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Five-Minute Black Bean Tacos

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This is one of our favourite quick dinners: flavoursome comfort food that’s ready in a flash!

Ingredients:

1 can black beans
4 corn tortillas
1 red pepper
1 carrot
½ green cabbage
2 green onions
½ cup all-plant coconut yoghurt
1 tbsp lime juice
½ tsp garlic granules
Salt and pepper

Directions: 

1. Shred the carrots and cabbage, and finely slice the pepper; I used a food processor to speed it up. 
2. Warm the beans and toast the tortillas in a pan to make them crispy. 
3. Make the dressing by mixing the coconut yoghurt, lime juice, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. 
4. Serve the tortillas with the beans, veg, and dressing.

Two-Tone Pepper Soup

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This fun talking-point for guests is simple to make, and great fun to eat. It serves 4, and you can choose whatever colour peppers you like. We’ve chosen green and yellow for the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
4 green bell peppers, roughly chopped
4 yellow bell peppers, roughly chopped
1.2-1.6l vegetable broth

Directions:
1. Preheat two saucepans over medium-low heat. Divide the onions and celery between the two and sauté until the onion starts to become translucent. Add the garlic, and sauté for 15 seconds.
2. Add the green peppers to one saucepan and the yellow peppers to the other. Add enough broth to cover, and bring to boil. Simmer 15 minutes.
3. Transfer the ingredients of the saucepan containing the yellow peppers to a blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a jug. Repeat with the saucepan containing the green peppers, and transfer to a separate jug.
4. Pour from both jugs into a bowl at the same time and at the same speed to keep the colours of the soup separate. Season to taste, and enjoy.

Carrot and Red Lentil Soup: Budget Recipe

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This soup costs €0.18 per portion and takes about 20 minutes to prepare. The recipe is very easy, but we’ve written it out in lots of detail in case you’re new to cooking. We’ve used a blender to make it smooth, but it’s equally delicious chunky.

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 l vegetable broth*
2 carrots, washed, topped and tailed, and sliced (no need to peel!)
80g red lentils, picked over to make sure there’s no grit
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:
1. Heat a stainless steel saucepan over a medium low heat until hot. Reduce the heat slightly, add the onions and keep stirring until the onions start to take on a little colour and release their aroma (about 2 minutes). Turn the heat right down to low before adding the garlic for about 30 seconds.
2. Add the broth, carrots, and red lentils. Crumble the herbs between your finger and thumb, if desired, so that they release more of their fragrance.
3. Raise the heat to high until bubbles start appearing around the sides of the pan. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes to make sure the lentils aren’t sticking.
4. Add the smoked paprika, and stir.
5. At this point, you can blend the soup with an immersion (stick) blender or in a jug blender, following the instructions that came with your blender.
6. Serve, and enjoy.

Overnight Oats Bowl: Budget Recipe

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This Overnight Oats Bowl cost €0.54 per serving at the time of posting, is very easy to put together, and is almost guaranteed to fill you up until lunchtime.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:
90g rolled oats
Large pinch cinnamon
100ml soy milk (or other all-plant milk)
100ml water
1/4 cup dried fruit
1 apple, chopped
1 banana, sliced
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp flaxseeds, ground

Directions:
1. Mix the oats with the cinnamon. Stir through the soy milk and water, and leave to soak overnight or for at least 15 minutes.
2. Divide between two bowls and serve topped with the rest of the ingredients.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Sauce

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This inexpensive, oil-free and relatively simple pasta sauce is made of blended cauliflower and beans, and when served with a pasta of your choice, it’s filling but not heavy. It serves 4 people with 125g egg-free dried pasta per person, and vegetables of choice.

Ingredients

400g frozen cauliflower, steamed for 8 minutes or until warmed through and tender
1/2 cup white beans of choice
2 tsp mixed Italian herbs (parsley, rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme)
2 garlic cloves
3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
2/3 cup unsalted all-plant milk
1/3 cup cold vegetable broth
1 tbsp yellow miso paste
1 tsp suitable-for-vegans Dijon mustard
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp onion granules
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fresh parsley to taste, minced

Directions

  1. Blend all ingredients in a jug blender until smooth. Season to taste and blend again.
  2. Add to cooked pasta and vegetables to heat through. Season to taste again, and stir the parsley through.

Speedy Tortilla Pesto Pizzas

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These pizzas take 20 minutes, including the time needed to preheat the oven. The vegetables listed below are only a suggestion; feel free to use up the leftovers. If you don’t want to make the pesto, shop-bought suitable-for-vegan pesto or hummus will do just fine. Serves 2.

Ingredients

For the Pesto

1 large bunch basil (about 2 cups, tightly packed)
400g cannellini or other white beans
3 cloves garlic
50g kale leaves
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp miso paste
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Pizza

4 mini or 2 large suitable-for-vegan corn or flour tortillas
Tomato purée or suitable-for-vegan pizza sauce
1 courgette (spiralized, sliced, or shredded)
1 each red and yellow bell pepper, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Blend all of the pesto ingredients. Season to taste.
3. Place the corn tortillas on two baking trays or on pizza stones. Spread with the desired amount of tomato purée or sauce, top with pesto, and load up with vegetables.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating or rearranging once to make sure they are evenly cooked.

Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup

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With only a few ingredients, this budget recipe is relatively fuss-free, and produces batch of flavoursome and healthy soup that will serve 6.

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped
1.5 litres vegetable broth
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Dry sauté the onions over a medium-low heat until caramelised, adding a splash of water if they start to stick.
2. Add about 1/4 cup vegetable broth to deglaze the pot.
3. Once the bottom of the pot looks clean, add the butternut squash, carrots, and the rest of the broth.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and allow to cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are fork-tender.
5. If you have a blender, you might like to try the soup smooth. If not, it will be just as delicious with the vegetables in chunks. Season to taste.

Smoky Black Bean Soup

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The smoky flavours of this soup pair perfectly with the black beans and sweetcorn in the recipe, and the miso adds umami notes that bring it all together. This is a budget recipe that serves 4, and it takes under 15 minutes to make

Ingredients

1 red onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1l vegetable broth
2 x 200g cans or 4 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tsp smoked paprika, or 2 tsp smoked paprika and 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp tomato purée
pinch cayenne pepper
200g frozen sweetcorn
1 tbsp yellow miso

Optional toppings: more sweetcorn, thawed; bell pepper; avocado; squeeze lime juice, etc.

Method

1. Sauté the onion over a medium heat for 3 minutes, until softened and lightly browned. Add the garlic for another 30 seconds.
2. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth. Add the rest of the broth, the beans, the paprika (and liquid smoke, if using), coriander, cumin, tomato purée, cayenne pepper.
3. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sweetcorn and continue for two minutes more.
4. If desired, transfer half of the soup to a blender with the miso and blend to smooth. Transfer back to the rest of the soup and reheat. Do not allow to boil. If not blending, remove from the heat, add the miso and mix well.
5. Serve, if desired, with a squeeze of lime, chopped bell pepper, sweetcorn, and avocado.

Leek, Potato, and Cabbage Soup

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A budget recipe that serves 6. This soup is filling, hearty, and very simple to make.

Ingredients

2 leeks, halved lengthways, sliced, and then washed
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium potatoes, chopped
1.5 litres vegetable broth
Sprig or 1 tsp each thyme and rosemary
2 bay leaves
Salt and white pepper

Method

1. In a large soup pan over a medium-low heat, sauté the leeks and cabbage for about 7 minutes until softened. Add a splash of water or broth to prevent sticking, if necessary.
2. Add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds.
3. Add the potatoes, broth, and herbs. To prevent the herbs getting lost in the pot, you can put them in tea infuser hooked onto the side of the pot, but if you don’t have one, you can retrieve them with a spoon when the soup is cooked.
4. Bring to the boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked. At this point, if you want a thicker soup, you can transfer up to half of the mixture to the blender and blend until smooth.
5. Season to taste, and serve.

Sticky BBQ Cauliflower Bites

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A simple budget recipe that’s a great way to sneak vegetables into those who are somewhat reluctant to eat them, but also a real treat for everyone else.

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1-1.25 cups water
1 large head cauliflower, cut into evenly sized florets
1 cup barbecue sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C. Lay a silicone mat or parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt and pepper together.
3.Whisk the water into the flour, starting with 1 cup and adding extra if needed. You should have a thick, pancake-like batter without lumps.
4. Dip each cauliflower floret into the batter to coat evenly, before shaking off excess. Place the florets on baking tray. Reserve any remaining batter.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, and then flip. Cover any gaps in the batter with the reserved batter, and bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Remove cauliflower from oven, brush with barbecue sauce, flip and brush the other sides. Bake for 10 minutes more.
7. Serving suggestion: mashed potato and a suitable-for-vegan dip.