Healthy veggie ramen

I have recently found out that American ramen is different to English ramen. We here in Britland call American ramen "supernoodles". For us ramen is just standard noodles in soup (although ramen noodles are best). I used Blue Dragon ramen noodles, and they were perfect. This soup is very dependent on the soya sauce and other condiments for flavour, as well as using the right kind of noodle. First attempt I tried with rice noodles, and it wasn't that good. Oh, and big pan alert!



Veggie Ramen

Serves 4

Takes 30-40 minutes


Ramen noodles in amounts as recommended on the packet (if using standard noodles, take about half the amount you would for a normal stir fry)

A crown of broccoli, chopped into florets

500g bag of fresh baby spinach

250g Shiitake mushrooms, chopped

300g silken tofu (the ready cooked kind) sliced into small pieces

8 Spring onions, sliced thinly

2.5 pints of good vegetable stock

8 tbsp soy sauce

2 tablespoons of other condiment, such as mushroom sauce, vegetarian worcestershire sauce, fish sauce if you eat fish. If you can't fnd any of these, then more soy sauce will do fine

4 tbsp Mirin

I didn't feel this recipe needed garlic or chilli, but add to taste if you like things spicy.


* Cook the noodles according to instructions, drain and refresh with cold water and set aside

* Bring the stock, soy sauce, condiment and mirin to the boil, then simmer gently for 5 minutes

* Add the broccoli to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes

* Add the mushrooms and simmer for another 5 minutes

* Stir in the spinach until wilted, then stir in the tofu and spring onions. Leave for another couple of minutes so it's all warmed through.

* Divide the noodles into serving bowls and ladle the soup on top.

Warm potato, green bean and broccoli salad with feta

This based on another BBC Good Food recipes from the salad section, but I seem to be having trouble accessing their site lately. I can't remember the ingredient amounts exactly, but I'll outline it as best I can here.


Serves 4

Takes around 30 minutes too cook in all


400g new potaoes or baby news

200g green (runner/french) beans

A mid-sized crown of broccoli

Juice of half a lemon

A decent handful each of dill and chives

At least 2 -3 tbsp good quality olive oil

A 200g block of feta or goat's cheese

A handful of pine nuts

A bag of baby spinach leaves to serve

I also served the meal with half an avocado each. Because I love avocadoes!


* Chop the beans in half and separate the broccoli into florets

* Bring some water to the boil and cook the potatoes for 15 minutes

* While the potatoes are cooking, mix together the oil, lemon juice and herbs and pine nuts in a large bowl

* When the potatoes are done, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and place them in the bowl with the dressing. Mix well.

* Using the water from the potatoes, boil the broccoli and green beans for about 4 minutes. When done add them to the potatoes and dressing and toss together well.

* Cut the feta into small rectangular pieces. Arrange the spinach leaves on plates and spoon the dressed salad mixture on top. Top the salad with the feta cheese. Now is the time to slice your avocado. If you have lemon juice left, squeeze onto the avocado to prevent it browning.


I loved this meal. So healthy, filling and tasty, all in one dish! I did adapt the recipe somewhat, as I served it warm, used feta instead of goat's cheese and added chives and the baby spinach, And the avocado. I didn't feel the recipes would have been interesting or tasty enough without the additions. It's a good time of year to make the most of fresh, in-season produce, so make it now!

Plain Mushroom Soup

A basic mushroom soup. I made it chunky simply because I could not fit the blender into the pan, and clumsy as I am (and lazy), am averse to pouring it to blend in a food processor. This probably affected the flavour, making the broth blander with intense mushroomy hits when you chomp a piece of mushroom; it's up to you how you do it. It's big pan time!


Mushroom soup

Serves 4-5

Total time taken around 40 minutes


500g strong, tasty mushrooms, such as chestnut or portobello, wiped clean

1 pint milk (full fat is best)

1.5 pints of stock

1 onion or 2 large escallion shallots

A couple of teaspoons of thyme (optional)

4 generous tbsp plain flour

Oil or butter for frying

Salt for seasoning


* Chop the onion and put aside, because you'll need room for all the shrooms

* Chop the mushrooms as small as possible

* Heat some oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When heated, add the onions and fry for a few minutes

* Add the mushrooms (probably in batches) and cook until the final lot is reduced, about 5 minutes after the last fresh pieces are added.

* Add the flour, stirring in so any lumps dissolve, until the mushrooms are well coated. Add the thyme, if using.

* Pour about half the stock in and stir until thickened. Add salt.

* Follow this with half the milk, stirring as you go, followed by the rest of the stock and milk.

* Simmer for about 20 minutes.

* At the end blend if desired.

More April cooking

Throughout most of April I had tummy issues, and as I was going away at the end, I wanted to sort them as much as possible by eating low-fat food in small amounts. It was a bit boring really as most of what I did didn't involve a lot of cooking, and I was restricted in what I could make. Examples are:

Omelttes with new potato and radish salad (I beat my eggs with mustard, salt and pepper and add chopped spring onions)

Veggie fajitas made with sliced veggie burgers and peppers served with lettuce, guacamole, half-fat cheese and white wraps. I cooked the innards in Discovery fajita spices.

A variation of the spring soup using a tin of tomatoes and sweetcorn and tortelloni

Lots of pastas, sausage with veg, frozen yorkshire puds (Aunt Bessies are good) and stir fries.

April Cooking

So far I haven't done anything that requires reams of recipes in April. Have been and will still be keeping it healthy for a while due to health issues and simple due to time issues (and also, in some respect, health issues again). Some things I have done:

* A variation on macaroni cheese using a tin of olive oil and garlic flavoured tomatoes instead of the white sauce and a herby bread crumb instead of plain on top.

* Mushroom and halloumi burgers (with a quorn burger too) with salad and salsa in white baps

* Roasted chinese vegetables with coconut rice. The veggies were aubergine and pepper roasted with a sauce I got form the supermarket especially for roasting. I think it was Blue Dragon brand, but I could be wrong. This was perhaps less healthy because of the coconut rice, but I didn't fancy it plain!

* Egg, tomato and yoghurt curry. I might type this one out actually, because although it was simple, the proportions of spices would be useful put down.

Back from La Palma

Back to reality. Busy today so just whacked together a stir fry using pre-packed veg and sauce. Lazy! Will return to usual cooking tomorrow.

I thought I'd use this space to note down my New Year's resolution; if I write it down it feels more concrete. As a vegetarian I admit I eat pretty poorly. I am iron deficient (which isn't all to do with my diet, admittedly, but it can't help) and often feel tired or run down. Which leads me to the resolution - to eat properly!

By properly I mean using food combining to get all the right protein and utilising foods I don't necessarily like too much in order to get all the nutrients I need. For example, beans and lentils. Yergh. However, they are invaluable to a vegetarian's diet. So now the challenge is how to cook these things so that I will actually eat and like them!

In short, in order to eat healthier:
Combine grains and pulses in order to get complete protein (and eat more dairy for complete protein)
Eat beans and pulses which give protein and fibre
Eat more 'hero foods', such as eggs, dried apricots and spinach
Combine food colours, so if one day I eat greens, the next day I'll include yellows, etc