All posts filed under: Eat

Bad Fruit

Can we please talk about expiration dates? A mini-ish rant…

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3 minute read. I promise I’m not disgusting. It’s just that (honest it’s not gross), sometimes (and by sometimes, I mean all the damn time), I eat produce past its best before date. The best before date was the 1st of the month, it’s the 6th of the month…and…I’m still eating that produce. Because it’s still good. Even though it’s days ‘out of date’. It’s. Still. Good. (OK, fine I’m a little disgusting). In all seriousness it bugged me that I had to explain to a friend that it was OK to eat a banana which was (according to the packaging) days out of date…even though it was still green. Turns out she just throws her food out as soon as it hits the date on the packet…because it must absolutely be bad, otherwise the packet wouldn’t have a best before date on it, right? Wrong. Just to be perfectly clear, I’m not telling you to go eat that item in the back of your fridge with the mould growing on it – that…that, and …

5 Coffees from around the world…

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3 minute read. A famous philosopher once said, ‘A bad cup of coffee is most definitely better than none.’ I have two thoughts on this: I have yet to have a bad cup of coffee (this could be down to desperation and a willingness to settle for anything containing caffeine – read: addiction ) There is a slight chance I made up that quote, (but in all honesty, only future generations can decide if they consider me to be a famous philosopher, so…there’s that). Anyway…I’m crazy for coffee. I can’t start my day right without a steaming cup of this miracle beverage. It makes those dull and dreary early mornings go from drab to fab, and massively increases my tolerance levels of the rest of my species. I’m that person in front of you at Starbucks with the coffee order that sounds like a speech.  But I’ll also keep it simple – black with two sugars if you’re making it. As long as I get my recommended daily allowance of caffeine somehow, I’m…full of beans …

Veganuary recapitulation

The Veganuary Recapitulation…

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Yep, it’s another Veganuary post (I’m just assuming there’s going to be a few at this time). In summary…nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be… …I mean, full disclosure, I’m already vegetarian (is that cheating?) so in some ways I feel like it was bound to be easier than a hard core carnivore ditching meat and dairy in one go. My biggest issue was not giving up cheese like I thought it would be (I actually didn’t even think about it once…so now I’m questioning my whole life…I lived without cheese, didn’t think about it, didn’t miss it in any way shape or form…but just the week before I couldn’t go more than two days without it?! How does that work?). My biggest issue was that I didn’t realise just how much dairy there was in the most random places. I had many a this-can’t-possibly-contain-dairy-oh-crap-it-does moment, but otherwise, I didn’t really struggle. Here’s what being vegan for 31 days taught me: It’s probably going to be easier than you think: The hardest …

My first attempt at vegan baking…

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In honour of Veganuary and my love of all things cake, I decided to try a vegan cake recipe, because…cake…if cake needs to be justified to you, then we cannot be friends. Not sorry.  I’ve always loved baking (actually,  I’ve always loved the moment after I’ve finished baking and get to eat the thing I’ve slaved over…that…that makes life worthwhile), but honestly…I’ve never quite felt comfortable with the idea of egg-free baking, and I can’t even explain why. I guess it’s just been drilled into me that baking involves eggs, and a cake without eggs is just a flat, dry mess and who’d want that?  Well anyway, this was my very first attempt at vegan baking. No eggs, no milk, no butter…and…it turned out…much better than I anticipated. The banana bread rose beautifully, was actually moist and…I will more than likely make this again. I chose this recipe because I’m not 100% certain how to use a chia or flax ‘egg’, and this recipe has neither.  Before you get into it, here’s a quick note: I have NO idea how many calories …

You know you love food when…

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I don’t know about you, but I’m that person who wakes up today and wonders what’s for dinner tomorrow. An unnecessary amount of my day is spent thinking about food. I love food. I love eating food, I love talking about food, I love (and it’s not weird), watching people while they eat their food (…it’s……research, not…weird, Jessica. Research). In fact, now that I think about it, the majority (and by majority, I mean all) of the significant relationships and friendships I have ever had were founded on food because, all the best relationships just are. And I feel like I don’t get to talk about food and eating as much as I would like, and it’s just not fair when I stop to think about it…which is more often then I’m willing to admit publicly. The thing is, a love of food causes problems. You start to assume other people feel the same way you do, and it’s a nasty shock to the system when you realise this isn’t true. I once worked with …

Carrot Cake Cupcakes…

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I love, like LOVE cake. Especially when it’s homemade – I mean, really and truly if there is a person out there who doesn’t love a fresh-out-the-oven cake, I don’t want to meet them (unless it’s to tell them how wrong they are). Carrot cake is a personal favourite, so I figured I’d go right ahead and share a little carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting recipe. Before you get into it, here’s what you should know: I have NO idea how many calories are in this thing…! I don’t think of edible things that way (sorry…?). But it’s safe to say, it’s probably not low calorie, or low fat, or massively healthy. It’s cake! It’s a treat. It’s not like you’re going to eat the entire batch by yourself (unless you are…not gonna judge)…so…let’s be sensible about it mkay? Great! This recipe made me 24 cupcakes. Ingredients: 250g self-raising flour. 200g light brown sugar. 200g caster sugar. 60g ground almonds 300g grated carrots X2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 350ml vegetable oil 4 medium eggs X1 …

Why I gave up following health & fitness advice…

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Basically, it got to the stage where I felt like each week I didn’t die was a miracle – especially if it was a week where I didn’t fill my body full of certain ‘superfoods’, or partake in whatever the latest exercise craze was. I felt like I was starving my body of the vital nutrients and minerals it sorely needed, and it was only going to be a matter of time before my body crumbled from the sheer effort of keeping itself upright – despite the fact it had somehow managed to survive for so long before I even knew what a superfood was (I’m still not 100% sure I know!). …And then the following week I would find myself dicing with death again because I was eating goji berries (which are sooo two years ago, it’s like I’m not even serious about my health), not putting butter in my coffee (I hear this is a thing now?!), and still only doing mat Pilates instead of hardcore swinging-from-the-ceiling-from-a-bungee-cord-HIIT-workout-Pilates which, it was recently discovered, would …

Things I Wish I Knew About Being Vegetarian Before I Became One

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Someone I know became veggie and asked me for help (I like to think because I’m full of sage advice – and not because I was the only  person available, and anyway the “sage” thing sounds better so let’s go with that. FYI sage is great with pumpkins…). He was having a hard time with the meat-free part of being meat-free, and asked how I did it. Answer: I went veggie overnight – had a serious crash after three weeks – awoke in a daze days later, my bedroom floor littered with BLT sandwich and cheeseburger wrappers. Glad I didn’t wake up with a bacon tattoo. Living in Camden it could actually have happened. Anyway…Here’s what I wish I’d known: People will take an intense interest in your health and protein consumption: People that didn’t care about your junk-food consumption and fizzy pop addiction before will care passionately now. They’ll probably have an intervention. Mostly about your protein intake. You need to do your research so you can politely explain how they can mind their …