sweet potato hummus, cous cous and chocolaty stuff
I had to go down to Nottingham the other week and needed to make myself a packed lunch as it was going to be a long day (5am-10.30pm), so I wanted enough food to keep me going!

I wanted something nice in a roll and I'd read about someone making sweet potato hummus on veganlunchbox so decided to have a go myself. I couldn't find a recipe so made one up, based on my usual hummus recipe (er, which is a bit improvised in itself). Anyway.

ingredients
1 smallish sweet potato
1 can of chickpeas (drained)
2 heaped tsps tahina
1tbsp lemon juice
1tsp garlic puree
2tsp oil* - preferably extra virgin olive, but I use flax to get my omega oils.
pinch of salt

1) Peel and chop potato into cubes, boil for about 10 minutes (if that) until soft, drain and place in food processor.
2) Add drained chickpeas, along with the rest of the ingredients.
3) Blend until everythings mixed in together and it looks vaguely hummus-y! If it's looking too bitty add a little water - or more oil - and blend a bit more.

*In terms of oil, most recipes would use more than this, but I don't want to overdo it on the fat stakes, hehehe, although seeing as I'm addicted to baking cakes, that's sort of like buying a double cheeseburger at Macdonald's and then feeling virtuous for getting diet coke along with it. Add more if you like :)

I ate the hummus in a roll along with some of the veg from the salad.

You can add whatever you want to this salad really, but I use it as a good chance to roast lots of seasonal vegetables and add to it. The dressing's really light tasting.

ingredients
200g couscous
1/2 butternut squash
1/2 courgette
1/2 red pepper
1/2 leek
1tsp rosemary
50g raisins
for the dressing
50ml orange juice
25ml lemon juice
25ml apple juice concentrate (available from health food shops)
small knob ginger (grated)
sprinkling of caroway seeds

1) Chop and peel (in the case of the squash) vegetables. If you have time, it's good to sprinkle a bit of salt over the courgette and pepper, put them on a tray, cover them with cling film and allow them to sweat for half an hour or something, before rinsing them before cooking. I never have time though.
2) Anyway. Place chopped veg in roasting tin, add 1tbsp olive oil and 1tsp rosemary, stir well so veg are coated in oil and herb. Roast for about an hour to an hour and a half (depending on how crispy you want them) at 180 degrees c.
3) When they're almost done, cover raisins in boiling water and leave to plump up for about ten minutes.
4) Cover couscous in boiling water and leave to stand for a few minutes until soft.
5) Make dressing by stirring up all the dressing ingredients together.
6) When veg are done, fluff up couscous and stir them through it. Drain the raisins and add them too. Then finally add the dressing.


And finally (because I'm greedy) I made these mini chocolate flapjack things. I didn't want to make a whole tray, so just made tiny amounts and used a bun tin to make a couple of bun shaped flapjacks (not a very economical use of the oven, admittedly *guilt*).


Arg, I'm really sorry but this is going to be REALLY vague as it was totally improvised...
1dsp golden syrup
1dsp cocoa powder
1dsp margarine (I use Pure)
dried cranberries
raisins (I think... can't actually remember if I used these or not)
some oats

1) Melt margarine over a low heat, along with syrup and cocoa, stirring constantly until you get a chocolatey sauce.
2) Add dried fruit.
3) Add some oats and stir in, continue adding them bit by bit until you reach a consistency you want. Basically they need to be all covered in chocolatey stuff but not swimming in it.
4) Either fill a few holes in a bun tin with flapjack mixture or you could increase all the ingredients and just make normal flapjacks by using a greased, lined, baking tray. If you'ore doing the former, if you want to be on the safe side, use cake cases, but you can probably just make it straight in a bun tin.
5) Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees c.


I also had some separate carrot sticks and cranberries to munch on, so was a very happy bunny.