Meat-Free Monday: The Controversial Edition - Salmon Fritters

source: Food

Now, there seem to be two ways of thinking on this. Some people are vegetarian and eat fish, others believe that fish falls under the meat category and think true vegetarians do not eat seafood. Me? I eat meat and really have no opinion either way, but unless people ask me not to, I may occasionally include a fish dish in my Meat-Free Mondays, simply because I have so many good ones and they are cheap and easy (which is the whole point of these recipes anyway).

These salmon fritters are packed full of vegie goodnes, but please don't tell Isla because they are hands-down her favourite thing to eat. I make them for her probably once a fortnight, and Sparky and I eat them too. Usually will salad or steamed vegies.

You need:


a 400g tin pink salmon - drained, flaked, bones removed
a large carrot
a couple of potatoes
a zucchini
an onion
an egg
plain flour
vege oil

1. Pop the salmon into a large bowl. Grate up the carrot, zucchini, onion and potatoes and add to the bowl.

2. Combine with the egg and a couple of tablespoons of plain flour. Season and mix well.

3. Take spoonfuls of the mixture and roll into balls.

4. Heat a centimetre or two of vege oil in a frypan and pop the salmon fritters in in batches. Shallow-fry for a few minutes, then flip and cook through on the other side. Drain on paper towel.

Seriously tasty and so yummy on a sandwich the next day too. Hopefully this didn't offend anyone!!

Meat-free Monday: Carrot and Zucchini Fritters

Here at Lavender HQ, we're trying to cut down on our weekly grocery spend, and one way we're doing this is by eating one or two extra meat-free meals a week. Not only is meat one the priciest parts of our weekly shop, but it also adds to the footprint of our groceries too. (But budget is the main factor here, let's be honest).

These carrot and zuchini fritters sound really, really bland and boring but to be honest we all enjoyed them. Isy even ate a couple, which is a bonus. Plus, they're a super easy, one bowl-one pan wonder.

source

You need: 


1 carrot, coarsely grated
1 zucchini, coarsely grated
a handful frozen peas
1 tsp ground cumin
pinch of salt
1 tbs chopped fresh herbs (we used parsely)
1 beaten egg
2 tbs flour

(Greek yoghurt and coriander, to serve)


Mix all the ingredients together. Heat a few tablespoons of vege oil in a pan and drop tablespoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil. Gently fry for 2-4 minutes, flip and cook until golden and cooked through. Drain on paper towel.


Serve with yoghurt and coriander.

We also had ours with some veges or salad. Seriously satisfying. And I didn't expect it to be.

Meat-Free Monday: Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Soup

image from jiffy cat

So the weather has turned autumny and Sparky and I have turned to soups and stews and casseroles in a big way. The meat-free challenge is really on now, because there's something super satisfying about a big, hearty beef casserole when the weather's a bit miserable.

This soup is one of my favourites. I'm actually not a big pumpkin soup fan, but the sweet potato and cumin in this one make it really tasty. Plus, as always, it's easy peasy.

You'll need:


1 kg butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped
300g sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
30g butter
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp brown sugar
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper
chives and cream to serve

1. Heat butter in large pan. Add onion, pumpkin and sweet potato. Cover and cook on low for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add spices and sugar and cook for about 5 minutes more.

3. Add stock and bring to the boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Using a stick mixer, puree the soup in the pot (alternatively, blend in batches using a blender, then return to the pot). Season to taste and add the cream. Reheat gently without boiling.

5. Top with extra cream and chives.

Meat-Free Monday: Roast Veges, Couscous + Feta

Another Meat-Free Monday meal that I love. It's super easy, so deliciously tasty and helps you use up whatever veges you have left rolling around in the crisper.

I guess you could replace the couscous with brown rice or quinoa (I know both are better for you) but on a cold, rainy night like tonight, the hearty, buttery goodness of couscous rocks my socks.

You'll need:

a packet of couscous
olive oil
butter
sweet potato
pumpkin
carrot
zucchini
eggplant
(*in terms of veges, I always use sweet potato, but everything else is fluid - whatever you have on hand or whatever your favourites are. beetroot would probably be awesome too)
kalamata olives
feta cheese
rocket/mint/parsley

1. Cut up your veges into 1-2cm chunks and put onto a large baking tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and put into preheated oven (200C) for around 40 minutes. Toss after about 20 minutes.

2. Prepare your couscous as per packet instructions.

3. Pour couscous into large bowl, add the veges, olives, feta and rocket. Combine with a little lemon juice if desired.

We serve it hot, but it is really yummy as cold leftover too. This is a beautiful, comforting meal in itself, but you could add lentils or chickpeas too.

Meat-free Monday: Hearty Vegetable Soup

The weather here last week was ridiculously cold. Like middle-of-winter cold. And this easy-peasy vege soup came in great handy. Added bonus: you can replace/add extra any veges you like. It's a good way to use up leftover veges that may be rattling around in the crisper.

This quantity made enough for 2 meals for Sparky, Isy and myself, plus a little leftover for my lunch.

You'll need:


1 tbsp butter
1 carrot, chopped
1 potato, chopped
green beans, chopped
* in last week's version, I used potato, sweet potato, zucchini, squash, peas and carrot*
1 onion, finely sliced
400g can crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 cups vege stock
thyme
2 tsp sugar
300g can butter beans, rinsed and drained

1. Heat butter in large pan, add onion, stirring starting to soften. Add veges and undrained tomatoes. Cook, stirring until onion is soft.

2. Stir in blended flour and tomato paste, then add stock, thyme and sugar.

3. Stir over heat until soup boils and begins to thicken, then simmer uncovered until veges are tender. Stir through butter beans.

That's it! And another bonus, like most soups and stews, this one tasted even better the next night. (I love leftovers!)

For other Meat-Free Monday meals, click here.

Meat-Free Monday: Tuna Pasta

I've done it again. Fish in Meat Free Mondays. I am living on the edge, I know. Tut, tut.

Facetiousness aside, this Jamie Oliver inspired meal is one of the best, easiest, tastiest pastas going round. Trust me, it'll find its way into your repertoire in no time!

You'll need:


large tin of tuna in olive oil
onion, chopped
garlic, crushed
chilli flakes (optional)
cinnamon
basil - stems chopped and leaves torn roughly
bottle of passata (or Dolmio Classic Tomato Pasta Sauce - it's really tasty, no preservatives, additives etc)
fusilli or similar pasta
salt and pepper

1. Cook the garlic, onion and chilli for a few minutes in some olive oil. Add the basil stems and about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Cook for another couple of minutes.

2. Roughly drain the tuna and flake it with a fork. Add to the pan, along with the passata or pasta sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

3. Cook your pasta, drain and add to the pan. Combine with the sauce, season and throw through some basil leaves.

4. Top with more basil, pepper and parmesan.

Cue mouth watering.

Cheap-As Tuesday: Tuna and Vege Pie

My Meat-Free Monday resources are slowly drying up, and I'm needing to find some more quick, cheap and easy meat-free options. In the meantime though, I though I'd start posting some of my favourite thrifty meals, as this is where I come into my own. Sorry, Margaret Fulton, but I can feed my family for less than that tenner in your hand!

 

Tonight's dinner is actually a "kids" dinner, but Sparky and I dig it too, so it's win-win!

You'll need:

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

large tin tuna, flaked and drained

1+ cup of grated cheese

1 onion, finely diced 

1+ cups frozen veges (I use peas, carrots and corn)

OR tin corn kernels, drained

1 egg, lightly beaten

1. Combine tuna, onion, veges and cheese in a bowl.

2. Put one sheet of pastry in the bottom of a greased baking dish, and fill with the tuna mix.

3. Season if you'd like, then place the second sheet of pastry over the top, pinching/tucking it into the side of the dish, to get a fairly good seal.

4. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and put into a preheated oven (200C) for around 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and flaky and the filling is bubbling away.

We have ours with steamed veges, but it would be yummo with homemade chips, baked sweet potato or salad too.

Meat-free Monday, on a Tuesday: Zucchini Pasta

source

This is one of mine and Sparky's all-time favourite easy vege meals. We would eat this at least once a fortnight because it's simple, quick, tasty and relatively cheap.

You'll need:


3-5 anchovies (optional, but highly recommended. you don't have chunks of anchovy floating around, it just gives a beautiful saltiness to the sauce)
1-2 red chillis or chilli flakes (optional)
olive oil
garlic
kalamata olives
capers
3-4 good sized zucchinis, grated
pasta (fusilli is good for this but any short pasta is a-ok)
parmesan
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the garlic, chilli and anchovies. Break the anchovies up with a wooden spoon.

2. Once the anchovies have broken down (a minute or two) add a couple of tablespoons of capers and a couple of good handfuls of olives. Cook for a couple of minutes.

3. Add some extra olive oil, salt and pepper. Add your grated zucchini to the hot pan and saute for a couple of minutes.

4. Drain your pasta and toss into the zucchini sauce. Stir to coat.

5. Serve with some extra olive oil, salt, pepper and a good bit of parmesan.

Seriously, so so good.

Things I Have Learnt

So I was struck down with a super nasty tummy bug on Friday (hence the radio silence) and spent a fair bit of the weekend looking after Isy, who also got sick, and tackling a hefty mound of gross laundry after I recovered. Fun, you say? Of course!

Despite the yick-factor, we actually had a really nice weekend. The weather was delicious on Sunday, which meant lots of outdoors, plus getting through a heap of tiny projects we've never gotten around to since moving back in post-renovation. Things like hanging curtains in the kids' rooms, putting some bits and pieces up on the walls of the living room, fixing the laundry shelf. You know, really exciting stuff.

Things I learnt on the weekend, in no particular order:

- After rubbishing castile soap as a shampoo, I am now having to eat my words, as I've discovered it is the best shampoo going for my short short hair. It kind of makes it feel like salty beach hair and not 100% clean, which is good when my hair is short because super clean hair = boofy = hair helmet. My apologies, Dr Bronner.

- There is no such thing as an ill-timed Christmas party.

- Never underestimate how many people are searching the Google for a 160cm Salomon Snowboard. (Hi guys!)

- Even though meatballs and bolegnaise have virtually the same ingredients, meatballs win. Every time.

- Using craft leftovers for more craft is ridiculously satisfying.

- A paper crown could well make someone's day.

- Sweet peas are incredibly easy to grow (so far). Plus, I shouldn't underestimate how good gardening is for the soul.

- A liberal spray with vinegar and water will get rid of unpleasant smells.

- Pretty things on the wall make me happy. Even more so when some of them have been made by me and Isy.

Meat-Free Monday coming up shortly!

Meat-free Monday: Quesadillas are good for a Friday. Written on a Tuesday.

My own (read: bastardised) version of Sally's delicious vege quesadillas. So awesomely awesome for a Friday night spent drinking porter and watching Arrested Development. Rock and/or roll.

1. Grate up your vegies of choice. Or whatever remains in the fridge at the time of cooking. We used squash, zucchini, corn, carrot and sweet potato. 


*Awesome side-note: leave the skin on your carrot, sweet potatoes etc. Much of the fibre and goodness in these vegies is in the skin. And you can't taste any difference. (Wash them first of course.)

2. Olive oil and garlic in a pan. Let them do their thing for a second.

3. Throw in your vegies and give them a good ten minutes. Stir occasionally.

4. Add half a can of refried beans (I know! Really though.) A full can is pretty salty so we cut down on account of the little one. Give it another few minutes.


5. Take a tortilla (we use wholegrain - you feel virtuous while eating, it's great) and spread some of the vegie mix over half of it. Sprinkle with grated cheese and fold in half. Repeat for as many as you need.

6. Heat some oil in a frypan. Pop the tortillas in the pan one or two at a time. Fry on one side for 2-3 minutes and flip to the other side. Cook for another minute or two.

7. Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

Delish.

** Quick guacamole: 1-2 avocadoes mashed up, 1-2 tomatoes diced up, a squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Mix together. Deliciousness in a bowl. We have it on toast regularly.

We would have this at least once every three weeks. Its cheap because you can use up your left over vegies and it's healthy. Win-win.

Meat-Free Monday: Spinach, Rice and Feta Pie

Image: Cheap, Healthy, Good.

Hearty, easy and yummy. Tick, tick and tick. Especially good if you have leftover rice from the night before.

You'll need:

2 tsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp plain flour
pinch salt
pinch pepper
1.5 cups milk
2 cups cooked rice (basmati or brown are both fine)
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
olive oil
parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 200C

2. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion for a few minutes.

3. Add flour, salt and pepper. Gradullay add the milk, stirring with a whisk until blended.

4. Simmer the mixture for a minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rice, spinach, feta, egg and egg whites. Combine well.

5. Pour mixture into greased pie dish and sprinkle with grated parmesan.

6. Cook for about 30-35 minutes.

This gives Sparky, Isy and myself enough for dinner plus lunch or dinner the next day, so it's super good value too. We usually have it with salad or some steamed veges. Enjoy!!!

I really hate packaging

Except when it is this pretty.

I bought a couple of Orla Kiely pillowcases (on sale! I would never pay $80 for pillowcases, but $10, why, sure, thank you, Mr Myer!) and while I love them, it was actually the packaging that first caught my eye. I need to come up with some way of reusing this sweet little box.


I had planned on doing something with it over the weekend, as I had planned to do many other things (go out for yum cha, clean out the bathroom cabinet, have a sleep on the grass) but, alas, none of those were to be. I did get to go out for a few hours on Saturday night and catch my brother-in-law's gig in Newtown though. Super fun! And eating a meal out after 8:30pm while having a glass of wine was way novel.

Aside from that, I watched the Royal Wedding, we started the little man on rice cereal yesterday, I listed some stuff for sale on Ebay (more to come this week. I'm trying to keep up on my "Get rid of five things a week" challenge but it's, well, challenging) and I've been brainstorming craft projects and homemade gift ideas for Mother's Day and my nieces and nephews birthdays.

I hope you all had wonderful weekends?

Meat-free Monday coming up a little later. x

Meat-Free Monday (on a Tuesday): Corn and Avocado Salad

Ahoy and apologies for  the lateness of this post! The end of Daylight Savings has wreaked havoc (!!!) with the kids and the last couple of days have been...interesting.

Sleep deprivation aside, this recipe is, strictly speaking, a salad that's a perfect complement to homemade chicken nuggets or pan-fried fish, but Sparky and I regularly have it with just some crusty sourdough for a healthy, quick dinner. Particularly good for a weekend.

You need:

2 avocadoes
2-3 corn cobs
2 tomoatoes
a tin of red kidney beans
lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
coriander

1. Pop the corn into a saucepan, just cover with water and pop it on the stove. Once boiling, let it cook for around 8 minutes, or til tender.

2. Chop up your avocado and tomatoes and add to a bowl.

3. Drain and rinse kidney beans and pop into bowl.

4. Once the corn is cooked and cool enough to handle, slice off the corn and add to the bowl.

5. Add a squirt of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil, plus some salt and pepper. Give it a mix and then add a good handful of coriander (or maybe do this after serving, if your kids are eating it too and are not keen on the flavour of coriander).

6. Eat it as is or add to some crunchy sourdough toast.

Deceptively tasty for such a simple meal. And also really super satisfying. It may be 7:43am right now, but I'd totally eat a huge bowl of this.

Lessons from the School of Life

Over the past week I have learned:

The best thing to remove an entire tub of Sudocream from every surface in your lounge room is, in fact, baby wipes.

Removing Sudocream from your toddlers' hair is an altogether trickier exercise.

If you should happen to get cherry red spray paint all over your white bath, straight vinegar will, thankfully, remove it.

If you should happen to get cherry red spray paint on your favourite pair of jeans, you should add some white and some orange spray paint and just go with it, sister. It could be a new thing.

It is perfectly acceptable to eat French toast for breakfast on a Monday, even though you feel like it should be a Sundays-only thing.

Sometimes it's OK to cross out one item on your to-do list and replace it with "Drink beer". 

The weekend here was filled with family, cleaning, painting, haircut expeditions, a quick pub lunch. It was all round lovely. Plus the weather is amazing right now, so we lapped it up.

I hope yours was lovely and wonderful too?

Meat-free Monday coming up soon (I know, on a Monday and everything!).

Repurposing: Art by Repetition

via design*sponge

A few weeks ago, I spotted this amazing piece of art featured on design*sponge. It was made using bus or train tickets (admitedly very cool and colourful tickets from San Fransisco, but tickets nonetheless) and it got me thinking about what I could put together, using otherwise unused multiples.

I have a bajillion plastic bits and bobs in the storeroom, left over from my Trove days, and these white plastic squares were perfect and easy to put together. I just used tiny balls of Blutack to stick them to the kraft paper, so I was able to reposition them if need be.

Obviously, this one and its twin still need to be hung on the living room wall, but I was so taken with the idea of using everyday or unused items in multiples to create a piece of art or a wall hanging, that I had to share. 

Other possibilities are:

- train/ferry/bus tickets
- buttons
- ribbon
- wool/string
- drinking straws
- bottle tops
- corks
- confetti

via Sharon Whelton on Etsy

Apologies for no Meat-Free Monday yesterday. I've been struck with this tummy bug again and the last thing I wanted to consider was food. It'll be back next week though!!