Aduki Bean Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients
For the mash topping:
700g/1lb 9oz floury potaotes, peeled and cut into chunks
skimmed milk
85g/3 oz cheddar, grated
For the vegetables
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 small onions, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 huge carrot, diced
420g can aduki beans, drained and rinsed
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp tomato purée
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Cook the potatoes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water until tender.
3. Meanwhile heat the oil add the onion, garlic, celery and carrot and fry gently for 10 minutes.
4. Add the beans, tomatoes, herbs or chilli powder and tomato purée with 3 tbsp water. Season to taste and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. When the potatoes are cooked drain and mash until smooth with a little milk. Season to taste. Beat in half the cheese.
6. Spoon the beans and tomato mixture into an ovenproof dish and top with the cheesy mash. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese.
7. Cook for 20 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

Serves 4

Brussels Sprout and Caramelised Onion Soup

Today I raided the BBC recipe database for this. I have to admit I saw the sprouts in the box and wondered why I hadn't put them on the exclude list, so I decided to do what's worked in the past and attempt to eat them blended into a soup before moving on to doing something more visible with them.

This worked quite well. It ended up brown and oniony rather than betraying the presence of the sprouts, so when I grab it from the freezer I might even forget they're in there...

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 Pasta Bake

Guess where I found this recipe?... I made it pretty much to the recipe (for once!), using mozzarella and cottage cheese. But I'm really running out of things to do with broccoli...

Herbed Cauliflower Bake

Another one from Abel & Cole. I modified it by using carrots instead of mushrooms, and I added some grated cheese on top.

Pancakes!

I used this batter recipe from the BBC. I tarted it up a bit by using wholemeal flour and skimmed milk.

The plan is to heat up some cherries and serve those on top with a little dollop of the leftover marscapone from last night in place of cream. And possibly a little sprinkle of options over the top for a bit of chocolatey goodness.

Well, even if I'm not giving anything up for lent this year, I need to make the most of the opportunity to have a pre-lent pancake fest!

Cauliflower, Potato and Cheddar Soup

Another one courtesy of Abel & Cole, the recipe is here.

I modified it by leaving out the cream. It didn't seem to be necessary, so I just made it without and it was still lovely. I even bought some whole nutmegs to grate into it!

It did seem a shame to blend my cauliflower though, it wasn't a normal one, it was one of these.

But I have pancakes to make later, so I didn't want much more than soup as a savoury dish...