Ingredients and Substitutions

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• eggs
• bell peppers – any colour, but I find red, orange and yellow the best. Green peppers are less tasty.

Filling / topping ideas (use any or all of my ideas, or whatever else you have on hand!):

• finely chopped broccoli
• finely chopped cabbage
• grated cheese
• minced garlic
• herbs (dried or fresh)
• olives
• a small dollop of pesto
• jalapeños

Recipe Video

Equipment

This recipe requires a large, non-stick frying pan (or two smaller non-stick pans, if you don’t have one big enough). You’ll also need to cover the pan to help the eggs cook through, so if your pan has a lid, that’s ideal.

My all-time favourite brand for cookware is Circulon – they’re perfectly non-stick, and they last for years. You can see my favourite pans in all of my recipes!

I’d recommend this one for your pepper fried eggs – it’s suitably large, wonderfully non-stick, an it has a sturdy lid. Find it on Amazon US / Amazon UK (affiliate links).

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• red lentils – You need to use the red ones. Brown and green lentils won’t work as well in this soup, as they don’t become as soft and creamy as red.
• vegetables – I used a couple of carrots and a bell pepper. I often add different veggies, depending on what I have in the fridge. I try to use fairly cheap vegetables for soup, like broccoli, carrots, or tomatoes – it seems a waste to blend up anything too expensive (unless it’s in dire need of being used!).
• vegetable stock – I use a stock cube, crumbled into the soup with some water. If you prefer to use liquid stock, you can use that instead of the equivalent amount of water (for example, the recipe calls for 6 cups of water, so if you have 4 cups of liquid vegetable broth, use that, plus an additional 2 cups of water).
• red pesto – This is my favourite way to add tons of flavour to my lentil soup! You could easily switch this for a dollop of curry paste, tomato sauce, or some dried herbs or spices (perhaps cumin or paprika) to give the soup a different vibe.

Optional garnishes:

• a dollop of Greek yogurt (I always add this for my kids, as it helps to cool the soup down!)
• grated cheese
• more red pesto (which looks so pretty)
• fresh herbs (fresh parsley, chives or basil would be tasty)

Recipe Video

Equipment

Soup is always easiest to blend with a hand blender (immersion blender) – it means you don’t need to worry about transferring a hot pan of soup into a tabletop blender, which can be pretty terrifying. An immersion blender just goes straight into the saucepan, which is quicker, easier, and much safer.

My hand blender is nothing fancy, but it does the job perfectly. I’ve never found the expensive ones to be any better than a standard, cheap model. This one on Amazon US / Amazon UK (affiliate links) looks perfect, comes at a great price, and has really impressive reviews.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• The flavours are unreal – the white wine really lifts the creamy sauce to the next level, with no extra effort required.
• It’s super easy to make, but ends up seeming quite fancy (the best kind of meal) – perfect for serving to guests!
• The white wine sauce could be used in any number of other ways, if you don’t want pasta – you could even just make super posh mushrooms on toast!

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need a few cupboard staples, like butter and black pepper. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• pasta. Any shape works, long or short – I love farfalle, tagliatelle, mafalde, or spirali.
• mushrooms (I used chestnut mushrooms, but just choose your favourites)
• dry white wine
• onion
• garlic
• cream (single or double work fine)
• vegetable stock
• fresh parsley

Instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Sauté the mushrooms and onion in butter.

Step 2: Add the white wine and simmer for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol.

Step 3: Add the cream, and bring together until you have a luscious, creamy white wine sauce.

Step 4: Serve with pasta and plenty of fresh parsley.

Becca’s Top Tip

If you don’t fancy pasta, you can use the white wine mushroom sauce in other ways too – try it on baked tofu, for example!

Recipe FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• This potato and onion soup is super simple to make, with only a handful of main ingredients.
• It’s cheap and cheerful – potatoes are particularly budget-friendly, so you can get a hearty, nutritious meal on the table without breaking the bank.
• The flavours are irresistible, with just a few humble ingredients really packing a punch.
• Homemade soup always makes for the best leftovers the next day!

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need a few cupboard staples, like olive oil, salt and pepper. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• potatoes – just an all-purpose baking potato, nothing fancy.
• spring onions – the ones I used had super small bulbs on the white end, so I used 6. If your spring onions have larger, rounder bulbs, you won’t need as many.
• garlic
• sour cream (full fat)
• vegetable stock (I used a stock cube, but liquid or jelly stock also work)
• dried herbs (parsley and thyme)

Becca’s Top Tip

Always use full fat dairy products when adding to soup, as they are less likely to split than low fat versions.

Equipment

You’ll need some kind of blender to make this creamy soup.

I prefer to use a hand blender (immersion blender), rather than a countertop blender, since you don’t have to worry about pouring a hot saucepan of soup into the blender without making a mess or burning yourself (I am clumsy – it will happen).

Instead, just dunk the head of the hand blender right into your saucepan, and it will be smooth and creamy before you know it.

I’ve tried several types of immersion blender over the years, and honestly, I’ve never found the expensive ones any better than a standard, cheap model. This one on Amazon US / Amazon UK (affiliate links) looks perfect, comes at a great price, and has really impressive reviews.

Instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Chop the potatoes and spring onions, and sauté them briefly with some olive oil and garlic.

Step 2: Add vegetable stock and dried herbs.

Step 3: Simmer until the potatoes are completely soft and starting to break down – you should be able to mash them with the back of the spoon.

Step 4: Add some sour cream, and blend the soup using a hand blender until it is completely smooth and creamy.

Step 5: Serve topped with more spring onions, sour cream, and plenty of black pepper.

Becca’s Top Tip

I find a little garnish goes a long way in taking a soup to the next level, especially if you’re serving it to guests. Not only does it look beautiful, but a few spring onions sprinkled on top also adds an extra bit of texture, and some more of that lovely fresh flavour.

Recipe FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Using gnocchi and tasty pizza toppings makes a really lovely change from a regular pizza or a pasta dish.
• You can customise the dish using your favourite pizza toppings – try some different combinations!
• This gnocchi recipe reheats nicely, so make enough for leftovers.
• Ooey gooey mozzarella cheese… need I say more?

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need a few cupboard staples, like oil and black pepper. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• gnocchi. I use either fresh gnocchi, or the vacuum-packed stuff – either one is fine. You could even use homemade gnocchi or ricotta gnocchi!
• pizza sauce – whichever one’s your favourite!
• onion – this time I used frozen diced onion, but use fresh onion if you prefer.
• garlic
• mozzarella cheese – I find the ready-grated stuff melts the best, rather than fresh mozzarella.
• fresh chives
• your favourite pizza toppings – I used mushrooms, black olives, yellow pepper, and cherry tomatoes.

Becca’s Top Tip

You don’t have to use the pizza toppings I chose – just use whatever you like to have on pizza! My other favourite toppings include diced red onion, sweetcorn, peppers, and pineapple.

Instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Sauté some gnocchi with some diced onion. This helps the gnocchi to become light and fluffy – you can find out more in my post ‘How to fry gnocchi (and why you should want to!)‘

Step 2: Add your favourite tomato pizza sauce. I used shop-bought sauce, but a homemade tomato sauce would also be great.

Step 3: Transfer the tomatoey gnocchi to a baking dish, and add mozzarella cheese and your favourite pizza toppings. I used yellow peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and black olives.

Step 4: Bake until the cheese is nice and gooey.

Becca’s Top Tip

If you’re in a big rush, you can skip the sautéing, and just add the gnocchi straight to the baking dish with the sauce. However, if you have time, I would definitely recommend taking the extra few minutes to fry it off a little first, as it really does lighten up the gnocchi.

Recipe FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It is delicious. You’ll have to cook it yourself to understand truly how much this point needs to be emphasised. Bold and italics are not enough.
• Using shop-bought naan bread makes it really quick and easy to prepare, but still with big flavour.
• Fusion food (Indian pizza = Indian + Italian) gives you a new, fun way to enjoy two cuisines at once.
• This paneer pizza is more interesting than a regular margherita, so it’s fun to serve for guests, or when you want something a bit different.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need a few cupboard staples, like salt and pepper. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• naan bread – choose a large, flat naan if you can find one. It’s worth spending a little more to get a good quality base.
• pizza sauce – just a regular tomato-based sauce, nothing fancy.
• curry paste – I used tikka paste, but use your favourite.
• paneer cheese
• cheddar cheese – to add extra flavour to the paneer, and some meltiness to your pizza.
• sliced tomatoes
• red onion
• cilantro (fresh coriander)

Becca’s Top Tip

Don’t be too careful when crumbling your paneer cheese – it doesn’t all need to be perfectly even in size. In fact, I like to deliberately leave a bit of size variation. The larger pieces remain soft and creamy in the middle, and the smaller pieces crisp up beautifully.

Instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Combine the curry paste and pizza sauce, and spread over the naan bread.

Step 2: Add the pizza toppings: grated cheddar, crumbled paneer, red onions, and sliced tomatoes.

Step 3: Bake until crispy.

Step 4: Top with fresh cilantro, and serve.

Becca’s Top Tip

I like to keep the pizza toppings pretty simple on this Indian pizza, so the focus can be the flavours of the curry and the paneer. Some sliced tomatoes and red onion work beautifully. You could add some additional veggies if you like, but don’t go overboard.

Recipe FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It’s packed with flavour, different textures, and all kinds of goodness.
• Pasta salad makes a great light meal for sunshiny days, but there’s no reason you couldn’t curl up with a bowlful at any time of year, if the weather’s not on your side!
• You can switch out the ingredients depending on your personal preferences, what catches your eye in the store, or just what you have lingering in the fridge!
• Chickpea pasta salad is the ideal meal to cook in bulk and then store in the fridge for a few days, serving big spoonfuls in lunchboxes, or just for a quick meal whenever you need one.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need a few cupboard staples, like salt and pepper. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• pasta. Any smallish shape is welcome here, such as macaroni, penne, conchiglie, fusilli, or farfalle (which is what I used). I would avoid long strands of pasta (like spaghetti, tagliatelle or mafalde), as they don’t work as well for pasta salad.
• fresh pesto. Pesto is easy to find in jars for fairly cheap, but if you can splash out on a tub of the fresh stuff (or just make your own at home!), I promise it’s worth it – you can really taste the difference. I used basil pesto, but any variety will work well.
• chickpeas – tinned ones, to make this a quick throw-together meal.
• red onion
• black olives
• feta cheese
• tinned sweetcorn
• cherry tomatoes
• fresh arugula (rocket)

Becca’s Top Tip

The only thing that needs cooking in this recipe is the pasta – so if you have any cooked pasta leftover from yesterday, this chickpea pasta salad will be even quicker to make!
To prevent cooked pasta from clumping as it cools, make sure you rinse it thoroughly in cold water, so the starch doesn’t stick it together. Then, just store it in the fridge for a day or two, until you’re ready to mix up your pasta salad.

Formula for a Perfect Vegetarian Pasta Salad

This type of recipe is just calling out for you to put your own spin on it. I won’t be offended if you want to switch things up a bit! You can easily change up any of the ingredients to suit your preferences.

My go-to formula for a tasty pasta salad is this:

pasta + protein + vegetables + leaves + tasty bits + dressing

If you stick to this simple formula, you’re sure to end up with a super tasty pasta salad. Here are some ideas!

• Protein (choose 1 or 2). I used tinned chickpeas and some crumbled feta cheese – you could change these for tinned lentils, tinned black beans, chopped boiled egg, grated cheddar cheese, mozzarella balls, pumpkin seeds, chopped peanuts or cashew nuts, etc.
• Fresh vegetables (choose 3+). Each vegetable brings a different flavour and texture to the salad, so try to choose a nice variety – as many different colours as you can (which helps it to look really good too!). I used tomatoes, sweetcorn and red onion. Other great veggies could be cucumber, spring onions, chopped bell peppers, or even finely chopped raw broccoli.
• Leafy greens (choose 1). I like to add some greens to bring a bit of vibrancy to the pasta salad. I used arugula (rocket), but some baby spinach would be great too. Stick with a dark green leaf, rather than something light like iceberg lettuce, which can wilt and go soggy more quickly.
• Tasty bits (choose 1 or 2). These are the ingredients that really bring a pasta salad to life with rich flavour. I used black olives – you could change them for sun-dried tomatoes, capers, pickled jalapeños, or fresh herbs like parsley or basil.
• Dressing (choose 1). I used fresh basil pesto, which is my go-to for an ultra tasty pasta salad. Other types of pesto work well too (tomato and chilli pesto is amazing!). Alternatively, you can opt for a salad dressing such as a creamy Caesar dressing (just make sure you choose a vegetarian one, or make your own homemade Caesar dressing).

Instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Boil your pasta until it’s cooked al dente, then rinse it thoroughly with cold water to stop it sticking together.

Step 2: Add the pesto, and mix thoroughly.

Step 3: Add the remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Step 4: Serve chilled.

Becca’s Top Tip

Pasta salad is perfect for vegetarian packed lunches! Store the fully assembled salad in the fridge in a sealed tub for up to 3 days, and just scoop some into your lunchbox whenever you need it.

Recipe FAQs