RSS Feed

October, 2011

  1. Some Interesting Facts About Vegetarians

    October 30, 2011 by Chrissie


    Interesting fact number one: Vegetarians eat a plant based diet. Now that might not seem interesting to you, but you’ll be surprised how many people think eating fish is vegetarianism. If you’ve opted for a semi vegetarian diet you will eat some meat products.

    Interesting fact number two: Vegetarians make better lovers (you knew that was coming didn’t you!) It’s true, most libido boosting foods are fruit and veg. Bananas, avocados, celery, almonds and fenugreek are all foods that make you hot, steamy and very very sexy and are all staples in the vegetarian diet.

    fruit and vegetables

    Interesting fact number three: There are records of vegetarianism from as early as ancient Greece and ancient India where the worship of animals forbade the consumption of them. Early Christianity more or less wiped out the practice and it did not re-emerge until the late 19th Century.

    Interesting fact number four: More women than men are vegetarian but the jury is still out as to why. There are several theories but none proven.

    Interesting fact number five: The ancient Greek translation of vegetarianism was ‘abstinence from beings with a soul’.

    Interesting fact number six: Contrary to popular belief, vegetarians are not all anaemic and lacking in iron. There are great sources of iron in herbs, lentils, nuts and beans.

    Interesting fact number seven: Famous vegetarians include: Albert Einstein, Pamela Anderson, Aristotle, Socrates, Ghandi, Leo Tolstoy, Damon Albarn, Jeff Beck, Elvis Costello, Sadie Frost, Joanna Lumley, Linda McCartney, Reese Witherspoon, and Lisa Simpson. Yes, Adolph Hitler did follow a vegetarian diet occasionally but this had everything to do with curing his horrific flatulence problem and nothing to do with his concern for animal welfare.

    lisa_the_vegetarian

    Interesting fact number eight: Yogis do not partake in the consumption of the flesh of any animal, it is against their faith and practice.

    Interesting fact number nine: Indians make up over 70% of the global vegetarian population.

    Interesting fact number ten: The next step form vegetarianism is of course vegan and the one on from that is fruitarianism, where you can eat plant based products as long as you don’t kill the plant. Fruit is fine because you do not kill the tree when you gather its crop but most other vegetables are a no go.

    CC Image 1

    Category Veggie food | Tags: | 2 Comments

  2. Great Veggie Treats for Halloween

    October 22, 2011 by Chrissie

    With Halloween right round the corner, you are probably already sat concocting spells to create the finest of veggie treats for you party! Well look no further and put your wand down! Here are a few ideas that you can whip up without any magic!

    • Pumpkin Faced Veggies – use a base of carrots to create the shape of a pumpkin head, use small bowls of dip for the eyes and nose, broccoli for the stork and cucumber pieces for the jagged mouth (this is a dish you let no one eat until all the guests have seen it!!)
    • Coffin Sandwiches – make your favourite sandwich using sliced bread and cut into the shape of a coffin. Using a condiment that compliments write RIP on each one!
    • Witches fingers – make almond shortbread (25 g (1/2 of 250-g pkg cream soft cheese, 1/2 cup butter, softened,  3/4 cup icing sugar, 1 tsp. almond extract, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1-1/2 cups flour) and shape into fingers, use a fork to mimic skin creases. Then add a sliver of almond to each one for a fingernail, paint the fingernails green or red with food colouring.
    • Eyeball cupcakes – make your favourite chocolate cupcakes and ice with white icing, red icing threads for a crazy bloodshot look and use jelly sweets for iris and pupil!
    • Cauldron Stew – great fun for dinner and if you love curry even better, make a green curry and serve in a cauldron style pot! Throw in eyeballs, a fake rat and fake bat for extra effect but make sure your guests are aware so no one needs show off the Heimlich manoeuvre!

    We’ve got one word: KETCHUP! Throw it on everything and you’ve got yourself a massacre of a buffet table!

    Category Veggie food | Tags: | No Comments

  3. Halloween alcoholic drinks

    October 12, 2011 by Chrissie


    Tomato juice and grenadine are your best friends at Halloween. Naturally all Halloween cocktails and alcoholic drinks need to look like blood so red mixers are the way to go. If you have a red coloured cordial or fruit juice, use that to add a fruity and gory splash to your favourite beverage.

    The Bloody Mary is the most obvious choice for a Halloween drink. This is a simple concoction of vodka, tomato juice and (veggie) Worcestershire sauce. You can add all sorts of spices and trimmings to a Bloody Mary, including horseradish, celery sticks, black pepper and salt.

     

     

    Admittedly tomato based drinks, especially ones that are spicy only appeal to a certain palette, so whilst you want a traditional cocktail on hand for Halloween, think about a fruity mix for your less adventurous guests.

    A fruit punch is great if you are having a party and you can add whatever alcohol and mixers you want. For a simple punch, use a red fruit juice mix and add fresh fruit to a vodka base. You can add whatever alcohol you like, but just make sure you are not mixing too many choices so that you’re not left cleaning up drunk people’s vomit the next morning (sad but true!).

    Of course any drink can be ‘Halloweenified’! Once you have your punch ready to drink, add fake eyeballs, rats tails, spiders and bats. Better still, serve in a cauldron style bowl for that extra bit of spook. If you do add spooky accessories to your alcoholic drinks, just make sure that your guests are aware so that no one runs the risk of choking and are not terrified when they spot a spider in their glass!

    Category Alcohol, Treats | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Halloween Cupcake Ideas

    October 12, 2011 by Chrissie


    Cupcakes are essential for any special occasion, yes that’s right essential, you simply must have cupcakes on the table when you are entertaining! The great thing about Halloween cupcakes is the seasonal flavours. Autumn is a great time of year for adding spice and zest to your cupcake recipes.

    Traditional flavours for this time of year and for Halloween include pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, spiced apple, toffee and ginger.

    If you have a favourite cupcake recipe stick with it. Perfect cupcakes can be hard to come by and there is no tried and tested rule. Some recipes call for blenders, some for manual whisking, do whatever works for you to get the cakes you love but do play with the festive ingredients a little where you can.

    halloween cupcake

    If you have a favourite cupcake recipe that you don’t want to mess with and you know that everyone will love, then use spooky decoration to turn them into Halloween cupcakes! Buy jelly sweets in the shape of eyes, jelly lips and false teeth and put them together on any colour icing to create crazy faces. You can add jelly laces for hair and smarties or marshmallows for crazy eyes – you get the idea.

    You will be able to find lots of Halloween icons to stick on your cakes if you are not an icing expert, just use your best icing recipe and add ghosts, witches on broomsticks and spiders. The easiest Halloween icing is probably a simple spider. Use black icing to create an oblong for a body and eight spindly legs, use marshmallows for eyes and teeth and voila!

     

    ideas for cupcakes

     

    If you are looking for something simple and sophisticated with more of an adult vibe, wow with your flavours. Our favourite combinations this year are spiced apple and nutmeg sponge with toffee apple icing and chocolate mint sponge with mint icing. Remember orange and green are the best Halloween colours!

    CC Images x 2 

     

     

    Category Treats, Veggie food | Tags: | No Comments