Monthly Archives: February 2016

25Feb / 2016

Edamame v Eggs

Edamame v Eggs

Non processed, portable protein

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50g of Edamame is about equivalent to a boiled egg so a good breakfast substitute for those on the go.

50g Edamame Medium Boiled Egg
 Energy 76.5 KCal 72 KCal
 Protein 7.0g 7.1g
 Sodium – 75mg
Fibre 3.0g –
Carbohydrates 2.4g –
Of which sugars 1.0g –
Price per serving at Tesco £0.17 £0.15

Sources: Tesco.com, My Fitness Pal, Tesco Soya Bean packet.  Price based on pack of 6 medium free range eggs and 600g frozen soya beans.  Tesco sells what it calls Edamame which is exactly the same as what they call frozen soya beans except they are still in their pods so you get less beans in the weight and you get 500g instead of 600g for £2.00.  Prices as at 4th March 2016.

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22Feb / 2016

Guacamole

Guacamole

Good fat, goes with sweet potato wedges, chia crackers, tex mex and mexican food.  So easy, you can’t go wrong.

guacamole

1 avocado

1 birds eye chilli

1 handful of the leaf half of fresh coriander

1 tbsp full fat probiotic yoghurt (sour cream or creme fraiche can also be used)

1/2 lime

Large pinch of salt and pepper

  1.  Peel and avocado and discard the stone
  2. Add with the yoghurt/cream, chilli, coriander, salt, pepper and the juice of the lime into a chopper/blender
  3. Blend until chunky/smooth, however you wish

 

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22Feb / 2016

Chia and Carrot Crackers

Chia and Carrot Crackers


Sometimes you need something a little chewy that’s not caramel and chia does this for you.  It’s also really healthy – loads of vitamins and minerals as well as protein and fibre.  The butter gives it a hint of a biscuit-like taste.

Chia and Carrot Crackers

Makes 5 crackers – scale up to make more

1/2 cup chia seeds

1/2 large carrot or 1 small carrot, peeled and grated

10g butter

  1. Preheat the oven to 150C
  2. Add 1/2 cup of water to the chia seeds and carrot in a microwaveable bowl
  3. Microwave for 2 minutes
  4. Meanwhile liberally grease a baking tin with the butter as the chia gets very sticky
  5. After heating the chia mix, stir and leave to cool for a couple of minutes
  6. Then take a fifth of the mix and squeeze into a ball, passing from hand to hand
  7. Squash down into a rough round cracker shape onto the baking tray.  Press down so it’s as thin as you can get it without breaking.  The thinner it is, the crispier the edges.  Don’t worry about getting it perfectly round.
  8. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.  You should have about 5 crackers.
  9. Bake for 15 minutes turning halfway through.
  10. Serve alone or with a dip such as guacamole.

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21Feb / 2016

Chicken and Coconut Soup

Chicken and Coconut Soup

This is the second of 2 soups I decided to make with my white roasted chicken meat and stock. I wanted to use up ingredients from earlier in the week so I’m afraid it’s a little like piña colada chicken. However it has the taste of a hot and sour soup. It really is delicious!

I only had 1 pak choi so I used leaves from the cauliflower in my other recipe in place of the other. It actually tastes really good!

This is is based on a 1.8kg chicken

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Makes 3 lunches

1/2 onion chopped finely

1 clove garlic

2 tsp chinese five spice

1 tsp ground coriander

2 cm root ginger, skin removed

1 clove garlic peeled

3 kaffir lime leaves

1 stick of lemon grass, bashed and chopped into 3

1/2 lime

1/3 of the white chicken meat pulled from a roasted chicken and shredded by hand

500ml fresh stock

150ml coconut milk

1/3 butternut squash chopped into small bite sized pieces

2 pak choi finely sliced along the width

1 large pinch of salt and pepper

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves

  1. Sauté the onion gently in a medium- large saucepan for 5 minutes
  2. Stir in the spices
  3. Blitz the garlic, ginger, like leaves and lemon grass with the juice of the lime and add to the pan. Sauté for a further 2 minutes.
  4. Add the chicken, stock, butternut and coconut and bring to the boil.
  5. Simmer for 20 minutes. Season to taste.
  6. 2 minutes before the end add in the pakchoi.
  7. Add the fresh coriander to serve.

 

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21Feb / 2016

Chicken and Lentil Curry Soup

Chicken and Lentil Curry Soup

I decided to make 2 soups with the white meat from my roasted chicken. This is the first. I chose quite earthy flavours as what I’ve been making recently has been relatively sweet (in vegetable terms!)  I used a 1.8 kg chicken for this recipe.

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Makes 4 lunches

1/2 brown onion finely chopped

1 clove garlic

1 birds eye chilli sliced

2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

4 cardamom pods lightly bashed

1 litre stock

1/2 cup of dried green lentils

2/3 of white meat pulled from roast chicken and shredded by hand (skin removed)

1/3 butternut squash peeled and chopped into small bite sized pieces

1/2 cauliflower chopped into small bite sized pieces

1 large pinch each of salt and pepper

100g fresh spinach

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves

  1. Sauté the onion in a large saucepan for 5 minutes until soft
  2. Crush in the garlic and stir fry for an extra minute
  3. Stir in the chilli, chicken and the spices then add the stock and the lentils
  4. Place the saucepan lid on
  5. Set the timer for 30 minutes
  6. After 10 minutes add the cauliflower and butternut squash
  7. Add the seasoning to taste
  8. At the end stir in the spinach and keep stirring until wilted
  9. Add the coriander to serve

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21Feb / 2016

Concentrated Chicken Stock

I find it really difficult to find yeast free stock and since making my own I can really taste the difference.  There’s nothing better than a recipe using home made stock.

Compacting everything keeps the stock more concentrated so you can then add water to recipes if you need it to be thinner.  It’s also a lot easier for storage that way.

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Ingredients

1 chicken carcass with bones, skin and juices, broken into small pieces

2 large or 3 medium carrots

3 celery stalks

2 brown onions

3 sprigs of thyme

3 sprigs/stalks from sage

a large handful of parsley stalks

15 peppercorns

A pinch of salt

1.5 litres of boiled water

  1.  Chop up the carrot and celery into 1cm thick slices and onion into thick chunks.
  2. Add all the ingredients to a large saucepan and make sure they are all submerged under the water
  3. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 1 and a half hours uncovered.
  4. Stir every so often and compact down under the water as much as possible.
  5. When done, strain into a large bowl.  Use straightaway or freeze.
  6. Makes about 150ml.  When using up to 9 parts of water to make 1.5 litres of stock

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21Feb / 2016

Millet Porridge, Steamed Apple and Golden Linseed

I eat this almost every day for breakfast with a boiled egg on the side for protein.  I make enough apple for a week’s worth of breakfasts, portion up and put in the freezer.  You can get 8 plastic boxes for a £1 at the pound shop.  I find if the boxes are all the same they stack well and you’re not forever looking for a lid.

You can find millet and golden linseed in your local health food shop.

I don’t have a steamer so I use a colander over a large saucepan with about 2 inches of boiled water on the bottom.  I put the saucepan lid on top of the colander.

Winter 2016 blog 018

Enough apple for 6 breakfasts and enough porridge for 1.

Ingredients

4 cooking apples

1/3 cup of millet flakes

1 tbsp golden linseed

  1.  Peel the skin and remove the core of each of the apples.  Slice into 1cm thick slices.
  2. Place in a steamer or a colander over a large saucepan containing 2 inches of water with the saucepan lid over the colander to keep the steam in.  Place on a medium hob.
  3. Steam for 24 minutes stirring half way through.  The aim is to keep the apples as whole as possible and avoid mushiness.
  4. Meanwhile add millet and golden linseed to 2/3 cup of water.  Microwave for 2 minutes.
  5. Divide the apples into 5 portions plus one extra for today’s breakfast.
  6. When the leftover portions are cool, freeze.

To make the breakfast on other days simply microwave the apple for 1 – 2 minutes until warm but not mushy.  Then make the porridge as usual.

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20Feb / 2016

Leftover Pulled Chicken, Sweet Potato Wedges and Sides

Today I made a roast chicken so that I could use the bones and white meat for a soup I’m making tomorrow.  I didn’t know what to do with the brown meat so I did this.  I didn’t realise how good it was going to be so I didn’t take a photograph unfortunately!  Next time!

Serves 2

Pulled Chicken

Legs and wings from a roast chicken

2 tbsp juices from a roast chicken or 1 tbsp of stock and 1 tbsp of oil mixed

1 small brown onion finely chopped

1 red pepper diced

1 birds eye chill sliced into rounds

1 small garlic clove

1 sprig of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried

1.5 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 lemon

1/2 lime

Sweet Potato Wedges

2 sweet potatoes cut in half and then into wedges

Guacomole

1 avocado

1 tbsp natural full fat yoghurt

2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves

1/2 lime

Serve with corn on the cob

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade
  2. Place the sweet potato wedges in a baking tray, add salt and pepper and 1 tbsp of oil and mix around with your hands so that the oil is evenly distributed
  3. Cook for 8-10 minutes each side
  4. Put the chicken juices into a large saucepan heat until hot
  5. Turn the hob down to medium and fry the onion in the juices for 5 minutes
  6. Add the peppers and fry for another 2 minutes
  7. Crush in the garlic and fry for another minute
  8. Add the chilli, thyme and spices and 1 tbsp of boiled water to make a thin sauce
  9. Stir in all the meat pulled from the legs and the 2 chicken wings, stir everything together and gently fry for 15 minutes until the meat heated through, stringy and the flavours have been absorbed.  Make sure you also include the crispy skin from the roast chicken legs, this is the best bit!
  10. Squeeze in juice from the lemon and lime
  11. Add salt and pepper to taste
  12. For the guacamole, put all of the ingredients into a chopper or blender and blend until smooth
  13. Heat boiling water on the hob and add the corn on the cob – if it is frozen cook for 7-9 minutes, if fresh only cook for 3 – 5 minutes
  14. Plate up and enjoy!

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15Feb / 2016

Pina Colada Chicken

This is based on the flavours of my favourite Thai curry in Shepherd’s Bush Road.  As I’m not eating sugar, I’ve put in pineapple chunks for the sweetness.  I had to guess the spices which aren’t exactly Thai but they produce the flavour I remember.  I used chinese five spice from Sainbury’s.  I find the one in Tesco has a slightly strange soapy flavour.  It’s the star anise flavour that I’m after.

Winter 2016 145

Serves 2

Chicken Skewers:

Around 300g of chicken or 2 chicken breasts

200g of fresh pineapple chunks

2 tsp Chinese Five Spice

1 tsp Ground Coriander

1/2 tsp Turmeric

Paste:

1 stalk of lemongrass bashed and roughly chopped

2 cm of fresh ginger peeled

3 Kaffir lime leaves

zest and juice of half a lime

1 large and 1 small clove of garlic peeled

1/2 tsp fennel seed

1 birds eye chilli, stalk removed

Vegetables

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small brown onion

1 red pepper

1 small aubergine

225g gram can of bamboo shoots

1 large handful of cashew nuts

Sauce

1 can of full fat coconut milk

1 large handful of fresh coriander

Brown Rice to serve

  1.  Preheat the grill to high
  2. Chop the chicken into bitesized pieces, add the spices and rub into the chicken and leave to marinate.
  3. Put paste ingredients into a food processor and chop until fine.
  4. Cut up pineapple until smaller than chicken pieces and put onto skewers alternating between the pineapple and chicken.  If you run out of pineapple make sure there is a little gap between each chicken piece.  Put under the grill for 16 minutes turning halfway through.
  5. Meanwhile put the brown rice on the hob with plenty of boiled water for 25 minutes
  6. Finely chop the onion and gently saute with the oil in a large saucepan for 5 minutes.  Make sure it doesn’t burn.  I use a splash of boiled water if it starts to catch.
  7. Chop up the red pepper into 2-3cm squares and add to the onion and fry for a further minute.
  8. Chop the aubergine lengthways and then into 5mm thick half moons.  Add to the onion and pepper and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
  9. Add the drained bamboo shoots and add the paste and stir fry for 30 seconds.
  10. The chicken should be cooked by now, using a oven glove and blunt knife, slide off the chicken and pineapple and add to the pan with the other ingredients plus the cashew nuts.  Stir fry for one minute.
  11. Then add the coconut milk.  Put the lid on and simmer for 12 minutes.
  12. Meanwhile finely chop the coriander.
  13. When the time is up, add the coriander and serve.

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