Caitriona Redmond

Thrifty Tasty Bites

Category Archives: Vegetarian

25 Sep

Mac & Cheese

Have you ever reached into the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk that is perhaps a day past it’s ‘best before’ date, and even though it smells okay you thought you should just pour it down the sink and be done with it? Providing your milk has been stored inside the fridge, and not on the door of the fridge (which is prone to temperature fluctuations), you are probably okay to cook with it.

The only way that I can combat the temptation to eat convenience food during the week is to plan ahead. There are weeks where I hate the planning and organisation; I really rail against the need to be methodical about what we’re going to eat. Then there are weeks where I have it licked.

Do I have it down to a fine art at this stage? Nope!

What I have learned to do is to cook more than 1 meal at a time. In other words I cook double quantities. A meal for now; a meal for another day. The pay off for cooking a family meal is that at another point in the future, I get a reprieve from cooking, with very little effort. Read More →

14 Sep

Carrot And Courgette Pilaf

Okay, okay, it’s not a pilaf in the classic sense of the term. This rice dish isn’t baked in the oven, but it is cooked in the amount of time it takes to simmer some rice, and cook off the vegetables. The carrot and courgette pilaf is a great way to use up a glut of vegetables, then sneak them into your family’s diet with mild curry spices. Each one of the three kids would sit down to a massive comforting bowl of this pilaf with a poached egg on top. I love cooking this kind of food that’s easy on the stomach, wallet, and senses.

The carrot and courgette pilaf came about because, go figure, I had a glut of carrots and courgettes. Read More →

27 Mar

Vegetarian Bean Chilli With Rice – Recipe

I’ve done the research on this recipe and have a Slimming World, Weight Watchers, and calorie count so that if you decide to make this vegetarian bean chilli with rice you’ll know exactly what you’re dealing with.

You will want to allow 100g of cooked white rice per person to add to the meal; this is included in the meal value calculations. The chilli will keep in a sealed box in the fridge for about 3 days, or freezes for up to 3 months if well insulated. Vegetarian Bean Chilli With Rice - Wholesome IrelandCalories Per Serving: 132

Weight Watchers Pro Points Per Serving: 4

Slimming World Information: Syn-Free

Read More →

24 Nov

Review: The Happy Pear Cookbook

In this book we hope to inspire you to eat more veg. That is it, plain and simple.

It’s a great introduction to a book that is packed with recipes from The Happy Pear in Greystones, Co Wicklow. Much more than that though, the book is full of the philosophy behind Dave and Steve’s journey to becoming vegetable evangelists, and retailers on a mission.

The identical twins (for the shop, and book, are a play on words) are the best advertisement for the way of life that the book espouses. While the recipes are at the heart of The Happy Pear cookbook, woven throughout are experiences of their family, employees, and customers. Read More →

31 Jul

Out Of Date Vegetables

When I go to the grocer’s I like to go to the rack at the back of the shop first. My local grocer has a big spiral stand-alone shelf near the fridge where he puts his out of date vegetables that have gone a bit squishy. There’s nothing wrong with the vegetables, just most people like to buy firm, crunchy veg and not things with a bit of give to them.

This week I got the selection above which was sweet potato, aubergine, red pepper, spring onions and garlic for just a few cents. I’m not a fan of hard work to get a meal to taste great so here’s 2 recipes for the price of 1 – a bargain I know! Both recipes are vegan, have no added salt or sugar, gluten-free, and paleo friendly. You can make both at the same time too.

Read More →

26 Mar

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Shepherd’s Pie

This week I’ve been scrimping a little more than usual on my food budget. So that means I’m making the most of the dried beans in the store cupboard. The recipe today is made using beans, but it could just as easily be made using leftover meat if you have it. To bulk up the protein element I’ve sprinkled a bit of grated cheese on top of my pie. It’s not an essential ingredient but it tastes nice. Read More →

19 Jan

Homemade Spaghetti

Homemade spaghetti isn’t rocket science. Really, you don’t even need a pasta machine to make pasta. All you need is a clean, smooth surface and a good rolling pin. After years of lusting after a real pasta machine I finally got my hands on one back in November and it’s been firmly in use most weeks since then. Read More →

18 Sep

Irish Lasagne

I love the contrast of white potato on green spinach. One of the kids calls this an Irish Lasagne and I can see why! The beauty of this recipe is that once you’ve prepared it, there is nothing left to do other than leave it in the oven and wait for it to be ready. Baby potatoes are good value at the moment in some supermarkets so if you’re using them don’t be afraid to leave the skins on, it adds to the texture and flavour. Read More →

15 May

Quick Warm Pasta Salad

This quick warm pasta salad was my saviour last night and there was hearty warm food on the table fast! Read More →

27 Mar

Quick Homemade Pot Noodle

It’s cold, damp, goodness knows what happened to Spring. We need warm comforting food like a quick homemade pot noodle; the next in my series on Real Fast Food.

This week I’ve taken a real step away from my comfort zone and recorded this recipe in real-time at my kitchen table.  I’ve uploaded it to YouTube so that you can see that I’m not fibbing when it comes to homemade fast food. Read More →

20 Mar

New Series: Real Fast Food

Convenience meals or real fast food in our house doesn’t mean that we have to pick up the telephone and call for take out.

There are a number of “meals”, if that’s what you would like to call them, that we can prepare with little fuss with store cupboard ingredients. Read More →

03 Mar

Thai Yellow Curry

Thai Yellow Curry from Wholesome Ireland - Irish Food & Parenting BlogIt’s a common misconception that you shouldn’t feed spicy food to small children. This Thai yellow curry is a huge hit with all the family and is low on capsicum flavour (chilli heat). Read More →

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