Vegetarian and vegan at sea!
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| Courgette Latkes |
As you will have noted, I am not exactly doing a lot of cooking lately.
I think I have a valid excuse at the moment – I am working offshore, doing what one has to do to earn a living.
And this adds a whole new dimension to trying to be vegetarian, let alone vegan.
From a healthy eating point of view, things have certainly improved a lot at sea over the last few years.
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| Surprise Treat – Organic Unsweetened Soy Milk |
Fresh fruit and vegetables are readily available, as are low fat and skimmed milks, and the chefs don`t use quite as much fat and oil.
But every meal is still a meat fest!
A long long way to go to get them thinking vegetarian, let alone vegan.
I did have one pleasant surprise – there is actually SOY MILK available on this boat, and not only that it is UNSWEETENED and ORGANIC for good measure!
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| Smoked Bean Curd Bakes |
So I am probably doing better on the dairy free than on the vegetarian or vegan front. I have always like soy milk in coffee, and now getting used to it in tea.
I am managing to avoid cheese altogether, so apart from the dairy which I am sure is used somewhere in the cooking, I am not doing too badly.
Struggling a bit to get the protein, but there is a good supply of assorted nuts available which I snack on continuously.
How I miss our home made veggie delights like Smoked Bean Curd Bakes or Courgette Latkes. !
Bon apetit.
Vegetarian in Amsterdam 3 – Superfood Centre
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| Raw Chocolate Smoothie and Snackaroons |
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| Superfood Centre – Amsterdam |
….And the third of the vegetarian eateries we tried while in Amsterdam – Superfood Centre.
See Bolhoed and De Vliegende Schotel posts.
Superfood Centre is more of a Health Shop than a restaurant, though there are one or two small tables where you can sit and munch your snacks.
It is located inside the Jordaan Health Club, so not so easy to find.
Its main products are supplements, vitamins and natural skin care products, but they have the most wonderful superfood smoothies and raw food snacks.
We tried the Raw Chocolate Smoothie, along with a packet each of the Raw Tomato Pizza Crackers and Raw Date and Cashew Snackaroons.
They were all so delicious that we polished them off in matter of minutes – barely found the time to photograph them for you.
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| Raw Tomato Pizza Crackers |
We found these snacks in Holland, but it seems to be a UK company, and have outlets all over Europe.
Check out their website – Rawlicious
I am always amazed at just how filling raw food is.
As I have mentioned before, our next purchase will be a dehydrator, and we will be making much more of these raw food meals.
Have a healthy day
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| Rawlicious Products |
Vegetarian in Amsterdam 2 – De Vliegende Schotel
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| Amsterdam – De Vliegende Schotel – Dutch stamppot |
This is the second of the vegetarian restaurants we tried in Amsterdam.See my last post about Bolhoed.
De Vliegende Schotel is a bit more off the beaten track, (right up the end of Nieuwe Leliestraat), and not particularly inviting from the outside.
The reviews we read on Happy Cow were not all that encouraging either, so it was with some trepidation we went there.
We had been warned that service was slow and that it could be very full.
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| Deep fried seitan with tomato dip |
So we got there early-ish, about 6 pm.
The decor and ambience is pretty dated and laid back, or I suppose just old.
But the service was pretty good.
Our order was taken swiftly. And considering the whole thing was run by one guy helped by one waitress, I think they did a good job.
But more to the point – the food was excellent.
Check out their website: Vliegende Schotel
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| Inside De Vliegende Schotel |
For starters we had the deep fried seitan with a tomato dip.
This has changed my thoughts on seitan. Never really liked it before, but this way of serving it was pretty tasty.
For main course we had the Stamppot – a traditional Dutch potato and vegetable mash, served up with a selection of salads.
Again delicious, and really filling. So we couldn`t possibly manage a dessert.
(I think the menu changes frequently, as I don`t see this Stamppot on there at the moment)
And we had a lovely bottle of vegan wine. So also well worth a visit.
Vegetarian in Amsterdam 1 – Bolhoed
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| Amsterdam – Bolhoed vegetarian restaurant |
A week or so ago we were in Amsterdam. As mentioned in my last post , we had been put onto the Happy Cow vegetarian and vegan restaurant guide.
The first one we tried was Bolhoed.
It was freezing cold, and only still mid afternoon so we decided just to pop in for a thaw out and a snack.
Bolhoed (or Bowler Hat) is in the Jordaan area, in Prinsengracht – quite easy to find.
I say this because veggie and vegan places
tend to be a bit off the beaten track and up side alleyways.
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| Cereal Coffee and vegan oat cookies |
So we had cereal coffee with soy milk, and vegan oat cookies.
Both were absolutely delicious.
They also had a selection of rather tasty looking desserts, particularly a raw vegan chocolate tart, which we shall have to go back and sample next time we are in Amsterdam
As you can see from the table in the photo, the furniture and decor is pretty scruffy and dated, but the food is excellent.
They don’t seem to have a website so I cant point you to a menu, but they have received some very good reviews on Happy Cow, so its definitely worth a visit.
We are really keen to try and make some of these wonderful raw food meals we have recently discovered. They are just so tasty, healthy and filling.
But this will have to wait till I am back home and we are settled in our new home and kitchen. Cant wait!
Next time – the Vliegende Schotel (Flying Saucer)
Bon apetit. Happy cooking and happy travelling.
Vegetarianism, veganism and healthy eating
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| Fresh green salad |
We are still between houses, travelling up North, and I am going offshore in the pursuit of my proper job. While there is not a lot of cooking going on, I thought I would step back and see where this blog is going.
When I started the blog, my wife Karen was the full on vegetarian, though not vegan, and I was largely vegetarian.
We were also interested in healthy eating and have frequently talked about going low carb, and using natural sweeteners.
I now never eat meat, (though occasionally fish), we never use sugar or butter in our cooking, and generally try to be low carb.
We have been trying to move towards being vegan, as well as becoming very interested in the Raw Food idea, and these concepts have been referred to a few times recently.
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| Amsterdam – Vegetarian Restaurant |
Two things have happened while we have been here in UK/Europe.
While we were in Holland, the B and B we booked into just happened to be on a family run dairy farm. The family were proud of their farm and happy to show us around. As dairy farms go, I think these animals were well enough treated in the normal daily routines. They were probably quite happy inside their barn, seeing it was snowing outside. They were free to stroll about the barn and were not confined to individual pens.
But having said that, one cannot get away from the fact that the animals are just a commodity in the milk production chain, and the whole process depends on human intervention in nature in order to produce the vast amounts of milk needed.
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| Amsterdam – Vegan and Raw Food outlet |
If you want to read all the gory details, go to the Vegan Society website.
The other thing – struggling to find veg or vegan restaurants, someone told us about the Happy Cow website.
This is a healthy eating guide which lists veg and vegan restaurants in cities all over the world, together with peoples reviews on them.
There were loads of restaurants in Amsterdam, and we tasted wonderful vegetarian, vegan and raw foods, and were astounded at the range of products available.
So to come to my point – we have upped our endeavours to become vegan, and so will aim to do more vegan recipes, as well as more raw food dishes.
Our first purchase in our new home and kitchen will definitely be a dehydrater.
In the next few posts I will tell you about the three eateries (listed in Happy Cow) that we tried while in Amsterdam – De Bolhoed, De Vliegende Schotel and the Superfood Centre.
Bon apetit and good health!
Vegetarian friendly restaurant in London
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| Deep fried Brie |
In between homes at the moment and travelling in UK and Europe, so still not much opportunity to cook.
While in London I remembered a Mediterranean restaurant that had a good selection of vegetarian options, and decided to give it another try.
It is called Bistro 1.
There are 3 branches.
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| Menu at Bistro 1 |
We visited the one in Southampton Street, in Covent Garden, London.
Have a look at their website here.
It did not disappoint.
Considering it is situated in the centre of London, the prices are extremely reasonable: a 2 course dinner for £10.90 – not bad at all, and the wine prices are not too harsh on the wallet.
For starters, I had the deep fried brie, and Karen the mezze platter.
My brie (see first pic) was very tasty and only lightly crumbed and battered, so not greasy at all.
The mezze platter was delicious, and a very acceptable portion size too.
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| Mezze platter starter |
For main course, Karen chose the vegetarian mousaka.
Again very tasty and not too greasy.
This restaurant is, not surprisingly, very popular, and usually one has to wait or queue for a short while, unless you get there early.
But the staff are friendly and very helpful.
Well worth a visit.
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| Vegetarian Mousaka |
Bon apetit!
Amazing garlic grater
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| Garlic and Ginger grater set |
As any regular reader will know we are packing up and moving, so there is not a lot of creative cooking going on.
I thought then that I would tell you about this wonderful spice or garlic grater.
We were given one as a gift by a friend a few months ago. When we asked him what it was, he didn’t actually know!
So it sat in the kitchen drawer for a while.
Then, at the City Bowl Food Market, which I mentioned in this post, we saw them on sale. Naturally we asked what it was and how to use it.
Well, as the title of this post gives away, it is a garlic grater.
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| The outer skin just rolls off! |
We tested it out when we arrived home – and it worked absolutely amazingly well.
It completely puts all these other fancy and expensive stainless steel devices to shame.
It has three parts – a rubber tube, a small flat dish with sharp teeth in a spiral shape and a little nylon bristle brush.
To use on garlic – cut off a tiny piece of the stalk end. Put the clove in the tube and roll on a board with your hand. The outer skin seems to magically come away.
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| Grate, and brush off |
Take the clove between your fingers and grate in a circular motion over the teeth.
Use the little brush to push the crushed garlic into whatever you are cooking.
One point – it does not work well on tiny cloves as you can’t hold them to grate.
And it works fantastically well with ginger – take your 3 cm piece of ginger and cut off the skin.
Again grate in a circular motion over the teeth,
and you are left with the fleshy part on the dish, and the stringy bits between your fingers, so you can easily discard it.
Use the brush in the same way to put the ginger into your cooking.
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| Stall at the City Bowl Market in Cape Town |
I went mad and bought a whole lot of them as presents for friends.
Everyone has come back and said how wonderful this little gem is!
And, as you can see from the picture of the stall at the market, it can be used on chocolate, parmesan, nuts and as a lemon or orange zester!
Now – where can you one? Well if you live in Cape Town, at the City Bowl Food Market – Cape Town.
Otherwise, they are apparently made in China (how surprising?) and are probably obtainable at your local China City.
Sorry to be a bit vague on this, but if I find out more I will keep you posted.
Spicy Beans with Apple
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| Spicy Beans and Apple – with sweetcorn fritters |
We are in the last throes of packing up to move house, so not only is there not much in the kitchen to cook, there are not many utensils nor pots and pans to cook in or with.
Not surprising then, I ended up with a dish a little bit different from the original recipe!
I was initially inspired to try the Smoky Apple Baked Beans that I saw here. It looked delicious.
When I got down to it, not only would I have had to buy quite a few ingredients, all our oven-proof dishes are packed up, so it would have to be done on the hob.
Therefore, both thanks and apologies to Susan Voisin from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen.
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| Some of the ingredients |
Smoked Bean Curd Bakes
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| Smoked Bean Curd Bakes and salad |
In a post on Courgette Latkes a while ago, I mention a Smoked Bean Curd Bake with a Walnut and Mushroom stuffing recipe.
Both these came from the Vegan Society Xmas recipe selection – see here
Well, the thing with this recipe is that the dish needs to be sort of assembled on the plate, restaurant style, rather than just dished up.
I had assembled one dish for the photo. But the the bakes were so tasty on their own that none of the remaining bakes survived long enough to be turned into creations.
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| The Bakes in the Ramekins |
So I decided to go with the flow and make some more smoked bakes, not bother with the mushroom stuffing, and serve them up cold with a salad.
The salad was Karen’s version of a Waldorf.
A delicious meal!
My version of the Smoked Bean Curd Bakes:-
Ingredients:
Canola oil
2 onions (chopped)
2 sticks celery (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (minced or finely chopped)
Handful fresh thyme
Handful fresh basil
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp Tamari or Soy sauce
3 packets smoked tofu
200 grms almond flour
2 Tbsp water
Rock salt and black pepper
Method:
Heat the oven to 200 deg C.
Lightly grease 14 ramekins.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and cook the onion, garlic and celery till soft.
Add in the basil, thyme, turmeric and tamari and mix in well.
Add the tofu, almond flour and water.
Season to taste.
Either – transfer whole mixture to a food processor and process till well mixed,
or mix well using a stick blender. (this is what I did, and it probably takes a bit longer this way)
Spoon the mixture into the 14 ramekins.
Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 mins, till the mixture is firm to touch and starting to pull away from the sides of the ramekins.
Allow to cool slightly. Then turn out onto a serving platter.
Thanks again to the Vegan Society for the inspiration for this one.
Bon apetit
Breakfast – Homemade muesli
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| Homemade muesli, fresh fruit and yoghurt |
We will be moving house at the end of the month, so was on a bit of a mission to use up stuff in the larder and fridge.
Came up with this muesli mix, which turned out most delicious.
About 2 cups each of:
Wheat germ
Digestive bran and
Rolled oats
(I couldn’t use up all of these items)
Then I finished off all that I could find of the following;
Sunflower seeds
Flaxseeds
Pumpkin seeds
Dried organic mulberries (not sure why these were ever bought – so in they went)
Dried cranberries
Dried fruits – apples – pears – peaches
Raisins
The dried apples, pears and peaches I cut into smaller pieces first.
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| Muesli mix – homemade |
Mix the whole lot together, and store in the fridge.
To make breakfast –
Soak about 2 heaped spoons of the mix in a bowl in soy milk overnight.
In the morning, add some fresh fruit, a couple of dollops of yoghurt and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.
Great start to the day.
To make this vegan, replace the yoghurt with soy cream or soy yoghurt.
Fritata – a la Grecque
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| Fritata a la Grecque |
Fritatas are a great way to use up odd leftovers from the fridge.
Looking for inspiration the other evening, I found half a dozen organic eggs, some cherry tomatoes, a nearly empty jar of olives and some feta cheese in the fridge.
A fritata with a Greek spin was the obvious solution.
I did also add in some spinach.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 onion (finely chopped)
Clove garlic (finely chopped or minced)
Canola oil
Handful of olives
Handful of cherry tomatoes (halved)
Feta cheese (crumbled)
Spinach leaves (coarsely chopped)
Rock salt and fresh ground black pepper
Method:
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.
Heat the oil in a non stick frying pan.
Gently fry the onion and garlic till soft but not browned.
Add the tomatoes, olives, feta – cook till heated through.
Add the spinach leaves – cook till the leaves are wilted and reduced.
Pour these cooked ingredients into the egg mixture.
Add a little salt and a good few twists of black pepper, and mix thoroughly.
Pour the whole mixture back into the frying pan, cover and cook on moderate heat till edges and base firm up.
Remove the pan from the hot plate, and place under a preheated grill. Keep under this heat till the middle has cooked through and the top browned.
Run a heat-proof spatula around the sides and under to relaease from the frying pan.
You might need to put it back on the hot plate to ensure cooked right through.
Note – if you try and cook a fritata only on the hot plate, the chances are the bottom will be burnt before the centre is cooked through.
Bon apetit!
Apricot Clafoutis
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| Apricot Clafoutis |
Clafoutis is originally a French dish, from the Limousin area, and was traditionally made with cherries.
We are great ones for using up what we have in the fridge. So with both fresh apricots and eggs needing using up, and wanting to serve something different for our guests that night, this Apricot clafoutis was the answer.
The basic recipe came from “The Dukan Diet Life Plan” book. As usual we modified it a bit.
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| Apricot Clafoutis |
Mini Flaxseed Cracker Biscuits
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| Flaxseed cracker biscuits |
Any regular readers will know we try to go low-carb wherever possible.
So Karen wanted to come up with a low-carb cracker biscuit to have in lieu of bread as a snack, or with a light lunch.
Based on another homemade nacho recipe she found in a mag, she came up with this:
Ingredients:
1/4 C flour
1 C ground flaxseeds
1/2 C water
1 teaspoon soy sauce (or spices of your choice – see note below)
Method:
Mix together
Roll out between 2 sheets non stick baking parchment
Cut into slices or whatever shape you fancy
Bake @ 180 deg for 15 mins
Note – You can be as creative as you like with the flavouring. The soy sauce gives a savoury biscuit. You could go a bit Mexican by using chilli or cajun spices, or sweet by using cinnamon and/or nutmeg.
Happy cooking!
Dried fruit kebabs
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| Selection of vegan food at the Potluck Picnic |
Recently Karen and I were invited to a vegan potluck picnic.
We are not yet vegan, but are fast heading that way.
Not being that confident with vegan cooking we needed to come up with something simple to prepare.
Not sure what prompted it, but dried fruit kebabs seemed like a good idea.
(We were astounded at the variety of vegan food that other people brought along)
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| Our dried fruit kebabs |
We used:
1/2 a packet pitted prunes
1/2 a packet dried apricots
1/2 a packet dried apple rings
1/2 a packet dried pears
Cut the prunes, apricots and apple rings in half.
Cut the pears into maybe four or six pieces.
Soak the fruit for a few hours in a little water, in the refrigerator, to soften slightly.
Thread a mixture of the fruit pieces onto wooden skewers. (I doubled over the apple ring halves to make them firmer on the skewers)
Makes about 18 kebabs.
I hunted down some other fruit kebab recipes – they occasionally put their kebabs under a grill for a few minutes, but we chose not to do this.
Whatever, our version turned out absolutely delicious – and well received by the die hard vegans at the picnic.
These kebabs would make a good addition to the kiddies lunch box – filling and healthy!
Chilled Pea Soup
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| Chilled Pea Soup |
Ingredients:
Accidental Mousse – Chocolate Mousse – Raw and Vegan
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| Raw vegan Chocolate Mousse |
In my last post I mentioned the Raw Food recipe book ‘Easy Living Food’.
Karen started out by trying the Chocolate Fudge. In her excitement the ingredients became a bit confused with those of the Energy Balls recipe which was on the opposite page!
The result tasted wonderful but was too moist to be a fudge.
Almond flour to the rescue, and we ended up with a chocolate mousse.
It was quite rich so we served it up in cup cake size portions, topped of with a couple of fresh blueberries and a sprig of mint from the garden.
Our guests pronounced it wonderful, even Karen’s brother who ‘doesnt eat chocolate mousse’.
So the final ingredients were;
2 Cups pitted dates
1 Cup water
twist of Himalayan rock salt
dash of essence – we used orange or almond
2 Tablespoons cacao powder
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 Cup almond flour
Blend the whole lot together.
You can always adjust the water or almond flour to get the right consistency.
Spoon into whatever small dishes or holder you want to serve up in.
Keep chilled in the fridge.
You can garnish or serve up with whatever fruit takes your fancy.
We used blueberries and mint.
We are loving this raw food concept. We do not have a Dehydrater yet, but we ordered take out Raw Food Pizzas the other day, and they were fantastic. The taste was divine, and they were very filling. I could only eat half a pizza in a sitting. In Cape Town you can order them here
Bon apetit.
Cape Town Markets – Old Biscuit Mill and City Bowl Market
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| As it says – The Old Biscuit Mill |
In an earlier post, Karen talked about the Real Food Market in London.
Over the past few years loads of fresh food markets have sprung up all over Cape Town.
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| Eating at The Old Biscuit Mill |
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| Karen at the Tatamoo stall |
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| French cheese stall |
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| Fresh exotic mushrooms |
Courgette Mash with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
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| Courgette Mash with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes |
Been having loads of fun in the kitchen, trying out more of Johan and Len’s recipes from their book ‘Once upon a Chicken Pie’.
Just to set your mind at rest – I know this isnt a vegetarian recipe book, but three quarters of the recipes are fully vegetarian.
First was the Courgette Mash with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes.
Absolutey stunning flavour!
Here I deviated just a touch from their recipe – I did not put in the optional cayenne pepper, and it was perfect.
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| Champignons a la Grecque |
Next was the Champignons A La Grecque.
This was really quick and easy, and very tasty.
The recipe calls for really small button mushrooms. I had some larger ones in the fridge so I just halved them.
The other slight difference was that the recipe does say the tomatoes should be skinned.
I am afraid I was a bit lazy here.
And the thyme came from our own garden.
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| Papoutsakia |
And then Papoutsakia which is Greek for ‘little shoes’ and is really stuffed aubergines.
Here I followed the recipe, but I think my aubergines were a bit large, and could have done with longer in the oven, so I had to cheat a bit and give then a quick blast in the microwave!
Made a lovely accompaniment to our vegetarian burgers and green peas.
Lastly I tried the Sahleb. Or this is Johan’s version of it, as it normally requires the powdered root of an orchid species which is rather expensive.
This drink is actually made in South Africa and is known as Melkkos.
Whatever you call it, it’s delicious. In fact it was so ‘more-ish’ I never got to photograph it.
This recipe book is more than just that – it has wonderful accounts of their travels and lovely stories as to how these recipes came about.
It is a must for any cook/traveller.
Courgette Latkes
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| Our version of Veg Society’s Coutgette Latkes |
Christmas is upon us and we have family coming to stay, so I was hunting around for some Xmas ideas.
The Vegetarian Society’s newsletter, Veggie Bites, happened to land in my inbox at that moment.
I went straight to their link meat-free Xmas recipes. – An amazing selection of interesting recipes.
I have tried out the Courgette Latkes and the Smoked Bean Curd Bakes with Shiitake and Walnut Stuffing so far.
Both were hits with Karen and our guests.
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| Our version of Veg Society’s Smoked Bean Curd Bakes |
Cooked Carrot Salad
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| Cooked Carrot Salad |
At last I am getting back into cooking!
In a previous post, Same Day Pickles Karen mentioned the restaurant La Petite Tarte run by Johan and Len, and their recipe book, Once upon a Chicken Pie.
I too love the book and the recipes, and simply had to try them out.
I started off with the Cooked Carrot Salad and the Champignons a la Grecque, mainly because we happened to have all the ingredients on hand.
Whenever I try out a recipe for the first time, I like to follow it exactly. One can always play around with it the next time.
Their serving suggestion – serve with a flatbread, or crisp lettuce leaves.
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| The recipe in Once upon a ChickenPie |
Real Food Market – Southbank – London
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| Real Food Market London |
On our last day in London we decided to visit the Real Food Market – Southbank – London. We read about it in the British Airways magazine and the article said the market was located at the Royal Festival Hall. Apparently they have a market every weekend but had been quiet during the Olympics. The one we went to was an extra large annual food festival.
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| Real Food Market London |
We found the market and thought it was great but not as big as we were expecting. We had lunch and a drink and were on our way home when we discovered a HUGE continuation of the market along the River Thames. So it was a big fat foodie market after all.
There were the usual tents with food from the different countries. Organic, vegan, gluten free options as well. What is really nice is to wander along the area and visit the bookstalls, see the skater folk doing their tricks, pop back for a yummy hot chocolate and a quiche or take-out salad and sit on the banks of the Thames people watching. Here – is a link to the food fair.
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| Real Food Market London |
Cape Town is not to be outdone and there are couple of admittedly smaller food markets but they hold their own against the Londoners. The Old Biscuit Mill – in Salt River is a perennial favourite for a Saturday morning. The only thing is, it gets obscenely crowded and soon loses it’s appeal. It’s popular for good reason so get there early and you can get in and out before the maddening crowds arrive.
City Bowl Market – is another great place for artisan breads, craft beers, home made chocolates, organic honey and the like. Find it in Hope Street near Company’s Gardens. And every Thursday afternoon you can find the – Earth Fair – market in St Georges walkway, near the cathedral.
You can see a selection of vegetarian recipes with a low carb bias by following – this link.
Same Day Pickles
So I am still at the helm of Patrick’s blog but hopefully all the repairs to our house are soon over and we can wake up with a day in hand to do the things we enjoy. Things like make good food and talk about our forays into food-making in this blog. Last week I mentioned a recipe book that was given to Patrick by his friend Janice. Read more about – Once Upon a Chicken Pie.
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| Same Day Vegetable Pickles |
You can tell straight away from the title that it’s not a vegetarian cook book. But I found that 75% of the recipes are vegetarian. It’s written by Johan de Villers and Len Straw who have a French style cafe in the Cape Quarter called – La Petite Tarte
I loved the style and layout of the book. It’s reminiscent of a personal picture album with evocative photos of favourite travel destinations, loved ones and recipes that have fond memories for the two of them. Both Len and Johan love Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food. Um, so do we. Think White Bean Pate, Brinjal (Aubergine) Bake, Orange and Fennel Salad, Rose Water Cordial, Cream Cheese Cake, Caramelised Pear in Phyllo Pastry.
I’ve been to their cafe before but I had to go back and this time I got them to sign the recipe book. I spoke a bit to Johan and what a lovely man. He said he initially submitted recipes without realising that he hadn’t included meat recipes. They both prefer light, fresh food and eat a lot of vegetables and beans. I could go all – Julie & Julia – on them and cook all the vegetarian recipes in their book.
I started with their – Same Day Pickles.
Ingredients: –
24 small cucumbers
750g onions
90ml salt
500ml vinegar
500g sugar
3ml turmeric
60ml white mustard seeds
10ml celery seeds
2ml cayenne pepper.
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| The recipe book |
Method: –
Clean and boil glass jars to sterilise. Toss veggies and onion in salt in a colander and allow juices to drain.
Combine vinegar and spices in a pot and bring to boil. Add vegetables and simmer – NOT BOIL – for 2 minutes. Boiling destroys the crispiness of the veggies. Transfer into glass jars and allow to cool. Can be served immediately.
Notes: –
Patrick calls me FTF (Full Throttle Fletcher) and I OD’d on the turmeric and cayenne pepper. You only need a touch of yellow for colour and a sprinkle of heat.
I also OD’d on the Stevia as I don’t eat sugar. Stevia is like 1000 x sweeter and sugar and I gave toooo generous a shake.
I would like to try other veggies such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, beetroot, red onion and leeks. I would also like to try aniseed, caraway seed, cracked black pepper and even mustard powder for a change in flavour.
If you would like to try more of their recipes, you can purchase their book through Amazon:
For more recipes, go to the – Recipe Archive Page.
And more Vegetarian Glasgow
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| Profanity Stout |
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| Daily specials at Stereo |
In the last two blog posts, Patrick and I have spoken about eating out in Glasgow. We would not have found any of the places we visited were it not for the Vegetarian Guides. And I can’t help but wish we had such a thing here in Cape Town. I am seriously thinking of doing a local version. So far we have been out to one of the veggie dinners that Laura of – Veggie Buntch – has been organising. It’s a night of fine dining at a top Cape Town hotel once a month. The food is good and we have booked another veggie evening but they are pricey. (R395-00 each with a glass of wine or two to accompany the meal) Both Patrick and I believe that it is possible to enjoy good food without breaking the bank. Watch this space.
So our third night in Glasgow, we went to – Stereo Cafe Bar. Sister restaurant to Mono. We also couldn’t find the place. This time it was down an alley and if you didn’t know it was there, well you wouldn’t know it was there. We walked past the alley a few times and never realised there was an alley.
And just like Mono, the food is fun, well priced and seriously good. The customary good natured Glaswegian waitrons only make eating there that much better. We decide to have a Profanity Ale. They serve craft beers with wicked names. Profanity is a yummy dark ale with a bit of a kick. Nothing wrong with that.
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| Courgette and walnut cake |
Patrick and I both had a soup and sandwich combo. They seem to have different soups but they were all unique and none of the garden variety ‘ho hum’ dishes one comes to expect. For desert we shared a courgette and walnut cake. And a glass of wine each.
Stereo, just like Mono, also have a whole lot of action from theatre to live music, DJ’s, events or you have a big fat party. I loved the quirky pin-up girls who served the food and drinks.
Next week I talk about a new cookery book. I know, another one, but this is a really inspiring and well laid out book.
Till next week . . . .
The recipe archive can be found on – this page.
More Vegetarian Glasgow
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| Beetroot hummous |
Last week Patrick told you about Saramago, and the 13th Note. Two vegetarian cafe bars in Glasgow.
See that blog post – here.
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| Chickpea salad |
After our drink at The 13th Note we headed for – Mono – restaurant. It’s not that easy to find as it turns out. Down a road and tucked away in some corner with a most unassuming entrance. But don’t let that fool you. The food was excellent. And well priced. Just the way we like it. The people serving us were also super friendly, but then everyone in Glasgow is friendly. They don’t have bad days there. Our good fortune we bumped into a chap at a cafe who we followed and he took us right to Mono.
We each had a Beetroot and Walnut pate thinking a starter wouldn’t go far. What we got was a hearty portion with a green salad leaf garnish and a few slices of griddled rye bread. Patrick had a Chickpea salad with flat bread as a main and I had a Vietnamese salad. Again, they weren’t shy with their portions and we were full. What we also liked was their home brewed ginger beer, lemonade and ales. You can see large steel vats along a wall, where I assume the fermenting takes place.
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| Vietnamese salad |
Mono is also a hub for a bunch of social activities. Think live music venue, independent music supplier and vinyl trade. They also have art on offer on their walls as well as arbitrary exhibitions.
Patrick seems to never get his head above water with work. Since we got back home in Cape Town, we have decided to sell our house and get a more lock up and go type home. We want to get our asking price so we have been working hard at repairs, spring cleaning and de-cluttering. Patrick has been lumbered with the painting and ‘bloke’ jobs. He can’t wait to have time to work on his blog again.
Next week I talk about the sister restaurant to Mono >> Stereo.
Find the recipe page on – this link.
Travelling Vegetarian – Glasgow, Scotland
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| Guide to Vegetarian Scotland |
One of the challenges that vegetarians usually face is eating out.
Both Karen and I bleat on endlessly about this.
Paging through a recent issue of Vegetarian Living, there was a special offer on a book called Vegetarian Scotland.
Of course, we bought a copy and were amazed to find out how many vegetarian and vegan establishments there are, if you look
hard enough.
The book proved most useful. You can buy it on-line from Vegetarian Guides, along with a whole range of similar titles such as Vegetarian London and Vegetarian Europe.
We spent a weekend down in Glasgow when Karen ran the Great Scottish Half Marathon, and managed to try out four of the suggested places: Saramango, The 13th Note, Mono, and Stereo.
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| Mezze Platter at Saramango |
The first evening we went to Saramango, at the Centre for Contempory Arts (CCA). As the name suggests this is a very student oriented place and was full of, lets say interesting people.
The restaurant was actually vegan, and very reasonably priced.
Read about it at Saramago
The menu was Tapas style and we both had the Mezze Platter at GBP 5.95 each. Really tasty and filling too.
We had pitta bread with a selection of olives, dolmades, houmus and tzatziki.
Turkish and Lebanese style food is predominantly vegetarian so is great for us. Have a look at this selection of mezze platter ideas from the BBC Food website.
The next evening we had a drink at The 13th Note. This is a cafe and music venue, and serves vegan lagers and vegetarian/vegan food. Find a link here – The 13th Note
Quick and Easy Low Carb Bread
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| Quick and easy low carb bread |
I have made and referred to low carb breads a few times in Patrick’s blog. (Patrick has been hard at work so I am looking after his blog for him.) This is not the Atkins Low Carb Bread, but Irish Soda Bread. I’ve made and mentioned both in this blog.
The Irish Soda Bread – low carb version – is much quicker and easier to make than the Atkins bread. It’s also infinitely lower in fat. You mix flour and baking powder. Add buttermilk or yogurt. Mix together. Bake. Eat.
In – this post – I talk about substituting plain white refined flour for low carb options. I think I’ve got the flour replacement formula waxed now. This bread takes a few minutes to knock together.
My low carb mix in lieu of white flour is –
25% almond meal
25% gluten flour
25% whole wheat flour
25% soya flour
The trick to getting this bread perfect is to mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Why? Gluten can be sticky and make blobs in the mixture if it is not thoroughly mixed in.
Bake in a hot oven (220’C) for a full 45 minutes. Why? It’s a heavy, dense bread that needs to be baked through to the core to be properly baked.
Ingredients: –
1 cup almond meal
1 cup gluten flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup soya flour
1 heaped teaspoon Baking Powder
1 – 1 1/2 cups fat free yogurt
Method: –
Add the dry ingredients to a clean dry bowl. Whisk dry ingredients together to make sure they are well mixed.
Add 1 cup yogurt and mix in with a spoon or spatula. If the dough comes together in a ball then no need to add more yogurt. If the mixture is still dry, keep adding yogurt little bit by bit until it binds together in a heavy dough.
Place the dough in a silicone baking container and press down to fill corners.
Heat the oven to 220’C. When the oven is heated place the bread in the oven.
Allow to cook for a full 45 mins. Remove bread from heat and allow to cool.
Variations: –
Add seeds to dry mixture. Think flax seeds, pumpkin seeds (as in this version) or sunflower seeds.
Sprinkle seeds on top of bread. Think sesame seeds, poppy seeds or caraway seeds.
Add stevia and spices such as cinnamon or cardamom to make a sweet version of this bread.
Mix in grated cheese or herbs such as oregano to make a savoury bread.
Visit the Meat Free Recipe Page – here – for more low carb, vegetarian recipes
Red Cabbage, Mixed Leaf, Feta and Tomato Salad with Finn Crisp Crackers
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| Red cabbage, leaf, feta and tomato salad with Finn Crisp crackers |
Here is a typical lunch for us when we are at home. When we are out and about, I must confess it’s a different story. When eating on the run it’s a hundred, thousand times harder to find good wholesome food. And I can never understand why. We know for a fact that diet and health are inextricably linked. Yet the supply of wholesome fast food is almost non-existent
We always have lots of fresh vegetables at home and I make a quick salad with whatever needs to be eaten first. In this case I sliced up red cabbage, added in a few lettuce leaves, diced two rounds of feta cheese and chopped up a tomato. I sprinkled a handful of sunflower and flax seeds over the salad and topped it with a home made salad dressing.
Served with a few – Finn Crisp – or – Ryvita – crackers, it does the trick.
Salad dressings are so easy to make I cannot understand why people buy them. You can totally control what you put into your own dressing and limit the amount of preservatives, salt, thickening agents, gelling agents, colourants, flavourings, and all the rest of the rubbish manufacturers put into commercial dressings.
Save your old honey or peanut butter jars and use them to mix and shake up your own salad dressings.
A typical salad dressing is a 50/50 oil/vinegar combination with added seasonings. I use 1/3 oil and 2/3 acid. You can vary your oils and acids. Maybe use a raspberry vinegar with a seed oil like almond oil. Or try fresh lemon juice with olive oil. How about a rich balsamic vinegar with a mild sunflower oil?
And then for seasonings you can add fresh herbs, dried herbs, black pepper, crushed seeds such as caraway. Maybe freshly ground garlic, a drizzle of honey or spoon of mustard? The permutations are endless and half the fun is experimenting.
For more meal ideas and recipes go to the recipe gallery – here
Low Carb Oatcakes
We both love oatcakes. Oats is sooo good for you for a number of reasons. Read more here. We’ve already made Cinnamon Oatcakes – here – and Cheesy Oatcakes – here. While we are in Scotland we tend to try the different brands available in the supermarkets. Back home in South Africa, we get the Nairns brand oatcakes but they are a lot more expensive than they are in Scotland.
Oatcakes are easy to make but this time, I wanted to take a traditional recipe and bring the carb count down, amp up the protein and cut the fat. The original recipe asks for 4 Cups of oats and 1 Cup of flour. I used 4 Cups of oat bran, 1/2 Cup of gluten flour and 1/2 Cup soy flour. I never add salt to my food so I skipped the salt. I used half the butter but added more water.
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| Low Carb Oatcakes |
The result was interesting. Butter gives a crumbly texture – much like crunchy and crumbly shortbread or biscuits. These oatcakes were more chewy than previous batches. Which I actually preferred.
The original recipe says thicker oatcakes are softer – and thinner ones are crispier. I tried to make them thicker for a change but I think it is possible to make them too thick. I wish I had rolled them thinner. I would have preferred them a bit crunchier and they needed to be rolled much thinner to get that texture. The flavour was unaffected.
Below is the recipe for my low carb, low fat version. At the bottom of this post is a link to the original recipe.
Ingredients: –
4 Cups oat bran
1/2 Cup soy flour
1/2 Cup gluten flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Cup butter at room temperature
1 Cup water
Method: –
Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Add the butter and rub between your fingers until it is well mixed and the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs. Add the water slowly until the mixture comes together. Roll out and cut into shapes. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and place oatcakes on the tray. Bake at 180’C until golden for around 25 minutes.
Notes: –
Here is a link to the original recipe – Scottish Oat Cakes.
Go to the Meat Free recipe page – here – for older recipes and meat free meal ideas.
Curried Coleslaw and Vegetarian Lincoln Sausages
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| Curried Coleslaw and Vegetarian Lincoln Sausages |
Coleslaw is a great low carb salad. But – the mayonnaise dressing can be high in fat. Most commercial low fat mayonnaise is diluted down – often with water and starchy thickeners to keep the consistency.
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| Ingredients for creamy curry dressing |
I prefer to dilute mayonnaise myself. I usually put a dollop of mayonnaise into a small bowl and add soy milk slowly watching that it doesn’t get too runny.
I often add fresh herbs mustard or curry powder as in this recipe. The curried dressing is reminiscent of one used in – Coronation chicken.
Adding soy milk to the mayonnaise helps decrease the fat content but keeps the dressing nice and creamy.
This particular coleslaw is a slight departure from traditional carrot and cabbage. I grated courgette and cabbage and added some finely sliced lettuce and diced green peppers.
We had our curried coleslaw with vegetarian sausages, in this instance – Cauldron brand – Lincolnshire sausages.
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| Reduced fat mayonnaise dressing |
Refer to recipe page – here – for older recipes and baking ideas.
Low Carb Irish Soda Bread
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| Low Carb Irish Soda Bread my flour at left and Atkins flour at right |
I have made Colette Heimowitz – Atkins – low carb bread – see here – and here – so many times now. It’s great bread. Two slices for breakfast with peanut butter or a slice of cheese and I’m full for hours. The texture tends to be more like cake than bread so I wanted to try a more traditional bread recipe – but – reduce the carbs.
I’m not keen on doing the whole yeast bread thing. It’s a whole lot of effort and frankly making proper bread is an art. I loved the Irish Soda Bread we ate in Ireland and I loved the simplicity of the recipe. I also liked that the recipe has no butter and no cream. Both those ingredients are in the Atkins low carb bread.
The original recipe for this Irish Soda Bread has only four ingredients, which are knocked together in a minute and then the bread goes straight into a hot oven. Right up my street.
The Irish Soda Bread recipe calls for all purpose flour. I managed to find some proper Atkins bread flour at a health shop the other day and I’ve been wanting to try it. and I wanted to make a another version bread with my low carb flour substitute – see it here.
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| Low Carb Irish Soda Bread my flour at the top and Atkins flour at bottom |
So for these two breads, I used Atkins flour and my low carb flour – instead of regular flour. I never routinely add salt to our food so I skipped the salt. The rest of the ingredients are as per the original recipe. The result?
Obviously without the cream and butter, this bread is not nearly as moist as the original bread. It is heavier and denser too. That’s why artisan bakers use yeast. but it is flavoursome, crunchy and just as filling. I’m definitely going to be making this bread again.
Find a link to the original recipe at the end of this post.
Ingredients: –
4 Cups Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 – 1 1/2 Cups buttermilk
seeds to sprinkle on top are optional
salt is optional
Method: –
Place the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together well. Add 1 Cup of buttermilk and if the mixture doesn’t come together, keep adding buttermilk until it firms up into a ball. Shape into a loaf and place in a loaf tin. I pressed some sunflower seeds on the Atkins flour loaf and pumpkin seeds on my own low carb flour mix loaf. You have to really press the seeds in as they don’t stick very well. Bake at 220’C for 45 minutes.
Notes: –
It is especially important to mix the dry ingredients well. The gluten flour and baking soda need to be well mixed to get a good result.
Here is a link to the original recipe – original recipe.
Refer to recipe page – here.
Pea and Asparagus Salad with Vegetarian Cumberland Sausages
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| Pea and Asparagus Salad with Vegetarian Cumberland Sausages |
I’m still helping Patrick with his blog while he is working flat out. His intention with this blog was to show what we eat every day as he was always being asked what we eat. It is a well meaning question but it is surprising that people have no idea how to prepare a meatless meal. He started recording our meals and recipes.
Since I’ve been working on Patrick’s blog, I have been showing my attempts to make reduced carb versions of everyday foods. The problem with being vegetarian is that you end up with a lot of carb rich foods – think pastas, risottos, bruschettas – and not enough protein. It’s all good and well to remove the meat from a meal but vegetarians still need protein – just like everybody else. Read more here.
I try to replace white flour with whole grains, ground nuts, gluten, eggs and other protein and fibre rich ingredients. I also try to reduce the amount of fat where possible. Each week I will update the blog with meal ideas and recipes until Patrick is able to take over the blog. We also update the recipe gallery about once a month. You can see past meals and recipes by clicking on – this link.
On to this weeks meal. I’m not going to write out a recipe for the sausages or they are so dead easy to knock together. But I will give a recipe for the salad dressing. You can just see the dressing to the right of the plate in the photo.
The sausages are commercially made – see here. Some vegetarians have an issue with meat substitutes – considering them processed food. Which they are. But for convenience and a low fat source of protein you can’t beat them. I put them in the microwave for a minute or two instead of frying them. They still taste good without the greasy preparation.
The salad is a bog standard mix of torn lettuce leaves, sliced cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices. I took a cup of frozen peas and microwaved them for a few mins until they were al dente. Then I put them in a colander and allowed them to cool.
I simmered the asparagus for a few minutes in hot water in a pan until they were also al dente. I added them to the colander and allowed them to cool. I mixed the peas and asparagus with the salad.
We never, ever buy salad dressing. It’s so easy to make. Take an old screw top jar – the sort that you buy peanut butter in. Add 1/3 oil – in this case Olive Oil and add 2/3 acid – here I used Cider Vinegar. Add a heaped teaspoon of mustard. Place the lid on the jar and shake well. Voila!
Peanut Butter on Low Carb Toast with Fresh Apple Slices
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| Peanut Butter on Low Carb Toast with Fresh Apple Slices |
Patrick is missing his blog terribly. But we both agree that it is better to have me writing than for the blog to be neglected. Besides, we eat the same food, it’s just my style of writing and views that are different.
I love love love this low carb bread. So glad I bought Colette Heimowitz Atkins Recipe book where I found her Lemon Poppyseed Bread. See my version – here. If you visit the – recipe page – you will see how many different versions of her recipe I have made.
A bowl of cereal is just not enough for me. By 10.00 am I am starving. This particular low carb bread is so unbelievably filling. I make batches of it, slice it up and keep it in the freezer. The night before, I take out a few slices and have it for breakfast.
Patrick and I try to keep our protein levels up, carb levels down, avoid sugar and meat completely and eat lots of fresh fruit and salad. Toast, peanut butter and jam or honey is the usual combination. But we have sliced fresh fruit instead of jam. Even dried fruit like figs would be yummy on this low carb toast.
The other slices of toast in the picture have reduced fat cream cheese with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a sprinkle of Stevia powder. A low carb version of cinnamon sugar.
If we were eating a savoury version of this bread, we would have it with sliced boiled egg, cheese, Quorn meat substitute slices or my favourite – Marmite with reduced fat cream cheese.
Yum!
Nut Roast with Creamed Curry Spinach and Fresh Plum and Vegetable Salad
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| Nut Roast with Creamed Curry Spinach and Fresh Plum and Vegetable Salad |
Gosh, when I look at the amount of food on this plate, I almost feel bad. Especially when we watch these cooking shows on the BBC and see the puny portions that fine dining push out. But then pathetic portions one of the very reasons we avoid the high end restaurants. I want a decent portion if I am paying that kind of money for a meal. I suspect meat is a lot more filling than vegetables. Therefore I want a proper plate of food if I am eating vegetables or an acceptable vegetarian substitute for the meat. And that will never happen
This Nut Roast is a commercial product that I found in Tesco – read more here.
The ingredients looked benign. All I had to do was add water and bake in the oven for 20 mins. Couldn’t be easier.
The Curried Creamed Spinach recipe is here.
Ingredients: –
250g frozen spinach
1 – 2 Tablespoons of reduced fat cream cheese
1 heaped teaspoon of curry powder
Method: –
Place the frozen spinach in an oven proof bowl and defrost in the microwave.
Once defrosted, spoon in cream cheese and curry powder. Mix well.
Bake in the oven for about 15 mins with the nut roast.
Notes: –
Frozen veggies are great for an evening meal in a hurry.
Reduced fat cream cheese is better than cream for adding a luscious taste to veggies and is lower in fat.
You can replace the curry powder with concentrated tomato paste for an different flavour.
And here is the recipe for Fresh Plum and Vegetable Salad
Ingredients: –
2 large carrots grated
1 small lettuce sliced into thick ribbons
1 handful cherry tomatoes
1 large ripe plum sliced
1 avocado
A fruity vinegar such as raspberry vinegar or even cider vinegar
A mild oil such as Rapeseed or Sunflower oil
2 sachets Stevia powder
Method: –
Mix together all the vegetables, except for the avocado and plums, in a large salad bowl.
Mix your vinegar, oil and Stevia together in a jug or screw top bottle.
Pour the dressing over the salad. Serve the salad onto your plates.
Top the salad with plum slices.
You can cut the avocado into slices and place over the salad as well.
Or serve it cut into quarters on the side as in our meal.
Notes: –
Always cut your avocado last as it tends to oxidise and turn brown once it has been opened.
Coating the avocado with lemon juice will stop the oxidisation but will affect the flavour.
An alternate fruit can be used in lieu of the plums. Something with a slightly sour flavour such as apricots or orange slices would work to contrast with the sweet dressing.
For more inspiration and recipes visit the recipe page – here.
Bean Salad with Carrot Andhra Curry
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| Bean Salad with Carrot Andhra Curry |
I’m still maintaining Patrick’s blog while he is doing his bit for the oil industry.
Patrick is without doubt the stir fry and curry expert. He finds a tried and trusted recipe and once he has mastered it. He makes it again and again. He might make minor adjustments – but his outcome is predictable. Not that I am complaining. Like I said, he makes a mean curry and stir fry.
Here, he made his Carrot Andrha Curry and the recipe is – on this link – except he added tomato paste, paneer cheese and a touch more liquid than usual.
Our every day meals are not always synergistic – as you can see. Curry and a salad? Let’s just say, not a classic combo.
Patrick always says that I am more of a preparation person than a cook. Chopping herbs and vegetables is a pleasure for me. Being a bit OCD, I prefer to cut the carrots into uniform little matchsticks. Add to that the theory that Taureans are supposed to have heightened senses. Which must be true as I love the smell of chopped fresh coriander, crushed raw garlic, cheese under the grilland freshly brewed coffee to name just a few. Funny enough the smell of meat cooking doesn’t move me. It might be that I have been vegetarian so long that I no longer associate the smell of meat to food.
Anyway my job is to make the salads. We have a fresh salad almost every night with our main meal.
Here is the recipe for the Flageolot Bean Salad.
Ingredients: –
1 can Flageolot beans – drained and rinsed
1 medium sized red onion thinly sliced
1/4 cucumber cut into match sticks
1/4 large courgette also cut into match sticks
1 green pepper, cut into quarters and then thinly sliced
Red wine vinegar
Rapeseed oil
Fresh mint leaves finely chopped
Method: –
Place the prepared vegetables – but not the beans – in a bowl and pour over a generous amount of red wine vinegar.
Allow to stand for about 1/2 hour.
Pour off vinegar into a large jug. Add Rapeseed oil and chopped mint leaves. Mix well to make the dressing
Add beans to the vegetables and add dressing.
Toss salad well.
Notes: –
I always sort of marinate raw vegetables such as onion, carrot, cauliflower, cucumber in vinegar to sort of semi pickle them. The kind of vegetables that usually pickle well.
Tomatoes and lettuce can’t be marinated as they become soggy very quickly so I add them last.
Instead of beans you could add feta, boiled eggs or veggie chicken such as – Quorn – to add protein to this salad.
For more recipes with the focus on sugar free, low carb, low fat, low GI, meat free, high fibre, with lots of fruit and vegetables – just plain healthy food – visit the recipe page – here.
Baking with low carb flours
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| Ingredients for low carb baking |
I’ve been working this basic recipe for a while now. Read more – here. I’ve got it waxed and it works perfectly. I can vary the flavourings. This mixture makes either cake, bread or muffins.
They always turn out perfectly. And the best bit is the resultant food is sooo filling. One or two slices of this cake for breakfast and I’m full all morning.
The original recipe comes from – Colette Heimowitz – Atkins cookbook.
Below is my slightly modified version of the basic recipe. You have to add your preferred flavours as the basic recipe has no taste.
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| Cheese Herb Muffins, Choc Nut Cake and Cardamom Lemon Cake |
The recipe for the basic mixture is as follows:-
Ingredients: –
115ml unsweetened soy milk
50g gluten flour
50g soy flour
50g ground almonds
75g whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons
Baking Powder
115g melted butter
2 large
eggs
1 x 251g – Alpro soy single cream
Method: –
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Melt the butter in the microwave in a small bowl
Beat the
eggs, cream, and milk together in another bowl.
Add the melted butter to the egg/milk mixture.
Mix the wet and dry
ingredients together and pour into an oven proof bread container.
Bake at
190’C for 50 minutes and allow to cool on a rack.
I mixed up three batches of this low carb baking mix during the last session in the kitchen and made the following variations: –
To make Cheese Herb Muffins I added
1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
300g of mature cheddar cheese.
To make Cardamom Lemon Cake I added
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
15 sachets of – Truvia – a UK brands of stevia, in SA I use liquid stevia from – Health Connection
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon lemon essence
grated rind of two lemons
To make Chocolate Nut Cake I added
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon chocolate essence
15 sachets of Truvia – see above for details
100g chopped pecan nuts
2 heaped Tablespoons cocoa powder
The great thing about this recipe is you can do your own thing. Visit the recipe page to see more low carb, low GI, vegetarian recipes by clicking – here
Parsnip Soup
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| Parsnip soup with grated mature cheese |
Soup has to be the easiest meal to make. And it’s a great way to use up veggies that are staring to look a bit tired.
You can begin making your soup the proper way by sauteing onions and then adding stock plus your veggies. I’m often in a hurry and just want to get a bowl of piping hot soup out ASAP.
For this parsnip soup I chopped a bag of parsnips into smallish chunks and placed them in a pot. I added an organic low-salt stock. In the UK I have been using – Kallo – low salt stock. In South Africa I would use either – Plantaforce – or – Ina Paarman – stock.
Add boiling water to cover, put the pot on the stove and bring to boil. Once boiling, drop the heat back and allow veggies, stock and water to simmer for around 30 mins. Most people add cream to the pot at this point but I prefer to add silken tofu which packs a low fat protein punch. You will also want to add your favourite seasonings at this stage. I only used black pepper but lots of it.
You could add garam masala, dried herbs or spices such as ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg. A dash of stevia to sweeten the soup would work well with ginger or cinnamon. Next, using a stick blender, puree the soup until it is a smooth consistency.
I grated mature cheese and added it last for flavour and as a garnish. And that’s it.
A meal in just over 30 minutes.
You can use just about any vegetables to make a soup. Frozen veggies are already chopped and speed up your preparation time. You can swirl your soup with cream cheese, yogurt or pesto in lieu of cheddar cheese.
Another meal that you can rustle up in minimum time is a veggie gratin.
Defrost frozen veggies in an oven proof bowl in the microwave. Mix in a yummy pasta sauce or concentrate such as basil pesto or sun dried tomato pesto. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and grill in the oven. Pop some soy burgers or sausages in the microwave oven for a few mins as per instructions and serve with your vegetable gratin. Who needs take-outs?
Find more ideas for low carb, low GI and vegetarian meals on the recipe page
Vegetarian Roast with Swede and Celeriac chips
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| Vegetarian Roast with Swede and Celeriac chips |
Patrick and I are trying to use as many local and in season vegetables as we can while in the UK.
One reason is that is makes for greener food choices, which is in keeping with eating meat free and a low carbon footprint ethos.
The second reason is you can’t or don’t easily find these foods in South Africa. This is a wonderful opportunity to try them.
We are used to our local fare and have a pretty good idea how to prepare it. But new foods pose new challenges. We love – vegetarian haggis – and we love – Quorn – range of foods. The – Linda McCartney – range is also great.
In South Africa we have – Fry’s – vegetarian range which we use a lot. I do wish they would be trying to bring us healthier versions of their meat replacements. Their newest foods are pastry covered – pies, crumbed and battered – tenders, and – pops – which look like dough balls. Healthier? I don’t think so and very disappointing. We won’t be buying them.
Both Quorn and Linda McCartney do a vegetarian roast. See – here – and – here. I’ve been vegetarian for over 30 years so I really don’t know what meat tastes like anymore but Patrick says the taste is similar. If you are not inclined to meat substitutes or processed food then Patrick’s – Nut Roast – is delicious.
I wanted to get away from starchy potatoes but still liked the idea of roast vegetables. Sweet potatoes are rich in carotenes but they are high in carbs. Roasted root veggies like beetroot, carrots and parsnips are an improvement on the carb front but they still pack carbs.
Swede and celeriac have low carb yields which is why I decided to use them as our roast vegetables. Basically all I did was peel one large swede and one larger celeriac. I cut them as if they were chunky chips. Then tossed I them in a mix of Rapeseed oil and soy sauce. They take a while to cook so you can par boil them or give them a few minutes in the microwave first.
I pricked the packaging of the vegetarian roast and arranged the swede and celeriac on a baking tray with the vegetarian roast. It was baked at 200’C for around 50 mins. You might want to serve it with a red wine or a mushroom gravy but we were hungry and ready to eat so we skipped that step.
Visit the – recipe page – to find more low carb, low GI and vegetarian meals.
Asparagus and pea stir fry with parsnip mash and veggie burgers
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| Asparagus and pea stir fry with parsnip mash and veggie burgers |
This is one of our combined effort cooking sessions using standard British ingredients such as peas, baked beans, asparagus, parsnips and cheddar cheese.
Baked beans and a stir fry don’t sound like a great combo, but that’s what happens when Patrick makes one half of the meal and I make the other. The veggie burger and beans were my attempt to add some protein.
I have a thing about having protein with every meal and using up left-overs. Hence the interesting combo.
Serves 2
Ingredients: –
1 large white onion
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 t fresh ginger finely chopped
1 punnet fresh asparagus
1 cup frozen peas
soy sauce to taste
olive oil
dash of sherry or desert wine
4 – 5 parsnips
1 tub fat free cream cheese
approx 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
2 vegetarian burgers
2 T baked beans or any other beans
2 slices mature cheddar cheese
Method:-
1. Trim the parsnips and bring to boil in a pot for around 20 mins.
2. Slice the onion and heat up a splash of oil in a large wok or frying pan.
3. Add the onions to the hot wok and stir fry.
4. Next add the garlic, ginger and asparagus to the wok and allow to cook.
5. Add soy sauce and sherry and then add the frozen peas. Watch the stir the veggies in the wok so they don’t burn.
6. Reduce the heat and allow the stir fry to keep warm.
7. Pop the veggie burgers under the grill.
8. Pour away the water from the pot when the parsnips are cooked.
9. Add the cream cheese and the Parmesan cheese and mash well.
10. Turn the veggie burgers over and put a spoon on beans on the top of each burger.
11. Cover the beans with a slice of cheddar cheese and put back under the grill.
12. When the cheese has melted, serve the burgers with the mash and stir fry.
Notes: –
Patrick likes to mix the soy sauce and sherry together before he adds it to the stir fry.
Have a look at the – recipe page – to find low carb, low GI vegetarian foods to inspire you.
Aubergine and veggie mince lasagne with red onion and brie salad
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| Aubergine lasagne with red onion and brie salad |
Patrick follows a recipe to the letter. He turns out perfect meals when he cooks. I am a super greenie and cannot bear to waste food. I open the fridge, see what has to be used up, then figure out what to make from there. Patrick has mastered curries and stir fries. My cooking tends to be impromptu. It can be disappointing when I get it wrong. Especially when one of my flops is our meal. Hey, that’s how you learn.
Coming from Africa, we could never throw food in the bin. There is always someone who is happy to eat our leftovers. We give our left-over food to homeless people. Provisions we can’t eat in time go to friends and they give theirs to us.
It’s so hard to see how people waste food in Europe. They order food, then leave most of it on the plate. And they still order desert! Patrick and I often look at food that goes to waste in sheer disbelief. We wonder why they ordered it in the first place? I could easily become a – dumpster diver – or a – freegan. I already make my clothes and accessories out of anything from old sheets to electrical cable. See my blog – here – or how we run a green guest house – here.
Back to Patrick’s blog and this week I share a vegetarian lasagna using aubergine slices instead of pasta. A bit like a parmigiana. It keeps the carbs down.
Serves 4
Ingredients: –
2 large aubergines
1 packet ready made vegetarian mince
1 500ml passata
1 block extra mature cheddar cheese grated
1 can beans such as cannelloni or kidney beans
1 red onion
125 ml red wine vinegar
1 – 2 t stevia, xylitol or any other low carb sweetener
1 small iceberg lettuce
1/2 small brie cheese
1 T grape seed oil
Method: –
1. Wash and slice the aubergine as thinly as possible.
2. Mix the beans together with the vegetarian mince in a bowl.
3. You need to alternate layers of aubergines; beans and mince; passata and grated cheese in an ovenproof baking dish.
4. It doesn’t have to be exact but finish with a layer of grated cheese on top.
5. Bake at 180’C for 30 to 40 mins.
6. Mix the sweetener with the red wine vinegar in a bowl.
7. Finely slice the red onion, add it to the vinegar mix and allow it to stand.
8. Slice the iceberg lettuce into ribbons and place in a salad bowl.
9. Slice the brie cheese and keep to one side.
10. When the lasagna is ready, cut it into squares and place a square on a plate.
11. Mix the oil in with the onions and then add the lettuce ribbons.
12. Serve the salad alongside the lasagna with the brie slices on top.
Notes: –
Adding beans to meals is an easy way to amp up the fibre and protein content. Although beans are high in carbs they are far better than refined white carbs. Modern thinking now says we can deduct the fibre content from the total carb content as most fibre is not absorbed.
I learnt from my mother is to pre-soak the onions for a salad in vinegar before you add them to the salad. It takes the bitterness out and gives them a much nicer flavour.
For more low carb, low GI meat free meals visit the recipe page – here
Veggie burger with mushroom gravy, mashed cabbage and swede served with a celery and cranberry salad
I’m still sharing our recipes and meals on Patrick’s blog. Patrick started this blog when he met me because he got so tired of being asked what vegetarians eat. And since we try to eat low carb vegetarian food, he decided to start a blog to share our meals.
Vegetarian food gets a bad rap mainly because restaurant and supermarket versions are so uninspiring and downright boring. Whenever I see another celebrity chef trot out a vegetarian meal I roll my eyes. They think they have re-invented the wheel and are so ahead of the curve by showcasing another pasta, risotto or salad. Yawn!
Kudos to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who actually went vegetarian for a few months rather than turning out a token vegetarian meal. Read more here – here. And if you wonder what vegans eat scroll through – this blog – for yummy pictures of animal free food.
This week I am showing one of our evening meals I made a while back –
Veggie burger with mushroom gravy, mashed cabbage and swede served with a celery and cranberry salad
Serves 2
Ingredients:-
2 Quorn/Frys or any vegetarian burger
1 punnet mushrooms finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1 T olive oil
1 T soy sauce diced
1 large swede
1/4 green cabbage finely chopped
3 sticks of celery
1 handful of dried cranberries
real mayonnaise
Wensleydale or Feta cheese
Method:-
1. Saute the onion in a little oil until cooked.
2. Add the mushrooms and the soy sauce and allow to cook well.
3. Place the swede and the cabbage in another pot and bring to the boil for about 15 to 20 mins or until cooked.
4. Meanwhile chop the celery, add mayonnaise, crumbed cheese and cranberries to the chopped celery.
5. Grill or fry the vegetarian burgers.
6. Remove the swede and cabbage from heat and pour off the boiling water.
7. Mash the cabbage swede mixture. You can add a knob of butter, salt and pepper to taste.
8. Place the burgers on a plate and top with the mushroom mixture. Add the mash and then the celery and cranberry salad. Serve.
Notes: –
I hardly use any oil when I saute onions. I mix oil and water in a pan and sort of boil/fry. The water evaporates as the onions wilt and the little oil left caramelises the onions.
I also often use fat free cream cheese in a vegetable mash in lieu of cream or butter. It gives a yummy creamy taste. I don’t only ever mash potatoes.
I will mash anything that has a similar texture when boiled. Sometimes, I add a can of beans or chickpeas to a mash to boost the protein and fibre content. They also add a nutty flavour.
And to pack a serious flavour punch I will add black pepper, dried herbs or Parmesan cheese to my veggie and bean mashes.
The – recipe page – gets updated regularly with low carb, low GI meat free recipes and meals.
Fresh fruit and yoghurt with nuts and seeds
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| Fresh fruit and yogurt with nuts and seeds |
This is Patrick’s morning creation. Every now and again Karen needs a break from what Patrick would happily eat every single day of his life – muesli.
We know muesli is good for you but most commercial muesli’s are full of sugar and refined carbs. Patrick makes his own low carb version. Find that – here.
Karen on the other hand, does like a bit of variety. Hence this fruit salad and yogurt. Not a huge departure, but a definite concession.
Ingredients: –
any fresh fruit in season preferably a mix of low carb fruits such as berries, plums and melons
low fat Greek style yogurt
seeds such as sunflower, sesame or poppy
nuts such as almond flakes or hazelnuts
Method: –
1. Clean and dice the fruit and arrange in a bowl.
2. Top the fruit with a generous dollop of Greek yogurt.
3. Sprinkle nuts and seeds on top of yogurt.
Notes: –
We like to lightly toast sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a dry non-stick pan. You can also garnish the fruit salad with spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. Herbs and spices are reputed to be full of health giving benefits. And to amp up the goodness – and the protein – add ground flaxseeds. We grind ours in our coffee grinder.
Check out the recipe page – here – for more low carb, low GI breakfasts and baking recipes.
Butternut, Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad with Pumpkin Seeds
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| Butternut, Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad with Pumpkin Seeds |
I’m still sharing recipes on Patrick’s blog while he is short on spare time. Last week I blogged about meals we had at Strathmore Arms in Scotland.
This week I am sharing a meal we had at The Lookout Deck – Hout Bay in Cape Town. It’s a bit of a mantra with us. Finding good food when eating out as a vegetarian is nigh impossible.
The big issue is that most vegetarian meals do not replace the protein when they remove the meat. Protein is what keeps you full and is essential for repair and maintenance in the body. Read more – here.
The groundbreaking study which culminated in the book – The China Study – argues that protein requirements are over rated. Bill Clinton bought into it and turned vegan. He apparently inspired Michelle Pfeiffer.
We know that animal sources of protein are not the best due to their high amounts of saturated fat. But you try snacking on a few carrot sticks, and later, on a handful of almonds to know which one leaves you feeling fuller after an hour or three. Making sure you get protein at each meal is what stops you piling into fast food and junk food when your sugar levels drop.
Anyway, on to this week’s meal. I came up with what I think the recipe was for this meal. Here it is.
Serves 2
Ingredients: –
a large handful of baby spinach leaves
2 cups roasted, diced butternut
about three sliced medium tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbed blue cheese
handful of toasted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup vinaigrette dressing
Method: –
1. Roughly tear the spinach leaves and arrange onto a dinner plate.
2. Top with half the sliced tomatoes and 1 cup of roast butternut.
3. Sprinkle half the blue cheese over each salad.
4. Top each salad with half the toasted pumpkin seeds.
5. Drizzle the dressing over the salad.
Notes: –
Instead of heating the whole oven to toast a handful of seeds, you can dry roast then in a frying pan. For a bit of extra flavour you can sprinkle a tiny bit of brown sugar and allow it to caramelise with the nuts. Or you can add a small amount of grape seed oil and curry powder. Lightly saute the nuts or seeds in the curried oil to add extra flavour.
You can cook your butternut or pumpkin in a microwave oven to make this salad in a if you are pressed for time. It won’t have a crispy slow baked flavour but it will still taste good. I often cut a butternut in half and par cook it in the microwave. I remove it and stuff it with whatever and finish cooking it in the microwave oven. Or just sprinkle it with grated strong cheese for a meal in a flash.
Visit the recipe page – here – for lots of meat free, low carb meal ideas.
Vegetable Strudel with Boiled Baby Potatoes and Hollandaise Sauce
I have semi taken over Patrick’s Meat Free Everyday blog until he has more time to himself. We’re hoping that closer to the end of the year when his work contract expires he will have more time to cook, write and post.
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| Vegetable Strudel with Boiled Baby Potatoes and Hollandaise Sauce |
This recipe goes back to when we went away for a weekend earlier this year to the Scottish Highlands. We went past Glamis Castle and found a restaurant/pub called the Strathmore Arms. I don’t mean to whinge but we avoid eating out as much as possible because we are almost always bitterly disappointed at the range of vegetarian food on offer. Particularly as low carbers. But we had to find something to eat that day.
This place had two vegetarian meals on the menu. And surprise, surprise neither was a pasta, a risotto or a salad. We had to try both of them. We took pics of our meals and when we came home I tried to re-create them. These recipes are my attempt to make these meals.
I had Peppers stuffed with Vegetarian Haggis and you can find that recipe – here.
Patrick had the Vegetable Strudel with Boiled Baby Potatoes and Hollandaise Sauce.
This is our recipe for it.
Serves 2
Ingredients: –
1 small onion
2 grated carrots
2 celery sticks finely chopped
1 cup of mushrooms finely chopped
filo pastry
ready made Hollandaise sauce
1 cup baby potatoes
1 handful fresh green leaves such as lettuce or cress
1 T olive oil
soy sauce
Method: –
1. Saute the onion in a little oil.
2. Add the carrot and then the celery.
3. Finally add the mushrooms and about 1T soy sauce.
4. When the veggies are cooked remove from heat.
5. Roll out two sheets of filo pastry and place half the vegetables in the middle of each piece of pastry.
6. Fold up the pastry as if you were folding a blanket or a towel.
8. Bake at 180’C for 30 mins.
9. Meanwhile boil the baby potatoes for 15 to 20 mins or until cooked.
10. Warm the Hollandaise sauce.
11. Place each filo parcel on a plate with half the potatoes and half the salad.
12. Pour Hollandaise sauce over the strudel and the potatoes.
13. Serve salad with a French salad dressing.
Notes:-
I would add Parmesan cheese to the vegetable mixture. Vegetarian haggis could be used as an easy alternative stuffing if you can buy it. You might want to make a sweet version of this strudel using fruit such as apples with raisins and cinnamon.
The recipe page is updated regularly with meat free, low carb and low GI meals. Find it – here.
Orange Choc Chip Muffins – low carb
Orange Choc Chip low carb muffins
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| Orange Choc Chip Low Carb Muffins |
Since I read in Colette Heimowitz New Atkins Cookbook that chocolate is still on a low carb menu, well I’ve been experimenting with chocolate. The trick is to buy unsweetened cooking chocolate and I found unsweetened chocolate buttons in the baking section of our local supermarket.
The original recipe is for Lemon Poppy Seed Bread which I made a few weeks ago. I’ve also made a Cheesy Herb version. This time, I used orange rind and chocolate buttons for flavour and instead of baking the mix in a bread pan, I baked it in silicone muffin moulds.
The same changes in the last few attempts at this bread apply. I skipped the salt, I make my own low carb baking mix – read how – here. I substituted soy cream for sour cream and I used stevia for sweetening.
These make a filling breakfast meal spread with peanut butter.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this page.
Ingredients: –
115ml unsweetened soy milk
225g low carb flour mix – see how to make – here
sugar substitute to taste
1 + 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
115g melted butter
2 large eggs
170ml sour cream
2 Tablespoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method: –
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Mix
eggs, melted butter, cream, orange zest, vanilla, milk, basically the wet ingredients, together in another bowl.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and pour into an oven proof bread container.
Bake at 190’C for 50 minutes and allow to cool on a rack before slicing.
Cheese Herb Bread – low carb
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| Cheesy low carb bread |
Much as I am enjoying baking and being able to eat sweet – low carb – treats, my craving is not for sweets, but rather savoury flavours, like cheese and Marmite. I made Lemon Poppy Seed bread from the New Atkins Cookbook a few weeks ago with this recipe. The mechanics of the recipe are the same but I made a savoury bread this time. I replaced the spices with herbs and added a hefty helping of seriously strong cheddar cheese.
The bread was baked in a silicone bread pan which meant I didn’t have to grease the pan. Love those silicone baking utensils! Easy to use and easy to clean.
I always skip salt and because I used such strong cheese, salt definitely wasn’t necessary. I skipped the baking soda as I only have baking powder at home. More on the difference – here. And I swapped the sour cream for soy cream. Read how I make my own low carb flour – here.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Ingredients: –
115ml unsweetened soy milk
250g strong cheddar cheese
225g low carb flour mix – see how to make here
1 + 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon dried herbs
1/4 teaspoon salt
115g melted butter
2 large eggs
170ml sour cream
Method: –
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Mix
eggs, melted butter, cream, milk and basically the wet ingredients, together in another bowl.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and pour into an oven proof bread container.
Bake at 190’C for 50 minutes and allow to cool on a rack before slicing.
Cardamom Butter Cookies – low carb
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| Cardamom Butter Cookies |
I am still baking. And using Patrick’s low carb vegetarian blog as a platform to share the results of my efforts. Patrick, as some of you may know, works in the marine oil industry in summer in Scotland and has been a bit predisposed.
This recipe comes from Colette Heimowitz Atkins Cookbook. I made a choc chip cookie version modifying her recipe a few weeks back. This is almost the same as the recipe in her book. My version uses my own low carb baking mix. You can read how I make my low carb flour – here – and I have to say, my low carb flour works well. I always leave out the salt and I used less granulated sugar than the 115g she recommends.
I’m not going to lie, these biscuits are very rich. They are a bit like shortbread but lighter. The cardamom spice makes them. The book says they only have 3g carbs per serving, which makes them a great treat for people on really low carb diets.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Ingredients: –
190g low carb flour mix
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Tablespoons soft unsalted butter
115g granular sugar (Splenda)
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
Method: –
Cream the butter and granular sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl.
Add the egg, water and vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture.
Mix in the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture.
Shape the dough into little balls and place on a baking sheet cover with baking parchment.
Press the balls with a fork and place choc chips on each cookie.
Bake at 180’C for 10 to 15 minutes.
Low carb choc chip cookies
I got the basis of this recipe from the new Atkins cookbook by Colette Heimowitz. The original recipe was called Cardamom Butter Cookies. Patrick always follows a recipe to a T, whereas I tend to modify and tweak to accommodate what we happen to have at home at the time. I had chocolate chips and I wanted to use them.
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| Low carb choc chip cookies |
First up, the original recipe calls for Atkins baking mix, which I don’t have, and it’s almost impossible to find. I’ve been making my own Atkins baking mix substitute and it works well. {Go back two posts to find the details.}
Next, I never add salt to any of our food, so that was left out.
I actually used Splenda for these biscuits, normally I use stevia, but as you have to cream the butter and sugar that would have been difficult with the minuscule quantities of stevia one would use. I added cocoa powder in lieu of the cardamom and pushed three little choc chip buttons on top of each cookie.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Ingredients: –
190g low carb flour mix
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Tablespoons soft unsalted butter
115g granular sugar
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 heaped Tablespoon cocoa powder
unsweetened chocolate chips
Method: –
Cream the butter and granular sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl.
Add the egg, water and vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture.
Mix in the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture.
Shape the dough into little balls and place on a baking sheet cover with baking parchment.
Press the balls with a fork and place choc chips on each cookie.
Bake at 180’C for 10 to 15 minutes.
Lemon Poppy Seed Low Carb Bread
This bread is more like a rich moist cake. It’s yummy and filling. The recipe is from Colette Heimowitz Atkins Cookbook in the breakfast section.
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| Lemon Poppy Seed Bread |
My version of this bread had a few changes to accommodate our store cupboard. I didn’t have poppy seeds so I used black sesame seeds, which was a mistake as they gave my version of this bread a slightly dark grey colour. I only had baking powder and not baking soda so I added more baking powder in lieu of the baking soda.
I never add salt to our food so I skipped the salt. I used soy cream instead of sour cream. I didn’t have lemon extract so I used fresh lemon juice. But the biggest change was omitting the Atkins baking mix and using my own low carb baking mix. See how to make it in last week’s blog post – here.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Ingredients: –
115ml unsweetened soy milk
30g poppy seeds
225g low carb flour mix – see last week’s post
sugar substitute to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
115g melted butter
2 large eggs
170ml sour cream
3 Tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method: –
Soak the poppy seeds in the soy milk.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Mix eggs, melted butter, cream, lemon zest, vanilla and milk and poppy seed mix, basically the wet ingredients, together in another bowl.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and pour into an oven proof bread container.
Bake at 190’C for 50 minutes and allow to cool on a rack before slicing.
Low carb baking and Cheesy Oatcakes
I’m hi-jacking Patrick’s blog while he is working so hard. Patrick and I both try to follow a low carb vegetarian diet. While there are plenty forums and recipes for carnivores, there is not a lot of information for vegetarians. And when it comes to low carb baking, well there’s even less.
Patrick has a bit of a sweet tooth and I’m not averse to something sweet every now and again so I’ve been practising low carb baking. My main recipe sources are Rose Elliot’s Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet Cookbook – read about it – here, and Colette Heimowitz Atkins cookbook – have a look at it – here.
Colette’s book has a section dedicated to low carb vegetarian main dishes but she also includes vegetarian options under the other sections such as snacks, side dishes, soups and stews. She goes into quite a bit of detail explaining low carb baking. I found her book helpful.
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| Coconut powder, wholewheat flour, soy flour, almond powder and gluten |
She uses Atkins baking mix which is immediately a problem as it’s almost impossible to buy. It’s not freely available in supermarkets in the UK and I definitely can’t buy it in South Africa.
I’ve been playing around with the following flour substitutes: –
- soy protein isolate powder
- finely ground hemp or flax seeds
- gluten flour
- soy flour
- coconut or almond flour
- whole wheat flour
- bran
- guar or xantham gum
Gluten flour on it’s own is too sticky. The vegetable gums are great for binding but you need very little. Almond flour and bran used alone don’t hold together very well. Soy flour has a distinct flavour which isn’t pleasant and coconut and flax powders soak up lots of liquid. The easiest combo is a mix of gluten flour, soy flour, coconut powder and wholewheat flour in a ratio of 25% each.
The next issue in low carb baking is replacing sugar. Agave nectar, molasses and honey are also out due to their high carb yeild. Xylitol loses it’s sweetness when exposed to heat so it can’t be used for baking. Some of the other sugar substitutes are manufactured by really scary methods. I’m not convinced that aspartame and saccharine are safe. Rose likes stevia and Collette likes sucralose under the Splenda brand name. Stevia does have a slight licorice taste but it is the safest and most natural of all sugar substitutes. The trick is getting the proportions right. Stevia is super sweet and you need to add small amounts of it slowly. You can read about replacing sugar – here.
Colette likes to use spices and flavourings in her recipes to take the edge off the taste of soy flour. She uses spices like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves. She likes lemon, lime and orange zest and she also uses unsweetened cooking chocolate. Who knew you could eat chocolate on a low carb diet?
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| Cheesy Oatcakes |
Both authors prefer unsalted butter and they use unsweetened soy milk which is lower in carbs than cows milk. I made Colette’s Lemon Poppyseed bread and modified her Cardamom Butter Cookie recipe. I replaced the cardamom with cocoa and I used unsweetened chocolate chips. Both those recipes will be on Patrick’s blog in the next two weeks. Meanwhile here is the easiest and yummiest recipe ever.
Cheesy Oatcakes
You need a really big block, about 500g, of extra mature cheddar cheese and 500g oat bran. The cheese must come to room temperature and be soft. Grate the cheese and place in a large bowl. Add a pinch or two of dried herbs. Add the oat bran to the bowl and mix the oat bran into the cheese with your fingers.
Take small pieces of the cheese and oat mixture into your hands and roll them into balls. Place the balls on a baking tray covered with baking parchment. Press the balls flat with the palm of your hand. Bake in a 180’C oven for approximately 30 minutes or until light brown.
The recipe page is updated regularly. Visit it – here – to see other low carb, low GI, baking and vegetarian meals.
Low carb and fruit and cinnamon bread
We love Rose Elliot’s cook books. Great to find a low carb cookbook for vegetarians. I have made her low carb bread before but Karen wanted a sweet version. She used Rose Elliot’s “Cornbread” recipe but added stevia, cinnamon and mixed dried fruit.
It’s a pity manufacturers insist on added sugar to everything, which is why I end up making my own muesli, bread, in fact we make most of our food to avoid dreaded additives. The dried fruit has fruit juice added which pushes up the sugar and thus carb count.
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| Low carb cinnamon and fruit bread |
I discovered an Asian shop around the corner and have been buying almond flour and coconut flour for baking at really good prices. His spices and seeds are also vastly cheaper than the supermarkets.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
To make this yummy bread you need the following: –
55g melted butter
4 beaten eggs
200g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
equivalent 2 Tablespoons sweetener
50g mixed dried fruit
Cooking method: –
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Melt the butter and add to the beaten egg.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Place in a baking tin. We used a silicone oven proof container.
Bake for 45 mins at 180’C.
Easy Baked Camemberts
I saw an article on the amount of food that is wasted in the UK.
Apparently UK residents throw away £12 billion worth of food a year!!!
Hard to believe that during the war their parents or grandparents lived
on rations and wasted nothing.
can polish our halos just a little bit and honestly say, we waste very
little. We had a ripe Camembert in the fridge and Karen was determined
to use it. She came up with a baked Camembert starter. It was yummy
although it could have done with a touch less time in the oven as the
cranberries were a bit too crisp.
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| Easy Baked Camembert |
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| The ingredients |
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| Press round oatcakes into ramekin and chop camembert on top |
Tasty leftovers
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| Paneer with carrots and corn |
We simply hate wasting or throwing out food. Off on our travels again, and needed to use up a few things in the fridge: A block of paneer, some carrots and some corn. I remembered the Mutter Paneer recipe I did a while ago. This used green peas, but why not carrots and corn instead?
I had all the right spices. I simply substituted the peas with the available veggies I had. It worked out perfectly and tasted great.
You can read about Mutter Paneer in my post: Going a bit Indian
or find the recipe on our website Meat Free Everyday.
I am not normally in favour of changing recipes, but where it only means using different veggies, it can work very well.
Bon Apetit. For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
More low carb breads
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| Almond and Ricotta (low carb) bread |
Back on the low carb trail. Here are two low carb bread recipes which my wife Karen has just tried. They were both tasty and filling.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Almond and Ricotta Bread:
Ingredients:
300g ground almonds
300g Ricotta cheese crumbled
1 C desiccated coconut
1/3 C Grapeseed Oil
1 T Baking Powder
3 beaten eggs
Stevia to taste
1 t Vanilla extract
Ground spices to taste, I used Cinnamon, Cloves and Nutmeg
Method:
Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Place in a greased loaf shaped oven proof container.
Bake at 180’C for 30 mins.
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| Flaxseed, Olive and Gruyere (low carb) Bread |
Flaxseed, Olive and Gruyere Bread:
Ingredients:
2 C gound flaxseed meal
300g Gruyere cheese grated
1/3 C diced olives
1/3 C Olive Oil
pinch dried herbs, I used Rosemary
1/2 C milk/water
5 beaten eggs
1 T Baking Powder
Method:
Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Immediately place in a greased baking sheet in a circular shape.
The mixture becomes stiifer as the liquids are absorbed so do not leave mixture to stand.
Sprinkle the top of the loaf with dried herbs, olives or cheese.
Bake at 180’C for 30 mins.
Last of the Indian summer
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| Andhra Carrot Curry |
We are great believers in using up what we have, rather than throwing it away and buying more.
When Karen went back to SA she left me a well stocked fridge, amongst which were a lot of carrots.
Also being on an Indian crusade, I had all the spices. What to make?
I googled ‘indian carrot dishes’ and found Andhra Carrot Curry.
The recipe I found had far, far too many ingredients, so I made my own variation using the spices I had.
You can find my version of this recipe: Andhra Carrot Curry
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| Masala tea ingredients |
My other indian favourite at the moment is masala tea.
It’s really tasty, and spices are good for the digestive system.
You can buy it ready made, but I love my own mixture.
I use:
2 Rooibos (redbush) tea bags
2 sachets truvia (natural sweetener)
1 star anise
5 cardamom pods
cinamon sticks (a couple of small pieces)
5 cloves
5 coriander seeds
Put all the spices in either an infuser (as in the picture) or use a piece of muslin, rather like making a bouquet garni.
Put the infuser, truvia and tea bags in a saucepan, and pour over about 2 cups of boiling water.
Add about 3/4 cup milk. Bring momentarily to the boil. The turn off and let it brew for a few minutes.
Delicious and invigorating.
Makes 2 – 3 cups.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon Apetit
Still on the Indian trail
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| Indian accompaniments with my stuffed peppers |
I am still having a bit of an Indian moment and enjoying using recipes from Monisha Bharadwaj’s book – ‘healthy Indian in minutes’.
I made the Gajar Ka Salaad, or Carrot and Cashew salad with Honey,
and the Lal Kobichi Bhaji or Red cabbage with Mustard.
I love the Indian names! Exotic sounding, but they dont really tell one what it is.
These were served up with another of my favourites – vegetarian stuffed peppers – which I told you about in a recent post: Vegetarian Haggis STuffed Peppers
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| Carrot and Cashew Salad with Honey |
You can find our version of the Gajar Ka Salaad on our website: Gajar Ka Salaad
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| Red Cabbage with Mustard |
and also our recipe for: Lal Kobichi Bhaji
And of course you can get your own copy of Monisha’s recipe book at Amazon.com:
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Happy cooking!
Going a bit Indian
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| Mutter Paneer or Peas with Cottage Cheese |
Mutter Paneer, or peas with cottage cheese, is a wondefully tasty dish and the paneer gives the protein that a vegetarian needs.
You can see a version of the recipe at Recipe for Mutter Paneer
We love coriander, so when I serve this dish I sprinkle fresh coriander over it, as in the picture.
How did I hit upon this recipe?
One of the things about travelling and being away from our home and kitchen is we dont have all our favourite recipe books with us.
We popped into the library here in Aberdeen and I chanced on a couple of Indian recipe books.
I’ve generally found that eastern recipes have ingredients lists as long as your arm, and are time consuming to prepare.
So ‘healthy Indian in minutes’ by Monisha Bharadwaj really grabbed my attention. Mutter Paneer was the first dish I tried from this book, and I’ve made a few more since.
They were all very tasty, as well as being quick and easy with not too many ingredients. In fact I loved the book so much I immediatley bought it through Amazon.com
You too can get it here:
I see Monisha Bharadwaj has a load of recipie books. I shall certainly test drive one or two more.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon Apetit – or whatever the equivalent is in Indian!
Off the shelf
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| Sainsbury’s £10 pound Valentine’s Day meal for 2 |
We are generally not keen on ready made meals, preferring to cook ourselves.
But for last Valentines day, we went mad and tried the Sainsbury’s Special £10 meal deal.
For our £10 we got:
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni with cherry tomatoes
Potato Dauphinoise with Gruyere and Garlic
Pot au Chocolat
Bottle of wine ( 2011 Australian Merlot)
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| All served up, with extra steamed veggies |
Considering the shelf price on the wine was about £10 anyway, and the dessert came in two little ramekins which we can use again – not a bad deal.
Of course we added some steamed veggies when we served up. Surprisingly tasty, although a bit heavy in the carbs, I know.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon apetit.
Next post I wont cheat – I’ll be back in the kitchen, and going a bit Indian!
Vegetarian Haggis Stuffed Peppers
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| Vegetarian Haggis Stuffed Peppers |
In the last post I mentioned Vegetarian Haggis, and different ways to serve it.
A couple of weeks ago we drove inland to the Cairngorms to see snow (A bit of a novelty for South Africans).
We found this inviting looking pub called the Strathmore Arms next to Glamis Castle.
As vegetarians on the move we expected the worst – but were pleasantly
surprised to find 2 vegetarian main dishes!
Karen chose Vegetarian Haggis Stuffed Peppers served with a fresh garden salad, while
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| Vegetable Strudel |
I opted for their Vegetable Strudel with boiled baby potatoes and a Hollandaise Sauce.
Both were delicious.
At home we’ve made stuffed peppers a number of times, using bought vegetarian haggis, and you could use this as a filling in the Strudel, stuffed mushrooms or stuffed butternut.
Here is our version of the Stuffed Peppers:
Red peppers stuffed with vegetarian haggis and a fresh garden salad: (Serves 2)
Ingredients:
2 large red peppers cut in half and de-seeded.
2 cups of vegetarian haggis – see notes if you can’t buy haggis
1 can of chopped tomatoes and onions
1 cup grated cheese (mature cheddar)
small mixed salad – lettuce, tomatoe and cucumber
2 T salad dressing
Method:
1. Fill the peppers with half the vegetarian haggis mixture
2. Place the peppers in a baking dish and pour over the tomatoe and onion mixture
3. Bake at 180’C for 30 mins
4. Remove from oven and top with the grated cheese and grill for a few minutes until golden
5. Roughly chop and toss your mixed salad in a bowl with the dressing
6. Serve two stuffed peppers per person with the side salad.
Notes:
Haggis is usually a meat dish. It is made using offal, oats, vegetables and seasoning held together with sheep’s stomach.
Which sounds awful to me and I certainly don’t want to try it.
Here is a Quick and Easy Recipe for Vegetarian Haggis Stuffing:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup finely grated carrot
1/2 cup finely grated onion
1/2 cup canned red kidney beans
1/2 cup soy mince
1 cup oats
1 T olive oil
Mixed herbs and spices to taste – thyme, mace, nutmeg, black pepper, salt
1 T soy sauce
250ml vegetarian stock
Method:
1. Saute your onions in oil, then add the carrot.
2. Add the soy sauce and whichever spices you prefer.
3. Add the oats and then the stock. Allow to simmer so the oats can swell.
4. Then add your soy mince as well as the beans and mix it all together.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Happy cooking!
On the move again
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| Vegetarian ‘fry-up’ |
Karen (my vegetarian wife) and I are back in Scotland again.
This time we have taken a flat of our own rather than sharing or staying in hotels.
So we can cook again!
We are amazed at the selection of vegetarian products available in the supermarkets here.
From vegetarian haggis to smoky bacon strips, vegetarian roasts, through to various ready made ranges like Linda Mccartney’s.
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| Smoky bacon from Qorn |
So today we had bit of a vegetarian ‘fry-up’ breakfast:
Smoky bacon with onions,
spicy scrambled eggs with tomato, and good old baked beans. Delicious!
The taste of the bacon is surprisingly real.
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| Vegetarian haggis |
I have never taste real haggis (and dont fancy the thought at all).
The veggie version is actually great.
In the next post I will show a couple of ways in which we have served it up
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon apetit.
Vegetarian Xmas Lunch
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| Carrot, ginger and coconut soup |
Not only did I find that great vegetarian magazine while I was in UK (see my last post here ), but I was also watching my favourite chef, Jamie Oliver, on Channel 4 TV.
I discovered they have a website with all his, and other chef’s recipes on line! Go to Channel 4 TV
Jamie was making a chocolate semi-freddo. Find his recipe – here
We have never had much success with making proper ice cream, so this alternative looked great, and also not too hard.
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| Xmas lunch – Veggie nut roast with a red wine sauce |
So our whole Xmas lunch was made up of recipes from either Vegetarian Living, or Channel 4 TV website.
Our menu:
Carrot, ginger and coconut soup
Vegetarian nut roast with a red wine sauce
Roasted vegetables and green peas
Chocolate semi-freddo
The soup recipe was straight from the Vegetarian Living magazine, and is also on our website – Carrot, ginger and coconut soup
This nut roast, from the – Channel 4 – site, was very good, but I personally prefer the nut roast recipe that is also on our site – Vegetarian Nutroast
For the roasted vegetables, we chopped up sweet potato, pumpkin and onion and tossed these with whole cloves of garlic in olive oil and black pepper and then roasted for about an hour, turning occasionally.
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| Chocolate semi-freddo |
The semi freddo recipe came from the Channel 4 website.
I followed this recipe fairly closely, but used stevia instead of caster sugar.
And in the continuous attempt to avoid unhealthy foods, I replaced the crumbled meringues with finely chopped strawberries.
Still not too late to try some of these for your New Year’s Day dinner!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here. Bon apetit.
In the kitchen again
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| Great Vegetarian Magazine |
I have been ‘up north’ as Karen calls it. In Aberdeen, Scotland for a few weeks with no opportunity to do much cooking.
So it is great to be back in our kitchen in Cape Town.
While there though, I found a wonderful magazine devoted to vegetarian cooking –
Its a monthly called Vegetarian Living and is available on line as well – Vegetarian Living Magazine
It has loads of interesting articles as well as some lovely recipes.
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| Cheesy Brocolli Bake – ready to cook |
We had friend for supper last night and I used two recipes from the magazine – the Cheesy Brocolli Bake for a main course, and the Pear, Almond and Chocolate Crumble for dessert.
I used the Brocolli Bake recipe exactly as it was in the magazine, though upped the quantities a little bit to serve 6 instead of 4. Here is a similar recipe for a – Cauliflower Bake
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| Pear, Almond and Chocolate Crumble – with Greek Yoghurt |
Any regular reader will probably know I am keen on making dishes as healthy as possible and reducing the carb count.
So with the dessert, I replaced the ordinary flour with almond flour, reduced the butter to about 60 grams, and used liquid stevia instead of castor sugar.
I also halved the amount of brown sugar, and made up the difference with stevia powder.
Our version of this recipe is on our website – Meat Free Everyday – and a Vegetarian Living version is – here.
Both were very easy recipes, and both went down a treat! So Bon Apetit. For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Low Carb Bread
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| Low carb bread |
I am really getting into this low carb eating, but I do miss the occassional slice of toast.
Browsing through our cookbooks, I came across this quick and easy to make low carb bread.
In fact it is the first time I have ever made bread at all. I have always been wary of trying out bread, but this recipe really was easy.
The most time consuming part was grinding the almonds in our spice grinder. But one could just use almond flour.
You can find the recipe on our website Meat Free Everyday but here it is anyway:
Ingredients:
300 grams ground almonds
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 Tablespoons olive oil
4 eggs beaten
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together.
Spoon into a 450 gram baking tin
Bake at 180 deg C for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Turn out onto a rack to cool.
Thanks to Rose Elliot’s “The Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet”.
This one has become my favourite book at the moment. You can get it from Amazon.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon Apetit!
The battle against white refined carbohydrates!
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| Cauliflower rice ingredients |
Anyone following us will know we are keen on healthy and low carb eating.
A while ago I was browsing through Rose Elliot’s cookbook – ‘The Vegetarian
Low-Carb Diet’ and came across Cauliflower Rice.
I just had to try it.
It was so quick and easy to make that I have used it quite a few times since then.
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| Frying cauliflower rice |
Simply take a medium sized cauliflower and whizz it for a few moments in the food processor until it has a rice-like consistency.
Then, either steam or boil it few a few minutes.
Or – make Fried Rice:
Finely chop up onion and garlic. Fry in olive oil for a few minutes until it is softened but not browned.
Pour in chopped cauliflower and stir fry for a few minutes until well heated through.
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| Cauliflower rice with veggie stir fry |
For a further variation, turn it into egg-fried rice.
Add about three or four beaten eggs into the rice and stir fry for a couple more minutes.
For a detailed recipe go to our website Meat Free Everyday
The pictures here show the ingredients, frying the rice, and a portion served with a vegetarian stir-fry, but of course you can serve it with anything
that would normally go with ordinary rice.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon apetit!
Secret pleasures of being vegetarian!
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| Pumpkin fritters, gem squash and salad |
NO! Whatever you are thinking – it isn’t that.
Something much more basic and down to earth:
Simply – NO GREASE!
Which means –
No greasy oven to clean.
No smelly kitchen waste bin.
The washing up is a doddle…. and…..
…….we save a fortune on washing up liquid!
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| Tofu slices with sweet chilli salsa |
Shown here are two of our simple, but tasty, light meals, with not a drop of oil in sight:
Pumpkin Fritters, gem squash and a green salad.
Tofu slices with a sweet chilli salasa.
Bon Apetit!
For a selection of vegetarian recipes, visit Meat Free Everyday.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Holland – self catering on the waterways
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| Kampen – Holland – Monday Market |
We are always happiest self catering when we travel.
And it was no different this time while we cruised the Dutch waterways on our hired motor cruiser.
Have a look at our boating holiday in Holland
We did venture up to the towns, but more often that not, the vegetarian choices were predictable and boring, too full of carbs, and not particularly affordable.
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| Cheese stall at Kampen Market |
We found a number of wonderful fresh produce markets. The best one this time was the Monday Market in Kampen. Not only did it offer a lovely selection of fresh fruit and veggies, but the cheese stall was to die for!
There were some really tasty cheeses.
Here in Holland the age of the cheese is the main criterion. The younger the cheese, the softer and blander it is.
As they mature they become harder, saltier and much much tastier!
So we stocked up on fruit and veg and cheese.
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| Eating aboard our boat in Holland |
The supermarkets provided the humus, ‘Wasa’ crackers or ‘Knackerbrod’, a selection of tinned beans, eggs and a selection of nuts.
No meal is complete of course, without a beer or a drop of wine.
Holland isnt a wine producing country, and there are only one or two Dutch beers.
So we usually selected a French wine, and our two favourite beers were both actually Belgian – Leffe and Grimberg.
Armed with this selection, Karen was always able to produce a tasty and satisfying lunch or evening meal.
She is a master at making her own humus from tinned beans.
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| Galley aboard our boat |
Absolute heaven to sit out on the aft deck, moored up in a pretty marina and dine, while watching the world go by.
On the nutritional note – any regular readers will have gathered we strive to go the low carb route, and thus no bread or potatoes feature.
Difficult to go ‘No carb’ and we do enjoy the cracker biscuits.
As usual the issue is to get protein into the diet – solved to a greater degree with the eggs, cheese, humus and nuts.
We would like to try going vegan, but I fear we love our cheeses too much!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Happy travelling and bon apetit!
Travelling vegetarian – Holland
Amsterdam!
We fared (pun intended) better than anticipated here.
We spent one night in an hotel in Amsterdam before heading off on our boat on the waterways, (which I will cover in the next post) and three nights in a self catering apartment in the city centre afterwards.
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| Bagels and Beans – Vegetarian Restaurant in Amsterdam |
The first morning, we decided to avoid the standard hotel breakfast (Euro 15 each!) and asked the receptionist if the were any good vegetarian eating places close by.
She pointed us to ‘Bagel and beans’ just round the corner, near Rembrandt square, right on one of the canals.
A very pleasant spot, where we each had their bagel omelette, served with tomatoes and chives, on wholewheat bagel, and a chait latte. (Euro 16 for the 2 of us) Very
tasty too.
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| Falafels, humus and sald – in Amsterdam |
Back in Amsterdam a couple of weeks later –
Before arriving here, we had been reading up in the ‘Lonely Planet’ guide on vegetarian or vegan eateries. There appeared to be about 8 veg and 4 vegan spots.
The biggest problem was to find one open when we wanted to go.
Holland seems to close down on a Monday, while the veg and vegan restaurants had limited and varied opening times – and we only had 2 days there, over the weekend.
So while rushing around the city centre, doing the tourist things, we came across a Turkish place that served a wonderful dish of falafels, humus and salads for about Euro 8. We also found a fast food chain called Maoz, which offered vegetarian wraps at Euro 5. And you could top up from the salad bar as often as you wanted! Great value.
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| De Waaghals – Vegetarian restaurant in Amsterdam |
Still determined to try a proper vegetarian restaurant, we persevered and located De Waaghals which would be open that Sunday evening for dinner.
We booked, and good thing we did as it was pretty full.
They offered a scrumptious menu which you can check out at De Waaghals
Main courses are about Euro 18. Slightly expensive by South African standards, but the food was freshly prepared, beautifully presented and delicious.
We had the Summer Dish and the Indian Speciality. Both excellent.
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| Dutch Appelgebak with cream |
While in Amsterdam, we also sampled the Dutch Appelgebak – There are many variations of this recipe, but the original Dutch one seems to be noted for the cinnamon and lemon juice flavouring.
We ate it with cream as recommended! Really good! It might be vegetarian, but probably a touch on the unhealthy side.
We thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in Amsterdam, and will be back to try out the other vegetarian and vegan restaurants.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon apetit!
Vegetarian on the move again! – Sweden
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| Al fresco healthy breakfast in Finland |
Finally arrived in Holland for our boating holiday. But we had a whirlwind week in Stockholm before that, and now feeling rather fat and unhealthy!
And Karen had a few days there before me, so she is really feeling it.
Dont get me wrong – we had a wonderful time there, but it was not so easy for a vegetarian to find healthy meals, let alone reasonably priced ones!
The first weekend we spent at a friend’s summerhouse on the island of Aland, and we were able to self cater. Thank goodness for breakfasts – muesli, fruit and yoghurt, cracker biscuits and cheese. It was wonderfully relaxing to sit outside and enjoy a leisurely al fresco breakfast.
After that, we managed to find the occassional baked potato with salad.
Back in Stocholm, the vegetarian choices were limited or expensive.
The expensive option – the first evening there we went to a sushi restaurant – we managed to find a Korean vegetable pancake and spicy dip, which we shared, as a starter. Very good, but a bit greasy. For maincourse, we each had the tofu stirfry – actually very tasty – lightly fried coated tofu chunks, with broccolli, in a spicy sauce – and a substantial portion. (unfortunately I did not manage to get a picture of this). We had 1 beer each, and the bill was about R 750 or about GBP 75. Very expensive by our standards.
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| Veg pancake – basic but affordable |
After that, we hunted down cheaper options.
On a trip out to IKEA, we had lunch at their restaurant, and we each had the vegetarian pancake and salad.
Basic but adequate at about R30 or 3 GBP. After that experience, it was back to the baked potato and salad, including coffee or tea, for about R85.
So – it was wonderful to experience Sweden and Stockholm, but as usual, not easy for the vegetarian.
Visit the recipe gallery by clicking – here.
Salad days are here again!
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| Warm winter salad |
Eating healthily out here in the North Sea is not particularly inspiring!
Give them their due, they do try – but the selection is limited.
Munching my way through the ‘same old’ lettuce, tomato, onion and peppers, I could not help remembering the wonderfully tasty and ‘different’ salads that Karen has come up with.
She is a whizz at knocking up the most interesting meals.
Her last creation was the ‘warm winter salad’.
The ingredients:
Mixed greens and herbs of your choice
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Dried apricots, cut into thin slivers
Pan fried brown mushrooms, cut into strips
Caremalised walnuts
French dressing
What to do:
1 – The French Dressing:
Pour equal parts oil and vinegar into a screw top jar
Add vinegar, mustard and cracked black pepper to taste
Shake well
2 – The Caremalised walnuts:
Break the walnuts into smallish pieces
Put some mascovado or brown suger in an oven proof dish
Heat in a miscrowave for 1 to 2 minutes until well melted
Remove from microwave (with oven gloves) and immediately stir in the walnut pieces
Allow to cool and scoop off the plate
3 – Assemble:
Toss the greens, tomatoes and apricots in the dressing
Pile the mushrooms on top
Sprinkle with the caremalised walnuts
We served up with some haloumi slices which I had heated and browned in a pan while Karen was doing her bit. We also sprinkled some parmesan shavings as well!
And a lovely meal it was too!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon apetit.
Soy burgers
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| Homemade Soy Burgers |
We visited a friend a while ago for a braai (barbeque), and he produced the most wondeful vegetarian burgers!
“Where did you buy these?” we asked.
” I made them” said Paul.
We were most impressed as they were very tasty, and I have to say, a lot better than the usual store-bought vegetarian burgers.
They were soy burgers. And soy is one of the best sources of protein.
For the full recipe, and the way to make them, along with a whole lot of variations, go to our Meat Free Everyday Website
To read up a bit more about healthy foods in general and Soy beans in particular, have a look at Soy Beans
We then spoke about actually cooking soy beans. They normally are a bit of a mission to cook, needing to be soaked for at least 24 hours and then cooked for several hours more.
Paul now uses a pressure cooker, and they can be ready in a much shorter time.
I always been a bit wary of pressure cookers, having heard some horror stories about them. But I think that technology has improved, and provided one follows the instructions correctly, they will be safe. So we have bought the same one that Paul has – an AEG. Not the type you heat on the stove, but an electric one. And Karen has already cooked up a couple of batches of beans with no trouble.
Another problem with burgers or patties, is either they fall apart, or the mixture sticks to everything in sight!
Problem solved with an inexpensive plastic burger maker. We got one from Banks Catering Supplies in Cape Town, or there is a whole selection of them available from Amazon.com at prices ranging from a few dollars up to quite expensive ones.
Here is the cheapest one:
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Thanks to Paul for all these solutions! Follow Paul
Tasty and healthy snack
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| Oatcakes |
Here we are back offshore again.
It is not all that easy eating healthily in this environment.
The meals are always heavily meat orientated, loads of pasta, rice and potatoes, not to mention the desserts like apple crumble or bread and butter pudding.
I was thus reminded of a tasty and healthy snack we make at home – oatcakes!
They are really easy to make.
Go to Meat Free Every / Oatcake Recipe for the basic recipe.
You can have fun by adding different spices and/or finely chopped ingredients to make them more sweet, or more savoury.
But – be warned! They are very more-ish, and although healthy, are unfortunately not low-carb.
Enjoy anyway. And for more low carb, low GI, vegetarian recipes visit the recipe page – here
Protein rich winter soup
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| Butternut and sweet potato soup |
The other day, being the shortest day of the year and thus exactly the middle of winter, together with being rather chilly, it seemed like a good idea to make a warming winter soup.
This one I made up as I went along with whatever we had in the house.
Normally it is Karen who cooks like this and I tend to follow recipes.
However…. Butternut and sweet potato soup it would be then, using a handy block of ricotta cheese to give the protein.
As any followers of this blog will know, one of the main issues with eating vegetarian is getting enough protein.
To add a bit of ‘spice’ I used some chillis from our garden – these are not the very hot ones, but rather tasty ones.
For the full recipe, go to our Meat Free Everyday Website
It turned out to be exceptionally tasty. I think the key to this was the slightly caramelised onions and the butternut and sweet chilli combination.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon apetit!
Tofu and Stir Frys
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| Spicy Eggplant and Tofu Stir-fry |
We were visiting a friend of Karen’s the other day, and guess what? – Discussing healthy eating!
The usual comment – that it is difficult to know how to eat healthily, particularly when you come home from work and need to knock up a
meal.
So yes – you resort to what you know and take something out the freezer and stick it in the microwave.
Chances are it will be high in white refined ingrediants, and not particularly healthy!
So – What to do??
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| Tofu, Butternut and Red Cabbage Stir-fry |
Stir frys are relatively quick meals to put together, and with just a bit of planning you can have enough of the right ingredients at hand in the refrigerator.
With a few basics, some frozen or fresh vegetables and some tofu you can easily make a quick and tasty stir fry.
Two such easy meals are shown in the pictures:
A spicy eggplant and tofu stir fry,
and a tofu, butternut and red cabbage stirfry.
For the recipes see Spicy Eggplant and Tofu Stir-fry and Tofu, Butternut and Red Cabbage Stir-fry
Both these were adapted from recipes from these books, available from Amazon. We have used numerous recipes from them and can really recommend them:
To help you with putting together the basics of a vegetarian larder, have a look at my blog post: Vegetarian Larder
Of course – one of the advantages of stir fry recipes – you can easily adapt them to suit what you have in the fridge!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Happy cooking!
More Low Carb
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| Vegetarian patties |
Well – Karen has numerous low carb vegetarian cookbooks it would appear.
Spent some time browsing them and found a lovely recipe for vegetarian burgers or patties.
I replaced the ordinary green beans with edamami beans, to improve the protein content.
The original recipe came from the book ‘CARB Conscious vegetarian’, which has loads of good recipes, as well as more info on the Low Carb concept.
You can find my version of the recipe on our Meat Free Everyday website.
The other great thing about this recipe is that the burgers or patties actually stayed together!
Trying to make healthy burgers or patties usually means cutting down on the bits that hold them all together, but this one seems to work.
In fact the mixture tried to stick to everything in sight. So using wax paper to shape them was the answer.
Serve them up with a salad, as in the picture, or with a sauce, and veggies of your choice.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon apetit!
Scrambled Tofu
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| Scrambled Tofu with salad |
Back home in Cape Town now, and back to eating healthily again.
Karen, my vegetarian wife, loves buying cook books, and yesterday came home with one called ‘Yummidy’ – Not only meatless, but low carb as well.
We have been trying to follow a low carb diet for a while now, and it is certainly the way to go – I think!
The book has loads of interesting facts about the benefits of eating this way, as well as plenty of simple recipes.
It was just coming up to lunch time as I was paging through it, and there was a recipe for ‘tofu scramble’ – perfect as we had a block of smoked tofu in the fridge that needed using.
Only took about 15 mins to knock up from scratch.
We served it up with some health bread and a salad, but it so resembles scrambled eggs that it also makes a perfect vegan alternative for a breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast.
See my version of this recipe for scrambled tofu and for more info on the low carb idea, look at the Low Carb Vegetarian article on our Meat Free website.
And Yummidy is also available from Kalahari.net.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Sunday Roast
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| Vegetarian Nut Roast |
Being in the UK reminds me of the traditional Sunday Roast. Being vegetarian does not mean you need to miss out on this at all.
Take a slice or two of vegetarian nut roast, and serve up with the roast potatoes, gravy and vegetables.
Of course, make sure the gravy is vegetarian and the potatoes are cooked separately from the meat.
For the recipe for the nut roast, go to our website Meat Free Everyday
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Enjoy!
Travelling vegetarian
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| Our homade muesli mix |
Still on the move trying to earn a living. In UK at the moment about to go offshore again.
I really miss our kitchen with all the useful ingredients and utensils to prepare my favourite dishes.
One meal I miss most is our homemade muesli for breakfast. Back home I usually soak a handful in soy milk overnight. In the morning I add some chopped fresh fruit, fat free yoghurt and a sprinkling of sesame or poppy seeds.
Karen started me off on this, and it is delicious and very healthy.
We usually mix up a big batch and keep some in the freezer.
You can be a bit creative with this, but here is what usually goes into our mix :-
About equal amounts (say 500 grms each) of oats, bran, wheatgerm and dessicated coconut.
A selection of dried berries – blueberries, raspberries, goji berries, cranberries, cherries etc.
Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, linseeds as well as whatever chopped nuts you can get – walnuts, hazelnuts etc.
Lastly some ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves – these just add that last “something” to the flavour, as well as being good for you.
When I soak it overnight, I add a spoonful of protein powder in as well.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon apetit.
Going French and Lebanese
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| Endive, roquefort and walnut salad |
Although healthy eating is one of my passions, at the moment it doesnt earn me any money.
For that, I am still involved in the marine industry, which is why I am at the moment in Point Noire in the Congo.
I arrived after a long day travelling feeling somewhat peckish. Took a shower and went
along to the terrace reataurant, not knowing what to expect.
I was pleasantly surprised to find several ‘International’ menus, with a host of vegetarian options.
For my light lunch, I chose form the French selection – an Endive, Roquefort and Walnut
salad. Absolutely delicious and reasonably satisfying.
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| Fatouche and Taboule |
In the evening I tried the fatouche and the taboule, both very traditional Lebanese
dishes. Admittedly not too much protein here, but I could have had the haloumi cheese, the tahini or the chick peas as well.
Vegetarians on the move often find eating out in foreign countries a challenge.
Karen and I have found that in most cities there are a couple of lebanese restaurants or small bistro type establishments where you can find good satisfying veggie food at pretty reasonable prices.
If you are self catering, then try and make something French.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon apetit
The Vegetarian Larder
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| Vegetarian larder items |
Last time I promised you a list of the items the staunch vegetarian keeps handy in the kitchen or larder.
If you go to our website which is now up and running Meat Free Everyday you will find a full list.
That list includes a few things that might well be in any kitchen.
Here I mention the rather more out of the ordinary ones.
In the first picture – dried soy beans, firm tofu, smoked tofu, vegetarian stock powder, tahini, assorted tinned lentils, beans and chick peas, stevia (liquid and tablets), xylitol, avocado oil, olive oil and soy sauce.
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| More vegetarian larder items |
In the second picture – soy milk powder, just whey powder, just protein powder, soya mince, gluten flour, agar agar, loads of seeds (linseeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds), and assorted nuts (walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts).
Many of these should be available at your local supermarket, but for a few, you will need to
go to a health food shop.
So – start to get a bit adventurous!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon apetit.
Friends for supper
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| Ricotta rissoles and salads |
Entertaining again last night – and a number of tricky people to feed.
1 wheat intolerant and fussy eater, 1 on diet, 1 vegetarian and a couple of runners who always want to eat healthily.
A chance for me to experiment a bit, and for Karen to use one of her latest gadgets – a spiraliser!
I took the idea from Jamie Oliver’s ricotta stuffed mushrooms which I showed in getting a bit cheesy a while ago.
Used the same ingrediants as for the stuffing, added eggs and oat flour to bind the mixture. and made ricotta rissoles which were baked in the oven.
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| Berry and yoghurt dessert |
Karen spiralised carrot and cucumber and came up with a delightful looking and tasting salad.
And a variation on coleslaw – cabbage, red and yellow peppers, mayonaise livened up with a spoon or two of wasabi paste.
For dessert, she cooked up some frozen berries till they were a nice thick sauce, and layered this with yoghurt in individual glass tumblers.
Went down a treat – and most came back for seconds!
The point of all this is to show that it isnt hard to knock up a fairly easy, tasty and nutricious meal without resorting to meat, rice, bread and sugar.
And one of the keys to it is stocking the right stuff in your fridge and larder in the first place.
Next time I will give a selection of the things that the serious vegetarian keeps regularly in their kitchen.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Not all salads are boring!
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| Spinach and rocket salad |
A while ago I promised the recipe for the salad I served with the fritata.
For meat eaters, salads tend to be some variation involving tomato, lettuce, cucumber, onion or carrot.
Occasionally this is made a bit Greek by adding olives and feta cheese.
And of course there is the ubiquitous cole-slaw.
Not that I have anything against greek salads and cole-slaw, but salads just don’t have to be that boring.
So this is one of my favourites – a spinach and rocket salad.
You will need:
Large handful of spinach leaves
Large handful of rocket leaves
Small handful pumpkin seeds
small handful sunflower seeds
Parmesan cheese – coarsely shaved – using shavings rather than grating give a nice chunkiness to the salad.
Avocado oil
Balsamic vinegar
Black pepper
Sea salt
What to do:
Cut away the thick stalks from both the spinach and rocket leaves.
Shred the leaves finely – best way to do this is make a smell pile of leaves and roll it up like a swiss roll and then slice.
You end up with long thin strips of the leaves.
Mix all the leaves, seeds and parmesan shavings in a bowl, with a generous dollop of avocado oil and balsamic vinegar.
Season with fresh ground black pepper and sea salt and toss lightly in the bowl.
Delicious on its own as a starter, or as an accompaniment to the fritata, or ricotta rissoles.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
What do you do with Tofu?
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| Tofu chocolate pudding |
That’s the question that popped up at a friend’s birthday breakfast this morning.
A whole group of us were sitting round one table enjoying the meal – either the scrambled egg and bacon, or the ‘healthy option’ of fruit, muesli and yoghurt. Both were very good indeed, and there was much comment on it.
But not surprisingly the conversation soon turned to the old question of what do vegetarians eat, and how do they get their protein?
Karen mentioned tofu. Some people had heard of
this stuff, but nobody really knew much about it. Of course we enlightened them a little.
On its own, tofu is pretty tasteless, but it does absorb flavours and can be used in many ways, in both savoury and sweet recipes.
So here is a very quick and easy Chocolate Pudding. Not only tasty, but healthy and with a good shot of protein.
You will need:
About 600 grams of soft tofu
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence
About 1/2 teaspoon of stevia powder
A bit about stevia – it is an entirely natural sweetener from the stevia plant. You need to experiment a bit with it as it is very sweet.
Maybe add 1/4 teaspoon first and do a taste test, and then add more as necessary.
You can also adjust the amount of cocoa powder to your taste.
Combine the whole lot in a blender and mix till smooth.
Pour into individual serving dishes. I like to decorate with a sprig of fresh mint.
Makes about four servings.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Enjoy.
Fritata and green salad
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| Fritata ingredients |
Karen and I are putting together a website of the same name as this blog – Meat Free Everyday.
At the beginning, I wondered if there was room for yet another site about food and recipes.
But over the last few weeks I have been amazed at the number of people who do not seem to know how to cook for vegetarians, or who want to eat more healthily and havent any idea what to do.
About a week ago Karen met a girl who had become vegetarian, but was struggling with her health. She didnt really know what to eat other
than vegetables, and so was not getting any of the right nutrients in her diet.
We are going to friends for dinner this weekend, and they immediately aked for some idea as to what to prepare for Karen.
So it is reassuring to know that maybe we are on the right track.
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| Fritata and green salad |
So on to one of my favourite vegetarian meals – a fritata.
In this case, a courgette and mushroom one. I served this dish last night for some friends who came to dinner. They loved it.
You will need:
6 eggs
about 6 or 8 baby courgettes, thinly sliced
large handful of mushrooms, also thinly sliced (the brown mushrooms are tastier than the white button variety)
4 or 5 spring onions, or 1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, also finely chopped
couple of dashes of olive oil
ground black pepper and sea salt
some dried sweet basil
What to do:
Heat the olive oil in frying pan, and saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes.
Add in the courgettes and cook for about 3 minutes.
Then add in the mushrooms.
Add a twist of black pepper and salt.
Cook slowly till all the veggies are tender and reduced down in size.
Meanwhile, break the eggs into a bowl and whisk together till well blended, adding in again a little salt and pepper and the dried basil.
When the veggies are cooked, let them cool for about 10 minutes before folding into the eggs.
Pour the whole mixture into a heated non stick frying pan.
You shouldnt need any more oil in the pan. There is enough oil in the mixture from frying the veggies.
You can either cook it covered, very very slowly on a low heat. The fritata needs to cook right through without burning the bottom.
Or you can cook it on the plate till the bottom and edges have solidified, and then put the pan under a grill to cook through from the top and brown it at the same time.
I have a gas hob and do it this latter way.
Serve with a green salad.
My recipe for the salad in the next post.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon Apetit
Getting a bit cheesy
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| Ingredients for ricotta stuffed mushrooms |
I love cheese, but have always stuck to the blander ones like cheddar, edam or ementhaler.
Living with a vegetarian, I have discovered how to use some more adventurous types such as mozzarella, haloumi and ricotta.
At this point I have to confess I am a wholehearted fan of Jamie Oliver. Love his take on food!
One of my latest favorites is his ricotta stuffed mushrooms – pretty quick to knock up – delicious as a starter course or appetiser.
This is my version of the recipe in Jamie Oliver’s book – “jamie’s italy” – I prefer to top with mozarrella.
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| Ricotta stuffed mushrooms |
But first – something about ricotta – it is a ‘whey cheese’ – made from the whey of cow’s milk.
Thus it has a much lower fat content.
As a comparison, regular cheddar has about 33g fat per 100g, reduced fat cheddar 13g, and ricotta only 8g.
It is also relatively rich in protein compared to other cheeses.
A very versatile cheese, it is used in both savoury and sweet recipes.
You will need:
200 grams crumbly ricotta cheese
zest from 1 lemon
1 fresh red (or green) chilli, deseeded and chopped finely
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
handful of chopped fresh oregano (or marjoram) leaves
large handful freshly grated parmesan cheese
grated mozzarella for topping
8 large flat brown mushrooms
extra virgin olive oil
handful of rocket leaves (or similar) for garnishing
What to do:
Crumble the ricotta in a bowl and mix in the lemon zest and chopped chilli, using a wooden spoon.
Stir in the chopped oregano, with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix in the grated parmesan.
Wash the mushrooms and carefully cut out the stems. (You can keep these to add in to a stew, or a salad)
Toss the mushrooms in the olive oil with some fresh ground black pepper.
Place the mushrooms upside down on a baking tray.
Fill the mushrooms with a spoonful of the ricotta mixture.
Sprinkle with grated mozzarella and a couple of twists of black pepper.
Bake in a preheated oven for 15 to 20 mins till golden brown.
Serve on a platter garnished with rocket leaves.
And the best part of this was the chilli and rocket came from our garden!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
The Vegetarian ‘look-alike’ meal
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| Vegetarian Stroganoff |
Living with a vegetarian, and having a few hardcore vegetarian friends, I have seen there is quite a difference of opinion on this topic.
From what I can gather, the ‘purist’ vegetarian will only eat his food straight out the ground, or from the tree so to speak.
He doesnt seem to accept any form of processing or cooking.
I cant see any harm in preparing something that simulates the meat eater’s meal, as long as it is healthy, tasty, and looks appetising.
My wife the vegetarian seems to agree.
So on that note – here is ‘Vegetarian Stroganoff’
For this I used TVP (texured vegetable protein) chunks, but you can use the vegetarian strips or chunks available from the supermarket instead. The TVP is the slightly cheaper option.
You need:
300 grms Vegetarian strips (or the TVP alternative)
(If using the TVP, you will need to rehydrate them in water for about 30 mins)
200 grms button mushrooms, (or just slice the larger ones)
knob or 2 of butter
2 medium onions – sliced
about 40 grms flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
(I used oat flour – see post on Does Vegetarian = Healthy? where I show how to make oat flour)
250 mls veg stock
1 tspn Marmite
lemon juice
dash of sherry
about 200 mls cream or yoghurt
chopped parsley to garnish
Cooking:
Saute the onions in some butter for a few minutes.
Add the mushrooms and saute for about 5 more minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Coat the strips or chunks in the seasoned flour and saute for a few minutes in the remaining butter.
Turn continuously to brown all over
Stir in the stock, Marmite and lemon juice.
Add back the onion and mushroom mixture and simmer for a few minutes.
Add the dash of sherry, and stir in the yoghurt bit by bit.
Dont let it boil though, or the yoghurt will curdle.
Serve with rice or noodles and green veggies or salad, or as I did with coarse mashed potato and minted green peas, sprinkled with chopped parsley.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Bon apetit!
Vegetarian Barbeque
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| Peppers and onions – veggie roasting basket |
I cannot lie –
I DO miss the odd barbeque, or ‘braaivleis’ as it is known in South Africa.
But there are ways to make a ‘barbie’ something that vegetarians can enjoy too.
We used to just wrap potatoes or onions in tin foil, pop them on the coals and only remember to take them off when they were burnt.
But a while ago I found this handy veggie roasting basket – specifically for using over the open coals.
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| Barbequed veggies |
Coarsely chop whatever veggies you want to cook, and toss them first in a little olive oil, together with some ground sea salt, black
pepper and a couple of cloves of garlic.
Cook them over the fire in the basket, turning occassionally – best to wait until the fire is not so hot.
This time I used onions with red and green peppers. When these were nearly cooked, I transfered them to a cast iron pot on the fire to
finish off and keep warm. I made a second batch of veg using carrots and pumpkin.
These I steamed for a few minutes first, otherwise they would probably have been too charred on the outside and undercooked in the
centre.
I did do the potoatoes in tin foil as well. Again I par cooked these for about 15 mins before wrapping them up.
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| Vegetarian barbeque |
Of course none of the above provides any protein.
Vegetarian ‘braai sausages’ can be bought, but they certainly dont need to be cooked on the fire – a couple of minutes in the microwave will suffice.
The standard South African barbeque is usually accompanied by the obligatory potato salad, coleslaw and carrot salad – all a bit ‘same old’.
How about a fresh herb and greens salad with nuts, seeds, feta cheese and parmesan shavings. Much more interesting, and with some
protein content.
And cream cheese on the potatoes.
Making a succesful barbeque is a bit of an art – its all in the timing.
The fire is usually just right the moment you have finished cooking!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Healthy Vegetarian Breakfast
Berry, banana and nut smoothie |
In my last post I complained about the breakfast rip off for vegeatarians eating out.
So here is a tasty, healthy option, for at home anyway:
Berry, banana and nut smoothie.
You can use any available berries or nuts, but here I used blueberries and almonds. These dark berries give that lovely rich purple colour.
Pop your berries, together with a chopped banana, a handful of nuts, a tablespoon of soy milk powder, whey or protein powder, a drop of stevia and about a glass and a half of water into the blender, and whizz till smooth.
Makes 2 glasses as in the picture.
The good things:
Well on the way to your ‘5 a day’
Berrries are one of the so-called superfoods, and high in anti-oxidants.
Using soy milk keeps down the dairy, and in fact makes this okay for vegans as well
Protein from the soy and whey powder, as well as from the nuts.
Stevia is a natural sweetener – so no refined sugar!
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Enjoy
Eating out with a vegetarian.
Vegetarians eat out as well!
There are two things that I find most annoying when eating out with Karen:
The Vegetarian Rip Offs.
One – Pay more for Less!
The first is best described by relating a specific incident that Karen experienced a while ago.
She was having breakfast out with a girl friend of hers, at a spot chosen by the friend.
As is often the case, there was no vegetarian breakfast as such, on the menu. Karen asked if they could take the standard breakfast and replace or leave off the meat bits.
They took the easy option and left off the bacon and sausage.
Then came the bill.
They had the audacity to charge her more than the normal meat meal!
When she queried this with the owner/manager, she was told this was because it was now a ‘special’ meal.
Guess where we wont ever go back again?
Pictured below are possible breakfast options:
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| Traditional English breakfast |
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| Vegetarian Breakfast |
(Pictures courtesy of tinypic.com)
Two – Splitting the bill.
We also occassionally eat out in a group.
The vegetarian options, being either a salad or a pasta, are as a rule less expensive than the meat or fish choices.
Amazing how people who eat lobster or prawns seem to like the most expensive wines!
And then they are the first to be quite eager to ‘split the bill’!
End result – The vegetarians end up paying hugely over the odds for their meal.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Bon appetit!
Does Vegetarian = Healthy?
Living with Karen, my vegetarian wife, I have learned a lot!
The first is probably that to be a committed vegetarian and get ones required daily nutritional intake is hard work.
So, is being vegetarian necesarily healthy? Quite possibly not.
If one simply drops meat out of one’s diet, one is likely not to feel full or satisfied.
Consequently, the new vegetarian might be tempted to fill up on pastas, breads, cakes and sweets etc, which are full of highly refined carbohydrates and sugar.
Neither of which are ‘real food’, and can, in fact be bad for you!
Have a read of this article on Dr Andrew Weil’s website – The Surprising Reason People Get Fat.
Another thing I have learned about, (and still lots to learn) is eating healthily.
Which brings me to the main point of this post –
White flour and how to avoid it.
The white/cheese sauce in the vegetarian lasagne recipe I gave you last time uses flour, and most people automatically use white flour.
Better to use a whole-grain flour, or as we do now, use oats, and grind it into flour ouselves.
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| Making rolled oat flour |
The picture shows 50 grms oats, a coffee grinder, and the final gound flour. Took about 1 minute to do!
Not only is this a much healthier option, the oats give a wonderful nutty flavour to the white sauce.
And while on the subject, the little coffee grinder has turned out to be a gem in the kitchen.
In addition to its original purpose, we use it for making the oat flour, grinding up nuts and seeds, as well
as spices. I make up my own garam masala for curries and spicy dishes.
So an aswer to the question: Vegetarians outlive meat-eaters and tend to have fewer health problems.
This is probably due, not only to the higher vegetable content of their diet, but because they also consciously make healthy choices.
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here.
Vegetarian lasagne recipe
Here is the recipe I promised in the previous post.
If you already have your own tried and tested meat version, you can of course simply replace the meat sauce part with my vegetarian mince option and go ahead.
I used Dry Soya (or Textured Vegetable Protein) instead of a vegetarian mince. Both should be available at
This TVP is pretty tasteless stuff, hence using extra tomato paste and the Worcester Sauce.
Just one note here – SOME brands of Worcester sauce contain Anchovies, which would not be acceptable.
You could use HP sauce instead.
On the up side it’s exceptionally high protein content and negligible fat yield, as opposed to meat.
Vegetarian Lasagne ( Dry Soy version) – Serves 6 to 8
‘Mince’
- 200 grms dry soya mince (TVP or Textured Vegetable Protein)
- 300 mls water
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 150 to 200 grms mushrooms, sliced
- 1 x 410 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 x sachet tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried oreganum (or use fresh but then a bit more)
- 4 tbsp red wine
- 1 veggie stock cube, or tbsp veggie stock powder
- Tbsp Worcester Sauce
- Handful torn fresh basil leaves
- Fresh ground sea salt and black pepper
- lasagne sheets – about 8 to 10
Cheese sauce:
- 50 grms unsalted butter
- 50 grms flour
- 450 mls milk
- 150 grms grated parmesan cheese
- Fresh ground sea salt and black pepper
- 10 grms Mozeralla cheese, grated – for topping
Cooking method:
1 Make the ‘Mince’
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or saucepan, and fry the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until soft.
Add the mushrooms and cook a few minutes more.
Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, red wine, veggie stock and Worcester sauce.
Add the dry soya mince and the water.
Increase heat slightly and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add a little more water if mixture gets too dry.
Stir in the basil leaves, season to taste, and remove from heat.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook gently for a minute or so, stirring continuously.
4 Serve with a green salad.
There is a picture of this dish in the previous post. Enjoy!!
As a variation, (pictured below), you can use a mixture of cooked up carrots and lentils instead of the ‘mince’. Otherwise its all the same. Of course this version has less protein.
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| Vegetarian Lasagne – carrot and lentil version |
In the next post – Does vegetarian = healthy?
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page on – this link.
Living with a vegetarian
Welcome to this first post on Meat Free Everyday.
So – what DO vegetarians eat then? As Karen my vegetarian wife says, they eat everything that
anyone else eats, except the meat.
Chicken and fish count as meat!
This implies that they have the same dietary requirements as any other person, in order to keep healthy.
People have different reasons for becoming vegetarian – Karen does not want to eat anything that has been
killed for food, so if it had eyes or moved, its off her menu!
There are religious or cult reasons as well.
Living with her for over 10 years now, I have tended to eat less and less meat and feel decidedly better for it. And cooking for us, I am learning that it is possible to prepare tasty and appetising meals that provide the necessary dietary requirements.
One of the many challenges (as we are supposed to call them these days) is eating out.
Yes, many restaraunts are attempting to cater for the vegetarian, but generally the vegetarian options are
a salad or a pasta.
Would you be satisfied after eating only a salad? Probably not. And after pasta? maybe, but only for a short while.
And neither of these provides any protein whatsoever!
Which is probably the main challenge for a vegetarian – to get enough protein in their diet.
What vegetarian substitutes are available, and is that the answer?
Some people question the idea of these fake look alikes!
This blog, together with our website Meat Free Everyday which we are currently developing, hopes to provide insight into what it means to be vegetarian, and how to provide healthy safisfying meals for those who have chosen to be so.
The other day, we went to a christmas dinner party to which everyone contributed something towards the meal. Naturally, we provided a vegetarian option. We have also discovered that even the meat eaters are partial to non meat dishes.
So we made a vegetarian lasagne.
As a taster, here is a picture of a portion of this particular recipe.
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| Vegetarian Lasagne |
There are a couple of interpretations on vegetarian lasagne – one is replacing the meat sauce with vegetables, and the other is to use one of the substitute minces.
For this one we used a substitute mince, which makes the dish look like the real thing.
Recipe in the next post…..
For more low carb and meat free recipes go to the recipes home page – here