Tag Archives: vegetarian

by | May 20, 2013

National Vegetarian Week 2013 & Quick Roasted Veggie Pasta Recipe

National Vegetarian Week 2013

It’s National Vegetarian Week here in the UK, and what perfect timing as I’m about to announce the winner of my Tibits at Home vegetarian cookbook giveaway :)

tibits at home cookbook

The valid entries were placed in chronological order and the winner selected at random (using random.org).

The winner is…

Nikki @ The Road to Less Cake.

Congratulations Nikki! The book will be in the post to you very soon x

NVW banner

I’m not sure how many of my readers are already vegetarian or vegan but, whatever your dietary tendencies, I’m guessing that you love your veggies otherwise you wouldn’t be reading my blog ;)

If you’ve been thinking of going veggie, or would like to increase the amount of veggie meals that you eat, then this would be a perfect week to start.  There are lots of activities, events and restaurant deals taking place all over the country.  You can find out what’s happening in your local area by clicking on this link.  Here in the South West, it’s the Bristol VegFest next weekend.

header-vegfestuk-logo
If you’re looking for veggie-related resources, there is a great selection of free booklets from the Vegetarian Society that can be ordered in hard copy or downloaded.  If you’re interested in trying a 100% plant-based diet, Viva produce a range of useful guides, many of which are free to view online.

Vegetarian Society Guides

If you have children and are concerned whether a plant-based diet can meet all their dietary requirements, rest assured that it most certainly can.   The Vegetarian Society and Viva have lots of great resources for parents on their  websites, including free guides and kid-friendly recipe booklets.

Through my blog, I’ve hopefully shown you just how tasty and colourful veggie food can be…

BitoftheGoodStuffCollage copy

… as well as being simple to make, quick to prepare and cheap.

Today, I’d like to share one of our favourite, super quick, low prep meals that’s perfect for a busy weekday night.  We ate this meal tonight and Lil’ L absolutely loved it.  He’s already ‘bagsied’ the leftovers to take to school tomorrow ;)

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta with Roasted Veggies

Serves 4
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ready in: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
½ medium courgette (zucchini), sliced
½ medium head of broccoli, cut into small florets
1 large handful mushrooms, chopped
1 large carrot, cut into thin julienne sticks
4 tbsp pumpkin seeds
300g / 10½oz wholewheat pasta (or use GF pasta, if required)
3 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
4 tbsp pine nuts (or use sunflower seeds instead)
nutritional yeast flakes or cashew parmesan*, for sprinkling (we use Marigold Engevita Nutritional Yeast Flakes with Vitamin B12)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 220C (200 fan) / 425F / Gas 7.  Prepare a large saucepan of boiling water.
  2. Coat the veggies and pumpkin seeds in olive oil, place in a large non stick baking tin and cook for 15 minutes or so, until lightly roasted (we like our veggies to retain a ‘bite’ rather than be super soft).  Stir half way through the cooking time.  
  3. Meanwhile, add the pasta to the pan of boiling water and simmer until al dente (10-12 minutes).
  4. Lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan (skillet) on a medium heat, stirring frequently.
  5. Drain the pasta and mix in the sun-dried tomato paste and roasted vegetables.  Sprinkle on the pine nuts and parmesan.
  6. This dish is delicious served on its own or with a slice of warm garlic bread.

* Here’s how we make cashew “parmesan”: 4 tbsp raw cashew nuts and 4 tbsp nutritional yeast, pulsed in grinder, mini chopper or food processor to make a course powder.   Stored in an airtight container, it will keep for a week or so in the refrigerator and longer in the freezer.

Have a great week everyone!  I hope the sun is shining wherever you are xx

p.s. If you have any veggie-related questions, don’t hesitate to give me a shout.  I’m not a dietician, but I’ve been veggie since the age of 12, so I have a fair few years’ experience ;)

 

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by | May 14, 2013

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins & Our 2nd Mother’s Day Treat

I hope all the international mothers had a wonderful day of rest, relaxation and pampering last Sunday :)   Unlike the rest of the world, here in the UK we celebrate Mother’s Day in March rather than in May but, despite this, last Sunday did feel like Mother’s Day as we had lovely day out with my parents’ in law at Wisley Gardens.  We even had some Mother’s Day gifts for my mother-in-law as we didn’t get to her on the UK Mother’s Day.

Rhododendrons at Wisley in May

www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Wisley/

Funnily enough, M thought it was Mother’s Day last Sunday as the date was printed on his works calendar.  Shame I didn’t keep my mouth shut otherwise I could have been in for another treat ;)   He said he was going to remind Lil’ L to make me a card.   I didn’t need another card though as the one I received on our first Mother’s Day was perfect.  In fact, I still haven’t put it away as it makes me smile every time I re-read it.  Here’s what he wrote:

My Mothers Day Card 2013

How sweet is that?

He sure knows how to encourage me to keep baking him treats ;)

Since he loves lemon cake so much, I thought I’d treat him (and M) to some lemon poppy seed muffins this week.  I’m happy to report that they turned out really well and received great feedback from the family :)   Even though they’re made with wholegrain flour, they’re light, fluffy and moist.

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin

This is what they look like inside:

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin

They’re very easy to make.  Here’s how I did it:

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (Dairy free, Egg free, Vegan)

Makes: 12 muffins
Hands-on time: 10 minutes    Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients
280g / 10 oz / 2 cups fine wholemeal (wholewheat pastry) flour*
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
¼ tsp sea salt
1½ tbsp poppy seeds
100 ml / 3½ fl oz / ½ cup rapeseed (canola) oil
120g / 4¼oz / ½ cup unrefined caster sugar**
3 tbsp agave syrup (or maple syrup)
65 ml / 2¼ fl oz / ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (roughly 2 lemons)
zest of 2 lemons, finely chopped
185 ml / 6½ fl oz / ¾ cup fortified sweetened soya milk (or other non dairy milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1½ tbsp unrefined demerara (turbinado) sugar

* I use Indian chapatti atta flour which is a very fine wholemeal flour.  In the UK, it’s available in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asian supermarkets.
To make gluten-free muffins, use a gluten-free flour blend, like the ones produced by Doves Farm.

** Add a little more sugar if you prefer sweeter muffins.  To make the muffins free of cane sugar, use coconut palm sugar instead.

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 355 F / Gas 4.  Line a muffin tray with paper liners (or use  silicon moulds)
  2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl.  (If the wheat flakes are too large to be sieved, grind them finer using a coffee grinder or mini chopper).  Stir in the poppy seeds.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, vanilla extract and vinegar until completely combined.
  4. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, until just combined (do not over stir).
  5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle a little demerera sugar on top of each muffin.
  6. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  Leave to rest for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.  Once completely cool, store in an airtight container.  These muffins will last for a couple of days at room temperature, a week in the refrigerator and several weeks in the freezer.

 

Here’s another of our favourite muffin recipes: Mama Pea’s Blueberry Streusel Muffin

Mama Pea Blueberry Streusel Muffin

And if you like lemon cakes, how about a slice of Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake?

Lemon Drizzle Cake

I don’t know about you, but I find that muffins are a bit too big for me to eat in one go.  I often slice them and save half in the fridge for another day.  It’s my birthday next month and on my wish list is one of these mini muffin trays.  They look so cute and this muffin size would be perfect for me.  They’ll also be great for lunchboxes (and waistlines) too!

What’s your favourite muffin flavour?  The next two flavours I’d like to try baking are raspberry & coconut, and maple syrup with maple glazed walnuts.  I just need to wait until I have a bit of space in the freezer then I can get recipe testing :)

 

Please note: This post contains an Amazon Affiliate link – if you click on the link and purchase something I will receive a small percentage from Amazon which will goes towards the development of Bit of the Good Stuff. Thanks in advance!

 

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by | May 9, 2013

Nettle Soup with Ginger and Miso

Well, I haven’t had any success growing vegetables in my garden yet, but I have an abundance of nettles that are happily growing there ;)

Nettles

What many people don’t realise is that nettles are actually a ‘super food’, packed to the brim with nutrients.

“High in potassium, iron, sulphur, vitamin C, vitamin A and B complex vitamins nettles provide a high amount of dense nutrition with very little calories. The sulphur makes them great for the hair, skin, and nails. In addition, the tiny hairs, besides emitting histamine, also release serotonin and acetylcholine, two neurotransmitters that help to suppress appetite and also settle mood. Finally, nettles have gentle diuretic properties, which help relieve water weight gain, flush the body of toxins, and purify the blood”. [Source] 

 

Obviously you can’t eat nettles raw (unless you want to sting your mouth to pieces) but, by simply drenching them in boiling hot water, their sting is instantly removed and then they can be eaten just like other greens.

Nettle Leaf

One of our favourite ways to eat nettles is blended into a soup, flavoured with onion, garlic, ginger and miso.  We also like to include a large sweet potato in the soup, which adds a touch of sweetness as well as giving the soup a beautiful, silky smooth texture.

Just in case you haven’t come across miso before, it’s a Japanese soybean paste that has this wonderful, rich savory flavour that makes it perfect for soups, sauces and gravies.  I’m currently using the Clearspring Japanese Organic Brown Rice Miso, which is available in the UK in Waitrose and Sainsbury supermarkets, as well as in health food stores. While the jar recommends that you store it in a cool, dark place, I keep my jar in the fridge and it’s lasted months!

Clearspring Brown Rice Miso

If you’ve never picked nettles before, here are a few tips:

  • Make sure you’re wearing gloves, a long sleeve top and trousers (long pants).
  • Use a pair of sharp scissors to snip off the top leaves from each stalk (about four leaves per stalk).  Before snipping, check the leaf to make sure there are no creatures or caterpillar eggs on it.
  • Place the leaves in a colander and thoroughly wash them under running water (remember to keep your gloves on).
  • If you’re using the nettles in a soup, there’s no need to soak them in boiling water first.  Simply chop them up (still wearing your gloves) and add them to the pan.

Nettle Leaves

If you’re not fortunate enough to have a patch of free nettles growing in your vicinity, you can replace them with another green, such as kale or chard.  It’ll taste just as nice ;)

Nettle Soup with Ginger & Miso

While it’s not the prettiest soup in the world, it tastes delicious!  Lil’ L can vouch for this.  It’s his current favourite soup, and he loves taking a flask to school for his lunch once a week.  In fact, last week, he asked if he could have it for his lunch two days on the trot.  I really hope other children enjoy it as much as he does!

Here’s the recipe:

Serves: 4

Hands-on time: 10 minutes    Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
1 x 2.5cm / 1 inch piece of fresh or frozen ginger*, finely grated (or add more if you would like a spicier soup)
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
78g / 2¾ oz / 3 packed cups nettle leaves, roughly chopped
825ml / 28 fl oz / 3½ cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp miso

* I always buy root ginger in bulk, peel it (by scraping off the skin with a metal spoon), then freeze it in 1 inch pieces.  It lasts for weeks in the freezer and I find it’s easier to grate when frozen.

Suggested toppings:
handful of lightly toasted sesame seeds
handful of pumpkin seeds, lightly fried in olive oil
red chilli, finely diced

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion until it starts to soften. Stir in the garlic and ginger. Reduce the heat, add the sweet potato and nettles, cover and leave to sweat for 5 minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the potato has softened (about 15 minutes). Allow the soup to cool slightly, then stir in the miso paste.  Blend the soup until completely smooth, using a jug or hand blender.  Add more stock, if needed.  Return the soup to the stove and gently heat through. Season, to taste.
  2. Serve the soup in warm bowls, with a sprinkling of sesame or pumpkin seeds. For small children, the seeds can be ground up in a coffee grinder and mixed into the soup before serving. Add some finely chopped red chilli, if desired, and serve with some warm, crusty bread.

Nettle Soup with Ginger & Miso

In addition to the nettles, we’ve had great success growing dandelions this year.  Dandelion pesto will be on the menu next week ;)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! xx

Are there any ‘weeds’ that you enjoy eating?  If you have any family recipes, please do share below :)

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by | May 2, 2013

tibits at home book review & giveaway

tibits is a group of popular vegetarian restaurants that were launched ten years ago in Switzerland by three brothers – Reto, Christian and Daniel Frei – together with Rolf and Marielle Hitl (the owners of Hitl, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records!)  In 2008 they opened the first UK tibits restaurant in Heddon Street (off Regent Street) in London.

To celebrate their 10th anniversary, last year they launched their first cookbook, tibits at home, which includes fifty of their favourite recipes.  Recently I was asked whether I would like to receive a copy of the cookbook to review.  I was delighted to accept the invitation.  While the book is vegetarian cuisine, many of the recipes are in fact vegan, which suits our family perfectly.

tibits at home cookbook

The book arrived the other day and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading it.  It’s one of those cookbooks that’s filled with stylish photography, making it a great pleasure to browse through.  The photographs were actually taken at the homes of four patrons of tibits and, in addition to the shots of food, you also get to glimpse into the beautiful, stylish homes of these Swiss families.

Whilst the book is described as ‘stylish vegetarian cuisine’, the authors emphasise that all the recipes are easy to make at home, which I was pleased to hear.  The recipes are organised by season, with an introductory paragraph that encapsulates the essence of each new season.  I do love cookbooks that are arranged by season but, to be honest, I’d happily eat the recipes in this book all year round! 

tibits at home cook book

One of the first recipes that caught my eye – cavatappi pasta with courgettes curry sauce – was in the Autumn/Fall chapter.  If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that my family are huge curry fans.  However, I must admit that we’d never tried curried pasta before.  I was intrigued to discover whether this combination worked.

tibits at home cook book

Inspired by the tibits recipe, last week I made a curried pasta dish for the first time.  The family loved it!  In fact, it was such a hit that we chose to make it again this week.  We rarely eat the same meal twice in the same month, so this one is definitely something special! I loved how quick and easy to make it was too.

I’ve made the recipe below mild enough for small children but, if you prefer, you can increase the spice quantities to add more heat.  The tibits recipes calls for 50g freshly grated ginger (which equates to around 2 x thumb size pieces).  I used this amount the first time I made the recipe and it gave the dish a distinctly ginger-spiced flavour.  We love ginger but this amount could make the dish a little too spicy for some children.  The second time round, I halved the amount of ginger and Lil’ L preferred it.  

Fusilli Pasta with Lightly Curried Vegetables

 

Here’s how I made it:

Fusilli Pasta with Lightly Curried Vegetables

Serves: 4

Ready in 20 minutes

Ingredients

250 ml / 8½ fl oz / 1 cup coconut milk
250 ml / 8½ fl oz / 1 cup fortified soya milk (or other non dairy milk)
1 x thumb size piece of fresh or frozen ginger, finely grated (or add more if you’d prefer a stronger ginger spiced sauce)
1 tsp mustard seeds
½ – 1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 medium courgette (zucchini), sliced into julienne sticks
2 medium carrots, sliced into julienne sticks
½ medium head of broccoli, cut into tiny florets
2 tbsp corn flour mixed with 2 tbsp water to form a paste
300g / 10½ oz wholewheat fusilli pasta (use GF pasta for those with a gluten intolerance)

Optional ingredients for a nutrient boost (we add all three):
handful cashews
handful sunflower seeds
sprinkling of nutritional yeast flakes with added B12 (we use Marigold Engevita)

Method

  1. Prepare a large pan of boiling water and cook the pasta until al dente (about 10-12 minutes).
  2. Meanwhile, combine the coconut milk and soya milk in a large pan and bring to the boil.  Mix the ginger and spices to form a paste, then add it to the pan and stir to combine.  Add the vegetables and simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in the cornflour paste and continue cooking for a couple of minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
  3. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and stir it into the sauce.  Add a sprinkling of cashews and sunflowers seeds, if desired.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.  (Once removed from the heat, we also like to sprinkle in some nutritional yeast with added B12 as a nutritional boost. It also adds a lovely savoury flavour).
  4. This dish is delicious served hot in warmed bowls for a main meal.  We also like the pasta cold and pack any leftovers into lunchboxes for the following day.

 

There are many more recipes in the tibits cookbook that I’m looking forward to trying, including the vegetable jambalaya, red rice salad, coconut and peanut fritters, and goa curry.  All sound utterly delicious!

Giveaway Time!

It didn’t seem fair that I was the only one to sample this beautiful cookbook, so tibits have kindly offered another copy that I can give away to you, my lovely blog readers :)

There are three ways of entering:

  1. Leave me a comment below.
  2. Share this post on FB, by clicking on the ‘like’ button below (and leave me a comment below stating that you have done so).
  3. Share this post on Twitter with something like “Check out @Goodstuffsharon for tibits at home cookbook giveaway” (and leave me a comment below stating that you have done so).

If you enter all three ways, you’ll triple your chances of winning!

Sorry international readers, but this giveaway is UK only.

The closing date is Thursday, 16th May 2013 at midnight GMT.  Good luck everyone!

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by | April 26, 2013

Maple Pecan Granola

Today, I’d like to share one of Lil’ L’s all-time favourite breakfasts.

I started making home-made granola about five years ago in response to Lil’ L’s dislike for the dried fruits that appear in shop-bought granolas.  After a week of picking out the raisins from a granola before serving it to him, I decided that life was far too short to waste time picking out dried fruit and that I would have a try at making my own granola instead!   By making it myself, I would be able to tailor the granola to suit all our tastes.  Lil’ L loves nutty granola, I love a mix of nuts and dried fruits, while M will eat anything ;)

Granola

By making our own, we could also omit the refined sugars and oils that are found in shop-bought granolas and replace them with healthy, natural alternatives.

Maple Pecan Granola Ingredients

For breakfast, we love serving this granola with non dairy milk or yoghurt (Alpro’s Pouring Yoghurts are lush!)

Maple Pecan Granola

They also look great when layered with yoghurt and fruit in a parfait.  We serve these as breakfast, dessert or even a post-school snack.

Berry Granola Parfait

It’s so simple to make your own granola.  In fact, with very little assistance, the kids could easily make their own!  Lil’ L prefers his granola to be “chunky clusters” and we’ve found a simple method of doing this which we’ve set out below.

Makes approximately 5 cups

Hands on time: 5-10 minutes    Cooking time: 35-40 minutes

Ingredients

300g / 10½ oz / 3 cups rolled oats (use GF oats for those with a gluten intolerance)

100 g / 3½ oz / ½ cup buckwheat groats* (washed and drained)

27g / 1oz / ¼ cup dessicated coconut

63g / 2¼ oz / ½ cup chopped pecans

27g / 1 oz / ¼ cup flaked almonds

3 tbsp unrefined sugar (I use coconut palm sugar)

½-1 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of ground nutmeg

¼ tsp sea salt

150ml / 5 fl oz / ½ cup maple syrup (or other natural liquid sweetener, such as Sweet Freedom Fruit Syrup or agave syrup. I often use a mix of Clarks Original Maple Syrup and Sweet Freedom)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 tbsp virgin coconut oil, liquefied (to liquefy the oil I place it in a heat proof bowl in the oven while it is warming up)

*I add buckwheat to my granolas as it’s a great source of protein and adds another dimension of texture. In the UK, it’s available in the wholefoods section of Tesco and from health food stores.  If you can’t get hold of buckwheat, you can substitute with another ½ cup of oats or other grain.

 Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 150C (130C fan) / 300F / Gas 2. Line a large baking tray (38cm x 26cm / 15 inch x 10 inch) with non-stick baking paper.

2.  In a large bowl, mix together the oats, buckwheat, dessicated coconut, nuts, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir until well mixed.

3.  Mix the maple syrup and vanilla extract together, then stir it into the dry ingredients. Add the coconut oil and stir until the grains are thoroughly coated.

4.  Spread the granola out evenly on the prepared baking tray. Press down with a spatula, the back of a spoon or your fingers so that the mixture sticks together (as if you were making a thin granola bar). Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the granola has lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool (it will firm up as it cools). Gently break up the granola into clusters and transfer to an airtight container.

5.This cereal is delicious served with non-dairy milk or yoghurt. Mix in your favourite nuts, seeds and fruits for added nutrition and yumminess.

Maple Crunch Granola - 500 copy

Last Christmas, I thought I’d treat Lil’ L to some “luxury” shop-bought granola.  I bought two different brands for him, both of which included a selection of his favourite nuts and no dried fruits.  It turns out he didn’t like either of them as they were “way too sugary”!  Instead, he asked whether he could have some of our home-made granola.  Since we’d run out, he was even prepared to postpone his Christmas Day breakfast for 45 minutes until a fresh batch was baked!  I wasn’t expecting to be making granola on Christmas morning but I was happy to oblige. Thank goodness it only takes a few minutes to prepare!  We won’t be buying shop-bought granolas any more.  Home made is best by a long shot!

Have a great weekend everyone xx

Do you make your own granolas?  If so, what is your favourite flavour combination? If you have any published recipes, please do link up below. 

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