I think Saint Hugh of RiverCottage is going to save me £120 this month!

[deaconblue]

Last week we had 4 veggie meals, 2 fish and a braising steak stew on Sunday, I made 2 soups from his veg book too. The week's shop was £94 (previous weeks had been £130 and £140, we average £130). This week I've planned 5 veggie meals, 1 fish and sausages on Sunday and another 2 soups and the week's shop comes to £93ish! I've also decided to cut out buying processed snacks so haven't bought mini cheddars or biscuits and have made home made cheese and ham muffins, and pitta with hummus for kids' snacks instead. At this rate we will be £120 better off at the end of this month.

Dh is finding he is more farty than usual though

Was it nice oldlady?

It was lovely. But somewhat farty

My copy arrived 15 minutes ago.Now to decide which recipe to try first.

oooh you lot have suckered me in

OK, so the Pasta with Garlic Chilli and Greens is absolutely delicious - so simple, something you could make up yourself, but followed the recipe and bundled on the parmesan at the end and even DH went "WOW".

And, parsnip and ginger soup been made today, and although quite sweet (occupational hazard of cooking with parsnips) the spices and ginger do give it a nice edgy kick and it is very very tasty indeed.

My friend made the pearl barley broth and said super as well so that is on my list to try soon......

Tonight I made the tomato, goats cheese and thyme tart - so simple and delicious. Easy to make a small one if you're the only vegetarian in the house.

Cor adelpha I will be trying that.

AnonymousBird, we had the pasta with chilli, garlic and greens last night and it was yum. I substituted the onion with leek, and added some courgettes. Looking forward to trying some more out. It's great, I just look at what veg is in the fridge, turn to the index at the back and take my pick of recipes!

mine has just arrived - looks fab from the quick look. Also very hefty book am impressed. Don't know what to try first now.

Zhx what greens did you use? Hoping it might prove to he a use for 2nd halves of cabbages that tend to die at the back of the fridge...

I was wondering about using some frozen spinach for the greens. But I too seem to have half a cabbage living in my fridge most of the time - I reckon it would be good with savoy?

Ordered my copy of Everyday Veg this morning, cant wait for it to arrive!

we have done the same, bought the book and are mostly veggie for main meals now, saves us around £130 a month. DH was a confirmed carnivore as his ex was a veggie who couldnt/wouldn't cook so he lived on pasta and pesto and the like. So far we love:

aubergine parmigiana
chachouka
sweet potato and peanut gratin
spanakopitta
squash and chickpea stew
refried bean foldovers
mushroom soup
merguez chips

had an absolute disaster with the mushroom ragout with polenta. No idea if it was the recipe or my cooking but it was vile :(

were your mushrooms a bit old? My mushroom stoup was a bit 'meh' (when all the 32 other things I have cooked were lovely) and other people have said theirs was lovely, and my mushrooms were on the turn really.

we have done the same, bought the book and are mostly veggie for main meals now, saves us around £130 a month. DH was a confirmed carnivore as his ex was a veggie who couldnt/wouldn't cook so he lived on pasta and pesto and the like. So far we love:

aubergine parmigiana
chachouka
sweet potato and peanut gratin
spanakopitta
squash and chickpea stew
refried bean foldovers
mushroom soup
merguez chips

had an absolute disaster with the mushroom ragout with polenta. No idea if it was the recipe or my cooking but it was vile :(

we have done the same, bought the book and are mostly veggie for main meals now, saves us around £130 a month. DH was a confirmed carnivore as his ex was a veggie who couldnt/wouldn't cook so he lived on pasta and pesto and the like. So far we love:

aubergine parmigiana
chachouka
sweet potato and peanut gratin
spanakopitta
squash and chickpea stew
refried bean foldovers
mushroom soup
merguez chips

had an absolute disaster with the mushroom ragout with polenta. No idea if it was the recipe or my cooking but it was vile :(

The tahini courgette salad was delicious. The dressing is amazing. We ate the recipe for 4 between the two of us though so I think it's meant to be combined with another salad or maybe something like Spanish omelette? I even did the oven dried tomatoes which took ages but were gorgeous. Will make a big batch next time.

I cannot stand polenta, unfortunately, so cannot comment on the mushroom ragout. I really want to try the Stoup though, that caught my eye today (as I was prepping my Vegeree for tonight's dinner.... dribble dribble) and I will give it a shot soon.....

shopping - I tried to buy tahini today, but my crap Tesco did not have it so off to Waitrose it is next week for this crucial ingredient!

Mine was from waitrose. Needs a good stir

The cannellini bean hummous was very tasty on top of a jacket potato, even without the paprika oil.

It probably was a mistake following it with a portion of dressed puy lentils though.

mine arrived today and my girls have been reading the recipes deciding which ones we should cook

The dressed Puy lentils (did the version with spring onions and parsley) were good with the chard gratin but even better the next day with some leftover baba ganoush and pitta with some slices of tomato.

the stoup is luuurvely :)

today we are having the dressed puy lentils, roasted new potatoes and roasted veg with apples, 8 of us for lunch, will it be enough?

might do the leeks with coconut milk too

I MADE HIS sausages in parsnips as per yesterdays guardian, he said something aobut being very veggie lately but still liking meat.
didnt look like his picture but was very tasty.