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…
Tabouleh with chargrilled aubergines and peppers
The base for this tabouleh is a mix of grains – bulgar, freekah and white and red quinoa (bought as one mixed pack from Sainsbury’s) but a more traditional tabouleh would just use bulgar wheat. My idea of a good tabouleh is to pack it with loads of fresh mint and parsley – in this…
Mushroom and broccoli curry
I made this curry for dinner last Thursday. I usually shop on a Saturday so often find myself at the end of the week scouring the fridge to use up leftover vegetables, trying not to throw anything away. I had a whole unopened packet of mushrooms about five days past its sell by date (as…
Jackfruit in barbecue sauce
This is the first time I have eaten jackfruit. I’ve had a tin at the back of my cupboard for a while and fancied creating a vegan alternative to pulled pork – and last night I finally got around to it. I wanted to make a completely vegan recipe so had to improvise with the…
Vegan paella
I’d really like to be in Spain now, sitting at a beachside restaurant and eating paella filled with chorizo, langoustine, chicken and clams. Who knows when we’ll be able to go off on our foreign holidays again? In the meantime here’s a dead easy vegan version of paella from Miguel Barclay’s Vegan One pound Meals cookery…
Thai yellow curry
This is based on a Miguel Barclay recipe from his Vegan One Pound Meals book, except my version isn’t anywhere near as photogenic (and definitely not as yellow). Miguel Barclay keeps to a basic list of ingredients using aubergines and baby sweetcorn as the main vegetables but I’ve piled in some other veg which needed…
Stuffed courgettes
I love courgettes and I’m always looking for new courgette recipes. Stuffed vegetables like courgettes, peppers or tomatoes are a very Mediterranean style of cooking and very healthy (as well as cheap, fresh and easy). Usually rice or cous cous would be used as part of the stuffing but I used borlotti beans as the…
Puy lentil salad with aubergines and broccoli
Puy lentils make a fantastic base for any salad and go very well with most vegetables. Try circles of carrot cooked Vichy-style (simmered in water, butter, salt and sugar until nicely glazed and soft) or courgettes and red peppers, brushed with olive oil and griddled. You could try stirring some cauliflower florets in olive oil…
Laksa
I made this soup as a first course for a family lunch way back in November but only now just writing it up just because I’ve been so busy. The day job has been frantic and I’ve also recently set up a handcrafted jewellery business (check out http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArrowskyDesigns). This laksa soup was the first…
Sun-dried tomato houmous
Here’s another Miguel Barclay recipe from his ‘Vegan One Pound Meals’ cookery book. I love the fact that he keeps his list of ingredients short and the method easy – his book is full of recipes that have just a handful of steps to create a tasty dish. These are simple and affordable vegan recipes…
Vegan sausage rolls
This recipe is from Miguel Barclay’s latest book ‘Vegan One Pound Meals’. I love his ‘One Pound Meals’ series – a cooking philosophy very much like mine – easy, freshly cooked food at a reasonable price (and you can’t get more reasonable than a pound per person). One of the cheap, fresh and easy mantras…
Gazpacho
This week the weather started to turn autumnal but only three weeks ago we were sweltering in record breaking temperatures over the Bank Holiday weekend. I was rushing around a lot of the time, helping my daughter move into her new flat, so I didn’t have time to do much cooking – and it was…
Aubergine and tomato curry
This is the last recipe I made before my kitchen was renovated. The new kitchen is now ready and I am gradually getting back into the habit of home cooking after coping with microwaved ready meals and takeaways. I also ate out quite lot, including going to the gym to eat in the cafe there…
Sticky shiitake mushrooms
This is a vegan recipe from Bosh! which I made yesterday and devoured greedily. I swear this is one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever eaten and my photo doesn’t really do it justice. As the Bosh recipe says ‘If you’re a fan of sticky, sweet, pan-asian cuisine you will absolutely LOVE this dish. (Seriously,…
Cheap, fresh and easy 