I’m not doing anything special to celebrate World Vegan Day, just being my usual vegan self. If you’re reading this and you’re not already vegan perhaps you might want to try eating vegan for the day. It doesn’t have to be today. It could be tomorrow. And then you could try it again the next day and the next day and the next day...and just don’t stop :)
On to food...last night I made a scrumptious pumpkin and chickpea stew for Halloween. It was simple and spicy comfort food and made use of my new toy.
On to food...last night I made a scrumptious pumpkin and chickpea stew for Halloween. It was simple and spicy comfort food and made use of my new toy. 
I got this almost 2 weeks ago and I love it! I haven’t used the porridge function yet, but I love the slow cooker, rice cooker and most of all the steamer. Unfortunately it’s not possible to programme the slow cooker to start cooking at a specific time (only the rice cooker has this function) so it can’t switch on itself while I am at work. However I do have a husband who works at home and I have managed to programme him over the years to do simple tasks like this :)We ate the stew with some steamed broccoli and some leftover potatoes which were sprinkled with salt, pepper, cumin and paprika and fried in a little olive oil. Yum!
And here is the recipe.
Spicy Pumpkin and Chickpea Stew
(makes 4 servings)
3 cups diced pumpkin
1 parsnip, diced
2 cups passata (I used one 500ml carton)
I cup cooked chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsps vegan stock powder
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ cup water
½ tsp chopped chillies*
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Throw everything but the coriander in the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours. Mix through the coriander at the end.
*I used these. They’re great if you are a little scared of fresh chillies like me!
And finally if you have a spare minute, why not see if you can spot the vegan?
