Vegetarian Chilli - Meat Free Monday

This vegetarian chilli is a delicious family meal taking its' substance from sweet potatoes, red kidney beans and red split lentils. 

It's packed with goodness, flavour and sustenance and is a great Meat Free Monday meal - that is also vegan (so long as you omit from serving with any cheese or yoghurt). 

I made this at the weekend for a lovely Saturday lunch with my two daughters, and a few packed lunches for this week to keep the cold at dawn - it is mostly made from store cupboard essentials, so I didn't even need to leave the house. 

I served with some wholegrain rice, avocado, a cucumber and carrot ribbon salad, a little fat free natural yoghurt and a grating of cheese and it was very well received. 

You could add other vegetables to the mix or different beans; black beans, chickpeas or butter beans would all work here too.

Vegetarian Chilli

Here's how:

• 1 white onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 red jalapeno chilli
• 300g sweet potato (peeled)
• 1 orange pepper
• x2 roasted red peppers (I used jarred, but you could char your own and remove the skin)
• 1x tin red kidney beans
• 1x tin of chopped tomatoes
• Vegetable stock
• 100g red split lentils
• 100g sultanas 
• 1 tbsp dried cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp chipotle paste
• Drizzle olive oil

Firstly drizzle the olive oil into a large pan or wok and place on a low heat.

Now peel and finely dice the onion, mince the garlic and slice the chilli and add to the pan to saute.

Whilst this is softening in the pan, peel and roughly chop the sweet potato to about 1cm pieces and add to the pan. 

Chop the orange pepper into small pieces and add to the pan. 

Now add all of the spices - the cumin, cinnamon, caynenne pepper, paprika and season with a little salt and pepper too.

Mix around with a wooden spatula to ensure all of the sweet potato gets a good spice coating and allow to cook out for a minute or so and then add the drained red kidney beans and the chopped tomatoes.

Rinse the lentils and add to the pan with the chopped roasted peppers, the sultanas, the chipotle, oregano and thyme.

Using one of the empty tins, make up a vegetable stock cube in one of these - fill it up and add to the chilli and give a good stir.

Allow to cook on a low heat for 30-40 minutes, stirring every so often. Serve with your choice of accompaniments. Enjoy!

If you're looking for further Meat Free Monday inspiration here are a few other recipes I've posted on the matter:

• Squash and Goat's Cheese Pot Pie
• Spinach, Ricotta and Courgette Pasta Lasagne
• Mexican Veggie Burgers
• Greek Stuffed Tomatoes
• Truffled Mushroom and Leek Tagliatelle
• Squash Mac and Cheese
• Creamy Mushroom and Danish Blue Cheese Risotto

Meat Free Monday Mexican Veggie Burgers

It's been a while since I've shared a Meat Free Monday post - family life dictates that this doesn't always happen on a Monday, but we do try to eat meat-free or vegetarian at least one day a week.

I've experimented countless times with varying degrees of success, a range of vegetarian burgers, but these are my best yet - the beans are the main base, but with the addition of cooked sweet potato and grated carrot, there's no denying there's lots of goodness to be found inside these. To avoid a bland mass of mushed beans, my favourite version of these is to add some typically Mexican flavours to the mix, cumin, paprika, lime, lots of coriander, mint and of course some chilli.

This is 100% a family dish here, and I even served them to my 7 month old this week, mini versions at least, and she fully enjoyed these as part of her baby led weaning. She had the same version as us, but if your baby isn't used to spice you could of course omit from throwing in as much chilli, paprika etc. 

I served with brioche buns, a quick chipotle yoghurt dip and some salad for me, with chips for Bridget and Glen - definite crowd pleaser; everyone loves burgers in my house.

Mexican Veggie Burgers

If serving as a weaning finger food as I have, serve alongside some other finger food such as cucumber sticks, some cheese and tomato.

Weaning Mexican Veggie Burger Bites

The below makes four good sized burgers.

Here's how:

• 1 tin red kidney beans
• 1 tin butter beans
• Bunch spring onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 red chilli
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 lime
• 1 egg
• Olive oil
• Big handful coriander leaves and stalks
• Handful mint leaves
• 2 slices of bread
• 1 carrot
• 2 tbsp cooked sweet potato

• x4 brioche burger buns
• 2 tbsp natural yoghurt
• 1 heaped tsp chipotle paste
• Optional:
• Grated cheddar
• jalopeno chillies
• salsa

Salad of your choice

To assemble the burgers, first use your blender to make breadcrumbs out of the slices of bread. Remove from the blender and set aside. 

Now open the cans of beans and drain, retaining a little of the water in each. Place both cans into a blender. 

Finely slice the spring onions, chilli and garlic and add to the blender. Throw in the herbs and spices. 

Grate the carrot and add to the blender along with the juice of the full lime, the cooked sweet potato and the egg. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and then blitz until combined. 

You should be left with a rather wet concoction, and may wonder how this is going to turn into burgers - be patient. Now add a little of the breadcrumbs at a time, and mix in thoroughly. When you're satisfied that you can mould burgers out of the mixture stop adding the breadcrumbs - you may need all of them, or a little less.

Now drizzle in a little olive oil or rapeseed oil into a non-stick pan and place on a medium heat. 

Mould the burgers into pattys and place directly into the hot pan. 

Meat Free Monday Mexican Veggie Burgers

Use an egg slice to move the burgers around a little to avoid sticking to the bottom, and use this with a spoon for guidance, to turn the burgers over after about five minutes of cooking - they should be golden brown. Now cook on the other side for five-six minutes until that is golden brown too. 

In the meantime assemble your salad and create your Mexican burger sauce from the natural yoghurt and chipotle and spread over the bottom layer of the burger buns. 

Once the burgers are cooked through serve immediately and top with your choice of cheese, jalopenos and salsa. Enjoy!

If you're looking for further vegetarian meal ideas a few are included below:
Squash and Goat's Cheese Pie
Bean and Pepper Chilli
Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagne
Feta and Roasted Vegetable Tarts
Mushroom Risotto with Cauliflower Rice
Tomato and Vegetable Pasta Bake
Truffled Mushroom and Leek Tagliatelle
Spinach, Ricotta and Courgette Pasta Lasagne

Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagne

Having a bit of a haul from our Pumpkin Picking on Sunday, I created this vegetarian Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagne on Monday – another Meat Free Monday option added to the repertoire.

I must admit, usually I would make my own béchamel or white sauce for lasagne, but as I had a sick boyfriend at home and our toddler to run around after and was batch cooking for the week, I took a cheat here and used the Dolmio Lasagne Sauce – which actually is pretty decent and I wouldn’t hesitate to use again as a shortcut. I’m not one for processed sauces, but sometimes the need for speed overtakes and the pressures of family and working life intervene.

This was a family dinner favourite – anything involving pasta always is with my daughter and Glen; Glen’s slightly harder to please with our meat-free options, but this went down well and we all agreed we’d have it again.

I thought I’d share this in honour of Pumpkin Day this Saturday in the lead up to Halloween.

Here’s how:

1 small roasted pumpkin (can use butternut squash)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion
1 clove garlic
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp paprika
1 pack washed spinach
Lasagne sheets
1 jar Dolmio Lasagne White Sauce
50g grated Cheddar cheese
1 whole nutmeg
Salt & Pepper

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Roast the pumpkin until slightly softened. Allow the pumpkin to cool, then peel, and chop the flesh into long slice, discarding the pith and seeds inside (unless you’re using the pumpkin seeds for roasting and snacking on). Set aside.

To make the tomato sauce, add the olive oil to a pan on a low heat. Peel and dice the onion and mince the garlic and add to sauté slowly in the olive oil on a gentle heat.

Once slightly softened, add the tomatoes (could use passata), tomato puree, oregano, paprika and a pinch each of sea salt and black pepper to season. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and allow to cook for at least 30 minutes, or longer if you have it.

Once you’re happy with the sauce, remove from the heat and you’re ready to assemble the lasagne.

Firstly lay a layer of pumpkin at the bottom of an oven proof dish. Then spoon over a generous amount of the tomato sauce (you’ll need two layers so use about half). 

Next place the lasagne sheets over the top – don’t layer these on top of each other or they become a bit yucky in cooking.

Now pour over the Dolmio White Sauce to cover the sheets sufficiently. Now grate the nutmeg over really generously – this gives a really lovely warming flavour and really complements the dish, so be super generous.

Scatter over a really generous amount of spinach leaves – only one layer is spinach and it wilts quickly so add more, rather than less. 

Now repeat the process of adding the pumpkin, topped with tomato sauce then the lasagne sheets and white sauce.

Once again, grate over a really generous amount of nutmeg over the top with salt and black pepper and finish with the Cheddar before placing into the oven.

Cook for 35-40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and bubbling away. Serve with a handful of green salad leaves, such as watercress or rocket. Enjoy! 

Winter Vegetable Soup

Here's a lovely meat-free soup recipe perfect for a speedy mid-week supper or lunch in the cold winter weather.

The beauty of this soup, is you can add whatever vegetables you have lurking in the fridge, odds and ends welcome.

This particular version makes enough for two hearty portions of around 370 calories per portion so perfect if like me you are on a healthy eating regime or fat fighting. 

Winter Vegetable Soup

Here's how: 

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 red chilli (optional) 
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 carrots
• 3 parsnips
• 2 leeks
• 50g peas (I used Birdseye Frozen Peas) 
• 1 Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot made up with 1 pint water (or other vegetable or chicken stock)
• Black pepper
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Firstly add the coconut oil to a thick bottomed pan and switch onto a low heat.

Now peel and finely dice the onion and garlic and add to the pan. Slice the chilli if you are using and add to the pan.

Allow to soften whilst you prepare the vegetables: peel and dice the carrots and parsnips and slice the leeks.

After a few minutes add the leeks to the pan and allow to gently fry for two minutes before adding the carrot, parsnip and peas. Now top up with the stock, add the bay leaf and a generous pinch of black pepper.

Pop the lid on and cook on a gentle heat for thirty minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for fifteen minutes. Now blitz with a hand blender or pop into a blender.

Return to the pan and re-heat till piping hot. Serve with crusty bread if your calorie count allows. Enjoy!

Quick and Chunky Cod Tagine

Here is a lovely fish tagine recipe that uses aromatic spices and cod for a robust, delicious and delicately spiced stew perfect for cold winter nights. Serve with mixed lentils as I have here, or if unlike myself, you’re not avoiding complex carbohydrates, then serve with some rice or couscous as you might expect it to be served in North Africa where this dish originates.

Using a combination of both smoked and unsmoked cod, adds a delicious flavour layer here and you could of course use another white fish, such as coley, hake, monkfish or river cobbler if you prefer – I just prefer the way cod keeps its’ shape in the tagine.

This makes enough for two adults and one child’s portion.

Chunky Cod Tagine

Here's how:

• 100g unsmoked cod
• 100g smoked cod
• 100g black olives (preferably not pitted)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 courgette
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 thumbnail piece of fresh ginger
• Pinch saffron
• 1 red chilli
• 1 white onion
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 preserved lemons
• Splash white wine (sherry or brandy will suffice is no wine is open as you literally need a spoonful)
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp cloves
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• 200ml fish stock
• Handful coriander
• Handful parsley

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and arrange the shelves so your tagine dish will easily fit in.

First things first in the tagine (or casserole dish) add the olive oil and all of the spices, cloves etc. and mix to a paste with a wooden spoon.

Peel the ginger and garlic and finely slice and add to the tagine. Dice the courgette and tomatoes and halve the preserved lemons and add to the dish. Pour over the wine (or sherry or brandy) and add the olives and cinnamon stick.Finely slice the chilli and add to the dish.

Now roughly chop the fish into about six pieces per fillet or bite-sized and add to the tagine then pour over the fish stock. Give a stir, place the lid on top and place into the oven.

Cook for 35 minutes, then remove from the oven and add the parsley and coriander just broken up with your hands and stir.

Serve with your choice of lentils, chickpeas, rice or couscous. Enjoy!

Chunky Cod Tagine