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!

Eating Out

At first glance, eating out as a vegan can seem fairly hard. While many cafes, restaurants and other eateries seem to be getting more accustomed to catering for vegetarians, getting good vegan food when eating out may appear more difficult at times.

Some vegetarian options are suitable for vegans, yet for some reason, many vegetarian dishes are smothered with copious amounts of cheese! Although I’ve had to have chips and salad when eating out a few times (which in all honesty doesn’t bother me!), I can’t think of a single time I’ve gone somewhere and they haven’t been able to cater for me.

Some tips:

·        If at all possible, phone up ahead. You’ll find they already have vegan options (or dishes that are easily converted to being vegan); that there are no vegan options but the chef will kindly make you something suitable; or, in the rare, worst case scenario, they will struggle to serve up a good vegan meal – but by phoning you didn’t waste time going there only to be disappointed.

·        Make your dietary requirements very clear. Having nut and sesame seed allergies, I’ve always been used to asking questions when ordering food. Make sure the waiting staff know what you can’t eat. Don’t feel bad about politely asking questions – if you think that garlic bread may contain dairy, ask!

·        Consider different cuisines when eating out. I’ve often found there’s at least one thing on the menu at Indian restaurants that’s suitable for vegans, though do check that your meal won’t be cooked with ghee (clarified butter). Chinese restaurants tend to also be quite good, as boiled rice and various vegetable dishes, and sometimes bean curd (tofu) are often options. With Italian cuisine, watch out for egg pasta, and check there’s no animal ingredients in pizza bases. If the pasta’s OK, then there will likely be a tomato or vegetable based sauce it can be served with, and most places will let you request pizza without any cheese.

There are, of course, many vegetarian / vegan restaurants out there. I recommend checking out http://www.happycow.net/ which lists many places that are exclusively vegetarian or vegan.

My Veganism

It was sometime during November 2007 that I went from being a lacto-ovo vegetarian to becoming a vegan. Unlike my vegetarianism (which started October 2006), going vegan wasn’t an overnight thing. It was a fairly gradual transition. In hindsight, I could have, and really should have, made the change sooner. (How best to go about going vegan is something I plan to cover in another post in the near future.)

So, three years and two months of veganism. Has it changed me as a person?

No. But very much Yes.

Going vegan isn’t joining a cult. I’m still very much me. Yet it has changed me. It’s changed the way I perceive certain things, especially in regards to the rights of other sentient beings. I honestly feel it has made me more compassionate, more empathetic towards animals, people and planet.

On a practical level, it very much shapes the way I live. And that’s not just avoiding animal products in food, clothing and toiletries – it’s avoiding cruelty in as many areas of my life as I can. It’s not supporting animal circuses, for example. It’s getting involved in vegan and animal rights outreach and activism to try and create positive change.

So yes, being vegan has had a profound effect on my life.

I’m sure many will agree with me. And many will disagree. Your veganism, like pretty much everything, is personal to you.

Please feel free to share how veganism has affected you as a person, or your lifestyle.

First Post...

Welcome to my Vegan Life and Living blog! I plan to post about many aspects of vegan life, from vegan reviews and recipes, to ethics and outreach.

I've been a vegan now for over three years. There are many reasons why people choose a plant-based diet. For me, it's the belief that animals aren't ours to exploit that made me make the switch.

The blog will be updated regularly, so please do check back!