Spicy Lentil and Parsnip Pie

50g butter
1 onion, sliced
2 carrots, diced
225g red lentils
2 tbsp medium curry paste
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
650g parsnips, sliced
1 leek, sliced
85g cheddar

Melt half the butter, add the onion and carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add the lentils, curry paste, tomatoes, tomato puree and 300ml water. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile boil the parsnips for 10 minutes, adding the leek for the final 2 minutes. Drain and mash with the remaining butter. Season.

Put the lentil mixture into a dish. Top with the mashed parsnips and cheese, grill until golden.

Serves 4

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.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash, diced

2 onions, quartered

5 cloves garlic

250g cherry tomatoes

olive oil

honey

rosemary

1 litre vegetable stock

Toss the squash, onions, garlic and tomatoes in the olive oil and honey and roast for 25 minutes in a hot oven with the rosemary.

Blend, adding the stock until it reaches the desired consistency. Season, heat through and serve.

Serves 4.

Pumpkin and Lentil Tagine

275g brown lentils
3 tomatoes, chopped
500 - 600g pumpkin/butternut squash, cubed
4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
3 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp sugar

Cook the lentils in water for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Cook the onion in the oil until soft. Add the garlic for a few seconds, then the cumin, turmeric, pepper and paprika, cook for about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and sugar. Stir.

Add the lentils and squash, together with a little water. Stir well, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Serve.

Serves 4.

It turned out less spicy than I was expecting, and maybe needs to be jazzed up a bit if I try it again.

Veggie Lasagne

1/2 large butternut squash (about 600g), peeled and diced
1/2 red pepper, cut into strips
1/2 yellow pepper, cut into strips
2 small courgettes, trimmed and thickly sliced
1 red onion, roughly sliced
1/2 aubergine, cut into 2cm cubes
125g cherry tomatoes
rosemary
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 x tins chopped tomatoes
250g pack fresh lasagne sheets (6 sheets)
2 tbsp olive oil spread
2 tbsp cornflour
600ml skimmed milk
60g grated mature cheddar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
2. Place all the veg, rosemary and garlic in a large roasting tin, toss with the olive oil and roast for 30 minutes.
3. Make the cheese sauce by whisking the spread, cornflour and milk together over a medium heat until thickened, then adding the cheese.
4. Stir the tomatoes into the vegetables once they are cooked.
5. Make up the lasagne - layer of lasagne, 1/3 veg, 1/3 cheese sauce, lasagne, 1/3 veg, 1/3 sauce, lasagne, 1/3 veg, 1/3 cheese sauce (I prefer to save a bit more of the sauce for the top, using less on the lower layers)
6. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes.

I was tempted to put some more grated cheese on the top but resisted. The sauce isn't the cheesiest I've tasted, but the veg mix is lovely.

Serves 4 (farily generous portions, but apparently still only 339 calories each).

Vegetable Tagine

Another one from the trusty BBC Good Food website (always useful when I'm planning my cooking at work without any recipe books handy.

Recipe here

Lemony Rice and Peas

A good standby, this one - I had everything in the cupboard except some spring onions which can easily be obtained on the way home from work. I didn't bother with the coriander because I didn't have any fresh, but it was still lovely. I also used small tins of lentils and chickpeas and made a half portion, as there blatantly aren't 10 of me!

Recipe link

Slow cook black beans

500g dried black beans
2 large onions, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice

Soak the beans overnight. Drain, put in a pan and add enough water to cover. Boil and bubble hard for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat and cook for about 1 and a quarter hours (they might need more water).

Fry the onions in the oil for 10 minutes, add the cumin and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Set aside.

Stir the onions into the beans once they're cooked, add the lemon juice and seasoning.

Serve with yoghurt/sour cream/chopped chillies/coriander/whatever else takes your fancy.

*Warning - contains lots of beans and may have after effects*

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.

Herby pea risotto

Serves 1

80g arborio rice
250ml stock
1 onion
100g frozen peas (or a mix of peas, broad beans, green beans etc - whatever's in the freezer)
teaspoon lazy garlic
fresh chopped chives and basil
parmesan
knob of butter
splash of white wine

Melt the butter and gently fry the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes. Add the arborio and coat in the melted butter, then add the wine and stir until it evaporates. Add the stock slowly, stiring until each spoonful of stock is absorbed before adding more. A couple of spoonfuls of stock from the end add the frozen peas and stir in. When all the stock is absorbed and the rice is cooked add the cheese and herbs, stir, season, stir a bit more 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

Spicy tofu and peas

1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
250g tofu, cubed
1 tin chopped tomatoes
150g frozen peas
1 tbsp lemon juice

Cook the onion in the oil for 5 minutes until starting to soften. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin and turmeric and cook for another minute. Add the tofu and cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Then add the tomatoes and peas, cook for another 3 - 4 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and serve.

Serves 3 - 4

Green bean and mint broth

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1.5 litres vegetable stock
200g green beans, cut into 2cm pieces
400g runner beans, cut into 2cm pieces
200g frozen broad beans (couldn't find fresh)
mint

Heat the olive in a pan, cook the onion over a low heat for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.

Pour in the stock and simmer for 5 minutes, add the beans and mint and cook for another 6 minutes.

Serve.

Serves 5 - 6

Peppers stuffed with cous cous

Serves 4

4 small red peppers
4 small yellow peppers
200g cous cous
400ml boiling water
4 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp harissa
zest and juice of 1 lemon
400g can chickpeas
4 tbsp chopped mint
4 tbsp chopped parsley

Cut the tops off the peppers and remove core and seeds.

Pour the water over the cous cous, cover and soak for 10 minutes.

Cook the onions in half the oil for 5 minutes, add the garlic, cumin and cinnamon and fry for another 2 minutes.

Mix the onion mixture, cous cous, chickpeas, harissa, herbs and lemon together and spoon into the peppers. Put the lids back on, brush with oil and grill for 10 - 15 minutes, turning occasionally.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

2tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 - 3 cm freshly grated root ginger
450g carrots, sliced
1 litre vegetable stock
2 tbsp lemon juice
pepper

Heat the oil over a low heat, add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook for 5 - 6 minutes. Add the carrot and stock, bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Blend with the lemon juice, season and serve.

serves 4

Cabbage and Kohlrabi Gratin

I didn't have enough cabbage to make this, so I decided to make up the veg by chucking some kohlrabi in, as I didn't have any other ideas of what to do with it anyway. It turned out pretty well, and that's another veg on the list of things I've tried.

(In a day for new things, I bought a whole pineapple for the first time ever. I've got myself eating it out of cans, and in pre-chopped packs, but it was the first time I've ever attempted to tackle one. Let's just say, I'll be buying another. Wow)

At the moment I'm experimenting with recipes for rhubarb compote. I remember eating rhubarb at my grandparents house, just dipped into sugar, and the first compote recipe I tried wasn't much more sophisticated than that. Lovely, but with far too much sugar for my liking. I've got another batch of rhubarb and a different recipe to try tomorrow though, so I'll report back.

Spring Greens Soup

250g savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
runner beans (however much they gave me...), chopped
50g butter
150g peeled potatoes, dived
1 onion, chopped
2 pints vegetable stock

Melt the butter. Add the potatoes and coat. Sprinkle with pepper. Cover with a lid and allow to sweat over agentle heat for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid, add the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Add cabbage and beans and cook for 5 minutes. Blend, season and serve.

Serves 4

Summer vegetable pasta

All the BBC Good Food recipes seem to make loads, and this pasta dish was no exception.

I had fresh broad beans for the first time, so wanted something nice to eat them in. As I actually like broad beans I decided not to hide them in a soup recipe. It felt very summery eating it outside in the garden. I made half the recipe and am going to eat the other half as a salad.

Moroccan Tagine

This is another BBC Good Food recipe. I modified it a bit, and used cauliflower instead of parsnips, because that's what I had in the box. By the looks of the recipe it's the chermoula paste rather than the actual veg you use that makes the recipe, so fingers crossed it will work out OK.

Fennel, red pepper and chickpea salad

I'm on a roll with Good Food recipes. For lunch I had this warm(ish) salad, and really enjoyed it. Fennel is one of those things that I've only been introduced to via the veg box, and this is probably one of the nicest things I've made it with so far. You can never beat chickpeas, red pepper and red onion either, to be fair.