The first week of spring has been so sunny and I love it! As well as autumn, spring is one of my favourite seasons as the lighter evenings are amazing *especially for bloggers!* and when spring comes around I tend to eat much healthier. I've been a vegetarian for almost 12 years so finding new spring recipes can be a little difficult but here are two of my current favourite recipes that are super healthy, delicious and so easy to make! I think these recipes would be great for the upcoming bank holiday, check out the Tesco Direct website for great
bank holiday deals!
Green Vegetable, White Stilton & Dill Quiche
Until a week or so ago, I hadn't made a quiche before but I've been obsessed with this one as it is so light, fresh and healthy but delicious. I used spinach, broccoli and asparagus in this quiche as well as white stilton and dill but you can use which ever cheese and herbs you want - I just prefer these recently and they are both very light/spring like to me.
To be honest, I make this up every time, it changes with whatever needs using up or whatever I want to use that day. I don't use specific measurements apart from that I use just over half a pack of pre-made shortcrust pastry (I always make my own pastry but this is just so much easier and quicker) and I use three eggs per quiche so it will set.
1. Leave the pastry out of the fridge for half an hour so it can reach room temperature (or put it in the microwave for 5-8 seconds but no longer than that). Chop up the broccoli, asparagus, spinach, herbs and cheese - make everything fairly small/flat or it will be too big for the tart/quiche tin. I don't cook the vegetables in this recipe prior to baking the quiche in the oven but you could if you wanted although they might end up too soft/mushy.
2. Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface into a circle big enough to cover the tin and to cover the sides too. I had only just enough pastry so a little over half a packet will be perfect for a shallow tart tin like the one I used. Grease the tin lightly and lay over the pastry, pressing it to the base and sides. Prick the pastry base with a fork. You don't need to blind bake the pastry.
3. Place your vegetables onto the uncooked pastry where you want them.
4. Combine three medium eggs and single cream with garlic, herbs and salt/pepper and mix well so you have enough mixture to almost cover all of the vegetables - it's better if you don't fully cover everything as I think it looks better.
5. Gently pour the egg/cream mixture over the vegetables and top with whatever cheese you want. Don't over fill as it will spill out over the edges as it bubbles up and cooks in the oven. If you need to add more liquid, then add a little extra cream or milk.
6. Bake at 200 degrees celsius (fan ovens) for about 30-35 minutes. Turn half way through the cooking time so the quiche is baked as evenly as possible. To prevent the uncovered vegetables from catching, cover lightly with tin foil while baking. It will be baked when there is no wobble in the quiche. Allow to cool slightly before serving, it would be great with a fresh rocket, lettuce and lemon salad.
Vegan Spinach Pesto Penne
I have been referred to by my family, for all of my life, as the 'pasta queen'. I adore pasta, I eat it pretty much constantly so there isn't a vegetarian pasta combination that I haven't tried. However, last year when I had a period of being vegan, I came across a new idea (cashew cream) which I adapted and loved. Creamy, spinach pesto pasta with no dairy in sight! Although if you wanted to add cheese you could with vegan cheese or vegetarian parmesan cheese.
As with the previous recipe, I don't have specific measurements as neither recipes are from books, they are just mash ups of ideas and they are always changing to make something new. The rough measurements will make enough for two or just one Heather...
1. Soak 1/4 cup of cashew nuts and a small handful of pine nuts in a mug full of hot vegetable stock (check the packet to make sure it's vegan as some contain milk) for about two hours, stirring every so often.
2. Cook whatever pasta you want and while it is cooking, add the now cool cashew nut/stock mixture to a food processor - make sure it is fully cool. I use my NutriBullet as it makes the pesto sauce incredibly smooth! So I'd definitely recommend using a NutriBullet or it won't be as good/creamy. Add a good handful or two of spinach, garlic, salt/pepper and a lot of basil to the NutriBullet along with half a teaspoon of nutritional yeast to make it slightly cheesy but this is optional.
3. Blended everything in the NutriBullet for blasts of ten seconds until the mixture is completely smooth. At this point you can adjust the ingredients, I usually add more garlic and basil; also sometimes I add cornstarch dissolved in a tiny amount of water to thicken it later.
4. Drain the pasta when al dente and add the pesto sauce to the pan to heat through slightly. Add the pasta to the sauce and that's it! It's so easy but so delicious and very creamy even though it doesn't contain dairy. It is very filing and very healthy! This is a sponsored post.
What do you think of my healthy, spring recipes? Will you try and make them? What are your favourite spring inspired recipes?
