Veganism and Me

I promised that I would write a short post about my stance on veganism, and now seems like as good a time as any - here goes!

In the past I have been confronted about the fact that I buy cruelty free beauty products but do not eat in a cruelty free manner. I've always brushed this off by saying that makeup is a choice and food is a necessity, which I still believe in, but the truth is that it is much more complex than that. Also I am planning on phasing in veganism when I move out, so please bare in mind that I want to transition to a completely cruelty free lifestyle in the near future!!

Firstly, veganism is a privilege. It relies on your being able to afford the supplements you need (whether those are in pill form or by buying the food alternative) to maintain a healthy diet. Vegan food alternatives (ie, vegan cheese, vegan milk, vegan meat alternatives) can be significantly more expensive than their non-vegan counterparts, too. It also takes a lot of time to unlearn a lifetime of non-vegan cooking, too. All of this implies that you don't have health conditions that require you to eat certain foods, too (ie, my vegetarian friend would struggle with veganism because he also has a nut allergy).

However, I also understand that you don't need to buy non-vegan alternatives to meat and cheese products. You can get buy on a range of vegetables, pulses, etc. If you go down this route, though, you then need to take the time to learn to cook dishes that are filling enough and nutritionally suitable - unlearning a lifetime of eating habits is incredibly hard.

Neither of these really explain why I'm not vegan, though. Partly it is because I still live at home and my Mum buys my food and cooks my meals. We eat meals as a family most of the time and it is difficult to have two cooks in the kitchen cooking two meals to be served at the same time - and I'm not going to force my family into veganism because I think it's the right thing to do. I'm also not going to ask my Mum to add more money onto her food bill because of a choice I'm making. When I move out I fully intend to transition into full vegtarianism, followed by veganism.

I also don't believe the same cruelty free argument applies to food as it does to make up. Of course I believe animal suffering is wrong, but I personally make a distinction between animal suffering and animal death. I also hugely disagree with the anthropomorphism of animals that exists in the vegan community - they are not humans and although I don't think that means they should be treated with less respect I also think they don't share our same range of emotions. What's more, humans do naturally eat meat. It's why we have incisors.

However, I do think that the way we consume meat and dairy is very wrong and highly destructive to our planet. In short,  I would turn vegan for environmental reasons rather than ethical ones. This would mean having a much looser view on veganism than most, as I would bend my veganism to eat eggs sourced from my neighbours garden and to eat rabbit, elk, and other such animals that have their population regulated by hunting. This would mean me being 100% vegan 95% of the time.

I know that this is probably going to be fairly controversial (and my opinion might well change in the future) but at the moment this is where my opinion stands.

What do you think about veganism? Any opinions on my stance would be greatly appreciated - abusive comments will not be. You can find me on twitter @vickimaitland for a chat on any of the blogs I post!

Cooking For One: Lunchbox CousCous Salad

This is a really quick lunch to prepare either in the morning or the night before. As usual, you can pretty much switch out any of the vegetables and dressings I’ve included, but this is how I like it best.

Ingredients:

1 serving of CousCous (about 30-50g dried)
1/5 Pepper (I chose orange)
4 Cherry/Plum Tomatoes
Large Handful of Spinach
5-6 Pitted Olives
1cm thick strip of Feta
Balsamic Vinegar

Method:

1) Pour your coucous into your lunchbox, then pour in boiling water so it just covers the couscous.

2) Chuck your handful of spinach on top then put the lid on your lunchbox. The steam from the water will wilt the spinach.

3) While your couscous is fluffing up, chop up your pepper, tomatoes, olives and any other veg you’re including.

4) Scrape a fork through your couscous and spinach mix. If your couscous is ready, add in your other ingredients and mix it up.

5) Crumble in your feta and drizzle the whole thing with balsamic vinegar.

6) Place a sheet of cling film over top of the whole thing. Now you can fill up the rest of your box with whatever else you want: a banana, a couple of oranges, a chocolate bar – and don’t forget a fork!

In total this takes about 5 minutes to make and is really delicious and filling. If you want to make it even more healthy, you can swap out the couscous for quinoa (but it will take a little longer to cook) and add in kale rather than spinach. Adding chopped hardboiled egg is a great way to add extra protein if you don’t like feta or can’t eat dairy. Carrots, beetroot and cucumber all go really well with this mix too (and I probably would have used them if I’d had any in!). This keeps well in the fridge too, so if you know you'll be in a rush in the morning you can make it up the night before.

Let me know if you try out this dish by tweeting me @VickiMaitland or levaing a comment below.

Cooking For One: Mediterranean Tuna Pasta

This is one of the quickest, most delicious dishes I've ever thrown together, so I thought I would share it with you!

These are only some of the ingredients (I wrote this post at Uni and took the picture at home, and we didn't have all the ingredients), but if you were working with a smaller budget this is all you'd need. 

Ingredients:
1/2 Red Onion - diced
1/5 Pepper (colour of your choice, I chose orange) - diced
5-6 Green Beans - chopped
1cm disk of Aubergine - diced
1.5" Courgette - diced
2-3 Mushrooms - diced
1/2 can of Chopped Tomatoes
2 handfuls Kale
1/4-1/2 can Tuna Chunks
5-6 Olives
Spalsh of Balsamic Vinegar

2 handfuls Wholewheat Pasta
1cm strip of Feta

Method:
1) Boil a kettle of water.
2) Put both a saucepan and a frying pan on the hob on a high heat.
3) Pour the boiling water into the saucepan, and add your pasta.
4) Add a splash of Olive Oil to your frying pan then add the onions.
5) Turn the heat down and cook till translucent.
6) Add the remaining ingredients in order listed above.
7) When the pasta is cooked (check instructions on pack, but usually 8-10 minutes) drain and add to frying pan.
8) Crumble in some feta and stir everything together. Serve and enjoy!


You'll notice that there are quite a lot of ingredients for this dish, but don't let that put you off! You're only using an inch or so of courgette, one disk of aubergine, a handful of the rest etc, so there's loads left for other meals. Even if I use them every night, it usually takes me a week to get through each of the ingredients. Let me know if you try out this dish by tweeting me @VickiMaitland or leaving a comment below!

Cooking For One: Two Night Chilli

This is the start of a new series called Cooking For One - few of these recipes will be revolutionary but if they help you mix up your diet, remind you of something you haven't had in a while, or even teach you a new dish then I'll be very happy. I'll write out the base recipe, then below will add serving suggestions. Let me know if you try any of the dishes in this recipe!

Ingredients:

200g Mince (usually cheapest to buy in a 400g pack)

½ Tin Beans (baked or other)

½ Tin Chopped Tomatoes (if you’re using beans without a sauce then you'll need the whole tin)

Squirt Tomato Puree

1 Small Red Onion

½ Teaspoon ‘Very Lazy’ Garlic/ 1 Clove of Garlic Chopped

½ Teaspoon ‘Very Lazy’ Chilli/ 1 Teaspoon of Chilli Powder

1 Teaspoon Agave Syrup/ Sugar / Sweetener

Slosh of Vinegar (I used Balsamic)

Handful Frozen Peas*

Handful Kale*

3 Mushrooms*

3 Broccoli Florets*
1 Carrot*

*Replace with any veg you fancy!


Base Recipe:

1) Open the packet of mince and split it in half. You can freeze or fridge the spare half depending how soon you think you may use it. Pop our half into a hot frying pan and break it up with a wooden spoon as it browns.

2) Whilst the mince is browning, chop your onion and pop it in with the mince.

3) Add the garlic and chilli. By this point most of the mince should be browned, and you can turn the temperature down as low as it can go.

4) Add the half can of chopped tomatoes and the half tin of baked beans. If you’re not using baked beans then you’ll probably need the whole can of tomato.

5) Add a squirt of tomato puree, the agave and the balsamic (or your alternative) and put the lid on the pan.

6) Chop up your carrot, mushrooms and broccoli. Dice the carrot as small as you can, but keep the mushrooms chunky. Add these in. Leave for 15 minutes.

7) Taste and season as required (adding more chilli to add heat or add a small amount of milk/yoghurt to cool).

8) Add peas and kale. Once the kale is wilted and the peas cooked the chilli is good to go!

This should make enough chilli for at least 2 main meals. I got three meals out of this as I had a lunch too.

Chilli with Rice and Pitta

Extra Ingredients:

1 Serving Brown/White Rice

1 Pitta

Grated Cheese (to top)

If you're cooking this as your first dish, add the brown rice on to cook between stages 5 and 6. I usually get the pan heating with a small amount of water whilst boiling the kettle to get the water hot quickly. You'll need to cook it for at least 25 minutes.

If you're using white rice, put this on for the last 10 minutes of cooking (just before step 8).

Toast your pitta after you've added all of the ingredients.


Spaghetti Chilli

Extra Ingredients:
1 serving spaghetti (or other pasta)
Grated Cheese (to top)

If you're cooking this as your first dish, put the pasta on just before step 8 as it needs 10 minutes to cook.


Chilli Jackets

Extra Ingredients:
1 Baking Potato
Grated Cheese (to top)

You can either microwave or oven bake your potato. If you oven bake it, it will need 40 mins - 1 hour, so put this on at least 10 minutes before starting your chilli (you'll want the oven temp to be about 180 degrees or gas mark 6). Turn the potato when you add the first of your extra ingredients.

If you microwave it, put it on just before step 8 as it needs about 10 minutes (in two 5 minute bursts, turning in between.) Mircowave needs to be on high.