Sweet and Sour Calamari

I would love to say that I'm the type of person that loves all kinds of seafood but some like oysters and mussels I just don't enjoy. They have an 'ick' factor that I just can't get past. However I do very much enjoy squid/calamari when it is done right and when I don't have to prep the whole squid from scratch.

This recipe is really quick and simple and one that I've made again and again.

Sweet and Sour Calamari
Servings: 2, Serving size:1/2 Recipe, Calories: 232 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
300g Celery, chopped finely
1 Medium Onion, chopped finely
1 tsp Garlic
375g Calamari (In large pieces preferably not rings)
125 ml (1/2 Cup) of Stock, Fish or Vegetable
1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2.5 Tbs Tomato Paste
1/4 Cup Water
2 Drops of Stevia or other sweetener (You could also substitute some honey)
Salt
Pepper
Oil Spray

1. Chop calamari into pieces around 4cm each:

2. Spray a large pan with oil and heat to medium.
3. Add garlic, onion and celery. Let it cook for around 5 minutes:

4. Add the calamari and stock and stir. Cover with a lid and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Add the vinegar, tomato paste, water, stevia and salt and pepper.
6. Turn the heat to medium-low and let it cook for another 10 minutes until the calamari and celery are tender.
7. Serve up with either brown rice or as I did the other day some nice crusty sourdough rye bread, just make sure to add on the calories for these additions.

More recipes to come.

Are there any recipes you would like to see healthified?

Sweet Potato and Lentil Casserole

It was a surprisingly cold day yesterday after a string of very hot days. The change of weather really put me in the mood for something hearty. I had lentils and lots of vegetables in my fridge so I decided to put together this casserole which turned out very well.

Sweet Potato and Lentil Casserole
Servings: 4, Serving size: 2 Ladels / serve, Calories: 171 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
1 Onion chopped finely
375g Sweet Potato
300g Mushrooms chopped
100g Dry Green Lentils
2 x Stock Pots (Vegetable) - You could also use stock cubes
2 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Garlic
1L Boiled Water
Salt
Pepper
Oil Spray

1. Spray a pan with cooking spray and fry onion and garlic on medium-high until soft.
2. Add sweet potato and stir, let it cook for about 5 minutes
3. Add mushrooms to the pan with cumin, paprika, onion powder and pepper only. Do not add salt as salt makes lentils tough if cooked with it.
4. Add a dash of water if the pan starts to cook the vegetables too quickly.
5. Make up your stock by adding stock cubes to 1L of boiling water
6. Add dry lentils to pan and let toast in the pan for about 30 seconds. This gives them a nuttier flavour.
7. Add stock to pan.
8. Bring to the boil. Once boiled turn the heat down to low and let cook for 30-40 minutes until some of the stock has evaporated and the lentils are cooked.
9. Enjoy and add salt once served. I served mine with sprouted grain bread but it also worked well today for lunch with brown rice.

Microwave Nutrional Yeast Cheese Sauce for Pizza

I discovered nutrional yeast recently from reading many blogs talking about how it could be used as a healthy alternative to cheese. So when I was in the US recently I brought some home with me. You can also buy it in health stores here in Australia too.

So far I'd only used it to make salad dressing but when I had a pizza craving on the way home I had a brain wave to use nutrional yeast instead. I was initially going to just sprinkle the flakes on top until I came across two 'cheese sauce' recipes using the yeast. The original recipes are here and here. I had no corn starch on hand and didn't want to mess up a saucepan with it and also only wanted to make a small low calorie amount so I made a few adjustments and the results were pure delicious!

Microwave Nutrional Yeast Cheese Sauce
Servings: 1, Serving size: the whole batch, Calories: 40 Calories

Ingredients:
5g Nutritional Yeast
5g Wholemeal Flour
1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
Water (approx 1/4 cup)
Salt
Pepper

1. Add yeast, flour, mustard and salt and pepper to a cup or small microwave safe bowl.
2. Add water to mixture, around a 1/4 cup but just enough to cover the ingredients.
3. Mix together well with a fork to get rid of any lumps.
4. Microwave for 1 minute (may need to adjust depending on your microwave).
5. When the sauce comes out it should be nice and thick, give it a stir when it comes out if it isn't thick enough it needs a bit more time in the microwave.
6. Drizzle over the top of your pizza.

Here was my veggie topped pizza with the sauce:

Yumm! It felt so naughty but was vegie packed and protein packed thanks to the nutritional yeast. The whole pizza was 315 calories.

Fresh Corn Fritters with Quinoa Flour with Quick Tzatziki

Apologies for the lack of recipes and posts of late, I've been slack with trying new recipes but I'm on a new health kick so I should now be on a roll and have at least 1 new recipe a week.

I bought Quinoa flour a whilst ago but hadn't thought what to do with it. The market had a sale on fresh corn on Saturday so I bought some not knowing what to do with it but then had a brainwave today and decided to make corn fritters. I've made fritters before but only ever with canned corn which you could still use for this recipe but believe me fresh tastes so much better if you can get it and the quinoa flour gave these a beautiful nuttiness to them. I served it with a very quick tzatziki that I made up a recipe for which complimented it very well.

Fresh Corn Fritters with Quinoa Flour
Servings: 2, Serving size: 3 fritters or 3/4 cup batter, Calories: 195 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
250g Corn Kernels (2 Fresh Corn Cobs with kernels chopped off)
40g Quinoa Flour
1 Egg White
1 tsp Garlic
1/4 Cup Water
Salt
Pepper

1. Cut corn kernels from corn cobs and place in a bowl.
2. Add the quinoa flour, egg white, garlic, salt and pepper and mix together.
3. Add the water and mix thoroughly ensuring the flour is well mixed in. The batter will not be very thick as it just coats the corn, it should look something like this:

3. Heat a non-stick fry pan to medium high and spray lightly with oil.
4. Add 1/4 cup of the mixture at a time to form 6 fritters. Make sure to flatten them, you may end up with a few loose corn kernels but leave them in the pan as they end up toasty and delicious.
5. Fry each fritter until golden brown on each side be careful when you turn them over.

Quick Tzatziki
Servings: 2, Serving size: 1.2 mixture, Calories: 30 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
70g Low Fat Greek Yoghurt (I'm obsessed with Chobani)
1/4 Zucchini (90g)
1 tsp Garlic
1/4 Lemon
Salt
Pepper

1. Grate the zucchini.
2. Juice the lemon.
2. Mix together yoghurt, zucchini, garlic, lemon and salt and pepper.
3. Adjust the garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

I served the fritters with roasted broccoli which I made from a recipe I adjusted from Edible Perspective, I changed the recipe to use coconut oil, garlic and lemon juice to roast the broccoli in and it worked out really well.

Total calories for the meal: 274 per serve ( 3 fritters, 1/2 Tzatziki and 100g Roasted broccoli)

Chickpea and Broccoli Red Curry

I changed another 12WBT recipe to make it quicker and have more of the foods I enjoy that being broccoli and chickpeas. This curry is super delicious and can be cooked in 10 minutes making it a very easy dinner.

Chickpea and Broccoli Red Curry
Servings: 4, Serving size: 2 ladels, Calories: 192 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
1 Tbs Red Curry Paste
1 x 400ml Coconut Cream - Trident brand has the lowest calories
300g Broccoli, chopped
300g Mushrooms, chopped
240g Chickpeas (400g tin drained)
3 tsp Brown Sugar
1 Lime, juiced
1 Tbs Fish Sauce
2 Kaffir Lime leaves, chopped finely

1. Add curry paste to a saucepan and let it cook for about a minute, stirring as you do.
2. Add the coconut cream and stir very well, let simmer about another minute or two so it is well combined
3. Add chickpeas and leave for 5 minutes
4. Add broccoli and mushrooms and let cook for another 5 minutes or until vegetables are cooked to your liking
5. Add brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and lime leaves.
6. Serve and enjoy. I like to cook some brown rice to have it with, just be sure to add the extra calories if you do this.

Carrot, ginger and orange soup

I'm really loving my soups at the moment as it is a dish that freezes really well and can be taken for lunch each day as a very quick and healthy meal especially when it is cold.

Carrot, ginger and orange soup
Servings: 5, Serving size: 2 soup ladels per serve, Calories: 98 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
500g Carrots, diced
1 Medium Onion chopped finely
1 Leek, chopped
2 Oranges, juiced
Ginger, fresh
Garlic
Olive oil spray

2 x Campbells stock pots
1L Water
1/4 tsp Coriander seeds, ground

Salt

Pepper

1.In a medium pot lightly spray some oil and add the onions, garlic and ginger, cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the carrot and leeks and cook for a further 10 minutes.

2. Whilst the carrot is cooking make up the stock pots by adding 1 litre of boiled water to a bowl and adding the pots and stirring until dissolved. You could also use stock cubes or real stock but the flavour in these I find really adds some punch to soups and dishes.

3. Add salt, pepper and coriander seeds. Add the orange juice and stock to the pot and bring to the boil.

4. Then turn down to a simmer and leave for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

5. Check that the carrot is soft and then use a barmix or hand blender to blend up the smooth until it is thick and smooth.

6. Serve immediately. This soup is freezer friendly and tastes just as good reheated as it does the first time.

Low calorie cauliflower and blue cheese soup

I had this soup a couple of months ago from a soup shop and it was a combination I hadn't heard of before but it was delicious. I thought I could make a version that was low on calories but still creamy and with lots of flavour particularly because blue cheese is quite strong you don't need a lot to taste it.

Cauliflower and blue cheese soup
Servings: 8, Serving size: 2.5 soup ladels per serve, Calories: 95 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
1 Medium Onion chopped finely
Garlic
Olive oil spray

1 & a 1/2 heads of Cauliflower, chopped into small pieces

1 Small potato, peeled and chopped

100g Danish Blue Cheese, finely chopped

4 x Campbells stock pots
2.5L Water

Salt

Pepper

In a large pot lightly spray some oil and add the onions and garlic, cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the potato and cook for a further 5 minutes. Whilst the potato is cooking make up the stock pots by adding 2 litres of boiled water to a bowl and adding the pots and stirring until dissolved. You could also use stock cubes or real stock but the flavour in these I find really adds some punch to soups and dishes. Add the cauliflower and made up stock to the pot with the potato and onion. Add salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and leave for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Check that the cauliflower and potato are soft and then use a barmix or hand blender to blend up the smooth until it is thick and smooth. Add the blue cheese and mix very quickly so that it combines with the soup and doesn't sink to the bottom. Serve immediately. This soup is freezer friendly and tastes just as good reheated as it does the first time.

Healthy Bolognaise

I finally got organised during the week and did a massive shop at the supermarket and decided to buy ingedients to make a nice big batch of bolognaise to have and keep in the freezer to always have something on hand. I've made this bolognaise a lot of times and always tend to vary the recipe a bit but no matter what it always has plenty of vegetables and is always really delicious but above all else healthy. I don't always use both pork and beef mince but the pork adds a nice extra depth of flavour plus it is lower in calories than beef mince.


Healthy Bolognaise
Servings: 11, Serving size: 2 soup ladels, Calories: 235 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
2 onions, diced
Crushed garlic
500g Lean pork mince
550g Lean beef mince
1 Capsicum, dice
4 Carrots, grated
4 Celery sticks, diced
250g Mushrooms, diced
6 x 400 g Cans of diced tomatoes
140g Tomato paste
2 x Bay leaves
Dried oregano
Worcestershire Sauce

Directions:
Start by adding the oil to a large deep pot or pan, I use a large 3.5 litre pan which has plenty of room. Once the oil is heated add the onions and garlic. I love garlic so I tend to add a lot. Let the onions cook on a moderate heat for about 5 minutes, stirring them as you go. Add the pork and beef mince and let it brown, breaking up the mince with a wooden spoon as you go in the pan. It can take a while to brown that much mince so I usually start to brown it and break down then leave it to keep prepping some of the vegetables. Once browned add the mushrooms and capsicums and some dried oregano as well as some salt and pepper. Let cook for around 5 minutes before adding the celery and carrots. Leave for another 5 minutes making sure to stir it as you go to ensure it doesn't stick to the pan. Then add the cans of tomato, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce ( a large dash) and stir through. Then add the bay leaves and simmer on low for at least 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Add extra worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste as you go. I usually like to let the bolognaise simmer for as long as possible so I will add about a cup of water to ensure it doesn't stick to the bottom and leave it for another hour but you can have it after just 45 minutes depending on how much time you have.

To serve we usually have 2 ladels with broccoli or some other vegies on the side instead of having it with pasta and it is a healthy delicious meal that you can keep portions of in the freezer. We also sometimes have it with brown rice as it is low GI and digests slower than straight pasta but even with just vegies it is a satisfying meal.

Another alternative is to add some kidney beans and have it as a chilli con carne.