Oops forgot to answer that!

I haven't actually tried it but... bought a pack of organic Quinoa last year and just never got round to using it. It's gone out of date now Will have to get some more - got any good recipes for it?

Also Duboing, barley cous cous - saw that in Waitrose but wasn't sure about it. Will have to give it a go too!

I did something similar.

I just use it as I would use rice and cous cous. I have stuck it in stews - you can make lovely stews with various veggies (e.g. parsnip, swede, carrot, turnip, etc.), a tin of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, tomato puree, lentils and various herbs. Chicken if you don't want it all veg. I've put it in omelettes too.

Not sure if your detox allows tomato but you could use veg stock instead. You could use instead of rice in veggie curry or chilli.

Lol I feel hungry again now

I got some more turnips - they are waiting patiently for my next experiment this time I want to make something with them but without the M&S paste. Will just pile in a load of paprike and cumin and see what it ends up like

Will have to get some more of that quinoa at some point - thanks for the tips!

Here are a few quinoa ideas from Leith's veggie bible:

Quick quinoa salad:
Simmer 110 - 170g quinoa in water or stock for 15-20 minutes (I'd just add a bay leaf to the water for flavour).
Mix with: half a cucumber, diced; 3 tomatoes; diced; 30g sultanas or raisins; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (mint, parsley, basil...); 2 tbsps sunflower seeds; dressing of your choice.

With apricot and toasted pinenuts
Dressing: combine in a small bowl juice of one large orange, 2 tbsps olive oil, white wine vinegar to taste, 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley and coriander. Leave to stand for 10 minutes
Cook the quinoa as above, then mix with the dressing, 2 dried, sliced apricots, and 30g sultanas.
Scatter with toasted pinenuts and extra herbs.

I'm taking some of these vegan recipes to pass on to my sister whose looking for interesting dishes to cook for her vegan fiance!

Azz, if you disagree with what is pumped into animals and how they are raised for the meat market why not go for organic, grass raised/free range meats?

I know it's expensive. But if more people bought those kinds of meats more farmers would see it as a viable option to run their farms to those standards. (A bit like how many arable farmers decided to go organic when it started to become more popular.)

The standards of treatment animals raised for meat get won't rise unless consumers start demanding it.

Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against your decision to look into veganism, or vegans in general. Just voicing another (maybe more efective?) approach to the same problem.

Thanks Duboing - will check em out

Evie - It'd mean making sure that everything that contains animal products is organic. Inc things that have eggs in there. Plus I just don't trust them tbh. Still I'm not decided yet either way

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Here's take 2 on dish 1 btw:





I just loaded it with loads of paprika, bit of cumin and only a spoon of that M&S paste (as it just didn't taste like much without it - but will get in some other spices or stuff and experiment).

It tasted like dish 1 - but not as spicy. Actually preferred it

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's a complicated business!

Take 2 looks gorgeous, you are making me hungry!!!

Sounds similar to me I was 3 years old when I made the connection between what was on my plate and animals apparantly I used to ask my Mum what did this use to be and then refused to eat it when she said it used to be a cow etc, the idea of eating dead flesh is just disgusting to me and I'm 51 now. I love cooking though and use quorn instead of meat so can make any meal really its not a problem at all, its easy to get new recipes off the net and away you go.

I expect you know, but just in case, Quorn is made with egg albumen, so not vegan. Don't suppose it's detox friendly anyway.

It is vegetarian though! I eat eggs so it doesn't worry me, I don't drink milk though so I'm kind of part way between a veggi and a vegan I did become a very strict vegan for almost a year many years ago, but I found it very hard, I like plenty of dishes without quorn too so they would be vegan, its what ever you are comfortable with I guess, and I guess it depends on your reasons for doing it, as an animal lover I just can't get my head around the fact that other animal lovers can actually support the meat industry and want to eat meat.