Recipe: Mellow Okra and Chickpeas

Although I have a wealth of recipe books and try to base my meals on what I have in the house already, there are times when the yellow sticker section of the supermarket comes up trumps and I find some gems that are too good to resist. The latest example of this was a pack of okra for 20p. I rarely see okra, let alone buy it, but I've had enough good dishes in Indian restaurants to know I enjoy it. 

I'd remembered seeing a recipe in Plenty that featured okra but in the end I made up my own version of a dish that was colourful, different and satisfying. It has elements of curry recipes I've made in the past but is far gentler. 

Mellow Okra and Chickpeas

Ingredients

• 1 pack okra (~150g)
• 1 red pepper
• 400g chickpeas, drained
• 400g chopped toms
• 1 tbsp corriander seeds
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 80g quinoa, dry weight
• Fresh coriander, chopped

Method

1. Melt the coconut oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin and coriander seeds and cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Cut the stalks from the okra, trying not to cut so low as to expose the seeds, and slice the red pepper into strips. Add to the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes
3. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas and simmer until the okra is tender and the chickpeas are warmed through, about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa according to the instructions, this usually takes about 8-10 minutes.
5. When cooked, drain the quinoa and alongside the okra and chickpea mix. Serve with fresh chopped coriander or a little sour cream or yogurt if you like.

Have you been inspired by any unusual reduced items at the supermarket?

Recipe : Breakfast Quesadillas

What do you go for when you want a breakfast that tastes a bit naughty but is actually fairly good for you? Banana pancakes? A "carrot cake" smoothie? Maybe porridge with nutella? I've got a new one for you... breakfast quesadillas.

I love the traditional quesadillas and have made them myself for lunches or dinners before now but it's only recently I've tried them for breakfast. Sweet or savoury, it's all good and definitely feels like an indulgent breakfast. Here is my suggestion for a sweet version, but you can certainly play around with the fillings to your heart's content.

Sweet Breakfast Quesadilla

Ingredients

• 1 wholegrain tortilla wrap
• 2 tbs nut butter (I like crunchy peanut)
• 1 small banana, sliced
• Handful of blueberries
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan large enough to hold your tortilla wrap folded in half
2. Spread the tortilla wrap with the nut butter and arrange the banana and blueberries onto one half of the wrap. Sprinkle with the cinnamon.
3. Fold the rest of the wrap over and place in the pan. Cook on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until the underside is golden. Carefully flip over and cook on the other side for another 5-6 minutes until golden.
4. Remove from the pan, cut in half and serve with a sprinkling of icing sugar, some greek yogurt and more fresh fruit as you see fit.

Another good combination is banana and strawberry with chocolate hazelnut butter!

Let me know what you think and of any other tasty fillings you come up with.

Recipe : Uppark(run) Cake

It is the done thing, amongst runners at least, to celebrate landmark events with cake. And so it was only right and proper that I provided cake in honour of completing my 100th parkrun last Saturday. I made my go-to chocolate cake recipe (from the Pink Whisk here) in addition to a new recipe, which had been pinned to my fridge for some weeks. 

I'm a keen supporter of the National Trust, enjoy visiting their properties and indeed sampling their cake. I'd recently visited Uppark House and this recipe for "Uppark Cake" was tempting and felt appropriate purely because it had the word "park" in the title. It went down a storm and I promised I'd share the recipe here so here it is!

Uppark cake in foreground, chocolate cake behind.

Uppark Cake

Makes 9 portions (halved from the original recipe)

Ingredients

• 110g cooking/baking margarine
• 110g granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 165g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp marmalade
• 1 1/2 tbs milk
• 200g mixed dried fruit (I used sultanas, mixed peel and cherries)
• A sprinkling of caster sugar for the top

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Grease and line a tin (I used a square silicone cake pan).
3. Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, with a little flour to prevent curdling.
5. Add all the other ingredients, sifting the flour and baking powder into the bowl, and mix.
6. The mixture should drop off the spoon easily. If it is too stiff, add a little more milk or water.
7. Smooth into the prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 35-45 minutes (check after half an hour and every 5 minutes after that).
8. Sprinkle with sugar while still warm.
9. Cut once cooled, and enjoy with tea and friends!

Recipe: Toffee Apple Pancakes

I can never find quite the right pancake recipe when I want it so frequently end up making up my own on the spot. My most recent effort, inspired by a new peanut butter and some browning bananas, turned out really well so I'm sharing it here, so that you can try something similar and also so that I can find it again when the mood takes me!

These pancakes are light and delicious but you can make them as indulgent as you like.

Toffee Apple Pancakes

Makes 6 small pancakes

Ingredients

1 banana
1 egg
1-2 tbsp TPW Toffee Fudge Crunch Peanut Butter Luxe
2 tbsp apple puree
1 tsp chia and flax seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarb
1-2 tsp coconut oil

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan while you make the pancake batter
2. Put the banana, egg, peanut butter, apple puree, cinnamon, bicarb, chia and flax seeds into a blender or into a jug if you want to use a hand blender. Mix until you have a batter. It will be somewhere between thick American style pancake batter and thin crepe batter.
3. Pour a little of the batter into the hot pan. You're aiming for small saucer size pancakes.
4. When little bubbles start to appear on the top, after 1-2 minutes, flip the pancake over and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.
5. Pop on a plate while you cook the remaining pancakes. Keep warm in a low oven if you wish.
6. Serve with TPW Zero Maple Syrup, apple puree and more peanut butter if you wish. If you want even more indulgence, a little butter between each pancake is extremely tasty!

Waste Not : Leftover Veg Stir Fried Rice

During the time I spent scrutinising my food habits recently I learned that I'm inherently frugal with my food. I can't abide throwing things out and the key to this is having a few reliable recipes to make the most of odds and ends of things that are left over. One of my favourites at the moment, aside from the ever present "bung it all in" soup I make quite often, is vegetable fried rice. You can throw all sorts of bits and bobs in and end up with a tasty, nutritious meal at the end of it. The addition of cashews and egg means there's a good protein hit, good carbs in the form of brown rice or quinoa and of course, lots of veg.

Left Over Veg Stir Fried Rice

This makes a great lunch or perhaps a light dinner.

• Handful of cooked rice (I prefer brown) or quinoa per person
• A good amount of left over veg (broccoli, peppers, mushroom, courgette, green beans and sweetcorn are all good but don't feel restricted)
• One egg per person, beaten
• A small handful of cashews, toasted (optional)
• Soy sauce
• Chilli flakes (optional)
• Oil

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok
2. Once hot, add the veg and rice and cook until heated through. I sometimes like to heat up left over rice in the microwave first to ensure it's piping hot and not harbouring any nasties.
3. Add the soy and chilli flakes to taste. 
4. Move the rice and veg to one side of the pan and add the egg to the other side. This is easiest if the pan is tilted slightly in the egg direction. Let it sit for a moment and then use a spatula or chopstick to scramble the egg without mixing it in to the rice mixture.
5. Once the egg is softly scrambled, remove from the heat and mix in with the rice.
6. Serve topped with toasted cashews.

Review & Recipe : Indigo Herbs Organic Kick Ass Vegan Smoothie Mix

If you regularly use products like barley grass, spirulina and cacao nibs then you may already have heard of or ordered from Indigo Herbs. By it's own admission the company is on a mission to "empower optimum health by inspiring people to take responsibility for their own wellbeing by making excellent quality herbs and superfoods available and affordable". Certainly when I've been shopping around for supplements and powders they've often ranked up there as best value for money.

They are also sponsoring Veganuary.com, a campaign that is inspiring and supporting people trying vegan for January, whether that be for health, nutrition, animal welfare or environmental purposes. And in honour of this they've worked with Sam Taylor, an internationally competing martial artist, who also happens to be vegan, to develop the Organic Kick Ass Vegan Smoothie Mix.

It's a great addition to your smoothies, porridge and a multitude of other foodie things as this superfood mix is high in protein, dietary fibre, vitamins A, E, C & B2 as well as being high in calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. It won't add masses of calories either, unlike some protein powders, with just 28kcal per 15g. This list of ingredients is enough to make you feel healthier just by reading it!

Organic Spirulina Powder
Organic Maca Powder
Organic Banana Powder
Organic Moringa Powder
Organic Chlorella Powder
Organic Wheatgrass Powder
Organic Chia Seed Protein Powder
Organic Pumpkin Seed Protein Powder
Organic Barley Grass Powder
Organic Baobab Powder

I was very kindly sent a pouch of this mix to try for myself and I enjoyed coming up with a couple of recipes with it. I didn't venture far from the smoothie (mainly due to time constraints) but was really happy with the results. I also think this would be awesome added into granola before baking! A point of note... this mix is very green and so will affect the colour of your finished smoothie. If you're making something with a lot of light coloured fruit, for example, it may turn murky but it will still taste excellent. So without further ado, here are my two smoothie recipes. 

Banana Cardamom Milkshake

If you like the popular Indian spice, cardamom, you will LOVE this!

• Seeds of 3 crushed cardamom pods
• 1-2 cups coconut milk, almond milk or cashew milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp Organic Kick Ass Vegan Smoothie Mix

Simply put all the ingredients into your choice of blender (I currently use a Blend Active but a jug blender or hand blender will do) and blitz until smooth. 

Kick Ass Choconut Smoothie

This will really set you up for the day!

• 1-2 cups coconut milk, almond milk or cashew milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cocoa
• 1 tsp Organic Kick Ass Vegan Smoothie Mix
• 1 tbsp nut better of choice (I used the Supernut Butter mix from TheProteinWorks)

Again, this is simply a case of putting all the ingredients into your choice of blender and blitz until smooth. 

If you try either of these and enjoy them, I'd love to know. For further inspiration, check out more recipes here and stock up on Organic Kick Ass Vegan Smoothie Mix here.

Courgette & Blue Cheese Tartlets

As a single person who often works until about 8pm, I'm saved from reaching for junk food by batch cooking. This isn't restricted to chili, soup, stews and the like, oh no! My latest batch cook has been delightful little puff pastry tarts, topped with seasonal fruit or veg, a little cheese and some nuts or seeds to up the protein balance. 

Served hot with a side of potatoes and salad or vegetables, these make a lovely easy dinner and cold with salad they're a tasty light lunch. I first made them for a picnic and they've been a go-to ever since. I tend to make 4 at a time to have warm for dinners and cold for lunches. They're super quick and easy and very versatile.

Courgette & Blue Cheese Tartlets

Ingredients

1/2 pack of ready-made puff pastry

50g blue cheese, crumbled

1 medium courgette, sliced

Handful of walnuts pieces

Salt & pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C 
2. Flour your work surface and roll out the puff pastry into a rough square, about 2-3mm thick. Cut into four smaller squares (these will be your bases) and transfer to baking trays.
3. Score a line about 1cm in from the edge of each base with a knife. Prick the base all over with a fork, avoiding the outer scored border.
4. Lay the courgette slices over each base, and season. Sprinkle over the cheese and the walnuts.
5. Bake the tartlets in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the edge is puffed up and golden and the cheese has melted a little.
6. Serve with a side of salad or vegetables of your choice.

I've experimented with different combinations of toppings including:

• Apple, blue cheese, red currants and walnuts
• Pear, smoked cheese and pumpkin seeds
• Peppers, goats cheese and pine nuts

Try adding some herbs or perhaps some chilli flakes, whatever takes your fancy. These keep in the fridge for 4-5 days in a well sealed container.

Got any other slightly unusual batch cooks to share? What would you top your version of these with?

Super Food Pancakes

Pancakes for breakfast is something the Americans do well. Whether they're served with bacon or fruit, butter or maple syrup, they're pretty special and something we Brits are embracing too. There are countless ways to make pancakes and some are more reliable or healthier than others. This version, inspired by one over at Runner's World is just about one of the best I've made in my opinion.

The increasingly popular (in the health and fitness world anyway) basic banana and egg batter ups the protein content with ground almonds, good cholesterol with desiccated coconut and fibre and omega 3 from Bioglan's Cacao & Flax powder. This powder is a new product in my kitchen at the moment, something I've not bought before, or even considered trying. However as part of Tesco's Orchard scheme I've been able to try this for free and I'm now adding it to all sorts of breakfasts. It adds a hint of chocolate and enhances the fruitiness of my smoothies. Plus I know it's good for me!

Super Food Pancakes

Makes 4-6 pancakes

Ingredients

1 very ripe banana
1 egg
45g ground almonds
15g desiccated coconut
1 heaped tablespoon of Bioglan Cacao & Flax Powder
Large handful of blueberries or other fresh fruit of choice
Coconut oil or other cooking oil
1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
1 tablespoon flaked almonds

Method

1. Mix the banana, egg, almonds, coconut and cacao & flax powder together in a mixing jug, bowl or processor. This should give you a thick batter, however if the mixture looks a little too thick, add a splash of milk (dairy or non-dairy, your choice).
2. Melt a little coconut oil in a frying pan and add large spoonfuls of the mixture. 
3. Cook for 3-4 minutes on one side, then flip and cook on the other side for 3-4 minutes.
4. Serve in a stack, drizzled with the honey or syrup and topped with the fruit and almonds.

Enjoy!

What's your favourite pancake recipe? How else would you use the cacao & flax powder?

Barbecue Inspiration with Quorn

You may have trouble believing it, based on the current weather activity but it is summer and therefore the season the the BBQ. I do enjoy a BBQ but rarely make the effort to do one myself and sometimes, as a vegetarian, struggle for inspiration of what to cook so an evening at the London Barbecue School with Quorn was just the thing.

A lot of people are surprised when I say that I don't eat a lot of Quorn. It's not because I dislike it, far from it! But my style of cooking has changed a lot during the time I have been vegetarian and one of the wonderful things about Quorn products is that they are so easy to use as substitutes in recipes that traditionally call for meat such as chilli, toad-in-the-hole, curries and of course barbecues, fare I don't often make these days.

Credit: Quorn

Although Quorn is a product suitable for vegetarians, it's more appropriate to say, because of its versatility, that it's just a healthy protein. My dad, a committed steak eater, cooks with Quorn often and I'm a huge fan of something he calls "gumbo" (not quite like the real deal). He also regularly requests a version of beef bourguignon made with Quorn at home. Compared to beef, Quorn contains 90% less saturated fat, 50% fewer calories, is higher in fibre and is still a complete protein. On top of that it's highly sustainable, resulting in 90% lower emissions from the production process than beef and a great carrier of flavour. It's this last part that's key for me when thinking about using it on the barbecue.

At the London Barbecue School, drinks in hand, we were shown how to operate the huge egg-shaped grills then let loose with stacks of ingredients and four recipes to try our hands at whipping up some delicious meals using Quorn. The products we used weren't especially fancy; sausages, burgers,  Swedish style balls and crispy coated southern burgers, but the meals were all mouthwatering and flavourful.

Nibbling on picnic eggs and cocktail sausages to tide us over we whipped up kebabs using Swedish style balls, sticky sausage & vegetable skewers, southern fried burger & vegetable wraps and chilli burgers with chipotle & sweetcorn salsa. I got stuck in with the sticky skewers, making a marinade with olive oil, lemon juice, wholegrain mustard and mango chutney and singeing the hair on my arms whilst turning and basting them. I tried a bit of everything (twice) and found it hard to decide which was my favourite. If pressed I think I'd say the kebabs, but really, I would be far from disappointed if any of these were my only option at a barbecue.

Credit: Quorn

All the recipes were quick, low-faff and required little in the way of fancy ingredients so are easy to recreate and have paved the way for me to get creative with Quorn products again. I enjoyed trying some new recipes in the past and with such a huge range of products from the everyday mince, pieces, sausages and burgers to Chef's Selection, gluten free, picnic foods and a soon-to-be-launched vegan range (which I'm rather excited about) there's plenty to choose from! And I'm safe in the knowledge that it's a good fit with my healthy eating intentions.

Credit: Quorn

It was a really fun evening, not only cooking but chatting, relaxing and quaffing in the open air in the courtyard that is the school. The London Barbecue School is located in Peckham Rye and offers the opportunity to learn how to make the most of your barbecue and eat excellent food prepared on one of their Kamado Joe barbecues. I'm particularly keen to go back for one of their Vegetarian and Vegan workshops!

Thanks to Quorn for inviting me to the event, providing the ingredients, refreshments and a goody bag. I'll be cooking up a storm again soon...

Skin Healer Cream

Last week I posted a review of InstaNatural's Scar Gel and mentioned that I'd made my own "skin healer" cream in the past. I had a couple of enquiries about it so thought I'd share it with you today.

Some time ago I went on a course with Neal's Yard to learn the basics of aromatherapy and essential oils. Each oil is thought to have particular properties such as a stress reliever, healer, energiser and so on, and as such can be combined to particular effect. On the course we were shown how to combine oils and to make some basic products like massage oils, muscle rubs and skin creams. Some of these involved making base products, such as balms, from scratch and for others we used pre-prepared products such as creams.

This skin healer cream uses a pre-prepared body cream. The Body Shop used to sell tubs of unscented body creams (you may still find them in their outlet stores) and Neal's Yard also stock one. Any thick, unscented, body cream should work. I would recommend Neal's Yard for essential oils only because I have first hand experience of their quality.

You will need:

• Unscented body cream
• Frankincense essential oil
• Mandarin essential oil
• Lemon essential oil

Frankincense is thought to have wound healing properties, mandarin helps to reduce the appearance of scars and lemon helps to fight against infections. The combined scent is also rather uplifting.

For every 100ml of cream you will need to add 60 drops of essential oil, for topical application.
I use the following ratio:
Frankincense: 20 drops
Mandarin: 25 drops
Lemon: 15 drops

Add the oils to the cream and stir well to combine. Apply as you would a regular cream, either in place of your usual or perhaps at night before sleeping.

This cream has helped to improve my skin in the past but is not scientifically proven. If you experience any adverse reaction, stop using immediately.

Recipe : Quick & Easy Pizza

Last week, inspired by a recipe I found on the BBC website, I made pizza for dinner. From scratch. Although not particularly traditional in it's toppings it was absolutely delicious and on my plate in under 30 minutes. That's quicker than ordering in and much healthier! 

It got a good reaction on twitter so I thought I'd share the recipe with you. thanks to a clever trick involving yogurt, pizzas don't really get any easier than this one and of course you can use whatever toppings you want. Using yogurt to make a pizza base isn't an unfamiliar concept to me but it's a really useful one to remember. Making a whole pizza from scratch is so satisfying and means an impromptu pizza party with friends is only moments away!

Quick & Easy Pizza

Serves 4. Prep time 10 mins. Cooking time 10 mins. Approx 570 kcals per pizza.

Ingredients 

Base

300g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

300g plain yogurt

Toppings (per pizza)

2-3 tsp green pesto

40g feta

5-6 cherry tomatoes, sliced

5-6 black olives, halved

1 tsp fresh or dried herbs (I used marjoram but oregano or mixed herbs work just as well)

Black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. You'll need to preheat a tray per pizza. If you don't preheat them, the bases have a tendency to stick - you have been warned! If you've only got room for one or two, that's fine, these don't take long to cook. 
2. To make the base, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in the yogurt and mix with a fork to combine. When the mixture forms a rough dough, tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead to form a smooth ball. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll out into thin circles.
3. Remove the baking tray from the oven and place a pizza bases on each. Bake for 4-5 minutes until beginning to rise then remove from the oven.
4. Turn the pizza bases over and top with the pesto. Place the sliced tomatoes and olives on top, crumble the feta over the top, sprinkle over the herbs and season with black pepper.
5. Return to the oven for 5 minutes until the bases are crisp and the toppings hot.

If you don't want to make four pizzas in one evening the dough will keep, covered in the fridge, for a day or so, or you can freeze the bases after the first bake, ready for defrosting and topping another day.

Get creative with your toppings! I fancy trying wilted spinach, olives and a baked egg or maybe sliced boiled new potatoes, rocket and pine nuts.

Have you used yogurt to make pizza dough before? What are your favourite pizza toppings?

Wikd Bars

One of my Christmas presents was Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Light & Easy cookbook. It's a fine book and I've made a few things from it already; the rhubarb and orange smoothie being a particular hit. One of the other recipes I was keen to try sooner rather than later was his Morning Tea Slice. These are essentially nakd bars; raw fruit and nuts blitzed together with some orange juice until they start to become friends.

My version with dates and cherries.

So I made some and declare that they are very good indeed. My version included some dried cherries because I didn't have enough apricots. My mum also made some, using prunes instead of dates because she accidentally gave all her dates to me. Both versions have been shared around friends and family, in person and by mail, and everyone has loved them. Even my dad. We've dubbed them "wikd bars". They make excellent snacks for work, solid substitute breakfasts and great post run fuel.

Mum's version, with prunes

You can find the recipe here, there's little point me reproducing it in this post. Points of note though, I used a square silicon "tin" and found I needed all the juice from the orange. You can get millet flakes from Holland & Barrett if nowhere else and you don't *need* to use unsulphered apricots if you don't want to fork out for them. I cut my batch into 12 squares but really they were a bit too big. These are pretty filling and next time I'll cut them into at least 16. The mixture only takes 10 minutes to put together and they keep really well too.

We've already started discussing variations for future batches. Perhaps subbing some apricots for cranberries and using cranberry juice instead of orange. Maybe replacing some of the millet flakes with ground almonds and apricots with cherries. A couple of spoons of cocoa and a few drops of mint extract.

I adore nakd bars and will still be buying them. the rhubarb and custard, cherry bakewell, gingerbread and banana bread ones are my faves, in case you ever want to buy me some, but I do enjoy making my own version too.

Vegetarian Cooking with Quorn

I've been a vegetarian, by choice, since the age of ten. Becoming vegetarian so young meant that I didn't learn how to cook with meat but started out by using meat replacement products like Sos-mix, TVP and Quorn. Choices were rather limited but I especially liked Quorn because it doesn't have a strong after taste and is great at absorbing flavours. Their mince and chicken pieces were a staple in my freezer. 

Over the years my style of cooking developed and the way I think about putting a meal together now differs from most of my meat-eating friends. I tend to make pulses and vegetables the stars rather than using meat substitute products. But there are a lot more choices these days and every now and then I will pay a visit to the vegetarian sections of the chiller and freezer aisles to see what's new. 

Supermarket own brand products are improving but Quorn are ahead of the game in my opinion. Not only are their products a good, lo-in-saturated-fat source of protein but their range is vast. I've tried many of their sandwich slices, burgers, sausages and fillets but I've also tried some of the more adventurous products such as "pork" pies, "pepperoni" (worked well on pizzas) and "scampi". All good. In fact the only product that I would never return to was their bacon. Most recently I've tried their chorizo sausages.

I can't recall ever eating real chorizo but often come across recipes that use it so was keen to try the vegetarian version. I rather struggled for ideas but hitting the cook books soon turned up a couple of recipes I fancied trying. First up a frittata inspired by a recipe from Jamie at Home. 

I fried half an onion, two sliced Quorn chorizo sausages, a handful of boiled and sliced potatoes and some fresh rosemary over a medium heat until the onion was soft and everything else a little crispy. To this I added four beaten eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked it for a couple of minutes to set the bottom then popped it under a preheated grill until the top was puffed up and golden.

I used blue heritage potatoes for colour and served it with some roasted vegetables, peas, beans and a Leffe Ruby. The chorizo had a lovely smoky flavour and made for a very hearty meal. The frittata was equally tasty served cold with some salad for lunch the next day.

I still had a couple of sausages left so decided to make butter beans with tomato & chorizo. This was proper comfort food and so quick and easy to make! Despite being a small portion the chorizo made it really filling and I thought that the flavour and texture shone through a lot more here. Of course I don't know how the taste and texture compares to the real deal but it was much as I expected it to be, having watched many many cookery programmes. 

This is one of the most interesting Quorn products I've tried lately and I'm considering getting another pack of these sausages so that I can try these spanish rice and all day breakfast recipes. Quorn also do chorizo in slices which might be an interesting addition to a tapas board.

Although I don't expect to suddenly start using a lot more meat replacement products in my cooking it's nice to be able to ring the changes and have some more options available to me, especially when entertaining meat-eaters. I fancy trying the pork steaks, garlic sausage, turkey burgers and Chef's selection meals.

You certainly don't have to be a vegetarian to enjoy Quorn. My dad, a dedicated meat-eater in a family of vegetarians, enjoys their pork pies and cooks something he calls gumbo (nothing like the authentic version) with the mince. If you are stuck for inspiration when faced with cooking for a vegetarian why not check out their recipes. Get inspiration for Meat Free Mondays from twitter and get involved on Facebook.

Are you a fan of Quorn? Could you be persuaded? If you're a vegetarian are there any other meat replacement products you'd recommend or do you prefer not to use them at all?

Disclaimer: I was sent vouchers to try a selection of quorn products of my choosing for free in return for writing a review. All opinions are my own.

Adventures in Protein Porridge

More breakfast experimentations! This time it’s protein porridge. No, hang on, stay with me… I had my reservations at first as well but it’s well worth a try. When I first got introduced to protein powders I struggled to see how you would use them if it wasn’t in a shake. Little by little I’ve experimented with adding it to smoothies, cakes and porridge, and one day I might be brave enough to add it to savoury things. You do need to take a little care when making porridge with protein powders but it isn’t difficult and only takes a few minutes more.

Thank you to Anna Sward via MyProtein for giving me the confidence and guidelines for trying this out... Check out the original recipe and method here. I found the portion size of the original recipe a bit much so I make up my porridge to my normal recipe (1/3rd cup oats to 1 cup liquid) and use a single scoop of powder (about 25g) plus any extras. The trick is to make your porridge up to be slightly thicker than normal, let it cool a little then stir in the protein powder plus a little extra milk. This stops the whey from curdling and the porridge from becoming too thin. The original recipe is for apple pie flavour but I don’t have vanilla whey so I decided to try some different flavour combos.

(L) Butterscotch swirl whey with spiced, poached pears (R) Plain whey, vanilla, cinnamon, sultanas and apple

• Rhubarb and Custard with chopped apple
• Butterscotch Ripple with pear and cinnamon
• Plain whey with vanilla extract, cinnamon, sultanas and apple
• Jaffa Cake with chocolate chips
• Cherry Bakewell with chocolate chips
• Cherry Bakewell with frozen cherries

(L) Cherry Bakewell whey with dark choc chips (R) Jaffa cake whey with choc-orange chips 

All of these tasted delicious and although the consistency of the porridge is slightly different with the addition of whey, I still enjoy it. Porridge tends to be quite satisfying anyway but adding the protein gives it an extra boost without piling on masses of extra calories or being heavy. It’s good for me as someone who’s constantly trying to make sure I get enough protein in my diet and is trying to avoid snacking too much. With all the different flavours of whey around these days you can get really creative. I hope this has given you a few ideas and maybe the inclination to try something a little different.

Recipe : Rum & Raisin Dessert

Tucking into the Whey Hey samples at Gloanna recently got me thinking... I wonder if I can make my own protein-rich dessert? Turns out I can and it's pretty easy. Now I don't pretend to rival Whey Hey in any way shape or form with this but it was quick to make, very delicious and a slightly healthier alternative to ice cream.

May I present... Rum & Raisin Frozen Yogurt!

Mix 250g of greek yogurt (I went full fat) with three scoops of Rum 'n' Raisin Ice Cream flavour protein powder and a handful of raisins or sultanas. Then just pop it in the freezer for a few hours, stirring every hour or so to reduce the size of the ice particles.

You could use any flavour protein powder that takes your fancy. I've got some Mint Choc Brownie flavour which I reckon would be awesome with some chopped pecans, and a Jaffa Cake flavour which I'm itching to mix in with some chocolate orange chips I have hanging around. I'm a big fan of mixing in some frozen fruits, biscuit pieces or nuts to give it a bit of texture.

I found that it needed to be taken out of the freezer for a little while to defrost to a "scoopable" consistency but was worth the wait.

What I liked most about this is that I could make as little or as much as I wanted at a time. I often have ice cream sitting around in my freezer for ages because often, I only want a bit, but this allows me to just make a couple of servings at a time, and then ring the changes next time.

Nutritionals

I've done the sums and compared my dessert with Carte D'or Rum & Raisin Ice cream. They're like for like on kcals but the frozen yogurt has way more protein and half the CHO and sugars. This will vary depending on the brand of protein powder you use and whether you choose to use low fat greek or natural yogurt. I'm sure you could get away with using just 2 scoops of protein powder, which would reduce the kcals even more.

	Rum & Raisin Carte D'or	Rum Raisin Protein Frozen Yogurt
Serving	100g	100g
kcals	200	200
Carbohydrate	24	12
Protein	3	20
Fat	8	8
Sat. Fats	5	6
Sugars	23	11

If you decide to give this a go, or have made something similar in the past, please let me know what your flavour combos were... I'm all up for inspiration!

Recipe: Moroccan Spiced Hummus

Some time ago I went on an impromptu picnic and one of the party bought a Moroccan spiced hummus. It was divine. I’d been experimenting with making my own hummus so I snaffled the cardboard wrapper with the ingredients on as I was determined to try and recreate this one. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

This is pretty forgiving and you can adjust the spices according to your own taste but this is how I make it. I take a tub of it to work for lunch with carrots, peppers and pitta. If you really want to up the ante try it with pitta that’s been drizzled with oil and salt and pepper or paprika and grilled. Ooooooooo.

You will need:
1 tin (400g) chickpeas, drained
2-3 tbsp tahini
3-4 tbsp rapeseed oil (or similar)
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp runny honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic

Put all the ingredients into a blender and whiz until well combined. Stop blitzing when it reaches your desired consistency; I know some people like it really smooth, others slightly chunky. If you need to add a little more oil or tahini to loosen it then do so and adjust the spices according to taste.

This will keep for a few days in the fridge and is great as a snack or a light lunch.

Bananas, a Fruit for all Meals : Breakfast and "ice cream"

If you're not into bananas there's probably nothing for you in this post. I'm sorry, I'll try and do better next time. But if you're still with me, read on...

I’ve almost always got bananas in the freezer. They’re in my top 5 fruits and despite eating one a day when I have them in the house, some of them don’t make it. I sometimes get bored of banana and yogurt and muesli or they get bashed about in my kit bag as I fail to eat it in favour of whatever was in the race goody bag and they start looking bruised and unappetising. Rather than throw them out I either make banana bread or break them into quarters and pop them in a freezer bag, specifically for smoothies. BUT! There are other things you can do with them and the most delicious is possibly the following.

Banana "Ice Cream"
This is a super cheats ice cream that you can make up on demand and for as big or small a serving as you want. Take your frozen bananas (1 banana is a nice after-dinner serving), put them in a blender and blitz until they become creamy. Ta-da! It's barely a recipe. It's amazing with all sorts of additions or like nut butter, salted caramel sauce… I would recommend around one tablespoon of sauce or nut butter blended in with your bananas or drizzled on top. This is really what you make of it. Nuts, meringue, chocolate chips, raspberries... anything goes.

Banana "ice-cream" with 1tbsp maple caramel sauce and 1tbsp chopped pecans

If you happen to have a banana that is still good and you're looking for a new breakfast idea, may I suggest the following:

"Weekend Porridge" (so called because I only seem to eat this on weekends as a treat or before races)
Make your porridge according to your preference on the hob or in the microwave. I use 1/3 cup oats to 1 cup liquid.

Stir 1 tbsp Nutella (or other chocolate spread. The Hotel Chocolat spreads are AMAZING if you happen to have been given one as a gift) gently into the bowl and top with a sliced banana.

The heat from the porridge turns the Nutella all melty and the closer you get to the bottom of the bowl the more chocolate and hazlenutty goodness there will be. I haven't tried this with chopped nuts as well but I reckon that'd be pretty good too.

I haven't shared my banana bread recipe here but if you would like it I'm happy to do that another time. Just let me know in the comments or on social media.