2 April - goats cheese with figs and porotos granados

Rather inspired by the figs in my salad the other day, I had one of my favourite combinations for lunch today; goats cheese on toast with some fresh figs ... I just never get bored of it!

As I knew I was going to be out early evening today, I actually made up a pot of 'stew' for supper yesterday afternoon that could just be reheated when I got in. I tried another recipe from HFW's River Cottage veg every day - a kind of soupy vegetable stew called porotos granados. It's made up of pinto beans, squash, french beans and sweetcorn, along with stock and flavourings, and as the name suggests, it's South American (Chilean actually) in origin. Well, I'm not sure if perhaps I just didn't put in enough paprika, but I found the result a bit bland. The veg were tasty enough, but it did just taste like a bowl of boiled veg without much else to tie them together - definitely something missing in this one.

8 March - a chowder and orzo with mushrooms

I'd kept back a bit of the smoked haddock I cooked yesterday and the poaching milk to make some chowder for lunch today. I sweated some leeks with a few bacon lardons, then added some diced potato, the milk and some vegetable stock. After simmering that for a while, I added the haddock and a bit of chopped parsley. I think the stock was a bit salty which together with the lardons was a bit much, but otherwise, not bad.

For supper, I used a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for orzo (rice-shaped pasta) with mushrooms. I used a whole carton of mini portobello mushrooms and it came out with a lovely earthy, mushroomy flavour.

27 February - shakshouka and stuffed peppers

There was a tasty-looking recipe in yesterday's Independent magazine for shakshouka - fried onions, peppers, chorizo, spinach and tomatoes with an egg broken in the middle, then sprinkled with sumac powder. It was a slight variation on a dish I've cooked before and a really tasty lunch.

After lots of meat and fish while we were away, we were both craving some veg. For supper I cooked a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe of peppers stuffed with beans. For my stuffing I cooked up onions, garlic, tomato, mushrooms and borlotti beans with some spices and dolloped it inside a couple of long red peppers. Served with a bit of garlicky yoghurt and a spinach salad, it really hit the spot.

14 February - quinoa salad and a veggie curry

I tend to rotate between potatoes, bread and pasta for lunch, with couscous and polenta occasionally. Today I thought I'd have some quinoa instead - quite similar to couscous, but with a slightly different texture and nutty flavour. There was a handful of chestnut mushrooms in the fridge, so I fried them up with a shallot and a bit of garlic and simply stirred them into some cooked quinoa and sprinkled some toasted pine nuts on the top. Not a bad combination for a change.

For supper, we had Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's bean and aubergine curry again - a top recipe!

1 February - pinto bean chilli

For lunch today, I finished off the very last bits of chicken left over from the weekend, with some stir-fried noodles and a few green beans.

I'd planned to try out a pork bolognese recipe that my Mum had sent me this evening, but the butcher's didn't have any pork mince and the supermarket only had huge packs. So I had to quickly change plans and instead tried out another Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall veg recipe, this time for pinto bean chilli. It's pretty much the sort of standard veggie chilli I would've cooked without a recipe, but still tasty with a bit of guacamole and some warm pitta.

10 January - soup and a winter stir-fry

I got jerusalem artichokes in Friday's vegbox, so today I made up a batch of soup for lunch. I think I added a bit too much stock, so it was a bit watery, but otherwise tasty, esp. with a dribble of truffle oil.

For dinner, I tried out a recipe from River Cottage Veg for a winter stir-fry with spring onion, carrot, parsnip, mushrooms and spinach, flavoured with chilli and garlic and a sauce of soy sauce, rice wine and five-spice. The recipe suggested 50g noodles for two, but as I drained them, I realised there was nowhere near enough, so everything was put on hold while I quickly did some more. I wasn't sure about the idea of stir-fried parsnip, but it actually came out okay. I was less convinced by the squeeze of lime juice that went on at the end - it completely overpowered all the other flavours.

29 December - salmon with coriander pesto

It was another HFW recipe for lunch - chachouka is a mix of slow-cooked onions and peppers with tomatoes and spices, then an egg cracked in the top. I added a few chickpeas that were in the fridge and they went pretty well for a hearty lunch.

When I bought fresh coriander for yesterday's curry, the smaller packets were looking a bit yellowy, so I ended up getting a big bag. To use it up while it was still green and perky, I made up a batch of coriander pesto made with garlic and pistachios. I teamed it up with some plain salmon fillets and a pile of fresh veg; carrots, green beans and tenderstem broccoli. The pesto was really tasty and looked great against the pale pink of the salmon.

28 December - potato salad and aubergine curry

I tried out another recipe from my new cookbook for lunch - well, more of an idea than a recipe really, just a bit of a twist on a potato salad. You roughly chop a boiled egg into a simple dressing of oil, vinegar and mustard and slightly mash it in so that the yolk mixes a bit with the dressing. Then you add cold, boiled potatoes and cherry tomatoes. The slightly thickened yellowy dressing coated the potatoes and made it a nice simple lunch with a bit of mozzarella on the side.

We had another one-pot veg dish for supper, this time an aubergine Thai curry from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries, with aubergine, mushrooms and tomatoes in a spicy coconut sauce. It's a recipe I've done before with several variations and always comes out tasty - you can't beat aubergine for soaking up lots of lovely spices!

27 December - squash and chickpea stew

We had a wander down to the harbourside for a bit of lunch in Bordeaux Quay. It was really busy and as we walked in, we didn't think we'd get a table, but the waitress said we could sit at one of the tables by the bar to eat. It was a bit of a mistake though as they'd clearly let too many people in for the kitchen to cope with. We waited an age for just our coffees, then nearly 45 mins for our eggs (it was a brunch menu). I'd gone for eggs Florentine, which arrived as two muffin halves with spinach, but with a very undercooked egg on one and a splodge of uncooked egg white on the other - yeuck! Tris's wasn't much better - clearly the result of a very rushed kitchen. I took it back to complain and they promptly offered to replace it, but I have to say the second plate wasn't that great either. Definitely a case of poor management.

For Christmas, I got Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage veg every day. I've already been using recipes from the TV series, so I knew I already liked it. This evening, I tried out the North African squash and chickpea stew - very substantial and pretty tasty.