Re:Nourish + Restore Soup in a bottle [@NLi10]

 My partenr picked up a few pre-made lunches for home - one of which was this soup.  I'd already tried to review it once but it got lost at the back of the fridge and was well out of date when found.  This time I jumped right in.

 

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I love green coloured drinks (Shrek Juice) but even for me this is an odd combo.  Pea and Leek soup just doesn't appeal!

I nuked the lot, and then added a generous amount of apple balsamic - and quite enjoyed it!  I think the flavours were a lot milder than I'd feared, and with a wholesome crusty bread (that needed using up) it worked pretty well. 

That felt too boring for a whole review - so here is Flo trying to persuade some of the creamy mash to come her way!

Cauldron Veggie Bakes - Pumpkin & Onion [@NLi10]

 We love vegan food, although my partner loves to add cheese.  As part of the meals we share the core is usually pre-made things like these - so new options are fantastic.  They tend to only say veggie on some boxes so they don't scare people off.

This is 4 lovely little bakes - not quite burger sized, but a lot denser than I'd expected

And they are mostly the real deal - veggies first on the ingredients - feel the nutrients course into your veins

With some tricolour pasta, spinach pile and a little sun-dried tomatoes it's a decent meal.  I mean I could have eaten 3, but with 4 in a pack that's a bit mean.  I also livened this up with garlic & chilli mix on the pasta which was great.

The bakes are really nice, and it's good to have something a little fresher than the frozen bags I gravitate towards.  They crisped up nicely too so I reckon you could get kids to eat a few more unusual veggies with these too.

Dinky Dim Sum Veggie Selection [@NLi10]

 Happy left overs day! Before we got to the Christmas stuff we had a mini Christmas with my parents and had these cool snacks from Sainsbury’s

They look like vegetables

Yummy!

Pop them in a steaming pot and heat away!

Oh dear - too long - they stuck together!

2nd batch done for 30msec less and much better - and we still have a 2nd box to crack. But look at these lovely veggies.

I’m tempted to shallow fry the next lot as these were still a little squidgy but the flavours and textures inside were great and they added a bit of pizazz to the buffet. 

Zesty Bean Quinoa from Iceland - vitamins in 2 mins [@NL10]

 I'm home alone this week - and it's nice to add a few vitamins along the way.  And it's even nicer to just take 2 mins to make them. Iceland sell stiff to hide in the freezer and then just add to a meal.

Easy!

And unusually it's got interesting things in there -not just peas and sweetcorn (although they do feature).

They don't look like much going in.

And then they look suspiciously like the things you get served in chain pubs!

And if you add a few vegan peperami, sub blessed tomatoes then it makes a decent meal...

Especially if you have a decent pudding lined up too!

Plenish Berry Gut Health 5x Shots [@NLi10]

 Plenish make one of my favourite 'not milks' but it's a little more expensive than my regular.  That makes it a nice breakfast treat.  So - when I saw the brand on a gut health I decided to give it a shot (or 5).

AND - it's Pomegranate based which I absolutely love.  There were single shots for £2 - but this 5x shots was £3.50 due to Tesco deals which seems a much better deal and you can give it a proper go.

So - I dug out the old Teapigs shot glass for 5 consecutive morning breakfasts and gave it a whirl.

The tastes are interesting, the cider vinegar flavour is most definitely there and the fruits and berries make it a pleasurable experience overall.  And the health benefits were interesting too - I think I'd say it did improve my 'gut health' for the time I was taking it.

Like all of these transitory bacteria products though it really only lasts as long as you use it so it's probably better as a nice morning boost of vitamins!

Meatless Farm - No-Duja Ravioli [@NLi10]

 Veganuary comes to a close - but the vegan delights continue!

Hopefully the stores don't just cut off my supply of goodness from today.

Here we have meat free ravioli, lovely little saucy parcels of goodness - but what's inside?

Plant based filling of course!  Well - water & peas anyway.  And that's great for me as I do love this stuff.  Naturally they added in all the spices too which make it a lot closer to nduja than I'd expected - and it's pretty spicy!

I had to crack out some Ghost Ship just in case.

The pasta was great quality, and the filling had a satisfyingly meaty texture.  I want more of these please.

THIS isn't beef mince - Spaghetti Bolognaise - Sainsbury's [@NLi10]

We like veggie food - we like Italian food - lets combine the two! 

Even better - this is Vegan - but no way is my partner having this without cheese on top.

And it looks very scarily like the real thing - down to the bit of blotting paper in the bottom.

Just a touch healthier (for us and for the cows!)

It clumps together a bit more than the real thing, and it doesn't reduce down like beef so this is really three portions not two in the same size box.  Smells great though which is very confusing as usually this is a little off-putting.

And then we add the the wonderful Heinz sauce to give it a hint of the ravioli we had as children.

Looks pretty legit, and smells wonderfully Italian.

And it looks like a great meal.

The THIS imitation protein has a similar flavour to other non-meat substitutes, but the texture is odd.  As my partner pointed out - it's oddly close to lentils - and the clumps only add to this with a lovely deep flavour.

I worried this would be too realistic for my partner, but I think it treads the line well - look like meat on the shelf so carnivores buy it, but taste great so the veggies eat it and want it again.

Is THIS the best vegan (streaky) bacon ever? (@NLi10)

We like bacon here - I even have a PhD in Bacon Theology - but it’s important to represent all three of the strands, regular, turkey and plant.  Today we are looking at the latest and greatest vegan bacon so far.  THIS (the brand) have made real strides in updating their bacon range from the lovely fish-strips that we’ve bought a lot of to this which at least looks like bacon too.

The package explains they’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this - and it shows.

It’s glistening and feels a bit like meat - I instinctively wanted to keep washing my hands.

And I fried it up in the lovely coconut oil

And it crisped up nicely

So I found some lovely spicy paratha out of the freezer and zapped those too.

So I had bacon ish pancakes ish for dinner

And it held up quite well. The bacon has a varied texture (the main problem of the last one) actually bubbles and fried like you’d expect and tasted like bacon usually tastes. We will certainly be having these again - although they are far too realistic for my veggie partner!

Richmond Meat-Free -No Beef Mince- is it too realistic for Veggies? (@NLi10)

I'm a big fan of trying out the new options for meat reduction in the veggie section - and today we picked up this - a huge block of mince!

But wait - it's meat free - hurrah! Why did they have to make it so realistic?  Fortunately it doesn't have the horrible meat smell you get when you open a mince box. Does have the disgusting little sheet of paper though.

It has multiple textures, and looks like it contains some seasoning too. 

Is this good for you?  I know beef mince shrinks massively when you cook it (at least the water-filled cheaper stuff).

And while it does contain soya and wheat which excludes a few people, it is indeed vegan.  The red is beetroot which is cool, and it does have some seasoning.  looks like the white bits are coconut oil too.

Looks too real....

Super deluxe pasta & sauce too.

Looks fairly authentic - actually more in-tact than my student days mince - more like butchers mince.

And it's really sucked in the sauce which is something the quorn often fails to do (unless you know the trick of buying it frozen and putting the sauce on while it's still frozen).

And it looks like a fairly authentic Italian meat and long pasta dish!  Granted I could try a bit harder with the sauce and garnishing here, but I wanted to try it 'naked'.

It's pretty good as it turns out - very saucy and rich in flavour.  The resident veggie was happy that the texture wasn't that of meat (the Quorn mince is more meat-like than this) but the flavours and textures worked really well and I'm convinced that we will be having this again.  Maybe the whole box was a bit much for two - but I ate like a king so it was quite nice.

I'm still dreading trying the bacon from the same range...

Merchant Gourmet Aromatic Persian-Style Quinoa & Lentils (@NLi10)

 I'm a big fan of grains, and simple things that I can make without effort.  These bags are very similar to the old Uncle Bens rice bags - but they contain a lot more excitement.

Merchant make the lovely pre-chopped Sundried tomatoes that I use in as much of my cooking as possible so when I saw these on offer I had to pick up 4 to try.

It's healthy, has lots of meal suggestions - and instantly smells amazing!

Naturally I gently warmed them in the pan with a little water - you can whack them in the microwave but that dries them out and ruins the experience a little.

And I added them to some falaffell and tomatoes from the oven and some olives from the fridge.  Healthy (ish) Middle-Eastern (ish) meal in 15 mins.  Hooray.

And I still have three flavours left to try.

Gosh! Ghoulish Beetroot Falafel with Red Peppers & Chilli (@NLi10)

I love unusual veggie/healthy food, and go out of my way to order or pick up exciting ones when I see them.  Gosh! make this incredibly easy by providing reasonably priced veggie delights that can easily be whipped into a lovely meal.

 

I think I probably meant to talk about these before Halloween.  Meatballs are red and ghoulish looking when raw - and these beetroot falafel are a little bit too close to that in appearance for your typical veggie shopper.

They certainly look a bit devilish!  Fortunately we have proof that they aren't.

Vegan? Don't mind if I do! And they are basically ready to eat so need to be prepared with something equally efficient - lets have Gnocchi!

With a little bit of the lemon Fox mayo from an earlier review this was a lovely mix of flavours and textures - don't worry - I added leafy greens to the top too.

The falafel themselves are a little spicy, a little chewy and very exciting compared to their regular brown cousins.  I'mm surprised I've not already had these again - my suspicion is I picked them up from one of the irregular shops and just haven't seen them again.  One for food lovers of all dietary styles.