Spruce up your midday meals with a touch of colour...

Roasted vegetable, quinoa and cashews

By Joanne Wood from The Balanced Kitchen (thebalancedkitchen.co.uk)

Serves 6 | Prep 15 mins | Cook 30 mins |

Calories 488 (per serving)

350g (12oz) uncooked quinoa

1 litre (35floz) vegetable stock

350g (12oz) broccoli, washed, broken into small florets

1 orange bell pepper, washed, seeds and stalk removed, chopped into large chunky pieces

1 large red onion, skin removed, quartered

1 avocado, skin and stone removed, chopped into chunks just before adding (otherwise it goes brown) juice of 1 lime

150g (5¼oz) cashews

30g (1oz) fresh coriander

1 tbsp olive oil a pinch of seasoning

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

2 Place the bell pepper and red onion onto a baking tray and pour on the oil.

3 Place the tray in the oven and roast for 30 minutes.

4 Place the quinoa and vegetable stock in a pan with a lid and cook for 20 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is fully cooked. You will know it’s cooked when you see the little white ‘tail’ appear from the seed.

5 Place the broccoli in a steamer and steam for 4 minutes.

6 Remove the bell pepper and onion from the oven.

7 Drain the quinoa using a sieve.

8 Add the quinoa, bell pepper, onion, broccoli, lime, cashews, coriander leaves, avocado and seasoning to a bowl and combine.

9 Serve warm or keep in the fridge in a sealed container for the next day.

Homemade rosemary crackers

By Bianca Haun from Elephantastic Vegan (elephantasticvegan.com)

Serves 1 | Prep 10 mins | Cook 15 mins |

Calories 545 (per batch)

125g (4½oz) plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp rosemary, chopped

2 tsp olive oil

60g (2floz) water

½ tsp ground salt – make sure all the crackers have salt on them