Two Years of Veganism!

Today is November 1st – it’s World Vegan Day, and the first day of the Great Vegan Challenge. I took part in the challenge two years ago, and since then I’ve remained vegan.
When I made the decision to go vegan, I did not expect that it would change me in the way that it has. Honestly? I was afraid that I would feel deprived and that I would always be craving the foods that I loved like mac and cheese, mars bars, sour cream pringles.
I had been a vegetarian for ten years, and as time went on – I became complacent. I didn’t look at any news articles or watch docmentaries about animal slaughter – because I felt like, as a vegetarian, I was doing enough. I had no reason to keep up to date with such information – I was already doing all that I could. I thought I already knew all there was to know. Nobody in my life had ever doubted that or made me question that – I was the only vegetarian that I knew who was actually strict about it (i.e. I did not eat oreos, nutella, skittles, or haribo) and I hadn’t even heard of veganism, really.
What made me change was simply meeting a vegan. It was sort of like finding a unicorn – these people really exist? Why don’t they eat eggs, anyway? I wasn’t so rude as to question it – I’d experienced enough of that as a vegetarian. Knew all too well the frustration of people who say things like “but I just love bacon soo much!”. The vegan I’d met didn’t have to question me why I was only vegetarian, didn’t have to tell me the truth about the dairy industry in order to convince me – they merely had to exist. That in itself was enough to make question my decision to be vegetarian – that was enough to make me wonder, to make me doubt for the first time in ten years, was I really doing enough? Was I missing something?
That night, I went home and researched it on my computer. I was convinced as soon as I found out the truth about the egg and dairy industry. I just knew. I knew that I had to go vegan now- that with this information, I could not remain a vegetarian. It was not enough. I started transitioning at that moment.

It’s been two years and I honestly don’t understand how I ever lived before. I don’t really know how I managed to stay so unaware of the facts for so long. I could not ever imagine going back – I don’t want to. The thought of it disgusts me and I would not be able to live with myself if I did go back to eating meat or dairy.
Food wise, veganism is easy. With Starbucks, Costa, Pret A Manger, Subway, Marks and Spencer, Sainsburys, Asda and Tesco all offering quick vegan options (these aren’t always in the grab and go aisles of supermarkets, but you can always find a pot of vegetable couscous in amongst the salad aisle), there’s never a time where I have to go hungry when I’m on the go. And with restaurants like Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Nandos, Wagamamas, Yo Sushi, Handmade Burger Co, and even Toby Carvery all offering vegan options – eating out with my omni friends is really easy. And here in Glasgow, with my vegan friends, there are lots of vegan restaurants for us to choose from, too.
I’ve said it many times, but the hardest thing about veganism is that, in a lot of ways you are isolated from those around you. Every time you choose the vegan option and those around you consume meat and act completely normal – as if what they are eating isn’t a dead being. I’ve often likened it to knowing that there is holocaust happening, right under everybody’s noses, and yet nobody talks about it or pays attention to it. Nobody seems to care that this is happening and can be so frustrating and disappointing. It can be hard, sometimes, to have faith and believe in a world that laughs in your face when you tell them that the animals that they eat have feelings. Sometimes, it makes me want to give up. Not on my veganism, but on the world.
It’s a battle in my mind that will never end for me; and I will never understand why it’s a battle in the first place, if you are faced with the option of life or death – why anybody, why any rational, caring, and nice person – would choose death.

This aside, being vegan has given me this sense of peace with myself and with the world around me. Feeling comfortable and at peace with myself and the person that I am is something very new to me – I am confident in my decisions, in the knowledge that I am someone who is consistent in my beliefs and doing my very best to save our planet and our fellow Earthlings. I exist in a time of horrible mass execution of sentient beings – and this constantly outrages me, disgusts me, and keeps me awake at night. But I fall asleep each night with a conscious that is devoid of guilt; because my hands are clean. Because when, one day, I am asked what I did when I learned the truth about slaughter – I can answer that as soon as I learned the truth, I knew that I had to change.
Since I went vegan, there’s been this sense of purpose – as though I am apart of something big. Something revolutionary. Something that one day will be the norm. I have to believe that the human race is one that is compassionate and that one day, we will come to our senses to see meat production for what it truly is. That in years to come, animal slavery – speciesism – will be something we look at in history books with the same outrage that we feel when we learn about black slavery, the holocaust, homophobia, or womens’ rights movement. We will wonder why we ever needed to fight for such things – how anybody could be so cruel and vicious to believe otherwise – when it is so abundantly clear that we are all united as Earthlings.

Do I feel superior to meat eaters?

In December, it will be my two year vegan anniversary. When I went vegan, my social media accounts were flooded with links to articles and videos and information that I had found that answered the question of “Why Vegan?” because I was shocked. I was so shocked that nobody had ever told me this before. That this information had been hidden from us – that we weren’t being told the whole truth. I was a vegetarian at the time – and I had thought that was all I needed, that I was taking all the necessary steps to make sure that I was not contributing to animal slaughter or abuse.

I was so wrong. And I was mad – mad that nobody had told me this before. That we were being shown pictures of happy chickens laying eggs and cows feeding from their mums. I accepted the happy story that I was fed by the media – why would I question it, after all? I was pretty young naive – if it was so horrible, it wouldn’t be happening, right? I went vegetarian when I was ten and since then, I’d quietened down in vegetarianism. It wasn’t something I needed to shout about or feel rage over anymore because I’d long just accepted that other people weren’t. I hadn’t looked up any information about animal slaughter or death in years because I didn’t think I needed to see such upsetting images – because I was already doing everything in my power. Other people needed to see it, maybe, non-vegetarians that is – but I didn’t need to because I was already vegetarian. In fact – I’m not sure I would have ever made the change toward veganism if I hadn’t of met two vegans in real life. It was meeting them that made me think, “I’m missing something. There’s a reason why these people are actually vegan and not just vegetarian. It must mean that vegetarian isn’t enough.” and so my eyes were opened.

I had my initial period of posting almost daily on social media about animal abuse and sharing my go vegan messages. Since then, I’ve had periods of intense posting about veganism on social media, and other periods where I have been quieter about it. But every day I have the internal dilemma regardless of what I do – if I am loud and vocal, will people not listen because I am annoying or because they (incorrectly) perceive me to be preaching? However at the same time – if I am not vocal -nothing will change and the guilt of being silent will start to eat at me and consume me.
Don’t get me wrong – I save lives by being vegan because I am not creating a demand for animal products. But I am not actively out there rescuing animals from slaughter or protecting them. I’m not even out there campaigning, really. If I don’t post about it on social media for my facebook friends, then I am not sharing my knowledge with them and therefore allowing them to be mindless consumers. What am I achieving? If I say nothing and keep my mouth shut – nothing will ever change. Similarly, if I say it kindly or pretend to sympathize with those who say “I just really like chocolate, ya know?” or “I just love the taste of bacon!”, nothing will change. They won’t feel pressured or like it’s important enough for them to pay attention and do something about it. If I buy non vegan gifts for my friends or like their pictures of non vegan foods on social media or buy in non vegan snacks for when they come over to my house – then I am encouraging them. I am saying, “it is not okay for me to do this but it is okay for you to continue to do so.” And I can’t do that. I cannot live with myself if I do that. I cannot sleep peacefully if I am not doing all that I possibly can to spread this information. And if that means being harsh? So be it. Because in truth I’m not being harsh; I’m not going around screaming about my opinions. I’m sharing facts. I will not start a conversation about animal slaughter or cruelty or talk about the meat/dairy industries in person because it is not appropriate and a waste of my time, usually – but if I am prompted? Yes. I will talk about it. And I will not hold back on what I know.
The thing with veganism is that it isn’t just an opinion. As a vegan, I share facts and truths. Not beliefs, not opinions. Veganism is not a personal thing. It’s not about personal opinions or choices or decisions because your right to eat what you want ends when it involves killing another being. This isn’t personal and it’s not about me feeling good about myself or making meat eaters feel guilty – it’s about those who really suffer the consequences here and that is the millions of animals who are suffering and dying each year. If you think that veganism is about superiority or moral high grounds then you’re completely misunderstanding the point of veganism – veganism is about recognizing that we are all equal. That we are all earthlings. We are one.

“We are all animals of this planet. We are all creatures. And nonhuman animals experience pain sensations just like we do. They too are strong, intelligent, industrious, mobile, and evolutional. They too are capable of growth and adaptation. Like us, firsthand foremost, they are earthlings. And like us, they are surviving. Like us they also seek their own comfort rather than discomfort. And like us they express degrees of emotion. In short like us, they are alive.”  – Joaquin Phoenix

I have struggled internally with maintaining my friendships and connections with my family members and friends who are not vegan because veganism is such a huge part of my life but it is something I am afraid to bring up in front of them or share with them because I don’t want to start an argument. I do not take such debates personally or feel attacked or insulted because I am confident in myself that veganism is the right thing. know that I am educated, have done my homework, that I have looked at this from a logical perspective and taken myself out of the equation as much as possible so as not to form a biased opinion. I have looked at it from the other perspective and that is – from the perspective of animals. I have tried to place myself in their shoes (if I’m honestly, I just have to look at my dog – she is all the clarity and confirmation that I need).
The same cannot be said for meat eaters, however, who most often, even if it’s only on a subconscious level, are not so confident that they are doing the right thing.
I recognize my friends and family as being wonderful people – but why do such wonderful people partake in something so cruel? How can they continue to allow this to happen to animals if they are nice people? This thought has plagued me. But I love my friends and family – they are not people that I want to lose but when I sit at the table with them and we talk about our lives and laugh and joke – I can see the death on their plates. I see the pain and suffering that they are paying for and we are ignoring the very big elephant in the room. Sometimes I want to ask, have you ever considered being vegan? Do you know that you’re not just eating steak, you’re eating a someone? Do you know that someone wanted to live? Would you eat your pet dog? Because you know that the cow that you’re eating was equally as sentient and capable of the same love as your dog is? I don’t understand how you can do this. I don’t understand and I don’t think I’ll ever understand and it keeps me up at night because the fact that you eat animals makes no sense to me because you are a good human being but good human beings don’t cause unnecessary harm so why are you?

“I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” Leonardo Da Vinci

Should I not spread information for the sake of their hurt feelings? No, I cannot. But hurt feelings do not compare to death. They may be hurt, but it is because they are alive that they can feel that hurt. Animals feel hurt too but their hurt is ignored because it is not convenient. Since I was very young, swallowed my discomfort at the sight of rotting flesh on their plates and gave them no indication that it ever made me uncomfortable and never brought the subject up with them – so is it my fault that they so surprised by my opinions and thoughts? Because I maybe give the impression that I was fine with it? But even though it makes me uncomfortable – I love my friends and family. I want to spend time with them and I don’t want my veganism to be a reason for them to exclude me from our outings. I would rather that we ate at vegan places, of course, but the only time I have ever made that request of my friends has been on my birthday. I would never ask them to only eat vegan when they’re with me – not unless I was fitting the bill because the thought of my money contributing to such an industry makes me uncomfortable.
The truth is that those who eat meat are responsible for animal death and cruelty. They fund it. And I view people who do this in full knowledge of what exactly that entails and means as murderers – I view them as being equally as responsible as those who do the actual killing in slaughterhouse. So it leads me to question – can I love those around me when they are, following this logic and process, a murderer?
While I recognize that I am no better than those who eat meat out of ignorance – because I once did, too, as a child and as a teenager I continued to eat dairy and eggs. There was a few occasions where I admitted to myself that I should probably be researching veganism but didn’t because I recognized that once I knew the truth – I would have no choice but to go vegan and give up sour cream Pringles and Mars bars. I know that I am better than those who eat meat in full knowledge and if this makes me an elitist or annoying or preachy then I just have to ask – Do you feel like you are a better person than the dentist who killed Cecil? Do you think that you’re better than those who don’t avoid factory farms? What about people who eat dogs? What about those who leave their dogs in the car for hours on a hot day? Or those who allow their cats to starve? What about those who actively torture or abuse or neglect animals in general? Don’t you feel like you’re better than them? Because I do. What about people who murder other people? What about people who rape? Or molest children? Or terrorists who hurt innocent people? Are you better than them? Because I know that I am better than them. If I were to feel just a teeny bit more compassionate than you because I don’t contribute to animal slaughter – would it really so wrong? Is it really any different to how you feel like a better person than those who are homophobic or racist or ableist or sexist?

“Children confront us with our paradoxes and hypocrisies, and we are exposed. You need to find an answer for every why — Why do we do this? Why don’t we do that? — and often there isn’t a good one. So you say, simply, because. Or you tell a story that you know isn’t true.” Jonathon Safran Foer

In order to sleep peacefully, I have had to tell myself another story – not like the one I told myself as a vegetarian where I believed I was doing everything in my power. In the same way that my friends and family and most other meat eaters tell themselves a story – whether they tell themselves that they only eat free range or organic, or if they lie to themselves that there is no other way around eating animals for them -I have had to tell myself a story so that I can disconnect my friends and family from eating meat and dairy – I have to believe that they are ignorant. That they are uneducated, much like the majority of the rest of the population who eat meat, about animal slaughter and sentience. That if they knew the truth – that if they fully understood the extent to which animals are sentient, if they knew how much they suffered, if they wake up from brainwashing – they would be vegan too. I just have to wait for them to wake up – and one day, they, along with the rest of the world will wake up.

“We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?” – Jonathon Safran Foer

It is because I respect my family and friends that I do not hide my posts on social media from them. It is because I respect them and think of them as good people that I share information with them when I find it.
My love for my family and the close friends of mine who I see as my own family, however, is not conditional, in the same way that the love of a parent should never be conditional. Am I disappointed in my friends and family because they are not vegan? Yes. About this, I cannot lie. Because I recognize the story that I tell myself for what it is – a story. In other words – it’s a lie. The truth is that my friends and family are not so ignorant; they might not know all of the ins and outs of the industries yet, but they do have me. A vegan as a daughter, sister, or best friend. A constant reminder each time I eat a different meal than they do that means that they cannot pretend like they don’t know that what they do is wrong. That animals are dying and that the evidence is on their plates. They might not recognize it consciously and they might think that their annoyance is with me for spreading this information and reminding them just by existing and taking a stand, so to speak, at the dinner table. However I recognize that this annoyance and discomfort and hurt is not actually with me – it is with themselves. And honestly? That’s a good sign. It means that they care. It means that they are beginning to wake up.

I am not vegan because I want a pat on the back. I am not vegan to purposely upset people. I am vegan for the animals and I will continue to talk about it on social media and in real life. I am not speaking for these animals – because they have a voice, our world just doesn’t listen. But I will shout about it in order to draw attention to their voices.

“Now I can look at you in peace; I don’t eat you any more.” – Franz Kafka

Further reading – if you want to read actual well constructed articles and not just ramble of me sorting through my feelings on this subject:
Everyone hates a preachy vegan except the animals
There is nothing pretentious about being a vegan
All vegans are preachy, hollier than thou, and think they’re superior

Thoughts on Cecil the lion, fox hunting laws and dog meat.

“While it is always possible to wake a person who’s sleeping, no amount of noise will wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.”
– Jonathon Safran Poer

With the recent discussions of a dog meat festival in China, fox hunting in the UK and now the slaughter of Cecil the lion in the media, I have noticed several posts on social media in which people are expressing their disgust and horror at such things. In those posts, they talk about how barbaric and cruel it is to murder. They describe hunters as sadistic and cruel; often using words like psychotic and evil.

What is difficult for me to understand is the fact that out of those I have seen posting – the majority are not vegan. Most of them are meat eaters, in fact, not even vegetarians. It’s ironic that so many people posting, hours later, are proudly posting pictures of the food they are eating – chicken stir fry, fish and chips, spaghetti.
I cannot understand why you claim to be disgusted by such behaviour and yet, by your purchases, you demand for such acts to take place. As a consumer, you are directly responsible. I see no difference between a meat eater and a hunter or slaughterhouse worker; the blood is on both your hands.
Why you would take a stance for foxes, dogs and lions but farm animals? It is been proven that all of these animals have the same capacity and desire for companionship, comfort and warmth. That they are of similar intelligence and will form relationships with us and each other. When, like you and I, they fear pain and will fight for their lives.
There is no such thing as humane slaughter because there is no right way to do the wrong thing. You might try to argue that you only buy free range eggs or organic meat from your local butcher; you might try to insist that you have put a great deal of research into getting the most ethical form of meat; however, this is not possible. Because the point is that someone had to die and it was not necessary. It was not a matter of survival. Given the fact that 98% of meat consumed in the UK comes from factory forms – I am very impressed my entire friendlist on facebook seem to be managing to find the 2%. It’s not at all like any of you ever dare to post pictures or talk about KFC or Domino’s pizza. Clearly, none of you are shopping at any of the wellknown supermarkets in the UK, right? Because there is not one that does not sell products that come from factory farms.
All animals deserve to live. They are more than food sources, they are not objects. They are not yours to post about on facebook in attempt to kid yourself on that you are a moral human being. You either care about animals or you don’t; and if you care about animals, then you are vegan. If you care about animals, then there is no other option or choice than to go vegan. It is a moral obligation. It is not a matter of personal opinion. When talking about veganism and eating animals, we are not talking about you as a person and this is something that you need to understand.
It was Walter Palmers preference to hunt; his preference to murder. But his preference had a victim. In the same way, your preference to eat meat has a death toll. You are not any different from the man you call evil; you are, in fact, the same.
Often people tell me that while they agree with me, veganism is “too extreme” a move for them to make. They continue to eat animal products and do nothing, thinking that they are in the middle of this battle however; to do nothing is a response and in the case of slaughtering animals, “to throw your hands in the air is to wrap your fingers around a knife handle”.

Please stop pretending to be asleep. Get up. Take a stand and be consistent with your beliefs. Educate yourself. Go vegan.

Why am I vegan?

This is Fudge, my companion animal.

Fudge and I are different in a lot of ways.
She’s much fluffier than I am, for a start. She has longer, sharper nails than I do. Her tongue is much longer than mine and she’s far shorter than I am. She loves that stupid squeaky ball of hers that I hate so much because it goes right through me. She’s very outgoing and confident where I am awkward and uncomfortable – when we come across a stranger on our walks, she will proceed to lay down on the pavement and demand a belly rub from them.
We’re also very similiar, however.
Like me, she seeks out her own comfort. She’ll happily hog the sofa to herself and make me sit on the floor. When she comes in from the rain, she’ll head straight for the radiator to heat herself up. When we finish playing, she’ll go into the kitchen for a drink of water. When she needs the toilet, she’ll come up to one of us and bark at us until we follow her through the kitchen to the door to let her outside. For someone who doesn’t speak English, Fudge is very articulate. She knows how to make herself understood and she understands us in return.
Her tail thumps against the nearest surface when I enter the house, and she jumps up to tell me that she did, in fact, notice my absence. She drools when I eat food around her but has the decency to look away and pretend like she hadn’t noticed. She has an irrational fear of baths (she will run and hide under the table at the mere word ‘bath’ and she will find the tiniest patch of sunlight in the garden and stubbornly lay there in the snow, determined to sunbathe. She snores in her sleep and her paws twitch. She sneezes sometimes, like I do, and when she’s tired she yawns and rests her head on a pillow and is happiest when we wrap her up like a little burrito in one of her little blankets. She’s gentle and kind – she lies in the grass in summer and knows that the food my mother has thrown out is not for her, but for the birds. She watches, calmly, from a distance, as they eat and dozes off.
I know that Fudge feels physical pain because of how she yelps and, now that she is older, moves slower and stiffer in the cold. I know that she feels emotional pain because she cries at the bottom of the stairs for attention when she’s left alone for longer than fifteen minutes whenever my mother isn’t home. She still pricks up her ears at the names of old friends of mine she hasn’t seen in years – she remembers them. Misses them, even. When we first adopted her – she still cried for her brothers and sisters.
Fudge is her own being. She has her own personality. Her own little quirks and ways of showing her love. She knows that my mother is her adoptive mother – she seeks her out the most for comfort and reassurance, in the same way that all children do. She shakes at the vet but is comforted by kind words and kisses on the top of her head. She’s startled by fire works and if she sees a fox in the garden, the first thing she does is look for mum to tell her it’s okay. 
Pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and the other animals that humans eat are not that different from Fudge. They too seek their own comfort and have their own ways of communicating with us. They are capable of the same love, the same communication, that Fudge is capable of. They are intelligent, sentient beings who feel fear, uncertainty, pain and loss just as much as they feel comfort, warmth, and safety. They are deserving of the same respect that Fudge is. They too deserve to be safe,to be warm at night, to be fed, to be held – to be loved. They deserve, as sentient beings, the right to live. They are not ours. They deserve good homes like dogs and cats do.
It could be like this for the others, too. That’s what gets me. They don’t have to die. It could be different for each and every one of them – but humans put their convenience,  taste buds and ‘personal’ beliefs above other beings most basic right to live safely. Over these other beings thoughts, feelings and lives.
I don’t understand that. I have never, and I will never, understand why humans believe that a short meal is more important than entire lives. Meat and dairy will never be worth the price. Nobody should have to die just so you can eat.
I am vegan for the millions of animals that die every day in the world.
I will fight until animals everywhere are free.

Keep Calm?

When the twin towers collapsed, I remember my mother being very distraught at dinner. We had no family in america, no connection to any of those who lost their lives – but our family, all the way in Scotland, had a quiet dinner that night. I was a child at the time, too young to understand, but my parents most definitely felt empathy for those poor people who had died that day. for the emergency services. For those who had witnessed the event. We experienced the same thing when the ferry in South Korea sunk, when the bin lorry truck kiled six people in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago – I walked through the city the day after and the atmosphere was very sombre. Most of us did not know these people, were not personally affected by these tragedies – but still, they hurt us. Still, we mourned.
Because we knew that these people were like us. We knew that they would have had friends and families. That they probably celebrated their birthdays, had a favourite food, a favourite song. They had thoughts and feelings and desires. They could love and remember things.
Now imagine, if you were the only one who cared about these tragic events. Imagine, that nobody in your family or friend circles wanted to talk or acknowledge it. That they continued to laugh and eat and continue their lives as thought nothing was wrong while people were dying.
Now worse – let’s imagine that they joked about it. On the very same day that this tragedy had happened – they’re laughing at dinner, making jokes about these deaths. You’d want to scream at them, wouldn’t you? You’d want to tell them to shut up and have some god damn respect. You’d want to make them see.
Being a vegan is like this in that we recognise that millions of beings are dying all over the world. But nobody cares. nobody gives a shit about the animals that die to fill their bellies. They make jokes about it – “but bacon though” and “what about plants”. They ridicule those of us who do care.
So no, I will not stay calm. I will not stop talking about veganism. I will not stop reminding you that you are chewing rotting flesh or that your burger had a face. I will not be ‘nice’ and sugar coat everything just so that you don’t have to feel guilt – because you should feel guilty.

One Year of Veganism

Today it is World Vegan Day and I have been vegan for one year.
Going vegan was the best decision I ever made. I’m often asked if I find veganism difficult and at first, it was a little tricky. I couldn’t even peel a potato when I first went vegan and I had no idea how to cook.
But since going vegan, I’ve discovered new flavours, textures – I’ve eaten vegan prawns, tried avocado for the first time in my life, made a cheesecake out of cashews, tuna sweetcorn out of chickpeas and made the most delicious burger just by grilling a mushroom. I have a whole new appreciation and love for food that I didn’t have before.
Emotionally, going vegan has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I will never understand why “because animals are dying” is not a good enough reason to convince more of the people in my life to vegan. I will never understand why cheese or bacon is worth more to some people than an entire life.
In life, we don’t often get the chance to make a difference. But by going vegan, you can save roughly 33 animals a year. While I might miss mars bars every now and then, I’m sure cows miss their children a whole lot more.
Please consider taking part in Animal Aid’s Great Vegan Challenge by going vegan for November – you won’t regret it.

Today is treated myself to some tasty desserts to celebrate my first year as a vegan! First, I went to Mono for some lovely oreo brownie and got a cookie peanut sandwich from Stereo to take home to share with my family. Delicious!

Hello Kitty Cake Pops!

Best present ever award goes to my wonderful friend Shan, who got me this Hello Kitty cake pop maker!

I have a confession to make; I’ve never actually had a cake pop. Until now, that is. This cake pop machine is so cool and the little cakes are shaped like Hello Kitty and that makes it even better! I followed the recipe that was in the booklet for this, but veganized it. I split this up so that I could try out two different egg replacers – banana and diet coke. Place your bets now on what one you think turned out better!
This recipe would work if you had cake pop moulds, I think, but obviously I used a machine. I havent tried it though since I dont have any moulds, so if you do, let me know how it goes! Even if you dont have a specific Hello Kitty machine, it should work in a regular cake pop machine and to be honest – the shape gets a bit ruined once you add the melted chocolate anyway. I actually think regular shaped ones would be just as cute.

Recipe:
125g caster sugar
125g dairy free butter (I used vitalite)
2 tbsp dairy free milk (I used Aldi’s own brand of unsweetened soy milk)
100g self raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder (I only used 2 because I’m not big on chocolate to be honest)
Egg replacer for two eggs (so if you want to stick with what I did, use either two mashed bananas, or almost one can of diet coke.)

1. Cream together the butter and sugar
2. Add your egg replacer and mix. If you’re using banana, it’s best if you can puree it but if not it’s fine.  If you’re using diet coke, add a little bit at a time and mix through. You don’t want your batter to be too runny – but if, like I did, you accidentally add a bit too much, just throw in some more flour and you should be fine.
3. Sift in the flour + cocoa powder and mix
4. I put a heaped teaspoon of the mixture at a time in the mould, and I found it worked better if they were highly filled. Use whatever directions apply for your machine.
5. When they come out, let them cool (or eat half of them…oops) for a bit before you start decorating!

On the left we have the banana ones, which didnt rise very well at all ( but tasted fab) and wern’t suitable for decorating, and on the right we have the diet coke ones which definitely won this competition!

Decorating (I dont know the exact amount because I just sorta guessed. But I used the dairy free buttons found in the free from section of Asda). Decorating these will take a long time and it will have to be done in a couple of stages.
Vegan white chocolate
Vegan milk chocolate
Pink food colouring

1.  Melt some white chocolate, dip the sticks in them and then insert them into each cake. Be careful you dont break them!
2. Wait for a good ten minutes or so before you continue decorating – you need these to stick on. I put mine in the freezer for a bit to help them set quicker.
3. Dip the cake into the melted white chocolate, use a spoon if you need to help get it all covered or spread it out. Sit them in a glass or something or ideally a cake pop stand if you have one. Try not to let the back touch the glass or itll get stuck (I found out the hard way..). Leave them to set.
4. Once the chocolate has set, you can double dip them in the white chocolate coating and repeat the previous step if you like (I did) or you can continue onward – it depends on how your cake pops are looking at this point, really.
5. Once set, mix up some white chocolate with a dab of pink food colouring (or any other colour of your choice, really) and using a small wooden skewer or pick, dab it into the chocolate and carefully draw on a little bow shape. Mine ended up a bit of a mess because I was too impatient to wait until the chocolate had set properly and leave to set (you dont have to let them sit, because next you’ll be drawing on the face, but if, like me, you are very clumsy, I recommend leaving the chocolate to harden or you’ll end up smudging it. If you have yellow food colouring available, you might want to colour some of the chocolate yellow for Hello Kittys nose, since her nose is actually yellow)
6. Next, melt your vegan milk chocolate and use another skewer/pick to draw on Hello Kitty’s faced! I recommend having a picture in front of you if you want it to actually look like Hello Kitty instead of a generic cat.
7. Place back into the fridge to set for a bit and defend them from your family until you can get a food picture of them to show off on facebook – and then dig in! 🙂

These are delicious and freaking adorable; I’m already thinking of ways I can make these Halloween themed in order to justify making more this month. And Christmas themed and Valentine themed….

Vegan Caramel Shortbread

So this is the recipe that I made for the Glasgow Uni Society Pot Luck (shhh, don’t tell them but I don’t actually go there :D) and it seemed to be a hit, so I thought I’d share my recipe!

For the base:
6oz Plain Flour
4oz Non Dairy Butter/Margarine (I used vitalite)
2oz Sugar
Pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar, then sift in the flour. Mix it all together with your hands but don’t handle it too much. The size of tray/tin that you use depends on how thick you like your base, really. All you have to do is use your hands to spread the mix out so that it fills the tin and then use a fork to poke a bunch of holes in it. Bake at Gas Mark 4 and if you have a decent oven, it’ll probably be about 20-30 minutes. If your oven is rubbish like mine, it’ll take 40 minutes and you’ll probably end up putting it up a bit. Don’t make the caramel until the base is cooled and ready to go.

For the caramel:
1 cup of Non dairy cream (I used Alpro)
1 cup of Sugar
1 cup of Golden Syrup
2 Tablespoons of non dairy butter (I used vitalite)

*I don’t have any american cups to measure this properly, but basically as long as it’s equal to each other it’s cool. I used a full carton of Alpro single cream which was 250ml

Heat everything up in a big pot on a medium heat apart from the butter. Keep stirring. Don’t add the butter until the sugar melts. Then chuck that in too. Keep stirring and stirring until the mixture starts to boil – then stop stirring and stick in a candy thermometer. Keep it boiling until it reaches 240 degrees and don’t stir. You can dip a teaspoon in and do that weird check thing with the cold glass of water (google it) and once your happy that it’ll form properly, take it off the heat and pour onto your shortbread base. Make sure the shortbread is cool though, obviously. And let the caramel set before you put the chocolate on.

For the topping:
2 cups of chocolate (I used moo-free)

Melt your chocolate however you prefer – in the microwave or over a pot of hot water in a glass bowl (that’s what I did), and then pour on top of the caramel layer and use a spoon to spread it out. Put it into the fridge or even the freezer to set – don’t let it get too hard though because you want to cut it as soon as the chocolate is firm otherwise it’ll be too hard.

This is the only picture I managed to get of my caramel shortbread – it got gobbled up pretty fast. It might not look amazing but believe me, it’s incredible. I’ll probably be making this again in no time so I’ll update with nicer pictures once I do!

Vegan On A Budget – 7 Tips

Veganism can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be. It’s surprisingly easy to create a variety of delicious meals by basing your meals around a few basic staples. I plan on setting myself a challenge where I keep track of everything that I spend in attempt to keep it under a set weekly budget (of which I’m undecided on the exact terms yet) but in the mean time I have some quick tips for you that I’ve learned since being vegan.

The Staples
So these are the basics that will go a long way – you don’t need fancy ingredients that you can’t pronounce to make a variety of vegan food. The following is basically what makes up my diet.
Tinned or dried beans/legumes
Seasonal Fruit and Vegetables (if you’re on a really tight budget, tinned and frozen are good in that they won’t go off for a long time)
Basic herbs and spices (if you can, get a plant and grow it on your windowsill)
TVP or soy mince (cheap, easy protein. A little goes a long way with this stuff)
Miso Stock (never buy this from anywhere that is not an asian supermarket or it’ll be well overpriced. Miso doesn’t really go off and it can be used for soups, dressings and marinades)
Pasta and noodles
Rice
Bread
Oats

Healthier + Cheaper substitutions
Wherever you can – substitute white bread or pasta for wholemeal. These are a lot healthier for you and will also help to keep you full a lot longer. Also, rather than buying brand names, always check out supermarkets own brands. If you’re buying a milk alternative, I recommend buying it from the long life section rather than the fresh section – unless you go through a lot of milk. I finish a carton a week no problem now but in the beginning, I always ended up wasting cartons because I didn’t finish it in time.

Hold the Vegusto!
‘Speciality’ vegan items, such as mock meats and vegan cheeses, are generally a lot more expensive. Personally, I only buy these things when they’re either reduced, or on offer. A lot of these foods are processed and health wise should not make up the majority of your diet. You can make things like veggie burgers, ‘meat’ balls and sausages very easily and cheaply on your own – plus they’ll definitely be healthier for you too since you know exactly what’s going into them! Meat substitutes are great for people who are transitioning and still craving meats – but I have maybe one serving of mock meat once a week, and that’s usually only because I can’t be bothered cooking. But I do think it’s a great idea to make a batch of your own veggie burgers or meatballs and freeze them in handy portion sizes.

Leftovers for Lunch and Freezing Food
This will save you from spending all of your time in the kitchen – I purposely make double portions to have for lunch the next day, especially if I know I have a busy day ahead. You can also freeze things like batches of soup, chilli, and curry so that you don’t need to eat the same meal all of the time – and this means you can come home after work to a tasty home made meal that just takes minutes in the microwave – or a few more on the stove. Some people will spend one day solid in the kitchen cooking all of their meals for that week so that they don’t have to cook all week – but I’m not one of them since I enjoy cooking anyway.

Spicing Up Your Meals (Literally)
Herbs and spices can be expensive – it’s generally cheaper to buy in bulk if you can. But they can drastically alter your meals. You can also get some cheap chilli sauce or BBQ sauce to easily bring in some flavour. My favourite marinade for tofu actually is just to water down some BBQ ketchup. Stock cubes are also a good base for rice dishes or soup. Spices can be expensive but sometimes if you go to your local asian market, you’ll get giant bags far cheaper.

Plan your meals
One way to stop yourself from buying way too many things is to plan out your meals in advance. Write down everything you need – and stick to that list. Planning my meals always sounded boring to me until I got into cooking – now I always plan ahead because cooking is a big achievement/reward for me. And whenever my non-vegan family tell me ‘Hey, this isn’t terrible!’ and eat whatever it is that I’ve made, it always makes me feel really good.

Know when and where to shop
As a vegetarian since I was a child, I relied on my mum to buy things, so I never really knew how to shop for bargians. However, I quickly learned that Holland and Barretts would reguarly have penny sales so I now only shop there while it’s on, and that if I went to my local H&B store on a certain day of the week and at a certain time, old stock would be reduced and I’d pick up some bargains. If you’re only shopping for yourself, you can go into supermarkets on the day, grab whatever veg is reduced and improvise your meals based on that, or you can grab what’s reduced and freeze it yourself so you never pay full price for things (this is especially good for fruit). Also, simple things like not picking up that handy prepackaged pack of bananas for £1 but buying them loose and weighing them yourself can get you the same amount for half the price. I once got a whole brocolli from Tesco for 5p doing this!
I’ll leave you with some great budget finds that I’ve found this month:
Tesco Everyday Value Rice Snaps £0.75
Lidl noodles 18p (chuck away the sachet if you want to be healthy, if not these say vegan on them on the back)
Asda Meat Free Savory Mince/Bolognese £0.75 (in my opinion these definite need a little bit of spicing up, but for the price you can’t really go wrong. The burger mix is the best though its £1.50, it makes a lot!)
Asda Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes £0.31 (these are the ones I’ve always used and honestly they taste the same as more expensive brands)
Granovita Shittake Pate £0.99 (Aldi) (various flavours, but this one is my favourite. I make a carbonara sauce out of this with a little bit of soy cream, some onions, mushrooms and pakrika. I make this a good few times a month as I just love it. A tin can easily do enough for 4/5 servings depending on how greedy you are. You can also find these in H&B but they’re usually £1.50 each in there)
H&B Soya Protein Mince (375g) £1.49
Dried chickpeas, chana dal and red split lentils (2kg, found in Tesco World Foods section) £2.99 each or two for £4

If you have any tips and tricks, share them in the comments! I’ve probably missed out a fair few things 🙂

Karina Reviews Stuff: Organ Vanilla Cake Mix

So in the Lifestyle Food Fair at Tesco, I picked up the Organ vanilla cake mix and today I finally made it!

I followed the instructions on the back exactly for the vegan version of the cake and wasn’t disappointed. When I tried the cake mix before it was cooked, I thought it was a little grainy so I was kind of worried, but thankfully when I put it in the oven and cooked it, it tasted amazing!
The base is firm and it stays together reasonably well – but it does crumble if you aren’t careful when spreading the icing on top, so you need to be very gentle.
I think this cake was pretty tasty – I really liked the sponge. Does it compare to homemade dairy free cakes? Definitely not. I’ve yet to find anything that will impress my omni mother who is very particular about cakes.
But, to be fair, store bought cakes and packet cake mixes are never really that impressive anyway. I wouldn’t say that this is any worse than any other cake mix or store bought cake that I’ve ever had – but I wouldn’t say it’s better, other than the obvious fact that it’s vegan.
I topped mine with homemade “buttercream” (made from icing sugar and Pure soya spread) and then topped with some leftover strawberry marshmallows that I had lying around. It certainly wasn’t the best looking cake I’ve ever made – but my family ate it with no complaints.

This cake will definitely impress children. And it takes five minutes to make so it would probably be worth it for parents baking with their children since (or the lazy!) since the only thing you need to measure is some tap water and some margarine.
If it were more affordable, I would definitely be buying this again. But I’m not sure it’s worth the money. It was £3 in Tesco, which doesn’t include any other icing or decorations, only the cake mix itself. And if you wanted to make this as a birthday cake or something, you would definitely need two boxes which would bring the price to £6 and I’m certain I could make my own for less. But if I were short on time, maybe I would consider picking these up again.

Verdict: If you have a major sweet tooth, like me, you’ll like this cake. If you aren’t that big on sweet things – this cake might not be for you. Plus it’s a little expensive.
Rating: ★★★