An English Rosie: Meat Free Mondays

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Meat Free Mondays

'One day a week can make a world of difference.'

I have discovered over the past month or so that Instagram is more useful than one would first believe. Rather than being purely a means of stalking friends & celebrities a like, I find it useful for healthy breakfast ideas, dinner recipes and fitness inspiration. However one thing caught my eye over all the other delicious dishes, a concept which I was introduced to through Jamie Oliver's instagram page.

Every Monday, accompanied by a mouth wateringly delicious image was the caption #meatfreemondays. At first I thought this a concept created by Jamie himself, but on further research discovered a whole company project behind the idea.

Its philosophy is simple, don't eat meat for one day a week to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by livestock sector, stay healthy, save money and care for our animals.

I am already a huge fan of vegetarian food, so one day a week without meat will be quite simply a delight for me! I began my meat free Monday with a smoothie for breakfast, tomato soup for lunch and then the most delicious dinner.

The original recipe I found on the channel 4 food website, however I tweaked it to suit myself and to reduce it from serving 6 to just 1!

The ingredients I used were;

50g red split lentils

1/6th large onion (add more if you love the taste)

5 cherry tomatoes

1/2 tsp tomato puree

1/2 garlic clove

1 red pepper

1 tsp curry paste (I used garam masala)

handful spinach (& a little more to serve)

35g cottage cheese

1 cal Olive Oil spray (a few spritzs)

Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius (fan oven).

First for the lentils, rinse these under cold water, bring a a pan of water to boil, then add these little beauties. The water should cover the lentils and have around 3 times more volume than lentils. Allow to boil for a few minutes, then bring the heat down and simmer for around 15 minutes. I over did mine slightly, so I would recommend checking them regularly for a soft but not soggy texture.

Halve the pepper straight down the middle, and scoop out the pips and pulp.

Chop the onion into small chunks, then the garlic into tincy chunks, and finally quarter the cherry tomatoes.

Heat up a pan with olive oil, or alternatively use 1 cal Olive Oil spray, add the onions, garlic and tomatoes and allow to fry for 4/5 mintes.

Meanwhile, if the lentils are done, take them off the heat and drain the water.

Add the tomato puree and allow to fry for another 3 minutes, adding more oil spray if necessary.

Now add the spinach, lentils and curry paste to the mixture, stirring regularly to allow the paste to be spread evenly. Fry for another 3 minutes until the mixture has soaked in the paste.

Share the cottage cheese evenly between the pepper halves, then scoop the lentil mixture from the pan into the peppers. Place on a baking tray and allow to cook in the oven for 15 minutes.