Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese

Mr VST is training for the Exmoor Beast and went out for a training ride on Monday evening after work. I thought that he'd appreciate something tasty and filling for dinner and so I went for this slightly Wintery baked potato with cauliflower and broccoli cheese. It was good!

Bangers, Mash & Onion Gravy

Bit of a blurry picture I'm afraid courtesy of the darker evenings. The Linda McCartney bangers, lovely creamy mash and the best onion gravy in the world ( I think!) went down very well with my brother on Sunday night.

Leek & Feta Fritatta

Leek and feta frittata on Monday with the veggies that were left in the fridge, so broccoli and corn on the cob. 

Soft Polenta Broccoli

I had spotted the soft polenta broccoli in Appetite for Reduction a couple of weeks ago when I decided to go for the '40 clove broccoli' instead. As I was home today with some lonely looking broccoli in the fridge and some polenta in the cupboard I decided to try some for my lunch. I had already given polenta a second chance in the cornbread and it impressed me so I thought I'd like to try it 'soft' to see what it was like. It was surprisingly good! I can appreciate it won't be to everyone's taste, or really texture. It was like a thick kind of savoury porridge or ready brek. I liked it though.  I can see this being a winter diet staple as it was only 160 calories and yet really filling. You could add any kind of vegetable to it although some may need to be cooked before hand. 

Cauliflower and Broccoli (not cheese)

Bit of a strange combination of food for supper today. I had been meaning to make some more recipes from Appetite for Reduction and had been flicking through it at the weekend. Rather than doing the only thing I usually do with cauliflower and broccoli (put cheese sauce on them!) I went for the 40 clove broccoli and chickpeas and the herby coated cauliflower. Both recipes were quite straight forward. 

Unfortunately I think I had the oven a bit too high and managed to burn the broccoli. The only flavours were the occasional garlic hit and the vegetable stock flavour. 

The breadcrumb coated cauliflower was nice too, not great but it was nice to do something different with it. 

I served it with some mange tout from my colleague's garden, some left over potato salad and I know I said no cheese but there were some cauliflower cheese grills in the freezer that needed eating so we ate those too.

Leek, Chestnut Mushroom and Feta Filo Parcels

Friday night supper consisted of a slightly adapted version of these 'strudels' made with feta. I served them with a mountain of broccoli and roasted, salted, new potatoes. The parcels were good and the roasties were awesome.

Yummy filling, still need to work on my folding technique though.

Broccoli and roasty mountain!

Bangers, Mash, Onion Gravy and Veggies

On Monday night I had the family over for dinner. I went for an easy and delicious option - bangers (Linda McCartney's of course), mash, Anna's onion gravy, broccoli, braised red cabbage and carrots.

It went down well with everyone and then we tucked into a lemon meringue pie from Marks and Spencer for pudding. 

Sweet Potato Mash, Veggie Sausage and Broccoli

A quick banger and mash yesterday with instant veggie gravy, not quite as good as the onion gravy but the mash was good.

Cottage pie with sweet potato mash

Thursday night saw the return of the cottage pie with sweet potato mash, very tasty and filling for only about 235 calories a portion. Served with carrots and broccoli.

Quorn cottage pie with peas and broccoli

Made this before setting off for a chilly walk down the river. It's a great winter warmer. The Quorn recipe book recommends putting peas and carrots in it but I've always made it with just carrots, I prefer my peas on the side!

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese and jacket potato

As good a day as any to start this blog. I'm planning on blogging what I eat every day for a year. Some posts will be briefer than others. I will put recipes up when I get the chance but if you want one specifically then please ask and I will try and oblige.

A classic dish for an Autumnal day but with a slight twist. The cheese sauce was made with oat milk. I try and limit the amount of dairy I have as it causes me sinus problems. It was made with extra mature cheddar which gives a stronger flavour but you don't need to use as much. Also added a bit of broccoli to jazz it up!

Taste: delicious! That extra mature cheddar is something special mmm

Cooking difficulty: easy once you've mastered the cheese sauce

Calories: about 650




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