{"id":1318,"date":"2008-09-19T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/09\/guest-blog-veggie-dinners-spaghetti-%e2%80%9cbolognese%e2%80%9d\/"},"modified":"2012-08-21T15:48:52","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T20:48:52","slug":"guest-blog-veggie-dinners-spaghetti-bolognese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/09\/guest-blog-veggie-dinners-spaghetti-bolognese\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blog: Veggie Dinners: Spaghetti Bolognese"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monica Shaw <\/a>is a freelance writer who specializes in science, health, fitness and food. She is the primary author of the website and blog, SmarterFitter.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In my early days as a vegetarian<\/a>, I guess you could call me a \u201cpasta vegetarian\u201d.\u00a0 Give me a packet of spaghetti, a jar of marinara sauce and a shaker of Parmesan cheese and I was a happy kid.\u00a0 Two months and five pounds later, I quickly realized that this was not a sustainable diet.<\/p>\n

These days I try to balance my dinners around protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats and loads of veggies.\u00a0 On any particular night, dinner might be black bean tacos with avocado and salad, or curried lentils with basmati rice and saut\u00e9ed greens, or a simple tofu stir-fry with ginger, garlic and whatever veggies I have on hand.<\/p>\n

Still, there comes a time in every vegetarian\u2019s life when no other meal will do but pasta. But pasta is no longer the carbo-loaded, out-of-a-jar meal that it used to be. These days, I kick up my pasta sauce with a little TVP to give my pasta a much-needed protein kick. TVP, or \u201ctextured vegetable protein\u201d, is a low-fat, high-protein soy mince made from defatted soy flour. When paired with tomato sauce, it does a nice job of mimicking an Italian Bolognese sauce, typically made with beef.<\/p>\n

Spaghetti and vegan Bolognese (affectionately called \u201cSpag Bol\u201d in my household) is one of my go-to meals for quick dinners.\u00a0 Prep time is less than 5 minutes and cooking time is around 20.\u00a0 Packed with high-quality protein and carbs, it\u2019s the perfect dinner to fuel your morning workout. You could kick up the \u201chealth factor\u201d by using whole wheat pasta and cutting down on the olive oil, but I find that the olive oil gives it a fabulous richness and if the Mediterranean diet is anything to go by, olive oil is a health food in itself.\u00a0 I typically serve this with broccoli, which I lightly blanch by adding it to the pot of simmering pasta water right before the pasta is cooked.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\"vegetarian<\/p>\n

Spaghetti with Vegan Bolognese Sauce
\nServes 2-3<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a050g TVP (i.e. \u201ctextured vegetable protein\u201d or \u201csoya mince\u201d)
\n\u2022\u00a04 Tbsp olive oil
\n\u2022\u00a01 medium onion, diced
\n\u2022\u00a02 cloves garlic, chopped
\n\u2022\u00a03 bay leaves
\n\u2022\u00a01 400g can chopped tomatoes
\n\u2022\u00a03 Tbsp tomato paste
\n\u2022\u00a01 tsp oregano
\n\u2022\u00a0pinch each of crushed red pepper and mixed spice
\n\u2022\u00a0pinch of sugar
\n\u2022\u00a0salt and pepper to taste
\n\u2022\u00a0Spaghetti, enough to serve three<\/p>\n

Directions<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Put the TVP in a bowl and put in enough water to make it wet.\u00a0 You want enough water so that the TVP soaks it all up with no excess. (If you do wind up with extra water, don\u2019t panic, just drain it in a sieve.)
\n2.\u00a0Heat the olive oil on medium heat and add the onion, garlic and bay leaves.\u00a0 Cook until the onion is soft, making sure they don\u2019t brown.
\n3.\u00a0Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 15 minutes, covered on a low heat.
\n4.\u00a0In the meantime, make some spaghetti (using 10g of salt per liter of water) and grate some Parmesan cheese (if desired, though this will no longer be vegan!).
\n5.\u00a0Serve sauce over pasta with a side of broccoli.<\/p>\n

You can find more of Monica\u2019s vegetarian recipes at SmarterFitter.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also Read:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Naan Crust Pizza with Homemade Cabernet Basil Sauce<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Confetti Vegetable Sauce With Zucchini, Squash, & Red Pepper<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dark Chocolate Vegan Brownies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Guest Blog Series:<\/strong> Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Diets<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

See other posts in the Guest Blog series<\/a>. If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monica Shaw is a freelance writer who specializes in science, health, fitness and food. She is the primary author of the website and blog, SmarterFitter.com. In my early days as a vegetarian, I guess you could call me a \u201cpasta … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695,16],"tags":[520,23,379,29,24],"class_list":["post-1318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","category-recipes","tag-cooking","tag-guest-blog","tag-monica-shaw","tag-nutrition","tag-vegetarian"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77954,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318\/revisions\/77954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}