Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Creamy Potato and Leek soup

Creamy potato and leek soup

I felt like soup all week, not just veggie soup, I wanted really creamy potato and leek soup.
So I endeavoured to make a vegan alternative that was seamy but super healthy and nourishing for us.
Leek is so good for us, it helps to protect our blood vessels from damage by providing us with good amounts of the flavonoid, Kaempferol.

All my ingredients are as follows;

4 x Organic dutch cream potatoes, roughly chopped
1 x Organic brown onion, roughly chopped
300gms of fresh Organic leek (use white part only), sliced
1/2 an Organic sweet potato, roughly chopped
1.5 cups of Organic almond milk, to blend with
1 cup of massel 'chicken' stock (vegan)
2 x Tablespoons of Nuttelex


I put the nuttelex (1 tablespoon) in the pan over a medium heat until it was lightly fluffy and bubbling.


After roughly chopping the leek, onion, potato, sweet potato I threw them all in the pan and gave them a good mix to cover them with the nuttelex.


Left that to simmer for 5 minutes until it smelt beautiful, then I put another tablespoon of nuttelex on top and put the lid on to simmer over a low heat for 25 minutes.



After 25 minutes it should be very aromatic and the veggies should have started to soften, at this point, take the lid off and add the stock to the mix, turn heat to medium and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.


After which you are ready to blend (in batches if needed) with the almond milk, blend until smooth and serve with salt, pepper and fresh chives sprinkled on top.
Perfect for a dinner on a cosy night in or a light lunch in spring.


It was honestly so creamy and so delicious, exceeded my expectations by far.
If you get a chance def try this out, so creamy and so healthy.

Take care of yourselves and heal your bodies with food, don't harm them.

Yours Ethically,

Nicole x

Foods that harm

Foods that harm our bodies


I am feeling a little under the weather and have not cooked tonight, in light of not feeling great I thought I'd share a small amount of  information about foods that harm our body.

During the last couple of years I have researched how to keep a balanced vegan diet and so on and have always come up with the same basic principle, a diet that is alkaline is imperative to maintaining a high level of health, acidic foods cause more damage than good.

A basic generalisation as to why acidic foods are bad for us are as follows;
- Eating a lot of acidic foods depletes the oxygen supply in your body which is essential.
- Excessive acids need to be rid of, or worse, stored, in our tissues and joints, which causes damage over time.
- If Acidic food is not properly eliminated it can damage brain cells as well as other body cells.
- A diet high in acidic foods creates a breeding ground in your body for bacteria and other pathogens.

Those couple of points are just a slight insight to the affect a diet high in acid has on your body.

SO....On to some specific foods that do more harm than healing;

Soy Beans; One word - TOXIC, to start with, there is no such thing as an all natural soy based food.
The process soy beans go through is necessary to make it 'fit' (using that word lightly) for human consumption, because soy beans in their natural, organic state are poisonous as they contain naturally occurring insecticides. 
The soy itself retains many of its original poisonous compounds that directly attack the thyroid, such as its hormones that are designed to disrupt fertility. Women are especially prone to experiencing horrific hormonal disorders like endometriosis from soy intake. There is no way to accurately determine how many miscarriages and how many of cases of infertility are the direct result of soy consumption.
Here are just a few effects Soy has on human health;
* 250% increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
* Brain shrinkage.
* Vascular dementia.
* Inhibits dopamine.

Sodium Nitrate; most commonly found in bacon, luncheon meats and jerky, to help preserve them and prolong their shelf life.

Studies have linked the consumption of sodium nitrate to cancers in all varieties, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurological and intestinal diseases.

High Fructose corn syrup; found in highly processed fast foods, soft drinks and the syrups that go into your morning latte.

High doses of free fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the intestinal lining allowing nasty byproducts of toxic gut bacteria and partially digested food proteins to enter your blood stream and trigger the inflammation that we know is at the root of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia, and accelerated aging. Naturally occurring fructose in fruit is part of a complex of nutrients and fiber that doesn’t exhibit the same biological effects as the free high fructose doses found in “corn sugar”
High fructose corn syrup is always found in very poor-quality foods that are nutritionally vacuous and filled with all sorts of other disease promoting compounds, fats, salt, chemicals, and even mercury.
It is EXTREMELY toxic to your liver, increases inflammation, causes obesity and oxidative stress.

Trans Fats; Found in thousands of foods, from breakfast cereals to cookies.
Trans fats are literally proven to cause heart disease and actively contribute to obesity.
They are detrimental to the human body in so many ways here are just a few; decreased immune function, increased inflammation, liver damage, free radical production, cancer, arthritis, interferes with neurological and visual development of fetus.

Monosodium Glutamate; more commonly known as MSG - it is a flavour enhancer added to thousands of foods. Its even found in baby food and baby formula.

“Studies have shown that the body uses glutamate, an amino acid, as a nerve impulse transmitter in the brain and that there are glutamate-responsive tissues in other parts of the body, as well.
Abnormal function of glutamate receptors has been linked with certain neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's chorea. Injections of glutamate in laboratory animals have resulted in damage to nerve cells in the brain.”
Some extreme side effects include;
  • Burning sensation
  • Tingling
  • Facial pressure or tightness
  • Chest pain or difficulty breathing
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Drowsiness
  • Weakness
Aspartame; an artificial, chemical sweetener found in products such as splenda, diet coke, coke zero, 'sugar free' anything and many other foods.
It has been scientifically linked to an array of cancers, multiple sclerosis, migraines, heart disease, weight gain, brain seizures, parkinsons disease and obesity - enough said?

'nutra sweet' a variant of aspartame is found in over 7000 food products.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Thanks for looking,

Nicole x

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Vegan Devilled Sausages


Vegan Devilled Sausages

It has been very cold all day today here in Melbourne so I decided that it called for some comfort food.
I have always loved devilled sausages but have never attempted to turn them into a vegan recipe - but today I did and succeeded.

All my organic produce was sourced from http://replenish.net.au

I have struggled to find a vegan sausage alternative that actually tasted good, but VegiDeli's Lincolnshire Style Sausages are amazing (I get mine from http://www.auntmaggies.com.au)


Ingredients I used are as follows (includes mash to serve);

7 x Organic dutch cream potatoes
1 x Packet of VegiDeli Lincolnshire style sausages
1 x organic brown onion, diced
1 x Tin organic diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon of Brown sugar
1 Clove organic garlic, minced
1 x Organic apple, sliced
Nuttelex 
Salt and Pepper
Parsley to taste




I started by Browning the sausages in nuttelex so the whole meal was extra creamy, let them brown for approx 7 mins or until golden.


After that, remove sausages from the pan and set aside.


Dice onion finely and slice apples.


Using the same pan, combine onions, garlic and apples, and cook together until softened.

When they are softened, put the sausages back in the pan with onions etc.


Add tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper and simmer on a very low heat for 35-40 mins.


While it was all simmering I diced the potatoes and boiled them until soft, strained them and added nuttelex then mashed.
You can also serve with just a bunch of fresh steamed greens or rice, I was just feeling comfort food so went all out with creamy vegan mash :)



Thanks for taking the time to look, 
Yours Ethically, 

Nicole x