Chickpea Dumplings

These were a real treat - the recipe was in Cook Vegetarian magazine but isn't on their website.

Finely dice half an onion and fry in a tbsp of rapeseed oil with a finley chopped chilli and two minced cloves of garlic. Add lots of chopped parsley and set aside. Meanwhile, drain and mash two tins of chickpeas. Add 100g of porridge oats, the onion mixture and 2 tsp of cumin. Mix together, adding a little water if necessary, and use your hands to form into 12 balls. Bake in an oven at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Thin down a can of chopped tomatoes (I used the ones with olives in) with 100ml water and boil for five mins to form the sauce. Serve 4 dumplings per person with the sauce spooned over - I served it with some rocket.  NB you do need the sauce as they are a tad dry. I might add some nut butter next time i make them!

North African kale and chickpea soup

Another one from the wonderful kitchen of Susan Voisin! This time the only change I made was to use sweet potato instead of carrots. I also only made half the quantity. The spices used in this work so well together - I'd really recommend it!

Mushroom, cabbage and spelt soup

It's been really soupy weather here - although it's been like that most of the year, to be fair! This is a very rough take on this recipe from Fat Free Vegan. Basically I fried some mushrooms, onion and chilli, added lots of chopped cabbage and some stock and a tin of tomatoes and simmered until the cabbage was cooked. Then I added a pouch of Food Doctor pre-cooked spelt, some parsley and thyme and heated through.

Much tastier than it looks!

Sweet potato and black bean soup

This is one of the nicest things I've made in ages - and I made it up all by myself! If you think the picture looks odd, it's because I used purple sweet potatoes! They taste just like the orange ones :-)

To cook:
Fry chopped onion, red pepper, garlic and chillis.
Add cubed sweet potato (about 400g), tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin or carton of black beans and enough stock to cover. Cook until potato is cooked.
Add plenty of chopped parsley, lime juice and hot sauce.

Pumpkin risotto

This is sooo easy and tasty - I'm only really posting it here to give readers ideas, as it barely counts as a recipe! Simply peel and cube your pumpkin, spray or drizzle with a little oil and bake in the oven until tender. Make a basic risotto with onions, garlic, risotto rice and stock then stir in the pumpkin and plenty of basil. Lovely with some Parmazano on top!

Spicy root vegetable and lentil casserole

This is one of my favourite meals all year round, but particularly in winter! It's basically this recipe from BBC Good Food but with my own tweaks - I don't use oil or yogurt, or serve it with naan - it's a meal in itself. This time I used a delicious Penang curry powder that I got from The Spice Shop near Portobello market. Really tasty but any curry powder, or paste, will do!