Beetroot, Butternut & Chicken Salad

May I just say I’m a butternut freak, you’ve probably noticed. I post butternut recipes regularly. I guess I love it, because it looks like sunshine on your plate. Part of enjoying food is how it looks, if it’s pretty I enjoy it a whole lot more.

   

Ingredients:

300g cooked beetroot (you could buy it cooked or steam it for 15 minutes)

250g Steamed Butternut

300g baby leaf Spinach

2 Chicken Breasts cut into strips

1 tablespoon Honey

1 teaspoon Chicken Spice

Method:

Firstly coat the chicken in chicken spice and seal it into a hot frying pan. No need for oil, the honey will help the chicken to get golden brown.

Seal the flesh of the chicken and add the honey.

Fry for about 5 minutes and take off the heat. It should be cooked without being dry, nothing like dry chicken.

Now you could be creative, compile the salad in layers.

First layer will be spinach, followed by butternut and beetroot. Lastly add the chicken.

Drizzle the left over honey juice from the pan over your salad and viola; you have a tasty summer dish.

You could add pumpkin seeds, even some parmesan. I added almonds to my dish. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Warm Lettuce Salad

I saw an idea for this dish on the television, and thought is this woman insane? How on earth does fried lettuce taste. The answer? Delicious!

It sounds weird, but try it. I am a firm believer in trying everything at least once. When you fry the lettuce it gets a sweet taste. The trick is not to cook it for too long, you want your lettuce to still be a bit crisp. This is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 medium onion chopped

½ Iceberg Lettuce chopped

½ cup Frozen Peas

5ml Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

First soften the onion in a bit of boiling water in a pan.

When the water is cooked away add the butter and lettuce, stir-fry the lettuce and onion, for about 2 minutes on high heat.

Add the peas, salt and pepper.

Stir for another 2 minutes.

Take of the heat and serve warm.

Let me know what you think.

Tuna Cakes

We all know we need to eat more fish, but it gets boring. The same old fish and chips every week. So I decided to try something new. I call it, Tuna Cakes. I decided to use tuna, because it is high in omega 3 fatty acids. 

Omega 3 is such a wonderful supplement with great health benefits. It could lower cholesterol, reduce high blood pressure, ease joint pains, fight wrinkles, improve memory and could even boost your mood.

Ingredients:

200g mashed potatoes

2 tins of Tuna

1 egg

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Pinch of Paprika (You could add more if you like hot food)

Salt to taste.

Method:

Add all the ingredients together, mix well.

Add about 5ml of olive oil in a very hot pan.

Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture into the pan and press down to flatten it slightly.

Leave it for about 3 minutes per side, or until it’s golden brown.

This mixture will make about 8 fish cakes.

I served these Tuna cakes with some sweet chilli sauce. You could serve this hot or cold, next time I might add a bit of spring onion to the mixture. Overall this is a healthy fun recipe, I hope you enjoy it!

My First Risotto

You have to try something new every now and then. You know, just to keep it interesting. I decided to make my first Risotto. This is a high in starch meal, so try not to overdo it :)

 

Mushroom Risotto

250g Mushrooms thinly sliced

1 large onion thinly sliced

1l of vegetable stock

1 Pack of mushroom soup powder

400ml Low fat Milk

250ml Pasta Rice

Firstly gently sweat the onion and mushroom until the onion is soft.

Add the rice and some of the stock; keep adding the stock little bit at a time waiting for the rice to absorb the liquid. Do this until all the stock is absorbed or the rice is nice and soft.

Lastly add the soup powder to the milk and add to the risotto, stir until it thickens.

Let it gently cook for about 10 minutes.

You could serve this with a bit of parmesan cheese if you like.

Honey Peach Chicken Skewers

It’s summer time again, well almost. This time of year South-African’s love to braai (barbeque). Sometimes I get tired of the same old thing over and over again. So we tried something new for the grill. It’s quick and easy to make, and tastes real good. Hope you enjoy it.

   

Honey Peach Chicken Skewers

Makes 4 skewers

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts cubed

250g Dried peaches

60ml Honey slightly warmed in the microwave to make it runny

Chicken spice

You will also need skewers.

Method:

Stack the chicken and peaches on the skewer.

Baste the chicken with Honey and lightly spice it with the chicken spice.

Braai until cooked, it will take about 10 – 15 minutes.

Enjoy with summer salads.

Lasagne

I love pasta, especially lasagne. The problem is it’s always fatty, and you end up having way to much starch. Of course it was challenge accepted! I set out to make a low fat guilt free lasagne. It’s high in protein, low in fat, and the starch is just enough to make it your favourite pasta dish.

   

All my recipes can be adapted, if you want to add more layers, feel free. :) This recipe makes about 6 servings.

Lasagne with salad = LOVE!

Lasagne

Ingredients:

400g of mince

½ cup of rinsed lentils

1 one big onion roughly chopped

1 small green pepper roughly chopped

150g mushrooms thinly sliced

500g can chopped tomatoes

100g tomato puree

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Chutney

Some lasagne sheets

Some Cheddar to top it off

Cheese sauce:

300ml milk

2 tablespoons corn-starch

40g Mozzarella grated

Method:

1. Start by frying your mince in a pan, add the onion, green pepper and mushroom.
2. Add the canned tomatoes and lentils, let it cook for 5 minutes.
3. Lastly add the tomato puree, sugar and chutney.
4. Cook it for another 10 minutes.
5. Next make your cheese sauce. Add the corn-starch to your milk whisk well and microwave on high for a few minutes. Take it out regularly to whisk. It will start to thicken. Now add the mozzarella and mix well.
6. You can now layer your lasagne, start with your mince. Add one layer of lasagne sheets. Add one layer of the cheese sauce and top it off with some grated cheddar. (If you would like to add more layers, you can add half the mince, then one layer of lasagne sheets, followed by the rest of the mince and then another layer of lasagne. Top off with the cheese sauce and grated cheddar.)
7. Bake your lasagne in a 180 degree Celsius oven for 25 minutes, or until the cheddar is golden brown.
8. Leave to cool slightly before serving.

Let me know what you think!

Pumpkin and Butternut Pie

These last few months has been hectic, and once again I am reminded how precious time really is. I think the greatest gift you could give someone you love is your time. I love to show I care by taking time to do things for people. One of the things I love to do is making their favourite dishes. The dish I’m about the share today, my dad absolutely loves.

I love pumpkin pie, but I always try and find a way to make a dish healthier yet keep it tasty. I think I got this one right.

Pumpkin and Butternut Pie - as you can see it was a hit!

Pumpkin and Butternut Pie

Ingredients:

250g Steamed Pumpkin

400g Steamed Butternut

1 teaspoon Butter/Margarine

2 teaspoons Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

200ml Milk

1 heaped tablespoon Custard Powder

Sugar and cinnamon mix to “dust” the pie with. (Mix it 3:1, for every 5ml of cinnamon use 15ml of sugar. This is good to use on pancakes as well.)

Method:

• First steam the Pumpkin and butternut and mash it together, I use my hand blender to get a smooth consistency.
• Next add the butter, sugar and cinnamon and mix well.
• Lastly dissolve the custard powder in the milk and add to the pumpkin mix.
• Pour it into a baking dish, and lightly dust with a sugar and cinnamon mix.
• Bake in a 180 degrees Celsius oven for 30 minutes.
• Take it out to cool slightly before serving.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, I know what I’m making for Christmas…

Peanut butter – guilt free cookies

I found this recipe in a magazine, and thought: “yeah right! This will never work.” I was very sceptical, but tried it.

It worked! I couldn’t believe it. It is hearty, filling and best of all guilt free! Well mostly guilt free… See one cookie, counts as 1 portion of fat. The best part is, it is so rich you can’t really manage to eat more than one cookie at a time.

Peanut butter is a good source of healthy fats and could lower your risk for diabetes type two. It is also a good source of protein. It will make you feel fuller for longer. As everything in life, enjoy in moderation. My gran used to say whenever there is a "too" in front of a a phrase it's not healthy (too much chocolate, too much running, too much make-up), keep it simple.

Peanut butter – guilt free cookies

1 cup of natural peanut butter

1 cup of Castor sugar or sugar replacement

1 egg

Mix it all together, it will form a dough. Roll little balls and press them flat on a prepared baking tray. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking tray before removing it.

You get about 20 – 30 regular sized cookies out of the mix. I made small cookies and served it as dessert with some nice filter coffee. YUM! 

(1 cookie = 1 fat serving)

Asparagus and Pan fried Salmon

Since I started my healthy eating journey I’ve lost a total of 9kg! I can’t believe it, as you can see from my blog posts I still have loads of tasty dishes and desserts!

Things that are helping me on this journey:

•  My husband and family is very supportive, without their support I wouldn’t be able to keep following a healthy lifestyle.
•  Planning, planning, planning! I know which days will be hectic so I plan quick and easy meals for those days.
• When I dine-out I always choose the healthiest option on the menu. This usually includes: salads without dressing (rather use balsamic vinegar), Steak and baked potato, fruit salad and ice-cream (or steal a bite from your hubby! Lol), Smoothies instead of milkshakes.
•  I bake my own wedges at home; it’s tastier and much healthier.
•   I’ve become a calorie snob, no more cheap sweets or chocolates to curve a craving. If I want something I make sure I bake it, or that it is quality chocolate like 70% cocoa.
•  I don’t award myself with food anymore; I rather go for mani’s, pedi’s, etc.
•  I’ve relaxed about food, every day is a new day.
•  Most importantly, I’ve chosen life. Before I used to think: “oh I’m depriving myself of all the good stuff!”. Now I know food can still be just as tasty and healthy. Now I know that if I do not eat healthy and do not look after myself I deprive myself of my health. What is more important to you? A crappy chocolate bar or being able to live life with no restraints?

This weekend was hectic and not full of the best choices either, so instead of sulking about everything I did wrong I made a change with a healthy lunch. Asparagus and pan fried Salmon.

Asparagus and Pan fried Salmon

125g of Asparagus

1 piece of Salmon

First off lightly steam the asparagus for about 5 minutes. Now throw it in a pan with 5ml of butter, a squirt of lemon juice and salt and pepper. Just fry it on high heat for 2 minutes. Set it aside.

Next salt and pepper the Salmon, fry it flesh down in the left over juices of the asparagus. Make sure the Salmon is sealed, this will only take a view moments. Now turn the Salmon on its skin side and cover the pan with a lid. Turn down the heat; it will steam/fry until it is cooked. I like my salmon to be a bit pink in the centre, just keep your eye on it.

Lastly, enjoy!