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.

New Eating Direction: Low Glycemic Index Foods

I have taken a slightly different direction in my cooking after doing some reading. This month I have been cooking foods with good proteins, good fibres and complex carbohydrates that score low on the glycemic index.
First thing to tackle was snacks. I have a real intolerance for sugar and have been experimenting with natural alternatives, I made some some really simple nut and seed bars by blitzing up some dried apricots, pecan nuts and sunflower seeds, adding some dessicated coconut, coconut oil and a table spoon of agave nectar, then pressing the mixture into a baking tray and baking for around 25 minutes. They were nice, didn't last a long time before becoming slightly soggy though so might need soring wrapped in greaseproof paper perhaps?

Next I made pickled vegetables. There are carrots, chillies, fennel, cucumbers and garlic cloves in there. First you heat some apple cider vinegar, diluted with water - three parts to one. Add a couple of spoons of unrefined brown sugar, a teaspoon of salt and simmer until all is disolved, Then poor over the vegetables in a jar, adding dill, mustardseeds and some fennel seeds too. Leave in the fridge until cooled. Ready to snack on in 24 hours, but tastier the longer you leave it.

Finally we snacked on crudite with a homemade chipotle mayonnaise. I mixed regular mayonnaise with smoked paprika, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Really tasty.