Many people ask me if my girl has chosen to be a veggie or have I made her do it. They assume that, as a vegetarian, I have forced her to be one as well, in fact it was the other way round, she became one and I couldn’t think of one good reason why I was eating meat.
When she questioned me about what I was eating and I tried to explain that: ‘we are at the top of the food chain,’ ‘that is how it has always been,’ ‘we are meant to eat meat,’ it all sounded so lame, she knew it and said: ‘That is no excuse Mum.‘
She was right, so I joined her.
She has been a vegetarian for nearly a year and is thriving on it, she is as fit as the proverbial fiddle, has tonnes of energy and although she has a sweet tooth (just like her Mum) we don’t have the worry, like an increasing number of parents do, about their little ones becoming obese big ones.
I’ve been a full blown vegetarian now for just over a month, I say full blown as we rarely ate meat anyway, maybe once or twice a month. As ridiculous as it sounds it has had a wonderful psychological effect on me, I feel as though I am so much more healthy and I am actually watching what I eat.
I realise that by fully cutting out meat it won’t have a huge weight loss effect on me, had I been eating two large steaks everyday, it would have done, but anyway, I’m not eating it at all so I won’t be getting the meat fat.
I am also very proud to be a vegetarian, I don’t want to be one of those people who drops it into every conversation, but I just don’t seem to be able to help myself! It just seems to come up, everything seems connected to it somehow, ‘I’m watching my weight, I’m a vegetarian,’ ‘I’m a vegetarian, do you know what rennet is?’ ‘I’m a vegetarian and I can still eat chocolate!’
Saturday, 28 April 2007
Friday, 27 April 2007
Easy, peasy, Thai green curry!
I thought living with a meat eater would cause all sorts of tension, not because I am no longer cooking the required meat and two veg, (I hate cooking, my speciality is boiling everything dry, it’s more can’t cook, won’t cook and if I burn it to buggery I won’t be asked to cook too often!) but because my husband does the majority of cooking in our house, I thought he might not be too keen on having to cook separate meals for the veggies and again for the meat-eaters.
However, he has taken to it like a duck to water (not boiling water, just pond water.) He is mainly vegetarian now, apart from the occasional burger and we are living like kings, he is such a good cook!
Being a vegetarian doesn’t mean you have to live on boiled vegetables and rice, good for slimming but I love my food too much, I want to taste it.
Last night we had Thai green curry, so full of calories, but mouth watering, completely vegetarian and so easy to make.
We had it with broccoli, mushrooms and red peppers, but you could substitute one of the vegetables with tofu, so simple to use, either put in whole at the vegetable adding stage and it will coat everything, or cut it into cubes and fry, then add it to the curry paste with the veg. It takes on the taste of the sauce and is full of protein.
Vegetable Thai Green Curry (as told to me by the chef of the household!)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp green curry paste (according to taste)
1 tbsp soft dark
brown sugar
1-2 thick stalks lemongrass, fat ends bashed with a rolling pin (optional)750g/1½lb approx of mixed vegetables i.e. blanched broccoli, mushrooms cut into quarters, sliced red peppers, basically use whatever you have in the cupboard.
6-8 kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces (if unavailable, use the grated zest of 1 lime)
400ml/14fl oz coconut milk
small handful of washed spinach
small handful of coriander, roughly chopped
½-1 lime, juice, plus quarters for decoration
Method
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the green curry paste and sugar and cook over a fairly high heat for about a minute, stirring with the lemongrass, if using. Reduce the heat slightly and stir in the peppers, fry for about three minutes, add the remaining vegetables (and tofu) and lime leaves or zest until coated in the paste.
Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil, turn down heat to simmer, cooking for 5-6 minutes until thickened slightly, making sure your vegetables don’t get too soft.
Stir in the coriander and lime juice. Sprinkle the spinach on top to wilt.
The curry is now best left to sit for a few minutes so the sauce becomes creamier. You will also taste the true flavours of the curry paste ingredients when it's slightly cooler.
Serve with a quarter of lime and lots of fragrant Thai jasmine rice. Yum!
However, he has taken to it like a duck to water (not boiling water, just pond water.) He is mainly vegetarian now, apart from the occasional burger and we are living like kings, he is such a good cook!
Being a vegetarian doesn’t mean you have to live on boiled vegetables and rice, good for slimming but I love my food too much, I want to taste it.
Last night we had Thai green curry, so full of calories, but mouth watering, completely vegetarian and so easy to make.
We had it with broccoli, mushrooms and red peppers, but you could substitute one of the vegetables with tofu, so simple to use, either put in whole at the vegetable adding stage and it will coat everything, or cut it into cubes and fry, then add it to the curry paste with the veg. It takes on the taste of the sauce and is full of protein.
Vegetable Thai Green Curry (as told to me by the chef of the household!)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp green curry paste (according to taste)
1 tbsp soft dark
brown sugar
1-2 thick stalks lemongrass, fat ends bashed with a rolling pin (optional)750g/1½lb approx of mixed vegetables i.e. blanched broccoli, mushrooms cut into quarters, sliced red peppers, basically use whatever you have in the cupboard.
6-8 kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces (if unavailable, use the grated zest of 1 lime)
400ml/14fl oz coconut milk
small handful of washed spinach
small handful of coriander, roughly chopped
½-1 lime, juice, plus quarters for decoration
Method
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the green curry paste and sugar and cook over a fairly high heat for about a minute, stirring with the lemongrass, if using. Reduce the heat slightly and stir in the peppers, fry for about three minutes, add the remaining vegetables (and tofu) and lime leaves or zest until coated in the paste.
Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil, turn down heat to simmer, cooking for 5-6 minutes until thickened slightly, making sure your vegetables don’t get too soft.
Stir in the coriander and lime juice. Sprinkle the spinach on top to wilt.
The curry is now best left to sit for a few minutes so the sauce becomes creamier. You will also taste the true flavours of the curry paste ingredients when it's slightly cooler.
Serve with a quarter of lime and lots of fragrant Thai jasmine rice. Yum!
Thursday, 26 April 2007
The magic of hemp!
Linda McCartney believed that vegetarian cooking was better for the environment.
This got me thinking, if we gave up eating cows there would be less cows (farmers wouldn‘t keep them for the fun of it) and as cows are renowned for their production of methane then less cows equals less methane. All very good for the environment.
Not that I am advocating the loss of cows altogether, don’t get me wrong, I love cows, that’s why I don’t eat them!
Looking at it from an eco point of view, we should also think about where our clothing comes from, as the manufacture of rubber produces a toxic waste, we should perhaps stop wearing the rubber!
As a recent convert to vegetarianism and with light being shed on some clothing nasties i.e. the collection of wool and cashmere, I am choosing to avoid them. However, if I don’t want to wear animals in one form or another and I don’t want to pollute the planet, it is getting hard to find anything to wear, and although being a vegetarian is helping me to slim (a bit) I am nowhere near ready to saunter down the high street in the nude!
This is a minefield:
Cotton
Cotton is, of course, a plant product but there are various environmental considerations to be taken into account, like the heavy use of pesticides, dyes and other chemicals in the finishing process causing pollution. Cotton represents 5% of the world's agriculture and uses 50% of the world's insecticides. DDT is still used in the developing world where it is often too hot for the correct protective clothing to be worn. Instances of poisoning by insecticides are probably higher than reported. (Figures from The Guardian 29.10.90).
Linen
Linen is also a vegetable product, being derived from the Flax plant. Flax is one of the world's oldest cultivated plants. The fibres are extracted from the plant by a process called retting, there is a chemical retting method which is faster but more harmful to the environment.
Rayon
The raw material for rayon is eucalyptus trees, but it requires chlorine in the early stages of production, which in turn causes pollution by organo-chlorine compounds including dioxin.
Synthetics
Synthetic materials are usually oil-based with about 25 thousand barrels of oil a day being used to manufacture materials. Oil is a non-renewable resource and the petro-chemical industry can cause serious pollution. Synthetics are not biodegradable. The production of nylon leads to large quantities of nitrous oxide being emitted. Nitrous oxide is one of the gases responsible for the greenhouse effect.
I feel a streak (not steak) coming on! But before I go out in the street and frighten the horses, take heart, there is hope, HEMP. Anything cotton can do, hemp can do better (the industrial, not the smoking kind) and it is much easier to grow, more resilient to pests, so much, much better for the environment.
This got me thinking, if we gave up eating cows there would be less cows (farmers wouldn‘t keep them for the fun of it) and as cows are renowned for their production of methane then less cows equals less methane. All very good for the environment.
Not that I am advocating the loss of cows altogether, don’t get me wrong, I love cows, that’s why I don’t eat them!
Looking at it from an eco point of view, we should also think about where our clothing comes from, as the manufacture of rubber produces a toxic waste, we should perhaps stop wearing the rubber!
As a recent convert to vegetarianism and with light being shed on some clothing nasties i.e. the collection of wool and cashmere, I am choosing to avoid them. However, if I don’t want to wear animals in one form or another and I don’t want to pollute the planet, it is getting hard to find anything to wear, and although being a vegetarian is helping me to slim (a bit) I am nowhere near ready to saunter down the high street in the nude!
This is a minefield:
Cotton
Cotton is, of course, a plant product but there are various environmental considerations to be taken into account, like the heavy use of pesticides, dyes and other chemicals in the finishing process causing pollution. Cotton represents 5% of the world's agriculture and uses 50% of the world's insecticides. DDT is still used in the developing world where it is often too hot for the correct protective clothing to be worn. Instances of poisoning by insecticides are probably higher than reported. (Figures from The Guardian 29.10.90).
Linen
Linen is also a vegetable product, being derived from the Flax plant. Flax is one of the world's oldest cultivated plants. The fibres are extracted from the plant by a process called retting, there is a chemical retting method which is faster but more harmful to the environment.
Rayon
The raw material for rayon is eucalyptus trees, but it requires chlorine in the early stages of production, which in turn causes pollution by organo-chlorine compounds including dioxin.
Synthetics
Synthetic materials are usually oil-based with about 25 thousand barrels of oil a day being used to manufacture materials. Oil is a non-renewable resource and the petro-chemical industry can cause serious pollution. Synthetics are not biodegradable. The production of nylon leads to large quantities of nitrous oxide being emitted. Nitrous oxide is one of the gases responsible for the greenhouse effect.
I feel a streak (not steak) coming on! But before I go out in the street and frighten the horses, take heart, there is hope, HEMP. Anything cotton can do, hemp can do better (the industrial, not the smoking kind) and it is much easier to grow, more resilient to pests, so much, much better for the environment.
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Religion, a vegetarian's option?
For both ethical and economic reasons, countless millions of people throughout the world live on a vegetarian diet.
A number of religions and beliefs have lent support to vegetarianism. Brahminism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism all advocated an abstention from flesh foods. More recently, the Seventh Day Adventists and The Order of the Cross have advocated a vegetarian diet and many Hindus and some Roman Catholic groups adhere to a vegetarian diet.
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/developm.html
Other religions have rules about what meat is acceptable to eat and as such have created foods which exclude these meats, therefore making them acceptable for vegetarians to eat.
Kosher
The word "kosher" is used to describe ritual objects that are made in accordance with Jewish law and are fit for ritual use.
There are certain rules which have to be adhered to, including:
certain animals may not be eaten at all. This restriction includes the flesh, organs, eggs and milk of the forbidden animals, however, all animals that have cloven hooves and chew the cud, are allowed to be eaten.
For those of a Jewish faith, to follow the Kosher laws, they used to avoid gelatine, as it was made from ground up pig skin, amongst other things. A kosher gelatine made from vegetable gums such as carrageenan combined with food starch from tapioca (which is also suitable for vegans) is commercially available in supermarkets which have substantial Kosher food sections. Recently, such products have come to be used in pre-packaged gelled fruit products, where animal-based gelatine was previously used.
Halal
Halal is a Quranic term which means allowed or lawful, so Halal foods and drinks are permitted for consumption by those of a Muslim faith.
However, Haram, also a Quranic term, means prohibited or unlawful, making Haram foods and drinks absolutely prohibited for Muslims to consume. These include animal fat, animal shortening, lard, bacon, collagen (pork), gelatine (inc Kosher gelatine) and pork.
For more information visit: http://www.cookeryonline.com/Vegetarian/halal.
This is good to know, so although not all Kosher or Halal foods are suitable for vegetarians, they do have foods within their religions which could be. This broadens which shopping aisles we can look at for vegetarian options.
A number of religions and beliefs have lent support to vegetarianism. Brahminism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism all advocated an abstention from flesh foods. More recently, the Seventh Day Adventists and The Order of the Cross have advocated a vegetarian diet and many Hindus and some Roman Catholic groups adhere to a vegetarian diet.
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/developm.html
Other religions have rules about what meat is acceptable to eat and as such have created foods which exclude these meats, therefore making them acceptable for vegetarians to eat.
Kosher
The word "kosher" is used to describe ritual objects that are made in accordance with Jewish law and are fit for ritual use.
There are certain rules which have to be adhered to, including:
certain animals may not be eaten at all. This restriction includes the flesh, organs, eggs and milk of the forbidden animals, however, all animals that have cloven hooves and chew the cud, are allowed to be eaten.
For those of a Jewish faith, to follow the Kosher laws, they used to avoid gelatine, as it was made from ground up pig skin, amongst other things. A kosher gelatine made from vegetable gums such as carrageenan combined with food starch from tapioca (which is also suitable for vegans) is commercially available in supermarkets which have substantial Kosher food sections. Recently, such products have come to be used in pre-packaged gelled fruit products, where animal-based gelatine was previously used.
Halal
Halal is a Quranic term which means allowed or lawful, so Halal foods and drinks are permitted for consumption by those of a Muslim faith.
However, Haram, also a Quranic term, means prohibited or unlawful, making Haram foods and drinks absolutely prohibited for Muslims to consume. These include animal fat, animal shortening, lard, bacon, collagen (pork), gelatine (inc Kosher gelatine) and pork.
For more information visit: http://www.cookeryonline.com/Vegetarian/halal.
This is good to know, so although not all Kosher or Halal foods are suitable for vegetarians, they do have foods within their religions which could be. This broadens which shopping aisles we can look at for vegetarian options.
Tuesday, 24 April 2007
The travelling vegetarian
You wouldn’t think it would be so hard to be a vegetarian and to travel, we don’t require too much extra catering, in fact we should be easier to cater for than a meat eater, we have only cut something out rather than insisting on something extra.
Yet, when we were coming back from visiting relatives recently we had the misfortune of stopping at a motorway services, in the future I am going to be more organised and make sandwiches, because the food we had was no less than absolutely disgusting.
We had purchased bean burger kiddie meals, as they were the only vegetarian option (apart from just chips) at this particular burger palace. My girl had one bite of hers and couldn’t eat it, I managed three bites and with every single bite felt it burning down my throat, not with heat, but with how spicy it was. So we left them and ate our chips, we should have only ordered them in the first place. For the rest of the journey I had the most painful indigestion.
I don’t understand why a child’s option would be so spicy, the only thing we could think of is that the adult spicy bean burger had been cooked by mistake.
I have since written to Burger King and await their response.
- -- - - - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - --
My friend, who has been veggie for over twenty years, has all sorts of eating out horror stories, ranging from when she went to Italy and spent the entire two weeks eating plain pasta, as everything had either fish or meat or both in a sauce on the top, to conversations with waitresses along the lines of:
Friend: ‘What have you got that is suitable for a vegetarian?’
Waitress: ‘Beef enchiladas.’
Friend: ‘But I’m a vegetarian.’
Waitress: ‘How about the chicken?’
Friend: ‘Um, I’m a vegetarian.’
We are back to chicken again, some people get confused and seem to see chicken as a vegetable, odd.
- -- - -- -- - -- -- - -- -- -- - -- -- -- -
The vegetarian society has some really good information on eating out, visit http://www.vegsoc.org/info/eatingout.html.
They also provide guidelines for practices in catering and what vegetarians should expect, along the lines of work surfaces and chopping boards, utensils and all other kitchen equipment and facilities to be either kept separate from those used for non-vegetarian food preparation, or cleaned thoroughly before vegetarian food preparation, etc.
For further details visit http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html.
Yet, when we were coming back from visiting relatives recently we had the misfortune of stopping at a motorway services, in the future I am going to be more organised and make sandwiches, because the food we had was no less than absolutely disgusting.
We had purchased bean burger kiddie meals, as they were the only vegetarian option (apart from just chips) at this particular burger palace. My girl had one bite of hers and couldn’t eat it, I managed three bites and with every single bite felt it burning down my throat, not with heat, but with how spicy it was. So we left them and ate our chips, we should have only ordered them in the first place. For the rest of the journey I had the most painful indigestion.
I don’t understand why a child’s option would be so spicy, the only thing we could think of is that the adult spicy bean burger had been cooked by mistake.
I have since written to Burger King and await their response.
- -- - - - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - --
My friend, who has been veggie for over twenty years, has all sorts of eating out horror stories, ranging from when she went to Italy and spent the entire two weeks eating plain pasta, as everything had either fish or meat or both in a sauce on the top, to conversations with waitresses along the lines of:
Friend: ‘What have you got that is suitable for a vegetarian?’
Waitress: ‘Beef enchiladas.’
Friend: ‘But I’m a vegetarian.’
Waitress: ‘How about the chicken?’
Friend: ‘Um, I’m a vegetarian.’
We are back to chicken again, some people get confused and seem to see chicken as a vegetable, odd.
- -- - -- -- - -- -- - -- -- -- - -- -- -- -
The vegetarian society has some really good information on eating out, visit http://www.vegsoc.org/info/eatingout.html.
They also provide guidelines for practices in catering and what vegetarians should expect, along the lines of work surfaces and chopping boards, utensils and all other kitchen equipment and facilities to be either kept separate from those used for non-vegetarian food preparation, or cleaned thoroughly before vegetarian food preparation, etc.
For further details visit http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html.
Monday, 23 April 2007
Burnt offerings?
What is it about a warm afternoon that inspires men to make fire and spark up a bar-b, most likely when it has become a cold evening?
As you may have gathered, we are, apart from the youngest who will only eat meat, a family of vegetarians. And as far as I can gather, the whole point of having a bar-b is to burn the ass off something, quite literally.
So why, oh why, do we have to have barbeques? If I wanted burnt veg I could just as easily do that on the cooker, as I do most nights.
I want to eat indoors without the fear of being eaten alive by non-vegetarian mosquitoes, without sitting at our uncomfortable picnic table, which has, quite frankly seen better days. And when (I say ‘when’ rather than ‘if,’ it is a given it will happen) the four-year-old meat eater drops his burger amongst the recently cut and yet to be racked up grass, I would rather be indoors, picking dust off it, as grass, ketchup and burger will always stick together.
As much as I appreciate my man making fire, and should he be required to utilise this skill to aid our survival sometime in the future, I will be eternally grateful, however, it does seem like a lot of hard work, for not a lot of reward.
We had kebabs, consisting of peppers, mushrooms and onions (with a soy and honey sauce) and jacket potatoes (done in the oven, incidentally.) The only nod at traditional bar-b fayre were the vegetarian sausages, I won’t mention any names, but they were dry (and burnt!) my girl wouldn’t eat them, I tried my best, but no amount of chewing would soften these things up! I have to say, and this does defend my husbands cooking of them, I have always found this particular brand of sausage dry and the skin is just not right somehow. In the words of Homer Simpson’s dog ‘chewy.’
So we had some nice, quality family time. We enjoyed burnt kebabs with near-raw onion, dry sausage, burger with fresh cut grass salad, I got eaten alive (mosquitoes love me) and drinks with a sprinkling of bugs and grass. The jacket potatoes were lovely though!
A wonderful time was had by all and no doubt the next time the mist lifts round our way my alpha male will be cranking up the bar-b for more burnt offerings.
As you may have gathered, we are, apart from the youngest who will only eat meat, a family of vegetarians. And as far as I can gather, the whole point of having a bar-b is to burn the ass off something, quite literally.
So why, oh why, do we have to have barbeques? If I wanted burnt veg I could just as easily do that on the cooker, as I do most nights.
I want to eat indoors without the fear of being eaten alive by non-vegetarian mosquitoes, without sitting at our uncomfortable picnic table, which has, quite frankly seen better days. And when (I say ‘when’ rather than ‘if,’ it is a given it will happen) the four-year-old meat eater drops his burger amongst the recently cut and yet to be racked up grass, I would rather be indoors, picking dust off it, as grass, ketchup and burger will always stick together.
As much as I appreciate my man making fire, and should he be required to utilise this skill to aid our survival sometime in the future, I will be eternally grateful, however, it does seem like a lot of hard work, for not a lot of reward.
We had kebabs, consisting of peppers, mushrooms and onions (with a soy and honey sauce) and jacket potatoes (done in the oven, incidentally.) The only nod at traditional bar-b fayre were the vegetarian sausages, I won’t mention any names, but they were dry (and burnt!) my girl wouldn’t eat them, I tried my best, but no amount of chewing would soften these things up! I have to say, and this does defend my husbands cooking of them, I have always found this particular brand of sausage dry and the skin is just not right somehow. In the words of Homer Simpson’s dog ‘chewy.’
So we had some nice, quality family time. We enjoyed burnt kebabs with near-raw onion, dry sausage, burger with fresh cut grass salad, I got eaten alive (mosquitoes love me) and drinks with a sprinkling of bugs and grass. The jacket potatoes were lovely though!
A wonderful time was had by all and no doubt the next time the mist lifts round our way my alpha male will be cranking up the bar-b for more burnt offerings.
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Mouth watering and vegetarian?
With my girl becoming a vegetarian I thought it would be like going back to basics, learning how to feed her and us, plus making sure we all got our recommended daily vitamins and minerals.
Actually, as it turned out, it wasn’t that much of an adjustment, we had never been great meat eaters anyway, and had regularly replaced meat with a meat substitute or with lentils. We just cut out the last remnants of meat eating, done, we are vegetarians.
For me it has the added bonus of being an easy way of cutting out extra calories, as, after carrying two kids, I was a bit wider than I had been previously.
There are so many tasty and easy vegetarian recipes, I’m a big fan of the Gillian McKeith and Carol Vorderman detox books, not because we are detoxing, but because they have fantastic recipes.
I have also come across many thousands of recipes online, try some of the links that I have highlighted on ‘Pint-sized recipes online.’
Favourite recipes so far: nut burgers and quick pasta gratin, both from the Good Housekeeping ‘Cooking for vegetarian children’ cookbook. Quick, easy and the kids love them!
Nut burgers
Makes 8
50g (2oz) vegetable margarine or butter
2 onions, skinned and chopped
1 garlic clove, skinned and crushed
125g (4oz) mushrooms, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
125g (4oz) cashew nuts, finely chopped
30ml (2 level tbsp) chopped fresh parsley, coriander or chives (optional)
175g (6oz) fresh breadcrumbs
15ml (1tbsp) light soy sauce
1 egg, beaten
Pepper
Vegetable oil for cooking
Actually, as it turned out, it wasn’t that much of an adjustment, we had never been great meat eaters anyway, and had regularly replaced meat with a meat substitute or with lentils. We just cut out the last remnants of meat eating, done, we are vegetarians.
For me it has the added bonus of being an easy way of cutting out extra calories, as, after carrying two kids, I was a bit wider than I had been previously.
There are so many tasty and easy vegetarian recipes, I’m a big fan of the Gillian McKeith and Carol Vorderman detox books, not because we are detoxing, but because they have fantastic recipes.
I have also come across many thousands of recipes online, try some of the links that I have highlighted on ‘Pint-sized recipes online.’
Favourite recipes so far: nut burgers and quick pasta gratin, both from the Good Housekeeping ‘Cooking for vegetarian children’ cookbook. Quick, easy and the kids love them!
Nut burgers
Makes 8
50g (2oz) vegetable margarine or butter
2 onions, skinned and chopped
1 garlic clove, skinned and crushed
125g (4oz) mushrooms, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
125g (4oz) cashew nuts, finely chopped
30ml (2 level tbsp) chopped fresh parsley, coriander or chives (optional)
175g (6oz) fresh breadcrumbs
15ml (1tbsp) light soy sauce
1 egg, beaten
Pepper
Vegetable oil for cooking
Heat the margarine or butter in a frying pan, add the onion, garlic, mushrooms and carrot, and cook over a low heat until softened. Add the remaining ingredients, except the oil.
Divide the mixture into 8 and shape each portion into a burger.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan and cook the burgers for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Alternatively, brush the burgers with a little oil and cook under a hot grill.
Quick pasta gratin - use whatever vegetable you have to hand: sweet corn, peas, cherry tomatoes all work well.
Serves 2-3
225g (8oz) pasta shapes
Salt and pepper
½ orange, green or red pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
A few green beans or mangetouts
1-2 tomatoes, quartered
A handful of fresh spinach leaves, trimmed and washed
About 125g (4oz) cream cheese with garlic and herbs
60ml (4tbsp) milk
30ml (2tbsp) freshly grated Parmesan or vegetarian cheddar cheese
30ml (2tbsp) breadcrumbs
Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, adding the chopped pepper and green beans or mangetouts for at least 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly and tip back into the saucepan.
Quickly add the tomatoes, spinach, cream cheese and milk, and toss everything together, stirring until the cheese melts and the spinach wilts. If the cheese refuses to melt, turn the heat on low for a minute or so. It should just coat the pasta and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper.
Turn the mixture into a shallow heat proof dish and sprinkle with the Parmesan or cheddar cheese and the breadcrumbs. Cook under a hot grill until brown.
Good source of Vitamins A and C.
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