Burgers, Pasties & Some Culture!

Today I went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art to see two exhibitions of works by Spanish painter Ferran Garcia Sevilla, and Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa. Both were very interesting, especially Garaicoa's architecturally-inspired paper creations, so I'd recommend a trip to IMMA to see them if you're at a loose end around Dublin one weekend in the near future.

On the way back I decided to call into Blazing Salads to pick up some food to review for the blog. I was planning on buying some of their ready meals. I would not normally buy any sort of ready meal as I prefer to cook from scratch, so I know what has gone into my meal and know that it will be healthy... of course this would not be a problem with Blazing Salad's excellent standards of cuisine, but when I saw the price they charge for this privilege I decided I couldn't really afford to get a few meals when they were over €7.00 each! Instead I opted for the Sweet Potato Burger and the Butternut Squash Pastie. Neither were listed on the website as I thought they would be, so I do not have a list of the exact ingredients. At just over €2.00 each they were good value and filling. I preferred the pastie to the burger, as I found the burger to be a bit blander than I expected. However the butternut squash in the pastie made it sweet and juicy, and it was the perfect size. Pasties are normally quite greasy, but this little wholemeal-pastry-encased delight was nothing but healthy :)

I also picked up a couple of their frozen soups to review over the next couple of days. One is a Ukrainian broth with beetroot, beans and parsnips, whereas the other is an Indian spiced butternut squash soup. A large pot costs only €3.90, and you can get them already heated in store for lunch, along with a slice of their sourdough bread. All their soups are vegan and I had trouble choosing which ones to buy. I can't wait to try them as they look adventurous and intriguing!

Bubble and Squeak

I cannot deny that my breakfast this morning was pretty damn good! The other night I made the boyfriend some bubble & squeak patties with leftover potatoes and brussels sprouts. All I did was boil and then mash a few potatoes with some vegan margarine, chop some onions and fry them along with some already cooked and shredded brussels sprouts, then mix them all together and form them into little cakes. I coated the outside in flour to stop them getting sticky and to help them stay together when they were fried. I didn't measure or weigh my ingredients, and I didn't season it in any way because I love my potato and my sprouts just as they are! I ate them with a liberal application of HP brown sauce - perfect! Please excuse the terrible photo, my house seems to be awful when it comes to natural light.

Nuts about Nuttolene!

Nuttolene is a vegetarian meat loaf made from blended peanuts, water and sea salt. I keep meaning to take photos and blog about it, but I hardly ever buy it and when I do, I just end up eating it all and remembering too late!

Nuttolene comes in a can and you have to open both ends and push it out like a big sausage. You can then cut slices off and use them as little burgers (they are great marinaded in BBQ sauce for barbecues, and fit in little burger buns perfectly) or chop it into cubes and eat it raw, grilled or fried with a salad. There are probably far more adventurous things you can do with it but I have not yet discovered what these things are!

There is a cheaper version of Nuttolene also in Holland & Barratt, under the name of "Granovita Nut Luncheon". It is very slightly higher in calories than Nuttolene for some reason, even though the ingredients are the same. It is also a lot cheaper! This is the brand I usually go for.

I nabbed the two images below from www.vegalicious.org - the second picture shows the Nuttolene dipped in a flour and water mixture and then rolled in a spicy ground nut mix. They were then oven baked. I'm going to try my own variation of this next time I purchase a can of this lovely stuff, as I have a nice southern fried spicy mixture and some stuffing mix sitting in the cupboard begging to be used :)