"Let food be thy medicine"

I dedicate this post to my awesome & resourceful mum:

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” 

(Budda)

When we spoke I promised you a introduction. So here it is!

This might also be very useful for readers who want to gradually go in the direction of a plant based diet. This is a short introduction!

1. Easy, familiar & exciting plant based meals! (Vegan if you like..)

2. Let's bake something!

3. Nutritional yeast, your new pal!

4. Short guide to vitamins

5. Some inspirational vegans

1. Awesome meals!

There are just so many exciting things to eat! Plant based can be both familiar and even fast-food if you like. The most exciting I think is to make things from scratch and also be pleasantly surprised when it can be done in a few minutes. 

Breakfast

• Vegan breakfast - bread, spread & other ideas (English)

• Vegan breakfast ideas (Pictures!)
• Papaya surprise (Norwegian)
• Oatmeal with nuts & raisins (English)
• Homemade granola (English)
• Homemade granola with cinnamon (English)
• Collection of vegan breakfast ideas (English)
• Vegan spreads (Norwegian)

Speciality

• Hjemmelaget "brunost" (Norwegian) - Have no idea if this is good, or just crazy.

Dinner

• Awesome avocado salads (English)

• Adele-burger (in norwegian)
• Chickpea burgers (English)
• Pizza with spinach pesto & Bearnaise sauce (Norwegian)
• Tomato basil pesto pasta (English)
• Vegan lasagna (English)
• 15 minutes avocado pasta (English)
• Collection of pasta & noodle recipes (English)

Christmas

• Nøttestek (Norwegian)
• vegisterkaker (Norwegian)
• Sweet potato pancakes with whipped cinnamon cream (Video. English)
• Risengrynsgrøt (Norwegian)
• Riskrem (Norwegian)

Specialty

• Vegansk kleppmelk (Norwegian)

2. Let's bake!

• Skoleboller (Norwegian)
• Veganske eplemuffins (Norwegian)
• Råkake med avocado og limekrem (Norwegian)
• Troika kake (Norwegian)
• Cookie dough freezer fudge (English)
• Eplesnurrer (Norwegian)
• Vegan chocolate cake (English)

Christmas

Pepperkaker (Norwegian)

3. Nutritional yeast, your new pal!

A so called super food. It is also called "gærflager" in Danish and "næringsgjær" in Norwegian. Often added in food for a more nutty flavor. Many recipes recommend this. 

Nutritional yeast is fortified with vitamin B (especially the important B12).

I buy this here

Till now I have used it for: 

• Lasagna
• Pizza
• Taco
• Sauces
• sprinkling it on stuff for extra flavor

4. A short guide to vitamins!

Here are something you should think about if you go on a vegan diet.
(I borrowed this from the vegan RD. A vegan dietitian).

• Vitamin B12("Vitamin B12. You can’t get enough by eating unwashed organic produce or mushrooms grown in B12-rich soil. The recommended dose is 25 to 100 micrograms per day or 1,000 micrograms 2-3 times per week. If you have not been taking B12 for a while, start out with 2,000 micrograms daily for several weeks.")
• Vitamin D
  ("If you live where it’s sunny and warm all year and you spend time outdoors without sunscreen, you can make enough. The rest of us need a supplement or fortified foods (just like omnivores do) supplying 1,000 I.U.s of vitamin D. (This amount is well above the RDA for vitamin D but most experts think it’s warranted.")
• Iodin (jod)
  Eat salt with iodin in it.
  ("Omnivores get most of their iodine from dairy products, which pick up iodine from solutions used to clean cows and equipment on dairy farms. Vegans who regularly eat sea vegetables may get enough, but the content varies a lot as it does for sea salt and other “natural” salts. Miso, which some vegans prefer to use in place of salt—because it’s a whole food—is not usually a good source of iodine. The only reliable sources are iodized salt or a supplement providing around 90 micrograms per day.")

Also remember (like meat eaters) to eat or drink food rich in

Iron

Calcium (most soy milk have been added calcium, vitamin D and B12)

Omega 3 & 6

I recommend Udo's choice (liquid), not capsules as they are not vegetarian. 

I used to take cod liver oil, but now I have turned to Udo's choice instead. I have read that you also can have it in your food. You don't have to take a spoonful of it if you use it in your meal.

You can buy this in most health food shops.

5. Some inspirational or surprising vegans!

• Bill Clinton
• Ellen Degeneres 
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Joaquin Phoenix
• Mike Tyson

Famous vegans and vegetarians

Interview with Bill Clinton on WHY he became vegan






Fantastic speech! If you want to know something about going vegan and why. Watch this! He is a great orator. (In English with danish subtitles). A short intro before the actual speech.

The avocado love affair!

Don't you just love avocado? I know I do!
So I dedicate this post to two of my favorite uses for this awesome fruit! (Yes it is classified as a single seed fruit. I didn't know either!)

And the best? 
If you love avocado it loves you right back! --------------->



1. Vegan spread!

I just love starting my day with avocado! You can also eat it for lunch or as a snack. But try this!
- Slices of bread
- A ripe avocado (or as many as you need)
- Slices of tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes)
- Pepper
- Salt
- Lemon

Use as many slices of bread and avocado you need. Slice up the avocado and put on your bread. Do the same with the tomatoes. I like the slices not too thick. Then I squeezes some lemon on it (or from a bottle of concentrate) and sprinkle salt and pepper on. YUMMY!

2. In salads!

Oh, every kind of salad get's better! (In my opinion) Here are two of my favorites!


Colour-bomb-of-awesomeness

- Sweet corn (corn)
- Black beans (or kidney beans)
- AVOCADO <3
- Mango
- Red onion
- Cherry tomatoes (or dulcita)
- Fresh cilantro

You don't need any oils, it is A W E S O M E !

Yummy AND easy! 

Lots of colour is a sign it is HEALTHY!

Avocado-symphony-in C (for cranberry)

- Fresh spinach (baby or big leaves)
- Avocado (oh yes!)
- Red onion
- Cherry tomatoes
- Dried cranberries

If you want that salad with a twist I recommend some of these alternatives:

- Pomegranate
- Rice noodles
- Feta cheese (for the "meat-eaters" who wants "meatless mondays")

If you are vegan you can make your own feta cheese. Google it!

Add rice noodles & pomegranate for a change?

Avocado symphony of deliciousness

I'm vegan....ish ?

After seeing an Oprah episode about the studio going vegan for a week, I discovered a new term which I felt at home in! "Being veganish".

My last post here was about how I couldn't allow myself to be called a vegan, since I from time to time would have to be vegetarian. At home I live mainly vegan, but when on tour I need to be vegetarian from time to time and cannot live strictly vegan. I felt it was wrong to use a term I couldn't live up to, but now I have found a term I feel at home in, and can "defend".

Being veganish

My dinner today!

At the moment I am singing away from home for a month and lives in an hotel. I don't have any kitchen facilities so what I can make myself is limited. Another thing that is limited is the vegetarian alternatives in this little town. (If you eat out). Vegan is impossible, and feels rude to ask for. So I have ended up with making some food at home. It is also MUCH cheaper. At the moment is is just salads and bread and cereal-kind-of-food. I have a little fridge (it is BAD that hotels have the tendency to drop the fridges in their rooms now!)

What is good, is that the shop here have a pretty well stocked "gluten- dairy-free section". So I have rice milk for my cereal and some spreads for my bread. I usually go down to the dining room when breakfast is served, get some slices of bread and eat them with the spreads I have in my tiny fridge. 

But when I was on a tour of northern Norway earlier this year I changed hotel (city) every day. And I didn't have the time or possibility to get my vegan alternatives. And from time to time I had to eat some cheese on my bread. 

One "fun" story though was when I was in Hammerfest and ordered a quesedilla without meat. It went something like this:


Me: 
I would like a quesedilla without the meat. 

Waiter: 
No, that is not a meal. It wouldn't be quesedilla.

Me: 
I have made it at home several times. Just put more of the other stuff in there? Like onions, mushrooms and so on?

Waiter: (laughing) 
but that is not dinner.

(At this point another waiter says: "just let her get it")

Waiter: 
I will get the chef! (leaves)

(The chef arrives)

Chef: 
You want without meat? No (laughs) No, you need your protein!


(imagine my "you are kidding me" -face here....)


Ok, I was extremely surprised that the chef cared so much for my well-being that he had to come out from the kitchen to tell me to eat protein. I was close to thinking it was all a big joke. But no, this was serious. I ended up getting a meal, but not without "fighting" for it ;)

So this is one of the reasons I have to be veganish when on tour and other "strange" small places. It is hard enough to be vegetarian and I before I stopped eating meat I never noticed how Norwegians put meat in EVERYTHING! Several kinds of meat preferably. 

My gosh, I envy people in countries with whole foods, and awesome cities like Berlin. They seem to be vegan heaven compared to Norway!

A matter of terminology

Dear reader!

After being strict vegan for two months...

I have changed all my habits at home and also when I have been eating out.
I have been on several trips as vegan (both abroad and domestic) 

I have stopped buying leather.

I have started to buy ONLY cruelty-free make-up & household products.

I have read tons of awesome vegan blogs and gotten lots of great advice.

I have read and seen lots of the abuse we put our fellow earthlings through.

I have participated in my first demonstration against the fur industry in Norway. 

I am a better cook after being forced to learn to make new & exciting things.

I have visited a vegetarian/vegan food fair & learned about new products.

I have gotten to know some fantastic vegan people. 

But I have also felt that I can't be "perfect". 

When I am at home I have had few problems living strictly vegan. Also if I am to go somewhere and I could plan my stay well in advance. But I am not getting much time to plan things when it comes to work. As a singer I travel a lot, and sometimes on really short notice or places who are extremely ill suited for vegans. Also I need to be eating correctly and enough if I am to be able to perform. It is a hard job being a singer, you use your whole body, not only your vocal chords. And the level of concentration is crucial. 

When I am at home and can plan (and bring) my own food it isn't a problem. But often I live in hotel after hotel, days, a night, a month, this varies. What also varies is the standard (and hospitality) of the hotel I stay in. But worse the lack of possibilities when on tour or airport to airport etc. 

For example

Last night I was in London for a day. The breakfast was great for a meat eating person. Bacon, sausages you know. If you were not a vegan you could eat danish pastry, croissant and so on. I am allergic to several types of fruit, so then I could eat white toast with beans or fill myself with sugar with orange marmalade. I didn't have the time to go somewhere else and I needed to eat well before my audition. I still ended up with eating toast. And pray that I could find something else straight after singing. Also when going to the airport I was in a hurry and didn't find anything I could eat. (Of proper food, not chips etc). After being vegan I am amazed on the availability of fast and trashy food. But if you want healthy food you must look much harder. 

With my lifestyle I need to be eating proper food when on the road. And after trying it for a while I realize that if I want to continue to be healthy I need to make sure I get enough nutrients and calories. 

Bottom line: I need to be vegetarian from time to time, just to make sure I can be working and remain in good health. It's not a matter of having to think beforehand and plan sometime. It means planning all the time. I don't mind eating a boring salad with tomato once in a while, because the restaurants/gas station don't get what a vegan is or don't have alternatives. But when you have to do it for months I don't think it is safe for me. 

And secondly, the only way I can think of getting vegan food all the time, is if I had more money. That meant that I could buy spreads and bring to my hotel breakfast. (But then again, most hotels are now removing the small fridges, so where could I have it? 

SO, back to the part where I don't feel perfect. That means that I can't keep calling myself vegan after realizing that I would need to eat vegetarian from time to time when on tour or traveling. It is really a matter of terminology. I haven't met the militant-condescending-vegan-people yet, but I know some is out there. So to not be a failure & skulk around I have decided to admit defeat now and call myself a vegetarian. I know several other people who lives mainly as vegans, but from time to time eat cheese, and they call themselves vegetarian to avoid being looked down upon. But in reality they are 98% vegan in their diet. I think that is awesome, brave and honest. 

To be judged - Hard enough to deal with vegan/vegetarian-haters. I couldn't stand judgement from vegans as well!

And that is what I also want to be. I want to be a vegan at heart and as much as I possibly can without it becoming a threat to my health. And I have decided that THAT is GOOD ENOUGH. That is what I am willing to do. And I feel much better for being honest and write this on my blog and not to feel extremely guilty every time I would need to grab a cheese sandwich because it was either that or a sausage in bread when the tour bus stops for refreshments and there were no shops in the area. 

Before you want to look down at me I remind you that you don't live my life. You might be able to be strictly vegan and have a easy and wonderful life. But I can't. Not at the moment at least, not before the world wants to becomw more vegan friendly. And another note regarding that: The world will not become vegan very quickly if militant-vegan tells you that what you do is not good enough. 

I hope the world follows soon and gives us vegan alternatives every where!

Love from me

Eating out in Covent Garden

So now I have been on my first audition trip after becoming vegan!

My first advice is to do some research before leaving home. I found a hotel close to the opera house and located the restaurants around it who were vegan friendly. When I arrived I was so tired, that I just ended up going to my local pizzeria. They didn't have a vegan pizza on the menu, but were really friendly and made a pizza especially for my vegan needs. And it tasted fantastic!

My beautiful pizza!

I want to thank Zizzi for making me a very tasty and beautiful meal. (And when I left the restaurant with my take-away pizza I noticed a homeless man sitting outside in a blanket. I asked him if he wanted some of it, and gave him some slices). I had noticed that many shops in London, and my hotel had a system of money donation to charities for the homeless, but somehow I felt some more immediate action was needed). 

Anyway, beautiful, strangely long pizza. I enjoyed it and it was really easy to obtain. It costed me £12 pounds and it was worth it!

For breakfast the day after I asked for some soya milk for my cereal and got it. If I wanted anything on my toast though the pickings where slim. But tomato beans was ok, with margarine on toast. 


Lunch was also really (and for a Norwegian) surprisingly easy to find! First my friend and I went to Food for thought, but as I didn't have any cash and the cash point outside was empty we went a little further and found a wonderful friendly place called Wild Food Cafe. Both places was about 5 minutes walk from Covent Garden tube station.

Wild Food Cafe had several choices for me to choose from. An unusual feeling

Shitake/olive burger! Mmmm...

for me after I became vegan, at least when in Norway.  The staff were very friendly, helpful and took pride in their food. I love it! Bless you, I had a great meal after a stressful but exhilarating day :) 

I had the Olive-Shitake burger on some flat bread made with tomatoes. It was yummy! And again, beautifully presented. Thumbs up!
It costed me £ 11.50, and again worth every penny. (well...or cent...pound ;) 


All in all, my London-vegan-food-experience were a great success and I felt I didn't miss out just because I was a vegan. I saw food possibilities all around me, also with easy "take away" and snack to have in your purse just in case. At least if you are in the Covent Garden area vegan food is easy. But in the end, being vegan in London is SO much easier than being vegan in Norway. It is both sad and scary that take away food is so extremely available and so cheap, while choosing the healthier option (for both you and the planet) you will have to go looking for a while and often pay more . And no, it is not only about costumer demand. But I repeat again, eating vegan at home is much easier and also much cheaper than it used to be!



Here are some pictures (and the Wild Food Cafe menu). 
Enjoy!

Healthy and awesome food!

Several choices you day? Oh myy...

Yummy!

My tasty burger! Isn't it beautiful?

Food, glorious food!

I admit, I never thought I would be one of those people who takes pictures of their food and blog about it, but then I again I never thought in a million years I would be vegan. So, hey!

Just want to make a post to you out there who (like me) was a bit scared of fancy-smancy recipes made by perfect chefs, beautiful people with awesome taste in design and mad skills in the art of blogging. Don't get me wrong; I adore these people, I follow your blogs and get inspired by you. But I am not as fantastic. I guess you can say I am on another level. Lower, but still I think my food is healthy and tastes good. (Or maybe it comes down to me being lazy? But I like fast food! Just need it to be healthy & cruelty-free ;)

So maybe you (the reader) feels scared of trying vegan? Maybe you think that you have to make everything from scratch, (that is fun by the way), but you don't have to! But when you do, it can be both fast and truly YUMMY!


So in an attempt to show how easy, tasty and fast making vegan food can be: Here are some examples of my own meals this week. 

TACO

I promise you, nothing is easier than this. And healthy! For this taco dinner I used max 15 minutes to prepare. I made my own basic salsa from a box of crushed tomatoes + coriander & Basel (spices). As cheese, I just sprinkled on some nutritional yeast. The only thing you need to do is to chop vegetables and open a can, warm the taco shells/fajitas/enchiladas wraps, and fry soy "meat" with some taco spices. It is REALLY simple, tastes great and it's cruelty-free!

(Norwegians: I used soy"kjøttdeig" fra Anamma, and bought it in a Rema 1000. You can also buy "dried" chunks of soy in SunKost. Nutritional yeast I got from iHerb.com )

Salad

Yeah, I used to think this was reeeally boring unless it had some meat in it. But after dropping meat I have also become a bit more adventurous. Love it!

For this easy & quickly made salad I used: Spinach, avocado, cherry tomatoes, thinly cut red onion, dried cranberries, pomegranate and some fine rice noodles. (Takes 1-2 min!) If one want to make it a bit more exciting you can add a little dash of balsamic oil (I didn't use this when I still had noodles left in my bowl). 

Sausages & something weird on the side!

Want "fast food"? You can still have sausages! There are several types of vegan sausages out there, so just find your favorite.

Here I wanted to have some vegetables I usually didn't use with sausages. So I choose to fry a whole plantain and fry (Malabar?) spinach and long beans with some garlic and chili. Just before I ate i drizzled some lime and sea salt on my plantains. 

Tasted great. I added to the strange experience by having some ketchup on my sausages. It was an unusual meal, but I enjoyed it even so!

(Norwegians: I bought the rice noodles in Meny, and the spinach, beans and plantain in a Asian shop on Grønland. REALLY cheap. I should have remembered to buy noodles there as well;)


Breakfast


I have eaten gluten-free bread, alpero yogurth and a wide variety of spreads. (I am testing things, see my other post here). Breakfast is the meal I usually looks forward to the most, I don't know why. Therefor I have been fuzzing about it quite some time. But till now I have mainly eaten bread and fruit for breakfast. I tried a smoothie one day, but that isn't enough for me. (Or I haven't found a good recipe yet). 



Snack

My favorite "snack" for the two last weeks have been "Virgin Pina Colada". That is very easy to make. I just take a bit over 1 cup of fresh cut pineapple, 1 cup of coconut milk, 3-4 icecubes and 1 spoon of agave syrup. Use a blender and have yourself two big glasses of pineapple-coconut-bliss!

When I used to say that vegan food must be really boring, dry and uninteresting. Shame on me, I take it back! 


But I had to try it to know it. 


I am still new and would love to get your best (easy) meals, please contact me with pictures and recipes-for-dummies! :) 

Vegan breakfast (what can we eat?)

Vegan breakfast

So, this was the hardest part for me. As a Norwegian I eat a lot of bread, often both for breakfast and lunch. The first week I only ate peanut butter and jam as I didn't know where to find anything I could eat, after being a big time cheese eater my whole life. Booooring! So if you want to be vegan and don't know what to eat on your bread, please read on! 


Spreads


Jams (but they put animal products in jams? Seriously?)
Argh. Be careful and read the labels, sometimes it includes gelatin). Easy, cheap and available, but not as healthy. A great tip is to make your own apple jam. SO easy, quick and you don't have to put much sugar in it, unless you want to store it for a long time. (I have made a great apple jam by boiling it with a few sticks of cinnamon. Yummy!)

"Cheese"

Yay! As a lover of cheese I was thrilled to know there are nice vegan "cheeses" available. On bread and crispbread I recommend Jeezini. They have several different flavours and it both look and taste like similar types of (real) cheese. Another great thing is that it doesn't contain palm oil.

Vegancheese.co.uk
Bute Island (Sheese)

Tofutti cheese

Daiya dairy-free

If you are Norwegian I have bought Jeezini in "Sunkost" stores. (F.eks: Gunerius) I have also seen Bute Island cheeses and tofutti cream cheeses in Meny stores. 

--

Cream cheeses

I have only tasted Tofutti cream cheese till now. And it is a good vegan "Philadelphia cheese". I have seen if you want to make a cheese cake you can add tofutti instead of your normal dairy cream cheese. To make it a bit healthier and interesting I put some avocado/tomato on it. Lovely! It is a great base for making interesting sandwiches. Just add whatever green and healthy stuff on and feel great!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores). 

"Meat"

Mock meat & Jeezini cheese

Yeah, I used to love meat on my bread. I admit it. So I was VERY surprised and happy to find products that were cruelty-free but still satisfied my "meat-hunger".

These two are ok tofu "meats", quite strong in taste.

(Norwegians; Also bought at "SunKost" at Gunerius and in a "Life" store at Grønland). 


Paté & spread

Pepper, chilli taste

I used to love liver paté and again happy to find vegan alternatives. The Granovita Organic Herb is the one closest in my opinion. The other flavors they offer are great if you want an interesting spread. 

Flavors: Spicy mexican, herbs, tangy tomato, original, mushroom. 

I also have bought this Cremisso spread, but haven't tried it yet!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores. They are our friends obviously ;) 


Mayonnaise

There are vegan alternatives out there, or you can make your own. In Norway you can buy it in Meny stores, although it is a bit pricey. Perhaps you can make your own? 


Margarine

This is easy to find, but choose something without palm oil.There several almond, hemp and nut alternatives, but I haven't tried them out yet. The most common I find is soy alternatives. 


Cereal

Sometime you just want to eat some cereal and skip the bread. I thought it was difficult to drop the milk at first, but then I tried Rice milk and almond milk. I think these are the best for cereal, but you can try and find what you prefer! (There are also different brands of "milk" so you can try and find your favorite). 

When I drink;

Chai latte: Almond milk
Latte: Soya milk
Cereals: Almond and rice milk. 

PS: Remember to buy unsweetened milk, or you get a lot of sugar. 

(Norwegians: Rice, oat and soya is easy to find in almost any store. But almond I have bought in Sunkost and Life stores). 



Yogurt

I love yogurt and Alpro have several flavors for us to enjoy! My cats loves yogurt and still think this is the real deal ;) These are best served cold straight from the fridge, when they get warmer they start tasting a lot more like soya. 

You can make it more interesting (and healthy) by adding berries and seeds! 




Then of course you can eat something else for breakfast? 

Basic vegan pancakes
Strawberry shortage pancakes
Raw Buckwheat Porridge
Apple pie oatmeal
Many different vegan porridges for you to explore!



Fun fact about my journey to veganism

14 days before I became a vegan overnight, I had to explain why I was a vegetarian. I ended my "defense" by saying; "but I am not a vegan, because they are really extreme and wouldn't it be silly to stop eating cheese?" BAM! 14 days later I was a vegan, and wow was I surprised. 
--

My view on Vegans before I became one ;)

I blame it all on "Earthlings" (see my post about my experience). I have never seen anything on TV who have made a greater impact on my life, than this documentary. I had to face my own hypocrisy and I just couldn't be a part of it any longer. Later I saw "Fork over Knives" who had a different angle (mainly on human health) and also strengthened my resolve.