Banana Milkshake

 I didn't have time to take any photos of this, so this is a generic picture of bananas!

We had lunch out, and the Swan Whisperer ordered a banana milkshake, despite having been warned that it was only Nesquik.  I had no sympathy, as he had been told, but then made this for a quick supper pudding!

2 bananas

500 ml oat milk (or, of course, dairy milk, or any other milk of your choice)

1 tbs muscovado sugar

Put everything in the blender and whizz!  Serves 2.  Delicious!

It's vegan unless you use cows' milk, in which case it is vegetarian.  I prefer oat milk, but that's taste, not virtue.

Vegetable noodle soup

 I do love soup for lunch, and this particular one is a meal in itself!  If you don't have a soup maker, cook the vegetables and stock on the stove, and then either use a stick blender or, indeed, leave them unpureed!  

Amounts are totally variable!

Frozen chopped onion (or 1 fresh onion, peeled and chopped)

Frozen vegetable mix

Stock cube

Water

Seasoning to taste

Put all the above in the soup maker and set to pureed soup.* 

When cooked, transfer to a saucepan and add:

Chinese quick-cook noodles (ramen noodles are lovely, but you might not need to flavour sachet!)

Frozen peas

I had some frozen beans that wanted using

Frozen "steam veg" pack from Iceland with quinoa and beans

Or whatever you fancy!  Bring to the boil and simmer until noodles are cooked - 2-3 minutes.

* I very often stop right there and just add a tin of sweetcorn for a bit of mouthfeel.

Onion gravy (or sauce)

 This was a little too salty for my taste, but not too bad.  Maybe the Stock Pot was a mistake....

2 large onions, chopped (mine were not as chopped as I should have liked, as I was going to do them in my mini food processor, and it was totally discharged)

A little sunflower or other vegetable oil

1 Stock Pot (I used beef, as we were having it with Cornish pasties, but chicken or veggie would work, it depends what you want to eat it with)

1-2 tsp plain flour (use cornflour or a gluten-free variety if you need to)

1/4 cup cold water and 1/2-2/3 cup boiling water

Seasoning to taste - I used a bit of vinegar and some black pepper.  I had salted the onions, but wished I hadn't!

Put a heavy-based pan on the stove and let  heat up, and add the cooking oil after a few minutes.  Then put in the chopped onions, stir, and turn the heat as low as it will go.  I think I should maybe have used a different burner, as mine caught slightly rather than caramelised nicely.  Cover, and leave to cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Then stir in the Stock Pot (if you are using a cube, dilute it in the boiling water).  Put the flour in a mug and add the cold water (quantities need not be exact), and stir, then stir this through the onions, and finally add the boiling water.  Now season to taste, and then leave on a low heat, uncovered for a further 20-30 minutes until it has reduced and is lovely and thick!

I was making chips in my air fryer, and thought afterwards I could have turned this into a curry sauce by adding a spoonful of curry powder to the oil before anything else, and then using a stick blender on it at the end.  Next time, maybe.

Red fruit shrub

This recipe is totally not original - all credit must go to Max Miller of Tasting History.  His recipe is also in his eponymous cookery book, which you should absolutely all buy (as well as following his YouTube channel if you like food and history, and the history of food).  Anyway, the first time I made it, I followed Max's recipe exactly, except that I used cider vinegar instead of the white wine vinegar he recommends, and I only made half-quantities, in case we didn't like it.  This time, however, I wanted to make a litre to take away on our forthcoming holiday (and yes, do please follow on my travelblog!), but, needless to say, Lidl was out of frozen raspberries and I only had about 200g of them in my freezer.  I use frozen, by the way, as they are very much cheaper than fresh, and also render a lot of juice when they thaw, adding to the deliciousness of the drink.So, anyway:

About 700--750 g frozen red fruit of various kinds (I used a 500g pack of "summer fruit" and c 200 g raspberries)

500 ml cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.  Whichever you use, get the clear kind, not the one with the "mother" in it.

450 g granulated sugar

Put the fruit into a large saucepan and allow to thaw.  Pour over the vinegar and mash it very thoroughly - you don't want any whole berries left.  Leave for at least 12 hours, and up to 24 hours.

Bring the vinegar and fruit mix to the boil, and then pass it through a sieve or a mouli to extract as much juice as you possibly can from the fruit. 

 Now add the sugar, bring it back to the boil, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Allow to cool, then bottle. Will keep awhile in the fridge.

Dilute to taste with still or sparkling water - and maybe, as Max suggests, add some gin!  Delicious.  I expect one could get away with slightly less sugar, but it's still lovely.

Chickpea stew

This was taken from several different recipes.

1/2 cup by volume dried chickpeas

1/2 litre boiling water

1 vegetable stock cube

1/2 litre cold water

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 large onion

large chunk butternut squash

A few mushrooms (up to 1/3 large punnet)

I broccoli stem (you can add some florets if you like, but I didn't)

2 cloves garlic

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Seasoning to taste - I used pepper, mixed herbs and a teaspoonful of vinegar - the stock cube meant it didn't need salt.

Soak the chickpeas in boiling water for at least an hour, ideally more.  Then drain and rinse, and put in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot with the stock cube and cold water and cook on high for 12 minutes, allowing it to come down from pressure at room temperature.  You can, of course, boil the chickpeas on the stove, but that will take at least 45 minutes to an hour, Or, of course, you could use a large tin.

In the meantime, chop the onion and sweat in the oil for a few minutes while you peel and chop the rest of the vegetables.  Add them to the pot, and stir, allowing them to sweat a bit.  Now take about 1/3 of the chickpeas and some of their cooking water and blitz until smooth.  Add this to the pot, plus the tinned tomatoes and as much of the rest of the chickpea liquid as you need to rinse out the tin of tomatoes.  If you are using tinned chickpeas, use cold water for this, unless you actively like aquafaba, which I don't!

Season to taste, and then bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.  This will serve 3 or 4, especially if you add rice or quinoa or similar.  I used quinoa to add more protein.  

I think, were I to make it again, I'd use a small tin of chickpeas to blitz up and thicken it, as I didn't think there were quite enough chickpeas left.  As I have a lot of the stew left over, I'll add a small tin to it before we have it again.  

Turkey rice

I don't really know what to call this; we had some cold turkey left over from the Church Christmas dinner, and I thought this would be a good way of using the remains. It was. It served both of us, and the photo shows what was left over, which we will bulk out with more veg.

I onion

1 quantity butternut squash (about 200g?)

1/3 large pack mushrooms

1 packet pre-cooked rice (I used mexed pepper rice from Lidl) 

Quantity cold turkey or chicken

About 50-60 ml chicken stock - I used liquid stock)

Seasoning to taste

Peel and chop the onion and sweat in a little oil or butter, add the peeled and chopped aquash and let cook, covered, for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms, and let cook a few more minutes. Now add the packet of rice, the chopped poultry and the stock - just enough to moisten, you don't want it swimming in it. Season. Let cook for a couple of minutes until boiling hot.

You can, of course, swap out the veg, or add more. Doesn't have to be the same twice! And if you had leftover red meat, it might work too, with the appropriate stock. Or use tofu or kegumes and vegetable stock to make it plant-based... The possibilities are endless! 

Not-meat loaf with rich tomato sauce.

Three nights ago, I made stuffed spaghetti squash for supper (link).  There was about half left over, so tonight I decided to make it into a kind of meatloaf.  Only not, because it has no meat in it!  

I whisked up two eggs with some seasoning - the stuffing was extremely good, but I thought lacked salt, and might have been even nicer with a bit of spice in it.  Then I put the stuffing into a large bowl, and poured over the eggs.  Using my hands, I mixed it all together, then put it into a loaf tin and topped with grated cheese (because everything is better with cheese on the top, right?)

, and put it in the oven at gas 5 for about 40 minutes.  I served this with a rich tomato sauce (link).

It wasn't quite as set as I'd hoped, but it really was delicious.

  Would have happily served 3 - we had really rather a greedy amount each!