Sausage and Squash Mash and Hungry??

Innocent (The smoothie people) have embarked on a two-week experimential campaign, touring England in a “Hungry Grassy Van” (HGV) to encourage people to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. The HGV ( a take on the traditional burger van) will be serving up alternatives to takeaway food, such as veggie burgers and salad, to help consumers swap fast food for healthier options. (Sounds quite a good idea to me!) Dishes will cost between £2 and £3 and will all count towards the five-a-day quota. A £5 meal deal will also be served each day to allow consumers to eat and drink all of their five-a-day in one go!



The recipes for each dish are based on Innocent’s “Hungry? The innocent recipe book for filling your family with good stuff,"cook book, which was released last May.



The HGV will visit London, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow and will stop in each city for three days from 9 September on. I was recently contacted and asked would I like to visit the Van on it's Manchester stop, but alas, I will be away on Hols and so I had to decline. I was instead offered the chance to review the cookerybook, which I might add, was a chance I could not refuse!! (You know me and cookbooks.)



I've had a few days to peruse this lovely book and I have been happily flagging recipes to make from it. It's a lovely book and I can see where it would be great for anyone that was trying to encourage their family to eat more good stuff. It's filled with over 100 delicious, simply and healthy recipes, as well as many tips, distractions and ways of inspiring everyone in the family to get involved in the process of turning healthy ingredients into deliciously tasty meals for all. There are breakfast recipes, lunches, snacks, dinners, sides, puddings, bakes and of course drinks, as well as lots of tips and hints to make tasty food fun and even more tasty!



I decided to make the Sausage and Squash Mash for our dinner last night. I had all the ingredients in and of course my Todd is a sausage fanatic. Sausage and mash. Sausage and mash. He'd have that every night for supper if I'd cook it every night.



This is sausage and mash with a difference though . . . with just 2 apples, a couple of sweet potatoes, a small butternut squash, some sausages, honey, mustard and apple juice, I ended up with a deliciously tasty meal that was fit for a king!



Or the King of this castle at any rate! They went down a real treat! I think next up will be the slow cooked beef stew which will really please Todd, and there's an Apple Cake with Honey Icing that's been calling my name.

Hungry? The innocent recipe book for filling your family with good stuff. Published by 4th Estate and available at all good book shops and Amazon. I highly recommend. The English Kitchen gives it 10 out of 10!

Many thanks to the Innocent people and the people at StoryPR for affording me this opportunity!



*Sausage and Squash Mash*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Adapted from a recipe in the delightful Hungry cookery book, by Innocent.

8 good quality pork sausages
(I used a good Butchers Cumberland)
2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
(I used Granny Smiths)
2 TBS whole grain mustard
(I used a Grainy Dijon)
2 TBS runny honey
a good spash of apple juice
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
extra virgin olive oil (I used a knob of butter coz I'm a glutton)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Put the sausages onto a baking tray along with the apple wedges.

Whisk together the mustard, honey and apple juice. Pour over the sausages and apples, tossing to coat all over.

Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, shaking stirring now and then to prevent sticking.

While the sausages are baking place the squash and sweet potatoes into a lightly salted pan of boiling water to cover. Bring back to the boil, then cover and simmerto 15 minutes until tender. Drain well and return the vegetables to the hot pan. I then placed the pan back over low heat and mashed them until they dried out a bit. I stirred in a knob of butter and a good seasoning of salt and pepper.

Serve a generous scoop of mash piled with two sausages, some apples and some of the sticky pan juices to each lucky person.

If you'd like to keep up with the Hungry Van Tour and with the latest goings on of the innocent people be sure to like their Facebook page here!



There is a delicious Paprika, Honey and Lime Chicken recipe cooking over at the Cottage today.