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 Cracker Lunch

Smoked salmon on dark ryvita crackers with garlic and herb light philadelphia cream cheese, sliced cucumber, sliced apple, salad with a tablespoon of dressing - olive oil, balsamic vinegar and grainy mustard. Healthy - seriously delicious. 

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.

Tuna & Sweetcorn Burger/Sweet Potato Mash

OK...this one is a bit weird...first, there's the tuna and sweetcorn burger, honestly, there's a reason I won't be making that one again. The sweet potato mash however...AMAZING. I need to make that again. I also made the salsa - I used a tin of plum tomatoes and whizzed it up with a few rocket chillis, some lime juice and garlic. It was pretty damn good!

Mexican Chicken Stew

I threw in a couple rocket chillis because it can never be too spicy! RECIPE LINK.

Beast Omelette

So it's essentially an omelette...but I shoved it in a pie dish and baked it so it was a bit thicker! It was good! Cheese and spinach, boom, done.

Pad Thai

I LOVED pad thai when I was in Thailand, and I've been dying to try and recreate it. This came surprisingly close! But it still needs improving...

OK, so, hit the thai section because everything is tastier and cheaper! You will need:

pad thai sauce
2 tbsp Fish sauce
1-3tsp Chilli sauce
3/4tbsp Tamarind paste
3tbsp brown sugar

the rest
thai rice noodles, linguini width
2 chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic
two handfuls bean sprouts
3 spring onions
some chopped peanuts topping
chicken stock
slices of lime
soy sauce

Then more or less follow THIS RECIPE. :)

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

Swedish Meatballs from the Londoner

If you've got a blog or read blogs, you know The Londoner. The other day she posted a recipe for Swedish meatballs, and I had to go for it!

Now...I used beef meatballs instead of pork, cos that's all they had in Tesco, I used grainy mustard and olive oil instead of butter but it turned out freaking awesome! But it is very rich so you don't need a big portion of it. I still haven't figured out what it goes best with...any suggestions?

Anything Omelette

When in doubt, fry it and cover it with eggs and milk.

Onions automatically make it awesome, one red pepper and sliced chorizo - done and done.

Pesto Salmon

I actually used my Jamie's Ministry of Food for this one, but I found the recipe online here.



You can obviously have it with side salad to keep it healthy,  I made chips...

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

Is it obvious I like food with a bit of a kick?



I use this recipe. But I add two chillis and I don't add mushroom or sweetcorn...cos Ben is awkward. I also go to my local Thai shop and buy rice noodles cos I love skinny skinny noodles! Yum!

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.