I don’t know about you but the more time I spend cooking a meal, the less my kids actually want to eat it and don’t even get me started on vegetables. I’m not a food blogger, or even a very good cook, but I made this and despite the fact that it was full of courgette, they still ate it. I may have lied and told them it was cucumber, but that’s not important. What’s important is that they ate vegetables and they liked it.

I’ve been vegetarian since the beginning of December and while I’m committed to it because of the impact of meat farming on the planet, I’ve struggled with cooking. When you’ve spent 38 years basing all your meals around meat, it’s hard to get creative when the main ingredient is taken away.

So, one of my tasks during lockdown is to try and get a bit more on top of vegetarian cooking and, if I find any great recipes, I’ll share them here. To be clear, if any of the ingredients or elements of a recipe can be either homemade or shop bought, please know mine will always be shop bought.

Cheese & Courgette (I mean cucumber!) Pasta Bake

What you’ll need…

Pasta
Four Cheese Sauce (bought)
Grated Cheddar
1 x large courgette
Onion
Garlic
Croutons (I bought mine…I know, I know, you’re all very shocked.)

What to do…

1. Cook the pasta.

2. While the pasta is cooking, shred a whole courgette. Note, I didn’t say grate. Grating means the courgette pieces are too big and therefore identifiable as a) vegetables and b) courgettes (rather than cucumber) so use the small holes on the grater.

3. Chop half an onion and a smash a clove of garlic. In a pan with a bit of oil, sweat these off. Add the grated courgette and let them brown off ever so slightly. Put to one side.

4. Drain the pasta. Mine is always really starchy and a bit ‘claggy’ so I boil the kettle and rinse it all with boiled water. Stops it getting sticky and well, claggy.

5. Put the past in the big saucepan with the onions, garlic and courgette and mix until it’s all nicely jumbled up.

6. Add the four cheese sauce and extra grated cheddar if, like me, you like cheese and mix well.

7. Pour into an ovenproof dish and crumble some croutons over the top to make a thin layer. Lay a few big thin slices of courgette over the top - this is only to make it look pretty and I would advise hiding these before you show it to the kids. Very visible vegetables is often not looked up fondly by the small people.

8. Sprinkle some more grated cheese on top - why not?

9. Put in the oven - 180 - for about 20-25 mins or until golden.

10. Serve with croutons and, heck, a bit more grated cheese.

11. Pray to the god of toddlers.