Experimenting with Soya

When I was in London last weekend I ordered Sweet & Sour Tofu and egg fried rice at a lovely Chinese restaurant, however when doing this I got asked if I was a Veggie. I explained my issues with meat (my Mom's horrible cooking!) but the more I think about it I could very well end up a veggie or a vegan.

Lately I brought Soya Milk into the house. I've not had a glass of milk in decades and try to avoid it as much as possible. When I do have something with milk I sound like I have a mild head cold for a few hours. So far I've tried Soya Milk in:

Coffee

Tea

Oatmeal

Cup Cakes

Cereal

Mashed Potatoes

I've loved it in everything! I was a bit wary baking with it, but they have a version of single cream that is Soya based and it work as a substitute to butter milk.

Since I've been on my own brand of diet from December 30th 2011 I've taken to veggies as my lunch choice on the weekend and using them as a large portion of my dinners. This means I'm eating healthier and I'm eating foods that I really do love. Peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potato, corn, brussels sprouts and green beans. Yes, I said brussels sprouts. I love them!

With this added veg and Soya infusion into my diet I could really see myself as a veggie. Though I will admit a nice cheese burger may be my downfall ;) Bacon actually was my downfall on the six days I was a veggie and it took me 2 hours to realise what I'd done. So maybe I'm just a bad vegetarian?

Though I do like the idea of being a vegan, there is a lot of thinking about what you're eating that would come into play and let’s face it. I'm lazy.

I have found some really great recipes that are easy and vegan. My vegan chilli for instance.

Vegan Chilli:-

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin green ready to eat lentils

1 tin baked beans

1 tin chopped mushrooms

1 tsp chilli powder (you can adjust this to taste)

Pour everything into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Then simmer for about 10 minutes.

Makes about 4 to 5 servings.

You can have it with rice as well but I find the lentils make the chilli heavy and nothing more is needed.

Root beer!

One of my favourite soda's (or pop if you prefer) of all time is Root beer. Now I'm not a huge fan of soda in general, its calorie heavy and sticky sweet but there is just something so refreshing about Root beer.

We ventured to the wilds of London for the Kapow Comic Book Convention. Specifically Islington (where I came down with the plague) one of my favourite burger joints was discovered last year called Byron (http://www.byronhamburgers.com/menu/) I highly recommend it if you are in the area. However do avoid what they call American Cheese, it's really sweat collected from real cheese and made into orange plastic slices.

The best thing in my opinion about Byron's is they serve A&W Root beer! True I paid £2.85 for a can but damn was it worth it.

There is a place in Leeds that says it serves Root beer but it's not A&W.

We also hit Pizza Express where I felt obligated to have an American Pizza, which is Pepperoni Pizza and a Chinese restaurant where I had Sweet & Sour Tofu.

I also went into a Kebab place (alone, armed with a knife as always) for some chips.

Cyber Candy was also at Kapow, however I was disappointed by the selection this year. I ended up with a 3 Musketeers Bar and a Twinky (£2.90 for both). I was hoping for odd M&M's or at least Pop Tarts.

The best thing about the weekend was the Root beer.