Vegetable Curry

Today I decided to experiment with a vegetable curry, and it was delightful. Making dinner for my fussy sister is always a difficult task, but fortunately this was a success. This recipe is extremely easy, but does require a lot of prep. Make sure you allow for timing, this meal should take about 1 hour 20 minutes in total. It's low in fat and makes for a hearty dinner.

Ready to eat

Ingredients (4 portions):

• 1 Butternut Squash
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 6 large mushrooms
• 1 onion  (red or white)
• 1 tin of chickpeas
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• turmeric, cumin, chilli powder
• 1 tin of low fat coconut milk
• curry powder 
• handful of sprigs of coriander 
• 4 packets of brown microwave rice.

Method:
Chop up the onion and Butternut Squash into small chunks and fry with a lug of oil, chop and add in the sweet potato and mushrooms as you go and leave for about 10 minutes. Then boil the kettle and fill add a stock cube to a pint of boiling water. Add to the frying pan and turn down to simmer.
Add in the chickpeas, coves of garlic and a tea spoon each of turmeric, cumin and chilli powder. Leave to simmer for about 30/40 minutes. Stir occasionally during this time.
The mixture should have reduced remarkably in this time. Once most of the water has evaporated add in the tin of coconut milk and some sprigs of coriander and a spoonful of curry powder (I found that it took to long for the water to evaporate so I had to drain some out to speed up the process). Mix and leave on a low heat for about 10 minutes.
You can either make your own rice, or you can use microwave rice pouches. I'm feeling lazy so i'm going to use microwave pouches because they are quick and easy. Serve generously and enjoy.

Fry for 10 minutes

Adding in the stock 

The final 10 minutes

Croutons

I didn't have time to make my own soup today, but I am a big fan of home made fresh soup! I have lots of recipes I am dying to try out. So instead I just made some croutons to go with it.
I find croutons heavenly, I used to eat a bag of croutons like a bag of crisps, which health wise was not such a great idea! This is the second time I have made these, there so easy to make and also you can adapt the recipe easily to suit your flavour preferences.  I like to make mine really strong and flavoursome.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread (staler bread is best)
• garlic granules
• salt and pepper
• paprika 
• chilli flakes
• chive 
• coriander
• onion

Method:
Rip up the bread into small chunks, that sightly resemble a cube shape. Put them in a oven dish, drizzle with oil, and then season with any of the herbs above, my favourite combination is garlic and chilli. Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes at 190 degrees. Take them out when they have turned golden.

Chilli Con Carne

Yesterdays beans makes todays chilli!
One thing that I am terrible at, that drives my mum crazy is wastage. Its something I really need to improve upon. So when my mum suggest that I reuse the left over beans and turn them into a simple chilli with minimal effort I was all for it. My chilli is very similar to my bolognese recipe, and so is one of my favourite dishes.

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots 
• 1 onion 
• 1 red pepper
• handful of mushrooms
• a packet of quorn mince
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of 5 beans 
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 1 half a chilli (seeds removed and chopped finely) 
• chilli flakes 
• Brown rice 

Method:
Chop the carrots and the onions into small chunks and fry on a medium heat in oil for 5 minutes until they are softened. Use a garlic press to add in the cloves of garlic. Chop the mushrooms and pepper and add to the frying pan, after 5 minutes add in the quorn mince. This can be cooked straight from frozen. Add the cans of chopped tomatoes and the 5 beans and stir well. Add in as much chilli as desired depending on how hot you like it.
 Turn it down to a low heat and start on the rice. Boil the kettle and fill up a saucepan with the water. pour in the rice. You will need to use about a cup more water than you usual would for cooking white rice. Bring the rice to boil uncovered, and then turn it down low for about 40 minutes. Drain and serve with a generous helping of chilli.

Home made Beans and Sweet Potato wedges

Today I tried out some recipes from my Deliciously Ella cook book, I bought this book about a year ago and have found it really inspiring. I would really recommend it to anyone who is interesting in following a vegan and gluten free diet or just wanting to try new and healthy ideas. Her story is so motivating and really makes you think about the effect food has on our bodies, not just looking at how much weight your gaining but the goodness and benefits eating well does for your body.

For dinner we decided to have 'brinner' but with a twist, we had veggie sausages, eggs, beans and wedges. I followed Ella's home made bake bean recipe which was easy and lovely! But I added some of my own alterations to the recipe, to spice things up a bit. I added in 5 beans, chickpeas and chilli flakes, these were not part of the original recipe.

Ingredients (4 portions):

• 1 and a half tins of chopped tomatoes 
• 1 tin of haricot beans 
• half a tin of 5 beans 
• half a tin of chickpeas
• tube of tomato puree 
• 1 and a half cloves of garlic
• sprinkle of chilli flakes 
• salt and pepper

Method:

Pour the two cans of chopped tomatoes into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and the cloves of garlic. Bring to boil and then leave to simmer for about 25/30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
Next add in the haricot beans, chickpeas and 5 beans, and stir in well. Then add in two large tablespoons of tomato puree and as much chilli as desired. Season with salt and pepper and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 10 minutes.

Getting started

Next I tried out her recipe for sweet potato wedges which I already knew was going to be right up my street. The recipe is really simple and the wedges were really tasty, again I made some slight alterations, changing the spices and herbs used to the ones that I had available and suited my preference. The recipe calls for cinnamon, but I chickened out of using this and went with garlic and paprika instead. As well I swapped chive for rosemary.

Ingredients (2 portions):

• 2 sweet potatoes
• small lug of oil 
• small handful of chopped up chives
• garlic granules
• paprika / chilli flakes 

Method:
Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees. Chop up the sweet potatoes in to wedge shapes, leaving the skin on. lay them side by side in a tray so that they are not touching. pour over a little bit of oil, then sprinkle over with the garlic, chilli, paprika and chives. Place in the oven for about an hour, turn them over at least once.

before the oven

My yummy dinner!

Veggie Bolognese

Veggie Bolognese is one of my favourite meals, its hearty and filling with lots of flavours as well as being healthy. I use quorn meat in my bolognese, which is a healthier and cheaper alternative to using mince meat. This is one of the few meals that I was already able to cook before I went to uni. I started off making this by just using tomato pasta sauces from a jar, but quickly got the hang of using chopped tomatoes and adding in the selection of vegetables and seasonings that I wanted. This is one of the only meals that the whole family can enjoy, with two vegetarians and two meat eaters its nearly impossible to find meals that feed the four of us, but spaghetti bolognese is a popular favourite in our household.

Ingredients (feeds 4)

• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of 5 beans
• two hand fulls of mushrooms 
• 1 onion 
• 1 pepper
• 1 bag of quorn mince
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 70g of spaghetti (per person)

Method:
Chop up the mushrooms, pepper and onion into small chunks and chuck them in the the frying pan with a lug of oil and fry on a medium heat until they have all softened. Use a garlic press, and add in the cloves of garlic.
Next empty the quorn mince into the frying pan straight from the freezer, stirring well whilst it browns. Add in the can of 5 beans and the tin of chopped tomatoes, and continue to stir adding in salt, pepper and basil for flavour. Leave on the heat until the pasta is ready.
Boil the kettle and fill a saucepan with boiling water, sprinkle with a dash of salt and boil the pasta for 10 minutes until it is soft. Drain and serve, with a large helping of bolognese.

I made this for dinner last night and served it with some quick and easy home made garlic bread for a delicious treat.

Pea Pasta

Pea Pasta

One of my flatmates at uni was half Italian and she shared with me this delicious recipe. The idea of having peas and pasta together was new to me, but the combination works perfectly creating a thick creamy sauce that coats the pasta well. I tried this dish out at home blindly trying to recreate her recipe and it was an immediate success with my family. It is an extremely easy dish to make, as well as being healthy and cheap to make. 

Ingredients (2 portions) :

• 1 tin of mushy peas
• 1 half of a onion (red or white)
• vegetable stock 
• chilli flakes 
• 140g of dried pasta
• salt and pepper to season 

Method:

Chop the onion into small squares and fry in a saucepan with a small lug of oil. Once they have soften take them off the heat and put them in a saucepan. Open the tin of mushy peas and pour these into the saucepan as well and put on a low heat.

Make up the vegetable stock in a pint of water and add this into the mixture, put in the pasta and allow to boil for a minute before turning it down to simmer for 10 or 15 minutes. Add water where necessary. Whilst cooking the mixture may stick to the bottom of the pan to stir frequently and keep on a low heat. When the pasta has softened and the sauce has reduced and thickened it will be ready to serve. Mix in the chilli flakes depending how spicy you like it. Add in the salt and pepper to taste.

A slightly unhealthier but tasty option would be to serve with parmesan.