It’s a shame to throw fresh food away so I always try to utilise my scraps. By having a ‘Leftovers’ category on the blog, I’m basically giving you the chance to save money and time by cracking two or three meals out of one, easy peasy.

That’s exactly where this bundle of joy’s been derived from – dinner two nights ago. I made an aubergine/eggplant veggie lasagne so go check that out before you do anything else, because this oozy drippy delicious mess of a yoke is her little brother, Mushroomio.

My mysteriously healthy cheesy explosion of a lassie is definitely worth making, almost solely to have this bad boy ready to assemble in just two minutes afterwards, then you can throw the lasagne in the bin.

IN SERIOUSNESS though – no extra ingredients, time or money! (Dya’ have 30 cent for a mushroom handy?) I’ve listed the ingredients as though to start from scratch, and would yield about 8 mushrooms, but if I were you, I’d just MAKE THE FECKIN LASAGNE FIRST – IT’S BLOODY DELICIOUS!

This was my first time making tofu bolognese and I was surprised by how juicy and flavoursome this hearty mixture turned out to be. It’s like all that meaty goodness you love without, you know, all the dead animals and junk.

This is almost too simple to deem worthy of a recipe – but with leaky, gooey, mouth-watering photos like these, it’d be too cruel not to share.

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Ingredients

• 6-8 portobello mushrooms (if starting from scratch)
• 85g light mozzarella
• 20g feta cheese

Tofu Bolognese Mince*

• 250g firm tofu
• 1/2 large white onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3 red pepper
• 1/3 yellow pepper
• 50g chestnut mushrooms
• 1/3 seed grated nutmeg
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano

*Do your spices whatever the feck way ya like; I just lob everything in and hope I don’t die

Tomato Sauce

• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1\2 a large white onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 300g can of chopped tomatoes
• 250g baby plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbs double concentrated tomato paste
• 40g sundried tomatoes
• Handful of fresh basil leaves
• 1 tbs dried oregano
• 1 tbs fresh parsley

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Directions*

*the short way:

• Pour leftover tofu bolognese mixture into portobello mushoom, stalk removed.
• Bake in the oven for 15-25 minutes until the mushroom is juicy and the mixture has browned and is bubbly.
• Layer mozzarella and feta on mushroom and place under the grill for 5 minutes.
• Garnish with sea salt, black pepper, fresh basil leaves and parsley.

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Directions*

*the not-quite-as-short-but-still-worth-doing way:

• Chop the onion and set half aside for tofu mince while using other half for sauce.
• Add half the chopped onion to a pot on a medium heat with coconut oil and 3 cloves chopped garlic. Once the aromas start to release, add fresh chopped tomatoes and tomato paste with half a glass of water and stir.
• Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer.
• Add fresh basil leaves, torn, followed by dried oregano, to taste.
• Keep adding 1/2 glasses of water as the sauce reduces/thickens.
• Add sea salt & black pepper, to taste.
• Turn heat low and allow to reduce gradually.

• On a pan with medium heat, add coconut oil and the other half of the onion, followed 2 minutes later by the garlic. Chop up the peppers and mushrooms and add them in after 3 minutes.
• While that’s cooking, mash up tofu with the back of a fork in a mixing bowl until a mince-like consistency forms.
• Add garlic powder, grated nutmeg, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, sea salt & black pepper and mix around until the tofu is coated.
• Add tofu mixture to the pan and let flavours infuse as the tofu browns off.
• Once the sauce is reduced, thick and flavoursome, add to the pan, completely covering (ahem, drenching) the mince mixture.
• Refer to top of directions and enjoy!

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Macros*

*per serving – yields 8 mushrooms

• Calories 99
• Protein 37.2g
• Fat 24.1g
• Carbs 6.7g