I’m five days into the vegan challenge and with some advanced planning last weekend (I started the challenge on Monday) it’s been fairly straight forward. However, the downfall in my planning has been honey.
I planned my menu for the week before doing much research. I thought if I didn’t eat dairy, eggs, meat, fish then I’d ticked the box – job done! I even felt slightly smug that I knew about hidden dairy such as whey powder. But I didn’t think about honey or red wine and these two ingredients alone have been my downfall. This week I have eaten cereal bars with honey in them everyday, I’ve had a honey salad dressing and twice I have eaten pasta sauce I made with non-vegan red wine in it. Considering all the other hidden ingredients that could have also scuppered my vegan challenge plans e.g. cochineal (E120) food colouring, I’m pretty pleased with myself though still.
Tonight, those of us taking part in the challenge are having a shared meal. I’ve made an orange sponge cake and I was truly surprised that it looks like a light sponges cake despite there being no eggs in it and it being made with olive oil. The proof will be in the tasting – I’ll let you know.
Posted by Fiona