The Clean F Word

Inspiration

10:59 PM

A Day in the Life/What I Eat in a Day!

4:15 AM

Today I thought I would share something a little different with you because today was actually a public holiday here and I actually had the day off with no errands etc to run and the kids were away so it was half a day to myself and the other half with my Husband. I know this doesn't sound that exciting but it is very rare that we both have the same day off so it is pretty exciting to me.

6:30am: My alarm goes off every morning about this time unless I am opening up at my workplace in which case it goes off at 5:30. Because I had nothing planned for today I hit snooze and slept in for just over half an hour. YAY! Hubby got ready for his big bike ride with his mates while I snuggled under the blanket and caught up on some youtube subsciptions on my phone.

7:45am: I managed to get out of bed despite the absolute freezing cold. I quickly grabbed my dressing gown and turned on the heater before heading into the kitchen. Usually I have eaten by now but because I was so comfy in bed I left it a little late. I grab a banana and make myself a quick cup of T2 Creme Brulee tea for the sole purpose of warming my frozen bones. While i'm drinking my tea I catch up on more Youtube and check my emails.

8:40am I am dressed and ready to hit the gym. The gym is a new adventure for me. I only joined last week and I am really getting into it which is a first for me. I'm super keen to get fit and of course eat healthy which is what this blog is all about. The gym is only a five minute drive so I am there in no time. There is actually more people there than I thought there would be on a public holiday but I manage to grab a spin bike and get warmed up. I focus on working out my legs today because I did a big arm workout yesterday. I'm actually quite proud of my efforts today and I finish the workout with a 20 minute treadmill walk while secretly catching up on Restaurant Impossible on the treadmill screen.

9:45am: I am all worked out and ready to head home again. By now I am super hungry and ready for a decent breakfast. Let's just say that today's breakfast is AMAZING. I devoured the whole lot which is big for me because I used to just eat 1 slice of toast and be full or just skip breakfast entirely. Since becoming vegan I have been eating more and feeling fantastic. For breakfast I just grab a whole Papaya and slice it in half, scoop the seeds out and fill it with a whole chopped banana, some grapes and some watermelon and then top that baby with some yummy coconut yoghurt and a drizzle of agave nectar. Droooooool!!!

10am: I check Facebook and get ready for my day. Today I just threw on some dark jeans a grey and white striped top and a grey cardigan. Just nice and casual. Then I spend time on housework and organising.

12pm: Hubby gets home from his ride and we organise a yummy lunch. We can't decide between a sandwich or a toasted sandwich so in the end we just make some toast up and top it with amazing goodness. One slice has hommus, spinach, grated carrot, medley tomatoes, avocado and pepper. The other slice is topped with mustard pickle, vegan cheese, cucumber and medley tomatoes. We didn't have any idea what we were doing we just topped them with whatever we had and the combinations were awesome!

The rest of the afternoon we just watch some television and even play some SkipBo and Trivial Pursuit board games. Such a fun and relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

For a mid arvo snack we just munch on some vegan crispbreads topped with peanut butter and banana, vegan sour cream, banana and cinnamon and finally just hommus and avocado. yum yum! We also warm up with a cup of coffee each.

3:30pm After playing trivial pursuit and getting a question involving the film The Great Escape, I decide that we should watch the film as we have it on DVD so we snuggle up on the couch and watch that.

5:30pm Hubby warms up some leftovers for dinner. Last night we roasted up a whole bunch of veg and also a Vegie Roast that we found in Coles. It is one of my favourite dishes. It tastes so good and if you add some gravy or sauce you wouldn't even notice that meat is missing from your plate.

The rest of my night has just been blog writing and housework. I also organised and packed my lunch for tomorrow. I am just having a marinated tofu and salad sandwich and taking a tub of fruit that I pre-chopped.

overall today has been a nice day off. I was able to get some housework sorted without rushing or feeling stressed and I managed to fit in some quality time with my husband as well as blog. What more could I ask for??

I am thinking of doing some more and better 'what I eat in a day posts' so stay tuned.

I hope you all enjoyed the read and got some foodie ideas.
Stay Happy and Healthy
Liane Xx

Vegan Leek & Mushroom Gnocchi

7:35 AM

Eating out as a Vegan!

12:41 AM

Lately I have realised that going out to eat on a plant based/vegan diet does have its challenges. I have realised this a lot in the last month as I have had quite a few outings with friends where I have struggled to find items on menus for myself.

I am generally quite lucky during my normal day to day activities because as most of you know I have a massive love of cooking and meal prepping so as far as my breakfasts and work lunches go I am usually pretty covered. However it is when I go out for a coffee date or out for dinner with friends that I come across some issues.

I imagine there are a lot of people trying to go vegan or plant based who would come across the same problems soo today I thought that I would give you a few tips I have learned in the last 6 months.

Researching restaurants/cafes

If you have time it is always a good idea to call ahead and find out if a place you are going has vegan options. This is the most basic easiest step to avoid any disappointments. There are a quite a few vegan restaurants and cafes popping up at the moment but my biggest struggle is that most of these places are in the city which isn't very local to me. So I always call ahead to find out. If I am going to the city for a catch up I always choose a place that has both options.

Non Dairy Milks

Another easy choice to make when ordering coffee or hot drinks is to simply swap your milk products to non dairy options. Most cafes have a soy milk option but more and more I am seeing cafes that offer Almond Milk, Coconut Milk and very very recently some are offering the new Macadamia Milk.

Vegetarian options

Have you just got to a restaurant that has no vegan options??? Check out the vegetarian dishes. Most of these options can easily be changed to vegan by simply removing some cheese or some egg. I actually used this method at a cafe where I went for breakfast and they had an item on the menu called a Vego Brekky. I ordered this option and removed the egg, no butter on my toast and I added a hash brown to fill it up a bit. It was delicious and even though the cafe's menu technically didn't have vegan options it was super easy to just adjust the menu item. It also helps when you are super friendly staff like the lovely ladies at Palace Espresso Bar (Reynella, SA)

Pack a lunch or picnic

Are you going out to a special event like a festival?? Sometimes there will be one or two food stalls with vegan options but if you are worried it is super simple to pack a few sandwiches or a big salad. Grab some fruit or pack a smoothie. I do this all the time, especially on long car rides where sometimes my only option is service station foods.

Friends want to meet up for lunch at it is a beautiful day outside?? Pack a picnic. You can show off your yummy vegan foods and show your friends just how good and fresh vegan eating is.

Don't be afraid to speak up to friends

I used to always think that I was letting my friends down if I complained about going to a venue that didn't have vegan options or asking if we could go to a vegan restaurant this week.

Please don't ever be afraid to let your friends know how you feel. Share the love around! It's not hard. Your true friends will be happy to help or try something new for you.

Download apps
There are a few apps around to help find local restaurants. I use the 'HappyCow' app sometimes to help locate vegan or vegetarian restaurants in my local area. It also finds restaurants that have just a few vegan items on the menu.

If you have heard of any other cool vegan apps let me know :P

Use the Sides Menu

Sometimes I find it a little bit easier to choose options from the sides menu. I am lucky in that I don't really eat a whole heap anyway because I'm tiny so sometimes just ordering a couple of yummy side dishes of veggies, a salad or just chips helps a lot and as an extra benefit it is usually cheaper on the wallet and still as yummy as a full meal.

I hope that helps you a little bit with some ideas on how to eat out. It still can be tricky sometimes but just try your best and don't beat yourself up if you can't find any options. Just have fun.

Ohhhhh on another note there was a little thing I wanted to share with you all today. I have become a little too addicted to these awesomely yummy cold pressed juices and smoothies that I recently found in Coles. I am not kidding, I buy about 5 a week and LOVE LOVE LOVE them. They have such a wide variety of flavours which is super cool. These four are my favourites so far. I still have quite a few more to try out.

So yeah if you haven't already I highly recommend giving them a go. I pretty much always have one in my handbag.

Stay Happy and Healthy
Liane Xx

My Top 20 Vegan Kitchen Staples

1:50 AM

If there is one thing I love it is grocery shopping. I love planning our meals, writing my colour coded shopping lists, grocery shopping and meal prepping when I get home. The whole experience is calming to me and I feel like the more thought I put into my food shopping the better my body feels at the end of the week because I have filled it with goodness.

Eating a more vegan style diet now means that my kitchen has seen many changes in my pantry and fridge and it has been quite a journey getting it to where it is now. When I first started I had to get used to new flavours and find new staples, most of which I had never even heard of before. This week I thought I would share with you all my top 20 vegan food items that are now essentials in my house.

When I shop now I get ingredients from a few places including Coles, Health Stores, Markets/Green Grocers and Vegan Specialty Stores. The majority of the products I buy can be bought use from Coles but I like to shop around to get the best quality items as Coles doesn't have a huge variety. If I have plenty of time I sometimes go to Foodland which has an awesome range, although slightly more expensive.

So here we go:

1. Fruit and Vegetables

Okay so technically I was buying fruit and veg waaaaaay before I adopted the new way of eating, however I was NEVER buying as much as I do now. I can't really write exactly what I buy because it changes depending on season, however I always buy a few kgs of bananas now no matter what. If the bananas are really cheap I buy a whole bunch more and freeze them to make banana smoothies or vegan banana muffins etc. I like to buy whole rockmelons, watermelons, pineapples etc and dice them up when I get home ready for everyone to snack on.

2. Non Dairy Milks

In the beginning I was just buying a couple of soy milk cartons just while we were adapting but now I purchase Soy, Almond, Rice and Coconut Milk. I love the variety and we use them for breakfasts as well as baking and much more. I love to have almond milk in my chai lattes, coconut milk is super yummy in smoothies and the kids like rice and soy in their cereals. We also recently started trying Macadamia Milk.

3. Massel Stock Cubes

These guys are awesome! I always have chicken, beef and vegetable in my pantry at all times. You never know when you will need some stock and these ones have no animal content YAY!!

4. Nutritional Yeast

I use Nutritional Yeast or 'Savoury Yeast Flakes' as it is called here in Australia, in most of my cooked meals. They add a cheesy/nutty flavour to dishes soI am always using it in my lasagnes, dips and recently in my scrambled tofus. It has so many uses that I always have it in my cupboard.

Nutritional Yeast is a deactivated yeast that is very popular in the vegan world because it is a great source of Vitamin B12 and Protein, which as most of you know is usually lacking in a plant based diet. I purchase mine from my local health food store.

5. Coconut Yoghurt

When I was consuming dairy products I was a huge fan of yoghurt! I would always have tubs in the fridge. Now that I have cut dairy out of my diet I went on the hunt for something to replace it so that I could still enjoy my fruit and yoghurt bowls or just have for snacks on the go. I found these yummy soy yoghurts in Coles in the beginning and they were great but it just seemed like all my alternative solutions for products were all soy based and I didn't want to consume too much of the stuff. This is where 'No Udder Yoghurt' came into my life. I was browsing the supermarket one day and found these AMAZING coconut yoghurts. Let's just say i'm a little bit hooked. They taste amazing in my fruit bowls and I happily sit in front of the telly snacking on it. YUM! Sometimes I still get the soy yoghurts for a little change but the coconut yoghurt has become a staple!

6. Beans

I always stock up on cans of beans from the supermarket. My cupboard is usually full of red kidney beans, cannelini beans, butter beans, chickpeas, black beans etc. They are always good to have on hand ready to throw into a casserole or burritos.

I also keep varieties of beans dried as well for when I have more time. They are so cheap and you can just soak them for a few hours or overnight.

7. Lentils

Another super cheap staple I have is red and green lentils. Great for soups and a meat alternative in bolognese or shepherds pie. So far I have only really gotten used to the basic red and green variety but I would love to explore lentils more and see what other varieties there are and how to cook with them.

8. Agave Syrup

Always in my cupboard, Agave syrup is what I use in my smoothies and sometimes on top of my porridge if it needs a sweet kick. Usually vegans use Agave Syrup to replace honey but as I have mentioned previously I do still use honey occasionally but sometimes I find Agave Syrup to give a milder taste. I am always using it in my baking as well.

9. Brown rice

Pretty simple, I choose to limit the intake of white foods etc because I feel like the less processed my foods are the better. I think carbs are great for you so I am always eating rice dishes and pasta dishes. I just choose the more wholegrain varieties. Brown rice is one of my favourites so I always have it on hand.

10. Bio Cheese

I don't eat a lot of this one but I always have it in my fridge because it is great to slice up for my burgers and to top my lasagnes as a dairy free alternative to cheese.

11. Rolled oats

Ahhh one of my all time favourite breakfast's is a bowl of warm porridge oats topped with my favourite fruits and drizzled with a little bit of honey! YUM! I have rolled oats on hand ALL the time. They are so cheap and can be used for muffins, muesli bars, porridge, smoothies and the list goes on. I couldn't live without my oats.

12. Herbs

When I am cooking up a storm in my kitchen I have recently been making things up as I go. This is scary for me because I used to rely so much on recipes thinking that I didn't have the talent to create my own amazing dishes.......well, guess what?? I can and I am!! Because I am always playing around with ideas I love to have a variety of herbs on hand at all times. I buy so much herbs I am actually thinking of just getting my gardening gloves on soon and starting my herb garden outside (i'll keep you all updated) At the moment I pretty much always grab rosemary, thyme, coriander, parsley and mint. On the odd week I might grab more varieties but they are my basics.

13. Tofu

I always have a couple blocks of tofu in the fridge. I used to not be a fan pf tofu but then I discovered the oh so many ways that you can use it and now i'm hooked. I use it for burgers, scrambled 'eggs', tacos, stir fries, cheesecakes (yep, you heard right), curries and more. Seriously tofu is the best!

I even found an already marinated tofu in Coles the other day which I now buy just to have on hand in the fridge and i fry it up and chuck it in a sandwich with spinach, biocheese and tomato.......oh my gosh guys you do not understand the joys!

14. Coconut oil

Great for frying, sauces, baking, moisturising your hair, moisturising your skin, it is seriously good for everything. I always have some in my kitchen and in my bathroom. It is the best! There are so many health benefits it really needs to be in everyone's pantry!

15. Maca Powder

I always have a packet of Maca Powder to add to my smoothies. It is a little bit pricey but so worth it. It is a great supplement packed with vitamin C and Iron and it really helps to boost the immune system.

16. Tea

The little english girl in me loves her cups of tea from english breakfast to peppermint. I have an awesome tea box that is always full of a huge variety of teas. Some of my favourites include:
Ginger & Lemon
Peppermint
Green
Chamomile

17. Lemons

I always have lemons in my fruit bowl not only to add awesome flavour to many of my home cooked dishes but also to add slices of lemon to my water in the mornings. Starting your day with a glass of lemon water is one of the best things you can do. It helps cleanse your body, boosts your immune system, helps with digestion and fights viral infections.

18. Sriracha Sauce

Ahhh one of my favourite sauces to cook with, Sriracha adds an awesome kick to dishes that otherwise might be a little plain. My husband loves this sauce so it has now become a staple.

19. Spices

Spices are always a must! I have the biggest collection of them but some of my favourites would be:
Ground Cumin, Paprika, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Turmeric Powder and All Purpose. It took me quite a while to collect so many but i'm pretty happy with my collection now.

20. Nuts and Seeds

Another must in any kitchen are a good variety and nuts and seeds. We always have almonds and cashews on hand but sometimes we get a bit more fancy with hazelnuts, macadamias etc. I use cashews a lot for dishes and for cheesecakes. They are also great for making creamy dips. Almonds we snack on all the time and use for breakfast dishes.
The seeds we usually have are sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and flaxseeds.

A Difficult Month!

9:57 PM

The last few weeks have been quite difficult for me and it is one of the main reasons that I have been so quiet on my blog. Life basically took a turn when I quit my apprenticeship job at the hairdressers and went back to the cafe and barista life. I am so much happier back doing what I love and I am very much loving life it took a little change in direction to realise what I really wanted in life and I am so proud of myself for allowing myself to experience the unknown.

Changing jobs again meant that I had to get into a different routine again and it was this new routine that sent my eating habits out of whack. Because my new job is casual my days and hours change every week so in my first week I stopped eating breakfasts mostly because some days I was up too early and just wanted to get in the car and get to work and other days because I was just so tired and wanted to sleep in. Not eating breakfast and my snacks during the day lead to cravings for all the bad stuff and my vegan eating failed a lot. I was almost ready to just give up.

I was still eating majority of vegan dishes but I was very disappointed in myself for eating the wrong things. I don't think I should be living like this at all. I believe that everyone should eat healthy foods. I will never give up on that, but as I have mentioned a few times before I don't like 'labels' because once you give yourself a label it normally means that you end up beating yourself up over the minor things. For example a few weeks ago I was hating on myself for eating an egg with my yummy vegan noodle stirfry.

Honestly.....I don't deserve it. I try everyday to eat healthy, eat organically and most importantly be happy. I can't be happy when myself and others are judging me. I have thought about this a lot in the last couple weeks and I just think that there are so many people out there in the world who give themselves a label like vegan, paleo, vegetarian etc and then they use it like a religion picking on people who are not doing it right or not agreeing with their beliefs.

I didn't become vegan to judge others or force others to join me. I became vegan because I wanted to be healthy, happy and environmentally friendly. I have decided to stop being so hard on myself and to just complete my mission of becoming fit and healthy, the way that I want to.

I am finally back on track. I'm feeling fantastic again and most importantly i'm happy. My diet is now pretty much 95% vegan. I eat eggs every now and again and honey.....why? because I think they are good for my health and they keep me satisfied after quitting meat and dairy products. I have so much more energy again. I'm just living life my way and sharing with the world little bits and pieces of how I stay healthy and happy.

It is so good to be back blogging again and I can't wait to share with you lots more recipes, reviews and so much more for living a healthy lifestyle.

Stay Happy and Healthy
Liane Xx