From Earth and Water

The Vegan Era Crew had the absolute pleasure of enjoying a scrumptious lunch at a new raw vegan cafe on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia last week. fRom eArth and Water is a gorgeous little place tucked away of James Street in Burleigh Heads. It is bright and airy with wooden, balinese inspired furnishings, and offers a simple, but oh-so-tasty menu.

This is what they have to say about their beautiful food:

"Our menu is a celebration of raw organic cuisine, 100% botanical with no animal products, gluten, dairy, refined sugars, or processed ingredients. Everything on our menu uses the purest seasonal ingredients locally sourced and organically grown. The result is vibrant rich deep flavour without guilt. The passion, commitment to detail, unique artistry food techniques and the use of exotic botanical ingredients is best experienced from the chefs table menu. this menu has been carefully constructed with your health in mind...Discover the inherent beauty and flavour of each ingredient in its natural raw state. Welcome, be well!"

The small cafe is run by one beautiful lady called Nic who has a passion for nourishing your body and soul.

We enjoyed the following:

Sweet Vanilla Nut Mylk (fresh coconut water, home made almond mylk and vanilla pod)

Pistachio Pesto Ravioli (Ravioli made from fresh young coconuts and basil and filled with pistachio pesto, sun-dried tomato marinara and marinated vegetables)

Soft mini tacos (taco shells made from golden flax and zucchini and filled with spicy sun-dried tomato filling, guacamole, fresh tomato lime salsa and house made "sour cream")

Coconut wrap spring rolls (light wraps made from fresh coconut and filled with avocado, coriander, mint, cucumber, cashews and a stay dressing)

Baja Burrito Wrap (wrap made from golden flax and zucchini and filled with nut cheese, marinated vegetables, seasonal salad greens, avocado, cashews and sour cream)

Banana pancakes filled with a decadent cream and topped with chocolate and raspberry sauces.

I know what you are thinking - how in the world did 2 people eat all of that?? Well, we went slow and worked our way through the menu gently. We shared everything and took some meals home to enjoy for dinner. Although we were still full from lunch!

I think it's best I let the pics do the talking (please note that I tried my best to remember to take photos BEFORE devouring the meals but, alas, a couple of times I got half way through the meal before realizing that I had to take a picture!).

Sweet Vanilla Nut Mylk

This was served ice cold and was absolutely divine!

Soft Mini Tacos

The sour cream on these tacos was delicious! We were expecting the sun-dried tomato filling to be a little spicier but the flavours of this filling and the salsa and guac complemented each other beautifully. Much better than a 'real' taco!

Pistachio Pesto Ravioli

The marinara sauce in the ravioli was beautiful and we polished these off very quickly.

Coconut Wrap Spring Rolls

We had 1 spring roll each and that was definitely enough! These were so filling, choc full of grated carrot and other vegetables and the satay sauce was lovely and sweet.

Banana Pancakes filled with cashew cream

Dessert was AMAZING. The cream inside was beautiful and not too heavy, while the raspberry sauce gave it a really fresh taste.

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience and each and every dish. It is amazing how filling and tasty raw food is. Unfortunately, all the nuts in the creamy sauces gave Dave a few tummy problems, which I guess goes with eating a lot of raw foods. Nuts are just so versatile that they end up in everything!

It is one of those places we will certainly revisit, if only because we cannot be bothered making such beautiful creations ourselves! This is what dining out is all about! Thank you so much to Nic and her lovely staff for making our experience at From Earth and Water so enjoyable! Even Trudi was allowed to sit with us and enjoy!

Be Love; Be Peace; Be Vegan. Save Our Home

Build me up buttercup!

One of the Vegan Era Crew has started chemotherapy and so we've been very interested in how the vegan diet can support the body during this time. The usually high-raw vegan diet that we have become accustomed to, is not adequate for putting on the weight and protein that the body needs to handle periods of sickness and excess weightloss. Of course most doctors believe lots of dairy and meat are the key in this situation, so we have been researching ways to put on weight, vegan-style.

According to The Vegetarian Society, "In order to gain weight it is essential to increase the energy content of your diet. Also, in order for your body to make proper use of protein, you must ensure sufficient energy. The most concentrated form of energy in the diet is from fat. If you can tolerate fat then try and increase the fat content of your diet."

Have an Avo: Avocados are creamy and high in calories and nutrients. They are also soft and easy to eat during times when mouth ulcers and other nasty side-effects take hold.

Get Smooth: Smoothies are a great way to add extra protein in the form of a protein powder, and calories with the addition of soy or rice milk, soy yoghurt or ice-cream, nuts, seeds, bananas and even soft silken tofu.

Get Saucy: Have meals with a good sauce, made with pureed fried onions, perhaps with tomatoes or mushrooms. To increase the energy density of sauces use vegan margarine and add soya milk or silken tofu.

Beans: Cooked beans can be added to soups, stews, pies, salads, etc as well as being able to be pureed or used for dips such as hummus.

Soy Soy Soy: All of the over-processed soy products that we usually steer clear of are full of calories and protein. If you are looking to bulk up, delicious products such as Tofutti cream cheese will certainly help!

Go Nutty: Nut butters are a great way to get lots of the good fat and nutrients from nuts in an easily digestible way. Choose raw almond butter, sunflower butter, tahini, or hazelnut butter and add them to crackers, vegetable crudites, salads, deserts, baked goods or have them on toast.

Oily Goodness: Extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, etc are a healthy way to add good fats to the diet.

Rice, Pasta, Gnocchi, sprouted bread, vegan custard and yummy vegan cheese are some of the other things that spring to mind if you are looking to put on weight.

Unfortunately, there are not many vegan meal replacements, such as Sustagen, which offer all of the nutrients that the body needs in a liquid form for times when patients cannot eat. Vega Complete Meal Replacement is a powder that was formulated by a vegan triathlete and is available at www.pureprescriptions.com, but it contains some natural products that pharmacists and oncologists may not agree to.

If you are looking to put on weight as a cancer patient, then there will likely be other challenges that need to be addressed also, such as dry mouth, loss of appetite, sore throat and mouth ulcers, nausea, constipation or diarrhea and loss or change of taste. The most important thing is to get some form of nutrients in to the body each day, so whatever is tolerable and appealing is often the only consideration.

While some of the Crew are enjoying pigging out on all of these vegan delicacies, we are looking forward to the end of treatment when a return to a healthy RAW vegan diet will help to detox the body!!

Here is a lovely recipe for Lemon Poppy Scones to get your taste buds drooling...

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup margarine

1 lemon, zested and juiced

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Cut in margarine until the mixture is the consistency of large grains of sand. I like to use my hands to rub the margarine into the flour. Stir in poppy seeds, lemon zest and lemon juice. Combine the soy milk and water, and gradually stir into the dry ingredients until the batter is moistened, but still thick like biscuit dough. You may not need all of the liquid. Spoon 1/4 cup sized plops of batter onto the greased baking sheet so they are about 3 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes the preheated oven, until golden.