Winter Wellness Bowl

Excuse me if this post is a little jumbled, but I have been up since 3am and am starting to feel a little weary. Yes, 3am sounds crazy to me too, but for the next year of my life this will be my regular for a Monday. As part of my graduate programme, I spend one day a week out in the field. This involves being in a supermarket at 4am making sure all of our shelves are well stocked and tidy and that our displays are all set up.... Hence the 3am wake up.

With my Monday's spent in a state of sleep deprivation and spending quite a lot of it driving in a car, I need to figure out some great nutritious meals and snacks that are easy to eat in my breaks between stores. Today I did ok, eating a bit of fruit and some sugar-free oat mufifn things, but I definitely think that I could do better.

This winter wellness bowl that I made the other week would actually be a great choice.  This bowl is packed full of nutrition and uses some great seasonal vegetables. In this I included brussel sprouts and kumara, but it would also be great with pumpkin or butternut squash. The same goes for the chickpeas that I used. I love chickpeas as they really help to fill me up and are a great source of protein, but you could use lentils, kidney beans or some leftover chicken.

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 medium kumara      

1 cup finely sliced brussel sprouts

1/2 tsp vegetable stock powder

1/2 cup water

1 cup cooked quinoa/amaranth/rice or other grain

1 cup chickpeas

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin seeds

Squeeze lime juice

If you have time, wash the kumara and roast in the oven until soft. If you are short on time, prick the kumara all over with a fork and cook in the microwave for around 6 minutes, turning half way through. 

Heat a fry pan over a medium heat, add a little coconut oil and then add the brussel sprouts. Stirfry for 3-4 minutes, then add the water and stock. Simmer for a few minutes until the water has evaportaed and the sprouts are soft.

In the same pan, heat a little more coconut oil. Add the cumin seeds and paprika and fry over a medium-high heat until the cumin seeds start to 'pop'. Add the chickpeas and saute until they are well coated in the spices. Squeeze over a little lime juice

Chop the cooked kumara, then assemble all of the ingredients together as nicely or as un-nicely as you like.

Lentil Bolognaise with Zuchinni Noodles

So much has happened in the last few days!! All of our stuff got picked up today and in one week's time we will be beginning on our journey to live up in Auckland. Eek!

I also managed to get food poisoning or some kind of tummy bug, so have been feeling absolutely awful the last couple of days. Five days on and I still have almost zero interest in food. I am still really looking forward to Christmas and preparing to do all of my christmas baking this weekend. I found the best recipe for caramello biscuit fudge that will definitely get made, but I'm still yet to decide what else I will make. I do have a truffle recipe in mind that if it works out I will try and post before christmas.

Today's recipe I made a few weeks back, but thought that it would make a great, lighter meal during this hectic christmas period that often involves waaaaaaaay too much food. I made the zuchinni noodles using my spiralizer which is great! I just bought a cheap, plastic one that you twist by hand, but it works really well. If you don't want to go out and buy yet another gadget for your kitchen, you can still make zuchinni noodles using a wide-blade potato peeler and run it down the length of the zuchinni.

Ingredients
1 onion
1 tin brown lentils, drained and rinsed
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
3 large zuchinni

Peel the onion, then cut in half and slice thinly. In a large frypan, over a medium heat, sauté the onions until soft and clear. Add the lentils, tomatoes, tomato paste and oregano and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let simmer for around 15 minutes or until the sauce is to your desired consistency.

Using a spiralizer or vegetable peeler make noodles out of the zuchinni. Add to the tomato mix and let cook for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Great served with parmesan

Black Rice and Chickpea Salad

I'm heading up to Auckland to try to find somewhere for me and the boyfriend to live next year so this will just be a short post today.

I popped into an Asian food store the other week as I wanted to grab some sushi rice and seasoning. As I was wandering round (which I love doing in foreign food stores) I spied some black rice. I remembered reading somewhere that black rice has a great nutrition profile, so I thought that I would grab some to make myself some lunches for the week. This salad was my first go using black rice and I absolutely loved it. It has a lovely nutty flavour, with a slightly chewier texture than white rice. Black rice is also full of amino acids and antioxidants from the black colour.

When it cooks up it turns more of a purplish colour, and as you can see in the photo, it does turn other things a bit purple too. This salad is bulked out with chickpeas, avocado, red capsicum, celery and baby spinach, making for a perfect take-to-work lunch.

Ingredients
1 cup black rice (sometimes also called forbidden rice)
2 cups water
1 red capsicum
1 avocado
2 stalks celery
2-3 spring onions
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or you can use any dressing that you like)
Few large handfuls of baby spinach to serve

In a pot place the rice and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the rice for around 20 minutes or until almost all of the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

In the mean time dice the red capsicum and avocado. Slice the celery and spring onions thinly.

Once rice is ready add the apple cider vinegar or dressing, vegetables and chickpeas and mix well.

Serve on top of baby spinach.

Lunchbox Solution- Leek and Blue Cheese (or feta) Mini Quiches

After a few painful weeks of waiting, I have finally gotten back the results for my honours dissertation and also my overall results. I am so happy to tell you that I will be graduating with first-class honours! It feels so amazing that all of the hard work, long hours and occasional melt-down has really paid off for me. So now I suppose I really need to get focused on my move away from my hometown to the big smoke of Auckland to start my marketing career. Apart from the excitement of starting this next stage of my life, I am also very excited to have a huge, huge range of places to eat my way around..... taste buds and camera, get ready!

Continuing on this exciting note, I also seem to be getting my food inspiration back! For quite a few weeks after finishing, I would look into the pantry and instead of my brain kicking into overdrive about all the potential things that I could make, all it saw was a bunch of random ingredients that just seemed like a hassle to put together. Anyway, I have been putting this creative streak to good use, so in the next few weeks you can expect to see recipes for Homemade Japanese Rice Bowls, Walnut and Almond Butter, Lentil Bolognaise with Zoodles, along with a post on budget-friendly $2 lunches and a spotlight on strawberries, since they are available in abundance at the moment in New Zealand (sorry Northern Hemisphere, but you can just dream of warmer times).

Onto these quiches! I had something similar at a cafe the other week and really enjoyed the flavour combination. I also thought that it would make a really fantastic portable lunch meal. You could prep some of these for the week and just grab and go in the morning.

I understand that blue cheese is one of those polarising foods. I used quite a mild, creamy blue cheese in this recipe and I really liked the flavour, but if you are really hating on blue cheese, some feta would also work really well in this recipe.

Ingredients
1 leek
1 tsp butter or olive oil
4 eggs
100g mild blue cheese or feta
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup baby spinach (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease around 10 muffin holes, or line with baking paper.

Cut the leafy end off the leek, cut in half lengthwise, and then give it a really good run under the tap to get rid of any remaining dirt. Slice leek into thin half rounds.

Heat butter or oil in a medium frypan and add the leek. Over a low heat, gently sauté until beginning to soften. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, self raising flour and milk until well mixed. Crumble in the blue cheese and feta and give another good whisk. Add the leek and baby spinach if using and give one final mix to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans and then place in the oven for around 20-25 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through (they should spring back when you press the top).

Serve warm or cold with salad.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Hi everyone, hope that your week so far is going well. After having a few quieter weeks to try and decompress after a crazy semester, I actually need to start getting some dissertation work properly underway before the next crazy semester begins! This means that I have been neurotically timetabling my days, but hey, it seems to work for me and I had such a productive day yesterday!!

This weekend I am heading to Queenstown to catch some of the Winterfest events. I think some of the planned action will be going to watch some ice hockey, ice skating, going to a concert and maybe heading up the mountain to watch the slope style competition. Should be heaps of fun and the place we are staying in is quite flash with our own spa!! I cannot wait! Since the weekend is likely to be not quite as healthy as usual, I am trying to balance out with lots of nutrient-dense foods during the week. I will also try to pack lots of healthy snacks so that I'm not eating junk all day long. Where we are staying also has a kitchen which makes it easier to have healthy lunches etc. I will document some of what I am eating via my instagram (@libbysfood) so check it out!

This smoothie recipe is a fantastic way to increase your veggie intake for the day. I will warn you that if you don't like pumpkin pie, do not go near this smoothie, but if you love it like me, this is a fantastic way to get all of the flavours without all of the sugar. Unfortunately in New Zealand, or at least Dunedin, we don't get tinned pumpkin that is already nice an pureed, so I just used some steamed pumpkin that we had from dinner the night before. You can easily play around with quantities to adjust it to your taste.

NB. Medjool dates are fantastic in smoothies, but if you don't have any you can sub in dried dates that you soak in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients
1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
2 Tbsp rolled oats
2-3 medjool dates
1 tsp maca powder (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup milk of choice (almond would be nice)

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until really nice and smooth. Took me about 40 seconds all up.

Pear, walnut and blue cheese salad

We are getting chilly here in Dunedin!! I suppose that it is now June and we are nearing the shortest day of the year but I think I forget just how bitter Southern winter days can be. It also doesn't help that my best friend is currently sunbathing in the Greek Islands, so I keep seeing pictures of clear blue skies and picturesque white-washed walls. Oh that and my grandparents have just jetted off to Rarotonga. I suppose all a girl can do in these sorts of situations is dream of beautiful warm weather and eat some delicious warming food.

Oh and keep warm by going shopping. I do love winter fashions.

I am still on a bit of a break from uni at the moment working on my dissertation so it is easy to snuggle up on the sofa with a cup of tea and do some research. Today Mum had the day off work so we went out for lunch up to Coffee Culture in Roslyn. For anyone who lives in Dunedin or is visiting you should definitely check it out! They have converted an old fire station which has some amazing views out over the city, the food was tasty and importantly the coffee was excellent.

Speaking of warming foods, winter isn't exactly what I would consider salad time of year, but in my opinion it just means that you need to change up the type of salads you have. Pear, walnut and blue cheese isn't exactly a ground breaking combination, but they go so well together that I thought I would share my version of this winter favourite. The delicious pan-fried pears help to warm it up a little, while the raspberry vinaigrette adds a lovely tang.

I'll add a wee note that I used Raspberry Vinegar in my dressing. This is a little bit of an investment type vinegar as it is more difficult to find and a little more expensive, but I absolutely love it!! It really does make a great alternative to apple cider vinegar. I haven't tried it, but if you don't want to go out and find raspberry vinegar, apple cider vinegar should work in the dressing.

Ingredients
2 pears, cored and slice thinly
Approx. 1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup shelled walnuts, roughly chopped (or put in a snaplock bag and give them a bash with a rolling pin Jamie Oliver style)
Approx. 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (just use however much you like really)
Couple big handfuls mixed salad greens

3 Tbsp raspberry vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
Grinding of salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan and lay the pear slices flat. Pan fry for around 4-5 minutes or until golden and then flip over. Fry the other side for a following 3-4 minutes adding a little more butter if needed. You may need to do this in 2 batches.

In a jar, shake together the dressing ingredients (vinegar, honey, oil and salt and pepper) until well combined.

On a large serving plate (or bowl if you prefer), spread out the salad greens. Drizzle with some of the dressing and toss a little to coat. Sprinkle over the blue cheese, add the cooked pear and then sprinkle over the walnuts.

Voila!

Store the remaining dressing to enjoy over the rest of the week. Just give it a bit of a shake up before you use it.

Banoffee Porridge

I hope everyone in New Zealand had a great Queen's Birthday weekend and a nice 4-day working week. I am currently sick! Not an annoying wee snuffle kind of sick, but a keep-me-up-till-2am-sneezing kinda sick! Yea not so fun. So basically I plan on spending my day on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket in my pyjamas, blogging, chick-flicking and maybe working on my dissertation.

One of the great aspects of being on dissertation leave is that with my stress levels being waaaaay down I am actually feeling incredibly inspired food-wise. This means that you can expect some fantastic recipes coming your way on the blog over the next couple of weeks.

Today's recipe was something I came up with for the holiday Monday. Porridge is a fantastic winter breakfast, but I always like to jazz it up a little for a weekend breakfast. While it is tempting to throw in a bunch of sugar to make it a sweet treat, this porridge is completely decadent without any refined sugars. Think caramel porridge, topped with banana and whipped coconut cream. I know that there is a lot of controversy over the fat in coconut cream, but hey, a little bit isn't going to hurt. I also find that a little bit of extra fat makes me feel a lot more satisfied and helps stop me reaching for extra sweet treats.

I hope that you enjoy this porridge as much as I did!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups water
Pinch salt
1/4 cup dates
2 bananas, sliced
1 tin coconut cream (must be full fat- in New Zealand I find that Pams works fantastically)
1 Tbsp rice malt syrup (could also use honey or agave)
1 tsp vanilla extract

The night before you make the porridge, open the tin of coconut cream. Leave uncovered in the fridge overnight. (This separates the cream from the water and makes it reeeeeeeeally thick).

Place the rolled oats, milk, water, salt and dates in a pot over a medium heat. Bring the boil, stirring regularly and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to stir until porridge is thick.

Either place the porridge in a blender or food processor and give it a little whiz or use a stick blender to do the same.

Scoop the thick coconut cream out of the top of the can (make sure that you leave the water behind). In a bowl, whip the thick coconut cream with the rice malt syrup and vanilla.

Place the porridge in bowls, top with the sliced bananas and then the coconut cream. If you want an extra touch, grate a little dark chocolate over the top.

Vegetable Stack

Oh my goodness, I am sorry it has been so long! I did intend on posting this in the weekend, but unfortunately study got in the way as it does too often now. I am currently sitting in my room at Sky City Hotel writing this on an iPad so I will keep it quite short and sweet.

This recipe was inspired by my post the other week about trying to eat around 10 fruits and vegetables a day. Having this for lunch certainly helped as it is packed full of delicious, nutritious vegetables. The nature of vegetable stacks is that you just use whatever you have readily available, so please don't take my ingredients as gospel and feel free to experiment.

Ingredients

5-6 cups leftover roast vegetables, sliced into 1 cm slices (I used potato, parsnip and carrot)

2 medium zuchinni, sliced into long thin strips

1 medium eggplant sliced into 5 mm thick rounds

500g cottage cheese

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Sea salt

Lay the eggplant and zuchinni strips out flat and sprinkle with some sea salt. Leave to sit for at least half an hour to draw the moisture out.

Layer half of the vegetables in a casserole dish, I used a lasagne one. Spread over half of the tomatoes and half the cottage cheese. Continue with the rest of the vegetables, tomatoes and cottage cheese. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top.

Bake at 180 degrees C. For 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly. Leave to cool slightly before slicing, or if having for lunch, leave to cool completely.

Watermelon Feta and Avocado Salad

It's one week today until my sister's wedding!! I have had another dress fitting for my bridesmaid's dress and am getting pretty excited now. Unfortunately over night I seem to have come down with a bit of a cold, although better now than next week. So right now I am nursing my cold while watching Pride and Prejudice. I also made myself some homemade electrolyte drink that is all natural and full of Vitamin C. Once I have perfected the mix I might post a recipe up later in the week.

It is also just over a week until uni starts and I get properly stuck into my honours year. I am predicting that I am going to be pretty busy this year, so proper nutrition, exercise and sleep is going to be more important than ever. My goals are lots of water, lots and lots of greens, not too much sugar and in bed by 10.30pm at the latest (but we will see how this goes). The gym at uni is also free for students so I may as well start making the most of it for stress relief.

On to this week's recipe. This was one of those shot in the dark type concotions. I pulled a whole heap of stuff out of the vegetable drawer in the hope of getting some inspiration for a salad and this recipe came to mind. It makes a really refreshing summer salad, with saltiness from the feta and a little sweetness from the dressing. I will definitely be making this again.

Ingredients
3-4 large handfuls mixed salad leaves
1 cup watermelon, chopped
50g feta cheese, roughly chopped or crumbled
1/2 avocado, cubed

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey
Pinch sea salt

In a small bowl of jug whisk the dressing ingredients: Balsamic, olive oil, honey and salt.

On a platter or in a salad bowl, layer half of the salad leaves, watermelon, feta and avocado and pour over half of the dressing. Continue to layer the rest of the salad ingredients and pour over the rest of the dressing.

Serve immediately

Veggie-rific margherita pizza

January is flying by!! I have just over one week left on my research report and this weekend I am flying up to Wellington for my sister's hens night. I can't wait! At the risk of revealing important secret details I won't write about what is happening just yet but I will update you to the goings on next week.

In other news, I had the most amazing donut. So amazing that it is actually news worthy. Last week I went to this really cool interactive exhibition at Dunedin Public Art Gallery with a friend (giant room sized beanbag anyone? ) Here is a photo of me getting stuck in said beanbag.

Anyway, before we went to the exhibition we stopped off at Nova Cafe next door. I ordered what I thought was a normal salted caramel donut. I mean, a salted caramel donut alone sounded amazing to me. When it arrived however, I was more than ecstatic. I got to syringe the filling myself!! It was so much fun and tasted amazing.

I suppose that I should get on to this pizza. I made this last week when I was home all by myself and therefore got to make anything that I wanted for dinner. One of my choices was pizza, but since I was on a bit of a greens fix last week I thought that I would veg it up. Glad I did as it tasted good and I knew that I was nourishing myself well.

Ingredients

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbsp honey

2 tsp active yeast

approx 1 cup lukewarm water

2 medium zuchinni, grated

1 red capsicum, finely diced

2-3 large tomatoes diced

1 cup basil leaves, shredded

1 cup water

Pinch sugar

1.5 cups grated cheese

In a large bowl mix the flours and create a well in the centre. Add the honey, yeast and a little of the warm water. Leave to sit for 5 minutes to let the yeast bubble up. Gradually stir in enough water to form a ball that isn't too sticky. Either using a stand mixer or by hand, knead for 6-8 minutes or until the dough stretches without breaking. Add extra flour as needed.

Flour a large chopping board or a bench and roll out the dough until it is about 1cm thick. Prick all over with a fork and transfer to a baking tray.

In the meantime, place the tomato, capsicum, zuchinni, basil and water in a saucepan. Let simmer for around 20 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce is thick. Turn heat up a little if this isn't happening.

Spread the sauce over the base and top with the cheese. Place in a 180 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden and the base is cooked.

Serve with a salad and wedges.

Pumpkin and Red Lentil Soup with Gingered Leeks

1 exam down, 2 to go! Although my next exam is only 1 1/2 days away, at least I can just focus on one exam at a time now instead of having to do two at once. Since my exam was on a Saturday morning I decided that I would treat myself to breakfast at the local Otago farmers market. I had a delicious Blackcurrant and Apple porridge topped with some reeeeeealy good muesli. This was delicious and perfect to keep me going through my exam. I also had a coffee to give me a caffeine boost.

Anyway, I have been living off this soup for lunches the past week as it was a perfect, easy lunch to just heat up and since the weather has been a little chilly, it was what I was feeling like. The past couple of times that I have made pumpkin soup, they have been a little bland. This time around, I wanted to make sure that this soup had lots of flavour, so I decided to amp it up with some ginger. I also used some of my homemade chicken stock which tastes delicious!

Perfect on a chilli night, with some nice crusty bread!

Ingredients
1/2 a large leek, sliced thinly
1-2 Tbsp butter
Thumb-nail size piece of ginger grated
1 kg pumpkin, peeled and diced into 2cm pieces
1/2 cup red lentils
2 cups chicken stock (or more vegetable stock)
2 cups vegetable stock
(any leftover vegetables. I threw in some cauliflower)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over a medium heat melt the butter. Add the leeks and gently cook for around 10 minutes or until they are soft.

Add the ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes longer, or until fragrant.

Add the pumpkin and red lentils and stir to mix well with the leeks. Add the stocks and turn the heat up. Throw in any other vegetables that you want to use. If the stock does not cover the vegetables, add more water until it does.

Turn up the heat to bring to the boil and then turn it back down to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until the pumpkin is very soft.

Using a blender, stick blender of food processor, puree the soup. Add more water to reach a consistency that you like (we like it really thick). Return to the pot to reheat.

Serve with sour cream or parmesan.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Serves 2 as a meal or 4 as a small meal/side

I promised you this recipe a while ago, so here it is. I have tried a couple of gnocchi recipes before, but they have always been quite difficult, messy and sticky. Because I like gnocchi, I decided to give making it one more go. Sam Stern is one of the recipe writers whose recipes I always trust so I decided to give his Sweet Potato Gnocchi a go from his book "Get Cooking".

I'm so glad that I gave gnocchi a last chance as this was actually pretty easy and really yummy! I think I preferred it to normal potato gnocchi as it had a bit more flavour, however I want to keep experimenting with some ways to give it a bit more something.

Ingredients
 350g sweet potato/kumara in skin
Small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated (Ginger haters do not exclude this!!!)
Salt and Pepper
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp finely grated parmesan
150g white flour
Olive oil
Favourite pasta sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Wash the sweet potatoes. prick all over with a fork and then bake them in the oven for 40-60 minutes until tender.
3. Remove, slice in half and cool for 2 minutes.
4. Scoop out the flesh and put into a bowl.
5. Add the ginger, seasoning, egg yolk and parmesan.
6. Sift in the flour.
7. Mix together with a fork and fingers to make a soft, warm dough, but handle lightly!
8. On a lightly floured board, cut the dough into 4 pieces, cover 3 with a cloth.
9. Roll the first piece into a long, thin sausage. Cut into 10 pieces.
10. Cover and repeat.
11. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.
12. Once boiling, carefully slip the gnocchi in with a spoon.
13. Boil until the gnocchi rise to the surface and then remove with a slotted spoon.
14. Tip into a bowl with a little olive oil and keep warm.
15. Serve with your favourite pasta sauce and some cheese

Quinoa Salad with Super Green Dressing

We are just coming into Autumn here in New Zealand and the weather seems to really be reflecting that! One day it will be a beautiful day full of sunshine and the next it is hailing.


My university studies are also getting into full swing. By full swing I mean I seem to have been given a lot of work straight away. With a combination of a very busy timetable and extremely changeable weather, I decided that it was time to clean up my eating a little bit to avoid getting sick and tired. I came up with 5 eating goals.


1. Up my vegetable intake- My fruit intake is already really good so I decided to focus on including lots of vegetables into my meals. My aim is for my dinner to have half a plate of vegetables.
2. Green tea or lemon water first thing every morning- Both green tea and hot water with lemon are supposed to have really good detoxifying effects on your liver. Very important to keep a clean liver in order to stay healthy.
3. Ground flax seed or chia seed every day- I don't eat a whole heap of fish so both ground flax seed and chia seeds are a really good way to include some more omega 3 into my diet (and cheaper than fresh fish). I have a coffee grinder dedicated to flax seeds but I seem to have gotten very slack at putting it on/in my meals.
4. 1 serving fish every week- Fish is really great for protein and nutrients. This will probably be in the form of tinned tuna or salmon as it is what I can afford. I may even become brave enough to give sardines a go... Anyone have any great recipes?
5. At least 2 bottles of water a day- I am aiming to drink 1.5 litres of water per day on top of other fluids i.e. green tea, juice. 


My hope is that if I can follow these goals I can keep myself in peak condition. I'll just have to wait and see how I go.


Anyway here is the recipe that I promised in yesterday's WIAW post. It combines superfood quinoa with some great vegetables and a pretty tasty green sauce.


Makes 2 servings


Ingredients
2 cups cooked quinoa (I cooked mine in my rice cooker)
1/4 small head broccoli
1/4 small head cauliflower
1/4 cup plain yoghurt
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup baby spinach
30g sharp cheddar cheese


1. Chop the cauliflower and broccoli into small florets.
2. Spray with cooking spray and then roast in the oven at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes or until they are tender and the cauliflower is beginning to go golden.
3. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, whizz the yoghurt, baby spinach and cheddar until smooth.
4. Toss together the quinoa, roasted vegetables and cranberries, then drizzle with the dressing.

Roast Beetroot Sub

I came up with this recipe last wee when I was having a particularly inspired foodie day. For some reason I really had a craving for a roast beetroot salad, so on my way home from uni I picked up some beetroot. I also got some really nice sweet onion cheddar on special.

At home with beetroot roasting away in the oven, I discovered some wholemeal baguette lurking in my freezer. I had originally just planned to add some croutons to my salad to make it a little more filling but then an idea popped into my head. Why not just cut out some work and put the salad into the baguette? After whipping up some balsamic dressing I sat down and thoroughly enjoyed this lunch.


Serves 1


Ingredients
1 small baguette or long roll (I used 1/3 of a long, wholemeal baguette)
1-2 small beetroot, washed and cut into 1cm cubes
Cheese of your choice (I used sweet onion cheddar but feta or goat's cheese would also be great)
1 Tbsp sour cream or greek yoghurt
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Salad leaves

1. Spray the beetroot with cooking spray or drizzle with olive oil.
2. Roast at 180 degrees C. for 20-30 minutes or until tender.
3. Meanwhile, slice open the baguette.
4. Fill with the salad leaves and cheese.
5. Once beetroot is roasted, add it to your sub.
6. Finally. mix together the sour cream/greek yoghurt and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl.
7. Drizzle over the top of the sub.
8. Eat now, or wrap it up for later.

Easy Enchiladas

A while ago I looked through all of my recipe books and came up with a list of 200 recipes that I wanted to make out of them. Well, over the last few months with all of the Christmas recipes I have been making the list had kind of been put on the back burner. No longer! From this week onwards I will be trying to make at least 1 recipe a week off my list.

Anyway on to the recipe. I have just moved in to a new flat so easy, quick and cheap food are the kind of foods that I love! This recipe ticks all of the boxes. Another bonus is that it is a meat-free meal that the boyfriend loves and doesn't notice the lack of meat.

Ingredients
6 tortillas ( I use wholemeal or multigrain)
1 tin red kidney beans, drained
1 tin chilli beans
1 carrot, grated
1 tin tomatoes
3/4 cup grated cheese

1. Place the red kidney beans in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher.
2. Stir in the chilli beans and the grated carrot.
3. Place 1/6 of the mixture on the centre of a tortilla.
4. Fold up the ends and roll into a cylinder.
5. Place the enchilda join side down in a baking dish.
6. Repeat with the other 5 tortillas, placing them close together in the baking dish.
7. Pour the tin of tomatoes over the enchildas and top with the grated cheese.
8. Bake at 180 degrees C for around 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.

Potato and Parsnip Fritters

Its Fathers day soon here in New Zealand, but who says that Fathers day breakfast/brunch/lunch has to be expensive and unhealthy? These wee babies are neither, but can still look a little bit flash with just a little effort. I made these for my Dad's birthday lunch in the weekend. I had three birthdays in the weekend so I spent a good portion of the weekend eating!

So what makes these fritters so good for you? First of all potatos are a source of Vitamin C and fibre and help protect against heart disease and cancer. Potatoes sometimes have a rep as being a high GI food, but not to worry as this recipe is balanced out with parsnip. Parsnips add a nice sweetness to this recipe and are low GI and a good source of folic acid. For my fritters I peeled the potatoes but left the skin on the parsnip for added nutrients.
(From Recipes +)

Ingredients
250g floury potatoes, peeled
250g parsnips
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp herbs such as parsley or chives
1/4 cup flour
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1. Grate the potato into a bowl.
2. Mix in the lemon juice, then squeeze the excess moisture from the potatoes (This is important to help crisp up the fritters)
3. Grate the parsnip and add it to the potatoes.
4. Add the other ingredients and mix until well combined.
5. Heat the oil in a large frying pan.
6. Add a large spoonful of batter and flatten into a circle.
7. Cook until golden then flip over.
8. Serve with some nice bread. These would be really nice with a poached egg on top or some ham and salad greens

Quinoa and Bean Burrito

Qui what? Quinoa pronounced Key-nwa is an ancient grain with a nice nutty flavour that has been growing in popularity lately. If you look, you'll actually find it at most supermarkets, either in bags or in the bulk bins. Quinoa is considered a bit of a super food as it is high in protein an fibre.

This recipe was adapted from www.veggienumnum.com and is a version of a rice and bean burrito. However this is much better nutritionally for you! Its a good way to start getting used to Quinoa as its texture is quite different from rice, its a bit closer to cous cous. If Quinoa isn't your cup of tea, substituting with brown rice would also be good.

Serves 4


Ingredients
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tin red kidney beans
1 cup of quinoa (any colour)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup mint, chopped

1. Dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds over a medium heat until fragrant, careful not to let them burn.
2. Grind or bash the roast seeds until they form a powder.
3. Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan and fry off the ground cumin and coriander seeds and the paprika for 30 seconds.
4. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft.
5. Add a dash of stock to form a paste in the bottom of the pan.
6. Add the beans and quinoa and stir to combine well.
7. Add the remaining stock and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes until all of the liquid has absorbed, stirring occasionally.
8. Toss through the mint.
9. Serve on warm tortillas with coleslaw and salsa.

Roast Tomato Soup

Tomatoes are so expensive at the moment! However, I picked up a bag of cheap cooking tomatoes at the supermarket and then looked for a use for them. Its the middle of winter in Dunedin, so pretty chilly and the perfect time of year for soup. Cold weather + bag of tomatoes = Roast Tomato Soup.

This is a Gordon Ramsey recipe and it calls for fresh basil, but, being the middle of winter I didn't have any of that so I used dried and it still tasted great. Roasting the tomatoes really enhances their flavour and the sun dried tomatoes make this soup taste even better.
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 Tbsps Olive Oil
1 kg tomatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves
2 tsps dried thyme
2 tsps dried basil
1 tsp caster sugar
1 litre vegetable stock
3 sundried tomatoes

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.
2. Place the oil in a large roasting dish and let it heat in the oven for a few minutes.
3. Chop the tomatoes in half and carefully tip the tomatoes, onion rings and garlic into the pan.
4. Toss to coat with the oil.
5. Sprinkle over the herbs and sugar and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the mixture caramelises, stirring a few times during cooking.
6. Tip the contents of the roasting dish into a large saucepan.
7. Heat the stock and pour over the tomatoes.
8. Bring to the boil, add the sun dried tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
9.Strain the stock into a bowl and place the tomato mixture into a blender.
10. Blend the tomato mixture until smooth, gradually adding the stock.
11. If you like a chunky soup, serve now. If you want a smooth soup, pass the soup through a sieve into a large bowl.
12. Season to taste

Super Easy Ravioli

This recipe is brought to you out of my head. I had some Feta and cottage cheese to use up, most of a pumpkin, and some spinach starting to look a bit manky in the fridge. The solution, Pumpkin and Spinach Ravioli. I love the store bought ravioli, but when you make it yourself you can decide what you want in it. However, I do not have the time to make my own pasta, so my secret? Use dumpling wrappers. These can be found frozen at asian food stores and work perfectly.
Serves approx 4

Ingredients
3 cups chopped pumpkin
3 cups chopped spinach
75g Feta
4 T Cottage Cheese
Salt and Pepper
Dumpling Wrappers (About 30)

1. Cook the pumpkin and spinach separately until tender. I steamed mine in the microwave.
2. Place in a food processor or blender with the feta, cottage cheese and some salt and pepper and process until mostly smooth.
3. Place a spoonful of mixture onto the middle of each dumpling wrapper.
4. Wet around the edge of the wrapper and fold in half, pressing down the edges with a fork.
5. Place in a pot of boiling water and cook until they float to the surface.
6. Fish out the ravioli with a slotted spoon.
7. Serve immediately with your favourite pasta sauce.

Carrot and Red Lentil Dhal

Meat can be so expensive so a good way to save money, and supposedly improve your health, is to eat vegetarian a few times a week. However, when most people hear the word vegetarian they think a plate of boring vegetables and nothing else. Having a vegetarian sister, I know better. Vegetarian food can be extremely tasty and satisfying. If you're still not convinced I suggest trying this recipe. If my carnivore of a boyfriend loves it, it must be special.

I found this recipe in a Healthy Food magazine and it is actually really quick to prepare, you just need to leave an hour or so for it to simmer. It tastes just as good if not better reheated the next day and can easily be frozen. The boyfriend loves it on toast or pita bread for a snack and its really healthy and nutritious as lentils are a form of protein.

Ingredients
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
500g grated carrot
1 litre vegetable stock
1/2 cup red lentils
2 tbsps peanut butter
1 tbsp curry powder
salt and pepper

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a sauce pan.
2. Add the seeds and gently fry until the seeds start to pop (you will hear them).
3. Add the carrot and stir.
4. Cover the pan and let the carrot sweat over a low heat for 10 minutes.
5. Add the stock and the lentils and let simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Add peanut butter, curry powder and salt and pepper. Simmer until the dhal is a thicky consistency, about 20 more minutes.
7. Serve topped with yoghurt and coriander.