Three new recipes from last week

Had quite a creative week but only getting round to blogging the recipes now. The tomato pesto comes from Moosewood Cooking for Health and the mushroom spelt is inspired by that book too. The sausage stew was inspired by what needed to be used up in the fridge!

Mushroom spelt
I cheated with this one and cooked up a packet of spelt with pumpkin in it, that I got in Valvona and Crolla in Edinburgh. I wilted in some spinach at the end and stirred in some mushrooms and red onions that I'd fried separately. Served it with some broccoli - it made loads.

Sausage stew with rice and beans
Another cheat - I made the stew and served it with a packet of Tilda microwave Mexican bean rice!
To make the stew, fry up some  onions, garlic and chilli. Add a packet of vegan sausages of your choice, chopped (precooked if frozen), a red pepper and a few mushrooms all chopped. When the veg are cooked, add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tsp of smoked paprika and plenty of fresh parsley.

Sundried tomato pesto with pasta
Lastly, my adaptation of a recipe from the Moosewood book.
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
2 large fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
50g pumpkin seeds
You bring the sun dried tomatoes to the boil in a little water and leave for five minutes to soften. Add to a blender along with the other ingredients and whizz to make a thick pesto. There is meant to be basil in this but I didn't have any. I used a little of the pasta cooking water to thin it before adding to cooked pasta and serving topped with plenty of fresh rocket. Really nice cold the next day too!

Root and Branch Organic delivery

So I took the plunge and ordered an organic veg delivery - something I've not done for many years as I moved house and couldn't get one where I live. All that has changed now - today, my first delivery arrived from Root and Branch (previously known as Helen's Bay).

I am delighted with the results and have a lot of food planning to do! It's a bit of a 'ready steady cook' moment, especially as I'm already stocked up with food to do me til the weekend. But I'm seeing it as a challenge! I got two massive lettuces, two massive onions, loads of tomatoes, a massive pepper, some courgettes, carrots, scallions and loads of broad beans still in the pod. Also got a fruit bag although I don't think I'll be getting that regularly as I'm not much of a fruit eater! Still, all in all, very good value and it looks to be amazing quality. Pictures below!

Fasolakia

Last update for today is this delicious Greek green bean dish, Fasolakia. It's kinda like Gigantes but with green beans instead! It tastes especially good the next day. I served it with some boiled baby potatoes and a green salad but I think it would also be nice with rice or flat breads.
PS I used a lot less oil than in the recipe - only a tbsp!

Emergency chick peas!

Beofre doing the grocery shopping on Saturday I found myself unexpectedly at home and needing to eat. The fridge was pretty bare but I was lucky to have a bag of baby courgettes that I'd just got from St George's Market. I sliced them and fried them in the pan then added a tin of Chair de Tomate (from Sainsbury's - a small tin of chopped tomatoes would be fine instead), a tin of drained chickpeas, some veggie Worcester sauce and a tsp of dried thyme. So simple and yet so tasty - I was not disappointed!

Two recipes from Veganomicon

So I finally got myself a copy of Veganomicon and then managed to make two recipes from it last week. I can't post them in detail but below is a summary. Both were very easy to make and totally delicious. If my recipe recommendations weren't enough, there is no higher praise than the fact that Haga found it also made a good bed ;-)

Roast eggplant and chickpea stew
Roasted a diced aubergine and a couple of red peppers in the oven then added to a mix of onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes and various herbs and spices. So simple and so tasty. I served it with baked polenta slices and tried to make it look a bit pretty!

Samosa stuffed potatoes
Yes it might sound odd but it's basically a samosa filling inside a baked spud. You bake the tatties and when they are cool (I microwaved them at 7am!) you halve them and scoop out the innards. Fry up some onion, carrot and pepper (meant to use frozen peas but I didn't have any) along with curry seeds and spices, add to the mashed potato and use to restuff the potatoes. Then just pop them in to the oven to brown.