The much maligned sprout - more than just a fart bomb!

Have you ever had that feeling where you're hungry but you have no idea what you want to eat?  So you wander aimlessly around the supermarket waiting for some kind of neon flashing sign to appear in front of you announcing "here, pick me, I'm what you want!"

Well, I had that today.  Nothing looked appetising at all. None of the usual trusty favourites.  Nothing healthy.  Nothing naughty.  

N O T H I N G.

Until I walked past some sprouts.  And then I knew I HAD to eat sprouts tonight.

Except I still didn't fancy anything else and I was pretty sure Alex wasn't going to be massively impressed with a bowl of plain sprouts for tea.

So I wondered home, brain whirring, hoping something would leap into my head as the sprouts were cooking.

And miracle of all miracles it did. And weirdly, it worked.

So, here's how it went:

Sprouts cooked in a bit of garlic, sage and butter (just a bit) with a few bits bacon just for the flavour and some chestnuts.  A few red chilli flakes sprinkled over.

Left over gluten free spaghetti chopped up and chucked in a saute pan with some garlic and some lovely big meaty butter beans (from a tin).

A handful of kale torn up and chucked into that pan.

An egg chucked into that and mixed up as it cooked.

Sprouts were added, pepper was ground on top and at the last minute parmesan was finely grated in.

So, it made a sort of sprouty carbonara if you like!

Well, we did like.  The veg kept it lovely and green and healthy as well as filling, the egg and the beans provided the protein, the pasta was a small component keeping it nice and light, the chilli, garlic and parmesan added a bit of a flavour kick and there was a small smidgeon of relatively healthy fats in there too.

I love messing about making things up like this.  I think sprouts are something most people only ever see on Christmas day.  Probably over cooked too, thus resulting in what Michael McIntyre describes as 'fart bombs', which is nice.  Not only does that give them a bit of a bad name but I'm willing to bet not many people bother to try them in any other way at any other time.  A few new year's eves ago I made a delicious raw brussel sprout salad.  Granted, it sounds vile, but it was one of my favourite dishes that whole Christmas...Google it and try it.  I'd tell you my recipe but I can't remember it!

So, sprouts, much maligned but give them a try.

The Whiledorf salad

The other night I was staring at the chicken that we'd roasted at the weekend to provide quick and easy protein for our meals during the week, and I thought to myself, "I really don't want another chicken salad." 

So then I stared into the fridge for a few minutes. 

And I stared into the cupboard for a while too. 

Eventually, after several more rounds of staring, a meal started to form in my head. 

I remembered a while ago I used to make a really nice miso soup style thing with buckwheat noodles, chicken and lightly steamed broccoli, and I remembered I used to scatter a few blueberries on the top.

Which sounds disgusting but it was really nice.  The blueberries, apart from being insanely good for you (I watched a program once where people who ate blueberries as their afternoon snack increased their brain function or concentration or similar by about 1 gazillion percent for the rest of the day - caveat, I may not have got the statistics of that exactly right.), they're yummy and unlike lots of other fruit, not too sweet.  They have a great earthy taste and they add just the right element of zing to an otherwise quite flat dish.

So, there began my salad for that night.  

Instead of buckwheat noodles I started with a base of grains - one of my famous packets of 'gravel', perfect for such an occasion.  I think this one was just a mixture of red quinoa, buglar, freke.  Just enough to add a bit of bite.  

Then I added some broccoli I had blanched in boiling water for just a few minutes and then plunged straight into cold water afterwards.  This keeps it lovely and green and al dente...nobody likes slodgey fart flavoured broc in their salad.

Next came an apple (my favourite, pink lady) chopped into pieces and some celery before tearing up some roast chicken and adding that too.

Finally I crumbled a few walnuts over the top for our healthy fat stress busting component and a little earthy taste with a good old crunch.

I decided not to use any dressing or seasoning as I wanted it to stay really fresh and crisp and for all the individual vibrant flavours to stay in tact.

And all that staring into cupboards and fridges paid off as not only was it very tasty, it also felt super healthy and it was really satisfying because of all the different flavours and textures.

I used to absolutely HATE any type of fruit near any sort of savoury food (I'm thinking duck a l'orange, sultanas in coronation chicken..bleurgh), but done like this in a really simple, fresh and non sweet way, it really does chuck a different spin on the boring old chicken salad.

So,I'm calling this, my twist on another classic featuring apples and walnuts, the Whiledorf salad!

Butternutty about squash

One of my favourite foods that I haven't actually written much about yet is butternut squash. 

This yummy squashy veg of wonder is fab in so many different ways.  You can roast it, mash it, make it savoury or sweet (delish wth cinnamon and low fat cream cheese), chuck it in a smoothie, slop it in a soup, pop it in a salad, curry it (super yum) or stuff it as I did the other day.

I used to get really fed up with peeling the bnut since it's a wonky shape and is quite a tricky little beggar, but then I decided it didn't really need peeling and life has never quite been the same ever since.  If you're roasting, leave the skin on and then either just eat the skin or peel off later, same for mashing, roast it in the skin, then scoop out the flesh.  Only time it needs peeling first really is for a soup if the bnut is going straight into the pot and not being roasted first.

The version I made the other night was super simple and took advantage of a load of random bits left over from other meals.

All I did was cut the squash in half and hollow out the tiny little seed area bit.  I drizzled it with olive oil, salt and pepper and rubbed a garlic clove all over it...it's yummy roasted with garlic and red onion too by the way but I was too lazy for that on this occasion. 

I roasted it for about 30 mins first at 200 degrees to make sure it was really nice and gooey and browned.

Meanwhile I made the stuffing from:

left over roast chicken

left over cooked quinoa / frekeh / lentils

crumbled feta

A dollop of left over humus and another of edamame and mint dip

I mixed all the ingredients together, piled them into the bnut's little hole and then popped it back into the oven for another 10 mins or so just to heat it all through.

It was YUMMY.

Admittedly nobody else in the world is likely to ever have the same mix of leftovers as I had on that occasion but that's not the point.  The point is a stuffed butternut squash is a really easy supper and as long as you have a squash and a few other random little bits, you're away.

Butternut's are full off minerals and vitamins.  They're full of dietary fibre so nice and filling and satisfying without being full of calories and as you can see by their lovely orange colour, they're also full of beta-carotene amongst lots of other good stuff.  

In fact, they're all round pretty amazing and if they're not already on your shopping list, they should be.

Quick nutty pud

I've just watched Master chef and really fancied a pudding. 

So I made one. It took about 3 minutes and was delicious. 

All I did was put 2 heaped teaspoons almond butter (you cld use peanut butter), about 5 pitted dates, a handful of almonds, a glug of pure maple syrup and a generous sprinkle of oatbran (you could use oats) in my mini blender and whizzed it all up until it mushed together and held its shape but there were still nice chunks of fruit and nut in it. 

It was so delicious, kind of like a nut brittle come florentine biscuit, that I nearly ate the whole lot out of the pot instead of dishing it up...and sharing it with Alec although his portion was severely diminished by said pot chomping. 

Anyway, once it had made it's way safely into a bowl it was accompanied by some trusty Greek yogurt and was duly wolfed down. 

Yum. Quick, simple, whole food nutty yumminess. 

I don't have a photo because a it looked like brown nutty stuff, not very attractive. Oh, and the real reason is because I just wanted to eat it not photograph it!

Trick or Treat Autumn Smoothie

Today is Christmas day.

Well, ok, no it isn't.  But it is at my mum's house as my brother leaves to rejoin his ship in the Navy in a few days and won't return until May time thus missing out Christmas, New Year, Easter and my birthday in the process...come to think of it, we should make today my birthday as well, I'll mention it.  Anyway, because of all of that he has declared it Christmas lunch day today and we shall be gorging, I mean delicately nibbling on a full turkey dinner.

Which means I don't really want a great big breakfast.

Which means a smoothie is perfect.

And given that it's not really Christmas at all (although looking at Five's TV schedule you'd be forgiven for thinking it was), but actually looking like Autumn for once, and that Halloween still hangs in the air, I thought I'd make an Autumn pumpkin type smoothie.

The trick is the fact that rather than dash outside and chop up what's left of the slightly mouldy and probably rat infested pumpkin I carved the other day, I've used canned pumpkin.  I thought such a delight was only bestowed upon our cousins state side but seems I was wrong and picked some up the other day in my local Tesco Metro.

The treat comes in the drinking. It's yum.

So, I bunged some bits in the blender but this time I actually attempted to remember what they were so I could share on here, as follows:

-1 cup almond milk (any milk will do)

-1 banana
-6 dates
-1 laden table spoon pumpkin puree (it may have been closer to 2 really)
-1/2 an apple, skin on but the yukky core bit chopped out...you could chuck a whole apple in but I had 1/2 lying around from yesterday
-1/3 cup oats (leave those out if intolerant, obvs)
-a teeny tiny splash of pure maple syrup (not the maple flavoured stuff)
-a tspn cinnamon
-a tspn mixed spice (who am I kidding? I didnt measure the spices, I just chucked them in)
-2 dessert spoons greek yogurt
-1 tspn peanut butter (preferably a nice kind that's literally just peanuts and not full of sugar, salt or putrid palm oil...check your jar)
-optional: 1 tbspn maca powder (that was an accident, the packet tipped over and more went in, probably should be a tspn but it didn't matter, I like the taste, it's kind of a malty butterscotch taste.)

All you need to do is just whizz it all up in a blender and hey presto, abracadabra you have yourself a delicious smoothie.

The husband is a bit old school and still thinks food should need chewing and can't be doing with just drinking his meal so I also toasted him up a cinnamon bagel (and then ate some myself as was jealous of the smell!)

The only problem for me was the lack of green stuff so I'm going to make myself a green juice in a minute to make up for it.

Anyway, an all round resounding success I'd say.

Happy Halloween/Autumn/Christmas and Happy Birthday to me!

x

Evening to morning quinoa

I've written about quinoa before and how much I love it.  If you haven't tried it, do.  It works like a sort of couscous/rice type thing but is actually a high protein grain and is more closely related to spinach and beetroot than any actual cereal.  It's nutritionally better for you than other cereals and grains too being high in amino acids.  It's now very readily accessible in pretty much all supermarkets too.

Anyway, I decided to make a quinoa, kale, avocado and chicken salad for dinner last night by lightly wilting some kale leaves in coconut oil, chopping up an avocado and tearing some chicken off a ready roasted one we made earlier in the week, and mixing it all into about a cup of freshly made quinoa (see my earlier Quinoa Queen post about how to cook it nicely).  For a dressing I put 1 tspn miso paste, a few drizzles of tamari sauce (a wheat free soy sauce type thing, also readily available), a small drizzle of olive oil, a splash of water and the juice of 2 lemon wedges in a jar and shook it all up.  I drizzled that and mixed it all up together, served and sprinkled on a few parmesan shavings and walnuts.  That was it! It made 2 portions.

But, I'd purposefully made too much quinoa in the first place which mean that I had more than enough for my breakfast this morning too.

That might sound odd, but quinoa makes a lovely porridge type dish.

All I did for breakfast was add 1/2 cup of the cooked quinoa to a pan with about 1/2 cup coconut milk - not the canned type, the stuff in cartons as a milk alternative.  You can use almond milk or anything really but I fancied coconut today.  Then basically just heat it up for a bit.  The milk won't all get absorbed but it will gradually turn a bit creamier.  Towards the end of the cooking time I also added the juice of half a lime (don't forget to roll the lime on the counter top first to make it easier to get the juice out) to complement the coconut. And that's it!


You can top with what you like but I used a few different berries, 1/2 a magnesium rich, seratonin inducing banana, a drizzle of pure maple syrup, a spoonful of greek yogurt and a few walnuts for extra crunch and added omega 3, ALA and any number of other wonderful walnutty healthy benefits.

It tastes like a cross between rice pudding and porridge with a bit more bite and is lovely and sweet and creamy but without being heavy or stodgy.

So, there we go, quinoa 2 ways from dinner to breakfast.  Now, what's for lunch...

Cheat's Millionaire's Chocolate Ginger Pot

On Friday night Alex and I decided to have a 'nice' meal in rather than go out.  We went a bit lardacious for the main meal itself opting for a beef wellington we'd been lusting after in M&S for a while.  I lightened the whole affair a little by making yummy mashed cauliflower instead of potato (So nice, chop cauli, steam, mash with dijon mustard & a sprinkle of parmesan) and I rustled up some green cabbage with chestnuts and bacon. Yum.

But I also fancied a pudding.  There were loads of things in M&S that looked lovely, but I didn't fancy the bloaty yukiness they'd bring, especially after the main we'd lined up.

So I decided to make my own!

Ever since making the sweet potato brownies the other week I've been wanting to try something chocolatey and gingery and decided that's what I'd go for.  I also wanted to bring in an element of one of Alex's favourites, millionaires chocolate shortbread.

So, I created a nutty biscuit base topped with a creamy caramelly type layer, with a deep rich chocolate layer on top.  I was SO happy with the results.  Very very tasty, deliciously chocolatey but without any nasties.

And it went like this...Actually before I tell you, a note...I totally made this up as I went along and fiddled and adapted as I went.  Don't be afraid to do the same, it won't hurt anybody.  Just find what works for you!

First layer:
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup pecans
6 pitted dates
tablespoon pure maple syrup
tablespoon almond butter

2nd layer:
1/2 banana
1 tablespoon water
1 tbspoon maple syrup
5 dates

top layer:
1 avocado
3 tbspoons raw cacao powder
5 dates
thumb sized bit ginger
pure maple syrup to taste

to serve:
greek yog & berries

So, first of all whizz up the nuts in a blender and then add the dates, syrup and nut butter.  It should get a bit sticky and hold together slightly so add dates/syrup/nut butter if that doesnt happen...I did fiddle about a bit adding a few more bits until I liked the consistency.

I then pressed this mixture down into the bottom of 2 glasses - I had LOADS left and have been eating  it sprinkled on yogurt ever since, it's delicious.

Next, whizz up all the 2nd layer ingredients.  Bearing in mind the dates can be quite stubborn in the blender.  I added too much water to begin with so be careful, it doesn't want to be runny, it needs to sit on top of the biscuit and then support the chocolate layer that comes next.  I added some nuts/nut butter to stiffen up the consistency once I'd already made it too watery but could have avoided that by adding the water a bit at a time. Once you're happy with it, add that ontop of the nutty bottom layer, leaving room for the chocolate bit coming next and then stick it in the freezer so it can set a little bit.

Lastly, to make the chocolate layer I used an avocado for the creaminess and raw cacao powder (you can get it in health food shops or on amazon).  I added more cacao as I felt the brownies the other day weren't chocolatey enough and also because i wanted the top layer to be quite deep to counteract the sweetness of the other layers.  The result was a very deep rich chocolate mousse but it wasn't sweet enough hence adding the dates and the maple syrup to get it to a taste I was happy with.  This took ages as the dates just wouldn't blend but I got there in the end!  Then I just kept chopping up little bits of ginger and adding it until I was happy with the strength of the ginger kick.

After about half an hour, I put the chocolate mixture on top of the rest and put in the fridge.

When it came to serving, I then put a blob of creamy greek yogurt on top and finished with a few berries.

Stupidly, I used red glasses so you can't really see the layers but trust me, it was absolutely delicious and I was super proud of myself for making it all up thanks to following some recipes recently that used dates and nuts in this way.  Can't wait to see what I come up with next!