Cajun Rice and Beans

This dish is filling, well rounded  and certainly not lacking in flavour. Perfect for warming up after a long day. Tastes great the next day too!

Cajun rice and beans

Serves 5

Ingredients

4 cloves of garlic

2 small onions

2 sticks celery

400g tin of tomatoes 

2 cups cooked black eyed beans

1 1/2 cups sweet potato, 1 cm cubes

2 handfuls Kale

Green pepper, diced

1 cup brown rice

2 cups veg stock

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp Black pepper

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Pinch of salt

Method

Fry the onion, garlic and celery in a little oil over a medium heat until soft.

Add the potatoes, pepper and kale and fry gently for a few minutes.

Add the rice and stir in to combine.

Add the herbs, spices, tomatoes and veg stock. Bring to boil and simmer until the potato is tender and rice is cooked. (20-30 mins).

Add in the beans and simmer for 5-10 mins or until the liquid has been absorbed.

Spicy Green Veg Soup

Soup glorious soup! Another soup recipe, what a surprise! I love the easy, one pan, minimal washing up approach to soup I guess, which means I do generally make at least one soup a week.

Spicy Green Veg Soup

Serves 5

Ingredients

For the soup:
2 small/1 large onion chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 leek, washed and sliced
1 large courgette, sliced
1 pak choi, washed and sliced
2 large handfuls spinach

2 large carrots, sliced

4 medium potatoes, cubed

1 (425 ml) can coconut milk

5 cups veg stock

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp ground coriander 

1 tbsp coconut oil

Salt and pepper

For the croutons:

4 slices bread, cut into cubes

1-2 tbsp oil 

1 tsp wild garlic powder

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200°C / 400°F

Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add in the spices and fry gently for a minute or two.

Add in the onion and garlic and fry for another couple of minutes.

Add the carrots, potatoes and leek and fry for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

Add the courgette and pak choi and fry for a final couple of minutes before adding the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes until the veg is tender.

Whilst the soup simmers toss your bread cubes in oil with the wild garlic powder and bake in the preheated oven for 5-6 minutes, shaking half way through.

Add the coconut milk and spinach and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the spinach until it's just wilted then blend.

Serve the blended soup with the croutons and enjoy!

Turmeric Milk

I love drinking this. It's warm and comforting with a touch of heat from the ginger and black pepper whilst maintaining a subtle sweetness.

Lots of people sing the medicinal praises of turmeric but I'll let you do your own research and come to your own conclusions, I'm all about the flavour when it comes to this drink.

Turmeric milk

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 mug plant milk
1/2 tbsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Dash of vanilla essence 

Pinch of black pepper
1 tsp agave or maple syrup
Small piece of ginger, minced

1 tsp coconut oil 

Method
Add all ingredients to a pan, bring to the boil and simmer gently.

Whisk in the coconut oil to combine with the milk.

Pour into your mug through a mesh tea strainer or sieve to strain out the ginger mulch and serve.

Wild Garlic Pesto Pasta With Green And Purple Veg

This dish packs in plenty of veg and flavour whilst still being quick and simple enough to throw together in a rush (given that you've already made some pesto). Sub the wild garlic pesto for any other store bought or homemade dairy free pesto if you have non or if wild garlic is out of season.

Wild garlic pesto pasta with green and purple veg

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 oz dried pasta

2+ tbsp Wild garlic pesto

10 stem purple sprouted broccoli, leaves trimmed and roughly chopped

1/2 cup frozen petit pois

1 courgette, sliced

Large handful purple kale, roughly torn

1 asparagus spears

Oil of choice

Salt and pepper

Optional:

Drizzle of lemon juice.

Method

Boil the pasta in a large saucepan according to the packets instructions, roughly 10 minutes.

Whilst the pasta is boiling gently stir-fry all the veg apart form the asparagus spears in a little oil.

Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Add in the veg and pesto and season with salt and pepper.

Saute the asparagus spears for a couple of minutes with a splash of oil and the optional lemon juice.

Serve the pasta and veg with the asparagus spears on top.

Dandelion Syrup

This syrup uses the flowers from the dandelion plant and has a delicate flavour similar to honey. It can be used much the same way as other plant based syrups and best of all it costs no more than a bag of sugar!

Once you've picked your dandelion flowers you need to remove the green parts as they can discolour the syrup and leaving it tasting slightly bitter.

Dandelion syrup

Ingredients

2 cups dandelion petals

4 cups boiling water

2 - 3 cups granulated sugar

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method

Wash your dandelions and leave to dry to remove any bugs hiding in there.

Remove all the green parts of the dandelion heads. You can slice the green parts off with a knife or scissors if you find it easiest. I let the petals close up a bit then gripped them all together, making sure not to hold any green parts, twisted a bit and pulled them off and that worked quite well for me. You'll need about 4 cups or so of dandelions to get 2 cups of petals.

Add the petals to the pan with the boiling water and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Take of the heat, cover and leave to stand overnight or for 8-12 hours.

Strain out the petals from the water and squeeze out the petals, this should leave you with about 3 cups of dandelion water.

Put the water in the pan with the sugar and lemon juice. I only had 2 1/2 cups of sugar in the house so I used that amount, more sugar will give you a thicker syrup. 

Bring to the boil whilst stirring until the sugar has dissolved, cover and reduce to a simmer.

Simmer for around 2 hours, stirring occasionally. To check the consistency, get a little bit on a spoon, allow it to cool a bit and dip your finger in. Once you're happy with the consistency remove from the heat.

Allow to cool slightly and pour into sterilised jars and seal.

Potato Cakes

I pretty much always make these whenever I have left over mashed potatoes. Sometimes I'll even do too much mash on purpose just so I can make these the next morning! Should you end up with more potato cakes than you can eat (yea right), you can store them in the fridge and just pop them in the toaster when you're ready! 

Potato cakes

Makes around 5-6, double recipe for each cup of mash you have to use.

Ingredients
1 cup mashed potato
1/2 cup plain flour
Pinch of salt
1+ tbsp oil

Optional:
Spring onions, sliced.

Method
Mix all ingredients in a bowl until combined. I prefer to use my hands to knead it together.

Shape into cakes/patties about 1cm or less thick and chill in the freezer for 10 mins.

Heat the oil over a low-medium heat and fry gently for 3-5 mins on each side. Add a little more oil if they start to stick.

Leave to stand on a plate covered with a paper towel for a minute before serving to absorb some of the oil.

Foraging Dandelions

Foraging for dandelions is fairly simple given that they grow pretty much everywhere in open grassy spaces. 

Dandelion leaves and roots can be foraged between February-November although the roots are best dug up in the autumn as that is when they are fattest and their flavour is most mellow. The flowers can be foraged in late spring between April-May. 

They grow in fields, parks and even gardens so it shouldn't be too hard to find some. Try to avoid the ones growing by roadsides though, if you ask nicely enough that neighbour with loads growing in their garden might even let you pick some if that's your only option! Never hurts to ask!

The flowers are large and yellow and made up of lots of fine petals. The leaves, growing from the base of the plant, are long and pointed with jagged teeth.

The leaves can be sautéed or used in salads, the flowers can be used to make drinks and in baking and the roots can be roasted and ground to make dandelion coffee.

Make sure you check out this guide to foraging sustainably before you go!

Wild Garlic Soup

This soup is one of my favourite things to make with wild garlic. It's vibrant green colour really reminds me that spring is here, things are growing and colour is appearing everywhere! This soup broke my immersion blender! Even though the garlic was chopped fairly fine I'm assuming it got tangled around the blade so I reckon you'll be best off using and actual blender unless you have a sturdier stick one than I did!

Wild garlic soup

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 large handfuls wild garlic, roughly chopped
3-4 potatoes, cubed

1 onion, chopped
4 cups veg stock

Squeeze of lemon

Oil
Salt and pepper

Optional:
Wild garlic pesto
Toasted pine nuts

Method
Heat a little oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, add in the onion and potatoes, coat in the oil and fry gently for a few minutes, stirring regularly. 

Add the veg stock, bring to the boil and simmer until tender.

Add the wild garlic, salt and pepper and continue to simmer for a couple more minutes.

Blend, add a squeeze of lemon and serve.

Toast pine nuts in a frying pan for a couple of minutes and top with a blob of wild garlic pesto and toasted pine nuts.

Mango And Banana Smoothie

I need to remember to use carrots in smoothies more often. I need to make more yellow smoothies too! I usually let my boy choose a colour for a smoothie and he's into green and pink so that's what we usually end up with.

Mango and banana smoothie

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas

2 mangos

2 satsumas

1 carrot

1tbsp chia seeds

2 cups coconut water

Method

Chop the carrot into pieces so it blends easier. Throw everything in the blender and whizz until smooth.

Roast Veg With Lemon And Dill Giant Cous Cous

There's nothing I love more than a big plate of roast veg. This recipe is pretty adaptable to whatever veg you have in or need to use up. I'm a big fan of roasting tomatoes but I didn't have any this time. Celeriac is another favourite that missed this party. Sometimes I like to mix any leftovers together the next day to make a roast veg cous cous salad.

Roast veg with lemon and dill giant cous cous

Ingredients

3 carrots, chopped into even strips

2 red onions, peeled and quartered

10(ish) jerusalem artichokes, peeled and chopped

1 bulb garlic, cloves peeled

1 leek, roughly chopped

3 beetroots, peeled and quartered

2 apples, cored and chopped into equal pieces.

1 tbsp oil

3/4 tbsp agave syrup

2 bay leaves

a few sprigs fresh thyme

for the cous cous:

1 cup giant cous cous

1/4 cup frozen petit pois

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

Salt and pepper

Half a bag of spinach.

1 tsp oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.

Throw all of the chopped veg and apple in a large bowl. Whisk together the oil and agave syrup, pour over the veg and toss to coat. Arrange the veg on a baking tray (or 2 if you have a tiny oven like mine) with the thyme sprigs and bay leaves (I did 1 leaf per tray) and put into the oven to roast for about an hour, until the veg is tender.

Whilst the veg is roasting you can cover the giant cous cous with water in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 7-10 minutes until the cous cous is cooked through and transparent. I usually throw the petit pois in there for the last few minutes to cook too. Drain and leave to stand/cool. Add in the lemon juice, dill and add salt and pepper to taste.

Wilt the spinach in a frying pan with a little oil.

When the veg is cooked serve with the cous cous and wilted spinach.

Wild Garlic Pesto

This recipe is actually pretty tricky for me to write even though I've made it loads. I usually make a big batch to fill up a few jars. I start with a basic recipe and just keep adding extra of everything until the food processor is pretty full. Pesto is traditionally made with pine nuts but in the interest of keeping the cost down I usually opt for cashew nuts. Non vegan pesto contains Parmesan, you could sub it for some nutritional yeast if you like but I just miss it out entirely.

Experiment with nuts to give the pesto slightly different flavours, try subbing in some walnuts.

Wild garlic pesto

Ingredients

2 large handfuls of wild garlic leaves

1/2 cup cashew nuts

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice of a lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add everything to the food processor and blend. I usually start with half of the lemon juice, give it a taste and add more if i feel it needs it (which I usually do, I like lemon!). Adjust the quantities to suit your taste.

If you make enough to fill a few jars you can pour a layer of olive oil over the top to 'seal' the pesto and store in the fridge. 

Cashew Milk

Making your own plant milk is often cheaper than buying the store bought counterparts. Plus I think it's more fun. You can experiment with flavours, make it as sweet as you like or not at all. Want chocolate milk? Add some cacao/cocoa powder. The possibilities are virtually endless!

Cashew milk

Ingredients
1 cup cashew nuts
4 cups water
2 dates
Vanilla essence

Method
Soak cashews in water for at least 4 hours. I usually soak overnight so my cashews get around 8-12 hours soaking time. 

Strain off the water and rinse the nuts. Throw the cashews in a blender with 1 cup of water and the dates and blend until smooth. I've found that blending with a small amount of water helps achieve the smoothest blend. What you're left with at this stage is a delicious, thick cashew cream.

Add the rest of the water and a splash of vanilla and blend to combine. 

Adjust quantities or try a different sweetener to suit your taste. 

 
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5-6 days. Shake well before each use. 

Foraging Wild Garlic

I thought I better get a post about foraging for wild garlic written whilst it's still wild garlic season and the stuff is growing like crazy all over the place! Wild garlic season is one of my favourite times of year.
Wild garlic, or Ramsons, can usually be found between April-June although I've noticed young shoots in late March this year.
Search in damp woodland areas, next to streams, boggy areas and next to hedgerows. You can smell the garlic way before you see it so you'll know when you've found the right place. Wild garlic can coat a woodland floor and it looks and smells glorious! I live in a valley and the conditions around here are perfect!
The leaves of the plant are long, spear shaped and fairly broad. The flowers are like balls of little white star shaped flowers on tall stems.
The leaves are edible, the flowers are edible, the entire plant is edible! The leaves can be used to make pesto among a whole host of other things. The flowers make pretty additions to salads and the buds can be pickled. Try to leave the plant's roots in the ground and follow these other tips for sustainable foraging to ensure the plant can regrow next year for more people to enjoy!

Veggie Hash

Being honest here, this experiment was pretty much based around what I had in the fridge that needed using up. You'll need a good non stick pan for the potatoes not to stick a bit. 

Veggie hash

Serves 2

Ingredients

3 potatoes, cubed

1 celery stick, sliced

1/2 courgette, sliced

2 small onions, roughly chopped

12-14 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup, finely chopped mushrooms

4 asparagus spears, sliced

good handful wild garlic, roughly chopped

1 sprig fresh thyme

2 tbsp oil

Salt and pepper to season.

Method

Heat the oil in a deep sided frying pan over a medium heat, add the onions, potatoes and thyme, stir to coat in oil then cover with a lid and turn down the heat. Cook covered for 10-15 minutes until potatoes soften.

Add all thee other ingredients excluding the wild garlic and asparagus, stir and cover again for a further 5 minutes.

Add the wild garlic and asparagus and season to taste. Stir and cover again for a final 5 minutes

Serve with whatever sauce or other condiments you fancy. I opted for a big dollop of homemade beetroot and chilli ketchup.

Berry, Mint and Maca Smoothie

Berry, mint and maca smoothie

Ingredients
2 bananas
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 cup mixed frozen berries
1/2 tsp matcha powder
1 tsp maca powder
1 tbsp chia seeds
Small bunch mint leaves
1-2 cups coconut water

Method
Throw everything in a blender and whizz until smooth. Adjust quantities to taste.

Smokey Red Lentil Soup

Before I was vegan I used to make bacon and lentil soup fairly regularly. I honestly never missed the bacon but I did miss the smokey flavour that it added. Hence this soup was born, slightly hotter than the non vegan counterpart but that's never a bad thing to me! 

It's quite a thick soup which I like but it could easily handle and extra cup of stock being thrown in if you wanted to thin in out or make it stretch further.

Smokey red lentil soup

Makes 3 good bowls, 4 if made thinner.

Ingredients
2 carrots
1 onion
5 cloves garlic

1 cup red lentils

1 400 tin chopped tomatoes

3 cup veg stock (4 if you prefer it thinner)

1 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika 

1 tbsp maple syrup

Optional toppings:

Oatly creme fraiche 

Toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Vegan smoked cheese

Method

Rinse the lentils in a sieve and set aside.

Fry the onions and garlic in a saucepan in little oil over a med heat and fry until soft.

Add the paprika and cayenne and stir through.

Add the carrots and and fry gently for a minute or 2.

Stir in the lentils followed by the tinned tomatoes and stock and liquid smoke, bring to the boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 20-30 mins.

Add the maple syrup, season to taste and blend. 

Toast the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a frying pan for a couple of minutes and serve on top of the soup along with the creme fraiche and some grated vegan cheese.  

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

This is always a hit in my house.  For breakfast, or dessert or even just an evening snack. It's hard to feel guilty when this is how I get my chocolate fix. Plus it tastes amazing!

Chocolate avocado pudding

Ingredients
1 banana
1 avocado
1-2 tbsp peanut butter
8 dates
2 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder

Method
Throw everything in the food processor and whizz until smooth.

Adjust quantities to taste, add a splash of sweetener if that's your preference.

Eat as is or top with fruit, nuts, granola etc.

Pink Smoothie

Another colour based smoothie request from my son. Pink and green ones seem to be his favourite at the minute!

Pink Smoothie

Ingredients
2 bananas,
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen pomegranate
1 tsp chia seeds
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tsp maca powder
2 cup Coconut water

Method
Throw everything in the blender and blend until smooth!

Wild Garlic, Pea, Mint and Lemon Risotto with Asparagus Spears.

I love risotto and I love wild garlic so it was about time the two joined forces. I'm really enjoying the arrival of spring and eating all the green foods I can get my hands on.

Wild garlic, pea, mint and lemon risotto with asparagus spears

Serves 4

Ingredients
1/3 cup per person risotto rice
5 cups hot veg stock
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
8 mint leaves
Bunch wild garlic
1/2 cup frozen petits pois
5 asparagus spears per person
1 lemon
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Oil of choice
Salt and pepper

Optional:

Sub 1/2 cup stock for vegan white wine.

Method

Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry over a medium heat in a little oil.

Stir in the rice then add 1/2 cup stock (or wine) and simmer, stirring continuously until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Keep adding the stock 1/2 cup at a time and stirring until the stock has been used and the rice is soft and creamy (or whichever comes first).

Finely chop the mint leaves and roughly chop the wild garlic. Add these to the pan when you add the last 1/2 cup stock along with the nutritional yeast and peas. 

Stir in the juice of half a lemon and the salt and pepper before serving. 

Fry the asparagus spears in a little oil with salt pepper and a squeeze of lemon and serve with the risotto. 

Sesame Pak Choi And Spicy Soy Buddha Bowl

Pak choi roasted in sesame oil is pretty much the only way I want to eat the leafy green wonder. The sesame pak choi is the foundation that I built this bowl on, that was what I really wanted to eat and the other ingredients just showed up to the party.

Serves 2

Sesame pak choi and spicy soy buddha bowl

Ingredients
1 pak choi
1 red pepper
1/2 block pressed tofu
2 rice noodle nests
Purple sprouting broccoli
Small piece of ginger
1 red chilli
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
Oil of choice
4 spring onions
Sesame seeds
Salt and pepper

Method
Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.

Chop the pak choi in half length ways, rinse and place on a baking tray with the sprouting broccoli,  drizzle with a little oil (I used coconut), the sesame oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes.

Cover the rice noodles with boiling water, cover for 3 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Cube the tofu.

Mince the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry in a little oil, add the cubed tofu and a tbsp of the soy sauce. Add the 2nd tbsp once the pan dries and fry your tofu to your desired crispness.

Thinly slice the red pepper and chop the spring onions.

Serve the noodles with all the other components and sprinkle with sesame seeds.