Vegan Spirilized Courgette/Zucchini Pasta

I’m back after a very stressful placement in Intensive Care and a lovely family Christmas and I had some Christmas money to spend, as I always do, on my new cooking endeavours. And behold my latest creation made with my latest gadget!

Its vegan, vegetarian, low carb, low fat and gluten free. Any health nuts dream! I’m not usually one for airy fairy messing about in the kitchen but this new year I have noticed I’ve started resembling Buddha over Christmas. Great mind…not exactly a bikini body to shoot for. Now considering my sickening aversion to anything remotely cardiovascular (I refuse to believe feeling like your dying is good for you) the main focus is my food intake. I think any vegan with a busy life can’t deny a particular lean towards starchy carbs to keep us going. I kept seeing this done on various food sites and couldn’t help feeling it was genius.

It’s so easy to do and the yield shown above was actually from only half a courgette so financially it’s considerably cheaper than a lot of low carb pasta alternatives and is far superior in terms of calories.
I was concerned as I am NOT a fan of courgette (or zucchini if you’re a yank) but when lightly stir fried it tastes very similar to rice noodles. I prepared it with sweet chilli sauce, onions and garlic and didn’t miss noodles at all. It seems it has a similar effect as tofu, the ‘pasta’ seems to take on the flavour of the flavours you cook with it.

You can pick a spiralizer up on eBay for about a tenner and I’d definitely recommend the investment. It’s made a significant difference to the calorie content of my meals and its really delicious. So here is my gift to you to help you through the difficult mid January hump if you too are a passionate foodie currently on the miserable weight loss band wagon, lets club together to make it a fun foodie adventure!
The Foodie
Xxx

Great Geordie Sausage Casserole

Great sausage casserole, not just sausage casserole, GREAT sausage casserole, a la hairy bikers. If your from across the pond and don’t know what The Hairy Bikers are then the name says it all. They’re hairy bikers that cook, they’re also Geordie which means they hale from the tropical paradise of Newcastle, which is about twenty minutes away from my hometown.
It’s not going to win any beauty contests but by god it’s bloody good!
The best thing about sausage casseroles is that you can use cheap sausages and just about get away with it, though of course it’s always better to use the hearty farty posh ones that students like me can only dream of.
This casserole was amazing! Such a massive punch of saltiness from the bacon with the sourness of the tomatoes and the richness of the butter beans just creates an amazing flavour!
It says to serve it with rice but I ate it with Cous Cous as the butter beans and rice would have been too heavy on my palate and the Cous Cous takes on the delicious flavour in the sauce.
So yes buy the cook book if you haven’t already the hairy bikers certainly know a good casserole. It’s tasty, easy to make and gloriously British 🙂
The Foodie
Xxx