She Eats Burgers: Carnaby Burger Co.

This Saturday was a day of firsts. My first visit to the IMAX in London (The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was amazing) and it was also the first time I'd ever eaten at this lovely little burger restaurant near Carnaby Street called Carnaby Burger Co., which is what I really want to talk about. 

As a vegetarian family whenever we go out and fancy some comfort food in the shape of a burger we tend to stuck with one of two options: a sad portobello mushroom or a drier than sawdust bean burger. So it was a very pleasant surprise to see so many interesting vegetarian options on the menu. 

There was the usual vegetarian section of the menu but they also highlighted where a vegetarian substitution could be made. Even better the menu was full of gluten free options so needless to say I'll be taking the boyfriend.

Firstly I want to say how quick the service was, we'd just chowed down on our starter of nachos when our mains arrived.

I decided upon the Quorn Chicken, Mushroom and Swiss burger and fries. To quote the menu it was; a sautéed portobello mushroom, fried onions, melted Emmental cheese with peppercorn sauce (this was seriously delicious).

It goes without saying that we all left with very happy tums! All us vegetarians and meat eaters were satisfied - I distinctly remember my sisters boyfriend describing his burger as 'perfect' and my sister was ready to eat her falafel burger all over again.

The season of stuffing your face has most certainly begun! Have a great Christmas everyone!!! xoxo 

She (Occasionally!) Cooks; Veggy Chilli

I've been a vegetarian my entire life and it's never something that I've considered changing about myself. Like most vegetarians I have struggled to get a sufficient amount of protein in my diet (there's only so many nuts a girl can eat!) but then along came Quorn! I know I don't have a frame of reference but I think it tastes pretty damn good, so I thought I would share one of my favourite meals with you all; chilli. I love anything and everything Mexican and chilli makes for a really hearty winter warmer and it's great on a student budget too! 

So here's what I use for this yummy meal;

Olive Oil, Rice, Ouorn Mince, Pointed red pepper, 1/2 Tin of Mixed Bean Salad, Chopped Tomatoes, 1 green chillie, Crushed Chillies, 1/2 red onion, 1 Clove of garlic and generous handful of coriander.

I will admit that I am the worst at cooking rice. But this Asda white rice came out surprisingly good! I just took a handful (roughly enough for one person) added a tiny bit of oil and salt to the boiling water and let it gently simmer while I cooked the chilli. 

The great thing about Quorn is that you can cook it from frozen, so I threw in a dash of oil to a hot frying pan and cooked the mince on a low heat. I then added the chopped onion, green chilli and garlic (I always crush garlic to get more flavour) and let that cook through. I then chucked in about half a tin of chopped tomatoes and sliced red pepper followed by the beans. Slowly let that simmer and thicken slightly before adding salt and pepper to taste and some crushed chillies for extra heat. Keep tasting it so you don't end up blowing your heads off!

Finish off with a good amount of coriander and let all the flavours combine for about five minutes before serving with rice and lots of cheese!

Et viola! A really filling and satisfying dinner, maybe not one to have just before donning that new body con leather skirt... But hey that's what Spanx are for!

I'm back to living away from home so I'll be experimenting a lot more with food and blogging all of my successes and some of my mishaps (I'm sure they'll be a few!)

:) xoxo