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Happy National Vegetarian Week everyone! I have some lovely simple veggie recipes for you today that even if your not veggie you will love!

My day started with a gym workout. I did 20 minutes of speed intervals on the treadmill followed by 10 minutes of intervals on the step machine, cross trainer, bike and rowing machine followed by my abs and core for an awesome 1hr 15 minute workout. I had to make breakfast a quick one so I could get to work on time, cereal to the rescue!

This was a big bowl of Dorset Cereals Low Fat Flakes with hemp milk and 4 lovely chopped apricots.

At the weekend I had some random veggies to use up so I decided to make a fresh green spring soup:

Asparagus and Spinach Soup (makes 2 servings, vegan)

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bunch of asparagus, chopped into pieces
• 2 tsp of vegetable bouillon powder (I use Marigold vegan)
• Hot water
• 4 large handfuls of spinach
• Extra virgin olive oil to serve

Begin by frying the onion in a little oil over a medium heat until softened. Add the chopped asparagus, vegetable bouillon (or veg stock cube) and enough hot water to cover. Simmer for 5 – 10 minutes until the asparagus is tender. Add the spinach, stirring until it has wilted down into the hot stock. Allow to cool a little then puree in a blender or use a hand blender until smooth. Serve with a big drizzle of extra virgin olive oil:

This is such a light and refreshing soup! I had a big bowl for lunch at work along with a couple of nectarines. Very comforting considering the crazy storm we’ve had today!

My mid afternoon snack involved a very tasty dip! A few weeks ago I made a white bean based cheesy sauce for my Leek and Rye Crumb bake and knew that the sauce would also be awesome as a dip so I decided to try it out. I also decided to give it a bit of a twist with the inclusion of fresh basil:

Cheesy basil white bean dip (makes about 1 cup, vegan)

• 1 tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp of sweet white miso
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes (or I’m sure parmesan cheese would work well here too)
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• Water to desired consistency

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend! You’ll probably need to scrape the sides down and add a little water to loosen it up a bit. So good!

I had some with a huge pile of carrots and sugar snaps for dipping, yum!

For dinner I decided to go with a slightly amended version of my Chickpea and Cranberry Couscous. Instead of the cranberries I used chopped dried strawberries and some flaked almonds then served with steamed broccoli and spring greens:

This was delicious! The dried strawberries and almonds tasted wonderful! If your looking for a calcium boost then this meal would be perfect. I’ve been learning about vitamins and minerals for my course and the broccoli, spring greens, parsley, chickpeas and almonds are all great calcium sources.

Dessert was a couple of sliced apples with 2 tbsp of PB&Co Dark Chocolate Dreams for dipping:

So glad to have this back in my life!

This week is going to be a bit of a crazy one, I have two late night meetings and then a big work event on Friday, I think I’ll be falling back on green smoothies to get me through! I know some people don’t think smoothies make good meal stand in’s but mine are pretty big (size and calorie wise), full of nutrition, quick to throw together late at night, easy to digest and make me feel great!

I think that National Vegetarian Week is a great idea. Although I’m veggie / mostly vegan I certainly respect everyone’s individual choices about how they choose to eat – I genuinely believe that what works for some people doesn’t work for others. I choose to eat a mostly vegan diet because its what makes me feel my best physically and fits with my feelings around health and the environment. Plus I just naturally seem to love vegetarian food! I do believe that even if you aren’t a vegetarian there are so many delicious veggie and vegan recipes out there all people would love! Some of my favourite typical veggie foods include tofu, beans, seitan and hummus!

What’s your favourite vegetarian or vegan food / recipe? If your veggie, why did you decide to become a vegetarian?