Heart Healthy Cherry Tomato and Herb Omelette

Heart Healthy Cherry Tomato and Herb Omelette

 This is mainly an egg white omelette, now of course you can make a regular one including the egg yolks but once you give this a try you will see that it is just as good without the yolks and much better for your heart, I add in one yolk just for colour. The sweetness of the cherry tomatoes really comes through to meet the sharp herbs. I normally use herbs like chives, flat leaf parsley or mint… or a mix of all.

Tip. 1 large egg contains

74 calories... 14 of that is for 

the white.. 60 is for the yolk

Calories 314

Serves 1:

4 large eggs (1 whole and 3 white’s)

8-10 cherry tomatoes

A handful of mixed herbs- chopped

Cheddar cheese (optional)

Olive oil

Sea salt & black pepper

Method

Halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes, pour some olive oil into a non-stick grill proof pan and tip the cut tomatoes in. Season them well and fry them off for 1-2 minutes until just soft.

In the meantime put a grill onto high heat and lightly beat the egg whites in a bowl. Scatter the chopped herbs over the tomatoes and pour the beaten eggs over.

Quickly stir the eggs with a silicon spatula to even them out and make sure they cook evenly. Take off the heat as they start to set, grate a little cheese over the top (if using) and place under the grill for about 2-3 minutes.

Slide onto a warm plate and serve immediately.

Buckwheat Salad

Buckwheat Salad

Buckwheat is a fantastic substitute for carbs such as rice or potatoes etc. It is rich in protein, magnesium and iron and contains Rutin, a substance that protects the heart. Buckwheat is gluten free and can be found in most supermarkets and in health food stores.

Calories 662

331 per portion

Serves 2

120g buckwheat

A pinch of salt

1 red pepper

Half a cucumber

A small tin of pineapple chunks

Feta cheese

Black pepper

Method

Rinse the buckwheat in cold water in a fine sieve and place in a medium saucepan, pour in 400ml cold water and a pinch of salt. Bring the water to the boil then reduce to a gentle simmer until all the water is absorbed, this takes about 20 mins.

In the meantime deseed and dice the pepper, dice the cucumber and drain the tin of pineapple chunks. When the buck wheat is cooked, fluff it through with a fork, add it to a mixing bowl and add the diced pepper, cucumber and the pineapple chunks. Mix gently but thoroughly.

Divide out among 2 serving plate, crumble some feta cheese over and season with a good pinch of black pepper before serving. 

Spicy Beef Wrap

This is my 3rd hay of healthier recipe ideas for all you good folk wanting to shift your Christmas pud's... God knows I need to shift my own! I want these recipes to show that cleaner eating doesn't have to be boring, the recipes are full of flavour and very easy to put together. We don't need fad diets that leave you energy-less, just good ingredients that balance our your diet as it should be which is roughly:

50% Carbohydrates

30% Fats

20% Protein

At the end of the day what we eat and drink determines our state of being, food and nutrition are crucial to health not only for the body, but for the mind and the emotions which I think we can all relate to. Modern ailments, sickness and diseases are caused by an imbalanced diet… junk food, takeaways, preservatives, additives, too much salt, sugar and animal fat… that mixed along with too much alcohol, and of course tobacco-which I know doesn’t come into food consumption, however it does surpass hunger and does come in the way of a healthy balanced diet. Now I’m not preaching or bullshitting off the top of my head, all of the above with the exception of tobacco used to be a part of my life… I literally am speaking from experience.

I have changed my eating habits and it has been the best change I have ever made, no downside, no repercussions, no negatives. It has led to a healthier body, weight loss (in a healthy way), a healthier mind and a much happier Paul. The way I see it is this… If you have a car, and most of us do… well, that car won’t function right if you don’t put the right stuff into it. How far would your car go without the right fuel (carbs), the right oil (protein), the right brake/clutch fluid and power steering oil (fats) and the right coolant (water)… now I’m certainly no mechanic but I do know that without the correct type and the correct amounts of all of these you will not have a full functioning car? The only difference is that a car will need serviced once or twice a year, our bodies need serviced on a daily basis-a few times a day in fact.

For me, having a healthy diet and watching what you eat is, or should be common sense. Yes you can get the percentages right-carbs v’s protein v’s fats– and you can be eating very fresh produce too but if you don't watch portion sizes and  don't get up of your backside and do some exercise then you will find that a healthy balanced diet may not make you look and feel as good as it should. There is no point in me going into depth on portion sizes as everyone’s size, metabolism rate and daily exercise routine is different… a bit like BMI (body mass index) it wouldn't be very accurate. As I say common sense goes a long way but if you are really stuck then a dietician would be happy to create a plan for portion sizes taking everything into account.

5 keys to a healthier diet:

 Cut down on convenience food and takeaways

 Try replacing meat with oily fish more often

 Reduce your intake of sugar, salt, coffee, fizzy drinks and alcohol

 Make your diet as varied as possible

 Use fresh ingredients as often as possible

Spicy Beef Wrap

This is a great simple lunch that will blow your socks off. It packs a super flavour punch. Alternatively it can be made with chicken or pork, even chicken dippers for a really easy option.

Serves 2:

2 medium sirloin steaks-fat trimmed

Olive oil

Paprika

Dried oregano

Cumin seeds

1 small red pepper

2 scallions

4 tablespoons of sour cream

1 tablespoon horseradish sauce

2 low-fat tortillas wrap

Sweet chilli sauce

Fresh rocket

Method

Take the steaks out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking, massage in a drop of olive oil and season both sides with the paprika, oregano and cumin seeds.

De-seed and finely slice the red pepper and the scallions, set aside. In a small bowl combine the sour cream and horseradish sauce and use as a dip.

On a screaming hot griddle pan place the steaks, 2 mins either side should suffice for medium steak, then remove and wrap in foil to rest for a few minutes (ideally 10-15 minutes) but as long as u wish.

Heat up the tortilla wraps as instructed by the packaging. Carve the steak into thin slices and arrange on the wrap how you wish, I spread on some sweet chilli sauce, top with peppers, scallions and fresh rocket. Serve with some low fat crisps and most of all.... Enjoy!

Sea Bass Fillets with Zingy Ginger, Chilli and Spring Onion

I love this recipe, sea bass is a wonderfully flavoursome fish, you could also try sea bream, plaice or red mullet here too. This can be used a s a light lunch or have it with some brown rice to make a dinner out of it.

Sea Bass Fillets with Zingy Ginger, Chilli and Spring Onion

This simple dish combines wonderful Thai style flavours to really compliment the beautifully delicate flesh of the sea bass with crispy skin.

Calories 916

229 per portion

Serves 4:

4 x sea bass fillets, about 140g each, skin on and scaled
1 tbsp sunflower oil

A large knob of ginger, peeled and shredded into matchsticks

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

3 fat, fresh red chillies deseeded and thinly shredded

A bunch spring onion, shredded long-ways

1 tbsp soy sauce

Season the fish with salt and pepper, then slash the skin 3 times. Heat a heavy-based frying pan and add 1/2 tbsp oil. Once hot, fry the fish, skin-side down, for 5 mins or until the skin is very crisp and golden. The fish will be almost cooked through. Turn over, cook for another 30 secs-1 min, then transfer to a serving plate and keep warm. You’ll need to fry the fish in 2 batches.

Heat the remaining oil, then fry the ginger, garlic and chillies for about 2 mins until golden, add a dash of soy sauce. Take off the heat and toss in the spring onions. Spoon the contents of the pan over the fillets.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

I made this just on Saturday past and had forgotten just how good it tastes with minimal fuss.
I just roasted a chicken for it instead of using chicken fillets as it was more convenient for me. Again if you wanted you could always use turkey here instead of the chicken... either way will have you wanting more.

This would be a great lunch box filler for lunches during the week, I know I will be having it for lunch this coming week at work!

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

I love looking up recipes from around the world, there is a want in me to travel and taste all the glorious recipes from the different continents.  This salad came about using some basic ingredients from home with flair from Vietnam.

Calories 483

242 per portion

Serves 2:

3 shallots

Half a red chilli deseeded

1 tablespoon of granulated sugar

3-4 black peppercorns

100ml rice vinegar

3 tablespoons of oyster sauce/fish sauce

1 large chicken fillet

Sea salt and black pepper

Quarter head of white cabbage

1 large carrot

A few sprigs of mint

A small bunch of coriander

A small handful of salted peanuts

Method

Peel and coarsely chop the shallots, add them to a large mortar and pestle along with chopped chilli and the sugar and black pepper. Grind it until soft and liquid is dispersed. Transfer this mix to a large bowl and stir in the rice vinegar and fish sauce. Set to one side.

Brush the chicken fillet with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill it under a medium/high heat for about 6-8 mins either side making sure it is cooked through. Allow to cool then shred with your fingers finding the natural grain.

Finely shred the cabbage and chop the carrot into fine matchsticks, take your time.  Add these to the vinegar mix, toss thoroughly then add the chicken, mint leaves, coriander leaves, toss like you would a normal salad until combined and top with a scatter of roughly chopped peanuts.

  

Healthy recipes

Starting on Monday January 5th and running until Feb 1st I will be putting a healthy recipe up via the blog or via my social media... Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
That is a full 4 weeks... 28 days of some old but more new recipes. My idea of healthy is based on a natural healthy balanced diet. getting the right mix of carbs, protein and good fats into your system.
This is an incentive to cut the takeaways, the processed food and the junk food and get into the kitchen to whip up your own nutritious food for you and your loved ones.

Healthy home cooking doesn't have to be a chore and it won't be with my easy to follow recipes. This new year you owe it to yourself and to your family to make the best fresh start... and your body will love you for it!!!
And remember.... "sharing is caring".... share the recipes on your own social media... spread the health glow!

New years dinner

Happy and peaceful New Year to everyone!!!

It is going to be a very busy year ahead but be sure to keep your eyes peeled for lots of great new  healthy recipes. I, like many, will be going on a health surge in January and hope to continue it through the other 11 months of 2015. And of course there will be some very indulgent recipes thrown in there too, we can't be good all the time!!!

This is what I'm cooking up today for myself and Amy, and we will be joined by my eldest sister Michele, my other sister Louise and her husband and 2 kids... and of course Benny and Lexi will be on the hunt for leftovers!

Roast Leg of Lamb Stab-stuffed with Garlic Rosemary and Anchovy

Lamb is my meat of choice right now. The flavours that come of a leg roasted like this is second to none! Rosemary and garlic are classic flavours with lamb but the addition of the anchovy just brings an extra sweetness and salty spike.

Serves 4:

1x2.5kg leg of lamb

2 large onions

2 carrots

2 sticks of celery

50g tin of drained anchovies

7-8 cloves of garlic

Few sprigs of rosemary

Olive oil

Sea salt & black pepper

               

Method

 Remove the leg of lamb from the fridge a half hour before you start. Preheat oven to 180°c. Peel and cut the onion into thick wedges and roughly chop the carrots and celery, set aside.

Pat dry an anchovy fillet and wrap it around a halved garlic clove and a cut piece of rosemary then stab the lamb and push it into the hole. Do this all over about 15 times.

Drizzle over a little olive oil and season well, place in roasting tray with the selected vegetables and bung into the oven for 1 hour- 1 hour 15 minutes basting once or twice, until meat is tender.

Let it rest out of the oven for 15-20 minutes before carving, there is no real technique to carving. I stand it up holding the bone and cut off in thin slices.

My Holy Trinity Gravy

Now just in case anyone thinks that The Father, Son and Holy Spirit came up with this… they didn't, they only wish they did! But no, what I mean by ‘Holy Trinity’ is the 3 sauces I add to my gravy to make it ‘blow your socks off’. This technique works for any roast dinner so give it a try next Sunday. Any roast dish you make, always throw some vegetables in under and around the roast, these are not to eat but rather to help keep the roast moist and of course for flavour, then when the roast is done they are used for the gravy. Give this method a go… it is consistently amazing!

Tip: if you have no wine to use then use your imagination… cider, port, sherry, apple juice, orange juice etc. anything like this will do and if worse comes to worst just use the stock and add a squeeze of lemon.

Serves 4-6:

1 tablespoon of flour

A glass of wine (your choice)

1 litre of vegetable, chicken or beef stock

Black pepper

The Holy Trinity:

1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

Knob of butter

Method

Once you take your roast out and leave it to rest, spoon off the fat from the roasting dish then sprinkle the flour over the vegetables in the tray and mash them all together with a potato masher and stir well.

Pour in the wine of your choice and bung back into the hot oven (or if your tray is hob proof place it on a hot hob). Let the wine reduce then add your hot stock and allow to bubble for a little while.

Now carefully sieve the contents of the tray into a saucepan and place onto a hot hob, bring to the boil and add in ‘The Holy Trinity’. Reduce to a steady simmer until it thickens, season with black pepper, the soy should be salty enough.

When ready to serve up, take it off the heat and add a knob of butter and stir to dissolve, this will make it nice and shiny and silky smooth. Serve it up in a nice big gravy boat; you won’t have a drop left!

Roast Carrots with Orange and Cumin

This is one of my favourite dishes that come fresh from my garden. I use young summer carrots, if they are from your own garden, don’t peel them just give them a good scrub. Any slightly thicker ones just slice down the center. I mean you can use any kind of carrot but try and cut them to roughly the same size so they will cook at the same time. This works well with any roast dinner.

Serves 4

Olive oil

A knob of butter

600g of carrots

2 teaspoons of cumin seeds

Sea salt & black pepper

Grated zest of 1 orange plus some juice

Method

Pour some olive oil and knob of butter into an oven dish and place into an oven preheated to 190°c. Prepare the carrots as said above.

Remove the tray insuring that the butter has melted and place the carrots in, sprinkle over the cumin seeds and season well. Place into the oven for around 30 mins covered with foil.

Remove from oven and remove the foil. Add in the grated orange zest and a good squeeze of juice. Stir all around and place back into oven for 20 mins.

Remove and serve right away.

Roast butternut squash with chilli, rosemary and garlic.

Butternut squash was something I never tasted until I grew my own. It’s a very versatile vegetable. It can beef up any meal plus it stores really well. This dish goes well with chicken, pork or fish and is a great substitute for potatoes.

Serves4:

1 large or 2 small butternut squash (1kg)

6-8 cloves of garlic

1 red chilli

Few sprigs of rosemary

Olive oil

Sea salt & black pepper

Juice of half a lemon

Method

Slice the squash length ways in half then in half again. Cut out the seeds section with a knife or scoop out with a spoon. Peel of the skin as it can be a little tough and cut the squash into wedges or chunks and place it a small roasting tray.

Put the cloves of garlic onto a chopping board and bash with the flat of a knife. Add them into dish along with a finely chopped chilli and the rosemary. Run some oil over, season with some salt and black pepper and toss it all about together. Roast in a preheated oven at 190°c for about 45 mins.

When finished roasting squeeze the juice of a half a lemon over the top and serve.

Potato, Garlic and Chive Mash

Roasted garlic is sweet and full of flavour; this is the perfect mash to accompany any roast dinner.

Serves 4

1 medium whole bulb of garlic

Olive oil

800g floury potatoes

150ml whole milk

A knob of butter

Sea salt

Black pepper

Small snippet of chives

Method

On a sheet of tinfoil, drizzle the garlic bulb with olive oil then wrap it up in the foil and roast in the oven at 180c for 1 hour.

Peel and cut the potatoes into large similar sized chunks. Place them in a large saucepan and cover with cold water and add a pinch of salt. Bring the saucepan to the boil on a hot hob and cook for a further 15 mins until the potatoes can be pierced with a fork. Drain them into a colander in the sink and place back into the saucepan, cover the top of the saucepan with a clean tea towel and firm the lid back on. Allow to steam dry for 5-10 mins so the fluff up.

Gently heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan. Mash the potatoes in the saucepan with some seasoning the pour in the warmed milk. Mash this thoroughly until lump free. Cut the garlic bulb in half and squeeze out the lovely fragrant soft garlic flesh into the potatoes. Rapidly stir this into the potatoes and transfer to a serving dish, top with some fresh chopped chives.

And of course there will be roast potatoes but I just can't place my recipe... it will follow shortly