Start as you mean to go on - with vegan Sloppy Joes and winter coleslaw

I don't have a clue why anyone would decide to start anything on the first day of the year. The way I see it, the first week of January is a kind of glorious no man's land, the tree is still up for a few more days, there's odd bits of wine left over in the fridge and no pressing need to step outside. After a few too many late nights I wasn't quite ready to start on anything remotely righteous or from Whole Foods, so we decided to have one last winter feast. These easy recipes for a vegan diner meal meant we could use up some odds and ends left-over in the fridge from some over-ambitious Christmas dinners, whilst keeping it vegan and hearty and not at all "January".

There's a fair few different dishes here to serve up and let your friends dig in and help themselves with- (I preferred to change my Sloppy Joe into a sort of pseudo-chili dog) so you can add whatever you have as long as it fits in the burger I guess!

Serves 4 generously.

Ingredients

For the chili
Morrisons own-brand soy mince (this is vegan although many others aren't so I would check if using a different brand)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 clove crushed garlic
1 chopped onion
Pinch of dried rosemary
Pinch of dried thyme
Salt and pepper

For the winter coleslaw
Half a savoy cabbage, shredded to make long strands
1 small carrot, grated (I used a purple carrot which made a great bright colour for the coleslaw, but just use whatever you have to hand)
Handful of chopped parsley
50ml olive oil
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp chili dipping sauce (vegan from Sainsbury's)
Salt and pepper

For the burgers, chili dogs and Sloppy Joes
Bread buns
Linda McCartney sausages
Gherkins
3 onions, chopped into rings
Oil or vegan margarine

To make the chili, heat a little oil in a large pan and sweat the onion for a few minutes, before adding the garlic. Then add the mince and stir through the oil, before adding in the tomatoes. Add the dried herbs and seasoning, then allow to reduce and thicken for about five minutes.

To make the perfect onions for the top of your Sloppy Joes, just cut into rings and with a little oil, heat on a really low temperature for about fifteen to twenty minutes, keeping the onions moving all the time so they stay soft and hardly even brown.

Finally, shred the cabbage and grate in the carrot and add the parsley. In a jar or glass mix together the oil with the soy sauce and chili dipping sauce, along with salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the coleslaw and mix with your hands to make sure it's thorough.

And there you have it. Detox schmetox!

Wahaca, veganised: Courgette, pea, sweetcorn and potato tortillas

I like to hum Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers whenever veganising a recipe. Just something to think about.

The original form of this recipe is Thomasina Miers' broad bean, pea and new potato quesadilla. I've swapped the broad beans for courgettes and added some sweetcorn for a little colour and flavour, after taking away the feta and cheddar. This makes an amazing lunch as just a wrap with some jalapenos, or as a dinner done as quesadillas in a grill pan. 

Makes enough for four

Ingredients
2 large handfuls of potatoes, peeled and chopped in half
Plenty of olive oil
1 onion, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green chili, finely chopped
2 courgettes, chopped down small as shown in photo above
100g frozen peas
100g frozen sweetcorn
Juice of one lime (I know there's lemon above but lime does work better-it's just all I had!)
handful of mint
handful of tarragon or tbsp of dried tarragon

Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are ready to mash. While this is happening, take a large pan and slowly sweat the onion, garlic and chili in plenty of olive oil- making sure none of it burns, for about ten minutes. Bring another pan of water to boil and add the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas.

With the back of a fork, mash the potatoes into the onion mix, adding the lime juice, mint, tarragon, some more olive oil, and seasoning to taste. Keep the pan on a low heat as you add in the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas. Taste the mixture once more and add some extra herbs/juice/ seasoning to your liking- you should be able to taste every flavour.

Serve with homemade corn tortillas, in flour wraps, or in quesadillas. I made this dish (centre in photo) for a Mexican themed dinner I had for my friends, and there wasn't any of this left by the end of the night!