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).

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.

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.

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.

Tumbet

This is another Rose Elliott recipe, and is red pepper, aubergine, courgette, potato onion, potato, parsley and garlic with a tin of tomatoes tipped over it and cooked in the oven for 2 - 3 hours. A nice easy one.

Pepper Pasta Bake

100g wholegrain pasta
2 - 3 roast red peppers (from jar), chopped
easy chilli and garlic to taste
small tin chopped tomatoes
cottage cheese
parmesan
olive oil/olive oil spray
red wine vinegar

Cook the pasta according to instructions. Fry the chilli and garlic in the oil/spray for a minute or so and add the tomatoes and a splash of vinegar, together with the red peppers. Stir together over the heat, and stir in the pasta. Put the pasta in an ovenproof dish and top with some cottage cheese, and a sprinkling of parmesan. Cook in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.

Serves 1

Not bad for something I made up out of what was in the cupboard!

Vegetable Risotto

I was thrown tonight, I was expecting another helping of root veg and I came home to peppers, courgettes, tomatoes and green beans! Cue a bit of hasty rethinking of what to cook tonight. I ended up with this:

1 red pepper, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
150g brown rice
180ml vegetable stock
500ml water
2 medium courgettes
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
20g parmesan cheese, coarsely grated
1 tsp dried oregano

Heat oil in a large pan, cook onion and garlic until soft. Add rice, stock and water, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes (until tender and almost all liquid absorbed).

Cut courgette into thin strips lengthways - a mandolin or vegetable peeler works well for this.

Stir courgette, pepper and tomato into rice. Cook for about 3 minutes or until vegetables soften. Stir in the cheese and oregano.

Serves 2.

Tortilla

3 potatoes, diced
2 small onions, chopped
160g frozen mixed pepper strips
Olive oil
4 eggs

Fry the potatoes and onions in a little olive oil until the potatoes are soft. Add the pepper close to the end.

Beat the eggs, season, add the potato mixture and stir.

Heat some oil in a pan, add the eggs and potatoes and cook through slowly. Once the bottom is done either flip the tortilla over if you're feeling brave or put it under a grill to do the top if you're not.

Serves - well, how hungry are you? I ate half, but I'd just done a 4.75 mile run (almost entirely uphill too), on top of a 5k speed session earlier in the day, and I'm a greedy little piggy at the moment. It was very filling though.