Doctor's Orders Smoothie

Ingredients: 3 apples, 1 lemon, half a banana, 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger, 1 tablespoon of honey

Juice the apples and lemon. Put into a blender together with the banana, ginger and honey. Blend until smooth.

Garlic Soup

Ingredients: 3 bulbs of garlic, 2 medium potatoes, I medium carrot, 1.5 litres vegetable stock, 6 tablespoons olive oil

In a large saucepan, warm the oil before adding the peeled garlic cloves. Heat gently for a few minutes. Stir in the peeled and chopped potatoes and carrots then add the stock and being to the boil. Simmer gently for around 25 minutes. Cool a little then blend until smooth.

Squash and Sweet potato soup

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 onion, 450g squash (butternut tastes especially nice), 1 large carrot, 1 large sweet potato, 1 litre vegetable stock, 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger.

In a large saucepan, gently heat the chopped onion in the olive oil for around 5 minutes. Add the peeled and chopped squash, carrot and sweet potato, and the ginger then cook for another 3 minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for around 20 minutes. Cool a little then blend until smooth. Season with black pepper to taste.

Vegetable Hot Pot

Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 chopped onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 diced aubergine, 2 diced courgettes, 1 red pepper, seeded and cut into chunks, 5 sliced small chestnut mushrooms, 1 400g tin plum tomatoes, chopped, 1 410g tin chickpeas, drained, 150ml vegetable stock, your preferred spices (we either add 4 teaspoons of mild curry powder or 1 teaspoon mild chilli powder).

In a large saucepan, gently heat the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft and golden. Add the aubergine, courgettes and red pepper and continue to heat gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in your spices and cook gently for a further minute. Add in the chopped tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and stir in the chick peas. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the liquid has reduced.

We either serve with mountains of mashed potato or couscous, or for a change we sometimes put the vegetable mixture into an ovenproof casserole, slice a small baguette into 1cm rounds, rub garlic over the slices, arrange over the top, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with vegetarian cheese. Then bake at 200°C , gas mark 6, for 20 minutes until golden.

Charlie's Chocolate Crumbly Fudge Brownies - (a special treat before Lent starts!)

Ingredients: 180g pack Burnt Sugar Crumbly Fudge (Fairtrade, CarbonZero and available from Oxfam and Waitrose), 250g Bournville Plain Chocolate, chopped, 175g unsalted butter, 3 eggs, 225g light muscovado sugar, 75g self-raising flour, half teaspoon baking powder.

Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. Line a 27 x 18 cm baking tin with baking parchment. Cut the fudge into small 1cm cubes. Melt the chocolate and butter by heating in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir to make a smooth sauce then remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until thick, smooth and just frothy. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture, then the flour and baking powder. Stir in half of the fudge and pour into the tin, spreading out into the corners. Scatter with the remaining fudge pieces. Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until a sugary crust has formed. The mixture will still feel wobbly underneath but don't worry as it will firm up as the brownies cool. Don't be tempted to cook for longer as they taste so much nicer moist and gooey. Leave to cool in the tin and then lift out and cut into pieces (15 for us but that's fairly generous portions).

Jammy Muffins

Charlie always gives up chocolate for Lent so this recipe is a healthier alternative to his second favourite treat of jam doughnuts. He prefers smaller muffins and this mixture is enough to fill 12 'fairy cake' size cases. If you prefer large muffins it will fill 9 cases but you should increase the cooking time by about 5 minutes.

Ingredients: 225g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 140g caster sugar, 2 eggs, 140g melted butter, 5 tbsps mik, 12 teaspoons of favourite jam or lemon curd.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Place paper cases in muffin tin. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl then add the sugar and mix together. In a separate bowl add the milk, eggs and melted butter and whisk gently until combined. Gradually add to the flour, taking care not to over-stir the mixture. Spoon enough mixture to half-fill each paper case, place a small spoonful of jam on top, then add more mixture to cover it. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and well risen. Allow to cool slightly but they are especially nice eaten when still warm.

When strawberries, raspberries or blueberries are in season you could substitute the fresh fruit for the jam.

The following two recipes are a couple of our favourites for festive celebrations - it's not always easy pleasing non-vegetarian visitors but these always seem to hit the spot!

Vegetable Roast

2 sweet potatoes (medium), peeled and chopped
100g mushrooms, chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 carrots (medium), grated
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
50g oatmeal
100g walnuts, chopped
50g coconut, grated
75g hemp seeds, roasted, finely ground and sieved
2 tablespoons tomato purée
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground chilli, ground ginger
Seasoning

Preheat oven to 190°C, gas mark 5.

Prepare a 450g loaf tin by buttering and lining with greaseproof paper. In a large saucepan, gently sauté the onion in the oil for around 5 minutes. Add the sweet potato, mushrooms and carrots and cook for 7 minutes. Stir in the spices and the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the oatmeal, nuts, coconut, tomato purée and ground hemp. Mix and season to taste. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 30 minutes until firm. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before slicing.

Any leftovers make a very tasty pâté.

Squash and Chestnut Pie

1 butternut squash (medium), peeled and chopped into bite size chunks
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 teaspoons mixed herbs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
100g mushrooms, sliced or chopped (depending on size)
125g pack cooked chestnuts, chopped into quarters
250g tub mascarpone cheese
500g pack puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Seasoning

Preheat oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Put the squash in a roasting tin with the garlic, herbs and 2 tablespoons of oil and mix well, adding seasoning to taste. Roast for 40 minutes and set aside to cool. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a small pan and fry the onion until soft and golden. Add the mushrooms and fry for 3-4 minutes more. Remove from heat and set aside. In a large bowl mix the chestnuts and mascarpone. Gently stir in the mushroom and squash mixtures until combined, taking care not to break up the squash. Season to taste. Roll out a third of the pastry into a rectangle measuring 12 x 30 cm. Pile the filling on top leaving a 1 cm border. Roll out the remaining pastry into a slightly larger rectangle, then either cut with a lattice pastry cutter or make diagonal slashes with a sharp knife. Brush the border of the base with beaten egg and carefully lay the pastry on top, pressing down the edges to seal. Brush the top with beaten egg. Bake for 30-35 minutes until pastry is golden and cooked through.

Serve hot or cold.