Let them eat (raw) cake!

Today I want to share an amazing raw cake with you!

Lime-avocado-fantastico!

Time: 30 min + 3 hour (freezer)
Serves: 8 persons


Cakefilling

• 3 avocado (ready to eat)
• Juice from 2-3 small limes
• 2 bananas
• 3tbs coldpressed coconut oil (melt in a bain-marie/vannbad)

Make the cake (see recipe below). Slice the avocado and remove the stone, take out the green with a spoon. Put avocado, limejuice, bananas and the melted coconut oil in a food blender and blend it to you get a smooth mix. (no lumps!) Pour the mix ontop of the finished cake. Put the cake in the freezer for about 3 hours. Let it defrost about 15 minutes before serving. 

Cake

• 3 dl almonds
• 2 dl dates (without stones)
• 1 tbs cold pressed coconut oil
• 1 ml (krm) salt
• 3 tbs coconut meat (dried/shredded) - to put at the bottom of the pan

Use a pan (about 20-24 cm). The smaller pan, the higher cake.

Blend the almonds in a food blender untill it turns in to a almond "flour". Add the dates, coconut oil and salt and blend until you get a dough just don´t blend too long. The dough should be sticky and become firm when you try to manipulate it. Sprinkle a even layer with shredded coconut in the bottom of the pan and press down the dough to an even layer. (Then add the filling as described above.)

A colleague at work made this cake and brought it backstage for us to nibble on in the interval. It tastes awesome! She didn´teven have a freezer, so somehow it can work without as well, although it will be quite liquid compared to the freezer-prepared one. 

Vegan cake introduction!

So the first thing my mum (who recently went mainly vegan) was: "But how do I bake without egg and milk?" I totally get that. One of my first thoughts as well and with zero experience in the field. Which is understandable as all the older recipes usually includes these. Thanks to vegans and milk/egg intolerant people thousands of new recipes are now found both online and in books!

I want to share two with you today. Both recipes belong to "Veganmannen". Take a look at his awesome blog! (in Norwegian). Thank you for inspiring us!

Chocolate!

Both cakes have a chocolate theme. I have been so cheeky that I have given them my own name based on their awesomeness:

One is a chocolate-berry-symphony! And the other is a Chocolate-painted-cheese-cake! Oh yeah! We can still make cheese cake, thank God!

Chocolate & Berry Symphony

This is a easy and sinfully tasty cake. You can make it as a normal chocolate cake or you can make it with several layers with strawberries. If you want to do

the last, double both recipes and bake them in two greased (or non-stick) pans. (about 20cm) Spread frosting and one layer of sliced strawberries on each layer.  Spread the rest of the frosting on the outside of the cake. Decorate with strawberries, raspberries etc. 

* 160 gram flour

* 40 gram Cacao powder

* 130 gram sugar

* 1 ts baking soda (natron)

* 1/2 ts salt

* 1 ts vanilla extract (vanilla powder)

* 2,5 dl warm water/coffee 

* 1 ts apple vinegar

* 0,8 dl sunflower oil

Sprinkle (with a sieve) all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Then add the liquid ingredients with the dry. Pour it in a greased pan (or non-stick) and put in a preheated oven (180 celcius) for 30 minutes. Let the cake be cooled off completely before frosting the cake. 

Frosting

* 100 gram vegan butter

* 250 gram powdered sugar

* 2 tbs cacao powder

* 2-3 tbs strong coffee

* One box of strawberries

Take the butter out of the fridge aprox. 1 hour before you use it. Use a food blender to mix butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle in the cacao with a sieve. Then add the vanilla extract/powder and coffee. Let it become soft and smooth. Add some more powdered sugar if you want a thicker frosting. 

Let the cake cool down in the fridge before serving.

Chocolate-painted-cheese-cake!

* 200 gram graham crackers (or gluten-free ones).

* 80 gram vegan butter

* 3 tbs cacao

Make the graham cracker pay by smashing it into bits and mix it with the naughty cacao and the butter. (You can use a food blender for the cracker and then add the rest as mentioned). Put it into a pan (aprox. 22 cm) and press down to make a firm base for your cake. Bake this part for 5-10 minutes at 180 celsius. 

* 2 boxes of vegan cream cheese (about 500 gram)

* 1/2 dl maple syrup

* 2 ts vanilla extract or vanilla powder

* 300 gram neutral tofu (squeeze the water out of it with some paper)

* 1/2 dl maizena (corn starch)

* 1 1/2 dl chocolate button (or cut some chocolate. This ingredient is optional.)

*100 gram vegan chocolate (to be melted)

* 1,5 dl sugar

Mix everything together exept the chocolate in a food blender. Mix in the chocolate buttons (if you want it) and pour in the pan. Melt the chocolate. Then add the melted chocolate, with a spoon, on the cake. Use a knife to make patterns. Carefully move the knife back and forth. You now have a beautiful pattern!

Then bake the whole thing on 200 celsius for 30 minutes, and turn down the temperature to 150 celsius for another 30 minutes. Let the cake cool down completely, perhaps even over night. It is awesome with raspberries or a homemade rasperry coulis!

"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?