Meat Free March Recipe Swap : The results are in!

I've celebrated the start of British Summer Time by eating a hell of a lot of meat. From pork and black pudding sausages to bacon, ham and tuna steak, I've enjoyed every mouthful after a month of beans and lentils. Ham hock, chorizo, sea bass, mussels, pork belly and lardons have had a look in too. My body has become a living, breathing temple to meat and fish. So much so, the chances of fitting into any of my summer clothes in time for my holiday to Croatia are now slim to none. Especially as I go on holiday tomorrow. Whoops.
However, when I return, there'll be plenty of deliciously healthy veggie and vegan recipes to tuck in to and help me on my way to losing the holiday bulge. These come courtesy of the lovely folk who participated in our Meat Free March recipe swap. 

So, who cooked what?

• Susie made a delicious vegan lime and coconut cheesecake, complete with tofu - thanks to a recipe from Sharon
• Amy cooked up a storm with my feta and spinach filo pie
• Hannah had a manic search for tahini paste which resulted in not one, but two, delicious blog posts for warm pumpkin salad with chickpeas, tahini and flatbreads - thanks to Ewan for the recipes!
• Sharon went all Mexicano with Susie's Mexican refried bean chilli, a post which also marked her first foray into blogging!
• Ewan experimented with quinoa when he made Hannah's recipe for dirty John quinoa
• Putting two Rebecca's together resulted in Sloppy Joe's and cornbread with black bean salsa and jalapeno sauce.
• Fay went all Boy George on us with Kate's vegetable Korma
• And I had a delicious alcoholic carb-fest courtesy of Amy's penne ala vodka

As I'm sure you'll agree, all of these blog posts make their swapees recipes look and sound tastier than an all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet at Hansa's. Trying to pick a blog to win our wonderful prizes was harder than finding a grain of couscous in a haystack. That's why, when Fay and I held our X Factor style judging panel  over Google chat last night, we decided to give not one, but two brilliant bloggers a prize (controversial - I expect there'll be Daily Mail headlines about this tomorrow!).

First up, Susie from Susie's Tummy Tales will be receiving a month's supply of fresh veg boxes from the brilliant Abel and Cole. Fay and I loved the humour in Susie's post and the fact that she was the only participant to give a vegan dessert a stab (thanks to Sharon's recipe). Top marks go to her especially because she served them in homous pots (we encourage recycling). Fay and I also decided that Susie is a worthy winner because she linked to Gregg Wallace's buttery biscuit base. I am a not-so-secret fan girl of Greg Wallace (it's something about the glasses, the love of desserts, and the way he whacks a spoon in his gob). As a greengrocer, I feel Gregg would approve of Susie winning a month's supply of vegetable goodies. 

Secondly, Sharon at Virtually Vegan wins a (veggie friendly) meal at Handmade Burger Co in honour of her effort. The Meat Free March recipe post marked Sharon's first ever foray into vegan blogging, and we think she's off to a pretty bloomin' great start. We hope the winning meal will encourage her to keep at it - maybe a restaurant review could be next? 

So, there we have it, meat-free Marchers. Susie and Sharon - please drop me a line with your address to bitsandbobsbecs@gmail.com and your prizes will be winging their way over to you sooner than you can shout "lots of lovely lentils please". To the rest of you - a big, big thank you for participating, for keeping Fay and I sane in our quest for the perfect veggie recipe and for giving me the opportunity to spend hours reading and looking at lots of lovely sausage-free food porn.