This is one of the best dishes ever. It's so easy and it doubles as a salad for lunch the next day. You can make enough to feed an army or just enough for two and it's just as easy either way. 

Roughly speaking budget about a quarter of a cup of quinoa per person. We use red quinoa but a mix of red and black works well for a lighter dish with a bit of bite. If you're looking for a stodgy comfort food number then use white quinoa, it just won't work quite as well as salad the next day but it'll still be yum.

First you're going to find that one dish that your mum gave you that goes both on the stove top and in the oven. If you don't have one don't worry, you can fry the stuff first then chuck it in the oven safe pot. 

This salad/dish is a ripper if you want to serve a heap of people on the cheap, or if you're just after a delicious and easy-to-justify-as-healthy way of eating potatoes! Basically grab a bunch of potatoes (new ones are the best, but normal potatoes are fine too - just cut them into quarters rather than halves!), boil them until tender and set aside. Meanwhile you can be making the beautiful green accompaniment out of either peas or broad beans.....whichever you have in your freezer or veggie garden! 

Once you've mastered toasting your own spices, this one is so easy. Literally just toast some pepitas and sunflower kernels, about equal quantities of each, and then grind them in a food processor or your spice grinder. You don't want to make the picture too fine because everyone likes a bit of texture in their dukkah.

Once you'd got that sorted, add some of your spice mix and some salt, plus any other flavourings you're after such as ground chilli or paprika if that's what you're into and you've got a seriously yummy dukkah that's not only delicious it's nut free so you can take it anywhere and feed anyone!

It'll keep well in an airtight container in the pantry, but you won't get a chance to test that theory because it's so good on toast, sprinkled over salads, or used as dukkah with olive oil, balsamic glaze and bread....or let us know if you find another use for it too!

A week of dinners made simple (and cheap)
 
Do you struggle to decide what to cook for dinner each night? Do you end up reaching for the freezer or just chucking spuds in the oven and having them with baked beans from the can? We’re going to bring you a week’s worth of meals on a budget. The only thing you have to promise us is that you’ll go and find yourself a fresh market to get your veggies from. Not only will they be fresher and last longer in your fridge (saving you precious shopping time), they’ll be heaps cheaper too.
 
We shop once a week. A quick fly around Coles/Woolies/IGA for the essentials such as bread, rice milk, school lunches, cans of beans and frozen peas, on to the Asian deli for tofu of varying kinds and some spices and then to the fresh market for a trolley full of veggies. It’s about 15 mins further to drive to the fresh market rather than just going to our local Coles/Woolies/IGA but the fact that we can shop just once a week and have everything we need (plus the amazingly cheaper prices) makes that extra time totally worth it and still a massive saving when it comes to time AND those precious dollars that we all work so hard to earn.

This is the most simple, tasty comfort food recipe and it’s pretty damn healthy too! It’s quick to put together, and then you can get on with life while it cooks away in the oven.
 
You’ll need:

• A few leeks (2-4 depending on how big you’re making your dish)
• A handful of sweet potatoes
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• About a cup and a half to two cups of breadcrumbs
• A small handful of rosemary, chopped
• And a dash of oil

Salad dressing is pretty basic. You want a bit of acidity, a bit of sweetness and a little saltiness. Then add any other flavours you want to go with the salad you’re dressing (like herbs of varying kinds etc.).
 
If you use a screw top jar, you can just add your ingredients and shake. Easy. If you want to use fancy ingredients like herbs you can use a blender or small food processor to grind it all up. Otherwise it’s elbow grease and a mortar and pestle (or just a knife and a chopping board!). Chopped or crushed herbs make a great addition, though they will go a bit manky so you'll have to eat it a bit faster. No hardship there.
 
Here are some ideas for each of the elements you need…

There are a few tricks to eking 7 days out of your shopping but if you use these clever tips you'll save yourself time and money. There are also some tips on how to hide those 'oops' moments when cooking so your family and friends still love what you produce, even when it's actually gone completely pear-shaped!

Firstly, be clever about what meals you plan for when. We don’t have a strict meal plan for the week, but we always have the salads early on, when they are fresh from the market. Don’t leave your salad eating till the day before you shop again because chances are the salad will have begun to smell rather like the bottom of a manky river bed and some of it will be trying to become what I like to refer to as ‘liquid salad’. Seriously, it’s gross.

If you’re trying to make life easy and produce quick, simple meals that are healthy and tasty, you’ll want to stock your cupboard up with some of these essentials that will get you out of trouble every time.

This dish is endlessly adaptable… Have the stew over quick cook polenta or serve it over rice, on tortillas, in baked potatoes or on pasta. It’s up to you! It looks as though there are a lot of ingredients but, there’s a good chance you’ll have them all in your pantry already. We adapted it originally from the Savvy Vegetarian Vegan Chilli recipe… much kudos to the clever ladies over there.
 
Have a go – it never fails to delight! And if you are into that sort of thing, take a pic and tag us on social media #sustainableequitation.

We always cook these two recipes one day after the other because when you make the stir fry you’ll cook too much rice which you’ll then use the next night for the fried rice. (The secret to really fantastic fried rice is to use cooked rice that’s been cooled, preferably overnight.) You can substitute pretty much any of the ingredients, they are both really simple dishes and easy to modify to suit your own tastes. The fried rice is served in lettuce leaves (let everyone you’re feeding do their own, it’s fun and quite messy) which means you don’t even have to bother making a salad.