Just wondering, anybody Veggie (or Vegan)?
In general,
and
I have potato mountain from Farm Box, and have decluttered my copy of Lindsey Bareham’s In Praise of the Potato (aarrgh! always happens with stuff I’ve decluttered!!).
Am thinking of making a Russian Potato Soup.
Anyway, IF you’re a veggie, I’m curious to know what you’re cookin tonight!
Hi there
I’m vegan, have been for nearly 20 years. I’m thinking of doing a stir-fry of veggies and garbanzo beans with Moroccan seasonings, and maybe some couscous. There again, I’m absolutely shattered, so may end up with beans on toast!
Hi Caro
I,m a veggie and have been for over 30 years.
I,ve just finished making a batch of Minty Pea and Potato Soup.
I was going to have Nut Roast (from the freezer) but I,ve stuffed myself on ice cream to make way for the soup LOL.
Cat if you save the stir fry until tomorrow, I,ll fly over hehehe.
Soo
I’m veggie too and have been all my adult life.
Cat, your stir fry sounds lovely.
I have my organic box of vegetables arriving each week and tend to accumulate gluts every so often. At the moment I seem to have it all under control.
Tonight I’m cooking a winter vegetable and ale stew with cheesy dumplings. The stew is underway and smell delicious - I’m about to start making the cheesy dumplings.
Since being diagnosed at the end of November last year, I’ve changed the way I deal with food significantly. Although being veggie all my adult life, I wasn’t taking care of myself given the stressful nature of my job that often requires 14 hours working a day. I’ve now got into cooking big time and love it … if I can’t do my job within reasonable timescales - work issues just have to wait. The needs of my body come first!
Take care
Gill x
AsiansMum, your minty pea and potato soup sound delicious! Enjoy!
Hmmm all these ideas sound delish … I’ve got a bit diverted by the Moosewood recipe for Gypsy Soup and am trying to decide whether to sub the sweet potato for the pumpkin I’ve got…
I think the diag has had that effect on me too GillianG 
always feel so much better when I’ve eaten well, I mean … healthily as well … it’s become so much more obvious in recent months that when I eat processed and refined foods I feel much worse, so am having a great recipe book fest… Had a good excuse recently to buy a couple of new ones because son announced he wanted to be veggie too. Makes life so much less complicated too, only cooking one lot of food at a time!
I’ve been veggie since my teens and dairy free since chemo.Dinner’s just about ready here and its home grown potatoes,swede,sprouts and vegan cheese sauce.I’ll be dineing on my own tonight as the family have all gone christmas shopping to Cork which is 50 miles away!
Hi Caro and everyone
Not veggie but could quite happily live without meat. Couldn’t live without fish though.
Granddad found a very nice soup recipe on the back of a lentil box and he’s taking to cooking that most weekends.
Happy veggieing.
Maureen xx
I’m not completely veggie as I eat fish, but my husband is veggie. I have a really horrible cold at the moment so don’t feel like food at all but the sound of the dishes you are all cooking could make me start to have a bit of interest in eating!
Anne
Go for it AnneG - there’s nothing like brilliant food to make us all feel better!!!
Hey Caro52
Like you, I too notice when I eat refined or processed foods now. When I was going through chemo between March and August this year, I really concentrated on getting the best nutrients possible. How this would have compared to a less focused diet I don’t know … what I do know is that whilst I had many side effects I remained pretty healthy throughout. My new focus on food may have contributed nothing and I’ll never know but it made me feel psychologically good that I was doing something for myself with a sense of taking control of my body.
I love buying recipe books and also enjoy using the BBC Good Food website. Some great recipes there. My latest recipe book comes from the Vegetarian Cookery School in Bath. I don’t live anywhere near Bath but am planning to book onto one of their day courses in March to build up my skills. It’s great that your son can join you in the food you are choosing!
Gill x
I’ve also been veggie for 20 years… not as adventurous with my cooking tonight 'though. However, I am trying out a new recipe that I got from the Good Housekeeping magazine… parsnip and pear soup… interesting combination… should be ready in 15 minutes or so!
I did consider the dairy-free option, having read Dr Jane Plant’s book, but haven’t gone down that avenue yet. Boy, I’d miss cheese… Hope it never happens, but if I did have a recurrence, I think I’d go vegan…
AliS
Not a veggie, but I eat veggie meals about 4 times a week. We grow our own stuff and I make all my own soups etc.
Oooh AliS what was the parsnip and pear soup like? Sounds interesting. Sadly I can,t get parsnips, nor swede 
I,m a big soup eater and my current favourite is Ezo Gelin (Red Lentil Soup).
Maybe we should all start a recipe swap??
Interesting, peoples observations regarding refined and processed foods - I cannot get them so for the past 10 years all my meals have had to be made from scratch.
The last time I returned to the UK and did eat packaged meals I found I became very sluggish.
Soo x
I’d love to hear how the pear and parsnip worked out too - I have both at the moment and do like to dilute parsnip with something else, apple is also good - P is the ONE veggie I’m not so keen on au naturel tho do eat it…
Also v fond of lentil soups - I made one recently which came from Armenia and also involved … er will have to look up and edit it into here later - please could we have Ezo Gelin recipe? thanks
What are people’s fave cookery books?
GillG, the Bath course sounds fun… I think there are also day courses up in Altrincham nr Manchester with the Veg Soc and also poss in London if any nearer - I did several cookery courses with the Veg Soc 25 years ago (ouch!) and they were fun, I really enjoyed them. That was when Sarah Brown was heading up the team, so I got a course in demonstrating cookery from her, was brill
Hi GrannieScouse, hope you’re ok … could you share granddad’s lentil recipe too?! hugs…
I’m going to do a Gypsy soup tonight (will edit details in later) which involves (from a wonky memory) … tomatoes, chick peas, carrots, sweet potato, onions of course, garlic, various yummy spices…
I’ve also (during that early morning-time of life transforming good ideas) realised that my son has grown 2 " and stayed the same weight so tonight am going to do a Brown Betty with left over barley bread, apples, olive marg, brown sugar and maybe sultanas, nutmeg … in a boy-sized individual dish… will be plundering my wonderful Nat Trust book of Puddings on his behalf… that’s my Resolution for … er … Advent!
I have a new one from Arto der Harotounian who was a wonderfully imaginative cook, with lots of yummy recipes from the middle east (and I have a wonderful Persian cookery book too) - Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East by Arto Der Haroutunian and have recently indulged in the Good Housekeeping Step by Step Veggie (to do with son)
and one that is a *great* boon to tired-from-treatment-and-the-whole-shebang is Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty One-Pot Meals (That Are Ready When You Are) by Robin Robertson
Caro
Hi Caro,
Here,s the recipe for Ezo Gelin. It is so easy to make.
EZO GELİN ÇORBASI
RED LENTIL SOUP
300g red lentils, rinsed and drained
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons bulgur wheat, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 tablespoons butter
2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in 1 litre water
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon paprika flakes
Put the lentils, bulgur wheat, onions, stock, tomato paste and butter together in a large pan.
Bring to the boil and then on a low heat simmer, stirring occasionally until the lentils are tender, adding more water until you get the consistency you prefer (I like mine quite thick but the Turks have theirs quite thin) Takes about ¾ - 1 hour.
Add the paprika and mint and simmer for a further five minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
* If you have access to any Middle Eastern stores then try and get Pul Biber and use that instead of the paprika.
Afiyet Olsun!
Soo
GillG
My husband did the veggie cookery course in Bath and really enjoyed it. The dishes seemed quite complicated to me but he usually cooks at the weekends and is willing to spend more time cooking than I do after work, during the week.
Anne
The Ezo Gelin recipe looks great. Thanks for sharing Soo!
Anne - thanks so much for telling me that your husband enjoyed the course in Bath. I’m not able to go til March but am really looking forward to it. I’m planning to do the Fast And Delicious course so it should cover quick after work type of cooking - I hope so. It’s always good to hear how other people have got on when doing these courses - so thanks!
Caro, I looked at the Veg Society courses - they look excellent. The London ones would be better regards access, but the courses I’m most interested in are based in Cheshire. It must have been a fantastic experience being taught by Sarah Brown - I intend to get her Complete Vegetarian Cookbook at some point.
Your Gypsy Soup sounds good.
And tonight I’ve done a Warm Winter Salad made with roasted veg (butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, beetroot, shallots and garlic). Once roasted, place on top of some baby spinach leaves and a few pomegranate seeds. I cheated on the pomegranate dressing which I bought locally. Yum!! I have enough left over to have as a cold salad at work tomorrow.
Gill
By the way, AliS - how was your parsnip and pear soup? I love parsnips but it’s never occurred to me to cook them with pears. Sounds good!
I do my parsnip soup with lots of turmeric - which is supposed to be very good for us BC lot - cumin and corriander, so it is spicy and warming (and very yellow!).
blondie
Oh yes, turmeric (I sometimes make tomato sauces w lots turmeric in, and have yellow split pea dahl with it also - like the idea of parsnip with it but not at same time as pears!!
Did boy a potato and cheese soup tonight (smelt good) did Shcheese version for myself ('nuff said, but was edible) occurs to me turmeric would have been a good addition there (I’d used some fairly ancient Culpeper herb seasoning including marigold petals which smells v aromatic in packet) and made him an apple betty for pud, he was still hungry after gorging on mince pies at carol service, must be growing agin, have only just bought him four new paris of new shoes! (Year 6 - they all seem to be doing a beanpole act at moment)
Gypsy Soup : 2 med rip tomatoes, 2 chopped onions, 2 Tbs olive oil - sweat same plus 3 cloves fine chopped garlic, v fine chopped stalk celery, add about one medium sweet potato diced, with 1 tsp salt (sounds rather a lot) and 2 tsp mild (english type) paprika, 1 TSP TURMERIC ;-), 1 tsp basil, a dash of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne, 1 bay leaf, 700 ml water - towards end of simmering when vegs are nearly tender add 1 1/2 cups cooked chick peas (or a tin ) and a pepper (what ever colour u fancy)… simmer a bit more… serve…
The lentil Ezo Gellin soup looks great, I looked up the Bon Appetit in Turkish to find out! Will do it tomorrow for lunch, thanks, Soo - will make lunch feel sunny by association cos is going to be cold here tomorrow.
GillianG - Sarah Brown was really good fun as well as a good teacher, we had a few laughs. I’ve seen the Complete book - I have 4 of hers plus some ones she did for Sainsbugs so felt I prob had enough.
The warm winter salad sounds good esp w yum pomegranate seeds - I bet tastes nicer than an M/S version I had on hol this summer with a really mustardy dressing…
The veggie cooking husband sounds civilised, was he the only bloke on the course?