Savoury Cheese Muffins

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These savoury muffins take just minutes to make, and taste delicious served warm with home made soup. They are also a great addition to packed lunches and picnics.

• 2 cups hard, tasty cheese (e.g. extra mature cheddar, hard goat's cheese), grated 
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 level tsp paprika
• 1 level tsp English mustard powder
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ½ level tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ cup chopped vegetable anti-pasti (e.g. olives, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers)

Mix the eggs and milk together.

Put all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the egg and milk mixture. Stir gently to combine. 

Spoon mixture into a well greased muffin tin. 

Bake at 200C/190C Fan/Gas 6/400F for 12-15 mins, or until firm and golden brown. 

Leave to cool for a few minutes and then loosen around each muffin with a knife before turning out and cooling on a wire rack.

Best eaten warm on the day you've made them.

Suitable for freezing.

Alternatives: Bake mini, bite-size muffins for parties. Reduce the cooking time to 8-10 minutes. 

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Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauces - A review, a give-away and a recipe!

I was a little surprised to be asked to review the range of Jack Daniel's barbecue sauces, as they're a brand I would associate with meat-based rather than vegetarian meals. Never-the-less I was happy to try them out and see how well they would go with veggie food, as all of the sauces in the range are vegan.

I opened all the bottles and had a good sniff. I must admit that the smell wasn't particularly appealing, as they had quite a strong smoky aroma. The initial taste of the sauces was of the artificial smoke flavour, but after that, the sweet and spicy flavours came through. The one sauce that I really wasn't over-keen on was the Full Flavour Smoky, as the smoke flavour was overwhelming and masked the flavour of the other ingredients. The other sauces were more subtle, but I didn't feel that they tasted sufficiently different from each other to make it worth buying them all, when just one would do the job!

The sauces worked well with veggie burgers and sausages, and the Smoky Sweet Glaze tasted good roasted vegetables. After trying out a few different recipes with them, I decided that my favourite was the Hot Chilli Sauce (which was spicy rather than hot!), so that's the one I used in this dish. This recipe would work well as a Halloween or Bonfire Night meal. Just double or treble the ingredients to cook for more people.

Sausages and Beans Baked in BBQ Sauce (vegan)
Serves 4

• 1 or 2 firm vegan sausages per person
• 1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced
• 2 red bell peppers, cut in half, de-seeded and sliced
• 2 sticks of celery, sliced
• 1 tin of baked beans or mixed beans in tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• ½ tsp dried mixed herbs
• 125ml/½ cup of bbq sauce (I used Jack Daniel's Hot Chilli Sauce)

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Pre-heat the oven to 180C/170C fan/350F/Gas 4.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in an oven-proof dish.

Add the vegetables and sausages and cook for 10 minutes.

Mix the tomato purée, vinegar and BBQ sauce together in a bowl or jug, then stir in the beans.
Pour the sauce and beans over the sausages and vegetables and stir together.
Reduce the oven temperature to 170C/160C Fan/325F/Gas 3.
Cover the dish with foil or a lid and bake for a further 30 minutes.

Serve with jacket potatoes and corn on the cob.

Alternatives: Place all of the ingredients in the slow cooker and cook for 3 hours on high or 7 hours on low. You may wish to brown the sausages off first.

The Jack Daniel's range is now available to buy in all major supermarkets.
For more information, recipes and regular competitions, visit the Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauces website.

Integrity Statement
I received a set Jack Daniel's BBQ sauces to review and 5 sets to give away on my blog. I did not receive payment, and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family. Pack images courtesy of Jack Daniel's BBQ sauces.

FIVE lucky readers will each win a set of four Jack Daniel's sauces. To enter, fill in the Rafflecopter entry form below.(UK ONLY)

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Stuffed Butternut Squash

I love butternut squash, and as it's in season and cheap at the moment, I thought I'd experiment with a new recipe. This stuffed squash makes an impressive main course suitable for a dinner party and would also be lovely as an alternative to nut roast at Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Serves 2

• 1 small butternut squash, halved lengthwise
• 1 small red onion, diced finely
• 50g/2oz sun-dried tomatoes, diced
• 100g/4oz chestnut (or mixed) mushrooms, diced finely
• 50g/2oz feta or hard goat's cheese, crumbled or cubed
• ½ tsp ground fennel seeds
• black pepper, to taste
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 180C/170C Fan/Gas 4/350F

Cut the squash in half and scoop the seeds out using a spoon. If the cavity isn't very big, scoop out a little of the flesh too.

Drizzle the squash with a little olive oil and season with half of the ground fennel and some black pepper.
Place on a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes. Turn over and cook for a further 15-20 minutes, or until the flesh is soft and the skin is starting to brown.

Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan.
Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the cheese, and cook gently for about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly while the squash is cooking.

Remove the squash from the oven.
Stir the cheese into the stuffing mixture.
Fill the cavity of each squash with the stuffing, packing well and pressing down with a spoon.
Return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes.

Serve with a tomato sauce, seasonal vegetables and your choice of roasted potatoes, pasta or garlic bread.

Alternative: For a vegan version either omit the cheese, or swap it for some chopped green olives, or vegetable antipasti.
If cooking as a vegetarian option for Christmas dinner, roast the squash (for 30 minutes) and prepare the stuffing the day before, but don't fill the squash. On Christmas day, fill the squash with the stuffing and re-heat. 

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Green Vegetable Burritos

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I'm not sure if these are strictly burritos or not, but whatever they're called, they make a nice quick and healthy snack or lunch. You can of course, vary the vegetables depending on what you have available.

Makes 4

• 2 medium courgettes/zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
• 1 large green pepper, deseeded and sliced
• 75g/3oz spinach, washed
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1-2 tsp mild chilli powder
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp pickled jalapeños chopped
• 1 cup of grated hard cheese/vegan cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander/cilantro (optional)
• 4 corn tortilla wraps

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan. 
Fry the courgette and pepper until softened and just starting to brown.

Add the garlic, herbs, jalapeños and chilli powder and stir well.

Throw in the spinach and coriander and allow to wilt for a minute or two.

Heat the tortillas until warm (in a pan, microwave or oven). 

Fill with the vegetable mixture and a sprinkle of cheese, fold and eat!

If you have more time, you could make your own flatbread wraps.

Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes is hosting a sandwich themed No Croutons Required this month, which is handy, as I wrote this post just before I found out the theme!

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Vegetarian Chicken-Style 'Parmesan'

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I was trying to think of something different to cook for dinner the other night and turned to some of my favourite vegetarian blogs for inspiration. It wasn't long before I found this lovely, simple but tasty looking recipe from Mary at Meatless Mediterranean. Mary calls this dish Mock-Chicken Patties with Parmesan, and she has graciously allowed me to reproduce an Anglicised version of her recipe using UK ingredients/cooking terms (I have also tweaked the cooking method, to one which suited me better.)

I served this dish with penne pasta; all the family loved it and have asked me to cook it again soon (and it's not often that happens!)

Serves 4

For this recipe, I used Sainsbury's meat-free chicken style burgers (which only cost £1 for 4). I also used Sainsbury's basic mozzarella cheese and economy pasta, so I reckon the whole meal for 4 of us cost about £2.50 to make from scratch. It also only took about 30 minutes to cook.

You could also use Tivall schnitzels, Quorn chicken-style burgers or any of the other mock chicken fillets you can buy either with or without breadcrumbs. 

• 2 cups/500ml of Classic Marinara Sauce or your favourite tomato-based pasta sauce
• 4 vegetarian breaded "chicken" burgers
• ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese (I used a 125g ball of mozzarella instead)
• 2 tablespoon grated vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese, plus additional for serving, if desired
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)

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Heat oven to 180C/170C Fan/350 F/Gas 4.

In a small saucepan, heat the marinara sauce over medium-low heat until it is warm but not boiling.

Meanwhile, place the burgers in a heatproof dish and bake for 15 minutes, then remove the burgers from the dish and keep to one side.

Spread 1 cup of the marinara sauce in the bottom of the dish. Top with the burgers and then pour the remaining sauce over. Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the top and then finish with the Parmesan-style cheese. Return to the oven and bake for a further 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling . 

Once cooked, sprinkle with the parsley, if using.

Serve with additional Parmesan-style cheese for topping, as desired.

Alternatives: For a vegan version use a melting dairy-free cheese and vegan Parmesan.

Not suitable for freezing.

Recipe reproduced with kind permission from Meatless Mediterranean.

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Spinach, Red Pepper and Goat's Cheese Quiche

The name of this recipe has given me a headache, as I'm a bit of a stickler for apostrophes being in the right place. Should I use goat's cheese, goats' cheese or just plain old goats cheese in this quiche? I came to the conclusion that goats' cheese was correct, as the milk making the cheese must come from more than one goat, however after googling and reading this amusing article, I've gone for goat's cheese. Please do leave me a comment, if you object to this and think I should have gone for goats' cheese after all!

Easy Pastry

• 200g/8oz plain flour
• 100g/4oz cold block butter, cut into cubes
• cold water 

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs (or blitz in the food processor for a few seconds. Add just enough cold water to bring the mixture together into quite a firm dough (I used 4 tbsp).

Wrap in cling-film and chill for at least an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 190 C/180 C Fan/ Gas 5/375 F

Roll out the pastry on a floured board and line a greased 20cm/8" sandwich cake tin or flan tin.

Bake blind for 12-15 minutes or until it's just starting to colour.

Remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 170 C/160 C Fan/ Gas 3/325 F

Filling

• 1 red onion, cut in half and sliced finely
• 1 large red bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced finely
• 75g/3oz washed baby spinach
• 75g/3oz soft or hard goat's cheese (chopped or grated)
• 150ml/5 fl oz double cream
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• ½ tsp ground fennel seeds
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan. Add the fennel seeds, black pepper, onion and red pepper and saute until the vegetables are soft and just starting to colour. Then add the spinach leaves and chopped dill and allow to wilt for a minute or two. Remove from the heat.

Mix the eggs, cream and cheese together.

Spoon the vegetables into the pastry case.

Pour the egg mixture over.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is golden brown and set firmly.

Serve hot, warm or cold with sautéed new potatoes and salad.

Suitable for freezing.

Alternatives: You could use almost any combination of vegetables in this quiche.

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The Great British Bake Off - My daughter's first ever Tarte Tatin

Last week on the Great British Bake Off, the contenstants made their own rough puff pastry for a Tarte Tatin. I vaguely remember making rough puff pastry in home economics at school many years ago, and have never attempted it again since. I'm not a big pastry maker (or eater), but those tartes looked so delicious that I thought I might have a go. However, 13 year old Miss Only, decided she wanted to make one, and who was I to turn down such an offer? 

She used Sarah-Jane's Banana Tarte Tatin recipe, but swapped the bananas for apples...
Despite never having made pastry before, she found that the rough puff pastry was actually quite easy to make, with the help of a food processor. The caramel sauce was a different matter though, as the first batch didn't work - the butter didn't mix in with the caramel at all (when she swirled the pan as directed), so she took a spoon to the mixture and ended up with butterscotch! For the second batch, I suggested she melted the butter with the sugar and water before bringing it up to the boil and this worked much better.

I think the oven temperature needed to be a bit hotter than the recipe stated, as although she cooked the tarte for the recommended time, the apples released quite a lot of juice, which didn't evaporate, leaving the middle of the pastry slightly soggy. None-the-less, it tasted great and the grandparents were most impressed! 

This week's GBBO featured crème caramel, meringues and tortes - all of which sounded a bit too faffy to make, so we'll wait for next week and see whether to attempt another challenge then! Pin It

Good Natured Salads - a review and a recipe for Greek Salad

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When I was asked to review Good Natured salad products, my first thought was to test them out in a Greek salad, having recently come back from a holiday in Crete, where we enjoyed many Greek (or village) salads. Luckily we're big fans of salads in the Onykahonie household - I say luckily because some people think that's all us vegetarians eat! 

The Good Natured range consists of a variety of mainly UK produced salad crops, herbs, fruits and vegetables. What makes them different from other brands, is that they are free from pesticide residues, as they are grown using natural predators (ladybirds, not lions!) to see off the nasty crop-munching pests. This makes them slightly more expensive to buy than regular fruit and veg, but a similar price to organically-produced products.
The vine tomatoes and cucumber we tested looked pretty enough and tasted as good as any organic salad products we've eaten. I can't say that I would be prepared to pay the extra for them (having stopped receiving an organic box for cost reasons), but I would certainly prefer to see wide-spread use of this method of horticulture to help decrease both the price of pesticide-free fruit and vegetables and the use of pesticides in the UK. There is more information about the way Good Natured products are grown here. 
Find Good Natured products in larger ASDA stores. Look out for the labelled products in green boxes.

Greek salad

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• 1 small lettuce, washed and shredded
• ½ cucumber, cut in half and sliced
• 2 large vine tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 green pepper, sliced thinly
• ½ small onion, sliced thinly
• a handful of Greek olives
• 125g Greek feta cheese, sliced thickly
• dried oregano and olive oil to serve.

Place the lettuce at the bottom of a bowl. 
Scatter the remaining salad ingredients over. Top with the feta cheese and sprinkle of dried oregano. Drizzle a little olive oil over to serve.

Integrity Statement
I received a voucher towards the purchase price of Good Natured products. I was not required to write a positive review and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family. 

Logo used with kind permission from Good Natured ©

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My attempts at an 8 strand plaited loaf!

I'm getting a bit bored of a certain well-known competitive cooking show, as it's becoming too competitive, too 'professional' and far too pretentious for my liking (honestly, who really cooks anything in a sous vide?). But, I'm loving this series of the Great British Bake Off, as it has kept its gentle tweeness, thanks mainly I think to the well-chosen and generally pleasant range of contestants, the knowledgeable (but not patronising) experts Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry and to the lovely Mel and Sue, who co-present the programme.

So far, in this series, I've been inspired to have a go at baking the rather tricky looking 8 strand plaited loaf. Before this, I'd only ever attempted a rather pedestrian 3 stranded plait. The instructions for plaiting the dough were a bit confusing at first, but once I understood what they meant, my plait started to grow and actually looked quite like the ones on the programme!

With my first attempt (above), I followed the GBBO recipe to the letter, despite having reservations about the amount of yeast used (I would usually only use one sachet for that amount of flour). I think this resulted in the bread over-proving, as the resulting loaf was flatter than I expected, had quite a close texture and wasn't particularly tasty.

My second attempt (left) was with my tried and tested challah recipe. As this dough is softer than a plain bread dough, it was slightly more difficult to plait and the resulting loaf wasn't quite as neat as my first attempt. It did, hower, taste better!

I've entered this post on this month's Fresh from the Oven linky over on Fuss Free Flavours (started by Claire at Purely Food and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy) . Pin It

Reggae Reggae Chickpeas (Vegan)

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This is a recipe for a kind of spicy version of baked beans, using the original Reggae Reggae Sauce (as I had an opened bottle which needed using up!). Although I used chickpeas, this would work well with other pulses too.

Serves 4

• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 red onion, diced finely 
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 4 tbsp Reggae Reggae Sauce
• 125ml/½ cup boiling water or hot vegetable stock
• ½ tsp dried or 1 tsp fresh thyme

• around 450g/1 lb chopped, or sliced seasonal vegetables (e.g. bell pepper, courgette, sweet corn, carrot, etc)
• 1-2 tsp mild chilli powder

Gently fry the onion in a little oil until softened.

Stir in the tomato purée, Reggae Reggae sauce and thyme and cook for a further minute.

Add the chickpeas and water and stir.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sauce has thickened up. 

Meanwhile, roast or fry some chopped seasonal vegetables, with 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with the mild chilli powder.

Serve the chickpeas and vegetables with rice or in wraps.

Alternatives: If you can't find Reggae Reggae sauce, use a spicy jerk or barbecue sauce instead.

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Peri Peri Vegetable and Halloumi Stacks

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This is a posh, dinner party version of my roasted vegetables with halloumi recipe. I think it looks much prettier sitting in a stack with a drizzle of home made peri-peri sauce encircling it, although both versions taste good!

Serves 4

For the stacks:

• 1 large aubergine, sliced thickly
• 1 large courgette, cut in half and then sliced into strips
• 2 large bell peppers, deseeded and cut into quarters
• 1 large sweet potato or baking potato, peeled and sliced thickly
• 4 large, flat mushrooms, de-stalked
• 200g halloumi cheese, sliced thickly 

For the peri-peri/piri-piri sauce:

• 1-2 large red chillis - grated* or finely chopped
• 1 large lemon or 2 limes, juiced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp sweet paprika powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano

Make up the peri-peri sauce, by mixing the ingredients together in a small bowl.

Brush the vegetables and halloumi cheese slices liberally with olive oil and either fry, grill or barbecue them in batches until soft and golden brown; Cook the sweet potato/potato and aubergine slices first as they take longer to cook.
Keep them warm in the oven (on a baking tray) until all the ingredients have been cooked.

Drizzle the vegetables and cheese with half of the peri-peri sauce and return to the oven for 5 minutes. 
Stack the vegetables and cheese slices on four plates.
Drizzle the remaining sauce around each stack.
Skewer with a cocktail stick and top with a sprig of parsley.
Serve with home made bread or mini roasted potatoes and salad.

Not suitable for freezing.

*Top tip: Freeze the chilli and then grate on a fine grater from the pointy end. Once you get to the seeds at the stalk end, discard the chilli.

Vegan Option: Either omit the halloumi cheese or swap for  vegan cheese or firm, drained and fried tofu (marinate tofu in some of the peri-peri sauce before frying). 

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Bulghar Wheat Salad with Halloumi and Vegetables

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This is a nice, summery dish, which goes well along-side barbecued foods or as part of a buffet or meze.

Serves 4-6 as a side-salad

• 1 aubergine/eggplant
• 1 red pointed pepper
• 1 small red onion
• A handful of Greek olives, sliced
• 100g halloumi cheese, cubed
• 1 cup bulghar wheat
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• black pepper, to taste

Place the bulghar wheat in a heat-proof bowl and pour 1½ cups of boiling water over. 
Stir and then cover the bowl with cling film.

Pierce the film and then microwave for 1 minute on high. 

Allow to stand for 20-30 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

Meanwhile, shallow fry the aubergine in 2 tbsp of the oil until golden brown and soft.

Remove from the pan, then gently fry the onion and peppers to soften, adding a further tbsp of oil.

Dry fry the cubes of halloumi until golden.

Remove the pan from the heat and return all of the cooked vegetables to the pan, along with the halloumi.

Add the oregano, olives, black pepper and lemon/lime juice and stir to coat the vegetables. 
Finally mix in the mint.

Serve the cheese and vegetable mix, either on top of the bulghar wheat or mixed in.

Serve warm or cold.

Not suitable for freezing.

Vegan alternative: Either omit the cheese or swap it for a dairy-free hard cheese, or some toasted pine nuts .

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Easy Vegan Cupcakes/Fairy Cakes

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I found Orgran No Egg on special offer recently, so I bought some to test it out and review it; One box of No Egg costs around £2.50 and replaces the equivalent of 66 eggs, so it's good value for money. It contains the following ingredients:Potato starch, tapioca flour, calcium carbonate, citric acid, vegetable gum (stabiliser): methylcellulose and is also gluten free.

Following the success of my vegan Victoria sandwich cake, I thought I'd try adapting my usual (non-vegan) sponge cake recipe by using the egg-replacer instead of eggs. I made some cupcakes to see how the two recipes compared. The results were very pleasing, and I actually preferred the resulting texture and flavour of these cakes compared to my vegan sponge cake. The cakes were very light and crumbly, and kept fresh for a few days in an airtight container.

Makes 12

• 150g/6oz dairy free spread/margarine
• 150g/6oz sugar
• 150g/6oz SR flour
• 3 heaped tsp Orgran No Egg mixed with 6 tbsp water (or use a similar egg-substitute)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the spread and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined.
Spoon the mixture between 12 paper cake cakes in a bun tin, filling quite generously.

Bake at 180C/170C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4 for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Cool on a wire rack.

When cold, top with vanilla butter cream/frosting...

Vegan butter icing

• 50g/2oz dairy free spread/margarine
• 125g/5oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1-2 tsp boiled water

Soften the spread.
Mix in the vanilla.
Beat in the icing sugar gradually, adding a little boiled water as needed to make a soft, spreadable mixture.

Top tip: Warning - do not open the oven to check until at least 15 minutes have passed (unless you can smell them burning!), as the egg-replacer takes longer to set than eggs would. I found this out whilst cooking my first batch and they sunk in the middle!

Alternatives: Divide between two greased and lined sandwich cake tines and bake for 30-35 minutes. I haven't tried this yet, so please do let me know if it works!

Swap the vanilla for lemon zest to make a lemon cake, 1 tsp coffee granules mixed with 2 tsp boiling water for a coffee cake, or swap 25g/1oz of the flour for unsweetened cocoa powder to make a chocolate cake. Add the same flavourings to the butter cream icing.

Integrity Statement
I have not received any payment or free products in return for this review and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family. 

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Sunshine Vegetable Soup

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This is my twist on a classic carrot and coriander soup, which I've called sunshine soup due to it's colour. I used various orange coloured, sweet tasting vegetables plus good old celery, onion and garlic to balance the sweetness. This soup is a great way to get several 5-a-day portions of vegetables down your kids at once!

• 4-6 carrots
• 1 small sweet potato
• 1 orange or yellow bell pepper
• 150g-200g/6-8oz butternut squash
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1litre/1¾ pt hot vegetable stock (made with a stock cube)
• 25g/1oz dried red lentils
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• black pepper to taste
• fresh chopped coriander/cilantro to serve

Peel and chop the vegetables into chunks.
Fry the onion in 1 tbsp olive oil, until soft.
Add all of the other veg and the spices to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes.
Pour in the stock and bring up to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for around 20-30 minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft.
Liquidise in a blender until smooth.

Suitable for freezing.

Alternative: Make a smaller quantity of soup, using water instead of stock and omitting the pepper, for a tasty baby-food. Leave the vegetables in chunks, mash or purée depending on the age of your baby.

This post is part of the #FaveFamilyRecipes Competition with BritMums and Tilda Rice. Every pack sold will provide a meal to an expectant mum in need in support of the World Food Programme’s Mothers Helping Mothers initiative in Bangladesh.
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Vegetarian Sloppy Joes

Apologies if you've ever eaten bona fide sloppy Joes...I haven't, so this recipe is a bit of a stab in the dark! I've seen them eaten on various American TV shows, so after a bit of online research I've come up with a vegetarian/vegan version.

This is an economical and low-fat recipe, which you could cook in a slow cooker or even whilst camping.

Serves 4-6

• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 1 large bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 cups veggie/vegan mince e.g. Quorn or vegan alternative (vegetarian ground beef-style crumbles)
• 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
• Finely chopped pickled or fresh jalapeños/chilli sauce/cayenne to taste (optional)
• 1 portion home made bbq sauce, or ½ cup shop-bought mild/sweet bbq sauce.
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 cup boiling water or hot vegetable stock
• Bread rolls/burger buns/pitta breads to serve

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan.

Add the onion, garlic, chilli and pepper and cook gently for 3-5 minutes until softened.

Turn up the heat slightly, stir in the tomato purée and cook for a further minute or so.

Add the veggie mince and mix well.

Pour in the bbq sauce and water/stock.

Bring to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for around 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Remove the lid and allow to cook until the sauce has thickened up and most of the water/stock has evaporated.

Serve in warmed bread rolls with oven-baked sweet potato chips (fries) and corn on the cob.

Not suitable for freezing.

Alternatives: Halve the amount of veggie mince and add an extra 1-2 cupfuls of finely diced seasonal vegetables, such as courgette/zucchini, squash, mushrooms, sweetcorn or peppers (and/or some cooked lentils).

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Vanilla Giant Cupcake

© A cake fit for the Queen (well almost!)

We recently had a Jubilee celebration at work and my contribution was a giant cupcake.. they loved it! This recipe was adapted from my giant chocolate cupcake recipe using the Wilton/Lakeland giant cupcake tin. As I made a Jubilee cake, I decided to colour a third of the mixture blue and a third red (although it turned out pink!) using a little food colouring. 

Serves 20

• 250g/10oz butter/dairy-free spread
• 250g/10oz sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 250g/12oz SR flour
• 5 tbsp milk/water
• 1 level tsp baking powder

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Pre heat the oven to 160C/150C Fan/Gas 3.Grease the cupcake tin and sprinkle with a little sieved flour.
Cream the butter and sugar and beat in 3 of the eggs.
Add the flour, baking powder, milk, and remaining eggs and mix until just combined.
Spoon half of the mixture into each side of the cupcake pan.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the cake has risen and is firm to the touch (in the centre).  If the cake is browning too quickly, turn the oven down by 10C.
Once cooked, leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully. Trim a little of the top of the cakes with a sharp knife (once cold) if needed.

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To cover the base in fondant icing

Roll out some fondant icing on a board sprinkled with icing sugar, into an approximately 25cm/10" circle - I use a non-stick pastry mat.
Spread a little of the butter cream (recipe below) onto the base and sides of the cupcake bottom...it doesn't need to look neat!
Place the cupcake base into the centre of the fondant and gently ease the fondant up around the sides and over the top of the cake (there should be enough icing to overlap the top slightly.) Press into each groove of the base with your fingers or the back of a teaspoon.
Top the base with a good dollop of butter cream (and some jam if you want to) before placing the top section on.

Icing the top of the cake
I've found that the butter cream doesn't stick to the cake very well if you pipe it straight on, so I crumb-coat it first (roughly spread a little butter icing all over the top section using a palette knife), and chill the cake for about half an hour, before piping the remaining icing on.
Pipe around the join between the two cakes.
Once iced, decorate with sprinkles etc. while the icing is still soft.

Vanilla Butter Cream/Frosting

• 150g/6oz softened butter/dairy-free spread
• 350g/14oz icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp boiling water, if needed

Cream the butter and icing sugar.
Add the vanilla and just enough boiling water, if needed, to make a soft, spreadable butter cream.

Alternatives: The 5 egg mixture I use doesn't quite fill the tin. You can make an even bigger cake in the same tin, by upping the ingredients to 300g/12oz butter/sugar, 350g/14oz flour and 6 eggs. Keep the amount of the remaining ingredients the same.

If fondant icing the base sounds too tricky (I'll admit it did take me two attempts), then just tie a ribbon around, or make a paper cupcake holder to cover the base.
You could also spread the butter icing onto the top of the cake if you aren't confident at piping.

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Barbecue Sauce (Vegan)

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This is my tried and tested bbq sauce recipe, which is great for basting and serving with barbecued veggie burgers, kebabs and sausages.

• 5 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tbsp white wine/cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp vegan Worcester Sauce (I use Life Worcester Sauce)
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar (optional)
• ½ tsp dried English mustard powder (or use a pinch of cayenne)
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp dried oregano

Mix the dry ingredients with the vinegar and Worcester sauce. 
Add the ketchup and stir well.
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until needed (keeps for 1 week).

Alternatives: Add different herbs and spices if preferred.

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A trio of salads for Britain's Got Salad

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Here's my own contribution to Britain's Got Salad...a trio of salads, which all just happen to be vegan: 

Mushroom and Coriander Salad

• 250g/10oz chestnut or mixed mushrooms, wiped and sliced
• 1 small onion, diced or sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil up in a pan and add the mushrooms and onion.
Cook until soft and then the ground coriander. Cook for a further minute, then add the garlic and balsamic vinegar.

Heat until most of the juices have evaporated and then remove from the heat. 

Finally add the fresh coriander and stir through.

Serve warm or cold.

Spicy Store-cupboard Salad

• 100g/4oz tinned sweetcorn, drained (use fresh when in season)
• 100g/4oz roasted sweet red peppers from a jar, diced (or cook your own)
• ½ red onion, diced finely
• 1-2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• Finely chopped pickled jalapeño chilli to taste (optional)
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tbsp lime juice

Mix all ingredients together and serve!

Lemony Potato and Pepper Salad

• 2 large potatoes, diced into 2-3 cm/1" chunks
• 1 large/2 small sweet potatoes, diced into 2-3 cm/1" chunks
• 2 yellow or orange bell peppers, diced into 2-3 cm/1" chunks
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
• Black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a roasting dish at 200C/Fan 190C/Gas 6.

Par boil the potatoes (not the sweet potatoes) for 5 minutes. Drain.

Add both types of potato to the roasting dish and turn to coat with the oil. Roast for 20-30 minutes, until starting to brown.

Add the diced pepper, lemon zest, black pepper and rosemary to the same dish and turn the potatoes.

Bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until all of the vegetables are cooked and slightly crispy.

Remove from the oven.

Pour the lemon juice over while the dish is still warm and mix gently to coat.

Serve warm or cold.

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Britain's Got Salad!

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I came up with this idea when I was ill and in a slightly delirious state a few weeks ago. I was in lying in bed, dosed up with painkillers and decongestants, listening to the TV with my eyes closed, when a trailer came on for Britain's Got Talent. As my ears were blocked, I misheard it as Britain's Got Salad and I thought that would be a great title for a salad talent show!!

Now, one of my favourite veggie bloggers (Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes) runs a monthly soup and salad challenge, so I don't want to step on her toes. This is therefore a one off event (or maybe an annual one) to celebrate and publicise National Vegetarian Week.

Since starting my blog and reading many others, I've come to realise that there are some fantastic salad ideas about that include an amazingly wide variety ingredients, so I'd like to encourage as many people as possible to get excited about salads!

Unfortunately after ordering a salad in most British pubs and restaurants, you'll be presented with nothing more than a bowl of shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced cucumber, some bullet-hard tomatoes and maybe a few raw onion rings if you're lucky...no dressing, no herbs, no taste! Obviously we have to import many salad ingredients throughout the winter months, but we have fantastic salad ingredients coming into season right NOW.

To enter, just link up your favourite salad recipes (that includes raw and cooked salads, plus dips) or any other salad-related posts (review, news, growing tips etc.). The only proviso is that your post must be related to salad in some way, and any recipes must be vegetarian/vegan or show how they can be adapted for vegetarians. It would be great if you would add my BGS logo to your post too, but it's not compulsory. If you want to add the list of entries to your own blog post, get the InLinkz code here.  If you're not a blogger, feel free to leave your recipes and tips in a comment instead.

So here it is...ladies and gentlemen...BRITAIN'S GOT SALAD; Unfortunately Simon Cowell et al won't be judging your entries and there's no cash prize I'm afraid!

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