Eating healthy can be challenging especially if you lead a busy life; it’s much easier to order in or stick a pizza in the oven, which we have been doing the past few months. The best way to ensure you get a relaxing evening is to batch cook over the weekends, which we have started to doing on a Sunday evening. This week we made ‘beef’ stew using one of ‘Buy Whole Foods Online’ organic products.

We teamed up with BWFO, an international health food supplier, that delivers good quality natural and organic wholefoods right to your homes and businesses across Europe and the UK. It is a family run business founded by cousins Joe Cooper and Arthur Martin. A shared passion for wholefoods inspired the pair to create the company in 2007 in Joe’s parents back garden shed where they started selling Goji Berries.

Over time the business expanded moving them into a bigger warehouses – now they sell over 500 different products and are still growing.

BWFO kindly sent us a few of their products to try:

Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) – Plain Chunks 500g

TVP chunks or soy chunks are made from 100% soy beans and is the perfect substitute for meat. This product is versatile, high in protein with virtually no fat, and absorbs flavours well during cooking. Textured vegetable protein is made from soy flour that has had the soybean oil extracted before the dehydration process. We were amazed by how much the TVP absorbed the flavours, this was a great substitute for meat in my ‘beef’ stew.

Textured Vegetable Protein – Plain Mince (TVP) 500g

A mince version of the plain chunks, perfect to make classic favourites like spaghetti bolognese, lasagne and chilli con carne! We made spag bowl and we couldn’t believe how realistic it looked and tasted.

Organic Shelled Hemp Seeds (Storage Jar) 530g

Hemp seeds are high in Omega 3, 6, and 9 and great for vegans – they are a good source of protein, high in fibre, full of vitamins and minerals including magnesium and are rich in fatty acids. The shelled hemp seeds have a soft and creamy texture which is great in soup, stews, smoothies and even cake! We used it in our morning smoothies – which made our breakfast much creamier in taste and it’s great to know you’re getting in a good dose of Omega 3, 6 and 9 first thing in the morning!

Organic Date Sugar 250g

Made from 100% organic dried dates, the sugar is far less processed than other popular sugars and retains the high fibre content of the fruit. This is great processed sugar alternative which can be used in baking, sauces or to sweeten your coffee, the list goes on! We thought the taste was a bit more subtle than brown sugar, but it still worked well in our peanut sauce.

How to make ‘beef’ stew using TVP –

Oil/Water
Red Wine
Onion
Garlic Cloves 2
Seasoning – salt, pepper, rosemary
Tomato puree/Canned tomatoes
Medium potato 1
Carrots 2
Corn Starch
Vegetable Stock
Soy Sauce/Tamari
Textured Vegetable Protein [TVP] – Plain Chunks

1. Soak TVP in hot water for 15 minutes, add a bit of soy sauce.

2. Chop up garlic cloves, onion, carrots, potatoes – in a large pan drizzle oil and chuck them in at medium heat with the occasional stir for 5 minutes adding a splash of water to the mix.

3. Add 2 table spoons of corn starch – constantly stir for a 1 minute.
4. Lower your heat and pour a bit of red wine in- constantly stir until the wine is almost evaporated.
5. Pour in vegetable stock and a bit of soy sauce.
6. Add your TVP, seasoning – salt, pepper, tomato puree, canned tomatoes, dried herbs – rosemary.
Depending on how watery your dish is add a little bit more of the cornstarch, don’t forget to do a taste test as you’re cooking- add more seasoning if needed.
7. Cover the large pan and leave it on the hob for 20 minutes letting it simmer.

8. Add the frozen peas and cover for 10 minutes.

 

It is ready to be served

We have never used TVP before so experimenting with it was fun. We decided to share the ‘beef’ stew recipe as we thought it was fitting for the wet weather we’ve been having.

We highly recommend trying BWFO products – they have good quality ingredients and if you’re stuck for food ideas they have plenty on their website!

They offer free delivery for UK orders over £30, and the products are delivered within 5 days.

*Disclosure: The products in this review was provided by Buy Whole Foods Online on a complimentary basis.