Jamie Oliver on Obesity and Food TEDtalk

Well here is a familiar face doing a TEDtalk...... it's none other than Jamie Oliver!  In this TEDtalk Jamie discusses the current and future obsesity epidemic!  Some of his facts and figures are truly terrifying.  Public health records indicate we in the western world are getting fatter and more unhealthy than ever, due to an increase in the amount of processed, high fat, convenience food we are eating.  These patterns are set to continue. 

Obesity is a strong risk factor for many chronic and serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, particular cancers and strokes.  It is seriously bad for your health....... sometimes we think weight is all about appearance..... but clearly not!  More information about the health implications of obesity can be found on NHS Choices website.

As Jamie highlights there are becoming generational patterns around food, meals and cooking and this is shaping peoples relationship with food from such a young age.

Watching this is hard hitting and it certainly makes me sit up and listen!  The 5 years of sugar from milk bit in particular - WOW!

How can I stop this happening to me?  How can I also stop it happening to others, my friends my family?

Could a flexitarian lifestyle help?  Well perhaps..... yes!  You could live a flexitarian lifestyle and only each processed high fat vegetarian food, but this is unlikely.  Living a flexitarian lifestyle you are far more likely to be eating more vegetable, more fruit..... a more plant based diet in general. You will be having less red meat which we have discussed in the "How much is too much" blog is also linked to many health conditions.  The recipes we post here at the Flexitarian are hopefully going to encourage others to get in the kitchen and to cook fresh.  The recipes we use here are nearly all clean eating, they use fresh, healthy, yummy ingredients.  Could our meat free days become our healthy good for us days? Could the flexitarian lifestyle encourage us to cook more from scratch...... to reduce our processed food intake..... to change this generational pattern of children not learning to cook?  Can we use the flexitarian lifestyle to set an example that is for our benefits and others?

......... I hope so

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Namaste: Review of the Minimal Baker Buddha Bowl

I have discussed in previous blog posts a website which I stumbled across and immediately got hooked.  The Minimalist Baker is a website run by a husband and wife duo who are passionate about bringing to you recipes which are quick, easy and use less than 10 ingredients.  The lovely thing is many of the recipes are vegan, vegetarian or even gluten free and they look amazing!

So the recipe I tried first was the Sweet Potato and Chickpea Buddha Bowl...... I was of course drawn to this through my love of sweet potatoes and of Buddha so it sounded perfect.

 Recipe Review:

Well this recipe did not disappoint.  It was quick, simple, easy to follow and best of all it tasted great. Annoyingly my photos don't do it justice.  You cant see any of the lovely greens underneath.  The spices on the chickpeas are warming and punchy, but the best element for me is that sauce - the tahini, lemon juice and maple give it so many different dimensions.  You almost get a different taste with each mouthful.

I will definitely be making this one again.  Any recipe that can make kale moreish is a winner!!!

Top marks Minimalist Baker, I am impressed!

Go check them out guys!

Smoothies

My current go to in the morning for breakfast is a smoothie.  Since getting my Twist & Go blender from ASDA I haven't looked back.  It makes smoothie making so quick and easy. The best thing about it is that since the blender container is the smoothie bottle - less washing up!  You just blend.......and go.  It's great value as well, coming in at only £20!  I am super impressed, it blends everything I throw at it to a lovely smooth consistency.

My formula for making a smoothie is:

Liquid

• Use one or two liquids
• Always a milk based one, and then sometimes an additional second such as coconut water, orange juice, apple juice.

Fruit

• I like my smoothies chilled so I always used some frozen fruit.
• Fresh fruit is also good - bananas are great for thickening the smoothies up
• Tinned fruit also worked well - I like tinned pear

Greens

• Smoothies are great places to add in some hidden greens.  Spinach is a good one as it blends easy and doesn't impact on the taste.

Added optional extras

• Natural sweeteners - honey or maple syrup.
• Yoghurt
• Chia seeds (good for protein and they will thicken the smoothie up)
• Nut butters
• Protein Powder

Here are a few recipes of my most recent smoothies

Banana Protein Shake

 The banana protein shake is super filling and has lots of protein so great post-workout.  It is made of unsweetened almond milk, a banana and protein powder (mine is banana flavoured too so that helps although isn't essential)

Mixed Berry and Banana

This smoothie is packed full of antioxidents thanks to the berries.  It is made with unsweetened almond milk, a banana, spinach and frozen mixed berries.

Pineapple, Banana and Spinach

This smoothie may look a strange green colour but it tastes fruity and fresh.  It is made with unsweetened almond milk, a banana, spinach and frozen pineapple pieces.

Chocolate, Banana and Nut Protein Shake

This is a nice rich filling smoothie.  It is made using unsweetened almond milk again, mixed with a banana, chocolate flavoured protein powder and a large teaspoon of almond butter. If you wanted extra chocolate flavouring a dash of cocoa or cocao powder would do the trick!

Clean Eating Baked Beans

Baked beans are an old favourite.  A classic comfort food.  Unfortunately the baked beans we know and loved are packed full of salt and sugar!  So while we may think they are a fairly healthy choice, they do in fact have hidden badness.  So can we change this?  Well why not try this clean eating baked bean recipe?

In this recipe I have put the beans on a baked sweet potato for extra goodness, but they would work on a baked regular potato, toastie, or whatever you favourite baked bean dish may be!!

Hope you enjoy and post any pictures to our Facebook page.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 x medium sweet potato
• 1 x tin pinto beans
• 1 x small tub of passata
• Paprika
• Tahini
• Salt and Pepper
• Optional: chilli flakes and honey

Method:

Prick the sweet potatoes several times and pop in the mircrowave for five minutes.  Then transfer to a hot over.  Cooking until soft all the way through and crispy on the outside (around 25 minutes).

Add the drained pinto beans and the passata to a pot and heat gently.  Season with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of paprika.  If you are wanting to add a kick add a sprinkling of chilli flakes now.

As previously mentioned off the shelf baked beans contain a lot of sugar.  If you are worried about transitioning to a less sweet bean experience then add a teaspoon of honey or maple syrup at this time.  If you are ready to go without the sweetness - don't add any!  It's up to you!

The beans can be eaten as they are at this point.  However to thicken up the sauce and make it a bit creamier and richer, add one teaspoon of tahini and mix through.  

Check your seasoning and your beans are then ready to serve on your baked potato with any other favourite toppings like cheese, jalapenos or coleslaw.  Enjoy :) 

A Vegan Bodybuilder TEDtalk

Yes.... my obsession continues.  Time for another TEDtalk.  So think you need meat to get all the "protes" to "make the gains" and bulk up....... well think again.

In this TEDtalk Joshua Knox discusses the plant-based challenge he and his friends undertook and how this 7 day challenge went on to change the way he ate and viewed food forever.  The thing that makes this story interesting is Joshua is a bodybuilder.  

As you can see from the pictures he certainly has muscles and he has been able to sculpt his body, getting the protein he needs to muscle growth.... from a plant-based vegan diet!?  Who'd have thought it!?

For me this video just goes to show that the "I need meat for protein" argument, might not be as strong as we once thought!

What Is It All About?

So what is this Flexitarian idea really all about?  What does it actually mean?

The term flexitarian has been around for a little over a decade but perhaps has come to the limelight more in recent years with the Meat Free Monday's campaign headed by the McCartney clan.

So it short flexitarian is 'semi-vegetarian'.  It is eating a vegetarian based diet and then having the flexibility that on others days you eat meat!  For hardcore flexitarians, they might eat a mainly a vegetarian diet with only a couple of meat days, and for others it may be having one meat free day a week.  Either way - WELCOME to the flexitarian lifestyle.

The benefits of this lifestyle are ten fold, from a health perspective, a financial perspective and of course and environmental perspective.  Some of these can be read about in the following posts: 1), 2) and 3).

One big debate is thinking about whether you view Flexitarianism as a diet or a lifestyle.  In 2009 Dawn Jackson released the flexitarian diet book available on amazon.  This book provides a step by step guide to using flexitarianism as a diet, with suggested menu plans included.  USnews has reviewed this diet and summarised it here.

In summary, being a flexitarian is having your cake and eating it!!! Yes I will take the financial, health and environmental benefits of a vegetarian life style........ but I will also take a yummy juice steak every now and then.  In my opinion it is more of a lifesyle rather than a diet, but each to their own.  That is the beauty of flexitarianism......its FLEXIBLE!!!   Make it work for you!  One veggie day, four veggie days..... it doesn't matter, it's what fits with you.

For further reading the Guardian and the Telegraph do a couple of great light hearted easy reading summaries about Flexitarian living.  They are only short so I would encourage everyone to have a quick look.

Left Over Challenge - Beans

The Left Over Challenge will be a regular feature where by I need to make a new meal out of left overs of a previously blogged recipe.  Where possible I will try to only add ingredients that I already had in my cupboards.  So here goes..... the first challenge

In this post I will show you the meal I made from the left overs of the Stuffed Bean Pepper Pot recipe.

So left over I had:

• Bean mixture
• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach

The ingredients I used from my cupboards:

• Jalapenos
• Chilli poweder
• Chilli seeds
• Lemon juice
• Paprika
• Mushrooms

And here is how I did it:

• Cut the sweet potato into wedges.
• Put in a sandwich bag / freezer bag along with mushrooms, paprika, salt and pepper.
• Add a good glug of olive oil and hold the top of the bag tightly shut while you give the bag a good massage meaning all the oil and spicing coats the contents evenly.
• Put on a baking tray and add to a hot oven (220c) for around 20-30 minutes, turning once half way through.

• Add the left over beans to a pan.  Add the jalapenos, chilli powder, chilli seeds (as much or as little as you want) and a generous couple of handfuls of spinach.
• Heat through, stirring to ensure no sticking.
• Remember to taste to check your spicing and seasoning, adjust to suit your taste.
• Cook until heated through and the spinach has wilted.
• Add the lemon juice and stir through before serving.

Challenge one......... DONE.

As always, please feel free to comment and let us know what you think.  We would love to hear if you tried this recipe, or maybe you did your own invention challenge?!  Either way we would love to hear about it.

Lovely Lentils

When going meat free we find ourselves looking for a new star of the show.  One rising star I have found would have to be the lentil.  The humble lentil comes in all shapes and sizes (well actually..... one shape.....disc) from the red lentil, the green lentil, to the posh and very trendy puy lentil.

Not only are they versatile, they are also have many great health benefits:

Protein Power - As we discussed in the Meat Alternatives post.  Lentils are a great source of protein.  In fact, 26% of lentil’s calories are attributed to protein.

Happy Hearts - Lentils have so much happy hear goodness packed into them.  Due to high levels of soluble fiber they can help to reduce cholesterol and the folate and magnesium content also helps maintain a healthy heart. 

Stabalising Energy -  As they are a good source of fiber and complex carbohydrates, letils increase steady, slow-release energy.  So no crash effect!

Happy Digestive System - Insoluble dietary fiber found in lentils helps prevent constipation and other digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome. 

So here are a couple of new recipes that have the wonderful little lentil as the key ingredient.  As ever let us know what you think and post to us any pictures of your attempts at the dishes!  Do you have any lentil recipes that you would like to share?  If so, message us on Facebook.

Bannon Dalh

This spicy and warming dalh is super easy.  It's a chuck it in the slow cooker and let it do it's magic kind of thing.  If you have left overs you could even add some more stock and blend it to create a spicy lentil soup!

Ingredients:

• 1 x large onion
• 2 x clove of garlic
• 2 x red chillis
• 1 x heaped tsp ground cumin
• 1 x heaped tsp ground corriander
• 1 x heaped tsp curry powder
• 1 x heaped tsp paprika
• 1 x heaped tsp tumeric
• Fresh ginger - about an inch, grated or chopped finely
• 1 x tin of chopped tomatoes
• Vegetable stock (1.5 pints - but you can add another 0.5 pint if it is required)
• Red lentils (6oz)
• Salt and Pepper

Optional ingredients to serve:

• Fresh corriander
• Natural yoghurt / creme fraiche

Method:

• Well this is easy............................put all the ingredients in the slow cooker.  Turn it to 'low' and leave it overnight (roughly 7 hours).
• To serve, have with rice or quinoa and add chopped corriander and natural yoghurt to taste.

Mrs J's Lentil Cottage Pie

This is a lovely warming comforting meal, a great one for those days when it is wet and miserable outside.  It's amazing how much flavour these wee lentils can soak up.

Ingredients:

• 150g lentil vertes
• 2 small onions
• 3 medium carrots
• 200g mushrooms
• 100g peas
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• Gravy granules (suitable for vegetarians)
• 3 x large potatoes
• 1 x tbs light soy sauce
• 1 x tbs tomato sauce
• Salt and Pepper to taste 
• Butter and Milk (enough to make the mash creamy and yummy)
• Optional - grated cheese

Method:

• Cut the potatoes into pieces, boiled and then mash.  Add butter and milk to make a nice silky mash potato.
• Boil the lentils in a pan of water with the stock cube for 5 minutes, then reduce to a simmer for a further 25 minutes.
• In a different pan, sweat the onions, mushrooms, peas and carrots until soft.
• Add the lentils to the onion mixture once cooked and half of the stock water.
• Add the soy sauce and tomato sauce.
• Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Thicken with the gravy granules.
• Season to taste.
• Add lentil mixture to the bottom of an oven proof dish.  Top with the mash potato to make into a cottage pie. Add grated cheese if using.  Cook in over until potato starting to crisp or cheese melted.

Hope you enjoy these recipes. 

How Much is Too Much?

So as we've said here on the Flexitarian Pledge before, we as a nation are eating more meat than we need to nutritionally.  With recent links between red meat and many long term health conditions, perhaps in fact we are eating more meat than is good for us.

According to their statistics red meat has been linked to increased risk in:

• Elevated cholesterol
• Bowel cancer
• Heart disease 

But how much is too much?

According the the NHS and the Department of Health people who are currently eating 90g a day of cooked meat need to reduce this down to 70g a day.

Let's put that into context, what is 70g?  It certainly sounds smaller than my usual steak size!  Well the bad news is a fry up containing two sausages and two rashers of bacon is thought to be around 130g!!!  So already that would be almost double the recommended daily meat intake.  Ironically a McDonald's BigMac....... is within the recommended limit, coming in at 70g!  So does this mean BigMacs are healthy?  I suspect not, but it gives us a bit of an idea of what 70g of meat looks like.

This video by 'BritishNutrition' on YouTube has put together a handy video discussing grams of meat to help make this more clear.

But let us not give meat a purely bad name.  There are good things about it too (and I am not just talking about the taste).  Meat is a good source of protein, iron and vitamin B12. However, with all these elements also being easily accessible from non-meat sources (e.g. beans/pulses = protein, lentils and spinach = iron and, cottage cheese = B12) then perhaps an odd meat-free day is a good option to help us keep as healthy as possible and allow us a guilt free big meaty treat every so often!

How To........... Get Perfectly Evenly Coated Sweet Potato Wedges

Welcome to the first How To blog.  In this series I will be sharing my top tips for cooking.

Today it's how to get perfectly evenly coated sweet potato wedges.  It's such a simple technique and it minimises mess - winner!  You don't need any fancy equipment.  Just a simple sandwich bag / freezer bag.  I have described it in a couple of my blogs but thought a video might help illustrate what I mean.  This technique is not refined to sweet potatoes.....no no no.  I also use it for chips, roasted veggies..... basically anything that I want to be evenly coated in spices or oil.

Have a look at let me know what you think.  Please also let me know of your kitchen top tips.  I love hearing new ones.

Crispy Peanut Tofu

So tofu is one of those ingredients that seems a bit alien..... what is it and why does it wobble like that? My own personal experiences of tofu to date has been a shaky one, mainly due to the somewhat interesting texture! However I have found a recipe that bakes then sautes the tofu meaning that my texture fears are no more. 

I found this recipe on the Minimalist Bakery website.  The Minimalist Bakery is a website established in 2012 by a husband and wife duo from Oregon.  They aim to provide recipes which are simple (maximum 10 ingredients)  which take 30 minutes or less preparation.  The best thing about it is there are so many meatfree recipes which look simply delicious!

So the Crispy Peanut Tofu recipe is quick and easy to follow.  I however made a few adaptations mainly for convenience due to what I had in my cupboards:

• I did not make the cauliflower rice...... although I definitely plan to in the future.  Instead I just went heavy on the stir fry veg.  You can never have too much veg I say!!
• In the name of "clean eating" and doing everything from scratch, instead of using chilli garlic sauce I used chilli seeds and fresh garlic.

Why not take the plunge and give tofu a go.  I would certainly say this would be an excellent dish to try as your first tofu venture.  The sauce is so rich and flavoursome, it also goes all nice and sticky around the tofu.

Let us know here at the Flexitarian Pledge what you make of this recipe or if you try any others from the Minimalist Bakery!

Bean Stuffed Pepper Pots with Honey and Sesame Glazed Sweet Potato, Onions and Halloumi

Beans are a great source of protein and therefore they make a perfect main ingredient.  So here is a new recipe for a great wee bean dish.

Serves 4

Stuffed Peppers Ingredients:

• 4 x bell peppers
• 2 x tins of beans of your choice (I used balotti beans and black beans)
• Tinned tomatos
• Garlic
• Paprika
• Chilli powder
• Salt and Pepper
• Tahini
• Mushrooms

Sweet Potato and Onions Ingredients:

• 2 x medium sweet potato
• 1 x large red onion
• Generous squeeze of honey
• Sesame oil (don't worry if you don't have it, olive oil will do)
• Salt and Pepper
• Halloumi (optional - leave out to make the recipe vegan)

Lemon Spinach:

• 1 x bag of spinach
• 1 x lemon

Add the beans, tomato, garlic, salt and pepper to a pan.  Simmer gently, stirring occasionally.  Cut the sweet potatoes into bite size chunks and the onions into wedges.  Put these into a sandwich bag/food bag.  Add salt, pepper, oil and honey.  Then hold the bag shut and rub all the oil/honey/seasoning over all the veggies.  Give it a nice wee massage!  Once they are suitably covered put them on a baking tray in a hot oven.

Once the beans have cooked away add in one table spoon of tahini which will make the sauce go nice and creamy.  At this point add in chilli powder, paprika and seasoning.  Add as much spice as you like!

Time for the layers!  Spoon some beans in the bottom of the bell peppers.

Add a layer of sliced mushrooms. 

Add a layer of spinach.  Repeat this process until you reach the top of the pepper. Put the peppers lid back on and pop these in the oven to bake (time wish they should be ready the same time as the potatoes).  At the same time turn the potatoes and onions so they get even crispiness.  

Cut the halloumi cheese into cubes and pop on the baking tray with the sweet potato.  You will know it is ready when the halloumi is golden and the potato is nice and soft.

Put the spinach into a dry frying pan and stir until it wilts.  Add the juice of a lemon and a pinch of salt.

And now you are ready to serve!

Enjoy!  Remember to tell us what you think and send us any pictures.

TIME Magazine Research Study

Just read an interesting article on TIME magazine online

The article discusses the current environmental impact of meat productoin, inlulding the growing of animal feed and the raising of the animals themselves.  The article is full of facts and figures and this for me, really makes it a high impact read.  It is clear that the way we farm animals and grains for the meat trade is something that will need to change in the future in order to curb the negative environmental impacts.

A part of this article that I hadn't considered before was the patterns of meat production and consumption, particularly patterns of inequality across the world.

Over all, and interesting and thought provoking read that I would urge you to have a look at.  Please feel free to comment below with what you thought about it.

Summary - Main points that hit home to me:

• 30% of world's ice-free surfaces are used for meat production (either for animals themselves or for raising the grains to feed these animals)
• Americans on average eat 270lb of meat each a year.  Bangladeshis on average eat 4lbs of meat each a year.
• 75% of the global emissions from cattle and 56% of the global emission from poultry and pigs come from the developing world.

CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE

Lean and Green

Green means go go go!

We all know that green foods are good for us, but why?  Well mainly it is due to their high nutritional content.  They may look garish in colour but these green veggies are packed full of vitamins, antioxidants and minerals.  They are generally low in all the bad stuff too.

So below are a few lean and green recipes that I tried over the last week along with the health benefits from their main ingredients.  They are packed FULL of green so they provide a quick easy way of getting a belly full of green goodness in one go.

Hope you enjoy.  Remember to comment let us know if you try any of them.  Perhaps post a photo of your dishes either here or on our Facebook page.

Broccoli and Mixed Greens Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 x broccoli
• 1 x bag of spring greens
• 1 x bag of spinach
• 2 x potato
• 2 x onion
• 2 x garlic cloves
• vegetable stock
• cream (as much or as little as you want)

Directions:

• Fry the onions until begin to soften.
• Add the broccoli and fry for a couple of minutes.
• Add the veggie stock and the chopped potato and spring greens.
• Season and simmer gently until the potato is soft.
• Add the spinach and heat until spinach wilts.
• Blend until smooth
• Add as much or as little cream as you like (you could use milk if you are being good)

Health benefits:

Broccoli is a super green food.  It has omega-3 which is a natural anti-inflammatory, as is sulforaphane which is also present in this superveg! Broccoli has soluble fibre in it which helps lower cholesterol.  Bone health can be boosted by eating broccoli thanks to vitamin K and calcium.

Green Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 x bag of frozen peas (kilo) 
• 1 x onion
• 1 x leafy green of your choice (e.g. spinach or watercress)
• 1 x tin of white beans of your choice (e.g. butter beans, canellini beans or haricot beans)
• vegetable stock
• Fresh herb of your choice (e.g. basil or mint)

Directions:

• Fry the onions until they begin to soften.
• Add the frozen peas and the veggie stock.
• Add the beans.
• Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add the leafy green.
• Blend until smooth.
• Add herb and blend again.

Health benefits:

Peas are high in protein, fiber and micronutrients.  This slows down how fast sugars are digested!  The high levels of vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B6 mean peas are good for your hearts health!

Pineapple and Spinach Smoothie

Ingredients:

• Frozen pineapple
• 1 x banana
• Milk (any type - I use unsweetened almond or soya)
• Spinach
• Wheatgrass powder (this is optional so don't worry if you don't have it)

Directions:

• What is there to say......... pop all the ingredients into the blender...... and blend.  Simple as that!

Health benefits:

Spinach really is a super food.  Spinach is high in vitamin C so great for keeping the immune system tip top.  Spinach is also high in beta-carotene which is know to help with reduce risk of cataracts, heart disease and cancer.

Meat Alternatives Discussed

Quorn

One of the most commonly used meat alternatives is Quorn.  You may remember the television adverts where Mo Farrah tells us that quorn is a “great source of protein” and is much lower in saturated fat that the meat it is impersonating!  This meat alternative is widely available in supermarkets and will this year be celebrating it’s 30th birthday!

Quorn’s main ingredient is Mycoprotein, a nutritionally healthy protein source. It is produced by a process of fermentation similar to that used for yeast in bread.  The culture is dried and mixed with egg albumen before being shaped into it’s various forms. As it contains egg whites quorn is not suitable for vegans.

Quorn comes in different formats including mince and “chicken style pieces”.  It can be kept in the freezer and cooked straight from frozen.  It’s quick, easy and tasty.  I’ve even cooked with the quorn mince and my meat eating friends haven’t even noticed!

The thing about quorn which makes us happy, here at the Flexitarian Pledge, is that the carbon footprint of Quorn Frozen Mince in the UK is claimed to be 70% less than that of beef. (Quorn Frozen Mince certification by the Carbon Trust)

Recipe inspiration:  Quorn is easy to integrate into your cooking.  Take your much loved favourite mince recipes and just do a direct swop!   Quorn chilli con carne…..although since ‘carne’ means meat….. I’ve renamed it Chilli con Quorne” or Quorn Bolognese.

Tofu

Tofu is made from soybeans, water and curdling agent.  Tofu has a low calorie count and relatively large amounts of protein. It is an excellent source of amino acids, iron, calcium and other micro-nutrients

There are two main kinds of tofu, silken / soft tofu, and firm / regular tofu.  They have different textures and are used for different things.

Soft/Silken Tofu:

§         Undrained and unpressed

§         Can come in a range of consistencies from ‘soft’  to ‘firm’, but ‘firm’ silken is still far softer       than regular firm tofu.

§         Can be used as a dairy or egg substitute in cooking (e.g. smoothies or a baked desert)

Firm tofu:

§         Drained and pressed (although still contains some water)

§         Texture firmer and bouncy

§         Taste plain – so needs to be marinated or coated in flavour when cooking.

Top tip: when cooking with firm tofu, remember to drain and press the tofu first to remove excess moisture.  This will help it cook properly and will make it more likely to suck up and absorb whatever lovely flavours you add!

Recipe inspiration:  With tofu it is all about getting flavour in!  There are so many different ways to cook it.  Why not try some breaded tofu?

Tempeh

Tempeh is perhaps a letter known meat alternative.  It is traditionally from Indonesia.  It is made from the soyabean through a process of fermentation. It is firm in texture, similar to a vegetarian burger.  Unlike tofu which does not have a natural taste, tempeh does have a light flavour.  As with tofu, tempeh is a good source of protein and is high in calcium, two reasons it makes a great meat alternative!

Recipe inspiration:  Having never cooked with tempeh, to the internet I went searching!  Here are a selection of my favourites which have been added to my must try list!  I will report back when I do!

• Tacos
• Orange Glaze Tempeh
• Tempeh Fries
• Sweet and Sour Tempeh

Vegetables

So we have gone through three meat substitutes…..but now about this idea….. no substitute needed, let the veggies be the star of the show!  There are so many delicious healthy filling veggies out there, why do we need to add something to them at all?

In general I have to stay this is the option I take most often.  In my opinion there are certain veggies that work well at taking centre stage and do work well as a meat alternative.  My top 5 would be:

§         Portabello mushroom

§         Butternut squash

§         Aubergine

§         Sweet potato

§         Peppers

Recipe inspiration: Make a thai curry as normal but throw in chunky bits of butternut squash, or sweet potato or aubergine (or treat yourself to a mix of all three) instead of your usual chicken / prawn.  Or what about making fajitas but just add extra peppers and mushrooms!  Would you really notice the meat wasn’t there?  Go on give it a try!

  

Here is a great recipe I tried from Simply Recipes.  It is Sichuan Aubergine.  The aubergine makes a great meat alternative, the texture is perfect.  The sauce packed a fair punch too.

Pulses, beans and legumes

Unfortunately if you are doing the Paleo diet this option isn’t for you, but for the rest of us beans, pulses and legumes are great options.  They are so filling and so versatile.  Is there a meal you can’t put them in??

Recipe inspiration:  Try making your normal chilli recipe but instead of mince add in a selection of different tinned beans.  I like going for kidney beans, chickpeas and balotti beans.

Or what about a nice lentil curry?

So there we have it, a whistle stop tour of meat alternatives!  Remember to comment and let us know what you think of the post and if you tried any of the recipes.

Over and out J