Gingham's vegetarian meal planner - SUMMER

STANDARD VEGETABLE BAG (suitable 2-4 people) @ £10.55
Valor Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Tomatoes
Courgettes
Batavia or Iceberg Lettuce
Asparagus
Runner Beans
Cauliflower
+ 6 eggs

STANDARD FRUIT BAG (suitable 2-4 people) @ £7.50
Mango
Bananas
Valencia Oranges
Rocha Pears
Royal Gala Apples
Kiwi Fruit

Morrisons:
Single cream
Milk
'parmesan'
extra tomatoes
chickpeas
value baked beans (for lunch)
raisins
butter
rice
grapes (to replace mango which was rotten)
flour (w/m)
tinned tomatoes
butter beans (for store cupboard)
passata (for store cupboard) Total: £17.50

The creamy asparagus sauce was one I spotted in a magazine while in a waiting room. It was basically garlic, cream, parmesan and steamed or boiled asparagus stalks blended together. The tips were also steamed and added whole to the pasta. I will have cream left over from the lettuce soup, so I'll probably do it like that but if anyone makes pesto out of it, I'd love to know how it turns out!

The 3 bean chilli will just be runner beans, onion, kidney beans and pinto beans (as that's what I have) with some passata and chilli powder. But this one is worth a go if you've got the ingredients.

The carrot and red lentil soup I'll do in the slow cooker. I'll probably have enough to freeze for another day. A couple of mugs of red lentils, a few grated or chopped carrots, a chopped onion, couple of cloves of crushed garlic and veggie stock. You can throw in a potato or two to thicken it and make it a bit creamier.

I make the tarts using Delia's easy flaky pastry. I usually have it with goat's cheese but am cutting back on calories and don't have anything else to use the rest of the goat's cheese this week, so I'm trying cherry tomatoes. I'm hoping it won't make the pastry soggy. I'll let you know how they turn out. I cook the sliced courgettes in olive oil and lemon juice (Morrisons from a bottle( before topping the pastry with them and putting in the oven at around 180 until the pastry has puffed up and turned golden.

I'll make garlic croutons with the lentil and carrot soup and basil ones with the tomato soup. I cut a chunk of h/m bread into squares, put some oil on a baking tray and add crushed garlic or sprinkle some dried herbs (basil) and coat on both sides by turning the bread once on the tray, then put in the oven for a few minutes till crispy. (I just keep an eye on them - they don't take very long.)

Okay, here's how it went this week. The chilled lettuce soup was 'not to our taste'. Actually , neither of us could even stand the smell and we put it down the drain. DH described it as lettuce milkshake. So we won't be doing that again!

The spiced cauli and runner beans was delicious though and I'll be making the asparagus pasta sauce again. I used the leftovers from the 3 bean chilli the next day for lunch with sweetcorn and more passata to bulk it out a bit. I haven't tried the courgette tarts with tomato on yet as we had pizza one night (I 'went on strike' because I was exhausted!) I might make them for lunch depending on when Farmaround deliver as we're getting more tomatoes. Still loving the Delia roast tomato soup.

Pizza with pepper, onion, sweetcorn, tomato, olives and mozzarella
Pasta with rocket pesto and tomatoes, side dish of runner beans
3 bean chilli with rice
Spicy butternut squash soup and crusty bread, eve's pudding
Veggieburgers and potato wedges
Baked potatoes and leftover chilli
Cheese and onion quiche topped with tomato, chips and peas

Edit: I'm going to add the spinach to a simple tomato and olive pasta sauce for lunch.