Archive for May, 2010
Spotlight: Rescue a Battery Hen!
My mum is talking about getting chickens. It will be a while before she gets them, but she is very enthusiastic. Her local council has changed the law so her yard is now considered big enough, which she finds ironic. She had chooks in suburbia as a kid, then they were regulated out (only poor people and farmers had chooks – suddenly everyone was rich enough to buy their own eggs, so it became illegal to keep them). She and I had an interesting (if abbreviated due to time constraints) discussion about how everything comes full circle and we’re going back to the environmentally-friendly way things were done in the past.
Mum also saw an eco-coop at a university environmental day which caught her fancy. It was nice and big and had a trough on top where you could grow veges (like lettuce). Clearly the garden part would be conveniently handy to the chook manure!
In addition to those little incentives, Mum just plain likes chickens. Let’s just say that this weekend wasn’t the first time she and I have talked about her childhood chook, Penny. (Sadly, a snake got Penny when Mum was about 5 or 6.) Cows might make her nervous (‘They have such big faces!’), but she gets this really sweet smile on her face when she talks about chickens.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I suggested Mum rescue battery hens and she seemed keen on the idea. Mum is always keen to rescue animals in distress (I think she would be vegan if she allowed herself to really think about it, but let’s not get into that debate.)
Hens, one month after adoption. (Photo from The Battery Hen Adoption Project.)
I read about battery hen rescue on the Queensland Vegsoc forum (I feel like I’m reading everything there lately!). I’m going to send her links, but here are three threads about battery hen adoption, some with links to photos, for you all to read too.
- Jan 2010 hen adoptions (there’s a very moving poem on p4)
- March 2010 hen adoptions
- May 2010 hen adoptions.
The organisation that rehomes the battery hens is Brisbane-based. It’s called The Battery Hen Adoption Project. They have some really good information on their site about taking care of the chooks when they first come home. Of course everything is new to the poor bald chickens; they don’t even know how to sleep sitting down, or have a concept for getting up and walking to the water/food dishes to eat and drink.
There’s also the saddest video on the site:
I really want to rescue some hens now! I can’t wait til we’re not renting anymore. (I have visions of a strawbale type of construction to be a lovely, fox-free coop for them to sleep in at night.) I am also pleased with the idea of supplying Yankee Elv and Mr Teeny-bop with some truly free-range eggs, since they both still eat them.
In the meantime, I guess I will have to make do with visiting Mum’s chickens, when she gets them. I wonder, if she gets them in winter, if they will need jumpers like these…
If you want to keep chickens in Brisbane, get all the info on ourbrisbane.
Friday Feast: Vegan Apple Crumble
Lately, I’ve been on a bit of a muffin kick. This isn’t a muffin recipe though – I’m still working on those. Don’t get all impatient-like, the recipes will come. But right now, this is an apple crumble recipe. It’s good stuff. I tweaked an apple crumble recipe I’ve been making since I was 13, took some inspiration from a berry cobbler that Yankee Elv makes, and ta-da! Vegan dessert-y goodness. I first made this about a month ago.
I made up some soy custard to go with it. I just followed the instructions on my Poppy custard powder box, but added extra custard powder as soy custard seems to thicken up a bit less than dairy custard. It turned out beautifully. For those of you who can’t find custard powder, you could probably just use cornstarch (cornflour) with some vanilla flavouring and yellow colouring. The only other ingredients are non-dairy milk and a spoonful of sugar.
Yankee Elv asked me to make this again the next week. She’s a bit obsessed with it now. But it really does taste so good…
Apple Crumble
Apple crumble with home-made soy custard. It's a dreadful photo, sorry - it was night time so I had to use flash and it's very glary.
Ingredients
**filling**
- 800g tin pie apples (or equivalent fresh apples – I work full time, so I’ve no time to stew apples. I have to make do with recycling the tin)
- 2 tabs white sugar (I use low GI cane sugar)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
**topping**
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- Heaped 1/4 cup vegan margarine, softened and in small pieces
- 1 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Combine filling ingredients in a pie dish.
- Combine topping ingredients, except margarine, in a bowl.
- Rub in margarine until combined.
- Cover filling with topping.
- Bake for approx. 30 mins, or until topping is starting to brown and get crunchy.
Eco Shoe Choices
I received this article from ecorazzi.com in my RSS list today, and it got me thinking about vegan shoes, and whether you could get animal-free leather-look shoes that are durable and environmentally friendly. Here’s some background to my thoughts:
My work shoes are starting to wear out. The upper seems to be ok (although it is getting thinner in some places), but I have nearly gone entirely through the sole. They have lasted almost a year, which is pretty good for me. The last two pairs of shoes I got lasted about six months each.
The difference? My current pair are made of leather (not vegan), and the previous two pairs were synthetic (vegan).
I thought long and hard about whether I should buy leather shoes. I eventually decided to do it because I felt it was more eco-friendly to buy a pair of shoes made from a natural material (cow skin) that would last a year, than it was to buy a pair of shoes made from petroleum that lasted for only six months. Note: I am not particularly hard on my shoes (unlike Mr Teeny-bop, who wears out his school shoes in three months, sometimes less).
Vegan shoe (Roma from Vegan Wares*) similar to the shoes I wear. They are expensive and what are they made from? How long will the last?
However, all year, any time I have thought about my shoes, I think about the poor cow that died to give them to me. I’m determined to make them last as long as possible, to make this sacrifice worthwhile (as much as it can be). I am going to take them to the local cobbler to have him fix the soles, if he thinks the uppers will last me another year or so – if the uppers will only last two more months, I don’t see much point.
I stand by my conviction that it’s better for the environment to use fewer resources, and natural resources at that, but I wish there was a third choice – natural, long-lasting resources that were of plant origin, or alternatively, that would last for ages and ages (or even better, both). So far all I’ve seen are hemp shoes, which would be great for casual wear, but will not work in my semi-corporate work environment.
Does anyone know of shoes that would fit the bill, provided the bill is not exorbitantly expensive (I have seen ok-looking vegan shoes for a couple of hundred dollars, but I don’t want to pay that)? If the cobbler says it’s not worthwhile fixing my shoes, then it might be time to go shoe shopping again, and if I can avoid leather or petroleum, that would be my preference…
*Image comes from Vegan Wares website.
Friday Feast: Bean Tortilla Stack
Bean Tortilla Stack is the first food my mother made me after I became vegetarian, about six years ago. It was originally a beef meal, but there were instructions in her recipe book on how to alter it for vegetarians, so she did and it was fantastic! I got the recipe and have made it myself a number of times over the years.It’s kind of like a Mexican lasagne, with tortillas instead of pasta sheets.
Recently, I decided to try veganising this dish using Bryanna Clark Grogan‘s Melty Pizza Cheese recipe (which I found on pakupaku) to replace the cheese component of the original dish. It doesn’t have the same taste or texture, so don’t expect that or you will be disappointed, but it looks good and it does add a little something-something in my opinion. I’ve only included the link here, since this is a direct copy of someone else’s recipe and I haven’t modified it in any way to make it ‘my own’.
The original recipe calls for a packet of taco seasoning. I don’t find this spicy enough, so I add paprika, chili powder and cumin to taste. In contrast, Mum will make it with only half a packet of taco seasoning if she is cooking for my sister – she’s a spice wimp. It’s really up to you.
The best kind of dish to use for this is a pyrex or ceramic type of dish, the kind that comes with a lid (although you don’t need the lid unless you want to use it when you store leftovers in the fridge). The dish should be round, to fit the tortillas, and high to help the stack keep it’s shape. Pie dishes are too short. The dish I use is a little small; I have to trim the edges of my tortillas. Mum’s is the best. It’s about 25cm in diameter (just under 10 inches), as opposed to mine, which is about 20cm in diameter (just under 8 inches). Still, both worked, so just get as close as you can.
Points to remember:
- The tortillas soak up some of the sauce, so if you have to trim them to fit in your dish, you might want to reduce the amount of sauce you put in, or it will be runnier than it’s supposed to be. Use your judgement! If it’s a bit goopy, don’t worry – it will still taste good.
- The smaller in diameter your stack is, the higher it will be as the sauce layers will spread out less and therefore be thicker.
Now read on, then cook!
Bean Tortilla Stack
Bean Tortilla Stack after a night in the fridge. The layers hold up best after refrigeration.
Ingredients:
**general**
- 450g (16 oz) can refried beans
- 425g (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 5 tortillas (I use wholewheat, but it doesn’t matter what kind you use)
- Melty Pizza Cheese
- oil (cooking spray, margarine, olive oil…)
**for the sauce**
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup capsicum, diced
- 1/2 to 1 cup vegetables/mushrooms (like grated carrot, diced zucchini or chopped mushrooms) (optional)
- 425g (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 3-4 tabs tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp vegetable stock powder (Vegeta!)
- 35g (1.25 oz) packet taco seasoning
- paprika, chili powder and cumin, to taste (optional)
Bean Tortilla Stack with smooth guacamole. This slice is fresh from the oven - you can see that it doesn't retain it's shape straight out of the oven.
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Add some oil to the bottom of a large pot or frying pan and combine sauce ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer for ten minutes.
3. Take one cup of sauce out and leave to the side.
4. Add beans (both kidney and refried) and bring to the boil again.
5. Grease a round, tall, oven-proof dish (I use cooking spray oil cos I’m using up my current can). Place one tortilla on the bottom and spread 1 1/2 cups of the mixture over it.
6. Repeat tortilla/sauce step three times.
7. Top with the last tortilla. Pour the extra cup of sauce (sans beans, that you had set aside earlier) over the top and spread evenly.
8. Gently spread faux cheese on top.
9. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until faux cheese has a skin. You can put it under the grill (broiler) if you want to get it a bit brown.
10. Leave for five to ten minutes before serving. (It will be goopy if it’s fresh out of the oven; it holds its shape better after refrigeration.)
The Milo Replacement Debate
I know I keep harping on about this vegan thing, but it’s something I’m conscious of lately, it’s often at the forefront of my mind. You know how when you’re just learning how to do something, you have to think about it, nothing is second nature? That’s how it is for me still. Vegetarianism was like that too for a while, but it became automatic eventually, and so will veganism. It will just take time. For now though, living vegan feels like one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, commitment-wise. It’s not that it is difficult to eat vegan generally, but it is tough (particularly as a new vegan, I think) to keep it up, day after day. Especially when it means missing out on foods you love, for which there doesn’t seem to be an adequate replacement.
Don’t get me wrong – as a vegetarian and now as a vegan, I’m discovering so many new foods and food combinations that I enjoy. Check out my StumbleUpon favourites if you want some examples! Most of the foods I’ve given up were never very healthy for me in the first place. Some I ate more often than I should have. Overall, I think I’m better off as a vegan, although I’m not experiencing that wonderful, bouyantly healthy feeling many new vegans brag about. I wonder if that’s because it’s been such a slow transition for me, and the non-vegan things I did eat weren’t chock full of dairy and eggs. I have been on mostly soy and oat milk for years, so I guess it wasn’t such a shock to my system, like it was when I first went off drinking milk. I had to do half cow/half soy for a while to allow my body to adjust. I got there, and soon only ate a few non-vegan things.
But those few non-vegan things I did eat! Most I’ve since given up without much concern (such as ice-cream or custard), but there are others that have been more difficult – cheese for example. It seems to be the universal vegan stumbling block. This has, however, worked in my favour regarding cheese. Since everyone finds it tough to get over, there are lots of recipes and ways around it, advice, suggestions and commiserations. There are some other things that seem to be more unusual though, and I’m actually finding those more of a struggle.
Milo: chocolatey goodness that is actually good for you! But it's not vegan. 
Milo, for example. For those of you who don’t know, Milo is a chocolate ‘energy food’. It’s something like chunky Nesquik or Ovaltine, but with the vitamins of Sustagen. You add it to a glass/mug of cold or hot milk (non-dairy, in my case), and stir it in. Unlike other chocolate milk powders, it doens’t entirely dissolve in cold milk, but also leaves a moist, chocolatey, slightly crunchy top layer of ultimate tastiness. Milo is low GI and provides a bunch of vitamins, minerals, iron and calcium. It’s brilliantly tasty and I’ve been eating it all my life. It was pretty much my stand-by for whenever I wanted a chocolate bar but didn’t think I should have one. Milo gave me the flavour without all the bad fat and sugar. It also helped ensure I got my vitamins and minerals. At work, I was known for having a giant tin of Milo on my desk. I heard more than my fair share of Milo and Otis jokes.
Unfortunately, in addition to the malted barley and cocoa and sugar and other fabulous ingredients Milo is made from, it also includes milk powder (just a little bit), so it’s not vegan. That means no more drinking Milo. And since this doens’t seem to be a global phenomenon, there doesn’t seem to be a comparable vegan alternative. At the moment, I’m drinking Akta-Vite, which does the trick for vitamins and minerals, although not so much with the sugar, taste and texture. (As a colleague said, it looks like little chunks of rat poo. It does, fortunately, taste better.) It’s not the same though. Akta-Vite dissolves completely (except for random chunks left at the bottom of the cup), so it’s not a good replacement for cold Milo. As a hot drink, it tastes a bit like Horlicks (who came up with that name!?). Malted, but not so chocolatey. I know I can drink hot cocoa, but it doesn’t solve my vitamins, minerals and sugar problems. And what about a cold drink?
I am out of ideas! Aside from drinking Akta-Vite (which I’m doing), making my own inferior batch, or somehow convincing Milo to go vegan… what can I do?
And if, as I suspect, there’s nothing I can do… how on earth do I get over it?!
Working Vegan
My workmates have been very supportive about my going vegan. It probably helps that I’ve been a strict vegetarian as long as they’ve known me, so it’s not really a drastic change. In fact, one of the guys said he only realised this week that I’ve made the transition, and it’s been months now. They’re all interested, and I don’t have to have that stupid conversation about having to eat meat so the cows don’t go extinct, which is really a plus. We’ve always had vegetarians in our team though – there are only two of us now, but there used to be enough that the office would get soy milk in for our tea and coffee like they get the cow milk in for everyone else. I have to bring my own now, and I’m the only vegan, I think.
It is a bit tough when it comes to eating a work events. Oh, the big events are catered to death, so there’s always something there, like the fabulous roasted vege sandwiches from the last one (who knew sandwiches could be so tasty?). When we had a bring-a-plate lunch (like a pot luck), it was ok. I made sure I brought something I could eat (chana masala, which everyone loved so much I had to give the recipe to half the team). The other folks were great when it came to stuff I could eat. There’s no veganising BBQ chicken, but the salad was made with the chunks of cheese in a separate container so I didn’t have to pick them out. There were vegan chips and dips and breads and dukka. I would say about half the food there was vegan. I appreciated the effort and the thought.
Vege burger from Raw Energy, Coolum. Burger consists of a rye bun with a vegetable and wild rice patty, roasted capsicum and eggplant, spinach, capsicum, tomato, alfalfa and cucumber. It was delicious, at a restaurant that actually served vegan food.
Sometimes though, it’s just a pain. Today we went out to our local and I had one glass of sauvignon blanc and one Vietnamese spring roll, which wasn’t even nice. There were little duck meat tarts and prawn tempura and other tidbits that I missed because I turned up late. As I watched everyone else eating, I thought – how hard would it be to have veganised those things? It would be cheaper and everyone would still enjoy it. For example, that prawn tempura could easily have been vegetable tempura.
Tomorrow we’re having birthday cakes, which, ironically, I organised. None are vegan. The cake shop doesn’t sell any. However, it would be so easy to make them vegan, some of them at least. I can accept that vegan cheesecake can be a bit of a pain, but the mudcake and carrot cake would be easy enough. I don’t understand why people don’t maximise their customer base if it’s easy and inexpensive to do so. I’m going to look for a different cake shop.
Ultimately I know that I have a really supportive group of colleagues, and lots of other people have a much harder time of it. I do wish the world was more vegan friendly sometimes though. It would be so much easier. How are the rest of you finding working life as a vegan?
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