Spaghetti Bolognaise

I haven't had this for a while and I wanted to actually sit down with my boy and eat the same thing as him for a change. He's a meat eater, and even though he does like a lot of vegan food that I make, he'd always rather have his meat and dairy... so I decided I'd make a Spaghetti Bolognaise for us both, using TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), also known as Soya Mince. You can buy it dry in most health food shops, in minced or chunky format, and all you need to do is soak it for a while prior to cooking. It's very spongey so when you drain it you have to squeeze the water out quite well. The advantage to this however, is that it soaks sauces up really nicely. We came in from a long day's galavanting, so it was an ideal quick meal.

All I did was fry up some onions and garlic, add some low fat pasta sauce, basil and sweetcorn, then add the pre-soaked TVP and served it over wholewheat brown spaghetti. I dislike normal 'white' spaghetti, I don't think there's much to it, but wholewheat spaghetti is lovely! It tastes different to brown pasta and I think it really adds flavour to a dish. It's quite nutty and it also goes well with vegan pesto. My mother used to make Spaghetti Bolognaise with this type of spaghetti, so it really brings back childhood memories when I eat it.

 Sorry about the bad photo, it was very steamy and kept fuzzing up my lens! I only had a small portion (this is a side plate) as the boy needs a lot of food and I also wanted to save some for my dinner tomorrow as it's SO yummy! :)

Next week I plan on making some Burritos with this soya protein mince, some Old El Paso spice mix, sweetcorn, onions, peppers, guacamole & salsa - another dish the boyfriend loves!