We're heading to the shortest day this weekend, so the year is already turning its face toward summer... in the meantime it's REALLY cold however! This first recipe is called Yachaejeon - Korean vegetable pancakes that are substantial, crispy and delicious. THey're great next day if there's any left, but there may not be.  Yachaejeon are vegan, dairy and gluten free.

This vegetable curry is very open-ended: Use whatever vegetables you have on hand really. There's a raft of options listed in the recipe, use two or three kinds. There are cashews in here as well, tamarind paste for sour, coriander leaf for fresh, curry powder and garam masala for big round warm flavour...  The Vegetable curry with cashews is vegan, dairy and gluten free.

This is one of those times where Granny Smith apples count as vegetables... After roasting up the carrots and apples for a bit, you cook them a little more with veg stock and raw cashews, then blitz this all together for a creamy delicious mix - add a dollop of grainy mustard to make things interesting and there you go... The roasted carrot and apple soup  is vegan,dairy and gluten free.

This one was a lot of fun and very tasty. It makes a Very Big thing, which handily cuts into wedges and is perfect for lunches or picnics. The recipe is from a book called Nistissima (we've had a few from this book recently). This enclosed pie has a bread-like casing, with wilted greens tucked inside. Prassinopita cooks on top of the stove for a few minutes, then bakes in the frypan in the oven... drizzled with honey while still hot from the oven. This one is Vegan and dairy free. Don't know how it would work with a GF flour...

Another curry, and more cashews... Lamb korma is creamy, warming and delicious. It's also surprisingly quick to make - only about half an hour! The aromatics include bayleaf, ginger, garlic, coriander, turmeric and a little chili powder... this is a bit special really. Is also dairy and gluten free.

I've been waiting for the right weather to include this one - again, Granne Smith as vegetable... Pork chops baked with beetroot, apple, caraway and paprika... has kind of an Eastern Europe vibe going on. For such slow roasted flavour, it takes about half to three quarters of an hour and as often happens, much of that time is reading a book or folding washing. (that's not in the recipe so you don't have to...) This one is also dairy and gluten free.