Oh Look What We Found!

We were doing our usual searching of the internet for new recipes and ways of reducing our meat intake and we stumbled across this amazing blog article by Honest Cooking.

Our Favourite Meat Dishes Go Vegetarian

In this article they take your favourite meals and give you a way of making a vegetarian equivalent. They link to recipes which look great and I think you will agree look just as good as those meaty ones we love!

So why not check out this article and try one of the recipe?  Could they be a new favourite?

We will definitely be trying some of these recipes when we get back from our travels and will let you know how we get on. If you try any be sure to send us a picture on our Facebook page and let us know what it was like!

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

As the nights are drawing in and the weather turns colder, a hearty dinner is just what's needed. Try this delicious spinach and ricotta cannelloni to keep you warm on those long cool nights....

For the tomato sauce: fry 3 chopped garlic cloves in a splash of oil and then add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar, salt and pepper and a small handful of chopped basil.

For the topping: stir 3 tablespoons of milk into a bowl with 1 x 250g tub of mascarpone, a good pinch of nutmeg and seasoning.

For the filling: pour boiling water over 750g of fresh spinach to wilt it. When cool squeeze out the excess water, then roughly chop it up. Mix in a bowl with 85g of Parmesan and 2x 250g of ricotta cheese. Fill 400g of cannelloni tubes with the filling, then layer the tomato sauce , cannelloni and top with the mascarpone topping. Sprinkle the top with chopped buffalo mozzarella, grated Parmesan and a handful of torn basil leaves, then bake at 200 degrees for 35 mins.

Soup Season #3

Time for another soup recipe!  This time its a BBC Good Food recipe found here.  The BBC Good Food website is a firm favourite of ours.  It has so many recipes on it and they are also so easy to follow. You can't go wrong!

For full ingredients lists and recipe instructions follow the link above to the recipe but in short........ this recipe involves:

Chopping up the ingredients and lightly frying.

Adding the stock and simmering away.

Blend the soup until it is smooth.  OR if you like a chunky soup, remove half the soup, blend the other half and pop the chunky half back in.

And there you go, serve with your favourite crusty bread or a sandwich.

Recipe review:

As we have come to expect with the BBC Good Food recipes, this is easy to follow.  It uses simple ingredients which can be picked up in even a small supermarket.  It is quick and produces a delicious soup.  Make it in a large batch and you can even freeze portions.

A Plant Based Diet

Diet fads come and go like the seasons, but now people seems to be talking about making "life style changes" rather than short diets.  For some currently this seems to be extending to following a plant based diet lifestyle.

But what does this mean exactly?  Does this mean you can only eat plants?  Isn't that just rabbit food? Wouldn't I be starving?  How could that be good for me?

Well check out this article we found that explains all.  

Now going fully plant based is pretty hardcore, but what about doing one plant based day a week? Or one plant based meal a day?  Or just changing your normal breakfast to a plant based version?  Small changes can make a difference and add up.  Doing one small change at a time is the best way of making a sustained change, rather than the classic fashionable diet fad pattern that means it last about 2 weeks (or is that just me?)

Need inspiration..... well YouTube is our go to place.  Just type in "plant base diet" and see the huge about of videos that come up full of recipes, ideas and motivating vlogs!

A Day in the Life of a Flexitarian #1

Welcome to the first of a new series: A Day in the Life of a Flexitarian.  Here we document our day, what we have eaten and how we made it.  It is hoped that this will demonstrate the variety that is possible through a Flexitarian life style!

So lets kick things off!

Breakfast

Today for breakfast it was a smoothie made with almond milk, natural yoghurt, frozen summer fruits, milled flaxseed, wheatgrass powder and bee pollen!  What a way to start the day delicious and packed full of nutrients.

Mid-morning

Packed full of anti-oxidents this green tea was a mid-morning boost.  This green tea from Tescos is flavoured with blueberry and raspberry which gives it a fruity twist.

Lunch

For lunch we had the kidney bean, carrot and cumin burgers (recipe: here).  This was served with a cucumber and avocado salad.  To dress it we mixed some sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper.  The sesame oil has a strong taste which works really well!

Pre-run snack

Before going for a run we needed some energy!  So we had a banana, chocolate protein shake.  This was made by blending almond milk, a banana, chocolate protein powder and a tablespoon of porridge oats.  The banana makes this smoothie so thick and creamy and the protein powder and the oats make it really filling without being too heavy.  Perfect to give that energy boost before exercise.

Tea / Dinner

This was a bit of an experiment! Here is how it was made.

Ingredients:

• 1 x white potato
• 1 x pack baby corn
• 3 x peppers
• 1 x punnet mushrooms
• 1 x leek
• 1 x bag of spinach
• 1 x vegetable stock cube
• 200ml milk
• 3 x tbsp natural yoghurt
• Brown rice
• 1 x pack of Old El Pasto Creamy Poblano Pepper spice mix

Method:

1. Add the milk to a slow cooker and mix in the spice
2. Chop all the vegetables (except spinach) and add
3. Add stock cube and hot water.  Add enough so that there is liquid covering about half the depth of the vegetables.
4. Cook in the slow cooker until the vegetables are soft and cooked through (approx 2-3 hours on high or 4-5 hours on low)
5. Add in the spinach and stir through (if on low switch it to hot to help with spinach to wilt)
6. Season with salt
7. Cook brown rice as per instructions
8. Stir in yoghurt
9. Serve!

So that was a day in the life of a flexitarian today!  Remember to let us know what your flextiarian days look like!  Why not send it in via Facebook?

Soup Season #2

As we spoke about in last weeks post, its Soup Season.... the best thing about when the weather get's colder.  So here is another soup recipe for those colder evenings or as a tasty lunch.  This one has Asian influences thanks to the coconut milk and again is super easy to make.

Carrot and Coconut Soup

Ingredients

• 6 x Large carrots (chopped)
• 1 x Onion
• 1 tsp x Fresh ginger cut finely
• 2 tsp x Chilli powder
• Vegetable stock
• 1 x Tin coconut milk
• 6 x Spring onions (sliced)
• Fresh coriander (finely chopped)

Method

This can be done in a slow cooker or just on the hob.  The method is for the hob, but if using a slow cooker basically put the top 5 ingredients into the slow cooker, cook on low for 8 hours.  Blend and add the bottom three.

1. Fry the onions in some oil.
2. Add the carrots and ginger and fry for a couple more minutes.
3. Add the stock, season with salt and pepper and add the spices.
4. Simmer until carrots are very soft (the softer the better for a smooth soup).
5. Blend!
6. Add the coconut milk, spring onions and coriander and mix through.

And that's it!  Remember to let us know if you make this soup, what did you think?  Also, post a picture of your soup to our Facebook page!

Do you have a soup recipe that you would like us to try?  If so send it to us on Facebook.

Meat Free Monday

It's Monday tomorrow.  Could you do a meat free one?

Meatless Monday's "Launched in 2003, Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, working in collaboration with the Center for a Livable Future (CLF) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Our goal is to reduce meat consumption by 15% for our personal health and the health of the planet. We provide information, news, recipes and free promotional materials to help individuals, schools, restaurants, hospitals, food companies and entire communities to start each week with a commitment to eating healthy, environmentally-friendly, meat-free meals." (direct quote from linked website)

This is a GREAT recipe to check out for recipes and also a good place to find some further information about why reducing your intake is good not only for your health and your wallet but also for the environment!

Similarly, Meat Free Monday's "Launched by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney in 2009, Meat Free Monday is a not-for-profit campaign which aims to raise awareness of the detrimental environmental impact of eating meat, and to encourage people to help slow climate change, preserve precious natural resources and improve their health by having at least one meat free day each week." (direct quote from linked website)

So with so many websites providing information and recipe ideas..... do you think you could do a meat free day?  Why not do tomorrow....... why not do your very own Meat Free Monday.

Go on...... you might just get hooked.

Let us know what was your menu on your meat free day by sending us a message on our Facebook page.