Sunshine Salad

This looks beautiful and is the ultimate cheery salad. 

1 pack of cooked beetroot, in natural juices, NOT vinegar
2 eggs, hardboiled (boil for 5 mins, plunge into cold water for 10 mins then peel) and quartered
About 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
The rind of half an orange, grated or finely chopped
A handful of chopped mint leaves

Dressing:
Juice of half an orange (drink the rest!)
a glug of olive oil

Chope the beetroot into chunks and add the tomatoes and orange rind. Stir it about a bit.  Add the egg quarters. Pour over the dressing and sprinkle with the mint. The eggs get pink bits on and it's rather pretty!

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.