Vegetarian Cupboard Staples To Get You Through

Sometimes a wage packet won't stretch as far as you think, for whatever reason.

Sometimes life throws some surprises your way; broken appliances, illness, car trouble.

Don't fret about tough times; why not pick up these staples and keep them in your cupboard to get you through until next pay day.



Baked Beans - So good for adding to a meal, topping on a jacket potato, scooping up with toast or eating on their own.

Frozen Peas - Ah, peas! The bag is good for helping nurse bumped heads and the peas are tasty additions to meals.  Match them with mashed spuds, put them through cream cheese or add them to a pasta dish.  Add a little colour and get some goodness!

Source: BBC Good Food (www.bbcgoodfood.com)

Cornflour - Handy as a thickener for macaroni and excellent to use in recipes like this Fatless Sponge

Tomato Puree/Chopped Tomatoes - Handy for curries, stews, sauces - puree is a must for beefing up the flavour.  Check out these ideas for what else you can do with Tomato Puree.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/add1sun/4183640700/

Hot Sauce - Serious Eats lists 25 things you can do with Hot Sauce right here. It's so versatile.  I realise hot stuff in't everyone's thing, but it can add some serious flavour to a jacket potato and cheese, pasta dishes or, well, anything really!

Vegetable Stock - Needed for all things stew, soup, curry and can perk up rice and cous cous no end.  Here I am recommending www.feastie.com where you can find recipes based on what you have in your cupboard.  Here's their list of recipes you can make with veggie stock!

Pasta - I find it's always prudent to have a very large bag of pasta in the cupboard at all times.  Maybe this is just a lean back to my student days, but I can do a lot of stuff with pasta!

Rice - Great as a main meal or a side. Risotto is my favourite go-to.  It's filling, tasty and you can add pretty much any veg to it too! Check out my recipe for Comfort Risotto here.

Easy Bake Yeast - Pizza dough, bread...yeast is so handy for making a tasty carby meal.  It's funny, I always surprise myself by how often I find it useful.

Butternut Squash - I buy a Butternut Squash and it can sit there for ages!  They keep really well, they are so versatile and can be used in so many ways. Why not try my Butternut Squash Pie recipe here?

Onions - Onions are the base of most stews, soups, curries etc.  It's always a good idea to have some on standby!

Of course, these are just a few things you can have on standby and different people like different things,but these are the things that I always try to keep handy.

What do you always have ready to go?

Do you have any go-to fail-safe recipe?  I'd love to hear what you prepare when times are tough!

Quick Self-Pickled Onions - Jazz Up Your Salad in a Pickle!

 

Right!  It's Bikini season again!  Back to the salads!

 

Joke! 

 

My bikini days are well and truly over - there's not a hope in hell of me ever squeezing my butt back into my bikini.  No thank you!  It's tummy-control and well-tailored, carefully chosen one-pieces for me now.  Possibly covered by a t-shirt.

 

I do always feel more like a salad once the lighter nights approach and there's something about all that sunshine (har de har) that makes me want to at least pretend that I might wear a bikini again some day.

As a life-long vegetarian, I eat a LOT of salad, so I'm used to finding ways to spice them up.  My favourite at the moment, what with my crazy busy schedule and the fact that my washing basket currently resembles Mount Fuji are these quick and easy self-pickling onions.  Ridiculously moreish and tasty and an amazing alternative to fatty salad dressings - these Quick Self-Pickling Onions will help you out of that dull salad groove in no time!

 

Best served fresh (cannot really be made up and kept for later else they go a bit soggy), these onions are tangy and feel a lot more indulgent than they actually are.

Simple Ingredients:

1 red onion
A healthy glug Balsamic or Malt Vinegar, depending on preference
Sea Salt

Method:

Chop your onion and place it in a bowl.  Pour vinegar in until it half-covers the onions.
Get your hands into that bowl and press the onions in, making sure that all of it gets a good covering. 
Salt the mixture quite well and using your hands again, mix and rub the salt in.
Leave the concoction to stand for about 10 minutes, giving the vinegar and salt time to penetrate and mix with the onion.

Serve over salad leaves or add to a sandwich for an extra kick!  Delicious!

What's your favourite way to perk up your salad?