Ingredients:

1/4 lb red split lentils
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 courgette
1 carrot
1 red pepper
1 tblsp tomato puree
1 can plum totatoes
1 tsp dried basil
1 tspn dried oregano
1 1/2 pints vegetable stock
Fresh basil to garnish.

Preparation method:

Prep: 10 mins
1. Chop onion, crush garlic and cook gently in enough water to cover the bottom of your pan.
2. Chop the tinned tomatoes and add to the onion and garlic.
3. Thinly slice the courgette, carrot and red pepper and add to the pan.
4. Add the dried herbs, lentils and tomato puree and mix well.
5. Turn the heat up until bubbling and add the stock.
6. Simmer for 45 mins.
7. Garnish with some basil leaves
8. Season and serve!

Makes six servings.

ngredients:

1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
1/4 cup orange juice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Preparation:

Steam carrots and squash until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a food processor. Add orange juice and nutmeg. Blend until smooth. Season with freshly ground pepper if desired.

This is a beauty to enhance any boring plate.

Ingredients:
6 beets, unpeeled
4 whole cloves of garlic, unpeeled
3 red onions, unpeeled
4 tablespoons olive oil

For the glaze;
Chicken stock
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Sprigs of thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Roast the vegetables.
Put the oil in a roasting tray and add the beetroot, red onions, garlic, sprigs of thyme and stir it together making sure the vegetables are coated in the oil. Place in the oven and roast for 1 ½ hours until the beetroot is tender. Remove from the oven and peel and slice all the vegetables and place them to one side.
Make the glaze.
Place the roasting tray over a medium heat and add the chicken stock, the balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon of chopped thyme. Bring the mixture to the boil stirring constantly until the liquid has been reduced to a syrupy consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Finish the dish.
Arrange the beetroot, red onions and garlic on a warm serving dish and spoon over the glaze. Serve immediately.

Roast squash with feta, pumpkin seeds and sprouting broccoli. If not feta fan try goats cheese.

Perfect served with grilled meat or oily fish!

Serves 4

1 large butternut squash
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp cumin seeds
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g purple sprouting broccoli
100g pumpkin seeds - toasted
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
400g feta cheese

Preheat oven to 200c / 400 f/ gas 6
Peel and cut squash into wedges or large chunks, then toss in the olive oil, chilli, cumin seeds and salt & pepper
Transfer to a roasting tin and roast in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes or until slightly golden and cooked through
Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli in salted boiling water for about 4 minutes, or until al dente. Once cooked toss with the squash and pumpkin seeds.
Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and the feta crumbled over the top.

Ever wondered why the birds eat the most colourful and ripest fruit before you can get to it. Or, why the bees and the butterflies are attracted to the most colourful flowers?
Might this not be natures way of cueing which contain the best nutrition?

Always choose the greenest, reddest most purple when you are shopping for fruit and vegetables.

It is the avocado,the green beans, the spinach, broccoli,peas, courgettes/zucchini, tomato and aubergine that we should be looking at in terms of vegetables.

The dark plumbs, strawberries,raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, dates, apricots, galia melons, pomegranates that we need to concentrate on as or fruits of choice.

1 tablespoon Olive oil
More or less 75g (2.5 oz) mushrooms sliced
4 eggs
2 Tablespoons natural yogurt
freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 medium tomatoes chopped

Heat the olive oil in an omelette pan, add mushrooms and soften over gentle heat.
In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add yogurt, pepper and parsley. Gently stir in chopped tomatoes and mix well.

Pour mixture over mushrooms in pan, spreading evenly to cover base. Cook over a gentle heat until bottom of omelette is firm.

Either slide pan under a hot grill to cook top, or tip omelette onto a plate (carefully) and then place back into pan to cook other side.

Divide frittata in two and serve with wholemeal bread.

Pesto is a wonderful easy way to add flavour to other dishes. Here are a few variations to use as a sauce for grilled fish, as a marinade, as a dip, as a stir in to wholemeal pasta, spread over chicken breasts etc.

WALNUT & BASIL PESTO

You could make pesto with parsley, coriander (leaf type), almonds or hazelnuts

Humous

Serve in a bowl with a little olive oil drizzled on top and a sprinkling of chilli powder or paprika.
Eat with crudities, spread on oatcakes, wholemeal toasts or wholemeal crackers.

Pilaff

Delicious complex carbohydrate option!