2023 Vegan Storecupboard Challenge

leftatthetrafficlights

@katjikita - everything other than the green beans was sliced around 1cm thick and the beans were chopped in to thirds - I cooked everything but the beans in stock for around 15 mins then added the beans before cooking for another 10 roughly (basically until the veg was tender) then added the mustard and stirred through. 

@MissRikkiC - my lentil pancakes didn't stick thankfully but I have a pancake 'plate' so it makes them easy to remove; I think one of the good things about the pancakes is their ability to be jazzed up in flavour- in the months to come I'm planning on making some tandoori and mango ones to hold tandoori tofu; some chipotle ones for a bean chilli and some cinnamon ones for an apple 'pie' dish. I'm also going to make some pesto ones and use them as lasagne 'sheets' 😉 

MissRikkiC

I like all of those ideas @leftatthetrafficlights. It’s my luck with pancakes. I never have much luck without any kind of them sticking despite having great pans. I think next time I’ll use more oil but I picked them up like patties rather than got them to hold anything. Do you get them to wrap? 

KajiKita

Used up the last of the Christmas-treat, part baked bread rolls and two tins of soup from stores for our lunch today 😊

KK

leftatthetrafficlights

@MissRikkiC - they wrap okay for me - I do make them a little bit thicker than I would make crepes though to help them along 😉 

We went out this weekend for our anniversary and I had a beautiful warm asian salad - I'll definitely recreate it at home soon as it was fabulous but I've got cavolo nero, leeks and celeriac in the garden that needs using up plus parsnips, carrots, green beans, cabbage and new potatoes in the house so...I've sorted the menu for the week based around this:  

Sunday- celeriac steaks with new potatoes, carrots and parsnips 

Monday- orange tofu, veg stir fry and noodles 

Tuesday - Braised leeks brushed with miso served on buckwheat with cavolo nero and aduki beans

Wednesday- roasted peppers stuffed with tomatoes, olives and basil served on a bed of pesto quinoa with broccoli and cashews 

Thursday- leftovers (probably re-purposed but I'll see what's left before I decide on what to do with them!) 

Friday - cabbage and rice

Saturday- miso ramen

For lunches I'm sticking to salads and fruit - I really need to lose some weight so I'm conscious that I need to reduce the amount of sauces etc that I make while keeping the food interesting to me! 

MissRikkiC

Mine were thick too but maybe more oil next time. I’ve actually ran out of red lentils now (some how?!) but have urid dal that I bought for a recipe once before I was a better cook! Do you think they would work the same I wonder? 

Meals sounds lovely and jealous of your winter crops. I’ve lost all of mine this year but will try harder to maintain them this coming winter. 

Thevalueofless

February Wk 1, £55.58/£270
Quite pleased with this, it does include £8 of groceries for my neice and £10 on coffee beans and a tin of instant coffee but both will last us the month. Though it does make me wonder what I actually spent the rest on as we had a full fridge and plenty in the cupboards and freezer and I have been baking our bread. Meal plan done up to Friday, determined to keep to it.  Am out Tuesday after work which will come out of grocery fund but eating at a Weatherspoons so meal and a drink will only be £10. Had a good few hours down the allotment today moving strawberries and planning this years crops. Last year was first year so very little fruit, hopefully better this year. Finally ran out of our potatoes and had to buy some last week, first time since July though. 

leftatthetrafficlights

MissRikkiC said:

Mine were thick too but maybe more oil next time. I’ve actually ran out of red lentils now (some how?!) but have urid dal that I bought for a recipe once before I was a better cook! Do you think they would work the same I wonder? 

Not sure that the urid dal would work 🤔 it has a much longer cooking time normally than red lentils but perhaps if you did the soak in boiling water and for longer it may be okay? Worth a try I'm sure! 😉 

Welcome @Thevalueofless! 😁 I'm sure that we all wonder where the money goes at times - I know I do! If you take off the coffee and your niece's shopping though that's a reasonably small amount for a weeks worth of shopping! 

I spent a bit over the weekend on stuff I don't really need at the moment- I live rurally so got some things from the city while I was there as I rarely venture that far! 

Today's celeriac steaks ended up being a 'no go' - we harvested them but they had deteriorated too much to use (probably due to the hard frosts we had recently) I'll have to rethink dinner! 🤦‍♀️

leftatthetrafficlights

Made the orange tofu, stir fry veg and noodles on Monday and ate the leftovers on Tuesday; felt a bit poop last night (got the cold that is doing the rounds 🤦‍♀️) so just got a Thai curry out of the freezer for dh. Tonight is cabbage and rice then tomorrow will be the roasted peppers. 

I've decided that I'm doing a weekend of smoothies, fruit, raw veg and salad leaves only - I really feel that I could do with a 'clear out and pick up' at the moment so a weekend of that will hopefully set me up well; I've got watermelon, papaya, black grapes, pomegranate, apples and mixed berries available and some salad leaves in the greenhouse. I also have a parsnip, half a white cabbage, red onion and carrot so I'll 'rice' the veg in the food processor and use that on the leaves. Basically, breakfast will be a smoothie, lunch a fruit bowl and salad with veg 'rice' for dinner. No carbs, no grains and no pulses. Along with lots of water and chamomile tea I'm hoping that I'll get my mojo back and a massive burst of vitamins! 😉 

I'll write next week's menu over the weekend 😁

MissRikkiC

Hope you feel better after your fruit and veg weekend @leftatthetrafficlights could you recommend a few sites/books that you turn to often for recipe ideas? 

MissRikkiC

It tried the pancakes again tonight and they still didn’t really work out! Maybe the 1:2 ratio of lentils and water is slightly off for me?