recipes

The same old salads get boring. Then they feel like ‘diet food.’ Then you end up craving something more interesting and cave in and go for something processed/unhealthy. Sound familiar? This is the process a lot of people struggle with. So do you just accept you have to eat boring salads forever if you want to stay in shape? NO. You just need to learn varied, healthy and flavourful salad options to keep you fulfilled. Here’s my Healthy Greek Salad;

Ingredients

150 grams quinoa (raw)
300g chopped tomatoes
Whole cucumber, cubed
Half red onion, diced (if you like it!)
Whole red pepper, thinly sliced
1 chopped avocado
200 gram block feta, chopped
Handful of parsley, chopped
Tbsp capers, chopped
100g olives
100g of spinach
2 tins of tuna
Tin of chickpeas
Balsamic vinegar dressing
Serves 4 – 485 calories per portion (31 grams of protein per portion)

Preparation

Cook the quinoa, fluff up with a fork and allow to cool. Then chop, assemble and mix all the other ingredients. It’s that simple. You would easily feed 4 with this salad recipe, and comes in at 485 calories and 31 grams of protein per portion. It’s also packed full of flavor and goodness.

Variations

Of course you can make a more traditional dressing with olive oil, but that would add approximately 100 calories a portion.
You don’t have to have all the ingredients to make this salad work. You could do chicken or any other protein of choice. You could do bulgar wheat or cous cous instead of the quinoa. As long as you have some salad leaves and some veg and the feta, you can make it work.

Conclusion – Healthy Greek Salad

Salads are only boring if you do the same thing over and over again. There are lots of ways to make them different and exciting without adding a lot of processed ingredients and calories. So mix up you salad game a bit and stop yourself craving the unhealthy alternatives!

Hummus is a great addition to anyone’s nutritional regime. It has ingredients that are packed full of nutrients, is super tasty, and really quick and easy to make. I will give you the recipe then talk a bit about some of the health benefits of the ingredients.

My Homemade Hummus Recipe

400 gram tin of chickpeas
1 Tbsp Tahini
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of salt and pepper.

That’s it. You can add other stuff if you want. Herbs, spices etc, by all means go for what you fancy. But I think this basis recipe is super tasty as it is.

Prep Instructions

Put the chickpeas is a sieve and pour boiling water over them. This gives them a creamier texture without having to simmer them for ages. Then put all the ingredients in the food processor and whiz them up. That’s it! It’s so simple.

You can make your own tahini, but unless you have a seriously powerful blender you won’t ever get it as smooth as it is in the jar. And you could add more olive oil, it would make it more creamy and luxurious. But of course that adds extra calories as well. And personally I don’t think it needs it.

How to Use it?

It will keep well in the fridge for 4/5 days. You can use it as a snack to dip vegetables into. You can use it on the side of a salad. You can even use it as a salad dressing substitute, just mix it through all the leaves etc.

Health Benefits

You get some protein from the chickpeas. Its also rich in manganese, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, folate, iron, zinc and thiamine. As a result of these it has been linked to reduced inflammation, improved digestion, blood sugar management and heart health. Not bad eh! And top of this is a MUCH healthier snack options than the majority of other options people usually go for.

Conclusion – My Homemade Hummus Recipe

Give this a go, it will become a staple in your nutrition regime and your health and taste buds will both thank you for it.

Making soups regularly is a great way to get a lot of vitamins and minerals into your system and to help you lose weight/keep it off. But sometimes they can be a faf and the time it takes/the mess it makes, makes it feel unappealing. This spinach and mint soup is seriously easy to make as well as tasty and healthy.

Ingredients – Spinach and Mint Soup;

2 onions
2 leeks
3 stalks celery
Whole bag of spinach
3 cloves garlic
Thumb size piece of ginger
Bag of mint
Veg stock cube

Cooking;

Roughly chop the onions, leeks and celery and sweat off on low heat in a large pot. (It needs to be large, you will see why when you try to add the spinach later!) Cook for 5-10 mins until softened. While that sweats down finely chop the garlic and ginger, add to the pot and cook for a further 2/3 mins. Then add the stock cube and about a pint of water (add more or less water depending on how thick you like your soup).
Bring it to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook for a further few minutes. Then add the spinach. Depending on how big your pot is you won’t get it all in at once but it only takes a matter of seconds to wilt so just keep stirring and adding until it’s all in. Cook for a minute or so until all the spinach is fully wilted. Then turn off heat and let it stand for a minute. While this is happening roughly chop the mint and add it to the dish. Give it a stir then blitz with either a hand blender or food processor. I like to keep some texture rather than blitzing to totally smooth but that’s up to you.

Experiment

Don’t be tied down to this exact recipe. If you don’t have leeks, don’t worry just use extra onions and celery. You can use watercress rather than spinach if you want. Or even cabbage would work. You could also add some lentils or beans if you want to make it more of a complete meal. Feel free to experiment and use up what you have. The mint is what really makes the dish though, so I would recommend keeping that.

Conclusion – Spinach and Mint Soup

This soup is delicious, packed full of nutrients, low in calories and easy to make. It ticks all the boxes so give it a go!

A quick but delicious curry is one of my favourite things to cook in these winter months. I love using lentils alongside the chicken to (a) add flavour and thickness to the sauce and (b) substitute some of the animal protein with plant based protein. You could absolutely do this without any chicken though. If I were to do that I would probably use a combination of lentils, split peas, some beans (e.g. butter beans), that would be delicious too. The great thing about this dish is that you need no real cooking skills, it requires minimal prep time, it’s ridiculously healthy, and bursting full of flavour too! Try my chicken and lentil curry.

Ingredients – Chicken and Lentil Curry – Serves 4

4 chicken thighs
150 grams lentils (I would use green for these as they are ideal for stewing)
3 onions
3 carrots
2 parsnips
2/3 cloves garlic
1 chopped chilli (optional)
Thumb size piece ginger
Tsp of each of; cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika, turmeric, coriander seeds.
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Tsp rapeseed oil

Cooking

Pre heat oven to 180 fan. Roughly chop all the veg and sweat on low heat for 5 mins. While this is happening chop the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for a further couple of minutes. Then add the spices (you can throw the cumin seeds in whole if you like but you will need to grind the coriander seeds if not done already). Finally add the tin of chopped tomatoes and stir well. Then refill the tin with water and add that as well. Finally throw in the chicken thighs, and bring to the boil. Then cover with lid put in oven for 1 ½ hours until chicken is lovely and tender.
Serve with bulgur wheat or cous cous. Or even cauliflower rice if you are being extra good.

Conclusion – Chicken and Lentil Curry

This a bit of mix between a curry and a stew really. I really like to get something done and in the oven which is basically ready to get out and eat once the kids are in bed. Experiment with the spices as well, it doesn’t have to be those exact spices. Just don’t put too much of any 1 spice in. Give it a go!

Personally I really like turkey. I never have a problem eating it on Boxing Day and it will be gone by the day after. But it doesn’t have to be boring turkey salads and sandwiches. This dish is one of my favourites for the day after Christmas. Quick and easy to prepare and helps to use up the leftover turkey. Oh, and seriously yummy as well. It’s a great example of how you can still indulge a little after Christmas whilst still keeping the meal relatively healthy. It’s my Healthy Coronation Turkey recipe.

Ingredients – Healthy Coronation Turkey Recipe

500 grams cooked, cold turkey meat

100 grams low fat mayo

100 grams full fat greek yogurt

2 tbsp mild curry powder

2 tbsp mango chutney

Half a mango cut into chunks (optional)

30 grams toasted almonds or cashews (optional)

2 spring onions finely sliced

50 grams coriander roughly chopped

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Putting It Together

Toast the nuts on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until slightly brown. Put the mayo and yogurt into a bowl and mix the curry powder through well. Then mix in all the other ingredients other than the turkey and coriander. Finally mix turkey in and sprinkle coriander over the top. I would serve it with a simple salad, and maybe some bread as it’s Christmas!

This is a great example of how you can indulge a bit, have something different and festive without going crazy on the calorie count. Okay there are calories in the nuts, yogurt and mayo, but everything else is pretty healthy and low cal. And you could easily reduce the quantities of those 3 ingredients if you wanted it to be lower calorie. Indulgence does not have to mean a lot of high fat, processed food that will send you calorie count through the roof. And this recipe proves that.

Most people love pancakes. But most pancake recipes are made with processed white flour and either milk or buttermilk. Then drenched in some sort of processed sugary product such as syrup, jam, chocolate spread etc. Not the healthiest to say the least and not the sort of thing you want be eating on a regular basis. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a healthier way to make pancakes that was still as delicious but with no processed ingredients or added sugar! Try this healthy pancake recipe.

Ingredients – Serves 4 (2 adults and 2 kids)

4 medium bananas (the riper the better)
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons of chia seeds
Teaspoon of cinnamon
Small knob of butter
Spoon of greek yogurt to serve.

Cooking Instructions

Mash the bananas well in a bowl. The kids love getting involved in this in our house. And the more they have a part in the cooking the more they are likely to try and enjoy the food in my experience!
Put a large frying pan on a medium heat while you prepare the rest it won’t take long.
Crack in the eggs and beat into the bananas. Then add the chia seeds and cinnamon and mix well.
Add the knob of butter to the pan and mix around. Then add the pancake mix. I tend to do 3 or 4 smallish pancakes in our frying pan. You don’t want to make them too thick, so be prepared to cook them in 2 separate batches. They will need 3 or 4 minutes on a medium heat before they are ready to flip. Then just another minute or so on the other side to ensure the egg is cooked.
I genuinely don’t think you need any extra sweetness added to these. I just serve them with a small dollop of greek yogurt. But if you really wanted you could drizzle a tiny bit of honey over the top.

Conclusion – Delicious, Healthy Pancake Recipe

Seriously, give these a go. I was genuinely surprised how good they were. Once you have tried them I bet you won’t see the need or desire to go back to the other, less healthy version.