I’m having a phase of eating plant based meals. Tonight I cooked a simple pasta dinner using a handful of ingredients I happened to have in stock. These included sun dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers (both from jars and neither ultra processed). I also used courgettes, onions, cherry tomatoes, almonds (good protein) and spaghetti….
Category: Vegan
Slow cooker butternut squash and bean chilli
Do people still use slow cookers now that air fryers are taking over the world? I don’t have an air fryer but I love my slow cooker. It can come in very handy, especially at this time of year when you’re rushing around getting ready for the festivities. With most slow cooker recipes I usually…
Taralli
Taralli are savoury or sweet snacks from Puglia in the south of Italy. I have recently returned from Puglia where I travelled around for a few days before joining a cookery and yoga retreat in Conversano, about 40 minutes drive from Bari, one of the main cities in Puglia. Our cookery teacher, Lucrezia, taught us…
Creamy cauliflower tagliatelle
Here’s another recipe to celebrate Veganuary (although I should say I’m not doing the full vegan diet this month, just using this time as an incentive to cut down on meat). This recipe is from Miguel Barclay’s book Vegan One Pound Meals – part of his fantastic One Pound Meals cook book series which is…
Black bean vegan burgers
I’m not a big fan of processed, shop bought vegan burgers – I am still on the hunt for one that I really like, both in texture and taste. In the meantime I prefer to make my own with pulses or as I did once with beetroot. This recipe using black beans is nice and…
Chilled leek and courgette soup
In my house soups happen more by accident than by design – usually because I need to use up some vegetables before they go off. Having said that, on Friday I made gazpacho as the weather had been sweltering and a friend was coming for lunch so I planned to make that traditional cold Spanish…
Mushroom Wellington
This is a recipe from Miguel Barclay’s book ‘Vegan one pound meals’ and like all of his recipes it’s beautifully simple and easy to make. I love the way he creates tasty food with a small list of ingredients and all his recipes are for one, so you just multiply quantities for more people. I…
Carrot and coriander soup
Carrot and coriander are two ingredients I always have in my fridge and often need using up. This soup is so easy, quick and dead cheap (and it’s vegan too). It has been a godsend recently when I was running out of ideas for lunch and didn’t want to go to the shop (trying to…
Lentil cottage pie
This used to be one of my staple meals but I haven’t cooked it for a while. But then my son requested it for dinner a couple of Saturdays ago (he’s in my lockdown bubble so he comes over most weekends at the moment). Lentil cottage pie is such a comforting recipe and I think…
Roast fennel salad
I think fennel has gone to the top of my list of favourite vegetables (nudging courgettes and then runner beans into second and third place respectively). I can’t seem to get enough of fennel at the moment. I’ve been making a traybake most nights for dinner at the moment to save time on cooking. This…
Roast squash
I was trying to think of a Halloween themed recipe but in all honesty I almost never cook pumpkins. When my children were small we loved growing our own pumpkins to carve for Halloween, or getting them from the local pick your own farm. But unlike other people who made soup or desserts out of…
Ratatouille
You couldn’t get more cheap, fresh and easy than ratatouille. In fact I’m struggling to think of a recipe in this whole Cheap, Fresh and Easy blog (which I’ve been writing for four years) which is cheaper and easier than ratatouille. How fresh it is, depends on you. Ratatouille is in fact a great way…
Cheap, fresh and easy 