So with the goal of sharing the love of food without spending too much time, following are links to some recipes that have been on rotation in our household:

My New Roots – Four Corners Lentil Soup – more like a dhal, this is amazing served with naan bread

Cauliflower and Lentil Dhal – another dhal, because you can never have too many variations of a good thing!

Moroccan Pumpkin Soup – a tasty twist on your usual pumpkin soup

A pot of slow cooked beans – Joy the Baker

Baked eggs

Broccoli and Cauliflower Cannelloni – weird sounding combination but so delicious

Roasted tomato soup

Veggo Lasagne - I base mine on this recipe but pack it full of veggies – fried mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini and roasted pumpkin and sweet potato

Mexican Black Beans for tacos or burritos

And of course, you can’t have mexican without guacamole – apparently I have been doing it wrong all along, this recipe is amazing:

Guacamole

I can’t forget some of the breakfast treats I have been starting the day with:

Gluten Free Banana Bread Pancakes – another cracker of a recipe from Sarah at My New Roots

Porridge

And a few recipes that I have bookmarked to try sometime soon:

Pesto potato eggs

Chunky Tomato Celery and Bean soup – to use up some of the beans I have in the fridge

Home-made Mushroom Ravioli

Photos from my iPad

My latest favourite has been to add frozen blueberries at the start of cooking, which gives the oats a vivid purple colour, and then to topped with natural yoghurt and sliced banana.

You could also replace the yoghurt with milk or nut milk, but I find that I always need something to cool it down a little so that I don’t have to wait around before eating it.

Other favourites include:
Grated apple and ground cinnamon sprinkled with toasted walnuts
Frozen raspberries with toasted slivered almonds and flaked coconut
Sliced pear with pecans and maple syrup
Passion fruit and shredded coconut
Pomegranate seeds and crushed brazil nuts

I have also been trying to remember to sprinkle my porridge with chia seeds, which really doesn’t change the taste but adds nutrition.

Though it might seem like a bit too much effort to get a saucepan out in the morning, it really is quick, and you can reduce the cooking time by soaking the oats in water overnight if time really is an issue.

1/3 cup whole rolled oats
2/3 cup water

Your choice of topping

Add oats and water to a small saucepan over low-med heat. Stir occasionally until water has been absorbed. Transfer to a bowl, add toppings and enjoy!

Photos from: iPad and phone

Without fail, every time I am searching for a guilt free treat, I can find what I am after on My New Roots.  These banana pancakes are both vegan and gluten free and full of healthy protein and fats from nuts.I altered the original recipe to suit what I had in my pantry, substituting the walnuts for a combination of brazil nuts and pecans.  The first time I made these I didn’t have any nut milk on hand, and was feeling a little lazy so I used regular milk with great results, but I felt so much better the second time when I made the effort to make them with nut milk so that they were vegan.

Sarah has a fabulous video instructing on how to make your own nut milk.  It is super easy, especially if you aren’t making it specifically for these pancakes – I have been using it on my porridge in the mornings.

Topped with sliced banana, toasted nuts and maple syrup, these feel just the right amount of naughty to be the perfect brunch or dessert treat.  The consistency isn’t quite the same as normal pancakes, but I think I prefer the nuttiness and the grainer texture… the only problem comes when you try to flip them but with a bit of extra care they turn out great!

Give these a try next time you have overripe bananas, they totally satisfy the urge for banana bread without all the butter, white flour and eggs.  Yum!

Recipe from: My New Roots 

Photos from: my camera