Meatless Monday. That is a big trend on the blogs I read regularly, and of course on Pinterest.
Now anyone who has read just about any post on my blog will know that I am not a great one for cutting any food out of my diet. You tell me I can't eat something then I instantly want it is great quantities. I will start to fascinate about a dish until I have to cook and eat the biggest and most over indulgent plateful ever.
I can however get onboard with Meatless Monday as it is just one day a week and I feel it is easy to do, as we often enjoy a vegetarian meal during the week. This is perhaps more to do with the cost of our groceries and the fact we love a good roasted vegetable hash, a tomato based pasta sauce or a potato quesadilla, than our need to embrace an elimination day. But planning it always on a Monday doesn't work for me, when/if we have a vegetarian main course depends on many things.
Meatless Monday wasn't a weekly trend I was going to embrace on the blog, as that would involve me remembering and making sure I had a vegetarian dish to blog every Monday. I have always blogged the food we eat, I don't manoeuvre or distort our weekly menu to get foods to blog. This is why I sometimes find I have nothing to blog. Like last Tuesday, Stew was away so I had risotto (as I mentioned here, he doesn't eat risotto). I get risotto so infrequently that the moment he works away I crave it. Just a plain risotto. So I had nothing to blog as I have already shouted shared my thoughts on the perfect simple risotto. I could perhaps of added some extra ingredients and shared my tasty chicken, pancetta and mushroom risotto. But that would have involved an extra trip to the shops with two boys in tow!
But getting back to meatless Monday. I know it isn't Monday, but I do have a vegetarian recipe for you. This will be the 5th vegetarian recipe in a row. Now that is just coincidence. I am not going off meat. And I promise that tomorrow I will share an amazing delicious and carnivore pleasing recipe. It is planned, it is written on our fridge menu and the ingredients are in the fridge......so watch this space 😉
But for now let me sing the vegetarian virtues of this amazing and tasty dish. It involves, what I class as, one of the greatest vegetables. Carrots. In my eyes they are one of the greatest vegetables, because both my children will happily eat them, in fact Mr 4 requests them! They can also be turned into cake and if you embrace eating the rainbow they are a great alternative to oranges for the, well for the colour orange! Or for the indigo if you buy purple ones!
This recipe highlights their natural sweetness and earthiness. I enjoyed them with a bowl of butter couscous. But you could use them as a side dish to grilled chicken or steak. The beauty of this dish is it holds it own, it can be added to a crisp salad or served along side a roast.
Get the recipe for this amazing spice blend here.
Happy meatless Tuesday 😉
See you tomorrow for a definite meat day 🙂
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Moroccan Spiced Carrots
Ingredients
- 8 chunky carrots
- 2 tsp moroccan spice blend (get my recipe)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan forced/Gas Mark 7.
- Peel and then top and tail the carrots.
- Cut each carrot in half lengthways and then in half (lengthways) again.
- Bring a pan of water up to the boil, add ½ tsp of salt and cook the carrots for 8 minutes until just cooked through.
- Drain the carrots and return to the pan.
- Pour over the olive oil and add the spice blend.
- Gently toss the pan to coat the carrots.
- Line a baking tray with cooking paper. (I always use 'Glad Bake & Cooking Paper)
- Lay the carrots out on the baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes until crisp.
- Arrange the carrots onto a serving dish and garnish with the pine nuts and chopped mint.
Nutrition
Scarlet says
The spices, pine nuts, and mint all sound fantastic on these roasted carrots. Yum. I can't wait to make this recipe.