Spicy red lentil & tomato soup (Guardian)

• Knob of butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 gloves garlic, sliced
• 1/s tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 ltr vegetable stock
• 300g red lentils
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1. Put medium saucepan on medium heat. Add butter and oil.
2. Once butter has melted add onion, garlic, coriander and cumin seeds. Fry, without colouring, for 5 min.
3. Add stock and lentils. Cover and simmer for 10 min.
4. Add tomatoes. Cook for 15 min, until lentils are tender.
5. Puree and season to taste.

Serves 4. Serve with natural yoghurt and roughly cut fresh coriander onto each serving.

Can add bacon for an extra flavour.

Crumbly Oat Banana Squares – Jo style

175g sugar (I use fructose, so use 1 third less)
175g margarine
225g self raising flour
100g porridge oats
4-5 medium bananas, mashed
25g sultanas (or similar – I use more than 25g to spread over the bananas)
Honey
Ground ginger
Ground cinnamon
Caster sugar for the top

1. Warm your oven to 200°C
2. Cream the sugar and margarine together
3. Cut in the flour and oats to make a crumbly mixture
4. Sprinkle half into a baking tray (12 by 8 inch) and press down lightly
5. Spread over the bananas and sprinkle the dried fruit, ginger, cinnamon and drip the honey over
6. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture over and again press down lightly bake it for 25 to 30 mins until golden
7. Sprinkle with caster sugar

Wait until it cools (if you can) and cut into appropriately-sized chunks

Pea and bacon soup

• 6 rashers bacon
• 1 onion
• 1 bag frozen peas
• 1 lettuce
• 500ml vegetable stock (3 stock cubes)
• Mint (fresh or dried)

1. Chop onion and bacon. Place in pan with a little water and fry until soft.
2. Add chopped lettuce and peas. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Add vegetable stock and mint. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Cool, then blend.
5. If freezing, bag up and put in freezer. Or:
6. Return to heat and heat until almost boiling to eat straight away with crusty bread and lashings of butter.

For vegetarians, just omit the bacon

Potato & Fennel Bake (Abel & Cole)

4 large potatoes (or 6 small), scrubbed
1 bulb Fennel
2 gloves garlic, crushed
300 ml single cream
300 ml milk
1 egg
Butter, for greasing
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Nutmeg

Preheat 190°C/ 375°F/ Gas Mark 5. Thinly slice the potatoes and fennel thinly. Butter a large baking dish and arrange the potato and fennel slices in alternative layers with the garlic and lots of seasoning in between. Mix the cream, milk, egg, nutmeg with lots of seasoning. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Cover with foil and bake for about 1&1/2 hours, removing the foil for the last 30 minutes until brown on top.

Creamy curried carrot soup (Extending the Table)

• Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan.
• Add and saute 2 medium carrots, sliced. Sprinkle with sugar after about 5 minutes.
• Add to saucepan:
• 2 tablespoons flour,
• curry powder (I added about 2 teaspoons of korma powder – mild – which gave it a nice kick)
• 500ml chicken or veg broth (I used chicken OXO cubes)
• Bring to the boil while stirring and simmer until carrots are tender.
• Blend until smooth.
• Season to taste (I used ground black pepper)
• and stir in 1-2 tablespoons sour cream or plain yoghurt

Parsnip Nut Roast (Abel & Cole)

With veggie roasts, you can add just about anything you’ve got lying around, like leftover cooked vegetables, potatoes, beans, cheese, stale bread or oatmeal – and it’ll taste great! Serve with gravy and steamed veggies.
Serves 4

1 tablespoon oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
150 g raw cashew nuts, ground
150 g seasoned breadcrumbs
1 egg
3 medium parsnips, peeled, cooked and mashed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
150 ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 handful grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 180°C, 350°F, gas 4.

1. Cook the onion and garlic in butter over a medium heat until the onion is soft.
2. Combine all the ingredients except the cheese in a large bowl, adding just enough stock to make it moist.
3. Spoon the mixture into a greased loaf tin, cover and bake for 45 minutes.
4. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake for another 15 minutes.