A comforting family-friendly meal that’s a great way of serving up veggie bolognese to make a change from pasta – this is good honest food that’s great when you’re on a budget.
If you’ve got a busy evening coming up with the kids here, there and everywhere doing activities, you could make it the day before, keep it in the fridge and just heat it up in the oven when you’re ready. The leftovers make for fantastic work packed lunches – Matthew loves a slap-up meal like this when he’s in the office.
Comfort Food without the calories
This is a real autumn/winter staple in our house, and makes me want to light candles and pull on my slipper boots – I LOVE this time of year! Cosy, comforting meals are absolutely essential when the nights are drawing in and the wind is howling in off the North Sea and whistling around the windows.
The cheesy potato topping is delicious for mopping up that tasty tomatoey veggie bolognese sauce, and the great news is it’s not laden with a ridiculous amount of naughtiness. As long as you use Frylight instead of oil and carefully measure and Syn the cheese (or use it part of your Healthy Extra A choice) this is totes Slimming World friendly. It’s really filling too, so should stave off any snack attacks for a good few hours at least!
A Slimming World and Family friendly feast that's vegetarian too - something to warm everyone up on a dark night!
- 3 large baking potatoes
- fry light
- 2 red onions finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 pepper chopped
- 1 large carrot grated
- 100 g mushrooms sliced
- 1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 400g cube of passata
- 450g soya mince
- 60 g mature cheddar finely grated
- 1 tsp dried oregano
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Peel the potatoes, cut in half and bring to the boil in a large pan of salted water for around 20 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
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Meanwhile spray a large pan with fry light over a medium heat, soften the onions with a pinch of salt for five minutes or so and then add the garlic and cook for another minute.
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Stir in the chopped pepper, grated carrot and sliced mushrooms, giving it all a good stir before adding the chopped tomatoes and passata and stirring again.
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Add the soya mince, bring the heat up so it's all bubbling then turn down to a simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes.
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Slice the cooked potatoes at about pound coin thickness.
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Spoon the veggie bolognese into the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then arrange the potato slices on top. Spray liberally with frylight, season with salt and pepper, then finally scatter with the grated cheese and dried oregano.
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Spark up the grill and place it underneath until the cheese is golden and melted. Serve immediately with steamed veggies on the side.
Slimming World: there are 3 Syns per portion from the cheese
Get ahead: Make the dish up to stage 6 in advance, store in the fridge and then bake in the oven for 30-40 mins at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 until heated through and the top is golden and bubbling.
Pin this recipe to make later
Looks delicious! I sometimes use soya mine (mainly when my mother-in-law is coming) and I agree about needing to use more ‘things’ to get a good flavour but I tend to chuck things in anyway so that’s fine with me. Absolutely loving your new home!
thanks Sian – i’m very much a cupboard rummager when it comes to cooking 😉 Glad you like the new website!
This looks so nice! I am a fan of veggie mince, so I’ll have to try this! Hee hee! I’m the same. I tend to taste and then bung in whatever is available to add flavour. That’s the only downside to soya mince really, But I don’t find it as ‘heavy’ as beef mince, if that makes sense.
Thanks for another yummy dinner idea!
glad you like the recipe – I agree, soya mince leaves you feeling full but not uncomfortable. Interestingly I had some minced beef last week at my mum’s and it gave be a really sore tummy having not eaten it for ages.
I love your blog, so many great ideas here. In fact I’ve just awarded it the Versatile Blogger Award. You’ve probably won it countless times before, but I wanted to share the love! Check out my blog for more info…
ooh thanks that’s very kind! i’ll head over and see what that’s all about 🙂
I lovw the idea of using potatoes instead of pasta!!! I think we often forget how much nutritional value potatoes actually have. Will definitely be putting this on my meal plan for this week 🙂
Thanks Emma, yes potatoes and bolognese are such a lovely combo… bolognese and mash is another one we love in this house!