The End of Veganuary: I made it!

January has come to an end and so has Veganuary. I made it! I was successfully a healthy and happy vegan for this month… and as I write this, I still am. If you haven’t done so already, please read – or at least skim through – my previous blog post on Veganuary, earlier this month.

So, I did a whole  (31 day) month without:

• meat – Easiest thing in the world for me as I haven’t eaten meat in more than 14 years and don’t ever plan to again.
• fish – Pretty easy, although I eat fish (I became a pescetarian – person who eats fish but not meat – about 4 years ago, after being a vegetarian previously) but could easily go without now and for the foreseeable future if I wanted to.
• eggs – Pretty easy again, as I dislike eggs on their own although I like cakes and such with eggs in them!
• cheese – Not difficult to give up for a month but long-term… I do genuinely love cheese.
• chocolate – Slightly difficult, particularly knowing that I have a stash from Christmas waiting to be eaten. But dark chocolate is dairy-free, so I still got my choccy fix this month!
• other dairy – Easy-peasy. I swapped cow’s milk for soya milk and normal margarine for a dairy-free sunflower spread. This is only difficult, again, when it comes to cakes and other tasty treats (like not being able to eat birthday cakes that are brought into work!). But it’s certainly possible to bake my own cakes without dairy and buy ready-made treats from specialist dairy-free/vegan places. It’s just not so convenient.

To start with, I didn’t share all of my vegan meals on Instagram/Twitter – in the previous blog post mentioned above, I only shared a few photos. But as I started to get into the swing of Veganuary, I began sharing a photo of almost every meal. Partly because it sort of made it more real that I was taking part in the global campaign, but also because I was genuinely pleased with most, if not all, of the meals I cooked up and dined on.

If nothing else, Veganuary has made me a more experimental and inventive cook – because meals don’t need meat, fish, or dairy to be tasty, healthy and visually exciting. Veganuary has actually made me excited about cooking and excited about food. I kept thinking about what I was going to cook/eat next, almost immediately after my previous tasty vegan meal! I’ve used ingredients that, although I may eat occasionally, I don’t generally tend to cook with on a daily and weekly basis – avocado, kale and butternut squash, to name a few. And I have used a variety of pulses, beans, lentils, tofu etc. – rather than just sticking some cheese on top of a meal (!) as I may have done previously – to add protein. But most importantly I have used ingredients in different ways to make colourful, nutritional and super-duper-tasty food and I haven’t felt that they lacked for anything dairy or otherwise. And I’ve felt good, really good. 

Take a look for yourself at what I’ve been eating…

Kidney bean and peanut butter ‘meatballs’ – my first ‘vegan’ meal. It was also enjoyed by my boyfriend.

Simple stir fry veggies with a peanut sauce and sunflower seeds, on white rice.

Butternut squash, carrot, chickpea and kale soup plus mini naans that had been in my freezer a little while.

Homemade hummus/houmous.

Carrot and celery sticks, plus apple and strips of seedy bread with the remaining houmous.

Borlotti bean and butternut squash chilli with bulgar wheat, topped with avocado and roasted seeds.

Decent dark chocolate is dairy-free.

Avocado pasta with spinach and tomatoes.

Salad of tofu, sweet potato, butternut squash, tomato, spinach and kale.

Butternut squash, courgette, apricot and chickpea tagine with spiced cous cous, kale and flaked almonds.

Falafel and sweet potato wedges, plus salad and homemade soya yogurt/tahini/ketchup dressing.

Which was for my boyfriend too! (and he thoroughly enjoyed.)

No-cheese, no-risotto rice risotto – white rice, kale, squash, mushrooms, peas, red onion and almonds.

Green soup – kale, broccoli and green (but they look brown) lentils.

Vegetable and lentil bake with chopped nuts and sunflower seeds. This a large dish so I made enough for several meals all in one go!

Leftovers from the vegetable and lentil bake with pasta, plus additional kale.

Apple and banana oaty crumble-type cupcakes with bonus sunflower seeds, sultanas and chopped nuts. My first and only real attempt at any kind of vegan baking – I don’t have many baking ingredients kicking around!

Burrito made from yet more lentil and vegetable bake leftovers plus vegan ‘mozzarella’, on a bed of spinach.

First vegan treat in Inspiral Lounge (vegan café), Camden – raw chocolate and avocado tart with black coffee.

Ethiopian streetfood in Camden, a combination of white rice, vegetables and two types of lentils.

Tastiest soup ever! – sweet potato, carrot, chickpea, green pepper and tomato, spiced up with chilli and cumin. Topped with roasted pumpkin seeds and some sunflower seeds too.

Spiced cous cous, vegetable and vegan ‘mozzarella’ stuffed peppers.

Vegetable pasta bake topped with vegan ‘mozzarella’ and chopped nuts.

The colourful contents of the [above] pasta bake

These little dairy-free sweet potato brownies were a gift to me from Sophie (at work)’s mum! Interesting story behind the woman whose recipe it was (follow the link to go to the recipe on her blog).

Bulgar wheat with cumin-spiced chickpeas, plus an array of veggies including red pepper, mushroom, spinach and kale. Also, roasted pumpkin seeds.

Curry/soup made from coconut milk, red lentils, butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower, red pepper, sweetcorn and spinach! Topped with flaked almonds, of course. I did a big batch of this – two curries and two soups (soups were more blended without chunks of anything and more watered down!)

Remember the kidney bean and peanut butter ‘meatballs’ at the top of this collection of photos? This is the leftover portion (from the freezer, obviously), mixed up with kale, mushrooms and sweetcorn. Served on spaghetti and topped with avocado.

I have no idea what to call this other than colourful and tasty! Baked sweet potato with warm salad of kale, butternut squash, chickpeas, mushrooms, cauliflower, tomatoes and avocado.

My last Veganuary breakfast and the only breakfast I bothered to photograph (as I mainly just had porridge with soya milk). Soya yogurt with a sprinkling of oats, sunflower seeds and a dollop of apricot jam. Toast, one piece with peanut butter and one piece with sliced avocado. Plus a big pot o’ black coffee.

I ended Veganuary with a treat – cheese-free pizza at Pizza Express, which was delicious! Mildly spicy tomato sauce, artichoke, mushroom, spinach, pine nuts and rocket.

And to finish: dairy-free raspberry sorbet and espresso. Lovely!

Am I going to stay a vegan? No, I’m not.

Why did I bother doing Veganuary then? Because I wanted to challenge myself. I’d never considered being vegan before, I kind of didn’t think that I actually could do it. But it did and I could and it was great (for all the reasons already mentioned above and in my previous blog post!).

So, why am I not stay vegan? Because I don’t want to and this is, of course, entirely up to me. I love cheese and I will continue to eat cheese, plus I want to eat fish when I go to Japan again – so not becoming a vegetarian either. HOWEVER, I will be eating a lot more dairy-free and fish-free meals from now on, as almost everything I cooked and ate was delicious. Meals should not be reserved for one month of the year or one diet alone. I absolutely will do Veganuary again next year. I might even pick another month this year to go vegan again!

So, could you go vegan for a month? It’s easier, tastier and healthier than you think.

Vegan for January

Veganuary. It's not the nicest sounding word or ‘portmanteau’ (a word formed by merging two words together). But the meaning is clear – being, or becoming, a vegan for January.

Veganuary aims to reduce the suffering of animals by inspiring and supporting people across the globe to go vegan for the month of January. There are so many reasons people decide to try vegan. For most, a love of animals is the catalyst. Some people want to feel better about themselves and the impact they make on the world. Others would like to set themselves a challenge, and many combine Veganuary with their ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ and see trying vegan as the healthiest start to the year. Whatever your reason, we’re here to support you. – Veganuary

I have honestly never seriously considered becoming a vegan until I saw a tweet about the Veganuary campaign. I love cheese and I love chocolate, although I dislike eggs and could easily swap normal milk for soya – I only have milk on cereal, not in any drinks. I am currently, and have been for a couple of years now, following a pescetarian diet which means I eat fish but not poultry or red meat (but I did eat a grasshopper in Japan last year). Prior to that I had been a vegetarian for a long time, probably more than 10 years. I could quite happily give up fish again, to be vegetarian – I don’t actually even eat fish very often anyway, mostly just when eating out. I think it would have been, and would be, more difficult being a vegetarian/vegan in Japan. Especially when not able to understand the language. They do love their fish!

So, what’s all this about Veganuary then? I saw a ‘promoted’ tweet from the @weareveganuary Twitter account at the end of December, I think it may have even been New Year’s Eve. I got reading about the idea on their website and decided, ‘I could do that. I could be vegan for January!’ I think part of the appeal is that it's a bit of a challenge. Obviously, it ought to be much harder for a complete meat-eater (tried to get my boyfriend onboard but he wasn't keen, although he will eat vegan meals I cook for him). But, as I said, I love cheese and chocolate – I haven't eaten all of my Christmas chocolate yet and I don't plan to until February – so to give them up is a bit of a challenge.

Obviously, there are more reasons than just the ‘challenge’ to become vegan. The Veganuary website expresses a number of reasons why you might consider becoming a vegan – health, animals, environment. I think for me it’s mostly about health, although I wouldn’t say I'm generally too unhealthy. But post-Christmas… Of course, I love animals too! That was the reason I originally became a vegetarian at 9 years old, but after a while it became much more about not liking the taste than simply protecting animals. After all, I still ate dairy products and then I started eating fish. Although, I should point out that it’s always a good idea to pick fish that has been responsibly sourced and choose free range eggs. I accidentally came across this 2011 article about being pescetarian at the weekend and I believe everything expressed in it reflects how I feel about my diet, and I don't doubt that I am healthier than a lot of meat-eaters.

But, vegan! Yes, I am currently following a vegan diet and have been since January 1st – making today Day 8. It may surprise a lot of people, meat-eaters, pescetarians and vegetarians alike, but so far the food has been great. It’s been far more varied than I expected and definitely more inventive – not forgetting tasty! Except for vegan ‘cheese’ which I only tried out of curiosity. It might have been the brand I tried or something but it was horrible!

Protein? The biggest myth about vegans is that they don’t get enough or any protein. Lies! All lies! If you’re not eating meat, fish or dairy, where do you get protein from? Lots of other tasty foods: a whole variety of beans, chick peas, lentils, tofu and other soya-based foods, nuts and seeds and green veggies too!

Take a look at some of the tasty food I’ve cooked up so far.

Vegan ‘meatballs’ made with kidney beans and peanut butter! (Boyfriend approved.)

Simple vegetable stir fry with peanut, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. Plus sunflower seeds.

Butternut squash, carrot, kale and chickpea soup. Spiced up with harissa paste.

Also made houmous!

Other meals that I didn’t photograph include: a vegetable bake topped with breadcrumbs and mixed ground nuts, a warm mixed bean and stir fried veggie salad with bulgar wheat and a vegetable pasta dish that would have been lovely had it not been for the vegan ‘cheese’ I threw in. Yuck.

Am I planning on staying vegan after January? No, probably not. But I’m glad I am giving it ago and I will complete January without eating any cheese or chocolate! Maybe I’ll make Veganuary an annual thing, maybe I’ll eat an extra vegan meal a week too. Maybe I’ll even get my boyfriend or friends and family to join in next time! I’ll certainly be trying lots more new recipes throughout the month, and no doubt I’ll continue to cook some of those meals, and more, throughout the year.