Banana, Honey and Pecan Flapjacks

When I was on maternity leave I went to a mum and baby yoga class once a week, and at the end of every class we had tea and homemade flapjack cooked by the instructor. This has led to me having a slight obsession with cooking flapjack which my waistline does not appreciate! I have experimented with lots of different flavour combinations and so far this has been my favourite. This recipe substitutes sugar and honey for the traditional golden syrup used in flapjacks; if you are not a fan of honey then you can use golden or maple syrup instead. The bananas are laid in the middle of the flapjack and make it quite moist and dense; if you prefer crunchy flapjacks you might want to omit them. If you like a crumbly flapjack, put  more oats in, as this makes them quite dense.

Three Bean Chilli

Vege chilli is a classic vegetarian dish and this is a good store cupboard recipe. This dish is best cooked slowly, but if you need to cook it relatively quickly it will still taste great.

I use dehydrated soya mince in this, which you simply rehydrate by pouring hot water over the top and leaving for five minutes, but you could omit it or use any other type of vegetarian mince. I prefer dehydrated mince to other types as it doesn't have so many preservatives in it as other brands, and has the advantage that it is gluten free. You can use any type of beans you like; I used kidney, black-eyed, and black turtle beans in this but they are by no means necessary. The recipe list looks quite long but most of it consists of store cupboard spices which you can always omit if you don't have them.

This serves 4 - 6. We had a very generous four portions out of this plus a bit extra for my daughter (minus salt and chillies!), who had a lovely time digging into her portion and made a massive mess:

Lentil and Feta Meatless Balls

This week I have tried two cooking experiments: polenta chips and these lentil and feta meatless balls. The polenta chips experiment was a disaster (I am going to have to have a few more attempts before they become blog ready), but these meatless balls turned out perfectly. They went down very well with both my partner and our six month old daughter who couldn't get enough of hers; we gave her half a ball and ended up having to give her more as she complained when it was all gone (about half in her mouth and half on the floor, I have to admit). The balls are baked and will crisp up on the outside but are still soft on the inside. I stirred them into a tomato sauce to eat with pasta, but you could have them with any sauce you wanted; just be careful not to vigorously over stir into a sauce as they may collapse, or you may want to serve directly on a plate and simply pour a sauce on top of them.

I used tinned lentils to save on time and to avoid any issues with over- or under-cooking the lentils, but you could use dried lentils if you want. If so, just cook until soft but not falling apart, and allow to cool before making the balls. I also omitted adding any additional salt as the feta is salty and I was feeding them to my daughter, but you might want to add a bit of salt to taste.

Pesto Pasta with Halloumi, Asparagus and Olives

One of those random 'why don't I throw a bunch of things together and see if it works' recipes. This is a relatively quick and simple dish to make, but tastes fantastic. If you don't like olives, you can omit them and the dish would still be lovely. Similarly, if asparagus isn't in season, you could substitute for courgette or other green vegetable of your choice.