Veganuary Week 1; an exercise in eating as many chocolate chip cookies as possible.
If you haven’t yet tired of me rabbiting on about my temporary veganism on social media yet, welcome. This month I am tackling a plant-based diet for the whole of January, or Veganuary, if you will.
Partly for the planet. Partly for the animals. Partly to save money. Partly to balance out all the cured meats and aged cheeses I ate last month. Truthfully, mostly for the content, because January is dry is the land of food blogging and yer woman here still needs to earn the bag.
I went vegan for a week last year, which went pretty well. I enjoyed the challenge. It forced me to be more creative in the kitchen, and helped me try new foods. This time, my lovely boyfriend is doing it with me (I didn’t even force him to…I promise) which should make things easier.
Every week of this month, you’ll be served brand new vegan recipes and an update on how things are going. So if you are a fellow temporary vegan, or if you are plant-based full-time, I hope you can gain something. If not, I hope you enjoy the misery of how much I miss cheese.
TO WATCH A VIDEO ON VEGANUARY WEEK 1, CLICK HERE!
How did WEEK 1 go?
It is an inherent nature of mine to complain about everything. However, this week was not at all bad. The week began messily, following the new year’s celebrations. We had mostly managed to scrape it together by day 2, swiftly declining as I ate myself into a cookie-heavy stupor from day 3 onwards. Oops.
As Francesco struggled with the loss of bacon and minute steaks, I muddled through quite happily. I like tofu, I enjoy oat milk, and the novelty of all the new foods kept me quite excited for each meal.
Just as expected, the inconvenience was the most challenging aspect. It is not as easy to grab whatever you fancy from the shop or scoff any free food in the office. Eating and cooking is a much more thoughtful affair. Even when you’re just eating cookies.
Oh also: bloating. Lots of unexpected-fibre-increase bloating.
WHAT I ATE:
DAY 1 – THURSDAY:
Admittedly, this day was a bit of a mess. We woke up in the early afternoon thanks to a late night, and still had some very non-vegan trifle leftovers to eat.
- Leftover trifle
- Tempeh and vegetable fried rice
- (Tea and water)
DAY 2 – FRIDAY:
A working day, followed by drinks.
- Oat milk porridge with banana and Pip&Nut Pumpkin Spice Almond Butter
- Lentil soup with white bread
- Stir fried leeks, mushrooms, aubergine and green beans with herby tomato cous cous
- (Coffee, water, kombucha, gin and prosecco)
DAY 3 – SATURDAY:
A day mostly consisting of delicious vegan junk.
- La Boulangere Vegan Pain au Chocolat with a pear
- Half of a Galaxy Vegan Caramel Sea Salt bar
- 2 homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies
- Mushroom Bourguignon with olive oil mashed potatoes – SCROLL DOWN FOR RECIPE
- (Tea, coffee and water)
DAY 4 – SUNDAY:
Guess what? More cookies.
- 2 homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies with a pear
- Vegan burger with hasselback potatoes in “cheese” sauce, a side of cauliflower “cheese” and some gherkins
- Vegan Biscoff chocolate mousse
- (Tea and water)
DAY 5 – MONDAY:
Hungry.
- Alpro coconut yoghurt with Kellogg’s granola and a banana
- Tangerine
- Five bean chilli with rice and tortilla chips
- Homemade vegan chocolate chip cookie
- Fridge clear-out salad (tofu, aubergine, avocado, green beans, spinach) in a soy and maple dressing
- (Tea, water, kombucha and white wine)
DAY 6 – TUESDAY:
Bloated.
- Vanilla protein overnight oats
- Avocado, pepper and Violife “cheddar” sandwich and a Blueberry Nakd bar
- Half a bar of dark chocolate
- Tofu and lentil tikka masala with basmati rice
- (Tea, coffee and water)
DAY 7 – WEDNESDAY:
Still bloated.
- One homemade vegan chocolate chip cookie
- One slice of homemade vegan banana bread
- Blueberry Nakd bar
- Sesame seed bagel with smoked carrot ribbons and cream “cheese”
- Leftover curry with mixed salad and corn cakes
- (Tea, coffee, kombucha and water)
That cookie recipe is on the way in the next few days. In the mean time, take a wee free recipe below and I’ll see ya soon!
MUSHROOM BOURGUIGNON WITH OLIVE OIL MASHED POTATOES (serves 3-4)
Admittedly a slightly unconventional concoction, made from what I had to satisfy nostalgic cravings for my Granny’s beef stew. It is untraditional, but follows along the same lines and provides all the richness of the meat you’re likely used to.
Ingredients for the mushroom bourguignon:
5 dried porcini mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil
1 large onion
1 whole punnet of button or chestnut mushrooms (I used button)
3 large carrots
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 vegetable stock cube
200ml red wine or stout (I used stout)
Small pinch each of dried rosemary and dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients for the olive oil mashed potatoes:
800g floury potatoes (I used Maris Piper)
150ml non-dairy milk, plus more to adjust consistency if necessary (I used oat milk)
40ml extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp mustard (optional)
Small pinch of dried rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
To make the mushroom bourguignon:
- Place the porcini in a mug and fill the mug with freshly boiled water from a kettle. Set aside and allow to steep.
- Set a large saucepan or cast iron pot over a low heat. Pour the oil in.
- Thinly slice your onions and add them to the pan.
- Allow the onions to cook gently for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Quarter your mushrooms and add them to the pan to cook for 5 minutes while you prepare the carrots.
- Peel the carrots and chop into hefty chunks. Add them to the pan.
- Stir the tomato puree into the pan, alongside the flour, sugar and stock cube. Allow to cook for 1 minute.
- Gradually pour in the wine/stout, stirring as you go to incorporate it smoothly.
- Stir in the herbs and soaked porcini alongside their steeping liquid.
- Allow to simmer very gently (barely bubbling) for at least 1 hour, half-covered with a lid. By which point it should look dark, rich and thickened. The vegetables should be nicely softened.
- Give it a taste, adding salt and pepper as necessary.
- Allow to continue gently cooking while you prepare your mash.
To make the olive oil mashed potatoes:
- Peel your potatoes and chop them into 3cm chunks.
- Cook the potato chunks in a pan of salted boiling water for 10-13 minutes or until soft enough to break apart with a fork.
- Drain the water from the pan thoroughly.
- Place the pan of potato chunks over a low heat.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mash using a fork or potato masher until you have a smooth mash.
- Serve in generous dollops, ladling the mushroom bourguignon over the top.
