2022 Vegan Storecupboard Challenge

donna73

Wow! @leftatthetrafficlights that’s quite the inventory!!! 

I’ve been gluten free and dairy free for 2 or 3 years , and I’ve been gradually sneaking more and more veg and pulses into our meat meals 😉 
This year I’ve decided I want to eat a much more plant based diet. Still cooking meat for the rest of the family though. 

Looking forward to getting inspiration here. 😀

leftatthetrafficlights

Welcome @donna73! 😊 yep, it's a ridiculous amount of food but I'm hoping to reduce it (and my grocery costs 😉) over the next year! 

Shopping on Sunday and bought kale, carrots and green beans so yesterday made steamed broccoli (had it left from last week) and green beans, kale with onions, carrots and parsnips in leftover maple and mustard dressing and buckwheat in tarragon butter to use up the remaining tarragon butter 😊 

Got loads of all of it left so will have it again tonight then re-purpose anything left tomorrow- I'm thinking of putting whatever remains into the food processor with a tin of chickpeas and making 'meatballs' which I'll serve in a tomato and rosemary sauce 🤔

donna73

@leftatthetrafficlights how did the “meatballs “ turn out? I’ve not made meat-free meat balls before, what’s the best way to make sure they stick together? 

leftatthetrafficlights

@donna73 - they were lovely! 😊 tbh, buckwheat is quite 'wet' and sticky anyway so I just put them in a mini-muffin tray and then turn them out after they've cooled for a bit  - I put them into the sauce once it's cooked and don't mush them around too much so they tend to stick together 😉

Raincoat

I love making veggie meatballs when I'm feeling organised  I like to make a batch and freeze them, as I've found they're good to have as a back-up.

I was inspired by all the talk of buckwheat and made some buckwheat and banana pancakes last week (I picked up a number of battered bananas from Olio and they found a suitable purpose!) Very tasty all in all, I'm not sure why I've never used buckwheat flour before.

Also on the menu was an aubergine and butternut squash massaman curry, as I had an aubergine needing to be used up. This was a new recipe for me (a Meera Sodha one from her book "East" but its also on the Guardian), and if I made it again I might opt for the slow cooker to really melt down the aubergines. It was beautifully fragrant but as I'm a wimp I halved the bird's eye chillies 

donna73

@leftatthetrafficlights @Raincoat I’ve never used buckwheat, I’m gluten free & I assumed because of the name , that it had gluten in it, but I’ve just checked and it hasn’t !! 😀 will have to give it a try. 

CCW007

@leftatthetrafficlights Help please!  I've gone to make tabbouleh this evening but don't seem to have any bulghar wheat.  Any suggestions for substitutions?  I've got pearl barley or buckwheat, would either of those do in your experience? 

leftatthetrafficlights

@CCW007 - both will be a bit wet I'd think 🤔 if you're okay with the texture being different to normal then either will do 😉

CCW007

Thank you! I'm also wondering whether giant wholewheat couscous or quinoa would work, might be less wet.

leftatthetrafficlights

Giant couscous would be ideal! 🙌