Meat and 4 veg with mint sauce, Reluctant-style

Well, I'm sure you've read the sidebar and know what this is all about. I had a blog once, and occasionally wince at my youthful verbosity. So I'll get right to it on this one.

In my quest to turn my home cooking into something more nutritionally...erm, viable...I whipped together this dinner last week. It quite literally took 10 minutes to make.

Now, a few things first. You can use any "sausages" you like. I like Sanitarium soy sausages, but there are lots of new ones available. I think the Sanitarium ones are closest to actual sausages (which is why I eat them) but I think there are probably better options in terms of nutrition out there. I also have a carnivorous husband to consider, so I figure it's only fair to serve him those if I'm not going to give him actual meat. And of course, you could have good quality meat sausages if you prefer.

In this recipe, I have used fresh corn and beans, but you can use frozen if you want. Obviously, since this new cooking style is an exercise in nutrition rather than speed, I choose fresh wherever possible.

For the mashed "potato", I used canned butter beans. I don't know if using canned is nutritionally better or worse than reconstituting dried beans, but I'll be buggered if I'm keeping fresh butter beans in the fridge. If memory serves me correctly (which it often doesn't), I think I learned the mashed "potato" part from Nigella Lawson. That woman is so dishy. I'd switch sides for her in a heartbeat.

Anyway, before my verbosity gets the better of me again, here it is.

INGREDIENTS
1x packet soy sausages
1x can organic butter beans
2x cobs corn
1x cup beans
1x cup frozen peas
1x tspn sesame or linseeds
4x fresh mint leaves
100ml apple cider vinegar

METHOD
Rinse butter beans and warm in small saucepan. If they begin to burn or get dry, add a splash of water.

Cut corn cobs into thirds, top and tail beans. Place both in steamer with peas for 3 minutes. The less you cook your food, the better it is for you. So if you don't mind them crunchy, less than 3 minutes is even better.

In a non-stick frypan, warm soysages. These dry out quickly, so a minute is usually long enough.

Once warmed, mash butter beans with some vegie salt (I use Herbamare) and small amount of organic olive oil.

For the mint sauce, finely chop (or whiz in a coffee grinder) mint leaves and add to apple cider vinegar.

Serve soysages, mash and vegies with Hot English mustard or organic tomato sauce. To complete the amino acid chains in the vegies for extra protein, sprinkle them with sesame or linseeds. You'll have to take my word on that one because the info I have is on a piece of paper from my naturopath. I promise to be better at referencing in the future.


Edit: See 'Kitchen Helper' page for info on ingredients