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

Angeldog, am surprised, I thought it was delicious. Did you have sweet smoked paprika or just normal paprika?
Re macaroni peas: is it a smooth pea sauce? Wondering if ds may eat it- he loves macaroni cheese but can't bear sauces with texture, makes him gag. We have to do dry food or totally smooth sauces

A last minute pasta with chilli garlic greens after evening meeting here.

Very good use of cabbage.

And yy the dressed Puy lentils with spring onion parsley and mustard vinaigrette seem to go with everything salady (and leftover meat ). Lovely.

Re the macaroni peas,HFW uses both peas blended with garlic,butter and cheese,and whole peas,but you could just use blended peas. I just blitzed mine for a few seconds as I like the texture,but of course you blend it until it's completely smooth.

You could blend it sorry.

I used smoked paprika - so I think that's sweet smoked? I didn't add salt as we don't use it in cooking, but I wouldn't have thought that'd make much difference as we don't 'need' salt like someone who's used to the taste of things with it.

DP and I had the fried polenta and tomato sauce thing last night-delicious and so cheap to make!

Tunip we've been eating the chachouka with the magic dough flatbreads and garlic oil.

If you usually cook with meat then you would be getting salt from that, so maybe the absence of meat and salt made it a little bland, even if you don't use it usually.

www.rivercottage.net/users/River%20Cottage%20Veg%20Every%20Day!/

for those awaiting their books to be delivered, some more recipes here :)

It's here.
Everything looks fabulous.
I can't wait to try the curries, we love curry, and also the dips.
I particularly like the look of the cambodian wedding one.
The corner shop spanakopitta sounds great too.

Now just need to get better!

Unbelievably I have made something with parsnips where I could taste them, and like them (no one in my house likes them, so when they come in veg box they are used to pad out strong curries etc).

Puy lentil, roasted parsnip and watercress salad (with some sliced tomatoes and goats cheese on the side). Very filling too.

Tunip and Celtic re. chachouka, how big were your peppers? I had a monster one in veg box a couple of weeks ago, the likes of which I had never seen before. Just wondered if Hugh doesn't have to rely on the usual standard sized supermarket ones I'm used to?

Alana, you could be onto something there re pepper size. Mine were normal supermarket size, which I think has been getting smaller over the years anyway.

I love the parsnip salad too.

Just had leftover roasted aubergine and potato for lunch and it was better the second time round.

10 yr old DD made herself the macaroni peas last night and loved it. It was really easy and cobbled together from ingredients we always have in.
It's on my repeat list.

alana that is a fair point, I often buy the value bags of small peppers and I probably used them in it. I just expanded it as I went along until it looked like enough.

I got the book because of this thread. I have only made a couple of soups so far: the mushroom soup (good) and the parsnip and ginger soup (excellent).

I want to try the curried sweet potato soup this week.

Like some of the others on this thread, I am a little bit concerned that some of the recipes might leave me hungry...

Great book though!

Love the name Rat .

Thanks, Viking. You are the first one to have noticed it: I was despairing that it would be a complete flop.

I live I France which helps!

Probably...

The cauliflower pakora are brilliant. I've looked for a good pakora recipe for awhile and this one completely hits the spot. Works well with broccoli too.

we had the cauliflower pakora for lunch. dd1 is a cauliflower evangelist, and loved it. dd2 normally hates cauliflower, but even she liked it (and nibbled her way through a couple). look forward to trying it with other veg.

had the sweet potato/peanut gratin for diner last night - was lovely, had it on it's own with a side salad, and was just right.

fab book, and really enjoying it so far. dh has not missed meat at any of the meals we have served up so far, which is a first - he does like his veg, but hasn't ever managed to get his head around not eating meat before...

Can anyone suggest one of the recipes that would be good for me to make for friends for dinner?

I need to be make or mostly prepare it in advance. It's for a veggie, a non-veggie, a 5 year old and two 2-year olds (ie not too spicy). And it can't contain nuts.

Ideas?

Angeldog, the swede and potato pasties have been a big hit with us, no spice and can be made in advance. We had the veg biryani last night which I made without chilli because my 2 are not keen and I'm trying to expand their repertoire by using flavour rather than heat. I upped the other spices because someone else who commented earlier on this thread said it had been a bit bland, and it was great - both of the kids ate it. I also left out the sultanas because I just don't like putting fruit into savoury stuff, and added extra almonds at the end. You can make the veg curry part in advance and then it's just a question of doing the rice, adding it to the curry and baking (with a damp teatowel over it). I was going to serve it with the dahl from Veg Everyday which has also been a big hit here, but I cooked the lentils in the mornign when I made the veg curry, but then forgot to finish it off with the spiced oil (story of my life).Still, i put it in the freezer for another day.

(sorry so you could add extra sultanas and leave out the almonds)

With the swede and potato pasties I made too much filling first time but you can freeze it.