Recipe for wholesome and healthy soup in 25 minutes

This soup was a creation of my own. I'm not quite sure what happened but I found myself wanting something hot, something wholesome and something that would use up some of our vegetables. So I began putting things together and it turned out really yummy!

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for vegan soup

•    2 mugs of water – 700 ml of water
•    1 cube of vegan stock
•    1/2 a bunch of broccoli – chopped into small pieces
•    1/2 a head of a small cauliflower – cut into small pieces
•    2 handfuls of kale – remove thick stems
•    175 of baby corn – cut into thirds
•    1 handful of capers
•    8 cherry tomatoes – left whole
•    1 small (200g) can of sweetcorn
•    1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
•    2 handfuls of cashew nuts – about 250g
•    100g of tofu - diced
•    1/2 a teaspoon of vegan margarine

How to make vegan soup 

1.    Put the water in a pan and let it boil
2.    When it’s boiled, add the stock, letting it simmer on the heat when it’s dissolved
3.    Add the broccoli and cauliflower
4.    After 2 minutes, add the kale and stir
5.    After 1 minute, add the capers and baby corn and stir
6.    After 10 minutes add the cherry tomatoes and sweetcorn
7.    Let it cook for another 5 minutes and then add a handful of sesame seeds
8.    Cook the tofu in a 'dry' frying pan
9.    After 1 minute, add the margarine and mix with the tofu
10.    After 1 minute, add the tofu to the soup and let it cook
11.    Put the cashew nuts in the pan that was used for the tofu and mix
12.    Turn the heat off when they become brown and remove the pan from that hob
13.    Serve the soup in a bowl and garnish it with the cashew nuts

The feedback was from my hubby who said he could eat this at least three times a week, because it was so healthy and tasty.

Recipe: Pasta with a twist within 25 minutes

I didn't make this but I definitely enjoyed eating it! :)

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for the pasta

•    2/3 of a tablespoon of olive oil
•    3/4 of a bunch of broccoli – torn into edible sized pieces
•    1 fresh chilli – finely chopped
•    2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves – left whole
•    salt to taste
•    pepper to taste
•    8 cherry tomatoes – left whole
•    130g of pasta – I  use rigatoni
•    1/2 tablespoon of vegan margarine – I  use Pure sunflower margarine
•    2 carrots – grated
•    1 small (200g) can of sweetcorn
•    vegan sausage – thin circular slices – I  use Taifun Tofu-Wiener
•    1 tablespoon of salt – for the pasta

How to make the pasta

1.    Add the olive oil to a pan and heat it
2.    When it’s hot, add the broccoli let it cook for 2 minutes before adding the chill
3.    When the broccoli has become a little bit 'burnt', add the spinach, salt and pepper
4.    After 2 minutes, add the cherry tomatoes
5.    While this is cooking, boil some water and use it to boil the pasta in a separate pan
6.    Add the salt to the pasta and stir
7.    Check the pasta after 7 minutes and if it’s the way you like it, drain the water and add the pasta to the vegetables
8.    Add the margarine to the pan (with the vegetables and pasta in it) and stir
9.    To serve, create different sections on a plate, separating the carrots, sweetcorn and Wiener, and the pasta. 

Pasta served with grated carrots, sweetcorn and Wiener

Recipe: Stir fried vegetables and rice within 25 minutes

This is a great recipe as it can be adapted and varied in many ways. You can use different vegetables. You can also use different rice e.g. white, brown and wild rice.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for the stir fry and rice

•    3/4 of a cup of rice  – white, brown or wild rice
•    2 & 3/4 teacups of water
•    1 carrot – chopped into thin 3 cm strips
•    1 pak choi – separate the leaves
•    150g of tofu – chopped in to bite-size chunks
•    1/2 a red or green pepper – diced
•    1/2 a bunch of broccoli – chopped into bite-size pieces
•    1/2 a teaspoon of coconut oil or sesame oil
•    2 tablespoons of soy sauce

How to make the rice

1.    Wash the rice and drain the water
2.    Put the rice and 2 & 3/4 teacups of water in a pan on a high heat, with the lid off
3.    When it begins to froth, put the lid on the pan, reduce the heat to as low as it can go, and leave it to cook for 20 minutes
4.    Keeping the lid on the pan, tilt the pan with the rice in it, to see if there's any water left in it - if there's a little left, cook it for another 5 minutes, otherwise turn it off

How to make the stir fried vegetable

1.    Heat the oil in a pan and when the oil's hot, add the tofu, stir gently and wait 3 minutes before adding the carrots and soy sauce
2.    Stir gently and put the lid on the pan
3.    After 2 minutes add the remaining vegetables and stir
4.    Let it cook until it's the texture that you like it to be
5.    When the vegetables are ready, put the cooked rice in a bowl/cup and tip it upside down on the plate, to create a mound of rice.
6.    Place the mound on one side of the plate, or in the centre, and place the vegetables around the rice.

Serving suggestion

Spread the rice across the plate to create a circle with a hole in the middle, where you can put the vegetables. 

Below, you can see how I've used the same recipe but changed the ingredients a little

Recipe: Spaghetti with vegan mince and vegetables within 25 minutes

I fancied some spaghetti and I wanted t make my own sauce so here's what I did. This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for spaghetti with vegan mince and vegetables

• 2 handfuls of spaghetti
• 1/2 a small bunch of broccoli
• 3/4 of a small courgette
• Olive oil
• 5 cherry tomatoes
• Tomato Purée
• Salt
• Pepper
• A handful of vegan mince

How to make spaghetti with vegan mince and vegetables

1. Put some spaghetti on the boil 
   1. Put some boiling water in a pan and hold the spaghetti
   2. Within about 20 seconds, it will begin to soften, so you can bend the spaghetti around the pan, which means you don't have to break it into pieces
   3. Give it a stir now and again
   4. Chop the broccoli and the courgette 
   5. Put some olive oil in a pan
   6. Add the broccoli and courgette when the oil is hot
   7. After 5 minutes add some whole cherry tomatoes
   8. Add a little tomato purée
   9. Add salt and pepper to taste
   10. Add the mince and stir
   11. Put the lid on the pan and let it cook
   12. When the spaghetti is ready, drain it, add some vegan margarine and mix it up

Serving suggestion

When I served it,  I made a circular shape with the spaghetti leaving a hole in the middle for the vegetables.

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Recipe: Quinoa served with tofu and broccoli cooked in soya sauce

This recipe makes a quick, simple and delicious dish. Whenever I make dishes with for example, quinoa, pasta, cous cous, I load it up with vegetables. I find this lighter on the tummy, healthier and feel more content afterwards.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa
• Salt
• About 150g of Tofu
• 1/2 a small broccoli
• Coconut oil
• Soy Sauce

How to make the quinoa

1. Measure the dry quinoa
2. The proportion of dry quinoa to cooked quinoa is about 1:3, so 1 cup of dried quinoa will make about 3 cups of cooked quinoa
3. Rinse the quinoa under cold water and drain - it’s handy to use a fine mesh sieve for rinsing it
4. Put the rinsed quinoa into a saucepan and add cold water - the quinoa to water ratio is 1:2, so use 2 cups of water for every cup of quinoa
5. If you wish to give it a subtle flavour, add some vegetable stock to the water
6. Add a little salt
7. Cover and boil
8. As soon as it starts to boil, turn the heat down and put the lid over the pan so that's it isn't fully covering it - this will stop it boiling over
9. Simmer for 15-20 minutes - the quinoa becomes transparent when it’s cooked, except for a little spiral sprout
10. If the quinoa is tender but there’s excess water in the bottom of the saucepan, leave the lid off completely for a few minutes until the water evaporates
11. When it's done turn off the heat, put the lid on and let sit for about 5 minutes
12. Use a fork to fluff up the quinoa and then serve it up

How to make the vegetable part of this dish

1. Chop some Tofu
2. Chop some broccoli
3. Put a bit of oil in a wok
4. Add the broccoli first
5. Add some soya sauce
6. Let it cook with the lid on using a medium/high heat
7. Add the Tofu when the broccoli  is half done
8. Mix and add to the plate of quinoa

What about Calcium Absorption?

Sometimes there is no need for words :) This chart says it all.

Calcium

"The human body has no more need for cows' milk than it does for dogs' milk, horses' milk, or giraffes' milk." Michael Klaper