Mediterranean Flatbread Pizza / Tart

Preparation Time:   15 mins

Cooking Time:   40 mins

Serves:   4

Calories per serving:   451.3

[b]Ingredients[/b]

Ready Rolled Flatbread Dough Base –   One-quarter Of A Pack (380Gs) /380g

Courgette, Raw  – 87g

Peppers, Sweet, Red  – 122g

Onions, Red, Raw – 158g

Olive Oil  – 1½ Tbsps/22.5ml

Thyme, Dried  –  ½ Tsp/0.5g

Cheese, Feta  –   90g

Tomatoes, Cherry  – 10 Tomatoes/150g

Olives, Black, Pitted, in Brine  –  2 Servings/20g

Garlic, Raw  –   1 Clove/3g

Preparation:

Peel and finely slice onion. Peel and finely dice garlic. Cut courgette into rounds.
Crumble feta cheese. Halve cherry tomatoes. Remove pepper stalk and seeds and cut into small pieces (about 1cm square. Drain the olives and cut into quarters.

Preheat oven to gas mark 6 / 200 degrees C.

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan. Add onions and pepper and cook for around 15 minutes on a medium heat. Add garlic, courgettes and thyme and cook for a further 5 – 7 minutes, covering if it starts to dry out.

Lay the flatbread dough on a lightly oiled baking sheet.

Brush pastry base with small amount of oil and top with roasted veg and olives. Crumble over feta.
Finally add tomatoes cut side up, top with thyme and a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.

Place into the oven for 15 mins, lower the heat to 180 degrees for the final 10 minutes until feta has melted and is starting to brown. Drizzle with a little chilli oil to serve if you wish.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal)   451.3

Carbohydrate (g)   58.4

Fat (g)   18.5

Fibre (g)   3.7

Fruit & Veg   1.8

Protein (g)   12.3

Pastry… pie….. mmmmmm.  This for me is something of a rare treat.  If you look at most shop bought pies, the calories are usually over 500 calories, often more like 800 or so.

We’re on a bit of a mission to clear the freezer at the moment, and there seems to be rather a stockpile of frozen ready-prepared pastry.

So I set about making a pie.  Using my newly discovered Musclefood Premium Chicken breasts (a whopping 250g each – would love to see one of the chickens that belongs to!) I found and adapted a recipe for a Chicken, leek and mushroom pie.

I also got to use up a tin of cream of mushroom soup that has been languishing in my tins cupboard for a couple of years!

This recipe made two very generous sized pies of two portions, to one for tonight and the other is in the freezer… Oh yes – we are supposed to be emptying the freezer……

If you are wondering about the odd amount of pastry, I used a pack of 340g…. but threw away the offcuts.  One way to save 100 calories!

Chicken, leek and mushroom pie – 477 calories

Preparation Time:    15 mins

Cooking Time:    30 mins

Serves:    4

Calories per serving:    477.4

 

Ingredients

Pastry, Puff, Ready Roll Sheets                           –   232g

Chicken, Breast, Fillet                                         –   500g

Olive Oil                                                             –   1½ Tbsps/22.5ml

Eggs, Medium (for glazing pastry)                        –   ½ Egg/28g

Rosemary, Fresh                                                –   1½ Tsps/1.05g

Cream of Mushroom Soup                                  –   1 Can/400g

Leeks                                                                 –   185g

Mushrooms, Chestnut                                         –   170g

Garlic, Raw                                                         –   1 Clove/3g

Preparation: Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Peel and crush the garlic clove. Chop the fresh rosemary. Quarter the mushrooms (or cut into smaller chunks if large). Wash, trim and finely slice the leeks. Break the egg into a mug or small bowl and whisk.

Method:

1
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, fan 180 degrees C, gas 6. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken and cook quickly over a medium heat until sealed and browned. Place into a bowl and set aside.

2
Add the remainder of the oil to the same pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic, cook gently for 5 minutes.

3
Stir in the mushrooms and rosemary and cook for a further 5 – 7 minutes.

4
Add the soup and chicken pieces. Season with black pepper, then simmer for 5-10 minutes. Pour into a 1.5-litre pie dish (or two smaller ones to make 2 x pies for 2 people).

5
Brush a little water along the edge of the pie dish. Unroll the pastry over the dish(es), trim off the excess and press to seal the edges. Make a small slit in the centre, place on a baking tray and brush the top with beaten egg. Bake for 30 minutes until golden.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal)     477.4

Carbohydrate (g)   28.8

Fat (g)   24.6

Fibre (g)   2.6

Fruit & Veg    1.3

Protein (g)     34.2

It’s a Bank Holiday weekend and it’s raining (of course…) but I’m inside in the dry and (relative) warm.  It’s a bake a cake kind of a day and what better way to use up a couple of jumbo courgettes….

Courgette and Lemon Cake

Preparation Time:   10 mins

Cooking Time:  1 hr

Serves:   12

Calories per serving:   187.5

Ingredients

Courgette, Raw, coarsely grated –   200g

Butter, Salted  –   125g

Caster Sugar  –   150g

Eggs, Free Range, Medium – 1 Egg/58g

Lemon Juice & zest – ½ Lemon/17.75ml

Wholemeal Flour, Plain – 200g

Salt – ½ Tsp/2.5g

Baking Powder – ½ Tsp/1g

Bicarbonate of Soda – ½ Tsp/1g

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas 3. Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

In a bowl, combine the courgette, melted butter, sugar, egg and lemon. Sift in the flour, salt and add the bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Mix well. Pour into the prepared loaf tin.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes until golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave in the tin for 10 minutes to cool.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal)   187.5

Carbohydrate (g)   23.2

Fat (g)   9.3

Fibre (g)   1.7

Fruit & Veg   0.2

Protein (g)   3.1

Husbands turn in the kitchen today. He was in charge of making one of his favourite snacks – flapjacks! This recipe has a healthy ingredient – carrot!

Crunchy carrot and seed flapjacks – 161 calories

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Serves: 24

Calories per serving: 161.2

Ingredients

Butter – 175g

Demerara Sugar – 150g

Golden Syrup – 45g

Black Treacle – 30g

Carrots, Raw – 225g

Rolled Porridge Oats – 350g

Mixed Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, linseed, sesame seed) – 70g – I bought a small “snack sized” punnet of these in Aldi.

Method

Peel and coarsely grate the carrot.

Preheat the oven to 200C (fan 180C, 400F or gas mark 6). In a large pan, melt the butter, sugar, syrup and treacle together, stirring until melted and smooth.

Remove from the heat and stir in the carrots, oats and seeds; stir well until thoroughly mixed. Tip into a 30 x 20cm (12 x 8in) tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 15 mins.

The flapjack is done when it is lightly golden around the edges. Remove the tin from the oven. Whilst still hot make into 20 squares, then leave to cool. When cold, remove from the tin and cut into the squares.

Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Once cool, can be frozen and stored for up to three months (if they last that long!)

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 161.2

Carbohydrate (g) 18.3

Fat (g) 8.5

Fibre (g) 2.3

Fruit & Veg 0.1

Protein (g) 2.5

 

Oh my! This recipe was really tasty and quite different to what we’d usually do with a chicken breast. I ordered “large premium” chicken breasts from a Muscle Food. These chicken breasts are 225g each! That’s way too much for us, so we made this meal using two of the chicken breasts, shared one between us and have frozen the other to share another day.

It would make a super dinner party meal!

Rosemary chicken with orange glaze – 228 calories

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 30 mins

Serves: 4

Calories per serving: 228.1

Ingredients

Chicken, Breast, boneless x 4 (at around 100g each) – 455g

Orange Juice, Freshly Squeezed – 100ml

White Wine, Dry – 100ml

Maple Syrup – 65g

Rosemary, Fresh – 2 Tsps/1.4g

Butter, Fresh – 10g

Olive Oil – 1 Tbsp/15ml

Method

Bring orange juice and wine to the boil in a small saucepan.

Reduce heat slightly, but keep high enough to continue low boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in maple syrup (or honey) and continue boiling for another 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until glossy and just slightly thickened. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix together the chopped rosemary, salt and pepper. Rub mixture on both sides of chicken breasts, and set aside.

Melt butter and olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add chicken breasts, cover and saute for about 5 minutes on each side until lightly browned.

Pour orange-syrup mixture over chicken. Reduce heat to simmer; cover and let cook for another 10 minutes, basting occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and sauce has turned into a rich, thick glaze.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 228.1

Carbohydrate (g) 14.2

Fat (g) 6.1

Fibre (g) 0.2

Fruit & Veg 0.1

Protein (g) 25.2

Alcohol 2.3

My husband was given some Callaloo seeds for his birthday earlier this year. Callaloo is a little like colourful spinach. So today was the harvesting day. There weren’t too many recipes on the Internet for callaloo, but we found one and adapted it. This was simple, colourful and VERY fiery!

This is a vegetarian recipe, although we teamed it with a ready prepared Harissa Chicken Escalope.

If you enjoy a bit of fiery spice – then spinach would work just as well in this recipe.

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Serves: 2

Calories per serving: 400.4

Ingredients

Rice, Basmati, Brown, Dry – 140g

Olive Oil -1 Tbsp/15ml

Red or Brown Onions, Raw, Average – 50g

Garlic, Raw – 1 Clove/3g

Red Chilli Peppers, Raw – 2 Peppers/26g

Sauce, Soy, Dark – 1 Tbsp/15g (I use Liquid Aminos, as healthier)

Red Pepper, Raw – 1 Med/160g

Carrots, Raw – 67g

Callaloo or spinach, Raw – 30g

Courgette, Raw – 1 Courgette/224g

Sesame Oil – ½ Tsp/2.5ml

Method:

Cook the rice in advance and chill Make sure the rice is chilled so you’ll get a nice grainy fried rice at the end.

Prepare all your ingredients in advance (chop/dice) as this recipe cooks very fast.

Peel and finely dice onion, carrot, garlic, chilli pepper (remove seeds). Top and tail the courgette and cut into 1cm cubes. Roughly chop the callaloo.

Heat the olive oil on a medium flame in a wok or non-stick pan and add the garlic, onion, diced peppers, carrot and black pepper. Cook for 2-3 mins.

Then add the prepared (chopped) Jamaican Callaloo / spinach and diced chilli pepper. Remember to wash your hands after handling the chilli, don’t use any of the seeds or white membrane surrounding the seeds and tailor the amount used to your own tolerance.

Now add the chopped courgette, amino/soy sauce and sesame oil and cook for another 2-3 minutes. The callaloo will wilt.

Basically all you have to do now is add the rice, mix well and warm though and you’re done. You’ll notice that I did not add any salt as the soy sauce will add that extra sodium element. For a bit more flavour you can always add a tiny bit of freshly grated ginger at the start.

A delightful way to make use of leftover rice and for the doubters who think vegetarian food is bland and boring – guess again! This is a superb way to enjoy a quick meal with fresh ingredients (except the rice) and truly comforting.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 400.4

Carbohydrate (g) 64.4

Fat (g) 11.4

Fibre (g) 5.0

Fruit & Veg 3.2

Protein (g) 10.9

Today I took delivery of our first ever Muscle Food delivery.  Various friends have raved about this company and their products.  We don’t eat that much meat, so when I do eat meat, I like to eat something that’s really great quality (and value).  The quality is sadly lacking when we purchase supermarket chicken and we don’t have a local butcher any longer.

The delivery arrived (6kg of chicken breast fillets for goodness sake, and they are LARGE – 220g each!)  Tonight was the opportunity to try out the quality.

I have to say I was thoroughly impressed.  The chicken hardly shrunk at all during the cooking process and was juicy and flavoursome.

This pasta bake creates quite a lot of washing up with the various cooking stages – but I made a very large (6 portion) dish and then freeze the remains in smaller dishes for another time. So this recipe does three meals for two.

Chicken Pasta Bake with added vegetables – 430 calories

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Cooking Time: 30 mins

Serves: 6

Calories per serving: 430.3

Ingredients

Penne, Wholewheat -300g

Chicken, Breast, Fillet -455g

Cauliflower, Raw -400g

Spinach, Frozen, Average-120g

Butter, Fresh, Average-30g

Flour, Plain, Average-3 Tbsps/45g

Milk, Semi Skimmed, Average-400ml

Chicken Stock Cube -1 Cube/6g

Mature Cheddar Cheese, Grated -50g

Mozzarella Cheese, Grated -50g

Olive Oil -2 Tsps/10ml

Method

Cook the pasta in a VERY LARGE saucepan as per the packet directions, once cooked drain thoroughly and set aside. The reason for the very large saucepan will become clear at the end of the recipe, so no need to wash this up yet!

Cut chicken into large chunks (2cm). Heat olive oil in a pan and brown your chicken. Once browned, set aside.

Cut the cauliflower into bite sized pieces, cook until al dente – I use a microwave steamer for this.

Add the butter to a pan, heat over a medium/low heat until melted. Heat your milk and stock cube in the microwave (about 2 mins) – you don’t have to, but the sauce making is much faster with warmed milk and stock.

Add the flour to the melted butter and cook off for the basis of your roux/white sauce. Gradually add the milk and stock to create a thick velvety sauce. Add 50g mature (grated) cheddar cheese to the white sauce and allow to melt into the sauce. Once done remove from the heat (you do not want a white sauce to boil, as it goes runny).

Check the cauliflower is tender and add the frozen spinach to the pot, cover and let steam until spinach is thawed for a few minutes.

Drain the water from the cauliflower and spinach.

Add the cooked vegetables, cheese sauce, pasta and chicken to one very large saucepan.

Mix the sauce mixture and with the cooked pasta and browned chicken, add one more handful of spinach if desired and mix through.

Place the pasta mix into a baking/lasagna dish, top with grated Mozzarella cheese.

Bake in an oven at 180 degrees for 20 – 30 mins, until cheese, is melted and golden.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 430.3

Carbohydrate (g) 43.9

Fat (g) 13.8

Fibre (g) 6.4

Fruit & Veg 1.2

Protein (g) 32.6