Vegetarian – Page 43 – The Food Wife

Baby Oaty â€˜Carrot Cakeâ€™ Cookies

14th July 201820th August 2018
by thefoodwife

Makes 8-10

A quick and easy mix that makes delicious soft cookies which are great as a pudding or snack for your little one. They are perfect finger food for BLW and have no dairy, egg or added sugar.

You can play around with the flavours too, just keep the oat and banana ratio. Iâ€™ve also tried ones with grated apple and chopped glacÃ© cherries which went down well.

These need to be stored in the fridge after baking and will keep for a few days.

Ingredients:
100g oats (gluten-free if necessary)
2 ripe bananas, mushed with a fork
1 eating apple, grated
1 carrot, grated
25g sultanas
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180c and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Step 2: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl with a spoon.

Step 3: Put dessert- or table spoon-sized blobs of mixture onto your lined baking sheet and flatten to make a rough cookie shape (these wonâ€™t really spread as they cook so you are aiming for your finished product size and shape).

Step 4: Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Step 5: Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack before storing in a sealed bag or container in the fridge.

Quick and Easy Flat Breads

14th July 201825th September 2018
by thefoodwife

Makes 9 small flat breads

This is such a great recipe that you can fling together in just a few minutes and is so simple itâ€™s basically impossible to go wrong.

I have included a basic version here but there is nothing to stop you adding some flavourings such as spices or herbs. These would be great served with a variety of salads such as my Halloumi and Courgette Salad with a Lemon and Chilli dressing, or my Spiced Butternut Squash, Feta and Pomegranate Salad.

You can scale up and down the recipe as required. Youâ€™re probably aiming for two or three of these per person at this small size. Of course there is nothing stopping you making fewer but larger ones.

Ingredients:
6 heaped tbsp self-raising flour
6 heaped tbsp Greek yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil
A pinch of salt

Step 1: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a metal spoon to make a soft, spongey dough.

Step 2: Heat a non-stick frying pan on a medium high heat.

Step 3: Dust your hands with flour and take a heaped tbsp of the mixture and flatten between your hands until about 3mm thick.

Step 4: Place in the heated pan and cook on each side for about two minutes per side. It should expand slightly and brown slightly.

Step 5: Repeat with the rest of the mix and serve warm.

I found I could cook about three in the pan at once – just keep your hands dusted to ensure they donâ€™t stick.

N.b. I used a Greek yogurt in the flat breads which is very thick, if you are using a runnier yogurt you may well need to add more flour to create a doughy consistency that is not too sticky. Add a little extra at a time until you have a workable dough.

Veggie Kebabs in a Japanese Style Marinade

11th July 201811th July 2018
by thefoodwife

Makes 6 kebabs

When providing vegetarian or vegan fare for a barbecue it’s nice to offer something a little different to your standard veggie burgers and sausages. This marinade has Japanese flavours from the soy, mirin and seaweed and the orange adds a citrus hit (although if you can find it, try it with some yuzu juice instead).

The seaweed is really powerful in the marinade and holds up against the other flavours well. It gives off a definite seaside scent but don’t worry, this transforms when cooked.

If you want to go meaty, this would be nice with cubes of pork on a kebab too.

Ingredients:

For the marinade:
3 tbsp mirin (gluten-free if required)
3 tbsp light soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
Juice of 1 orange
1 tsp dried nori flakes

For the kebabs:
1 red pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
1 red onion, quartered and separated into petals
12 mushrooms
12 cherry tomatoes
You will also need 6 kebab sticks (if wooden, soak in water for a couple of hours first)

Step 1: Combine the marinade ingredients in a dish or sealable bag and mix.

Step 2: Add your prepared vegetables and leave, covered, to marinate for about 2 hours.

Step 3: Take your kebab sticks and skewer your vegetables on, ensuring you have different pieces next to each other. Start and finish with a mushroom to ensure things don’t go AWOL. Have two mushrooms and two tomatoes per skewer. N.b. The onions will have softened in the marinade; this will make them extra sweet when cooking.

Step 4: Cook on a hot barbecue for a couple of minutes on each side, turning to ensure they don’t burn.

Pesto

9th July 20189th July 2018
by thefoodwife

This weekend we hosted a family barbecue and one of the side dishes was a large pesto pasta salad. Whilst pesto from a jar is convenient, making your own is so straightforward and tastes so much fresher. Plus you get the bonus of filling the house with the beautiful smell of basil.

You could toast the pine nuts in a dry pan to intensify their nuttiness, and you could also reserve a few of them, along with some of the basil leaves, to garnish the salad.

I used pecorino, an Italian cheese similar to parmesan but made with sheep’s milk, as I was catering for someone with an allergy to cows milk, but you could use either. And of course you don’t have to serve this with pasta, it would be good with fish, chicken, roasted vegetables or anything you fancy!

I’m pretty confident this went down well based on the spoonfuls my nephew was shovelling onto his plate. And the good news is it will keep a few days in the fridge.

Ingredients:
40g pine nuts (toasted if you like, and you could reserve a few for decoration)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
40g pecorino or parmesan, roughly chopped
40g basil leaves (reserve a few for decoration if you like)
6 tbsp olive oil
A pinch each of salt and pepper

Step 1: Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz until they are in a thick paste. Alternatively you could use a pestle and mortar. Add more olive oil if you want a looser consistency.

Serve immediately, or store in the fridge in a sealed tub, with a little extra olive oil over the top.

Mexican-Style Salad

4th July 201816th July 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 2-3

So this week we had one of my quesadillas (using leftover chicken breast from one I roasted at the weekend) and I wanted a Mexican-inspired salad to go with it. The lime juice made it really fresh and the jalapeÃ±os give you spikes of heat whilst the addition of sweetcorn give it a lovely sweetness.

Ingredients:

For the salad:
1 head of gem lettuce, larger leaves sliced, smaller leaves left whole
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 carrot, peeled into ribbons
1 small avocado, peeled, stoned and cut into cubes
1/2 small tin of drained sweetcorn
1 tbsp red jalapeÃ±os from a jar, chopped
1 tbsp coriander, chopped

For the dressing:
1 lime (juice only)
Olive oil

Step 1: Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Step 2: Squeeze over the juice of a lime and a small drizzle of olive oil.

It is best to make this as soon as you are planning to eat; the lime juice will stop the avocado from discolouring but you donâ€™t want the salad going limp from the dressing.