Great little ‘go-to’ soup for lazy lunching and freezes really well too..Read More »
Category: Plant Eaters
Italian Salad – mozzarella, tomato and avocado
This is a delicious summer salad and its a really quick recipe with one simple rule, everything has to be amazingly ripe. The tomatoes can be substituted for normal ones easily, so long as they are ripe. The avocado must be beautifully soft and ready to eat.Read More »
Share this:
The weekend and meal planning adventures
Wow what a crazy busy weekend! Lots to share with you and my very first meal plan for you to gaze over and salivate đ Read More »
Share this:
Family Salad – a quick meal to get in the mood for Summer
Summer is just around the corner, I can almost touch it! So I’m testing out lots of new salad ideas, packing as much nutritional punch as I possibly can. I try and add lots of additional beneficial extras  – things like mixed seeds, nuts, bee pollen, flax seeds – you barely notice they’re there but they do heaps of good for your insides! You can easily omit the chicken in this recipe or replace it with rare cooked tune or steak or seafood – its really versatile.
I’ve used a spiraliser on my salad vegetables to get nice long thin curly pieces but you can easily just use a peeler to shave them into your salad bowl.
Ingredients
1/2 pack of bean sprouts
Buckwheat/Soba Noodles
500g Chicken mini-fillets
Mixed seeds or nuts
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Finely chopped coriander, basil and mint – it doesn’t matter if you don’t have all of these
any or all of the following
Carrots
Cucumber
Mooli
Peppers, sliced
for the dressing
2 tbsp Tahini
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tbsp Fish sauce
1-2 tbsp dark soy sauce or tamari
1 tsp chilli flakes or fresh chilli
1 tbsp honey or agave
You can also add a bit of fresh chopped ginger and garlic to the dressing, if you want/have it in
Method
Ok a lot of this is going to be prep work for the vegetables and then pulling it all together at the end.
Put some coconut oil in a pan and add your chicken mini fillets – I cook just a couple at a time on a high heat – this means that they will get super crispy on the outside which is lovely for some added texture to your salad – you can’t have a crowded pan to do this. Once it is all cooked, chop it up into bitesize pieces. Set the chicken aside to cool.
Prep all your vegetables, using a peeler or a spiraliser and set aside. This may take a while – play some music, dance around, get family to help.
Boil your noodles for 5 minutes, drain and run under a cold tap to cool quickly. Mix with your salad vegetables and bean sprouts.
Pop all the dressing ingredients into a saucepan and warm through gently until the sesame paste (tahini) has melted down. I add my spring onions to the dressing because I think warming them through takes away that sharp bite they can have when they’re completely raw.
Now just put it all together, its nice to put this on a big serving platter or a chopping board and everyone can get stuck in at the table. Lay out the veg, bean sprout and noodle mix first, then put the chicken over the top, drizzle over your dressing and then add seeds/nuts and your mixed herbs.
I really enjoy this salad, we’re having it once a week at the moment because everyone likes it so much. I think this would be lovely as a side salad for a BBQ – one for me to test further down the road.
Let me know what you think xxx Have a great weekend all xxx
Laura of London
Share this:
Time constraints
I had a pretty full on day today at work – back to back meetings and then some crappy traffic to slow us down on the way home. I didn’t really have much patience for cooking so chose this quick Italian salad that’s ready in 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 slices of Prosciutto
- 1 beef tomato cut into slices
- 1-2 organic mozzarella balls
- 5-6 sprigs mint
- 10(ish) basil leaves
- Asparagus
- Lambs lettuce or rocket
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 5tbp Extra Virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Method
I split the asparagus lengthways and put them under the grill for 3-4 minutes on high, turning them over half way through.
I finely chopped the mint and basil and put it into a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. Mix well.
Arrange your tomato, mozzarella and lettuce on a plate, drizzle over some of your dressing then add the prosciutto and the asparagus and add a final drizzle of the dressing.
Share this:
A Simple Little Smoothie To start a good Sunday
We’ve got family over for a roast dinner today so for breakfast I want something that’s going to be a good healthy boost and keep me going whilst I cook.
It’s deliciously fresh and tasty, not to mention the health benefits, especially when adding things like bee pollen and flax seeds to really pump up the nutrients.
Share this:
Who wouldn’t want dinner ready in 15 minutes?
I’m a big fan of fast cooking during the weekday, I have a regimental order post-5.30pm that must be followed otherwise we’re heading for a meltdown (mine, not my son). I learned this Vietnamese salad as part of a cookery lesson at Recipease a couple of months back and realised its a great little ‘go to’ dish when you need something quick and super healthy to make you feel good. Most of it is just prep work with a final flourish at the end to pull it all together.
You can also prep the salad and wrap it in soaked rice paper and then use the dressing as a dipping sauce – Vietnamese Rolls – this is quite a nice ‘fancy’ starter when you have friends round.
If you’re not big on prawns, leave it out or replace with chicken, mackerel or beef strips just make sure they’re cool before you add to the salad/rolls.
Ingredients
Packet of cooked prawns
Vegetable stir fry packet including bean sprouts
Buckwheat/Soba noodles
10cm piece of Mooli (if you can get it)
1 carrot
10cm piece of cucumber
3 spring onions
Good handful of nuts – cashews or peanuts
For the salad dressing/dipping sauce
1/4 cup of Fish Sauce
1/3 cup of either Rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar (I tend to use whatever I have in the cupboard)
Approx 4 tbsp Honey – depends on your taste
Juice of 1/2 a lime
2 cloves of garlic
2cm piece of ginger, cut into matchsticks
At least 2 fresh chillies split lengthways
Optional
Pack of Rice Paper Sheets
Extra chopped chillies in the salad
Method
Put all the ingredients for the salad dressing (or dipping sauce) in a saucepan and heat gently for 5-6 minutes then take off the heat and leave to cool. Taste it with a bit of salad from your bowl – its meant to be quite strong – add more of the fish sauce, vinegar, lime or honey depending on what you think it needs. Go for less sweetness than you think it needs.
Put the stir fry packet in a large bowl. Peel the skin off the carrot and then proceed to use your peeler to peel the carrot into the salad bowl so you end up with nice thin ribbons of carrot. Do the same with the mooli and the cucumber. Alternatively you can cut them up into matchsticks if you prefer. Boil the soba/buckwheat noodles in water for 3-4 minutes and drain, leave to cool then add to your salad bowl.
Slice the prawns lengthways and slice the spring onions finely at an angle and add to the bowl. Chop up your nuts and leave to one side.
Once your dressing/sauce has cooled, pour 4-5 tablespoons of it over your salad, toss and taste to see if it needs more of anything. Add a final squeeze of lime juice then throw on your nuts and munch away!
If you’re turning these into rolls then just soak a paper sheet in warm water, as per packet instructions, put it on a clean kitchen towel and then put 1-2 tablespoons of the salad into the middle. Wrap it up and put any left over salad on the side or save it for lunch the next day. Keep the dipping sauce on the side otherwise the sheets will go too mushy.
Let me know how it goes!
Share this:
Wake up with a smile on your face…
By knowing you’ve got a great tasting, healthy cereal to look forward to!!
This is a versatile cereal you can adapt and refine depending on your tastes. It’s a good feeling knowing exactly what has gone into your cereal in the morning, you can pair it with yoghurt and fresh fruit or soak it in almond milk overnight with chia seeds, it’s also really good as a topping to stewed apples – a la ‘Apple-not-Crumble’ đ
Dry ingredients
- 2.5 cups oats
- ÂŒ cup flax seeds – I used Linwoods flax, sunflower, pumpkin & sesame seeds with goji berry mix
- Πcup flaked almonds
- Πcup of pecans, cashews or walnuts
- 1tbsp bee pollen
- 1 tbsp hemp seeds
- œ cup shredded coconut
- Small pinch of salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
Put all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and mix them. Put the wet ingredients in a saucepan and heat until they all melt and mix together. Pour the wet onto the dry ingredients and mix really well. Put them on a lined baking sheet in the oven at 160 for 10 minutes. Remove and stir them. Put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes then remove, stir and leave to cool.
Pop your amazing cereal in an airtight container ready to use in the morning, go to bed feeling like a boss đđâșïž
Share this:
Lazy Sundays and feeling VirtuousÂ
We went to the Syon Food Festival yesterday and although delicious, the majority of the food was not clean so today I want to have a bit of a kick restart. We got up late and had a simple smoothie with some added natural nutritional additions:
- Natural yoghurt
- Frozen berries
- Ripe pear
- Milled hemp seeds
- Milled bee pollen
- Flax seeds with goji berries and sunflower seeds
Bee pollen is a great addition to smoothies and salads, I got mine from a local health food shop but you can order it online too. Its a complete food and contains proteins, vitamins, minerals, lipids and carbohydrates.
Hemp seeds are a really good source of essential fatty acids including Omega 3, 6 and GLA, it’s a more digestible protein than meat and is rich in Vitamin E.
For the rest of the day I’m going to snack on fruit and nuts and lunch today will be oven roasted salmon fillets with Mediterranean vegetables and some fresh zingy lemon and basil new potatoes.
I love Sunday’s, they’re my favourite day. We try not to plan much and just spend the day pottering, shopping or walking the dog.
One thing I’ve started to enjoy doing is prepping a few food bits to make my life easier during the week.
Depending on my food menu for the week, I will make my own breakfast cereal, blitz up some fresh nut butter or make some sauces for dinners, such as fresh, Parmesan-free pesto. I’ll blog recipes for all of these today/tomorrow for you.
Happy Sunday!
Share this:
Roasted Tomato Soup
Ok so every man and his dog has a tomato to soup recipe but hey, I’ll throw my hat in the ring… I made this today in a bid to stay healthy then ruined it by pairing it with olive stuffed bread…oh well…
Ingredients
800g tomatoes
1 red pepper
œ packet of fresh basil
A few Thyme sprigs if you have them
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tsp sugar
1 onion, finely diced
1 stick of celery, finely diced
1tbsp tomato purée
500ml chicken stock
2tbsp mascarpone (optional)
Method
Heat your oven to 220 or 200 degrees, nice and hot. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them in a roasting pan. Chop the pepper any way you like and put on top of the toms. Add the balsamic, herbs and sugar. Roast in the oven for at least 30 mins, longer if you have time (although reduce the temperature if you do).
Meanwhile, sauté the onions and celery in olive oil for 10 mins then add the tomato purée and stock. Season well.
When the tomatoes are nicely cooked, remove from the oven and tip the whole lot in the stock pan. Blitz with a stick blender then add the mascarpone, stir well and serve. Not with olive bread, is far too moreish!!
Laura of London 