Leek and Mushroom Risotto

A rather straightforward risotto dish from one of my random vegetarian cookbooks. I used mature cheddar cheese but if you can get hold of any vegetarian parmesan style cheese (or if you are happy to eat parmesan cheese) then that would also work very well.

Vegetarian Brazilian Feijoada (Black Bean Stew)

Feijoada is a traditional dish served in Brazil, which essentially involves beans and a lot of meat, often smoked. To make the vegetarian version, I substitute meat for vegetables and add smoked paprika to get a smoky flavour. There are a number of ways you can play with the recipe; you can also use 'fake' meat with a smoky flavour such as vegetarian frankfurters, or 'fake' bacon. I've done this before with much success but since I don't tend to cook with fake meat that often, I usually just use a root vegetable or something from the squash family. Carrots, butternut squash and sweet potato all work really well in this dish, but you can basically use any vegetable you want. Adding onions or spring onions also enhances the dish, but I like to keep it simple: beans and vegetables, cooked until soft and creamy. I use a brazilian seasoning called 'tempero completo' in this dish, which is sold in the 'world foods' section of my local supermarket, but if you don't have access to it, just add in a tsp of dried vegetable stock instead. For a truly authentic Brazilian experience, serve with farofa (toasted manioc flour) but again it is fine without. In my house, we also eat this with an egg on top, though this is entirely optional.

Quinoa with Roasted Butternut Squash, Leeks and Feta

I've never cooked with quinoa before, so I was feeling a bit apprehensive about making this dish. I needn't have worried though as it tasted delicious. The addition of the feta cheese was very nice but if you wanted to make this dish a bit healthier you could omit it with no problems whatsoever.

Blue Cheese Rice with Cannellini Beans

This is another long-standing recipe cooked in my house, and pre-dates my conversion to vegetarianism (5 years and counting!). It's from a very old Readers Digest recipe book (the same one that my pasta with black beans and kale recipe came from) and its title in that is 'Italian cheese and rice' because it uses Gorgonzola, but in my house, this is known as 'blue cheese rice thing' because we use any blue cheese we fancy. I have no idea why Pete and I feel the need to call it 'thing' but the name seems to have stuck. Soft blue cheeses such as danish blue or gorgonzola work very well, but we usually use Stilton which is cheaper and more pungent, and what can I say? We're cheapskates who like strong tasting cheese...

Red Onion, Feta and Olive Tart

This recipe comes from one of my random vegetarian recipe books and is a firm favourite in my house. Apart from the caramelizing of the onions, the rest of the tart requires virtually no prep whatsoever (especially as I usually use pre-rolled puff pastry). Green or black olives will do just as well in this recipe, so use whatever you prefer/can get your hands on. It's also great cold for lunch the next day.

Raspberry Crumble Cupcakes

I recently found this recipe in one of my oldest and much loved baking books, and the idea of mashing together two of my favourite desserts (cake and crumble), was too much to resist. I made them as soon as I had an excuse to bake some cakes (a visit to Pete's work place to show off our baby) and they turned out really well. The cupcakes themselves are raspberry flavoured with a hint of lemon, but what really makes them special/unusual is the crumble style topping with pecans in. You could also substitute the pecans for walnuts if you wanted. The recipe calls for melted butter which makes mixing easier if you don't have a food mixer (I don't), and I just used a microwave to melt the butter quickly, though you could melt it in a small saucepan on a very low heat if you wished.

Vegetable Tofu Ramen

I was given a combined rice, slow cooker and steamer for Christmas by my boyfriends parents and I have to say it is so handy when you have a baby to look after and less time to cook. So I've decided to revisit some of my soup/casserole/risotto recipes; expect to see them appearing on the blog soon! I cooked this in the slow cooker on the steamer function but I've included instructions for normal cooking since this is a tried and tested recipe which I've cooked a number of times on the hob.

This recipe calls for some unusual ingredients that you probably won't have in your store cupboard (miso paste, mirin, sesame oil) but these are all ingredients you can get from any large supermarket or an Asian supermarket, if you have access to one. If you don't want to or can't buy mirin then you can substitute for sugar, and you can also omit the sesame oil, but the miso paste is absolutely essential for the flavour. You'll end up with quite a bit of miso paste leftover but it is very savoury in taste (read: delicious) and is a great store cupboard ingredient to have as it can be added to any style of soup, stew or casserole to give a lovely depth in flavour.

The vegetables can be substituted for any you like; beansprouts go quite well in ramen but I'm not a fan of them so I don't bother adding them. I peel the carrots and courgette to quicken the cooking time but if you'd rather slice them then you'll need to add them in earlier to allow for the greater cooking time. I used udon noodles here as I love their thickness but you can use any noodles you want.