Blog

How are you all? How is everyone managing with lockdown? Feeling for those of you who, like me, have lost a lot of work due to the lockdowns. Like someone said recently if we can do okay in this tumultuous time then we have a resilient business.

For those of you who follow me on social media you will know I have been struggling along with Plantar Fasciitis. Who else has this? Well only two weeks after I put up the post I am happy to report it is pretty much almost gone. I can feel slight twinges of it now and again so will not let my guard down. After being super diligent to add enough foods containing phytoestrogens into my daily diet I am happy to say it’s on the mend. I will keep on adding these foods forever and be diligent about it as they also sport so many other health benefits.

Wow, that week went fast. How are you all? Would love to hear from you. Please do feel free to write. Last week I had more time on my hands than normal as a few of my cooking and nutrition sessions got postponed due to COVID restrictions. This gave me the opportunity to develop some really delicious recipes and the one I bring you this week is one of them.

It’s cold and rainy right now as I write this newsletter so have decided to share a delicious stew recipe with you all. If it is warm where you are this is still a very good recipe to make. In winter serve it with black rice and in summer either basmati rice or quinoa. I developed this recipe for someone who came along for an individual session who wanted low FODMAP recipes so within this recipe are a few options for the low FODMAP diet.

Who loves falafel? I certainly do. These were made in the recent Three Day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course. The recipe makes a big mob of them so I would suggest making the full amount and freezing some as they freeze so well. Before putting the mix in the fridge be sure to taste it to see if you want more spice. Some like falafels with lots of spice and some lightly spiced. Recipe below.

As many of you may know change is happening for the Vegan Cooking School and myself. In November we need to move from our home of nine years. We are on the look out for somewhere to buy to live in and continue running the cooking school from. It is our dream to stay as close to the Mullumbimby region as possible. As a small business owner I thought it would be impossible to secure a home loan but have recently found out that I can get a loan if I can show I have earned $75,000 by the end of this financial year (June 30th). I actually fall $18,000 short of this amount. It feels very important that I secure this loan and that we are able to buy a house, not only so we have somewhere to live but also so I can keep on running the wonderful courses I facilitate and offer the private cooking and nutrition sessions I am launching.

Forgive me everyone for skipping the last two weeks. I was all consumed in facilitating the Vegan Chef Training and getting in my final assignment for my post grad nutrition degree. Last Saturday was the last day of the vegan chef training for 2021 and it culminated with Jesika and Andrea’s graduation where they served up a 4 course meal including three different desserts. I was so proud of what they achieved. Usually we have eight people graduate but this year just two so they had to do double the work with getting the graduation planned. They planned the whole menu and it was sensational. I am so proud to say that there are now two more wonderful vegan chefs going out into the world. The official photos won’t be ready until the end of June but here are a few sneak preview ones.

The Vegan Chef Training is approaching it’s last two weeks. What a wondrous course it has been. On the last day of module 5 we had 3 fabulous facilitators attend. Lilli and Sue who came and taught Kambucha, Jamu, fire tonic and shrubs (a healthier version of cordial). In the morning Kiriko taught tofu and miso. The tofu was the nicest tofu I have ever tasted. There is no shop bought tofu that comes anywhere close to this deliciousness. While making tofu is quite a production I really would like to always make my own.

We are almost half way through the vegan chef training for 2021. So far it has been incredible. Last week we finished module 3 – Ayurvedic Cuisine. For those who don’t know, Ayurvedic cooking is a practice that is thousands of years old and originated in India. It looks at what foods you can and can’t eat for your particular constitutional type (dosha) and any imbalances you may have in your body. Food is the first step to balancing your body and health. We spend three days on this way of cooking so participants get a good handle on it and learn to cook exceptionally delicious food with the limited ingredients available to them.

I have just finished facilitating the third day of the raw cuisine module of the vegan chef training. This also is a stand alone module so once people have finished the foundation course they are welcome to come and attend the raw cuisine course too and what a treat you will be in for. We have made sensational food over the last three days with another day to go. One of the extension recipes is so good and it definitely has been a while between drinks (or should I say between raw treats), that’s for sure. I wasn’t able to teach this module last year so I haven’t made this treat for 19 months and I can’t believe I had forgotten how deadly (that means ‘awesome’ in the NT where I grew up) it really is. It’s so good that I feel the world needs to have access to the recipe.