Pumpkin, Brussels Sprouts and Cranberry Risotto

Song suggestions:

• Keep Your Head Up - Ben Howard

• Say - John Mayer

Top tip: the rice won’t look like much when you add it to the pan, but trust the process - as soon as it starts soaking up the liquid it’ll be enough.

Ingredients:

Roasted Veg Ingredients

• 150g pumpkin

• 150g brussel sprouts

• 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp cinnamon and pinch of salt

Risotto Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter

• 1 onion

• 4 garlic cloves

• 150g risotto rice

• 1 tsp Italian herbs (dried sage also works really well if you have any)

• 750ml veg stock

• sprinkle of salt and pepper

• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

• 50g cranberries

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Recipe:

1. Peel and chop the pumpkin into small cubes. Cut the Brussels sprouts in half (and any large ones cut in quarters, from top to bottom). Set to roast with the olive oil, cinnamon and a pinch of salt for 35 minutes at 200°.

2. Peel and finely dice the onion. Peel and mince the garlic. Add both to a pan with 1 tbsp dairy-free butter. Melt on a medium/low heat and stir until the onion and garlic are golden and aromatic.

3. Add the rice and Italian herbs, mix well and lightly toast for a few minutes, making sure not to burn the rice.

4. Make up the veg stock - dissolve the cube fully.

5. 125ml at a time, add the veg stock to the rice mixture and mix well. Allow the rice to soak up the liquid before adding the next lot of stock.

6. Continue until all the veg stock is used up. The rice should be cooked all the way through to the centre and there should be a small amount of thick liquid left in the pan. Don’t cook it completely dry.

7. Add the nutritional yeast, cranberries and roasted veg. Mix until everything is well combined.

8. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top and give it one last mix.

9. Serve immediately!

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A Bite Out of Life

My 25th birthday: the day I’ve never felt so loved! Me and my family have very different interests and tastes, so gift-giving can often be quite eventful… but this year, they really really got it right, and it was just with this simple fruit bouquet! On the day of my birthday, a huge cardboard box arrived and when I opened it up, all I saw was packing peanuts. But underneath all those peanuts, there was this beautiful selection of fruit that quite frankly I stopped everything I was doing and immediately dived in, which is unusual as I’m a ‘preserver-until-the-last-minute’ type of person. It had chocolate-covered strawberries and apple slices, figs, grapes, melon, all sorts of tasty lil goodies - it was swiftly demolished. So make a note: if in doubt, gift food.