You can find the original recipe here. It’s called ‘open ravioli’ but we think that ‘open lasagne’ might be a better idea

Ingredients

8 lasagne sheets

1 red onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 courgette, chopped

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 can of chopped tomatoes

100g feta cheese

Mint leaves, chopped (we left these out but used fresh thyme instead)

We also added a chicken breast, but this is optional

Method
1. Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the lasagne sheets until soft. Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with low calorie cooking spray (or use 1tbsp olive oil if you prefer), add the onion, garlic and courgette, and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. (Cook the chicken before adding these ingredients to the pan, if you’re adding it too.)
2. Stir in the tomatoes and chili flakes and cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes. Towards the end add the diced feta and a sprinkle of mint (or the thyme), reserving a few mint leaves for garnish. 
3. On a plate add a lasagne sheet and a spoonful of vegetable filling. Repeat the process, adding 3-4 layers and garnish with the extra mint. 

Enjoy!

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A couple of weeks ago, me and my friend Daria had a little catch up in town – we were meant to be doing LGMC errands but ended up spending most of our time having lunch…and then cake! We both had some really yummy roasted tomato and mascarpone soup for lunch, and I decided to have a look and see if I could recreate it at home because it was THAT good.

I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website and it’s pretty close to what we had for lunch – yay! I’ll definitely be making this again.

Ingredients

1kg very ripe tomatoes
pinch golden caster sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
sprig of thyme and 2 fresh bay leaves, tied together
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp sundried or normal tomato purée
600ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese (or use double cream as alternative)

Method

1. Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3 – 4. Bring a pan of water to the boil and get a bowl of iced water at the ready. Cut a small slit in the bottom of each tomato then plunge into boiling water in batches for 10 secs then lift out into the iced water.

2. Drain and peel the tomatoes then halve and place on a baking tray cut side up. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and the sugar. Drizzle with the vinegar and 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Roast the tomatoes for 1hr until semi-dried and set aside.

3. Heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion and carrot gently for about 10 mins until very soft. Add the tied herbs and garlic and cook for a minute more.

4.Stir in the tomato purée then tip in the roasted tomatoes and any juices from the tray. Pour over the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for 10 mins.

5.Remove the tied herbs and discard. Add the mascarpone then take off the heat, blitz well with a hand blender. If you want a smoother soup then it can be sieved but this isn’t really necessary.

6. The soup can now be cooled and kept for 3 days in the fridge or frozen for up to 1 month. For a dinner party, serve the soup with a sprig of thyme and a drizzle of good quality olive oil. Enjoy with some delicious bread – you can find my tried and tested bread recipe here.

Post updated 17th February 2020.

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I was quite surprised when I looked through my blog posts earlier and discovered that I haven’t posted this recipe before – it is one of those ‘tried and tested’ ones that I’ve been making for years! In fact, my Mum used to make it when I was younger and it was one of the few things that I could actually cook when I left home to go to uni. You can use any pasta you like for this – macaroni works really well – but I used penne today. It was either that or our Simpsons pasta that Helen bought us – but you wouldn’t have recognised the Simpsons for the courgettes so we’re saving that for another day!

Ingredients

120g pasta
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tsp mixed herbs
Black pepper
1 tin tuna in brine (or spring water – but not in oil)
150g low fat cottage cheese
1-2 medium size courgettes
1-2 cloves of garlic
4 mushrooms
A handful of spinach
Grated cheese of your choice

Method

1. Put the pasta on to boil and preheat the oven to 200/400/Gas mark 6. Tip the tomatoes into another pan and add the herbs and some black pepper. Leave to simmer.

2. Slice the courgettes and chop the garlic. Put some olive oil in a pan and add the courgette and garlic, cooking until softened.

3. Drain the tuna and put into a bowl. Add the cottage cheese, season with black pepper and mix well.

4. When the pasta is cooked, drain and mix in the tomatoes, before adding the tuna and cottage cheese mix. Add the vegetables and stir well, before pouring into an oven proof dish.

5. Grate some cheese over the top before cooking in the oven for around 20 minutes. Serve with some salad and enjoy!

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You will need to do a bit of preparation for this one, as you’ll need to make the bread dough and pizza topping in advance. Use my recipe for Low-fat Tomato Pasta Sauce for the pizza topping, and you can use the adapted version of my bread recipe below for the dough (click here for the link to the original bread recipe). I had a bit of help doing this yesterday – thanks to Tom for making the dough and rolling it out!

For the pizza dough

400g strong white bread flour

1 sachet quick yeast

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp mixed herbs (optional)

2 tbsp olive oil

300ml hand hot water (150ml cold topped up with 150ml boiling water)

You will need some tomato sauce to top the pizza, as well as any other toppings – we used chorizo, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella here.

Method

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Add the oil to the water before pouring over the dry ingredients. Mix together until a dough is formed and then knead for five minutes.

3. Leave the dough in the bowl. Wet a clean tea towel with cold water and wring out so that it isn’t dripping, before placing over the bowl. Leave to rise.

4. When the dough has at least doubled in size, ‘knock back’ and knead again for a few minutes.

5. Roll out the dough to fit a large, greased baking tray (use a bit of olive oil to grease the tray). Heat the oven to 220°c/425°F/Gas mark 7 whilst preparing the topping.

6. A couple of ladles of the tomato sauce is usually enough to cover the dough – try to spread it evenly over the dough. Then cover with your choice of topping – we chose chorizo, mushrooms and basil for ours. We put our cheese on top of the other toppings, but you can do whatever you like really! That’s the great thing about pizza!

7. Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes – keep an eye on it because it can look raw one minute and then be done the next. Serve with some salad (serves 4 people, or 2 people with 2 lunches the next day). Enjoy!

Post updated 24th June 2016.

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Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

3 tins chopped tomatoes

3 red or yellow peppers, diced

300g cup mushrooms, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp Bouillon (or 1 vegetable stock cube)

2 tbsp mixed herbs

A dash of Henderson’s relish (or Tobasco)

A big squirt of tomato puree (apologies for the not very technical measurement!)

Black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add 1 tbsp of the mixed herbs and stir well before adding all 3 tins of chopped tomatoes. Add the rest of the herbs, the Bouillon (or crumble the stock cube into the pan), Henderson’s Relish, black pepper and tomato puree. Stir well and leave for about 10 minutes to simmer, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the peppers and garlic and stir well. After another 10 minutes, add the mushrooms and stir again. Leave to simmer for another 15 minutes.

3. Test the peppers and mushrooms to see if they are soft (leave for a little longer if not). Leave to cool before blending.

4. If freezing some of the sauce, divide into boxes and ensure that the sauce is cold before freezing. I’d suggest that 2 ladles is about right for a portion of pizza topping, and maybe 3 – 4 ladles for pasta sauce. Enjoy!

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