Vitamin Wheat

This is fast, adaptable and good for using bits of veg up. Quantities here are for 2-3 meals.

2 mugs of bulgar wheat or couscous (or cooked rice)
1 small onion
1-2 cloves of garlic, sliced
A handful of chopped dried fruit (optional but things like cranberries, apricots, sultanas...)
About 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 apple, chopped
A slosh of cider (or water)

Other things you can add:
1 courgette, diced
1 pepper, diced
2 sticks of celery, chopped
3 handfuls Quorn chunks
a bit of cubed feta
Chickpeas

Dressing:
a glug of olive oil
juice of a lemon
handful of chopped parsley
half tsp cinnamon
half tsp cumin
half tsp sumac (optional)
half tsp advieh (optional)
chopped mint (optional)

Put the bulgar or couscous in a bowl and pour over boiling water until it is about a cm over the grains and cover with a plate for about 5-10 mins. If you are using dried fruit, add this too. Or cook the rice.

Meanwhile, cook the onions in a little oil until translucent. Add the quern here if using.

Add the garlic and other veg, a slosh of cider, and cook for about 10 mins or until they have softened and the veg (and quorn) has gone goldenish.

Tip it all into a big bowl with the grains and (add the feta now if using) and add the dressing stuff.  Stir it all up and cover for 5 mins then serve.

You can leave leftovers to go cold and have it for lunch the next day.

Mary MacFarlane's 1st year of Uni recipe

This is what I lived on for my first year of college:

Chop half a courgette finely, and start frying in a tablespoon of olive oil. Meanwhile, chop about 4-5 mushrooms finely. When the courgettes are just starting to look cooked (slightly translucent, not yet brown), add the mushrooms. Then chop 4-5 medium-sized tomatoes (it's easier to chop tomatoes if you have a serrated knife), and add them when the mushrooms are starting to look cooked. Chop and add a clove of garlic and some cayenne pepper or chilli powder, then leave it all to cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the tomato juice is mostly cooked off. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, heat up a couple of tortilla wraps. When the veg mixture is cooked, spoon it into tortillas and add a spoonful of plain yoghurt and some cheddar cheese if you want. 

Is VERY NICE, takes about 20 minutes, and has pretty much all the food groups! I've also added things like kidney beans or used tinned tomatoes if I've had some that needed using up, but this is the best version because the courgettes, tomatoes and mushrooms all come out quite sweet and the combination of sweet veg, cayenne pepper and yoghurt is really lovely.

Magic Gug - basic veg

I was brought up on this stuff.  It's totally adaptable so do experiment and lob anything in that you fancy.

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 courgette (or carrot, or red pepper etc or a mixture of some, whatever you have)
1 tin tomatoes
salt and pepper
1 tsp cumin (this can be with other spices, herbs or exchanged for something else, it depends what you fancy)



Heat some oil in a big pan and add the onion.  Cook until a bit see through then add the garlic, spice and chopped veg.  Stir them about for about 5 mins and then add the tomatoes, topping up with water until the liquid just covers the veg.

Leave this to quietly bubble away for about half an hour, or until the veg is softish.

Meanwhile, cook a jacket potato, some rice, pasta or cous cous.

Have what you want at the time and keep the rest as a base for other magic gugs.  You can freeze portions or it will keep in the fridge, covered for a couple of days.

It costs about £2 to cook the whole thing and will easily feed 4 people.  or you, 4 times!