Making a Meal Out of Sides

   Today I found myself eating in a chain restaurant with friends where the food is generally reheated rather than served fresh. My first glance at the menu led me to believe there was quite a selection for vegetarians. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that three of the vegetarian meals were the same cauliflower cheese dish that had been included under different course options. The only main I could find that included no animal protein was a jacket potato with baked beans. Tinned beans aren't ideal, I know, but sometimes you have to cheat a bit. With all the will in the world, a jacket potato with beans is never going to be an exciting meal. So, I decided to add a side of flat mushrooms to make it a bit more interesting.
   Making a meal out of starters and sides is a skill that I picked up whilst living in Greece. Whereas Greek main meals generally revolve around meat, the starters (or mese dishes) are usually vegetarian, and a lot are plant-based.
   If you are finding it hard to make a plant-based choice when eating out, why not order a combination of starters and sides instead? It gives you much more variety and your dining companions will no doubt be jealous of your personal buffet!

Magic Sprouting Beans

OK, so maybe they're not exactly magic, but they're still pretty impressive. One of the common arguments against a plant-based diet is that you don't eat enough protein and calcium. I must add at this point that most comments I receive like this come from omnivores with very bad eating habits. Like all nutrients, however, you can easily get enough protein and calcium from plants, you just have to do it right. Plus, plant-based protein is also much healthier for you. Green vegetables such as kale and brocoli are great sources of calcium, and beans, lentils and seeds will also provide essential nutrients. Which is where my magic sprouting beans come in. A few years ago, a friend took me to an organic farm shop in Devon. This was the first time I had been in such a place, and to me it was like Aladdin's cave. There, she introduced me to organic sprouting mix, a dry mixture of beans that you soak in water for 3-5 days until they're soft enough to eat and begin to sprout (hence the name). I immediately found a new favourite food, and when I returned to work abroad the next week I made sure I had a packet in my backpack. There are different contraptions you can buy that are specially designed for sprouting the seeds, but personally I prefer the jam jar method. Simply soak the beans in water and drain, then leave to stand out of direct sunlight. It's recommended you put a piece of muslin cloth over the top of the jam jar, but I discovered last week that a j cloth also works well. A clean j cloth, of course.
On my return to the UK, I couldn't wait to but another pack of sprouting seeds. After all, they'd proved to be an easy to transport snack whilst I was travelling. Imagine my horror when I couldn't find them anywhere in Cardiff!. Some shops did stock ready-sprouted mix, chilled in the fridge, but I didn't fancy the look of them, and would probably had to eat them up in an incredibly short time before they went out of date.
At this point I could leave you in suspense and make you wait until my next blog to discover if I was ever reunited with my magic sprouting beans, but I'm not that cruel. I'm pleased to say that a couple of months ago I was browsing in Beanfreaks in Cardiff (you can order online too) and was overjoyed to find they stock organic srpouting mix in their basics range. I was that excited that I think I actually did let out a small whoop of joy, and for that I apologise to anyone who was in the shop with me. I now put them on my salads to take to work with me, and chuck them in stir-fries to make them a bit more interesting. I've also discovered through (accidental) experimentation that it doesn't matter if you sprout them a few more days than you intended, they're still edible. Although the ones I put on my lunch today were so far gone that Alan Titchmarsh could have presented an episode of Groundforce on it.

Hummus is my new favourite snack

Without wanting to sound like a stereotypical vegetarian, I'm going to talk about the merits of hummus. Over the years I've tried various types and brands of pre-packed hummus and, whilst it is perfectly edible, I've never been a huge fan. Inspired by Ann Esselstyn's 8 Principles on www.planeat.tv, I decided to give in another shot. Number 8 on Ann's List is Eat Beans and Lentils instead of meat and dairy. You should, however, avoid hummus that contains tahini, and Ann has a great, simple recipe for making your own hummus. Blend together chick peas, lemon and garlic and add cumin, vinegar, red peppers, parsley or cilantro (coriander to us Brits) to taste. On a personal note, I'm alergic to garlic (I know, it's a nightmare) so instead I use chilli which tastes great. My top tips are to boil the chick peas for 5 minutes first for a smoother texture, and grate a bit of the lemon zest into the blender for an extra tangy taste. Whilst we're on the subject of blenders, it's an important piece of kit for any whole food home cook. I got mine for Christmas last year and it's probably been used more than anything else in my kitchen. When I'm trying new recipes, I always find that I have lots of vegetables left over that I'm not going to use up before they go off. Just fry some chopped onion and chilli in a large pan, chop the leftover veg and add to the pan with some vegetable stock (2:3 ratio is about right). Leave it to boil until all the veg is soft, and then once it's cooled down blend it to make a tasty soup. I then freeze the soup into batches so that I can reheat it at a later date when I don't have time to cook.
Anyway, I've finished my hummus and oat cakes that I've been eating whilst typing this, so I'm off to the fridge to get some more.