Next month I'm gonna take part to Docventure's "Lihaton lokakuu" (erm, "meatless" October). I barely eat any meat anyways although I've eaten some fish and seafood every now and then. However, next month is gonna be completely vegetarian diet for me. I have cut the meat from my diet because of ethical reasons. I challenged few of my friends to take part as well and promised to share some ideas about what to cook. Here are some very simple recipes that I tried this week to give you some inspiration. I think all of us can cut the meat consumption at least a bit, even though you wouldn't give it up completely.
I am not so familiar with the "cooking vocabulary" so sorry for the interesting choices of words ;)
Marjaana's healthier version of famous avocado pasta
Avocado pasta is my favourite dish. It was all over the cooking blogs a year ago, although I learned about it from my friend, Heini. I like to make it so often that I actually developed a bit healthier version of it, without ruining the tastiness ;). It's very delicious and so easy to prepare. I used organic ingredients, but that's up to you.
You'll need (for 4):
1 clove of garlic
1/2 chili
1 lime
2 avocados
1/3 deciliter olive oil
Handful of basilica
Handful of parsley
A big handful of rucola
2 tomatoes
1/2 deciliter of shred pecorino cheese
1/2 deciliter of shred parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
(if you want: pine nuts or other nuts or seeds to add some protein)
500 grams of pasta (I used gluten-free)
Note: You don't need to fry or boil anything else than the pasta ;)
Chop garlic, chili, herbs & rucola and put them straightaway to a serving bowl. Chop tomatoes and avocados into cubes & add them in the bowl. Add juice from the lime. Add pepper, salt, olive oil & the two shred cheese. Add nuts or seeds if you want. Mix.
Boil the pasta. Take 1 deciliter of the boiling water and mix it with the "avocado sauce" in the serving bowl. Add the pasta in the bowl as well. Mix.
Ready!
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| Dinner served for one :) |
I also prepared two different kinds of soups this week. I think it's so nice to eat soup now in the autumn when the weather has gotten quite chilly. They are also very easy to make and healthy :).
Delicious sweet potato-carrot soup
I was looking for ideas for this soup from internet and then I finally made my own version of all of the recipes I found. It turned out very well and it was so easy to make I could cry! This is perfect for chilly autumn nights!
You'll need (for 2):
2 sweet potatoes
3 carrots
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 vegetable bouillon cube
2 deciliter of Creme Fraiche
salt
pepper
herbs for decoration ;)
Peel sweet potatoes & chop them, carrots, garlic and onion. Boil them with the vegetable bouillon cube until they are soft. Add salt & pepper.
Pour the boiling water from the kettle to a separate bowl.
Mash the veggies with a hand blender. Add creme fraiche. Add as much of the boiling water as you want and let it shortly boil again.
Ready!
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| Damn proud of my soup :p |
My super duper healthy messy mix soup...that looks weird
I tend to make this soup on Sunday and then I eat it at work for a lunch during the whole next week :D. A soup just doesn't get much healthier than this one. This soup is different each time so feel free to experiment with different veggies etc.
You'll need (for...hmm, 4...?)
1 deciliter of red lentils
1 deciliter of quinoa
1/2 broccoli
1 red paprika
1 zucchini
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 chili
herbs (like parsley)
salt
pepper
250 grams of Turkish or Greek yogurt (don't use low-fat, it doesn't blend in smoothly! I made this mistake....)
Chop broccoli, paprika, zucchini, garlic & chili. Boil them until they are soft. Add also herbs, salt & pepper.
Boil lentils and quinoa in low heat in a separate kettle for 15 min. Take the water out.
Take the excess water out from the veggie kettle and add lentils and quinoa there too. Now smash everything with a hand blender. WRUUUUUMMMMMM. good.
Add turkish or greek yougurt in, mix and let it shortly boil again.
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| The IKEA herbs I've grown |
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There you go, I hope you got some inspiration to cook vegetarian food. I can post more recipes if I do something really good ;).
