How to make Vegetarian Bacon, Cheese and Tomato Toastie and Other Ideas

 Where would we be without the toastie maker. We first got the Breville snack and sandwich maker years ago - it was released in 1974! and I am sure that many of you out there have one lurking in the back of a cupboard somewhere too! Toasties are a real standby and are amazing with a little side salad and a small pot of coleslaw. The best thing is that you can put almost anything on one. Here we used cheese and tomato which is a classic! Cheese and vegetarian bacon, cheese and mushroom, but you can also do chilli cheese, cheese and red onion,  put curry on it, veg ham and cheese, anything. Students have probably filled them with Nutella and Marmite too, though not together of course, and probably cheese and jam! If you still haven't got a toastie maker now is the time and they are available here

Here is the Recipe

How to make a Quorn Vegetarian BLT (Quorn Bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo sandwich)

 This is a basic BLT recipe. You  don't need to use the Quorn one, you can use any of the vegetarian bacon varieties. The mayonnaise gives it a little extra. We also recently found a vegan mayonnaise called OMV Burger mayo which has a really nice taste, surprisingly enough too. This recipe is a really quick breakfast or lunch snack. You need to use iceberg lettuce though because it provides the crunchiness to it. The tomatoes can be sliced salad tomatoes or any other variety. Sometimes we have even had this for a quick tea with fruit and soup to start. So really you can eat this at any time of day!! For this reason it is always worth having a pack of veggie bacon in the freezer on standby for unexpected guests....

Here is the Recipe

How to lay out a Vegetarian Burger with mayo, relish, tomato, onion, cucumber and lettuce

 Making a burger in a bun needs to be layered out right. First you cut in half and toast slightly your bun. We like the large white baps ones. Then butter it slightly on both sides, then add lettuce, usually iceberg, and then cucumber sliced, then tomato sliced, here you can add a small dollop of mayonnaise if you like it,  then your burger and then finally your slice of onion and your relish. Red onion is also good on this. We also found a good vegan mayo called OMV burger mayo in a jar. You could just use this if you don't want to top it off with burger relish. Though i do like the tomato and onion one for relish. A good side plate of chips is always an option too! For the burgers we do like the Linda McCartney mozzarella, or plain quarter pounders. Birds eye also do a good vegetable burger with sweetcorn, carrot etc inside it too.

Here is the recipe

Fresh Tomato Soup with celery, carrot, onion, veg stock and cornflour. (Vegan friendly)

Well, who doesn't like fresh tomato soup? Especially in winter. The problem is though tomatoes are out of season then, so its best to make this soup in summer when they are always ripe and freshly available. If you do choose to make this soup in winter, Christmas say like we do,  always source the supermarkets' reddest and juiciest tomatoes you can find. The carrot content in this recipe replaces sugar as they provide the sweet flavour to it. If you want it more sweet shall we say, like a certain very popular supermarket brand, just add a little extra carrot than specified. But be careful!! And always serve this with a nice crusty bread roll.....

Here is the recipe

Pizza Margherita

With this one you can roll out the base as thin as you like. My daughter who is 6 years old likes the crust a little thicker than on the video, so i make her base about 8 Inches across. I also slice some ball mozzarella very thinly and pop a few pieces on, then cover with the grated mozzarella as on the video. Mum likes this thinner crust version too so do try them both ways! Oh and always use the Italian tomatoes passata as the home brands are no where near as good.

We updated this recipe slightly to make it even more tasty. We added half a teaspoon of garlic puree, (just squeeze the tube and it comes out in a line, just the line length), to the passata base, and sometimes I make this pizza topping with sliced mushrooms, thinly sliced red peppers and the jalapeno green chilis that come in a jar, on top. I also serve it with some sprigs of fresh rocket on top too in the middle for a sophisticated look! Delicious....

Here is the recipe.

Tomato, mixed peppers and courgette bake with Parmesan style topping

I got the idea for this off an old recipe that used red peppers and tomatoes - I tried it with mixed peppers, small courgettes, lashings of garlic butter, vine-ripened tomatoes and a Italian grated hard fat vegetarian cheese that resembled Parmesan but was much tastier! This recipe is surprisingly easy and quick to make too - even for beginners. Update - Use about half to three quarters of each pepper though not a full one for a better taste.
I like to serve this with chips. If you make a chip butty (sandwich) on white bread with butter, and then mop up the juices it's delicious!! You can serve it with new potatoes if you like though instead.

Here is the recipe

Chilli Cheese on Toast

I made this recipe to suit a friend who liked spicy food. I just threw a couple of thinly sliced green chillis that I had left over in the fridge on top of the cheese, and then put on the tomatoes, and then put it back under the grill. Be sure to butter it first as it's much more tasty this way. It was such a success it has been a staple lunch in our house for quite a while now. It has also been done on toasties which is equally delicious. Do try this one as a topping on the Hovis Granary bread too as Pete our cameraman likes it ...

Here is the recipe