Tag: plantbased nutrition

Quick, Easy & Nutritious Leftover Meals from Veggie Lentil Casserole & Vegetable Protein Bolognese Sauce

You know when you’ve made too much and there’s not quite enough left over for another full serving next day? We always keep the smallest amount of leftovers and make sure it’s reused somehow. It might be my upbringing that renders me unable to throw food away, but regardless, I can’t bring myself to do it when so many go hungry. Anyway, last week, I had leftovers three days running. Twice! (But the second time from a different starting point, if you see what I mean).

The first basic meal was a Veggie Lentil Casserole with Peanut Butter Gravy (see below): sweet potato, cauliflower + stalks, green lentils (pre-soaked to ease digestion), chestnut mushrooms, leek + leaves, peas, vegetable stock, mixed herbs, low salt yeast extract, peanut butter.

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Next day, I had leftovers using just the ‘innards’ (as my dad used to call the solids in a stew) with quinoa and wilted spinach (sorry, forgot to take a photo), reserving most of the leftover gravy which was used on the third day when I had baked sweet potato, vegan sausages* and vegetables.

The Courgetti Bolognese below and Rice Bowl Leftovers (further down the page) resulted from an original meal combining a vegetable protein bolognese sauce with basmati rice and vegan parmesan cheaze** (see Courgetti Bolognese ft Hanna’s Vegetable Protein Sauce.)

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We cooked far too much brown basmati rice, too much sauce and blended a jar full of vegan parmesan, so I ended up having it in different forms for two more meals. This is the first, using the extra sauce and cheaze with spiralised courgetti spaghetti.

Pictured below is the second, a rice bowl using up some avocado leftover from juicing in the morning. I knew that despite covering it in lemon juice it wouldn’t last until next day, and there were also some mung bean sprouts that needed using up.

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They were all promptly turned into this rice bowl salad. The brown basmati rice is on the bottom, then we layered chopped cucumber, grated carrot, avocado, beansprouts and cherry tomato. A tamari and olive oil dressing was drizzled over it and the vegan parmesan sprinkled on top, as well as black pepper. And Bob’s your uncle! This recipe does what it says on the can: quick, easy and nutritious. If we hadn’t run out, I might have added pine kernels or pistachios too. Great for a satisfying lunch or light dinner.

And if you want a nutritional breakdown, you have protein, antioxidants (they help fight arterial plaque and disease), B vitamins, Vitamin C, minerals, Vitamin E, lycopene (helps prevent cancer), healthy fats, fibre and tons of slow-released energy.

*See Vegan Leek, Carrot & Ginger Sausages and Vegan ‘Cheesy’ Almond, Leek & Herb Sausages

*Vegan parmesan cheaze: blend blanched almonds which have been patted dry, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, black pepper and whatever spice you might like. It will keep for quite a while in an airtight jar in the fridge, I had the last of it a week later.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Vegan ‘Cheesy’ Almond, Leek & Herb Sausages

28064800_UnknownMany years ago, Delia Smith’s cookery books became our bible and a particular family favourite was and remains her vegetarian Cheesy Herb Sausages. My husband makes them every week. Our daughter-in-law was introduced to them when she joined our family and now makes a personal request for them when she comes to visit.

Since becoming vegan and gluten-free, however, I’ve had to forego this pleasure and usually have a bought alternative (I like Dee’s Wholefoods) when family come to stay and choose something else when it’s just us.

When I was still vegetarian, but had to become gluten-free, my husband offered several times to make an alternative with gluten-free bread, but commercial g/f bread has an aftertaste that dominates whatever you use it in and I never wanted to use up the homemade bread for this as it is time-consuming for him to make (I can’t do it because of my back injury) and I also didn’t want him to have to make two lots of different sausages.

Now that I am vegan and he has also given up eggs (but not cheese yet, we are getting there slowly), and we are more used to vegan cooking, we decided to try making some Delia-lite sausages using a chia egg and nutritional yeast. It was surprisingly easy and came together quickly. Chia egg is quite a miracle worker when it comes to needing a binding agent to replace real eggs in burgers and sausages.

I chose leek rather than onion for several reasons: I find onion difficult to digest; onion, unless you grate it, often doesn’t cook properly in homemade sausages while leek doesn’t dominate and also blends with the mixture better, it holds together well.

These are our first attempt and we were very pleased with them. They are firm, tasty and satisfying.

Watch out for our second version:  Vegan Leek, Carrot and Ginger Sausages, even better!

Makes about 8 depending on size.

Vegan, Gluten-free and Organic where possible.

Ingredients

2.5 oz / A third of a Cup Almonds, soaked,  rinsed and patted dry, then roughly grind with:

2 Heaped Tbsps Nutritional Yeast

1 Tsp Dry Mustard

1 Tsp Thyme

1 Tsp Sage

Add together in a processor with:

5 oz/ Gluten-free Breadcrumbs*

Pink Himalayan Salt & Black Pepper to taste

1 Small Leek, finely chopped

1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

A Splash of Tamari

1 Chia Egg (1 Tbsp Chia Seeds soaked in 3 Tbsps Water to form a gel)

Process all the ingredients for a few seconds until the mixture will stick together but still has some texture, squeeze into sausage shapes.

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Refrigerate for a while until needed.

Lightly cook in coconut oil, turning frequently (the sausages, that is, but  you can do a twirl now and then if you like while you’re waiting!).

We put some uncooked ones in the freezer for another day.

*Vegan Gluten-Free Tiger Nut Loaf/Bread Mk III

Copyright: Chris McGowan