Nandos!

So Nandos have come to Dublin. We've heard some positive feedback from other people, both vegan and non-vegan, about this chain of restaurants so decided to give the one on Mary Street a shot. It predominantly serves chicken, but also has a lot of vegan dishes on its menu. I don't normally like to go to a place which is associated so widely with serving meat, but as they seem to cater so well for vegetarians and vegans and use separate cooking areas and utensils for vegetarian food, I thought this time I would give it a go.

We were greeted by a really friendly guy who explained how to order food and which sauces to choose. When we mentioned we were vegan he brought over a big booklet explaining what ingredients was in everything, which was great, but I would have preferred if he could have explained to us in person briefly what was/was not vegan, otherwise that booklet would have taken us ages to flick through if we hadn't already done some research prior to our visit.

I went for the Veggie Burger in a wrap with chilli jam (minus the mayo) cooked in mango and lime sauce with peri-peri salted fries on the side. My boyfriend had the same only in a pitta and cooked with a medium heat sauce, with an extra corn on the cob on the side. Our meals fell within the €10-12 range and were very filling, but we had to wait a long time to be served. It could have been because they had only just opened, but I noticed that people who ordered chicken after us got their food served a lot quicker.

Both my boyfriend and I were quite disappointed with the peri-peri fries, we thought they would have been cooked in the spices, but the flavouring was just sprinkled on top. I really enjoyed my wrap and the soya and tomato burger had a great texture. I think my boyfriend regretted getting it medium heat as he found it a bit too hot and lacking in any other kind of flavour. I normally love spicy food but decided to deviate from the norm as the mango and lime really appealed to me and it went so well with the chilli jam, so I had no regrets there!

It's also great that you can refill your glass with soda as many times as you like and the prices overall are definitely reasonable, but I did think almost €5 for some pitta bread and hummus was a little steep so we avoided the "appeteasers". I'd like to try the mixed olives sometime though as they sound like something I'd love. Other vegan options on the menu as far as I can see are the cous cous salad, mixed leaf salad (both available with chicken at extra cost) and some of the sides like their macho peas, ratatouille and possibly their new black bean casserole type dish and spicy rice. I would have to check before saying so for sure though. Their other vegetarian burger, the bean burger, is not vegan as it contains cheese, which is such a pity as it sounds lovely and is stuffed full of pulses and seeds.

We will most surely be paying another visit when we are in town again sometime soon, as the prices and service were very good and the portions were large - the wrap and fries are all I have eaten all day and I am still not hungry and it's gone 7pm!! It's great that there's somewhere for vegans to go and get a decent burger, but I'm afraid that if I am out and about with my fellow vegans/vegetarians I'd be more likely go to Deli O'Delhi or Govindas than to Nandos, for more flavoursome healthy food at better value. However, it's a great option if you are with friends who are meat eaters, so I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot!

Chilli'n Out!

Today I made a lovely black bean, sausage and apple chilli. I found the recipe on my Vegan YumYum iPhone app and it looked so simple and tasty that I decided to give it a go. The recipe can be found below, but I used half a can of chopped tomatoes instead of two diced plum tomatoes. The TSP (Textured Soya Protein) I used was the frozen kind from Tesco so there was no need to rehydrate it and it was already lightly seasoned, and the sausages I used were Linda McCartney. It was really lovely! This made loads and there was no need for any rice as the beans were so filling. The Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce really soaked in and flavoured the sausage and mince, and the black beans and carrots were slightly al dente which contrasted the mushy texture of the meat substitutes. We will definitely be having this again as it's so cheap and easy to make!  

My boyfriend has been eating vegan with me for the past few days, after I had a little breakdown and told him that I didn't think I could cope any more with him eating meat around me. This may seem a little selfish on my part, as I've never been one to tell anyone what to and what not to eat... but he does love vegan food and it's going to make it so much easier for us to eat together. I think it will do him good to eat healthier too! What he does when he's out of the house is his own business, but I am glad that he's done this for me, and he's really taking it seriously as he loves to cook and has been enjoying researching new recipes.

Chipotle Sausage Chilli with Apple and Black Beans 
Makes two hearty servings

- 1 Can Black Beans, mostly drained
- 2 Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 Plum Tomatoes, diced (1 Cup, scant)
- 1 Cup Rehydrated TSP, see directions
- 1 Veggie Sausage Link, diced
- 1 Apple, diced (any kind, really)
- 3 Tbs Tamari
- 3 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce (make sure the label says it’s veg)
 - 1 tsp Cumin

Heat 1 scant cup of water to boiling and mix it with 1 Cup dried TSP (or follow package directions). While that is soaking, heat a large skillet with some vegetable oil. Add carrot and stir every once in a while to soften. Meanwhile, dice apples, tomatoes, and sausage. Add these plus the beans and cumin to pan. Stir and cover.

Check on your TSP. Dump out excess water as soon as it is fairly soft and add to pan. Add tamari and Worcestershire sauce, stir well, and cover. Let simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes. Serve with fresh cilantro or parsley.

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In other news, I've booked my ticket to Wales for Christmas to see my father. It's going to be ever so quiet as it's just going to be the two of us for 4 days, chilling out and eating good food. I can't wait! It will make a change from Christmas at my boyfriend's parents' place where there is usually 11 of us around the table! I think it will be nice to have a more relaxing time, as Christmas is usually so manic. I will definitely miss my Gerry-pups though!
























Oh and if you're looking to buy some Christmas treats, Lidl have some wonderful boxes of coconut ice... hint hint!! ;) The Turkish Delight in the picture isn't vegan as it's covered in milk chocolate, but they do sell a version with no chocolate. They are also selling their scrumptious dark chocolate Marzipan bars and raspberry liquor filled dark chocolate barrels again this year - hooray!

I'll leave you with some nice photographs I took recently:

A Few New Things I've tried

I thought I'd just put up a few pictures of things I've tried recently.  These 'Provamel' Soya Nuggets were quite nice, not too expensive either, and good to have as a snack with a dip. I don't think I'll be getting them again anytime soon though, but I'd recommend them to someone who loves their quick and easy finger food.

The 'Wheaty' Seitan Steak I bought last week was AMAZING and very filling and meaty in this little bun with BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, homemade refried Mexican beans and rocket. Even though the seitan was super tasty (somewhat akin to a frankfurter/smoky hotdog), I don't think I'll be buying it again because it was so expensive at €3.50 for the burger-sized portion. I've seen a much bigger block of it somewhere in town (if only I could remember where! Maybe Down to Earth on George's Street?) for around €7.50, which is much better value as there's about 3 times as much in that packet and it could be sliced thinly too for luncheon meat. The burger-sized slice was a little too thick for my liking as it was a struggle to finish when combined with the bread roll and all the other ingredients, but I assume someone with a normal-sized appetite would probably think it was just about right (I have a little tummy!). I definitely want to buy some again soon though, if I can find it somewhere cheaper, as it was the nicest burger-in-a-bun I've had for a long time.

A product which I've used a lot recently, that I get from the Hopsack in Rathmines, is Xylitol. It's an all natural low-calorie and kind-to-your-teeth alternative to sugar. It pretty much tastes exactly like sugar too, the only downfall is that it's quite expensive at €3.75 for a small bag. I only ever use it in cooking or in porridge though so it lasts me a good while. I love the Hopsack so much, it's a really tiny shop but is packed with so many cool products. They have a fridge full of dairy and meat substitutes and ice creams, sprouted beans from The Happy Pear in Greystones, raw chocolates from Natasha's Living Food, loads of seeds, nuts, dried fruit, cereal bars - anything you could ever want! The staff are so friendly and helpful too.

The Tofu Pizza slice, Carrot & Arame Strudel, and Yellow Split Pea & Celeriac Soup from Blazing Salads pictured below were a bit of a mixed bunch. I thought I'd never fail to be impressed with their food, but I was wrong. The pizza slice was very greasy and the basil pesto was overpowering. The tofu topping was also quite bland (which could have been the reason for laying the pesto on so thick) but towards the end of the experience actually started to taste quite cheesy. I think I probably just wasn't used to something so strange on a pizza. I really do prefer the refried beans they use in Hell. It was also VERY oily and wasn't wrapped up properly so the oil got all over the place! I don't think I'll be getting it again, although if you like that kind of thing was it good value for €2.95 and quite filling. I ate it cold, so maybe it would have been better warm.
























The Strudel is another savoury of theirs that I won't be getting again. Totally not worth the €3.05 I paid for it. I'd only recommend it if you like seaweed, because this literally was just a load of arame and a bit of carrot wrapped in some filo pastry with some sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Even for someone like me who loves sea vegetables, it was quite strong and salty. However I did really like the flaky pastry, and I guess as seaweed is so good for you nutritionally it was a healthy option.

Their soup was, again, another hit. The yellow split peas tasted similar to lentils and it was thick and flavoursome. I'd definitely buy it again.


















I wasn't expecting much of the M&S Vegetable & Bean Chilli Soup, but I was surprised because it was actually really nice! It did just taste like a watered down version of my own Mixed Bean Chilli though, so I don't think I'd buy it again as I could just make it myself.

Back out West...

The boy, a couple of friends and I went to Galway over the August Bank Holiday weekend. I've been wanting to visit "Food for Thought", a little vegetarian and wholefood café in Galway City, for a while now, so we decided to check it out. Based on Lower Abbeygate Street, Food for Thought is a homely little eatery run by a friendly couple and their food is delicious. The way in which you have to go to the deli counter to order your food before you sit down to eat is similar to Cornucopia in Dublin, where all the main courses are set out in baking dishes on the counter. It's nice to be able to see exactly what you're ordering, but not so advantageous in that you can only really choose from what is available at the time. The guys both had the Vegetarian Lasagne with a mixture of salads, and my friend Katie and I both had the Vegan Shepherd's Pie. I wasn't aware at the time that I could have chosen some salads to go with my pie, but was given a small side salad anyway - I think it was because most of the salads weren't actually vegan and either had a dressing with honey or mayonnaise in them, so they didn't mention it to me. For €6.50 our plates were piled high with food, and it was the cheapest, most satisfying and tasty lunch I've had out in a long time. The shepherds pie had a mashed sweet potato topping, which was far nicer than regular potato, and the inside layers were rich,  tomatoey and filled with soya mince. The café is not strictly vegetarian, as I noticed it has some chicken and tuna dishes on the menu - the only vegan main courses are the shepherds pie and soups, but of course you can also get an array of salads and sandwiches made especially for you. The bread that came with the lasagne was a lovely stodgy homemade bread of a cake-like consistency, which was really filling and flavoursome. Everyone loved the food there, and it was such amazingly good value that if I lived in Galway I'd certainly be a regular customer.

Here's my friend's plate with the salads, although I am unsure whether they were vegan or not: Potato Mustard Salad, Mixed Bean Salad & Celery and Apple Salad.

















Galway also has a milkshake bar in the Eyre Square shopping centre, so we popped along to try it out. I've been here before and was very impressed with the gingernut and peanut butter combo, but this time opted for my favourite biscuit of all time: the pink wafer. IT WAS HEAVENLY - really sweet and creamy. I definitely want to experiment with this at home sometime, although am hesitant to buy a whole pack of pink wafers as I know the packet will be gone in an instant if I get my hands on them! The milkshake bar in Galway is so much cheaper than the bar in Dublin, but is still extortionate when you consider how cheap the shakes would be to make at home. I really cannot justify visiting the Dublin bar very often, especially as the soya shakes come to a euro more than the normal dairy shakes!

A few more discoveries over the weekend included some out-of-this-world Apple & Pomegranate Soya Yoghurt by a company called Sojade. It had lovely little chunks of apple in it and I ate it for breakfast, drizzled over some fresh strawberries. I've really got into my soya yoghurt recently, although all I can really get locally are the Alpro varieties. I particularly like their raspberry and vanilla flavour and wish they did bigger pots.

I also tried some dark chocolate with freeze dried raspberries by Divine. It was nice, but not really my type of thing - I prefer nuts or orange or mint in my chocolate. I picked up a few small Nakd bars as well, as they were so cheap in the health food shop in Gort. The Pecan Pie and the Gingerbread ones are definitely my favourite!

We spent the weekend exploring Coole Park, Yeats' Tower, Galway City & the seafront at Salthill. I loved walking along the beach and finding colourful shells and pebbles to bring home with me.

Burritos!

Following on from the Spaghetti Bolognaise I made last week, I used some more TVP soya mince to make Burritos this week. Here's a picture of the Burrito before I rolled it up:

It contains refried beans, rocket, salsa and soya mince fried in Old El Paso burrito spice mix and a bit of chilli sauce. The boy had some mayonnaise and cheese with his as well, and the tortilla flour wraps were garlic flavoured. I'd planned on getting some veganaise and guacaomle, but it was very tasty without.

Breakfast of Champions

After my Café Bar Deli dessert experience (well, not so much my own experience, but the stealing-off-my-friends experience!) I decided to concoct my own breakfast recipe. I went to the doctor's this morning, so feeling sorry for myself I went to the supermarket and bought myself two tantilising punnets of fresh Irish strawberries with the intention of marinading them in balsamic vinegar. I looked up a few recipes online and saw them served with such things as yoghurt, cream cheese, jelly, chocolate mousse, etc. so decided to make my own variation and serve it with Alpro raspberry and vanilla soya yoghurt and mixed pumpkin & sunflower seeds.

I marinaded 6 halved strawberries in 2 dessert spoons of balsamic, drained the excess vinegar off and then sprinkled a heaped teaspoon of xylitol (healthy and all-natural sugar substitute) over the top of the strawberries and stirred it in. I then put the yoghurt and seeds in a glass and garnished it with the strawberries. Admittedly I was lacking a decent glass for serving, so the strawberries ended up poking out of the top, but it was still out-of-this-world delicious and worked very well together. It would be even nicer with a few shavings of dark chocolate, or a sprinkling of some dessicated coconut and a sprig of mint..... feel free to experiment! This is definitely going to be my breakfast for the next 3 days, and my hamster LOVES the taste of Alpro soya so I always scoop a small amount onto my finger after I've finished and let him lick it off! ^_^

In other news, I have been suffering from dermatitis recently. My face has become dry, itchy and bumpy. It's not very noticeable but at times it has really been bothering me. I'm not sure why this is, as I've never had a problem with it before, although my mother did suffer from ecsema and skin allergies so I know I have to be extremely careful. I am currently on antibiotics for this condition for 3 months, and I am relieved that I am able to do something about it, but also not sure if my medication is vegan. I hate the thought that my meds may have been tested on animals. Seeing animals suffering for humans breaks my heart. I have chosen not to Google the companies' names in fear that I discover something I don't like. I know this is literally turning a blind eye, but what am I to do? I either have to put up with this infuriating and irritating condition on my face in hope that one day it will magically disappear, or I have to do something about it. I have been using Dream Cream from Lush which is vegan and really helps to moisturise my skin, as well as Calamine Lotion to stop it itching, but they can only soothe the dermatitis, not completely cure it. I wonder what other vegans do in my situation? This is a totally new aspect of veganism that I have come across, something like this really hasn't been an issue for me in the past but now I'm beginning to realise how difficult things can be.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

I haven't had this for a while and I wanted to actually sit down with my boy and eat the same thing as him for a change. He's a meat eater, and even though he does like a lot of vegan food that I make, he'd always rather have his meat and dairy... so I decided I'd make a Spaghetti Bolognaise for us both, using TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), also known as Soya Mince. You can buy it dry in most health food shops, in minced or chunky format, and all you need to do is soak it for a while prior to cooking. It's very spongey so when you drain it you have to squeeze the water out quite well. The advantage to this however, is that it soaks sauces up really nicely. We came in from a long day's galavanting, so it was an ideal quick meal.

All I did was fry up some onions and garlic, add some low fat pasta sauce, basil and sweetcorn, then add the pre-soaked TVP and served it over wholewheat brown spaghetti. I dislike normal 'white' spaghetti, I don't think there's much to it, but wholewheat spaghetti is lovely! It tastes different to brown pasta and I think it really adds flavour to a dish. It's quite nutty and it also goes well with vegan pesto. My mother used to make Spaghetti Bolognaise with this type of spaghetti, so it really brings back childhood memories when I eat it.

 Sorry about the bad photo, it was very steamy and kept fuzzing up my lens! I only had a small portion (this is a side plate) as the boy needs a lot of food and I also wanted to save some for my dinner tomorrow as it's SO yummy! :)

Next week I plan on making some Burritos with this soya protein mince, some Old El Paso spice mix, sweetcorn, onions, peppers, guacamole & salsa - another dish the boyfriend loves!

Recent Challenges

Being a vegan isn't always easy, in fact one could say that it is often "difficult, difficult, lemon difficult". I've come across a few issues recently that I thought I'd write about. The first, being a milkshake bar that has opened in Dublin city centre.

Quite a few people have been getting excited about this new place on Dame Street. It is Dublin's first and only milkshake bar and it offers soya milk and soya ice cream alternatives on its menu. So yesterday I went into the bar with a friend who is doing an experiment for her end of year Journalism course - she went vegan for a week and blogged about it here: A History of Dieting. We queued for over 10 minutes to eventually be told "sorry, we ran out of soya milk, we'll definitely have some in tomorrow". I know of someone else who was told the same thing that day AND a couple of days previously. Since our visit I've heard of even more people being turned away on different days! I was pretty disappointed (and confused) at how a milkshake bar could run out of two rather important ingredients for such a long duration of time. Then the more I thought about it, the more I realised just how wrong going to a place like this was, for a vegan. Do I really want to patronise a company that makes most of its money from dairy milkshakes? Do I really want to give them my money and help them to thrive? There are only a couple of things on the menu vegans can choose from - peanut butter, bourbon biscuits and jelly tots being among the few. Absolutely everything else they stock is a vegan's nightmare: Oreos, Kit Kats, Kelloggs' Cereals, Galaxy, all manner of Dairy Milk chocolates, Nestlé products, Toblerones, Jaffa Cakes, Custard Creams, Wine Gums, Hersheys.... anything and everything we vegans choose to avoid! People have been telling me that I should feel "greatful" that this store is recognising the needs of vegans and the dairy intolerant amongst us. However, I beg to differ, seeing as most places you go to eat will have at least something edible on the menu, whether it is a salad or a veggie fry up, it doesn't mean we should feel so greatful that we should support these places! Just because MacDonalds have a veggie burger, fries, onion rings and an apple pie that vegans can eat, does that mean we should support them? Most vegans would feel uncomfortable purchasing something from a joint such as Maccy D's, and I find it equally disturbing supporting a bar that dishes out dairy products by the gallon every day. So I've come to the conclusion that I should probably avoid this place like the plague. I can make my own milkshakes at home, thank you very much, then I can know exactly what goes into them and also not waste my time or money getting to your store only to find out I can't even have anything!

My friend Orna and I came across another challenge while out at Dublin's "Africa Day" in the Iveagh Gardens on Sunday. We really wanted to try some authentic African food but they didn't seem to have any Ethiopean stalls - I tried some of this food from a stall out in Dun Laoghaire last year and it was totally vegan friendly and absolutely delish! So we located the stall which looked the most veggie/vegan friendly and on trying to ask what was in a certain item, we found the language barrier to be quite a hurdle. After asking the first time and getting "potato" as the answer, we tried to press the chef into elaborating a little further, upon where she just started shouting "POTATO! POTATO!" at us. There was quite a queue forming behind so we opted for some of this "potato" concoction and a plateful of spicy rice. It was very tasty, but I'm not at all sure if the potato dish was actually vegan. We couldn't quite work it out - it had a hint of cheese and the colour was yellowy, but it definitely didn't have the texture or consistency of cheese and the colour could easily have been from the sweet potato or the spices.

On talking to the daughter of a Nigerian friend today I mentioned what we'd had and she told me "oh that would be Pan da Diam" (apologies, but I have no idea how to spell this, therefore it was impossible to Google) and when I asked if it was made with cheese or dairy I got laughed at as if I was stupid. However, as we all know, just because some people think it's dairy free doesn't mean it is dairy free - they just don't think to check the label. Apparently it's made with some kind of powder, so it's possible that there could be cheese or milk in it, we just don't know! However, it was an enjoyable afternoon and it was nice to get to try some traditional food, experience a different culture and listen to some African music.

Another issue would be: Pets! Is it ok for a vegan to have a pet? I have kept dwarf hamsters for a while now and love them so much (my first dwarfie, Bump, is pictured above). I'd ideally love a dog or a cat, but at the moment our lifestyle just wouldn't suit owning a larger pet that requires more responsibility. Rescue animals are obviously the main choice for vegans wanting pets, but then questions such as whether to feed it a diet of meat or not are raised (no problem there with my vegan hammies!), and whether you should be the "owner" of an animal like it is an object.

I have no idea what to think about this as I originally went vegan for health reasons alone. I am relatively new to the whole ethical side of veganism. What does everyone else here think about animals as pets?

My Favourite Breakfast

Nothing better in the mornings than good old porridge oats with red berries, soya milk and xylitol sweetner. I could live off this stuff. Tastes like berry flapjacks and takes less than 2 mins to make - Perfect!