Eat your greens: Potato salad with thyme and broccoli

Potato salad is a hazard for you daily calorie count? Not this one! Instead of mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise alternatives, I used light soy joghurt mixed with a little soy cream for a light but still delicious dressing – trust me, you won’t miss anything. I also added one of my favourite vegetables – broccoli! It’s available pretty much all year round, easy to prepare and only needs to be simmered for about five minutes – perfect even for lazy people! (Not that I am ever lazy – ok, fine, I am.)

The young potatoes and broccoli work great together, and the light thyme dressing adds the perfect creamy yet savoury flavour you want in a potato salad. Even without mayonnaise! One last point: Depending on the brand of soy joghurt you use, you might want to add a little more lemon juice than I recommend in this recipe – sadly, some brands still add quite a bit of sugar to their soy products and you will need to balance this out with something sour. Just see what works best for you!

Tofu broccoli stir-fry with peanut sauce

A stir-fry is a perfect dish if you come home late from uni or work and don’t really feel like cooking, but don’t want to stuff yourself with unhealthy take-out either. It only takes about 15 minutes to prepare, and you can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge. If you know you’re gonna be late one day, you can even cut up the vegetables in the morning, so all you have to do later is to heat your pan or wok and add your veggies of choice. Broccoli and tofu are by far my favourite stir-fry combination, but feel free to use any other vegetables you like! To make this dish even more yummy, I added a simple yet delicious peanut sauce. The ‘secret ingredient’ of the sauce is dark miso paste, which gives it a great, hearty flavour. The peanut sauce also freezes really well, so I usually prepare twice the amount (i.e. using a whole tin of coconut milk instead of just half of it) and freeze the leftovers.

Vegetable casserole with potatoes

You need:

• 2-3 potatoes
• 1 ball pepper (yellow or red)
• 100g broccoli
• 100g cauliflower
• 1-2 tomatoes
• 50g mozzarella
• 40ml cream
• 30ml milk
• 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
• thyme
• salt
• pepper
• garlic

Clean the broccoli, cauliflower and ball pepper, peal the potatoes and cut all in bite-sized pieces. Heat a pot with water and boil the potatoes and the cauliflower for 5 minutes. Blanch the broccoli and the ball pepper, drain the vegetables and put them in a casserole dish.

Now mix the cream, milk and tomato purée,  season with thyme, some garlic, salt and pepper and pour it over the vegetables. Now slice the tomatoes and arrange the slices on the top of the vegetables so they cover everything. Top it with the sliced mozzarella.

Roast it in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at 180 °C. If the cheese gets brown to fast, cover it with some aluminium foil.

Note: This dish serves two persons. Try to use other vegetables, like peas, beans or mushrooms.

Creamy broccoli-cauliflower soup with Cheddar

You need:

• 100g broccoli
• 100g cauliflower
• 1 small potato
• 200ml vegetable stock
• 50ml milk
• 1 tablespoon of cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon of grated cheddar
• 1 teaspoon of chives
• vegetable oil
• salt
• pepper

Chop the vegetable in small cubes. Heat the oil in a pot and roast the vegetable gently for about 5 minutes. Then add vegetable stock and milk and boil the soup for 10-15 minutes. Melt the cream cheese into the soup and add the herbs before blending the soup until it’s creamy. Stir the Cheddar into the soup and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with some fresh bread.

Vegetable-curry with banana

You need:

• 100g Basmati rice
• 1 big carrot
• 150g broccoli
• 150g cauliflower
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 small bananas or 1 plantain
• 50-100ml milk
• 1-2 tablespoons of soya sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons of curry powder
• vegetable oil
• salt
• chili (if necessary)

Clean the vegetables and chop all in bite-sized pieces and slice the bananas. Cook the rice with a little salt and heat some oil in a big pan. At first, add the chopped carrot and roast it for about three minutes. Then add the cauliflower and after another three minutes the broccoli and the tomatoes. Deglaze the vegetables with the soya sauce and add the milk and curry powder. Mix it all well and season to taste with salt and – when the curry is very mild – a little chili. Shortly before saving, mix the curry with the bananas and fry the curry until it gets creamy. Serve with the rice.

Note: This recipe serves two persons, but if you leave out the banana, you can also freeze half of it and heat it in a small pot or in the microwave.

Pasta with broccoli and gorgonzola

You need:

• 100g pasta
• 150g broccoli
• 50g Gorgonzola
• 50-100ml milk
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of cream cheese
• salt
• pepper
• fresh basil

Cook the pasta in enough water. Meanwhile, clean the broccoli and cut it into bite-sized florets. Heat the olive oil in a pot and lightly braise the broccoli. Then add milk, salt and pepper and cook the broccoli for 3-4 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the Gorgonzola and the cream cheese. Now drain the pasta and add it to the broccoli and the cheese. Add some more milk if it is not enough sauce and season to taste with fresh basil.