People talk about the 4 C’s when it comes to diamonds, but I’m talking about the 4 C’s when it comes to cookies! These are delicious, super soft whilst still chewy, yet completely gluten-free thanks to the use of chickpea flower, otherwise known as gram flour.
I also have to give credit to my then 6-year-old nephew, who, after I had made brunch with some gluten-free vegetable fritters, asked if we could make some gluten-free cookies for his mummy using my special flour. And here we are. A word of caution, the raw batter is disgusting! But it’s transformed once it’s cooked, so, a) don’t lick the bowl clean and b) trust the process!
Makes 12 cookies
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter
100g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g chickpea/gram flour
1/2 tbsp gluten-free baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
175 dark chocolate chips
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/ 180°C convection and line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment.
In a large mixing bowl, add the butter and melt in the microwave or bain marie. Once melted mix in the sugar, mixing well before adding in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together before adding to the wet ingredients and mixing to form a stiff dough. Add the chocolate chips and mix to incorporate.
Spoon 12 equal blobs of dough across 2 baking trays with a gap between each cookie, before trying to flatten slightly.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes till lightly golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before tucking into a warm cookie.
Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies
Per cookie: 283kcal/ 17g fat/ 9.5g saturated fat/ 24g carbohydrates/ 3.7g fibre/ 7.3g protein
Rather than growing a carving pumpkin, I prefer to grow squash as they’re a bit more tasty than standard carving pumpkins. I’m also all about the guts, so in this recipe I’m using the whole of the edible pumpkins, with just the inedible stalk and pumpkin bum, aka the blossom end, left for the compost bin. I keep the skin of the butternut squash on the flesh – this helps save time, and prevent unnecessary food waste, but also a lot of people injure themselves when peeling squash so let’s keep the gore to fake blood.
This is also perfect to make if you are cooking something else in the oven already. You can roast the vegetables in advance, and then when you are ready turn them into the soup at a later time – just allow everything to come back to the boil for a few minutes before blending.
If you don’t have a squash to hand but still want to make this soup you can opt for pre-prepared butternut squash from the freezer which can be more convenient for some people. If this is the case try using green pumpkin seeds you can buy in the shops.
Squash and pumpkins are excellent sources of beta-carotene, which our body converts into vitamin A. We need this vitamin to help maintain healthy skin, a healthy immune system, and also help our eyes to see in the dark! Or at least that’s what the kid’s like to hear most often!
I love serving my soup with some tomato cheese on sourdough toast! It’s such a treat, and helps make this soup a balanced meal.
Makes 6 generous servings
Ingredients
1 large butternut squash, cut into large chunks – mine was 1.3kg once I had prepared it
3 onions, quartered
1 head of garlic, the very top removed
2.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
150g red lentils
1 stock cube, I used a vegetable one
Herbs for garnishing e.g. flat-leaf parsley or chives
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/ GM6
To a large baking tray, add the cubed butternut squash, quartered onions, garlic bulb, and 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Mix to evenly coat everything with oil, and place the garlic in the middle of the tray to prevent it from burning. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes till the veg start to turn golden brown.
Meanwhile, prepare the squash seeds by placing the squash “guts” into a bowl and adding some water. Loosen the seeds from the stringy flesh before placing on a clean teatowel to thoroughly dry. Place the seeds into a small baking tray, adding the remaining half tbsp extra virgin olive oil and mixing to evenly coat. Place the tray at the bottom of the oven and roast for 10-15 minutes till deep golden in colour and crispy.
While the veg is roasting, bring around 600ml water to the boil and add the lentils and stock cube. Cook the lentils for around 10 minutes till soft.
Once the veg is cooked, add it to the pan with the now cooked lentils, and squeeze the garlic out of the paper. Deglaze the pan with boiling water, and then top up the water in the pan so it covers the vegetables. In total, you will need to add around 1.8l of water. Bring everything back to a boil and cook for 5 minutes before blending into a soup of your desired consistency, adding more water to thin the soup if desired, and seasoning with pepper to taste.
Serve the soup piping hot, dressed with a little extra olive oil if desired, and scattered with fresh herbs and crispy seeds.
Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup
Per serving*: 285kcal/ 8.1g fat/ 1.2g saturated fat/ 37g carbohydrates/ 11g fibre/ 11g protein
*nutritional analysis using pumpkin seeds, which are different to the seeds found in a squash
Bring a large pan of water to the boil and blanch the kale with the garlic for 1 minute before removing.
Blend the kale and garlic with the pine nuts, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, olive oil and a large pinch of salt till smooth – you will need a powerful blender to get a smooth sauce.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, saving some pasta cooking water.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and toss the kale pesto through, using a little pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce if needed.
Serve piled up high topped with the Burella
Vegan Kale Pesto Pasta
Per serving: 678kcal/ 33g fat/ 4.0g saturated fat/ 71g carbohydrates/ 9g fibre/ 19g protein
When you’re short on time but still want something freshly cooked without the hassle or the mess left after? Here’s my easy One Pan Boursin Pasta Bake which takes 5 minutes of prep and only makes 1 pan dirty!
I’m using seasonal courgettes and tomatoes to provide 2 of your 5-a-day in this dish, but if you don’t have these, or they’re not in season you can use other vegetables such as leeks, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower or even a tin of chopped tomatoes.
This dish is also naturally lower in salt, providing just 0.64g per adult-sized serving, making it family-friendly once you adjust the portion size.
Serves 3 hungry adults, or a family of 4
Ingredients
300g dried pasta with a cooking time of about 10 minutes
In a large ovenproof dish, add the pasta and place the Boursin in the middle on top of the pasta. Cover the remaining exposed pasta with the grated courgettes and sliced tomatoes.
Add the boiling water and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and mix everything together, add in the basil and season with pepper to taste.
Delicious served hot
One Pan Boursin Pasta Bake
Per adult serving: 600kcal/ 22g fat/ 13g saturated fat/ 75g carbohydrates/ 8.2g fibre/ 19g protein/ 0.64g salt
Here’s my super easy Summer Quinoa Salad recipe which incorporates all of these concepts in one dish.
Serves 4 as a main
Ingredients
200g quinoa
30ml extra virgin olive oil
15g chives, chopped
15g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
200g cucumber, cubed
250g cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Juice of 2 lemons
1 large avocado (use some of the lemon juice to prevent it from browning)
80g black olives, roughly chopped
20g pumpkin seeds
20g sunflower seeds
Method
Add the quinoa to a pan with 400ml of cold water. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and cover with a lid for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork. Allow to cool.
Add the cooked quinoa to a large bowl along with all of the remaining ingredients and mix together.
Serve, remembering to put any spare salad away in a Tupperware in the fridge for the next day.
Per serving: 530kcal/ 29g fat/ 4.4g saturated fat/ 44g carbohydrates/ 11g fibre/16g protein
It’s British Tomato Fortnight as well as being halfway through the British Asparagus season, so I’m combining the two to make a delicious pasta salad that is perfect either hot or cold. Remember, allowing your pasta to cool helps create resistant starch which is fibre fuel for your gut microbes!
Serves 3
Ingredients
250g pasta
200g asparagus tips, roughly chopped
100g spinach, roughly chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zest and juice
100g British tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch basil, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch chives, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
30g pecorino cheese
Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than the packet instructions. In the last minute of cooking add the asparagus tips before draining.
Add the spinach and olive oil, and stir to combine before adding all the remaining ingredients except the pecorino.
Serve the pasta in bowls, hot or cold, with pecorino shavings over the top.
With Easter approaching, here is an easy way to add a little extra goodness to chocolate with a fun twist. Perfect for entertaining the kids over the holidays whilst getting a little added fibre into the diet.
Makes 12
Ingredients
200g dark chocolate
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
80g dried fruits (I’ve used dried cherries)
225g bran cereal sticks
12 mini eggs
Method
Melt the dark chocolate over a bain-marie. Add the olive oil, dried fruits and bran cereal and mix till evenly distributed.
Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions in cupcake cases. Add a mini egg on the top of each nest.
Allow to set completely (option to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes if you can’t wait) before enjoying.
Per nest: 203kcal/ 11g fat/ 4.5g saturated fat/ 21g carbohydrates/ 3.8g fibre/ 3.1g protein
What do Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, onions and leeks all have in common? They’re all prebiotics, which means they help feed the good bacteria in your gut.
If you’re not used to eating lots of prebiotics in your diet, you may well feel a little gassy after, but that’s your gut microbiota enjoying these special fibres. When they enjoy them, they ferment them, producing extra gas which you may notice either as bloating or flatulence. All good things, but always good to know in advance of this happening.
Serves 10
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 leeks, sliced
4 sticks of celery, sliced
5 garlic cloves
400g celeriac, roughly chopped
800g Jerusalem artichokes, roughly chopped
250ml white wine
1 stock cube dissolved in 1.2l hot water
1 bunch of thyme
150ml double cream
To serve
Extra chopped herbs e.g. thyme leaves, chives, flat leaf parsley
Sourdough bread
Method
In a large pan, add the oil, onion, leeks and celery and cook for 5 mintues till soft.
Add the garlic, celeriac and Jerusalem artichokes followed by the wine, stock and thyme. Cook till the vegetables are soft.
Remove the woody herb stems before blending with the double cream. Season to taste with pepper.
Serve sprinkled with extra herbs and pepper and a slice of sourdough bread
Prebiotic Winter Soup
Per serving of soup: 204kcal/ 11g fat/ 5.6g saturated fat/ 15g carbohydrates/ 5.1g fibre/ 3.4g protein
This Sundried Tomato and Red Pepper Pasta Bake is so simple and yet so tasty. You could make the pasta sauce and stir it through hot pasta and sprinkle the cheese on to eat it as it is to make it every quicker, but I do like the extra texture you get from baking it in the oven.
There are many sources of vitamin B12, but plant-based sources are limited to fortified foods including some breakfast cereals, dairy alternatives, nutritional year and yeast spreads and some specially grown mushrooms.
With vitamin B12, the more frequently you have it, the less you body needs as it is more efficient at absorbing it. Therefore, if you have B12 less often, your requirements go up to 10μg/day (if only have one intake of B12), or 2000μg per week. Each serving of my pasta provides you with 3μg, which is the daily recommendation if you are having multiple sources of B12 per day. Therefore, this can help you achieve the daily requirement if paired with other vitamin B12 containing foods throughout the day.
Serves 4
Ingredients
100g sundried tomatoes
200g cooked red peppers in brine
60g almonds
30g basil, stems removed from leaves
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp oil from the sundried tomatoes (or use extra virgin olive oil if you prefer)
150ml soya milk fortified with vitamin B12
20g nutritional yeast fortified with vitamin B12
300g pasta
300g broccoli
100g vegan cheese fortified with vitamin B12
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
Method
Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook your pasta according to the cooking instructions, adding the broccoli in for the last 4 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/ 200°C convection
Blend the tomatoes, peppers, almonds, basil stems, balsamic vinegar, oil, soya milk and nutritional yeast together to make a sauce.
Mix the sauce through the cooked pasta and broccoli, adding the basil leaves, and use a little pasta cooking water to get every scrap of sauce from the blender before pouring into a baking dish.
Mix the breadcrumbs and vegan cheese together and sprinkle over the top of the pasta bake. Cook for 20 minutes till golden brown and crispy.
Firm tofu can be a good source of calcium on a fully plant-based diet if it is set with calcium chloride or calcium sulphate rather than nigari. Here’s how I love to cook my tofu. There are plenty of other vegetables you could use in this dish such as kale, spring greens, kai lan or pak choi which all contain calcium. Alternatively, other non-calcium containing vegetables that would be delicious in this dish include onions, peppers, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, carrots or mushrooms.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp mushroom sauce (vegan oyster sauce)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp white pepper
150ml water
1.5 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 block of calcium set tofu
300g sprouting broccoli
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 inch piece of ginger, chopped
To serve
4 portions of cooked rice
2 spring onions, sliced
1 red chilli, sliced
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Method
Mix the corn flour, mushroom sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and water together and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a frying pan with 1 tbsp rapeseed oil and cook the tofu on both sides for a few minutes till golden brown and crispy.
Remove the tofu and set aside. Turn the heat up and add the broccoli, cooking to 2 minutes till it starts to char.
Add the garlic, ginger and remaining oil and cook for 1 minute before adding the sauce mixture and cooking for 2-3 minutes till the sauce thickens and coats the broccoli.
Serve with the cooked rice and sprinkle the spring onions, chilli and sesame seeds over the top.
Iodine is a nutrient we need to make thyroide hormones. If we don’t get enough iodine in our diets it can lead to something called goitre where our thyroid glands swell up in our necks in order to increase the capture of low levels of iodine in our diets. This was a common disease in 1950’s before iodine was used in the dairy industry to help improve sterilisation techniques for dairy cattle. Since plant-based dairy products has boomed over the years, we are starting to see the increase of this goitre again as dairy intakes are reduces. Other sources of dietary iodine include shellfish and certain white fish. For those following a fully plant-based diet it is essential that you look for alternative sources of iodine, such as fortified milk alternative products. Many products are now starting to add this nutrient back in, but not all have to be sure to carefully check the ingredients or the nutritional information chart where they will proudly state it has been added.
One delicious way I like to use iodine-fortified milk alternatives is in my Baked Rice Pudding. For the creamiest and richest rice pudding I use the barista version, very close in taste to rice pudding enriched with cream. The standard unsweetened oat milk still makes a delicious rice pudding without so much richness, and is the basis for my nutritional analysis, although most iodine containing milk alternatives are fortified to around 20μg per 100ml.
Serves 4
Ingredients
5 medjool dates, pitted
800ml unsweetened oat milk fortified with iodine
100g pudding rice
To serve
200g frozen cherries
30g flaked almonds
30g coconut flakes
Method
Preheat the oven to 130°C fan/ 140°C convection
Blend the dates with 400ml oat milk
In a large baking dish (approximately 1.3l) mix the rice, date milk and the remaining oat milk. Bake in the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes.
On a baking tray add the coconut and almonds. Bake for the last 10 minutes.
Defrost the cherries over a low heat, allowing their juices to slightly concentrate.
Serve the rice pudding hot with the cherries, almonds and coconut sprinkled over the top.
It’s World Pasta Day so I’ve created an easy, nutritious and delicious pasta sauce for the occasion. Easily adaptable to make it vegan and gluten-free by swapping parmesan for a vegan hard cheese and pasta for gluten-free pasta.
Roasted Red Pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
600g tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, left in their skins
1 red pepper, cut into quarters, seeds removed
1 large red onion, cut into quarters
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
100g red lentils
300ml water
To serve
300g pasta
Parmesan
Fresh basil
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C convection
In a large baking tray add the tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onion and oil. Mix and roast for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan add the red lentils and 300ml water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes till soft.
Once the vegetables are cooked through, remove the skin from the garlic and transfer everything to a high-speed blender with the cooked lentils and their cooking water. Blend till smooth, seasoning to taste.
Stir through freshly cooked pasta, using a little reserved pasta water to let the sauce down to your desired consistency.
Serve topped with parmesan and fresh basil.
Per serving: 530kcal/ 15g fat/ 3.6g saturated fat/ 74g carbohydrates/ 7.7g fibre/ 20g protein
Dr Pippa 