Turkish Inspired Meat Feast

Last night I made a huge amount of food for just me and Kev. I love Turkish food and often miss it, there's a good Turkish place in Chichester but the take out from there isn't as good as the quality of the food when you eat in so I had to resort to making my own.

To start, I made some spinach, feta, mint and lamb 'pasties'. They tasted great, probably needed to be a little smaller. I just cut puff pastry into squares and filled with the ingredients. The lamb was taken from the meat balls I made for the main so it was partially cooked and already seasoned. I baked them for about 15 minutes after glazing with some milk to make them nice and golden. I had them with some aubergine and tomato dip, made by roasting aubergine and tomatoes, adding some smoked paprika and seasoning and blending roughly.

For the main, I made some tahini and lemon chicken legs. I sliced two lemons and covered the bottom of a roasting dish with them. Then I mixed tahini with lemon juice, olive oil, smoked paprika and salt and used it as a coating for the chicken legs. I roasted them for about half an hour. They were really tender from the steam coming from the lemons and had a crispy, sesame skin. So tasty.

I also made harissa meat balls. I mixed lamb mince with some bread crumbs and them mixed in a paste I made. The paste included: a tablespoon of harissa, some fennel seeds, some olive oil, salt and pepper and lemon juice, half a red onion and two red chillies, finely chopped, plus a few cloves of crushed garlic. I left the mix to stand, then shaped them into meatballs, shallow fried them and then baked for 20 minutes.

Finally, I made some smoked houmous by blending garlic, tahini, chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and a teaspoon of the harissa paste.

I served the massive feast with a chopped salad of red onion, radish, cucumber, tomato and an orange bell pepper. And a bowl of olives.

Protein Pods

These are gluten free, dairy free and sugar frees and have the stamp of approval from me and from Dixie, my second niece.  Separate the whites from three eggs and put them into the blender.
You then take a couple of cups of pecans, the same of cashews, a handful of peanuts and a handful of mixed seeds (I got all the ingredients from Lidl, super cheap.  Add a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon and a couple of tablespoons of honey and blend for about 30 seconds.  I mixed in a few chopped, dried figs and some goji berries too. Then pressed the mix into a greased cupcake tray. I baked them on about 180 for  about fifteen minutes. They hold their shape really well.

See Instagram for pictures, here.

Breakfast and Lunch: Vanilla Oatmeal, Avocado on Toast

Whilst on half term, I am enjoying eating what I want when I want, partly because I am not at work and partly because I have the house to myself. Ollie's away with his mum and Kev's in America with his dad.

Breakfast is oatmeal with almond milk, cooks just like porridge. Stir in some vanilla essence and add toppings of your choice. I am trying to eat healthy proteins with every meal so along with raspberries and bananas it has this linseed mix (which is really good for your digestion too) and some organic salt free, sugar free peanut butter. I topped it with this agave nectar which is a low GI version of honey, it's twice as expensive but because I bought most of the other ingredients from Lidl I could afford it.

This is my favourite lunch and it's really healthy too. Mix mashed avocado with seasoning, lemon juice and some balsamic vinegar. Spread on toast, I am eating Vogel soya and linseed bread at the moment because it is low GI. Top with sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and cayenne pepper (which has a load of health benefits) and drizzle with olive oil.

Baked Salmon and Brown Rice with Chinese Greens

Last night I made a meal for the lovely Emma, she liked it so much that I had to blog the recipe for her. It's really healthy, quick and simple to make.

Marinade a side of salmon in teriyaki sauce, peanut oil, lemon juice and salt. Then bake it in loads of the teriyaki marinade (so that it almost poaches, as this keeps it moist but beware - the marinade will burn, maybe cook it on some tin foil to avoid damaging the baking tray). Sprinkling some dried chillies on top will add a nice heat without taking away the flavour of the fish.

Fry chopped garlic and ginger in peanut oil, add some Chinese greens; I used pak choi, soya beans, peas (frozen), and spring onion. Fry for a few minutes, adding a dash of rice wine and some dark soy sauce. Throw in a packet of microwave wholegrain rice and stir.

Serve the salmon on top of the rice and enjoy! Emma and I ate it in front of XFactor, which Emma is a big fan of as you can see.

Rainbow Beef

The reading into nutrition I have been doing has recommended trying to get as many rainbow colours into your food as possible. Makes sense really. This is a really simple stir fry. Beef steak was marinaded overnight in soy sauce and lime juice. Then I fried some thinly sliced garlic and chillies in coconut oil, and added ginger puree, sliced peppers, carrots, broccoli, and pak choi. I threw in the beef with some more soy sauce and oyster sauce, plus a dash of agave nectar and fried until it browned all over. I then added sliced spring onions and some soy beans (I buy them frozen as it's cheaper).That's it, done. It was spicy and fresh and this whole wok's worth was eaten so must have been good. 

No chilli sauce required. 

Ollie was not having an adventurous week and opted for some chicken instead. Grr.

Wholewheat Pasta and Broccoli with Kale and Olive Pesto

This is a tasty way to get your vegetables in and a good low GI dinner and/or lunch.
Boil some wholewheat pasta and just before it's finished throw in some good quality broccoli.
Whilst that's cooking throw some kale, sundried tomatoes, olives, garlic, sunflower seeds and olive oil into a blender. Blitz until it becomes a rough paste. Season well. I then fried some smoked bacon lardons because Kev doesn't accept it as a meal if it doesn't have some kind of animal in it. You can also add red onion and olives to this mix if you want extra texture.
Mix the pesto well with the pasta and broccoli whilst it's still hot. Add some parmesan cheese. It's delicious. Kev and I loved it, the flavour was intense and it was also good cold the next day for lunch. Ollie couldn't be persuaded to eat it though, his scampi dinner is below!

Curry Night with Marto

My great friend, long time vegetarian and 'avid' blog reader, Martin has recently moved up to bonny Scotland and I made a Keralan meal to bid him farewell. This consisted of vegetable curry, naan breads, chickpea pilau and a coconut dahl. I also made tandoori chicken with vegetables.

To make the dahl I fried off some onions and garlic and in a separate pan, dry fried some mustardseeds, garam masala, chilli flakes and turmeric. Then added the onions and garlic to the spices. Then I added some precooked green lentils, a tin of coconut milk, a tin of tomatoes a pinch of salt and a half pint of vegetable stock. Then I left this to cook down for about 40 minutes.

To make the curry I dry fried chilli powder, cumin, turmeric and then added a splash of peanut oil, largely chopped onions, cauliflower, courgette, okra and fried that off for a few minutes until it was coated in the spices and added a tin of tomatoes. I added salt and pepper. Then this was left to cook for about 30 minutes.

For the pilau rice I fried brown rice in peanut oil, garlic, salt and turmeric, then added a tin of chickpeas and a pint of vegetable stock. and left this to cook for 20-25 minutes until the water had cooked away.

The chicken is really simple, just roughly chop into two inch pieces, some red onion, green and red peppers and a couple of tomatoes, then chuck them into a roasting dish with some chicken legs. Toss everything in some peanut oil and tandoori spice and roast for about half an hour.

We all ate too much and it was a lovely feast to see Martin off on his adventure.