Beef, Vegetable and Feta Medley

This week we were aiming for low carb healthy dinners to help us fight the rising waistline situation we have going on around here. I was planning to make my old favourite side salad which I haven't had in yonks with various meats for the week. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy all the ingredients. Then I couldn't face a cold side salad on a Winter's night.  This meal eventuated out of slowly changing my mind about what I wanted to make (multiple times along the way), and oh my gosh it ended up so yum.  I've made it twice now, and found it is equally tasty making it a simpler way in the second attempt. First go I had two nights worth of cheap steaks and had decided to cook up a veggie side stew. Then I chopped the meat, sealed and stirred it through toward the end. Second time around I just bought a 500g pack of diced beef and added it just after the onions and garlic. Of course the steak meat was a little tastier (and medium rare) but it was much simpler to just throw everything  in early on and leave it go.  Plus the meat is tender and slow cooked this way.  As much as this sounds like a hodge-podge meal from how I am describing it, let me assure you that this meal made on instinct is absolutely fabulous. It is totally healthy - just meat and veg and seasonings. Plus it is low cal, high protein, low fat and low carb. What else could you hope for? Of course you can serve it on rice which will add carbs and make it last six rather than four serves, but we were more than happy with this as a stand alone dish. This is a new regular!

Balsamic Glazed Pork on Warm Lentil Salad

This meal was a Friday at home date night meal I made for the Dragon. I found a good special on pork fillet and wanted to do something special with ingredients we had on hand in our pantry and fridge.  The result was a pretty easy meal to make over a glass of wine before retiring together to the balcony to overlook the city lights with our chimenea burning to set the mood. Toasted marshmallows made for a perfect desert.

I literally licked my plate clean. This meal is A.May.Zing. The pork is moist and soft, the glaze is beautiful and the lentil base is a perfect compliment. This is a great special dinner at home/date night meal.

Greek Chicken Rissoles

Rissoles are such an easy old timey favourite dish.  Sometimes you get bored of the same-old-same-old, and need to spice them up a bit.  A while ago I posted my favourite lamb rissoles which always go down a treat.  In our kitchen, we had some chicken mince, a few veggies and some Greek Yiros seasoning which were itching to be used, so I came up with a new spin on an old favourite.  It was SO GOOD! I shouldn't be surprised.  Lately I've been just rolling chicken breasts in Greek Yiros seasoning and cooking them and they have been De.Licious.

We served the rissoles with quinoa tabouleh because our parsley, mint and spring onions were ready for harvesting from our balcony garden, and it is one of my all time favourite sides.  We made these rissoles earlier in the week without the feta and tomato paste, then immediately made it again with the additions once we finished the first batch.  We loved the original recipe, but knew that those couple of additions would take it to the next level.  Love. These. Rissoles. We will have them again!

Strawberry, Blue Cheese and Balsamic Salad

 

Planning a date night? Promised to cook something special?  I've got you covered.  This is the most romantic salad you can plate up, and having it on a share platter makes it even more special.  The combination of flavours are sweet, peppery, tangy and nutty.  Serve it on  a share platter, with tuna or salmon steaks, eye fillet steaks or chicken breasts on small single plates. It works beautifully with champagne, or even better - a chambord royale (chambord liquer with champagne).  We had it with a cocktail of chambord, vodka, soda water and mint leaves.  Never forget the candles and music.  Your romantic evening awaits.

Veggie Omlette

Mmmmm....Saturday morning with nowhere I have to be.....a rare and special treat.  I decided to take advantage by using up a bunch of leftover veggies and feta in my fridge/herbs from my balcony garden  and was incredibly happy with the healthy and delicious breakfast concoction that arose.  This breakfast is almost too easy.  We enjoyed eating it slowly while sipping coffee and chatting on the balcony.  Happy sigh.

Salmon Steak with Quinoa Mint and Feta salad

A while ago a good friend of ours made an amazing salad.  My socks were literally blown off by how amazingly good it was - it tasted fresh and fulfilling and I wanted more.  Unfortunately he can't remember what went into it in order to give me the recipe.  So I have come up with my own version. Tada!

I remember quinoa, mint and feta.  The rest I've come up with to try to fill in what I think would work - and we got to use mint and flat leaf parsely from our balcony herb garden which was lovely.  I may post about our herb garden at some point because we have tried a few different methods and have finally found a method which is really working well.

Welcome to my delicious Thursday night feast.  I decided to pair it with a baked ginger and garlic salmon for night one, so have included the salmon in the recipe - it worked a treat.  On night two we had it with steak, and on night three we had it with chicken breast rolled in Greek Yiros seasoning and some blanched broccoli with slivered almonds.  It was gorgeous every time.  This is going to be a regular in our household.

Sweet Potato, Asparagus and Feta Frittata

If you are looking for a quick and easy meal to throw together that will taste gorgeous, then look no further.  We've had too many eggs so I wanted a yummy main to use some of them up, as well as some other veggies I had in my fridge.  This balance of flavours is absolutely lovely.  The sage and the sweet potato make the dish hearty, the feta adds some tartness, red onion adds a peppery kick and the cayenne pepper brings a little spice to the table.  We used about double the amount of cayenne pepper than I've listed in the recipe because we just love spice.  This fed the two of us for three nights with side veggies or salad (pictured above with a side of quickly stir fried spring onion, asparagus, garlic and wilted spinach topped with a squeeze of lemon juice...nom).

Chickpea and Vegetable Curry of Dreams

We first made this slow cooker curry on a Sunday when we were home all day (such a rare treat!).  While technically a vegan dish, its original intention was to become a side dish for meat.  Bwahahahaha.  We had so much meat in the fridge, and I wanted to make up a big batch of side vegetables that could easily go beside any other meal we were serving up.  I'd had a lot of salad recently so wanted something that felt like carby comfort food but was really just veggies and beans.  We made a big batch and it lasted five nights for the two of us :)  As a main rather than a side dish, it serves three nights for two.  After bite one on night one, we were in love.  This curry is beautiful served over rice, as a side, or even as a stand alone meal.  It is creamy and healthy.  Even the most carnivorous person will love this vegan delight.

Lamb Burgers with Minted Yogurt

We have planted a herb garden!  We love it so much.  I wanted to use some mint and what goes better with mint than lamb?  This recipe is a beautiful Greek inspired meal that is thrown together in a jiffy. The lamb patties are even more delicious than you would imagine.  The mix itself is so versatile. This week we are in the mood for burgers, but they also make great lamb patties with a side salad (even better than burgers, unexpectedly - because it lets the flavour really shine), or as meatballs on matchsticks with side yoghurt garlic dipping sauce.  These are HANDS DOWN my favourite rissole/burger patties.  I absolutely love them.

Greek Baked Chicken

Moist, flavoursome, easy.  These are words that should always accompany chicken.  I hear people say that chicken is bland from time to time but I totally disagree.  Done right it can be downright mouth watering.

One of my favourite meals is Greek lemon potatoes. I love their lemony garlicy noms.  I had a craving recently, but am watching my waistline at the moment so decided to bake some Greek style chicken to serve with a side of (or on top of) quinoa tabouleh as a delicious and healthy dinner.  This was so easy to throw together and we adored the flavour.  Scoring the chicken means that the marinade can permeate it more fully.  The chicken was moist and tasted so good.  This recipe will go down in your list of regular go-to meals.

Chicken Karahi - a divine Middle Eastern meal

Given how much I've discovered that I love cooking Middle Eastern flavours, it struck me that I've not been to many restaurants to try some authentic meals.  We went to a local restaurant which specialises in Afghani food but includes a few recipes from some other middle eastern countries and I was. In. Love.  There was literally no one else there which was both odd and a shame, and there were no visible wait staff so we had to say "hello?" loudly a couple of times to get the attention of the waitress.

We ordered a Bulani  (a beautiful savory potato pastry with herbs and spices) to share as our entre and I want to learn to make it.  Then we shared a tekka kebab meal (zomg the spices blew me away - I have yet to figure out what they were) and a Chicken Karahi. (NB - Karahi, not Koshari - these are very different recipes).

Karahi was soooo good.  Now to make it for real you need to use a bunch of ghee (clarified butter) and given that I am trying to lose weight for my wedding I was keen to find out if I could make a tasty version of this without all of the excess fat.  The restaurant we visited served it with eggs on top, but none of the recipes online that I have encountered do so.  I wanted to try to re-create our restaurant meal, so I've included them for funs :)

Here is what I came up with after much research. And Zomg. Yum. Messy fun, like my Spiced Lamb with Quinoa Tabbouli recipe.  Gotta say I love a share-meal with pita bread.  There's something bonding about the experience of eating together this way. Yum yum yum.

Lox Eggs

 

Lox is just  fancy name for salmon which has been smoked and cured in brine.  Its a stretch but I figure that a can of smoked salmon should be close enough to the mark for someone not in the mood to duck out to the shops for some fancy stuff.  Smoked salmon, capers, cream cheese and dill was all the range in cafes a few years ago because of the salty nomminess and how well dill goes with salmon.  Since I'm in a phase of finding fun spins for scrambled eggs, I was curious to find out whether I could use some of these flavours with egg - and it turns out that it is a beautiful thing.  The following is a breakfast recipe which is high in omega 3, good fats and protein.  Yummo.

Lunch Poops

Vegetarian Lunch Poop Wrap

I started making bean wrap filler's years ago after learning Gillian McKeith's Chickpea Burger recipe. Since then I've been tweaking the recipe depending on what I have in the house at the time, and I'm happy with my version.  I find them to be easy to throw together and a filling healthy lunch.  I suppose they are similar to a baked falafel in many ways.  Its good to eat vegetarian from time to time.

You can bake them however you like - in little rounds, or in longer segments like I do in order to fit nicely into wraps for lunch.  The Dragon looked at them the first time I made them and asked "why are you baking poops?"  From then on they were called Lunch Poops and I can't call them anything else.  I've been making them again recently in line with my goal of getting healthier so I decided to share them with you.  It's fool proof cooking and does just over 2 weeks of lunches for one or one week for two :)  I freeze whatever is unused, and they defrost absolutely fine.  I recommend these as an easy high protein, high fibre lunch wrap filler.  They taste good and I feel good after I've eaten them.

Lemon Chicken and and Edamame Salad

Who said that salads are less tasty and hearty than other meals?  Who said they have to leave you feeling less than satisfied? Whoever said that was telling a big fat lie.  This dinner will blow your socks off with flavour and leave you feeling full and happy in the process.  I am a little bit in love with it to be honest.

We have news.....the Dragon and I are engaged!!!!!! We are both thrilled to bits and so excited to be planning a wedding in August(ish) - date not yet finalised.  I will probably post more updates about that as we begin the planning process.  So excited!!! Unfortunately, we have both suffered the contentment spread in our relationship and packed on quite a few kilos, so we both plan to aim for buff wedding status.  So you may see more healthy meals posted up here for a while.  I want to feel good about how I look in my wedding photos.  So I have a whopping 15 kg to lose - eep!  Wish me luck!

This delicious meal is a step in my desired direction - healthy yet delicious.  I am so not interested in deprivation dieting.  Stepping up exercising, less alcohol and upping the health content of meals is needed and maintainable, but diets only slow your metabolism and cause more problems long term.  I want to learn to cook meals we love that are in line with our goals.  I just know that you will love this one as much as we do!  It is so worth a try.

Warm Balsamic Chicken and Haloumi Salad

Ever since making a Haloumi Tomato and Balsamic Glaze Brunch a few months ago (still one of my favourites, by the way) I've been thinking about using very similar flavours in a warm chicken salad.  Summer is fast approaching so casseroles and hotpots have a little less appeal right now.  Warm salads are a great way to have a filling low carb and flavourful meal on a warm evening.  Like pizza, plating warm salad is a lot of fun and lets you get artistic/let out your OCD side.  Now I'm not perfect at this but I love to try to make it symetrical and make sure that there aren't too many big gaps for each of the ingredients

The idea of "salad for dinner" used to sound bland to me.  I have to say that has completely changed over the last 12-18 months as I've explored some great warm salad ideas.  This meal was so easy to put together, had a great mix of sweet, salty and peppery flavours with a basil pesto punch coming through the dressing.  The crunchy, squeaky (haloumi) and soft (chicken) textures completed it. Nom.

Eye Opener Smoothie

Smoothies make my mornings (on the days that I can be bothered to do more than cereal + milk).  But I find that they do take more time to consume than cereal, and I want a coffee as well.  So I've been searching for a way to combine smoothies and coffee without it tasting horrible.  To date I have been entirely unsuccessful.  Hint: if it has berries, it should NOT...I repeat NOT...have coffee added. Bleurgh.

This one was different, however.  This morning I finally found a combination that worked, and it worked because it was simple.  Now that I've found a viable method, I'll add a few options over time to enjoy tasty simple mornings.  In my opinion, this smoothie works best with brewed coffee.  I used cold drip coffee (watch this space for a post about this), but if I didn't then I would brew slightly more coffee the morning before and store some extra in the fridge in a sealed container or in a cup covered with clingwrap.

Below is a simple tasty recipe for a coffee, banana and coconut eye opener smoothie.

Sundried Tomato, Proscuito and Goats Cheese Bake

Mmmm olives....sun dried tomatoes.....pancetta...and.....drool....goats cheese.

How could I not combine them?  That would be tantamount to sacrilege.

So I did.

And it was gooood.

I wanted to make a quiche/tart but I didn't want the carbs and butter in the shortcut pastry or the heavy cream.  I haven't been to the gym for a few weeks while on holidays, so I was trying to be good for my first week back.  Well...consuming goats cheese isn't technically being good, but when you are only eating 1/8th of this recipe then it works out ok I presume.  I wanted to effectively make the contents of a quiche in a crustless pie/bake/loaf form.  And it worked!  I was inspired by an amazing Baked Savoury Beetroot and Ricotta Pie from the Lab Kitchen which I have made for myself and recommended to my mum to make for a vegetarian friend - both times it was yum.  The Lab used bran on the outside of her pie instead of pastry, which works like a charm to hold it together.  I wanted to find out whether I could do this without anything on the outside or not, and it did work!

This dish is Mediterranean flavours in low carb heaven.  It makes 8 serves if you are good and don't go back for seconds...or thirds...

Enjoy.

Smashed Avocado and Feta on Toast - breakfast in 3 minutes

Just about every cafe I visit has "smashed avocado" on their menu.  It is often served with feta, sometimes with ham, sometimes with a poached egg on top.  Avocados have a soft nutty flavour which I love, and so many health benefits.  They are good for heart health, blood pressure (which I keep my eye on), good for your skin, have good fats and are generally nom-worthy.  I had an avocado and a little bit of leftover feta from making Meatzza again for friends of ours the other day and thought I'd try my hand at a very simple breakfast which packed a taste punch.

Smashed avocado is pretty simple - it's literally what it sounds like, and combined with feta, lemon juice and a little salt and pepper is so good.  You can't go wrong with this one.

Baked Salmon with Avocado sauce

Salmon and vegetables ready to bake - feel the health!

This weekend we gorged on delicious naughty food.  We had churros, TWO big breakfasts (Saturday at a cafe and Sunday at home) and macaroni and cheese for dinner.  Not the healthiest, and I think I may have gained a kilo through carbicide and oilicide.  It was beautiful though, and somewhat worth it.  So tonight the Dragon and I are looking for a healthy no carb dinner with loads of nutrients ;)

This is a simple recipe which I have adapted from one by Gillian McKeith that I found years ago during a no preservative, no dairy, no red meat, low carb period of my life.  I've always loved it and have added to and changed it to suit my tastes.  Once you have made it a couple of times it is incredibly simple and quick.  I recommend making this about once a month to help you to feel healthy and fabulous. Plus it is delicious.

Baked salmon always feels special.  Every ingredient in this meal is brimming with nutritious goodness.  The combination makes for a yummy meal which will leave you feeling satisfied without a trace of guilt.  You will have some leftover spring onions, so it is good to plan another recipes using up the leftover spring onions in the same week, eg a stir fry.

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

After making African Groundnut Stew recently, peanut butter was on my mind. 

So I decided to make a yummy smoothie for Sunday lunch.  I've made some tasty chocolate and peanut butter deserts in the past. These peanut butter squares for example from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" cookbook are to DIE FOR.  Almost literally when you look at how bad they are for you.  Great on the lips, not so good on the hips.   So I won't be making them today.  

Here is a tasty, fairly healthy and filling chocolate and peanut butter smoothie using protein powder.  This was my easy lunch.