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….
Tag: 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…
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…
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…
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,…
Spicy chickpea croquettes
I made these last weekend and intended to freeze them in batches. But they were so tasty I found I was eating a few every day either as a starter or when I came home hungry from work and needed a quick snack. They are particularly nice with a range of dips and would be…
Vegan chocolate cake
This is a Nigella recipe which I have been meaning to make for a while, if only to see if it’s as good as Nigella says it is – and it is indeed delicious. I made this yesterday as I wanted something to take to a friend who is laid up with her leg in…
Chickpea curry
I’ve been stocking up my freezer with home made ready meals. This is partly to reduce my food costs (and batch cooking is one of the easiest ways to do that) and partly to have a big selection of quick meals to choose from in January when I know I’m going to be busy. I…
Stuffed peppers
A couple of weeks’ ago I watched an episode of Yottam Ottolenghi’s cookery series where he was in Crete. He visited a family restaurant where one of the specialities was stuffed vegetables. All the family got together on a vine clad, sun drenched terrace to stuff courgettes, tomatoes and peppers with a simple mixture of…
Beetroot burgers
Here’s a recipe inspired by a four day cookery and meditation retreat at Sharpham House I went on recently. This was the recipe I made as soon as I got home from the trip. It was for supper that same evening – I couldn’t wait to start trying out what I had learnt, even after…
Roasted cauliflower steaks with vierge sauce
This is a surprisingly substantial and filling dish and at about £1.50 a portion is incredible value. The cauliflower retains a firm texture and the vierge sauce is fresh, crunchy and colourful. Adding capers to the sauce gives the dish a sharp and piquant flavour. This is a very easy meal to make and only takes about…
Hazelnut and pistachio crunch
This is an Antonio Carluccio recipe which sounds so much better in Italian – croccante di nocciole e pistacchi. I followed the recipe to the letter so head to the Antonio Carluccio website for the instructions. Now that it’s mid November it’s probably acceptable to start making something a bit Christmassy. The recipe is very…
Spicy pumpkin soup
This tasty seasonal soup uses small eating pumpkins/butternut squash, not the giant Jack o’Lanterns people use for Halloween. I used a pumpkin the size of a large grapefruit and half a butternut squash I had left over from another meal. I also bought a couple of adorable munchkin pumpkins but I struggled to chop them…
Big batch vegetarian chilli
Batch cooking is one of the best ways to keep costs down and you don’t have to lose out on flavour just because you’re on a budget. I regularly make up a big pot of vegetarian chilli which I freeze and then cook with other ingredients to bulk out the meals. Using this recipe as…
Focaccia
I struggle a bit making my own bread as so often it doesn’t rise very well. It frequently ends up dense, heavy and a bit sad. But I still really love the whole process of baking bread because kneading dough is so relaxing and most shop bought loaves lack character and are full of additives….
Cheap, fresh and easy 