Calamari & Risotto

My friend bought me some vegan calamari from Blackvalentine and I decided to make it last night.  I Googled recipes involving rice and mixed them together, thought about what I had available and came up with this.  To be honest, it's delicious but I'm not sure risotto and calamari really go together.

This is the recipe from memory.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups aborio rice
• 3 cubes vegetable stock
• 1-2 spring onion, chopped up
• 1 cup peas and corn
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 packet of Lamyong calamari (600g)
• lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Method:

1. I cooked up the rice with the stock cubes and added water when I needed to, kept stirring it so that it didn't stick to the bottom.
2. After the rice was cooked, I added the spring onion (aka scallion), peas and corn and the nooch (aka nutritional yeast, savoury yeast flakes).
3. Then I fried up the calamari in a pan with a bit of salt and pepper and about 2 tbsp of lemon juice.  The calamari comes as frozen rolled up tubes sort of thing so you have to slice it up and let it defrost.
4. Once I served the calamari on the rice, I drizzled a little bit more lemon juice on it.

If you're looking for the calamari, try Blackvalentine, Vegan Online, or a local Chinese supermarket.  I was lucky enough to get them on special, but they seem to normally average about $13, so you might want to cook up even more rice to make it last longer, or only use 1/2 the packet.

Current Obsession: Plants

I have a tendency to get really into one thing at a time, or a few things at a time.  At the moment the major one seems to be plants.

I've wanted plants to be a major part of my life for a while now.  They are amazing.  They clean the air that we dirty, they get rid of the hazardous chemicals that we disperse into the air and they are constantly growing and looking great.

There are plants that just clean the air, there are others that feed the soil, birds, bees, butterflies and other insects, while yet others create food that I can eat.  Isn't that just amazing?

Moving into this house has been great because I can finally bring nature into my room and help nature and the earth out a little bit by revamping the empty (full of weeds and useless gorram plants) backyard.

My room currently has one peace lily, one fern salvaged from outside, one spider plant salvaged from outside and one snake plant (well this is on its way).  Three of these are known to be good for purifying air.

The backyard is filled with weeds and useless introduced plants.  I've pulled out a lot of them, pruned, removed what I've been told I can...  So now I have a whole bunch of native seeds in pots, slowly growing as I water them lightly every morning.  These will be caterpillar and butterfly food.

I also have a native vine coming in the mail to cover this huge dead tree trunk with (to the left in the photo).

The back patio is pretty empty, but I'm going to fill it with some native Pig Face vines spilling down one side (various coloured flowers; red, orange, pink and purple). There are pots coming in the mail, which I'm going to put on the highest ledge and tie on with wire for added security.

I've planted mondo grass around one rock and transplanted a random plant from the garden into a pot on top of it.

I also found a Crown of Thorns in a pot in the garden.  It's a little worse for wear but I'm sure it'll be fine, eventually.

Oh and there's catnip, given to me by a friend who is going overseas.  So far the cat hasn't cared about it at all though haha.

I'm also trying to grow some herbs and veggies, and I've yet to get started on the front garden and make it butterfly and bird friendly, but I'll post more about it all later, when things are more established, not just seedlings haha.

Are you passionate about plants?  Tell me about it! :)

I made a mini zine!

 As some of you may remember, I am a part of the Griffith University Vegetarian Society.  As such, I thought it would be awesome if we could have a little information booklet to hand out to people who wanted to know what veganism or vegetarianism were about, and where they could get more information.

I got all of the pictures from OpenClipArt.org.  There are some really rad ones, which I am also using for a little booklet on environmentalism for my speech at the Social Enterprise Showcase.


Below is the finished picture for the veg*n zine, which can be uploaded into a word document, made large and printed out. Then you can fold it and cut it as per this tutorial and hand it out. Free to use, for anyone who wants to. I've yet to try it out myself though, so you can wait til then (I will update with photos once I have a camera and time). You may just need to move things around a tiny bit to make sure they line up properly. You can also add things to the other side of the paper such as recipes, local restaurants and your organisation's contact details. Let me know if you try it out, I'd love to see it!

The Orangutan Project

On Sunday 2nd I walked with some of my friends and some representatives from The Orangutan Project to help them raise money.  We all wore orange to show our support, and managed to raise $1,030 all up to help the orangutans.  If you would like to donate some more, the donations stay open for a little while longer, here (until October 14th 2012).

The Orangutan Project is a not-for-profit organisation that supports "orangutan conservation, rainforest protection, local community partnerships and the rehabilitation and reintroduction of displaced orangutans back to the wild, in order to save the two orangutan species from extinction".

One of the biggest reasons that orangutans are under threat is due to the use of palm oil in the food industries.  The clearance of rainforest causes the displacement (and sometimes intentional slaughter) of orangutans.  You can help by avoiding products that contain palm oil, emailing companies that use palm oil, and asking for stricter labelling laws so that you know which products that contain palm oil (it can be labelled as vegetable oil).

I had a great day just cruising along and talking with my friends.  We even found a pro-vegan sign to take a photo of!  It was so cool to come across a sign like that in amongst all the car, music, bank and other advertising.

Keep an eye out next year as we'll be raising money for Farm Animal Rescue!  Hopefully soon I'll also put up a post about palm oil.

Chickpea Omelettes

It actually looked better than this once we watered it down more - I've put the better recipe below.  Inspiration from Holy Cow! and Julia's Kitchen.

Ingredients:
*1 cup besan/chickpea flour
*1/4 tomato diced
*1/4 cup nutritional yeast
*1/2 onion finely chopped (might be better with red onion)
*1/4 green capsicum, finely chopped
*4 button mushrooms, finely chopped
*2 cloves garlic
*3 tsp dill
*2 tsp chili powder
*2 tsp paprika
*~ 2 cups water (you want it a bit runnier than a pancake)

Method:
1.  Mix dry ingredients, then add water as you stir :).
2.  Cook on medium heat in a fry pan.

Makes about 4.

Griffith University Vegetarian Society

As some of you know, I am a student at Griffith University.  Recently, I helped my friend start up the Griffith University Vegetarian Society (GUVS) in the hopes of encouraging more people to try and/or talk about vegetarian lifestyles.

GUVS is hoping to advocate for more veg*n options on Nathan campus, get more places using 'ethical' food such as cage free eggs, sell vegan baked goodies, maybe have movie screenings and possibly have fundraisers for other groups.  If you're interested in joining, head to the facebook group to find out more!

So far we've only had the one market day stall with banana bread, choc chip cookies and chocolate cupcakes but we're hoping to have more of these, and many other events :).

Fact Sheet: Rodeos

Rodeos are a pretty common 'entertainment' option in many areas around Australia.  There are a number of different events that happen at rodeos.  These include calf roping, horse and bull bucking, steer wrestling and more.  This 'entertainment' comes at a price.  In order for this 'entertainment' to occur, horses and cows have to be placed in stressful and uncomfortable situations.  Horses and bulls being ridden in the bucking events will have spurs, electric prods and flank straps used on them in order to make them buck.   Many try to escape the holding stalls by climbing out as they are so distressed.

Source

The flank strap is a piece of rope, often covered in the skin of a sheep, that is tied tightly around the flank of the animal in order to irritate him/her more and get him/her to buck more.  As the animal is already irritated by the presence of the rider, one can imagine that they must be rather uncomfortable, if not distressed.

Source

Spurs "have blunt, free running rowels - the star shaped wheel on a spur" (APRA).  They are used to get the animals to do what the rider wants; buck.  There are rules by the APRA dictating how thick they must be.

Source

Calves will be caught with rope lassos while they are running (bringing them to a sudden halt and risking injuring their necks).  They are then forced to the ground and have 3-4 of their legs tied up.

Source

Steer wrestling requires a person to ride a horse while chasing a steer, then jump off the horse, grabbing the steer's head and forcing it into the ground.  There is absolutely no reason for the animals to have to suffer like this, but because of humans who want to be 'entertained', they continue to go through this.

"There is considerable inherent welfare risk to animals participating in rodeos. These risks are exacerbated by poor or non-existent levels of regulation and enforcement at a state level, and the involvement of multiple rodeo organisations with varying welfare standards. Many rodeos take place in remote areas where there is little monitoring or enforcement of animal welfare codes of practice. Consequently the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) is concerned the welfare of the animals used is compromised by rodeos which can be conducted in a manner that is cruel and unnecessarily dangerous." - Australian Veterinary Association

Source

Please do not support the rodeo.  Let these animals live in peace, instead of being poked, prodded and pushed into the ground for human entertainment.  Animals should not have to suffer so that humans can be entertained.  There are many other forms of entertainment that can be had; seeing a movie, going out for a bike ride, etc.  Animals should not have to bear this pain for our pleasure.

Animals Australia has a great fact sheet put together that covers the issue in even more detail, as well as a petition. 

If I have missed anything, let me know in the comments or send me an email! :)

Fundraising Picnic for Healthy Communities and Equal Love

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a nice relaxed picnic at Queens Park in Brisbane.  The Picnic was organised to help raise funds for Equal Love and Healthy Communities.  We got there a couple of hours after it started but there was still some chilled music, a good atmosphere and some delicious vegan food (by Black Valentine) to be had.

Photo by Jay Haurat, picnic organiser

Equal Love is an Australian wide group that works towards marriage equality in Australia.  They are behind many rallies and put in a lot of time and effort in getting this issue in the public eye.  While the civil unions in QLD were seen as a great step forward for equal rights, unfortunately they have been watered down under the new LNP government.  If you are a QLD resident you can sign this petition to bring back civil unions.

The LNP has not stopped there, also cutting much needed funding to the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC).  QAHC "promotes the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Queenslanders" and provides a range of services to do so.  The LNP decided to cut funding to the HIV prevention as part of its current scheme to save money.  If you want to learn more about the issue, click here.

There were a few stalls there including ones by Equal Love, Healthy Communities, Queensland Pride, Woof Wear and Rainbow Families.  We pretty much sat near the one set up by Black Valentine and ate our way through vegan chicken, fish, sausages, chocolate and mushroom kebabs.  It was a rad day and I hope that we were able to help support the community :).

Thai Dinner Party

M arrived back from the States recently so B threw a party to celebrate their homecoming.  It was a Thai themed dinner party and I was really anxious about making something.  I quickly perused the internet, searching through pages and pages of dinner ideas and settled on making corn fritters and fish cakes (both gluten free as one of my friends who was going is gluten intolerant).

Fish cakes

Corn fritters

I made the fish cakes by altering this recipe (400g beans, less paste, no mint, chickpea flour instead of spelt, lime juice instead of rind) a bit and simply baking them in the oven at about 180C for 20 minutes instead of frying them.

I altered the corn fritter recipe by VeganDad by adding a lot more chickpea flour (perhaps another cup) and baking instead of frying and didn't use any corn starch.

When I got there, I was blown away (and made very hungry) by the sight of all the delicious vegan food that has been prepared.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the berry ice cupsor seitan, but they were delicious too!  See the peanut dip up there?  IT WAS AMAZING.  We just used brocolli to scoop it up and eat it (there was cucumber too but I'm not a fan).

Stir fry

Laksa

Check out the cute necklace M brought along for each of us!  It was lovely to catch up with everyone and hear M's stories :). 

My Vegan and Environmental(ish) House

As a renter, there's not much I can do about my actual house, but I can change my consumption habits to help the environment.  I'm going to go room by room and list what I use to help anyone out there who is interested in living a 'greener' life (and include some things that I don't use because, well, I'm not made of money unfortunately).  There are, of course, other products, but I'm just giving you a small glimpse into what I use, with some ideas. 

Bathroom

• The Environmental Toothbrush*
• Lush vegan soap for in the shower
• Nature's Organics Shampoo*
• EcoStore liquid handwash*
• Choosing not to shave your legs is probably the most environmentally-friendly option.  Otherwise, there are electric razors, which would cut down on waste if you have been using disposable ones.  (This is a pretty good write up all about razors).
• Body Crystal deoderant*
• Diva-Cup for periods
• Reusable fabric pads for periods
• Eco-Dent tooth floss*
• Reusable razor for face shaving

Kitchen

• Earth Choice Dish Liquid*
• Twist and Full Circle have great environmentally friendly sponges but I can't find any in Australia
• Green shopping bags - one mades out of cotton will break down, the ones from shopping centres will not (in a safe way).  You can also get fair trade and organic ones!
• Fregie sacks 
• Plates, bowls, knives and forks from op shops where possible.
• When looking at appliances (if you have to buy some), look for ones that are energy efficient

Bedroom/Study

• Glyde condoms*
• Sylk lube*
• Sheets and pillowcases from op shops
• Clothes from op shops (for the most part) 
• I try and grab recycled books and notepads for my study and notetaking

Laundry

• Earth Choice washing liquid*
• Soap nuts

*Container can be recycled

I hope that these lists have been useful.  Let me know what you think! :)  If you'd like me to do more posts like this, I'd love to know too.  I'm thinking of writing about the difference between sex and gender next!

Movie: A Delicate Balance

The movie A Delicate Balance explores the effects of diet on personal health.  It has been scientifically proven that decreasing your consumption of animal protein reduces your risk of cancer, diabetes and high cholesterol.  You can watch the trailer below.  The full film is available to watch, free, on their website.

It shows exactly how animal proteins (meat, milk, eggs) affect the human body and shows the relationship between animal protein consumption and increased risk of disease.  It also shows how you can get the same amount of protein from plant sources, which also give you various nutrients and minerals as part of the package.

Not only does it cover the health impact of animal protein, it also covers the environmental degradation that is caused and explains how it is linked to poverty and starvation in non-Western countries.

I found it to be an informative movie with simple information described well.  The graphics used may leave a little to be desired but you can just listen to it as an audio file and get the same amount of information out of it.  It reminded me a bit of Food Matters.

Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cubes veggie stock
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 3 cups mushroom (or less, depends on how much you love mushroom really - we used Portabello and Button)
• 1 tbsp Nuttelex
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 small onion finely chopped (we used red as that's all we had)
• pinch salt and pepper

Method:

1. Fry mushrooms, onion and garlic in butter.
2. Cook brown rice in water with veggie stock, until just cooked.  I used about 2 cups of water and it turned out okay.  We put the parsley, salt and pepper in this.  All up, the rice took about half an hour to cook.  It depends on the type of rice you use.
3. Add mushrooms to rice, along with nutritional yeast.

Makes about 2 serves.

Learning to Make Shrinkies

I've decided to blog about my failure with shrinkies (I will attempt some more variations!) just to help anyone out there who might think they just can't do it right or something.  Failures happen, but you just have to learn from them and try again!  For me, crafting is about having fun while experimenting :).

Attempt Number 1 with a large chip packet:

I preheated the oven to 250C and placed the packet on one sheet of baking paper on a tray, with another sheet of baking paper on top and another tray on top of that to hold it flat.   I lef it for 3 minutes, then checked it.  It looked like it was about 20cm long and only 6cm wide.  So the proportions had changed quite a bit, but I wanted it to be smaller than that so I popped it back in.

I left it in there for another 3 minutes, then pulled it out to check on it.  I couldn't see it but it didn't seem to have shrunk any further.  I tried to pull the baking paper off but the chip packet was still all melted, so I decided to leave it to cool while I tried attempt number 2.

Orginal size:  33.5cm tall and 21cm wide.
Final size:  18cm tall and 5.5cm wide.  (I'm thinking that these are maybe bookmark or choker size?)

What I learned: Only leave them in for about 2 minutes at this temperature, it's way too hot.

Attempt Number 2 with mi goreng packets:

The oven was preheated to 250C.  This time I just placed the mi goreng packets in a piece of baking paper, which I folded around them individually.  I left them in for only 2 minutes, then checked on them.  They were little blobs of melted plastic.

What I learned:  The fact that these are made just out of plastic, with no foil on the inside, means that they 'cook' faster than the chip packets.

Attempt number 3 with a mi goreng packet:

The oven was left to cool to 180C for 10 minutes.   I folded up a mi goreng packet in baking paper again.  I left it in there for 2 minutes. It had only shrunk a little bit so I left it in for another minute.  The end result looks like the edges shrank at a different rate to the middle, so perhaps 180C is too cool.

Conclusion:  Higher temperature for a shorter period of time, mashed between the two trays to keep it flat.

I think that this is all I shall attempt for today.  I only have two more chip packets left from my partner, so will wait until they've pigged out a bit more ;).

If anyone knows of some ways to improve my technique, I'd be much obliged as the online tutorials don't seem to be working for me (but I am narrowing down how to do it I think - a few more trials and I shall have it, I'm sure!).

My SlutWalk 2012 Experience in Brisbane

Warning: This post mentions rape and sexual assault, so if these are sensitive topics for you, please feel free to not read this post.

What is SlutWalk?
SlutWalk originated in 2011 in Toronto after a police officer told women to stop dressing like sluts if they didn't want to get raped.  This then became a global movement against blaming victims, shaming people for their sexuality and rape culture.  SlutWalk started in Australia last year with rallies in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Why did I go to SlutWalk?
I have been on the receiving end of gropes, leers and comments about my body since I hit puberty at age 12.  That's just my personal experience.  I didn't just attend SlutWalk for myself.  I also attended SlutWalk because of the number of my friends who have been sexually assaulted, raped, feared for their bodies, groped, all simply because their bodies were deemed to be public property by others.  Not just for them, but for all people who have been raped, or experienced verbal and physical abuse or harrassment for what they wear or the way that they express their sexuality.

I walked in the hopes that it would help to create a dialogue about consensual sex, healthy sexual relationships, asexuality, the failings of sexual education in schools around Australia, the rights of people to wear what they want and act how they want without fearing assault.

Mitch, Lia, Blair and I.  Photo by Lisa B.

No one should be harrassed or abused or raped for what they wear, or because they are refusing to have sex with someone, or because their sexuality needs to be 'fixed'.  Most rapes that occur are perpetrated by people close to the victim and it often has nothing to do with what they are wearing.  Learn more about the official statistics.

Making Signs
I had prepared my signs for this day at 1am that morning before heading to bed.  My sign ended up with the slogan "Still not asking for it; no one asks to be raped" on one side and "I am a person, not a sex toy; I require consent, not batteries" on the other.  I was hoping to make something a little more witty and I regret not covering something along the lines of 'ask before touching' as this is a topic that is close to my heart.

The Speakers
I turned up just on one and almost had a panic attack the whole trip there as I was freaking out about someone talking to me about it or getting confrontational.  Once I got there and saw my friends though, I managed to calm down and then the speakers started. I missed out on the introductory speech as I was still handling my anxiety (poorly), which I am a bit sad about.

A representative from Respect Inc (sex worker rights organisation) talked about how there is a lot of violence in sex work, which is usually written off by society as something that they should 'expect' as part of their work.  This is not right; people should never expect to be abused or assaulted because of their job.


Someone from the Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre (BRISSC) stood up and talked about how great it was to see so many people there.  They talked about how many of the survivors often blame themselves, and that the speaker would be taking back this support, the support shown today, to show the survivors that they are not alone, that there are people out their fighting for them and fighting against a culture that makes victims feel this way.

Andrea Silva was up last and her speech was really good.  She talked about the mechanisms of slut shaming and how they are used to control people who are open about their sex lives, or who dress differently.  How people can be alienated, lose their jobs, be abused and more just because they are sexual or dress in certain ways.  There was some talk about the BDSM community and how there had been some controversy about her coming to speak.  As she said, there are negative behaviours in any community.  These negative behaviours are what need to be fought against, not consensual sex between adults.

Photo by Lisa B

The March
We walked around one block in Brisbane with about three or four policepeople on motorbikes, while following one red police car.  We drew a lot of attention and there were a lot of photos taken.  It was over within half an hour as there were only a couple hundred of us.  I hope that next year there will be a greater turn out as people become more aware of the issues that SlutWalk is fighting against.

The chants that were yelled as we went around the block are listed below (please forgive me if I have remembered some of them incorrectly).

• 2, 4, 6, 8, stop the violence, stop the hate.
• Hey hey, ho ho, sexual violence has got to go.
• Yes means yes, no means no, however we dress, wherever we go.
• There are no bad whores, just bad laws.

Photo by Lisa B.

In Conclusion...
It was nice to have so many people there supporting this movement and standing up against rape culture, mysogyny, victim blaming and slut shaming.  I felt more sure of myself and I felt stronger for going.  I know that I am not alone in my views or in my efforts.  I also got to talk to someone who was a rape survivor; they told me how thankful they were for this walk, how we all had to stick together and that hopefully one day attitudes would change.  I truly believe that together, through events like this, we will be able to create positive discourses about sex and create a community were victims are able to seek help without fear of persecution by friends and the media.  Thank you to the organisers for putting this all together.

Fact Sheet: Writing to Animal Rights Prisoners

I have been thinking a lot lately about more action that I can take in the animal rights movement.  While I may or may not agree with the actions taken by these individuals, I do believe that it is their human right to have some support so that they don't get lonely, depressed or despondent.

'Writing' by J. Paxon Reye

I ended up finding the list of prisoners by the Animal Liberation Front, and another by Bite Back.  They both seem to be updated regularly and focus mainly on the UK and US.  There seem to be no lists for Australia (although that could change with the meat industries here pushing for the same laws as the US has).

I then found a few places where I could buy cards to send to them (funds are donated to charity and the pictures are of animals):

• PawsForCharity
  
• Cards by Teri
  
• AnimalsAsia

There are some great guides all over the net, with my favourites being by Striking At the Roots (very thorough) and How to do Animal Rights.
The main points to take from their articles are:

• your mail will be read before it gets to the prisoner
• don't talk about the case
• don't include any stickers or items that are not a letter, postcard or card
• don't be too bummed if you don't get a reply
• stick to one or two activists who you can talk to regularly
  

If you have any more information that I can add, please let me know so that I can keep this updated.

Charity: New Farm Neighbourhood Centre

The charity that I will be raising funds for for the month of May is New Farm Neighbourhood Centre (NFNC).  I found out about them after looking at jobs on Seek that I would maybe like to do once I have graduated.

NFNC is located on Brunswick Street, near New Farm Park.  They have been working within the community for over 25 years, providing a myriad of services including:

• help people who are homeless
• help people access housing
• create events that are accessible to all people to encourage community
• maintaining a community garden
• a craft group for women every Thursday

They use various means to raise funds, such as tennis court and venue hire.  If you are interested in volunteering with them, please contact them as I am sure they would appreciate any help that they can get.  If not, maybe consider them as a place to hold your next meeting or event.

I truly believe that they are doing something wonderful and they cannot do this without the community being involved.

Vegan French Toast

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2/3 cup nondairy milk
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• bread

Method:

1. Mix together bananas, milk, cinnamon and vanilla.
2. Soak bread in mixture on both sides.
3. Fry in pan at medium heat with a bit of butter or oil.

Makes: 4-5 slices of bread

Equal Marriage Rally Brisbane

Today in Brisbane hundreds of people came together for one reason: to demand marriage equality.  Currently, Australia does not allow anyone to get married except heterosexual cis-people.  People of other gender identities and sexual orientations are excluded under the current legislation, so they and their allies came together to rally in Queens Park to show the people of Brisbane that they would not be quiet, would not back down and would not give up until there is full marriage equality.

I unfortunately turned up late and missed all the talks, but was in time for the march itself, which I attended with a few friends.

I marched until my boots fell apart and I had to leave to buy some sneakers.

All in all I had a good time and I hope that marriage will be something for everyone who is in love and wishes to be married.  You can watch a channel 7 video of the rally and join the Equal Love Brisbane group on facebook.

Sausage, Spinach and Onion Quiche

You may have seen my previous attempt at making a quiche here.  This is my latest attempt which, I must admit, is a lot yummier and just better all round haha.

Ingredients:
*1 onion, chopped  
*2 cloves garlic
*4 vegan sausages, chopped
*2 blocks silken tofu (300g each)
*1/4 cup nondairy milk
*~50g fresh spinach, chopped 
*2 tsp basil
*1/2 tsp thyme

*1 tsp turmeric
*1/2 tsp paprika
*1/2 cup nutritional yeast

*salt and pepper to taste
*1 sheet of puff pastry

Method:
1.  Fry onion, chopped sausages and garlic in a little oil until the onion is translucent.
2.  Blend tofu (crumble first, might be easier) and nondairy milk.
3.  Put in bowl and mix in nutritional yeast, finely chopped spinach, onions, sausages, garlic, herbs and spices.
4.  Place puff pastry in bottom of a pan and heat in oven for ten minutes
5.  Pour the mix on top and put back in the oven.
6.  Bake at 180C for 20 minutes or until middle has set.

(I forgot to pre-cook the pastry and just cooked the whole lot for 25 minutes, leaving the pastry at the bottom a little undercooked - d'oh!)

Potato and Spinach Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 packet of fresh spinach, chopped
• 4 large potatoes, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup of brown rice

Method:

1. Put rice on to boil.
2. Put potatoes on to cook.
3. Fry up onion and garlic in pan.
4. Drain potatoes, add onion and garlic mix, add some water, add herbs and spices, allow to simmer.
5. Add spinach for the last few minutes.
6. Mix in rice and eat.

Jam Filled Donut Muffins

I've yet to find any normal store that makes vegan donuts, so I searched around for recipes and found this one on vegweb.  I fiddled with it a little and you can find the results below:

Ingredients:
Muffins

• 2/3 cup nondairy milk
• 1.5 cups self raising flour
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup Nuttelex (vegan butter)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup raw sugar

Topping

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Filling

• about 6 tbsp of your choice of jam - I use strawberry.

Method:

1. Mix all muffin ingredients together.  You may want to add a little more milk to make it a bit easier to spoon into patties.  You may also want to add more nutmeg if that's how you roll.
2. Spoon into the muffin tray; about 1/4 - 1/3 full.  Make a small hollow in the batter.
3. Spoon some jam into the hollow.
4. Cover with more muffin mix.
5. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes.
6. Mix together topping ingredients and sprinkle on top.

Green Earth Group Bake Sale

Last Saturday I got up at 3:30am to help Green Earth Group with their bake sale at the West End Markets (6am - 2pm Saturdays).  Green Earth Group is a small local organisation that aims to help the environment by showing people how to have less impact through personal choices, such as going vegan, using reusable bags and cups and making green consumer choices.

This bake sale is part of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale.  I made and donated some strawberry cupcakes and some blueberry cupcakes.  There were a variety of things, like cheesecakes, banana bread, cookies and cream cupcakes, chocolate spiders and more.  I'm still deciding on what to make for this coming weekend.

Come along and join us at the next one.  If you sign up to the mailing list, you have a chance of winning some prizes (including a pig plushie by me!).  There are shirts, fregie sacks and information packs too!  We're nice and friendly and won't bite, I promise!

Green Lentil Curry

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup green lentils
• 1 tsp each garam masala, turmeric, cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tin coconut milk
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper

Optional: add chopped spinach, vegetable stock and/or onion.

If you're prepared, soak your lentil overnight so that you don't have to cook them for as long.

Method:

1. Put lentils, 1 cup of water, spices, coconut milk and garlic in one pot.  You may need to add more water as it cooks.  Cook for about 35-45 minutes, until lentils are tender.
2. Cook rice as per packet instructions.
3. Mix together and nom!

Mac N Cheese

I have never had mac and cheese, due to being lactose intolerant, so I never thought about making a vegan version.  Until now.

It was a bit yellower than this, but my camera is not great :(

Ingredients:

• 250grams pasta
• 2.5 cups nondairy milk
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1.5 tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cauliflower
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper
• various herbs and spices at your discretion: we added paprika, thyme, ginger and chili powder

Method:

1. Cook pasta in one pot.
2. Combine milk and butter in another pot, turn down to simmer, add soy sauce, garlic and flour.  Try your best to destroy any lumps.  You may want to add more flour to make it thicker.
3. Add cauliflower to the pasta pot for the last five minutes to let it get tender.
4. Drain pasta and cauliflower.
5. Mix in sauce, add herbs and spices.

Garden Pie

Ingredients:

• 5 medium potatoes
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 1 broccoli floret, chopped
• 1 cup TVP
• some frozen peas and corn
• paprika, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano
• 1 tbsp vegan butter
• 2 cups water 

 Method:

1. Slice potatoes and cook.
2. Mix TVP, water, herbs, spices, carrots, broccoli, onion, peas and corn in a pot and cook until onion is see-through and vegies are at desired softness.  You may need to add more water, but not too much or your base will be too watery in the dish.
3. When potatoes are done, drain and add vegan butter and a dash of nondairy milk to make mashed potato.
4. Turn oven to 180C.  Put TVP mix in dish, spoon potato over the top.
5. Cook until top is golden.

Optional: Add nutritional yeast to potato mix.

Safe Sex - The Vegan Way!

Here I try to list all  most sexual health products and where you can buy vegan ones from in Australia (as much as possible).  Remember that safe sex is the best sex for yourself and your partner/s.  Also remember to ask for consent!

If you want these products to be more easily available, why not contact Woolworths or contact Coles to see if they can stock these products, or if they already do.  Let me know in the comments if you want me to write you up an example letter.

Condoms by robertelyov

Penis Condoms

Condoms are useful in preventing pregnancies and stopping the transmission of STIs and STDs (even if you cannot get pregnant, not getting diseases and infections is pretty rad).  Unfortunately, most condoms on the market contain casein, which is a milk protein.  Where does milk come from?  Poor, suffering cows.

Luckily, there is Glyde!  So if you're the kind of person who wants to use condoms during sexual intercourse, while being animal-friendly, now you can!  You can buy them from The Cruelty Free Shop here or The Green Edge Online here or check out Glyde's website for a list of some of the places that they are stocked at.

BIG Drip by Images by John 'K'

Personal Lubricant

Lubricant is usually produced to help with intercourse, however it is nice to have some on hand in case things aren't going as expected.  Or for stretching your piercings.  Unfortunately, one of the main ingredients in many lubes is glycerin, which can either be from plants or animal fats.

Sylk personal lubricant is completely vegan friendly.  They say that they are available at big Coles and Woolworths stores but they are also available online here.  Glyde has provided again, with some lubricant available here through The Vegan Store. Astroglide is another brand that is vegan friendly and can be purchased online through their website. Yes Organic Lubricant is yet another vegan friendly lube available online here.

With lubricants, ensure that you can use them with condoms, we don't want people getting pregnant by mistake!

Yaz by Stacy Lynn Baum

Oral and Internal Contraceptives

Oral contraceptives are hard to find in vegan form, however the vegan police are hardly liable to come after you for this one; it is better than having an unwanted child.

All vegans must, at times, make compromises because we live in an imperfect world. We need to make the best choices we can based on the world we have inherited, not the society we envision and are trying to create. Making concessions for birth control is not necessarily indicative of hypocrisy. It simply means that you are being realistic, practical, and responsible. - Jo Stepaniak

If you do use non-vegan pills, I suggest you contact the manufacturer and ask them to consider using vegan alternatives.  If enough people ask, maybe we can change them.

There are other forms of contraceptives, including an injection that may be vegan friendly, however I have not been able to find a reliable source of information on that one - yet.  There are also hormonal and copper IUDs that are apparently vegan friendly, though I haven't had a chance to email and check.  I have also discovered the NuvaRing, which may be vegan friendly, but again I haven't as yet had a chance to email.  I will update when I do.  Or, if you have information, please share!

If you are only using these kinds of contraceptives, remember that you can still get STDs and STIs!

Vaginal Condoms

The Femidom is available from The Vegan Store here and is the only vaginal condom I could find that was vegan.

Dams

Dams are used as a barrier when giving oral sex to another person, helping to prevent the spread of STDs and STIs.  Sheer Glyde is a vegan dam that is available here, from The Vegan Store or here from The Sensual Vegan.

Bondage Bear by Ulleskelf

Accessories and Bondage

Vegan Erotica has a range of straps, collars, hitting toys, restraints and more.  If it's outside of your price range or not what you're looking for, there are a range of PVC and faux leather products available on eBay; I personally got a collar from eBay.

If I have missed something, used gendered language, or anything else, let me know and I will update this post!