New Riverford Quick Vegetarian Recipe Box

Another fantastic offering for Vegetarians from Riverford Organic Farmers today. 

Riverford's new Vegetarian "Quick" Recipe Box. You already know how much of a fan we are of Riverford Organic Recipe bBoxes. 

There's nothing like fresh, measured out ingredients being delivered to your door with recipe cards, taking all of the thinking, stress and hassle out of cooking (now if only they offered a clearing up service too!)

Riverford's new Vegetarian Quick Recipe Box features all of the ingredients and instructions needed to make either two or three vegetarian meals from scratch. The recipes are designed to be ready to eat in around thirty minutes, great for people who want to eat well but are time-deprived - just like we are! 

The girls typically eat a main meal at school nowadays, so often I am preparing a main meal for two, meaning that these types of quick recipe boxes are perfect for us, when we have to get the kids tea and then prepare ours too!

 

Riverford delivered our box, with everything separated into compartments for both recipes, meaning that it's easy to see what ingredients are meant for each recipe and easy to store them together in the fridge or the cupboard. 

The two recipes in our box were Lentil, Bean and Kale Stew with Pumpkin Seeds and Pitta, and Sweet Potato Rosti with Roast Curried Sprouts, Red Onions and Poached Eggs.

Both recipes were perfect for a seasonally cold snap. First up was Lentil, Bean and Kale Stew with Pumpkin Seeds and Pitta. Personally, this was my favourite recipe. It was super easy to prepare, and the step-by-step instructions were easy to follow. In the winter, when it's cold and you want something warm to eat quickly I do sometimes find it hard to find a hearty, healthy and nourishing option. This recipe definitely ticked all three boxes. The butter beans and lentils were a great combination and I thought that adding the pesto element to the stew was a great idea as it added texture and flavour, as did the kale.

The second recipe we cooked was Sweet Potato Rosti with Roast Curried Sprouts, Red Onions and Poached Eggs. I have never tried curried sprouts before, so this was definitely a first for me. Again the recipe was very easy to follow, but if i'm honest, this did take me a lot longer to prepare than the other recipe as grating the sweet potato, making the patties and frying the rosti took me a while. I can see how this would be quicker for someone why does a lot of frying, but personally I don't tend to fry a lot of stuff, and my induction hob is a little temperamental, so this all took me a while longer. It probably took around 45 minutes to prepare, but still quicker than many other meals!

The seasonal organic veg grown on Riverford farms is the inspiration for each week's recipes, meaning that each week's box is different. I love the variety of recipes that Riverford recipe boxes provide. Every box I've had, contained recipes and ingredients that I wouldn't typically have ever tried off of my own back.I am really happy that Riverford have also now started offering "quick" recipe boxes as we don't often have much time to cook at night. 

Riverford "quick" recipe boxes are available via the Riverford website. They are priced at £24.95 for two meals and £33.95 for three.

Riverford offered us a Quick Vegetarian Recipe Box in consideration for review

Sainsburys Protein Milk

Sainsburys recently contacted me to let me know that they have launched an own-brand Protein Milk, the first Supermarket in the UK to do so. This is fantastic news for vegetarians who often struggle to get enough protein in their diet. When they asked me if I would liked to sample some I immediately thought of how this would also be great for my daughter as I worry about her eating meat free and getting enough protein.

Sainsbury's Protein Milk is 1% fat and tastes just as good as it's counterparts. One serving (200ml) delivers 10g of protein - 38% more protein than regular milk. At £1.25 per litre, Protein  milk is an easy swap for regular milk and much more beneficial health wise. The milk can be found in the chilled aisle at most Sainsbury's stores.

We used the milk on our cereal, in cups of tea & coffee, and in our cooking. I also found it particularly useful for making smoothies with as my daughter loves fresh fruit, so this was a great way to get the protein in her diet too.

I was really impressed with Sainsburys Protein Milk and it will be definitely be my milk of choice going forward!

Jamie's Italian: The Buyers Guide to Olive Oil

When I was younger, I always remember my Mum frying everything with lard, or a really heavy oil as was the custom in the eighties, but nowadays, Olive Oil is my oil of choice for almost everything I cook.

Even a few weeks ago when I cooked our vegetarian, animal fat free Christmas Dinner, I cooked the Roast Potatoes in Olive Oil, and I have to say I think that they came out fantastically!

With so much choice on the supermarket shelves, nowadays it can be tricky to know which Olive Oil  to choose for your cooking, do you go virgin, extra virgin, Italian, Spanish, the choices are endless!

Jamie's Italian has created a beautifully crafted guide to tell you about this fantastic ingredient. You can use it as a tasting guide, for cooking suggestions or as a handy manual when shopping for your next meal.

I always think it's great to have different olive oils depending on what you are cooking, so this guide is brilliant for knowing which to use!

. A beautifully crafted guide that tells you all you need to know about this fantastic ingredient. Use as a tasting guide, for cooking suggestions or as a handy manual when shopping for your next meal. - See more at: http://visual.ly/jamies-italian-olive-oil-buyers-guide#sthash.JVRrwM8s.dpuf

. A beautifully crafted guide that tells you all you need to know about this fantastic ingredient. Use as a tasting guide, for cooking suggestions or as a handy manual when shopping for your next meal. - See more at: http://visual.ly/jamies-italian-olive-oil-buyers-guide#sthash.JVRrwM8s.dpuf

. A beautifully crafted guide that tells you all you need to know about this fantastic ingredient. Use as a tasting guide, for cooking suggestions or as a handy manual when shopping for your next meal. - See more at: http://visual.ly/jamies-italian-olive-oil-buyers-guide#sthash.JVRrwM8s.dpuf

. A beautifully crafted guide that tells you all you need to know about this fantastic ingredient. Use as a tasting guide, for cooking suggestions or as a handy manual when shopping for your next meal. - See more at: http://visual.ly/jamies-italian-olive-oil-buyers-guide#sthash.JVRrwM8s.dpuf