Recipe: Save the Sheep Shepherd's Pie (vg)

Adapted from original post by The Bethnal Greens, with permission.

http://thebethnalgreens.com/blog/2018/3/16/save-the-sheep-shepherds-pie?rq=pie

Instagram @the_bethnal_greens

We used brown lentils and mushrooms to replace the meat in the traditional version of this dish, and it works quite well, but for added texture walnuts would be a welcome addition. Red wine could also be used to add depth by replacing up to half of the veg broth. I use olive oil in the potato mash, but  a splash of a plant based “cream” or a spoon of a plant based “butter” could be added for a creamier and more authentic texture. Rosemary from our garden was used to enhance the flavour of the dish but thyme, or oregano, would also work well.

Ingredients: (bolded ingredients can be purchased from Get Loose)

• 1 cup lentils (red or puy)

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 1 medium onion

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 stick celery

• 1 medium carrot

• 200g mushrooms

• 1 cup frozen peas

• 800g potatoes

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 1/2 cups veg broth (water and stock paste)

• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C (400F)

• Wash and chop the potatoes roughly to the size of golf balls and place in a large pot with cold water so that the potatoes are completely submerged. Bring to the boil add a tsp of salt and simmer for 20 min.

• Drain the potatoes and return to the pot and add 2 tsp olive oil and mash with a potato masher until smooth.

Meanwhile:

• Dice the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, rosemary and mushrooms and saute in a large lidded pot with 2 tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Saute the veg on a medium heat until they have softened and the mixture has cooked down, approx 10 min. 

• Once the veg is ready add the broth, lentils, peas and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to a simmer for 30 min. Or until the lentils are cooked.

• Check the pot every 10 min to see if more liquid is needed, add liquid (stock, water or wine) 1/4 cup at a time. 

• Once cooked, taste and season with salt and pepper.

• Empty the lentil mixture into an ovenproof casserole dish (our is square 23cm x 23cm , 9” x 9”).

• Allowing the mixture to cool a little will let it set to make spreading the potato mash easier.

• Carefully spread the potato mash evenly over the top of the lentil mixture.

• Bake in pre-heated oven for 30 min, or until the mash turns a golden brown.

• Serve with seasonal vegetables if required.

Oven Roasted Chickpeas

Oven roasted chickpeas

Adapted from the original post by The Bethnal Greens, with permission. Follow them on Instagram @the_bethnal_greens

Roasted chickpeas are a popular snack all over the Middle East and beyond. If you are looking for a healthier, cheaper and zero waste snack for your, movie night, office desk or long walk this might be for you.

Using alternative spices such as cumin and chilli could be used along with garlic or onion powder to make for equally delicious alternatives. 

This is a great one to do when you are using the oven for something else as they don’t take up much space.

Ingredients:

• 200g dried chickpeas (or 2 tins drained) *

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika *

• 1 tbsp salt *

• 3 tbsp olive oil *

  *ingredients from Get Loose

Method:

• If using dried chickpeas, soak chickpeas overnight and boil for 45-60 mins.

• If using tinned chickpeas, simply drain and wash

• Preheat the oven to 200° C

• Spread the chickpeas onto reusable kitchen towel or napkin, pat dry

• Once dry, place the chickpeas into a mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix well

• Return the chickpeas onto a roasting tin lined with baking paper or silicone mat. They should be spread out enough so that they are on a single layer.

• Place in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, then give the pan a good shake to move the chickpeas around and roast for another 15 minutes, shake once more and bake for a final 10-15 min. Keep an eye on the chickpeas for the remaining 5-10 minutes to avoid any burning.

• Can be eaten hot or cold. Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Why not tell us in the comments how you like to make your oven roasted chickpeas?

Cinnamon Sultana Oat Cookies

Cinnamon Sultana Oat Cookies

Adapted from the original post by The Bethnal Greens, with permission. Follow them on Instagram!

Ingredients: (approx. 20 cookies)

• 1 cup dates (roughly 10 dates) *

• 1 cup jumbo or rolled oats *

• 1 cup oat flour (1 1/4 cup of rolled oats ground into a flour - you can use your blender) *

• 1 cup sultanas *

• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon *

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp salt *

• 2 rounded tablespoons of peanut butter (or any nut or seed butter) *

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (we used rapeseed oil) *

  * ingrediants from get Loose

Ingredients from Get Loose

Method:

• Soak the dates in warm water while preparing and measuring other ingredients (approx. 10 min)

• Blend 1 1/4 cups of rolled oats in a food processor, blender or mini chopper.

• Place the oat flour along with the rolled oats, sultanas, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl and mix well

• Discard the soaking water from the dates and place them in the food processor along with the vanilla, oil and nut butter and blend to a paste.

• Add the paste to the dry ingredients and mix well to incorporate

• Place the cookie dough into the fridge for about 10 minutes, this will allow the oats to absorb some of the moisture and a colder dough is easier to shape

• Preheat oven to 180C

• Roll golf sized balls of dough and place them on a lined baking tray and then press down on them using the palm of your hand into discs roughly 2 cm thick

• We baked ours for around 15 minutes and they came out nice and chewy with a little crunch, but ovens can vary so keep an eye on them after the first 12 min or so checking to see that the cookies are not burning at the edges

• The cookies will come out moist and may seem underdone, but they need to cool completely before they harden. If, like us, you find it hard to wait, go ahead and have a few, they are delicious when warm.

The recipe could also handle a variety of alternative ingredients and combinations, for example sour cherries, walnuts or chopped dried apricots. Let us know what you tried in the comments below!

Customer Spotlight - Em

We are lucky to have many customers who are passionate about the shop and love sharing what they make with our products. Em is very active on Instagram and regularly tags the shop in her recipes. She very kindly took some time out to tell us her story. Do check out her blog and instagram account, details below. If you would like to feature in our customer interview section please drop us a private message or email. 

My name is Em and I am passionate about creating healthy recipes, mainly from seasonal ingredients and with as little waste as possible. 

I have been really curious about natural ways of rejuvenation for almost 15 years now. Food is a huge part of this. I feel passionate not just about nutrition and my own personal health and well-being but about the well-being of our planet too. 

Rainbow lunch - oyster mushrooms patties, I used Get Loose carlin peas in them; pumpkin hummus- I used Get Loose chickpeas; oven roasted veggies

I am not a zero-waste guru at all. I am just someone trying to make a little difference. I also love a good challenge, such as using up all my leftovers and reinventing them into a new dish. As my main interest is in rejuvenation, I find it fascinating to see how much food I can use for my body care and skincare. Making DIY beauty products is fun. Especially when I can use things that would otherwise end up in my composting - fruit skin, plant milk pulp, coffee grounds, to name just a few. 

I have a blog at myredcarpetbody.com where I am sharing some of my recipes and I will post about my skin care too (including all my zero-waste recipes).

My zero waste pumpkin and beetroot soup with pumpkin skin and old sourdough croutons. I used Get Loose pumpkin seeds in this one.

How did you find out about Get Loose?

One day I visited the City Farm in East London out of nostalgia while passing by. My daughter, who is now 19, grew up going there regularly with me. I saw Get Loose and I loved it. It’s amazing how much you can fit in!

Why do you love shopping with us?

Prices are great and you have a lovely selection of everything I use. I can find a lot of my staples there. I love the atmosphere too. There is always some interesting conversation going on. I love this - random strangers engaging in conversation and exchanging smiles.

What are your favourite products?

I love to experiment with things I haven't tried before - I bought dry fava beans and carlin peas a few times now and it was fun to create recipes with these. I also love your brazil nuts, UK-grown quinoa and tofu.

Creamy pumpkin baked macaroni. I used Get Loose’s little whole grain macaroni (cornetti).

Do you have a favourite winter recipe you would like to share?

I don't think I have a favourite. I love experimenting and I love to please my mood with my food too. What my favourite is today will not be my favourite tomorrow. I have most of my recipes on my Instagram account @myredcarpetbody and some on my website (adding more soon). 

What would you like to see Get Loose stock in the future?

Noodles (rice, buckwheat, udon), seaweed and rice paper. Amaranth and puffed amaranth would be nice, too. I would love a selection of oils like pumpkin seed and sesame seed oils. I am, however, aware of your limited space so I am grateful for whatever you have.

Warm quinoa salad with beetroot dressing. I used Get Loose quinoa for this.

How to shop plastic free

Our Assistant Manager Justine looks at why and how to shop plastic free. Shared from her blog littlegreenduckie.com

The problem of plastic waste

The scary fact is that every piece of plastic ever made (unless burnt) still exists in some form. That’s 60+ years of plastic and counting. With only 5% of plastic actually getting recycled into something new. This fact goes part way to explaining how 8 million tonnes end up in the oceans each year! The Blue Planet II documentary has brought the impact of all this plastic to the mainstream consciousness like nothing I have seen before. Meanwhile in our supermarkets, almost everything is wrapped in plastic. The #PlasticFreeAisle campaign, by A Plastic Planet, is hoping to change this, campaigning for every supermarket to have a plastic free section. Their research shows 9 out 10 people would like to see this a reality. Here in the UK the government has just pledged to reduce “avoidable plastic” and increase R&D funding to find alternatives. I don’t want to wait for these things to happen, so I have been shopping thoughtfully to reduce the amount of plastic (and other unnecessary packaging) from my food shopping.

How does it work? What do I take?

No need to buy anything new. Save packaging you already have e.g.; jars, takeaway containers, bottles, egg boxes and paper bags. For fruit and vegetables make simple bags from old fabric, search online for inspiration. Or buy from Get Loose, made by volunteers with upcycled fabric. I wish that Onya UK had not stopped making their “weigh bags”. Luckily Australian Onya Life have them, and I have relatives who can bring them for me! But if this is not an option Lakeland have started selling very similar ones made in Sweden. Consider if you need leak proof containers for buying meat, fish, or deli items.

Packaging free shops have scales to tare (check) the weight of containers, before filling. This will be deducted from the final weight of your item.

Benefits of packaging free;

• Reduces the amount of waste I am putting in to my landfill and recycling bins.

• Less packaging means less CO2 emissions from creating it and transporting it.

• Saving me money, only buying what I need.

• Cutting down food waste, less leftover bits of packets to be forgotten.

• Supporting my local economy. Research on spending by local authorities shows that for every £1 spent with a small or medium-sized business 63p stayed in the local economy, compared to 40p with a larger business. I find the biggest range of packaging free items are from small independent retailers.

• I have got to know the people who work in my favourite shops. This I feel connects me to my community. It’s easy for them to remember me with my own bags, jars, boxes and bottles.

History & food safety

Remember the bulk bins in the 1980’s? These had the potential safety issues of cross contamination and poor stock rotation. New gravity dispensers mean that these issues are now avoided.

It might be an obvious point, but it is my responsibility to make sure my containers and bags are clean and suitable for the food.

Zero Waste!?

The term “Zero Waste” is used a lot on blogs and social media. People proudly show the tiny amount of landfill (trash) waste they have produced in a year or more.

I feel that this can often seem so unachievable to many people that they don’t see any point in trying to change anything. It can create a lot of “green guilt” and even conflict within the home environment. Everyone’s personal circumstances and local facilities are different. I feel that any reduction I can make in my own waste is a positive achievement. On the other hand I can see that the term makes a great hashtag and call to action.

One thing that the tiny mason jars of “trash” don’t show is the plastic waste up stream. By this I mean the waste that the manufacture, growth, or production of your item has created. This is another reason to buy food that is as un-processed as you can. Here in the UK I bulk food stores currently struggle to get pulses, spices, nuts and seeds delivered plastic free. However the amount of plastic used is dramatically less than the same food packaged in much smaller bags for consumers. So it might not be the full answer, but it’s a step in the right direction. Change takes time, and more people asking for it.

Start here…

Feeling inspired to make some changes to your shopping habits? Try some of these easy wins;

• Vist Get Loose! Check out the opening hours, the product list and plan your trip.

• Use your own bags for fruit and vegetables.

• Politely tell staff to use your leak proof containers, for deli, meat and fish purchases.

• Explore your local shops for zero waste offerings, and ask them to consider stocking more loose items.

• Add what you find to the Zero Waste app, or Facebook groups, to help others.