METHOD:

Chop your cooked beetroot and carrot into equal size pieces, I make mine roughly 1 cm across. Combine in a bowl with the parsley, quinoa and lemon juice. Season with salt and black pepper.

Serve on a plate or place in your lunch box. Sprinkle over your toasted seeds as well as pomegranate jewels.To toast seeds you simply add them to a dry pan over medium high heat. Shake the pan often as you toast them and when they are fragrant and make popping sounds. At that point remove them from the heat and place on a dish to cool. It’s great to do in bigger batches to keep on hand.

When ready to eat drizzle with tahini and enjoy with a side of hummus and bread or crackers.

METHOD:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius fan assisted.

Place your pumpkin chunks onto a baking tray and drizzle a little oil over. Depending if you are doing half a pumpkin all at ones or simply a small wedge serving for one sprinkle with the spices accordingly. The smallest amount for the wedge and largest amount for the half pumpkin option. Give it all a good mix to coat the pumpkin with spices. Roast in the centre of the oven for roughly 15-20 minutes or until tender to the touch and a little caramelised around the edges.

While the pumpkin is roasting place your cabbage into a bowland squeeze thelime juice over it. Sprinkle with a little salt and black pepper and give it a short massage. A minute or so should do to break it down a little and make it more pliable. Set aside.

Place your three corn tortillas on a  plate or in your lunch box. On the plate I lay them flat next to eachother and in the box I like to place them the way you would hold them, sides touching, which makes it easier to fill them and insures they stay filled even through your commute. See video for reference.

Layer your tortillas with your cabbage, black beans, red onion and your roasted pumpkin. Sprinkle over some chopped coriander. Serve with tomato salsa and vegan sour cream. These are best kept separate until it’s time to eat so use separate containers for these if bringing as a packed lunch.

On the side I suggest a simple guacamole. Simply combine the avocado with chopped red onion, lime juice, salt and black pepper in a bowl and mash until your preferred consistency. I like mine quite creamy but still with some chunks left intact. Place your dip in a separate container and enjoy with some corn chips.

METHOD:

Sauté your onion in a little oil for a few minutes until they start going translucent. Add your garlic and mushrooms and continue sautéing.  Within a couple of minutes the mushrooms will start releasing liquid. Keep sautéing on a mediumheat until the liquid is more or less evaporated.

Add your spices to the pan, stir them through the vegetables and sauté for a minute until fragrant. Then add your tomato paste and stir through. Finally pour in the water as well as vegan cream and pop in the vegetable stock powder or cube.

Turn up the heat and make sure the stock cube dissolves if using one. Pour in your lentils and bring it all to a boil. Then turn down to a simmer and let cook for 30 minutes uncovered. Stir the pot once in a while to make sure nothing sticks.

When the 30 minutes are up remove the pot from the heat and stir through the soy sauce as well as the nutritional yeast for extra body to the flavour.

Serve with a sprinkling of coriander over the top and some flat bread or why not naan if you can find some (or want to make some).

On the side make a simple cucumber salad. Combine the cucumber, red onion and coriander in a bowl. Add the lime juice and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Give it a good mix and serve in separate bowl or bring along in a separate container.