Tofu Tuesday! Chocolate Pudding!

It’s ‘Tofu Tuesday’ again and today I have a yummy recipe for you all. I blended this pudding together as an experiment after seeing lots of different tofu pudding recipes. I had a rumage through my pantry for ingredients and my ‘Chocolate Bananarama Pud’ was born!

Chocolate Bananarama Pud

Serves two

• 300g Silken Tofu
• 1 ripe Banana
• Tsp Raw Cacao powder (you can use coco or cool melted chocolate if you don’t have Raw Cacao)
• Tsp Agave syrup
• 2 squares of Vegan Chocolate

1. Blend all ingredients (except the vegan chocolate) until smooth.
2. Pour equal amounts into two dishes.
3. Grate chocolate with a fine grater and sprinkle on top.
4. Refrigerate for a minimum of an hour.

I really want to experiment with toppings with this pudding! Fresh raspberries or strawberries with mint would be delicious!

I hope you enjoy my recipe, please feel free to comment below.

Film Friday! Fork Over Knives (2011)

I am obsessed with films and through this media I discovered an awful lot about the world that made me feel extremely unhappy. In one week I watched at least 15 documentaries related to diet and animal rights. My new found knowledge fuelled my desire to make changes to my life and I haven’t looked back.

In my opening post I talked about my health. I have suffered with M.E for over half my life; I have tried many drugs & therapies to find a way to help my illness, but nothing has worked.

I recently discovered one film in particular that has changed my life for the better and has  taken me on a long journey to help improve my health.

‘Forks Over Knives’ (2011) is a documentary about the importance of nutrition and the power it can have over our bodies, good or bad. Dr Colin Campbell and Dr Caldwell Esselstyn have devoted their lives to nutrition, discussing how animal based proteins can cause many of the conditions we fear. Campbell, who is known for ‘The China Study’, suggests that many of the diseases we fear like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer are linked to a high processed western diet.

The film also follows individuals that have bad health who are put on a plant-based diet to see if they can reverse the conditions that affect them. The journey the people take is fascinating and the film gives you an insight into the power of vegetables.

Since watching this film I have adopted a more plant-based diet, not relying on processed food, caffeine, preservatives and sugar. My sugar intake, which was huge a few months ago, has been the hardest to part(I will admit to eating most of those biscuits I made on ‘Treat Thursday’, whoops). I am a sucker for gelatine free sweets and cakes, but I am trying to swap these with whole food treats. I cheat like everyone does, I’m human and living a complete whole foods diet is hard when you have eaten a lot of naughty food since birth.

I would say 80% of my food is now organic, the remaining 20% is food I cannot get hold of or treats that I have every now and then. Organic food can be expensive, but supermarkets now offer organic food at reasonable prices. Sometimes you will get less for your money, but luckily supermarkets always have offers or reduced items.

I would recommend ‘Forks Over Knives’ to anyone interested in nutrition and the benefits of a vegan diets. Thank you for reading, please feel free to comment below.

 

Nuts About Milk! Week Two!

Well, today was a disaster! I decided to play with my milk bag and make milk out of something I had a lot of in my pantry. I came across a large bag of sunflower seeds, which I love on salads, so I decided to soak a small amount overnight. I followed my almond milk recipes and blended the seeds with water and strained. I took a sip, my eyes widened and I spat it out of my mouth. I can honestly say my taste buds have never reacted like that in my life! Luckily, I only made a small amount so I didn’t waste ingredients, which would’ve been expensive. I think next time I will add seeds in with nuts so the flavour is not overpowering.

Have you had any disasters in the kitchen? Pease feel free to comment below. Thank you for reading.

Vegan Treats! Week One!

Hello all! I want to apologise for not posting anything yesterday. I had one of those days and I had to sort a few things out. I am back and ready to start posting again!

So, today is all about treats! I thought I would share my first attempt at making biscuits.  I think I was inspired by ‘The Great British Bake off’ this week, I know Paul and Mary would have a few things to say about my odd little biscuits.

I bought some brown rice flour last week and I was really looking forward to experimenting with it. I have always been gluten and lactose free so I am used to baking without, but I have always used an all purposes flour mix.

I used a recipe from Sweet Alternative by Ariana Bundy, which was a gift from my mum a few years ago. I decided to make a plain biscuit, which is always a good way to test combinations and experiment with various flavours.

I followed the basic recipe and added some lemon rind to give my biscuit a citrus kick as they were a little bland. The recipe was extremely easy to follow,  however, they had an odd aftertaste. I was the only one that noticed so maybe it’s just my palette. I’m going to carry on playing with flour combinations using this basic biscuit recipe, so I can find a recipe that I can enjoy with a cuppa.

Thanks for reading, please feel free to comment below. I will be back tomorrow! It’s Film Friday!

Tofu Tuesday! Week One!

Since going Vegan I have fallen in love with Tofu scramble. I know in my previous post I said that I don’t drink soymilk because of the hormones it contains, however, I do allow myself tofu once a week and use soya butter when I do some baking, which is rare.  
I gave up soymilk because I was drinking it everyday and in my own opinion it wasn’t having a positive effect on my health. This is just a personal choice but I wanted to clear up any confusion before proceeding with VeganMoFo.

I am in love with Taifun tofu, especially the basil flavour, which is amazing hot or cold! I have been eating this every week since I discovered it and I haven’t run out of ways of serving it. One of my favourite brunch recipes is tofu scramble with dry fried mushrooms and tomatoes. I know not everyone reading this post will be able to get hold of this brand, so if you can’t find it perhaps you could marinate some pressed firm tofu in blended basil instead. I hope you enjoy this recipe and please feel free to comment below.

Basil Tofu Scramble

Serves one

•   100g Tofu

•   2 medium mushrooms

•   5 chopped cherry tomatoes

1. Prepare vegetables and chop tofu into cubes

2. Put tofu cubes into a bowl. Using a fork, mash the tofu to resemble scramble eggs.

3. In a dry pan, fry the mushrooms for a few minutes and then add the tomatoes.

4. When the vegetables are almost cooked, push over to one side of the pan and wipe a little olive oil on the opposite side.

5. Add tofu and heat through and gradually mix with the vegetables.

6. Serve on a warm plate with sides of you choice. I personally like it on toast with salsa or even baked beans! Enjoy!

* My dietary changes are of my own choice. Please seek medical advice before making any drastic changes to you diet.

Nuts About Milk! Week One!

For the next four weeks Mondays will be dedicated to milk. I personally don’t drink soya due to the hormones it contains, so this is the perfect opportunity to experiment with various recipes for nut and seed based milk to find alternatives.

Today I will be making Almond milk, which you can buy in supermarkets and health stores, but it can contain hidden sugar. I don’t think you can beat making food from scratch and this process was extremely satisfying. When I drank the first cup I was overcome with the fact that I had made it!

Nut milk is incredibly quick and easy to make! I think it took me in total about 10 minutes, including the time it took me to find my nut bag. So many recipes require milk, wouldn’t it be fun to be able to make milk that actually compliments the dish you want to cook? Nuts and seeds are the answer! I hope you enjoy this simple recipe, please feel free to comment below.

Almond Milk


8 oz Almonds


950ml water


Nut milk bag

1.     Soak nuts for 8 hours or overnight
  

2.    Blend nuts and add the water gradually

3.  Blend until smooth
 

4.  Strain milk through the nut bag into a bowl


5.  Pour into a clean bottle and keep in the fridge

Lasts 2-3 days in the fridge

ENJOY! 

VeganMoFo Month!

Today has been rather exciting in the Mosh Nosh household! Not only is it the first day of VeganMofo, but also it marks one month since becoming vegan! I am enormously thankful to the people around me who have been extremely considerate and to the staff in many of my favourite restaurants for being extremely helpful.

The past month has been brilliant! I thought being vegan and gluten free was going to be extremely difficult, but it has been a lot fun and I don’t feel like I have missed out on anything. I have eaten some amazing food and discovered great products over the last month that has made the transition easy.

I signed up for VeganMofo last week and I am extremely excited to take part in this amazing event! I have been busy brainstorming lots of different ideas and taking lots of photographs over the past week in preparation for Mofo.  I have finally settled on my schedule that I can fit around my day-to-day- life, it may not look overly exciting, but I promise each post will be full of colourful photographs and hopefully interesting content.

VeganMofo schedule

Monday- nuts about milk

Tuesday- tofu

Wednesday– mosh nosh visits…

 Thursday- Treats

Friday- films

Saturday- cookbook challenge

Sunday- my pantry

I am really looking forward to sharing all my ideas with you and please feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!

Welcome To Mosh Nosh!

Hello all! Welcome to my little blog Mosh Nosh. As a newbie vegan I thought a blog would be a great way document my journey and speak to other vegans.  I would have started this blog sooner, but I had trouble picking a name as all my ideas were taken according to Google. The name Mosh Nosh came to me a few days ago, after a morning of listening to my favourite tunes. Hallelujah! I thought I was going to be in blogging limbo forever! So, what’s with the name? Well, I love heavy metal and after a kafuffle in the mosh pit, I love to eat a little nosh before bed!

It has been a very exciting time for me, I have been creating new recipes, eating lots of vegan cakes at my local cafe and changing my lifestyle to a more ethical one. Since making my decision to change my life, I have been asked a lot of questions by friends and family for example, why did you go vegan? Do you miss meat? Do you get enough calcium & protein? I have also received some negativity and people expecting me to revert back to my old ways in a few weeks, but they have all been wrong! Once I explained my choice it has been easier, even if it did take a few weeks to sink in.

My main reason for going vegan was my health, which was in a dreadful state a few months ago. I have suffered from M.E since I was a child and spent many years bed bound, when I should have been out enjoying my childhood. I ate when I could and I did very little exercise. The last few years I have been more active but I was still sick and that bothered me.

Suffering with a chronic illness can cause changes to your body internally and externally and my weight was one of those changes. I have battled with food demons for years, going through periods of overeating and under eating. Finding a balance was impossible as I was depressed about my body. When I look back through photos and the size of the clothes in my wardrobe, I can see how I yo-yoed from eating huge amounts to very little. This last year I have been eating a regular diet, but found it extremely difficult because I wasn’t enjoying the food I was eating and the way it made me feel. I began to read about various ways I could improve my health and I knew I had to make a drastic change.

Once I began reading into Veganism, I realised it wasn’t just a diet it was a way of life, a lifestyle that is anti-cruelty. I have been interested in the rights of animals since I was a child, but due to my health I felt like I couldn’t get involved or make any changes to my life.  When I look back I realise I could have got involved and made changes to my life but I didn’t. How can I justify eating animals when I am against any form of animal cruelty? I had to cut back and then eradicate all meat products from my life.

It has been almost a month since I went Vegan and I am already feeling the results of a plant-based diet. I have more energy, better skin, better digestion and a better understanding of food. I no longer feel any guilt when I am eating and no disgusting act of violence have contributed to the meal on my plate.

I hope this post hasn’t put you off reading my blog forever! I promise it will be full of positive posts and healthy recipes.

Thank you for reading and feel free to leave your comments below.

Mosh Nosh