This is How I think...

I like to have one big cooking day a week to set me up for the rest of the week. My schedule is crazy-busy these days - with no car but plenty of after-school clubs, football, dancing, gymnastics and Parent Committees to attend - so if I have a well-thought-out plan of action, I can spend a couple of hours in the kitchen one day prepping ahead and then have dinner ready in twenty minutes on subsequent nights.

1) Mince and tatties for tonight's dinner.
2) Vegan Shepherds Pie for tomorrow's dinner.
3) Sea Salt and Rosemary Focaccia to go with this week's lunchtime soup.
4) Scotch Broth - this week's lunchtime soup.
5) Creamy white bean and chickpea hummus to go with veggie sticks and toasted pitta strips as snacks and to fill any gaps in my lunch menu this week.
6) To prepare ahead for the curry I'm going to put in the slow cooker tomorrow morning for Thursday night.

I've pre-soaked broth-mix for the soup and chickpeas and cannelinni beans for my hummus dip in boiling water with a pinch of baking soda to soften them. After rinsing, I put the chickpeas and cannelinni beans in the slow cooker with more hot water and leave them to cook on high while I get on with the rest of my cooking.

I mix and knead my dough for my focaccia and leave it to prove as I then whip out my trusty pressure cooker to make my mince - tvp granules, buckwheat, frozen mixed veggies, frozen sliced mushrooms, chopped onion, shake of mixed herbs, teaspoon of marmite and lots of instant roasted winter veggie gravy. Fifteen minutes later it's done, and my crap-tonne of sliced potatoes is bubbling away in the minimum of water I can get away with.

I'm cooking a vast amount because I have no desire to spend tommorrow cooking a load more potatoes again, so I'm just going to prepare it all today. My spuds are sliced thinly so they cook quickly - I don't care if they fall apart as I'm mashing them anyway! Once they're cooked I strain the water into the pan I'll be using to cook my thinly sliced savoy cabbage to go with dinner. I mash the spuds with loads of soya milk, pure soya margarine, salt and black pepper then prep my shepherds pie.


Foil-wrapped, it's ready to put away for tomorrow and dinner is almost ready for tonight.
Once we've walked down and collected McGonnagle from school, I put my cabbage on to cook and reheat the savoury mince. I turn off the slow cooker - my beans are now cooked - and strain them, reserving some of the cooking broth to make the hummus -

- and soup. I reserve a third of the beans for the curry, make the hummus and put it in the fridge, by which time the cabbage is cooked. I strain the cabbage, pouring the cooking water into the slow cooker with the rest of the chickpea liquor and a few stock cubes, putting it on high to warm it up - then we eat dinner - delicious!


After I wash up, my focaccia gets punched down, rolled out and left to prove a second time with its delicious herb and olive oil topping as the oven pre-heats. I tip my broth mix into my heated stock-veggie water soup base, and quickly peel and chop some carrots and a parsnip and a rib of celery before adding to the pot with some dried onions and a pinch of white pepper. That will be left to cook overnight so it's ready to spoon into flasks tomorrow morning for lunches. Focaccia in the oven and it's just left for me to clean down and put away the pots until it's baked - 20 minutes. Once my focaccia is cool enough I wrap it in foil and put it away.