First proper Mofo post

My examination was today and it went fine, although my tummy is still suffering the effects of strong laxatives and barium. Yucky! I'm also supposed to be following a low residue diet. I read potatoes were a good starch to help ease diarrhea, and peeling and mashing them makes the starch even more gluey, which is supposed to help.
Voila, first food since Monday afternoon's porridge:

I'm quite a fan of that tinned spaghetti. It's one of my favourite comfort foods although I don't eat it very often at all as I try to prepare the vast majority of my food from scratch. It's Sainbury's Organic brand, and it's the only tinned spag I like. I find the Heinz and other stuff much too sweet. The sauce in this one is much more tomatoey than normal tinned spaghetti. I figured if I have to eat low res and diarrhea proof, I may as well do my best to enjoy it!

Other favourite comfort foods of mine:
Mashed potato (nice with stewed apple)
Chocolate rice cereal with rice milk (left to soak so it's nice and soft)
Soya custard and apple sauce/stewed apple
Veganised rice pudding

Anyone else got any favourite comfort foods for when you're feeling a bit delicate? When I was a child, I would always get flat cola and Jacob's cream crackers once I started recovering from a tummy upset. The cola was such a rarity in our house, the other kids would be jealous of the sick one because they'd be allowed coke! I can't say the charm stayed with me though. I detest fizzy sugary drinks these days, especially cola.

Anyway. That's enough sick talk. My plan with Vegan Mofo is to post more recipes, as it's not something I regularly do on the blog. That's usually because I'm not a big recipe person. I throw stuff together that I like, and I don't really do amounts. But cake is one of those things you have to be a bit more precise about! Here's my favourite cake-

Chocolate chip banana bread
200g golden caster sugar
200g vegan butter/spread/margarine- I used Sainsbury's Free From spread, you could use Pure or Earth Balance
4 small overripe bananas, mashed
250g wholemeal self-raising flour- I used Dove's Farm. It's really lovely stuff. You could use gluten free flour, but I've not tried it gluten free before
15g (3 teaspoons) egg replacer
100g dairy free chocolate chips or chopped up dark chocolate. I used Divine's Orange and Ginger chocolate and it was gorgeous!
A splash of non dairy milk if the mix is a little dry

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line and grease a loaf tin.
Beat together the sugar and margarine. Stir in the mashed bananas, flour, egg replacer powder, flour and a little fake milk if the mix is very dry. Get everything thoroughly combined but don't go at it too long. Pour into the lined tin and bake for an hour.
And that's it!

It's not something I make very often, as there's a whole cup of sugar involved. But it's a great way to use up neglected bananas. You can freeze overripe bananas, thaw and mash to make this if you don't want to make it when your bananas are past it.

Still Hungry

At the moment I'm sitting here rather anxiously for the super strength laxative I took half an hour ago to work. Eep! I haven't eaten anything today and have been eating less over the last few days, so I'm hoping it won't be too nasty.
This morning I saw a dietitian- the GI doc referred me to investigate my IBS. Her conclusion was that since a high fibre diet doesn't seem to help my IBS, I should try low fibre. I understand that less fibre will probably ease bloating and wind, but I can't see it helping my constipation. And for a vegan, the allowed foods are pretty grim. White bread and pasta, limited fruit and veggies (no lentils or berries:( ), soya milk, most sauces and condiments, chocolate and yogurt. I'm supposed to avoid legumes, wholegrains, nuts (including peanut butter), seeds, a lot of types of fruit and veg and tofu(!). Apparently, I should take linseeds though. I find this really weird since I know linseeds irritate me, but tofu doesn't. Anyway, I only have to do it for four weeks, so I may as well use the opportunity to make lots of vegan mofo vegan cakes! Although I think I'm going to have to eat some tofu so I don't die of starvation. I will try to blog recipes for yummy vegan things to do with tofu.
Cake or tofu won't be my next meal though- on the way home from the dietitian I went shopping for flavoured water for today, and chocolate coated rice cereal, soya yogurt and baby's Farley's rusks for tomorrow afternoon, when the examination will be over and I can eat again.
Over and out until then! I promise a mofoing recipe next time x

A Hungry Start to Vegan Mofo

It can only get better from here on! Although today is World Vegan Day, I haven't been sampling many vegan delights. I had a slice of banana bread, some soya yogurt and a few raspberries. I then ate nothing until I had a kinda second breakfast, some very soft porridge. Tomorrow I'll be liquids only, then wednesday will be nothing until the examination is over. Once everything's over, THEN I'll be getting into the swing of Vegan Mofo. I'm excited because this will be my first:)

Intuitive eats

This was my birthday week, so I made sure to enjoy some favourite foods. I blogged recently about just eating what I want but only when I'm really hungry and to stop before I got full. The interesting thing I found was that I wasn't tempted to overeat even though I was much hungrier and it was food I loved. I've actually been eating mostly seasonally too.

This was a rather yummy autumn combo- roasted turnip, chestnuts and leeks and brussel sprouts with a little soya cream and chilli. I ate it with black rice noodles.


The rest of the soya cream was gently heated with a little vanilla and served with an Eve's pudding (apple topped with sponge).

My birthday was a bit weird foodwise, I got a bowl of granola and soya milk, then spent the day meeting up with family and friends and going to the hairdressers, so I didn't eat anything all day, except some jitter inducing coffee. When I got home, I was far too zonked to cook but I didn't want to go out, so I got takeaway spring rolls and noodles and some delicious South African Viognier! It's not something I do very often, because I do love cooking so much. But sometimes, especially on one's birthday, a day off doesn't go amiss:) I didn't photograph the yummy but unphotogenic noodles. Here's the lovely flowers the table was set with:

As I wasn't in the mood to cook, I didn't make a birthday cake until the next day. I didn't fancy a traditional sugary heavy cake. Instead I wanted some seasonal fruit. So I made a wholemeal cake topped with caramelized pear.


Delicious with some plain soya yogurt to balance the sweetness (although it was much less sweet than a 'traditional' cake)

To aid me in my quest to rediscover pleasurable eating, I bought this book with a book voucher my brother got me as a get well soon present. Thanks bro!


I really like Nigel Slater's approach to cooking and enjoyment of food. His books are always beautifully presented. I urge you to check him out if you haven't already.
I sat outside in the sun, although it was cold, so I wore a big warm coat so I could enjoy the last of summer in the garden.











As I'll be fasting half of next week for an examination, I had cake again this evening:

Yum. Banana bread with orange/ginger chocolate chunks, served with soya custard and frozen raspberries.
I've got a col, which sucks, but hopefully it won't be too miserable, my week is already going to be a bit unpleasant! I hope you all had a lovely weekend:)

Flirting with Macrobiotics

Over the last few days, I have experimented again with macrobiotics. The main change was that I waited until I was really hungry for breakfast and ate a cooked whole grain, steamed veggies and miso broth. I also chewed really well and ate less in general. One day my lunch took me nearly an hour to eat! I found really chewing my food helps with wind. But I also found my tummy behaves best when I eat so little that I'm hungry most of the time, but I'm also experiencing a real lack of desire to eat i the last few weeks, and when I am . Obviously, that's not ideal either, because I know if I kept that up, I'd lose weight. Also, it can be quite miserable to be hungry so often, even if your tummy is much improved. However, the spell broke today and I got really bloated again. I think I ate my lunch a bit quicker today, or it could just be . The other benefit, aside from the tummy, was that the relative lack of sugar in a macrobiotic diet left my energy levels stable and my mood very calm and content (although I do usually feel more upbeat at the full moon).
I haven't been strict about one aspect- nightshade veggies. I've had tomatoes, peppers and potatoes:


I baked new (small) potatoes for my boyfriend one evening, so I had one with steamfried greens. This was a really small dinner because I just wasn't hungry, even though I hadn't eaten much all day.


I had a better appetite the next evening, I went for a brisk 4 mile walk to wake it up. This was scrambled tofu (tofu mashed with nutritional yeast, turmeric and pesto), the leftover baked potatoes chopped up, collard greens, leek and red pepper. You could make this strictly macro with baked squash chunks instead of potato and leave out the pepper (I just chucked in all the veg that needed used up).

I don't have any photos of my more macrobiotics meals (because they were eaten while at work)- it was mostly cooked brown rice or cooked oat groats, miso broth and steamed leeks, brussel sprouts and dulse sprinkled with mirin. I sprinkled on some toasted pumpkin seeds. I basically cooked a grain and veggies in the morning and nibbled on some when I got hungry mid-morning, then had more of the same for lunch.

In conclusion, eating macro-style does seem to agree with my tum and energy levels, but I find it very restrictive, and for my dry skin I find the fat content of the diet a little too low. However, I'm going to loosely follow the main principles, as eating no sugar (including fruit) in the morning and during the working day is good for keeping energy on an even keel.

Healthy Mondays

Source
After yesterday's chocolate indulgence, I was a little off kilter today. Weird appetites- I woke up ravenous, which only happens when I eat something sugary, and I didn't want coffee AT ALL- I made peppermint tea and had some granola. Then my tummy was upset most of the day, I knew it would be awful if I ate anything much, so I just nibbled on fruit and a scoop of hummus at lunchtime to keep me from gnawing my monitor. I drank plenty of water to try to calm my tum down. I was craving something simple when I got home, so I had made some brown rice, mmm! I had it with steamed collards and onions and a nut patty. I really enjoyed I did have chocolate brownie again tonight, without the soy ice-cream though. It was too sugary for me, and I just feel weird after. I am craving savoury things, like greens and brown rice. I'm tempted to give macrobiotics another shot, but more emphasis on adding macro food to my diet rather than take away i.e. I'm not going to make a conscious effort to eat less nightshade veggies or fruit, however I am going to do my very best to cut out caffeine and sugar.
For that reason, Maggie's article on cutting out sugar today was very timely. She also is a macro flirt and has some good ideas for healthy food that doesn't play havoc with tummies or metabolism.

Although the temperature has dropped a fair bit here, when I got home from work, I threw on my warm running gear (including my No Meat Athlete t-shirt!) and headed out the moment I got home. It was windy and started raining heavily, but I felt great! I didn't try to run to any tempo or for any distance or length of time, my only aim was to meet my boyfriend coming out of work. After running for about half an hour, we met and started walking. About ten minutes from home, I ran again to get in and out of the shower before he got home and then put the rice on for dinner. It felt so good running again, especially just for the pure enjoyment of it. I was bouncing along grinning like an idiot! I don't feel like I've lost any fitness and while I had no aims for speed or distance, I did as well as when I'd be pushing myself. I'm thinking I'll probably run this way through the winter- just set out to get my blood pumping and be outdoors. Although I really need to get back in the pool! That's this week challenge...

Indulgent Sunday

After such a nutritious evening meal, I woke up to coffee (after a big glass of water had made its way down). Oh well, it's sunday. I added a little naughty to this, a teaspoon of drinking chocolate mix (basically sugar and cocoa powder). I sipped on it and while bashing up some pre-soaked brown rice for porridge.


I stirred in a sliced banana and cinnamon sugar, and topped it with plain soya yogurt. I thought apples and raisins would have been healthier, but I was craving the creamy sweetness of banana and some cinnamon set it off wonderfully.




After a nice walk this afternoon, I called into the offlicense (liquor store) at the top of my street, The Vineyard. A colleague in work gets me to pick up Sierra Navada. Unfortunately, they were out, it's very popular because they're the only stockists in Northern Ireland. While there, I couldn't help picking up these:



I'm keeping the spiced cider for my birthday, but I had the banana bread beer tonight. It wasn't bananey at all, but it was nice beer anyway. It was a barley based beer.

After such low fat and relatively low protein meals (miso soup and rice), I was in the mood for some fat. I made some tofu scramble with a big scoop of homemade pesto to fatten it up. I added in some mixed spice seasoning, turmeric and 1/4 cup nutritional yeast to a block of silken tofu, mashed it up in a bowl, and added to the pan.







Mmm. I was naughty and had more bread. This is quite nice bread, it's choc full of flax seeds. I think gluten twice a week shouldn't do me much harm, but I can take it or leave it. It's nice to have the freedom though.

While my super hot dinner was cooling, a did a little cheaty gluten free baking. I'm still a bit unsure about gluten free flours, as vegan baking is a minefield big enough, so I tried out this Hale & Hearty brownie mix. There are instructions on the back for a vegan version, but I veganised the ordinary recipe with Orgran No Egg, sunflower margarine and soya milk. I added frozen black cherries in to the mix.


These turned out so good! Very light, no funkiness from the gluten free flours. There were little flakes of chocolate in the mix that melted completely. I topped it off with vanilla Swedish Glace and some chocolate sauce (syrup and cocoa powder and a little soya milk heated up)


I really enjoyed my food this weekend, for the first time in ages! My tummy is a bit bubbly after all that food and beer this evening, compared to after the soup last night that sat with me perfectly. But I think the pleasure of the richer food is worth the little bit of bloat it causes, as long as it's an occasional treat. Sensory/mental stimulation isn't the main point of food (that's the problem with emotional eating) but getting enjoyment out of food is deeply human, it affirms we're beings with more than just a physical experience.
All in all, it's been a very relaxing, enjoyable weekend, leaving me ready to face the week ahead!