What I Ate This Week #2

Mmm, a tasty, flavoursome week! My fave meal was the smoky enchiladas I made for my boyfriend and I for our anniversary meal. The vegetarian brunch was a bit naff if i'm honest! I don't usually eat things like that but we were hungry at lunch time in the supermarket. The blue cheese and new potato pizza was a new meal, as was the butternut squash and butterbean crumble. That was super tasty and will be lovely in Autumn.

Blue cheese and new potato pizza with salad.

Smokey mixed pulse enchiladas. 

Risotto with chilli, peppers and onion.

Spicy black bean and tomato tacos.

Butternut squash and butterbean crumble.

 Vegetarian brunch from Sainsburys.

 Homemade tikka masala with cauliflower, new potatoes and chickpeas.

 Garlic kiev, mash potato, savoy cabbage and carrots.

REVIEW: Freedom Mallows

I started following Freedom Mallows on Twitter a while back as vegetarian marshmallows sounded like a great idea. I retweeted a competition they ran and I was lucky enough to win four packets of their marshmallows! (Sorry there is no photo of all four packets, my family and I got through three packets before I remembered to take a photo, duh).

I'm absolutely sure one of the main UK supermarkets used to sell vegetarian marshmallows when I was little, i'm sure of it! Anyway, they haven't for a long time so I've not had marshmallows in years. (Tesco used to sell white chocolate choc ices too but they were discontinued, which I still feel is a travesty as they were the best thing ever).

I was super excited to try the marshmallows, as were my brothers, one of my brothers girlfriends and my Mum (all vegetarian). We first opened a pack of the vanilla flavour and they are soft, creamy and moreish! My gluten free Aunty and Cousin were also pretty happy to try them as they are gluten free, egg and dairy free, fat free and have no artificial colours or flavours. Is this confectionery actually made in heaven?! You'd think there might be a catch, like it might taste like slugs or like cardboard but nope, they are genuinely really yummy! Even meat eaters in the family thought they were better than normal marshmallows.

I tried the micro mallows on top of a hot chocolate for the first time in my life, it was delicious! Obviously I always have to decline marshmallows on top of hot chocolate in a cafe so now I've had them for the first time ever, I can see what all the fuss is about. I'm sure you could make a veggie friendly rocky road desert, or a tonne of other sweet treats using these marshmallows.

I wasn't so keen on the strawberry flavour but that's just personal taste, I'd take a real life strawberry over any strawberry flavoured food any day. Compared to none veggie marshmallows, these are a little more expensive but having tried them, I am going to purchase some more myself for treats. I also think these would make a lovely little gift for a vegetarian friend/relative/partner.

 If you're in the UK, you can buy them from Holland & Barrett, Whole Foods London, Essential Trading, Harvey Nichols Manchester, Edinburgh and Leeds, Real Foods, Vegan Cross Shop and Vegan Store. Some of these are online only, some are just available in store and some both! 
  
 Let me know if you've tried them and what you think :)

Do vegetarians eat fish?

I used to eat fish fingers, when I used to go for pub lunches I used to eat scampi, I used to eat pasta with tuna. When I was about 11 by Granny served me tuna pasta and I turned around and said "nope, I don't eat fish anymore." She claimed that was me being a fussy eater but I can't quite remember why I stopped eating fish, I just did. My brothers soon followed suit and I haven't eaten fish since.

If you choose to eat fish and seafood but not the flesh of other animals then technically, you're a pescetarian. I've often heard of those people being called vegetarian too and I don't have a big problem with it, but supermarkets/restaurants etc don't usually label meals including fish as suitable for vegetarians. Recently I read someones pretty horrified tweet that a pub in Bath had labeled a salmon sharing platter as vegetarian friendly. Even if people want to use the general term 'vegetarian' as meaning not eating meat, surely they know fish and seafood come under that too when it comes down to eating meals.

Writing this just made me think of the scene from Finding Nemo where the sharks say "Fish are friends, not food!"

I think the reason I stopped eating fish was probably just because I was old enough to realise that they were animals too (i'm sure I realised this before but probably didn't make the connection) and it was a living, breathing creature that I didn't want to be eating! I enjoyed reading this article about fish whilst writing. I know that some people choose to follow a vegetarian diet but include fish and seafood for health reasons, fish contains omega-3 fatty acids. Then again so does cauliflower, hummus and brussel sprouts! Why does everyone hate on brussel sprouts, they're not that bad!

Or maybe some people just don't see fish in the same category as a sheep or a pig. Which is a shame because why would you differentiate? They both have a brain, heart, nervous system. I see this happening with chicken too. People don't see eating a chicken as that bad, and some that you can even continue eating chicken but call yourself a vegetarian! (Which seems very strange to me).

At the end of the day of course it is entirely up to the individual to follow whatever diet they choose, for whatever reason and I respect peoples choices to eat meat, or fish or enjoy a vegan diet. I appreciate it when people make an effort to provide me with a meal free from meat and fish, even when it's not the norm for them.

Happy eating!

What I Ate This Week #1

Sundays on thevegetariangirl will be about What I Ate This Week, it's fairly self explanatory and my aim is to show you that vegetarians don't just live on "rabbit food" - salad! In fact I don't even eat salad that often. I'm not going to show you every single meal as i'll probably forget to take photos all the time but here is What I Ate This Week -

Pasta with homemade pesto, green beans and new potatoes.

Crumpets with hummus and green harissa paste.

Pasta with blue cheese and spinach sauce.

Mediterranean veggie burger from Frankie & Benny's.

Risotto with smokey chillies, peppers and peas.

Pasta with garlic, onion and savoy cabbage.

Linda McCartney county pie, mash, beans and carrots.

RECIPE: Spinach and Blue Cheese Pasta

Happy Friday! If you're looking for something super quick and tasty for dinner this weekend then look no further, this recipe is for you! Who doesn't love pasta? Who doesn't love cheese? It's a great combo.

This recipe is taken from this book and we tried it out last night. I've made a very similar meal before and instead of using cream, I used Philadelphia Cheese and a little milk. Let's get started!

For two people - 

275g pasta, any curled or ribbon shape.

2 double handfuls of spinach leaves, washed and torn up

300ml single cream

175g soft blue cheese, cut into cubes

Salt and pepper to season.

1. Cook the pasta until al dente.

2. Put the spinach, still wet from washing in a pan over a medium heat. Cover and cook until it starts to wilt. (We actually steamed it in a basket over the pasta pan. Do whatever is easiest for you!)

3. Gently stir the blue cheese and cream together over a low heat. Season accordingly.

4. Mix the spinach into the sauce, drain pasta and fold it into the sauce. EAT.

This meal is for blue cheese lovers, if you're not super keen then it might be a bit much for you. Also it's not the healthiest of meals but hey, treat yourself, it's the weekend!

P.S. I'm not the greatest food photographer. I promise I will improve!

I hate mushroom stroganoff.

Today something not very nice happened. My Grandparents took me and my brothers out for lunch at a local restaurant. They had looked at the menu online before booking and saw that it had a good selection of vegetarian options to had decided to make a reservation which was very kind of them.

I chose a veggie burger, one brother chose a cheese and onion pie and the other brother chose a mushroom stronganoff. We even asked what the chips where cooked in to be sure - vegetable oil. (Recently had a disappointing meal when we couldn't eat chips because they were cooked in beef dripping. Boo, hiss!)

The waitress brought our food to us and it looked super tasty, my brother smelt his mushroom stroganoff, poked it about a bit then put a bit in his mouth. No sooner had it left his fork, he spat it out. It was a beef stroganoff. Beef stroganoff wasn't even an option on the menu. The waitress was still by our table dishing out meals, my brother asked what his meal was and she beef stroganoff (I promise I'll stop saying stoganoff soon. STROGANOFF.) My poor brother rushed to the bathroom and I felt sick and so sad for him. For someone who has never eaten meat, to even touch a piece of meat with your fingers, let alone it be in your mouth for a few seconds is a horrifying thought. He was understandably, upset and shaken.

It might be difficult for meat eaters to understand why someone would get upset about it, he didn't chew a steak, he didn't swallow a black pudding. He spat it right out. But each person has their individual reasons for not eating meat and to experience something like accidentally nearly eating it is really horrible. It was an innocent mistake, my brother isn't sitting in a corner crying about the incident, but it made him feel sick and he was sad about what happened, I just tried to reassure him by saying that he hadn't eaten it, he washed his mouth out and it was barely touching him for more than a second or two.

I've been served a meat version of a vegetarian calzone pizza at Frankie & Benny's before without me knowing. I cut it open, ate a bit of the outside with no filling, starting cutting it up more and realised there were chunks of meat in there. I think I burst into tears (I was about 11 at the time).

In the end a waitress brought the mushroom version but I had that and gave my brother my veggie burger. It wasn't even that nice and I'd lost my appetite anyway. This is why I always smell food which looks ever so slightly meaty to make sure it's veggie friendly. (my brother did that and still couldn't tell with all the sauce in the meal). I've given bits of my meal to my Dad and Boyfriend to test and tell me if it has meat in or not. I'm usually wary of quiche because meat always seems to hide in the bottom of those things and is in tiny chopped up pieces indistinguishable from tomato! 

Have any veggie readers had a near miss with a meaty meal? I understand it might not upset everyone in quite the same way but for a life long veggie, it was a big deal.

Experiment.

Just a quick post about something UK veggies might find interesting to watch on TV tonight. BBC Two are showing a programme at 9pm which explores whether a high meat diet has any pros or if a vegetarian diet is in fact preferable. It should be an interesting watch! Sometimes I can't help but feel slightly smug when info gets bandied about such as vegetarians live x-amount of years longer than someone with a meat filled diet or they are at much less risk from heart disease.

I'm hoping the programme will be a well rounded discussion. I will blog about in the next week. Let me know if you see it and what you reckon to their findings.

 

The problem with vegetarians.

A boy once told me that, as a result of my vegetarianism, I wouldn't grow. Eventually I grew to nearly 6 foot and he stayed around 5"5. I'm fairly tall but I'm pretty sure that's not to do with not eating meat, good genes is to thank for my long limbs!

I'm not a crazy militant vegetarian, I don't shove my choice in peoples faces but when I do mention that I am a vegetarian I've had all sorts of responses. I'm sure other veggies can identify with some of these! I've heard these reactions when I've said "I'm a vegetarian." 

• "So you've never had bacon? HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITHOUT BACON?!"
• "But do you eat chicken? I know a vegetarian who eats chicken."
• "Where do you get your protein from?"
• "Don't you want to know what meat tastes like?"

Everyone just loves to know where vegetarians get their protein fix from. I get mine from beans, lentils and soy. People seem to want to catch you out and prove that a vegetarian diet just cannot compete with a meat filled one. People also want to know if you eat jelly sweets such as Haribo, when I was little I probably had a few at a Birthday party now and again but since then, I haven't. I have had these once before. People have told me cheese flavoured crisps and Redbull aren't vegetarian.

Being a vegetarian isn't a new trend, its roots are in ancient India and Greece. Apparently in Greece they would call a vegetarian diet 'abstinence from beings with a soul'. That's really something to think about! I don't eat meat or 'slaughterhouse by-products' because I absolutely hate the idea of eating anything that's been alive. The thought of it turns my stomach! Also, animals are sweet, I've been brought up this way and I like the health benefits.

I think nowadays it's easy to be a vegetarian. Well, in the Western world with so much choice of food. Vegans, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free diets can be followed with relative ease if you make the effort to find alternatives. Some people can't live without a bacon sarnie. For me, long live the pigs!

Fake meat.

Today I ate Quorn Mince for the first time. I was made a meal using it in vegetarian spaghetti bolognese. It was a nice meal, it tasted okay and filled me up but there was something really weird about eating something that looked so much like meat. Now i'm sure meat eaters would tell me it actually looks nothing like meat and doesn't taste like it either but i'm seeing this more and more with vegetarian alternatives, that they look very similar to real meat.

In the supermarkets I've seen pepperoni 'style' pieces, meat free bacon and vegetarian chicken fillets, amongst other things. I don't understand why, people who choose to be vegetarian would want to eat something that looks so similar to actual meat?! Now I know people choose to be vegetarians for a tonne of different reasons, maybe some just don't like the taste of meat, they want to be more environmentally friendly or it's just all they've ever known. 

I know these foods aren't flavoured with a meaty flavour, but the fact they look so similar to meat unsettles me. My Mum, two brothers and me are all vegetarian, my Dad isn't. This means there is a drawer in the freezer with the meat stuff my Dad likes to eat. Every time my Mum cooks vegetarian sausages i'm cautious to eat them to start with as they look so much like meat sausages and I even think they smell not so veggie friendly.

It probably depends on your reason you are vegetarian, whether you take issue with very meat looking veggie friendly food. I personally would prefer not to eat anything that looks very much like real meat. It just feels weird! 

Welcome.

Hello! Welcome to The Vegetarian Girl blog. My name is Cressida, i'm 23 and from Manchester. I'm a second generation vegetarian.

I thought I would use this blog to talk about recipes, eating out, vegetarian issues and just general vegetarian life really. See how the mood takes me!

Keep your eyes peeled for more coming soon.