Recipes

Chickpea Chili

Another bowl of warming goodness! This one combines the veggie mince with chickpeas for an added boost. This is a great one to batch cook and then it’s ready for lunches or dinners all week.

chickpea-chilli

You will need:

250g Veggie Mince (Quorn/soya etc)

2 cans of Chickpeas (or equivalent amount of dry chickpeas cooked in vegetable stock)

2 Leeks, sliced

2 Red Chilli’s, finely chopped

4 cloves Garlic

1 tsp ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Garam masala

1 tsp Celery salt

400 g chopped Tomatoes

1 small can Sweet Corn

4 tbsp Tomato Puree

Salt and pepper to taste

Warm some oil in a pan, add sliced leeks and a pinch of salt, allow to brown gently. Add chilli, garlic and spices. Simmer for a couple of minutes then add the veggie mince, mix well and allow to cook until the mixture starts to brown,  3-5 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato puree. Add sweet corn and chickpeas, gently simmer for about 15 minutes, adding more vegetable stock if required. Make sure the mixture doesn’t stick to the pot. Cook until the chickpeas are cooked through.

Serve with fresh rocket and a dollop of 0% greek yoghurt or hummus.

Enjoy! 🙂

xx

Recipes

Spiced Lentils

This is another perfect comforting meal. It’s filling and spicy and the combination of sweet, aromatic spices with the hot spices really gives this a wonderful richness. I used the spices I had in the cupboard, and yes, there are a lot, but you could use whatever you want so don’t stress if you don’t have them all.

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1 cup Brown Lentils
1 Onion
1 Red Chilli
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Carrot, 1 Courgette, 1 Stick of Celery (whatever veg you have can be used!)
½ Red Pepper
2 tbsp Fresh Ginger, grated
10 Plum Tomatoes
1/2 cup Tomato Puree/Passata
1 cup Vegetable Stock
2 tsp Ground Cumin
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Mustard Seed (fenugreek seed is better but I didn’t have that!)
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
1/4 tsp Ground Cardamom
1/4 tsp Ground Coriander
1/4 tsp Coriander Seeds
1/8 tsp Ground Allspice
1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/4 tsp Turmeric
¼ tsp Chilli Powder
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Saute the onion, red pepper, garlic and chilli in a pan with a little oil. Add the ginger and spices and sauté for another 5 mins. Add in the carrots, celery and courgette and sauté for another 5 mins, then add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, stock and lentils. Simmer until the lentils are tender. Serve with baby spinach leaves and a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Enjoy 🙂

xx

Recipes

Quorn mince (or any veggie mince) and sweet potato shepherd’s pie

This recipe should serve 3 – 4 people. You may find you have slightly too much veggie mince if so then simply add some more spices and chili to the left over mince for an easy lunch time chili 🙂

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140g Veggie mince (Soya, Quorn, etc)

450 ml Vegetable stock

1 Onion

1 clove Garlic

1/2 Red pepper

800 g chopped Tomatoes

1 tbsp Tomato puree

Seasoning (I used salt, pepper, celery salt, oregano, mustard seeds and paprika)

A dash of Balsamic vinegar

A dash of Worcestershire sauce

650 g Sweet potato (peeled)

A dash of milk

Dice the onion and pepper and crush the garlic. Place them all in a large saucepan and soften. Add the veggie mince. Add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar (only a dash!), Worcestershire sauce and all the seasoning. Leave it to simmer for as long as possible – the longer the better.

Meanwhile chop the sweet potato and place in a pan of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until soft. Drain well and then mash – adding seasoning and a dash of soya milk to give a smooth mash.

Place the cooked mince in a large dish, fork the sweet potato mash over the top. Place in the oven (approx 180 C) before serving to brown the top slightly and heat through. Serve with veg of your choice!

Enjoy 🙂

xx

Recipes

Hearty Squash, pepper and lentil soup

It may be officially spring but it’s pretty cold out there still! When I first made this soup I made it using a glut of squashes from the garden. but today I’ve made it with butternut squash I had in the freezer! You can use any type of squash or sweet potato for this (or a mixture!).

This is a calorie bargain at only 150 – 175 cals per portion, and super filling. It’s perfect for batch cooking if you’re stuck inside at the moment too.

 

As I said, you can use squash, pumpkin or sweet potato (or a mix) and you can also be a bit free and loose with the quantities to be honest – as long as you keep an eye on the amount of liquid and add a bit more stock if needed.

I made a massive batch so I could have it for a few days and also freeze some, but you could easily halve this. This recipe serves around 12-14.

You will need:

Approx 1,200g – 1,500g squash

3 medium red peppers (or 2 large)

2 onions

500g red lentils

4 cloves garlic

600g chopped tomatoes (passata also works fine or use fresh tomatoes)

1 litre vegetable stock (but you may need to add a little more as it cooks)

2 tbsp tomato purée

4 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp Chilli powder (or to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

To serve – fresh spinach and a dollop of greek yoghurt

Peel and de-seed the squash and then chop into small pieces (or use pre-chopped fresh or frozen squash).

Chop the onion and peppers and crush the garlic. Heat up a little oil in a pan and add the onions and crushed garlic, and allow to lightly brown. Then add the pepper.

Add the squash, stir well and cook for 5 mins with the lid on (stirring occasionally). The squash will start to release some water and begin to soften a little.

Add the chopped tomatoes and stir well. Then add the lentils, vegetable stock, spices and tomato purée and stir.

Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for a few minutes with the lid off. Then reduce the heat further and put the lid on and allow to cook for at least 20 mins making sure you stir regularly so the lentils don’t stick. If it looks like it needs it then add a little more stock.

Season to taste and cook until the squash is tender and the lentils are cooked through. Remove from heat and at this point. If you like your soup chunky you can serve it now.

Alternatively you can blend it to a smooth consistency.

To serve stir through some fresh spinach and add a dollop of greek yoghurt!

Enjoy! 🙂

Xx

Recipes

Courgette, leek and spinach soup

The clocks have gone back and it’s chilly out there today, so it’s definitely soup season!

This is a quick, easy, light soup for these cooler days. It is ridiculously low calorie – at around 100 cals a bowl (less if you leave the goats cheese out)! I made a massive batch as we had an over-grown courgette (basically a marrow) that I wanted to use up so it made over ten servings but the amounts below will make at least 5-6 portions.

You will need:

500g Courgettes

250g Leeks

400g Spinach

75g Soft Goat’s cheese (optional)

500ml strong vegetable stock

Mixed herbs, salt and pepper to taste

Slice the leeks thinly and pop in a large pan over a low heat and allow to soften.

Chop the courgettes thinly too and then add them to the pan and allow to cook through for around 5 mins with the lid on.

Add the stock and herbs and cook for a further 5-10 mins. If your vegetable stock isn’t very strong it’s worth adding an extra stock cube too.

Add the spinach and stir thoroughly, and then cook through for 3-5 mins.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 mins and then blend thoroughly.

Add salt and pepper to taste and then, if you’re using it, add the goat’s cheese and blend again to combine.

Serve immediately or you can keep it in the fridge or freezer for handy lunches or dinners in the week!

Enjoy 🙂

Xx