What We Ate Wednesday--Buckwheat Salad with Roasted Veg, Kale and Walnuts

Hello lovelies! This is a recipe I don't make very often.I don't know why. Every time we have it I am like, "This is amazing! Why don't we eat this more??"  It makes a huge amount--like 5 bowls worth of food. We ate it, had seconds and packed some away for lunches.

I am not sure where the original recipe came from. Definitely a cookbook I got from the library. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, perhaps? I adapted it to make it vegan as well as cheaper. So, basically I own it now.

Buckwheat is an underrated grain. Despite its name, there is no wheat in buckwheat. It's actually related to rhubarb. Who knew?

This is made with UNROASTED buckwheat groats not Kasha (ROASTED)  buckwheat groats. It cooks quickly and is hearty and filling.

The original recipe called for squash, but i always use my trusty sweet potatoes. It also required fennel which can be more expensive. If I can I get fennel, but if not I just do two white  onions with 1 TB fennel seeds. It's all good. It also needs Parmesan cheese. Luckily I have a vegan Parmesan which is to die for (to live for?) as dairy Parmesan cheese is not even vegetarian because of the method used to make it. Ever wondered how they turn milk into cheese? They use rennet. Not always, but often.

According to the Vegetarian Society website:

Rennet contains the enzyme chymosin. Rennet can be sourced from the abomasum (fourth stomach) of newly-born calves where the chymosin aids digestion and absorption of milk. Adult cows do not have this enzyme. Chymosin is extracted from slaughtered calves by washing and drying the stomach lining, which is cut into small pieces and macerated in a solution of boric acid/brine for 4-5 days.

Parmesan is always made with dead baby calves. But don't worry, I've got you covered.

Buckwheat Salad with Roasted Veg, Kale and Walnuts
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F

In a big roasting pan add:
2 chopped sweet potatoes
1 chopped fennel or 2 chopped white onions and 1 TB fennel seeds
1 pepper, chopped
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 TB oil
salt and pepper

Get ready but don't add it yet:
4 cloves garlic, crushed
50 grams/half a cup walnuts

Roast for 20 minutes, remove and stir. Add the garlic and walnuts and roast a further 10 minutes.

Make your Parmesan:

In a spice grinder or small food processor blend this until mixed and powdery.
3 TB nutritional yeast flakes (nooch!)
3 TB ground almonds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Meanwhile:
Cook your buckwheat according to package directions. Mine says:
1. Rinse in a sieve
2. Add 100 grams buckwheat to 200ml cold water and bring to the boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for 6 minutes then remove from heat and let stand until all water is absorbed.

Add to the buckwheat:
1/4 cup Parmesan
2 TB lemon juice

When the roasting is almost done:
In your largest pot:
Cook 100 grams of kale (4-5 handfuls) in a splash of water until bright green and reduced. Mix in your lemon-Parmesan buckwheat and your roasted vegetables.

We like to top with extra Parmesan. This dish is a great combination of sweet, salty, earthy and yum.

Tying myself in knots: Why Zero Waste is a myth (but why we still have to try)

Greetings and salutations, my eco-conscious friends.  Do you ever feel overwhelmed by it all?

Trying to be a good person in a world that largely doesn't give a shit is hard.

When you want to buy things there are so many things to consider:

Is it vegan? Does it contain animal ingredients?

Is it cruelty free? Was it tested on animals? 

Does it contain harsh chemicals that disrupt hormones or are used in antifreeze?

What sort of packaging does it come in? Is it reusable? Or recyclable? 

How much does it cost? 

This is why I make so many things like tooth powder, moisturiser, make up and deodorant because I can't find something that meets all the above criteria. 

If it's food you also have to think about things like:

Food miles

Packaging (again)

Is it vegan? (again...animal products can sneak into products in ways you don't expect)

How was it grown? Is it organic?

How much does it cost?  

The problem is we are on an immensely tight budget. This is the life we have chosen and are happy to do so. We work less and so have lots of time to do the things we love, spend time together, be in nature, rest, read, relax, create and enjoy life. But it comes at the price of having to watch our pennies. 

So for us cost is *always* a factor. When you add in all the other things it can feel really overwhelming. Do you buy the organic apples if they come from New Zealand? What if  the only organic apples come in a non-recyclable plastic bag? 

If you can even afford organic. But you can't NOT afford to! I hear people cry. Well, our food budget is £30 a week. We don't drive. We don't have a farmer's market nearby. 

I get so sick of watching smug videos of Zero Waste Gits--I mean Vloggers, showing off their tiny jar of the last two years worth of garbage and going on and on and on about the great farmer's market and buying all organic produce and then popping over the Bulk Bin shop and bringing their own containers and then spending a ruddy fortune on a toothbrush made from bamboo. Since they didn't know which kind of bamboo toothbrush they wanted, they ordered 5 different expensive kinds before settling on the perfect one. They just spent £30 on toothbrushes. That could feed us for a week.

We don't live in a market town anymore like we did in England. Without a car, the supermarket is our only choice for food. The nearest Bulk bin shop is in Pontardawe. That's 30 miles. 

I found a Zero Waste Starter Kit for sale online. You got trendy, matchy-matchy things like a glass water bottle, stainless steel reusable container, bamboo cutlery, cloth napkin, reusable ceramic coffee cup in an organic cotton bag for £55. 

FIFTY FIVE POUNDS, PEOPLE. 

It just makes you feel overwhelmed like a deer in the headlights. It makes you think:

This is impossible.

I can't afford this.

I'll never be able to get all my rubbish in a small jar.

I might as well give up.

Then I gave myself a good talking to and said:

You are the Amazing Spidergrrl. you can do this.

You are the Queen of DIY.

You love to research and find a bargain. See what you can reduce (like plastic packaging) and still stay under budget. 

You can make stuff. You can sew.

Be more gentle with yourself. Progress not perfection. 

You already do things like always have a water bottle and carry reusable bags. You probably already do more than you realise. 

Just take some baby steps and keep adding in good things to your journey. 

So, I started to alter my google searches. I searched for things like Zero Waste Cheap and Zero Waste Budget and I found a Vlogger called Leafeco. 

This woman speaks my language. She has a great video about setting up your own Zero Waste Kit with stuff you probably already had. Suddenly, all my worries melted away. I can do this. I may not get to a little jar, but I can make better choices and not go into debt. 

Watch her video here and get inspired. 

So, I have made myself a DIY Zero Waste Kit out of stuff I already had and sewed myself something new to wrap my cutlery in as I wanted to improve on my previous attempt at a portable cutlery wrap.

You see? I already had a portable cutlery wrap! I am doing better than I thought.  I'm thinking of making some to sell in my Etsy shop. 

I'll blog about my Zero Waste Kit next time. . 

DIY Brushing Your Teeth With "Dirt"

Hello lovelies! I have had several private messages from people politely asking, “When are you going to talk about tooth powder???”

So, your wish is my command.

We stopped using conventional toothpaste around the time we emigrated to the UK in 2004. 

We had become vegetarian (later transitioning to vegan) and were concerned about the ethical considerations of buying from companies that test on animals.

There is also a concern about the number of harsh chemicals in toothpaste such as sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) which is an industrial degreaser used as a foaming agent. SLS is a known skin irritant and can cause canker sores. Toothpastes also often contain propylene glycol which is component in antifreeze. 

I had also become increasingly concerned about fluoride.  I mean, you read the back of a tube of toothpaste and it says to call POISON CONTROL if you swallow too much.

HUFFINGTON POST reports that a Harvard study links fluoridated water with reduced IQ and brain damage. 

The facts are :
1. Fluoride is industrial waste from the fertiliser industry, specifically phosphate rock which is often contaminated with high levels of fluoride - as much as 40,000 parts per million, or up to 4% of the raw ore.  

2. Fluoride used to be released by smokestacks, but all cattle and food crops on nearby farms withered away and died due to Fluoride Poisoning.

3. Phosphate Mining Corporations then tried to get rid of excessive toxic fluoride chemicals by dumping them in rivers. This killed all the fish, because fluoride is a bio-hazard. It is now a violation of federal law to dump hexafluorosilicic acid or sodium silicofluoride into the water. To do so is considered an act of terrorism unless that water is used for water fluoridation. Because it is somehow acceptable to poison people under the guise of "trying to prevent cavities."  

Dude, I don’t want to poison myself.

For many years we used fluoride free toothpaste we bought at a Health Food Shop. We really liked it, but it cost like £5 a tube. Five Quid a tube, people!

Two years ago, I started a more holistic solutions to cleaning our teeth. Bicarbonate of soda is a natural ingredient you often find in toothpaste, so I thought, "why not just avoid all the harmful chemicals and make some healthy tooth powder?" 

Bicarbonate of soda is antimicrobial, whitens teeth and makes your mouth more alkaline (the more acidic your mouth, the more chance of tooth decay.) Salt is also an ingredient that can improve oral health and even heal ulcers. Himalayan Pink Mineral Salt is a good choice as it is thought that the high mineral count can help with remineralisation of teeth. (I buy mine at Tiger.) Peppermint essential oil provides a pleasant, fresh taste to your tooth powder.  If you do find it too salty you can add some xylitol (just make sure it is from a birch source rather than corn to avoid GMOs.)

Basic tooth powder recipe:

3 Tablespoons food grade bicarbonate of soda (the sort you would put in a cake)

¼ tsp Himalayan pink sea salt (or other natural sea salt)

10-20 drops peppermint essential oil

Store in a small airtight container. To use: wet your toothbrush and dip it in the tooth powder and brush as normal. It may feel strange in the beginning if you are used to a toothpaste that foams.

Last year, I saw an interesting post about a homemade toothpaste on the blog DON'T WASTE THE CRUMBS. She even has a post about how using a homemade toothpaste HEALED HER HUSBAND'S GUM DISEASE 

                             

The star ingredient is bentonite clay. This clay is known to have an abundance of minerals, including calcium, magnesium, silica, sodium, copper, iron, and potassium. that support oral health as well as the fact that it is negatively ionically charged and binds to toxins and heavy metals in your body when in contact with water so that you can spit them away after brushing. It is important to NEVER use metal measuring implements with bentonite clay or it will reverse the negative ion charge rendering it useless.

Remineralising Tooth Powder recipe:

2 Tablespoons bentonite clay

1 Tablespoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp Himalayan Pink Mineral Salt

10-20 drops peppermint oil

It is recommended to store this particular tooth powder in a glass container. Remember it must not come into contact with metal, so don’t choose a container with a metal lid. Top tip: A small glass spice jar is perfect for this. I bought mine at Tiger.

Glycerine, which is non-harmful  (I use it in my DIY Jizz Face wash) is very slippery and is an ingredient found in nearly every toothpaste, whether regular or the sort you buy in a Health Food Shop. Glycerine coats the teeth and can prevent remineralisation. This tooth powder is glycerine free. It travels well as you don’t have to worry about it spilling or dripping as it is powder form. I store it in glass at home and plastic for travel. But never metal! (sorry to remind you, but it is important!)

We are *in love* with this tooth powder. Your teeth feel so CLEAN after brushing. Squeaky clean. Seriously, after you brush rub your finger over your teeth and it makes an “EEeeEEeeEEee” sound! 

We really like it the way it is without sweetener. But if you are just transitioning from artificially sweetened toothpaste, feel free to add a bit of xylitol (but be warned, it is kind of expensive.)

So, your next question is bound to be How much does bentonite clay cost? We bought THIS ONE from Amazon and we still have about half a container left, even after a year. Perhaps you could get it cheaper, but this was the one that so many DIY blogs recommended. 

If you are new to the natural scene or the DIY scene, start with the bicarbonate of soda one before you invest in the bentonite clay. 

I bet you will find that you never go back.

DIY--Soapy Stuff

I do a lot of DIY.

That's Do It Yourself, in case you don't know.

Not building stuff. Although I am a dab hand with the power saw.

No, the DIY I do is making natural, cruelty free, animal free personal care products.

I have been meaning to blog about this for ages. I have been making my own tooth powder and deodorant for a year or so. I have had friends over to the flat to make their own tooth powder and deodorant.

But I have become more and more sensitive to chemicals over the years. Everything (even the natural products) seem to smell like a French whorehouse. No offence to French people or prostitutes.

And when you want to buy the natural (albeit smelly) cruelty free personal products, you have to buy them from a Health Food Shop and they cost an absolute FORTUNE.

You've got to sell a kidney just to buy a bottle of body wash.

So this year, for 2018, I have vowed to replace as many of our products with homemade ones as I can.

I was planning to blog about the deodorant and tooth powder, but I have found a soap that has been a game changer for me and set me off on making my own face wash and body wash, so I am beginning here.

For years, I heard about how amazing Castile soap is. It;s natural, animal free and super gentle. The most famous brand is Dr Bronner's but it costs £13.99 for 946 ml from Amazon. I cannot afford that even if it is great.

But then I found this at Wilko.

Wilko's website has this to say:

Wilko Liquid Soapflakes contain only pure soap with no additives or fragrances, making them a great choice for those with sensitive skin. They don't contain any animal products and have never been tested on animals, making them suitable for vegans. The soap comes from coconut and sunflower oil and is palm oil free. 

And it costs £3 for 750 ml. 

Supposedly, Dri-Pak makes some with what looks like an identical formula, but this was the one I found. 

So I started researching recipes online. 

I had previously been washing my face with olive oil, which was good but not perfect. I found THIS recipe and have been using it successfully. The recipe calls for 15-20 drops essential oils, but I didn't want anything smelly near my face. 

The recipe also calls for distilled water, which I can't find here. Yes, with water you risk bacterial growth, but i feel if you make this small amount and use it up within three months you should be fine. 

The recipe also calls for vegetable glycerine. I have some which I ordered online, but have found some in the past at Boots by the cough syrup. In the US i used to buy it on the soapmaking aisle of Hobby Lobby. Make sure it says VEGETABLE glycerine (spelled without the final e in the US) or it might be animal derived. 

This is AMAZING. My skin feels clean and soft. It takes off makeup. It is gentle. It makes a lovely, creamy white liquid which ....and there's no polite way to say this.....looks and feels a bit like semen. But don't let that put you off. 

Jizz Face Wash

Blend in a food processor or blender until a creamy liquid forms.

1/2 cup olive oil

2 TB liquid soap (like the one above or Dr Bronner's)

2 TB vegetable glycerine

2 TB water (distilled if you can get it, boiled and cooled if you can't)

Put it in a small spray bottle or a small pump bottle. Using a funnel will help you get in in the bottle and not all over the counter. Learn from my experience, people. Use a funnel. Give it a little swirl before you use it as it may have separated. 

If you'd like, follow it up with a toner made from equal parts apple cider vinegar and water (plus a little extra splash of water). 

I was so buoyed up by my face wash, that i started to research a body wash recipe. I came across THIS recipe which contained all things I already owned. I had an empty shampoo bottle to put it in. I decided to give it a go and I have been really pleased. 

I don't mind a bit of lavender essential oil in the body wash because I can control how much to use. 

Again, this recipe calls for distilled water, if you can find it--great. If not, use this within three months.

This recipe also calls for aloe vera gel. I buy it at Holland and Barrett when they have their Penny Sale so you can buy one and get the second for 1p. 

It is not tested on animals and has a short ingredient list. Plus it isn't green. Why do some companies add green dye to aloe vera gel??? It should be clear. This one is clear.

Amazing Body Wash
In a bowl, carefully whisk all the ingredients starting with the aloe vera.
1/4 cup aloe vera gel
1/2 cup water (distilled if you can get it, boiled and cooled if you can't)
1 TB olive oil
1/2 cup liquid soap (as above or Dr Bronner's)
Up to 25 drops essential oil

Careful when you get to the soap, whisk slowly so it doesn't foam up excessively. Then decant into an empty squeezy bottle using a funnel.

Give it a shake before you use it in case it separates. I find you need to use a little bit more than commercial body wash when you squirt it on your puff. But it works and it feels amazing on my sensitive skin.

I follow it up with body oil made from half almond oil and half sunflower oil and a few drops of lavender oil. I store it in a small dark coloured spray bottle.

My spray bottle looks like this but is black not clear. I got it from B & M Bargains for £1. I use the same style bottle for my Jizz face wash.

That's my handmade soapy things. If you give them a try, let me know. I'll blog soon about the tooth powder and deodorant. 

What We Ate Wednesday--Keeping Salad Fresh

Hello lovelies! Today is not so much a recipe as a "how to."

Waste Aware says that the UK throws away 40% of bagged salad (that's a shocking 178 million bags a year!) because it goes off before you can use it. Don't waste food or money. Try this to keep your salad fresh.

It's summer. The weather is heating up and I am craving salad. There is something lovely about  eating a delicious salad of crunchy lettuce and crispy vegetables that makes you feel healthy and happy and slightly smug.
                     

I am also working many days and longer hours in the shop as it is summer and so i need a "grab and go" sort of plan so i don't have to wake up a half and hour early just to assemble my lunch. Ya dig?

Also, I am obsessed with not wasting food. Not only is it a waste of money to throw away food, but it is a waste of food. That's food I could have put in my belly if it hadn't gone off.

So what I needed was a way to pre-prepare a big ole bunch of salad and not let it go off. So i did what every modern person does these days--I googled it.
                                                        
Basically, what i discovered was that you need to absorb all excess moisture to keep salad fresh. Every single site I visited used paper towels. Lots and lots of paper towels. Because you have to change the paper towels every day.

Now, we don't really use paper towels. I am a cloth kind of gal. We use cloth napkins and tea towels and yellow dusters and microfibre cloths because you can wash and reuse them. I do have a 4 roll pack of paper towels that i use VERY sparingly for wiping up bird poo from my front door/gate and blotting the oil from sundried tomatoes (not with the same paper towel, obviously!) That 4 pack of paper towels will last me a year. The last thing i want to do is use it up quicker.

I will admit, I did try it with paper towels the first day based on recommendations from the internet that said you need a paper towel ON TOP and UNDER the salad. The paper towel on top was not problem, It was damp the next day and i carefully peeled it away and hung it to dry to be reused. But the paper towel under was a completely different story. It had basically dissolved from all the moisture and I couldn't get to it without removing all the salad into another container and then I spent 40 minutes picking little spitballs of paper towel out of my lettuce. It was like being back in junior high again. Who has time for that?

So I went with what I should have gone with all along--my trusty tea towel.

Now I have a British fridge not an American style fridge. If you have a bigger fridge you can use a bigger container. But this is the biggest my wee fridge will hold.

I use a 4 litre plastic Rubbermaid style container with a lid that I bought at Wilkos. I line it with a clean tea towel like this:

Then I fill it with salad. This next picture was taken about half way through the week so the box isn't full, but just picture it full to the brim with salady goodness, ok? 

We are still on a budget so i have to incorporate my need for greens within our £30 spending limit. I buy a bag of Meadow Fresh Sweet and Crunchy salad greens from Lidl that nets me 370g for less than £1. That contains lettuce, a bit of purple cabbage and some carrot slivers.
                                                 
However, I am a carrot fiend. It is my personal believe that there can't be too many carrots in a salad.
                                                     

It would be easier and quicker to buy this bag of 200g pre-prepared carrot slivers for 60p, but I am on a budget. Every 60p counts, plus you have an extra plastic bag to throw away. And when I can buy a bag of a whole kilogram of carrots from Lidl for around 60p, the choice is clear. It takes me literally 5 minutes to cut up 200g worth of carrots into slivers. 5 minutes. I timed it.

So then I add a chopped pepper (usually the dreaded green one) and some chopped mushrooms, then I wrap the towel up around it and seal the lid and pop it in the fridge for grab-and -go salads.

Every day I lift  the bundle of salad out and replace the towel with a clean one. Then carefully dump all the salad from the damp towel into the box with the dry towel, scoop out my daily salad, put the lid back on and pop it back in the fridge. Here's what it looks like wrapped up (in a different tea towel):

It is super easy to do this, takes seconds and the salad stays crisp and dry for 7 days. Seven days, people! It is so much better than throwing away paper towels and you get the moisture from the bottom without the dreaded spitball effect of paper towels.

 I reuse the same 2 towels over a week, letting them dry out on their off days and then wash them both at the end of the week.

I have been doing this for about a month and have had no wilted greens and definitely no SLIME. You know what i mean when lettuce goes all YUCK.

I will admit that by day seven, the greens are just a tad softer than at the start of the week. They don't say CRUNCH, but they do say CRUNCH, if you know what I mean.

I like to top my salad with some roasted salted peanuts for extra crunch and a tablespoon of my homemade vegan Parmesan. I try salad dressings, but always come back to this one. It is easier to take to work as i don't have to carry dressing in a separate container or worry about leakage. Just sprinkle and go.

In case you have forgotten my recipe for Parm:
6 TB nutritional yeast flakes
6 TB ground almonds
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
Blend together and store in fridge.

Happy eating!

Rosemary for Remembrance (and other things)-Part 2

I go back and forth about deodorant.

I don't mean I go back and forth about wearing it.

I mean, I go back and forth about making it.

Many times over the years i have become fed up with commercial deodorants that contain  harsh chemicals and ingredients that may contribute to illness like breast cancer or Alzheimer's. I get worried that it has been tested on animals because they are owned by a company like Unilever.

So I start to buy the sort you can only buy in a health food shop that aren't tested on animals and have slightly less bad ingredients, but cost an arm and a leg. But they don't really work.

So i go back to buying cheaper commercially made deodorant that has the leaping bunny symbol, but stinks like a French Whorehouse. I wasn't too cut up that they discontinued it.

So i try my hand at make something.

Some were successes. The aloe vera gel, witch hazel and lavender oil one worked alright, but was really sloppy and difficult to put on. The gooey-ness seemed to cling in my pits for ages.

The coconut oil, baking soda and cornstarch one made my pits turn red like they were on fire after about a week.

So the cycle goes around again and I start to use a commercial one full of chemicals and I am unhappy.

So....when i was making up the rosemary vinegar for cleaning I wondered if you could infuse rosemary into something else and make deodorant?

I saw several testimonials from people who used half a lemon or lime rubbed into their pit and the acid killed the germs. But I don't have money to throw away by using half a fruit every single day.

I found lots of recipes that just used neat vodka as the alcohol killed germs. I thought about buying the cheapest vodka I could get and infusing the rosemary in that, but then i had a thought.

What if I just used the rosemary vinegar? 

If it didn't work, I haven't wasted anything because I already have it made and if I don't like it, it can go for cleaning.

I needed something to put it in and I wasn't sure if I wanted to use essential oils or not to give it a boost. If I did want to use essential oils then i would need a dark glass container as essentials oils degrade in plastic as well as in light.

I priced a bottle like this and found it out of my range.


So i bought one of these at Wilkinsons for 60p. You are meant to put vinegar in it as vinegar is a table condiment here in the UK like salt and pepper. Salt and vinegar chips....mmmmmm....

Then I covered it with layers of a purple-y blue tissue paper and lots of watered down white PVA glue to seal it and hot glued a bead over the little hole in the lid.

I used 1/3 cup rosemary vinegar and 1 Tablespoon witch hazel which is a pore tightener and helps reduce sweating. I might up it to 2 Tablespoons in the summer if I need it.

But so far....it works. I use the same cotton ball I use to apply toner to my face since the toner is just watered down apple cider vinegar. I just rub a bit under my arms and let it dry while I finish getting ready and then swipe on a second layer to dry before I leave the bathroom. Yes, i am sure if you shave your pits then it might sting, but since I don't shave this is not a problem for me.

It smells good. I ended up not adding any essential oils as I liked the rosemary smell and I haven't needed any extra oomph. Maybe I will in the summer. Who knows.

It passes the sniff test. Spiderman has been kind enough to be the chief sniffer and has detected zero offensive smells or any smells at all. I smell completely neutral.

Not like a French whorehouse.
Not like a chemistry class.
Not even like rosemary vinegar as the smell evaporates.

I just smell clean.

Is this too weird? Maybe. But it works and I am not being poisoned or spending all our money either.

Would you try it?

The newest way to kill yourself (and the animals and the planet)

The World Health Association (WHO) announced last week that red meat and processed meat (things like bacon, sausage and hotdogs) are a carcinogen in the same category as alcohol, smoking, asbestos and plutonium. 

A carcinogen. That means causes cancer. That's scary stuff.

Bowel cancer is on the rise and people who eat 50g of meat a day (less than 2 strips of bacon) have an 18% higher risk of developing bowel cancer.

The WHO rank meat in their top category which should say something. But will it? I have heard more and more people say things like, "Well you have to die of something." I seriously don't understand this way of thinking.

Welsh for No Smoking

Smoking in all enclosed public places  has been illegal in the UK since around 2007. This is great for asthmatics like me who don't want to be breathing all your dirty smoke, thank you very much. Another law has been passed recently that it is illegal to smoke in a car if children are present because we know the dangers of second hand smoke. But is it illegal to give your child a bacon sandwich or sausage roll?

Maybe it should be.

Meat just is bad for everyone concerned. it is bad for your health--full of fat, cholesterol and hormones. Don't get me started on people who would rather take a dozen pills for illnesses like high cholesterol rather than change their diet. A diet free from animal products can reverse many major diseases including diabetes. FACT. Why would anyone knowingly put something that causes cancer into their body?

It is the same for dairy. There is a strong link between dairy consumption and breast cancer. Why would any woman continue to consume it, particularly if she has a family history of breast cancer? I will tell you why. We have been brainwashed all of our lives by the Dairy Industry to believe that we *need* dairy to get calcium--when in fact dairy does the opposite if we have a diet high in salt. It actually leaches calcium from your bones.

Sad but true.

And where do we get most of the salt in our diets? From processed meats.

it has been established that meat is bad for your health. It is also colossally bad for the environment. Animal agriculture contributes more to green house gases than the aviation industry or all the cars on the road. So for all those people who religiously plant trees to offset their carbon footprint from travel--you'd be better off giving up meat.

We bring over 2 billion animals into this world EACH YEAR with the sole purpose of taking their lives--often when still a baby. Clearly if the demand for meat went down because people were concerned about their health or the environment then of course the animals would be thankful.

click to see it bigger

I am a vegan for these reasons--for the animals, for my planet and for myself. Now with overwelming evidence from the WHO I hope others will make the connection too.

Think of yourself, Think of our mother the Earth. Think of compassion.

Make the connection.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

We can all agree that plastic bags are evil, right? They are not biodegradable and can remain in landfills for hundreds if not thousands of years. They litter our landscapes.  They find their way into our oceans and are swallowed by animals such as turtles who die a slow and painful death as it prevents them from eating. But there is a solution, right?

BYOB. Bring your own bag. Simple as that. You can have a string bag or a heavy duty bag for life from your local shop or a jute bag or a beautiful bag up-cycled from a pair of old curtains (my personal favourite) --the point is JUST BRING A BAG.

How about charging 5p per plastic bag as an incentive to bring your own?

I am proud to say that Wales was the first country in the UK to do so. We have been charging 5p per plastic bag since 2011, thank you very much.  And what was the result? a 71% drop in plastic bag usage in the first year alone.

Northern Ireland and Scotland followed suit in 2013 and 2014, respectively. And what happened? The same as Wales. They saw a significant drop in plastic bag usage.

So what in the hell has happened to the people of England?

They've gone mad, the lot of them.

A month ago I was working in the shop when a holiday-maker from England regaled me of her outrage that a shop dared to try and swindle her out of 5p for a bag. When I asked if she would like a bag for her purchase she said:

Her: Are you going to charge me for it?"
Me:  We use environmentally friendly paper bags and so we don't need to charge.
Her: Well I was just at Debenhams and I was buying a pair of shoes for £45 and they had the *nerve* to expect me to pay 5p for a bag. (by now she was practically foaming at the mouth like a mad dog and shouting much to her husband's embarrassment) I told them that I wasn't going to pay 5p on top of £45 so they could get stuffed. I wanted a refund immediately for the shoes. 
Me: So you didn't buy the shoes?
Her: Hell no! They weren't going to swindle me out of 5p. How dare they! 
Me: (thinking) Don't go mad--whoops, too late.

I tried to explain that it was the law here, but she was having none of it. I thought it was a one-off crazy reaction, but apparently not.

October saw the 5p plastic bag charge hit England and the shit hit the fan. People went mental. They didn't care that the number of plastic bags at the 7 major supermarkets rose by 200 million in 2014 exceeding the previous year's unbelievable figure of  7.6 billion bags. This is equal to 140 bags per person  or 61,000 tonnes of waste. 

They didn't care. They just weren't going to part with their 5p.

Now instead of making people outraged about the 5p charge and spurring it on to bring their own, it had the opposite effect.

People stole trolleys.
People got banned from shops for effing and blinding and swearing over paying for a bag.
People were stealing bags by the handful and now some shops have had to electronically tag their plastic bags and trolleys.
People got into a fist fight with shop security in a car park when trying to make off with a trolley.

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11926042/Eight-incidents-that-prove-the-English-public-have-lost-their-minds-over-the-carrier-bag-charge.html

Seriously? This is England? Losing their mind over 5p? You would spend more than that on a lottery ticket and a packet of fags (cigarettes to my American peeps) but you won't spend 5p on a bag because you can't be arsed to bring your own bag.

I am *so* glad I live in Wales where things are more civilized.

Grow up England and stop being such a  titty-baby.

Now that's the best tasting pickle I ever heard

Do you remember those telly adverts about Vlasic Pickles?

I have been craving pickles lately. Seriously craving.

If hadn't had the horrible hysterectomy I might have thought I was pregnant.

I haven't had pickles since we lived the U.S. I am fond of only one sort of particular pickle. Not too sweet. Not too sour. The Goldilocks of pickles. The Sweet Dill. 

This was the preferred pickle of my childhood. They can be pretty hard to come by over across the pond.

Besides, they are referred to as gherkins here as pickle is something *completely* different here. Think pickle relish but with veg like carrot, swede and cauliflower mixed in. Blech.

I like the word gherkin because it rhyme with firkin (a container for holding liquids, traditionally beer)

Or jerkin (a type of old fashioned clothing)

or merkin ( a pubic wig)

We found some sweet dill pickles at Lidl for 65p a jar and they really hit the spot. Also the sweet  part is made from sugar not high fructose corn syrup. When we last visited the U.S. we tried to buy pickles and they were all made with HFCS so we didn't buy any.

Somehow I have really been craving that vinegary dill flavour and so it was natural that I fell in love with this recipe for Ranch flavoured hummus.

Plus it really does taste like cool ranch doritos. 

I cannot get enough of this stuff. It makes a huge batch and so I freeze half and defrost overnight in the fridge when the first batch is eaten and it seems to suffer no ill effects of having been frozen.

My attempts at homemade hummus always end up a bit dry and pasty. maybe it is due to the tahini (no offence tahini, I love you but you are glopping up my homemade hummus) but this recipe has no tahini and therefore has no glops.

Thanks to the amazing Chocolate Covered Katie for inventing this recipe:
www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2015/05/28/cool-ranch-hummus/

it is great on a sandwich or in a little gem lettuce leaf or on the scoopy end of a spoon.

Are you mad for pickles? Do you prefer the word gherkin? What do you crave?

There is nuffin' like a muffin

I have always been more of a cake baker, but truth be told--I love me a muffin. Or a cupcake. What is the difference? Size? Sweetness? Healthiness? Frosting?


I dunno. But I like 'em.


They are handheld. They have a cute little shape. They are portion controlled. What's not to like?


Well....muffin pans for a start.

I went through a faze where I wanted all silicone bakeware. It was supposed to be non-stick and flexible to get your food out. yeah...but it also was a pain in the arse to deal with. The cake pans were so floppy that you needed to put them on a cookie sheet just to get them in and out of the oven and they never cooked properly. The baked goods were as rubbery as the pan. I had muffin tins as well and they were just as horrible. The few times I tried to make muffins they stuck horribly to the pan and ended up with a weird rubbery smell.


Epic/fail.


So they were eventually consigned to a charity shop in the hopes that some one else might want them.


But recently, I have invested in a metal loaf pan from Poundland of all places. I love that pan. We have had many super-duper-always-comes-out-right breads and cakes with that £1 loaf pan.


So when I saw some interesting recipes that needed a muffin tin I thought it was time to reinvest. This time in a metal one. Because metal pan actually cook the food.


I tried Poundland and the 99p Shop (weirdly both owned by the same company!) with no luck. Eventually after some price comparisons  I bought a 12 muffin pan (not two 6 muffin pans) from Wilkinsons for £4. I could have paid more for a non-stick one made with Teflon but there are lots of health indications with using Teflon such as the fact that fumes from heated up Teflon can be deadly to birds. So I just got a plain ole metal one that I would either need to grease or line with paper muffin cases.

My first try was some fat free chocolate and cranberry muffins from Happy Herbivore.  http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/ruby-chocolate-muffins/ They were ok. I chose them as I had some frozen cranberries left from Christmas in the freezer that needed to be used up. The recipe called for apple sauce and so I tried pureeing a couple apples with some water in my blender. It was ok, next time will probably use soy yogurt I just didn't have any on hand at the moment.


There was one little itty bitty problem, however. I tried to use some muffin cases that someone had given me at Christmas and they stuck to the muffin. Are you supposed to grease them? If so, then what is the point of the paper????????


Really stuck. It got to the point where I just thought "Well. a little paper is just some extra fibre"  and ate them anyway. But after flossing a bit of paper out from between my teeth I just decided to do it the old fashioned way.


Oil.


I am not oil phobic. I don't think too much is healthy, but a little is good for keeping your joints lubricated. Most of my baked goods have some oil and some yogurt for moisture.


And boy did a little dab o' oil do the trick. Since then I have made two muffin sized dishes--one sweet and one savoury.


Hummingbird Cupcakes and mini chickpea batter quiches! Whoa mama, these were both amazing. Despite the heat (it is getting a tad warm to be using the oven over here without air conditioning) these were definitely worth it.


Stay tuned tomorrow for the recipes!

The circle of peanut butter

Growing up I was a JIF peanut butter girl all the way. After all the adverts said “Choosy mothers choose Jif.” My dad and I were big PB eaters. My mum not so much. He and I liked to eat the Elvis sandwich--peanut butter, bananas and greasy microwave bacon (I know….but it was the 80s before we knew better) and he loved to eat peanut butter, mayonnaise and pickle a.k.a. the PPM (Peter, Paul and Mary)

Yeah, I drew the line on that one. Blech.

But we *always* ate Jif.

In 1990, when Spiderman and I went on the life changing LC/MC overseas experience where we were exchange students we ate a bought lunch every day (often McDonalds I am sad to say, but it was cheap) and then had PB&J sandwiches and a piece of fruit and a chocolate bar for our evening meal. The only kind of peanut butter we could find was “natural” where the oil separated to the top. Every bloomin’ night we had to stir that oil back in and every night I cursed and swore and cried out for the comforts of Jif where it was smooth and creamy and never oily on the top. This natural PB was all gritty and did not spread like Jif.

I *hated* it.

I went home from that trip and resumed my old ways. I never bothered to look at the ingredients as I didn’t care much about nutrition back then. I only cared about if it tasted good.

Fast forward to 2004. We immigrated to the UK and were new vegetarians. I was just beginning to notice the effects of healthy foods on my body. I was overweight and had lots of health issues like fatigue and joint pain. Nutritional eating was helping me to lose weight and I could feel aches and pains that I had all my life going away. Living in the UK you couldn’t buy many American brands back then so we started buying more natural PB.

And you know what? I liked it. We started buying  brands that were “whole peanuts roasted in their skins” and it gave a real depth of flavour, a richness to the peanut butter. Then we became concerned about the devastating effects of palm oil production on the habitats of Orang-utans and we stopped buying brands with palm oil.

We started buying Meridian brand PB which has one ingredient--peanuts. Seriously that is it. Yes, it has oil on top but if you leave it upside down a few days before you open it it is *much* easier to re-mix the oil. It tastes really good and I buy 1kg at a time for £5.99 and when Holland and Barrett has a buy-one-get-one-half-price sale, we stock up. I also just read that it is made in North Wales--woohoo! 

Recently, when our friends came to stay at Easter they brought some Jif so we could make PB&J sammiches for our picnics and I was shocked at the ingredients. Sugar is the second ingredient and it is two kinds of fully hydrogenated oil. I know fully hydrogenated oil is better than partially hydrogenated oil, but just the word hydrogenated gives me the shivers. At least it didn’t have High Fructose Corn Syrup.

But we tried it as it was open from making sammiches and I can’t bear food to go to waste. It is technically vegan so we are determined to finish it. But the weird thing is….I kinda like it.

It is sooooooo smooth and creamy and spreadable and it doesn’t feel oily despite the fully hydrogenated oil. But it lacks a depth a depth of flavour. It is like eating peanut flavoured Crisco (Or Trex to my British peeps) and I am surprised how much I still like it.

I won’t buy anymore after the jar is finished as I think nutritionally speaking and taste wise the natural PB is miles better.

But I think I will miss not having to stir in all that oil every time. 

Sneaky Pizza

I love to sneak healthy stuff into my food. Does that even make sense? We already eat an incredibly healthy diet--a whole food diet, a real food diet, a vegan diet--but there is always room for a bit of extra nutrition. Mission nutrition means that we add an extra dose of healthy to our already healthy diet. So if you are out there and wish you could add a bit more of the good stuff into your diet (or need to sneak some vegetables into your picky eating  toddler or spouse’s food) then this is the pizza crust for you.

 

You heard me…pizza crust just got healthier.

 In the Spider household, we are pizza fiends. Ever since I bought that cookbook by Julie Hasson called Vegan Pizza we regularly have pizza. Mmm…pizza. As I have a wheat intolerance I chose it’s lower in gluten cousin spelt flour for our flour of choice and saved my gluten free flours for other baking treats. We choose wholemeal spelt because it happened to be cheaper and is definitely healthier than plain ole white spelt (or any white flour for that matter) but for this recipe regular wholemeal wheat flour would work.

 I got the idea from this blog: (Never) Homemaker. http://www.neverhomemaker.com/2011/08/yet-another-perfect-pizza-crust.html  They use pureed veg as part of the liquid substitute in their crust. They started off with canned pumpkin puree which I am sure was dynamite but we can’t find pumpkin puree in a tin other than Libby’s brand which is owned by Nestle (Or Nasty as I like to call them. Go here if you want to read about the questionable ethics of Nestle  http://spidergrrlvstheworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/nestle-is-nasty.html) Yeah, I know you could gut a pumpkin and roast it or steam it or whatever but who has that kind of time? I wanted something quick. Bish, bash, bosh. Done.

 

This recipe calls for pureed chickpeas and carrots as part of your liquid substitution. So you get a protein and veg boost in your crust. Also it has the added bonus of making the crust moist and chewy as opposed to heavy and dry as wholemeal baking can sometimes be.

 

First open a tin of chickpeas and a tin of carrots and drain them and rinse well. Again if you have the time you could steam your own carrots but I am going for quickness and cheapness. A tin of East End chickpeas sells for about 37p and a tin of carrots about 19p.

 

Then blend them all in a food processor. If you are like me and your food processor died and went to Silicone Heaven, they puree up very well using an immersion blender and some ingenuity. Now you have a beautiful orange puree. Next divide in half. Did I forget to mention that the puree makes enough for four pizzas???? Their recipe said it made two 1 cup portions. My tin of carrots is a little small so it makes two ¾ cup portions. Whatever. Still works. Save one half for this batch and then store the other half in the fridge if planning to make more pizzas in a few days or do like I do and freeze the other half. Then defrost overnight in the fridge and take it out a few hours before you want it to come to room temperature. Easy peasy. 

 

Their directions were more standard where you mix the yeast with the water and let it froth and then mix it into your flour.

 

I do it the lazy way and it has never failed me. Three cheers for the lazy way! 

 Sneaky Pizza crust

 3 cups wholemeal flour (or 3 and ¼ cups if using wholemeal spelt)

1 packet instant yeast

1 heaping teaspoon sugar

1 tsp (sea) salt

¾ to 1 cup sneaky orange puree

1 and ¼ cups (plus a bit more?) quite hand hot tap water (about 110 degrees)  

 

Put your flour in a bowl. I don’t even bother to sift. Lazy way strikes again.

 

Sprinkle over the sugar salt and yeast but don’t stir it yet.

 

Mix the orange puree in a pyrex cup or small bowl and add your hot tap water. I let my tap water get as hot as it gets for this. About 110 to 120 degrees. I checked it obsessively with a thermometer the first few times but now just let my tap water get hot.

 

Mix the wet into the dry and stir until combined (you may have to add a few more slops of hot water) and then knead a bit with your hands--maybe 5-10 scrunches. Then cover the bowl with Clingfilm and let it rise for 3 hours or so in a warm place. We pop it on a small heat mat made for the spiders.

 

Then when it has risen, divide in two (I weigh it but you can just eyeball it.) Then you can roll one out now and make the pizza or do as I do and wrap in Clingfilm (re-use the Clingfilm that you used to cover the bowl for one of them) and then pop in a ziplock bag and into the freezer. Defrost in the fridge overnight before you want it and then on the counter for a few hours before the meal.

 To bake:

Preheat oven to 250C/500F

Roll out the dough and bake for 5 minutes then add half a cup of sauce and toppings of your choice and bake for another 10-12 minutes. Then let it rest for 5 minutes (if you can stand it) and slice and eat.

 

Literally it is that easy.

 

Here’s one I made earlier:

It has a smoky cream sauce made from cashews, nutritional yeast, liquid smoke and *love* plus caramelised onions and mushrooms and chestnuts. I got a load of chestnuts for pennies around Christmas time and we are still reaping the benefits. I only used half the pack so we will have chestnut risotto soon to use up the rest. Two meals from one packet--bonus!

 

This crust is delicious and healthy with the wholemeal flour, chickpeas and carrots.

 

Go and make it now, dude!

Really and truly?

Have you ever read something and thought, "Is this for real?"

Something that seems so dated and backwards--you can't decide if it is a parody or truthful. There was a document roaming the internet a few years back that was supposed to be a Victorian sex manual giving advice to the wife ("Give little, give seldom and above all give grudgingly") which I believe was proven to be a fake. Read the whole text here: http://www.squaredancecd.com/Bride/brides.htm

Recently my Mum sent me this: Advice from a 1949 Singer Sewing Manual.


Is it true? Is it real? I can't be sure. Possibly as it is 1949. What do you think?

What I can say is that the following pictures are REAL. How can I say it with such confidence? Because they happened to me. Yes, when I was in the sixth grade I went to Christian Charm School. To be fair, I was sort of tricked into it. My glamorous aunt invited me to come and spend a week with her in Texas and go to a week long workshop to teach you about hair and make-up. Or so she said. It turned out to be a workshop about hair and make-up and Jesus and how to attract a HUSBAND.

Seriously. I was eleven years old. I didn't want a boyfriend at that age let alone be thinking ahead to a husband. Yuck.....seriously boys still had cooties  for me at this age.

Here are some pages from Emily Hunter's Christian Charm Course.

I failed on the walk gracefully bit as I tended to do a lot of hopping and twirling when I walk. Actually I still hop and twirl quite a bit. I do not glide smoothly as the instructions above told me to. As Spiderman says, "People walk. Daleks glide" and I can safely say I am not a emotionless killing machine from outer space.  And as for the pretty sitting posture--it makes me feet go to sleep.

I think this page says it all. How feminine are you?


I was constantly being told off for laughing too loudly and for boisterous rowdiness. We were encouraged to hide our intellect and mould our opinions to the man in our life because no man wants a wife that is smarter than he is. Because I could not seem to supress any of the above behaviours I was actually told by the pastor in a fatherly voice, "If you continue on in this manner then no man is ever going to marry you."

How did I survive this and grow up to be the relatively normal and sane person you see before you, I hear you cry?

Well...by failing. I actually was the only one in the group who wasn't allowed to graduate. I got a certificate for participation but I wasn't allowed to walk across the stage and shake the pastor's hand. My aunt was mortified but my parents were *so* proud when I told them.

And I am happy to say the pastor was wrong. Spiderman and I just celebrated 26 years since our first date last month.

But how do these antiquated attitudes damage young girls? With all the stress on your outer appearance not inner beauty and hiding your light under a bushel I don't feel it really jives with the Bible's message.

This course is still being taught today--you can buy it on Amazon.

I had liberal parents who taught me to think for myself but what about all those young girls who don't have parents to protect them?