vegetarian – Breakfast by the sea

Black Bean Tacos

Heather — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 13:56:14 +0000

Black Bean Tacos

A little Mexican colour and spice to liven up lunch or dinner. These tacos are really easy to make and are perfect for a light dinner – you can add as many toppings as you like. If you’re looking to cut down on the amount of meat in your diet then black beans are a great option as they are packed with protein to provide you with a really balanced plate. Tinned beans are also a budget-friendly option. This recipe keeps really well (minus the avocado) so make a few extra and you’ll have tomorrow’s lunch ready to go!

Ingredients
1 tin 400g black beans
1 red pepper, cut into small chucks
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp of cocoa
1 large tomato, cut in small chunks
1 tsp of vegetable oil

To serve
Grated cheddar cheese
Small tin of sweetcorn
1 lime
An avocado
4 small taco wraps
1 small red onion
Handful of cherry tomatoes

Method
1.) Preheat your oven to 200oc
2.) Add your beans, chopped pepper, tomato, garlic, cocoa, paprika and cumin to a small roasting tin, mix in the oil and pop in the oven for 20 mins
3.) Fold your tacos in half and lightly toast them in a toaster for 1 min on a low setting until lightly brown on each side (be cautious here as the tacos are thin and can burn very quickly if left too long)
4.) To serve it’s much more fun to bowl up all your toppings and your black bean mixture individually and allow people to fill their own tacos at the table. A good squeeze of lime on your avocado will prevent it going brown.

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Veggie Curry in a Hurry

Heather — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 11:14:47 +0000

Veggie curry in a hurry

This is a vibrant, hearty curry that’s lovely and filling, ready in under 30 minutes and won’t cost you a bomb in ingredients.

Serves
Makes enough for two generous portions and some for leftovers too.

Ingredients
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
½ thumb sized piece of ginger grated
2 large potatoes peeled and cut into small even chunks
2 or 3 large tomatoes cut into chunks
1 red pepper cut into chucks
200g tin of chickpeas
2 tbsp of curry powder
400ml tin of coconut milk |(approx 200ml)
Coconut yogurt and lime pickle to serve

Method
Peel and dice up your onion finely and fry on a low heat until soft.
Next add crushed garlic and grated ginger, curry powder and chunks of potato and fry until the potato begins to soften and lightly brown.
Add the peppers, tomatoes and continue to fry for 5 minutes.
Add your chickpeas and coconut milk, bring to a simmer and let it bubble away on the hob for about 15 minutes.

Serve on a pile of fluffy basmati rice and don’t be shy with the lime pickle and coconut yogurt.

Time-saving tip: A lot of supermarkets sell bags of pre-chopped garlic and ginger, which can be a great time-saving as you can simply use what you need and pop the rest back in the freezer.

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Autumn Orzo Stew

Heather — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 15:48:48 +0000

Autumn Orzo Stew

A really quick and nutritious meal, perfect to pop in the oven and leave to cook while you get on with something else (or just scroll insta…)

Ingredients
400g tin of mixed beans
400g chopped tinned tomatoes
100g Orzo pasta
1 red onion chopped into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic
½ stick of celery cut into small pieces
1 tsp of paprika
300ml of hot vegetable stock
2/3 thick slices of old bread (sour dough works well)
30g of grated hard cheese like cheddar
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Method
Preheat your oven to 200c
Fry the onion for 4-5 minutes in 1 tbsp of oil on a low heat until soft
Add garlic and celery and cook for a further 2 minutes
Add the tin of beans, chopped tomatoes, paprika, vegetable stock and orzo to a large lidded casserole dish and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
After 20mins stir the mixture, adding more water if necessary to prevent the orzo from sticking to the pan.
Return the stew to the oven and cook for a further 20mins.
While your stew is cooking tear up your slices of bread into chunks, toss in the remaining oil, lay evenly on a baking sheet and sprinkle with cheese. Pop in the oven for the last 10 minutes of your stew’s cooking time.
Spoon your stew into bowls and top with your cheesy croutons.

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Green Power Smoothie

Heather — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 12:50:50 +0000

Green Power Smoothie

If you’re trying to increase your intake of healthy greens then why not try this nutritious green smoothie. Packed full of lovely veg, it’s a great way to get your greens in at the start of your day, or to give you a refreshing boost in the afternoon.

Ingredients
½ cucumber
1 handful of spinach
1 handful frozen pineapple
1 handful of mint leaves
Juice of ½ lime

Method
Pop all the ingredients in a blender and blitz till smooth.
Enjoy over ice.

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Spicy Bean Burgers

Heather — Mon, 08 May 2017 12:16:30 +0000

Spicy Bean Burgers

I’m guilty of eating a little too much meat sometimes and when I want to lighten up mealtimes I always find beans make a nutritious, cheap and versatile option. This recipe is really quick to prepare and the trusty food processor does most of the work for you – hurrah!

Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 tin of chick peas
1/2 tin of kidney beans
2 spring onions
Juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp of mayonnaise
1 tsp of dijon mustard
3 tbsp of breadcrumbs
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin

Method
Preheat grill to medium heat
Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until well combined.
Shape into even sized patties and grill on each side until the burgers start to brown.
Serve in wholemeal rolls with a generous spoonful of hummous and lettuce.

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Roasted Veg & Halloumi Burgers

Heather — Wed, 20 May 2015 12:10:36 +0000

Roasted Veg & Halloumi Burgers

The first time I tried halloumi cheese on holiday in Cyprus many years ago & I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. As a pre-dinner snack, we would sit outside on the balcony of our apartment at sunset enjoying slices of grilled halloumi and bottles of ice cold beer. Uncooked it’s pretty unimpressive and quite squeaky on your teeth, but pop it under the grill for a few minutes and it transforms into a salty delicious flavour bomb!

Makes about 4 burgers

Ingredients
1 medium aubergine cut into slice lengthways
1/2 red peppers
1 block of halloumi cheese, cut into slices lengthways
1 pot of hummus
4 Rolls of your choice (I used ciabatta, warmed in the oven for a couple of minutes before serving).

Method
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
Drizzle the oil over the aubergine and peppers and bake in the oven for 20 mins until softened.
Warm your griddle pan (or you can just use a conventional grill)
Place the cheese, peppers and aubergines on
Griddle until golden on both sides (you might need to do this in a couple of rounds)
Spread a generous couple of spoonfuls of hummus on to your rolls
Layer with the cheese and vegetables.

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Aubergine and mozzarella stacks

Heather — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:57:00 +0000

I’ve lost my cooking mojo a bit recently. That’s not to say I’ve lost my appetite though, far from it in fact! I’ve been eating out for more than my bank balance (and belly) would like. But do you know what? I’ve been having a great time and I don’t feel guilty in the slightest. So I think the excitement of enjoying other people’s cooking might have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm in the kitchen.

This weekend I decided to jump back into cooking, and what better way then with a gooey cheese-laden recipe. Is there such a thing as too much cheese? I’m pretty sure there can’t be. Aubergine and mozzarella stacks: I can’t claim credit for this recipe, it’s actually one from the Sarah Raven book, ‘Food for Friends and Family’. An amazing cookery book that my Mum introduced me too (thanks Mum!).

In the book, Sarah recommends cooking the stacks on a fire, but that wasn’t an option for me. Instead, I baked them in the oven and they worked just fine.

Be prepared to get messy when you’re eating them though – acquiring a ‘mozzarella chin beard’ comes as standard, so eat among good friends!

Here’s the link the Sarah’s recipe. Perfect for summer BBQ’s, and sure to satisfy any veggies you have round for dinner.

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Cooking from the book ‘Mighty Spice’ by John Gregory-Smith

Heather — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:04:00 +0000

I was supposed to put up this post last week, but sadly it got eaten before I had time to photograph it (a good sign I think!) and I ended up having to make it again.

I think I must have cooked almost all the recipes from John Gregory-Smith’s Mighty Spice book when I purchased it a few months ago. It really is a fantastic book, full of simple, honest, flavour-packed recipes – the type of food I could pretty much eat every day. I really enjoyed the introduction where John talks about the impact travel has had on his life and how it has influenced his cooking.

For me, there were definitely a couple of standout recipes: Falafel Burgers with a Yogurt and Tahini Dip and the Bulgur Wheat Salad, (shown in the above pictures.) I’d never actually tried bulgur wheat before making this recipe, and I was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was to make – very similar to cous cous. I have to say that I did add make a couple of my own amendments of to the recipe: lemon zest and a huge handful of fresh mint.

I also made the mango, orange and nutmeg cheesecake. Sadly, this wasn’t very successful, hence I haven’t posted a picture. It wasn’t much of a looker, especially after I dropped it on the worktop while trying to get it out of the tin (whoops). It was supposed to have a delicate mango drizzle on the top of it, but I totally fudged it up and it ended up like mango mush that made the cheesecake a bit wet and sloppy. Not nice.

Anyway, I loved the book and I’m looking forward cooking many more meals from it. With any luck the weather will warm up here in the UK and we’ll be able to eat outside – yeah right, who am I kidding…

You can find a link to the book here.

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Moroccan-style Bean Stew

Heather — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:07:00 +0000

All images © Heather Wilkinson 2012

I’ve really got into combining sweet and savoury flavours recently, and I thought I’d use these as a basis for creating a dish for Meat-free Monday. This is a Moroccan-inspired bean stew, healthy, tasty and incredibly simple to prepare. I made sure to make plenty so there was enough left for lunch the next day. I really wanted to try making flat breads but ran out of time, so I served the stew with toasted wholemeal pittas and a yogurt dip.

You will need
400g (dry weight) of mixed beans and pulses (I used chick peas, kidney and flageolet beans)
400g of good quality chopped tinned tomatoes (+ half a tin of water)
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp dried chilli flakes (or fresh chilli if you prefer)
½ tsp paprika
A handful of sultanas
1 handful of dried chopped apricots
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp dried powered ginger
1 tsp tomato puree
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 generous glug of olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1.)Heat the oil in a large pan. Add your onion and allow to soften before adding your garlic, carrots, cumin, ginger, paprika, cinnamon, chilli and coriander. Cook for about 3 minutes.
2.)Add your beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, sultanas, apricots and half a tin of fresh water. Stir gently to combine all the ingredients together.
3.)Leave on a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 mins to allow the stew to cook down.

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Spicy sweet potato soup

Heather — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:06:00 +0000

I know my last post was a soup recipe, but the weather has been so ridiculously cold and snowy here in Sussex this week that I’ve been eating little else. Knowing that I’ve got a warm and satisfying lunch to look forward to is about the only thing that makes braving the arctic temperatures in the morning bearable.

I think this has to be one of the simplest soups I’ve ever made: quick to prepare, healthy and a really short list of ingredients. My kind of recipe.

You will need
A glug of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
½ teaspoon of dried chill flakes or ½ fresh red chilli, deseeded.
1 tsp ground coriander
2 garlic cloves, crushed and sliced
750g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium chunks
1 pint of warm vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste.

1.) Warm the oil in a large pan, add your onions, garlic, chilli flakes and ground coriander and cook until soft.
2.) When your onions have softened, add your sweet potato and mix it in with the other ingredients. Leave it to cook in the pan for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
3.) Pour your warmed stock over the mixture, bring to the boil and then turn down to simmer for about 10/15 mins, or until the sweet potatoes soften.
4.) Blend your soup until smooth. Serve with fresh crusty bread (this soda bread is ideal). If you find the soup too spicy then add a dollop of crème fraiche.

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