated. Add the recent cooked pasta to this pan with among the pasta water and stir to mix. Serve with zest sprinkled on high and a few additional herbs… For additional yum issue: add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

13/ Tinned tomato and tuna pasta

Cupboard stacked with tinned tomatoes too? Well, that is a straightforward recipe that may assist make use of each tinned substances. What you want: olive oil; one massive onion, chopped; one clove garlic, chopped; one tin of chopped tomatoes; chilli (or chilli flakes); pasta of your alternative; one tin of tuna; contemporary basil (non-obligatory). Method: Sauté onion in olive oil. After a few minutes, add the garlic after which the tin of chopped tomatoes with the chilli. In the meantime, prepare dinner your pasta. Season the tomato combine with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of sugar if wanted to calm the acidity. Simmer to scale back liquid. Toss the recent pasta into the tomato combine and flake within the tuna. Serve with contemporary basil and a drizzle of olive oil. READ MORE: 3 Ways To Pimp Your Hummus For Your Next Mezze Platter

14/ Tuna Lasagne

Heat oven to 200 levels Celsius. Tip one 400g tin chopped tomatoes, 250g of sliced peppers, 50g of olives, 1 tbsp blended dried herb herbs right into a pan, cowl and simmer for 10 minutes till the tomatoes have damaged down a bit of. Add the tin of tuna and season with salt and pepper. Pour one tub of cream cheese right into a bowl, season and blend to loosen a bit of, including a splash of water (or milk, if in case you have some) to make a thick white-sauce consistency. Assemble the lasagne in a baking dish, approx 20 x 30cm. Pour roughly a 3rd of the tuna sauce into the underside of the dish, high with Four lasagne sheets, a 3rd of the cream cheese sauce, then repeat the layers twice extra. Scatter over some mozzarella and bake for 40 minutes till golden and effervescent.

15/ Gluten-free tuna fishcakes

Who doesn’t love a superb fishcake? Mix collectively: 1 tin of tuna, 200g mashed potatoes, 1 egg, 1 tbsp gluten-free flour of alternative (rice flour works nicely), Four finely chopped spring onions, 1 tbsp finely chopped contemporary parsley, salt and pepper to season. Form patties together with your arms. Coat the patties in some extra rice flour earlier than cooking gently in a pan with some olive oil. Yum!

16/ Tinned tuna poke bowls

Ah, we love a superb poke bowl! But we don’t at all times have entry to freshly caught tuna (like on this pic). You could make these the way in which you'll another good poke bowl. The base: steamed rice topped with crunchy, contemporary veggies, nuts (almond or macadamias), avocado, spring onions, sesame seeds, fruit… The secret is the great dressing! 1 tbsp sesame-seed oil + 2 tbsp tamari + Juice of 1 lime + Tiny drizzle honey blended collectively and drizzled over. Find extra scrumptious, wholesome seafood recipes here!

17/ Baked potato with tuna

I like a superb baked potato. In truth, candy potatoes baked entire are in all probability my favorite. Their skins caramelise so fantastically and inside it’s tender and simply practically candy. Top this sizzling child with some tinned tuna blended with a bit of mayo (or creme fraiche in the event you eat dairy) and a few chopped spring onions and dill. Add a squeeze of contemporary lemon to complete it off and also you’ve bought a cracking little meal!

18/ Tuna frittata

A fast and simple lunch for the entire household — you'll be able to pump this up with additional veggies like peppers and mushrooms. Yes, added vitamins for the win! Preheat oven to 180 levels Celsius. In an oven-proof skillet, sauté chopped spring onions in a bit of olive oil. Add your veggies (child spinach, courgettes, tomatoes). Sauté till mixed and wilted. Add one tin of tuna, drained. Whisk collectively 12 eggs and 1/2 cup soya milk (or cow’s milk) with a pinch every of salt and pepper (to style). Pour egg combine into massive skillet. Place within the oven and prepare dinner for 15 to 20 minutes, till eggs are cooked via. Garnish with chilli flakes, Peppadews and contemporary basil. READ MORE: This High-Protein Peanut Butter Breakfast Smoothie Will Make Your Morning

19/ Tuna Tacos

Now the trick right here is to mix the tinned tuna with some crimson onion, corn, tomatoes and chilli to make a spicy salsa to fill your tacos with. So, finely chop half a small crimson onion, combine with one tin drained tuna, one massive chopped tomato, about 1/2 cup corn kernels and one finely chopped chilli. Add the juice of 1 lime and a bit of olive oil and stir collectively. Now mash avocado with chopped coriander, lime juice and salt and pepper. Have some bitter cream on the aspect. Spoon your tuna filling into the corn tacos, add guacamole and a dot of bitter cream. Delish. I like serving my tacos with a bit of shredded butter lettuce for additional crunch and freshness. Imagine the beneath with tuna as a substitute of mince – a lot more energizing!

20/ Tuna, olive and rocket pizza

Home-made pizza evenings are nice! But you won't at all times have a great deal of toppings a hand… Enter that outdated devoted tin of tuna. Get your bases prepared, smeared with some tomato puree, and your oven sizzling at 200-220 levels Celsius. Top your tomato bases with shredded tuna, chopped black olives, capers (if in case you have) and mozzarella cheese. Bake till golden and melted and scrumptious. Serve with contemporary rocket and skinny slices of crimson onion. So yum! Want extra? We’ve bought you coated: all of your healthy recipes sorted. READ MORE ON: Food Food News Health Advice Nutrition Nutrition Advice Recipes !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=;t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '2162521310492989'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link Read the full article

[mostly-plants]

Week 3 of eating vegan

Day 15 started with baking a couple of loaves of my new favourite bread: Caraway Rye Sourdough. It is soooo savoury and delicious, and develops such a beautiful rich chestnut colour when baked. I was taking one to a friend, and one was for the boyfriend and I to eat over the week.

Once the bread was out of the oven I travelled through the city to go to a workshop on plant based nutrition by Bloom Nutritionist, who my friend had recommended. The workshop was very informative and covered a range of key practical info, including recommendations to supplement a whole food vegan diet with B12, Algal Omega 3s, and a multivitamin to cover things like Iodine and Selenium. I got a lot out of the workshop, but I had made the mistake of not having lunch because I’d had a reasonably late breakfast, and wasn’t hungry - until I got to the workshop venue. I managed to score an apple at the event, but I got the brain-fades half-way through the talk, and then by the time I got home I was so hungry I ate a stack of food including Popcorn Tofu with chilli sauce, leftover vegan pizza, and a handful of these very un-nutritious cookies. Oops!

Day 16: I had some bircher muesli with blueberries for breakfast, and ordered some more fruit and veggies / pantry staples from CERES Fair Food. I had a late snack and then made wholemeal pasta with lentils and veggies for dinner, topped (of course) with a generous amount of Cashy-Cashy Parm-Parm. YUM!

Day 17 was a very busy day getting prepared for some upcoming work deadlines and then going to class in the evening, but because the fridge was stocked with leftover pasta that made lunch easy. The boyfriend and I were both finishing our days late, so we ended up meeting up in the evening and getting dinner from a local Mexican food place. Luckily they had good vegan options, but I did feel a bit sad not being able to just share our meals like we usually would. I think this was the first day that I started to feel challenged by eating vegan. For me it’s not the food part, because I love fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds (and yes, I love my legumes now too). I can imagine being fairly happy eating these things as the main components of my diet, but I realised I would really miss the positive feelings that comes with sharing the same food together with loved ones. In starting this challenge I had thought that the social aspect of eating vegan would be the most difficult part for me, and that’s probably the case. 

Day 18: Overall I’ve been feeling really good after eating vegan for two weeks - my energy levels are the same or better than they have been, I feel fine physically and mentally, my digestion is great, and weirdly I don’t seem to be sweating as much? (Not that this was particularly a problem before, it’s just my observation). I have been trying to read and listen to more information about the case for (or against) plant-based eating in order to weigh up the available evidence and decide whether to continue. 

Although I’m leaning towards more plant-based eating (mostly because of the environmental and welfare impacts of animal products), I do think I would struggle with not being able to share things with my partner, or participate in family dinners etc. in the same way. At the moment, I think I might end up settling on more of a flexitarian approach (i.e. mostly plant-based, but flexible on occasion). I guess I’ll see how I go with the rest of this challenge...

Day 19 I woke up a bit tired because I’d had coffee about 5pm the day before and was a bit too wired for sleep until about 3am. My bf had the opposite problem and woke up super early. Luckily, he somehow managed to be functional anyway, and because he is lovely I got coffee delivered right to my bedside <3 I made a quick breakfast of avocado on toast, and chopped up some raw veggies that needed using, to take with baba ganoush dip for lunch. I also packed some homemade granola, a bit of dark chocolate, an apple and a banana (I’m getting better at this “always have plenty of snacks available” thing.  Work was pretty hectic, so I didn’t get to have lunch until about 3:30pm when I realised I was getting pretty hangry. I felt much better after some food, and a little afternoon chocolate pick-me-up. I felt like something a bit different for dinner, so ended up making miso-glazed eggplant with garlic bok choy, and crumb-coated smoked tofu and sweet potato. I know that sounds super fancy, but actually it was mostly so I could use up the wilting bok choy at the back of the fridge (and bump up my calcium intake for the day!). 

The miso glaze for the eggplant is sooooooooo ridiculously good, and actually very quick and easy to make (my favourite combination in cooking!) We got the recipe from a vegetarian / vegan cooking class at Gourmet Kitchen Cooking School - I’d highly recommend their classes as something fun and special to do. Anyway, so, you want some miso glaze? (Spoiler alert: yeah, ya do). Just get a small saucepan and mix in: 2 Tablespoons of Miso Paste (I used white miso) 2 Tablespoons of sugar (or a neutral tasting liquid sweetener like agave syrup) 1 Tablespoon of Mirin 1 Tablespoon of Sake (I didn’t have this, so used Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine instead - it worked totally fine) Pop the saucepan on a low heat, stir/whisk the ingredients together, and in mere moments you will have your golden brown and delicious miso glaze! The eggplant gets sliced in half lengthways and roasted cut side down at 220c for about 30 mins. Then you turn the eggplant cut side up, and coat generously with miso glaze. Like... Seriously. Just pour that goodness all over everything, it is DELICIOUS! Pop the glazed eggplant halves back into the oven/under the grill for a few mins (watching that the glaze doesn’t burn), and then when you just can’t wait any longer, take them out of the oven, sprinkle them with some green spring onion and sesame seed, and try not to burn your mouth as you inhale that deliciousness!  The bok choy I (finally) learned how to cook properly from watching the Viet Vegan, and the crumbed tofu and sweet potato was just to use up the rest of the coating mixture from making Popcorn Tofu earlier this week. It was great! If you want to try this, I’d definitely recommend marinating your tofu beforehand, or dunking it in a really flavourful sauce afterwards, because although the crumb coating is tasty, the tofu itself doesn’t have much flavour. The sweet potato was a definite winner! No oil needed, just toss bite-sized pieces of raw sweet potato in your crumb/seasoning coating, and bake them in the oven at 220c for about 45 minutes. NOM. So, at the end of Day 19 I’m feeling good about kicking some nutrition goals, and eating some hella tasty food. Yay!

Day 20: I felt like something savoury for breakfast and since I had the luxury of working from home on Friday, I decided on a Mexican inspired breakfast, with a spicy mix of cooked black beans, onion, carrots, corn, topped with fresh tomato, chives and coriander, and (of course) guacamole. Tortillas from La Tortilleria because they are by far the best I’ve had. A very satisfying start to the day!

Lunch was nice and easy - leftover bok choy and sweet potato with steamed silken tofu and a quick miso dressing (1/2 tablespoon miso paste, 1/2 tablespoon mirin, 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup and 1/2-1 tablespoon of water to get the desired consistency. Then, because it was so tasty - more Mexican for dinner, along with some red wine and dark chocolate for dessert. :)

Day 21: BREAKING NEWS - Scrambled silken tofu with miso dressing and chives on toast is DELICIOUS. I know the recipes say to use firm tofu for scrambling, but personally I think silken tofu matches the texture of scrambled eggs more closely. The miso dressing works great in this, because it’s got the salty/savoury flavour going on, and the slight sweetness balances the slight bitterness that some tofu can have. Sold!

After breakfast we went to the markets to pick up a few ingredients for the bakesale we were doing on Sunday. We braved the supermarket on a Saturday, bought many kilos of flour and sugar, and then paid a visit to Trang for Banh Mi - they have stacks of vegan options so I’m keen to try more, but so far I can’t get past the vegan BBQ pork because it is so tasty!  I was pretty hungry by the time we ate so forgot to take a photo, but trust me - it is packed with lightly pickled veggies, fried spring onion and delicious magical vegan meat (I’m guessing they’re probably seitan-based, but I don’t know for sure).  Pretty much the rest of Saturday was spent baking a ton of things for Sunday’s bakesale, and “quality testing” the several batches of cookies I made. I also ate wayyyyyy too much cinnamon coffee icing while trying to get the right consistency to top the chocolate cupcakes I made. Whoopsies! So... I guess I’m proving that you can definitely be vegan and eat a bunch of junk food, but then you probably won’t feel so great afterwards. Eat your veggies, kids!