Quorn chicken pot pie

First post of 2018, hello!

Since I've been vegetarian I've not had a chance to eat many hearty traditional meals any more (such as pies and stews) as vegetarian versions tend not to be on offer in restaurants and pubs. It seems they don't make the effort to "vegetarianise" classic comfort food and seem to prefer offering the usual uninspired 'goats cheese and red onion tart' or stuffed mushroom, which many vegetarians dislike or are completely sick of. Having said that I do usually prefer a lighter meal and I don't often crave traditional pies and heavy meals, as I didn't really enjoy them back when I did eat meat. Though it is nice to have the option sometimes, especially on a cold winters night!

I much prefer this veggie Quorn chicken recipe to any meat or chicken pie I had before I became vegetarian (over 10 years ago!)

This recipe seems to have a long ingredients list but don't be put off as it is mostly store cupboard stuff. It's not too difficult to make but does take a little bit of time, definitely worth it though.

Quorn Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
¾ tsp turmeric
1 leek, chopped
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic
2 stock cubes, dissolved in 700ml boiling water
1 pack Quorn chicken pieces, frozen or fresh
2 carrots, cubed small (or they won't cook)
Handful of peas
Handful of green beans
any veg
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter, melted
3tbsp plain flour
1½ tsp thyme
Dried herbs
2 bay leaves
½ tsp mustard
Dash of Lea and Perrins
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pack of ready made puff pastry (I paid the extra 30p for the pre-rolled one, lazy!)
Dash of milk/egg

Recipe adapted from The Veggie Mama

Method:

1. Preheat oven to fan 180°c.

2. Saute the leek, onion and garlic in olive oil on a medium/low heat, add the turmeric and cook for 5-10 minutes.

3. Add the stock, bay leaves and dried herbs.

4. Mix the melted butter with the flour into a paste, add some of the cooking sauce to mix out the flour lumps. Then add this mixture to the pan with the stock and stir until incorporated.

5. Add the Quorn pieces, carrots, peas, green beans and any other veg you want. Also add the Lea and Perrins, mustard and any more seasoning to taste.

Not a great photo

6. Cook for 15 or so minutes or until the carrots are nearly cooked and the sauce has thickened.

7. Pour into a large ovenproof dish and cover with the puff pastry, tucking it into the sides. Brush top with milk or beaten egg, and poke a couple of slits in the top with a sharp knife for the heat to escape.

8. Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is puffed, risen and browned. Serve with mash and broccoli!

Even my parents who are both meat eaters loved this... Enjoy!

Bella xoxo

Cooking with seitan: vegetable stew

Both Bella and I have wanted to try seitan for a long time (so many yummy sounding recipes for vegan fried chicken, hello!), and I surprisingly stumbled across it in a health food shop in Falmouth.

Today I decided to take the satanic plunge and made a veggie stew with it! As always, chuck any veggies you have into it. This evening's wildcard was a lone aubergine found in the cupboard.

Seitan vegetable stew - an Alice recipe

Dark chocolate fridge cake

Ok so, this is another of those recipes that doesn't look great in photos... but I promise it tastes amazing! It's also customizable to what you like/what you have in the cupboards. AND you don't even have to bake it! It's not even baking, its basically just assembly!

The only part of this recipe that actually looks nice in photos

 Dark chocolate fridge cake

Makes one small tray

Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate
Around 10 digestive biscuits
1 tbsp sweetener (I used agave, you can use maple syrup, honey, golden syrup etc.)
75g butter
Dried fruit of choice (I used a sour cherry baking mix)
Nuts of choice (I used pecans)

Method:

1. Line a tray with baking paper or cling film. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, or in the microwave. Add the butter and sweetener.

2. Once just melted and smooth, take straight off the heat and crumble in the biscuits. I like to leave bigger and smaller pieces for texture.

3. Add your fruit/nuts/any other bits and pieces.

4. Spoon into the lined dish and smooth flat. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

And you're done! Next time I think I'd make double as this didn't last long...

Bella

Bastille Day lunch: Onion soup, baked salmon and dauphinoise potatoes, tarte tatin

Joyeux 14 juillet (en peu en retard...) ! As I was spending my first Bastille Day away from France in three years, I decided to pay hommage to my second home by preparing a three course meal.

This meal can be made easier by preparing both the soup and tart the night before. It was a bit tricky to ensure everything was hot at the right times but hey, it's a learning curve.

Delia Smith was my saviour, providing all recipes I used. On the menu was:

Soupe à l'oignon gratinée (onion soup)

Saumon au four & gratin dauphinois (baked salmon and dauphinoise potatoes)

Tarte tatin (apple tart)

Thai prawn & asparagus pilaf

Guess who's back, back again... I come bearing excitingly flavoured gifts. I noticed this recipe while in Waitrose but substituted a few ingredients because a) my mum doesn't love super spicy food and b) we didn't have them all. I present to you thai prawn & asparagus pilaf!

A bit like a spicy risotto, this dish is great cause it only uses one pan. I am definitely going to turn this into one of my go-to recipes, it's relatively quick and easy and tastes great.

Thai prawn & asparagus pilaf

Spicy cauliflower tacos

I never used to like cauliflower, however I've recently been finding myself eating more of it, and I feel like it doesn't deserve its bad reputation.

This is a healthy and vegetarian (can be vegan if you don't add cheese) alternative to chicken or beef wraps. I don't know if these count as tacos or fajitas (please can someone explain the difference!) but they're pretty great!

Chocolate avocado cookies

I could make you guess the secret ingredient... but I already wrote it in the title.

After a short absence (mainly due to me being busy/lazy in the evenings and weekends after writing all day, every day at work), I am back with another of my "pretend they're healthy because they have 1 healthy ingredient and that obviously cancels out all the unhealthy stuff" recipes.

Despite the sugar and chocolate in these, I guess they could be classed as relatively healthy as they contain an actual fruit(?) and no butter! As with many other bakes which involve a fruit or vegetable in an attempt to add some extra vitamins, this actually has the added benefit of making them super moist and soft.

Quinoa pesto salad

Continuing with this weeks salad theme, here is my go-to packed lunch salad. This is really customisable with whatever veggies or ingredients you have in the fridge. If I have feta, olives, sun dried tomatoes or artichokes, they take it to the next level. Peppers and courgettes are the vegetables I usually use, as they're what we usually have. Spinach works particularly well also, and you can make other additions after its cooked such as tomatoes, avocado or sweetcorn. Basically, just chuck in whatever you have.

I was making this at around 9pm on a Sunday night, so please excuse the awful photographs. It tastes way nicer than my photos would lead you to believe.

It looks much better in real life, I swear!

Farro, kale and goats' cheese salad

This was a bit of a leap of faith for me, recipe-wise. My parents have a Waitrose calendar hanging in their bedroom and the photograph for April was of this salad. None of us knew what farro dicocco was (it turns out to be an Italian spelt readily available in Waitrose and I presume most supermarkets), but this was such a success! It was really delicious and there's even enough left over for my lunch tomorrow.

Mexican Monday: Vegetarian burritos

To mix up our weekly pub trips, Bella and I decided to make some veggie burritos last week. They are really easy to make and tasted great, if not that spicy... Have a go and let us know what you think!

Ingredients for 4 burritos:

Quorn mince (we used most of a small packet, so approx 200g)
400g kidney beans
Mushrooms
Guacamole
Salad
BBQ sauce
Cheese
250g rice
Your choice of spices - paprika, herbes de provence, chilli

The quantities are pretty much up to you, we had a LOT of cheese but maybe you'd prefer less. 

Chocolate chip banana bread

This is another of my go-to recipes. I made this a couple of weeks ago when we had a sprinkling of snow outside, and a couple of overly squishy bananas which needed using up.

Cheese and parsley scones

Having spent years preferring sweet to savoury, recently both Bella and I have developed stronger cravings for the latter. As a result I made these delicious cheese scones. They are probably not the best if you're trying to be healthy because they contain approximately a block of cheese, but they are really good.

Pro tip: use the strongest cheddar cheese you can afford, it makes the taste so much better.

Cheese and parsley scones - adapted from The Guardian