My “no meat and no sugar” – challenge is over by now and I’m happy I did it. It definitely was fun. And a little bit of an achievement. Though I had to get over sugar, there is enough substitute for meat. The curious foodie in me even reached for meatless meatballs, where the list of ingredients of what it’s made of left me even more curious and confused as before, since none of it sounded like anything I know. But I tried it, and it wasn’t bad. It did taste like meat, but not sure I would buy it again anytime soon. But if I think of it, maybe with some spicy sauce to pimp it up a little bit.. Sorry, I was just thinking out loud.

But of course, if you don’t miss the meat, the easiest way is to just see what’s in the veggie compartment. And one of our dinners was just that- seeing what we have and making the best of it. So it was a little bit improvised, since what I had in my mind didn’t necessarily match what we have in the fridge. I wanted to add some pumpkin, but forgot that it all went for a cake. But the beauty of this dish is that you can add basically everything to it or just add those veggies that don’t look so good anymore and it still tastes good.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 25min                                                 cooking time: 30min

3-4 beetroots

5-6 champignions

1 big zucchini

250g rice

salt and pepper

olive oil

For the dressing:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbp linseed oil (optional)

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

½ tsp smoked hot paprika

2 tsp tomato paste

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Cut the veggies in big cubes, arrange on a baking form. Sprinkle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and keep in the oven for ca 25-30min.

In the meantime bring the water to the boil and cook the rice. When ready, sift it and set aside.

For the dressing, put all the ingredients in a jar, screw the lid shut and shake. Pour the dressing over the rice and mix well. Arrange the rice on the plates and put the vegetables on top.