Mains

I don’t remember what bacon really tastes like so can’t say whether these recipes I share with you this week taste like bacon but what I can say is that they are delicious and add a bit of fun to meals. It’s all in the marinade, so if you are the experimenting type you can play around and make a marinade that you really like and that tastes smoky like bacon often is.

If you are craving a chicken sandwich but you have made a commitment to your health to not eat chicken. Then this ‘chicken’ sandwich is right up your street.This recipe is definitely inspired by the wonderful vegan graduate chef Pandora from Pandora’s Plate.

I think this soup is an all year weather soup and you can definitely change the veggies to those that are in season. If you love a blended soup then this soup is for you and actually if you prefer a country chunky style soup then just cut up the veggies and only blend half of the soup.

This recipe came from the creative adaptive dish exercise in the Vegan Foundation Cooking Course in in August. The wonderful Shelley and Jane made this recipe based on Jane’s mother’s recipe and I have made a few adjustments to this dish and I tell you it is a must-make recipe. It makes enough for 6 people and we had it three nights in a row. I wanted to make it all over again on the 4th night so I could eat it again. Can’t wait to hear how much you love it when you make it.

This is a fabulously cheesy baked potato without the saturated fat of dairy cheese. So, for those of you who are lactose intolerant or craving cheese or wanting to stop eating cheese this is a must have recipe.

Everyone needs a good scrambled tofu recipe to treat people to a special Sunday breakfast or brunch or to put in tortilla or burritos. We eat this with rice and salad sometimes too.

Have you travelled in North India? If yes you will be very familiar with Rajma beans (Rajma dhal). Wikipedia tells me that Rajma dhal originated after kidney beans were brought over from Mexico. Mexican and Indian cuisine are two of my all time favourite cuisines so knowing of this fusion makes me happy.

Everyone loves a good lasagne recipe to turn to. I have four brilliant lasagne recipes in Veet's Cuisine - Delicious Vegan Recipes including the now famous Artichoke and Pea (many people are cooking this in their cafes and catering businesses).

At any change of season, it is really important to get lots of vitamin C and this soup packs the punch. Ditch the chicken soup as that will only cause inflammation and start making this wonderful change of season nourishing soup. The addition of rice, lentils, tahini and miso gives it a big complete protein quota.

In the latest Vegan Chef Training we adapted a recipe by Hetty Mckinnon and used the organic vegetables that we had on hand which were in season. This is a delicious savoury pancake which can include both sweet and white potato. The white potato in the past has been given a bad rap but actually packs a punch in the nutrition department and is fantastic for the nervous system. Don’t be afraid to add it into your diet. For more information on the mighty potato I am glad people are starting to put white potato back on their plates.

Who loves Paella? Who knows how to pronounce Paella? There appears to be a few ways to pronounce it and also make it. I love this recipe Michelle and Kavon made in the January Vegan Foundation Cooking Course.

It is so difficult to believe that I am writing about Christmas again. The year has been long and fast all at the same time. What do you do for Christmas? If you have been following my blog for a long time you will see that I have been through many phases at Christmas. It was only last year that I decided to really embrace Christmas. To be honest, for me as an adult Christmas has often been quite lonely and, when I could, I chose to work on Christmas day. It feels good now, embracing it and making sure I do something special.

In last week’s Newsletter I addressed lowering high blood pressure and along with a whole range of suggestions including lowering your sodium intake I mentioned increasing foods high in potassium. So this week’s recipe is a potassium rich meal idea. It’s delicious. I enjoyed making it and loved even more eating it. I did add salt as I have low blood pressure and my partner who lowered his blood pressure significantly following the guidelines I shared last week is now fine to have salt in moderation too.

This fabulous recipe comes out of the last three day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course. Grace and Nells made and adapted this recipe from Celia Brooks Brown’s Vegetarian World Recipes cookbook. If you are an Okonomiyaki fan you are going to love this vegan version and if you have never had Okonomiyaki then this recipe is a must try. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I’m not exaggerating when I write that I still smile from ear to ear every time I think of or mention the last 3 Day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course.

In the modern world of maintaining one’s weight, people have misunderstood the idea of avoiding carbohydrates. Many people cut out the full carbohydrate macronutrient and by doing this they are depriving their body of many important benefits, they are missing out on resistance starch, fibre and a whole range of nutrients including vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Hope everyone is very well. I am buzzing with happiness after this last month of facilitating modules 2 to 5 of the Vegan Chef Training, as well as a few private days of teaching cooking and nutrition and now this last weekend the June 3 Day Foundation Cooking Course. This was a wonderful three days with five fabulous participants. We had a full house (5 is my maximum) and a lot of incredible food was made.

What’s your relationship with cabbage? Do you love it or loathe it? I love it, I love a great coleslaw and I eat cabbage in the form of home made sauerkraut twice a day. When it comes to cooking it though I shy away from it a little bit but due to its immense health benefits I have been adding it a lot more into my diet. I have noticed that if I eat raw red cabbage I digest it really well but if I cook it I get digestive issues. If I cook white cabbage all is well. This will not be the case for everyone, it is a personal thing.

My apologies to those who love receiving my newsletter on a weekly basis. Since the floods in our area I lost the momentum to write weekly but I am back with renewed enthusiasm and some great recipes to share with you. After two of my courses being cancelled due to floods we were able to go ahead last week and what a fabulous 3 days were shared with 5 wonderful people. We had a full house. Five is the max and we made delicious foods. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Hope you are all well and not affected by the flood damage in NSW and Queensland. If you are please reach out. While I personally am not affected by the floods I do live in a town and area that is presently in devastation. It has been incredible how much support has been offered from people locally and all over the country. I have been out helping and have taken a few days off so as to attend to our own minor damage to garden and cleaning of the outside areas.

Loving what I do for a living has always been a priority for me. Observing the difference I make through the work I do makes me wake up each day with joy and energy. When my work hasn’t felt this way in the past I have shifted focus and taken my energy elsewhere.

A fabulous two weeks just passed and I totally got too busy to do a recipe last week, apologies. I was busy facilitating a fabulous Vegan Foundation Course, a Tailored 1 day class with a lovely mother and daughter and started two more VIP Nutrition Packages with some very important people indeed. I have made up for my tardiness though of missing a week by including some very valuable information on potatoes and their nutrients and how to cook them. Investing eight hours to do this blog this week rather than the usual four.

Ok what is the story with eggplants. Many are declaring they can’t eat eggplants these days as they are nightshades. People with autoimmune disease or arthritis are being advised that the alkaloids in nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, tamarillos, capsicums, potatoes) may be harmful. However at this stage there is no research to indicate this. Some people cut them out and have a noticeable difference and others don’t. For those people who don’t have autoimmune diseases, eggplants and other nightshades boast a whole range of essential nutrients and wonderful health benefits.

Moringa is rich in calcium as well as boasting a large range of health benefits. It is definitely something to add into ones diet. I first came across moringa in the Himalayas. The women in the high altitude mountain ranges were feeding it to their toddlers, ensuring their babes got enough calcium.

Happy New Year everyone, wishing you a fabulous year this year with exceptionally good health and delicious food. As usual I am not doing resolutions but have a word for 2022 and it is: CRUISE

Resistance starch has had lots of attention of late and rightly so. Resistance starch is starch from food that does not get digested in the upper gastrointestinal tract (small intestine) it skips digestion and makes its way to the large intestine where it is broken down by resistant bacteria and then fermented providing good bacteria for the gut micro biome. A good micro biome boosts our immune system and prevents us from catching diseases including cancer and also protects us from getting type 2 diabetes.

What sort of sleep do you get? Do you sleep right through the night without waking up, or do you have broken sleep, or do you suffer from insomnia? If you struggle with sleep (like I do) you may be happy to know that what we eat in the evening meal can have an impact on our sleep. There has been extensive research done on food for sleep. So this week I share with you some of the things I have been finding out.

Do you know if you are you getting enough zinc in your diet? Our bodies are dependent on the mineral zinc for body growth and development and zinc is especially important for the nervous and reproductive systems and of course the immune system. The body does not store a pool of zinc so it is essential that we have a daily intake of zinc. As many are worried about borders opening up in Australia and the possibility of catching any viruses going around it is important to stay diligent with ensuring you are absorbing enough zinc each day.

Another week, another blog. This one is a goodie and one to keep for just in case you ever feel unwell. Every fourth blog will be dedicated to a subscriber’s request and actually I have a blog schedule happening that I am really enjoying right now.

Do you add oil to your pasta cooking water? Have you been told it prevents your pasta sticking together/ I stopped adding oil to my pasta water more than a decade ago because my pasta never stuck together whether I had oil in the water or not and I just thought it was a waste of oil.

The mighty mushroom is a definite must add food to any diet and especially into a vegan diet as mushrooms really are packed with a whole lot of goodness. Mushrooms contain a rich source of essential amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids that help reduce serum cholesterol. Mushrooms also boast a whole load of antioxidants which can protect the body from cardiovascular disease, they are low in sodium and contain the B vitamins, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and folate which are all necessary in energy production, supporting metabolism and lowering LDL cholesterol. In addition mushrooms are a great source of fibre and tocopherols (vitamin E), which helps with skin, heart and eye health and lowers the risk of cancer. Lectins found in mushrooms are also known to have anti tumor activities.

Who grew up with iodized salt on their table? Did you know what iodized meant or were you just used to reading the word every time you saw it in its white and orange plastic tub. It seemed to be the standard salt everyone had in their homes growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. It was branded as the important thing to have to stay healthy and then it seemed to disappear. It is still sold in supermarkets and is occasionally spotted on someone’s dinning room table or on top of the cooker range.

I hope all is well in your world. What a tough time it is worldwide. Thanks to those people who wrote to me last week to let me know how you are. It was lovely to read how people are nourishing themselves during this time and for me to make recipe suggestions to those who are struggling. Feel free to write anytime.

How are you all? I Hope those of you in lockdown are doing okay. Please reach out, send me an email, I would love to hear from you. Anyone who wants to share with me what they are cooking is also welcome. Let me know what creativity is going down in your kitchen.

Wow, that week went fast. How are you all? Would love to hear from you. Please do feel free to write. Last week I had more time on my hands than normal as a few of my cooking and nutrition sessions got postponed due to COVID restrictions. This gave me the opportunity to develop some really delicious recipes and the one I bring you this week is one of them.

It’s cold and rainy right now as I write this newsletter so have decided to share a delicious stew recipe with you all. If it is warm where you are this is still a very good recipe to make. In winter serve it with black rice and in summer either basmati rice or quinoa. I developed this recipe for someone who came along for an individual session who wanted low FODMAP recipes so within this recipe are a few options for the low FODMAP diet.

Who loves falafel? I certainly do. These were made in the recent Three Day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course. The recipe makes a big mob of them so I would suggest making the full amount and freezing some as they freeze so well. Before putting the mix in the fridge be sure to taste it to see if you want more spice. Some like falafels with lots of spice and some lightly spiced. Recipe below.

Forgive me everyone for skipping the last two weeks. I was all consumed in facilitating the Vegan Chef Training and getting in my final assignment for my post grad nutrition degree. Last Saturday was the last day of the vegan chef training for 2021 and it culminated with Jesika and Andrea’s graduation where they served up a 4 course meal including three different desserts. I was so proud of what they achieved. Usually we have eight people graduate but this year just two so they had to do double the work with getting the graduation planned. They planned the whole menu and it was sensational. I am so proud to say that there are now two more wonderful vegan chefs going out into the world. The official photos won’t be ready until the end of June but here are a few sneak preview ones.

The Vegan Chef Training is approaching it’s last two weeks. What a wondrous course it has been. On the last day of module 5 we had 3 fabulous facilitators attend. Lilli and Sue who came and taught Kambucha, Jamu, fire tonic and shrubs (a healthier version of cordial). In the morning Kiriko taught tofu and miso. The tofu was the nicest tofu I have ever tasted. There is no shop bought tofu that comes anywhere close to this deliciousness. While making tofu is quite a production I really would like to always make my own.

We are almost half way through the vegan chef training for 2021. So far it has been incredible. Last week we finished module 3 – Ayurvedic Cuisine. For those who don’t know, Ayurvedic cooking is a practice that is thousands of years old and originated in India. It looks at what foods you can and can’t eat for your particular constitutional type (dosha) and any imbalances you may have in your body. Food is the first step to balancing your body and health. We spend three days on this way of cooking so participants get a good handle on it and learn to cook exceptionally delicious food with the limited ingredients available to them.

Some years ago I wrote a blog on an interview I did with a friend and dance facilitator of mine. It was a beautiful interview with many words of wisdom. On Sunday my friend left her body as she had spent the year unwell. I know she would have been listening to her body the whole time. I got a message from her beloved that she very much enjoyed cooking food from my recipes this last year and that makes me so happy to know that. I want to share again with you the interview I put into the blog many years ago and also the soup recipe I developed. I had this breakfast soup this morning in honour of beautiful Navanita and I reflected and reminisced on all she gave me and so many of us all over the world. Forever in our hearts.

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you have a lovely rest if you have time off over this mini break. Some people have let me know that they will be starting the online course this weekend. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a long weekend than immersing yourself in really good cooking. If you would like to join in the fun, the online course is self paced so you could choose just a few recipes to try this weekend including the fruit in the clouds dessert which is full of so many different pleasurable tastes. I have a discount code for you to use if you feel to purchase the course FOREVERYONE1.

Another three day vegan foundation cooking course started today. Stoked to be with another group of people who are eager to learn how to cook nutritious and delicious food. Can’t wait to share the photos of what they create. The last course was only two weeks ago and there were some wonderful signature dishes created. One of which I will share with you today. I love the simplicity of this recipe. I love that this recipe makes use of miso which contains B vitamins, which are essential for energy production, brain function and cell metabolism. Miso also is a good source of folate (B9), which is necessary for red and white blood cell production in the bone marrow, converts carbs into energy and produces DNA and RNA. Vitamin A for eye health, vitamin k for bone health and blood clotting and vitamin E which is a great source of antioxidants. Sage is a great source of calcium

Taro is a new vegetable for me. I have seen it and heard people say how good it is but it wasn’t until Jimi who attended one of the courses I have run this year gifted me some that I got to cook with it.

I am writing to you on the eve of another Vegan Foundation Course starting. So blessed that this is the third course I have managed to run this year. Last year I got up to three then no more so fingers and toes crossed the next ones will run too. As I start to prepare 48 hours before the course (yep it takes me that long to get everything organised – they say for a teacher it takes one hour preparation for every hour taught, for a cooking facilitator it takes two hours set up for every hour taught.) I get more and more excited with each hour.

It’s hard to believe that it will be five years this August that the first chefs graduated from the vegan chef training here in the Byron Shire. There were seven people graduate that year, all who have gone on to do wonderful things. Ebony was the youngest that graduated and she went on to become head chef of a café in Wollongong. Ebony attended the course as it was her dream to open her own café one day in her hometown of Dwellingup in Western Australia. In the middle of the Covid Lockdown she did just that. She set up a food stall in the garden of the Art Gallery in Dwellingup.

The last two days we have been preparing for the Three Day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course. It has been a lot of work and I have loved every minute of it as I am so ecstatic to be running these courses again. The last course was in March 2020 and it has been too long between drinks as they say. I can’t wait for tomorrow. Five participants are coming together and we are going to cook up some storms. The over 60 recipes we cover in these three days are not to be missed. The whole three days is a treat indeed. Can you tell I am super excited!!!!!!!!

What recipe would you like to nail once and for all. Here’s mine. It feels good! Pad Thai What recipe do you hope to nail? What recipe do you keep trying but it isn’t completely right? Pad Thai was my one recipe I needed to nail and recently did it. Congrats are in order. In the past I had made Pad Thai but it never quite made the bar that I was comparing it to until last week.

This is the first blog post for 2021 and I wish you all a happy new year and for those who didn’t receive the newsletter last week I have a super duper new years special on the online course. Check below for details. The course has no time limit so you may want to make the most of the cheap price even if you can’t start it straight away.

I had this idea that I would start this week’s blog with some healthy tips but hey who wants healthy at this time of the year. I’ll save that for the New Year. What I would like to say though is if you keep it vegan and keep it organic you really can’t go wrong. It’s non traditional fare I will share with my friends this Christmas and these are the recipes I bring to you this year. I’m making Mexican.

Two more blog posts before Christmas. I haven’t heard what you are up to this Christmas. I would love to know, maybe you don’t celebrate or maybe you do or it’s a quiet time of relaxation for you. Whatever it is I’d love to know.

Another Christmas recipe everyone. I know so many people who just love Christmas and have a great time hanging out with loved ones and then I know equally as many people who actually have not such a great time at Christmas. This recipe is for all of you, to take to gatherings or to have at home on your own, really treating yourself to super delicious food whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

What an exciting week I have had. It was my birthday last week and I had a fabulous lunchtime gathering of women friends. We even had a dance, which was an extra special treat, and the big news from last week was... I launched my first ever on line cooking course: Cooking at Home with Veet

It’s hard to believe that the online course Cooking at Home with Veet will soon be launched. Launch date is the 24th November. Exciting to the max. Make sure you are signed up to the upcoming cooking course mailing list so you don’t miss out on the coupon to get the discount and be one of the first people to start the course. It is a fun course and you find the info and sign up to the newsletter over at the online course page on our site.

I am bursting with excitement as we have an exact date for the launch of the online course Cooking at Home with Veet. It is the 24th of November so only fourteen more sleeps. The course will be announced to the people signed up to the Upcoming Courses newsletter.

How are you? I have had a great week since I last wrote. We managed to get away on a quick camping trip, which was incredibly relaxing despite getting caught in a hail storm, the walk we had planned on being closed, tree cutters at the camp ground for hours on the first afternoon and people doing paving for 6 hours with noisy machinery on the second day. Absolutely hysterical and we still managed to love so much of our two days away, the hours when it was quiet, the lovely wildlife and the moon shining through the trees. I sleep so much better when camping.

Hope you are all well and enjoying plenty of time getting creative in the kitchen. Filming the online cooking course that I am launching soon has got me all inspired to get back doing Facebook lives (and soon to be Instagram lives). At the moment I am doing daily cooking tips at 2.10 pm (NSW Aussie time). If that time is weird for you depending on where you are and if you are working or off social media at that time I will still post the videos over at Vegan Recipes and Meal Ideas.

Hope you are all enjoying the change in season. It feels like we skipped spring where I live and moved straight into summer. I am sure the spring weather is going to arrive though. It’s just hot right now. And I have a hot theme. Are any of you on Facebook™ and do you follow the Healthy Vegan Food with Veet page? We are having theme weeks over there and last week’s theme was a request for #moodfood. It was a good one. We covered vulnerable, content, grumpy, discombobulated, sensual and grateful. What do you like to cook when you are feeling any of those moods?

If you can’t wait to find out the big news at Veet’s Vegan Cooking School skip the recipe and go to the message at the end of the newsletter. If you can wait then you are in for a treat with these two delicious salads that can be eaten in both hemispheres, as they are equally delicious hot or cold.

I imagine this week’s recipes will be the last of the soup recipes for this year as where I live we are slipping nicely into spring. It looks like I have saved the best soup for last.

It’s children’s recipe this week and the lovely Paula who is half way through the vegan chef training has once again developed a recipe for us. Paula’s last recipe was a winner and so is this one.

It’s a very breezy cool day where I live today so this week’s recipe is very fitting. I also think this soup would go well as a spring or early autumn soup. It’s book review week this week. I have this lovely book at home, once again not vegan but definitely vegetarian and the recipes are so easily adaptable when you know how (that’s one of the many things I teach in the 3 day course - how to adapt regular recipes and make them vegan). The book on review this month is At Home in the Wholefood Kitchen by Amy Chaplin. It has lots of lovely tips and some great information. Well worth borrowing it from your local library.

Wow what a week. Love sent to you all and especially those of you who once again find yourselves in lockdown. I hope you have the ingredients to cook up feasts for yourself during this time. Food is our saviour right now. Get cooking for yourself, your loved ones and your neighbours.

If you live in an area where green papaya is in season right now I suggest making the most of it as green papaya rocks not only in taste but in the nutrition and health benefits department.

It hadn’t dawned on me what was really missing for me personally during the COVID 19 lockdown and restrictions until last week when a friend sent a really cute video. The thing missing for me during the COVID lockdown was ……….. tahini. Yep you read right, tahini. Somewhere in the whole upheaval I forgot to use this in my meals.

It’s kids recipe week and I am excited to tell you we have a guest blogger this week. Paula from Eat Cook Love who is half way through the Vegan Chef Training. One of our trainees in waiting has developed a scrumptious recipe that you children may love. The recipe does contain nuts so for any of you with nut allergies this recipe can easily be adapted. Instead of the cashews use sunflower seeds instead and if you don’t like sunflower seeds then use one cup of cooked potatoes and 1 cup of cooked cauliflower instead. All recipes in this blog are versatile to suit your dietary needs. So its over to Paula now.

After the naughty but decadent recipe I shared with you last week I thought a healthy recipe was in store for this week. It’s week one in my schedule of blog posts which means book review week and while this warm winter salad doesn’t feature in any particular book (my own creation) I feel I was inspired by Hetty Mckinnon’s book Family. It is not a vegan cook book but well worth a mention.

How are you? Did you miss me? I took a two week break from writing blogs to try and catch up and have plenty of recipes for you in the upcoming weeks. Hope you didn’t miss the recipes too much. This week I am showcasing Bok Choy as the seasonal vegetable for the month. Right now where I live Bok Choy is in season and the bunches are beautiful. While the protein content of Bok Choy is actually very low it does contain a wonderful amount of other nutrients making it a super healthy vegetable to add to your diet.

It’s children’s recipe week this week and this is a good one to make with the whole family. Put aside 1½ hours so that you can make it with ease and fun. Put on some fun music and get into the swing of cooking as a family. Go to my facebook page to see the video I did on how to make the tortilla. If you don’t have a tortilla press you can roll out the flour with a rolling pin (dusted with corn flour) and cut out round shapes with a wide glass or biscuit cutter.

How are you? How have you been this week? Thank you to all of you who wrote to let me know how you are going and to also thank Melanie and I for keeping these weekly recipes going. It means a lot to me that you are enjoying the recipes at this time.

Wow what a week. How has it been for you? How are you? I really would love to know how you are all coping with the COVID -19 ‘pandemic.’ Thank you to everyone who wrote to me after the last newsletter. I so appreciate it. Also feel free to write with any questions you may have around cooking. I have plenty of time right now.

Wow what a tumultuous time it has been. How are you all doing? Please write to me, I have plenty of time on my hands now and happy to answer any cooking questions and hand out tips here, there and everywhere.

Who has never had Tuna Mornay? Am I the only Australian who has never tried it? When I was growing up friends used to talk about eating it for dinner but I had never had it until last month. Yahoooo I am no longer a Tuna Mornay virgin. Well it wasn’t actually tuna I had, I would have been sick if it had been. It was a mornay made with jackfruit, chickpeas, peas and broccoli and it was delicious.

It’s seasonal produce week in the world of blog writing at Veet’s Vegan Cooking School. It’s sweet corn time. Lovely fresh young kernelled cobs of corn are purchasable at our local organic health food store. It felt so decadent to buy three cobs for this recipe that I share with you this week.

This week is book review week in my scheduled blogs and I have decided to review my own Cook Book Veet’s Cuisine Delicious Vegan Recipes. Yes I love my own cookbook, cooking many of the recipes on the retreats that I catered on over the last ten years. The recipes are simple, all gluten free, all vegan and all delicious. There are over 150 recipes including how to make cashew cheese and sour cream. Also Indian feast recipes, four types of lasagnes, a Balinese feast, many other main dishes, soups, salads, dressings, desserts, drinks, vegetable dishes and a dedicated grain section. As well as a pantry list and a protein guide.

How are you all this week? How many of you are effected by the bushfires? I really hope you are all safe. It’s been very full on for many people living in the area I reside. I live in town so am lucky to be in a safe area but many friends are evacuated at the moment and others are staying home in readiness to protect their properties.

This is week four of my new schedule where I post a recipe request or a recipe someone in the vegan cooking courses has developed. A couple of Vegan Foundation Cooking Courses ago the lovely Jayne and Wendy made a delicious sweet potato gnocchi and I promised them I would develop a good gluten free gnocchi recipe to share with them when I got a spare moment.

Having a structure to the blog posts is working well so far (this is only week two so lets see if I can keep it up). This week I am posting a meal that I think most children will love. A child friendly meal for the whole family, I can imagine it being a regular on any menu plan.

Hello everyone, how has your week been? I am in the middle of three days off. These being very special days off for me as I have worked pretty solidly for the last seven weeks with only one full day off and even on that day I attended a workshop and then worked in the evening. It’s been a thoroughly rewarding time. In that time I cooked on two week-long retreats, cooked on a four day workshop and a one day workshop, ran three vegan foundation cooking courses, did a demo at a local food festival and facilitated modules two to five of the Vegan Chef Training. It was epic and I loved it all. I loved especially the facilitation and helping so many people create really delicious well-balanced food.

Following on from sprouting for the Raw Course I facilitated ten days ago I cooked quite a few dishes with the sprouted mung beans. This curry is a true winner. The sprouted mung beans add such a different dimension to a curry.

Last week marked the start of another Vegan Chef Training. Six wonderful women came together to join in Module 2, Raw Cuisine. As part of this module I show you how to sprout legumes and you get to take home a pack of seeds to sprout and recipe develop.

Last Thursday to Saturday I facilitated the 29th Vegan Foundation Cooking Course where four wonderful people attended. It was a treat for all of us to have such a small group and some very creative food was made.

For two decades as a university student, care worker and teacher I took a packed lunch to work. I had no choice there were no options for me as a vegetarian and I have also always been a fussy eater. White bread sandwiches have never cut it for me. And that was pretty much all that seemed to be available at school canteens.

As part of the three day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course you get to create your own signature dish. In the May course Monica and Shari made a vegan gluten free pie and named it Monshari Pie. It is as wonderful as the name itself.

I’m being brave posting a recipe with Brussels in it as I know that not everyone loves them as much as I do. Don’t be put off though if you are not a Brussels lover as you can use another green veg of your choice or just leave them out all together. This sauce is a beauty. So rich and meaty (in the non animal meaty way).

As I start to wind down the last week of work before I go on my yearly visit to India I feel a curry recipe is called for, so I am sharing with you two recipes. I adapted the first recipe earlier this year and had planned on sharing with you all then but somehow spaced it out. So here is Mak’s (my beloved’s) favourite curry recipe. He used to eat this at a restaurant called Prem’s in Pune India, in those days he was vegetarian and not yet vegan. The original recipe has paneer and lots of cream however he was equally happy with this vegan version of it.