Cheesecakes, vegan and not

Vegan: based on this one from Carnation, quantities as written

Biscoff 175g and flora plant butter 25g for the base.

540g violife cream cheese (3 packs!) +100g Carnation 'condensed milk' for the main part.

Plus a pinch of salt, vanilla, a little maple syrup. Blackcurrant compote on top.

Texture held up well, after I was worried about it being too soft. Wouldn't mistake it for full dairy cheesecake but it was OK.

Non-vegan: Nigella but made half as much again of base and filling as I just could not spread the base thin enough to cover the tin! I used biscoff, added lime instead of lemon (and a bit of zest). Absolutely delicious, unsurprisingly, but definitely benefited from the tangy blackcurrants and the lime (could use more zest if anything).

190g biscoff + 110g butter (somewhat different ratio to above!)

450g cream cheese mixed with 90g sifted icing sugar + 70g greek yogurt*; folded in 300ml double cream (whipped), tsp vanilla, tsp lime juice, zest

*as I only bought 300ml cream for the original recipe which needed 250... probably would have been fine without?

To "lightly whip" double cream needed quite some time before any difference was observable. Made it to very soft peaks.

For each: topping was blackcurrants previously simmered with a little water and sugar. Took half a pint, heated and dissolved half a pack of vege-gel, then added a few whole blackcurrants in at the end. 

Banana bread

Good, reliable recipe by Jack Monroe:

Mash 3 ripe bananas with 50g brown sugar and 75ml oil.

Sift together 220g flour (any combo - half and half wholemeal and white is good) plus 1tsp baking powder, pinch salt, tsp mixed spice. Mix wet and dry mixtures.

Optionally add choc chips or sultanas.

Bake in lined loaf tin for ~50 mins @ 160°C fan.

Carrot cake / muffins

Vegan carrot cake from the Plant Based School

Makes 12 large muffins, baked for 25 mins (turn tray) +12 mins (150°C).

Reduced sugar to 150g.

300g carrots was 2.5 med-large allowing for peeling and ends.

Chicken casserole with dumplings

 So good! Based on BBC Good Food recipe for chicken casserole with herby dumplings. All made in a hob-to-oven casserole dish.

Onion and carrot fried off with lardons and (this time) some scraps of leftover salami plus mixed herbs.

Chicken drumsticks, skin pulled down and trimmed, coated in seasoned flour and browned. Add a splash of red wine and deglaze the pan before adding the veg back in. Top up with chicken stock and tomato puree, add in some whole baby mushrooms and chopped parsley.

Cook (170° fan) for 20 mins covered, 10 mins uncovered. Meanwhile make dumplings: 100g SRF and 50g any butter/spread. Mix to breadcrumbs, season (I used a coffee-spice rub geared for tomato sauces), then add just enough water to bind. Divide into six and add on top of the casserole for another 10 minutes (uncovered) at the end.

Could be done in a slow cooker but the dumplings are better in the oven.

Coffee shortbread

 It's teacher gift time again!

Slice and Bake Coffee Shortbreads from The English Kitchen. Cream 175g butter and 90g caster with strong coffee (2tsp instant + 1.5tsp boiling water). I then added 170g plain flour and 80g cornflour (as opposed to all plain in the original), and a pinch of salt. Make into a log shape, roll in demerara sugar, chill, slice and bake.

As it's quite hot at the moment the butter was very soft, but we firmed the rolled log in the freezer before slicing and they seem to have come out well (23 mins at 160°C fan). Some stuck together at the edges, not because of a lot of spreading but because they evidently shunted together on the silicon mat when I slid the tray into the oven. Oops. 

Once cool they have a melt-in-the-mouth texture and nice coffee taste, not overpowering. Another time I might put in a small amount of fine-ground coffee, as well as the from-instant "essence", but for a quick bake these are great!

Sweet potato wedges, nacho-style

In need of a playdate dinner to satisfy slightly picky small people, I took inspiration from this Budget Bytes recipe and made sweet potato wedges with a range of separate toppings to apply as desired. The kids weren't fussed about melting the cheese after selecting their additions, but I think it would be better if you could please everyone (or create different zones in the pan) and put it in the oven,

Sweet potato wedges: cooked as per your preference (mine were oil, salt, smoked paprika, left skin-on)

Black beans: a well-softened finely chopped onion with cumin, garlic powder and smoked paprika added while cooking. A drained tin of black beans, water, and some home made tomato sauce already in the fridge (passata, onion,  garlic, celery, carrot, herbs, cooked & blitzed). Had it not been for the smalls, this would have had chilli in it too. Cook long and slow so the beans are soft.

Plant-based "meat": Vivera Greek Kebab and Unbelievable Alt Chickenless Pieces. I added some paprika & pepper seasoning mix to the latter as they were fairly unappetising greyish cuboids in the packet. Both were quite bouncy but fine in the mix of things.

Quick-pickled red onion: finely sliced onion, vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns, left for a couple of hours.

Other toppings: Sliced gherkin, tomato, avocado, red pepper (well seared in a pan); canned sweetcorn; grated cheese; greek yogurt with salt and lime zest (instead of sour cream); BBQ sauce.

Ham, leek and ricotta lasagne

 Bored of the same old tomatoey lasagne I gave this a go, and it came out as a mishmash of various recipes.

9 lasagne sheets (I soak them to cut down the oven cooking time)

2 x 250g tubs ricotta, mixed with a generous dollop of Greek yogurt and some milk to thin it out and make it go further; plus fresh parsley left over from another recipe, parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper

~200g ham on the bone, roughly chopped (I always grab one of these when I see them reduced on the deli counter, usually about £4 for 400g+ of good quality ham and a bone for stock if that's your thing) plus a 90g pack of "cook's ingredients" diced smoked ham (also yellow-stickered) [see note for veggie options]

4 small-medium leeks, chopped small, softened in a pan with oil, garlic powder, mixed herbs; chuck in a couple of handfuls of frozen peas too

about half a jar of red pesto

grated cheddar and more parmesan for the top

I layered it up as leeks/peas (drained first), cheese, ham, pasta, pesto, repeated three times over, then finishing with the grated cheese. I thought making a white/cheese sauce would be too overwhelming so went with the pesto instead.

Thumbs up from the family, and without needing a sauce it was ridiculously quick and easy to make. You could possibly sub in something veggie for the ham, like marinated and baked tofu or quorn pieces, or garlicky mushrooms.