VEGAN KITCHEN – Samhain Pumpkin Pie – Pastai Pwmpen Nos Calan Gaeaf – Summers End – Organic Earth Celebration

Samhain Pumpkin Pie – Pastai Pwmpen Nos Calan Gaeaf – Summers End – Organic Earth Celebration

……and so here it is, Summers End and Sauin is done, we all survived the gwrachod, Hwch Ddu Gwta and the ladi wen heb ddim pen and all other manner of Y Tylwyth Teg to wake on todays morn again and so here we are……

Harvest’s are all done and though there is still food in the ground  we will start winding it down as we go through fall in to Winter. The days are long and the fire is getting stoked.  I heard today that the 1st of November is also Global Vegan day, so I logged on to see how they define that in the movement these days and this is what they have to say…

World Vegan Day is celebrated every year on November 1. World Vegan Day, aimed at spreading awareness among people about the advantages of a vegan diet on health and well-being, is celebrated every year on November 1. On this day, vegan organizations promote the environmental and health impacts of the vegan diet.

LINK:  https://vegan-day.org/en/

Well I am all in favour of spreading awareness about veganism as a ethical concern, i.e. so that mammals, sea life and crustaceans, insects etc don’t get the chop shop or enslavement on an ethical vegan watch, though all this hyperbole about promoting environmental and health impacts may well be out of step with an RBE ethical Vegan lifestyle, for most of what the “internet” calls vegan is really just monocropping into corporate plant based options “suitable for vegans”, suitable for anyone who doesn’t want other beings to be exploited, but yea suitable for vegans…

Humans that eat animals are not bothered about mold resistant soya crop taking on 5 full round up treatments per cycle when it comes to fattening cows, pigs and the like when it is used as animal feed (which is every meal) in the concentration camps, until of course, you says the word “vegan”, then they are all over it like that just got a PhD in ethics and nutrition..lol

They may well be all over it, but they do nothing in response to it,. so they don’t count. Walk the walk, don’t talk the talk.. everyone’s got lots to say.. its just white noise if it improves nothing..

so on the subject of people having a lot to say, let me carry on, so promoting a monocrop corporate plant based diet cannot really be called healthy or good for environmental  pressures, but it does stop the animal holocaust and the consumer new nazi that condemns other species from birth, a life of suffering up to a horrific death in the factory faming camps… perhaps they should just say that, veganism is about not hurting animals, not about pea protein and deforestation drops, because its really the only reason , to basically NOT destroy a mother and thier babies life…

Anyway all that aside,. this year the Global Vegan movement says lets celebrate by baking a pie, something to do with “Holland Pies, a 169 year old pie maker going back further than Sweeny Todd, celebrating world vegan day for the first time”..

Well that’s all nice but what’s’ in everyone’s pies ?

Who Knows ? Khubi Kushi Khabi Gaum….What’s important here is what’s in OUR pie..

Well over here the big event lined up with my Sauin Pumpkin Pie baking day and seeing as it’s a pretty clean pie with some key organic power food ingredients,. I thought to share it step by step to get you folk thinking about getting as many of your ingredients out of the ground rather than off the checkout line..

Not all.. because some you simply can’t really do much with, pastry and flour  etc, unless you are a grower and a miller…. the thing is,. its the season for coughs and sneezes, and this recipe shores you up against all that as we go into fall and winter. So here it is.. So what’s in our pie then?

Stuff from the ground: A couple of Pumpkin guts, seed sorted and chopped up, a bowl of bug free nettles, a  snail a grub and a load of nettle mites got painstakingly brushed off, some swiss chard

(the seeds you can either dry and keep for replanting, or parboil and then roast in pink salt as snacks)

Stuff from the free food network: (I will do a post at some point about the free food network, donated, recycled, gifted, corporate waste) The spice rack – Tumeric, Madras curry powder, some vegetable gravy granules, black pepper and garlic, A large battered tin of Kidney Beans and a tin of tomato and basil soup

Stuff we bought using that archaic stuff called Money: Himilayan Iodine rock salt, yes it got delivered to this country in a diesel powered hauler ship, but then I don’t have much of an issue with Diesel in itself (WHAT !!!) see previous post on plastic waste reclaim fuel before you shit your pants over that. Oh and ready roll pastry from the house of sin itself “Tesco” because i simply ran out of time to go to the old watermill in Welyn Garden City and pick up organic milled flour to make it myself, though I do recommend looking for a local organic mill yourself if you have time for all that lovely artisan type of stuff.

Enough talk. Time to cook

The easiest way to follow a recipe really comes down to pictures , lots of pictures , step by step, a case of you simply do what i do and you get what i get..

Felly gadewch i ni ddechrau. Mae’r Her ymlaen! Rydyn ni i gyd yn hoffi pasteiod, felly gadewch i ni ddechrau! In the catch phrase of dearly loved and lost FISHINABOX collective member Zainab Sheikh (RIP 13/11/2016) – “Let’s do it yeah !”

Samhain Pumpkin Pie – Pastai Pwmpen Nos Calan Gaeaf

Bit of oil in the pan and cook down your garden gathered organics and spices firstly. People like less salt  / more salt, less curry / more curry,, etc etc well you spice to preferred taste and then you will all be happy on making the best pie for you.

Use gloves for the nettles, a nettle sting is actually pretty good for you as it regulates your histamines which means a sting a day keeps all hay fever away, but its miserable when preparing nettles , so yea wear some gloves….

So pan is on, stir stir , get it all on the heat, then add your free food / food bank / corporate waste /  whatever bits to the mix.

We try to NOT pay for food, because in an RBE the goal is for all food to be free, along with everything else, and any way you can avoid supporting corporate retail profit margins is a step in the right direction.

So if you kept it hot until the Pumpkin’s soft then next its time to drain it. You need to get as much liquid out of the mix before it goes into the pie pastry or it is water weight. Its good to stir and strain it until it stops dripping as this makes an AMAZING super nutritious Pumpkin Soup 🙂

So you have your Pumpkin Soup, You have your seeds too and now you have your Pumpkin Pie filling

Feeling lazy ?

You can use the Tesco ready roll (vegan) pastry or if you have another 5 minutes to spare,  then just make your own pastry and save a little in your purse. The pastry is  simply plain flour, vegan margarine (a wooden spoons worth), a bit of vegetable oil and salt.

Mix it , kneed it, then roll it out with a rolling pin. Pictures below show both  home made pastry and ready roll, but the result is the same. Either way when pastry is ready, roll it out , stuff it and wrap it for the oven.

You can decorate the pastry in all sorts of ways, using a flat fork leaves a good design at times. I didn’t bother to do anything except pinch the tops. Some pies be fancy, and some be just pies see…

 

paint the tops with a bit of plant milk then its ready.

Pop it in the oven gas mark 5, have a cup of tea. have another one, read a book maybe write a letter, mother things are getting better, but don’t forget to check the pie and when its browned off on the top and seems and you are also  browned off from checking it over and over again then take it out and let it cool..

Keep making them until you run out of mixture.

I managed to get three good long full sized pies from my ingredients in batch one and two more in batch two.

and that’s pretty much all there is too it,. let the pies cool , if not eating at home and need them for travel then wrap them in grease proof paper, tie off with a string and good to go anywhere on your journey with you.

One final point on the Welsh Gaelic for Samhain, So the Brittonic branch of the Celtic languages, Samhain is known as the “calends of winter”.  The Brittonic lands of Wales (Cymru), Cornwall, and Brittany hold festivals on 31 October similar to the Northern Gaelic (Scotland and Ireland) ones.  In Wales it is called Calan Gaeaf (Nos Kalan Gaeaf) , in Cornwall it is Allantide or Kalan Gwav, and in Brittany it is Kalan Goañv.

The nuances of difference between northern and for want of a better term, southern Gaelic, are actually as a result of  interventions from watering down pagan celebrations through unforgiving Christian domination and Norman, Frankish, Anglo Saxon and English social pressure to push out the Brittonic cultures as a means of control, as far as, for extended periods of time,  banning the use and speech of the Gaelic language in Wales, which has had an effect on how culturally the ceremonies of the pagan wheel have, in part, changed over time in the southern Gealic regions.

Not to worry though.

not to worry,.

Fe godwn ni eto 😉 …….Enjoy the pies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIVE STEPS TO FREEDOM – Step 4 FREE Medicine – Yarrow

FIVE STEPS TO FREEDOM – Step 4 FREE Medicine – Yarrow

So the Five Steps the freedom program,.

Basically an exit program to a life off grid and fully self sustainable , money free living and off all state register and rolls. Its a big change program and takes a while to implement, though in short it is split into five core sections.

Section 4 is “free medicine” and comprises of a huge natural medicine apothecary for everything from cuts, bruises, broken bones and muscle tears to managing and improving mental health, to control and in places eradiction of debilitating disease, infections , preventative medicine, auto immune and anti system response to toxic poisoning from the state (air, water, food, pharma) and improved strength and stamina.

The post only looks at one herb. Over time we will attempt to put other core herbs and treatments in, though in reality this is a live training program delivered on the ground in an apothecary apprentice type course, over several months.  Complex processes such as making penicillin have some restrictions country to country, as well as certain key plant medicines and extracts (unexpectedly but yea government happens to ruin common sense all over) being controlled in certain places and for certain concentrations and uses.

Anyway, the simple easy herbs can get put out in posts like this and its just up to you to start using these and swap them in instead of pharma treatments which all need to really be swopped out for a successful transition to the a vegan resource based lifestyle.

A huge volume of knowledge on health is intrinsically tied into diet and lifestyle so all of that can be gleaned pretty much from works such as Dr Michael Gregor’s “How not to Die” huge tomb of health illness and treatments. So for content that is simply easy to pull from that , we wouldn’t bother covering that on the site.

So for the complex plant medicine, these are things we need to spend time together on to deliver and generally we reserve our time for folk who already have your head around the moral codes laid out in the Free World Charter , be ethically vegan for the animals and been exiting or trying to exit the moneytist system as these folk will form a vegan resource based community around shared knowledge and be operating on the same program and level.

If you are not at that point in your life yet, then best to first get onto the 5 steps program in your personal life and get your self to that point through learning and practicing the earlier steps of the program, ethics, free food, power and fuel first. You can reduce your overheads relatively easily, explore complete self ownership of your diet and energy supply which is a benefit to everyone.

Want to look at the program and get an immersion into what we represent ? Here’s the link to the 5 steps to freedom overview.

Don’t EXIT through the gift shop – the 5 steps to Freedom

Foraging wild yarrow and making yarrow powder

So Yarrow, Common Yarrow,  what’s it going to fix ?

well….

Been in battle ?
Fallen down a Cliff ?
Cut yourself on machinery ?

WE would pack the wound with yarrow powder

Yarrow is known as an astringent herb that simply just stops bleeding. When you wonder on all those period dramas, from Vikings to Excalibur and how the characters the actors were depicting managed to get back on the battle, or sipy survive endless brutal wounds, yarrow would be right in there.  Its ability to heal and close a wound comes mostly from alkaloid achilleine, which activates the coagulation of blood, leading to a wound closing up fast..

Evergreen state college and the national institute of Health reference research studies from the 1950’s findings that half a milligram of achilleine per 1kg of body weight can reduce the time it takes a wound to clot by 32%, these tsts were recreated this year with confirming same / similar results.

Yarrow activates the blood platelets in the affected area which in turn reduces risk of infection because the platelets  form a protective layer to keep the body protected from infection-causing bacteria. It has powerful anti-microbial properties effectively killing the bacteria when it is applied to the wound.

The natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of this herb make it ideal for use on cuts and burns, accelerates recovery and reduces swelling and infection

The below links expand in depth on the propoerties , history and various methods of preparation of the herb. for us , get stuck in,

https://mamasherbs.com/blogs/knowledge/yarrow-the-woman-s-herb

https://sites.evergreen.edu/plantchemeco/yarrow-the-healing-herb-of-achilles/

https://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/natural-health-guide/benefits/yarrow#:~:text=Its%20wound%20healing%20ability%20comes,wound%20to%20clot%20by%2032%25.

how do we prepare it ?

We cut it dry it in a de humidifier then run it through a nutri bullet , and pop it in a sealed jar .

disclaimer , it’s a great herb, but you might not be a great host, so do your double checks before you do what we do. After all , . as Gandalf Saïd … ” who is the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him ?”

VEGAN KITCHEN – Hemp Milk and Hemp Flour – HEMP REDEMPTION INSPIRATION

VEGAN KITCHEN – Hemp Milk and Hemp Flour – HEMP REDEMPTION INSPIRATION

Inspired by the Hemp Redemption Festival last weekend, held by the mind blowing  band Mobius Loop, who, may also be some of the nicest people on mother earth today and their super amazing song “Hemp Milk” we decided to sing along and not only make Hemp Milk,. but managed to “feed two birds with one seed” and also make Hemp Flour.

Now its your turn, so tune in to Mobious Loop and follow the step by step giude to the easiest seed milk recipe ever.

So lets get our Hemp Milk making kit together, we already had huge bag of organic hemp seeds kicking around the kitchen though if you don’t have any get some ordered in from Sophia at Hempden our home grown Hemp expert and hemp health pioneer pictured below:

link to  HEMPDEN web site: https://www.hempen.co.uk/ ok, so now you have got your seeds ?

Let’s make Hemp Milk, let’s do it yeah..

Follow the photos below and you will have a lovely bottle of hemp milk and a bag of hemp flour for cookies too.

Apart from the amazing health benefits of Hemp products, another reason to move away from shop sold plant milk is to disconnect from the commercial earth raping corporate machine and to take a further step away from the unethical Companies, and or partners companies the drive products onto the market.  Companies like Alpro that make amazing plant milks are also profiteering from animal abuse and unethical other line products.

Don’t be a part of it, close the door on corporate shenanigans, engage in the hemp redemption and FREE THE SEED !!

VEGAN KITCHEN – Dandelion HONEY & TOFFEE – LOCK DOWN SPECIAL

VEGAN KITCHEN – Dandelion HONEY & TOFFEE – LOCK DOWN SPECIAL

Foraging and home growing networks have exploded all over the UK since the Coronavirus Lock down. top of the list in the headline must try go to’s is Dandelion Honey (miel de pissenlit) and its spin off’s, Dandelion root, dandelion tea, dandelion jam (camaillotte) dandelion toffee and even cough syrup.

Dandelion Honey is another great Vegan alternative to Honey, and properly done has a negligible environmental impact. Other great things about Dandelion’s are that hopefully they will impact business away from Bee exploitation and slavery.

If you don’t know about the issue around “Save the bees” / beeswax and bee Honey check out this link here: https://www.fishinaboxrecords.com/no-money-no-honey-the-supersize-me-bee-project-in-every-store-near-you/

We took a deep dive into the good and bad, the pro’s and cons of Vegan Dandelion Honey:

The main area of concern that was being aired was to NOT harvest the dandelions as they were food for bees to make honey for themselves and therefore still part of the problem. we took a look..

Our steps to manage this concern:

For the dandelions that we harvested, we identified council roadside verges and edge ways that were thick with dandelion though scheduled for cutting so the dandelions were being taken anyway, we then harvested in these areas the day before cutting.

If you can’t check this with your local council, or, are not living in a suburban area that has council management the next step is to apply a 1/3 harvesting rule. Only take 1/3 of the dandelion heads in any specific area to ensure there are sufficient supply for insects or all shapes and sizes.

In any area where there are dandelions, some will be ready for seeding, ensure you blow all seed heads in the immediate area where you are harvesting to boost flower numbers.

When you have taken the heads, lay them out to allow any insects to crawl out if any. In our batch of 200+ heads we had two black ants who we returned to the dandelion patch where we harvested the flowers from.

Dandelions are pointed out in most circles of thinking, though not all, as the first food for bees in February so delay your dandelion honey making until end of March April when fruit tress are in bloom and other flowers are available for the bees.

further argument on Bees / Dandelions here: https://www.gardenmyths.com/dandelions-important-bees/?fbclid=IwAR3Gf-gkUYtD25WmQwEafJqwEYiLAJRKP_-3MRYt4J0Qiqa5TsP1gvlyEsI

Some studies actually push to harvest as many heads as possible from March on as they point out behavioral patterns around Bees change with dandelions, if there are dandelions the bees ignore flower and fruit blossom and focus on dandelions. in this argument the recommendation is to seed wild flowers early in the area and harvest up and remove as many dandelion as possible, basically the point is ensure you leave blossom food and flower behind you.

Either way a responsible harvesting rule leaves nature to work out the rest. A pot of Dandelion Honey takes 100 head of flowers, two hundred head is a bowlful and two jars lasts months so your harvest rate is very low overall.

The other main area of concern was around the amount of sugar involved in making flower honey:

It is indeed true, recipes are looking at up to 5 and in some even 7 bags of sugar to make a couple of jars of flower honey which though is ethical in the sense that no animals are factory farmed for it, it is a bit of a health nightmare and on a par with golden syrup .

White granulated sugar is what keeps the dandelion honey looking like “Bee” Honey. Messing with the sugar changes the colour of the Honey, and to an extent the taste. We just couldn’t do it to our bodies on a full sugar hit.

To get a healthier more “bee honey” like flower honey we looked at sugar alternatives and settled on Organic Coconut Sugar, its a Lidl staple in the baking section so easy to find and has, like Bee Honey, a lower glycemic index coupled with lower amounts of fructose making coconut sugar a better alternative to granulated white table sugar.

Regular table sugar and synthetic high-fructose corn syrup don’t contain any vital nutrients and therefore supply “empty” calories. whereas coconut sugar retains, in part, the nutrients found in the coconut palm most notable of these are being iron, zinc, calcium and potassium, along with some short-chain fatty acids like polyphenols and antioxidants and  a fiber called inulin, which slows glucose absorption and explains why coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than regular table sugar.

Coconut Sugar – What is and where does it come from ? it is made using a natural 2-step process: A cut is made on the flower of the coconut palm and the liquid sap is collected into containers. Then the sap is placed under heat until most of the water has evaporated leaving a brown and granulated product. Its color is similar to that of raw sugar, but the particle size is typically smaller or more variable. Coconut sugar is the dehydrated sap of the coconut palm.

Using Coconut sugar looses that golden Bee Honey colour and gives a very dark treacle colour to the flower honey. In the end its all down to personal taste, if you ate someone who eats branded sweets such as Nestle , Cadbury’s, sugar syrups or shop bought desserts etc then amazingly the amount of white sugar used in the recipe is nothing more than these branded products. If you, like us don’t buy into branded junk food then use a fruit sugar or even fruit pectin’s etc and take some of the “load” off the final product though regardless of all that remember that whether it is unethical Bee Honey or the ethical other alternatives, such as Syrup, Coconut sugar, whatever  !!! it is ALL still Sugar people no matter what option you take.!!!

Want to know more about types of sugar ?

Click on the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

anyway all that being done and dusted,. lets get on with making this dandelion flower honey stuff:

STAGE ONE:

This is the base recipe we used and then adapted,. this will give you the golden “Bee” style Dandelion Honey

https://plantepusherne.dk/the-best-vegan-dandelion-honey-tastes-like-honey/?fbclid=IwAR2xFWW5xTEBjSKoGI9_SBt6z0VBOGgK9aBwZC-uwdEnnwNiif5dsEB3KKc

The recipe is for 100 head / 1 jar.  As we used 200+ dandelions that we picked from road sidings  (before the local council came the next day to mow down!) and some from our own area using the 1/3 harvesting rule.

We doubled the quantities in the recipe with a couple of of replacements, firstly, thanks to lock down, we were unable to source fresh lemons (WTF ! right)  and so went with the bottled squeezed lemon juice, and second, 7 cups of white processed sugar seemed excessive for us so we went with the coconut nectar sugar instead.

Other than that we followed the recipe and tips pretty much as is..

STAGE TWO:

Add the sugar and start the extremely long low heat simmer, this was the deciding factor in getting the texture of the flower honey right. too much heat it burns, too little it has too much water..etc

The colour changes at this point depending on what sugar you use.

NOTEWORTHY:

The ‘simmer for several hours’ is a bit unclear but after adding the sugar in the second part of the recipe we simmered for approx 3 hours then left to cool over night.

In the morning the mixture was still not thick enough so we popped it back on the hob for another hour which resulted in a good honey texture but after we cooled a bit on a spoon it set solid so we added some boiling water and stirred it in until we got the consistency we were after.

The coconut sugar took the colour of the flower water from a beautiful honey yellow colour to a dark treacle colour so you should expect a much more yellow honey if you are using only white sugar.

All in all we are happy with it and oh my is it amazeballs on toast!! 😋

Once the Dandelion Honey was all transferred into jars we had some left overs which went back on the heat to make the toffee for a coupe of toffee apples.

making the toffee apples was extremely trick and messy, you need a few things… a chop stick, an apple, the toffee and some clingfilm. First we tried to do it by pouring out the toffee, off the boil into cling film bags around the apples…

failed.. lol

…next was to heat up the toffee until a bubbling black liquid, flip off the heat and tip the pan , as the toffee solidified we rolled the apple on the chop stick in the mixture, and, as its cooled it stuck evenly to the body of the apple then stand in cling film and wrap.

This worked out perfectly

VEGAN KITCHEN – I think i’m cooking Japanese I really think so

VEGAN KITCHEN – I think i’m cooking Japanese, I think i’m cooking Japanese I really think so

I’m cooking Japanese, I think I’m cooking Japanese , I really think so…

so here we are, one of those rainy nights, kids and dogs sprawled out all over the place and kids asking when dinner is , when dinner is , when dinner is… A Jumanji movie is standing in as a surrogate parent whilst we whip up a little Japaneses special…

Fancied a Wagamamas, but alas they don’t deliver and hey who can afford it anyway so a good old rummage in the magic cupboard provides all the ingredients for a kick-ass Japanese meal…

Its more than Sushi , you see…

First up is the rice,.

We Recommend you use Sushi Rice or at least a risotto rice, after all you want it thick and you want it sticky.

Wash your rice 5 times until water runs clear then cover with water , a one inch top, heat and then put a lid on the pan. Switch off the gas and allows to steam for 15-20 minutes under its own heat..

For rolling you need a rolling mat and also Nori sheets, you need the right kind of seaweed so pick up a pack or Sushi Nori Sheets. Nice and thick and perfect for rolling sushi, you can also use thinner snacking seaweed sheets if you dont have the sushi sheets or are using up whatever in the back of your cupboard for ingredients, though you will have to work a bit harder to get it looking crisp and neat if you use the latter.

By now your sushi rice should be nice and cool, if not , go have a cup of tea and read a book for a bit until its cooled off then when ready cover your Nori sheet with a layer of your sushi rice and flatten it evenly and gently with the back of a large plastic paddle or wooden spoon.

Next up sprinkle black sesame seeds as evenly as possible over the sushi rice and layer your main vegan filler ingredients across one length of the Nori sheet in a straight line, usually towards the top of the roll so that it centers in the fold as you turn it over (as shown below) and slice the roll at two centimetre lengths with a super sharp mother fucker of a killer knife so it slices straight through without losing the shape.

Avocado, Cucumbers, Pickled Ginger (Sushi Ginger) , Carrots and even broccolli are great filler ingredients.

Variations with Full Nori Sheet….

All Done… Now for the dips, Soy sauce, Tamari Sauce and Teriyaki Sauce make great dips, and if you have time make up the spicy sushi sauce by mixing Veganaise, Sriracha sauce, lemon juice and sesame oil.

The rest is all in the presentation,. lay out the sushi and dips and grab those chop sticks.

Once you have stuffed your self with Sushi its time to get up and go make Ramen. Should have done that before you sat down with the sushi right ? lol

Ramen, a healthy filling Japanese soup,. lots of ingredients, go into this in a two stage process, so make sure you have everything on the list below before you get started

6 garlic cloves
Pickled sushi ginger, couple of good spoons
3 tbsp organic miso paste
1 tbsp neri goma (white sesame paste) or tahini
Half box button mushrooms split into 2 for section 1 and 2
1 large teaspoon of vegan stock
1tbsp of pickled lemon grass
6 tbsp soy sauce
2 packs of firm tofu, cut into chunky cubes
2 tbsp cornflour ground rice powder
2 packs udin noodles
2 head of pak choi deleafed and split down middle
spring onions, only the green sections
A couple of scrunched up snacking seaweed nori sheets
Bag of beansprouts
Carrot sliced thin
A bit of salt

Stage 1
pan 1 _ chop the garlic, then put it in a saucepan with the ginger, miso, tahini, mushrooms, stock and soy. Pan fry it all for 5 mins. Strain off into a bowl and clean the pan for the noodles

Frying Pan – fry the chunks of tofu with ground rice powder until golden brown, texture like sun

oops oh yes forgot to say you need ground rice flour to get the crispy breadcrumb type look on the tofu..

Stage 2
Boil the noodles 5 mins, then drain and add new water, add all the veg and add the pan 1 cooked mix. Thrown in a ginger top up , the Lemon grass a spoon and some mayo curry spice, simmer for ten mins and done

don’t thrown the stump of the Pak Choi out, leave a couple of very small leaves and put in a rumkin with water and the leaves will grow through again and can be used for another meal later on

That’s all there is to it,. Eat lots and let it dribble all down your beard or chest or whatever

VEGAN KITCHEN – No Mutton Stew – Thick Rich Winter essential Broths – CREDIT CRUNCH Cooking

VEGAN KITCHEN – No Mutton Stew – Thick Rich Winter essential Broths – CREDIT CRUNCH Cooking

Credit Crunch cooking is all about healthy ethical meals at Penny Collection prices – Why pay more ? Why pay for death ? In the world of “for the many not the few”,  being financially and socially oppressed as people, doesn’t lend well to then oppressing animals to death just to eat, there is a cheaper better way that the corporate meat sausage just ain’t going to tell you about because they make money out of you buying shit, eating shit then feeling like shit because of it.

There’s a endless supply of corporate financed celebrity vegan this and that out there, its a media favorite, where the basics of the vegan revolution are completely sidelined over planet based health kicks and designer plant leather.

None of that Media Hype is about NOT being part of the wheels of oppression (from fodder for the battlefield, to the factory floor to the slaughterhouse to the NHS waiting list).

The way in which society treats the 99% is all about subservience, rules and the rule book, school army government church, is all designed to make you happy for your lot and your lot is not and never will a lot.

When the punk sell out blew out the candle of revolution in the early eighties the last Album they could have cashed in on would not have been “Anarchy in the UK” but instead “Apathy in the UK”.

That the nation is so apathetic and so lost in the “Cult of the Selfie” to have handed over their Future, their time, how they spend their lives, what they eat, who they see, what they believe make or do and even fight for or against to a unholy trinity of Media Government and Industry without even questioning what they are intending to do and why is frankly mind blowing.

Most UK industry bosses have earned more since the start of the new year (4 days) than the average worker will earn in the entire year ?And still you work, vote go to school, toe the line, support the system rather than become socially engaged for change.

  • You can have your say in your future but only if you give your say away in a vote to a complete stranger who only his / her interest at heart
  • You can eat whatever you like but only if it comes from a list of food brands that we have plastered into your thoughts trough advertising from birth
  • You can have children but only if you give them away form age 4 to 18 so that they can be desenitised undermined and channeled into believing and behaving how the state wants them to be
  • You can pursue activities and develop yourself as adults but only if you work and are separated 5 out of 7 days from any meaningful bonds, love or family

Vegan Anarchism is about change. Without (r)evolution you are all just fodder for the battlefield and the factory floor supporting the slaughterhouse and expanding the NHS waiting list – Wake Up get engaged and find out about real change know as Vegan Permaculture, Sustainability and the Resource based Economy.

Ever wondered about another way of thinking ? Get back to basics, if every step , wherever possible, a human takes does not result in the oppression of some other being won’t things start improving for everyone ? Start with what you eat , what you wear and take it from to collaborating with others doing the same. From there everything else starts to fall into place.

So that is where we start today, what we have on offer is the Vegan no Mutton Stew, “no mutton” because its rich thick and “meaty”. In order to steer clear of the wheel of oppression start with no making any other being die so that you can eat.

Pretty simple eh ? Let’s Cook and for the rest of it “Get Stuffed”

Vegan “no mutton” stew with bread balls (like dumplings)

The Bread Balls:

This is a simple flour, sat , sugar, water mix with a rising agent, bicarb, baking powder or yeast. mix it all to a knead-able dough and separate in to balls  place in a muffin or Yorkshire pudding tray and bake for 25 mins

The Stew:

10 potatoes
250floz of caramalised onions (precook these)
I tin chick peas and aquafaba
125g large chunk dehydrated soya (indian shop)
10 chopped carrots
10 broad bean or other large bean runners
20g palm oil free vegan butter
I carrier bag size of chard or cabbage leaf finely cut
Slice of palm oil free vegan cheese
I whole leek
Two whole broccoli steams
3 tablespoon of corinander, tumeric
1 tablespoon of garlic powder, garam masala
250floz palm oil free gravy

Boil turn boil about an hour , add bread balls , serve.

That’s all there is to it. It takes a while to cook down, use that time to think on the politics of why we eat free from oppression and cruelty and you will be on the way to Social engagement and real change.

DISCLAIMER: Links to information and information collected from external sites on external sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are provided for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites, findings or opinions. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.

EPIPHANY CAKE – We 3 Kings of ORIENT are – Ethical enlightenment in the very best of VEGAN bakes

EPIPHANY CAKE – We 3 Kings of ORIENT are – Ethical enlightenment in the very best of VEGAN bakes

This weekend sees the Annual Epiphany Festival, celebrated mostly in Catholic home and nations from France, Iberia through Italy and the Med to the North African Coast, This is a bake off to get stuck into..

When it comes to amazing “Divine” religious bake offs, France really did perfect the Epiphany Cake (Galette des Rois. The Galette is like the ultimate super size me stuffed butter cookie, which, personally I find much more satisfying moorish than the fluffy “Christmas tree light” cakes of the south, Spain and Mediterranean (Roscon de Reyes).

The only down side is that the traditional Galette has been a graveyard for the fattiest animal by products, and, as such, out of reach for the Ethical.

UNTIL NOW

Baking has moved on, we have dropped the unethical animal cruelty, and finally we can dispense with the last of satanic ingredients being “Palm Oil”.

Yes we Veganised it.

So Epiphany,.. in some parts, the arrival of the Three Mages; in some parts the baptism of Christ and his first recognition as a God.

Thats all very well and nice and church like but don’t let pagan types be put off from getting some cake too, for like so many of the Christian festival, they generally are rooted and repackaged from pagan faiths. In the case of the Epiphany, we draw from the Befana…

For those that want to delve into Epiphany’s Celtic or Druidic roots ( also see Yule, Yule log, Bonfire, Krampus, Crampus, Odin and the goats) Check out these links below. If you are not bothered about that then just carry on dear Christians, or cake lovers, or both, for there be much of interest in this little festival.

The Befana goes back to more ancient times than the Epiphany feast from which it takes its name (Epifana) and combines elements from Pagan, and other pre-Christian elements.

A  witch and guide for the Magi, she flies on her broomstick the eve of Epiphany delivering sweets to the good children and coal to the naughty ones with which to warm themselves and better their temperament, bonfires of pine and pine cones are lit to drawn back the sun and shorten the cold night and after her visit, Befana lays seeds for the people and fertilises the soil ready for Spring. Over time she has become somewhat morphed into the common symbolism of the celebrations surrounding the Christian Deity, and also backstory in the Pagan Druidic traditions of the burning of the old year, and birthing of the new.

Exciting stuff though Befana is only celebrated unabridged in small regions these days and was on the way out by the 4th century as the Christian Epiphany took over.

Epiphany, as it is today originated from the merging of the old stories into the new of the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem to honour the newly born with gifts and this date is, however, recognized as national festivities, in many countries as Three Kings Day. if you want to delve into Epiphany’s pagan past, check these links below:

https://worldofgemstones.rocksandco.com/2019/01/04/epiphany-ancient-folkloric-connections/

https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/7-pagan-festivals-still-celebrate.html#Epiphany%20or%20Three%20Kings%20Day

Over with the ancient history and on with the baking in the new:

There is no excuse for Animal Abuse, Christianity, in it’s orthodox form, lends strongly to Vegan Ethics, the following links explore the relationship between the two:

https://freefromharm.org/veganism/christian-basis-veganism/

https://www.peta.org/living/food/vegan-bible-quotes/

http://www.adaptt.org/animal-rights/the-bible-jesus-and-veganism.html

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2011/06/the-christian-basis-for-animal-welfare-and-vegetarianism/

There are quite a few mysteries and secrets around the Epiphany Cake and Celebration that have just been steam rolled over and stolen by zealous inquisition prone Catholics, and in doing so have lost all that was / is Divine about the cake.

When John Henry Hopkins Jr. penned the hymn “We three kings” in 1857, he picked up on more truth that he could have imagined, the key is in the lyric”we three kings of Orient are.

The Orient up until the late 1800’s was classed as the land as far west as Morocco and to the east, India, and to a lesser extent China. With a dumbing down of language and studies toward the end of the 19th Century, and the Geographical Americanization of the known world, the old Orient was displaced to the Levant as the primary subject of Orientalist research.

This decay continued to further hem the borders of the Orient to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Central Asia by the mid-20th century,  history books of our Modern Western scholars generally considered “the Orient” as just the the Middle East or the Far East.

The shifting of borders leads to a whole re-visualization of our 3 kings as no longer oriental and instead Arabic.

Roll back History and follow the trail of these oriental 3 kings and a whole new journey opens on he road to religious historical truth, one covered beautifully in the BBC Documentary “Jesus was a Buddhist Monk”.

 

Combine the findings of this documentary with Knight Lomas The Second Messiah along with The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ and you need up wanting to book tickets fro a trail to the final burial-place of Jesus Christ in Srinagar, Kashmir. (known to the locals as Rozabal, meaning the ‘Honoured Tomb’)

  • Where historical literal fact pinpoints that the Ascension story didn’t exist for over 200 yeas after events on Calvary hill
  • Where a 1st Century agitator executed on Roman record for sedition has been re-branded in Rome by the Emperor Constantine (AD 306–337 as the undisputed resurrected Son of God.
  • Where three sages traveled from the Orient looking for the Ascending enlightened being, a Dalai Lama and of wealthy earthly standing, and who’s life teaching have more in relation with eastern tradition and belief than Judea

Questions while baking the Divine start to create questions upon questions. We hope that the content of this post and he Questions thereon will create in your thought a genuine “Epiphany” in the true meaning of the word:  “an intuitive grasp of reality,” “an illuminating discovery, realization, disclosure, or insight,” or simply “a revealing scene or moment.” in short an epiphany is “a moment of sudden or great revelation that usually changes you in some way.”

Anyway Away with 200 years of controversial truths, its time to get the baking done:

What do you need to create and “Epiphany” ?

Firstly you need one  feve / pebble / ceramic figure :

Whats all this about ?

https://www.stopoverconnections.com/blog/the-tradition-of-the-galette-des-rois-in-france/

Its a 2 step recipe – FIRST the insides….

125g of Vegan Palm oil free Butter – yep you can get it in Sainsbury’s https://www.livekindly.co/naturli-launches-vegan-palm-oil-free-spreadable-butter-sainsburys/ 

100g of Caster Sugar – its finer than the regular stuff, easier and cleaner to work with

1 tin of Aquafaba (you get that in a tin of chickpeas in water  – drain the water and put it in a blender until it looks like egg white (obviously its a replacement for eggs….)

125g of ground almonds

250g of flour

1 feve

2 tbsp of Almond Extract

Step 1 Step by Step:

Mix together the Vegan Butter and Sugar then  add the Aquafaba mix again then finally add the Flour and Almonds Mix and the extract and mix well. Place the mixture on a sheet of clingfilm wrapping the mixture in to disc / circle shape. Put it on a plate  and freeze for 30 minutes.

Its a 2 step recipe – SECOND the outsides….

250g of strong plain flour

1 tsp of salt

250g of that lovely vegan palm oil free butter again

150ml of COLD water, not warm not tepid (COLD as your ex’s heart…)

Sift flour and salt in to bowl. Chop the butter into chunks and add to the bowl and rub in loosely still being able to see bits of the butter though in the mixture.

Make a well in the mixture in the mixing bowl and add in 2/3 of the cold water. Mix until you have a firm rough dough adding water if needed. Cover with a dry cling film and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Insides in the freezer and outsides in the fridge – got it ?

20 minutes later – Turn out the outsides onto a floured board and knead and roll gently into the form of a rectangle. It doesn’t have to be perfect but try to do some justice to divine geometry at least.

Roll in one direction only until 3 times the width of 20cm x 30cm. Keep the sides straight and even , don’t overwork leaving a marbled effect (the butter streaks through the layers NOT worked all the way through)

Fold the top third down to the centre then the bottom third up over that. Give the dough a quarter turn to left or right then roll to 3 times the length, fold as before  put back in cling film for another 20 minutes then its ready to roll out and cut as below

Just follow the pictures:

That’s two identical layers of outsides. Take out the insides from the freezer, push your feve into the frozen mixture and place between the outsides and press together the edges with your fingers then with a sharpe knife score a pattern on the top from the centre out in slow circular curve (like the start of a spiral) to the edge of the top edge with a design with a fork.

Decorate with Almond flakes and then it is ready for baking.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 -25 minutes minimum then check every 5 until done (some fan assisted ovens bake close to 25 minutes and non fan more like 45 minutes) remove from oven , leave to stand to cool for 45 minutes dress with the Kings Crown and serve.

Overall verdict..

Though the tradition of becoming the Queen/King (based on who finds the feve and therefore takes the crown and commands) leans to Royalist or elitist social pyramid models (correctly lack of values rather than values as they are based on devaluation of the majority) of class division and servitude, this also opens the subject is open to discussion with family and leads to understanding the evolution of the “idea” of equality which fits snugly with how we live today. This is further supported by reproducing this classic “untouchable”recipe as a vegan cruelty free cake. The subject of equality is tied intrinsically to Species-ism, and can be captured in the language of modern political spin by the Corbynist slogan “for the many not the few”(The Many actually refers to ALL beings not just the human voting public).

Enjoy the history, Bring in meaning to the “game” and enjoy the cake.

Its cruelty free and it’s damn good. This Vegan Palm oil free Version  of this cake really delivers, there is no difference in process or output, apart from the ethics. no extra effort to source ingredients either.

Its “religion”,

its “politics”,

its “history”,

its “truth and lies”,

its also great fun – tuck in. ENJOY.

DISCLAIMER: Links to information and information collected from external sites on external sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are provided for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites, findings or opinions. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.

VEGAN KITCHEN – Banana Cakes and Sweet Breads – Old Made New

IMG_7812

VEGAN KITCHEN – BANANA CAKES AND SWEET BREADS – OLD MADE NEW

When we look for a dessert, the misdemeanor that its all about opulence, slapping the poor in the face with overpriced glucose fructose syrup and animal fat derived highway to diabetes dish is evident.

Somewhere along the line, the idea that a “treat” is nothing unless involving a remortgage and coronary heart disease has taken hold. From skin shots of a topless Kardashian served in a million dollar bathtub of champagne, yes not even naked at a million dollars !! through to the 1.65 million diamond fruitcake, just to prove you can sh+t diamonds, things have just got out of hand..

Top 10 Most Expensive Desserts

Lord in heaven yes some people are so poor ALL they have is money…so lets get back to basics, add some common sense to the pot (the thing about common sense is that it’s just not very common is it ?) revist the classic leftover, stop the “rot” baking recipes, old made new, yes our richness is life…

We picked up a crate of rotting Bananas, nice and squidgy and black, shut the door on the approaching fruit flies looking for a quick fix and opened the cupboard to see what we had to cook with.

IMG_7802 IMG_7803 IMG_7805 IMG_7813 IMG_7816 IMG_7820

The rough draft for cooking and sweetening up our banana bunch was this: “Rotting Banana Cake”

2 1/2 cups of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt0

6 uber ripe sweaty betty bananas suitable for mashing , (if you are brave let them start turning black, once you fear they are maybe going to be slime get them in there.)

3/4 to 1 cup of sugar

cup of soya milk or provamel soya almond yogurt

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

a squirt of liquid chocolate, powder doesn’t mix well so melt down some dark chocolate, (remember check there’s NO palm oil in your chocolate as those smarmy anti-primate bastards slip it in everywhere in vegan foods !)

and a teaspoon of either salted caramel or vanilla essence..

IMG_7827 IMG_7828 IMG_7829 IMG_7830 IMG_7831 IMG_7832

Mix it all up and whip whip whip until sticky but still liquid then Line the pan / tray with baking paper or greaseproof paper and pour it in. garnish the top with cut fruits nuts etc.

IMG_7833

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees C

Check it after 35 minutes. not to dark on the edges ? put a knife in the middle , is it cooked ? or is there sticky residue on the knife ? pop it back in if there is for another 10 -15 minutes and check again. if it’s getting black on top and still soft in the middle cover with foil and back in.

IMG_7836 IMG_7839 IMG_7840

We made variation after variation on this recipe. Go ahead, experiment. Try plums and dates, purees, you name it as long as the consistency goes into the tray sticky still liquid with the core ingredients, chances are you will be baking a hit for all palettes and ages.

Serve it with custard, service it with vegan ice cream (checking the back of ice creams .. swedish glaze has NO palm oil at the time of posting this article – owned though by Unilever so check and be sure you are comfortable with what you are buying if in doubt – custard powder is your safe way out)

IMG_7845

And Enjoy !!!

DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.

VEGAN KITCHEN – The Greatest thing since Sliced Bread !

 

IMG_0481

VEGAN KITCHEN – The Greatest thing since Sliced Bread ! 

There was once something so ful-filling , so spiritual in a fresh loaf of bread, the staple food basis of all civilizations since the raising of the pyramids, yet today as appetising as eating a roll of kleenex !

Bread is an unmitigated disaster in the UK these day’s, a tasteless grey misery, an ascetic’s dream and pitiful example of how far austerity had taken hold in abstinence from the normal pleasures of life, and sucking out all satisfaction all nourishment from the pantry.

What nightmare is this laid out before me in the local superstore ? Bread of every description, hundreds upon hundreds of loaves sitting like bricks on a wall of endless shelf life,. white bricks and brown bricks in the supermarket bakery showcase isle,  all seemingly with one thing , apart from being bread, in common, they are all loaded with bulking agents and eternally product preserving chemical warfare not to forget to mention an ethics ecological disaster, unseen by the grey stony eyed shoppers who shuffle from white to brown checking prices, picking up putting down, picking up again….

putting down..

the endless, brainwashed consumer walking dead,. bricks of tasteless cardboard…to satisfy grey unthinking unfeeling palettes….

We found EVERY bread except the “Polish Bakery” (http://www.thepolishbakery.co.uk/bread-and-rolls/) breads had the usual bad boy “Palm Oil” packed in them. Yes, Palm Oil in varying types, (so called) sustainable, non sustainable, palm fats, endless palm derived rehashes and along with those, a supporting cast in the horrific theatre of the bland, a ghastly selection of additives, such as calcium propionate, amylase, chlorine dioxide, fats, bleach and L-cysteine hydrochloride are all now crammed packed into our daily bread.

Whats the problem with Palm Oil ? check the link…https://www.fishinaboxrecords.com/palm-oil-how-can-a-product-that-harms-animals-be-called-vegan/)

Polish Bakery, though blessingly Palm Oil free, do still use Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, pretty standard these days though we are dubious of as the origin of added Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids E471 as it still is not 100% clear and so it doesn’t meet our vegan standard for the day, we are going back to baking basics …

Monoglycerides and diglycerides are both naturally present in various seed oils, however their concentration is usually low. In industrial production it blows the low levels out of the window by a chemical reaction between the fats and oils and glycerol. (Lud turns in his grave !) Whether the original oils are animal or vegetable is often hard to decipher. Basically it just ain’t going to be guaranteed to be vegan without constant fixed supply confirmed as vegetable based (non palm) from the manufacturer, and that is not something that is jumping out on the reviews website or ingredients lists out there..

The switch in turning bread into a food processing nightmare started to happen in the 1960’s and the additives have been growing since in number and health risk, lighter yet tasteless long lasting breads, all come at a price, and that price is your health.

What’s in your average supermarket loaf ?

FAT
Keeps it standing up and looking like “bread” when its a long way towards the sell buy date.

FLOUR TREATMENT AGENT
L-ascorbic acid (E300) makes a loaf look bigger than it actually is by retaining gas in the dough !

BLEACH
Chlorine dioxide gas, your white flour just got “whiter” !

REDUCING AGENT
L-cysteine hydrochloride (E920), comes from animal hair and feathers, that’s not vegan but bread should be !

SOYA FLOUR
Well that sounds better  right ? soya flour basically helps the production process allowing more water to be added and retained in the dough and as such increasing the size of the bread above expectations. sounds like a consumer scam ?

EMULSIFIERS
lets the dough to hold more gas and therefore grow bigger and make the crumb softer, everyone needs more gas right ?

PRESERVATIVES
Calcium propionate makes bread look ok when left on the shelf for sale for ever basically

Find out more about the commercial Bread scam:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-shocking-truth-about-bread-413156.html

What should be in a loaf of bread ?

Well your basics are: Flour, yeast, water and salt. If you want something more “artisan”, then add seeds ,pesto (vegan version), sun dried tomatoes etc to get a real rustic loaf in any healthy combination that takes your fancy. Shelf life is not a problem with any of these home baked breads we made as they did’nt last 15 minutes after baking.

We took a walk out the supermarket door with a pack of organic wholemeal bread flour yeast and some healthy goodies to bake with and left the commercial palm oil stocked loaves on the shelf.

Whats in our Strong organic bread Flour ? Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin). That’s about as clean as you are going to get for baking so we are going with that.

A history of AWFUL Bread: http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2011/03/sawdust-bread.html

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD….Let us turn our backs on darkness and let’s get baking

500g as a rough guide of organic strong bread flour . We tend to mix any quantity and go by the consistency of the dough for baking, but you can use 500g as a guide.then add your oil, we used flavoured oil that had been soaking in Sun dried tomatoes, or Jerusalem artichokes, chilli’s or peppers, anyone will do that add flavour, 4 table spooks on a 500g should do it and throw in a handful of seeds. We used pumpkin seeds.

IMG_0746 IMG_0748

To make a began dream bread, add b12 and flavour again we use engevita b12 flakes,. then add the sundried tomates and a FULL 10g pack of yeast. Most bread recipes say add 7g but you are baking without all the treatment agents and emulsifiers so add the full 10g yeast pack.

IMG_0749 IMG_0750

Mix in water and turn until consistency is sticky, on a 500g that’s about a cup full of water, you can also replace water with aquafaba which gives it more lift again but it’s not necessary. salt, pepper and Tumeric.

Why Tumeric ?

It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is strong antioxidant, all good stuff, nice and natural too, throw it into the mix. mix it up and drop it in the bread maker on a large wholemeal loaf setting. If you want you can roll it out , add patterns , cut to shape and bake it in the oven (its a 4 hour bake !!) but as far as we are concerned, jobs done so get it in the bread maker and clean up.

IMG_0753 IMG_0754 IMG_0755 IMG_0756IMG_0471IMG_0484IMG_0744IMG_0745

While you are waiting for the Bread to Bake. Here are some great quotes on Bread to keep you busy

“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight… ― Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher

“All sorrows are less with bread. ” ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” ― Julia Child

“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

“The need of the immaterial is the most deeply rooted of all needs. One must have bread; but before bread, one must have the ideal.” ― Victor Hugo

“The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown: The Lion beat the Unicorn all around the town.
Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown: Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town.” ― Lewis Carroll

Ecclesiastes 9:7

NOTE:

We will skip the “wine”in the bible quote and expansion below and focus on the bread only as “wine” these days is mostly filtered using fish guts (gross !) and fails to meet the vegan standard.

#Giveusthisdayourdailybread

GO EAT YOUR BREAD

So there we have it,. enjoy baking people,. don’t accept the lowest common denominator in what you eat,. strive for something more !

Leave the ranks of the Walking Dead and get VEGAN baking now !

DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.

VEGAN KITCHEN – Super Simple Shepherd’s Lie (Shepard’s Pie)

COVER

VEGAN KITCHEN – Super Simple Shepherd’s Lie (Shepard’s Pie)

We have been getting a bunch of messages in asking for more quick and easy meal planners. With that in mind we have added another belly filler, this one will get you snoozing all afternoon.  A Big meal for rainy days.

The History –

The first mention of the Shepherds or Cottage Pie was in 1791, by the Rev. James Woodford. Originally, a pie made with any kind of minced meat and mashed potato was called a “cottage pie”. In modern English, the dish is usually called “cottage pie” though the Irish also lay claim to it’s origin calling the dish a “Shepherd’s Pie”.

The argument has never been resolved though the majority ruling is that if it was made in days gone by with minced beef (R.I.P) it was usually an English dish, and it was made with minced lamb (R.I.P) it was usually an Irish dish.

Since the late 19th Century both pies were common place in both England and Ireland. Early cookery writers did not use the terms “cottage pie” and “shepherd’s pie” and the terms did not appear in recipe books until the late part of the 19th century. From that time, the terms have been used interchangeably.

It was called a “shepherd’s pie” because a shepherd looks after sheep and the Shepherd when tired with or bored with looking after the sheep , decided to slaughter them and mince up there worst bits of their corpses for use as left overs in a pie.

The foundation of all meat pies is that they are the ground discards of the slaughtered and innocent.

Gone are the days where we can be fooled in to believing that meat is necessary to make a dish, we have learned and now know better. These days we are able to evolve on archaic cooking traditions such as cottage or shepherds pie by replacing pound for pound with Soya mince, as it’s meat free we called it the”Shepherds Lie”.

Soya – Cheap , lean, clean and just all round excellent culinary evolution to meat. No death, no Bad Karma no Coronary heart disease and much better flavour. #GoVegan #GoMeatFree

So, here we have it, the fastest most simple Vegan Shepherds Pie ever, A cheat dish using soya mince (89 pence  – £1.00 from Corner shops, usually stocked in Tamil / Indian and sometimes Turkish Global Food stores / corner shops, ask form mince NOT chunks) or if you haven’t got a decent global foods corner store near you then you can get a Linda McCartney Soya mince in main supermarkets.

boil up your potatoes to make the mash top and when ready mash with Soya or Hemp Milk (Good hemp milk can be found in the long life section in Tescos). Whilst they are boiling make up the base o the “pie”.

IMG_0395

A simple mix,

Pre-Boiled: diced carrots and peas get these boiled.

Pan-fried in vegetable oil:  The soya mince and diced onion until browned.

Once both those small steps are completed mix both the pre-boiled and pan friend ingredients with some brown sauce (HFCS free) a tin of baked beans, yes baked beans and you have your Shepherds Lie base.

As most Baked Beans are loaded with Glucose Fructose Corn Syrup (HCFS) we opt for either the Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s own brand as (at the time of writing this – and ingredients may change) both own brands do not contain the dreaded High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) (also called glucose-fructose, isoglucose and glucose-fructose syrup).

glucose fructosse

What’s the problem with HFCS ? watch the below and get up to speed on the “bitter truth about sugar poisoning” and get this insidious poison out of your diet #justsaynotoglucosefructosecornsyrup 

Mix up the base and get it into the glass baking tray. As soon as the potatoes are soft, drain off the excess water and mash then with Hemp milk and put over the base.

IMG_0396 IMG_0399

bake in the oven at 200 degrees until the top is crisp and browning (around 25-30 minutes) then serve. job done.

IMG_0401 IMG_0402

DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.