Vegan Effect

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 28th of June 2021 While visiting my Mum, she told me about some vegan recipes that she knew about so i wrote them down and now i am sharing one of those little wonders with you.  This is a lovely little treat that is simple and fun at dinner parties or festivals.  If you like vegan food, why not subscribe to this blog?  This is lovely desert with great texture and is filling. Waste Short term  None  Long term Oat container unless you can get them from a zero waste shop. Vegan butter wrapper.   Flour bag. Golden syrup tin. Almond butter jar.  Cornflour packet. Tips  Get fresh cherries from the market and freeze them yourself.  This will make them zero waste.  If you can get almonds from a zero waste shop, why not try making your own almond butter? Choose a vegan butter that is not in a plastic tub. 6 Large slices Ingredients  250g of defrosted and drained frozen cherries 100g of oats 150g of plain flour 2 tbsp of golden syrup 2 tbsp of almond butter 75

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 25th of June 2021 Zero waste is the idea of having zero waste from businesses and households.  It is an ideal that we may never fully achieve and is more of a goal that we aim for.  For instance, some food packaging is unavoidable.  However, with new shops like Unwrapped form the prospect trust the problem of food packaging could be a thing of the past. Although some changes still need to be made to reach zero waste, this kind of forward thinking is taking us in the right direction. Unwrapped is about 3 - 5 minutes walk from the Cathedral in Ely, England heading towards the Police Station and is situated near the lighthouse community centre. What was on sale? Lentils, beans, pasta and other food items as well as toiletries and cleaning products.  I saw non vegan food, which was a little disappointing and not all the products where zero waste.  Nonetheless, they did have dispensers  for the pasta, beans and lentils, see figure 1,2 and 3.  Figure 1, di

  Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 23rd of June 2021   While looking around for different types of bread, i found several posts for making lentil bread and i though i would give it a try.  However, when i looked in the cupboard all i had was yellow split peas.  Nonetheless, i thought i would give it a try to see what it was like.  This has 2 basic ingredients: yellow split peas and water.  The salt is optional and you could even add some sugar if you want.  Blended yellow split peas Serves 4 Ingredients  Yellow split peas x 0.5 cups Water x 300ml Salt x a pinch (optional) Method Soak the split peas in the water for 4 hrs or better still overnight. Without draining, add the split peas and the water into a blender and blend until a creamy paste forms. This should take about 1 -2 minutes on high speed. Poor a thin layer into a hot frying pan.  Use the back of a tablespoon to shape it into a circle if needed.  Use the flipper to loosen from the pan and flip after about 45 seconds and hea

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 21st of June 2021         I used to love star Trek as a kid and have spent many hours watching it as an adult. Subsequently, i and many others noticed a Bajoran food called hasperat in Deep Space Nine.  Although it is not clear what Hasperat is, this is my interpretation of this classic DS9 food.  If you want to know how i arrived at this recipe, please read my report on it titled, Rebel Region Hasperat Wraps: the report. Waste Short term Tortilla wrapper (but only if you use the store bought ones otherwise it is zero)  Long term  Zero unless you make your own tortillas in which case you will have flour a bag and a glass bottle from the oil. Serves 2 Ingredients   Tortillas x 2 or 3 Avocado x 1    Onion x 1/2 a large   Gloves of garlic x 2   Bell pepper x 1/2 Mustard and horseradish x 1 tsp Method Part 1 Cut the avocado in half, remove the stone in the middle and scrape out the avocado into a bowl with a spoon.    Mash the avocado with a folk. 

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Updated 5th of August 2021 I have been looking for ways to make bread and this is one of the easiest I could find.  No need for kneading makes it so easy all you have to do is mix all the ingredients together and leave it overnight before baking it the next day.  This recipe has some extras in so if you want to make it closer to zero waste, just leave out the optionals.  Dough for the olive and bell pepper version Waste Short term waste: Zero  Long term waste: Flour packaging Yeast packaging 2 Glass jars (optional) Sugar packaging  Salt container  Mix the dry ingredients together. Sticky dough. After 12 hours, put into a big pot. Serves 6 Ingredients 2 cups plain white flour 2 cups wholemeal (Strong or bread) or rye flour  2 -3 tbsp of caster sugar (optional)  1/4 cup of sliced olives (optional) 4 chopped sun-dried tomatoes (optional)   1 tsp Salt   1/

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 17th of June 2021 If you like Salsa, this is a great way to make it zero waste.  Why buy expensive products in plastic when you can just make them yourself without the plastic packaging for less?  Just remember to buy the loose ingredients. Salsa is the easiest thing to make.  It is low in calories and goes with most things.  Waste Short term Zero. Long term  Zero if you don't use salt or can get it without the packaging. Ingredients  Tomatoes x 5 Onion x 1 small Chillies or Jalapeno peppers x as hot as you like! Salt x a dash (optional)  Herbs (optional) Water x 2 tbsp Method  Step 1 Chop three of the tomatoes and the onion.  Pulse in a blender or continue chopping.  The idea is to get small chunks of tomato and onion not a paste. Poor out into o bowl or container.  Step 2 Blend the remaining two tomatoes to a paste.  Poor the tomato paste over the chopped tomatoes and onion.  Add the herbs, chillies and/or jalapeno peppers then give it a good m

Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 14th of June 2021       This is a lovely stir fry that has plenty of nutrition. The carrot provides lots of vitamin A while the tofu provides both calcium and protein as well as some iron. Not only is this dish full of nutrition it is full of taste too.  The key, i feel, to any dish with tofu is the press the tofu first, which allows the tofu to soak up all those delicious flavours.  You might be tempted to leave out the cranberries; however, this would be a mistake since they add so much to the overall flavour.  The sauce is sweet and comforting. Cranberries make a lovely addition Serve 2 Ingredients  Tofu x 100g Cranberries x 20g Carrot x 60g Courgette x 180g Onion x 1 small Leek x 80g Broccoli x 80g Cumin x 1 tsp Paprika x 1 tsp For sauce Rapeseed oil x 2 tsp Cider vinegar x 3 tbsp Soya sauce x 2 tsp Vegetable stock x 200ml Nutritional yeast x 3g Method  Prepare the tofu. Then cut into bite size cubes and coat with the cumin and paprika. Heat a fry