Chickpea and Chilli Burger

Time for another Minimalist Baker recipe.  This time its a Chickpea and Chilli burger.  So as you can tell we have been in the mood for burgers here at the Flexitarian Pledge.  We also recently blogged about a Kidney Bean and Cumin burger.  

Why not give them both a go and let us know which is your favourite.

So this burger recipe can be found here.

Using a masher to squash the chickpeas was taking too long so we went back to basics........and got stuck in with our hands.  This worked pretty well so we would say go straight in with this tactic to save time!

The burgers ready to be fried.  They cooked fairly quickly.  Getting nice and crisp on the outside.

The recipe said that after frying you can put in the oven for a varied duration of time depending on what texture you want.  We decided to put it in the oven for minimal time.  So we went for the frying time and an additional 10 minutes.  For us this left the center soft, this was a lovely texture.  The recipe says if you would prefer a dryer texture then to cook for longer in the oven.

To accompany our burgers we made sweet potato wedges as blogged about here.  We also made some salsa using the method outlined here, however we didnt have any cherry tomatoes, so instead we used a tin tomatoes which we put through a sieve to drain most of the liquid out.  This worked really well and produced a lovely fresh salsa!

And the finished product! Delicious!

Why not give it a try?  Remember to post any pictures to our Facebook page!

Kidney Bean, Carrot and Cumin Burgers

So as you may have seen in a recent blog, we recently tried a Jack Munroe recipe for Kidney Bean Carrot and Cumin Burgers.  Now here is the recipe review.  You can find how to make these burgers in the video below.

Instead of grating a carrot, I used a tin of carrots I boiled them with the beans to soften them up.

The mashing process was fairly easy, although only armed with a fork it took a while.  Perhaps more lumps were left than should have been, but a little texture adds something right?  I do this a potato masher would sort this problem right out though and make it a simple and speedy process.

Frying the burgers didn't take long, the went crispy and golden in no time.  The scent of the cumin was delicious.  I would guess they would work amazingly on a BBQ too to get the char-grill effect and flavouring.

Unfortunately my cupboards were bare so to accompany this tasty burger it was the humble baked beans, but use your imagination to what you could dress this burger up with....... a soft bun, crispy lettuce, some avocado, some spicy salsa, fries, pickles........ the list is endless.

Give this delicious recipe ago, hopefully we will get some more sun and then we can have them al fresco!

Remember to send us your pictures :)

Jack Monroe

I was perusing the internet for new burger recipes.  After we had that one week of sun I started to get BBQ vibes and meat-free burgers were what I craving.  So after a bit of searching a stumbled upon a Kidney Bean and Cumin burger recipe (blog to follow) and more to the point I stumbled across A Girl Called Jack.

A Girl Called Jack aka Jack Munroe is a blog writer.  Jack began her blog back in 2012, originally "in response to a local Councillor who claimed that 'druggies, drunks and single mums are ruining the High Street."  

Over time, this blog started to focus on a time where Jack found herself trying to feed herself and her young son on a budget of £10 a week due to delays in benefits after finding herself out of employment.

Jack has become the queen of thrifty cooking.  Working through a difficult time in her life she became an inventive, creative cook who used supermarket own brand products to create tasty meals.

Jack has gone on to release a couple of cook books:

• A Girl Called Jack: 100 Budget Recipes
• Jack Munroe: A Year in 120 Recipes

Jack's website is full of great recipes and it would be definitely checking it out!  We will be working our way through some more and of course will let you know how we get on.

Another little think that is food for thought....... Jack talks about promoting this challenge........one day instead of buying your usual fancy coffee (approx £3) why not take that £3 into the nearest supermarket, see how many own brand tinned items you can buy and donate them to the nearest food bank!  WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!  We will definitely be doing this, always good to give back to the community and help out others who are going through a difficult time.

Recipe Review - Jamie Oliver Ricotta Fritters

One of our lovely followers Emma has been kind enough to review a lovely veggie recipe for us.  Emma has tried Jamie Olivers Ricotta Fritters recipe which comes with a lovely fresh courgette salad.

Mr Oliver claims that this recipe is quick to cook and "not too tricky!"  So this is what we are putting to the test.  The pictures look amazing, a bright colourful dish......but is it possible to recreate this in the humble home kitchen?

Let the review begin..........

So the recipe starts with a small selection of ingredients, they are all easily sourced, common ingredients.  No needs to hunt for a specialist health food shop or any far fetched ingredients!

First step...... making the ricotta fritters:

Next step.....making the sauce:

Time then for the courgette salad:

  

As an addition Emma added a yoghurt dip.  This was made by adding natural yogurt, lemon juice, salt, pepper and chopped fresh mint.  Was a great addition!

And here is the finished masterpiece......

So the review:

Its clear from the picture that yes..... you can recreate this recipe at home.  It looks great! Look at those colours!  

This recipe provides something a bit different.  It is vegetarian but doesnt feel like a "plate of rabbit food".  It is rich, creamy and filling.  The accompaniments are fresh and tangy.  The fritters and sauce were very well matched, complimenting each other.  The yoghurt dip went great with the courgette salad.

All in all, including prep this dish only too 25 minutes to cook!

So in summary: quick, easy, fresh and filling!

Thanks so much Emma for reviewing this recipe for us, great job!  Will need to get you to cook this for us sometime soon ;)





Would you like to review a recipe for us?  If yes, please get in contact via our Facebook page.

8 Easy Eating Shifts

Thinking about trying this Flexitarian lifestyle a try?  Wanting to be a bit more healthy in general?  But going full throttle takes a lot of effort.  So what about just making a small change here and there.........a step in the right direction.....

Well check out these 8 easy tips in this Yahoo Health article and you can do just that!

8 Easy Steps 

Raeburn Sweet Potato, Squash and Lentil Curry

Time for a new recipe.  This curry is quick, tasty and full of flavour.  It is filling and is nice and hearty.  Good for a chilly evening.  It can be served with your preferred curry accompaniments and if you make a big batch, this will freeze well too.

Ingredients:

• 2 x Sweet Potato
• 1/2 x Butternut Squash
• 1 x tin of Green Lentils
• 2 x tin of Tomatoes
• 1 x Onion
• Corriander
• 2 x tsp Garum Masala
• 2 x tsp Tumeric
• 2 x tsp  Cumin
• 1 x tbs Curry Paste (any type)
• 1 x Veg Stock Cube

Method:

• Put onions, sweet potato and butternut squash in pan with some oil and cook and begin to soften.
• Add curry paste, fry gently until coated.
• Add spices and cook for a further couple of minutes.
• Add tinned tomatoes, lentil and stock cube.
• Cook until sweet potato and squash are soft (around 30 minutes)
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Taste and add spicing if you wish.
• Before searving stir through lots of chopped corriander.

Aubergine Thai Curry

This curry is full of flavour.  It is a bright yellow colour made from all natural, clean ingredients.  The main ingredient is aubergines, but the great thing about this recipe is you can really substitute any vegetables in.  It would work just as well with sweet potato, mushrooms or butternut squash as the star of the show.  Mix it up and let us know how it works out!

Ingredients:

• 3 x Aubergine (or sub in sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mushrooms or a mix of all!)
• Oil (i used coconut oil but whatever you have will be fine!)
• 1 x punnet of cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1 x Red onion sliced 
• 1/2 x bag of spinach
• Fresh corriander
• Lime
• 5 x Cloves of garlic sliced thinly
• 1 x tin coconut milk
• 1 x cup of water

Spices

• 5 x cardoman pods
• Dried chilli flakes (or if you have dried full chillis then whizz them up in the blender or chop them finely)
• 2tbs Coriander seeds
• Salt and Pepper
• 1tbs Tumeric
• 1 x inch of fresh ginger sliced into small matchsticks

Method:

• Start by roasting your aubergine.  You will want to cut them into chunks (thicker that I did in the picture would be better).  Lay them out on a tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Put in a hot oven for about 20 minutes, turning half way through.

• In a pot put your oil of choice and fry the onions.
• Take the cardoman pods and crack them slightly.  Add the pods and the chilli flakes to the onions.  Cook until the onions begin to soften.
• Take your corriander seeds and crush them in a mortal and pestle (or a grinder if you have it). Bear with this......it takes a while.  The finer the better, but it's not the end of the world if there are a few shells still left.
• To the onions add the grounded corriander seeds, the fresh ginger and the sliced garlic.
• At this point is is essential you get your nose in and smell the fragrant smells - amazing!!!

• Next add the chopped cherry tomatoes and the two liquids.  Mix through thoroughly before adding the roasted aubergine.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Add the spinach to the mixture.
• Let the curry bubble away until it has thickened down a bit (20 or so mins) - If you are being lazy and cant wait, or you are just too hungry to wait, take some corn flour, add some tap water to make a paste and stir this through the curry for instant thickening!
• Before service stir through lots of chopped corriander and squeeze in the juice of one lime.
• If you can find your cardamon pods fish them out - if not just keep an eye out for them!  If you bite into them its quite a strong flavour - not unpleasant, just might take you by surprise!!

Enjoy with rice or quinoa or naan bread!

Remember to send us a picture to our Facebook if you make this curry and remember to log any meat-free days you have on the blog main page in our poll. 

Thanks :)

Mexican Sweet Potato and Black Beans with Homemade Salsa and Guacamole

This recipe is fiery, flavoursome and full of those much loved mexican flavours we are used to with meat dishes!  You can use this recipe in many ways; as a stew, or as a filling for fajitas or burritos or enchiladas!  Basically take your favourite meaty mexican dish and sub-in this filling!

I will show you how to make your own "fajita spicing" and how to made your own clean eating salsa and guacamole, and you will see how much fresher and tastier they are than shop bought!

Ingredients:

• 3 x large sweet potatoes
• 1 x tin of black beans
• 1.5 x red onion
• Fresh corriander
• 2 x limes
• 1 x punnet of cherry tomatoes
• 1 x avocado
• A couple of chillis of your choice (I went birdseye as I like it really spicy, but normal chillis or jalepenos would also do!

Spices for homemade fajita spice (or feel free just to buy a packet of fajita spice for ease)

• 1 x tbs smoked paprika
• 2.5 x tbs chilli powder
• 1 x tsp cayenne pepper (reduce if you dont want it as spicy)
• 1 x tsp chilli flakes (reduce if you dont want it as spicy)
• 1 x tsp cumin
• 2 x tsp onion powder
• 1 x tsp garlic powder

Method:

• Peel the sweet potato and cut into bite size chunks.
• Slice one of the onions and begin to fry in a pan.  Once the onions begin to soften add the sweet potato.
• Drain the black beans and add them to the pan.
• Add in fajita mix and stir through thoroughly.
• At this point it would add a couple of dashes of water.
• Continue to cook over a medium heat until sweet potato is cooked through. You may need to add more water throughout this process to stop it sticking to the pan.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Squeeze in the juice of half a lime.

Salsa

• In a mini blender add as many cherry tomatoes as you can fit!  Add to this the remaining half red onion (chopped finely), the chillis, a large handful of corriander, juice of half a lime, salt and pepper. Blend until desired level of chunkiness is reached! Taste and adapt seasoning / spicing / lime juice to taste.

Guacamole

• Remove salsa from blender.  No need to wash it.  Add in the chopped flesh of the avocado along with salt, pepper, juice from a full lime.
• Blend until desired smoothness / chunkiness reached.
• Add in 2 tbs of your salsa and give it one more quick blend to mix this through.

And that is you done!  Serve this dish as it comes or use it as a filling for your favourite Mexican dish.

How To "Eat Clean"

The clean eating phenomenon is everywhere at the moment.  It is the real buzz word about town, but what does it actually mean? 

To put it as simple as possible, eating clean is about eating natural, unprocessed, unrefined food.   It is eating food that doesn't have any unnatural additives.  It is eating fresh food that is made of real ingredients.  If something has been processed, reformed, zapped, reshaped, chemically altered or refined in some sort of way...... then it's not clean.

Clean eating would be making your pasta sauce fresh from passata, herbs, garlic, peppers and onions, rather than buying a pre-made jar which will contain all sorts of non-clean ingredients (e.g. refined sugar, additives, preservatives).

So why is it good idea to jump on this clean eating bandwagon?  Well not only to clean eating meals generally taste better and fresher, there are numerous health benefits to it. It is beneficial for sleep, energy, skin, digestive system, weight loss and much more. News.health outline some of these health benefits further.

So how do I go about it?  Well in my experience the best thing to do it get in that kitchen and get cooking with real ingredients.  Sometimes it means things take a bit longer, but it's worth it!  Use the internet - the amount of clean eating blogs and websites is infinite!  All the recipes here at the Flexitarian Pledge are clean eating.  So you will never be short of inspiration.  Pintrest is another great source of recipes to try.

Make clean sauces or meals in bulk and freeze them in portions.  Then you can take out a portion in the morning and it will be defrosted and ready for reheating by dinner.  This then makes clean eating just as quick as non-clean alternatives.  So there are no excuses!

For more top tips on how to clean eat, the following links outline their top 10 rules for clean eating and are well worth a quick read.

10 Rules for Clean Eating

10 Ways to Eat Clean

If you have any clean eating recipes you would like to share with us, please Facebook us :)

A Week in the Life of a Flexitarian

Welcome to the first "A Week in the Life of a Flexitarian"

This is a post where you get to see a snapshot week mine to see what I have been eating and what my life (food wise) as a flexitarian is really like.

So here goes........

Before I start here is what my normal flexitarian plan is:

• Monday - Thursday: clean eating vegetarian
• Friday - Sunday: no restrictions

For this week in particular here are a few facts that have shaped the way I have eaten this week:

• I am trying to be healthy so this means that particularly on my clean eating vegetarian days I am trying to be super healthy and therefore I am eating quite low fat, low carb. So my meals probably aren't a great reflection of the excitement and goodies you could easily have as a flexitarian (macaroni cheese is springing to mind).
• This week was the week before pay day, therefore money was tight. This therefore means my meals were bean/canned goods heavy.  It also meant I couldn't afford much meat so in the end I only had 1 meat day this week.
• I was cooking for just myself all week.  This often leads to lots of repetition (e.g. cooking a batch of soup to do my lunches all week.  So in some ways this makes my weekly meals look repetitive and somewhat boring.  

Monday

Breakfast: Nuts and Dried Fruit

Lunch: Soup from the Canteen at Work

Dinner: Beans and Veggie Sausages with Jalapenos.

Snacks: Seeds and Dried Fruit.  Medjool Dates filled with Almond Butter

Tuesday

Breakfast: Pineapple, banana and wheatgrass smoothie

Lunch: Lentil soup

Dinner: Deliciously Ella's Roasted Butternut Squash and Quinoa

Snacks: Dried fruit and nuts

Wednesday

Breakfast: Banana Protein Smoothie

Lunch: Lentil Soup

Dinner: Clean Eating Baked Beans on a Baked Sweet Potato

Snacks: Nuts and Dried Fruit

Thursday

Breakfast: Berry and Banana Smoothie

Lunch: Lentil Soup and Dried Dates

Dinner: Left Overs Challenge - Bake Beans with Sweet Potato Mash

Snacks: Sweet Potato Wedges, Dried Prunes, Medjool Dates Filled with Almond Butter

 Friday

Breakfast:  Chocolate, Banana and Nut Protein Shake

Lunch: Left Overs Challenge - Bake Beans with Sweet Potato Mash

Dinner: Chilli Con Quorne and Meringes, Berries and Cream

Snacks: Sweet Potato Wedges, Dried Prunes and Protein Flapjack

Saturday

Breakfast: Berry Smoothie

Lunch: Mince and Tatties

Dinner: Veggie Chilli

Snacks: Graze Brooklen Bites, Chocolate, Pick'n'Mix and Custard

Sunday

Breakfast:  Banana and Chocolate Protein Smoothie

Lunch: Nuts
Dinner: Veggie Chilli

Snacks: Frozen Berries

Left Overs Challenge - Baked Beans

So it's time for another left overs challenge.  This time we are trying to make a second dish from left overs from the Clean Eating Baked Beans recipe.  We are going to turn the left overs into a herby bean stew with creamy corriander sweet potato mash.

So the left over ingredients we have are:

• Clean eating baked beans
• Sweet potatoes 

And what we are going to add is:

• Garlic (1-2 clovers for the mash and 1-2 cloves for the beans)
• Dried herbs
• Spinach
• Fresh corriander
• Some left over broccoli and cherry tomatoes I had in the fridge but you could use most vegetables.

Method:

First of all I made the sweet potato mash.  I used the technique that Deliciously Ella uses in her rejuvenating bowl recipe.  So follow the link and follow her recipe for the sweet potato part.  

To steam my sweet potatoes I used one of these fold-able metal steamers.  They cost about £5, they are super cheap and work a treat (try eBay or Amazon).  You just pop it in the pan with about an inch or so of water underneath, pop in the sweet potato and pop the lid in.

While your sweet potato is steaming, put some spinach in a dry hot pan and stir until the spinach wilts down.  Add to this your left over clean eating baked beans, crushed garlic, seasoning and a generous amount of dried herbs.  Stir though.  Chop your vegetables into bite size chunks and mixed this through the beans.  Cook until the vegetables are cooked through.

Once you have followed the Deliciously Ella sweet potato recipe, I just stir through some chopped corriander.  Now you are ready to serve!