I was excited to get up and make another cup of Goji and lemon tea this morning as I enjoyed it so much yesterday.  I liked it again today too !

Porridge for breakfast, made with half almond milk and half water with a mashed banana for sweetness and a tbsp of cashew nut butter for protein.

For lunch I took the time to make a new recipe from Veg Everyday!.  Hugh uses dried chickpeas but I used canned instead and hence the recipe below list canned chickpeas.

Roasted Squash and Shallots with Merguez Chickpeas

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 kg squash or pumpkin, peeled and seeded and cut in to 4 cm chunks
• 300g shallots, peeled and halved or quartered (larger ones)
• 4 – 5 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed but not cut finely or minced
• salt and pepper

For the Merguez Chickpeas:

• 2 x cans chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 10 – 12 black peppercorns
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt
• 4 tbsp olive oil

To finish
Flat leaved parsley

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 ° C
Place the squash, shallots and garlic cloves in a large roasting tray.
Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Bake in the oven until the squash is soft – 50 – 60 minutes.  Take them out and stir them round once or twice.

Make the chickpea dressing by toasting the spice seeds and black peppercorns in a dry pan until fragrant (just a few minutes).
Crush to a fine powder using a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder.

Combine with the garlic, rosemary, paprika, cayenne, salt and olive oil in a small saucepan.
Warm gently for 1 minute.

Add the chickpeas and warm through, stirring gently to ensure the chickpeas are well coated in the spice and oil.
Set aside until the squash and shallots are ready.
Serve with parsley.
This was very good but slightly dry for me.  I added tomatoes for moisture.  If I wasn’t following a vegan diet, I would have liked to make some tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber) which I think would go with this perfectly and make a delicious lunch.  I enjoyed it very much though and think it will work well cold so have already boxed up a portion to take to the office tomorrow.

In the afternoon I nibbled on some grapes.  These black ones are lovely.

I made a simple supper of falafel, humous, tomatoes and cucumber in a wholemeal wrap.  I made 2 as one doesn’t seem enough.  However, I was horrified to calculate the calories and see it totalled to nearly 1,000.  I thought it was quite a simple and light supper, but obviously not.  So from tomorrow, the veganism continues and I will pick up the point counting again to make sure I am not over-eating.  I still cant believe that modest plateful  comes to nearly 500 calories!

Annette and David popped round to play Mah-Jongg.  

I do enjoy playing Mah-Jongg.

And I very much enjoy seeing them too :-). Day 3 was the easiest so far, mainly because I was home all day and had shopped yesterday so I had plenty of food available and the time to prepare it.  On reflection, I am enjoying my vegan challenge.