www.errenskitchen.com/pasta-fagioli/
Nice quick and easy recipe that can last a few days. We add chorizo sausage in ours

Oh and garlic bread

I'm a cm and recently we've tried this for one of my vegan mindees here everyone loved it, it's very easy and super tasty.

We’re not really veggie, but this is a staple here. You could use whatever veg you have, really, or sub some of it out for eg a tin of butterbeans or kidney beans.

Chop an onion
Mince some garlic
Chop some sticks of celery, a carrot, and a pepper.

Gently heat the onions with some olive oil, then add the rest of the veg. Chuck in a tin of drained chickpeas, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, and a good pinch of harissa spice powder. (If you don’t have it, a bit of cumin and chilli flakes would do). Add a tin of tomatoes. Simmer down for about 20 minutes, longer if you have it.

Serve with pitta breads.

(I sometimes add leftover cooked chicken if we’ve had a roast, for any non veggies.)

This tends to do me and DP for dinner, then a portion to take to work the next day - it works just as well cold. Just up the veg for more people eating.

Lovely idea for a thread!

We like to make pizzas on tortilla wrap bases. The kids enjoy pretty much any vegetable on top including peas and sweetcorn! The only essential is lots of cheese on top! (and, I guess, a tomato sauce)

Soups are an excellent way of using all sorts of vegetables together, including ones that children may not be so keen on. If that's the case, whizz it all up so they can't tell. Have some vegetable stock or bouillon in your cupboards.

We like putting chickpeas or lentils in with our pasta as a protein source (it's also very tasty).

Oh and what DD1 calls "lemony beans". It works well with cannellini beans or any other kind of white bean. You just sautee a bit of crushed garlic in olive oil, put the drained and washed beans in, warm them up, and add lots of lemon juice and a bit more olive oil at the end.

If you want to do something fancy for guests, you puree it, and everyone is extremely impressed. It's especially good with roast veg. You're welcome!

Op thanks for this. As a native Indian person I for one would LOVE if you’d post authentic indian recipes (are there mild ones to suit people like me?)

Two times I realised that the “Indian” (and “Chinese”, “Italian”, “Spanish”...) food we get here is not even CLOSE to authentic:

First holiday to Spain - total revelation!

When I went to live in Germany with ex (army) and the “Chinese” was loaded with garlic! So weird! Got talking to the owner and he’d lived in France and Netherlands too and discussed with me how restaurateurs of national cuisines have to adapt the food to the tastes of the country they’re now selling in.

I’m veggie over 30 years but struggling to think of own recipes!

Here are some I recently posted on another thread hope they’re of use to someone

Spiced butternut soup

serves 2 at least 3 days running (unless one of the 2 is dd when I’m lucky if it’s allowed to cool down!) best served with buttered crusty rolls

Ingredients

1 Butternut squash
4-6 carrots
2 cloves garlic
Teaspoon cumin
Teaspoon curry powder - strength depends on preference I have to stick to mild unfortunately
Oil for roasting and heating spices

Halve & deseed the squash
Pop a clove of garlic in the remaining hollows
Peel carrots and quarter by slicing lengthways
Drizzle with preferred oil
Roast in a med-hot oven for 45 mins

At 43 mins in heat a soup pan with a little oil in and heat up the spices, then add the roasted veg to the pan, you scoop out the flesh of the squash easy once cooked.

Give it a wee shuggle (technical term 😉)

Add 1 pint stock

Season and bring to boil.

Simmer for 10 mins

Blend and serve as is or with a swirl of sour cream or creme fraiche.

Freezes great too and will keep in fridge fine for a few days.

vegetarian Sausage casserole

makes 4 servings

4-6 Favourite sausages (I’m veggie and mine are linda McCartney especially for this dish)
3-4 dessertspoons Diced onion (I use frozen)
1 tin Baked beans
1/3 pint stock
Small pack sage & onion stuffing mix

Sauté onions
Brown off sausages in same frying pan.
Once done put these in casserole dish
Add beans and stock

Cook at 200°c for 40 mins

Then sprinkle the stuffing mix over the casserole & cook for further 10 mins, creates a lovely “herb crust”

Vegetarian “Chicken” casserole
4 servings

Diced “chicken” (I use a full pack of quorn)
2-3 dessertspoons Diced onion
4-6 carrots sliced & boiled at least par boiled (or 2 tins drained)
Tin of creamed mushrooms
Guessing here - about 1/4-1/3 pint of milk
Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon each dried thyme and marjoram

Put carrots on to boil
Sauté onions and diced chicken
In a bowl/jug mix the creamed mushrooms, milk, seasoning and herbs
Put chicken onions and carrots in casserole dish
Add mushroom mixture

Cook at 180° for 20 mins covered, ten mins uncovered.

Lovely with either roast or mashed potatoes also goes well with yorkies.

I'd like to recommend the book 'modern way to cook' by Anna Jones. I've never had a bad recipe from it. It's changed our lives and I'll upload some of my favourites as photo later. It's reduced at the moment too.

I was originally put off by the format as it looks a bit trendy. We had it as a wedding present and it revolutionised our eating.

A Modern Way to Cook https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008124493/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_UHgDEbR4CP038

Wow that sounds amazing op!

I'm an "old hippy" at heart and all you've said there really appeals to me.

I'm veggie for ethical reasons but I had all my childhood had a "bad stomach" which was thought to just be how I was.

I still have it a little (I can't eat citrus fruits or juices, have hot spicy food, have to be careful with foods with a known laxative effect) but when I stopped eating meat it stopped being every day!

I turned veggie over 30 years ago and it was really hard then to find veggie food and labelling wasn't as good as it is now. This resulted in a couple of times me accidentally eating meat/meat products and my stomach reacted instantly! On one occasion so bad I was admitted to hospital as appendicitis was suspected. I'm now VERY careful.

But I also was raised by parents (now in their mid 70's) and grandparents (Scots) who very much believed in natural remedies and a balanced way of living.

This was partly out of necessity as they were very poor and prior to the creation of the nhs in 1948 they wouldn't call a dr except in dire emergency as they couldn't afford it.

So staying healthy by eating well and being active and treating minor ailments and injuries themselves with natural/home remedies was their normal.

Included things like:

For heartburn - have dairy. Preferably milk but any non acidic dairy will do. I still will have a glass of milk for heartburn before I'll consider even taking a rennie!

Baking soda for trapped wind

Honey for sore throat

Etc

Also using herbs for certain "imbalances"

Echinacea at first sign of a cold (way before it became fashionable)

Chamomile in the oat bags for baths for our eczema

Heather - liniment for joint pain and headache, tea for uti

But as a daft kid until I was a teen and doing cooking lessons at school which were very good and went into nutritional aspects too I hadn't noticed how my mum and grans always made sure that their families were fed a wide variety of different foods throughout the week to ensure all nutrients covered and meals were balanced too, they might have been very simple (meat and 2 veg style) but they always contained protein, carbs and a good helping of veg. We also always had a dessert of some description which is frowned on now BUT it filled us up, satiated sweet cravings and got a portion of fruit into us (always some kind of fruit, usually a custard or cream topping too so dairy portion too)

They fed us seasonally too - probably again partly out of necessity as goods in season are cheaper. But what nature provides at certain times of year tallies with our biological needs at that time of year too.

And you know what? We were all slim, active and relatively healthy (I say relatively as my family has the gene/s for the allergy issues asthma/eczema/hay fever plus others)

I say bring back puddings!

I have also at times tried to learn a little about Ayurvedan practice, I was very into aromatherapy at one point and still use essential oils for some things, I also used to do a little yoga and I learned more about herbal remedies.

“It’s important we take them as nature intended” totally agree! That’s what my mum and grans always say/said.

I was training as a nurse when we had the fad here for non butter “low fat” spreads made from sunflower oil etc. I had my community rotation around that time and the dietitian, midwives and health visitors in the gp surgery I was assigned too all bar one (youngest) said it was a fad, that the best way to eat is the majority of your food to be as close to how nature intended as possible for good health.

Then a few years later the dangers of trans fats were learned.

Thank you for such detailed and interesting replies.

Would be lovely if you’d post some mild or non spicy recipes?

I’m ok with aromatic spices it’s the hot ones I can’t tolerate. I’m fine with things like bay leaf and star anise.

Chilli, curry not so much

But I have and use cumin, cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, paprika
and black pepper (very popular in Scotland, goes well in soup and on neeps)

Spraytail I feel daft sharing that recipe now I know you are Indian and clearly an amazing cook!

I made this tonight with Linda McCartney sausages. It was really good!

healthylivingjames.co.uk/plant-based-sausage-tray-bake/

Thanks op and @Judystilldreamsofhorses

I get on better with pepper than chillis so that's good to know.

Judy that's a great simple recipe I have most of the ingredients might give it a go.