Eat Your Greens February Round Up

February flew by incredibly quickly, but there is a nice treat at the end of the month: five wonderful blog posts with recipes cooked with greens. This is the Eat YourGreens February round up. I hosted Eat Your Greens this month, taking turns every other month with Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen.

Let's have a look at the absolutely fabulous February recipes.

Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe made a vibrant green Kale and pea soup, and she is right saying that soup fits any weather. This soup is just so smooth and healthy looking. Kale and peas are the perfect combination to go into a soup with some potatoes, garlic and onion. The recipe is simple, which makes it great for the heatwave that Johanna was having at her place.

Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen shared another creative soup recipe, Vegetarian Lasagna Soup. The soup is full of different veggies, and as the greens it features spinach and fresh parsley. I have heard of a lasagna soup before, but unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to try it yet. I think it's a cool concept to make a vegetable soup with chunkier pasta bits, and I really want to try this recipe.

Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen made an amazing looking dish of Seaweed 'Bacon' and Mock King Oyster Mushroom 'Scallops'. All components are just made to perfection, and I'm sure they were very tasty. I'm curious about the sea bacon, and the king oyster mushroom 'scallops' look so great served on the green creamy pea purée. I've never eaten “real” scallops, and I'm absolutely sure that this dish is much better.

Laura from Vegfully shared some of the food that she has been cooking in February. She has been cooking with plenty of vegetables, and among others has made these wonderful creations: roast cauliflower with grated courgette and chickpeas on the side; beans on toast with eggs, avocado and tomato salsa; roast butternut squash baked with macaroni cheese served with broccoli and green salad. I adore all these healthy dishes made by Laura.

I cooked a Potato, spinach and chickpea curry with roasted romanesco and cauliflower. My greens in this recipe were frozen spinach, roasted romanesco and of course the fresh coriander. It was a nice vegan curry with homemade naan bread on the side.

Thank you so much to all participants and readers, we would love to see you all again in March when Shaheen is hosting again!

Your VegHog

Mexican rice

I've had an active weekend outdoors, as it has been sunny and quite warm. Yesterday we just walked around in the town centre, but today we went on a long walk in a close by nature reserve. Now I'm happy and relaxed but also a bit tired.

Before I retire in front of Netflix for the evening, I will share this recipe with you. I absolutely adore vegan rice dishes like this variation of Mexican style rice, and I often make similar dishes. It's great to have dishes containing the full protein, and also being affordable and tasty. I used a mix of pinto beans, sweetcorn and bell pepper in this rice with spices and tomato purée. Have a look at the recipe below.

Mexican rice

Ingredients

1 cup cooked pinto beans

1 can sweetcorn

1 red bell pepper

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

1 chipotle chilli

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

Smoked paprika to taste

Ground cumin to taste

Ground coriander to taste

Mexican oregano to taste

1 can tomato purée

1 cup rice

Method

Cook the rice.

Chop the bell pepper, onions, garlic and chilli.

Start cooking the onion in the vegetable oil, and then also add the garlic and chilli, followed by the bell pepper.

Add the beans and sweetcorn.

Season the mix, and add the tomato purée.

Let it simmer and flavours blend.

Finally mix in the rice and cook some more.

Season to taste and enjoy!

I'm sharing this recipe with My Legume Love Affair #125 hosted by Seema from Mildly Indian. The event was created by Susan from Well Seasoned Cook and is now hosted by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen.

Your VegHog

Veggie burgers with purple sweet potato fries

The sun is out and I also want to go out. I don't have any particular plans for this weekend. I just want to have a little look in the shops and eat well, that's all.

Isn't it just a suitable weekend for some tasty veggie burgers? I really think so. I haven't posted a veggie burger for a while, so here is one for a change.

These veggie burgers are made with great ready-made frozen bean burger patties, fried halloumi slices and heirloom tomatoes in a brioche bun. I made some homemade chipotle ketchup on the side, and the low fat oven-baked purple sweet potato fries. Our local market has these cool purple sweet potatoes, which add a splash of colour to any dish.

 

Have a lovely weekend!

Your VegHog

Shepherd's pie

Yesterday was just a wonderful weather, and we spent the day mainly outdoors walking in the harbour and in the parks. There was a glorious sunshine at +11C and I swapped to the spring jacket. We also opened the beer garden season, in February, in Scandinavia! Today is cloudy again and slightly colder. Nevertheless we will soon head out for a little Sunday walk, and coffee and pastries.

I made this vegan shepherd's pie with my current favourite plantbased mince made from pea protein. It's a Danish product, so it's nice to support local produce, and it has a really nice texture. It's great in pasta bolognese sauces, this kind of shepherd's pie ragouts and many dishes more. It's also very reasonably priced.

I like to cover my shepherd's pies with a thick mash potato layer. Have a look at the recipe below, which made quite a large oven dish full of comforting pie.

Shepherd's pie

Ingredients

400 g potatoes

3 tbsp margarine

400 g pea protein mince

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

3 carrots

1 can tomato purée

1 glass red wine

Vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

2 vegetable stock cubes

Method

Peel and cook the potatoes. Make the mash for the topping once they are cooked. Add some salt and margarine and use some of the potato boiling water as the liquid to make a smooth mash.

Chop the onions, garlic and carrots, and start cooking the onions in vegetable oil.

Once the onions are softened, add the carrots to the pan and cook further.

Then add the garlic, and finally the plantbased mince.

Cook for a while, and then add the seasoning, tinned tomatoes and red wine.

Let simmer until the flavours have blended nicely.

Place the mince mix in an oven dish and cover it with the potato mash.

Bake at 200 C for about 20 minutes or until the surface is nicely browned.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Potato, spinach and chickpea curry with roasted romanesco and cauliflower

Sunny weekend has started, what could be better! I hope you are also enjoying a nice weather where you are! I want to spend a lot of time outdoors today, but first I'll have to do some blogging and shopping and then I'll go out.

I made this potato, spinach and chickpea curry with some roasted romanesco and cauliflower florets on the top. I noticed that I've been too elitistic by always using fresh vegetables and despising their frozen counterparts. I recently bought a bag of frozen spinach, where the spinach had been frozen in nice cubes that could so conveniently be added to any dish. This made me think that it's not so bad sometimes to resort to frozen vegetables in order to save money and still make dishes with loads of vegetables. Now I'm using those spinach cubes everywhere. Of course I still prefer fresh vegetables and also want to support the local market by shopping them there instead of supermarkets, but I've learned to be less strict about this and to appreciate the alternatives.

I served this curry with some homemade naan bread on the side, which was also very nice freshly baked. It could of course also be served with rice. Here is my recipe below, if you would like to make a similar dish.

Potato and chickpea curry

Ingredients

8 small potatoes

1 cup cooked chickpeas

½ cup frozen spinach

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 green chilli

2 cm fresh ginger

1 tbsp garam masala

½ tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

2 bay leaves

Fresh coriander

Roasted romanesco and cauliflower

Ingredients

Cauliflower and romanesco florets

Vegetable oil

Smoked paprika

Ground cumin

Onion powder

Salt

Method

Peel and cook the potatoes separately until they are done.

Chop the onion and start cooking it in the vegetable oil. Cook until they are browning.

Finely chop the garlic, chilli and ginger and add them to the onions.

Then also add the chickpeas and the spices.

Cook for a while and then add some water to simmer the curry. You can also use the cooking water from the potatoes.

Then also add the potatoes and spinach to the curry and cook until the flavours have blended nicely. Add more water, if needed.

Roast the cauliflower and romanesco while the curry is simmering.

Cover the florets with the spice mix and oil and roast them in the oven until they are done.

Place the cauliflower on top of the curry for serving, and serve them with naan bread on the side.

I'm sharing this recipe with this month's Eat Your Greens hosted by me and co-hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen. Remember that there is still plenty of time to submit your recipe!

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Pasta with creamy mushroom sauce

It has been a grey and rainy weekend over here, so I've decided to stay mainly indoors, cook, clean and watch TV. It has been quite nice not having to go anywhere for a change and just spend some time at home. Last week was hectic with several work dinners and parties, so I really appreciate some quiet time at home. Yesterday we did a big food shop for the whole week, and I'm looking forward to cooking with those veggies and products.

Now to this dish. Pasta with mushroom sauce is one of my all time favourite dishes. I make it over and over again with slight variations. I get real cravings for it sometimes. I made this sauce with closed cup mushrooms and oat cream, and I served the pasta with a simple tomato and mozzarella salad on the side. This combination is just heaven to me.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!

Your VegHog

In My Kitchen in February

My kitchen hasn't been so busy in February. I've mainly cooked some basic dishes, but I've also tried some new things that I want to share with you here.

I've been eating quite a few blood oranges lately, as they are so nice and in season. They are my absolute favourite fruit. I've been mainly pressing blood orange juices, but I think that I should also make a blood orange salad soon, or even a risotto for which I recently saw a recipe. On this photo there are also some normal giant oranges that I used in a juice.

I tried these vegan Kielbasa, Polish style wheat gluten and tofu sausages, for the first time. They were really good, and I hope that I can get them again. 

 

I also bought some pea and bean based tempeh. Both were wonderful in stir fries. I don't use tempeh that often, as it's quite hard to come by.

I got this organic wheat gluten for making seitan in Sweden, and my partner has already cooked with it. He usually makes the seitan dishes in our household, but I also soon need to experiment with this.

Here are some of the dishes that I've recently cooked.

Mexican rice with black garlic

Homemade chunky oven chips

Mexican potatoes with peas, beans and sweetcorn

Lebanese dirty rice with fried halloumi

Seitan and noodle stir fry

As usual I'm sharing this post with Sherry from Sherry's Pickings blog, who is hosting the In My Kitchen challenge.

Have a good weekend all!

Your VegHog

Spaghetti bake

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you are having a good time and are not too toiled by snow and cold. The weather has been alright here this weekend, a bit cloudy and drizzly, but not too cold now. I've been cooking a lot, but also went for a long walk yesterday.

I think that I have already shared this recipe with you before, or a similar one, but it’s always nice to be nostalgic and keep making the same classics. We sometimes had spaghetti bake as a school dinner, and I do remember it being very comforting. This is why I still sometimes make it at home as a little bit more sophisticated and vegetarian version.

It's basically a vegetarian spaghetti bolognaise baked in the oven under a cheese cover. Now especially that there is a wide selection of different vegan and vegetarian mince “meats”, it's very easy to make such dishes. My current favourite is a pea-based mince, but I used soya mince in this dish.

This kind of bakes are perfect weekend food for me at the moment. Then just a glass of red wine to go with it, a good TV series, and a relaxing evening can start.

Spaghetti bake

Ingredients

250 g vegan soya mince (or any alternative vegan/vegetarian mince)

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

2 carrots

2 tbsp vegetable oil

400 g tomato purée

1 glass red wine

Oregano to taste

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

200 g spaghetti

150 g grated Cheddar

Cherry tomatoes on top (optional)

Method

Chop the onions and garlic finely and cook them in the oil until soft.

Also chop the carrots into small pieces and fry them with the onions.

Add the soya mince to the pan and fry.

Then add the tomato purée, red wine and the seasoning, and let simmer until the flavours have blended nicely.

Season to taste.

Break the spaghetti into about 4 cm long pieces, cook them in salt water, drain and mix into the tomato sauce.

Put the mix into an oven dish, cover it with grated cheese, and bake at 180C for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy with a crusty bread or a side salad.

Your VegHog