How much calcium does a vegetarian need?

Please God
don't let them ever change their tins

Since we're not vegan, we're probably ok as far as calcium is concerned. I hope we are.  But one can never tell.

To be honest, Sonshine could live almost exclusively on pot noodles which satisfy our veggie requirements, but nutritionally you'd be better off chewing-down on the

Parmesan cheese isn't vegetarian!

The first proper blow is landed in our quest to become vegetarians:

Parmesan cheese isn't vegetarian.

*puts head between knees and hyperventilates into brown paper bag*

Of course, there ARE alternatives to the calf rennet found in Parmesan, but for the cheese to CALL itself Parmesan, it has to have the calf stuff in it.

What a blow.

My aubergine parmigiana is completely fecked.

PIZZAS are FECKED! *weeps uncontrollably as if someone has told her Tom Hiddleston bats for the other team*

I need a replacement for the hard, salty gorgeousness that is Parmesan!!

Suggestions PLEASE!!!!




ok - Sarah (via fb) suggests this: And it IS suitable for vegetarians!

How much iron does a vegetarian need?

He eats his spinach!

After the worry about where we would get enough protein comes the concern - where will we get enough iron?

Already anaemic enough to make a convincing family of vampires, we don't want to be neglecting this part of our diet.

There are, of course, supplements that we can take (and we currently ARE taking them) but ultimately, I would rather get all the nutrients we need from our daily diet.

So, how much iron does a body need?

Vegetarian Biscuits | Tunnocks

Still the best biscuits in the world

As a Scot, the Tunnocks family of biscuits holds a place very close to my heart: a furred artery *boomtish, eyethankewe*

My wedding cake came from Tunnocks.  And no, it wasn't a massive teacake.  It was a proper gorgeous traditional 3-tier fruit cake. It was lovely.  I can recommend Tunnocks for wedding cakes!

No, I adore Tunnocks Caramel Wafers and I am delighted to note that they are suitable for vegetarians.  As are:

Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin | Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

If you would like the full recipe, as per Hugh from his book River Cottage Veg Everyday, click here to see it in The Guardian.

This is my version, which does the two of us and cuts down on some of the dairy calories by replacing the double cream with creme fraiche and semi-skilled milk *grin*

500g of sweet potatoes (two, good-sized ones)
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon of chilli (from a jar)
1 teaspoon of garlic (also from a jar.  I'm not domesticated.  I'm not apologising)
200g creme fraiche (half fat)
200g semi skimmed milk (ish)
3 good-sized dessert-spoon dollops of crunchy peanut butter
Finely grated zest of half a lime
1 teaspoon of lime juice*
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven 190C or Gas Mark 5.  Lightly oil your gratin dish.  Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into fairly thin slices (Hugh suggests 10p piece thickness).  In a large bowl, mix the creme fraiche, half of the milk, 1 tablespoon of the oil the chilli and the garlic together with some salt and pepper. Then add the sweet potato slices; get them covered in the mixture. I did it in two batches because my bowl was quite small. Add the rest of the milk as you require it.

Arrange half of the coated slices in the bottom of your gratin dish.

Beat the peanut butter with the remaining oil (1 tablespoon-ish) and add the lime zest and juice.  Then drop it in dollops onto the sweet potato in the gratin dish.  I tried to smoosh it about evenly with the back of a spoon, but it all melts in the oven anyway, so don't worry too much.

Cover the peanut buttery dollops with the other batch of sweet potato slices and pour over what's left of the cream/chilli/milk mix.  I like quite a lot of milky stuff. Then cover the dish with silver foil.  Slam into the oven for 20 minutes and then remove the silver foil.  Pop it back in uncovered for another 20-30 minutes (you want it all lovely and soft, so keep checking it)

We've also added extra protein by grating some cheddar over the top towards the end of the time in the oven.

Serve with a salad.

Bluddy luffly!

*Sonshine says that I might want to dial down the lime next time, so maybe half a teaspoon would be sufficient for our needs.

There is a lot of liquid in my version because I like everything to be soft and unctuous, not so keen on a crispy top

There should have been photos.  But I forgot.  Better luck next time!

How much protein does a vegetarian need?

Lots of eggs
I'm never eating an egg that is a spiral

This was my burning question, because Sonshine is a growing boy.

A couple of months ago he fell ill with some kind of sickness and dihorreah diahorreah diarrhea pooping bug.  And within four weeks he was knocked flat with the same thing again, which went on for FIVE days. He was so ill he didn't know which end of himself to drape over the toilet. Reader, he was SO ill he didn't even want to play on the playstation.  THAT ILL.

Steak pie and friends

From the MacMillan Stand Up To Cancer
Art Exhibition - I really wanted to buy it,
but as you can tell by the red dot, some
blighter beat me to it!

We'd only been into the veggie thing about a fortnight when friends asked my son and I up for dinner one Sunday evening

'It's steak pie with locally bred beef!' they announced.

For a moment, I was on the horns of a dilemma - should I remind my friends that Sonshine and I are veggie now and risk looking ungrateful, give them extra cooking worries and costs? Or just keep my mouth shut and eat the pie?

I kept my mouth shut and ate the damned pie.

Because, in the end, it was more important for me to appreciate and enjoy my friends' company than stick to my new ethics.

Was I wrong?

Why I am adopting a vegetarian diet ...

I love meat.

I salivate when I get near the butcher meat aisle in supermarkets.

I am on first name terms with my local butchers.

I eat meat from bits of animals bodies that you probably would blanche to feed to your dog.

I adore it all.

Yet I'm giving it all up - why?

Good meat is expensive.  But it's not because of the money.

The simple truth is that I had an ethical epiphany.  Which is not easy to say with your teeth in.

I am the owner (well, more truthfully SLAVE) to a retired racing greyhound and I am keen to support charities that look for homes for these wonderful, docile darlings.  A few months ago I learned that dogs from Australia were being flown out to Macau to race in a place called the Canidrome.

And when the dogs are injured or no longer up to speed, they end up in the meat industry.

I was appalled.

And yet immediately stricken by the double standard that I was living:
My dog is sacred to me, but in other cultures, they're no different to how we see cattle in ours.

I could no longer square my eating of animals with my ethics.

So I have stopped.  Hopefully for good, but blogging for a year to see whether I can truly embrace the philosophy.

But it feels good to look a lamb in the eye and say 'I don't eat you.'