Day 1 Unprocessed

It's always exciting to start out on the first day of anything.... but that excitement usually comes with some nervousness as well.
Well my 10 weeks unprocessed challenge has started out just like that! A bit of mixed feelings....

Here's how day one went:

Breakfast was oats with ground flax seeds, frozen blueberries and a chopped banana. 

A batch of home-made soymilk followed..... now I have okara to play-bake with :D

For lunch I raided some veggies from the fridge and got chopping!

 

I made a dressing to go with it:

It was simply tahini, freshly squeezed lemon juice and apple cider vinegar mixed together in my mini-chopper. 

I love little kitchen gadgets <3

Dinner was a cauliflower 'steak' with green & bean mix.

I made the cauliflower steak but simply cutting pieces of a whole cauli lengthways, soak in lemon juice for 10 mins then sprinkle with herbs and spices. Bake for 30 mins in a warm oven.
My green bean mix was onions, mushrooms, silverbeet and cannellini beans sauteed in white wine vinegar! Very tasty!


And of course............ you know I don't cope well without dessert don't you?!?!? ;-)
Thankfully going unprocessed doesn't mean being deprived!

I made some of my strawberry mousse. Always a winner :D



So I survived day one unprocessed!
In fact, it really wasn't too much different from a 'regular' day of mine! 
I look forward to experimenting more in the coming weeks......

Product Review: Coles Simply Less Bars

Coles have bought out a new range of products to be healthier choices and named them Simply Less.

I picked up 2 of the 'bars' the other day.

There was also a 3 nut flavour in the range but I didn't get that one to try.

I was very excited to see that they were labeled as 'suitable for vegans'.
Some in the range were also gluten free for those who need that.

I tried the Date, Sesame and Chia bar first. 

I enjoyed it but it wasn't quite the 'date' taste that I was hoping for! Perhaps I enjoy date flavours better with chocolate!
That said, I would definitely still buy this again to enjoy on another occasion.

Secondly I tried the Fruit, Oat & Quinoa flavour....

YUM! Wow - it was really tasty and not dry at all. Some oat bars can be really dry & crunchy. I enjoyed the chewy texture of this one and its definitely on my top snack list!!!!


I recommend picking yourself up some of these bars to try sometime! They were inexpensive ($1.19 each) and what a great treat to keep in the cupboard (or drawer at work for munchies!!!).

10 weeks unprocessed

The crunch time is nearly here!
From next Monday for the complete duration of the final school term this year I'm going

UNPROCESSED!

Here's the list of 'whole foods' that I'm going to include:

--> Fruits & veggies (obviously) - fresh or frozen, with the allowance of canned tomatoes
--> Whole Grains  - oats, quinoa, barley, brown rice, wheat, wholemeal & spelt flour 
                           - this does not include pre-cooked such as minute rice
                           - this will also include bread that is home-made
--> Legumes - I will aim to cook most of my legumes myself, 
                   - however I will allow canned legumes, either unsalted or organic varieties
                   - I will also allow pre-made unflavoured tofu & tempeh
--> Nuts, seeds and dried fruit - no added sulphur or salt varieties, natural nut spreads allowed
--> Natural sweetners - including maple syrup
--> Beverages - water, tea, coffee, freshly squeezed fruit & vegetable juice
                     - plant milks that are organic and contain minimal ingredients 


 















I will still allow myself to eat out if we have a special occasion planned (during this time we'll be celebrating our anniversary & our daughter's birthday!).  
I will be making cakes & cookies & ice-creams and various types of treats..... from scratch!  
This is not about deprivation - but about building good habits! It needs to be realistic and do-able! 


I realise that this list will vary and contain slightly different foods for each individual person! If you're participating don't feel that this list has to be your list - feel free to make your own one that suits you! 
No judgements please!

If you're not consuming a plant-based diet and would like some guidelines for what you may want to include I recommend checking out the 100 days of real food blog to get some ideas for how you may want to shape your list.



Want to join in?!?
      You can do this for as long or as short a time as you feel able. Feel free to subscribe (link in right hand column) to see the recipes & what I'll be eating.
If you enjoy blogging then feel free to link your blog up below with your food list & duration! 
You can copy and paste some of the below 'unprocessed' pictures to add to your blog page if you want! Please don't alter them!

WIAW - First week of October

After last week's WIAW you probably think I'm a snack-a-holic.....
Well I'm not really. I hardly ever snack to be honest, apart from a Wednesday which is my drive into work day. I usually have an afternoon tea snack because dinner is rarely eaten before 8pm (read grumbly tummy!). Other days I occasionally have a piece of fruit in the afternoon, but other than that the only snack I consistently have is a morning tea break that consist of just my coffee :D mmmmmmmmmmmmm coffee! 

So I went into the office today with sensible snacking in mind (after last week!)......

For breakfast I made my bread-no-butter--pudding using raisin toast that was leftover. 

                                        Served with a sliced orange.

Lunch was leftover pizza served with steamed greens.
The pizza was mashed mexican beans with my pizza-cheeze-sauce recipe on top. 

I munched on an apple in the car on the way home.

Dinner was late evening.... again - as is becoming my Wednesday routine :-/ I can't say that I like eating dinner late but I don't really have a choice! Which also means that it's usually something super easy to make!
This evening it was a burger.

Using up what "package" food I have in the house before I start my 10 weeks unprocessed challenge next week!
I'm posting details in a few days - so stayed turned.... You too can join in the challenge if you want to!

 You can join the What-I-Ate-Wednesday fun at the peasandcrayons blog

More than mince lasagna

Sometimes I just want more to a lasagna filling than 'mince'.

Here's a great variation that adds more flavour and more veggies - can't complain about hiding veggies!

You'll need:
2 x spelt lasagna sheets (or other lasagna sheets of choice)
For the 'mince':
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup TVP (rehydrated - measured before adding water)
2 field mushrooms, chopped
1/2 green capsicum, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 Tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped (can use dry if preferred, use a teaspoon)
1 teaspoon marjoram 
(Note: this mixture makes DOUBLE what I needed, it keeps well in freezer or fridge to easily make a second lasagna during the week or use as bolognese with other pasta - or you can just make 2 dishes!)
For the 'cheeze' sauce:
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup soymilk
1 Tablespoon cornflour

Soak the lasagna sheets in boiling water while making the 'mince'. This will help them cook quicker.
To make the 'mince':
Combine all the veggies in a frying pan and saute until slightly softened. Add the herbs, and garlic and TVP. Combine and cook until all ingredients are warmed through. Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Stir until all ingredients are well combined.

To make the 'cheeze' sauce:
Combine the nutritional yeast and cornflour in a bowl and stir well. Add the milk and mix until the flours are completely dissolved. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. The sauce will thicken slightly but not be too thick that you can't spread it. 

--> You may want to make extra 'cheeze' sauce if you like your lasagna quite cheezy.

Assemble the lasagna:
Lightly spray the bottom of your lasagna dish. Place a quarter of the 'mince' mixture on the bottom and top with a lasagna sheet. 

 
Cover with lasagna sheet with half of the 'cheeze' sauce. 
Repeat the layering process. 


I usually do 2 layers of lasagna, feel free to do more if you want to!




Bake for 25 mins in a 180C preheated oven.

This recipe serves 2 large pieces or 4 side serves.
Serve with salad, garlic bread or steamed veggies :-)

DIY Summer Muesli

Ever buy a bag of muesli and like it all except for one bit?!?
Perhaps its one of the grains or the choice of fruit, or nuts that's in the mix.
Problem solver: make your own!
You can choose your own flavours!

My daughter loves fruit muesli & asked if we could make our own. 
So here's our Summer Muesli that she absolutely LOVES.

You'll need:
2 cups oats
1 cup puffed brown rice
1 cup bran sticks
1 cup rolled rye
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried apple rings
1/2 cup dried mango
1/4 cup dried paw paw
1/4 cup dried pineapple
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pepitas
1 teaspoon mixed spice 

I would of added wheat flakes but when I went shopping for the ingredients I couldn't find any!

If any of the dried fruit is in large pieces, cut it up into bite size pieces.  Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, or a cereal contain & mix well!

DONE! Seriously could if be any easier!
The kids will love getting involved in this! Let them pick which fruit, nuts or seeds they want & of course the shaking part is so much fun ;-)

Delicious with almond milk!

You could make your own dried fruit too if you want to, even if you don't own a dehydrator.
Slice fruit & place on a lined oven tray. Put your oven on a very low temperature (this will vary between ovens as some ovens go lower than others) and leave to dry for 4-6 hours.




This is the start of my new plans to attempt going unprocessed for 10 weeks! Stay tuned for more details coming soon.........

 

Recipe Review: Chocolate Orange Cake

I'm a big choc-orange fan!

When I stumbled across this Chocolate Orange cake recipe on the fatfreevegan blog the other day I knew I just HAD to try it! Especially after my daughters school holiday request was to bake a chocolate cake!

I reduced the sugar by half and it was still quite tasty, and with the icing on top it was still sweet enough to be an enjoyable cake. 
I also substituted apple cider vinegar for the balsamic.
It is more of a dense type cake and not so light and fluffy, but it really suited the flavour of the cake - it was between a regular cake and a mud cake. 
And the taste was ~DeLiCiOuS~.......

The 2 flavours of icing was AMAZING! It worked so well & just gave the cake a fantastic look!
I don't have a proper Bundt cake tin so I did the best with what I had! 

When I had cut the cake I used the orange slices to cover the cut parts to keep it moist. It worked really well as it added extra flavour to the next slice and kept the cake moist.

My recommendation: TRY IT! You won't be disappointed.