UKH

Hehehe - still here!

First week where a vegan recipe has been top dog.  Can't reccomend there highly enough, especially cold in a lunchbox:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/vegan_puff_pastry_pies_63231

Also noteworthy for being the first decent use I've found for kale other than feeding to rabbits.

Having had a good week food-wise, I blew it by ordering some bits and bobs from China.  How can this stuff be cheaper than just the 2nd class parcel post in the UK?  Some of it is to fix my bike though...

The hens are busy - any good eggy recipes?

They look great, ,right have to try them.

Kale and coconut soup is good. Coconut makes any soup good.

Eggs aren't vegan! Actually we have the same thing, have chickens and ducks so we're vegan + eggs. Eggs are great for cakes and we bung an egg in the dough for bread. Other than that we just do general eggy things so I'd be interested in egg recipes too.

I've fallen off the wagon a little today, working from a cafe and have ended top with cappuccino and a flap jack. I did ask about vegan cakes but they had nothing. Apart from that not doing too bad. I've no idea how the getting it from China thing works either. I think most 'things' come from china anyway even if it's not directly to you so just trying to buy less 'stuff' in general.

So, you're flexitarian then?

Egg recipes - boiled/scrambled/poached/fried etc.

For me no car journeys this week, have not bought "consumer stuff", still eating some (locally sourced) meat as well as having meat free days - doing the shopping now more and more with panniers on the bike, needs more trips to the shops but can combine it with commute home and means I only buy stuff we will use/need as opposed to "impulse" buys - also means my alcohol consumption drastically reduced as can only fit so much into panniers, always a downside, sigh

Have you considered brewing your own beer? I assume it uses less CO2 than commercially available beer because it doesn't involve transporting a lot of water around in the back of a truck. A 0.5l bottle of home brew costs me about £1.00 so each 20l batch saves me about £40.00 but I suppose that depends upon what you normally buy.

Kale and coconut dal also very good. But then I love kale and am happy to eat it with most things.

We had a big trip at the weekend (wedding in Scotland) so not so good on the car front - that's the most driving I've done in a while. Also not good on the meat front, especially with the hungover desire for a greasy fried breakfast on Sunday morning, followed by a fishfinger butty for tea. It's been better during the week though - no car use, nice home-cooked veggie food for tea (spring green and coconut dal, cheesy leeks on toast, pea and asparagus pasta).

On the garden front, the peas are looking good despite the incessant rain. Radishes and tomatoes also looking ok. We also just got an exciting garden addition - a wormery! This will let us put our food waste to good use by turning it into vermicompost, which can then get used in the garden.

I make my own wine, from either kits or home grown rhubarb - have a few apple tree's, perhaps cider later this year,depending upon crop

I do miss beer though, may look into brewing my own, do I have enough time for yet another hobby though  

Any idea if rhubarb will do well in a tub?  The soil here is hopeless.

It should do, just make sure the tub is big enough and with enough drainage

I grow my potatoes in sacks so should work for rhubarb

I also grow my peas in an old tin bath for some reason. 

True, I find brewing a batch from malt extract takes about 5 hours. Then another couple of hours to bottle it a fortnight later.

Poached eggs are a solid weekend breakfast - ignore any stuff about swirling the water, or adding vinegar. Just make sure your eggs are fresh (easy for you!) and crack them into a mug to transfer into a pan with about 40mm depth of just simmering water. Wait 3 minutes, then put them on toast with some salt and plenty of black pepper

You're right!  The way a truly fresh egg holds together is lovely.

I'm after innovations!  I have lost a recipe that breaks them into a muffin tray with various bits and pieces (peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese and, I think, broccoli florets).

I don't think I would be happy without eggs! Coddled eggs are always a nice treat. There are various levantine incarnations of baked eggs with tomatoes and spices which makes a nice late breakfast or a week night tea. Courgette carbonara is nice even without the bacon.

Did rather a lot of driving this weekend as I did a tour of grandparents. That also meant being a guest and therefore eating more/any meat.

The big positive for me is that I told my girlfriend (I do all the cooking) that we have been veggie for two months and she was shocked. Hopefully that shows that I have been finding sufficiently interesting menus , mostly thanks to you guys so keep those suggestions coming.

My best meal was a romaine lettuce cut in half lengthways, covered in goat's cheese, capers, sundried tomatoes etc, drizzled in olive oil and grilled (cut face up).

Have been expanding my homemade soup repertoire, generally make a batch  that does for several days' lunches. Carrot and ginger is my favourite so far though it seems upsettingly healthy.

We have been vegetarian at home for a few years now, but went out for husband's birthday this week so I treated myself and had pulled pork. We are raising our daughter as vegetarian until she is old enough to understand where meat comes from and choose for herself, hopefully she will choose to continue as a vegetarian.

This week we have become a one car family, my 16 year old diesel fiesta is awaiting pick up and then off to the scrapyard, and then we will be sharing my husbands leaf 2. It would be nice to get some renewables for recharging the car, but not sure that's an option for us just yet.

We've decided we won't do any flying holidays until our daughter is at least 5 (last flew March 2017 and won't fly until after 2023). Partly due to environmental concerns and partly as I have no desire to take a toddler through an airport and entertain/control her on a flight!

We are trying!

This with any kind of toasted flatbread is a breakfast you go to bed early to get to eat it sooner:  https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/09/menemen-turkish-style-scrambled... 

Ooooh.  That looks great - and uses eggs.

Bookmarked; thank you!

Looks awesome!

Did an old favourite for dinner tonight, squash and chickpea curry 😊 Generally, I am in work season where my food choices are not often my own, but I am trying to take veggie options when possible. When staying in friends houses though, i just take what they make. 

The upside is that I also do less mileage 8n my van at this time of year. 

I've been trying to wean myself onto black coffee at work to reduce my dairy intake but it occurs to me that maybe the beans themselves have a higher impact (certainly seem to be contributing to deforestation according to a brief google). Given I have some purchasing power in this regard (could sway the decision of ~10 people's worth of beans), what should I look for to achieve ethical coffee? Can anyone recommend a nice, reasonably priced, ethical bean?

I've pretty much weaned myself onto black coffee now, it's actually pretty nice. Tea on the other hand I've just given up with because tea without milk just isn't worth drinking.

Somehow I'd not really thought about the impact of the beans, except for vaguely thinking about trying to get some not wrapped in plastic. If you find any that seem genuinely ethical let me know!

Interesting article on the ethics of it and a bit of a summary of the various ethical certification schemes - https://www.northstarroast.com/ethical-coffee/

I try and buy from Manumit roasters. I can't remember their exact philosophy on sustainability, carbon footprint and deforestation but from a human side, they are anti (modern) slavery and have successfully worked to get people living in horrid conditions, home and away, a better life! They are also pretty on it with their plastic and waste ethos'.

Basically they're good eggs trying to do good.

Just nipping in to say, I'm still sticking with it - fully veggie most of the week (and often vegan except for one meal) and finding it really pretty easy.

Also, I've seen the ecobrick thing from another thread (https://www.ecobricks.org/) and we're going to start adding this to the routine