Lasagne - A slightly healthier version

I am currently attempting to eat more healthily than I have done, with a few treats at the weekend. I love my lasagne and have been trying to tweak the recipe to make it more diet friendly. This is the recipe that has worked with Turkey mince and courgettes.

Ingredients - makes 4 portions

1 courgette - sliced thinly lengthways
150g Goats cheese
1 tin good quality tinned tomatoes
400g Turkey mince
Handful of mushrooms
Chicken stock cube dissolved in half a cup of water
2tbsp Tomato purée
1 Garlic clove - crushed and chopped
1 Red onion - finely chopped
1 heaped tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp Hendersons Relish or Worcestershire Sauce

Method

1.   Preheat your oven to 180.
2.   Dry fry onions, garlic and mushrooms in a nonstick pan until soft. Add mince and brown off.
3.   Add stick and purée. Mix well to coat all ingredients with purée.
4.   Add Hendersons relish/ Worcestershire sauce and herbs. Stir well.
5.   Add tomatoes and leave to simmer and reduce for 20 - 30 minutes.
6.   Layer the lasagne by putting mince in first, then sprinkle goats cheese over. Layer the courgette next. Repeat again. Then you should end with a layer of mince and cheese.
7.   Bake in the over for about 25 minutes until the cheese is golden on top and the courgette cooked through.
8.   Serve with a side salad.

Cauliflower Breadsticks

I know... Cauliflower and bread does not sound right together! But bear with me. Recently I've been attempting to eat more healthily and one thing that I do miss is bread. Once a daily affair it's now reduced to being a treat. So I had a look on Pinterest and it seemed a lot of people were substituting cauliflower bread for the beautiful wheat laden stuff! I tweaked a few different recipes and came up with the following that seemed to work best. Whilst it's never going to fully replace bread in my life it certainly stops any cravings and is a great side dish.

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower head
1 egg or 2 egg whites - beaten
Seasoning of choice
3/4 cup of grated cheese (I used low fat mature)

Method

1.   Preheat oven to 160.

2..   Pulse cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles fine breadcrumbs as below:

3.   Microwave for 7 minutes in a bowl covered in pierced clingfilm. Stir halfway.

4.   Allow to cool. You will now need to strain the cauliflower in a linen cloth or teatowel. This is a really important step as cauliflower actually has a high water content. Without this stage you'll just end up with mush!

5.   Add seasoning of choice (I used a dried mixed herb), half of the grated cheese and the beaten eggs or egg whites. I used 6 tbsp. of two chicks egg whites. Each carton contains 15 egg whites. You need 3tbsp for each egg white. It's a really handy standby as you can freeze the carton too. And useful for meringues so you don't have to spend a fortune on eggs!

6.   Mix all ingredients together well and tip into a baking dish lines with parchment. pat down to fill dish to edges. I found it best to use my fingers here as a spoon tended to just move the parchment around! It should look a little like this:

7.   Bake for around 15-20 minutes until golden. It may catch slightly at the edges, but don't worry too much as that part actually ends up being the nicest!

8.   Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until cheese has melted.

9.   Remove from the oven and cool. Remove from dish and cut into slices. I got 8 out of this dish.

10.   Enjoy!

So it has been well over a year since I last posted! Work and life has taken over in a good way. But I've recently reached a kind of calm and going to crack on with some more posts! As always food related, but having recently lost a few stone there will be a fair few healthy recipes thrown in! I'm hoping to give a few recommendations for good products and places to eat out too. I shall get cracking this weekend, so check back soon!

Chicken and Chorizo Risotto

I love this risotto... but completely forgot to take a photo!

Chicken and Chorizo Risotto

Serves 2 (Easily doubled)

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts – chopped and either fried off or grilled till cooked

3 uncooked chorizo – diced

160g Arborio Rice

1pt Hot Chicken Stock

1 White Onion – diced

2 Garlic Cloves – chopped or 1tsp Garlic Puree

1 Large glass white wine

1tbsp Chopped Fresh Basil or 1tsp Dried Basil

1tbsp  Butter

1tbsp creme fraiche

2tbsp grated Parmesan plus extra to serve

Salt and Pepper- to season

1. Melt butter in a large frying pan. Add onion, chorizo and garlic and fry until soft and the chorizo has let out some of its juices.
2. Tip in the rice and coat with butter and onion. It should slightly glisten. Add wine and bubble until the wine has reduced.
3. Add in a ladle at a time the chicken stock. Let each amount be absorbed by the rice before adding the next. Repeat until rice is cooked. You may not need all of the stock.
4. Fold in the basil and the cooked chicken. Heat through. Season to taste.
5. Before serving fold in the grated parmesan and the creme fraiche. Serve hot with more cheese if you wish!

Raspberry and Vanilla Madaleines

It's been a while since I posted.  Sorry peeps! My new job has taken up a lot of time but I have really enjoyed it.  It's great to be involved in so many new projects there.

But things have quietened down slightly and as it's a bank holiday baking was on the agenda.  I made a raspberry angel delight cheesecake with an Oreo crust. And these Raspberry and Vanilla Madaleines.  An adaptation of a traditional Madaleine recipe from Michel Roux Jnr. I have recently purchased a Madaleine tin so this was an excellent opportunity to try it out. 

Makes about 15

Ingredients
100g Plain flour
100g Butter melted and slightly cooled
100g Caster sugar
1tsp Baking powder
2 Eggs
1tsp Vanilla extract
About 15 raspberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180. Beat eggs and sugar till fluffy. Grease tin and dust with flour lightly.

2. Add vanilla extract, baking powder and flour. Pour in butter. Beat to a thick batter.

3. Leave batter to rest for about 30 mins.

4. Fill tin mould 3/4 full. Pop a raspberry in the centre of each and gently push down.

5. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden around edges and risen.

6. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Chocolate Fridge Cake

So my last day came and went on Thursday. I was sad to say goodbye to a number of people I now call friends. But onwards and upwards and my new job is a promotion so too good to turn down! As I said I would I made cake. Always a good thing in my book! TheVictoria Sponge was similar to the recipe I made for cupcakes last month. The cornflake and jam tart however was an epic fail I brought wheat and rice flakes, not cornflakes. The result did not taste very good! So I will have to try again with the right ingredients! I did make the Chocolate Fridge Cake though. Recipe below:

Ingredients:

100g Butter

200g Milk or Dark Chocolate - whichever you prefer!

4-5 squeezes of Golden Syrup (about 4 - 5tbsp)

225g Chocolate Digestives - roughly chopped

A bag of Malteasers (the sharing bags about 135g) - roughly chopped

A bag of Munchies (the sharing bags about 125g) - roughly chopped

Method:

1.   Line a square tin with parchment.

2.   In a heavy bottomed pan melt together the milk chocolate, syrup and butter on a low heat until melted and glossy. Set aside to cool slightly.

3.  Add all your chopped ingredients to the melted chocolate and mix. Pour into a tin and set in the fridge.

4.  Cut into squares.

Vanilla and Jam Cupcakes

I had two celebrations this weekend - my friend Caroline moved to Northampton and I accepted a new job offer. So I decided to bake some cupcakes (any excuse for cake!). One of mine and Caroline's favourites is Victoria Sponge so I decided a cupcake with Vanilla Icing and Jam in the middle would be a winner.



Makes 12

Ingredients:

Cupcakes -
180g Self Raising Flour - sifted
180g Caster Sugar
180g Butter or Stork - softened
1tsp Baking Powder
3 Eggs
1tsp Vanilla Extract
Your favourite jam

Icing -
200g Unsalted Butter - softened
400g Icing Sugar - sifted
Colouring or decorations if you want



Method:

Cupcakes -

1.   Preheat oven to 180/ 350/ Gas 4. Line a tin with cupcake cases. Set aside.
2.   Cream butter/ Stork and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract.
3.   Add in eggs a little at a time. If mixture curdles add a little flour.
4.   Fold in flour and baking powder.
5.   Put a heaped tbsp of mixture into each cupcake case. Bake for a couple of mins This will help seal the bases so the jam wont sink too much.
6.   Put half a tsp to a tsp of jam in the centre of the cupcake base (amount depends on the size of your cases). Top with more cake mixture until about 2/3rds full.
7.   Bake for approximately 20mins until golden and fluffy. Cool completely.

Icing -

1.   Beat sugar and butter until combined. If a little stiff add a couple of tsp of milk. Add colouring if using.
2.   Spoon or pipe icing onto cupcakes and top with chosen decorations.

***Don't make the mistake I did if premaking your icing in advance - take it out to soften before you need to ice the cakes. I didnt and struggled as a result!

***You'll notice I also topped some with good old chocolate spread! An easy stand by for cake toppings!