They sound lovely!!!

Will give them a go! Thankyou for that!

Yum yum yum yum!!!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this, the recipes sounds brill, can't ait to have a go at the butternut squash one.
Can't thank you enough duboing, you're a real star!

those recipes sound great I too love beans and lentils my all time fav is chickpeas yum!

even though im a meat eater some of these sounds really nice hink i will have to try them i love chick peas as well emm

If you're cooking I'm coming for my tea! In fact do you know what you never have cooked me my dinner before!

That's it, once the decorating is done I'm coming to your house. Although if I gave those receipies to OH I'm sure he'd cook for us too!

I can't cook so in the meantime I'll make do with Tescos fab range of veggie delights!

I dont wanna sound like a total caveman,but what the heck is Tofu??? I do like veggie dishes as well as meat and am always prepared to try anything once,but need to know what im eating first!

I do something similar to the roasted tofu but instead of the salad I serve it with stirfried vegetables (any mix of spring onions/mushrooms/shredded carrots /mange tout/red peppers/water chestnuts/celery .

Garnish with a little bunch of watercress which tastes lovely when sprinkled with soy sauce, (preferably Japanese).

tofu steve is made from a soya bean

Yep, tofu, otherwise known as bean curd, is basically soya beans pulped, then compressed over a fine strainer to lose the liquid and form it into blocks. There are two different kinds, the firm tofu, which is what you want to use for the recipe above, can be found in most supermarkets in the fridges. Cauldron Foods version is pretty widespread, and if the supermarket don't have it you can get it in Holland and Barret or other health foood shops. There is also a "silken tofu" available, I've seen it our local supermarket in foil-lined cartons, and it doesn't do the same job at all. It's very soft, and I think its used for making vegan cheesecakes or something.

Something with chickpeas coming up next...

Chickpea and Haloumi salad

This is a slightly altered version of one from my favourite veggie cookery book: The Cranks Bilble, by Nadine Abensur. Cranks got themselves a bit of a reputation as purveyors of stodgy, heavy veggie food, but this book is not at all about that. If you ever needed persuading that veggie food can be interesting, it's all in here.

2 tins chickpeas, drained
a lemon
a good handful chopped coriander
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, slivered
soy sauce
tabasco
half (or less) of a small red onion, slivered
packet of Haloumi cheese
a packet of rocket or watercress
100g black olives
8 good tomatoes
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

The original recipe recommends slow-roasted or sunblush tomatoes, but I like them still juicy and, especially during the colder months, hot out of the oven. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and put them, skin-side down on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and roast in the oven (200 Celcius) for about an hour. This isn't precision timing, they taste fine even if they go really squishy and a bit black round the edges!

Meanwhile, mix the chickpeas, juice of the lemon, coriander, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, tabasco, olives and onion together, with some salt and pepper. Don't be too heavy-handed with the salt as the Haloumi is very salty anyway. Set aside to let the flavours meld, then go away and play on Dogsey until the tomatoes are done.

Take the tomatoes out and set them aside, so they cool enough to not skin your mouth when you try to eat them Heat a frying pan or griddle pan, preferably non-stick so you don't lose the crispy bits of the cheese, until it really is quite hot. Drain the haloumi and cut it into quarter-inch slices. Brush these with a little olive oil and fry or griddle for about a minute each side, until they're golden brown. Do concentrate, because the timing's important: undercook and the texture's a bit weird, blacken it and it doesn't improve either.

That's the hard bits done Put a handful of rocket on each plate, divide the chickpea mixture between them, put the tomato quarters around the edge, and serve with the hot haloumi on top and any extra dressing drizzled over.