Cous Cous with Chick Peas and Vegetables

Serves: 2-3
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1/2 Onion
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli, tumeric, cinnamon, ginger
Small Capsicum
1 Carrot
4-5 Mushrooms
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin chick peas
chopped parsley
1 1/2 cup cous cous
1 cup water
1/2 cup stock
3 tsp margarine

Cook onion until brown. Add spices until fragrant then add capsicum, carrot, tomatoes and chick peas. Cook until vegetables are soft and add chopped parsley.

Bring stock and water to boil and add a pinch of salt. Take water off heat and add cous cous. Let sit for 2-3 minutes then put back on a low heat and stir through margarine with a fork to loosen the cous cous grains.

Note: To cook cous cous use these ratios: 1/2 cup water for 1/2 cup cous cous and 1 tsp margarine.

Nachos

Serves: 2-3
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Capsicum
6-7 Mushrooms
1 can Tomatos
1 can Red Kidney Beans (or 4 bean mix)
3/4 cup Frozen Corn
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Cumin

Natural Corn Chips (lightly salted is best, not the cheesy ones)
Grated Cheese to serve

Brown onion in oil and add chilli powder. Add carrot, capsicum and mushrooms, cook until carrot begins to soften. Add tomatos, kidney beans and all the herbs/spices. Simmer for about 40 minutes, then add the corn. Serve when corn is hot.

Chunky Chickpea and Herb Dumpling Soup

Serves: 4
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 30 mins
Calories: 1688cal (422cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Tspn Ground Cumin
1 tspn Ground Coriander
1/4 tspn Chilli Powder
2 x 300g cans Chickpeas
2 x 425g cans Chopped Tomatoes
3.5 cups Vegetable Stock
1 tblspn Chopped Coriander

1 Cup SR Flour
25g Butter
2 tblspn Grated Parmesan
2 tblspn Mixed Chopped Herbs (eg chives, flat leaf parsley, coriander)
1/4 Cup Milk

Chop and cook onion over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add garlic, cumin, ground coriander and chilli and cook until fragrant.
Add chickpeas, stock and tomato.
Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes then stir in coriander. (make dumplings while waiting)

Rub butter into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in cheese and fresh herbs. Add milk and mix until just combined.
Bring together into a ball then divide into 8 portions and roll into small balls.

Add dumplings to the soup, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into centre of dumplings.


Notes
I've substituted the parmesan for tasty cheese. I've also done lots of combinations of herbs in the dumplings. They are best with fresh herbs, but dry chives and parsley is great too.
This recipe is from "Delicious Vegetarian Food" Family Circle cook book and is a big favourite.

Mushroom Moussaka

Serves:  4
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking : 35 minutes (+10 minutes standing time)
Calories*: 1050cal total (260cal per serve)

Ingredients
1 Eggplant
1 large Potato
1 Onion
2 cloves of Garlic
500g Mushrooms
1 tin chopped Tomatoes

40g Margarine
1/3 Cup Plain Flour
2 Cups Milk
1 Egg
40g Cheese

Preheat Oven to 220C. Cut eggplant and potato into slices and lay on baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes (or 30-40 if you didn't preheat the oven)

Meanwhile, finely chop ontion and brown in pan. Add crushed garlic and thinly sliced mushrooms. When mushrooms begin to cook add tomato and simmer rapidly for about 8 minutes.

While the mushrooms cook make your bechamel sauce*. Melt margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add in milk stirring slowly and consistently until all milk is added and the mixture is combined and thickened. Add cheese and beaten egg.

All three components are now ready to assemble. Remove eggplant from oven and reduce heat to 180C.

In a greased oven dish spoon 1/3 of mushroom mixture. Layer potatoes then add 1/3 mushroom mixture. Layer eggplant then add remaining mushrooms. Cover with bechamel sauce and bake in oven for 35 minutes. Leave for 10 minutes before serving.

* Note: There are many opinions on how to make a good bechamel. If you get stuck and the mixture is lumpy and not combining you can save it by using an electric hand blender. This may leave the mixture too runny so allow to gently simmer on low heat until thickened, stirring gently and regularly.

Minestrone Soup

Serves: 4
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 35 minutes
Calories*: 1200cal total (400cal per serve)

Ingredients
3 rashers of Bacon (optional)
2 Carrots
2 sticks of Celery
1 Potato
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
1L Vegetable Stock
1 tin Red Kidney Beans
1 can Chopped Tomatoes
1/2-1 cup of Pasta
Parsley (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste (you won't need salt if you added bacon)

Add bacon, vegetables and garlic to pot and cook for about 5 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and stock, bring to boil and cook until vegetables stoft. If you have a pressure cooker you can speed up the cooking time here to about 30 minutes and the result is amazing!

Once vegetables are soft add pasta (I used 1 cup) and cook for a further 3-5 minutes until pasta is al dente. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Notes on Pressure Cookers:
A pressure cooker really speeds up the process with these types of meals and they're actually really easy to use. You must have a good amount of liquid for it to work properly which makes soups ideal.

Bring the ingredients to a boil, secure the pressure cooker lid and turn stove to medium. Wait until the indicators show the cooker is pressurised (refer your cookers instructions, mine is to the second line), then turn stove to low and cook for required time. The longer you cook the food the more likely the vegetables will turn to mush, so 30 minutes is good for a soup like this, but you can go longer if you want a pasta sauce for example.

Be careful when releasing the pressure from the cooker. Don't remove the lid straight away - allow the cooker to cool or run under cold water. Open the release and let all the steam escape. If you try to take off the lid too soon you may end up with the soup exploding over the counter (which happened to me lol) or worse, over you, so be patient getting that lid off!