Tag: easy

Moroccan Chicken with Giant Cous Cous and Pomegranate

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Under 400 calories per portion!!! I KNOW! Why wouldn’t you, right? 

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 80g giant cous cous
  • 1 cup coriander
  • 1 cup spinach leaves
  • 1/2 cup mint leaves
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Feta cheese
  • 1 inch cucumber
  • 6 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 pomegranate 
  • 2 tbsp Greek style natural yoghurt
  • Moroccan seasoning
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • Bash your chicken with a rolling pin and coat in the Moroccan spices
  • Rinse the giant Cous course and put it in cold water and bring to the boil and simmer for 7 minutes or according to pack instructions
  • Put your chicken in a pan and fry over a medium heat 
  • Put your coriander, mint, spinach, olive oil, vinegar, mustard and maple syrup into a blender and whizz up until it’s like a paste
  • Cut up your cucumber and tomatoes into small chunks 
  • When your Cous Cous is done rinse and put into a bowl with the paste, chopped tomatoes and cucumber, pomegranate seeds and lime juice
  • Crumble in the feta cheese and plenty of salt and pepper and mix round
  • When the chicken is done cut in strips and lay over the top of the Cous cous

  

  • Dollop over the yoghurt 

*Best way to get out pomegranate seeds is to hold face down with the seeds touching your hand and bash over the top with a rolling pin, the seeds should fall through your fingers easily.

Forgot to take an end photo because I was too hungry and scoffed it before remembering! Soz 

Enjoy! 

Cheese Lovers Day

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Hey guess what! I have just found out its #cheeseloversday – awesome! Surely this means I can skip the healthy eating for one day and indulge?! 

Reposting some cheesiness in celebration…..

Cheese member

Check out these recipes and celebrate this wonderful day…

Welsh Rabbit

Easy Cheesy Mushrooms on toast

Loaded Sweet Potato Skins

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Back to healthy eating. This is just over 500 calories if you have both halves, well under if you have only one and equally if you leave out the chorizo but have both it’s still well under! I knew Beardy wouldn’t be happy with no meat in it hence putting it in, and he even said he thought it needed more, but I could easily have it without if sticking to a calorie controlled diet.

Ingredients – serves 2 for dinner or 4 for a light lunch (half a skin each)

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 125g chorizo
  • 4 spring onions
  • 2 tbsp sweetcorn
  • 2 avocados
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Lashings of black pepper
  • Salt
  • Olive oil
  • Gouda cheese (small amount for topping)

Method

  • Pre heat oven to 180
  • Prick the sweet potatoes all over and rub with olive oil and salt 
  • Drizzle some olive oil and salt in a baking tray and place your potatoes in the oven for 45 minutes, turning once or twice so the skins don’t burn 
  • Chop your spring onions, scoop out your avocado and put them in a bowl with the sweetcorn
  • When the sweet potatoes are almost done; Chop your chorizo into cubes and fry in a little olive oil until the oil turns orange and the chorizo turns a darker red
  • Put the chorizo into the avocado mix along with its oil
  • Check the sweet potatoes are done all the way through by poking a cocktail or kebab stick through the middle, if they’re done cut in half and scoop out the middles being careful not to break or tear the skins
  • Put the sweet potato into the other mix and put the skins back into the oven to crisp up
  • Stir round the mix adding in the lemon juice, a few pinches of salt and lots of black pepper

  

  • Get the skins out and load them up, grating a little Gouda over the top

  

  • Pop back into the oven until the cheese has melted to your liking!

ENJOY!

Creamy Thai Beef and Fat Zoodles

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So I found out the other day what zoodles were – zucchini noodles (or courgette to us Brits) so thought I’d try a recipe for our new healthy eating regime!

Although this has a whole tin of coconut milk in it and tastes so scrumdiddlyumptious you will think you’re indulging it still has less than 500 calories per portion! (This serves a generous 2) Whoop de doo!

Ingredients

  • 2 rump steaks
  • 2 courgettes
  • 1 red pepper
  • Cup of broccoli
  • Cup of coriander
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 2 tsp red Thai curry paste
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • Cut up all your ingredients as below – use a potato peeler to do your fat zoodles – I don’t have one of those spiraliser thingies so hence FAT zoodles which I could have just called ribbons really…  
  • Oil, salt and pepper your steaks, not the pan, place in a grill pan and fry for 2 mins each side, when done take out the pan and put to one side
  • Meanwhile place a deep frying pan on the  hob and pour in the coconut milk, curry paste and powder
  • Simmer the broccoli for 2 minutes in the coconut milk mix
  • Add in the peppers and cover with a lid and leave to steam for 2 minutes
  • Slice your steaks into strips
  • Add your steak slices to the pan along with the courgette, cider vinegar and lime juice, cover again for 4-5 mins
  • Stir in the coriander and season to taste  

 Yum yum yumski – my favourite so far!!!! And only took about 20 minutes! Result!

Parmesan Lemon and Pepper Baked Cod with Asparagus and Green Beans

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Dinner number 2 of Healthy Eating Week

Ingredients 

  • 2 fillets of cod
  • 1 packet of green beans
  • 1 packet asparagus
  • 1 packet baby spinach
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Cup of Parmesan 
  • 10 baby tomatoes
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • In a large deep baking tray place all the spinach, green beans and asparagus with the cod lightly placed on top.
  • Generously cover all in black pepper and a little olive oil
  • Place in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 mins
  • Chop your tomatoes in half, juice your lemon and grate your Parmesan
  • Take your cod out and scatter the tomatoes over the top, pour the lemon juice over everything, salt and lots of pepper again and sprinkle with most of the Parmesan leaving a little for the end

  

 

  • Return to the oven for a further 10-15 mins
  • Serve with the last of the Parmesan sprinkled over the top

Simples.
 

Spicy stuffed peppers 

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Everyone seems to fill January with exercise and healthy eating – all part of clean living after overindulging at Christmas; our house is not an exception so easy healthy dinners are key this month, this is the first of many:

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 2 peppers
  • 1 cup cous cous
  • Half a courgette
  • Gouda cheese (I used 14 slices but you can exclude if you’re lactose intolerant and cover with breadcrumbs or would rather not eat cheese right now – Gouda was the lowest in calories I could find)
  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup sweetcorn
  • 1/2 cup black beans
  • Handful of fresh coriander
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 clove garlic

Method

  • Put the cous cous in a bowl and cover with boiling water until it’s a few mm over the top. Cover with a plate and leave to one side.
  • Cut the peppers in half down the middle and de-seed. Place on a lightly oiled baking tray in the oven at 180 degrees
  • Meanwhile chop the courgette into tiny cubes and fry in the garlic and a little oil
  • Chop the tomatoes into quarters 
  • Put everything except the cheese into the cous cous and recover  
  • Take the peppers out of the oven and line the inside bottoms with some of the Gouda making sure you save some for the tops  
  • Stir the cous cous ingredients in and season with salt and pepper
  • Spoon the cous cous mix into the peppers and place the remainder of the cheese over the top    
  • Bake again for a further 10 mins

Job done.

 

Creamy, Cheesy, Chicken, Broccoli, Leek and Pasta Bake

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This was a hit with all family members! 8 and 9 from the kids. This fed 4 of us with a bit left over. I cooked this all in one pan, so if you’re planning on doing the same you’ll need quite a deep frying pan, with a lid, as you steam the veg in the same pan as the chicken so it’ll need to be covered. If you haven’t got one you’ll need to cook the leek and broccoli in the pan for longer, so add them into the pan when the onion goes in.

Ingredients

  • 6 Boneless chicken thighs (chopped into small chunks)
  • 1 leek (sliced)
  • Broccoli (my kids love Broccoli so I put lots of it in (all of it – as you buy it in a bunch at the supermarket)
  • Half an Onion (finely sliced)
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 200g Cheese (grated)
  • 150ml Double Cream
  • 250ml Chicken Stock
  • Pasta (however much you want really – you know your appetite)
  • Knob of butter
  • Salt and Pepper

Method

  • Boil the kettle and put the water in a pan on the hob to boil with the pasta
  • Put a knob of butter in a deep frying pan and fry off the chicken so it’s sealed on all sides
  • Put the onion in with the chicken and cook until soft
  • Add the leek and broccoli and fry for a further few minutes until it softens slightly
  • Add in the chicken stock and lemon juice and cover, let simmer for about 7 minutes until the stock reduces right down, this needs to be covered to steam the veg.
  • Once it’s reduced down to half it’s size add in the cream and half the cheese and keep simmering until the sauce thickens to your taste
  • Add in the salt and pepper and stir in the pasta
  • Put into a baking dish, sprinkling over the remainder of the cheese and pop in the over at 180 for about 10 minutes or until top turns slightly brown.

Voila.

(You can actually miss out the last step, you don’t have to bake it as well if you can’t be bothered and want less washing up!)

For a little bit of added flavour a heaped teaspoon of wholegrain mustard is nice in this sauce too.

 

 

Mexican Chicken Salad

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Beardy’s new favourite. I didn’t think this would go down too well with the kids but I do love giving them new things to try, so did it anyway!

Neither of them have found their spice tastebuds yet, if it’s got even a hint of spice to it, they’ll find it. They don’t like dressing on their salad, pepper on anything, Mayo, mustard, anything like that, but like all kids will happily smother tomato ketchup over EVERYTHING! So….I was totally expecting a meltdown when they saw Mexican salad on the menu…..

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • Cajun seasoning
  • Salad leaves
  • 1/4 Cucumber
  • 8 Baby tomatoes
  • 4 Spring onions
  • 1/2 small tin of Sweetcorn
  • 1 Avocado
  • Cheddar – grated
  • Bag of Nachos
  • Ranch or Caesar dressing
  • Black pepper

Method

  • Coat the chicken in the Cajun seasoning and pop on a baking tray into the oven on 160 for 20-25 mins
  • Meanwhile get a big bowl and chuck all the salad leaves into it
  • Chop the cucumber and avocado into small chunks, tomatoes in halves and slice the onions. Put them, along with half the tin of sweetcorn, into the bowl with the leaves.
  • When the chicken is done slice into strips or chunks and put into the salad bowl along with 2 handfuls of grated cheese.
  • Drizzle your dressing over, just enough to coat the salad, and toss well.
  • Scrunch up 3 handfuls of nachos in your hands and sprinkle into the mix with a couple of grinds of black pepper. Toss again and serve.

YUMMY!!!

So….I actually went out of the room while the kids ate this (they seem to eat better when I’m not there to moan at)…I hid round by the stairs, pretending I was doing something. 

‘Is this new food?’ Bear shouted, ‘erm…kind of’ I replied….they were quiet..’will we get a monster if we eat it?’ Boo shouted, (they get monsters on their reward chart for eating new food), ‘yes!’ I shouted back (with my hand cupped round my mouth, giving the false impression I was further away than I really was, (cunning!)) unbeknown to them I was actually right by the door, spying on them! I went and sat down in the den for a few minutes. I felt weird, they’d been eating for 10 minutes and no complaining. I was confused and felt like I was in someone else’s house. 

Another 5 minutes passed in silence so I walked back into the kitchen. 

THEY HAD FINISHED THE WHOLE LOT! BOTH OF THEM! PLATES CLEAN! Sorry for the shouting but reliving this moment is very exciting for me!!! 

So, then came the marks out of 10.

Bear – 9!

Boo – 25! 

Beardy – “this can definitely go on the menu every week!”

Woop! A hit all round…..and no ketchup in sight. 🙂

Asian Stylie Salmon Scrumptiousness!

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salmon close up

I adore fish, especially Salmon. I also adore Bill Granger and his fantastic Asian inspired recipes. This dish is pretty much his recipe, except I’ve altered his measurements slightly according to our tastes and he puts it with Trout I think, I can’t quite remember because I don’t use his book anymore; we have this so often I know it off by heart.

Both Beardy and I love this, there is something about this dish that’s so fresh and healthy but with the added bonus of being bloody delicious!

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 2 Salmon fillets
  • 1 whole cucumber
  • 2 bunches of asparagus (chopped into about 2 inch long pieces)
  • 2 good handfuls of coridander
  • 1 good handful of mint
  • red chilli (or dried chilli flakes if you don’t have a fresh one)
  • 4 Shallots (or 6 spring onions as I used last night because I forgot to buy shallots!)
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp fine caster sugar
  • juice of one lime

Method

  • Boil a kettle of water
  • Pop a frying pan on with a glub of oil and stick your salmon on a low heat to fry (you want the skin nice and crispy so start skin side down and just leave for about 10 mins)
  • Whilst the salmon is frying, cut up your asparagus into 2 inch long pieces and pop into your already boiled water on the hob to continue boiling for about 4 minutes
  • Meanwhile, in a separate large bowl, get your potato peeler out and peel the cucumber, lengthways, all the way down so you get long ribbons of cucumber (see below)
  • drain your asparagus and plunge into cold water
  • slice your shallots/onions, chop your chilli up and tear the coriander and mint and put it all in the bowl with the cucumber
  • drain off your asparagus and turn your salmon over
  • in a separate jug combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, caster sugar and lime juice and stir well
  • put your asparagus into the salad mixture and toss
  • grab a handful of the salad mixture and place in a bowl with the salmon on top (I find sometimes the chillis and onions hide at the bottom so make sure everyone gets their fair share of everything!)
  • pour the dressing over

cucumbersalmon and asp

I could eat this every night. I never tire of this dinner and again, as all other receipes I put on here and my love of quick easy meals, it really doesn’t take long at all. I reckon about 20 minutes. There is absolutely no down side to trying this dish (apart from it making your wee smell lol!) I would urge everyone who likes Asian food to try it. And to Bill Granger – I love you!

 

 

Lamb Flatbreads

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IMG_5361IMG_5358

I feel like I’ve neglected the blog a bit, I know it’s only been a week but I’ve missed writing it so it’s a double whammy tonight!

Haven’t tried the kids on this one yet, but Beardy and I tried it and liked it so….

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 2 Flour tortillas
  • 250g minced Lamb
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 lamb stock cube
  • 1 tsp ground Cumin
  • 1 tsp ground Coriander
  • 1 tsp All Spice
  • 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • Fresh Mint (2 handfuls)
  • 2 Garlic cloves
  • Splash of worcester sauce
  • Natural yoghurt
  • 1 tsp Harissa paste

Method

  • Fry off the lamb until brown and get rid of any water/fat that comes off
  • Add all the ingredients to the lamb except: Tortillas, Mint, Natural yoghurt and Harissa
  • Leave to simmer for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens slightly and is not too runny
  • Add in half of the Mint
  • Pop the tortillas under the grill, both sides until they feel slightly crispy, don’t panic if they bubble up, this is normal!
  • Pop 2 tbsp yoghurt in a bowl and the tsp of Harissa paste on top of the yoghurt
  • Once the tortillas are done put the lamb mixture on top
  • Tear up the remaining Mint leaves and sprinkle on top along with dollops of the yoghurt/harissa

Done. Enjoy!