Sea Shepherd Bread

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society takes direct action to prevent the murder of many animals from hunting at sea. Thier latest campaign sees a crew of people taking to the seas of the Southern Ocean in "Operaton Divine Wind" to save as many whales, dolphins and seals form the muder during the hunting season.

The video below provides an insight into the galley of the Bob Barker ship and a recipie for some vegan sunflower seed bread. Take a peep :)



For more informaion and to support this organisation you can visit:

http://www.seashepherd.org/

and visit thier facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/seashepherdconservationsociety

Rothstein Blueberry Muffins

"Put an equal amount in each muffin..."

I have a thing for gangster films, especially featuring my beau, Robert de Niro. I was watching Casino recently, and I cannot believe this has escaped my notice for so long...



Just so happened I had two punnets of blueberries in the fridge. Probably should have saved them for my healthy eating, but treats are allowed. Heres my recipie for vegan blueberry muffins.

Shopping Basket:

1/2 cup of vegan margarine. (I use "Pure" soya)
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 cups plain flour
Allergy Free Egg replacer- 2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup soya milk (I used unsweetened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups blueberries

Kitchen Activities:

1. Prepare! Preheat your oven to 375F

2. WHISK! Whisk together your margarine and sugar until slightly fluffy. The mixture should be nice and smooth, no sugar grains! Wooden spoon is fine if you dont have an electric mixer.

3. The Science bit...Mix together your flour, baking powder, salt and egg binding replacement.I use "Allergycare Whole Egg Replacer". 40g of egg replacer is equivalent to two eggs. This is sifted into the rest of the flour/baking powder mix.

4. Liquids...Add your vanilla extract to the soya milk and stir

5. MIX! Gradually and alternatively add your flour mix and liquid mix to the creamed butter/sugar. Whisk and continue to add each mix well. Finally add 120ml of water. This water is added to help the egg replacer powder bind all the ingredients together when cooking. If you are using an alternative egg replacer then dont add this water! Follow the instructions on whatever brand you are using.

6. Blueberries...Add your blueberries to the muffin mix and using a wooden spoon gently fold in.

6. "Put an equal amount in each muffin"....Spoon your blueberry muffin mix across 12 paper muffin cases.

7. Sprinkle...add some brown sugar over the top of your muffins and pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

8. Put the kettle on et voila!

Notes - I would highly recommend AllergyCare Whole Egg Replacer to anyone who wants to cook vegan cakes. I have used mashed bananas and other methods in the past to bind cakes, but find this is the best so far. It doesnt add any weird flavours and the texture is true to any regular muffin.

I would like to dedicate this recipie to Robert De Niro :)

Quinoa Salad

"Clean Eating", this is what I am currently aiming for 90% of the time. There will always be room for treats of course - still a baker at heart. Clean Eating is about trying to eat foods only in thier natural state, nothing processed or modified by us! No ready meals, nothing in packets with preservatives and ingredients you cant pronounce. No white sugar, white flour. etc

I made this vegan, super healthy, clean eat salad for dinner and it was DEElish :) Quinoa can be tricky but the lemon and coriander give it a kick up the arse and make it into a dish i actually wanted to eat!

Shopping Basket:

1/3 cup of quinoa

1/2 avocado

1/2 small white onion

1/2 red pepper

1/2 tin of black eyed beans (or any other bean)

lemon juice

coriander (fresh)
Olive oil

Kitchen Activities:

1. Sort your quinoa!You can follow the instructions on your box of quinoa. Generally, start with quinoa in a pan and add double the volume of water. Simmer on a low heat until most of the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat, cover and let the remaining water absorb into the grains. It should double in size and come up all nice and fluffy.

2. Vegetables! Whilst your quinoa is cooking, chop your pepper and half the onion and fry in a pan with some olive oil. Add your beans to heat through. (if starting with dry beans you should obviously leave to soak overnight prior to cooking).

3. Go ROAR! Next, chop your avocado into chunks and rip up your coriander leaves. Chuck these into the pan with your pepper/bean mix. Add in the rest of your onion which should be raw. I cut mine into half rings. Add a splash of lemon juice and some pepper. Mix. Adding raw onion is optional. It does make the salad "hotter". I love raw onion, but its up to your personal taste :)

4. MIX! Tip your pepper/avocado/bean mix into the quinoa pan (all the water should have been absorbed by now). Mix through.
5. EAT

The Science Bit ;)

Quinoa has a range of health benefits. Firstly it is gluten free so perfect as a replacement for pasta for those who have an allergy. Its full of phytonutrients (nutrients that are only found in plant based foods and grains), antioxidants and can balance blood sugar levels, perfect for those with diabetes or those at risk.

It is a seed, closely related to members of the spinach family. Super high in protein and fibre. Fibre has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease as soluble fibre in the blood binds to fat and can prevent clogging of the arteries.

The protein content is great for loosing weight and building muscle. It is known as a complete protein as it contains all the 9 essential amino acids that make up proteins vital to the human body.

Quinoa has also been shown to help lower the risk of breast cancer.

Forget your expensive prebiotic products in the supermarket, quinoa is a natural prebiotic, helping feed good bacteria in your digestive system.

I could go on....but this would turn into an essay!

Red peppers - high in vitamin C and can also reduce the risk of heart disease.

Avocado - Yes, this does tend to be high in calories, but it has GOOD fats. You need these fats to say healthy and strong. These fats include Oleic Acid - which aids our digestive tract transport molecules for fat that can increase our absorption of fat-soluble nutrients like carotenoids.

I hope you enjoy this salad :)