Root Vegetable and Lentil Soup

Ingredients

1 Tsp oil

1 large onion

3 carrots

3 parsnips

1 potato

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp medium curry powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1.5 litres vegetable stock

150g dried red lentils

salt and pepper to taste

Method

On a low heat, add the oil to a large saucepan. Chop the onion into chunks, add to the saucepan. Repeat with carrots, parsnips and potato. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Add the garlic, curry powder and cumin. Cook for another 3 minutes. 

Next, add the vegetable stock. Stir well, and then add the lentils. Stir well. 

Bring the soup up to a simmer, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool, then use a blender and make the soup smooth, but not a puree. Add additional water to reach your preferred thickness of soup. Adjust seasonings.

Notes

Serve with fresh herbs, a swirl of non-dairy cream, or a scattering of pumpkin seeds.

We like our soup in large quantities, and this makes 6 bowls. It is roughly around 225kCal per serving.

Shepherdess Pie

Ingredients

1 Tsp oil

1 onion

1 carrot

1 leek

500ml cider

Knorr Stockpot

400g can chopped tomatoes

70g tomato puree

400g green lentils

200g dried red lentils

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

1 and a half Tsp wholegrain mustard

30ml BBQ sauce

850g mashed potato

100g vegan cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Chop the onions, carrots and leeks into a fine dice. Saute in a skillet with a little oil for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another two minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes. 

The mixture should be firm enough to bear the weight of the mashed potatoes, but it should also not be too dry. Add water if it is too dry, or simmer to reduce the water content if too runny.

Transfer the mixture into a 20x30cm baking dish. Top with mashed potato. If you would like, sprinkle some cheese over the top. 

Bake for 30 minutes.

Notes

This recipe is very heavily based on this recipe from Vegan Larder. There were a number of alterations made.

Chicken and Paprika Stew

 

Ingredients

1 Tsp oil

2 medium onions

500g chicken fillets, cubed

2 large potatoes

2 medium onions

2 large carrots

4 garlic cloves

400g can chopped tomatoes

400ml chicken stock

2Tsp paprika

1tsp curry powder

1 Tsp cornflour

fresh parsley

Method

Heat the oil in a large skillet, and then add in the diced onion. Cook the onion for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken, and cook for 5 more minutes, allowing the onions and chicken to start caramelising.

Into the skillet, add the rest of the ingredients, apart from the parsley. Stir well, and bring to a rolling simmer. Cover. Lower the heat to a very gentle simmer and cook for one and a half hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes and chopped, fresh parsley.

Notes

This has been inspired by the flavours of Hungarian Goulash. 

Pecan Chewies

Ingredients

225g butter, melted
200g brown sugar

200g white sugar

2 large eggs

15ml vanilla extract

250g SR flour (I use Dove Farm's Freee)

170g pecans, chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 175C, and prepare a 20x30cm baking pan.

Whisk the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well.

Stir in the flour, and fold in the chopped nuts.

Spread the mixture evenly in the baking pan, and bake for 30 minutes. The top should be crackled, the edges set, but the centre still slightly soft. The chewie will firm up as they cool. 

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Notes

The first time I made Chewies I used 400g of dark brown sugar. This produced squares with a distinctly brownie look. Photographs of the Chewies show them as being lighter in colour. To reflect this, I've swapped out 200g of the brown sugar for white.

We had no pecans, but we did have pistachios. They made an excellent substitution.

"Pecan Chewies are dense, butter, brown sugar and pecan cookie bars. They are rooted in the culinary traditions of the Gullah Geechee community along the South Carolina and Georgia coast."

Menu 2026.07.06

These meals have a higher than likely chance of being served for dinner this week. That's not to say they will be made, or even served in that form, but it was from these meals the shopping list was created. I know I have the ingredients to make them.

Mon: baked potatoes

Tue: fish and vegetable pie

Wed: sweet and sour tofu balls

Thu: prosciutto chicken

Fri: cooked breakfast

Sat: roasted vegetables with feta and pesto

Sun: Spanish chicken

Books Read or Listened to in June 2026

 The End of Magic by Mark Stay

This is a very different type of story, and writing style from "The Witches of Woodville". It's also being presented to me in a very different way. As there is no audiobook, the Beloved is reading it to me as a bedtime story, one chapter per night. 

"Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett

Richard Coyle reads this audiobook, and he was the protagonist in the film version too. As Richard read, scenes from the film come crashing into my brain, like undelivered letters cascading down the grand staircase of the Post Office in Ankh Morpork.

In this story, a con man is given the chance to redeem himself. After a false start, he manages to do that, and earn the respect of a good woman, well a woman you would not wish to speak ill of. Moist von Lipwig take the gargantuan task of restoring the Post Office. He does, but meet challenges along the way.

The main commercial competitor of the Post Office is the Clacks (a network of semaphore towers). It has elements of telegraph stations and the early internet. It's wonderful looking back at the early days, and thinking of the great hackers I knew.

Cakes for Cops

 

Each year I think, I'll be clever and make a start on the cakes, but each year, at the start of June I have a little 'Argh! The time is now!' This year, I tried, but sadly the vegan orange and poppy seed cupcakes were moist. Far, far, far too moist. 

Yet again, I'm starting from scratch. 

This year's haul is all gluten-free, and half is also vegan. It consisted of walnut cake, brownies, two types of oat cookies, lemon and poppy seed muffins and chocolate strawberries. 

They were received, yet again, with great delight by the staff at the front desk.