Last night was a feast of massive indulgence - a big bad naughty pancake party! I'm normally quite a conservative lemon-and-sugar type, but since everybody who came for the feasting brought some of their own yummy toppings, it would have been rude not to partake. I couldn't quite decide what delicious delights to have on mine, so I ended up with clotted cream ice cream, pecans, blueberries, raspberies, white chocolate buttons, and dark chocolate with orange. So, so wrong... but so, so right!
Anyhoo, someone asked me whether I was planning on doing something for Lent. Generally, I do make the effort to start up, or give up, something for Lent - and not for religious reasons. I just think it's a nice excuse to question your everyday habits, and to challenge yourself a bit.
As the more observant of you will have guessed from the title of this post, my answer was: "I'm going vegan for Lent".
There are a few reasons why I thought this would be a good idea: Firstly, it will make me think about my food a bit more carefully. Secondly, it will make my vague desire to experiment with vegan cakes far more likely to materialise into reality. Thirdly, I use soya milk anyway, so the only casualties are going to be cake and cheese. Heavy casualties in themselves, but not insurmountable.
Oh, and fourthly... apparently, you get Sundays off.
Seriously!
Apparently the Christian tradition views the Sundays in the Lent period as 'mini Easter' celebrations (wikipedia says so, so it must be true), which means that you can suspend your fasting on those days. Not that I'm planning to cave so soon. I just want my psychological safety net putting in writing.
So you can expect some vegan recipes coming up in the near future, and I'm excited about the opportunity for experimentation.
No recipes today, so I will leave you with you a couple of pictures from my first cake decorating class last week (yes, M and I signed up!)
P.S. The small print: Cake class activities are excluded from the 'vegan project'
P.P.S. When I told my Mum I was going vegan for Lent, she tried to forbid it. She said: "I knew a vegan once... you should have seen her!" I think she's under the impression that it's a fashionable form of anorexia. I will have to make sure that my vegan creations are super hearty.
I forgot to ask... is anyone else taking up/giving up something for Lent? If so, what, and why?
ReplyDeleteI'm giving up 'junk'. Now I know this is a bit vague, so let me elaborate...
ReplyDeleteI am giving up all processed 'easy' food. So it includes all fast food, crisps, chocolate, ready-meals, packaged sandwiches and pastries etc etc...
So really I guess I am giving up lazy eating. If I want a cake, or some bread fine...but I have to make it from scratch with no cheating. All food has to be from scratch so no packet mixes or jars either.
The one exception I am making is cereal.
It's going to take some organisation but I am hoping it will get me out of tje habit of quick fix food! What do you think P? Happy veganing :) xx
This such a great idea! I'm pretty puritanical about quick-fix food so I'm defnitely on board with your Lent idea. I also think that it's almost easier to get yourself into good habits when you have the 'moral authority' of Lent behind you... nobody will try telling you that "one little pasty won't hurt".
DeleteOnce you've been doing this for 6 weeks, you'll be so used to all the delicious fresh food that you probably won't want to switch back to lazy eating anyway (well, after the obligatory 'congratulations' take-away, anyway)...
I also had a major blow-out pancake evening. We began with a savoury delight of creamy sauce with bacon, spinach and onion...wrapped in the pancake, cheese on top and baked in the oven - DELICIOUS. Next was onto the sweet were I consumed every kind of bad topping possible - maple syrup, melted chocolate, nutella, ice-cream, chocolate buttons, peanut butter...all in all a good night!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis was a big blow out as for lent I am sacrificing junk food. My definition of junk in this instance is chocolate, cakes, biscuits, sweets, crisps etc. The reason for this is...every I gave up things but always find a replacement. for example, last year I gave up chocolate, crisps and sweets so proceeded to eat large volumes of cake, biscuits and ice-cream..so my boyfriend dared me to go the whole hog and give it all up. its day 2 and i'm already regretting it. looking for suitable alternatives like yoghurt coated raisins and frozen yogurt..hehe.
Definitely dont take Sundays off - it is cheating. I dont think Jesus left the desert on sundays to go for a McDonalds!!!
good luck and happy veganing!!!!!!!!!
Kerry xxx
Oh. My. Word. I didn't think this was possible, but your pancake blowout seems even more extreme than mine!
DeleteBut I really like the way you have predicted your own weaknesses and gone the whole hog... that's going to be tough! Last year I made some 'healthy' truffles for my bro-in-law... made with dried fruits, cocoa, coconut etc. They were pretty easy and maybe a good idea for an emergency snack? When I get my act together I will try and come up with some healthy (vegan!) sweets and treats and hopefully that will help us both through!
I know you're right about Sundays... plus, if I did take the day off, can you imagine the kind of weekly binge I'd end up having?
By the way, at cake decorating class last night we were given a taster box of yummy cakes... talk about timing!