Courgette, Carrot and Feta Fritters

Posted on May 21, 2016 by TheRobbInn

It’s amazing what you can make with a lonely courgette and carrot at the bottom of your vegetable basket.

These fritters are delicious hot or cold so would be ideal to take on a picnic or pack in a child’s lunchbox.   I served mine up hot with my left-over turkey burgers and a side of pineapple chutney and we thoroughly enjoyed them.

I substituted buckwheat flour for the plain flour as my husband is gluten intolerant, and I used my lemon ‘granules’ straight from the freezer.  Anyone using lemons or lemon zest a lot, these frozen granules are amazing so check them out here.  I’m finding new uses for them every week.

INGREDIENTS:

1 courgette (160g)
1 small carrot (80g)
1 small onion, very finely sliced (80g)
1 egg
2 tablespoons buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50g feta cheese, crumbled
Handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon of frozen lemon ‘granules‘ or two teaspoons grated lemon zest
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Oil

METHOD:

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Mix everything in a bowl

Grate the courgette and carrot using the course side of a grater.

Mix with the onion in a bowl, together with the egg, flour, baking powder, feta, mint and lemon granules or zest.   Season with a little salt and plenty of pepper.

 

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Fry three fritters at a time

 

Heat your preferred oil in a fry pan.

Carefully, using your hands, make six fritters (each about the size of your palm).

Fry for at least five minutes over a medium-high heat. Carefully turn over and fry on the other side over a slightly lower heat for a further five to seven minutes, or until cooked.  I found it easier to fry three at a time, keeping the first three warm whilst I fried the second three.

Tip:  If you find the mix quite soft, pop the formed fritters into the freezer for half-an-hour to stiffen up before cooking.

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Courgette, Carrot and Feta Fritters

This quantity makes six fritters and the recipe is adapted from the book Thrive on Five by Nina and Jo Littler.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

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Fruity “Ice Cream”

Posted on May 19, 2016 by TheRobbInn

The easiest, tastiest dessert ever…………..

Open freeze banana slices and strawberries.  When frozen, store in a freezer bag.

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Open freeze your fruit

Take a handful of frozen banana, a handful of frozen strawberries  and place in the cup of a Nutribullet.  Add a good cup of live yoghurt.  Blitz for 30 seconds.  Voila………..instant ‘ice cream’ ready to eat.

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Fruity Ice Cream

This fruity ‘ice cream’ can be made with almost any fruit but our favourite is definitely banana and strawberry.  The banana gives it a creaminess.  Raspberries and mangoes are excellent, as are blueberries and blackberries.  The choice is yours.

Leave your bananas to ripen fully before freezing (the more black spots, the better).

NB: All photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

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Slow Cooker Chicken

Posted on May 18, 2016 by TheRobbInn

The only thing fiddly about this dish, was skinning the chicken and to be honest that only took a few minutes.  Next time, however, I will get my butcher to do it for me as it only takes him seconds!

The sauce was simple to make as all the ingredients were standard stock-cupboard items;  and I always have a ready supply of chicken broth as I make it in bulk and store it in the freezer.

Although I am not a huge fan of slow cookers, this chicken cooked beautifully and the tantalizing aroma filling the kitchen all day made us extremely hungry by early evening.  Moist, succulent, well-flavoured chicken with a truly tasty sauce which I drizzled on the carved meat.  I served the chicken with baby new potatoes and a simple light salad and will definitely be cooking it again.

INGREDIENTS:

3lb chicken, skinned
½ cup chicken broth
1/3 cup coconut aminos (or gluten-free soy sauce)
1/3 cup olive oil
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or homemade equivalent)
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic

METHOD:

Place the skinned chicken in a slow cooker.

Mix together all the sauce ingredients and pour over the chicken.

Cook for 8 hours on low heat.  I did baste the bird

Processed with MOLDIV

Delicious sauce, skinned chicken = very tasty meal

Recipe adapted from Slow Cooker Kitchen.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

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Homemade Meatloaf

Posted on May 16, 2016 by TheRobbInn

It has been years and years since I last made a meatloaf but this recipe caught my eye and it was well-worth making especially as it is gluten-free and the grated carrots and onion give it a nutritional boost.  It would serve at least six hungry people but better still, it freezes well and reheats beautifully wrapped in foil without drying out (I froze my leftover meatloaf in slices).

The recipe is loosely adapted from one from Wholefoods Market but I adjusted it slightly by using wholegrain mustard instead of Dijon, and using a tube of tomato paste instead of a can of tomato sauce.   As I didn’t have any rice crackers at the time, I crushed some rice cakes and used these crumbs and they worked perfectly.   This recipe could also be changed slightly by the addition of fresh herbs, garlic etc. but it was delicious and moist as it was.

I had some left-over tomato salsa in the fridge (chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, mint) and this complimented the dish beautifully.  I served the meatloaf with noodles made from carrot, courgette and sweet potato which I very quickly sautéed in a drop of olive oil.  As a last minute thought, I sprinkled the noodles with a heaped teaspoon of my frozen lemon ‘granules‘ and WOW, did that bring the flavour out.  Another excellent use for the granules.

INGREDIENTS:

Oil for greasing loaf pan
2 lbs extra-lean minced beef
½ cup rice cracker crumbs or from rice cakes.
1 onion, ½ chopped, ½ thinly sliced
1 cup grated carrots
1 egg, lightly beaten
Approximately 2/3 tube of tomato paste
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9” loaf tin with your preferred oil.

In a large bowl, combine beef, cracker crumbs, chopped onion, carrots, egg, ¼ tube of tomato paste, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Mix well and pack into prepared loaf tin.

Coat the meatloaf with the remaining tomato paste and scatter the sliced onion over the top.

Place the loaf tin on a baking sheet and bake until cooked through, approximately 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out and slicing.

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Delicious meatloaf

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Meatloaf with tomato salsa and sweet potato, carrot and courgette noodles

When using up the left-over slices of meatloaf, I made up a delicious hot tomato sauce to accompany it, and the two went so well together – a match made in heaven!

Note:  When using minced beef, always buy the best you can get.  My local butcher confirms that his best lean mince has UNDER 5% of fat.  Supermarket basic mince can have a staggering 20% fat content but they also sell one with 10% and 5% fat content priced accordingly.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

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Orange Chocolate Cake

Posted on May 14, 2016 by TheRobbInn

Not long ago, I realized that I could freeze a whole lemon, grate it, store the granules in the freezer and use ALL of it in many recipes.  No waste – brilliant.

Now I find a recipe where I can use a whole orange (or two) – peel, pith, flesh and juice and the resulting chocolate cake is one of the best cakes I’ve tasted in a long while.

I had family staying with us over the Bank Holiday weekend and as I walked into the kitchen I thought one of them was eating an orange.  That lovely citrus aroma of when an orange is being peeled and eaten.  I was wrong……………the cake tin had just been opened!

This was one of those recipes I knew just had to be made asap and I was astounded at how simple and quick it was to mix up.  Okay – it took an hour to boil the oranges but that wasn’t exactly hard work and I had these on the hob whilst I was getting breakfast and then left them to cool for an hour or two.

Some chocolate cakes can be a little dry but this one turns out amazingly moist with a slight tang of citrus (not too strong).  We decided it was delicious on its own without any icing or topping but for an extra special occasion it could be covered with a healthy chocolate ganache made with coconut cream or perhaps some melted dark chocolate, or even just a dusting of cacao.

INGREDIENTS:

2 oranges
2 cups almond flour
4 heaped tablespoons cacao
5 tablespoons honey
5 free-range eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup good quality dark chocolate chips (optional)

METHOD:

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Cover with water and simmer

Put the oranges in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for one hour. Lift them out of the water and allow them to cool.

Cut the oranges into quarters and place in a food processor; everything – skin, pith, flesh and juice. Process until smooth.

 

Add the remaining ingredients except the chocolate chips and process until smooth.

Fold the chocolate chips into the mixture carefully.

Pour into a lined 8” cake tin and bake at 160°C for approximately 50 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for a while before turning out.

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Boiled Orange Chocolate Cake

Recipe slightly adapted from the one by Eleanor Ozich at Petite Kitchen.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

Posted in Miscellany, Sweets and Treats | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Oven-baked Falafel

Posted on May 12, 2016 by TheRobbInn

These Middle Eastern falafel balls are such a versatile food that you will usually find a large bag of them in my freezer.  The beauty of them is that the recipe can be slightly adjusted each time using different herbs or adding some toasted sesame seeds to make a pleasant change.

It’s important to use dried chickpeas (soaked) in this recipe as the tinned ones make the mix too wet, although a spoonful or two of buckwheat flour or similar should make them hold together.

Falafel balls are known as ‘street’ food and can be served in pita bread with a salsa; as an appetizer or on their own and we love serving them with a delicious dip made with a squirt of honey, a spoonful of lemon juice, a large handful of parsley and dill – all blitzed together with some homemade live yoghurt.

Originally deep fried, these oven-baked falafel balls are much more healthy and nutritious.

INGREDIENTS:

400g sweet potato
200g dried chickpeas
1 courgette
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
3 large handfuls of any green herb (mint, coriander, parsley – or a mix of each)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil or your preferred oil for brushing

METHOD:

Soak the dried chickpeas for 24 hours, rinse and drain well.

Peel the sweet potato and cut into small pieces. Boil until tender then drain and mash. Alternatively, bake the potato whole in the oven for about 1 hour and scoop out the flesh.

Trim the ends of the courgette, peel and chop the onion and garlic cloves.

2016-04-25_071615359_5AE62_iOSPlace all ingredients, except the oil, into a food processor and blitz for a few seconds until chopped.

Don’t blend for too long as a course mixture is preferable.

 

Using your hands, shape into small balls, slightly smaller than a golf ball; place on a parchment lined baking sheet, flatten slightly and then open freeze until solid.  This recipe makes about 35 to 40 small balls.

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Open freeze until solid

Store in either a clip-top box or a freezer bag until required.

These falafel balls are best baked from frozen.  Brush with oil and cook for approximately 30 minutes in a 200°C oven, turning half-way through cooking.

Serve with a yoghurt dip, in a pita bread or as part of a main course.  However you serve them, they are delicious.

Recipe adapted from the book Thrive on Five by Nina and Jo Littler

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

Posted in Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Miscellany, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Cut and Come Again’ Soup !!

Posted on May 10, 2016 by TheRobbInn

I could have called this a boring carrot and lentil soup but my husband, on trying it for the first time, said it was one of those soups that he could carry on eating – a bit like having a slice of cake and immediately wanting another slice  – hence the name.

I had ended up with loads of carrots in my vegetable basket and as I like to keep my freezer well stocked, I decided to make some soup using what I had around the kitchen.  Lentils are always a favourite and I added the flesh from a couple of oranges which were lingering in the fruit bowl, and to warm it up a little, some Berbere spice.  I’ve always plenty of vegetable stock which I make myself from vegetable peelings and then freeze in handy quantities, so it didn’t take long before this soup was simmering on the hob.

The quantities are guesswork but close enough to repeat making the soup which my husband reckoned was in his top ‘five’ favourite soups.  It was really thick and creamy with a warmth from the spice.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb carrots, topped and cut into chunks
Half a bag of red lentils (approximately 250g)
3 or 4 onions, peeled and sliced
2 or 3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 heaped teaspoons Berbere spice mix
Flesh of one or two oranges in chunks
1L good quality vegetable stock
Splash of olive oil

METHOD:

Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes until soft.

Add the spice and gently fry for a few seconds making sure it doesn’t burn. This releases the wonderful flavour and aroma of the spice.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Leave to cool slightly and then blend with a hand-held blender. If too thick, add water to consistency desired.

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‘Cut and Come Again’ Soup

This quantity made five really good helpings for the freezer, plus one helping which was eaten straight away.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

 

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Cloud Bread

Posted on May 7, 2016 by TheRobbInn

I still get excited at trying new recipes, especially a recipe as different as this one.  I don’t often use cream cheese but decided that for these amazing Cloud Bread baps, I would use some and the result was amazing.

This Cloud Bread is not actually ‘bread’ but it is so soft, airy, fluffy and delicious that as a bread replacement it is excellent being almost carb-free, gluten-free and high in protein.

There is no need to sweeten them unless you want a slightly sweeter bap (I put a tiny squirt of runny honey into my first batch).  I sprinkled my first ones with sesame seeds as I was using them as a burger bun and they even looked the part.  One recipe suggests putting a slice of tomato and melted mozzarella on top; another tops with rosemary or cracked pepper.  They can be used either hot or cold, as a bun or as a sandwich.

INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons soft cream cheese
¼ teaspoon baking powder or cream of tartar

Optional ingredients:
1 tablespoon of honey or maple syrup (or your favourite sweetener)
Salt
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Rosemary
Chives
Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
Other favourite spices/herbs

METHOD:

Separate the eggs.

Mix together the egg yolks, cream cheese and honey (or sweetener of choice) until smooth.

In a separate bowl, add the baking powder to the egg whites and whisk until they are stiff and form peaks.

Slowly fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites and carefully mix together.   Don’t beat as you will collapse the mix.   Do this as quickly as possible and then spoon about 8 to 10 even-sized rounds on to lightly greased trays or baking parchment.

Sprinkle the rounds with sesame seeds, rosemary or your favourite herbs/spices.

Bake at 160°C for about 20 minutes, or until they are well risen and golden brown.

Carefully remove from the tray and cool.

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Cloud Bread

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Chicken Cloud Bread Burgers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t have any chicken or turkey burgers and wanted to use up a couple of chicken thighs I had in the fridge.  I topped these with a quickly made tomato salsa (tomatoes, onion, garlic and mint) and one was topped with a slice of mozzarella cheese.  The Cloud Bread baps worked really well and were extremely light.

If not using straight away, cool and seal in an airtight tin.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Posted on April 22, 2016 by TheRobbInn

I used to love Lemon Poppy Seed muffins and not long ago I indulged in one whilst we were out.  Apart from finding it oversweet, the lemon flavour was very synthetic and I didn’t enjoy the experience at all,  so when I spotted this recipe in the book The Art of Eating Well by Hemsley and Hemsley I just knew I had to try making some.

I have also just discovered the amazing fact that I can freeze a whole lemon, grate ALL of it (zest, pith and flesh) and keep it in the freezer to use as and when I need lemon zest (or lemon flavouring etc).  This recipe was an ideal one to experiment using these frozen lemon ‘granules’.   *Instead of using 1 tablespoon of lemon zest as suggested in the recipe, I just scooped out approximately 3 tablespoons of my grated lemon and used that instead.  One frozen lemon grated yields quite a large quantity of ‘granules’.

To say these muffins are delicious is an understatement.  They are absolutely superb.  So freshly lemony, light and tasty with the added crunch of the seed.  I used chia seeds rather than poppy seeds.

INGREDIENTS:

65g butter
1 tablespoon unwaxed grated lemon zest (from about 5 small lemons) *see note above
3 eggs
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon poppy seeds or black chia seeds, plus extra to sprinkle
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 pinches of ground turmeric
45g coconut flour
A tiny pinch of sea salt

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Line a 6-hole cupcake tin with 5 cupcake cases, or a 12-hole mini muffin tin with 10 mini-muffin cases.

Gently melt the butter with the lemon zest in a saucepan to release the oils.

Whisk the eggs together with the cooled melted butter, then add the rest of the ingredients. Taste the batter and add more zest if needed. Leave to cool.

Divide the mixture among the cases.  I used cupcake cases rather than muffin cases and made nine muffins of a reasonable size.

Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes depending on their size. They are ready when they’re still a little soft inside as they continue to cook as they cool.

Remove from the tray immediately and cool on a wire rack.

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Lemon Poppy (Chia) Seed Muffins

Coconut flour has its own set of rules, so follow the instructions carefully.  I left my muffins in the oven for 20 minutes and they looked very slightly undercooked when I took them out, but they soon finished cooking as they cooled.  They really were perfect.

These muffins will keep in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze them and heat through in the oven to serve.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

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Pineapple Chutney

Posted on April 20, 2016 by TheRobbInn

When I asked my husband to bring me home a pineapple from the shops to use when making my Hawaiian Turkey Burgers, I imagined a small to medium sized one but I received the biggest pineapple I have ever seen……it was enormous.   I only needed a few slices for my Turkey Burgers;  we ate a couple of slices and I was still left with a large amount to use up and I was delighted when I spotted the recipe for Pineapple Chutney towards the end of Nina and Jo Littler’s Book, Thrive on Five.

A perfect way to use up the remainder of the pineapple…….mind you, I trebled the recipe so it gives you an idea of how large the pineapple was !

I didn’t have fresh curry leaves so omitted them and rather than use caster sugar I substituted with coconut sugar and the result was still excellent.

I still had some Turkey Burgers in the freezer and the chutney went really well with them.  Alternatively, it tasted delicious on crackers (still warm) and would be a superb accompaniment to any cold meat.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon sunflower oil (I used olive oil)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds (I used a mix of yellow and black)
Sprig of curry leaves (leave out if you can’t find fresh leaves)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 heaped teaspoon grated root ginger
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon caster sugar (I used coconut sugar)
230g pineapple pieces in juice, drained and chopped OR equivalent weight of fresh pineapple

METHOD:

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and add the cinnamon stick followed by the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves (if using). Fry for about 30 seconds or until the seeds start to change colour and pop.

Add the onion and cook for two minutes before adding the ginger and chilli. Cook for a further two minutes before adding the turmeric.

Add the vinegar, sugar, pineapple and 175ml of water and simmer for just over one hour, stirring from time to time.

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Pineapple Chutney

The chutney will keep in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to one week.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.

 

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