Meat free week - need your recipe inspiration!

I've been trying to eat a lot less meat lately, with varying degrees of success. Late last year someone alerted me to Meat Free Week, on from 18-24 March 2013. I was intrigued and thought what a great idea.

We'll be eating lots of these during meat free week!  

And these...

Well, it's almost that time. 

Eek!

I'm not at all organised, and need some serious help in getting together a tasty repertoire of meat-free meals to feed myself, my mega-carnivore hubby [who, unless he reads this blog post, won't actually know what's happening until it does... mwah ha ha...], and my ultra-mega-carnivore and super picky 12yo stepson.

Our week of meat-free awesomeness is going to run from Friday 15 March - Thursday 21 March.

This is a meat-free fave 

And so is lentil-bol

Needless to say, I'm quite pleased wine is meat-free. Particularly as we have Mr12 here for half of that time.

I'm really curious to see how we all go.

If you have any meat-free favourites, please let me know. The more "meaty" the better. And if it has tofu or tempeh please don't bother sending it. Absolutely can't stand either of them.

THANK YOU! And stay tuned to see how we fare...

Lentil-bol

I love lentils. And I really don't cook with them often enough. And I don't know why. They are easy to cook, cheap, full of fibre and other stuff nutritionists love, low in calories, and really, really yummy!

When I was a kid, mum used to always add lentils to her spag bol to add extra "goodness" and to make the mince go further. I say "goodness" because I really wasn't a lentil lover until probably my early 20s. However I did love her spag bol. Despite years of trying I've never been able to replicate the flavour. Maybe one day...

Anyway, this dish is my version of lentil-bol. Sans mince as I'm trying to cut down the amount of meat I eat.

Lentil-bol. All it needed was a glass of red!

Ingredients

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
• 1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
• 150g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 x 400g can of lentils, drained and rinsed
• 2 x 400g cans of diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water or red wine
• dash of tabasco
• teaspoon or 2 of herbs/spices - I used chipotle spice, but you could use Italian herbs, paprika, cumin or whatever takes your fancy
• pasta {I like spaghetti or linguine or fettucine}
• parmesan cheese for serving

What you do

• Heat the oil in a medium-large frypan on medium heat
• Add the onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes until pale {stir so it doesn't catch}
• Add the red pepper and mushroom and stir through for 2 minutes
• Add the lentils, tomatoes, water/red wine, tabasco and herbs and spices, stir to combine
• Lower the heat, cover the frypan and let the mixture simmer for 30-45 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes or so
• About 10-15 minutes before you want to eat, cook the pasta according to directions. 
• Serve up and sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top. 

This is even better a day or two after it's been made {I love it for lunch too}. It would be PERFECT with a glass of red, but as I'm trying to have 5 alcohol free days a week while I'm doing my 12 week body transformation challenge, I refrained. Yes, I know. Very unlike me.

This serves 4, and if you are doing the 12wbt, it's about 160 calories per serve - without the wine, pasta or parmesan {I know, I know, all the good stuff *sigh*}. Also very yummy served over a baked potato or sweet potato. 

What is your favourite way of eating lentils? 

Home made baked beans

OK. It's confession time. I've never liked baked beans. There. I've said it. Ick. No, double ick. Which was unfortunate growing up because they were loved by a particular member who used to "encourage" me to try them in the belief that sooner or later my tastes would change.

Well, the good news is that my tastebuds now DO love baked beans, but only the homemade variety, not the ones out of a can. Sorry Mr Heinz.

The first time I tried proper baked beans was when I lived in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada {I won't be surprised if you haven't heard of Brandon - it's a small city in the middle of Canada. Freezing in winter, very hot in summer. I loved it.}. I was there on a Rotary Exchange after high school, and one of my host mums {moms} was from Quebec where baked beans are revered.

I'm sure you can imagine my "delight" when I came home from school one afternoon to be excitedly told by my host sisters that we were having baked beans for dinner.  All I could think of was "gee, yum" {insert appropriate sarcasm levels}.

Well, I was SO WRONG. They were AMAZING. Made from scratch {soaked, cooked beans and all} and baked for at least 8 hours in the oven.

My baked beans recipe below is quite a bit spicier than I remember Odette's being. I also cheated and used tinned beans, and cooked them on the stove top rather than in the oven - it was a hot day in February rather than the -30c it was in Brandon! So it took about 2 hours not 8.

Simmering on the stove - I used a flattish casserole dish

What you need:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 red onion, peeled and chopped into smallish pieces
• 150g bacon, rind and fat removed, diced {or chopped into smallish pieces as per my description above when my brain forgot the word I was looking for...!}
• 3 tins cannellini beans
• 1 tin crushed or chopped tomatoes
• 1 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce, chopped finely {optional, but try and find them as they add a gorgeous smokey heat to the dish}
• 3 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbs golden syrup
• 2 tbs tomato sauce {ketchup}
• 1 tbs Worcester sauce
• salt and pepper

What you do:

• In a large frypan or casserole dish heat the oil {using a medium heat}, then add the onion and bacon. Cook, stirring every minute or so, for about 5-6 minutes, until cooked
• Add all the other ingredients {in the order listed above} and stir gently. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat all the way down to low so the mixture is simmering slowly. 
• Cover with a lid and let it simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring every 15-30 minutes. If it looks like it is drying out, add some water. 
• My favourite serving option is to have it with a poached egg for breakfast. You could also serve it with crusty bread or a salad. 

If you are a vegetarian or don't eat pork products, just leave out the bacon. And if you require gluten free, just make sure the bacon and the sauces comply.

Makes enough for a crowd. Or breakfast everyday for a bit over a week. The next batch I'll be portioning and freezing.

With the perfect poached egg on top - a completely sensational breakfast that keeps me full for ages!

I'll be making these again this week, as the aforementioned family member is coming for a visit. Let's hope he loves this version as much as I do.

BBQ Salmon - a Good Friday feast!

I had been wanting to cook a whole salmon on the BBQ for quite a while and decided that Good Friday would be the way to go! We had a friend coming for a late afternoon BBQ, and knowing how much she loves salmon, thought she would be a good guinea pig!

So on Thursday morning I wandered down to Super Butcher at Eagle Farm (yes, they now sell fish - I was intrigued - I thought I'd give it a go as their meat has always been top quality). A 4.5kg salmon later, I was home.

As I quickly realised I had overestimated how many people 4.5kg of salmon would feed, I invited a few others for our Good Friday feast! Yes, it's very convenient my brother and his family live nearby - and that they are all salmon lovers!

What do to with it was the next challenge. I decided simple would be key.

I (well, hubby) had to de-head Mr Salmon as it was too big for the biggest serving platter I had. A quick rinse later, and he was ready to be stuffed with fresh lemon (from the backyard tree), fresh dill and Italian parsley. I also put lemon, dill and parsley under and on top of the salmon so the flavours would be absorbed through. A bit of pepper, salt and olive oil and it was ready. As I was cooking on the BBQ I wanted it to be well wrapped - I used a layer of non-stick baking paper, then a layer of alfoil.

I preheated the BBQ to about 180c, put the salmon on an upturned roasting tray (so it was a few cm away from the heat), turned off the middle two burners, and closed the hood. Approximately 1 hour later it was cooked.

I served the salmon with baked potatoes and a couple of easy salads. And of course a few bottles of white wine.

Chickpea Salad
I absolutely LOVE chickpeas - and most legumes - and am determined to eat more of them. This seemed like a good excuse!

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed well
1 red pepper, washed and chopped
1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped
150-200g cherry tomatoes
100g baby spinach leaves

Mix all together. Add a splash of olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and some cracked pepper to taste. Mix well.

Broadbean, rocket and feta salad
I had a packet of broadbeans in the freezer that I bought to make a feta and broadbean dip. However, as another friend was bringing nibbles, I thought I'd use those ingredients in a salad instead. My sister-in-law Emma gave me the inspiration for this, as she makes practically the same salad but with peas (which I think came from a Jamie Oliver book originally). Anyway, it tasted pretty good, and I'll now be adding broadbeans to a lot more salads! Even though I underestimated the time it would take to peel them - talk about fiddly!

2 cups of frozen broadbeans, cooked according to packet and peeled
100g rocket (arugula)
100g feta cheese, crumbled

Place all in a bowl, add a splash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, cracked black pepper, and toss to combine.

The whole meal was delicious - but as we didn't even manage to eat half the salmon, I'm looking for some creative solutions for what to do with the rest of it!