Quorn spaghetti bolognese.

I would say that spaghetti bolognese is one of the most popular dishes to have at home - we have it about once a week in our house! It's filling, tasty and can be made to suit you. Some like it cheesy, some like it chunky and some even like throwing in some meatballs to the mix! You can customise it pretty much to however you want. Weirdly enough, before I was a "vegetarian" (yes, I know I eat fish, but I completely avoid meat), I never use to like spaghetti bolognese. But when I found the meat substitute, "Quorn", I actually started to like it. Just because you're a vegetarian doesn't mean you have to miss out on a meal as amazing as this! Just replace the beef mince with Quorn mince, or the meatballs with Quorn meatballs and you can enjoy it too! In my opinion Quorn is far more tasty than meat anyway.. And a lot healthier too! So here it is, homemade Quorn spaghetti:

This little dish was actually something my sister put together (I did ask if it was okay to put it on my blog - she said yeah), but I really want to share it with you guys! It was so nice that I couldn't help but tuck into it a little before taking a photograph.. Oops!

This recipe serves 4 and has approx. 415kcal per serving (without any cheese).

Ingredients:
- 300g dried spaghetti pasta
- 300g Quorn mince
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
- 400g passata
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
- 15g HP brown sauce
- 1.5 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 1.5 tsp dried onion granules
- 1.5 tsp dried chopped garlic
- low-fat cheese, grated (optional)

Method:
1. Fill a large saucepan, about three-quarters full, with water and a tiny pinch of salt and place on a high heat. Bring it to a fierce boil. Once boiling, add in the dried spaghetti pasta. Leave the pasta to cook (approx. 10-15 minutes), but remember to stir it occasionally so it doesn't all stick together.
2. Meanwhile, in another medium-large saucepan, placed on a medium heat, add in the Quorn mince, passata, chopped tomatoes and tomato purée. Cook for a minute or two, continually stirring. Then add in the HP brown sauce, vegetable stock cube, salt, pepper, onion granules and chopped garlic. Give it a good stir so it's all mixed together nicely. Then turn the heat down a little and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring a few times, until it reduces and thickens to your preferred consistency.
4. Once you think the pasta is cooked (either taste a bit to check or get a piece of the spaghetti and throw it at a wall - sounds bonkers, I know.. If the spaghetti sticks to the wall it's supposedly cooked) take it off the heat and use a colander to drain it. Evenly dish out the cooked spaghetti pasta between 4 plates. Then take the Quorn/tomato mixture off the heat and also dish it out evenly between the 4 plates.
5. If you like your spaghetti cheesy, grate about 10g of your preferred cheese on top of each dish. Make sure you do it straight away so the cheese melts! Use whichever cheese you like (although low-fat cheese is better for you calorie-wise)!

P.S. To jazz this recipe up a little, you could swap the Quorn mince for Quorn meatballs (adding them in at the same time you would the mince) or you could add in some chunky vegetables to give the dish a bit more texture, such as carrot, mushrooms, onion, whatever you fancy really (add these in at the same time as the sauce, stock & seasonings). Enjoy!

(Above: Quorn spaghetti bolognese, made with Quorn meatballs, instead of mince, and an extra 10g of low-fat cheddar cheese - approx. 514kcal).