For a while now Rob and I have been part of the Meatless Monday movement (Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet. – more info on www.meatlessmonday.com)
I read something on it a while ago and liked the concept so now we try to adhere every week – sometimes we fail miserably but we keep on trying,lol

To keep things exciting I'm always on the lookout for new vegi recipes…
I saw fellow Meatless Monday enthusiast and new mom Jill Opplet Theunissen post a meal she made and it looked so yummy I knew I had to get her to do a guest blog
post, so here goes . . .

Sooooo about the 'Meatless- Mondays'…
its very up and down, sometimes we cheat, but its mostly meatless, lol.
We started doing Meatless – Mondays when we were still living in PE because we always had braais on weekends (looots of meat and drinks), so come Monday we were so bloated and sluggish that we welcomed meatless dishes. I also receive the Woolies weekly news letters and they do Meatless-Mondays and always have super recipes for Mondays.
 
The first dish I prepared was the Herby Mushroom Lasagne, plain and exotic mushrooms sauted in butter, onions and herbs, mixed with ricotta cheese and layered between lasange sheets and served with a salad of rosa tomatoes and cucumber drizzled with balsamic creme. This came out really good so we carried on with the Meatless Mondays and are still doing it today.
 
Last night we cheated and added chicken because we basically had an almost meat free weekend.
 
This is one dish I love making because its quick and easy and soo tasty, also now that Jude (baby) is well into solids I can puree it for him for lunch the next day… with a few ingredients omitted.
 
Creamy Mushroom pasta
 
-Half a punnet of white button mushrooms chopped ( you can add some exotic mushrooms to the dish if you have)
-1 tspn dried mixed herbs ( you can use fresh if you have, just chop finely- rosemery, thyme, origanum)
-1/2 finely chopped onion
-1 finely chopped garlic clove or 2 tspns chopped garlic
-1 tbspn butter (you can use margerine or low fat spread… but butter is awesome)
-1/2 cup white wine (any white wine will do, I've use a box wine!)
-1/4 cup vegetable stock
-125ml cream
cooked pasta
 
Melt butter over medium heat, add onions, garlic and herbs and saute till onions are soft
Add wine and reduce slightly (5 mins)
Add stock and cook for a further 5 mins
Add cream and cook until reduced and slightly thick (10mins)
Taste and add salt and pepper if needed depending on how salty your  veg stock is
 
If you like your food slightly spicey like we do, add some chilli flakes with the herbs at the begining
For a non veg option add chicken or bacon.. or both!
 
When cooked mix with the pasta and serve with a fresh salad to cut through the richness of the pasta
 
NB. do not mix with too much pasta otherwise the sauce will be absorbed by the pasta and it will be dry.
 
To use this as baby food follow step one and either add low sodium veg stock or boiled water and reduce once cooked add some cooked pasta and puree in a blender. Add more water to create the right consistency. Use immediately or store in sterilised jars.
 
I have included a pic of the ingredients… but I didn't take a pic before we ate it, so I stole a pic from the internet (http://www.123rf.com/)
 
Anyways, thats me!

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