Plant-Based Pause No 9: I Don’t Have Time

In November 2011, I made the decision to progress towards a plant-based diet and lifestyle. Since then, I have learnt so much about where our food comes from, and what it does to our bodies and the environment. Along the way, I have encountered many obstacles and challenges. I have also been asked lots of questions, most of them valid and a few off them more than a little odd. One of the aims of my blog is to chronicle my experiences as a plant-based traveller. So, hopefully these Plant-Based Pauses will provide a little more explanation and maybe answer some questions that my readers may still have.

‘Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.’ – Publilius Syrus

If you have time to sit down and watch TV for 30 minutes, you have time to cook some whole food. That’s what I say to people who tell me they don’t have time to eat plant-based. As for convenience, it takes as long to drive to the take-out/order delivery as it does to cook the food yourself. Special vegan meals such as Christmas dinner are certainly a lot quicker to prepare than their meat counterparts. Here in the UK, people start preparing and cooking their turkeys the night before, and the whole process seems to involve a lot of basting and resting. Some people seem to pay more attention to the turkey than they do their own family. I can prepare a nut roast in under 30 minutes, and then use the cooking time to do something else.

Plus, don’t forget, as soon as you start eating plant-based, you’ll have more energy to work in the kitchen. You’ll get excited about food, and you’ll want to find more time.

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You have to try these

I had to share this photo with you. As a keen baker, over the past year I’ve been trying to experiement with plant-based versions of some favourite treats. I’ve had some successes, and some disasters.

When Somer over at Vedgedout posted a recipe for Double Dark Chocolate Coconut Pecan Cookies, they looked so good that I had to give them a try. I was not disappointed. My photo is nowhere near as good as the ones that Annie took for Somer, but I promise you that my cookies looked a lot more appetising in real life. Somer told me that this recipe is very forgiving, and she wasn’t wrong. No joke, anybody could make these. I made of couple of changes to the original recipe, like missing out the coconut because I’m allergic and swapping out a couple of ingredients for their British equivalents. Due to my poor maths, I also completely messed up the quantities when converting them to millilitres. All that, combined with the fact that I used gluten-free flour (yes, I’m allergic to gluten too!), had me convinced that the cookies would come out of the oven looking like something my neighbour’s cat usually leaves in our garden. But they didn’t! They taste great!