Mushroom barley risotto

Honey-mustard salmon and potato salad

I got this from a book of healthy lunchbox ideas for kids that you can make the night before!

Vegetable chilli and rice

Lots of chopping but well worth it!

Gillian McKeith's shepherdess pie

Lots of nice flavours but not much texture. Kidney beans, black eye beans, celery, onion, garlic, butternut squash, red pepper, tomato, courgette stock with a sweet potato mash on top.

Double decker tangerine jelly with mandarin segments

Roasted vegetables and brown rice salad

Brown basmati and tenderstem brocolli, roasted butternut squash and red onion with harrisa and lemon juice with roasted cashews.

Mushroom rice balls with steamed veg

Takes ages but freezes well. Onions, fresh mushrooms, brown rice, dried mixed mushrooms (rehydrated), egg white, tamari.

Spiced coley with quinoa and coriander lime salad with minty soya yogurt

Chili chick pea cakes

Pizza

3 grains, steamed veg, chilli, ginger and garlic

Jamie's tray baked pouting

Lentil burger in a seeded wf bun

Garlic and chili rice soup with spring greens

This is a recipe I found on the internet It comes from Easy Vegan (Cookery) by Ryland Peters & Small. Like the books title it was easy to make and smelt and tasted delicious - the photo doesn't do it justice!
I fried chopped garlic and finely sliced spring onions in sesame and vegetable oils. (I usually only use olive oil but as this needed the Asian flavour I halved the amount and didn't heat it too hot). Then I added grated ginger, finely sliced chili and long grain white rice and stir-fried it before adding vegetable stock and soy sauce. Brought it to the boil, covered and simmered for 30 minutes till the rice softened and the soup thickened. Then I added shredded spring greens and cooked for 5 minutes until they were emerald and tender. Served in a warmed bowl with chopped coriander and black pepper.

Salad with nasturtium

This is the first time I have added nasturtium to my salad! Last year I tried growing edible flowers (nasturtium, calendula and marigolds) with little success. The only ones that flowered were the nasturtium. I forgot they were out in the garden (under horticultural fleece - protects the plants but it is opaque so you have to lift it up to see what's happening) and when I remembered to pick them they were all gone.
Today I noticed I had a single flower so I snapped it up to add some colour. Didn't notice a taste but some of my salad leaves are peppery so perhaps it couldn't compete.

The next day I found more nasturtium - this time in different colours!

M&S rice, lentil and roast aubergine salad

I love this salad. If I'm going to pay for a salad I want more than a few slices of cucumber, some iceberg lettuce, a hard tomato and some grated carrot!
Most M&S salads (pre-packed salads in general) have at least one ingredient I don't eat, such as couscous, pasta or mayonnaise, in them but this one uses rice and lentils and is delicious.
And it was on special, so I bought two!

Leek and broccoli soup

This recipe came from a great cookbook I bought years ago, "Best-kept Secrets of the Women's Institute" by Grace Mulligan and Dilwen Phillips.

It is quick and easy. You fry some onion and garlic, then add thinly sliced leeks and chopped broccoli.

Then you sprinkle in some flour (I substituted wheat-free) and add stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 mins. You can puree or leave it chunky. Then you cool the soup briefly, add milk (works fine with rice milk) return to heat and season.

Stuffed peppers

This took longer than the hour and a quarter on the recipe...and I'm not sure it was worth it! The idea is good and the techniques are good but I didn't like the flavours - cumin, oregano, fresh coriander, lime and chilli with the shallots, red onion and tomatoes.

I also forgot to wash the basmati and I think there was too much water in the recipe so the rice wasn't fluffy. I'll probably try it again with other vegetables.

Leftovers are nice with salad.

Sweet potato curry

This was cheap and easy to make and tasted pretty good. The only problem I had was underestimating the pan size. It made a lot! The recipe said it served two but I froze two portions of curry and blended two into soup!
It was watery at first but I put a lid on it and left it while I cooked the brown rice and this improved it.

You fry chopped onion and crushed garlic in one pan and boil sweet potato chunks in another. Then you add curry powder, chopped tomatoes, chickpeas and stock and bring it to the boil. Then the sweet potato chunks go back in with chopped coriander and boil for 15 mins.

Asian prawn and pineapple salad

This is delicious and transports me to Asia. The recipes is from BBC Good Food.
Finely chop red chilli and garlic and mash in a pestle and mortar. Add lime juice and fish sauce and set aside. Chop the pineapple, core and slice the cucumber at an angle, and toss together with the halved cherry tomatoes, beansprouts and tiger prawns. Add the dressing and dress with cashews and chopped mint.

Minty pea and potato soup

Quick and easy. Just fry the onion, add stock and potato, then finally peas. Reserve a third of the vegetables and puree the rest before returning the vegetables. Add chopped fresh mint and season.

Tasty and filling.

Haricot bean loaf

 This recipe came from a cookbook but unfortunately I didn't note which. It took quite a long time - leek to slice, ginger and three carrots to grate, garlic and parsley to chop. It definitely is worth preparing all the ingredients first!
You cook the leek for five minutes then add ginger, cumin and coriander cook for a minute and then cool.
The recipe recommends a food processor for the next bit but I improvised with a mini chopper and a stick blender. You blend onion, grated carrot, garlic, parsle, sunflower seeds, oat bran, bouillon powder and a can of kidney beans until smooth. Then you add the leek mixture and a can of haricot beans. It all goes in a lined 900g loaf tin (I use a fab non stick baking parchment from Lakeland - no need to oil the tin or the paper) and bake at 150C fan for 40-45 minutes until golden.
The loaf turned out easily, it sliced well and wasn't too crumbly. Made great left overs with salad and I froze some for a rainy day.

Italian tuna balls

This recipe came from BBC Good Food. I substituted the beaten egg for egg white and used wf breadcrumbs and wf spaghetti and it worked out fine - after I realised I'd formed the balls before adding the egg white - no wonder it was crumbly! Need some practice making the ball shapes - mine came out a bit cubed but not bad for a first attempt and popular with my housemate! Also makes fab left overs for lunch.

Vegetarian chilli

This is a Vegetarian Society recipe I found on BBC Food.

I liked the recipe and had plenty of leftovers to freeze (serves 4-6). The sauce contains some unusual ingredients but it all tasted very good; green lentils, onion, garlic, chilli powder, cumin seeds, red and green pepper, carrots, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, peas, pesto, mushrooms, courgette and kidney beans.

Baked salmon on bed of rice and grains

 This was very tasty and easy meal using a new product I found in a health food shop - a pouch of 10 minute organic rice and grains with vegetables. Is is produced by a company called Lifestyle Organic and comes from Austria. You just add it to cold water, bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
I was very impressed but sadly after I ate it I discovered it contained wheat and spelt! I hadn't read the label properly and just saw quinoa, barley, red rice, turmeric, lovage and nutmeg.

Prawn, pea and tomato curry

This recipe came from BBC Good Food. It is quick, low-fat and pretty tasty.
A good mid-week meal.

Vegetable stirfry al fresco

Had this simple, quick and tasty stirfry at my sister's. Just a supermarket basic stirfry with some added soy sauce and vegetables from the fridge.

Jamie Oliver's vegetable rogan josh, carrot salad and lemon pickle

This is one of Jamie's 30 minute dinners - although it took my mum a lot more than 30 minutes!

Made good left overs too.

Molly cake

This is a lovely moist fruit cake - tastes a bit like Christmas cake.

It contains no refined sugar or fat. It is free of eggs and dairy products and it works fine with wf flour. It's really easy. Put the chopped dates and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Then remove and set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients - wf flour, wf baking powder, mixed spice, dried mixed fruit and ground almonds. Stir in the wet date mixture and orange juice. Bake in a loaf tin for 45-50 mins.

Goes down well with my whole family.

Liz's green salad

Liz made this delicious salad when she came to stay over the recent bank holiday.

Packed with goodies!

Rocket, lettuce, coriander, parsley, dill, oregano, sage, mint, wakame, kelp powder, spirulina. And also some non-green ingredients; buckwheat, kidney beans, chickpeas, tinned sardines, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, liquid aminos.

Liz also has this with quinoa or rice. 

Pink 'sushi'

This raw food recipe came from a magazine clipping.
The sushi nori is lined with watercress, julienned carrot and cucumber, sliced avocado and pink 'pate'.
The pink pate is made by blending raw beetroot, red pepper, olive oil, tamari, cider vinegar, cashew nuts, ginger, red chilli and maple syrup.

It turned out quite well and was fun to make. I was nervous using raw beetroot for the first time but it wasn't as messy as I expected.It was tasty.

I seemed to have a lot of pate left which I had the next day in salad and  over salmon.

Prawn, spinach and red pepper stir-fry with shiitake mushroom and gojii berry rice

This stir-fry is delicious and quick. I served it with a new convenience food I found in a local health food store - rice with shiitake and gojii berries that is partially pre-cooked. All it needs is 5 mins in boiling water. I served it with furikake (Japanese sesame and seaweed sprinkle).

Jamie Oliver's tray-baked salmon

I got this recipe from Naked Chef cookbook. It's very simple. Just blanch the green beans and mix them in a bowl with the cherry tomatoes, black olives and olive oil. Put salmon fillets, seasoned with salt pepper and lemon juice at one end of the tray and bean mix at the other end. Lay some anchovy fillets over the beans and roast on high heat for 10 mins and hey presto.

  

Vegetable and prawn curry

This recipe comes from Simple Vegan Recipes. I added some leftover prawns and some spinach my friend gave me from her garden.

Vegetable lasagne

This recipe comes from the cookbook "Cooking Without". Instead of the polenta sheets I use spelt or corn lasagne. The recipe offers three variations; vegetable, lentil or seafood. I like the vegetable one so much I have to say I keep coming back to it.

It also makes great leftovers which I freeze for later. Lovely with salad or for the ultimate pig-out with potato wedges.

   

Liz's divine chocolate mousse

 I learned this recipe from my friend Liz who runs Sweet Sensations workshops for guilt-free sweet treats - perfect for people who have food sensitivities.

It is delicious. The texture is rich and velvety and freezes well to make a lovely icecream.

Aduki bean bake

This is a Gillian McKeith recipe.