A typical weekend of eats here in Thriftyville.
Friday night being (of course) pizza night.
Saturday, a mezze meal… little bit of this & that, a great way to use up leftovers.
And that great British Sunday tradition, the roast dinner!
Friday’s pizza was made with Sainsbury’s onion & balsamic vinegar pitta breads, topped with pasta sauce, mozza Cheezly, mushrooms, spinach and sweetcorn. Scrummy! If you’ve never had sweetcorn on pizza (it’s popular here in the UK, but not on the other side of the pond), then you really must try it.
Saturday’s mezze consisted of panfried Spanish Padron peppers, Linda McCartney veggie sausage rolls, mixed bean salad (a markdown from the deli), Israeli couscous salad (ditto), and a big Caesar salad. A delightful mix of flavours and textures.
Sunday’s roast dinner featured homemade vegetarian haggis. I know what you are wondering. Why would a vegan want to recreate a Scottish speciality traditionally made with sheep innards and oatmeal? The answer is, well, because commercial vegetarian haggis — made with oatmeal, onion, lentils, mushrooms & kidney beans — tastes pretty darn good, and it’s a very budget meal. Besides, as Nac Mac Vegan points out, there is evidence that the original haggis was vegetarian.
The recipe I made was adapted from the 1904 book Reform cookery book: Up-to-date health cookery for the twentieth century by Mrs. Jean Oliver Mill. I added too much water to the mixture before steaming, making it too moist, so I ended up frying the slices after to firm them up. But we both really liked the haggis, and I’ll be making it again. It tasted different to — and much better than — commercial vegetarian haggis.
Alongside were roasted potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, peppers and mushrooms; as well as Brussels sprouts done in the slow cooker. The sprouts were pretty good, but I have to say that I do like roasted sprouts better.
Happy weekend MoFo!
You always make me wish I could come over to your house and be your Best Friend Forever and eat all my meals with you. 🙂 You know how to make me hungry even when I am not hungry!
I am intrigued by your vegan haggis and will have to check that out.
Hey CM — We will just have to settle for being BFFFAs (Best Friends Forever From Afar) 😀
And there was me hoping you had posted the haggis recipe – I really like the McSween’s one you can buy in the UK. I always put sweetcorn on my pizza too – I had no idea it was a UK thing – aren’t the little differences amusing.