Featured Post: Starting A Vegetable Garden At Home

It's day four of National Vegetarian Week and today I am featuring another surprisingly simple way to eat Vegetarian - by having your own vegetarian food readily accessible in your garden!

With the upcoming bank holiday, now is a great time to start updating and upgrading the garden, and it's also a great time to get some nice vegetables planted. As people seek out ways to eat more sustainable food, and  live more sustainable lives for the good of the environment, more and more are finding the ideal of growing their own vegetables to be very appealing. However, not everyone knows the best ways to go about planning and growing a vegetable garden - or, for that matter, the best vegetables to consider! So with that in mind, here is a quick guide that can help you to get your home vegetables going.

To begin with, you'll need to plan your garden and acquire the necessary seeds and tools to get it started. Here are a few basic tips:

• Accessorise first. There's nothing more frustrating in gardening than getting half way through a task only to find you need to run out and buy more equipment! You can easily buy seeds at a local gardening centre, and equipment at sources like MySmartBuy, but it's a good idea to be thorough about the process.

• Utilize compact containers. When many people hear the term "vegetable garden," they immediately imagine digging around in the yard - and if you have the space for it, great! But even if your garden space is limited, compact containers can help certain plants to thrive even if they're hanging on your windowsill or porch.

• Garden vertically. This is another great way to conserve space. A "hanging garden" of containers dangling one above the other (many even use old rain gutters to great effect) can help you to maximize your space for growing vegetables.

• Continue to research. Reading a single article or a few pages in a book is rarely enough to teach you everything you need about growing certain vegetables. Thorough preparation, on the other hand, will prepare you to grow healthy, delicious veggies at home.

Once you've considered how and where to arrange your vegetable garden, you'll need to approach the more exciting step of picking out the foods you'd like to grow! You have a very wide range of options to consider, but here are a few vegetables that can grow particularly well in home environments, as noted by Mother Nature Network.

• Peas - A large number can be grown in a single container, provided they have a railing or structure to climb up. Extreme heat won't do them any favours, but home-grown peas are delicious.

• Tomatoes - Popular favourites for home growing, tomatoes can thrive in very simple, compact locations. A single container, a spot in the sun, and you'll have a perfect tomato plant.

• Broccoli - Also a relatively low-maintenance option that requires a single container 12 to 16 inch deep, broccoli is a favourite because it is very healthy and useful in a variety of meals.

These are just a few of many great home vegetable options. But they can be a great start to your vegetable garden experience!

Disclosure: This is a featured post. All opinions are my own.

Vegetarian Sausage Hungarian Casserole

It is day two of National Vegetarian Week, and today I am continuing the "surprisingly simple" theme by featuring a Vegetarian Hungarian Casserole made using Vegetarian Sausages. A surprisingly simple way to eat Vegetarian is to supplement meat products for soya or mycoprotein based products. Rather than using meaty sausages in this recipe, I have used vegetarian sausages. Try to use quite robust sausages rather than vegetable filled soft versions as they may break up quite easily.

This dish is basically your (veggie) meat, potato and veg in one bowl. I love the fusion of the flavours as the spices mix with the ingredients It would taste even more fantastic if cooked in the slow cooker so that the flavours have even longer to mix.

Cooking on the hob only took around thirty minutes, and preparation around fifteen minutes so it is a really great dish to cook if you have a little time to spare in the evening. Why not try this dish out and tell me what you think.

You can read more about National Vegetarian Week, and link up your vegetarian recipes here

Vegetarian Hungarian Sausage Casserole Print This Recipe Serves Two (as a Main) Ingredients 8 Veg Sausages (chopped into pieces) 1tbsp Olive Oil 25g Butter 4 large Potatoes, chopped into chunks 2 Onions, chopped 1 Red Pepper, roughly chopped 1 Green Pepper, roughly chopped 2 x 400g tin Chopped Tomatoes 250ml Vegetable Stock 2tsp Caraway Seeds 2tsp Paprika 2tsp Mustard Seeds Salt & Pepper Directions Cook the sausages and allow to cool a little. Chop into 2cm chunks Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Place the potato into the pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring regularly for around five minutes. Add the onion and pepper to the pan and continue to cook for a further five minutes, stirring regularly once again. Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, caraway seeds, paprika, mustard seeds, and salt and pepper to the pan. Mix well and simmer for around 15 minutes uncovered. Stir. If the potato is still a little tough, cover the pan with a lid and cook for a further five minutes. Allow to cool a little and serve.

National Vegetarian Week 2013

This week is National Vegetarian Week, which runs from today until Sunday 26th May. The Vegetarian Society suggests that being a Vegetarian is not rocket science - in fact, they think it's surprisingly simple - and so do I!

The question that people ask me most often when they hear I am Vegetarian is "Well if you don't eat meat... what do you eat?" Some honestly think I live on the stereotypical lentils and vegetables. The answer is... I eat everything that meat-eaters eat  - just without the meat, fish and animal products. Even some carnivores don't eat meat every day, or at every meal. There is an array of foods that Vegetarian's can eat. I eat from the protein, dairy, fats and carbohydrate food groups every day - not just the fruit and vegetable group. There are also great meat-free substitutes available which supplement the meat if you are missing it (and they are much better than they used to be).

To demonstrate how simple being Vegetarian can be, this week, I shall be sharing some surprisingly simple Vegetarian recipes for you to enjoy. I hope to show that you don't have to be a budding Nigella to create a great tasting meal. Indeed, I am going to let you into a little secret here, most weekday evenings, I typically only have between fifteen and thirty minutes to get a meal on the table. Stuck in a never ending cycle of school pick-ups and after school clubs, we don't make it home until around 6pm most nights, meaning I have almost no time to concoct a restaurant standard Vegetarian creation. However, I also don't like to consistently feed my family pre-prepared meals as I like to make our meals from scratch as often as I can, or use a mix of pre-prepared and fresh ingredients.

Tonight we had Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Pasta which used a pre-prepared sauce, but also fresh ingredients too. Now I know that Pasta and Sauce isn't exactly revolutionary, but it is a great base to add fresh ingredients to, for a delicious healthy meal. I would typically add black olives to this dish to give it a bit more substance and flavour, or you could also add some vegetables - perhaps onions, peppers and courgettes to the dish - a great quick, surprisingly simple Vegetarian meal!

Please see below for the recipe for Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Pasta.

I am also adding a linky to the bottom of this page, so please feel free to add your own surprisingly simple Vegetarian recipe to share with others this National Vegetarian Week. The Vegetarian Society also has some great surprisingly simple recipes on their website.  

You can keep up to date with National Vegetarian Week through Facebook/nationalveggieweek and Twitter @nvw2013. Please also come and facebook and tweet along this week with me. My contact buttons are in the sidebar on the right. 

Once again, Happy National Vegetarian Week 2013 to you all!

Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Pasta Serves Four (as a Main) Ingredients 500g Pasta 1 Jar of Creamy Tomato Sauce 1 tin of Chopped Tomatoes 100g Mozzarella, cut into thin pieces. Fresh Basil Leaves Salt & Pepper  Directions Cook the pasta in some olive oil and hot water for around ten to fifteen minutes. Once cooked, drain the pasta and add the tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes to the pan. Heat and then add the pasta and combine the pasta and sauce together.  Season well with salt and pepper. Place the pasta onto the plate/dish, and add the mozzarella and basil over the top of the pasta. Serve immediately.

Link up your Surprisingly Simple Vegetarian Recipe Here and please leave me a comment to say you have linked:

ASK Italian Restaurants Launch New Menu

Last week, youngest and I were invited to a masterclass at ASK Italian Restaurant, Oxford Street with Chef Theo Randall to celebrate the launch of Ask Italian's new 2013 menu. The Italian inspired menu, created by expert friend Theo Randall and his team, was developed after numerous trips to Italy, and perfected through thousands of hours of testing in the kitchen. Part of the reason that the menu is so fantastic, and the dishes are so fabulous, is due to the vigorous research process, and the team's dedication to sourcing the best authentic Italian ingredients.

To kick of the afternoon's proceedings, Theo and Fari (Head Chef) showed us how to make Panzerottini - rather moreish dough-balls which Theo and the team discovered during their trip to the area around Campania, Italy. Originally filled with turnip tops, they have been adapted for the UK market to include a delicious vegetarian Chilli Cheese flavour, and a meaty Pancetta option also.

After a demonstration, us bloggers were then given the challenge of copying Fari's amazing creations, and making our own Panzerottini. Youngest decided that she was eager to help, and so she and I got to work making our own Panzerottini. Unfortunately, it emerged that she was more interested in eating the ingredients rather than cooking with them. However, we did manage to produce some passable Panzerottini - although not to the standards of the experts I'm sure!

After making our Panzerottini, we then sat down to eat the fruits of our labour. We were all surprised at how quickly the Panzerottini cooked - they only took a couple of minutes in the stove oven. The Panzerottini were served with the most divine Olive Oil - handpressed and sourced from local Italian growers, and balsamic vinegar poured into the olive oil. The Panzerottini were a great start to the meal. Even most of the carnivores admitted that they preferred the vegetarian Chilli Cheese Panzerottini over the meaty ones.

To follow sampling the Panzerottini we had made, we then tested some dishes from the new menu, including an impressive, absolutely top notch Vegetarian pasta dish - Spaghetti al Pomodoro containing Santos tomatoes, fresh basil, and buffalo mozzarella. The Spaghetti al Pomodoro was seriously one of the best things I have eaten in a restaurant in a while. There was then another course of the new pizza's which were non veggie, but look amazing.  Everyone was fit to burst! However, the meal wasn't over, and we were astounded when an awesome flour-less, gluten free cake called "Chocolate Amore" was bought over, closely followed by a dessert sharing trio consisting of Italian Cheesecake, Chocolate and Almond Cake, and Pistachio, Almond and Plum Tart, accompanied by the most delicious Alphonso mango sorbet - just divine!

During lunch, it was very inspiring to hear Theo speaking about his trip to Italy alongside Italian food writer Carla Capalbo and the ASK Italian team to gain an insight into developing truly Italian dishes. Theo recounted visiting local growers, which helped us to really connect with the food we were eating. As a lover of the story of the journey from field to plate, I was especially interested to hear about exactly where my food had come from. 

Altogether, it was a thoroughly lovely afternoon!  I love Italian food as it is very vegetarian friendly, and it is also mostly cooked using fresh ingredients and the flavour really portrays this in the dishes I sampled over the afternoon. 

I don't feel that I can write this article without acknowledging how supremely fantastic the ASK Italian staff at the Oxford Street restaurant were with youngest who is aged 3. They were so flexible in accommodating her, and arranged food and colouring for her to keep her occupied. She also got involved in making the panzerottini, and felt very excited sitting with the grownups whilst we all ate. She would also remind me not to forget the impressive bowl of ice cream she devoured. She was extremely well looked after and catered for. I think as well as serving superb food for the grown-ups, ASK restaurants are also extremely family friendly, and it is one of the most welcoming restaurants for kids that I have ever come across (and we eat out a lot with kids).

Youngest and I had a fantastic time finding out about the new menu. Thanks to ASK Restaurants for inviting us along. We will be back!

Disclosure: Complimentary workshop and food offered in consideration for review.