I am Vegan

Live Vegan, Love Vegan Yumyumyum

By: IrishJeff

Written on February 11th, 2012

First off apologies for any typos, my sole net access is via mobile at the moment and boy what a cute lil eyestraining touchpad!
Hi to all you fabulous vegans! My favorite cooks, gastronomes, dinner companions and lunchmates! I hope you are all well and enjoying great vegan food!
I have been vegan for 15 years, and cooked, been served, and helped prepare many lovely feasts during that time.
For much of this time I was blessed with the love of a marvellous vegan woman, who helped immeasurably with the development of my vegan diet, and who showed me just how creative we can be with some simple culinary know how
I worked in the dairy, fishing, and meat production industries before becoming vegan, and taught myself about ecology, sustainability, and low impact lifestyle, land use, renewable energy, going on to produce my
own organic herbs, fruit and vegetables in the seclusion of the Cambrian foothills in Wales.
I love vegan food, raw or cooked, although I admit to a liking for Guinness, call me hypocrite, I take that one on the chin:) I did brew my own dark stout, but, you know, a barrel of stout is a great temptation! The expense of Guinness keeps that one under control!
So , wannabe vegans - what's the big deal? It's GREAT! Jump on in!
Vegan cuisine is imaginative, fun, attractive, and delicious!
At first I was a bit daunted - unless it's processed every meal is prepared from scratch, but after a while you pick it all up, before you know it you're throwing together salads, dressings, soups and sauces, roasts and platters, savoury flans, crumbles and curries, breads, cakes tarts, croquettes, pastas and pastries, spectacular sweets and seductive sorbets, with ease...
What's not to like?
I am so happy so many others have made such an inspired choice!
Happy eating everyone:)
Regards
Jeff

By: IrishJeff

Age: 41-45 , Male

120 people have read this story

Email:

Username:

Password:

Birthday:

By clicking "Post", you confirm that you agree to the Terms of Service of Experience Project, Inc.

6 responses

KelsoBee3

I love your enthusiasm! I don't know any other vegans so your enthusiasm is feeding my somewhat waning enthusiasm. let's see, the bean soup was just a package of 16 types of beans that I soaked and then put in the crockpot. the package came with a seasoning packet, but the indredients were unrecognizeable words so I just threw in chili powder tomato sauce, brown sugar and some salt and pepper. That is my recipe for kidney beans when I make tacos so I thought it would be good. It was....okay. I tried it a second time actually following the directions on the bag and it just called for water and the seasoning packet and it turned out disgusting. I threw it out. I don't know anything about sprouting or why people do it yet. I will work on mastering vegetable stock and freezing it, thanks for the tip! and that potato soup sounds amazing! Smoothies are actually what I'm pretty much living on right now! haha how did you know? I have one recipe that is:

1c. spinach

1c. kale

some water (eyeball it)

3 or 4 strawberries, fresh or frozen

2 tbsp ground flax seed.

It has a sort of green taste, which i didn't like at first but now I'm in love. basically you can go by this depending on what you have:

fruit of choice: banana, berries, citrus, whatever. (citrus makes a yummy sorbet flavor!)

greens (optional) spinach, kale

liquid of choice: water, juice, soymilk

protein of choice: flax seed, chia, hemp powder, or whatever you use at home.

a special treat is to top it with some shredded coconut or chopped pecans/walnuts. Yummy!

I use one of those little personal blenders that you can take to go. They are really not expensive, mine was like, $15.

Feb 15, 2012
2 likes
- IrishJeff
  Right, I'm getting one this week and trying out your recipe, it sounds great! I think you have decided me with the pecan and coconut treat topping:)
  I'll also let you know how my friends' recipe turned out, I do know he is 90% vegan, and v slim and healthy, but has had vbad acne problems in the past, like me ,
  Can I share a soup recipe with you before I go to bed (is very late here:))
  It does not need stock, and is much lower in carbs than potato soup?
  You need a leek, an onion, some carrots and parsnips, some celery, a small swede or turnip, some dried red lentils, some dried green split peas and some barley, some sunflower oil and salt.
  My grandmother used to make this soup with a bit of shin bone from the butchers (we were quite poor, the meat from the shin went into the stew:))
  So I peel and rough chop the root veg, and then slightly finer chop the other stuff.
  Then I heat a couple tablespoons oil in the crock, throw in the onion and leek and gently sautee, then turn up the heat and throw everything else in and stir well for a minute, then cover generously with water and bring to the boil, back off the heat so it gently boils. Ready in half hour. Occasionally check it n stir, topping up water with boiling water if need be.
  Um, that's my vegetable broth, its probably more suited to colder climes than yours lol
  If you wanted, you could try mixing some warm water, flour, sugar and dried yeast up, and kneading it together whilst adding flour, till its no longer sticky dough, cut it into baseball sized lumps, roll them nice n round, and put them on a lil greased tray inside a plastic bag somewhere nice n warm till they double in size, then put them in the oven at, er fahrenhieght
  
  Feb 15, 2012
  1 like
- IrishJeff
  I mean 180 C for bout twenty minutes, nice fresh rolls for your broth:)
  Thank you soooo much for sharing your smoothie recipe which sounds lovely!
  Nnight my head is turned back into a pumkin sweet dreams:)
  Kind regards
  Jeff
  
  Feb 15, 2012
  1 like
KelsoBee3

You give me hope. I am new to veganism and currently a very inexperienced chef. So far I can make vegetable stir fry and almond milk. Bean soup was a bust. :( haha oh well, gotta keep trying!

Feb 15, 2012
2 likes
- IrishJeff
  Oh wow! I am delighted for you! I want to taste your stir fry right now! Aren't stir frys great? Talking of beans, what kind of soup did you try? My beans never seem to make it to the soup pot, though I have sprouted dried mung beans and sunflower seeds for stir frying with noodles:) Sprouting stuff is so easy, you got to try it:D
  A good stock really makes a difference with soups, it took me some time to find nice vegan stock cubes , and my favorite soup must be potato, just onions potato and stock cooked rill soft then whizzed or mashed to a creamy consistency, with salt to taste, and some fresh baked rolls.
  I am so excited for you, whatever you do, enjoy cooking it and trying new things
  Please let us all know how you get on, and thanks for letting me know you found my lil piece encouraging:)
  Regards
  Jeff
  
  Feb 15, 2012
  1 like
- IrishJeff
  I bet, however, that you make a dynamite smoothie, am I right? I wouldn't know where to start, but I'm intending to give it a go. The other night a friend of a friend told me he starts the day with one, and I got quite excited (dedicated smoothie enthusiasts are a bit of a rare breed here). So, he told me what he puts in it, and it sounded absolutely delicious, totally healthy and really energising!
  Now, I am trying to get hold of him again, because, um, well, that was a night filled with Guinness, and can I remember the recipe?(hic)
  What sorts of smoothies do you like pls tell:)
  Regards
  Jeff
  
  Feb 15, 2012
  1 like

Your Response