Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chilli

This is a really delicious meat-free alternative to a chilli con carne, absolutely packed with flavour and texture, and really versatile too!

With a fortnightly (wonky) veg box having become a regular occurence in our lives, I'm finding myself coming up with lots of new things to cook to use up the vegetables that we're sent (which are pretty much a surprise on the day we receive them), which is a great way to stop yourself from falling into a culinary rut!

I'd really got into roasting sweet potatoes with cumin seeds for a bit of crunch, and had sweet potato and butternut squash to use up, and thought it would be nice to stick them in the oven to roast while prepping the rest of dinner, and thought they would be really nice to add into a bean chilli, along with some peppers (which I quite like to add into my ordinary chilli con carne from time to time, to give it a bit of a twist).

So this was the end result, cooked with my usual blend of spices for a chilli, and one that's definitely going onto the meat free regulars - it's so tasty and filling!

Served with my spicy cornbread, rice, grated cheese, sour cream and coriander

You can decide whether to use squash or sweet potato or a mixture, depending on what you've got in, and also use your favourite beans - you'll get a tasty result at the end whatever you use!

Served in tortillas with sour cream, fresh tomato, avocado, lightly pickled onions
and some sour cream mixed with lime juice, topped with coriander and chillies

Serves 10-12 portions (recipe easily halved) from 155-187 calories a portion using butternut squash (depending on whether a tenth or a twelfth) to 190-229 calories a portion using sweet potato. Why not have a wedge of homemade spicy cornbread on the side - it's quite easy to make, and also very filling! My recipe is here, from 116 calories for a wedge.

Jamaican Rice and Peas (includes Thermomix method)

The perfect accompaniment to dishes such as jerk chicken, curry goat, or even on the side of ackee and saltfish! (Can you see where I'm going here?)

OK, so this is one of those things that I usually don't really bother measuring or timing when I make it - in that I make a load, we eat what we need for that meal, and the rest goes into the fridge or freezer for convenience - it's very forgiving when being re-heated, or kept warm!

This quantity serves a good eight to ten (from 245 calories per generous portion) - but let's face it, if you're having a barbecue for friends and making a heap of jerk chicken, you'll be glad of it! And if not... just halve the quantities, or put what you don't want into the freezer for easy future accompaniments. To be honest, if you are entertaining, and you make this quantity and serve a range of dishes, it's probably going to serve a few more than ten people.

Magic Bean Cake

So, the mysterious and legendary 'Magic Bean Cake' has landed...

Dark and decadent, rich, moist and deeply chocolate-y, if you love chocolate, you will love this. It's a real keeper, and you'll have fun getting people trying to guess what the 'secret ingredient is'! (They won't).

This cake is a bit of a sensation - there are versions everywhere now. I originally started off with a version from the Australian Thermomix recipe community (there's even more than one there!) and wanted to convert it and share my version with my friends who don't have a Thermomix or similar (this method also includes the Thermomix instructions in italics - ignore anything in italics if you're not using a Thermomix).

I find that because the cake is so rich and moist, you don't need much - between four of us, we only managed to demolish a quarter, having a couple of modest slices each. It's gorgeous served with raspberries, blackberries or strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream, creme fraiche or thick and creamy yoghurt (we had it with home-made yoghurt made with creamy milk from Jersey cows and little wild strawberries picked from the back garden - yum!), and would be to-die-for with some dark cherries, especially if just simmered down a little with some of their juice and a little sugar... the possibilities are endless (see tips for more ideas and flavours for cooking the cake)!

I'd say this serves 16, if you cook in a ring tin and cut into slices about 1.5 to 2cm (as in photo), and have a couple or so per serving. 160 calories for a 16th of the cake serving on this basis. Or if you just want a little treat, have the one small slice instead of two, for 80 calories! [Calories in square brackets below]