Vegan Carrot Cake

I decided to stop making chocolate cake every time I do some baking and try something new, so made carrot cake instead!



I used this recipe: http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/food/recipes/cakes/carrot-cake.aspx  Most of the ingredients seem to be things likely to be lurking in your kitchen cupboards anyway, or if not, should be easy enough to find in the shops.

Fairly simple to make. It's quite rich, which I suppose is a good thing since it stops me reaching for another slice straight away...!

The buttercream icing ideally goes on top, but I ended up making it as a sandwich cake after the cake tin I was originally planning to use decided to not work properly, so the buttercream went as a filling instead. Still works perfectly fine to make a nice cake.

Helping Hillside

A few days ago I posted about ways to help Hillside Animal Sanctuary, who are in desperate need of more funds.


One good way to raise some money for them are the new "Guess the Name of the Animal" competitions.

Me with the cuddly dog!

For £5 (which you can claim back later if you want), you get a cuddly dog or donkey toy, a big card with 30 possible names for your chosen animal, and an envelope containing the name of the animal. For a £1 a go, you get friends, family, and basically anyone you know, to guess the name of the animal. Once all 30 possible names have been chosen, you open the envelope to reveal the real name for the cuddly animal. The person who guessed the correct name wins the cuddly animal! It's a fun way to raise some funds for Hillside, and it also helps raise awareness, letting people know that Hillside Animal Sanctuary exists. I recommend ordering some leaflets (which are free, though of course you can donate to help cover their costs if you can) to give out when people guess the cuddly's name.

I went for the dog, which is very cute and soft, and a good size, too! It came with some back copies of Hillside's newsletter for me to give to those who take part to find out more about Hillside.


To order a "Guess the Name of the Donkey / Dog" pack, please visit http://www.hillside.org.uk/acatalog/Raising_Funds_for_Hillside_s_Animals.html

Book Review - Striking at the Roots

For many people new to veganism and animal rights, knowing how and where to start with outreach can be difficult. In "Striking at the Roots", Mark Hawthorne guides us through various forms of outreach, with plenty of tips from other experienced activists thrown in for good measure. Areas covered include leafleting, demonstrations, coroporate campaigning, and other important forms of campaigning.


The chapter, "Food as Outreach", struck me as one of the best parts of the book, and an area which more activists need to be aware of. After all, how many times have you been told by someone that they won't switch to veganism because "vegan food is dull"? By discussing how to promote veganism through activities such as food fayres and cooking workshops, Hawthorne shows us how to destroy the view that vegans live off salad leaves while promoting cruelty free living in a way which is friendly and effective. As someone who's planning to hold a vegan food fayre at some point (fairly soon I hope!), this is really useful stuff to know.


Another good inclusion is the chapter, "Animal Care: Activists are Animals Too". Being burnt-out is not good for anyone, so Hawthorne looks at why and how we can look after ourselves as activists.


Despite being an American book, as a UK activist I still found it very useful and relevant. Definitely recommended to new and experienced activists alike.


Available on many online shops, including http://www.animalaidshop.org.uk/guidebooks.htm

Hillside in Crisis



A cow at Hillside's West Runton sanctuary,
Norfolk, England

Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk, England desperately needs our help to keep caring for the hundreds of rescued animals who live there.

What We Can Do

- Buy from their giftshop - http://hillside.org.uk/acatalog/allgifts.html



- Distribute Hillside leaflets, and use the cardboard donation boxes to collect loose change to donate. Available from

http://hillside.org.uk/acatalog/videos.html

Billy Griffin the pig at Hillside. He is
one of the animals you can adopt
 to support Hillside's work.



- "Adopt" one of their rescued animals, or sponsor a rescued dog. See http://hillside.org.uk/acatalog/Adoptions.html and http://hillside.org.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Adoptions.html



Me with one of the donkeys at
Hillside, August 2010



- Go to a Hillside open day! I went to one last August - well worth going! It's wonderful to see animals living happily, especially when you consider the conditions many of them suffered in before arriving at Hillside. See http://www.hillside.org.uk/OpenDaysatWestRunton.htm

- Fundraise for Hillside. There are collection tins available from their shop - http://hillside.org.uk/acatalog/videos.html (please make sure you have a the relevant permission before holding a street collection).

 - Guess the name of the donkey or dog -http://www.hillside.org.uk/acatalog/Raising_Funds_for_Hillside_s_Animals.html

- Any other fundraising you can do. Vegan bake sales, sponsored events - anything you can think of!

www.hillside.org.uk

Vegan Chocolate Banana Milkshakes

The amounts for all of the ingredients are rough. Makes roughly two to three large glasses of milkshake.

3-4 bananas, chopped

1 and a 1/2 glasses (use the glass size you're going to drink it from) chosen non-dairy milk, e.g. soya or oat

A few tbsp of vegan vanilla ice cream

Roughly a tsp of cocoa powder (I recommend having a bit extra to hand so you can add more to taste if necessary)

(Too much cocoa powder can really ruin it, so I tend to add little bits (e.g. 1/2 tsp) at a time till it's right.)

Chuck it all in a blender and watch as it all mixes into a delicious milkshake.

Enjoy!

Recipe - Tofu and Vegetable Stir-fry

Tofu and Vegetable Stir-fry

Serves two

Stir-fry with tofu, red bell pepper, courgette, onion, garlic, mushroom
and seaweed, served with leafy salad

Tofu and vegetable stir-fry is one of my favourite meals. Being a student, I find it’s great as it’s fairly affordable, easy and quick to make, nutritious, and tasty.

There are so many things you can include in the stir-fry. Pick around four or five of vegetable ingredients, or substitute in your own preferred ones. 

Roughly 260g firm tofu, cut into small chunks

1 onion, diced

Garlic to taste (I use around 4 cloves), crushed or sliced

1 courgette, diced

1 bell pepper, diced or sliced

3-6 mushrooms, diced or sliced,

1 medium to large carrot, thinly sliced or grated

½ small to medium red cabbage, chopped or sliced

4-6 cherry tomatoes, diced

A couple of handfuls of rice noodles (if using)

Seasonings as preferred, e.g. paprika, chilli powder, mixed herbs, salt, pepper, etc.

Heat up some oil (e.g. olive oil) in a large frying pan or wok on a medium-low heat. Once the oil is warm, add the tofu. Stir and turn the tofu over regularly.

After a few minutes, add the onion and garlic. Keep stirring. Once the onion has started to soften, add the bell pepper / carrot / red cabbage. Keep stirring. As these soften, add the courgette / mushrooms / tomatoes – keep stirring! Add your preferred seasoning.

After a few minutes of cooking (still on a medium-low heat), when everything should be about cooked through, add the rice noodles (if using), and keep on the heat till the noodles are cooked (the packet should say how long they need). Serve with a mixed salad, for example rocket and spinach.

Variations…

·        Seaweed works well with tofu stir-fry, too, and is a good source of iodine. Cook according to instructions on the packaging.

·        If preferred, marinade the tofu in a sauce (e.g. chilli sauce) for around half an hour before you begin cooking.

·        You can, of course, make this without the tofu and have it as a vegetable stir-fry instead.

·        I sometimes don’t bother with rice noodles, as it still does taste really nice without them!

Veganism on Campus

Been busy with various bits of campaigning the last few weeks! On Friday 5th Feb, Staffs Uni Vegan Society ran our first vegan info stall and free food giveaway on campus. Despite the weather being very windy (which is why having a plentiful supply of elastic bands is always a must!) and it being a fairly quiet Friday afternoon, we still had many people coming over to try out some free vegan food and take leaflets and booklets. Also gave out leaflets to promote our first meeting.


Food-wise, we had vegan chocolate brownies (based on the recipe here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolatebrownies_83803 ), plus with vegan chocolate "butter"cream and vegan chocolate buttons on top.
Also had things like vegan faux meats (sausages, sausage rolls, "bacon", sandwiches with various fillings, etc.) and vegan cheese samples.


Weds 16th Feb was our first public meeting. Unfortunately, it clashed with a general meeting organised by the Students' Union which was only announced a couple of days before. It ended up being more like an indoor stall than a meeting! Again, had free food samples and lots of leaflets and booklets. I ended up standing outside the building it was held in for a while handing out leafelts to entice people inside, with the promise of free food! It's things like this which illustrate how you have to be flexible and understand that not everything will always go to plan.


Should be organising more stalls and meetings in the near future. Getting a new group off the ground is going to be difficult, but here's hoping once we get going things will be great!