The frugal vegetarian

If you are lucky enough have a street market where you live, it's a good place to be on a Saturday afternoon. In Tewkesbury for instance, after 4pm the fruit and vegetable stall has all kinds of bulk bargains to be snapped up because the stallholder wants to get rid of them

Argh at last a place of tranquility! Thank you Dandelion

To be vegetarian is a good start to being frugal...second stage is grow your own....3rd stage do it seriously and then you don't have to diet, join a gym or worry about enjoying the simple pleasures in life like rasperry jam!

...4th stage become enlightened!

Vegetable paella....substitute any locally grown or home grown veg. I do use Spainish/paella rice but we can not get wholemeal rice without travelling a very large number of miles.

Fry up the onions and any other veg available that needs frying eg carrots, courgettes, garlic, peppers...

Add 3 or so tomatoes per person (or a tin for 4 perhaps, we use our own bottled toms too) in the centre of the frying pan / wok. Heat a bit then add a 1/3 english tea cup of rice per person in the tomato in the centre and cook for 5 mins, stiring it into the tomato or until it gets too dry. Add double the amount of stock to rice ie 2/3 cup per person. bring up to boil.

Add the other veg especially peas but also french beans in pieces, broccoli or what ever is around. It should have saffron added but I use tumeric and also paprika. Salt and pepper.

Cover and simmer for 20 mins or until the rice is cooked. Stir often. Keep an eye on the fluid level.

This is an amazingly adaptable recipe that is for summer and what ever is available.

Cabbage Soup. This tastes much better than you might think. In fact its a great light meal.

Soften an onion in olive oil. Add some butter and saute cubed potatoes (I leave on the skins). Add veg stock and a medium chopped cabbage, carraway and crushed garlic. Cook for about 15mins. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The paella and the soup sound wonderful! I would like to try both of these recipes. Thanks for sharing. I have aquired a 20" well-cured cast iron paella pan that weighs about 20#. I have been using it on the large outside campstove to cook this summer. We have cooked breakfast in it, sauteed cabbage and our usual summer zucchini dishes, but I have yet to make a paella. I need to add that to my to do list before the rain sets in!

I invented this the other day as a very, quick light meal.

Reconstitute couscous with some hungerain paparika and water.
Pile on plate, then add lumps of fresh hot beetroot. Top with grated cheese (cantal in my case chedder in the land of chedder would be good!) Then some black pepper.

Done!

So is Cantal a hard cheese, Zoe?

Yes to cantal = hard cheese (probably spelt wrong as I have spelt cheddar wrong )