Tuna-stuffed Baked Round Zucchini and Tomatoes
Monday, June 22, 2015Perfect as a light meal or side dish, these baked zucchini and tomatoes, adapted from taste, are stuffed with a delicious mixture of tuna, golden raisins, onion, chives, cinnamon, and wholegrain breadcrumbs. It looks much cuter made with the small, round zucchini, but is equally delicious made with standard long variety.
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- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Cut a thin slice from top of each zucchini and tomato and reserve. Use a small teaspoon to remove the flesh from zucchini and tomato. Roughly chop flesh then set aside. Season the shells with salt and pepper. Place into a baking dish.
- Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and cinnamon. Cook for 1 minute, or until tender. Add tuna, chopped tomato flesh, chives and raisins. Cook for 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
- Stir breadcrumbs into tuna mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into zucchini and tomato shells. Replace tops. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until tender. Serve with green salad.
White Asparagus with Raspberry Tarragon Dressing
Wednesday, June 17, 2015This is the perfect summer salad made quickly with seasonal produce: white asparagus, raspberries and arugula. Homemade raspberry vinegar, vegetable broth, maple syrup, argan oil, and tarragon make up this delicious dressing inspired by 1 Salad - 50 Dressings - Tanja Dusy. Fresh raspberries give this raspberry-tarragon vinaigrette a burst of antioxidants.
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- Rinse and pat dry the raspberries. Place them in the blender together with vegetable broth, vinegar, maple syrup and argan oil. Puree until smooth.
- Wash the tarragon sprigs and pat dry. Finely slice the tarragon leaves and stir into the dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.
- In a large, deep skillet, add enough salted water to reach a depth of 2 inches. Bring it to a boil. Add in white asparagus and cook until crisp-tender, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water and let stand until chilled. Drain and pat dry. Arrange the asparagus, arugula and raspberries in a serving dish, drizzle with raspberry dressing.
Blueberry Spelt Crumble Cake
Friday, June 12, 2015An easy blueberry crumb cake, bursting with soft and sweet blueberries, and a cinnamon-flavored streusel, is great for a picnic, brunch or for afternoon tea with friends.
Blueberry Spelt Crumble Cake
adapted from tasteCrumble Topping | Cake Batter |
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- Preheat oven 180C/350F. Grease and line base of a 20cm round springform pan with baking paper.
- For the topping, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Set aside.
- Whisk together the spelt flour, ground hazelnuts, baking soda and baking powder.
- Beat butter, stevia powder and coconut sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, lemon rind and juice. Gradually add flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating. Mix until well combined.
- Spread two-thirds of the batter into prepared pan. Top with one-third of the blueberries and one-third of the crumble mix. Top with remaining batter, smoothing the top, then top with remaining blueberries and crumble.
- Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before transferring to a serving plate.
Green Smoothie Raspberry Popsicles
Saturday, June 06, 2015Green smoothie in pop form! These frozen treats are a perfect healthy snack for summertime and a good fun way to get kids to “eat” their vegetables. If you ain't really into the leafy greens, simply use cucumber, celery or even parsley instead and mango and kiwi can be used in place of banana too.
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- Place the kale, salad leaves, banana, coconut water and lime juice in a blender and blend for 1–2 minutes or until smooth.
- Divide the mixture among 8-10 popsicles moulds with a couple of frozen raspberries. Insert a popsicle stick into each mould. Place in freezer to firm up overnight.
Marinated Zucchini Salad
Sunday, May 31, 2015A simple marinated zucchini salad from Donna Hay. Raw zucchini salad can be rather dull, but when very thinly sliced, they soak up the flavour of a vinaigrette perfectly through marinating. This fresh, tasty recipe will come in handy when zucchini starts producing in your garden.
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- Place the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, chilli pepper, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix to combine.
- Cut zucchini crosswise into thin round slices with a knife or a mandolin. Add the sliced zucchini and red onion if used, to the marinade and toss to coat. Allow to marinate for 10 minutes. Place on a serving plate and top with the chopped chives to serve.
Apricot Einkorn Cake with Almond and Maple Syrup
Monday, May 25, 2015This apricot cake, sweetened with maple syrup and applesauce, and nutritiously delicious with einkorn flour and almond meal, comes together fairly quickly and can easily be tweaked to include whatever seasonal fruits are available. Enjoy it warm or at room temperature with a dollop of thickened cream or simply dusted with icing sugar.
Apricot Einkorn Cake with Almond and Maple Syrup
adapted from taste
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- Lightly grease a baking pan (22cmx20cmx4cm) with butter and line the base and the sides of the pan with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Whisk together the ground einkorn, almond meal, baking powder, and cinnamon. In another saucepan, mix together almond milk, maple syrup and applesauce.
- Beat the butter until light and pale. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Add in half of the flour mixture and mix. Now mix in liquid mixture, then the rest of flour mixture until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the apricot halves, cut side up, over the batter.
- Bake in the middle of hot oven for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Asparagus with Truffle Oil, Egg and Tomato Dressing
Monday, May 18, 2015Green asparagus, boiled in salted water until crisp tender, served with a dressing made with hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, fresh herbs and truffle oil. Low-carb, high in protein and fiber, gluten-free and the combination of flavour make this salad a perfect spring time lunch.
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- Cut the tomatoes into 5mm thick dices. Place them in a sieve over a bowl and reserve the strained liquid. Roughly chop and parsley and slice the chives into rings.
- Half the eggs and crumble one egg yolk in a small bowl together with truffle mustard, white wine vinegar, and reserved tomato juice. Whisk until everything is combined. Beat in truffle oil and sunflower oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Finely chop the remaining egg whites and egg yolk. Stir chopped eggs, diced tomatoes and herbs into the dressing. Set aside for 30 minutes for the flavours to develop.
- In a large, deep skillet, add enough salted water to reach a depth of 2 inches. Bring it to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook until crisp-tender, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water and let stand until chilled. Drain and pat dry. Arrange the asparagus in a serving dish, drizzle with prepared dressing.
Eggplant Fans with Yoghurt
Tuesday, May 12, 2015In celebration of World Hunger Day on the 28th May, I have challenged myself to create this delicious eggplant recipe that comes in below the poverty line – at just 33pence / 45cents per head to support the MyVoucherCodes/World Hunger Day campaign, helping people lift themselves out of poverty as well as raising money for the charity World Hunger Project.
If you are looking for more gourmet options rather than being stuck on this budget friendly version, then use some homemade tomato pasta sauce with fresh herbs and olive oil instead and replace the yoghurt topping with a creamy Parmesan sauce as the original recipe has recommended.
Can you put together a delicious and healthy dish for just 33p a head? Challenge your frugal cooking skills, help spread awareness and raise money for charity by signing up here.
Eggplant Fans with Yoghurt
90cents / 66pence
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- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Cut the eggplants in half, keeping the stem end intact. Place an eggplant half, flesh side down, on a work surface. Use a sharp knife to cut 6 long slits from below the stem to the base. Use your hand to press down on the slices to form a fan. Repeat with remaining eggplant.
- Divide the tomato sauce among 2 baking dishes. Place the eggplant fans on top. Cut tomato into 10 slices lengthways. Place a slice between each eggplant slice. Sprinkle with the garlic and thyme. Drizzle each with one teaspoon of sunflower oil. Bake, swapping the trays halfway through cooking, for 35 minutes or until the eggplant is golden and tender.
- Season the yoghurt with salt, pepper and thyme leaves. Divide the eggplant fans among serving plates and spoon over the yoghurt.
Stuffed Sweet Pointed Peppers with Goat Cheese and Pine Nuts
Thursday, May 07, 2015These stuffed peppers, adapted from lidlkochen, are creamy, sweet, crunchy and made the perfect summer party appetizer. If you don’t like goat cheese, they also work great with Feta. Sweet pointed peppers are a lot sweeter than ordinary sweet peppers and they also have a thinner skin, and can be eaten either raw or cooked.
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- Put the nuts in a dry skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. Roughly chop the pine nuts.
- Pull the needle-like leaves off the rosemary sprigs and finely chop them.
- Mix together the fresh goat cheese, half of chopped rosemary leaves, orange zest and crème fraîche in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
- Fill the pointed pepper halves with the goat cheese mixture and sprinkle with the rest of rosemary leaves.