Salad for Breakfast: Layered Tex-Mex Salad

I just ate salad for breakfast. Because I can. Isn't being an adult wonderful? I've gone wheat-free and quasi-paleo of late and am loving it, feel like a new woman and this salad fits in well!

This isn't your average salad, it's salad I've been dreaming about all night because it is just that good. The combination of flavours and textures added to the aesthetic appearance is just fabulous. It's a whole meal and a healthy one at that, which would be perfect for dinner or to bring to picnics, potlucks or parties. It keeps well overnight and doesn't get soggy. I used grilled Mexican seasoned pork chops as the main protein, sliced thinly, but you could use a layer of seasoned taco beef or ground turkey, or some sliced grilled chicken or just leave meat out entirely! You may notice you don't see the corn in the pictures that the recipe calls for, but that's because when I went to get the corn, it turned out I had none. Although this was excellent without it, I think the crunchy sweetness would have added another fabulous layer of flavour.

Ingredients:

For the salad:

• 4 little gem lettuce, thinly sliced
• 4 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 large white onion, finely diced
• handful chopped coriander (cilantro)
• 2 avocados, thinly sliced
• lime, juiced
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 can black or kidney beans
• 1 can sweetcorn
• 4 roasted red peppers, sliced
• 2 cups meat choice (see intro)
• 1 cup sliced black olives
• 1 quantity of dressing (recipe below)

Mix the onions and coriander and add half the juiced lime. Season with salt and pepper.  Use the remaining lime juice to coat the avocado slices to ensure they don't brown.

Get a large glass bowl and begin assembling. Start with a big layer of lettuce, reserving about 1/4 then layer the rest of the ingredients in whatever way seems appealing to you, with the dressing on the top. Top with another thin layer of lettuce. You can add a bit of cheese and green onions and olives on top as a garnish if you'd like.

Serve 

For the dressing:

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp chill powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. 

Blog Parties: Tip Me Tuesday, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Two Cup Tuesdays, Simple Supper Tuesday, Share Your Stuff Tuesdays.

Cheaters Quiche

Have I told you about the 1 cup quiche?  This is my new favourite recipe ever!  Perhaps it's constantly having fresh eggs, perhaps it's the sheer lack of thought or effort required or perhaps it's the fact that it's damn yummy, but this is truly a great one to have up your sleeves.  Perfect to whip together if you have unexpected visitors and absolutely the business for picnics!


This isn't really a quiche in the traditional sense as there's no fiddling with pastry required. It uses flour and the flour sort of sinks to the bottom creating a type of crust.  You can use any filling you want in this and it serves about ten people. It's as good cold and keeps great for a few days in the fridge. I freeze slices individually and pop them out in the morning for a nice lunch later.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 5 eggs
• 1 pkg bacon lardons
• 1 pepper, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• chopped fresh herbs (parsley, dill, chives, whatever you like)
• salt and pepper to season
• 1 tomato, sliced

Grease a baking dish with butter. Pre-heat oven to 200C.

Mix all ingredients except tomato in a large bowl. Yes, that's really it.

Pour into greased baking dish and top with tomato slices.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until firm and cooked through. Slice and serve warm or cold.

Weird and Wonderful Flavours: A sambo and a cake

I should really learn to stop promising things, because when it comes to anything bloggy I am utterly and completely useless. But here it is a bit late and I've combined it with my favourite wrap. Both are rather unconventional, but I assure you both are delicious, I'm munching on a wrap as I type this, om nom nom!

Thai Veggie Wraps

This is one of my all time favourite lunches, you can add meat if you like, but I think it's flavourful enough with just veggies and the seasonings. It's about as Thai as Guinness, but I needed a name - authentic it may not be - but delicious it is!

Powered up with some superfood goodness of nuts and avocados, this is a strangely weird but wonderful wrap. I love food with contrasting flavours and textures and this one ticks all the boxes. Sweet, savoury, smooth, crunchy and colourful there's something for everyone.

I find different cultures like different styles of sandwich. For instance Americans like to add cheese to everything (not just sandwiches for that matter) and if that floats your boat, go for it.  Here in Ireland sandwiches are often preferred toasted and this is actually delicious toasted as well, but because I don't like wilted rocket I add that after I toast it.  A great trick for toasting is to wrap your wraps up tightly in foil and get your iron out and pop it on full temp. Place it on the wrap packet for a few minutes, switch sides and do the same. Voila, toasted wrap! :) But I digress... onto this delicious madness!

Ingredients:

• 2 wraps of your choice
• 1 tbsp cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp thai curry paste
• 1 tbsp mago chutney
• 1 tomato, thinly sliced
• 1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
• 10 thin slices cucumber
• handful cashews
• few slices red onion
• salt and pepper, to taste

Spread the cream cheese on your wraps, then spread the thai curry paste and chutney on top, mixing the three as you spread.

Top with veggies and cashews, season, wrap up, toast (optional) and enjoy! 

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Grapefruit Cake
We ate it all before I took a picture of it, but think loaf cake. It's ridiculously moist and delicious and I would highly suggest doubling the recipe as you will want more. I made one to bring over to a friend of mine who was under the weather, when I got home I promptly made another one for us! It's an easy recipe and perfect when Aldi are selling grapefruits for 39c! I got this recipe from a friend of mine Bryony and I am so glad I did, I've adjusted slightly after baking it a few times. I suspect any citrus fruit would work just as well, but the grapefruit is so unique, it really surprises people!

Ingredients:

For the cake-

• 1.5 cups plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup natural yoghurt*
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp grapefruit zest
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the syrup-

• 1/2 cup grapefruit juice
• 3 tbsp sugar

For the glaze-

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp grapefruit juice

Pre-heat oven to 180 and grease and flour a 2lb loaf tin.

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs together with yoghurt and zest and pour into dry ingredients to make a thick batter.  Stir in oil.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool in tin for ten minutes.  Make syrup by heating grapefruit juice and sugar until sugar dissolves.  Using a skewer make some small holes in the cake and pour syrup on top.  Allow to cool completely.

Whisk icing sugar and remaining juice for glaze until smooth and pour over cake.

Chicken and Black Bean Burritos

This is a delicious and super easy Tex Mex meal that can be whipped up in no time. Serve with salsa, sour cream and shredded lettuce for a delicious healthy meal!

Ingredients-
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2-3 tbsp salsa
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 large handful coriander (cilantro) chopped
- 2 cups shredded cheese
- 8 flour tortillas
- butter for frying

Melt a tablespoon if butter in a small skillet. Add onion and sauté until softened. Add in chicken and spiced and stir in garlic until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in salsa, beans and coriander. Season to taste. Depending on your taste you may want to add a teaspoon of sugar to counteract the salsa.

Split the mixture onto the 8 tortillas. Top with 1/8 of the cheese and fold into a little envelope.

Fry in butter until browned and pop in oven to keep warm while you do the rest.

Serve with salsa, guacamole, sour cream and some shredded lettuce. Enjoy!

Cheater's Pizza

Excuse my absence of late, we have moved to the fabulous County Tipperary and I haven't had much internet access!

So this week the kids were bugging me for pizza and it was 5pm and I knew I didn't have time to make dough properly and have it risen and rolled out etc in time to feed them. However, I had some no-knead wholewheat dough in the fridge and had a brain wave!

Normally to use the no-knead dough as pizza you have to roll it out, pre-heat your oven to the highest setting and somehow manage to get a topped pizza into the oven without the use of a pizza peel, which I cannot find anywhere in Ireland, so my pizzas generally turn into calzones on the way to the oven. But this time I tried something different.  I fired up my grill pan to a high heat and rolled out some dough very thin and threw it on the pan.  It grilled up quickly and then we let the kids top them (don't ask me about the corn, I know it's insanely wrong, corn on pizza, it's something they have picked up in Ireland!) and threw them under the grill/broiler in the oven to melt the cheese.  Ridiculously quick and easy and none of the usual pizza hassle.  So easy we did it again the following night!

Ingredients:

• 1 quantity of no-knead dough *
• Pizza Sauce **
• Mozzarella
• Toppings of your choice

Pre-heat grill pan until it is smoking. Pre-heat oven grill/broiler.

Sprinkle your dough with flour and coat your hands in flour. Tear off a fist size ball of dough and roll out as thin as possible on a floured surface.

Throw on grill pan and grill for 2-3 minutes until grill marks are prominent then flip and repeat. It should get quite crisp.

Top the pizza base with sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice. Pop under grill/broiler until the cheese is bubbling and browning.

Enjoy!

* If you have not heard me wax evangelical about no-knead dough, check out this post. If I had to give up all my cookery books save for one, this would be the one I would keep.  The bread takes next to no effort, is cheap and so delicious!  There is now a UK version of the book for those who prefer to work with weight measurements, but I prefer the book with the US cup measuring system, less thinking or time involved!  The dough I use on a daily basis and used for this recipe is their light wholewheat bread.

The recipe is as follows:

3 cups luke warm water
1.5 tbsp dry yeast
1.5 tbsp kosher/sea salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
5.5 cups white flour

Mix the water with the yeast and salt and gradually stir in the flours. Stir until all combined, don't knead or over mix.  Leave to rise, lightly covered for two hours or so until it flattens again.  At this point either use the dough or pop it in the fridge and pull off as needed.  One pound pieces make lovely boules and loaves.  I rip off small fistfuls and make the kids rolls for lunches. You can use it to make pizza, pitta, naan, cinnamon rolls... the list is endless. The book has so many different dough recipes from granary to rye to broiche. I cannot recommend it enough!

** I just mix some passata with garlic powder, a pinch of sugar and Italian seasoning when I'm in a hurry!

The Fast Diet: Bang Bang Prawns

I have been dieting my whole life. I was first brought to Weight Watchers when I was ten years old.  I have tried every diet under the sun multiple times. I've lost weight and gained it back plus more. None of them are long term for me. I can count calories and eat rabbit food for a few weeks but I inevitably give up or get frustrated and go back to page one.  Recently someone told me about the fast diet, a diet where you have a light fast twice a week and eat whatever you want on the other days.  I thought it sounded intriguing but left it at that knowing it was another diet and as such destined to fail.

Then I was placing an order on Amazon when it popped up with the book being on sale for three quid, so I thought why not and bought it.  I read it cover the cover and was waiting for the part that said, yes you fast those two days, but you have to only eat wholewheat and low fat the rest of the week, but it never did.  You really can eat anything on the other five days.  I figured it couldn't be that hard and gave it a try.  I am on week three and have lost ten pounds.  I cannot believe it.  It is the easiest thing in the world and so workable into your daily schedule.  You are allowed 500 calories on fasting days (600 for men) which is not a lot, but totally doable when you know you can eat a doughnut for breakfast the next day!  Being a good cook helps too as you can really make the most of those calories.  It's just gone twelve now and I've just had my first meal of a fasting day, I'll eat my second with the kids tonight.  I schedule my fast days on my busiest days, days when I have to run the kids places and barely think about eating, that way I won't get focused on any hunger I may feel.  I've found I tend to get hungry after they go to bed, but just sip herbal tea and do some crochet and it keeps my mind of it.  Going to bed early helps too!

The strange thing though is that you're not hungry the next morning and you are generally less interested in food as a whole.  Hubby brought me my favourite-sit-down-eat-an-entire-box-at-once chocolates on Valentine's day and they literally just sat there.  I had one or two, but had no interest in the rest. SO WEIRD!  I'm down ten pounds and really loving this plan, it's the type of thing I can do easily, without fretting and fit it into my life as it is now. No special shopping, expensive light foods, hell I haven't even done much exercise!  And did I mention how much more clear my mind is? It's insane, I'm on fire these days, the house has never been cleaner, I'm more cheerful, energetic, even the kids have noticed. I LOVE IT!

Anyways... enough proselytizing, fast diet or not, this particular recipe is bloody delicious for anyone!  It's 250 calories according to myfitnesspal which makes it a perfect fit for the fast diet fasting days.

Bang Bang Shrimp
(serves 1)
Adapted from: Skinny Taste

Ingredients:

• 120g peeled and de-veined raw prawns
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• Cooking spray
• 1.25 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 1/2 tsp sriracha sauce
• 1 cup shredded ice berg lettuce
• 1/4 cup shredded purple cabbage
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced

Coat raw prawns in cornstarch and fry over a high heat about 1.5 minutes each side until cooked through.

Meanwhile make sauce by mixing mayonnaise, sweet chilli and sriracha.

Toss prawns in sauce and serve over the cabbage and lettuce mix.  Sprinkle with scallions to serve. 

New Mama Fuel

Some of the members of the Irish Parenting Bloggers Group are throwing a virtual baby shower in the form of a Blog March for the group’s two leaders, Lisa & Áine (who is on a well-deserved blogging break). Áine had a baby girl in January and Lisa is due to have her baby girl in March.  We are taking turns to do a post a day. Yesterday's post came from Jane at That Curious Love of Green and tomorrow will be from Laura at My Internal World.  Today it’s my turn to lead the celebrations with a little help from the letter Y.

I spent some time reflecting on some of those early days with a new baby, hard to believe it's been almost a year since my wee man was born at home. My dear husband took two weeks off to help out afterwards and kept me well fed and the older two looked after as I tried to overcome my breastfeeding issues and make the most of what I was able to produce.  It was only when he went back to work that I realised how hectic things could be with two school age kids and all the extra-curricular goings on and trying to manage those while constantly hooked up to a baby or breast pump.  It felt like there wasn't enough time in the day and I found myself often neglecting to eat!  For those of you who know me, you'll know that's a huge deal, as I never forget to eat or even forget to think about eating, but alas I did.  A few weeks in I knew things had to change and I took advantage of hubby's home days by making some quick and healthy snacks that would be ready to just grab as needed.

These mini-quiche's were a god send.  I would make a few batches on the weekend and freeze them and when I got hungry I would just throw a couple in the microwave and voila, a healthy well-rounded lunch!  You can use any veg you have on hand or just broccoli and cheddar is delicious too. I used a combination of egg whites and whole eggs to keep fat and calories a bit lower, but you can certainly use a dozen eggs if you want that extra punch. They work out at about 100 calories each.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup egg whites (+/- 9 egg whites, I used the Two Chicks liquid ones)
• 1-2 cups steamed chopped vegetables (I used leeks, broccoli, peppers, onions, tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• herb and salt and pepper to season

Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F.

Beat the egg whites and eggs together with the parmesan, olive oil and any herbs you would like to use (a teaspoon of pesto is great too!)

Toss in the steamed veg and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray (or butter them if you're not concerned with fat) and pour the egg mixture into nine of the holes.  Bake for twenty minutes.

Pop out of muffin cups and either serve immediately or store in zip-loc bags in the freezer once cooled. 

Healthy Asian Veggie Soup

Well 2013 has been off to a good start. I’m down 5 pounds which makes me one happy mama!

I wouldn’t have been able to do that without this ridiculously delicious but very healthy soup. You can doctor it up with whatever vegetables you have on hand, but I definitely find the Chinese Cabbage gives it an almost noodle soup type feel.  There's no added fats so if you're on a WW or Unislim type program, it's more than likely free.  It's full of goodness and fibre and will fill you up for ages!

If you've got a few extra calories to spare, throw in a pack of those "straight to wok" noodles and cook through, spaghetti works too in a pinch!If you like it spicy go wild with the sriracha sauce, we've all been sick here lately and this has been a lifesaver cold remedy!


Healthy Asian Vegetable Soup

• 3-4 cups vegetable chicken stock
• 1 carrot, peeled and julienned
• 1 onion, thinly sliced vertically
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• handful mange tout, julienned
• 5-6 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
• pinch five spice powder
• pinch white pepper
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 large handful shredded Chinese cabbage
• small handful of beansprouts
• coriander, chopped
• pinch sweetener (optional)
• Sriracha or chilli sauce, to taste

Bring the stock to a simmer and add all the ingredients save the cabbage, beansprouts and coriander.  Simmer until vegetables are done to your desired level of crunch.  Stir in cabbage, add sriracha sauce to taste and garnish with beansprouts and coriander.

Easy as pie! <3

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers

The mere mention of turkey burgers just turns me off. It gives me flashbacks of horrible low fat diets and cardboard flavoured meals. Yet I saw ground turkey on offer at the butchers the other day and figured the price was worth me playing around with it.  I made these burgers for lunch and surprised everyone including myself with the wonderful flavours and texture. These are super healthy and incredibly delicious; moist, colourful and tender. We've been avoiding white flour and sugar of late so I used maple syrup in the teriyaki sauce and to be honest it was actually better than a sauce made with brown sugar, it was light and zingy and the perfect accompaniment to the burgers.  You could easily make these into meatballs as well.  The apple is the secret to keeping them moist.  All in all a big hit with young and old alike.

Ingredients:

For the patties:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 bunch scallions, trimmed and finely chopped (white and green parts)
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1" piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, finely diced
• 1 apple, peeled and grated
• 1 tsp sriracha sauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup oats*
• salt and pepper to taste
• coconut oil for grilling

For the sauce:

• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• clove of garlic, crushed
• A few thin slices of ginger

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and grease your hands with a little coconut oil. Form into patties and chill while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and cook until slightly syrupy. 

To grill the patties, brush a grill pan with a little coconut oil and grill over a medium heat for about ten minutes a side.  If you're grilling on a barbecue be sure to grease the grill well as there is very little fat in this recipe and it will stick otherwise.

Serve with wedges of pineapple and the teriyaki sauce. 

* Can use breadcrumbs here as well, but the oats are better for you and keep you fuller longer!

Linking up to: Recipe Sharing Monday,

Homemade Power Bars

Proud Daddy with his girl!

Apologies for being so MIA of late, it's been a busy few weeks. My eldest made her First Holy Communion last weekend and my baby was baptised the next day.  There was a big party on the Saturday followed by a smaller more intimate lunch after the Christening.

It was a wonderful weekend but very exhausting and I swear I'm still recovering.  Baby loved all the attention. I was worried as he was being passed around like snuff at a wake, but he soaked up every minute and was an absolute charmer!  I think he's getting used to just me again.  Ella had a wonderful day and cites the best part of the day being when she took her dress off.  That's my tomboy for you! ;)

Family Picture on Mark's Baptism Day

The week before that we had Ella's eighth birthday party.  That birthday also marked eight years since we became parents, scary to think, especially considering it seems like we've just started all over again.  Having a six year gap really makes you seem like brand new parents and I have to say it's a whole different ballgame in your early thirties than in your early twenties.  I'll actually have to write a post about that, because I find the differences fascinating.  But I digress...

Power bars...where to start.  Well, himself works crazy hours, sometimes 18 hour days with a good amount of physical work thrown in.  He's the most conscientious worker (he's worked for this company for 7 years and has yet to call in sick) and gets so involved that he often forgets to eat or if he does eat, it's a packet of biscuits or similar junk.  He cycles too and from work which helps to counteract his horrible eating habits, but I felt like he needed something to get him through the day so I started experimenting with recipes.  Below is a power-packed whole foods granola bar which really packs a healthy punch and keeps you full for quite some time.  The quinoa and oats form the basic recipe with the binding of honey and peanut butter, but everything else is easily adapted to your taste.  I would also recommend adding some dried fruit, the bars pictured are fruit-free for the kids as they can't stand dried fruit, bt adding some tart dried cherries or sweet apricots would add a lot.  These are also good for those of us who are breastfeeding, as both quinoa and oats are known lactogenic foods. Double win!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 cups oats
• 1 cup greek yoghurt
• 1 cup chopped/ground nuts*
• 1/2 cup dried fruit
• 2 tbsp linseed
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup seeds**
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt

Soak the quinoa in water with a dash of lemon juice overnight.  The next morning, drain and add to the milk. Slice the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds, add to the milk with the remaining pod.  Bring milk to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until all liquid is absorbed.

Soak oats in yoghurt overnight. Once quinoa is cooked, mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Line a 9x13" pan with parchment paper and spread the mixture inside.  Bake at 200C/400F for 30-45 minutes until browned around the edges and cooked through.  

Allow to cool and slice into bars.  Enjoy as a power snack, kids brain food, breakfast on the go or with a cup of coffee!

* I used almonds and hazelnuts. 

** I used a mix of sunflower and pumpkin

A sneak peek (and horrible photo) of my eight year old's birthday cake. Recipe to follow!

The Ultimate BLT

A BLT is the ultimate sandwich, but with a few flourishes and top quality ingredients it can really go from standard to gourmet.  Of most importance is of course, the bacon.  Standard Irish back rashers just do not cut it.  Streaky rashers, smoked and without rind are better, but if you can find it, buy the Spanish brand Campofrio Bacon. It's beautifully smoked, the perfect blend of meat and fat and fries up delightfully crispy.  My kids call it American bacon because it's very similar to what we got back in the US.  I've found it at Supervalu's and Centra's mainly and when I see it, I buy it all so that they keep ordering it!  I just fry the bacon up in a hot pan or grill pan until it is crispy but not burnt and drain it.  The rest is easy.  I used a rosemary and apricot jam for my relish here and also frequently use a roasted garlic and fig relish, you can use anything you like. My husband claims this is the reason he fell in love with me! :)

Ingredients:

• 2 slices good white bread, lightly toasted
• 1/4 pound bacon, fried to crispy
• 2 leaves Baby Gem / Cos Lettuce
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• Good Mayonnaise
• Relish
• German mustard
• Black pepper

Thinly spread mustard on one of the toast slices.  Cover with a thin spreading of your relish or jam.  

Lather the other piece of toast with a hearty helping of mayonnaise.

Layer the lettuce, tomato and red onion on top and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.  Top with bacon and remaining slice of toast. 

Serve with chips (crisps) and a pickle for posterity! ;)

Lettuce, Spring Onion and Cheese Tart

"Cooked lettuce?!?" he asks incredulously.

"No judging til you try it, I promise, you'll love it," I assure him and I was right. He did and so did everyone else who tried it.  This incredible tart is another recipe from The River Cottage Veg Cookbook.  I knew as soon as I looked at it that it would be a winner and it was.

Because I was lazy, I didn't make the pastry from scratch, but instead used the shortcrust pastry from Aldi, which was surprisingly delicious!  I followed the rest of the recipe to a T, adding just a pinch of grated nutmeg.  The result was sublime; a soft buttery velvet custard with caramelised spring onion and baby gem.  Perfect served warm or cold, alone or with a nice salad - this will be a staple for my weekday lunches!

Ingredients: 


For the Pastry-

• 250g plain flour
• pinch of sea salt
• 125g chilled unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 75ml cold milk

For the filling-

• 1 tbsp rapeseed/olive oil
• 4 little gem lettuce hearts, trimmed and quartered
• 15g butter
• 2 bunches spring onions, trimmed and cut into chunks
• 100g Lancashire, medium cheddar or hard goat's cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 200ml double cream
• 200ml whole milk
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the pastry, sift flour and salt together, or blitz in a food processor.  Add the butter and blitz or rub until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Mix in the milk little by little until the pastry comes together.  Turn out onto floured surface and knead briefly to bring into a ball. Wrap and chill for thirty minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.  Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and use it to line a 25cm tart tin.  Line with foil and rice or baking beans and bake blind for fifteen minutes.  After that time, remove foil and beans and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until starting to colour.  

To make the filling, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.  Add the quartered lettuce hearts, sprinkle with slat and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, turning once or twice until the cooked surface is golden brown.  Add the butter towards the end, letting it melt then spooning it over the lettuces. Arrange the lettuce in the pastry case.

Reduce heat in pan and add the spring onions.  Saute gently until just softened and scatter over lettuce in the tart case.  Crumble or grate the cheese on top.

Lightly beat eggs, egg yolks, milk and cream and season generously with salt and pepper.  Pour the mixture over the tart filling and bake for about 35 minutes until golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Roasted Pepper and Feta Frittata

This is a delicious and quick lunch or brunch recipe that is perfect for having the girls around or for a lazy Sunday morning after church.  It comes together quickly and tastes sublime.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large red onion, finely diced
• 1 cup roasted peppers* (I like a mix of colours)
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 12 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• salt and pepper

Preheat broiler.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over a medium heat.  Add onion and saute until translucent.  Add peppers and cook until heated through.  Mix Italian seasoning with eggs. 

Pour eggs into mixture.  Using a spatula, gently lift the sides of the omelet to let raw egg flow underneath.  Continue to do this and cook over a medium-low heat until egg has almost set.

To finish cooking the egg, place the skillet under the broiler until egg completely sets and puffs up a bit.  Sprinkle the feta on top of the frittata and pop back under the grill until cheese begins to melt.  Season wih salt and pepper and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil before serving.  

*You can use jarred roasted peppers or roast your own by putting peppers directly on  flame if you have gas or on a grill pan or under your broiler until they blacken on all sides.  Pop into a bowl and cover with cling film and let them sit for fifteen minutes, this makes the skin easy to remove.  Remove skin and deseed and you are ready to use them.

Parties: Full Plate Thursday, Recipe Swap Thursday

Sundried Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta Salad

This is a lovely pasta salad that would make a great packed lunch or good accompaniment to a picnic.  Make it the night ahead for maximum flavour.  You can use a fat free dressing of choice instead of the olive oil and vinegar and this will subtract 2 points from the recipe, however the serving points will remain the same.  By all means bulk this up with more free vegetables.  Roasted red peppers and or chopped cucumber would work very well.

Ingredients:

• 175g pasta, dried
• 4 sun dried tomatoes (not oil packed) reconstituted and chopped
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 60g low-fat mozarella (half a ball), diced
• 6-7 basil leaves, sliced
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 
• 2 tsp olive oil
• pinch of sugar
• salt and pepper to season

Cook pasta as directed on packet.  Rinse with cold water.

Whisk oil, vinegar and sugar together.  Pour over other ingredients in a large bowl.  Toss to cover everything. Season with salt and pepper.  

Serves 4, 5 pro points per serving.

Pro Points per recipe: 22, serves 4.  

Grilled Chicken Gyros

This is one of my regular family recipes that I have doctored to make lighter.  I make this at least once a month and it always goes down a treat with kids and husband alike.

The original recipe uses full-fat Greek yoghurt and more olive oil, but still is a fairly healthy recipe on it's own.  It also uses pita bread, but I liked the lower point alternative of a WW wrap.

This works well with thinly sliced lamb or beef too.  I slice the chicken with a super sharp (very sexy Global) knife while it's still frozen.  This ensures I get nice even thin pieces, which I find maximises flavour as more surface area is exposed to the marinade and it's also reminiscent of real pita houses in the Mediterranean.  Points listed below are for 1 wrap with 132g chicken (uncooked weight) and 3tbsp of tzatziki on a 1.5 point WW wrap.

For the meat:

• 600g chicken fillets, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp non-fat greek yoghurt
• salt and pepper

For the sauce:

• 1 cup (8 fl oz) Greek non-fat yoghurt
• 1/2 cucumber, de-seeded
• 1 large clove garlic, finely minced
• dash olive oil
• dash white wine vinegar
• squeeze of lemon
• LOTS of salt and pepper

To assemble:

• Wraps, lavash or pita bread
• Chopped vine tomatoes
• Thinly sliced red onion
• Cos/romaine lettuce, chopped (optional)

For the chicken, mix all marinade ingredients together and marinate for at least an hour, preferably overnight.  Alternatively, marinate and freeze in portions to thaw and use as needed.

For the tzatziki sauce, you can drain the cucumber if you're fussy, but I've never had a problem with excess liquid and there's never any sauce left to check later on.  Taste and add salt and pepper.  Cucumber and yoghurt both need quite a bit of salt and this will also season your finished wrap, so be liberal!

To assemble, place meat, veg and chicken on a wrap and roll up.  I was going to serve this with a baked sweet potato, but I learned the hard way that you can't cook them in the microwave! ;)

Quick and Delicious Asian Noodle Soup

This is a ridiculously easy yet extremely tasty lunchtime snack.  I went with a vegetarian option, but you could easily add some chicken or prawns or to keep veggie, some tofu.  The points come from the egg noodles, everything else is free, so by all means, add loads of your favourite veggies.  Mange tout, peppers, asparagus and carrots would all be excellent additions.  Below is how I made mine.

Quick and Easy Asian Noodle Soup

(serves 1)

1/2 pint chicken stock

50g dried Chinese egg noodles

1/2 red pepper, sliced

2 scallions, sliced

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

pinch sugar / sugar substitute (to taste)

Handful bean sprouts

2 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) chopped

Bring stock to a boil and add noodles.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until they begin to soften.  Add red pepper, cook for a further minute or two.  

Add ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar.  Cook until noodles are done.  Add scallions and bean sprouts, reserving some for garnish.

Ladle into a large bowl and garnish with remaining sprouts and scallions and top off with the coriander.  Serve immediately. 

WW Points: 2.5

Summer Chicken and Couscous Salad

This is a deliciously fresh and invigorating summer lunch.  Packed full of herbs and veggies, the couscous and chicken will tie you over until dinner time.  You could certainly substitute quinoa or bulghar wheat for the couscous if you prefer.

I had chilli and coriander marinated grilled chicken leftover and wanted something that would fill me enough so that I wouldn't have to think about food again until this evening.  Feel free to add additional veggies and herbs, as they won't add any points to the recipes.

Summery Couscous and Chcken Salad

(serves 1)

60 g (dry) couscous
Chicken stock
100g grilled chicken
1 heaped tbsp sultanas
1 small tomato, diced
1/8 cucumber, peeled and diced
3 scallions, diced
1 tbsp white wine or balsamic vinegar
pinch sugar substitute
grating of lemon zest
1 tbsp fresh green herbs, chopped  (I used coriander, parsley and chives)

Prepare your couscous according to the package directions only using stock instead of water.  Add the sultanas at this stage so they plump up with the couscous.

Chop your vegetables and toss them with the herbs, vinegar, lemon zest and sweetener.

Once couscous is ready, fluff it a bit and add to the vegetables.  Mix thoroughly and season to taste.

Top cous cous with chicken and dig in! :)

WW Points: 6 (leave out sultanas to subtract a point)

TIP: Buy large packages of chicken breasts from the butcher and when you get home marinade them right away and pop them in the freezer.  Garlic, herbs and olive oil work well as does lime juice, coriander and ginger.  Somehow the process of freezing seems to instill even more flavour of the marinade to the meat.