Courgette Muffins

These taste quite healthy and are great for breakfast or as a snack with a cup of coffee or tea. To make them slightly less healthy, use all plain flour (no spelt) and up the amount of sugar a bit.

Ingredients:
1 medium courgette
2½ cups flour (I used 1 cup spelt and 1½ cups plain flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup sugar
1 dash salt
1 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup raisins

Instructions:
1. Grate the courgette and then squeeze it out or leave it to drip for 10-15 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and salt together.
3. Blend in the eggs, oil, vanilla, and lemon juice.
4. Add the grated courgette and the raisins. Mix well.
5. Place about 2-3 tbsp batter into muffin cases.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 175 C.

Avocado Mousse

There is an ice cream shop not far from where I grew up that has many unusual types of ice cream. At least unusual to me – the owners are from the Philippines and they serve flavours that are typical of their homeland, such as yam and avocado. I really like those flavours and I began to realise that avocado in particular works well in both sweet and savoury dishes.

So when I saw this recipe for avocado mousse, I wanted to try it, although I adapted it to make it a bit sweeter and creamier. M was pleasantly surprised, as she had expected it to be disgusting, and we even served it to a friend who came over.

I think it could also work well to freeze this mousse and serve it as ice cream. Yum!

Ingredients:
2 avocados
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup sugar, plus 1 tbsp
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup milk
¾ cup double cream

Instructions:
1. Halve, peel and pit the avocados, and put the flesh into a food processor. Mix until soft, then add the lemon juice, the ½ cup of sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix again.
2. Add the milk and mix well.
3. Whip the double cream with the 1 tbsp of sugar and the other 1 tsp of vanilla until firm.
4. Fold the avocado mixture into the whipped cream.
5. Refrigerate for an hour or so and then serve.

Pasta with Beans and Peas

This is a simple pasta dish that was great at the height of summer with fresh produce.

If you eat seafood, you can add in some prawns as well. My M likes prawns, so I add them in sometimes for her.

Ingredients:
½ red onion
olive oil
1 tsp sugar
200 g runner beans
200 g sugar snap peas
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp tomato purée/paste
cream, to taste
200 g multigrain tagliatelle
water to cook the pasta in

Instructions:
1. Dice the onion and fry it lightly in olive oil, then add the sugar to caramelise it.
2. Wash the runner beans and sugar snap peas and cut them as necessary. Add them to the onion, along with the coriander, tomato purée/paste and cream.
3. Meanwhile, boil the pasta in the water.
4. Serve the vegetable sauce over the pasta.

Avocado with Caviar

Avocado is so versatile and yet many people rarely use it except in guacamole or the occasional salad topping. I’ve had avocado ice cream that is amazing, for example, and I think it’s worth trying avocado in more sweet dishes as well as savoury ones.

I made a simple avocado starter the other day. M didn’t like the raw onion in it, so next time I’d caramelise it first, to soften the sharp oniony edge.

Ingredients:
2 avocados (1 avocado per person, or half an avocado if you’re serving this as a starter)
½ half red onion
200 ml sour cream or crème fraiche
60 g caviar (use fish roe if you eat fish or one of the vegetarian substitutes if not, such as the ones made from seaweed)

Instructions:
1. Half the avocados and remove the stones.
2. Dice the red onion. Mix it into the sour cream or crème fraiche and then mix in the caviar.
3. Fill the avocados with the creamy mixture.

Creamy Couscous

This is a creamy couscous with just a bite of flavour. I had some gravlax sauce on hand, which is mustard and dill, so I used that, but any mustard would work well (not dried mustard but mustard sauce).

Ingredients:
100 g couscous per person
water to cover the couscous
1-3 tbsp yogurt per 100 g
½ tsp – 1 tbsp mustard (or gravlax sauce, if you can get it)

Instructions:
1. Put the couscous in a sauce pan. Boil the water and pour it over the couscous. Cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
2. Mix in the yogurt and mustard.
3. Serve with vegetables or other items.

Best LGBT Blogs

This list of the best LGBT blogs is a couple of years old now, but it’s still worth a look.

Pot Pie

Growing up in the US, I regularly had what we call “pot pie”. This is a pastry filled with vegetables and chicken or turkey. Once I became a vegetarian, I wanted something with the same sauce but without the poultry. So I made my own version, and I’ve successfully served it to people here in the UK, and they have complimented me on it.

Ingredients:
500 g puff pastry
1-3 carrots and/or parsnips, chopped into pieces
water or milk
1 celery stalk, chopped
1-2 cups frozen veggies
some chopped tofu, if desired
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup milk
1 vegetable stock cube
salt
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Roll out the pastry and make two pieces from it.
2. Peel and dice the carrots and/or parsnips, then cook the pieces over medium heat until slightly soft in water or milk to cover.
3. Wash and chop the celery. Add it and the other veggies. Cook briefly, until defrosted. Add the tofu if using it.
4. Add the flour, milk, stock cube, salt, and pepper. Cook a bit more over medium heat, stirring.
5. Put one crust on the bottom of a pan. Top it with the filling.
6. Add the other crust on top.
7. Bake for 30 min at 220 C, until golden.