Featured/ Sides & Snacks/ Vegetarian

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Featured/ Vegetarian

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Bread/ Salads/ Vegetarian

Blackberry, Goats Cheese & Spelt Toast Salad

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Lunch/ Recipes/ Sides & Snacks/ Soups

Broccoli & Blue Cheese Soup

Broccoli and Blue Cheese soup. The perfect Saturday sustenance.

I made this soup, as it’s cold, wet and drizzling outside. I needed something heartwarmingly healthy to accompany the Rustic Courgette, Carrot & Seeded Loaf I made with my daughter. This sophisticated soup has hidden depths of  blue cheese creaminess and surprising pecan crunches.

The vegetables were bought from our local organic farm shop, keeping our purchases close to home, not only helps the environment but also allows us to actually see where they were grown!

Also using up the cheese leftovers from the Portobello Mushroom with Pecan, Kale & Blue cheese Crumble I made the other day. #leftoverlover

 

Broccoli & Blue Cheese Soup
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Vegetarian
Cuisine: Soup
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 spring onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 400ml Vegetable stock
  • 3 sticks of celery, chopped
  • ½ Lime finely grated zest - keep the juice
  • 300/400g broccoli, broken into florets
  • 100g Blue cheese + 50g for topping(if desired)
  • 75 ml Soya cream
  • 30g Pecans
Instructions
  1. Make the vegetable stock (Boiling water+ 1 Tablespoon of Veg bouillon powder)
  2. Using a dry frying pan, heat, add the fennel seeds and toast.
  3. Heat one tablespoon of coconut oil in a medium-sized pan
  4. Sauté the garlic, celery & spring onion until transparent (approx 3 mins)
  5. Add the toasted fennel seeds
  6. Then add 400ml of vegetable stock
  7. Chop the broccoli into large florets / chunks (including the stalk) Drop into the water
  8. Grate in lime zest and squeeze in the lime juice
  9. Leave to simmer for seven minutes.
  10. Add the Blue cheese and mix in for 1 minute
  11. Turn off the heat, then stir in the soya milk
  12. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender.
  13. Add the pecan nuts, saving one or two back for decoration
  14. Blitz, and serve with the remaining crumbled blue cheese/ or pecan/ or both on top
  15. Enjoy!

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Recipes/ Super Food/ Vegetarian

Pumped up Portobello Mushroom with Pecan, Kale & Blue Cheese Crumble

Mushroom

Pumped up Portobello Mushroom with Pecan, Kale & Blue Cheese Crumble

For this easy Friday night feast, you will need to get your hands on some large Portobello Mushrooms.

Vegucation: Utilising  compounds that boost your immune system, fungal extracts from mushrooms are responsible for producing some of the most powerful natural medicines in the world. Take Penicillin for example.

They supply important B-complex vitamins: riboflavin for maintaining healthy red blood cells; niacin to support good functioning digestive and nervous systems and help to keep skin supple.

They are Low in saturated fat and cholesterol.  High in fiber and an excellent source of copper, that aids the production of red blood cells to help carry oxygen around your body.

Importantly they can pack a powerhouse punch by using the pantothenic acid they contain to process fats, proteins and carbohydrates  and aid energy release.

As for Kale – what’s not to say? High in fiber, Iron and bone building calcium, this anti inflammatory boosts the immune system whilst oxygenating & purifying the blood.

 

Pumped up Portobello Mushroom with Pecan, Kale and Blue Cheese Crumble
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Vegetarian
Ingredients
  • Large portobello mushrooms (1 x per person)
  • Handful of chopped kale
  • 50g Crumbled blue cheese (per mushroom)
  • 20g Pecans (per mushroom)
  • Olive Oil
  • Herbs
  • Pepper to season
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200oc / gas mark 6
  2. Drizzle the mushrooms in olive oil
  3. Place on a metal baking tray
  4. Season with herbs and pepper
  5. Carefully fill the mushroom cap with kale
  6. Evenly spread the nuts on top
  7. Crumble the blue cheese to cover the nuts and kale.
  8. Add a final drizzle of olive oil to the top of each mushroom
  9. Place in the oven for approx. 22-30 (depending on the size of the mushroom)
  10. Eat & Enjoy!

 

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Featured/ Lunch/ Main/ Recipes/ Sides & Snacks/ Super Food/ Vegan/ Vegetarian

Spicy Lentil Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette

Lentil

What better way than to kick start the week with this nutrition packed Spicy Lentil Salad.

I also used a leftover from yesterdays divine recipe to make a blood orange infused vinaigrette. What’s also great is there’s enough left over for a my lunch box tomorrow.

Spicy Lentil Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigerette
 
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Recipe type: Vegan
Ingredients
  • The Lentil Salad:
  • 400g Brown Lentils
  • 1 small chopped red onion
  • 2 handfuls of mixed salad
  • half a cucumber, finely dices
  • 150g Cherry tomatoes
  • 100g Feta finely chopped
  • Half a red chilli, finely chopped.
  • A few sprigs of chopped mint
  • A few sprigs of chopped coriander
  • For the Vinaigrette:
  • 2 freshly squeezed blood orange juice
  • ½ teaspoon finely grated blood orange zest
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 50ml Olive oil
  • 30ml Balsamic vinegar
Instructions
  1. Chop all of the vegetables listed for the lentil salad
  2. Add 400g of cooked brown lentils and mix together.
  3. For the vinaigrette, find a small resealable jar
  4. Squeeze the juice of 2 blood oranges
  5. Grate some zest and add
  6. Add the line juice, olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Mix thoroughly.
  7. Add the Mustard and mix further
  8. Season to taste.
  9. Toss the salad a few minutes prior to eating in the Vinaigrette.

 

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Main/ Pasta/ Recipes/ Vegetarian

Tangled Beetroot, Garlic Mushroom & Two Cheese Tagliatelle

Making Tangled Beetroot Tagliatelle is indeed a labour of love, but an effort well worth taking especially for a special Vegetarian Valentine dinner!

Made with Seasonal Beetroots, garlic mushrooms, sautéed spinach in a delicate lemon & parmesan dressing, topped with crumbled  blue cheese & toasted pecans. This dish is just crying our for attention, and is easy to fall in love with.

Tangled Beetroot, Garlic Mushroom & Two Cheese Tagliatelle
 
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Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
  • Tagliatelle:
  • 75g Cooked & Pureed Beetroot
  • 1 Medium Egg
  • 200g Tipo '00' Flour + a little extra
  • Fine Salt
  • Topping & Sauce:
  • 150g Spinach
  • 3 Cloves of Garlic
  • 200g Mushrooms
  • 100g Blue Cheese
  • 50g Pecans
  • 50g Grated hard cheese
  • 20g Lemon Olive Oil
  • Oregano
  • Black Pepper
Instructions
  1. Blend the Cooked Beetroot, add the egg & Salt
  2. Place flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle
  3. Pour in the Beetroot Puree and mix with a fork
  4. Kneed the dough until smooth & elastic, if too wet, add some flour.
  5. Cover with Cling film & rest for 30 mins
  6. Using your Pasta Machine, Roll & cut using the tagliatelle attachment.
  7. Place on a dusted tray until ready to cook.
  8. Fry the Mushrooms with Garlic until tender.
  9. Add the Spinach, stir until wilted.
  10. Add the Pecans and mix, remove from heat.
  11. In a pan of boiling salted water, cook the tagliatelle for 3 minutes
  12. Take two large white pasta bowls, place a large drizzle of lemon oil in the bottom of each
  13. Split the grated hard cheese and add to the oil
  14. Add the cooked pasta to the bowl and toss through the lemon oil & grated hard cheese
  15. Add the mushroom, spinach and nut mix on top
  16. Scatter the blue cheese and oregano
  17. Season to your liking.

 

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Breakfast/ Puddings/ Recipes/ Vegetarian

Pancakes with Banana, Walnut & Caramel Sauce

Why I feel good about Pancake day:

The potential future?

The food industry alone is likely to cause an 80 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, exceeding the current emissions targets for the entire global economy.

Unless we make some radical changes to our diets, the food industry and our excessive meat-eating habits will become the main climate change culprit. Making my past meat eating activities seem somewhat of a selfish hobby.

Happily – It’s pancake day! I can shed my guilt, repent my mean meat-eating ways and ponder my Sustarian sacrifices for the next 40 days!

The Past: Pancake day or more formally known as Shrove Tuesday is the last day for celebration and feasting before the 40 day repentance period where fasting is required leading up to easter. It always falls precisely 47 days before Easter Sunday.

The name “Shrove Tuesday” is derived from the word “shrive”, which means to confess and receive absolution. The name denotes a period of cleansing, a person should bring their lusts and appetites under subjection through abstention and self-sacrifice. Difficult this abstention and sacrifice business, as I’m currently experiencing on my Sustarian Journey.

Shrove Tuesday originated during the Middle Ages. Food items like meats, fats, eggs, milk, and fish were regarded as restricted during Lent. To keep such food from being wasted, many families would have big feasts on Shrove Tuesday in order to consume those items that would inevitably become spoiled during the next forty days. The English tradition of eating pancakes came about as a way to use as much milk, fats, and eggs as possible before Ash Wednesday began.

The present: It got me thinking… can you imagine the impact if everyone worldwide gave up meat & fish for just 40 days! What effect would that have? Not just environmentally but also for individuals. They say it takes 35 consecutive days of not doing something to break a habit. With this in mind, I’m guessing people would learn to live without or at least live with less?

Here are some of the beautiful benefits of being a Sustarian: These caramel covered pancakes with banana & crunchy walnut.

Pancakes with Banana, Walnut & Caramel Sauce
 
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Caramel covered pancakes with banana and crunchy walnuts
Author:
Recipe type: Vegetarian
Ingredients
  • Pancake mix
  • 225g Organic plain flour
  • 300ml Organic milk (buttermilk is also nice)
  • 2 Organic large eggs
  • 30g Organic butter (melted/cooled)
  • A handful of walnuts (or a nut of choice)
  • 1 large fair trade banana
  • A pinch of salt.
  • Caramel sauce
  • 125g Caster Sugar
  • 4 Tbl spoons water
  • 70g Organic Double Cream
  • 25g Organic Butter
Instructions
  1. Start with the Caramel Sauce.
  2. Place 125g of sugar with the water into a heavy-based pan and heat until sugar has dissolved.
  3. Boil on high for a further 5 mins. Do not stir or touch. This mixture is extremely hot.
  4. Once it starts to turn a light golden brown and the consistency visibly changes, remove from the heat.
  5. Carefully add the butter and cream and mix.
  6. Allow cooling
  7. For the Pancakes:
  8. With the exception of the banana and walnuts, place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
  9. Mix together until you have a lump-free batter.
  10. Heat a heavy-based frying pan with a small amount of vegetable oil
  11. Add one ladle of batter and spread evenly by manually rotating the pan.
  12. Once the top of the pancake starts to blister, flip it.
  13. Repeat until you have used up the mix.
  14. Arrange the pancakes in a stack, top with banana and walnuts, then pour the caramel sauce on top.
  15. Enjoy!

 

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Drinks/ Featured/ Kids/ Remedy & Restoration/ Vegan/ Vegetarian

Smoothie Sustenance

My husband said he’s feeling run down. He also informed me that it has now been clinically proven that men suffer more with common colds and flue due to the lower levels of oestrogen in their system….I can sense the rolling of eyeballs already.

To be fair, I’m also feeling in need of a vitamin boost. We are still finding our way with this new diet, so time to re address the balance.

I’ve been using the  ‘my fitness pal’ app to track my food and the nutrient intake. This is a great feature which I’m guessing is massively under used. Don’t focus so much on the calories, but more on the level of vitamins going in.  I’ve noticed that I’m seriously lacking in some areas, I’ve also noticed that my proportions of food are a bit off. To readdress the balance I’m allowing myself to be smooth talked by my smoothie maker.

Blending whole fruit & veg makes makes the nutrients more accessible as they are easily digested, and as your making them yourself you can be sure that their will be no artificial colours, sweetners or preservatives

Using this simple traffic light index, here is what each colour will tackle:

Red/ purple: These are usually packed with plant compounds rich in potassium & folate, making them heart friendly, improving blood pressure and enhancing the circulatory system.

Orange; Brimming with beta carotene & vitamin C, which fights free radicals and maintains healthy skin, reduces inflammation, and prevents allergies. A great boost for your immune system.

Green: A great source of minerals such as calcium, magnesium and phosphorous, making them a bone building gem. They also aid detoxification, the green foods get their hue from chlorophyll, a natural blood purifier that increases red blood cell count and helps the liver and kidneys eliminate toxins.

Smoothie Sustenance
 
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Healthy Smoothies
Author:
Recipe type: Drinks
Cuisine: Vitamin Boost
Ingredients
  • RED: Happy Heart
  • 2 small beetroots
  • 1 small apple
  • 50g blueberries
  • 1tblsp grated ginger
  • 300ml water
  • ORANGE: Vit blast
  • 1 orange
  • 1 large carrot
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 50g mango
  • 200ml water
  • GREEN: Bones
  • ½ avocado
  • large handful of spinach or kale
  • 50g pineapple chunks
  • 10cm cucumber
  • 300ml coconut water
Instructions
  1. Clean, peel, remove rind & pips
  2. Blitz
  3. Drink within 2 hours

 

 

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