Having spent all Sunday afternoon composing Monday Meditation: Relax with these Raw Tiger Nut, Cacao & Coconut Treats , I realised I hadn’t given a thought as to what I was going to have for dinner and my husband had pre-empted me by getting some of his frozen curry from the freezer. I stood in the kitchen gazing at the contents of the fridge, opening and closing cupboard doors. It was growing late, I was hungry and thought I’d end up making a salad. However, I knew that when I smelled my husband’s curry, I’d wish I had done something similar. I didn’t really want brown rice and there was a lovely caulifower calling out to me, so I decided on spicy cauliflower rice.
I put some puy lentils to soak while I got everything ready – you don’t have to soak them, but it makes them easier to digest.
I decided on cumin, which I love, to flavour the cauliflower ‘rice’, and turmeric, both for it’s anti-inflammatory properties and the lovely colour it would produce. Digestion begins with the eyes and I like to make food as colourful and appetising to the eyes as the mouth. The beetroot makes the carrot hold its colour and adding the frozen veg at the end makes this a bright, colourful dish.
This takes about an hour from start to finish – it sounds complicated written out, but if you pre-cook the lentils and process the cauli before you begin cooking, you don’t have to balance so many items at once. It really is easy.
It made enough for 2, with a little mixed veg and lentils left over for next day (see later).
Vegan, Gluten-free and Dairy-free.
Ingredients
All quantities are very approximate
1/4 Cup Puy Lentils + reserved cooking water
Half a Cauliflower
Coconut Oil
Cumin
Turmeric
Optional: Dried Apricots
Mixed Veg – I used:
Small Beetroot
Large Carrot
Onion
2 Chestnut Mushrooms
Frozen Peas & Sweetcorn
Vegetable Bouillon Powder
Black Pepper
Optional:
Pine Nuts
Vegan ‘parmesan’: Almonds ground with Nutritional Yeast & a pinch of Cayenne Pepper
Method
Rinse and soak the lentils, then drain and cover with water, cook beforehand or while preparing the veg. Don’t overcook as they will be reheated in the veg mix. You want them to keep their shape and not become mushy.
Reserve the cooking water.
Process the cauliflower florets for a few seconds until it looks like rice and set aside.
Chop onion, beetroot, carrot, mushrooms.
Melt a little coconut oil in a frying pan, stirfry first the onions, then the other veg for a little while with some black pepper, add a few spoons of the lentil cooking water, cover and cook on a low heat. Make sure it doesn’t dry out.
When almost done, sprinkle on a heaped teaspoon of vegetable bouillon powder and mix in, adding the peas and sweetcorn and a little more lentil water. Cover.
Meanwhile, heat a little coconut oil in another frying pan, add the cumin and turmeric, stir round and add the cauliflower rice. Mix well, stirring and turning it over all the time. Add some black pepper and a couple of spoons of lentil water to keep moist.
On this occasion I didn’t add dried apricots to the rice as my husband doesn’t like apricots, but when he tried some ‘rice’, he surprised me with ‘it would be nice with apricots!’
When the ‘rice’ is ready, with as much or as little bite as you prefer, add several spoons of lentils to the veg and gently mix well, making sure they are heated through without overcooking everything. Spoon the ‘rice’ onto a plate with the mixed veg on top.
I forgot to add the pine nuts and ground almonds with nutritional yeast and cayenne before I took the photo of the cauliflower rice dish, but I added them when I had the leftovers next day accompanied with sweet potato mashed with almond butter, and some steamed broccoli.
The cauliflower rice dish was really good and tasty, even my sceptical husband had a small helping in addition to his own curry!
These meals have so many vitamins and minerals, different complementary proteins and healthy fats, and are very satisfying.
Copyright: Chris McGowan
We are in the middle of some arctic weather, with snow, hail, icy winds and below zero temperatures, so I thought I’d post a recipe for a nourishing soup to warm us up, rather than the frozen smoothie bowl I had planned!
Serve with fresh basil leaves and warm bread or toast, or you might like to try 
I had just made some 
The trick is to keep the dough very moist and gently flatten it to about an inch and a half to keep them a good thickness and make them light.
These were made some time ago, so the raison d’être is a bit hazy! I’m not sure what inspired me to try another version of vegan, gluten-free burger, I think it might have had something to do with buckwheat flakes, tiger nut flour and half a tin of beans that needed to be used up. I had also eaten up all the 
Method
As many have commented, the beginning of the new year is a time when many of us take a look at who we are and how our lives are panning out. We often don’t like what we see as our weaknesses or shortcomings and we decide on some resolutions in the hope of rectifying any flaws in our current lifestyle, character or appearance, in order to set our lives back on the track we mapped out.
My husband and I (no, not that one) were having our usual late afternoon dilemma about what to have for dinner. It was freezing cold, we had the woodburner going and neither of us wanted to move to the kitchen, which is much colder as it’s in the flat-roofed extension. I began musing about dumplings. I haven’t had them for years. On the whole, I don’t go much for starchy foods and I’d rather fill up on fresh veg, salad, fruit or hummus than on bread, pancakes, pizza base etc. But today, I was besotted with the idea of casserole and dumplings.
You will also notice that I titled the recipe Cheese and Herb scones, when I specify cumin in the ingredients list, but you can use whatever herb or spice you want. I chose cumin as that was what I put in the black bean casserole they would be accompanying.
These scones have protein, healthy fats, calcium, b vitamins and minerals, no refined sugar or jam in sight! I also had them as a snack with 
Eat warm as they are, or with a savoury spread or vegan cheese. We’ve had them with a black bean, cumin and winter veg casserole and 
We had a small squash in our veg box last week and this afternoon I was cold to the bone after venturing outside for a short walk – I think it was 5C – so I decided to use the squash in some soup. The squash had been sitting chopped up in the fridge for a couple of days and needed to be used. My husband does it for me and leaves it in the fridge so it’s available when I want to use it.
Cook on the lowest heat for about 25-30 minutes, until everything is cooked but not mushy.
My husband is vegetarian, I am vegan. I like to eat early, he likes to eat late. He likes potatoes, I don’t eat them (except for a rare and indulgent packet of potato crisps). He likes pies and pastry and chips. I prefer quinoa, stirfries and soups. He often does bike rides during the day or in the evening which also creates a dissonance in our eating habits, as does my propensity for staying up late and getting up even later! So how on earth do we manage to co-ordinate our meals? Well, a lot of the time, we each do our own thing, but just occasionally we manage to be at the dinner table together and once in a blue moon we end up with something on our plates that almost resembles the other’s. This was one of those nights, no bike rides and the clocks had just gone back, so we both felt we wanted to eat earlier than the clock dictated. I don’t know about you, but my body takes ages to adjust when the clocks change.
When all are cooked, add a little thickening to the vegetables, mash the sweet potatoes in a warm dish, then mix in a heaping teaspoon of almond butter, some pink Himalayan salt and black pepper and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast flakes.
pearsnotparsnipsdotcom 
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