Vegan Effect

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 31st of March 2021 If you need a sauce to spruce up your dinner whether it is a cauliflower steak, a mock meat steak or just to go on some veg, this is a great choice.  It is easy to make and very versatile too.  Onion  Plain white flour x 1 or 2 tbsp depending on desired viscountcy Vegan milk x 50ml Mustard powder x 1/2 tsp Garlic granules x 1/2 tsp Vegetable stock   Salt to taste White pepper to taste Vegan sweeter (optional) Method Cut the onion up and place in a blender. Pulse until the onion is just starting to turn into a paste, but still has biggish chunks.  Scrape into a saucepan with some oil and fry until the onion starts to caramelise.  Add the garlic granules and mustard powder.  Keep stirring.  Add the vegetable stock and then the milk.  Keep stirring.  Add the vegan sweetener, which could be brown sugar or pineapple juice or maple syrup or whatever you like. (Optional) Sieve in the flour and stir using a whisk.   Add the salt and white p

Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 30th of March 2021 I am feeling lonely again.  I am heart broken.  Today in Catechism class we were taught conspiracy theories that come out of the The Prothetical Of The Elders Of Zion, which is an anti-Semitic book and has nothing to do with the Catechism or the Catholic Church.  In class, these conspiracy theories were being taught as if they were true even though no evidence was presented.  I am horrified at the incident and i now feel that i can't trust the Church i go to.  Nevertheless, i continue fasting but i have stopped praying.  Instead, i am tempted to forget about Easter and go with Passover instead.  If i head to a synagogue, at least i will not have to put up with the paranoid rantings from some crazy person.  At least it was not the priests that were teaching this rubbish.  I must admit, the whole thing has put me off.  Faith is treated like a big joke by most people who are just looking down their noses at us and when i do meet

By McDonald, T.   |  Date 30th of March 2021 If you are new to veganism, you might find the transition very difficult at times.  Men tend to like certain types of dinners and that is usually the cause of failure because we crave a dinner like our Mum would cook, something chunky, something to bit into.  However, the modern vegan man has many new and exciting options to choose from that will satisfy that need for something more manly.  Vegan stake and chips There are two vegan stakes that i have tried: Plant Chef and Viva.  Both are great, but the Plant Chef is slightly better I think. Peanut Butter Curry This is a dinner that dreams are made of! Coconut milk, spies and the most amazing peanut flavour.  This is a great meal anytime of the year and is not that hard to prepare. Garlic Mushroom And Cheesy Peppers With Sweet Potato Mash  This is a dinner with a difference.  Can be veganised easily by using vegan cheese.  This is full of flavour and great with salad. Vegan Burger And Chips

Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 29th of March 2021 This is very different from the traditional matzah ball because i can't get matzah meal anywhere in the local area. This meant i had to go with the potato balls, yes i did say potato.  However. the rest of the dish is very close to the traditional soup.  The chicken is replaced with Naked Glory Roast Tenderstrips, but you could use any chicken substitute you like.  This soup is a popular choice for passover. Serves 1   Ingredients  Naked Glory Roast Tenderstrips  Vegetable stock  Carrot x 1/2 Celery x 1 stick Onion x 1/4 Dill x a bunch Salt and pepper to taste Horseradish sauce (optional) x 1 tsp For the Matzo balls   Makes 2 balls Potato x 120g Ground almonds x 2 tsp or Matzah meal if you can get it White pepper x 1/4 tsp Parsley chopped x 1 tsp Onion powder x 1/2 tsp Paisley  x a bunch Cayenne powder x a pinch Salt x a pinch Method Make the potato matzah balls by boiling and mashing the potato and adding the other ingredient

Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 28th of March 2021 Charoset sometimes called Haroset is a traditional food at Passover and has special meaning on the Seder plate.  The Seder meal tells the story of passover from the book of Exodus.  This particular part of the meal represents the mortar used to make bricks by the Israelites who were enslaved by the Pharaoh of Egypt.  Since i don't drink alcohol, i have used pomegranate juice.  I have used pecan and pine nuts, but you can use any nuts you like for instance walnuts or almonds are fine to us. Ingredients Apple x 1 Apple sauce x 1 tsp Golden syrup x 1 tbsp Pecan nuts x 6 - 8 chopped Pine nuts x a sprinkle Ground almonds x 2 tsp Cinnamon  1/2 tsp Pomegranate juice Method  Chop the apple and nuts then soak them in the pomegranate juice Add all the other ingredients immediately and stir You should end up with a lumpy thick past  Happy passover!

Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 25th of March 2021 This is diffidently a fire breathing monster!  However, if you are worried it will turn out more like a Godzuki than a Godzilla, just add some more chillies.  Good blend of Goan and Bhuna spices with beautiful tender pieces of tofu.  Ingredients  Tofu x 50g Black turtle beans x 15g Chickpeas x 20g Candelilla beans  x 10g Carrot Cabbage Green beans Onion  Sultanas  Bhuna spice x 3 tsp Chopped tomatoes Chillies (how many depends on how hot you want it) Basmati rice 65g Creamed coconut x 2 tbsp  Marinade  Cider vinegar x 2 x tbsp Soy sauce x 2 tsp Goan spices  x 1 tsp Paprika x 1 tsp Garlic granules x 1 tsp Method  Press the tofu.  Cut the tofu into bite size pieces and add to the marinade then leave in a fridge all night.  Prepare the beans if using dried ones. Fry the tofu in the creamed coconut. Add all the other ingredients except the rice. Add the marinade liquid to the mixture.  Serve with basmati rice and garnish with coriande

Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 23rd of March 2021 The feeling that no one is here has returned making this week increasingly more difficult.  Earlier in the week, the news from the Vatican stating that the Church couldn't bless gay unions has highlighted a massive chasm in the Church with the gays on one side and the heterosexuals on the other.  Anyone that speaks out against the gays comes under attack and is threatened with legal action. Subsequently, the Church has become a really unhappy place because of the attempts to make us 'Love the gays.'  I have begun to feel unwelcome as a straight man in Church.  All i want is God.  More and more i wish Jesus was here to sort this whole mess out.  While in Church, i feel that we are all under the monitoring eye's of the liberal overlords policing our thoughts.  Furthermore, it is less and less like Church doctoring that we are learning and more and more like liberal brainwashing. Are we losing the Church? I am hungry.

By McDonald, T.   |  Date 22nd of March 2021 | Updated 15 of May 2021 What i great dinner this is!  If you want something different and vegan: this is it.  The creamy vegan peppercorn sauce will have you delighted while the mushrooms will excite your taste buds.  Furthermore, it is a great dish for Shavuot because of the soya milky sauce.  It is also fine for a small meal during the lead up to Christian Pentecost.  Ingredients 1 Courgette, spiralized to make the courghetti. Some mushrooms, sliced. 1 tsp of garlic granules.  Vegan peppercorn sauce (either home-made or packet). 1/2 a sweet pepper sliced. 1/2 a chilli chopped. Method  Lightly fry the mushrooms, chilli and sweet pepper in a saucepan with some olive oil.  At the same time, lightly fry the courghetti in a frying pan with the garlic granules and some olive oil.   Add the fried mushrooms and sweet pepper to the courghetti and take of the heat.   Make or heat the peppercorn sauce until it is ready then poor onto the courghetti

  Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 20th of March 2021 This makes a really interesting change to the usual vegan dinner.  It's a Butternut Squash rosti stack from 'Love Your Veg' range.  Although these are small, they do taste great! I really enjoyed them and would have them again.  They are low in calories and full of flavour, roughage and goodness.  They were great as the meat alternative for Sunday dinner at my brothers.  

Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 19th of March 2021 Whether you are celebrating Passover or Easter, this is the vegan dinner you where looking for!  It's a typical dinner around Easter that i have veganized for us vegans.  It's also fine for your passover feast too, but it is not the Seder meal.  Easter and Passover have many connections since the Last Supper was the Passover meal that Jesus and His disciples ate together.  For Christians, the last supper is where the Eucharist and the breaking of bread comes from and was the occasion Jesus had passover with His disciples (Luke 22:7-13).  Jesus said: ' ...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you . ' (John 6:53).  Since the passover story has a lamb sacrificed at the temple at night, this dinner would usually have roast lamb.  Since lamb is out of the question for vegans, i had to come up with something else.  I have tried a variety of mock meats with some better than ot

By McDonald, T.   |  Date 19th of March 2021 Some people find themself missing meat or worried about giving up meat.  Subsequently, a great mock meat is needed to satisfy that need for a chunk of meat.  As a result, the vegan food industry has come up with some really great mock meats.  I have reviewed Vivera vegan stakes before and found them to be great.  This time i had it with vegan gravy and vegan horseradish sauce.  Inspired vegan horseradish sauce is brilliant!  I got it from Alternative Stores . This stake is easy to cook and tasty too .  On many occasion I have heard people asking for a great meal for their meat eating partner, so could this be it? It is important to note that this stake is fortified with B12, which as you may or may not know is highly important to a vegan, since a lack of it can lead to depression and even lead to permanent  nerve damage.  For this reason, it is a good idea to add nutritional yeast fortified with B12 to the gravy.  You can get the nutritiona

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 17th of March 2021    Often i get asked how to start being vegan or what are the staples?  In the past i have been accused of being unhelpful when i say stop eating meat and start eating more veg, so hopefully this will answer that question.  First, what is meant by staple?  A staple food is something that is eaten on a regular bases and in large amounts.  Since becoming a vegan, i have learnt to put nutrition at the centre of my meal planning to ensure i don't miss out on anything.  However, B12 although is added to many foods can be an easy one to miss, so taking a supplement is a wise decision.  This blog is aimed at people looking to go vegan and have no food allergies. Vegetables and Fruit Well this is an obvious one; however, it needs to be said because even vegans need to ensure they get at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.  In Canada, the recommendation is even higher at 10 portions a day.  Furthermore. it is best to vary the fruit

Written by  McDonald, T.    |  Date 16th of March 2021  The whole feel of Lent has changed for me.  I don't feel lost or lonely any more. Most noticeable, is my desire to pray more than ever.  In fact, i find myself praying endlessly all day and just want to stay in and pray all day, which i then do.  I also get the distinct feeling that i am not alone, which is the opposite of what i have been feeling and the need to pray the chaplet for the Mercy to Forgive Another almost overwhelming.  I still find myself disappearing into the past; however, the crying has not stopped.  I look out of the windows and at the blue sky and then i notice the fence, which in turn leads to a feeling of being back in one of the houses i grew up in.  The second house i remember living at to be exact.  I remember going to see Star Wars and becoming fascinated by it to the point that i was surrounded by cards with gum and magazines about it. I would watch it when ever it came on the TV too.  Then i realis

By McDonald, T.   |  Date 15th of March 2021 This No Beef Wellington is great and can be a part of many types of dinner from something special like New Years dinner or as a midweek comforter.  It goes good with roasted veg or boiled potatoes.  This particular No beef wellington is from Wicked Kitchen.  It is wrapped in fantastic light flaky pastry and really does have a meaty taste.  Just under the pastry is a layer of mushroom and herbs.  Just take a look at that lovely texture and beautiful pastry! Wicked Wellington This wellington is truly great; however, nothing is perfect and it does come with fat and salt, so resist the temptation to over do it with the portion sizes.  As with other mock meats, it lacks protein and B vitamins meaning you we need to get them from somewhere else.  That is way I tend to have a lot of vegetables and add nutritional yeast with B12 to the gravy.  Fats Since there is a lot of fat in a vegan wellington, it seems to make sense to examine fats and their