Podcast

{Podcast} Feminine Rising & the Magic Of Ritual with Natalie Jepson

Hello everyone and Happy Women’s Day! We’re onto the fourth episode of Walking with Wildflowers – this is another one I’ve had a lot of requests for and one which will be particularly pertinent today as we celebrate all things feminine! I’ve always been interested in energy and rituals – reiki, intention setting, energy healing, yoga, journalling and meditation are things I’ve been passionate about for a long time. It’s only after falling pregnant and birthing Imogen that I’ve truly begun to embrace the magic of working and tracking both the lunar cycles and my menstrual cycles. Before baby, my period was something I endured – an annoying inconvenience and something shameful that had to be hidden at all costs. But now I see that it’s a beautiful and regular reminder of my feminine, life-giving strength. Everything in the natural world from the days and the seasons to the ocean tides work in cycles. How amazing is it that we as women also get to live in sync with the earth, the oceans and the universe through the cycles of our own bodies?

There is immense power, comfort and abundance to be found in harnessing the rebirth, energy and death of these natural cycles. Becoming more self-aware as you take stock of your life, health, relationships, vocation and spirituality helps encourage the setting of intentions to manifest changes that will improve both your personal and professional life. It is such a blessing that as women we get to honour that connection to our inner wisdom on a monthly basis.

In this episode, I chat with founder of Ritual Kind, Natalie Jepson, about feminine rising and all things ritual – from self-care practices, working with your menstrual cycle and manifesting abundance through lunar ceremonies. This is such a big topic and it really probably should have called for two parts! We chat in very general and practical terms, so please do check the show notes for more resources and further information. Remember these are guidelines, and ultimately, you should do what works for you and what makes you feel comfortable. If nothing in this podcast makes you feel comfortable, that’s ok too – we are all unique individuals on different journeys. If you are, however, someone who feels a connection to the moon and the earth and if you are looking for ways to deepen that connection or to manifest magic in your life, or to become part of a community of supportive women, or if you simply just want to take better care of your body and soul, then this episode will be just up your street! Enjoy!

As always, you can find the podcast on iTunes by searching for Walking with Wildflowers under podcasts, or simply click play below to listen now.

Show Notes:

Natalie’s IG: @RitualKind

Resources:

Lunar Abundance by Ezzie Spencer

The Science Behind Smudging

Article Quoted: The Sacred Connection Between Moon And Woman

Flo Living and Woman Code

Lacey Haynes – @VeryLacey

Red School – The Future of Feminine Spirituality & Leadership

Angel Cards: Healing with the Angels – Doreen Virtue

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

{Podcast} Dat Vegan Mama Life – Raising Vegan with Dani De Douza

In this episode, I’ve switched things up a bit and have roped in my lovely fellow vegan friend, Dani De Souza, to chat about being vegan mamas and our decision to raise our daughters vegan. I did, at first, attempt to record this episode on my own, but it is such an emotional topic for me that I got both tongue-tied and side tracked – A LOT! I called my friend and fellow vegan mama blogger, Dani, to ask if she was free and up for a little chat – and luckily, the stars aligned: her little Georgia Luna was down for the night and her husband, Warren, was out for drinks with colleagues! Within forty minutes, and despite the six hour time difference (Dani lives in Singapore), we had figured out a way to record our chat (thanks Facebook for having the only clear phone line) and were jabbering away! In this episode, we discuss everything from how we handle taking our little girls to kiddies’ birthday parties, whether we take any supplements, how you almost have to become an unqualified nutritionist after going vegan, and the unfounded bad rap the humble soya bean gets. You also get treated to my husband walking in on our chat about halfway through to ask for our car keys! Raw and real, baby, raw and real! You can listen to the podcast by searching Walking with Wildflowers on iTunes or by clicking play on the media file below.

Please check the show notes for further insight into our chat. Also, after you’ve all listened to the podcast and feel ready and safe to feed your little ones lots of yummy plant-based meals, you’ll be delighted to know that I have a special on my vegan lifestyle book, A Guide for Wildflowers, this week! I use so many of the recipes in the guide to feed Imogen toddler-friendly meals – from creamy morning oats to chickpea mayo sandwiches, tomato and rosemary lentil soup, and our personal favourite, vegan mac and cheese! Use the promo code “VEGANMAMA” to get 20% off your copy! Thanks for listening and please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and share this episode with anyone you feel it may resonate with.

Find Dani here:

Instagram: @danielle.desouza
Twitter: @danidesouza_
Blog: DaniDeSouza.com

Documentaries:

What The Health (Netflix)
Earthlings (Free on YouTube)
Forks Over Knives (Netflix)
Cowspiracy (Netflix)

Books:

Eating Animals (Jonathan Safran Foer)
How Not To Die (Dr M. Greger)

Websites:

NutritionFacts.org
Cowspiracy Facts

Podcast: Body Image & Self Acceptance – Writing A New Story

Well, bloody finally! After a bit of a whirlwind trip to the UK just before which I had released the first episode of my podcast, Walking With Wildflowers, I have (at last) managed to sit down, record, edit and publish the second episode. I had this idea that the second episode would be a vast improvement on the first, but alas, after three separate recordings, wind and traffic tearing up the background noise, and time passing too quickly, I think you will find this episode just as raw as the first. But it’s the content that counts, right? And the content in this episode is a fairly sensitive one (good idea, Keri, get stuck right in, why don’t you?) and I get rather personal about my relationship history with my body (think early childhood self criticism, chubby teenage angst, a slightly obsessive bout of dieting and exercise in university and a restrictive bikini body journey) and how becoming vegan was a blessing in disguise for my attitude towards food and dieting.

I chat about how over the last couple of months I’ve really started focusing on trying to accept my new mama body (it’s a process) and how following some real ladies on social media with zero skaam has made me realise that it’s time to start letting go of judging my own body and the bodies of others. I want to live life celebrating my body and the all the things it can do whilst making peace with my voracious feminine appetite. I want all the cake, and all the fun and all the sex and food and wine and chocolate and dancing and playing and creating! I discuss the magic we can all make collectively as women if we focus our attention away from achieving the “ideal” female body type and shifting it towards following our dreams and life purpose and living in a way that is kind to both ourselves and other women. Imagine the power and change we could create it if we stopped judging and controlling our outward appearance and started supporting each other? Imagine the freedom we could bless both our sanity and our daughter’s futures with? Oh lady loves, we could move mountains and part seas!

To listen, search Walking with Wildflowers on iTunes or simply click play below. Enjoy!

Walking With Wildflowers – I made a thing! My first podcast!

If you read my June newsletter, you will know that I promised myself that I would record, edit and upload a podcast by the end of the month – purely for the sheer joy (and agony!) of making something and putting it out there. I’m not sure about you, but in the land of Pretty Girl Dressed In Nice Clothes Posing In Front of Jungle Plants or Historic Landmark aka Instagram, I’ve started taking ages to write and edit images and captions. I also faff over writing blog posts, and what used to take me an hour or two to publish can sometimes take days, if not weeks! I’ve found this relentless pursuit to create something beautiful, unique and let’s not forget, flawless, to really stunt my luss for writing and blogging. Half of the time I give up and don’t post or create anything anyway.

The idea behind publishing a podcast episode this month was to step out of my comfort zone and to try making something completely new! I have never used the voice memo app on my phone or edited an audio file in my life. And can I tell you something? I know it’s not going to be perfect (seriously, I know) and I also know it won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but I HAD SUCH FUN DOING IT. I had fun recording it (like seven times), I had fun researching how to edit audio files (although to be honest, I just kinda faded the music into my recording and left it at that – warts and all!); I had fun googling how to find a hosting platform for your podcast; I had fun doing the (very basic) artwork and I had fun pulling it all together. I felt alive again, like the time I pressed “publish” on my very first blog post on my very first (and very simple-themed) blog. Or like that time my brother and I wrote and recorded our own radio show on our family’s HIFI. We all want things to look (or sound, in this case) good, but sometimes we can get so caught up in the end product, and the fear involved around its reception, that we forget to enjoy the creative journey. I truly loved doing this and the only cash I spent on creating this was signing up to a podcast hosting platform. I think how often we scoff at people who call themselves “creatives” because what does that truly mean? How do you define a creative? In truth we are all creatives – in everything we do! Whether it’s cooking a delicious meal for your family or writing a post card to your friend, being creative means putting a little bit of yourself into doing and making something – and most of all, damn well enjoying the process!

In this episode, recorded on my daughter’s first birthday, I talk about how and why motherhood has changed me and the work I do – for the better! It is me – raw and honest, on my morning walk, talking into my phone about everything from my reluctant-to-detach placenta, my new mom bod and why sometimes being a parent feels like a never-ending cycle of live-die-repeat. Be sure to subscribe and share this episode if it resonates with you! Although it’s mostly me talking kak about myself, so if you make it to the end – good for you! Hah!

You can find the episode on iTunes Podcast (the purple app on your phone with the microphone pic) by searching for my name or for Walking with Wildflowers. Or you can just press play below. I’m still in the approval process for Spotify but hopefully will be available there soon too. Enjoy!

PS: Hold out for the blooper at the end!

cooking vegan with Melissa’s Food Shop

The well known and beloved South African food shop, Melissa’s, has just launched their online store – which is pretty much the best news for a pyjama-wearing, freelancing hermit like me. If I could do all my shopping online, I would. Oh wait, I live near a city now – I can! *adds to growing list of reasons to love new home* I was also very happy to find out that a number of Melissa’s amazing sauces and dressings are vegan and are such great additions to some of my staple veggie meals. The dishes in this post are all super easy and delicious – not to mention perfect if you’re having meat-eating friends over for a dinner party and you want to ensure that they leave feeling super-full and satisfied (and, of course, raving about your food). Alternatively, the salad makes a great lunch on it’s own, the nachos are fab for when you’re having peeps over for drinks and the bolognese is perfect for an easy midweek home dinner.Before I get into the food, can we just all take a moment to appreciate Melissa’s beautiful packaging? If you know me, you’ll know I’m a massive fan of illustration and pretty wrapping paper, so friends and family – expect your gifts to all be wrapped in this for the next year. Actually, just expect Melissa’s hampers. Pre-packaged and prettily wrapped already, it’s a no-brainer for any last-minute gift (which, let’s be honest, most gifts are). From birthdays to mother’s and father’s days, or even a little me-time spoil – Melissa’s has your back.

This first recipe is one of my favourites and a lunchtime meal I have at least twice a week. I’m always on the lookout for yummy dressings to jazz up my salads and this Pomegranate and Cranberry White Balsamic Vinegar is a new favourite.

Chickpea and Quinoa Salad with Melissa’s Pomegranate & Cranberry White Balsamic Vinegar

Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas
1/2 cup quinoa (I used red quinoa)
Baby spinach leaves
Rocket
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber
Yellow Pepper
Avocado

Method
Bring the red quinoa to boil in a pot filled with 1 cup of water. Allow to simmer until cooked (about ten minutes). Drain any excess water and allow to cool. Drain and rinse chickpeas throughly. Chop your tomatoes, cucumber and yellow pepper as desired and place in a mixing bowl with the baby spinach and rocket. Add 2 tablespoons of Melissa’s Pomegranate & Cranberry White Balsamic Vinegar and mix gently with a wooden spoon. Place on plate as desired (I used a rectangular serving plate) and then cover with quinoa, chickpeas and sliced avocado. Finish off with a generous slug of the vinegar over the top and serve.

This next recipe is one that I’m really excited to share as I am a massive fan of Nachos – always have been, always will be. The only problem with eating vegan is that nachos now have to be served sans the cheese… or do they? I found a fabulous recipe for a vegan ricotta cheese from the Thug Kitchen cookbook which works marvellously alongside the guacamole and Melissa’s delicious Tomato Salsa.

Nachos with Guacamole, Vegan Cheese and Melissa’s Tomato Salsa

Guacamole

Smash 2 avocados with lemon juice. Add salt and pepper.

Salsa

Mix Melissa’s Tomato Salsa with one tablespoon of Melissa’s Sweet Chilli and Tomato Jam. Add sliced jalepenos if you’re into spice.

Vegan Cheese (recipe from Thug Kitchen)

1/4 cup hulled sunflower seeds
1 block tofu
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Pour the sunflower seeds into a food processor and blitz for 2 minutes.
Take tofu out package, and drain of any excess water. Add to food processor and blitz with sunflower seeds until smooth.
Place mixture in a mixing bowl with the lemon zet, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and garlic. Mix in gently with a wooden spoon. Stir in the nutritional yeast slowly. Done! (I add in chopped basil or coriander leaves for extra yumminess, but that’s purely up to you). Place in fridge until cool.

Place the guacamole, tomato salsa mix and “cheese” into separate bowls and serve alongside your choice of nachos. Yum!

This dish below is adapted from one of my favourites from the Deliciously Ella cookbook. It never fails to disappoint, and may I just throw it out there that some meat-eaters (ok, just my husband, but he is a chef so he counts as like ten meat-eaters) have agreed that it’s actually better than regular bolognese! I used my absolute favourite Melissa’s product for this one – I eat it with a spoon right out the jar – the Slow Roasted Marinated Tomatoes to add extra flavour to this dish.

Lentil Bolognese with Melissa’s Slow Roasted Marinated Tomatoes

Ingredients
3 large carrots
1 jar of Melissa’s slow roasted marinated tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 packet tomato puree
2 tins of lentils, drained and rinsed
500g spaghetti

Method
Peel and grate carrots.
Add the carrots, the jar of slow roasted marinated tomatoes and crushed garlic to a large saucepan with the tins of tomatoes, lentils and 2 cups of boiling water.
Stir everything together, bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for 45 mins, stirring now and then,
Once it’s almost ready, cook the pasta al dente and drain. Place on dish and spoon bolognese over the top (or, alternatively, mix in with the bolognese and then serve).

You can order all of the Melissa’s products used above from their online store. Happy cooking! Let me know if you try out any of the above dishes – I’d love to know how you found them.

** The vegan cheese recipe is adapted from the Thug Kitchen cookbook and the lentil bolognese is adapted from the Deliciously Ella cookbook – both books are essential to any vegan’s bookshelf, in my humble opinion. **

eating vegan in london

London is Paris’ vegan-friendly healthy cousin. While Parisians consider black coffee and a cigarette perfectly fine for breakfast, London is all about acacia bowls and green juices. Or at least, that’s what I gathered from the places we visited. Two out of the three restaurants we went to were raw vegan and the other place I was lucky enough to try out was Vx aka Vegan Cross, where I sampled a very not-raw yummy cheese quesadilla (oh, the dripping, melty yumminess of vegan cheese) and a delicious chocolate blueberry cupcake. There are so many other vegan places to try out in London that I wish I had been there for an entire month – with a pot of gold! And don’t even get me started on Whole Foods Market. People of the first world, you should be so grateful!

Wild Food Cafe is situated in Covent Garden and opens at 12pm sharp – make sure you’re waiting at the door if you want to grab a table straight away – there was already a queue forming when we got there at 11:50am. The service was fantastic and the food arrived in very good time for a place so packed with customers. My salad was delicious and jammed full of the good stuff! I could easily have had another one – but then I am just a big pig. Andrew had the burger (of course – which I’m not completely sure was raw, I probably should have taken a photo! Whoops) and proclaimed it to be really tasty and filling. I just had to have a slice of the blueberry cheesecake because you don’t really find vegan cakes of any sort in SA pretty much ever, and I wanted to weigh it up against the one I have made before. It was really yummy – not too sweet and very moreish and kind of similar in taste to the one of my own creation. I should totally open a vegan restaurant. Ha! Nama in Notting Hill reminded me a lot of the amazing Raw and Roxy in Cape Town’s Woodstock region and so of course I loved it! Their sushi rolls in particular were fabulous and they also offer great tapas, raw pastas and all kinds of desserts. I had the basil pesto pasta (surprise, surprise) and Andrew had the tapas platter which was just exploding with flavours of all sorts. Nama also offers courses in raw food cooking as well as catering for functions and events. Just imagine hosting a big vegan birthday party – and not having to do all the cooking! Heaven.

It felt so much easier to be a little plant muncher in London and I must admit that it was a bit of a comedown to come home (kudos to the freaking fantastic vegan meals on British Airways though – I was so impressed!) to only one great vegan salad option at Woolworths (good lord, that grain and lentil salad is a lifesaver) and one or two vegetarian or vegan options, if you’re lucky, on many a restaurant menu around the country. I have faith though that we will very soon be catching up to international standards as more and more awareness around food starts happening in South Africa. I have already noticed – in my nine short months of being vegan – the change in perception of a plant-based lifestyle and the eagerness of people to find out more about it. There is so much opportunity here in SA for both vegan products and eateries and I predict a big boom over the next two years or so. You heard it here first – get on it.

Thank you to my lovely fellow veggie friend Andrea for taking me out and about – can’t wait for our next adventure!

eating vegan in Paris

A great place to start when looking for vegetarian and vegan restaurants when traveling is by checking out the website, Happy Cow. This website (and there is an app too) will let you know where all the veggie restaurants, as well as the “muggle” restaurants are who carry veggie options and which ones are the closest to you at the moment of searching. Jussie, guys what did we do before GPS? Get lost, that’s what.

I found Paris to be surprisingly vegan-friendly for a nation so obsessed with cheese! We ate at Brassiere Lola’s twice, not only because it was just one tube stop away from our hotel, but because the food was so amazing! The Chicken Caesar Salad is literally better than any other one I’ve tasted in my life – even before I was vegan. Andy had it both nights he loved it so much! I also had the special quinoa salad there which was fabulous and just what I needed after a week of travelling and eating stodgy fast food! I love going to vegan restaurants and looking around at all the other patrons and wondering about all their pasts and what their stories are in and how they came to choose a vegan lifestyle. Also, it’s so relaxing knowing that every ingredient on the menu is vegan and you don’t have to think twice about any hidden ingredients when ordering anything. I still have to pinch myself when I’m in the surroundings of other veggies – it’s a very rare occurrence for me to be not the only vegan in a room!

We also ate at Hank’s Vegan Burger (near the Charles Pompidou Centre) which was probably the most wondrous experience ever. The staff were young, energetic and super friendly – they even giggled at my jokes so I reckon that Parisian vegans are my new favourite people. And the burgers were…. mind blowing. I had the La Catcheuse (VEGAN CHEESE BURGER IN MAH FASH). It was sooo yum. The sauces are all so tasty and the flavours just sublime – their mayo needs to be bottled and sold! I could easily have eaten there again. Every day, in fact. I also want someone to please help me bring Hank to Cape Town. (Inbox me if you’re keen to invest – seriously) (yes mom, I’m looking at you). There are so many other veggie places to try in Paris and the fresh fruit and veg is amazing too – once again: so little time, not enough ZAR. Can we go back again?

light summer lunches: raw creamy avocado and cucumber zucchini noodles

I know Saturday was a bit of a freakishly weird warm day for Cape Town winter, but it got me hankering after this dish which I originally found on the amazing vegan food blog, Simple Veganista. I’ve made this meal a couple of times and have adapted it according to mine and Andrew’s tastes. As we near summer and are preparing to get our nekkid bodies out, a lot of peeps are looking to cut their intake of sugar and carbs. Someone once told me when I went vegan that I should always make sure that one of my meals every day is a salad – and this dish, whilst pretending to be pasta, is totally a salad. It is raw vegan food, but if you’re a carb monster like myself, feel free to swap the zucchini noodles for pasta – the flavours will carry through either way. I added pine nuts to my recipe for extra yumminess, and you could probably add some beans to the dish too if you’d like – chick peas or cannellini beans would go best. It’s ridiculously quick and easy to make (the most amount of time is spent on peeling the zucchini and cucumber, which is not much at all) and it really is a great meal to whip up when you’re on the run but still trying to stay on the health bandwagon.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 big zucchinis aka marrows (I used a julienne peeler to slice mine, but you can buy spiralized zucchini from the shop or make your own with a spiralizer)
Cherry tomatoes
Rocket leaves
Jalapeno slices or Olives
Pea Shoots

For the sauce:

1 medium sized cucumber (the bigger your cucumber, the runnier your sauce will be)
1 large avocado
Juice from 1 lemon
A handful of basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Place your zucchini noodles in a mixing bowl. In a blender, blitz all the ingredients for the sauce until smooth. Toss with noodles and then place on a plate and decorate as desired with tomatoes, olives, rocket and pea shoots. Easy, huh? Enjoy!

an afternoon walk & spicy butternut & chickpea soup

The sun is going down and the house is settling into its closed-curtain and roaring-fire state. I’ve just taken the dogs for a short walk down the driveway because once again this morning we didn’t have time to take them for their usual five kilometre exploration. Although they sniff at the same bushes and wee on the same tree trunks every single day, you’d swear that every morning it was their first time out in their whole lives and I feel terribly guilty if they don’t get their daily walk. Also, they stare at me and whine a lot if they haven’t, which is pretty bloody annoying. Anyway, whilst out on my walk, I was thinking about what to cook for dinner and I remembered this yummy soup I made a couple of weeks ago and thought I must share it with you all over here because it was so yummy. I’d also quite like to make it right now, but alas, I have no chickpeas. Perhaps I shall try it with lentils. Anyhoo, here is the recipe and some pics I snapped from the last time I made it. And also some pics of the driveway this evening because the light was just too lovely not to take a snap or two, and I don’t have many more evenings like this left in the Midlands.

This spicy butternut and chickpea soup was born out of two essential components: pretty much nothing else to eat in the house, paired with freezing cold winter weather. I’m not the greatest fan of a traditional butternut soup, but in my drive to eat as local and as seasonally as possibly, the humble butternut has now become a weekly feature in my local vegetable box. I therefore wanted to create a butternut soup with a bit of a zing and how better to do that than by adding some of my favourite spices (forget cookies, I’m the cumin monster). My friend, Olivia, who eats vegetarian largely by default (dodgy gall bladder), made this for her husband and three sons the other day and they all couldn’t believe that it was meat and dairy-free! So vegan or not, give this baby a whirl on a cold day or night this winter.

Ingredients:

1 small white onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon cumin spice
1/2 teaspoon ginger spice
1/2 teaspoon coriander spice
1/2 teaspoon mild curry powder
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 butternut, peeled and chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
Vegetable Stock of your choice
300ml boiling water
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Fresh coriander and coconut cream to serve

Method:

In a large sup pot, fry the onion in the olive oil for about three minutes. Add the fresh garlic and celery, as well as the cumin, ginger, coriander, curry powder and turmeric and stir fry the whole lot for another 3 minutes. Add the butternut, sweet potato and potato. Stir it all about in the onions and spices for a few minutes. Add the hot water and veg stock and boil until the vegetables are all soft. Mash everything up or shove it in the food processor if you want it really smooth. Add the chickpeas in at the end and cook for another five minutes. Serve with fresh coriander and a good dollop of coconut cream.