Its cold so the next few months my recipes are going to be hearty, warming and cosy! I love making soup because it is so nutritious and you can make a big batch to store in the freezer for a rainy day! I wanted to do a kale and bean chunky soup with pesto and I was so impressed with the results – and it’s so easy!

I seem to be taking on a bit of a mexican theme at the moment. It’s completely non-intentional it must be what I am craving! Lets face it when it’s freezing outside a big bowl of warm vegetarian chilli with rice seems to tick all of the boxes.

It’s that time of year again…..and I’m NOT complaining! Its SOUP time. Growing up in the UK I had my fair share of soups and I can’t think of anything more yummy and satisfying on a cold winters day!

I LOOVVEE winter food, especially hearty soups and warming bowls of vegetables and beans BUT sometimes I like a fresh bowl of goodness too. By fresh I mean lots of raw veggies, leafy greens, kimchi and some rice or an alternative.

I know Brussel sprouts seem to be making a regular appearance on my feed lately, BUT I just love them! If you follow me on twitter @sophiebenbow you will have noticed my regular comments 🙂

Winter is coming, which means warming, hearty, comfort food 🙂 There is nothing more comforting than a nice warm curry on a cold night especially when it’s loaded with healthy vegetables.

YUMMM!! Nothing beats roasted vegetable skewers on a bed of spiced warm freekeh. This dish is so good for you, is low fat and easy to prepare! I love the addition of the spiced tomato sauce – I usually mix this through the freekeh which makes something similar to a Freekeh risotto 🙂

I love making a warm salad, especially as it’s now getting a bit cooler over here in Sydney. This is my favourite combination but you could roast different vegetables in the spices such as: zucchini, pumpkin, broccoli, carrots and capsicum.

I just love the combination of fruit, cheese and salad. Now that we are in summer the beautiful varieties of stone fruit around had me excited to create a dish like this.

‘Zoodles’ or ‘Courgetti’ are such an awesome alternative to spaghetti whether you are gluten intolerant or not. They can be served raw or quickly cooked for a few minutes in the pan.

Sometimes (…all the time!) I really crave a big bowl of fresh crunchy vegetables but I find it hard to bring in extra flavours to compliment the dish. I was searching for ways to have a nourishing bowl of goodness with a few tasty extras and I came up with this.

Stuffed peppers…so simple yet so satisfying! This is how I usually do mine but you can be inventive with your stuffings to suit your desires. Freekeh also works really well along with rice, cous cous, most vegetables and lots of different cheeses and herbs and spices!

I know summer is coming but I still like to cook the occasional curry….also I like to make a big batch so that I can stock up my freezer for when I fancy the night off!

Kedgeree is something I have been eating all of my life as my mum makes a really good version. Usually the fish is fresh smoked haddock poached in milk but I have had such trouble trying to find this in Sydney!

I have to say there was a bit of trial and error with this dish! I was a fritter virgin until I made these…which is quite surprising as they are so easy to throw together (as long as you get the measurements right!!).

I’m having a moment with mixed mushrooms! The depth of flavour that you get from asian mushrooms is incredible! I topped this off with truffle oil and a creamy vegan sauce which worked SO well! I want to make this again ASAP it reminded me of a rich carbonara!!

SOUP!! I love a good soup and I can’t get through winter without a few soup recipes up my sleeve. This one I gave to the lovely team at Mode Sportif so if you would like to check out the recipe, click here

What is not to love about a hearty, vegetable ramen? I have called this ‘unconventional’ as I tend to throw in whatever I have in the fridge….in this case I had some broccoli and cauliflower but you could add any vegetables you like.

It is no secret that I love Haloumi and because it is quite a salty cheese it compliments the sweet roasted pineapple really well. You can be inventive and use whatever you have in your fridge like avocado, peppers, cucumber, carrot, chilli, onion and so on! I made an omelette to go in this one…so good!!

I thought I would adapt the ‘socca‘ that I made a few weeks ago and make a chickpea pizza! So, as you would have read from that post, chickpea (or besan) flour is a great substitute for normal flour and it is gluten-free!