Chickpeas and Christmas

So I've decided i'm officially obsessed with chickpeas!
Today I made toasted chickpeas, which I have like one zillion different recipes for but I ended up just chucking together my own. I tossed (maybe about) a cup of chickpeas with 1 tsp tamari, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground hungarian sweet paprika, 1/2 tsp ground turmeric and 1/2 tsp dried rosemary and then put them on a tray in the oven on low for like an hour. They turned out really crunchy and delicious! I added these to a simple salad with a scoop of mango chutney on top (the chutney is the most delicious thing I've ever tasted, it takes a while to make but is well worth it; the recipe is courtesy of Karen Fischer and you can find it on her website here)

Finally I made Dreena's easy pleasin' oat bars from Vive Le Vegan for dessert and then I was really full...
Anyway on a non-related-food topic I actually went running this morning, a feat I haven't been bothered to accomplish for months. I use to go like every morning for a while then Winter hit and I was way too cold to continue getting up at 5.30am. but this morning I was really in the mood for a run, it was so serene outside and it put me in such a good mood for the rest of the day. It even encouraged me to finally put up some Christmas decorations (i know how lame it's like a week till chrissy but whatever, better late than never), we still don't even have a tree up I don't think we've been in a particularly festive mood of late, but I'm attempting to be a little merrier, hence the delicious Healthy, Low-fat, Low-sugar Christmas Cake recipe:

500g mixed dried fruit
1 cup apricot nectar
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 cup cold mashed pumpkin
1 + 2/3 cups wholemeal spelt flour
3 tbsps almond meal
3 tsps baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Combine fruit and nectars in a large bowl and leave standing and covered for 1 hour
2. Stir pumpkin into the fruit mixture, then sift in all remaining dry ingredients
3. Spread mixture into greased and base-lined 14cm X 21 cm pan
4. Bake cake at 180 degrees celcius (fan-forced oven) for about 1 hour
5. Remove pan from oven and cover with foil
6. When cool remove from pan, it keeps well in an airtight container for a couple of days and it freezes well also

Merry Almost Christmas everyone

Number 1#

Hi everyone
so after being inspired by the fantastic vegan blogs out there i've finally decided to set my own up. Yeah! So here goes entry numero uno:
since i just finished school for another year (only one more left now and my tertiary education can begin) i've had way more free time, that's why i wanted to start this blog, i've been toying with the idea for about a year now-i've been way too lazy (he he he). So i think one of the reasons i haven't fully committed to veganism until now was because i was worried i wouldn't get all the nutrients i required so i've been studying up on food combining etc, etc and during this i discovered a supplement called vital greens 'phyto-nutrient superfood' which contains 76 nutrients essential for optimal health. you mix it with water and it looks very green (the photo below doesn't do the color justice, it is like super green) but is surprisingly fruity and pretty nice tasting. I checked all the ingredients and it is 100% vegan and organic, i found it due to Karen Fischer who is one of my idols (she's an Australian nutritionist specializing in skin conditions who wrote the Healthy Skin Diet). Anyway so i had a glass of this before breakfast, which was a blueberry beauty smoothie a recipe from the Healthy Skin Diet. I love this book because though all recipes are not vegan, she doesn't use dairy at all (as it can irritate the skin) and she has a lot of vegetarian recipes which are basically vegan or can be altered easily. The smoothie was very refreshing, exactly what i felt like!

At lunch I made the legendary chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon, this is the third time I've attempted them. The first time they were delicious but the second they turned out way to dry and looked like they were suppose to be anzac cookies. I saw posted on the ruby red vegan blog an slight alteration, making them into chickpea nuggets which looked really cool so I decided to try this with a simple salad and some delicious sweet chili sauce drizzled on top.It was a very satisfying lunch!
So anyway welcome to my blog! I'll post again soon