Butternut Squash Kutta

1 large red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp lazy ginger
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp olive oil
500g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced
1 tin tomatoes
handful sultanas
2 celery stalks, chopped
handful celery leaves
1 tbsp lemon juice
handful coriander leaves
55g whole almonds
1 tbsp sugar

Saute the onion, garlic, ginger and turmeric in the oil for 3 - 4 minutes.

Add the butternut squash, tomatoes, sultanas, celery, celery leaves and 400ml water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 - 25 minutes.

Add the lemon juice, corander, almonds and sugar, cook for 5 more minutes, serve.

Serves 4.

Store Cupboard Cous Cous

60g wholewheat cous cous
110ml vegetable stock
10g flaked almonds
25g raisins
1 small tin chickpeas
1 red onion, chopped
olive oil
coriander
cinnamon

Pour the stock over the cous cous and cover.

Dry fry the almonds to toast them. Heat the oil and cook the onion and spices for a couple of minutes. Add the chickpeas. The cous cous should be ready by now, so add that, the almonds and the raisin. Stir it all together and serve.

Lentil, Spinach and walnut salad

400g tin brown lentils
4 spring onions, finely chopped
125g cherry tomatoes, halved
60g walnut pieces
1/2 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
100g baby spinach

Heat the lentils in a little water, drain and mix with the spring onions, cherry tomatoes and walnuts.

Mix the dressing ingredients together, and mix into the lentil mixture.

Make a bed of spinach leaves and put the lentil mixture on top. Serve.

Serves 2

Vegetable Biryani

Tonight I'm trying this baked veg biryani. I've modified the recipe a bit, I'm using carrot instead of sweet potato because that's what I have, I'm using a mix of sugar snap peas and green beans, and I've chucked some broccoli in because I can't think of anything else to use it in this week. I'm also using plain cashews rather than salted ones. But fingers crossed it should still turn out OK.

Update - it was good, but HOT. A medium or mild curry paste probably wouldn't do any harm...

Walnut and broccoli pasta

75g wholewheat pasta
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp lazy garlic
12g wholemeal breadcrumbs
12g walnuts, chopped
1/2 tsp lazy chilli

Cook the pasta for 5 minutes, add the broccoli and cook for 5 more minutes.

Soften the onion and garlic in the oil, then add the breadcrumbs, walnuts and chilli, and cook until toasted.

Drain the pasta and broccoli, add to the walnut mixture, stir, season and serve.

Serves 1.

Root veg salad

1 small carrot, coarsely grated
1 small parsnip, coarsely grated
small chunk celeriac, coarsely grated
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp black mustard seeds
15g walnut chunks
15g raisins
40g hard goats cheese

Combine the root veg. Heat the olive oil and add the mustard seeds. When they start popping, tip over the veg, add the walnuts, raisins and cheese, mix and serve.

Serves 1.

Carrot and Pineapple Cake

This is a low GI recipe and will hopefully taste as good as it smells:

450g wholemeal self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (I used fresh grated nutmeg here)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
110g dark muscovado sugar
50g walnut pieces
110g raisins
25g dessicated coconut
125ml light olive oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
350g carrots, grated
250g crushed pineapple in natural juice

Preheat the oven to 180, line the base of a cake tin and grease.

Mix all the dry ingredients, then add the remaining ingredients and mix until evenly combined.

Put in the tin and bake for about 1 hour. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack until completely cold.

Broccoli and pine nut pesto

100g wholemeal pasta
90g broccoli
1 tbsp pine nuts
4 sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lazy garlic
1 tsp lazy chillies
lemon juice
black pepper
parmesan cheese

Boil the broccoli for 10 minutes. Boil the pasta for 10 minutes in a different pan.

Toast the pine nuts until golden, set aside.

Heat the oil and fry the garlic and chillies for about a minute.

Drain the broccoli and blend with the garlic and chilli oil and half the pine nuts.

Stir in the pasta, sun dried tomatoes and the rest of the pine nuts.

Serve, topped with parmesan and black pepper.

Serves 1.