Vegan Buckwheat Veggie Bowl with Ginger & Miso Dressing

Ok, so use as much or as little of each ingredient as you like depending on what you like best and how many people you’re feeding! This can be made warm or cold.

Gently fry some onion, red pepper and courgette in olive oil, i cooked mine for about 2-3 minutes. Leave to cool if you like. When ready, place the veg into a bowl with some cooked buckwheat, green lentils, soya beans and rocket (or spinach).

To make the dressing, take 2Tbs olive oil, 1Tbs rice vinegar and place in a jar with 1 Tbs miso paste, 1 inch grated ginger, 1 grated garlic clove, salt and 1/2 tsp sugar. Shake shake shake until it’s all combined and you have a thick and creamy dressing. Pour this over the veg, lentils and buckwheat and stir through. Add some extra grated ginger here if you like! x

My Breakfast!

Raw oats with unsweetened soya milk, ‘nana and cinnamon and a cinnamon Yogi tea :)

Summery Smoked Paprika Chick Peas with Homemade Pumpkin, Spelt Bread!

Smoked paprika has quickly become my favourite spice! It can be used in so many ways but watch out, it can be very hot if you use too much!

To make these delicious Tapas-inspired chick peas, heat 1 Tbs of olive oil in  a frying pan, add half a red bell pepper, diced and 1 large garlic clove, sliced. Heat through for a couple of minutes, then add 1 heaped Tbs of smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbs of dried, mixed herbs and 1 can of drained and rinsed chick peas. Roughly chop up around 8 cherry tomatoes (or 2 regular ones) and add to the chick peas along with 1 tsp of tomato paste. Finally grate in some black pepper and another garlic clove.

Serve with salad, spelt bread and houmous! Deeeeelish :)

Find the spelt bread recipe in one of my previous posts; here, but instead of using a loaf tin, bake in a square roasting tray and crumble pumpkin seeds on top and throughout!

<3

Vegan Black Bean & Butternut Squash Chilli with Smoked Paprika

Fry 1 onion in 1 Tbs olive oil for 5 minutes, add 1/2 a butternut squash, cut into 2cm pieces. Add 1 cup frozen vegan mince or rehydrated TVP, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1tsp chilli powder, 1 Tbs smoked paprika and 1 Tbs oregano. Stir through for a minute or two coating the squash and onion.

Add 1 can/ carton of black beans and 1 jar of passata, stir and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Make up some vegan stock or veggie broth in the passata jar, keep adding until you have the desired consistency - I used about 1/2 the jar. Finally, add one extra Tbs smoked paprika and the juice of 1/2 a lime 5 minutes before the end. Serve with buckwheat and avocado wedges.

Warm Ginger Spiced Squash & Carrot Salad with Buckwheat and Ruby Chard

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw buckwheat

1/2 butternut squash cut into 2cm pieces

1 carrot sliced to roughly the same size as the squash

1.5 inch piece fresh ginger

1 jumbo spring onion, sliced

Juice and zest of 1/2 lime

1 garlic clove

1/2 large green chili

2 handfuls of mixed spinach and ruby chard

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp ginger turmeric

1.2 Tbs cumin seeds

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Heat half of the oil in a frying pan and toast the cumin seeds, after a minute or two add the other spices but not the fresh ginger or garlic. After another 2 minutes add the squash and carrot and stir through with the spices.

2. Add the chili and most of the garlic and ginger, stir through. Put a splash of water in the centre of the pan and place a lid on top to steam the veggies a little.

3. When the veggies are tender stir through the rest of the ginger, garlic and salt and leave to cool slightly.

4. Mix the cooked vegetables with the salad leaves and sliced spring onion, pour over the rest of the olive oil, the lime juice and lime zest and mix. Place on top of the buckwheat.

UDON MISO SOUP BOWL

This is a really simple miso soup that you can make in about 5 minutes.

Boil up some wholewheat udon noodles according to pack instructions. Make up one cup of miso soup per person and pour into a bowl (I use 1 Tbs miso paste per cup of boiling water but a sachet will work fine too). Place the noodles into the soup and add cubed tofu, a sliced spring onion, some bamboo shoots and spinach. Yummy :)

VEGAN STRAWBERRY LASSI

Lassi is a traditional Indian drink, usually made from milk and yogurt but it can esaily be made vegan by using a non dairy milk and soy yogurt. Soya yogurt still has all the healthy, live bacteria found in regular yogurt but has no cholesterol, saturated fat or trans fats.

Strawberries aren’t quite in season here but luckily I had some frozen ones tucked away. If you use fresh strawberries instead, add two ice cubes. The ingredients listed are enough to make one big glass but you can easily double it. For an even creamier lassi, add more yogurt.

Ingredients 

1/2 cup soya yogurt

1/2 cup soy milk (or other non-dairy alternative)

1 tsp agave nectar (you can add more but I don’t like it too sweet)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Handful of frozen strawberries

Method

Put everything into a blender and whizz. Pour into a glass and dust with extra cinnamon, if you like.