Recipes from past times

I’m being a bit lazy in this post and just linking you to this post from today’s Guardian, featuring recipes from past periods of austerity. While not all the recipes are vegetarian, some are and they sound quite interesting.

Vegetarian Moussaka

I love moussaka but it always seemed too much hassle to make it from scratch… until I realised that there was an alternative to making cheese sauce for the top. So I gave it a go and the result was awesome.

The dish uses quite a lot of olive oil, but because the filling is made from lentils rather than meat, it’s less fattening than the traditional version would be. Using low-fat creme fraiche as a topping also helps keep the fat count down, and has the added benefit of giving it a nice tang (why, yes, I am addicted to the stuff!).

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1/2 mug brown lentils
• 1 mug water
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crussed
• 1tsp mixed dried herbs
• 200ml passata
• 1 aubergine (eggplant)
• olive oil
• low fat creme fraiche

Easy cheesy bake

Serves 1-2 people.

I found this recipe in The Cranks Recipe Book and decided to give it a try. I had a horrid feeling it was going to turn out to be soggy and stodgy -partly because it just sounded that way and partly because I’d seen an almost identical recipe in a World War II UK-government-published recipe leaflet designed to help people make the most of their rations. Happily my misgivings were for nothing: this turned out to be incredibly good – full of flavour as well as both light and filling. And it made my flat smell wonderful.

Oh, and it’s incredibly easy to make!

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion
• 4oz (125g) breadcrumbs
• 4oz (125g) grated cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp French mustard
• 3/4pint (426ml) milk
• seasoning

Ode to the wonder that is porridge

I live in Scotland. I live on a budget. It amazes me that porridge wasn’t the subject of my very first post here.

At the moment I’m eating porridge for one of my meals every day, and it’s really helping keep the cost of living down. I remember reading somewhere (though I can’t for the life of me remember where that ’somewhere’ was) that muesli was invented to form an entire meal’s nutrition in one bowl: the cereal provides the fibre and carbohydrates, milk and nuts give protein and calcium, and the dried fruit does the rest. I realised that porridge, with some extras thrown in, would be equally nutritious.

Of course, the cheapest way to make porridge is using water, but to me that’s just one step too close to wallpaper paste. My mum swears by a mixture of half milk, half water. I use milk for all the liquid, unless I’m having a particularly poor week.

It’s simple to make: you just need twice the volume of water/milk as you do porridge oats. Put them in a pan and heat, stirring to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan. After about five minutes you’ve got your meal.

Ways I’ve been flavouring porridge recently include:

• 1tbsp rose water, 1tbsp flaked almonds, 2tbsp chopped dried dates
• 1 banana (chopped), 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1tsp honey
• 2tbsp dried, sweetened blueberries (which have the added awesome effect of turning the porridge bright purple!)
• grated apple, pinch of cinnamon

At some point I’ll try some savoury porridge. If it turns out to be in any way edible I’ll post about it here.

And I’m back…

Okay, so let’s try this again. Not long after starting this blog I fell ill and really wasn’t up to doing much at all. Hopefully restarting the blog won’t bring about some other misfortune…

Cheesy broccoli and pasta bake

Serves 1 very hungry person alone, or 2 reasonably hungry people with bread and salad as accompaniments

Ingredients:

• 100-150g low-fat creme fraiche
• 50g blue cheese (Stilton or St Agur work well, but you could use whatever you have)
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• handful of broccoli spears
• enough dried pasta to fill a big mug
• handful of breadcrumbs or dried stuffing mix

Equipment:

• 2 saucepans (one medium, one small)
• 1 baking dish
• wooden spoon
• chopping board
• sharp knife

Sweet potato, spinach, split pea and coconut soup

Makes 2 very large portions or 3 smaller ones

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 onion
• 1 clove of garlic (if you have them to hand, you could also use some chopped fresh chilli and/or some fresh ginger)
• 1 sweet potato
• Frozen spinach
• Handful of split peas
• 1/2 mug coconut milk

Equipment:

• Saucepan (with lid)
• Hand-blender
• Chopping board and knife

NOTES: I use frozen spinach (it’s cheaper and more convenient) but if you have fresh stuff to hand then just make sure you chop it finely. I also prefer to mix up coconut milk from a powder rather than buying the tins since I never need a full tin’s worth at once. But if you’re doubling the recipe or can’t get hold of the powdered stuff I can’t see that it would make any difference.

Hello random visitors!

Welcome to my blog. I’ll start posting recipes here just as soon as I get to grips with how this site works.

A couple of notes:

Firstly, I’m really sorry the photos aren’t all that great – I don’t have a digital camera so am stuck using the not-so-brilliant camera on my phone. I hope that doesn’t put you off trying any of the recipes though… the food really does look much tastier in real life!

Secondly, I’m going to try and use the “categories” feature to organise recipes by general type (main course, pasta dishes, soups and so forth) and the “tags” to list the key ingredients. If things become too confusing or overwhelming, then the tag system will probably be the first to go.

Thirdly (because ‘a couple’ doesn’t always have to mean ‘two’… possibly…) I’d really like to hear from anyone who tries out these recipes, particularly if you’ve adapted them and come up with something even better.