Spiced Parsnip and Carrot Soup

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This warming winter soup is a variation on HFW's parsnip and ginger soup (River Cottage Veg Everyday). I added carrots and cut down on the spices to give a more subtle flavour as favoured by my parsnip-disliking family! This is another useful for using up leftover veg and costs just a few pence per portion...any combination of root vegetables would work well.

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil or butter
• 1 large onion or leek
• 2 medium parsnips, peeled and cored
• 4 large carrots, peeled
• 1 medium potato, peeled
• 1 litre/1¾ pts hot vegetable stock (I used a veg Oxo cube)
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger or a good pinch of ground ginger
• A good pinch of ground cumin
• Black pepper to taste
• A little double cream to serve, optional

Roughly chop the vegetables into chunks.
Heat the oil/butter in a large pan.
Add the onions and cook gently for a few minutes.
Add all of the remaining vegetables and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
Add the spices (if using) and the vegetable stock. 
Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetable are tender.
Blend until smooth and then return to the heat for a couple of minutes.
Swirl with a little double cream before serving (optional).

Suitable for freezing

Top Tips: This soup is easily veganised by leaving out the dairy ingredients.
To adapt for babies and toddlers, make using water or a low-salt vegetable boullion. Omit or reduce the spices. Blend, then remove the children's portions. Return to the heat and add the remaining spices. Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes before serving, while the children's portions cool.

This recipe is my entry to Lisa's Kitchen leftover-themed No Croutons Required. 

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Cheese Arancini

These little stuffed rice balls are very economical as they can be made with left-over risotto and any firm cheese you want to use up...I used feta, as I had some left over after making my New Year's Eve canapés. 
Alternatively, cook up a basic fresh risotto and allow to cool before making. They're good fun, although rather messy, to make with children!

• 1 cup risotto rice (arborio)
• 2 cups hot vegetable stock
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 heaped tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of dried breadcrumbs
• 100g mozzarella or other firm cheese, cubed

To make the risotto:
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan.

Gently fry the garlic for a minute or so.

Add the rice, paprika, pepper and basil and stir for a further minute.

Add 1 cup of vegetable stock, stir and bring to the boil.

Reduce to a simmer and add the second cup of stock. Stir again, cover pan and cook for 15 minutes.
Continue cooking for 5 minutes until cooked through. When the rice is cooked, cool and refrigerate until needed.

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To make the arancini:
Take a good heaped teaspoonful of the cool risotto and form into a firm ball using your hands to squeeze the mixture together.
Poke a hole into the middle of the ball using your thumb, then place a small cube of cheese into the hole.
Squish the rice back over the hole to cover up the cheese completely. Repeat until all of the rice is used up.
Beat the egg in a bowl and place the breadcrumbs on a plate. First dip each rice ball into the beaten egg and then roll into the breadcrumbs until covered all over.

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until needed.
Heat 2-3 tbsp of vegetable or olive oil in a large frying pan. 
Add the arancini and roll around in the pan gently to coat with oil. 
Cook for 10-15 minutes on a low-medium heat, turning occasionally, until golden brown and piping hot. Alternatively, deep-fry for 5-6 minutes.

Serve with a simple tomato sauce and seasonal vegetables.

Top tip: Cooked rice should be cooled quickly and refrigerated, then re-heated thoroughly to avoid food poisoning. 

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Nachos with Vegetable Salsa

Now this might not sound like much of a recipe, but it's a good way of making a quick snack or light meal out of left-over vegetables and store cupboard ingredients. For a healthier version, use the refried beans and salsa mixture to fill tortilla wraps.

Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a starter/snack

• 1 bag of lightly salted or unsalted tortilla chips
• 1 can of mild refried beans
• 1 carton/jar of mild tomato salsa (around 1 cup)
• 1 small onion , finely diced
• 1-2 bell peppers, finely diced
• A few mushrooms, finely diced
• 1 tsp mild chilli powder
• 100g mozzarella or cheddar cheese, grated (or vegan melting cheese)

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/170C Fan/Gas 3
Tip the bag of tortilla chips onto a baking tray.

Using a spoon, dollop the refried beans over the chips - spread out a little if you can without breaking too many of the chips! 

Fry the onion in a drop of olive oil until softened, then add the chilli powder, bell peppers and mushrooms and cook for a further couple of minutes.

Add around 1 cup of salsa to the pan and stir in.
Simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Taste and add more chilli powder if needed.

Pour the salsa mixture over the tortilla chips and sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.

Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling.

Serve with salad.

Alternatives: If you don't have any refried beans, use a drained tin of baked beans instead and add these to the salsa mixture.

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Pineapple, Cucumber and Sweetcorn Salsa

I'm not a big fan of the fresh tomatoes we get in the UK...even the vine ripened ones taste too tomatoey for my liking! I will eat those big, sweet juicy (and ugly) tomatoes you get abroad and can't get over here though....for some reason, our supermarkets won't sell ugly but great tasting fresh produce, but that's another story. 

Anyway, the reason I came up with this recipe was to find something to replace fresh tomatoes in a salsa. When I googled, I couldn't believe how many different salsa recipe there were, made up with all sorts of different fruits instead of tomatoes. I love fresh pineapple, so decided to go for a pineapple salsa and bung in various left over ingredients I had in the fridge.

• 1 cup fresh pineapple, diced
• ½ cup drained tinned sweetcorn (or fresh cooked sweetcorn)
• ½ cup cucumber, diced
• ½ small onion, diced finely
• 1 tbsp picked jalapeño peppers, de-seeded and chopped
• Fresh chopped coriander/cilantro leaves or flat leaf parsley to taste
• Juice of half a lime
• A dash or two of hot chilli sauce (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients together, adding hot chilli sauce and chopped herbs to taste.
Serve with veggie burgers/sausages, Mexican food, barbecued food or with tortilla chips for dipping. Pin It

Pesto and Antipasti Puff Pastry Tart

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You know what it's like when you're due to go food shopping and you've hardly got any fresh ingredients in, but you have a few bits and bobs in the fridge that need using up?  Well that how this tart recipe came about; I had some pesto, half a jar of antipasti, a few olives and some cheese left in the fridge, plus a pack of puff pastry in the freezer. I bunged them all together and came up with this tart!

If you had to go out and buy all the ingredients I used, it would work out quite expensive, so just add whatever needs using up for a cheaper version. If you use fresh vegetables (courgette, peppers, aubergine, mushrooms etc), they need to be lightly pre-cooked to stop the pastry going soggy!

Serves 4-6

• 1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry
• 3 tbsps (about half a small jar) vegetarian red or green pesto
• A handful of olives, sliced
• Half a jar of vegetable antipasti, drained and chopped (or about 100g/4oz of cooked vegetables)
• 1 tbsp jalapeño peppers, chopped (optional)
• Fresh chopped basil
• 125g/5oz fresh mozzarella, diced or sliced

Pre-heat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas7

Place the pastry on a greased baking sheet.

Score a margin around the pastry, (with a sharp knife) about 2cm in from the edge.

Spread the pesto on the pastry up to the margin.

Top with all the remaining ingredients, finishing with the cheese.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up and the cheese is golden brown.

Serve with salad and new potatoes.

Alternatives: Make individual tarts by cutting the pastry into 4 or 6 pieces before topping.

Vegan option: Use vegan pastry, sun-dried tomato paste/vegan pesto and a dairy-free melting cheese.

For more vegetarian antipasto recipes pop on over to Tinned Tomatoes.

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Two meals in one - Lentil & Vegetable Spaghetti Bolognese plus Vegetarian Chilli

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Whether you're on a diet or a budget, these two vegetarian meals are ideal. Make the spag bol on the first day and reheat the leftovers with the added extras the next day to make a tasty veggie chilli. 

As the vegetables are chopped or grated, you can hide them in the sauce too...great if you have fussy children!

Both meals are low fat and vegan, unless you add cheese to serve.

Each meal serves 2 adults and 2 children.

For the spaghetti bolognese

• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large bell peppers, diced
• 1 medium courgette/zucchini, diced or grated
• 1 carrot or ½ sweet potato, diced or grated
• 6-8 mushrooms, diced, sliced or grated
• 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
• ½ cup dried red lentils
• 2 tbsp tomato puree or sundried tomato paste
• 500ml passata or 2x tins of chopped tomatoes 
• A glug of red wine (optional)
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp sugar
• black pepper, to taste
• dried spaghetti

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Add the onions and bell pepper and cook for a few minutes on a low heat.

Add the rest of the vegetables, and garlic and stir well. Cook for a few more minutes until softened.

Add all of the remaining ingredients (except for the spaghetti!)

Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.

Turn the heat down and simmer, with the lid on the pan for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked (stir occasionally to stop the mixture burning at the bottom of the pan).

Meanwhile cook and drain the spaghetti.

Top the spaghetti with just over half of the mixture, and serve with a sprinkle of vegetarian/vegan Parmesan-style cheese (optional).

Alternatives: Use 2 cups of veggie mince if preferred instead of the lentils, or a combination of veggie mince and lentils.

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For the chilli

The next day, reheat the remaining mixture on a low heat, adding the following ingredients and a dash of water or stock if needed:

• 1 tin drained pulses (kidney beans, mixed beans, baked beans etc)
• 50g tinned or frozen sweetcorn
• 2 tsp mild chilli powder
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• a good pinch of cinnamon
• ½ chilli, chopped finely (optional)
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• a little chopped fresh coriander (optional)

Serve with rice or wraps.

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Chocolate Tiffin (Vegan)

My kids love chocolate tiffin (biscuit cake/refrigerator cake) and are old enough to make this on their own now. I decided to earn some good mum points today though and made some on my afternoon off work, so they would be ready to eat as an after dinner treat. 

• 200g/8oz crushed vegan digestive biscuits (Graham crackers)
• 100g/4oz dairy-free spread (not reduced/low fat)
• 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or your choice of coffee, peppermint, orange extract etc)
• 100g/4oz chopped dried fruit (I used raisins, glace cherries and apricots)
• 100g/4oz dairy-free chocolate, melted.

Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag, using a rolling pin, or use a food processor.
Put the spread, sugar, cocoa, and syrup in a bowl and melt on a low setting in the microwave. Stir well.
Add the flavouring, dried fruits and crushed biscuits.
Mix until all the biscuit crumbs are coated.
Pour into a greased square baking tin and press down well with the back of a spoon.

Melt the chocolate on a low setting in the microwave.
Pour over the biscuit base and spread, with the back of a spoon, to cover.
Chill in the fridge.
Cut into squares when cold.

Keeps for up to a week in an airtight container.

Not suitable for freezing.

Alternatives: you can really use any plain biscuits in this recipe such as rich tea, shortbread, Nice etc. or use a combination if you wish. 
Swap the dried fruits for chopped nuts or seeds, if preferred.
Gluten-free option: swap the biscuits for a gluten-free variety.

Top Tip: This is a good recipe to use up left over Christmas or Easter chocolate.

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Tomato & Vegetable Pasta Sauce (Vegan)

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This economical and versatile pasta sauce freezes well, so you can make up a big batch (double this recipe), freeze it in portions and pull a tub out of the freezer when needed. Leave the sauce chunky if your kids will eat it, if not, blend after cooking for a 'hidden vegetable' sauce...sneaky!

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 red or orange pepper, chopped
• 4 mushrooms, chopped or sliced 
• ½ courgette (or a carrot), chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 500 ml carton of passata/creamed tomatoes (or a tin of chopped tomatoes) 
• Fresh basil or parsley, chopped (or use ½-1 tsp dried herbs)
• Black pepper to taste
• ½ tsp sugar

Gently fry the onion, garlic and chopped veg. in 1 tbsp olive oil.

Add the tomato puree and cook for 1 minute.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.

Put the lid on the pan and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.

Blend if desired.

Alternatives: Add a drained tin of chick peas or other pulses for a more filling sauce.

Use a base for spaghetti bolognese, lasagne or chilli.

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