All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy. Spike Milligan

The yogi diet is characteristically clean. We consume fresh foods as unprocessed as possible with the suggestion that meat is off the menu. When I became a vegetarian I thought it would be brilliant not only for my health but also for my bank balance, because meat and fish is so expensive isn’t it? Equally, when I decided to make my diet as vegan as possible within the loosely defined limits of needing to surgically attach my face to a piece of cake now and then, I thought my purse would be positively heavy. How wrong I was. What has ensued in my quest for fresh, fancy free, organic, local foods has been not only been a joyous journey into the land of acquiring much more knowledge, but also a penchant and need for supplements, super foods and chemical free fodder. This has turned my wallet inside out.

These little purchases of sundries such as raw vegan chocolate, protein powders and coconut oils are kind of ok during the rest of the year, especially because I have eschewed alcohol most of the time as well, and so can justify these treats. In January however, when my bank balance is like a cavernous hole ravished by over enthusiastic Christmas presents, flight bookings for 2014 and sale purchases (because those work trousers seem reasonable at 50 rather than 100 pounds in the post-Christmas-pre-New-Year-money-is-no-object splurge don’t they?!). Because of this, I am currently forgoing my usual super duper foodie treats, and am embracing a more frugal diet until I get paid which seems still a long way off.

Anyway, here are my 5 top switches for things to cook and be super healthy during January without breaking the bank….

1. Porridge instead of Protein Powders

Porridge is brilliant! Not only does it fill you up but it also costs very little and is really good for you. It is low in saturated fat, can help you regulate your appetite, give you energy, boost your immunity and help your muscles recover from hard work on the mat or at the gym. My top tip for porridge making is to do it on the hob and let it stand for a few minutes once its cooked. This will let your porridge get creamy, milky and thick.

Fancy Porridge at Wagamama, ours will look like this but without the silly pots

My favourite frugal topping for this lovely morning moment is a sliced banana and some maple syrup. Oats can also be used instead of protein powders if you want to keep going with a breakfast smoothie.

January super without breaking the bank breakfast smoothie recipe:

1 cup water, 1 cup non dairy milk, 1 banana, handful Kale (50p per massive bag at the moment at Tescos), 1 scoop oats, some ice….BLEND!!!! Enjoy 🙂

2. Fried Rice and Noodle Soup instead of any takeaways that you love (like EastzEast Vegetable Vindaloo, for my sins)

Embracing Asian food at home can help you to feel like you are eating something full of flavour and exotic without taking a trip to the takeaway. Often too, these home cooked versions will help you swerve any nasty chemicals, flavourings or colourings that are favourites of takeaways to make you love the food. I have two alternatives to Asian style takeaways, the first of which being fried rice:

Fried Rice

Cook 50g rice per person and drain. Chop up onion, garlic, ginger, and any stir fry veg you have hanging about in the fridge (I used tomatoes, mushrooms, pak choi, and chillis!). Heat your wok with some peanut or rapeseed oil until its screaming hot, then flash fry the onions, garlic and ginger. Add the rice into the pan and season with 2 teaspoons soy per person and some lime or fish sauce (diet depending). Then mix around till the rice is coated and then add in all the veg. Keep stirfrying for a couple of minutes, add a dash of white pepper and voila! push the rice into a bowl and then turn out onto a plate for a dome effect. Serve with lashings of lime wedges, coriander if you have it and chilli sauce.

Not so fancy but so cheap and tasty fried rice

Noodle Soup

Noodle soup is warming, very healthy and aromatic. It’s a lovely treat for a cold winters day. To make my noodle soup cut up an onion, garlic, ginger and chillis. Fry these in a pan while you cut up the rest of the veg (whatever you have in the fridge. I used mushrooms, tomatoes, pak choi, peppers, celery and sweetcorn. You only need a little of each so you can make this in tandem with the rice on another night). Boil a kettle and make 1 litre or so of vegetable stock. Add this to the pan and let it come to a simmer with the aromatics. Then add in the vegetables and give them a slight boil. While you do this cook noodles (one basket per person) for two minutes and drain them off. Add the drained noodles into the pan. Add 2 teaspoons of soy sauce per person and some generous squeezings of lime. Serve in big slurpy bowls with chilli flakes on the side and lashings of coriander on top. The joy of this is probably getting the soup all over your chin as you eat it 🙂

A particularly colourful and lovely aromatic homemade soup

3. Kidney Bean Burgers instead of Dragonfly Walnut and Almond Burgers

Walnut and Almond burgers (see link below) are joyful. They taste great all smushed up in a toasted pitta bread with houmous, salad and chilli sauce, or with homemade chips. They are delightful, but quite expensive at £2.19 for two.

http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/nut-beany-dragonfly-2-x-100g  (for when you are feelin’ flush!)

A recent blog sensation called Jack (A Girl Called Jack) made up a recipe for Kidney Bean Burgers that works out as 9p per burger!! Which is a big difference. I have made these burgers quite a few times now. They always go down a storm in my house and are a brilliant super healthy alternative:

http://agirlcalledjack.com/2013/04/06/carrot-cumin-kidney-bean-burger-9p/ (for when your wallet is skinny)

I can’t take credit for these lovelies, but here is one of my versions:

For when you want a carby gooey yummy feeling in your tummy

4. Pimped up beans instead of pretty much anything that you can’t or don’t want to afford right now

Beans are a magical source of protein, fiber, iron and calcium. They are a low GI carb as well and do all sorts of fancy things with their indigestible fibers. I really love them. They are really good with most meals as we all know, and equally are great as the main man with toast or a jacket potato. My humble contribution to the baked bean is to pimp it up with home made spicy pastes like Harissa. Harissa paste is delicious and quite easy to make. Pimp up your beans with Harissa paste and you will not regret it! You can add it to almost any meal and it will make it taste delicious, which is brilliant if you want to add a bit of spice to your January budget food 🙂

I followed this recipe, it made two jars which lasted for ages and turned out really well:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1977657/harissa

5. Small Oranges in your handbag, in your suitcase, in your living room, in your kitchen, in your office.

Small oranges are wondrous balls of juicy sugary healthy yumminess. Pick up a bag for around 1 pound which has about 10 in. This is not an advert. They are just really good to keep with you everywhere for the times when you want to go to the supermarket and buy expensive things like nuts and coconut water. Embrace the orange. They will keep you going throughout January.

I know you know what an orange looks like I just like the photo.

Enjoy my fellow healthy ones! And be happy! 🙂 xxxx

‘All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green’ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

People in San Francisco have it so good! Remembering green veg at an organic food shop I visited in May 2013.

 

“If you’re going to be alive and on this planet, you have to, like, suck the marrow out of every day and get the most out of it.” Drew Barrymore

I made the most of my day in the late summer. I stuffed and baked a marrow and served it with bright and happy carrot and suede mash.

Marrow stuffed with mushrooms, garlic, rice, creme fraiche and a little bit of lemon juice.

Delightful. Takes a long time in the oven and you have to hold your nerve. I took mine out a smidge early because it was after work and I was hungry like wolf.

Enjoy!

Though the world is full of knives and storms, the body is built for kindness.

Chilli winter vegetable casserole, the ultimate comfort food. Saturday night post yoga loveliness.

The stars of this bowl of loveliness are organic cavelo nero, giant couscous, organic carrots and courgettes, harissa topped houmous, ripe avocado and cannelini beans.

Yumminess.

Quite Simply A Terrible Sponge Made Into A Terrific Trifle!!

Disastrous homemade Victoria sponge taken, cut up and layered with foraged blackberries, lemon curd, custard, whipped cream.

Not the most yogic pudding ever, but I ate the whole lot. Waste not want not.

NAMASTE PUDDING LOVERS!!!

Once a sandwich artist, always a sandwich artist.

Peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches on homemade brown bread!!!

LOOK INTO IT!

Fridays Cake is Full of Grace

Homemade victoria sponge with hand picked and homemade raspberry jam

“My salad days – When I was green in judgment” William Shakespeare

Salads. Some people love them. Some people hate them. Some people only befriend them when their trousers are uncomfortably tight.

But me, I am a salad lover. If its a good-un. I really like making my own salads, with fancy salad items. Fancy for me is falafels, houmous, chia seeds, avocados, roasted veg, various beans, citrus fruits etc…..one of my other favourite salads is self-titled ‘chickpeas three ways’. But this is for another post.

Anyway, I digress. The salad I want to share is part of my cooking when I’ve been having mexican food. And have leftovers. Some of the best creations can come from leftovers for me. Creativity is bred from necessity.

So, this is my Friday, gotnotmuchfoodinthefridgebecauseitsfridaybutimstillstarvingatlunchtime taco salad.

So the recipe is as follows:

a few Mushrooms

couple handfulls Herb Salad

2 Tomatoes

a little bit of Cucumber

half tin of five beans or chickpeas, kidney beans, pintos (for a more mexican feel), butter beans, cannellini beans, haricots. whatever floats your salad boat.

little bit of Cheese

left over Taco shells

Dressing – extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chilli sauce (preferably Cholula) and a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Method:

put the mushrooms in a roasting pan, you can add garlic to them if you feel that way inclined, but otherwise spread them a little vegan margerine and add a little olive oil. Roast them together for about 17 minutes at 200 degrees. Then whilst these bad boys are cooking you cut up all your veg. Then take a big bowl, add in a glug of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lashings of hot sauce (depending on your heat preference) and a squeeze of lemon. Season. whisk this up and then add the chopped cucumber, tomato, leaves and beans. You could also add in any other choppy salad stuff like spring onions, avocado, peppers etc. i just didn’t have them to hand in my paltry friday fridge. Then grate a little bit of cheese over the whole thing. This sort of helps to bind the salad together in a nice way. And it’s tasty. And Taco themed. Then get your taco shells, heat them up in the microwave for 30 seconds and crack them up all over the salad. This adds a nice bit of mexican crunch and carbs! Finally take the mushrooms out of the oven, and when they look juicy and squishy, they can be pronounced done! Serve these joyously over the salad for juicy meaty mushroomy goodness!

Add more chilli sauce if needs be, but mostly just enjoy this healthy take on a mexican classic!!!

Arriba!

Ps. if taking to lunch like me, take your dressing in a left over jam jar for fresh shaking over the salad at lunch time, otherwise your salad will look sad and wilted and you will be unhappy.

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” ― Miles Kington

A beautiful tomato is a wonderful thing. A curry is also one of the greatest joys in life. Therefore a beautiful tomato curry is a great and wonderful joy.

I wanted to share my experience of creating this very simple Turmeric Tomato Curry with you, its quick, easy and very cheap to make. You can use whatever tomatoes you have laying around, whether they are small, large, new or older, everything goes!

However, my greatest piece of advice to you when making a curry is….don’t eat it as soon as you make it. Eat it the next day. The flavours can then mingle, rest and party together and will taste twice as nice. So maybe its not as quick as I am professing. ….

I cannot take all the credit for this recipe, the original inspiration came from Nigel Slater, whose timeless dishes are simple and delish!!

So this is how to do it, you will need:

onions – 2 medium (red onions have the most flavour)

Slug of groundnut oil

garlic – 4 cloves

a hot red chilli

brown mustard seed – 1 tsp

ground turmeric – 2 tsp (don’t overdo the turmeric, I tend to overdo every spice in every curry i make, but don’t do it with this one, its an overwhelmer!)

cumin seed – 2 tsp

a ‘thumb’ of ginger

crushed tinned tomatoes – 400g

largish tomatoes – 8-12 (leave the tops of the tomatoes on, they help the tomatoes retain their shape when cooking and look pretty against the red in the bowl)

thick yoghurt – 100g (or whatever you have lying around)

Peel the onions and roughly chop them, then let them cook slowly in groundnut oil over a low to moderate heat. Whenever i am cooking curry, i will leave the onions to cook gently for as long as possible. The longer you leave them, the more flavour will develop! Peel the garlic, slice it thinly then add it to the onions.Chop the chilli finely and add it, with its seeds, to the onions. Stir in the mustard seed, turmeric and cumin seed and continue cooking. Peel the ginger then cut it into matchstick-sized shreds, or small bits. Add it to the pan and let it cook briefly before you add the tinned tomatoes, 400ml of water and a grinding of black pepper and salt. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil, then add the whole tomatoes.

Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and leave to cook, covered with a lid, for 25 to 35 minutes, turning the tomatoes once or twice during cooking. You want them to soften but not totally collapse. Add a little more water should the mixture thicken too quickly.

Push the tomatoes to one side, then stir in the yoghurt. Let the sauce heat through, stirring gently, but without letting it come to the boil.

I like to accessorize my curries with as many extra bits and bobs as possible, bento style, if you will. With this one I served mango chutney, brown rice, chopped up coriander, thinly sliced courgettes and an extra dollop of yoghurt!!

I hope you have a go at this, its super healthy and makes you feel lovely inhaling the scent of the Turmeric and seeing the vivid colours in the bowl.

God bless the tomato. Enjoy.

I don’t want much, just the moon on a stick.

It’s been a little while, but the good news is that I have been on lots of culinary adventures in the interim period which i am going to write down for your delectation. A recent Sunday brunch trip springs to mind as a nice one to talk about. I went to the shabby chic and suitably quirky Lark Lane in Liverpool recently, to the Moon and Pea cafe for what turned out to be a slap up breakfast. I took my mum and dad with me, who I totally trust to be the judge of a good fry up.

I always love it when there is a vegan breakfast on offer. Although I am a fan of the versatile egg, I prefer to make them at home when their origin can be known. Although i reckon the egg industry is making a mockery of everyone in one way or another.

The moon and pea didn’t disappoint. The service was excellent for a small and bustling establishment, with the waitress immediately asking two guys to move to a smaller table so our larger party could be seated without a wait. The teas were lovely, and the freshly squeezed orange in a good size unlike other places who are stingy with the citrus.

My breakfast was slightly too deep fry heavy but was utterly lovely and I finished the whole thing after moving house earlier in the morning. It consisted of mushrooms, vegan sausages, vegan patties, beans, fried potatoes, tomato, houmous and lovely sourdough toast. You could also have peanut butter instead of houmous so that’s something to look forward to on the next visit.

My mum had eggs Florentine and dad had a Moon breakfast and there were clean plates all round. My vegan breakfast was a snip at £4.25 and filled me up for the most part of the day, which is no mean feat as my friends and family will attest to. I am a proud owner of a ‘two hour tum’ which takes regular maintenance. 🙂

A next visit there definitely will be!! Lark lane is a lovely place to take your friends or relatives for a jolly walk around and a gut busting yummy breakfast. All polished off with service with a smile and a half!

Two thumbs up!

http://www.themoonandpea.co.uk/