It’s National Vegetarian Week on 19th – 25th May 2008 and, whether you are a confirmed vegetarian or plan to go veggie just for the week, Canned Food UK has put together some fantastic recipes for vegetarian food lovers who enjoy a tasty yet convenient and nutritious diet.

One of my favourites – Geo-organics is in the news…

If National Vegetarian Week (May 19-25, 2008) has got you thinking about cooking a veggie meal or two then great. And what better way to start than with a little help from the experts?

There are different reasons why people are vegetarians. Some disagree with killing and eating animals & fish, some simply do not like the texture and flavour of meat and for others, eating meat does not agree with them.

A little while ago, I was raving about Jamie Oliver’s new book, Jamie at home, and I’ve been dying to try this recipe ever since! The recipe is seasonal and one of the main ingredients is fresh pasta – a perfect opportunity to use my pasta machine, and try out the gluten free Orgran Pasta flour I just received from lovely Sue at Naturally Good Food.

Asparagus are one of my all time favourite vegetables and you can get imported ones all year round, but British asparagus have just come into season and nothing tastes better than fresh, in season vegetables! Not only are they delicious but they’re really good for you too, so read on for some fascinating asparagus facts and an inspiringly simple recipe.

Britain’s first Tommelier cooks up a tribute to the cornerstone of Italian cooking

I adore soups and Dave loves smoothies but my blender is ancient and has definitely seen better days! Luckily, the lovely people at Premium Appliance Brands sent me a Juice ‘n’ Smoothie from the Rosemary Conley range to review and I finally tried it out this week. I was rummaging around in the freezer when I came across a bag of asparagus ends I’ve been collecting. Every time we have asparagus, I break off the woodier ends which are too fibrous to eat and I save them in the freezer for soup.

Jerusalem artichokes are one of my favourite vegetables at this time of year, they have a great texture and taste. During my research into prebiotic foods recently, I discovered that Jerusalem artichokes are a very good prebiotic. They are delicious roasted and mashed, but they make the most wonderful soup. I am huge soup fan and I’m always on the look out for new recipes, and I found a beautiful one at Cook Sister.com, but more about that later! First, a little more about Jerusalem artichokes.

A great source of vitamin C, chillies are packed with powerful immune boosting qualities that help protect the body from colds and flu. Just the thing to spice up your life as the winter nights draw in, they also trigger the release of endorphins in the body which help lift your spirits and even your libido!

I enjoyed trying out different methods for roasting pumpkin seeds but life is simply too short to go through it on a regular basis. I include pumpkin seeds and other seeds in my diet on a daily basis, mainly in muesli, but also sprinkled on salads, incorporated in breads and eaten as a snack. I really like the tastes and textures of the different seeds, from pumpkin, to hemp and poppy. Seeds have so many health attributes too!

We returned from our annual pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Man in Slindon, laden with pumpkins, squash and gourds.

The gourds were decorative, the ‘new kid on the block’ was Heart of Gold squash (I’ll give it a proper introduction in a future post) and the stars of the show were a Golden pumpkin and Crown Prince squash.