Week 4:

Breakfast:

Corn Flakes

Lunch:

Triple Chocolate Muffin and a Biscotti (I’d forgotten it was a Meat Free Monday and gone to a Coffee shop. My plan was to have a ham and cheese Panini, but I remembered it had meat in it!)

Dinner:

Veggie Chilli

Ingredients:

1 Large Red Onion
2 Green Peppers
1 Courgette
Handful of Mushrooms
400g Tin of Tomatos
Discovery Chilli Mix
Chilli Powder
Dave’s Gourmet Temporary Insanity Hot Sauce
Brown Rice
1 Large Tortilla

Verdict:

I was a little disappointed with my lunch. I’d completely forgotten and not planned anything, so ended up eating rubbish instead.

My dinner was really nice! It was very spicy though. The instructions on the hot sauce I added says to add one drop at a time. I like things spicy, so I put a cap full in! I think this was where I went wrong. It was that hot it gave me a nose bleed! Honestly! I don’t think at any point during the meal that I actually thought about meat. It was obviously lacking in a pound of beef mince, but I can’t say I thought about it.

Next Week: Veggie Spaghetti (Take Two)

Week 3:

Breakfast:

Coco Shreddies

Lunch:

Red Lentil Soup

Dinner:

Homemade Mushroom burgers

Ingredients:

2 large Portobello mushrooms
1 Ciabatta
Rocket Salad
Cumbrian cheese
Red Onion
Hand full of spicy chilli wedges

Verdict:

I’ve had Red Lentil Soup 3 weeks on the trot now and it’s still yummy.

I thought my dinner was pretty good! A lot better than what I was expecting! I thought it was going to taste a bit bland, but actually it was pretty flavoursome. I thought it had a bit of a bitter taste, but I think that was down to the rocket salad. I’m thinking about making this at the weekend for the missus as it was that tasty!

I would definitely recommend it

Next Week: Veggie Chilli

Week 2:

Breakfast:

Cheerios / Honey Nut Shredded Wheat (I had about half a bowl left in both boxes. So thought I’d mix them)

Lunch:

Red Lentil Soup

Dinner:

After my disappointing attempt at cooking something veggie last week, I thought I’d cook something I knew I was 100% Guaranteed to enjoy… Home-made Penne Pasta. I’ve cooked this quite a few times before, but I’ve always used either bacon or chicken when making it. I thought I’d give it ago without any meat what so ever instead of using a meat substitute.

Ingredients:

Tin of Tomatoes
tsp Basil
tsp Oregano
tsp Paprika
2 cloves of garlic
Good old glug of Nandos Hot sauce
2 cups of Penne pasta
1 Yellow pepper
1 Red Onion.

Verdict:

The red lentil soup was brilliant as always.

My dinner was brilliant. Everything was very tasty thanks to the garlic, and their was just the right amount of spice in it. This is the first time I’ve ever made my own tomato sauce from scratch, and I think I pulled it off. I’d bought two Dolmio sachets just in case, but I definitely didn’t need them.

I would definitely have this again if I were to carry on having Meat Free Mondays and I can honestly say that I didn’t miss the meat.

That’s a Win in my books!

Next Week: Homemade Mushroom Burgers

Week 1:

Breakfast:

Cheerios

Lunch:

Red Lentil Soup

Dinner:

I thought I’d kick start my Meat Free Monday challenge by making one of my favourite dishes: Spaghetti Bolognese.

I love this dish. If their were such a thing as “Desert Island food”, this would be the dish I would take with me. Of course, Desert Island Food sounds like a stupid idea, and in practicality, you’d be better off taking CDs rather than food. At least you can use the CDs more than once and use then as a mirror to flag down passing planes. The way I’ve made Spaghetti Bolognese has changed quite a lot in the last few years as my tastes have changed, and simply because I don’t want to get bored of it. I used to used beef mince, but instead I now use Pork mince. Partly because I prefer the taste and it’s a little bit leaner than beef. I no longer put sweetcorn in it as I’ve kind of gone of sweetcorn recently. I never used to mix the pasta into the sauce, but now I find I enjoy the pasta more when it’s all mixed together and not just I’ve also added more vegetables and reduced the amount of meat I actually use to make it a bit more healthy.

After reading a fairly positive review on Quorn’s Mince in Spaghetti Bolognese, I thought I’d give this a go.

Ingredients:

Quorn Mince (What is Quorn?)
1 Jar of Ragu Original Bolognese sauce
Cup of Pasta twists
1 Courgette
1 Red Onion
1 Red Pepper
Hand full of mushrooms
Nandos Hot sauce

Verdict:

I really enjoyed my lunch. My girlfriend made the Red Lentil Soup at the weekend and she uses all sorts of spices in it. Perfect after a long cold walk.

I’ll break my dinner down into categories to make it easier…
Smell: Quorn doesn’t really smell of anything. On opening the pack of mince, I was expecting something quite potent to come rushing out of it, instead of the dull, slightly musty smell that did eventually come out of it.
Taste: Non-existent. It doesn’t taste of anything either. It does however absorb what ever it is you are cooking it in. I used quite a lot of spices and a tomato sauce, but still it didn’t taste of anything.
Texture: Like polystyrene balls. I found the mince quite rubbery and didn’t disintegrate when you chewed it. I kept finding bits in my teeth and in the crevices in my mouth for a good while after.
Comparison to meat: It doesn’t compare. Full stop.

I would say this wasn’t a very successful first attempt, as I found it disgusting, bland and just generally unpleasent. It’s rare for me to leave any food on my plate, but I left the majority of it. I think I had around 3 mouth fulls, then found myself picking at the pasta before leaving it. I wish I’d not have bothered putting the Quorn mince in to be honest. I should have just stopped and left it when it was purely vegetables. I think I might try this again on the last week. I might make it again but without any mince and see how that goes.

Next Week: Homemade Penne Pasta