Deliciously Healthy

Over the course of this year, I've noticed us shifting to a healthier way of eating. This isn't to say that we ate badly before - in fact, we generally tried to avoid bad food. But in the last few months we've shifted to actively choosing good things, instead of just avoiding the bad. I think this comes down to a few things. One is more awareness. Another is that as I do more exercise, I am hungrier and want to eat better to stay fuller longer. And a big reason is that we are much more financially comfortable now, so buying nuts and unusual grains and flours is something we can afford to do with a bit more regularity now.

One of the things that has made it much easier to shift to healthier eating is the fantastic, delicious, but very health conscious cookbook, Let them eat Vegan! by Dreena Burton. We just love it. Here are some of our winners.

"Fit-tuccine Alfredo". We skipped the chanterelle bread crumb topping, and served it on penne pasta with zucchini, broccoli and capsicum. Based on cashews, this sauce is suuuuper creamy and really delicious.

Raw-nch Dressing! [original exclamation mark] Made with a big handful of fresh parsley, this was fresh and creamy and filling. 

Perfect on a salad with enchiladas and corn on the cob. 

White bean mashed potatoes. This was a bit of hassle to make, and Andy didn't think it was worth it, but it really is much healthier than regular mash. With eggplant parma, sauteed gai lan, and roasted radishes.

Yellow Sweet Potato Chickpea Pie with Basil. This recipe, or some variation of it, is one of our favourites from the book. It's easy to make, and easy to modify, and really delicious. We have only ever made it with orange sweet potatoes, and sometimes use white beans instead of chickpeas, but it is always delicious. Unfortunately, it may have killed my blender last week. 

The star of this pizza is Romesc-oat Sauce, a roasted capsicum-based thick spread with the nutty taste of toasted almonds and toasted oats. 

BBQ Sunflower Tofu, cooked on the BBQ instead of in the oven. Easy peasy, delicious, made with sunflower butter for a different kind of taste. With BBQ eggplant, rocket, and bok choy. 

Jerk Chickpeas, with added eggplant and rocket. 

Lemon-Infused Mediterranean Lentils - made with veggies mixed in, and a little bit saucier. 

There are lots of gems in this cookbook. It makes me want to look more into Dreena's recipes - but Andy thinks I should make more things out of the cookbooks we have before I get more new ones!

Let us eat vegan!

We have been loving our new cookbook, Let Them Eat Vegan! by Dreena Burton. We've enjoyed everything that we've tried so far, and have lots more recipes tagged to try. It's healthy, but in a gourmet way. The flavour combinations are sophisticated and the recipes centre on veggies, beans and whole grains - which really suits the sort of food we've been eating a lot this year, anyways.

Our first try from the cookbook was Jerk Chickpeas. I googled it afterwards, and found it all over the internet - my first choice of recipe was one that had been released as a teaser! But I can see why - they were easy to make, and very delicious. We made ours on the BBQ, rather than the oven, roasted some eggplants in them as well, and made them spicy. At the end of cooking, we mixed through some rocket from the garden, and put them in wraps.

White Bean Mashed Potatoes were a yummy and healthy side dish, but a bit more work than I prefer side dishes to be. Potatoes, pumpkin and cannellini beans mixed together were creamy and rich without being super fatty. We had them with eggplant parma, tahini-garlic gai lan, and roasted radishes.

Andy wasn't sold when I told him I would make Lemon-Infused Mediterranean Lentils. He doesn't like the idea of brown lentils just generally, even though when I do cook them, he generally likes them. The same happened with this dish - he liked them so much, he ate two HUGE bowls full. I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I added some zucchini and eggplant to the mix, and made it saucy, and it was fantastic served over rice. The saucy-stewy lentils were a great cold-weather meal, but the lemon juice and zest kept it from feeling stodgy.

Tonight's dinner was similarly "based on" with lots of changes, this time based on Yellow Sweet Potato Chickpea Pie with Basil. I used orange sweet potato and cannellini beans instead of chickpeas. This was much better than most of the quiche-type things we have made in the past, partially because it doesn't try to be a quiche at all. The slight sweetness from the sweet potato, the aniseedy basil, and the creamy beans all combined into something magical. Andy suggested (and I agree wholeheartedly) that these would be great at a party in mini form.

 This is my current go-to book for recipes when we've got veggies I can't decide what to do with. I'm very glad I got this book!

Healthy vs. Junky

When Andy was away for two weeks, in addition to a smoothie a day, I ate some other things, too. The last few times I've been home alone I have experienced severe lack of motivation to cook much more than noodles or toast. But not this time! This time I did cook some stuff, but it wavered between being mega-healthy, and mega-junky. All delicious, though.

I started by making a raw cabbage salad, with grated carrot, nigella seeds, and a little bit of olive oil and vinegar.

I often came home from work and snacked on such healthy delights as cucumber (or carrot) and cannellini bean dip.

I made a bowl o' potatoes + beans + carrot + spinach + garlic, which was a pretty healthy dinner.

But then I ate an entire dinner of nachos - not the loaded kind of nachos that Andy and I usually have, which match the junkiness of chips with healthy beans & veggies. These nachos were reminiscent of the sort of snack you can get at takeaway shops (at least, where I grew up). The snack which consists of a container of tortilla chips, smothered in melty-processed "cheese" from a tub. I say "cheese" in quotes, because I suspect it was more chemical than anything else. But, for some reason, I wanted to eat that, so I made a vegan version, using the recipe for Nacho Cheeze from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.

It was good, but I actually kind of liked the veggie- and bean-centric meals better. I dare not tell teenage-Theresa that this was the case, though.

Squeaky Clean

I was a bit misleading when I mentioned that I had some homemade cleaning products to share - they aren't products for cleaning houses, but rather for cleaning yourself.  Here's the thing: I've given up on shampoo, and soap.

In January, I was home alone and screwing around on the internet, and I followed a few random links and stumbled across some websites discussing the No Shampoo Method, and the Oil Cleanse Method.  I read up on them.  I was intrigued.  I did some research, finding out the best ways to take up these soap-free, super-cheap, and gentle self-care techniques.  I found lots, and lots, and LOTS of websites, blog posts, YouTube videos, and forum discussions.  And I discovered that the only thing that can be concluded is that you have to work out what is best for your skin & hair.  So here's how I do it, using these ingredients...

Hair
I haven't used shampoo since January.  Instead, I wash my hair with a bicarb soda (baking soda) paste, and 'condition' with apple cider vinegar.  Some  people seem to use heaps more water than bicarb, and pour it over their hair.  I tried that, but prefer a runny paste.  I fill up a little container with bicarb...

And then add an equal amount of water (give or take a bit).  Then I stir and stir, until it is a smooth paste.

Then, once a week, I take a big scoop of this paste and massage it into my head.  I try to keep it to the roots, because it makes the ends of my hair a bit dry.  I rub it in, and leave it on for about a minute, and then rinse.  Be sure to rinse thoroughly - I've gotten out of the shower a few times and found a super white patch on my scalp.

I also keep a little jar of apple cider vinegar in the shower, next to a small plastic cup.  After all the bicarb paste is rinsed out of my hair, I tip 1 to 2 Tablespoons of vinegar into the little cup, and then fill it up with water.

Then, I dip my hair into the cup, to make sure the ends get their fair share of the vinegar.  After that, I tip the rest of the vinegar water over my hair.  Again, rinse thoroughly.  I like to end with a quick blast of cold water - it may be ineffective, but in my head it makes my hair shinier.

Once I get out of the shower, I towel-dry my hair and dab a bit of coconut oil on the ends.  All of this works best, for me, if I wash my hair in the afternoon or evening.  Then I let it air dry, and sleep on it.  For some reason, this gives me smooth, shiny, and easy to work with hair.  If I wash it in the morning, it goes a bit fuzzy.

As I mentioned above, I only need to do this once a week.  On the other days, I keep my hair dry for my morning shower, and rinse with plain water for my afternoon or evening shower.  My hair only smells like vinegar until it dries on the first day - after that, it's fine.  And it doesn't get sweaty or greasy, even though I ride to and from uni each day.  My hair is still as soft as it was when I was washing with shampoo, so I'm happy to save heaps and heaps of money by using cheap kitchen supplies!

Face
The Oil Cleanse method is based on the notion that "like dissolves like", which may or may not be scientifically true.  In any case, it involves using oil to clean your face, and surprisingly, it works really well.

I mix my oils in a plastic bottle, which lasts for a few months.  About 1/4 to 1/3 of the bottle gets filled with Castor Oil (which is available from the chemist - but behind the counter).  I put a few drops of eucalyptus oil, for its antibacterial qualities.  Then I top up the bottle with olive oil.  The ratio of castor to olive oil depends on your skin type.  If you have very dry skin, you can go up to half-half, but if your skin is on the oily side you should use more olive oil.

So, every evening, I pull back my hair and get maybe a teaspoon, at the most, of oil in my palm.  Then, for 5 or 10 minutes, I rub it all over my face.  It's great for dissolving makeup, and I can literally feel my pores unclogging while I rub.  After a few minutes, I rinse.  With the hottest water I can stand, I rinse and rinse with a cloth, rubbing the oil off.  It takes a few rinses, and it's not finished until your face feels un-oily.  Then I dry my face.  I still use moisturiser after I'm finished - some people on the internet said they don't need to, but my skin gets too dry without it.  I do this at night, and in the mornings I just rinse my face with plain water and then moisturise before putting on makeup.

Why bother?
To be honest, I had no problem with the facial cleanser and shampoos I was using before I started these homemade options in January.  I was buying from Plant Essentials, which makes its products right here in Townsville, using certified organic plant ingredients.  And they're not even that expensive.  In fact, I still use their moisturisers and make up, because I truly love that shop.

But, (and this is an indication of my supreme laziness), I was home alone in January and the thought of going in to the city when I was running low on shampoo was unappealing.  So I decided to try out these methods I had read about.  And it turns out I like them.  Neither method has revolutionised the quality of my skin or hair - some people on the internet seem to suggest it has for them, but for me, I haven't noticed much difference at all compared to soap and shampoo.   Except, of course, for the price difference.  Bicarb soda, apple cider vinegar, and oil are cheap, and since you don't use much, it really is very cost effective. The results look something like this:

So there you have it - my cheaper-than-chips, easy-pants homemade self-cleaning products.  If you're interested and I haven't answered your questions, let me know in the comments - or do some googling, since there is a boatload of information on the interwebs.

Chia Goo.

When Andy goes away, I get the idea that I should buy grocery items that are a little bit fancy - to treat myself, and since we save heaps on groceries (since I alone don't eat even half as much as we eat together) anyways, it just makes sense.  And then I wander through the grocery store, picking up things like biscuits or fancy nuts, and putting them back on the shelves.  And I walk out with a few potatoes and some tofu, or something similar. 

When Andy was away in January, though, I followed through.  I bought a jar of chia seeds. 

Then I went home and googled them.  Apparently they are very good for you, but I won't rehash the nutritional stuff here because I'm no nutritionist!  I also read that the best way to make use of them was to soak 1/3 c. of seeds in 2 c. of water.  Kept in a jar in the fridge, this supposedly lasts for at least three weeks.

Well, mixing chia and water is exactly the preparation for growing chia pets, and if you have ever done that, you may remember the gooey slime that is created from this simple mix of two ingredients.  It's kind of cool, more so than gross.

I added some to smoothies, but then we had a cyclone and bananas became ridiculously expensive, so smoothies stopped happening in my kitchen.  So I've been eating my chia goo on granola, and on breakfast brown rice pudding. 

My first jar went off when we lost power for 5 days, which we expected.  But then I made up another batch and in two weeks it had a sour milk smell.  Maybe I just need to make smaller batches...