Weekend Carnivore

Most of my temptations to eat meat come when I am out and about in the city. It is just so easy to call in at Subway and grab a sandwich or go for a burger. I know that there are tons of places in London to get a vegetarian meal or snack. The problem is that I can be a real wimp when it comes into going into unfamiliar food shops. I just get really intimidated by the thought of totally messing up the ordering process.

For example, there is a vegetarian restaurant on Berwick Street that I have walked past for years. Nearly every time I walk past the vegetarian takeaway restaurant I do a bit of rubbernecking to try to get a better look. However, they don’t have any signs up out front so I can easily see the menu and then there aren’t any prices on display and so I chicken out. One day I will go in and order, what looks to be, yummy vegetarian food but that day keeps being put off.

With my dedication to trying to eat less meat, I am also trying to push myself out of my comfort zone when I am out and about in London and try new places to eat. Most importantly, I want to keep it vegetarian and as healthy as possible. So, on Friday when I was in Soho all afternoon for one of my rare but treasured cinema marathon afternoons, I decided to go check out what was on offer in London’s Chinatown. I didn’t have time between films to sit down and eat something in an actual restaurant. Plus, going to eat a big meal on my own isn’t really wasn’t what I wanted to do either.

As I was wandering around the side streets of Soho’s Chinatown I spotted this Chinese steamed buns stand.

Chinese steamed buns stand

It struck me that the scene looked very un-London. Which, is part of why I like Chinatown so much because when you go there it is almost like going on a vacation without even leaving London. I also really enjoy trying food from other parts of the world, even if I am a wimp about trying to figure out how to order it. The steamed buns looked really good though and they were being sold for only £1 each. So, I stood back for a moment and watched how other people ordered. It was actually enjoyable watching the person that was operating the Chinese steamed bun stand preparing and cooking them.

Chinese vegetarian buns

I have to admit that I was tempted by the steamed chicken buns but I was a good girl and set my focus on the steamed vegetable buns. Turns out, it is as simple at saying “Could I please have a vegetarian steamed bun” and handing over the money. Of course, I knew that it would be that easy once I actually did it but that it what I get for being a social wimp at times!

I took it over to Leicester Square and found a seat to enjoy exploring my newly discovered vegetarian snack. I grabbed a photo because that is the sort of thing I do and I thought other folks looking to explore new vegetarian foods might be interested.  On the outside, the Chinese steamed bun looks fairly plain and pretty much like a giant steamed dumpling. It is very white and has a springy texture when touched.

vegetarian Chinese steamed bun

When torn open, the vegetarian steamed bun, doesn’t look all that impressive. As you can see, it is simply a bunch of veggies cooked down and then wrapped in the dough that is used to make the Chinese steamed bun. From looking at it, it appeared that most of the vegetable filling was made up of cabbages and other types of greens with carrots and onions mixed in.

vegetarian dumpling filling

I am pleased to that report, that these vegetarian snacks not only passed the test but were down right delicious.  Anybody that loves the taste of green veggies and onions that have been sweated down to the point where they have that slight sweetness will enjoy these vegetarian treats.  I suspect, there is butter involved with the cooking down of the vegetables. So, they probably aren’t vegan friendly but for those of us simply trying to eat less meat they are a delicious alternative when out and about in the city and looking for a quick food fix without reaching for meat. Plus, as they they only cost £1 each they are both tasty and cheap!

If you ask me, dill is such an underused herb. As much as I love pickles, there is just so much to dill than floating in those pickle jars only to the poured down the drain or thrown out in the trash. This vegetable recipe for Lemon Dill Green beans posted by January Bride, is a great example of how just a little bit of dill can really transform a basic ingredient into something special.

Lemon Dill Green Bean Side Dish Recipe

Not only is this a very easy vegetarian recipe but it actually passes as a vegan recipe too. However,even the meat eaters at your table are going to love this green bean recipe. Simply by using some dill and some whole grain mustard, the same old boring green beans become a really special vegetarian recipe with a whole bunch of flavour.

This low fat recipe will be as home on a plate next to some fish as it would be settled alongside your favourite vegetarian meal. So, really a great side dish for any Weekend Carnivore out there looking to ease their family into eating less meat.

Who doesn’t love a good potato salad recipe? In fact, pretty much everybody swears they have *the* best potato salad recipe. Truth be told, there are so many different wants to jazz up your spuds to make it into one yummy potato salad that you can understand why so many people would think that to be the case of their particular potato salad recipe.

Even though most recipes for potato salad are naturally vegetarian recipes, the one thing I tend not to like about them is that they also tend to be packed with fat. Plus, if you are a vegan you are going to have trouble finding a vegan friendly potato salad because of all the mayo and also because a lot of creamy potato salad recipes also have egg thrown in.

While, I am not a vegan myself, I do have to watch those fat grams if I am ever going to reach my goal weight. So, when I saw this dairy free Low Fat Warm Potato Salad recipe posted on Recipezaar by Annacia I knew I needed to give it a try.

Low Fat Potato Salad Recipe

I am really glad that I did too because this potato salad recipe is packed with flavour! There is a bit of olive oil in it but not enough for it to be much of a calorie counting concern. Then the combination of Dijon mustard, rice vinegar and red wine vinegar gives the potato salad recipe a wonderfully tangy taste. It truly makes a great alternative to the normal creamy potato salad recipe and you can enjoy it even if you require vegan recipes.

I love popcorn and I am always up for trying out a new popcorn snack recipe. It is just a perfect food for when you have munchies but you don’t want to go with the standby of normal greasing snack foods such as potato chips. Plus, it is so easy to mix up the way that you make popcorn so that it turns into a totally different snack recipe each time you make it. Unless you do something amazingly strange to your popcorn, it is pretty much always going to be a vegetarian recipe too!

The most recent popcorn recipe that I have tried is a Lemon Parsley Popcorn which I saw posted by Weekend Cooker. I was intrigued by the fact that I have tried many different types of popcorn snack recipes but had never had either lemon or parsley on it. So, having them together would most certainly be a new taste adventure.

Lemon Parsley Popcorn Recipe

With all of the butter which is used in this recipe, I won’t pretend that this is an especially healthy vegetarian recipe. However, it sure is tasty with the lemon zest really lifting the taste of the popcorn. Plus, it is okay to indulge now and then and it still has to be better for you than that bag of potato chips!

I want to show off this vegetarian dessert recipe because I am so proud of myself for making it and not totally messing it up! I have always been a bit afraid of any recipes that involve whipping up egg whites to the point of the infamous stiff peaks. So, making a pavlova was totally out of the question. That is what I thought anyway until I was tempted into trying out the Australian Pavlova recipe posted by Sharon123 over on Recipezaar.

I was tempted by the pavlova recipe because it is a vegetarian recipe but also because of the use of egg whites, it is also a low fat dessert recipe. Who can turn that down? So, I gave I decided to have a try at making the recipe but I truly expected to fail. Much to my surprise my attempt at making this dessert recipe worked!

Pavlova Dessert Recipe

Not only did this vegetarian recipe for dessert look fantastic but it also tasted great. I filled the pavlova with low fat Greek yoghurt and then piled it high with chopped up kiwi and mango. As if that wasn’t tasty enough, I then sprinkled the top with macadamia nuts. It turned out to be an indulgent tasting dessert recipe. Best of all, even though it tasted so good, it was actually fairly healthy and of course it was a vegetarian recipe.

I love it when I learn a new way of cooking an ingredient I have been eating most of my life. Corn on the cob is one of those foods where I never really thought there was much a recipe for cooking it as much as just a method. You boil water, put it in the pot and cook it until done. Then you rub a pat of butter all over the corn on the cob, season and enjoy, right?

That is what I thought until I tried TxGriffLover’s recipe for Mexican Street Corn. Instead of simply boiling the corn on the cob, this is a recipe for grilling corn on the cob. So much goes into the recipe that instead of the corn being a simple vegetarian side dish, it becomes so filling that it could easily count as a quick vegetarian meal or a hearty vegetarian snack recipe.

Mexican street corn

This vegetarian recipe for Mexican street corn, starts just with the basic corn on the cob going under your grill or broiler for ten minutes. While you are grilling the corn on the cob, you move onto the next step of the vegetarian recipes which is making the tasty mixture that goes on top of the corn. You mix together mayonnaise, cheese (I went for the feta cheese option), fresh cilantro, garlic, chilli powder and seasoning. Once that mixture is made, you pile it on top of the corn on the cob.

Then the loaded up corn on the cob goes back under the grill until it is starts to go golden and bubbly. That bit really only takes another minute or so and then you are ready to bite into your vegetarian meal or snack of super tasty Mexican street corn.

Camden Market is a great place for so many reasons. Of course you have the eclectic shopping and if you are into people watching like I am then you are going to be hard pressed to find anywhere better. However, my latest trip to Camden Market focused on an aspect that I think if often overlooked – the food! Just about everywhere that you turn in Camden Market there is a different food stand trying to tempt you into buying a bite of whatever it is they are selling. A lot of the places are Chinese type food places with rather aggressive sales tactics and I think that may put some people off from giving the food of Camden a try. Which is a shame because the real food treasures of the market are away from that food court area.

In my view, the real Camden Market food gems are found in the West Yard section of Camden Lock market. The food court found here is vastly different from the one found on the main drag of the market. Instead of the endless stream of Chinese stalls selling the exact same food, you get highly individual food stands that represent all corners of the world. The last time that I was at the market, there were stands selling everything from Italian food to Sudanese food and many more in between.

The best part for those of us that love our vegetarian food is that so much of the food on offer is vegetarian food. They may not be the kind of food stalls that make a big song and dance about being vegetarian food – though some certainly do – but it would not be an exaggeration to say that more food found there was vegetarian than not.

Something that I really loved was that at these stalls the food is all made by hand and often right there in front of you as you watched. I had a great time simply standing on the sidelines watching the cooking. Of course, being me, I had to take my camera out and start snapping photos of all this great vegetarian food. The best thing about food photography is that you can feast on it all with your eyes without gaining a pound!

I caught this guy at the Italian stand making pasta to order for somebody who had just places an order. It doesn’t get much more fresh than that!

Pasta cooking at Camden market

Then I stopped by the Polish food stand – which I loved – and watched as the woman there prepared these perogies. The Polish stand did sell meat but without a doubt the star of the show were these perogies which are Polish dumplings filled with potato and cheese. They are then boiled and then quickly fried off in a pan and topped with fried onions. I loved that she was rolling these up by hand right there in the market. I have had a lot of perogies from my time growing up in the States but these were hands down the best perogies I have ever eaten and totally vegetarian too!

Preparing vegetarian perogies

Perogies ready to be boiled

Of course, we all know that vegetarian food isn’t always low fat and diet friendly.  The West Yard in Camden Market was also full of a ton of truly scrumptious vegetarian food offerings that are pure danger for anybody trying to follow a low fat diet.  Still, part of living is giving into a bit of pleasure now and then. So, I fully admit to having sampled a cookie and a cupcake but looking at these pictures can you blame me? At least they were vegetarian desserts!

Camden Market Brownies

Camden Market Cupcakes

Without a doubt, Camden Market is a treasure trove of temptation for anybody that loves vegetarian food.  You could eat like a king or queen and never have to think twice about eating meat. Now, thinking about your waistline is a totally different matter!