Weekend Carnivore

We don’t eat that many takeaways these days but we aren’t immune to urge to dial for our dinner either. When the takeaway mood strikes, more often than not, we reach for the Chinese takeaway menu. That isn’t horrible if it is a now and then treat but we haven’t been great with the calorie counting as of late. So, rather than call for our takeaway treat, I have been trying to cook my own vegetarian recipes that also satisfy our urge for a Chinese takeaway.

This week, we were really craving something Chinese and noodle based. Luckily, I had actually picked up a number of Chinese style ingredients in my shopping trip this week. The only thing that I was missing was a recipe and especially a vegetarian recipe that also worked to fit my low fat requirements. That has never stopped me before and I decided to try my hand at creating a play it by ear style vegetarian recipe for a Chinese themed soup.

I had a bag of precooked Chinese rice noodles in the fridge and so it made sense to use them and make a rice noodle soup. They take next to no time to cook. So, I worked on cooking up a broth first by heating up some stock and throwing in whatever veggies I could find. In this case, it was bamboo shoots, spring onions, frozen corn, mushrooms and carrots.

Because I knew that the soup wouldn’t take long to cook, I decided to shred the carrots so that they would cook quickly. I did go for a chicken flavoured stock but it was a vegetarian chicken stock. I am sure that you could use vegetable stock too. I just liked the idea of a Chinese chicken noodle soup recipe. I threw in some ingredients that felt appropriate for a Chinese soup recipe and boiled it all up for a while. finally, I tossed the cooked rice noodles into the pot just for the last couple minutes.

The end result of my experiment to make a vegetarian recipe to stand in for our normal Chinese takeaway fix, resulted in my hot and sour vegetable rice noodle soup. We both ended up really enjoying the soup recipe and not only didn’t mind that it was a vegetarian recipe but expressly enjoyed all the veggies keeping the rice noodle soup light tasting while being rather filling too. The combination of ingredients made the soup have the right balance of being a bit spicy with the background sour taste.

We will be for sure making this vegetarian noodle soup recipe again when the takeaway urges strike.

Hot and Sour Vegetable Rice Noodle Soup

Hot and Sour Vegetable Rice Noodle Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
53 fluid ounces vegetarian chicken stock
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped up
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
1 cup green onion, including the green tops, roughly chopped
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 cup mushroom, thickly sliced
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 cup bamboo shoot, from a jar
2 cups carrots, shredded
1 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes
13 1/2 ounces rice noodles, already cooked
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Put the stock, garlic and ginger into a large pot and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the onions, rice wine vinegar and sauce and bring back to a boil.
4. Add in the mushrooms, corn, bamboo shots,shredded carrots and dried chili flakes. Allow to boil for about 5 minutes.
5. Put the noodles and black pepper into the pot and cook for two or three minutes just until they are warmed up.
6. Divide into bowls and enjoy.

Serves 4

When I am in a rush to put something on the dinner table, it can be so tempting to just reach for some meat and throw it in the oven to cook. However, I really am trying to eat less meat and eat as many vegetarian meals as possible. On top of which, I want to make sure everything I cook is a healthy recipe. It doesn’t always work out that way but that is certainly the aim.

The other day, we were in between shopping and had very little in the house and I had even less desire to spend a load of time standing in the kitchen putting together a meal. So, I opened the cupboards and took at look in the vegetable drawer to see what had made it to the end of the shopping week. It was a real mixture of stuff but for some reason it screamed ‘Mexican’ to me.

I warned my husband that I was trying a new vegetarian recipe and it was either going to be really good or really horrible. Luckily, my new recipe for vegetarian tacos turned out to be very good! On top of being a super easy vegetarian recipe, it is packed full of vegetables that your kids or other veggie phobic family members won’t even notice are there when they are chowing down.

Vegetarian Bean and Lentil Tacos

Vegetarian Bean And Lentil Taco Recipe

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 cup carrot, shredded
1 cup zucchini, shredded
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup mushroom, finely sliced
1 (14 ounce) can cooked lentils, drained
2 1/2 teaspoons fajitas seasoning mix
1 (15 ounce) can fat-free refried beans
8 taco shells
1/2 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded

Toppings:
reduced-fat sour cream (optional)
salsa (optional)
guacamole (optional)
jalapenos (optional)

Directions:
1.Heat oil in a large pan over a medium heat.
2. Add in the shredded carrots, zucchini, chopped onions and the garlic powder.
3. Stir for a minute two before reducing the heat and letting them sweat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the lentils, mushrooms and fajitas seasoning and cooking, stirring often, over medium heat for another five minutes.
5. Meanwhile, put the taco shells in the oven to cook through. The ones that I buy take about 5 minutes so this can be done while the lentils and mushrooms are cooking down.
6. Stir the refried beans into the vegetable and lentil mixture until everything is combined and the beans are just warmed through.
7. Spoon the lentil and bean mixture into the taco shells and top with shredded cheese.
8. Add any of the other toppings you may enjoy and eat as you would a ‘normal’ taco.

Makes 8 tacos