Niki has published an eversion of her book ‘Wage War on Your Mind & Fight For Your Life’, detailing her 17 year struggle with depression and how she has learnt to deal with it. She aims to help others through the process by providing steps, questions and exercises to help them through. If you or someone you know suffers with mental health, this could be a useful tool to getting better.
Author: thejuicenut
Vegan, raw foodie, juice nut, writing somewhat wryly about health/nutrition/wellbeing with a little creativity on the side. pearsnotparsnips@mail.com
Being Thankful During Difficult Times.
I have so many things to be thankful for. I know that and am grateful. For one thing, my family.
I had planned an amusing post about the Easter weekend visit from our littlest grandchildren, their first Easter with us. We had lots of fun and the weather co-operated long enough to have an egg hunt in the garden on the Sunday morning. (More later). Then, that evening something horrible happened – not to us, thankfully, but to our young neighbour. Three ambulances with flashing lights were there for two hours, but he was gone. He was 34 years old and leaves a wife and two young children, one so young he will never have any memory of this time or his dad, the other much older who will remember and miss him forever.
This sad event has affected me very badly. I can’t stop thinking about them and how they’re going to cope, and if they’ll even be able to stay in their home. Fortunately, they have a lot of close family around them, supporting them.
It took me most of the week to realise that the depth of my sadness and growing depression was not caused just by the shock but was mostly about the young children. It brought back memories of when my brother and father died suddenly and tragically, in separate events, and I had to process it all whilst still caring for my young children and trying to keep life as normal as possible for them, when it was anything but for me. I found it incredibly hard. This realisation brought on a bout of sobbing I never thought I’d experience again. Neither of them knew my brother (my son was just a toddler and my daughter not yet conceived), my daughter doesn’t remember my dad. (You can read about him in the Original Writing section of the menu).
During that following week, I heard of three others who had lost their lives – all this whilst also sending positive thoughts to three friends who are undergoing serious medical treatments, and fielding repetitive calls from my elderly mum.
I shelved my Easter post idea, I hadn’t the heart and it didn’t seem appropriate.
I’ve been in a bit of a slump.
I had no desire to post, no inspiration, no energy. I ate copious amounts of (raw) chocolate.
Help arrived in the form of my brother and sister-in-law. They are about to emigrate to the US and are doing their farewell tour. It was touch and go as to whether I could get through without any waterworks! I really am extremely happy, and indeed excited, for them as they are moving to be near two of their children and their three young grandchildren. My mum on the other hand is very unhappy and convinced she will never see them again. I spend a great deal of time trying to convince her otherwise.
We had a busy, lively and very chatty 3 days. Lots of eating, lots of talking – till 2 am – we even played a silly game of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? ( I won, not that it was a competition ;-)). My sister-in-law loved walking in the surrounding countryside, fulfilled her desire to have a ride in our Morris Minor and learned how to make a wholewheat loaf from scratch (no breadmaker involved!). My brother brought an ancient photo album of us when we were kids that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and which brought back lots of memories, a few tears and some laughter. Oh, and we watched The Tour de Yorkshire cycling!
The tea towel was an attempt by my brother to hide his shiny pate whilst I took the photo, and the cardigan over my husband’s head was a hundredth attempt to see if the night-time screen on his iBooks page was working!! My sister-in-law is pretend-stabbing Heston Blumenthal’s Persian Christmas Pudding, which we had been saving for them since Christmas. They loved it. My husband is from Yorkshire and decided to don the new top our son (from Lancashire) gave him and go for a ride during the early stages of the race, no doubt imagining ‘if only…’ The Carrot, Apple & Spice Cakes with Cashew Frosting were a nice afternoon treat.
We ate homemade soup with homemade rolls; watermelon, curry and brown basmati rice with a green salad; pasta with tomato, veg and red lentil sauce, vegan parmesan cheeze (soaked almonds patted dry and ground with nutritional yeast and a pinch of dry mustard) and green salad, and a lovely fruit salad with vanilla CoYo coconut yogurt. We made a family-sized banana berry smoothie with tiger nut milk for breakfast (but no cacao, see Paul’s ‘Too Much Cacao’ Banana Baobab Smoothie!). The weather was just mild enough to enjoy it outside. The apple and cherry trees were in blossom, the forget-me-nots were making a show and the birds were very busy and very loud!
By the time they left, my physical energy was exhausted (in a good way), but my spiritual energy was restored. I felt like my old self again. Yes, my eyes had misted over when we had waved them off, but mostly I was happy and rejuvenated. We had FaceTimed all three of their children and spoken to their American grandchildren. We Skyped my son and chatted to my daughter on the phone. They were relaxed, amusing and chatty despite he taking time out from a busy working day and she being in the midst of invigilating exams – a tiring and stressful time of year – and it was wonderful to hear her so. They made arrangements to visit them too before their final departure.
So, now I feel up to posting some photos from Easter Sunday:
Raw chocolate crisp nests with homemade marzipan eggs were quickly separated and split up as Littlest Little liked the eggs and Elder Little liked the chocolate! Outside, it quickly became apparent that Littlest Little had a thing about silver eggs: he rejected them in favour of the red and gold ones, but his sister was happy to oblige!
They managed to find all the eggs and make it inside before the heavens opened – I wish I could post the picture of Littlest Little with more chocolate around his mouth than in it! The Easter bunny was extremely generous and had even handmade and wrapped all the silver eggs himself;-) It was a lovely, amusing time (oh, apart from the catastrophic flood from a burst radiator in the dining room just as dinner was about to be served! Our son was an absolute hero, stemming the tide for nearly 3 hours before a plumber arrived).
Thank you, family.
Rest in peace, Jamie.
Also published on Bernadette’s 52 Weeks of Thankfulness page over on Haddon Musings
Copyright: Chris McGowan
Carrot, Apple & Spice Cakes with Cashew Frosting
Made these when we discovered we were about to be invaded by littles for their first Easter egg hunt with us, and then later by strapping, ever-ravenous teenagers always on the prowl for something ‘tasty’ (which is code for sweet!) Giant-sized pan of pasta sauce was on the go at the same time. Chocolate nests were in the freezer, marzipan eggs still to be made.
I’ve never really been a cake fan, but I always loved carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on special occasions. Since becoming vegan, I’ve been on the lookout for a suitable replacement. I found and adapted a recipe for Raw Carrot Cake Bites with CoYo Frosting – So Moreish! but although I don’t do much baking in the oven, I wanted a recipe we could present to visitors who were less familiar with my raw food lifestyle. I discovered the recipe that inspired these cakes on Sarah Bakes Gluten Free and they worked out so well I made a second batch for another upcoming family visit this week and put them in the freezer.
I altered some of the ingredients, swapping canola oil with coconut oil, coconut palm sugar for the brown and cane sugar and reduced the amount of maple syrup. I used a combination of the flours we had in the cupboards and had no idea if they would work, but they did. I think in the second batch, the chestnut flour was in the majority, but any combination would work. We replaced the vinegar with lemon juice.
I also made my own version of the frosting – I even gave up my precious bar of Raw Chocolate Company Vanoffe Dark Raw Chocolate to grate and sprinkle on top.
Everyone loved them, from the 2 year old via the über-critical teenagers, to the adults.
There are no eggs, butter or gluten in them.
All measurements are approximate, ingredients are organic where possible, the first batch made 12, the second made 14!
Ingredients
1 Cup SR Gluten-free Flour
1/2 Cup Chestnut Flour
1/2 Cup Cornflour
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk (in the second batch we used rice milk and it worked fine)
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
3/4 Cup Coconut Palm Sugar
1 Cup Finely Grated Carrots
1/3 Cup Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Carrot Juice or Apple Juice
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Method
Prepare apple sauce and apple/carrot juice if making fresh. I got halfway through the recipe the first time before realising I needed apple sauce! I cooked a dessert apple in a little water or apple juice until soft and allowed it to cool.
Sift all flours, spices and salt together in a bowl.
In a separate large mixing bowl, add the lemon juice to the milk and stir well.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir before slowly mixing in the flours.
The mixture should pour like a batter.
Pour into cases.
Cook at 170C in a fan oven until a fine skewer/wooden toothpick comes out clean, about 15 – 17 minutes in our oven.
Allow to cool.
(These cases were a little big, I used smaller ones for the second batch and the cakes filled them better, they also rose better.
I also decided to try silicone cases next time as the paper ones had a tendency to stick).
Prepare the frosting.
The measurements are very inexact as I just kept adding until the consistency was right.
I began with 4 very heaped tbsps of Coyo Live Plain Coconut Yogurt, 4 Tbsps finely ground Cashews (you could use ground almonds), 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract and 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup.
(You could use a little lemon or orange zest in place of the vanilla if you wanted a different flavouring).
Mix well until it’s firm but spreadable, you don’t want it to pour. Add more nuts if it’s too thin.
Spread onto the cooled cakes.
Grate some raw chocolate and sprinkle on top.
The second batch looked better, they filled the smaller cases and had more frosting on them, but I forgot to take photos. Nevertheless, the Fairy Cake Queen in the family (my daughter-in-law) gave them the thumbs up, eating three just to be sure!
These kept well in an airtight container in the fridge and will also keep in the freezer – how long, I can’t say, ravenous teenagers and all that!
Copyright: Chris McGowan
Vegan Leek, Carrot & Ginger Sausages
Here is a slightly spicier version of Vegan ‘Cheesy’ Almond, Leek & Herb Sausages. We’ve used fewer herbs and added some ground ginger and more black pepper to make them a little more piquant, but not hot. My son would doubtless want to add chilli to them as well! Cayenne pepper is also an option. We didn’t use them as I avoid nightshade foods (see How I Juiced My Skin Clear: A Rash Decision?)
I really like these. They’re easy to make, the mixture comes together so well and they keep their shape when cooking. The chia eggs works really well as an egg replacer and the carrot helps keep them moist.
If you are gluten-free, the sausages will probably taste better if you use homemade bread. For me, commercial gf bread has that aftertaste that in my experience taints the recipes you use it in, but see what works for you. We used our Vegan Gluten-Free Tiger Nut Loaf/Bread Mk III. By contrast, my husband finds that his gluten ones work better with commercial bread rather than his homemade variety, I think because his bread has a more open texture whereas my gluten-free bread is denser.
You could use different nuts if you don’t have almonds or just want a different taste and texture.
This recipe made 10 sausages, but obviously that would depend on the size you make them.
All ingredients were vegan, gluten-free and organic where possible.
Quantities are approximate, it is difficult to be precise about a small leek!
Ingredients
1/3 Cup Almonds, soak, rinse and pat dry, then grind with
2 Heaped Tbsps Nutritional Yeast
Add to processor with
5oz Breadcrumbs (ours are homemade and gluten-free, you may have to adjust for gluten-based bread)
1 Small Leek, washed & finely chopped, including greenery
1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Dried Mixed Herbs
1/2 Tsp Mustard Powder
2″ Carrot, grated
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
1 Chia Egg (1 Tbsp Chia Seeds soaked in 3 Tbsps Water)
Splash of Tamari
A few twists of Black Pepper & a little Pink Himalayan Salt
Coconut Oil for frying
Method
Pulse all ingredients (except oil) a few times, then briefly process until the mixture will stick together but still has some texture.
If you think the the mixture is a little too damp, try adding more breadcrumbs/nutritional yeast mix.
Take small handfuls of mixture and shape into sausages, squeezing the mixture together.
Fry in hot, but not smoking, coconut oil, turning frequently to ensure they are cooked through. My husband cooked a couple in the oven but I thought it dried them out, I preferred them fried. We put several uncooked sausages in the freezer for another day.
Hope you like them!
Copyright: Chris McGowan
Vegan ‘Cheesy’ Almond, Leek & Herb Sausages
Many years ago, Delia Smith’s cookery books became our bible and a particular family favourite was and remains her vegetarian Cheesy Herb Sausages. My husband makes them every week. Our daughter-in-law was introduced to them when she joined our family and now makes a personal request for them when she comes to visit.
Since becoming vegan and gluten-free, however, I’ve had to forego this pleasure and usually have a bought alternative (I like Dee’s Wholefoods) when family come to stay and choose something else when it’s just us.
When I was still vegetarian, but had to become gluten-free, my husband offered several times to make an alternative with gluten-free bread, but commercial g/f bread has an aftertaste that dominates whatever you use it in and I never wanted to use up the homemade bread for this as it is time-consuming for him to make (I can’t do it because of my back injury) and I also didn’t want him to have to make two lots of different sausages.
Now that I am vegan and he has also given up eggs (but not cheese yet, we are getting there slowly), and we are more used to vegan cooking, we decided to try making some Delia-lite sausages using a chia egg and nutritional yeast. It was surprisingly easy and came together quickly. Chia egg is quite a miracle worker when it comes to needing a binding agent to replace real eggs in burgers and sausages.
I chose leek rather than onion for several reasons: I find onion difficult to digest; onion, unless you grate it, often doesn’t cook properly in homemade sausages while leek doesn’t dominate and also blends with the mixture better, it holds together well.
These are our first attempt and we were very pleased with them. They are firm, tasty and satisfying.
Watch out for our second version: Vegan Leek, Carrot and Ginger Sausages, even better!
Makes about 8 depending on size.
Vegan, Gluten-free and Organic where possible.
Ingredients
2.5 oz / A third of a Cup Almonds, soaked, rinsed and patted dry, then roughly grind with:
2 Heaped Tbsps Nutritional Yeast
1 Tsp Dry Mustard
1 Tsp Thyme
1 Tsp Sage
Add together in a processor with:
5 oz/ Gluten-free Breadcrumbs*
Pink Himalayan Salt & Black Pepper to taste
1 Small Leek, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
A Splash of Tamari
1 Chia Egg (1 Tbsp Chia Seeds soaked in 3 Tbsps Water to form a gel)
Process all the ingredients for a few seconds until the mixture will stick together but still has some texture, squeeze into sausage shapes.
Refrigerate for a while until needed.
Lightly cook in coconut oil, turning frequently (the sausages, that is, but you can do a twirl now and then if you like while you’re waiting!).
We put some uncooked ones in the freezer for another day.
*Vegan Gluten-Free Tiger Nut Loaf/Bread Mk III
Copyright: Chris McGowan
Ducks, Daves and Detours
Some of you may have read my post An Impromptu Mother’s Day Adventure or How We Survived the Vortex that is Our Local Bermuda Triangle …, and were kind enough to say you found it amusing, well, here’s a little sequel for you…
But first, I must tell you that the other day someone used the search phrase ‘how far away from Fiji is the Bermuda Triangle?’ and guess where they were directed? Yep, my Mother’s Day post! If you’re reading this too, I am so sorry I couldn’t be more helpful answering your question.
On with the sequel: we have established that my husband has a reputation for going off road, or at least off the road he’s meant to be travelling, and ending up somewhere else. What you may not know, is that he’s also terrible with names, and since he knows an incomprehensible number of Daves, he tends to use this generic name whenever he gets stuck. This is relevant later on.
After the earlier post, he invited me to accompany him to his bike-fit session at a bike shop called Bicycles By Design. The shop is 15 miles away – more or less, depending on whether or not HB is doing the navigating: when we did our recon last week, it was 30 miles away because we made several unplanned detours! As you may recall from the earlier post, a bike fit involves setting up your bike to fit your particular physical quirks so that you can ride in comfort and avoid those niggling aches and pains from riding in the wrong position.
As exciting as that prospect was, I politely declined, citing hair washing and nail filing, and I looked forward to having a few hours on my own playing indie (or Indian as hb insists on calling it) music very loud, while eating raw chocolate almonds* and bantering on social media. No car keys to find, no bike parts to admire, no iPad problems to sort out (despite spending years working with computers, he just can’t fathom how to tweet or message on Instagram).
Friday morning came and all went according to plan. Hb left early for his bike-fit. It was a lovely morning and I had breakfast outside, while listening to the birds and watching the bees. Bliss.
He arrived home, happy with his bike adjustments and no impromptu sightseeing – or so he reckoned. However, on putting his bike away, he noticed Dave, the bike-fit guy, had left a shop quick-release on the back wheel instead of replacing his own. He had to take it back. He was going to have a quick bite to eat and set off. The sun was out, the bike shop is on the river, it was going to be a quick in and out, so I decided I would go with him.
Surprisingly, we had an uneventful drive and pulled up outside the bike shop. It was in a lovely setting, part of an old building that used to be the china works but is now a Youth Hostel, café and the bike store. The cherry blossom was breathtaking, the sun was shining and it was so quiet. Just the river flowing behind us and the occasional whoosh of beating duck wings flying by.
Hb went in and returned the quick-release to Dave, then we spent some time by the river and the canal which runs alongside it which used to serve the china works with its bottle kilns, tar tunnel and tracks, but is now home to a large colony of mallard ducks.
Bottoms up!
We realised it was getting late and we needed to set off home before the rush hour.
First, though, we had to find our way out of the vortex of these 4 small towns!
I don’t really need to say it do I? We got lost. Again. No, we still don’t have a Sat Nav. In all fairness, the signage in this area is woeful, and that’s putting it mildly. Several times, you arrive at a junction and the sign will indicate that the town you are aiming for is in fact in both directions at once! So you ‘discuss’ the alternatives and whichever you choose, inevitably end up having to go back on yourself, spinning round and round the local plughole until it finally spits you out, dizzy and exhausted, and barely speaking to each other, as both are adamant their way was the right way!
On the way there, we had passed what looked like some lovely public gardens and I suggested that on the way back we take a look to see if Mum would be able to manage a visit – she is coming to stay for a few days soon. Needless to say, we couldn’t find them. They just disappeared. I had made a mental note of whereabouts they were, I could describe the row of cottages nearby, the railway bridge and so on, all of which we found, but no gardens. Apparently sucked into the vortex.
By this time, we were both tired and hungry so we agreed to give in and made it home without further issues.
Apart from the energy-sapping journey home, it was a lovely afternoon. Next time though, can we just borrow the Tardis?
Oh, and Dave the bike man? His name was Rob!
*Highly recommended, but be warned, very moreish!
Copyright: Chris McGowan
Raw Vegan Fruit & Nut (or seed) Chocolate – not just for Easter!
In my opinion, one can never have too many recipes for raw chocolate, so here is another easy version of the do-it-yourself kind. It is quite rich, you only need a small amount, so bear this in mind when giving it to young children. It contains minerals, protein, antioxidants and is dairy-free.
Probably best to do this alone: if young children are involved there will likely be none left to go in the freezer!
Homemade raw chocolate melts quicker than commercial chocolate so either make in advance, freeze, break into pieces and store in the freezer until a short while before you need it, then transfer to the fridge; or make it, freeze it, break it up, eat it and keep any leftovers (haha) in the fridge for later.
In this version, we used almond butter and sweet apricot kernels, but you can swap for tahini or other seed butter and either leave out the nuts and use seeds or cacao nibs for texture.
And remember, raw chocolate is not just for Easter 😉
INGREDIENTS
(organic where possible)
1/2 Cup Raw Cacao Butter*, melted in a bowl over hot (but not boiling water)
1/2 Cup Raw Cacao Powder*
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Raw Unsweetened Almond, Cashew or Sweet Apricot Kernel Butter (no palm oil) (or seed butter if nutfree)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Raw Chocolate Company Goldenberries or Goji Berries* (chopped) or other preferred berries (dried mulberries, apple juice-infused cranberries, raisins)
2 Tbsps chopped Almonds, Cashews, or Sweet Apricot Kernels (or seeds or cacao nibs*) (plus a little for sprinkling on top)
METHOD
Whisk together raw cacao powder, maple syrup, melted cacao butter, vanilla extract and nut butter. Stir in the berries and nuts.
Spread chocolate mixture onto lined, freezerproof tray, sprinkle with chopped nuts or seeds.
Place in freezer for 30 minutes, then break up into bite-size pieces.
Best bit? Licking the spoon!
See also
Fill Your Easter Basket with Home Made Vegan Raw Chocolate Eggs
Food Matters’ ‘One Minute Slice’ Raw Chocolate Protein Bars
Vegan Gluten-Free Raw Chocolate Love Hearts
+
for more homemade chocolate recipes
*The Raw Chocolate Company sell a Make Your Own Chocolate box which contains 2 each of Organic, Raw Cacao Powder, Cacao Butter and Coconut Palm Sugar.
Copyright: Chris McGowan
Fill Your Easter Basket with Home Made Vegan Raw Chocolate Eggs
Soon, it will be that other chocolate-filled holiday and the kids are off school getting revved up in anticipation of the upcoming egg hunts, so here is my alternative to the usually over-sweet, over-processed and over-priced commercial eggs. The kids will love to ‘help’ – or you could do it all in secret under the pretext of surprising them, but really so you get to clean out the bowl and lick the spoon! 😉
These home-made raw chocolate eggs are dairy- and gluten-free, as well as free from refined sugar. Some of them contain nuts but you can replace nut butter with tahini and ground-up nuts with seeds or you could choose the second nut-free version. All ingredients are organic where possible.
The Nutty Ones
1/2 Cup Raw Coconut Oil, melted
1/2 Cup Raw Chocolate Company Cacao Powder*
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Nut Butter (no palm oil)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup either Raw Chocolate Company Goldenberries or Goji Berries (chopped) or other preferred berries
2 Tbsp chopped Almonds or Cashews (or seeds)
METHOD
Whisk together raw cacao powder, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract and nut butter. Stir in the berries and nuts.
Pour chocolate mixture into freezer-safe egg moulds or other shapes placed on greaseproof paper.
Place in the freezer for 30 minutes or until set.
Remove from freezer and arrange in a pretty basket.
(You could also pour onto greaseproof paper on a tray, let it spread, freeze and break into bite-size pieces).
These are the moulds we used, they’re available from Ocado and Amazon. They’re silicone and are freezerproof, ovenproof to 260C and dishwasher safe.
Nut-Free Eggs
For this version, we used the basic Raw Chocolate Company recipe on the back of their Cacao Powder and Raw Coconut Palm Sugar packs, with the addition of vanilla and goji berries.* It is a more intensely dark flavour and not as sweet as the first recipe. In fact, for a few of the eggs, we added a teaspoon of maple syrup as well to cater for those who have a slightly sweeter tooth.
The coconut palm sugar needs refining in a small chopper to make it dissolve and blend more easily.
You can of course leave out the berries if you just want plain chocolate or add whatever you prefer.
Ingredients
90g Cacao Butter, melted
60g Cacao Powder
60g Coconut Palm Sugar (+ 1 Tsp Maple Syrup if required)
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Goji Berries or lightly chopped Dried Mulberries
Method
Mix the melted cacao butter and coconut palm sugar in a bowl over hot but not boiling water to dissolve the sugar. Whisk in the cacao powder and vanilla extract, then stir in the goji berries.
Pour into moulds and set in the freezer as before.
‘Mylk’ Chocolate Nests
If you want to make chocolate nests, you can mix this basic chocolate recipe (minus the Goji Berries) with Weetabix- or shredded wheat-type cereal or gluten-free equivalents, or puffed rice cereal, and place in moulds or bun cases. Refirgerate as before.
With these ones, we added a little vanilla, a tablespoon of lucuma powder, and a couple of tablespoons of homemade tiger nut milk.
You could also make ‘eggs’ from marzipan with the option of dipping in raw chocolate! You can also use natural food colourings. Here, though, we used ground almonds mixed with a little maple syrup.
See also my page of Raw Treats – Recipes for more Raw Chocolate Recipes (at the bottom of the page) and here is a new recipe for Raw Vegan Fruit & Nut (or seed) Chocolate – not just for Easter!.
Have a fun Easter weekend with the people you love!
* (They sell a special chocolate-making kit containing all the ingredients for home-made raw chocolate on their website).
Copyright: Chris McGowan”
Vegan Courgetti Bolognese ft Hanna’s Vegetable Protein Sauce
The inspiration for this was a video on Instagram of Hanna Sillitoe (@mygoodnessrecipes) making a vegetable protein bolognese sauce to have with gluten-free spaghetti and a parmesan substitute made from almonds and nutritional yeast. (The recipe is in her new book ‘Radiant’, available on Amazon). She made it look so simple, and quick, all done in a blender and frying pan. We had some of her Tomatoless Sauce in the freezer which forms the basis of this new sauce and decided to give it a try. If you are ok with nightshade foods*, you can just use a tin of tomatoes instead. As you can see, I had it with spiralised courgette zoodles. Hanna uses blanched almonds in the ‘parmesan’ which make it look a creamy white, but mine looks more like brown sugar as they were unpeeled!
Hanna’s Instagram photos are very professional, her recipes are always quick and easy and are especially suitable for anyone trying to clear their skin.
Just over three years ago, when I first ‘met’ Hanna, she had rampant psoriasis and no relief in sight, but she began juicing and exercising, rid her diet of junk and nightshades and now has clear skin. It worked for me too, see How I Juiced My Skin Clear: A Rash Decision?
Back to this recipe: The amounts we used are somewhat imprecise, we just did a handful of this and a few spoons of that – if you want more precise measurements then do look at Hanna’s book, her website or Instagram feed. 
She uses ingredients from Aldi UK to demonstrate that you can still eat healthily on a budget: for instance, she used a pack of mixed rice and quinoa, but we had both organic brown basmati rice and organic quinoa in the cupboard so we cooked them and guessed the amount, using the leftovers for the next two meals.
(Aldi often sell budget blenders and juicers too which always receive good reviews).
Basic steps:
Cook some rice and some quinoa so that the grains are still separate, be careful not to overcook them. Cool a little while preparing the mushrooms. (The rice and quinoa can be cooked in advance if necessary).
Wash and chop some mushrooms, we used chestnut because I like the meaty texture. Pulse them a couple of times in a processor before adding several spoons of the rice and quinoa mixture and pulsing again until it looks like a vegetable protein mix.
Chop an onion, press some garlic and fry in coconut oil until it begins to soften, add the vegetable protein mix and the tomatoless sauce or a tin of tomatoes.
Add some mixed herbs, black pepper, salt.
In the blender, blitz a large handful of almonds and a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast until it looks like parmesan. If it makes too much, don’t worry, it will keep well in a jar in the fridge. Hanna also adds garlic powder, but we don’t use it so we had none in.
Cook some spaghetti or spiralise some courgette noodles and serve, adding some basil leaves (which I forgot for the photo!).
Hanna has several recipe videos on her Instagram feed and on her website, all quick and easy, her enthusiasm is highly contagious!
See also Hanna’s Simple Turmeric Breakfast Pot
*Nightshade foods can exacerbate inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis and arthritis and include potatoes, tomatoes, aubergine and all peppers.
Copyright: Chris McGowan
An Impromptu Mother’s Day Adventure or How We Survived the Vortex that is Our Local Bermuda Triangle …
… Actually, the fact that it was Mother’s Day was almost incidental. The adventure wasn’t planned because it was a special day. It just happened to coincide with the clocks going forward, Spring conjuring up a spectacularly sunny day, and Hb wanting to scout out a bike place some distance away for a bike fit session the following week. (For those of you who are not members of a family whose lives revolve entirely around bikes and their mechanical whatnots, this does not mean getting sweaty in a large room on a stationary bike, but having your bike adjusted to give you the optimum fit, thereby (hopefully) avoiding any aches and pains in neck, back, hips or knees).
I don’t know about you, but I always feel discombobulated when the clocks go forward, it takes me ages to adjust. I got up at my usual hour which was now halfway-through-everyone-else’s-morning time, but before I could reach the shower, my favourite Daughter phoned me for a Mother’s Day chat. (I have only one really). Having been given a cup of tea in bed, she was instantly abandoned by her boys in favour of a Minecraft game and as I was in the role of bike widow, we were able to have a rare, uninterrupted natter until eventually son number two demanded she put the phone down as he’d brought her breakfast in bed. It would be some time before I got mine.
I had my shower, then tried to phone my mum, but someone else had got in first, she was busy throughout 20 minutes of trying. I knew she could be in for the long haul and I was starving. A Papaya & Pear Smoothie* beckoned. My whole morning was already awry, when Hb announced his plan for a quick drive to the bike place and asked if I’d like to come. Normally, I would politely decline on the basis that I planned to spend the day watching paint dry or filing my nails, but it was a lovely day, I was going stir-crazy and there was a possibility of seeing water, flowers, trees and birds along the way, so I decided to take the smoothie and go.
Now, normally when we go off in the car I make sure we have plenty of food and drink, a chair, cushions, jigsaw (well, maybe not), because inevitably a ‘short drive’, or a ‘quick there and back’, turns into a ‘why don’t we take the most circuitous scenic route and get lost again’ trip! We have no Sat Nav. We got lost in this same vortex last summer and I should have known better when Hb’s response to taking food was ‘we won’t need it, it’s just a quick-there-and-back.’ Famous last words.
There are four towns popular with tourists that form our local Bermuda Triangle. (I know, but you know what I mean). We can never go straight to the one we want without going round and through the others first, then having found it, we can’t find our way out of it again! Last time, we pirouetted in so many concentric circles, we resembled water going down a plughole and I thought we might end up Down Under.
This morning, or rather lunchtime as it now was, we set off, only to put in some early practice by instantly returning home via a circuit of our block. Hb didn’t feel confident without a map. He had one on his iPad. We came back to get it. It made no difference. The other towns were well signposted, but we couldn’t find our destination for love nor money. I kept saying helpful things like ‘we’ve been past this already’ and ‘I remember seeing this earlier…’
Beeeep. What’s that? Some gauge or microchip had registered a drop in tyre pressure. We needed to look for a garage. Great. Now two things we needed to look for. I, and three dogs, spent 20 minutes in the sun in cars with windows ineffectively cracked open for non-existent air but plenty of petrol fumes, while our drivers checked oil, tyre pressure or bought armfuls of snacks. None of us was in a chatty mood when they finished. The car still noted a drop in tyre pressure.
We were just about ready to turn around and head for home when I got very over-excited at a small signpost indicating left down a narrow road, and I couldn’t get the words out quickly enough as I realised Hb hadn’t noticed. Too late. The local cycle club, of which he is a member, will never appreciate his decision to carry on to the next layby to turn around, rather than mow them down like skittles, as would have happened if he’d responded to my hysterical navigation!
Having arrived in the town, and successfully winning a game of chicken over a single lane ‘Weak Bridge’ to reach a car park, I was so glad we’d persisted as I then spent a peaceful hour sitting outside a lovely old pub on the river in the sunshine, watching the water and the world go by.
The Weak Bridge, a single-lane iron structure that was just the width of a medium-sized car. BMWs were a bit of a push and their drivers – young and male – extremely rude and impatient!
The water was flowing quite fast, I almost missed this shot of the canoeist
After trying to convince me a floating log was Nessie’s cousin shimmying by, Hb strolled off to recce the town for the bike shop. This is always a mistake. He always gets lost. He found his way back just before I sent out the St Bernards, by which time my stomach was telling me I had missed one or other, if not several, of the various meals/snacks/juices it was used to, and a bottle of fizzy water was not going to cut it. I knew we should’ve packed proper sustenance. Being vegan and gluten-free makes it extremely difficult to find emergency rations when your blood sugar starts diving. And now we had to navigate the Triangle again and avoid being sucked into its vortex.
First, though, I had a lovely if somewhat frustrating not-Mother’s Day chat with my son (the signal kept disappearing). He always calls on Mother’s Day but pretends it’s just a normal everyday call because I’ve spent decades telling them I don’t need over-priced cards and flowers to make me feel special. He was just back from a 110 km ride in wind, sun and dust – see what I mean about my family of bike enthusiasts, he does this for fun! (See the link below to read more about his Mother’s Day surprises).
After a couple of wrong turns, we made it home unscathed. I had my juice, phoned my mum, everything returned to normal.
Hb plans to do this 30 miles-each-way journey next week on his bike. I’ll put the St Bernards on standby.
The car has an appointment with its mechanic.
For those of you who may not have seen it, here’s a link to last year’s light-hearted Mother’s Day post A Tribute to My Children
*See my Instagram feed for the ingredients @pearsnotparsnips
And here for your delectation and amusement is The Pushbike Song!
Copyright: Chris McGowan
pearsnotparsnipsdotcom 
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