Vegetarian Haribo.

I know you can buy vegetarian jelly sweets like Haribo online from plenty of sites specialising in veggie food or other 'free from' products but yesterday I was shopping in Primark and saw they are now selling two different types of vegetarian friendly Haribo! Rainbow Twists and Giant Strawbs (I know the packet on the website for the Giant Strawbs doesn't have a V on like the Rainbow Twists does but it does in real life!

I also found them in Iceland so if you're in the UK keep your eyes peeled for yourself or a vegetarian friend/family member. I was really excited to see the V on the packet of sweets, resisted the urge to bulk buy and just bought one of each. I don't even like sweets that much but I know they will last and my none-veggie boyfriend likes chomping on them! Have a sweeeeet week everyone!

What I Ate This Week #10

A week of eating up bits and bobs, nothing new or fancy, just tasty food! Was disappointed with the vegetarian carvery as it was just generally naff. I used to eat carverys at Toby Carvey when I was at University for a treat and they offer a few vegetarian options instead of meat which is nice.

Ate up the rest of the butternut squash curry from last week. Yum.

 Veggie chilli with rice. I love that it is packed with tasty veg, it's so nice to know exactly what's in your meal isn't it? You can find the recipe here.

Eating up the chilli, this time with pasta. You could eat it with a baked potato too, whatever takes your fancy.

My boyfriend made me veggie fajitas, from an Old El Paso kit. He used Quorn chicken style pieces, peppers and onions. We had them with plenty of sour cream and chive dip, grated cheddar and tomato salsa.

My Dad made me this, a cheese and tomato thin base pizza with added mushrooms and tomatoes. It all got a bit soggy with the tomatoes and there was black pepper on there and I'll let you in to a secret - I hate black pepper.

Goats cheese and onion tart, carrots, new potatoes, peas and cauliflower.

On the way back from a long journey, decided to stop for something to eat. Went to the Lock Keeper in Worksop, I had a vegetarian carvery and it was nothing to shout about. The pastry on the cheese and onion tart was soggy, the roast potatoes tasted suspect even though I asked what they were cooked in (vegetable oil).

RECIPE - Vegetarian Chilli

I love this dish, it's simple to make, packed full of veg and tasty. It takes a while to prepare (a lot of chopping) and a while of simmering to get a really lovely deep flavour. This might look like it has a lot of ingredients but most of it is fairly standard store cupboard stuff you might already have in. Don't worry if you haven't got the exact type of beans or lentils, there's no problem substituting things or missing out a veg or two. The original recipe is from here. 

This makes looooads of chilli, perfect if you're a student or a family. I used to make this often at Uni and freeze it. You're going to need a large pan! I've eaten this with rice, pasta and a baked potato. Anything goes!

Serves 4 - 6

1 can green lentils, drained and rinsed

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

1 can kidney beans

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 courgette, chopped

175 mushrooms, quartered

100g frozen peas

1 large onion, chopped

2 peppers, any colour

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 - 2 teaspoons chilli powder

300ml veg stock

1 heaped tablespoon tomato puree

salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in a large pan and fry onion and garlic with chilli and cumin for about 10 minutes. I didn't have chilli powder so used two small chillis chopped up from my boyfriends chilli plant my Mum bought him from here. 

2. Add the peppers, carrots, green lentils and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring often until softened.

3. Add chopped tomatoes, puree, stock and peas. It's going to look fairly liquidy now so bring it to the boil then simmer it to evaporate the excess liquid and concentrate the flavour. This will probably take 20 - 30 minutes. Be patient, it's going to be yummy!

4. Add mushrooms and courgettes, stir well and keep simmering for 5 - 7 minutes. You don't want this veg to turn to mush so keep trying pieces until it's softened but not mushy. If you're serving the chilli with rice or pasta, now would be a good time to get that cooking.

5. Add the kidney beans and cook them for 5 minutes. Season to your taste.

6. Serve with rice and sprinkle with grated cheddar and a dollop of sour cream if you fancy. Enjoy.

What I Ate This Week #9

I've been pretty busy this week so no fancy food (not that there is usually). Sorry this is a day late, my laptop wouldn't let me open any of the photos to edit them!

Cheese and onion quiche, new potatoes, coleslaw, celery, lettuce and cucumber. An easy quick dinner with some salady bits we had in the fridge!

Eating up the quiche again and coleslaw. My Mum lives off the salad, it's chickpea, pepper, celery, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and cheese. With plenty of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Beanfeast chilli with rice. I never usually put cheese on before I take the photo but I forgot this time! I do usually have grated cheddar cheese on top of tomato pasta sauces. 

Veggie sausage casserole and baked potato. You can find the recipe here.

Butternut squash curry, rice and naan bread. This is one of my favourite meals ever! My friends who were visiting were excited to eat this as they love it too!

Carrots, new potatoes, broccoli and an Indian veg grill.

I'm (Not So) Fancy.

Recently I seem to have read quite a few articles about what I would call 'fancy' vegetarian food. It seems to be all the rage which is exciting, all sorts of new ways to cook an aubergine or unusual ways to incorporate celeriac into a meal. I felt like I should write about this as a vegetarian food blogger because I don't eat lots of unusual vegetarian food, I eat lots of pasta and rice. I have a takeaway pizza every once in a while. I've never had pasta made from courgette or garlic fried samphire. Maybe I should make more of an effort to try some different meals but usually on a day to day basis I just want something fairly easy and tasty to fill me up.

 Perhaps this blog isn't as fancy as I'd like but I've got years of cooking ahead of me where I can experiment more. If you're looking for dinner party food inspiration then I'm afraid you won't find it here right now. I know most people would just say they eat 'normally', that they eat average things that everyone else does but I don't actually know that many people outside of my own family who eat like I do! I eat a lot, but I remain a healthy weight. I don't ever calorie count or not eat carbs or gluten or don't eat after 6pm or all these other fads. I've known people who've only eaten food cooked in the oven from frozen, or people who have fast food just about every day. Someone I knew once predominately ate Coca Cola and chocolate every day! 

People have different relationships with food, some are more interested in cooking than others. I hope if you stumble upon my blog then you might be inspired to try something different in your kitchen. Maybe you eat artichoke hearts and feta pastries all the time! If you don't, then I'm sure something on one of my What I Ate This Week posts will catch your eye. 

I hope you continue to keep reading and enjoying my blog

:)

Vegetarian Problems

Just a quick post to share this link with you. I found it hilarious. maybe you recognise some of these problems as a vegetarian too?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/awkward-moments-every-vegetarian-understands?utm_term=cxhua4#2xbm7mx

What I Ate This Week #8

Isn't comfort food just the best? Love me some cheese based meals! I've been feeling poorly all this week so meals by the end of the week got to be things that didn't need much effort to make.

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese. I love cheese.

Veggie sausage casserole. You can find the recipe here!

Risotto with green beans, broccoli and peppers.

Pitta pockets with carrots, chickpeas, garlic, cumin and reggae reggae sauce (wasn't meant to be that but we didn't fancy orange in it).

Dominoes veggie supreme pizza. Yeah I order pizza sometimes, I'm only human!

Pasta and a Loyd Grossman tomato and basil sauce. (and a shed load of cheese).

Cheese and tomato crispbake, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, cabbage and carrots.

RECIPE: Veggie Sausage Casserole

It's the weekend and it's getting chillier so what better time to cook a hearty casserole to make you feel all cosy and Autumnal. This really is easy and can be stretched to feed as many as you like! A (nearly) one pot wonder too, which is always good on the washing up front. This is a recipe adapted slightly from the original one by The Hairy Bikers, you can find that one here. This version is vegetarian friendly (duh, you're on a vegetarian food blog!) If you're short on time, you don't have to put it in the oven, you can serve it straight from the pan. It's just a bit richer from having it in the oven for a while. 

Serves 3 - 4

2 veg sausages each 

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 cans butter beans 

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons tomato puree

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon mixed herbs

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

1. Cook your sausages, no-one likes a frosty sausage. When cooked through, place in an oven proof dish.

2. Fry the onions gently until they start to soften, a good 5-7 minutes.

3. Add garlic to onions and cook for another 3 minutes.

3. Add paprika and cook for another 1 minute.

4. Add tomatoes, puree, herbs and brown sugar. Add the rinsed butter beans.

5. Add mixture to open proof dish on top of sausages. Bake at Gas 4/180°C for 30 minutes.

I eat mine with a baked potato but you can serve yours with whatever you fancy. I think it's the little bit of brown sugar that makes this rich and delicious. Perfect for warming up a miserable Winter evening!

Vegetarians in California.

I recently arrived back in rainy old Manchester after a two week road trip around California with my brother. You can read his blog post on our holiday here. We had the best time, enjoying the sunshine, friendly people, eating out everyday and exploring new and exciting places! What's not to love?!

I was a little concerned before we left on our adventure, that the vegetarians options whilst eating out would be very limited but actually, we had plenty of delicious food to feast on and found some absolute gems to eat out at in California. I think perhaps if we went into the deep mid-west or places like that then we might have struggled more to find meat-free meals but seen as California is a pretty health conscious, laid back place, we found lots of organic/vegan/vegetarian cafes and restaurants. 

You can see lots of photos of meals my brother and I (he is a lifelong vegetarian too) ate in California here, here and here. It's making me want to go back just looking at them! Breakfasts were fairly straight forward as we usually went for pancakes and tonnes of fruit. The berries in particular were always huge and juicy and so fresh and tasty. They tasted like when you pick them yourself. I was impressed by breakfast at The Sportmen's Lodge in Los Angeles as their menu had this guide on it - 

I have never in my life seen a menu that specifically differentiated between pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans! Huge kudos there. The pancakes turned out to be the best we had for the whole trip. I mean, just look at them, glorious. 

Look how big those blackberries are!

We were disappointed at the lack of vegetarian options at Universal Studios Hollywood, despite the guide map saying there was vegetarian food available at several outlets at the park, it never seemed to be listed on the menu and you had to ask for them to make it specially for you. I understand that it's a big theme park in America, nearly everyone eats meat so why not put meat in every sandwich/salad etc but it did make it difficult for us. I was pretty surprised that there wasn't even a salad that didn't have meat or fish in it. Like seriously, I just want leaves and some veg. No dead animals in there please!

Portion size was big, and I mean BIG, it didn't matter what we were eating - breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, snacks. Everything seemed to be supersized! This is my brothers dinner at The Cheesecake Factory - 

That could have easily fed two people and been an ample meal for the both of them. We found that you get more food for your money in California than you do in the UK. It seems like better value really and they will always offer to box up your leftover meal if you can't finish it. We couldn't do that with the pasta as we didn't have a fridge at the hotel. I often saw people boxing up food to take home with them, I've only ever done that in the UK with a few slices of a Pizza Hut pizza! They refill your drink for free in nearly every restaurant and the cups are the size of your whole head! 

At The Cheesecake Factory I was asked what salad dressing I wanted on my side salad, well I don't usually have anything so I said I didn't want one thank you and the waiter looked at me in utter SHOCK. He kept repeating "so you want a dry salad? Are you sure? Dry salad?" Er, yes I was pretty sure. It's not that unusual to just eat salad right? Even when he brought my meal to me he asked again if I really wanted a "dry salad." In the end actually I wished I had got a dressing because the leaves tasted a bit chemically and the dressing would have disguised that! I felt like I had to eat plenty of it to show that YES I LOVE DRY SALAD. 

I asked if the cheesecake was vegetarian and the waiter said "well yeah it doesn't have meat in it". Did he think I was asking if it had bacon or lumps of beef lodged in the cheesecake? I did clarify that I meant gelatin, he said he that word rung a bell and it turns out that the cheesecake had gelatin in it. Boo! It became apparent in different places when I asked this question that people mustn't be familiar with gelatin and they just think being a vegetarian means not eating meat. I was disappointed that the cheesecake wasn't veggie as plenty I've come across in the UK are.

We did a little bit of research in Santa Barbara on somewhere nice to eat and found The Natural Cafe, a ten minute walk from our hotel which had plenty of vegetarian options. It also took us a while to realise entrée means main meal, not a starter like I thought.

This place was smallish and not very fancy but the food was absolutely delicious! It's such a treat to have such a large vegetarian selection to choose from. I also had a peach, pineapple and coconut smoothie which blew my mind. If you're in California anywhere near these places then I really recommend checking out The Natural Cafe. It's reasonably priced, you get massive portions and it's yummy. 

Looking at the menu is making me super hungry. I gave my guacamole to my brother. Is it a cardinal sin to be a vegetarian and not like avocado? I don't know but it just doesn't float my boat.

I love going to supermarkets whilst on holiday, I love seeing how big their fruit is compared to the UK, here is a giant peach and some monster grapes we had.

Despite there not being a lot of options at Beachside Bar Cafe, I felt like they had made an effort with the veggie paella, it was really tasty and I know that looks like a lump on meat on top but it was just a grilled portobello mushroom. This was one of my favourite meals because we were right by the beach on a beautiful day. (Everyday was beautifully sunny!) My brother had a mushroom burger, that was pretty much a staple on lots of restaurant menus!

 We enjoyed the Chinese vegan food at Loving Hut in San Francisco. I'm happy to say they are in the UK too! We found Loving Hut in a big shopping shopping centre in San Fran and it was really cool to see such a popular vegan place in a large food court. Come to Manchester Loving Hut! On the theme of Chinese food, we did a bit of research on places to eat in San Diego and found Plumeria, a vegetarian restaurant. We only really ate dinner at our hotels twice, in Yosemite and Death Valley where there were no other options for miles around! You had a choice of protein such as tofu, vegetarian beef, vegetarian shrimp etc. I don't like anything that looks too much like meat so I steered clear of those (I don't even know what vegetarian shrimp could look or taste like?!) and went for the safe option of fried tofu. Look how cute my rice is, it's in a heart shape.

We spent a while wandering around the high street in Palm Springs for somewhere to eat. All the menu boards outside seemed to be severely overpriced with little veggie options so we decided on LuLu California Bistro. It was pretty busy but we got a nice table outside. This place had its own separate vegetarian menu! Yay! CHOICE! I had angel hair pomodoro. Deeeelish. I loved that this place gave you ice water and freshly baked bread often. The waiters were very attentive!

I really enjoyed finding vegetarian restaurants and cafes to eat in, I felt sort of bad if I ate at a Subway or a large chain (we may have got a large fries and a large drink from McDonalds once or twice...) I'm not usually too fussed about eating organic but it was cool to see how health conscious California is and how much value they place on eating right. I was really happy we decided to explore new places to eat, hopefully this has given you some meal inspiration, vegetarians and none-vegetarians alike. If you live in California or you're just traveling there, be sure to check these places out.

What I Ate This Week #7

This week I enjoyed a few Autumnal meals which was nice. I had Beanfeast for the first time in ages. I used to eat it all the time in University! You can buy a chilli version or a bolognese version. I think people use it for camping strips because you just add water and warm it up to make the sauce. It seems to have been a staple in my family if we can't be bothered cooking a proper dinner!

Veggie sausage casserole. Butterbeans, onions, smokey paprika, herbs and tomatoes. This is such a delicious Autumn dinner. Keep an eye out for the recipe coming soon!

 Blue cheese pasta and peas. Super quick to make and a nice change from a normal chedder cheese sauce.

 I accidentally made this smokey paprika risotto really hot with a pretty large dried chilli. I was coughing so much when I first tasted it!

 A lifelong vegetarian staple, Beanfeast. My parents used to buy me 10 packets of the stuff before every term at Uni!

 I love this dinner, pasta with savoy cabbage, chickpeas, garlic and chilli. Mmm.

 A quick dinner of a Loyd Grossman tomato and roasted garlic sauce with tiny pasta!

Sunday dinner. Roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, green beans and a garlic kiev.

What I Ate This Week #6

We headed home this week, boo! It's been very strange to eat out every day. I feel like I don't want to go out to a restaurant for ages now. I will do a proper blog post about how I found vegetarian food in California.

We searched for a vegetarian restaurant in San Diego and found Plumeria in a lovely part of town called University Heights. You chose your protein and could have it in any dish! It was very spicy even though we chose medium! I ate Panang Curry with fried tofu. How cute is my rice?!

Had to show you these. They were the best.

We had a kitchenette in our room/apartment in San Diego so we decided for our last main meal we would just cook something simple, pasta and tomato sauce. We went to a Vons supermarket for the ingredients, I say ingredients, I mean a jar of pasta sauce and some pasta. Strangely you could not buy small jars of sauce, we had to buy one that fed 5-7 people! I hate throwing food away but I didn't really want to pack it in my suitcase.

Wanted something substantial for lunch at San Diego Zoo as we didn't know what time we'd be served food on our flight that evening. We had an actual quite nice veggie burger and fries. Not bad at all!

Plane food again, this time BA's plane food which i'm preeeetty sure hasn't changed since I last flew with them to Zambia in 2008. It was an aubergine bake thing with some half hearted broccoli. Not that great, the bread was dry and the salad tasted weird. If you're flying in bog standard class then I don't think you can expect much. 

Got off the plane and had to wait hours for our delayed flight to Manchester. By this time we had slept a bit on the overnight flight and even though we were given breakfast (it was all gross) we were hungry. We headed to Boots for a meal deal. My wrap was all soggy but I didn't care. It was better than plane food. 

Nice to have a homecooked meal! Risotto with courgettes, sprouts (sounds strange but actually really nice, they were chopped up lots), mushrooms, peppers and onion.

Naughty, naughty, a chinese takeaway! My boyfriend treated us on a Friday night. I had mushroom fried rice, beansprout noodles, veg spring rolls and some sweet and sour veg (which was horrible and I didn't eat it).

Fresh homemade scones with homemade jam and whipped cream. Nothing much to say about these other than they are perfect. 

Sunday lunch! Mushroom bake, peas, carrots, cabbage, baked potato and Yorkshire puddings.