Just came home from the Pinkbox event earlier at Aria in BHS Central where I had such an awesome, awesome time. The food was great (lots of vego choices, I tell you. Thank you Aria, for being vego-friendly. I went for seconds for that arugula salad!). When I stepped out of the restaurant, it was quite pouring and there were no cabs in sight, so I decided to walk it. Unfortunately, it was closing time as well so every block in BHS had no cab in sight. Then I remembered! Why not pass by Echostore since I'm there already?

Echostore sells organic and locally-grown toiletries that are environmentally-friendly and animal friendly too. Instead of using plastic bags, they reuse magazine pages and newspapers for their packaging. Not only is it a source for organic bath, body, and baby products, they also have a cafe and a mini-grocery that sells organic fruits and vegetables plus meats.

In my case though, I purchased a no-meat.

I finally found them tofu burgers after eating them from a photoshoot. Thankfully, they told me where to purchase the patties and I found them. I almost resulted to making my own veggie patties despite my lack of patience since ready made ones were expensive, around Php800+ when I canvased. Thankfully, I found a pack of 18 that sells for just Php 325. These burgers are nutty, spicy, and super flavorful, it's hard to believe there's not an ounce of meat in it.

The texture even looks like meat! The patties are a bit small though, so depending on the size of the burger bun, you might need to use two.

In my case, I made an open-faced sandwich using these patties. I ate quite a lot of food at the event earlier but I can't skip meals so I thought I'd keep my dinner light, just to have something in my tummy.

I also didn't want to go full production too, as it was dinnertime, so I thought I'd go light and make this one. Just one piece and I'm good. I first pan-grilled the pattie then chopped it up and spread it on a slice of bread spread with my fake butter. I topped it with mozarella cheese (the real thing, since I still eat cheese). I can either put this back in the griller until the cheese melts and gets all goey or pop it for a couple of minutes in the toaster oven. I chose the latter. It's cheesy and filling but not to the point of bursting!

When I have some time, I'll probably throw in mushrooms, a salsa, and probably a salad on the side. For now, the sweet treat here would be the peach juice on that glass.

Hazelnut Banana Smoothie

#6: Quick Recipe for A Banana Smoothie

As promised, I'm sharing my recipe for the hazelnut banana smoothie I made earlier for lunch. It's pretty good, it's yummy, and creamy! It can be vegan too, if you skip the honey or use coconut sugar instead.

HAZELNUT BANANA SMOOTHIE

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas, sliced (slice them, and your blender will not be put to stress)
• 1/2 cup cold hazelnut milk, chocolate flavor  (I used Pacific brand, purchased at Healthy Options. You can use plain if you wish, or almond. I've taken a photo of my nut milks below, so you know how they look like the next time you go shopping

• honey or coco sugar, if you're strict vegan
• dash of cinnamon
• dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Procedure:
Blend everything in a blender and serve. Serves 1-2.

The measurements really vary, I didn't use measuring cups here and just dunked the blended and pressed puree then whip. The cinnamon is an added flavor, I just want a bit of warmth and spice to it. The cayenne pepper I got from an idea from another smoothie recipe I got. It gives a nice kick to the smoothie so there's a bit of spice. I've heard it's also got health benefits aside from that zing to things and life. Anyway, the spice in cayenne pepper kinda sneaks up to you, so use this sparingly, especially if you're making the smoothie. It's optional anyway, so those who are traditional and want the sweet, mellow taste of the smoothie without the kick, then go ahead and stop at cinnamon. Ice can be added if you want it really cold, but it kinda dilutes the milk and the flavor so I prefer having my smoothies pure or with just water/fruit juice/vego-milks just served cold.

Tomorrow, I'll be dealing with mangoes. :)

Quick Lunching

#5: Sun dried tomato pesto and banana smoothie

I had early work today, early like 5 am and I had an errand afterwards. After going home, I fell asleep and woke up and found out that it was lunch time already. So what I did? I mixed pre-bottled pasta sauce, some penne, and whipped up a smoothie with a kick.

Bottled pasta sauces (making sure there's no meat of course) and pasta are my instant food when It's mealtime. Instead of ice cream, I chose to make a smoothie instead. This isn't chocolate chip but banana hazelnut smoothie, which for me is a better way to eat bananas. Just drink it up! I'm lactose intolerant and so I need nut-based milks for my calcium intake.

Lunches need not be complicated, especially when you want something quick.

Power Breakfast

#4: Sweet treats, omelette tweaked up. 

More than just bread and some spread, here's what my working breakfast is, with eggs and dairy this time, because the last two I posted were vegan.

Two slices of toasted bread, one spread with Nutella. The other one is supposed to be the companion for my scrambled eggs. Okay fine, I included the yolk here when I beat the eggs and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. While scrambling the egg, I  added some cheese and nuts. Cereal + soy milk because my body can't tolerate milk. Gave a more conscious effort with putting in more protein sources as I need a lot of fuel this week.

Vegan Sinigang Recipe

#3 Turning one old favorite comfort food that I thought I would say goodbye to into one vegan dish to last me for days

One of the things I thought I would miss once I started going veg is sinigang. This sour soup with meat and vegetables in a tamarind base is one of my favorite comfort foods and since it needed meat to make the broth (or so I thought) I thought I'd be saying goodbye to it forever. Sure, there are fish alternatives like fish (bangus or salmon) or shrimp, but I'm not very good at advanced level seafood in the kitchen, and we're doing this DIY. In DIY cooking though, because I'm a cheapo, I was able to google a lot of blog posts like this, this, and this and found a lot of vegetarian sinigang versions, some even vegan. Some had a lot of ingredients, others had few. Some were strict up to using the tamarind from scratch while others allowed the tamarind soup base. Anyway, what I did was base my DIY recipe from my past knowledge on how to cook it as well the ingredients the recipes I searched for into this vegan dish. The result? It practically tastes the same.

VEGAN SINIGANG

Ingredients:

• 6 tomatoes, sliced
• 2 pcs gabi (taro corm), peeled and diced
• 3 small onions, quartered
• one pack fresh button mushrooms (they're better fresh, I tell you)
• 2 pcs. eggplant, quartered
• one long radish, peeled and sliced diagonally
• 1 small bunch string beans cut into 1-1/2 inch length
• 1 cup spinach or kangkong
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• 1 pack sinigang soup mix (if you're very strict, check the ingredients if they still have essence of pork or beef. if none, then you're good. the one I had didn't. Yay!)
• to season: rock salt, ground pepper, vegan patis or liquid aminos

Procedure
1. Place the tomatoes, gabi, and onions in a mixing bowl with some salt. Mash them together until well-blended. You might experience some itching from the gabi. Just wash your hands with soap and water after. Place them in a soup pot and fill with water until the veggies are covered. Allow to boil.
2. When the mixture boils, add in button mushrooms and radish and boil some more.

3. Mix in the tamarind soup base.
4. Add radish, broccoli, eggplants, and string beans. season to taste with salt, ground pepper, and a bit of liquid aminos. If the flavor of the soup is too strong, you can add some water.
5. If you want, you can add long green peppers too.
6. Lastly, add the spinach, press them a bit down. wait for a few seconds, and turn off the fire.
7. Serve with hot and steamy plain  rice.

For those wondering, it's quite hard to describe but the taste is just the same. For those who cook sinigang the omnivore way with pork or beef, you guys remember that we have to skim out the white scum that floats at the surface as the broth boils? None of that. It has a much "cleaner" taste though. One recipe I think is good for 5-6 people.

Lentil Lunch

#2: Tackling the Lentils, Getting Used To Alternative Protein Source And All That Jazz

One of the challenges in going veggie is finding protein sources. Meat, as we all know is one good source of protein. Thankfully, athletic vegans and vegetarians have proven that there are plant-based protein sources, and these, in fact are healthy and lean proteins. Some of them are beans, tofu, legumes, mushrooms, and even vegetables like broccoli.

I love vegetables but I admit, I have a hate relationship with beans and legumes. I don't like monggo or all permutations of it, as some people love it. It's scratchy, grainy, and starchy, and has no taste at all. Lentils are something similar though to monggo. They look alike, and sort of taste alike. I just had to give this legume a chance because, according to Wikipedia, it has the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any legume or nut. I want to build muscle and still live. So here I go give this baby a try.

I found a lentil soup recipe from the Facebook page Going Vegan By Dirdy Birdy. Dirdy Birdy (that's her screen name!) is an awesome pole dancer based in Australia. She's also an animal lover, owning three adorable cats: Billie, Stewie, and Minty, two of them rescues. She turned vegan just recently and does awesomely at it. Her vegan Facebook page features a lot of easy and tasty vegan recipes to try at home as well as her daily vegan meals whether she's at home, touring the world, or just walking the streets looking for something to eat.

I wanted to give her lentil soup a try. It uses a lot of rich spices like paprika, cumin seed, and cayenne pepper, which means it would be richer in taste than monggo soup, I would guess. So on a grocery trip, I packed the grocery cart with a whole lot of veggies and gave it a go. I actually thought I'd be making an extra trip to Healthy Options to get them lentils but thankfully, SM had a bag for like 53 pesos. Thank you SM, you are awesome and you do have it all, even for vegos like us!

Lentils, are you ready for me? Or should I say, am I ready for you?

 Chopped fresh veggies - onions, carrots, and fresh mushrooms, just added the mushrooms from the original recipe

My very high-tech and environment-friendly guide. No printouts here.

Lentils take quite a long time to cook, especially for those that aren't canned, since I want them tender. I had to season a bit extra more since I wanted it really flavorful.

Tadaaa!!!! Yeah, you really look like monggo, with carrots, peas, and mushrooms.

Somewhat, the texture is almost the same, except that there's more tasty, spicy thingies. The recipe suggests to serve with toasted bread, but I'd probably go with this: Fried spinach with garlic and soy sauce.

Not to mention, spinach is a good source of iron, which I need.

 Hello lunch! You're filling, you're tasty, and you didn't make me burst. The house smelled like cumin even up to like 8 pm. So aerate is the bird's word. And odor absorber.

More soups and recipes up! But I think I'd need a bit of getting used to with lentils, which I'm having for lunch again today.

The Cat That Pushed Me

#1: Why I decided to go pescetarian and why this blog came about

By day, I'm a makeup artist. By night, I'm a pole dancer and recent yoga practitioner. I'm a proud animal lover and pet owner. I loved eating vegetables ever since I was a little girl. As most little kids gag at the taste or sight of spinach or broccoli, I was one of the rare few who loved it. I thought of broccoli as "tiny trees" and carrots were alluded most of the time to me as Bugs Bunny's favorite food. It wasn't hard for me to eat vegetables. I've had my share of meat too, like steak (I used to devour a huge porterhouse steak all by myself), burger, fried chicken, and pork chop. They were tasty, and just like any child, this became part of my daily diet.

 I've tried going veggie years ago and have been on and off with it. I'd be in a lucky streak then Wagyu would find me back. I'd still find myself eating vegetables more than my meat consumption, but I've been wanting to stop eating meat permanently, first for health reasons as I know my once speed-of-light metabolism will soon decline once I get older. Also, since I live in a country that thrives on a purely-meat diet, it was difficult in eating out or going to parties. 

What made me start to do this seriously? It took one little kitty to help me push me to do this permanently.

That little kitty is now my pet, who happens to be a rescue cat. This cat was once a victim of animal cruelty that my other kitty friend found in the corridor of  our building. On the night of his rescue, when we took him to the vet, my body just couldn't bear to eat meat when we decided to have dinner while waiting for his results. Seeing an innocent animal suffer was just too much to bear. And taking in the rescue kitty as my own little boy, I promised him and his animal friends that they will never hurt again. 

My cat was just the beginning of it all for me to finally cut meat out for good. Whenever I travel, I would see trucks carrying pigs and cattle for slaughter. The pens that held the pigs were too cramped for them to move. What appalled me too was when I saw that the pigs had slash marks on their skin. It was the final straw. 

I do recognize that going strict vegetarian would be hard. For one thing, our diet is composed mainly of meats. Also, I do a lot of sports, and I needed a lot of protein for muscle repair. I decided to just cut beef, pork, and chicken from my diet. I still eat fish but only very occasionally, around four times a week. So you could say that I'm a pescetarian. It is still hard, but I'm not saying that it is impossible. It's hard to find a place to eat out when before, I could just grab a burger or a shawarma at a food stall and go. I have to be picky and selective on where I eat and how I plan my meals. As I've started just 2 months ago, I am not allowing myself "cheat" days because once I start, it would be all back to square one. Trust me, it happened so many times. 

The first month was tough. I was masungit a lot of times and I found myself craving for tapsilog and I'd be the butt of all heckle and jeckle (any vegetarians here who have been told na , "ang arte-arte mo naman!" or "ang KJ mo kasama! ang sarap ng hotdog at liempo!" can relate) Thankfully, I found solace in a lot of people - some cut out red meat from their diet. Some are very strict vegetarians and vegans. Some are ovo-lacto vegetarians. Some are like me, who still consume fish and seafood. I get inspired reading about people -athletes, artists, and celebrities, who went vegetarian and never went back. Just yesterday, I met an awesome lady who has been a vegetarian for 10 years and encouraged me to go on. Yes. I'm doing this cold turkey. Yes, I'm still in that difficult phase, but since I already am aware of why I am doing this, that is, my love for animals and animal welfare, it would be a great way for me to go on.

Thats why I started this blog. Just like in my makeup blog, I wanted to see my progress. It also helps me as I write about this to learn new recipes, by trying them out and posting them as well as to push me to finally make this lifestyle permanent. Notice that I'm not calling going vegetarian (or pescetarian, in my case), a diet. Diets mean that they will be over after the program, but I plan to make this my lifestyle. With the world (or okay, maybe a few people who are interested in reading) watching, I'll be very cautious about what I eat. Hopefully, this will also encourage people to do the same habit. Your body and the environment would thank you for it. I won't force. I'll inspire.

I'll be out discovering kitchen recipes, DIY kitchen experiments, vegan (or vegetarian) restaurants and food choices, and inserting animal welfare sites and announcements (as it is what inspired me) as well as tidbits on my fat baby cat, Candy (that's his name by the way). I'll make this lifestyle fun. Whether you are ovo-lacto vegetarian, pescetarian, vegan, or strict vegetarian, it's your choice. :) Just like my makeup blog, I will make this fun.