Lemon chicken broccoli and cashews

This is DELICIOUS! Ben makes it better than I do but...recipe here!

African Peanut Stew

Make a big batch and enjoy it over and over.

Recipe link here.

I don't know what chard is...I used kale. I also add extra chillis, cos yummmm spicy. I would add peanuts I think, extra crunch!

Teriyaki Salmon and Veg

This was so easy to make and really tasty!

You need:

Salmon fillet
Healthy oil of your choice
one pepper
chilli
garlic
kale
chilli flakes (if you want)
teriyaki marinade (I use blue dragon)

Brush marinade on your salmon and shove it under the grill. Every few minutes, take it out and re-glaze with the teriyaki, once you've done 3/4 the salmon should be about cooked. Sprinkle chilli flakes on it afterwards if you fancy!

Fry all veg in your oil and when it's about cooked, add a dash (about a tablespoon) of the marinade and continue to fry for another minute or two.

Done.

Kale and Mushroom Quinoa

You need:

60g (dry weight) quinoa
100g kale
150g mushrooms
tablespoon of your healthy oil (I use about 3g of coconut oil)
half a (vegetable) stock cube
30/40g feta


Quinoa is easy enough to make. Plonk it in a saucepan and add boiling water about a half inch above the quinoa, and add your stock (you can just have water but I find the stock adds a good flavour), bring to boil, then simmer, covered.

Heat up your oil in a frying pan and cook the kale and sliced mushrooms. Once quinoa is cooked (the water is gone and the grains have turned into little sprials), add the fried vegetables, top with feta. Boom.

While this gives you a really good portion - you'd be good to maybe half the weights above and have some protein with this on the side. For my packed lunches I'd probably also eat a boiled egg.

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

My gosh this has a kick!

1

Based strongly on this recipe.

Ingredients

Healthy oil of your choice (I went a small amount of coconut oil)

1 red chilli chopped - keep seeds if you want it spicy
3 garlic gloves, crushed
1 tsp paprika
1 large pinch cumin seeds
1 tsp chilli powder

1 medium butternut squash peeled and cubed
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
2 carrots chopped
2 celery sticks
1 large onion

1.5 pints chicken or veg stock

Follow instructions from BBC Good Food website!

Salmon Fillet

Salmon is super easy and super healthy - I've gotten very into salmon because of how easy it is to cook. I place the salmon fillet on a piece of foil, squeeze a slice of lemon over it, wrap it into a parcel and shove it in the oven at 180 centigrade - fan oven.
New potatoes obviously just need boiling, though I am just having the salmon with veg nowadays, broccoli and carrots, and I steam my veg to retain nutrients!

Mushroom Leek Quinoa

I follow Gwyneth Paltrow's advice when it comes to cooking quinoa:

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly and place it in a pot set over high heat with the water and a pinch of salt. Bring the quinoa to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pot, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa's germs and looks like lots of little spirals, 12 to 15 minutes. Turn the heat off, place a dry paper towel (I use kitchen roll) between the pot and the lid, and let the quinoa sit for at least 5 minutes before giving it a fluff with a fork.

Instead of a pinch of salt I use vegetable stock to give it a bit of flavour. I fried the mushroom and leek in a little coconut oil then just added them together. Boom. It was super tasty. Better warm than hot by a long shot though.

Muesli

Because the ones we buy store packed are more full of sugar than we realise...

I had it this morning with a banana and it was tasty goodness!

Spinach Side Dish

For when I need to be able to whip up something quick but want to keep it as healthy as possible, I wanted a healthy side dish - this spinach recipe was amazing. I didn't have sesame seeds but I used toasted sesame oil and it was TASTY! I used a whole bag of about 230g but it made only about two portions worth. RECIPE HERE.

Gwyneth Paltrow's Chicken and White Bean Chilli

I have every intention of working my way through this cookbook. It can be a little difficult to follow because, obviously, Gwyneth Paltrow is an American and the book is created for an American audience. BUT, I decided I was going to muddle through and make substitutions where I needed to.

For this recipe there isn't much to explain except:
pimenton is paprika
28oz is two tins
14oz is one tin

And I didn't have any toppings but cilantro is coriander if you fancy that as a topping!

LINK TO THE RECIPE

Pear and Proscuitto Salad

I am not a fan of salads, but this is such an easy, delicious, amazing go to:



You need:
Baby leaf salad leaves (half a bag - spinach, rocket, stuff like that)
One pear (buy a few days in advance so it's deliciously ready for eating)
Three slices proscuitto
Spring onions
avocado
pine nuts (optional)

Dressing:
One part olive oil to three parts balsamic vinegar
grainy mustard
clove of garlic chopped very finely

For the dressing, combine it all and shake vigourously (I use an old nutella jar)

For salad, chop the pear, avocado and spring onions, then throw everything together. If I'm at home I'll put some pine nuts in the oven, keep an eye on them and when they start to brown, add them on top - heaven.

Spicy Chicken Stew

I'd bought some stuff to make a pasta sauce but had ended up improvising, leaving me with quite a lot of veg in my fridge. Some googling on bbcgoodfood for a healthy recipe I found Spicy Chicken Stew.



It was yum! Find the original recipe here. It is super easy, and just uses one (large) saucepan. I did tweak the amounts going into it though, since the original recipe was for six!

For two hearty portions:
a packet of chicken drumstricks (we used tesco which weighed in about 430g)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red chilli (I used two but it was too spicy)
1 red pepper
200g chopped tomatoes
1 tin kidney beans (the recipe says 'kidney beans in chilli sauce' but I just added a tsp chilli powder)
1 tin butter beans
220ml chicken stock
small bunch coriander

Follow the instructions on the website...though I would just leave the skin on, peeling it off raw chicken is a pain in the arse, it'd probably come off easier after the pre-frying anyway!

Broccoli and Carrot Soup

Soups are awesome for healthy eating. Puréed vegetables. And they're PERFECT in winter. I think people think soups are harder than they are. They're possibly the simplest thing ever!



You will need:
1 head of broccoli
4 large carrots
1 leek (don't use the end leafy bits though, white or light green stalk bit)
1 vegetable stock cube

Chop off the brocolli florets, chop up the carrots, chop up leek, keep it chunky, carrots/leek about 2cm wide. Throw them in a saucepan, cover veg in water, add your stock cube, bring to the boil. Once boiling, cover and let it simmer. After 15 mins check it, if you pierce a carrot with a knife, lift it out of the water and it falls off, then it's ready. Drain the stock, but keep it! Use a blender to blend up the vegetables, adding stock bit by bit until you get a consistency you're happy with.

Season to taste. I always add black pepper. :-)

I bought a big jar from Wilkinsons, making this the easiest work lunch ever! This recipe will make you a pretty big batch but I figure, since it's essentially only veg, I can have a huge bowl of it! So this made two servings for me.

Got a tip to make soups more entertaining? Share! Don't be selfish.