Saturday night and the chilli non carne is nearly cooked.

Went with chef John’s tried and tested. This time in addition to the bulgur, refried beans and kidney beans I also added extra garlic, chopped mushrooms, butter beans, tblspn of cocoa powder and just a few teaspoons of molasses. By the cojones of Quetzalcoatl it tastes and smells amazing. … I need creme fraiche and corn chips and forgot to get 😫

Top tip – I bought some proper paprika (El Avion brand) for about £1.50 from TK Maxx Dec 2018. Still using it. It’s so much richer and better-tasting than the supermarketlarky stuff sold in little jars.

Also – the refried beans. Used over half the bag to thicken the sauce rather than masa/flour. So about half as much again as per the recipe. Any spare I cook up into a bean dip.

Wanted to make colcannon with some smokey vege-bacon. Found this colcannon hash recipe and want to share because it was so satisfying in all ways and the easiest recipe to follow. Utterly delicious. See my vege-tizing tips below.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/246529/chef-johns-colcannon-hash/

Instead of the pancetta use:

‘This Isn’t Bacon’ (4 rashers, diced). Cook until more the chewy/crispy side of hammy. If you want to go unprocessed/no meatalike then instead gently fry half a cup of halved or flaked almonds and stir in a good pinch of smoked paprika towards the end. Don’t let them fry too long as burned nuts are bad in every sense.

I was also serving a veggan so used local free range egg and vegetable spread rather than butter, and Violife grated original in place of cheddar. I would have preferred cheddar but it was still delicious.

Used 50/50 leek and spring onions

Instead of kale used chopped spring greens.

Massively moreish. Nicer still with a splash of Hendo’s 👍🏼

I made some of these recently – bloody lovely.

Seitan steaks

I was also serving a veggan so used local free range egg

Vegans eat free-range eggs now?

I mean, yours might, but I don’t think that’s a thing generally.

‘Veggan’

ie Mrs Rider eats a 99.9% plant-based diet with the exception of eggs , always sourced from hens we ‘know’.

Didn’t really want to have to explain as people will ask and then want to argue and play ‘gotcha’ ..then threadjam, you know how it is? 🙄

I wasn’t looking for an argument, I assumed it was a typo. I’ve never heard that term before. Explanation helpful.

I know, not you! 👍🏼

When I first went plant-based, I continued to eat the eggs from the hens that we keep in the garden. I didn’t realise that it had a name 🙂

I only use the term vegan as an easy shorthand – based on some of the more, erm, evangelical vegan groups I’m not vegan enough for them.

I didn’t realise that it had a name

Neither did I. I can see the whole eggs from your backyard ‘pet’ chickens being relatively easy to square with yourself. But I’m a person of easy rule – if I had some eggs I think the grey line to someone else’s egg to organic free range eggs would catch me out. So it’s easier to be no eggs at all for me.

Here’s an odd thing. Since I’ve become full-time vegetarian, I’ve spontaneously lost about 8lb in weight.

Nothing much else has changed, its just happened- and I do feel much better for it. I think it just might be keeping a close eye on my diet but I’m not sure.

Bonus!

My diet at the moment is basically veterinarian as I’m tying to lose weight. I suspect if I was planning on it long term it would be easier, but for the moment just eating veg (without ‘carbs’) it’s a struggle to get 300 calories on a plate!

I suppose if I was allowed pasta/rice/potatoes it would go up significantly, but for the usual “veg in a sauce” stuff there’s more calories in a mars bar than in a plateful!

it’s a struggle to get 300 calories on a plate!

Is this some kind of calorific ‘per meal’ target?

Who is your vet? And where can we read this diet?

My diet at the moment is basically veterinarian

think I’ve read about that one. Does it involve bull semen?

OP, quick tip is to get handy with lentils. Transformed my cooking and diet as they are cheap to buy, easy to cook, very nutritious and super versatile.

Most families love a big bowl of stew and some hot crusty bread

Spanish-Style Vegan Lentil Stew

Thinking about it, a quick taste-test of what’s possible – maybe grab a can of Amy’s Kitchen organic lentil next time you’re at supermarket? There are a few diff Amy’s soups in the range, but this simple lentil one (below) is without doubt one of the heartiest canned soups I’ve tasted. Looking to replicate a big pan of this, home-cooked, for about the same price as a couple of cans. Not being a strict veggie myself I’ve tried sliced chorizo in it, and although it tasted good I decided after all that the lentils and veg of course stand up perfectly well on their own. Maybe pinch some smoked paprika or ground pepper on the top once heated but it’s seasoned pretty well straight from the can.

Forgot to say, the can of soup above contains more protein and calories than a can of either Heinz Cream of Chicken or Oxtail soups. This might be useful info for those on veterinarian diets 😉