Chunky Veg Soup

Don't let the long list of ingredients put you off this filling, hearty, chunky and healthy veggie soup/stew (I use the / as it's very, very chunky) is a delicious winter warmer and once you've done the chopping, it's just a matter of adding.

The sweet potato and capsicum impart a lovely sweetness that counters the acidity of the tomatoes.

Ingredients:

Low fat cooking spray

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 meduim carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 Tbs thyme

1 bayleaf

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 Tbs tomato paste

1 Tbs soy sauce

1 stock cube

100g lentils verte, washed and pre-cooked for 10 min in the microwave (just cover with water and cook on high)

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 L boiling water

1 yellow capsicum, chopped

1 courgette, chopped

2 handfuls of mini pasta shapes (note the heart shaped pasta in the pic - a gift from my sister's recent trip to Italy)

1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

handful torn basil

To make:

1) Heat some cooking spray in a pot over a medium heat and add in the onions. Stir fry for 3minutes and then add garlic and stir.

2)Put the carrots, celery, salt, pepper, celery salt, bayleaf and thyme and stir for 3 minutes.

3) Then add sweet potato, tomato paste, soy sauce and crumble in the stock cube, mix well.

4) Then add the lentils and tomatoes and stir well to get everything mixed before pouring in the water. Bring to the boil then turn down, cover and leave to simmer for 20 minuites.

5) Add the yellow capsicum and let that cook for 15 minutes before adding the courgettes, pasta and vinegar. Turn up the heat and cook for 10 minutes, or until the pasta is done (it will take longer than the packet instructions to cook as it's in with everything else).

6) Just before serving add the torn basil.

Serves 4.

This is very satisfying and delicious with crusty white bread, or on its own.

Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcake Morsels

At this time of year people go nuts with Christmas cards, giving them to everyone and anyone, or so it seems. Unless it's someone who takes the time to write a personal message to each and every card recipient, they normally contain the standard 'to' and 'from' fields. To me, this is a massive waste of paper, especially when they get binned a couple of weeks down the line. So instead, I take edible Christmas treats to work, and this year it was mini cupcakes.

The below recipe is a halved version of a classic cupcake recipe from (yes, you guessed it) the Edmond's Cookery Book. I make 2 batches, one while the other is cooking. You can double the below to make one big batch if you want to, but I like making 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 vanilla.

The icing is my own recipe, but pretty standard, I am sure it's in a million recipe books.

For the cakes:

Ingredients:

65g dairy free spread

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 c caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 c self raising flour, sifted,

1 Tbs cocoa, sifted (leave out for the vanilla cakes)

1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted

2 Tbs soy milk

To make:

1) Prepare a mini cupcake tin with mini paper cases. Heat the oven to 190°c, gas mark 5.

2) Cream the spread and sugar, then mix in vanilla.

3) Add egg and mix well.

4) Sift in flour and other dry ingredients, then add milk.

5) 1/2 fill cupcake cases, and bake for about 10 minutes until risen and lightly golden.

6) Cool on a wire rack.

For the icing:

Ingredients:

25g dairy free spread, softened

2 c icing sugar, sifted

1 heaped Tbs cocoa, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Hot water to mix

To make:

1) Mix the spread and icing sugar then divide into 2 bowls.

2) To one bowl, add the cocoa, then half the essence and a little hot water. Mix vigorously until you achieve a smooth consistency.

3) In the other bowl just add the other half of the essence and a little water. Mix as above. Ice the chocolate cakes with the vanilla icing, and the vanilla cakes with the chocolate.

4) Ice with a piping bag or a knife, dipping it in warm water as you go for a smooth finish.

5) Decorate with festive sprinkles.

Makes about 40 mini cupcakes.

Note: If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a sandwich bag - just put the icing in one corner of the bag and snip the corner off. Twist the top of the bag and twist as you go to push the icing out.

Lil' Banana Cakes with Caramel Mocha Icing

I don't really know anyone who doesn't like banana cake. Yet to me, a banana cake should be dense and very banana-ey, not just a cake with a mere hint of banana. This cake definitely fits the bill. Could also be made as a large cake, cook it for 50 min-1 hour in that case.

This recipe is hand written in my recipe book and I confess that

I have no idea where it came from. However, I have tweaked ingredients and quantities from the original. The icing was born on request from the boy and gives the cake a banoffe pie feel. It's adapted from the caramel icing recipe in the Edmond's Cookery Book.

Let them eat cake...

Ingredients:

75g dairy free spread

1/2 c caster sugar

1 large egg, beaten

2 c plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 c walnuts, chopped

To make:

1) Grease a 6 hole Texan muffin pan (or 12 hole regular pan), turn the oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 4.

2) Cream the spread and sugar, then mix in the egg well.

3) Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well.

4) Add the mashed bananas and walnuts and mix until well combined.

5) Spoon mix into tins and bake until golden and well risen (about 30-40 min for the Texan pan, probably about 20 for the smaller muffin pans). When cooked, they should pull away from the sides of the pan and spring back when lightly pressed.

6) Turn out of tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Now the Caramel-Mocha icing...

Ingredients:

1/2 c soft brown sugar

1Tbs dairy free spread

1 tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tsp hot water

2 tsp soy milk

1/2 c icing sugar

To make:

1) Put the brown sugar and butter in a small pan, and heat over a low

heat until spread has melted and butter has dissolved.

2) Add the milk and coffee, then take off the heat.

3) Mix in the sifted icing sugar until you achieve a smooth paste (add a little more milk/icing sugar if need be).

4) Smother over the cakes and enjoy.

Makes 6 Texan muffin sized cakes.

Pure pesto with pasta

A result of having broccoli, courgettes and not much else in the fridge - this pesto is so easy to throw together and still has an intense, pesto-ey flavour without the masses of oil. You could sprinkle with toasted pinenuts before serving for a tasty final touch.

Ingredients:

Low fat cooking spray

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 head broccoli, chopped into small florets

Juice of 1/4 lemon

Salt & pepper

2 courgettes, grated

1 tsp crushed chili

2 Tbs nutritional yeast

1/4 c soy milk

Handful fresh basil, torn

Cooked, drained spaghetti of your choice (I used wholewheat)

To make:

1) Spray some cooking spray to a pan over a medium heat and cook onions for 2-3 minutes, then add garlic and cook onions until translucent.

2) Add the broccoli and cover, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes until the broccoli is very soft. Mix in the lemon juice and seasoning.

3) Put this all into a food processor and blend until smooth. Put aside.

4) Rinse the pan, put it over a medium heat and use a little more cooking spray. Tip in the courgettes and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes, until soft.

5) Scrape the blended mix into the courgettes and stir in chilli and nutritional yeast, then gradually add milk, stirring until you achieve a smooth consistency.

6) Just before turning off the heat, stir in the basil.

7)Pour over drained pasta and mix through until all strands are coated. Garnish each serving with a few basil leaves.

Makes enough for pasta for about 4 people.

NB. As this isn't made with oil like normal pesto, it won't keep for longer than a few days.

Christmas Cake

You simply can't have Christmas without Christmas Cake. It just wouldn't be right.

I have grown up with this cake, my mum always made it on the last weekend of October (having soaked the fruit beforehand-you do need to think ahead a bit with this one) so it had time to 'mature'. It was a family affair with my sister and I helping. I have made it for the past 2 years, but this year, I decided that my partner and I didn't need a whole cake (we love it and end up eating the whole thing in a ridiculously short period of time). So I reduced my mum's famous recipe and made a few little alterations of my own, including making small cakes instead of 1 large one. They'd make great little gifts.

I love how plump the dried fruit becomes, all drunk on brandy. And the minute you add the flour it all turns the most divine golden shade. This cake is truly a much anticipated joy for me to bake (and eat). Traditionally our family doesn't go in for iced Christmas cake and none of us are big on Marzipan, but this year I went with some royal icing, as per the lovely Rose Elliot.

Ingredients:

3/4 c currants

3/4 c raisins

1/2 c sultanas

1/2 c dried cranberries

1 c brandy

100g dairy free spread

1/2 c brown sugar

2 eggs

50g chopped glace cherries

1/3 c chopped mixed peel

1 c plain flour

pinch salt

rind of 1/2 lemon

1/3 c chopped hazelnuts

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp baking powder

To make:

1) Turn the oven to 150 °c, gas mark 2. Grease a 6 hole Texan muffin pan.

2) Wash the cranberries, raisins, currants and sultanas and drain in a colander. Then leave, covered, to soak in the brandy, at least overnight but I normally leave them a few days so they soak up all the brandy and get lovely and plump.

3) Cream the spread in a large bowl and gradually add the sugar, beating well.

4) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5) Mix in the lemon rind then add the soaked fruit, mixed peel, cherries and hazelnuts, mix thoroughly.

6) Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spice and add gradually, stirring from the bottom to make sure everything is combined.

7) Spoon into the tins, bake for 40min -1hour (depending on your oven). Once cooked, the cake will come away from the sides and if you insert a skewer, it will come out clean.

Makes 6 Texan muffin size cakes.

For Rose Elliot's Royal Icing...

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

450g icing sugar, sifted

1/2 Tbs lemon juice

1 Tbs glycerine

To make:

1) Whisk the egg whites until frothy, and gradually add other ingredients.

2) Continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and stands in peaks.

3) Use a spatula to cover the cakes in this sweet, fluffy icing. I garnished these with dried cranberries.

Christmas Mince Pies

Growing up, mince pies were an integral part of Christmas. Each December we'd get through batch upon batch, as fast as my mum could make them. This is her fruit mince recipe. It makes enough for about 4 dozen or so mince pies. You can keep it in a glass jar in the fridge for up to a year. Make the fruit mince at least a week or so in advance of making the pies to really get the full flavours.

The pastry is from the Kiwi cook's bible - the Edmond's Cookery Book - I have tweaked it very slightly. One batch of pastry makes about 9 pies, depending on how thinly you roll it. I use my mini food processor to make the pastry as it makes it ridiculously easy (and I love watching it form a ball at the end - simple things). But making it by hand is easy too. Just takes a little longer.

Firstly, the fruit mince...

Ingredients:

500g raisins

500g currants

450g sultanas

2 large cooking apples (peeled, cored and grated)

100g mixed peel

zest of 1 lemon

400ml brandy

2 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1) Wash the raisins, currants and sultanas and drain in a colander. Put them in a large glass bowl and pour in the brandy. Cover and leave overnight.

2) The next day, add the apples, mixed peel and lemon zest, mix well.

3) With a stick blender, blend the mix so some of it is very well puréed and some still has chunkier pieces (I did this in batches and blended each batch to a slightly different consistency). Add the spices and mix it all really well together. Store in glass jars in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Use glass rather than plastic as plastic will then take on the strong flavours.

Then for the pastry...

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

40g vegetable shortening

35g dairy free spread (or butter)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp mixed spice

1 egg yolk

1 Tbs cold water

1) Sift the flour, rub in the shortening and spread with your fingers, or pulse them together with the food processor. The result should look like fine bread crumbs.

2) Stir in the sugar and mixed spice, then add egg yolk and water and mix until it's a stiff dough (or mix in the food processor until it forms a ball).

3) Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins before using it.

Then for the pies...

1) Turn the oven to 190 degrees (gas mark 5) and grease a bun tray or shallow muffin pan.

2) Roll out the pastry with a floured rolling pin on a floured surface to about 2 or 3 mm thick and cut 2 circles for each pie - one that is larger than the top of the holes in the muffin pan, and one that is the same size.

3) Lay the larger circles in the bottom of the muffin moulds, gently pressing them into the base and against the sides.

4) Add fruit mince - a good couple of teaspoons into each one - make the fruit mince come just up to the top of the muffin hole - don't overfill them.

5) Brush some milk on the visible edges of the pastry base and place the smaller circles on top of the mince, pushing them down at the edges to meet the pastry bottom. Prick each pie with a fork and brush with a mix of milk and beaten egg. Bake for 20 - 30 min, depending on your oven.

6) Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar.