"THE amount of dairy I was packing away was shocking, to be honest," says Áine Carlin, gravely.
It was this realisation, and the fact that "every single meal had some form of dairy in it", that sent the food writer, former actress and award-winning blogger (www.peasoupeats.com) into a tailspin over what she was putting into her body.
"I opened the fridge one day and had a hard look at what we were eating," she remembers – and six years on, she has no regrets about going vegan.
Understandably so, considering her first book, Keep It Vegan, won the 2014 PETA Award for Best Vegan Cookbook and the 2015 Gourmand Award for Best UK Vegan Book.
Originally from Derry, Carlin had always been interested in food and cooking from scratch, but her vegan transformation took place during a stint living in Chicago.
"Chicago itself had a massive, massive effect on me," says the 34-year-old. "They were so far ahead of us in regards to vegetarianism and veganism – I'd never seen vegetarian food like it. So when I'd seen the possibilities of what it could be like, it became exciting to me, whereas before, it seemed like you were depriving yourself and it was just a horrible, joyless existence, you know?"
Now based in Cornwall, Carlin sounds the opposite of joyless. Not only has going vegan given her a whole new career avenue, it's had a huge impact on her health and how she feels about herself.
"We weren't feeling 100 per cent, I would say. We weren't ill or anything like that, but we'd both put on a bit of weight, we were very lethargic, we were having terrible sleep, my skin and my hair and my nails were never looking worse," she says, explaining how she and her now-husband were feeling in the run-up to deciding to ditch meat and dairy.
"All of this was around the time of my wedding, so if you can imagine, I look back at those photos and I just think, I was looking and feeling my worst. I'm sure no-one else noticed, but you know when you can feel it in yourself that you're not the best that you could be."
Dairy "was the first thing to go", she says, but claims there isn't anything she misses from her previous, cheese-tastic diet.
"The problem is people look for products that taste almost exactly the same as the dairy products that they miss," she muses. "I think you just need to forget about that and just go: 'It's never going to taste like that, but I'm going to enjoy this for what it is'."
The premise of her latest book, The New Vegan, is to make vegan eating accessible to everyone.
"I love communal eating; for me it's all about sharing food, and veganism has a very solitary image. You do it yourself and for yourself, you eat alone and there's something about that that's very depressing for me," she explains. "I wanted to open it out. It's more about sharing your lifestyle and sharing your food, and everyone sitting around a big table and passing bowls of this, that and the other."
"When people think about veganism, they think it's very dogmatic, that you're being told what to eat, that you're being criticised if you slip up, and I want to get away from that mindset, because it's destructive and it doesn't work in the long term," she says passionately. "It's about being supporting and accepting of everyone – and just enjoying food."
If you're tempted to switch to a vegan lifestyle, get started with these recipes from Carlin's new book.
SUPER-EASY, SUPER-GREEN, SUNDAY NIGHT SPAGHETTI
(Serves 2-3)
200g wholewheat spaghetti
100g green beans
Handful of fresh rocket
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive or flaxseed oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pesto:
30g fresh basil leaves
30g spinach
2tsp mixed nuts (walnuts and pecans work best)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 small garlic clove
3tsp extra virgin olive oil
3tsp flaxseed oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the spaghetti. Place all the pesto ingredients in a food processor or mini blender and blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add a touch more salt and pepper if necessary.
Once the spaghetti has been boiling for about five minutes, add the green beans and cook for a further four to five minutes, or until the pasta is al dente and the beans are cooked.
Retain a cup of the cooking liquid and drain the spaghetti. Return the spaghetti and beans to the pan, add the pesto and half the reserved cooking liquid and stir thoroughly to combine. Add more liquid if necessary.
Dress the rocket leaves in a little balsamic vinegar, oil and seasoning. Serve the spaghetti in warmed bowls and top each with a handful of dressed rocket leaves.
GLUTEN-FREE ORANGE POLENTA CAKE
(Serves 8-10)
120g polenta
80g ground almonds
100g gram flour (made from ground chickpeas)
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Zest and juice of 2 blood oranges
100ml olive oil
100ml agave nectar
1/2tsp orange extract
100ml soya yogurt
40g crushed pistachios, to decorate
For the cashew frosting:
150g cashews, soaked in water for at least 6 hours
100ml agave nectar
Juice and zest of 1/2 orange
1/2tsp orange extract
1tsp (heaped) coconut oil
2-3tsp water
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3 and grease and line a 15cm cake tin. First, make the frosting. Drain and rinse the cashews and blend in a food processor or high-speed blender with the agave, orange juice and zest, orange extract, coconut oil and two tablespoons of the water.
Scrape down the sides frequently until it becomes completely smooth, adding a little more water if necessary. The frosting will go through several stages; nutty, coarse and eventually silky smooth. Don't take a shortcut by adding too much liquid. Keep blending and refrigerate until needed.
Mix the polenta, ground almonds, gram flour and bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl. Stir through the blood orange zest to ensure it is evenly distributed.
In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together the oil, blood orange juice, agave, orange extract and yogurt. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the orange and olive oil mixture. Fold gently and transfer to the prepared cake tin.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Check whether the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer to see if it comes out clean. Once baked, leave to cool briefly on a wire rack before removing it from the tin. Set aside until completely cool.
Slather over the chilled cashew frosting, smoothing it around the sides with a spatula. Finally, decorate with crushed pistachios. The cake is best eaten fresh, but will keep for up to three days.
:: The New Vegan by Áine Carlin is published by Kyle Books, priced £14.99. Photography by Nassima Rothacker.
