Mexican Tomato Soup

My oh my… the boys have not only agreed on something vegetarian, but one of them suggested it!

Of all the vegetarian suggestions we have put out there in the past, I am extremely shocked that a vegetarian SOUP had been chosen at will. I’m not one to knock veggie food – I actively eat it for lunch, but soup… of all things?

So this is a Jamie 15 minute meal which you can find the video for here. Whilst it’s bubbling away, the room will fill with really warming smells, but with a cheeky note of coriander which I love! It’s packed full of flavour with a bit of a kick from that jalapeño and yogurt dressing!

Using rice in replacement of cream is ingenious. It gives it that silky thick consistency without worrying about ruining your fresh, healthy soup.

The idea of serving with the avocado, feta, fresh baby tomatoes, chilli and coriander brings the soup to life. There’s nothing better than everyone digging in and making the final dish their own. I’d advise leaving out the chilli if you’re not a huge fan of heat as there’s definitely enough in the rest of the elements. The jalapeño and yogurt dressing is gentle with mint flavours which catches you off guard for the back of the throat kick which follows!

The tortilla crisps (which you can get gluten free versions of) help to bulk the meal up too, whilst adding a sense of fun. All in all this meal goes from lunch to dinner with the help of a few toppings and a side of nachos!

Moroccan Prawns, Fluffy Couscous & Rainbow Salsa

Helping to keep your nervous system healthy with a hit of B6 courtesy of the pomegranate seeds!

So couscous has gone from never being on our menu, to eating it twice in a week! And each time it’s been great in a different way. This just made for heavenly mouthfuls of tasty, fresh flavours.

So we’re back to Jamie’s Everyday Super Foods with this one, and you can find the recipe here. We didn’t buy shell-on king prawns, for two reasons… 1. they are more expensive and 2. when a meal tastes this good you don’t want to interrupt your flow by getting your hands in to de-shell them! I’m not actually a massive fan of prawns either, but they mixed nicely in this meal, not standing out as fishy thanks to the lovely marinade.

Usually alarm bells sound when a recipe says ‘marinade’ as you start thinking hours, over night, even days! But it’s far from a problem here! Make the marinade first and your prawns will be ready for when you next need them.

We chose asparagus, spring onions and peppers for our veg (perhaps not seasonal) but tasted great. This recipe houses so many fresh flavours like mint, orange, lemon, chilli and spring onion – that you can’t help but feel you’ve given your body a healthy food hug!

Powerhouse Steak & Kale Salad

And what a zing!

Sorry it’s been a while! I haven’t been quite up to my usual food antics! But I’m back, and armed with a new Hemsley & Hemsley book. Oh and apologies for the rogue plate… I accidentally donated a more decent plate to our new resident rosemary tree (reduced to £1.50 thanks to Mothers Day!).

So this new book is truly healthy, I feel you could just look at it and lose at least a pound… although it will cost you £25.

The steak recipe is high in iron and packed full of vitamins, and you’re advised to eat it for lunch or an early supper so it’s easier to digest.

So the recipe serves 2… but unless you want a fridge bursting with salad, don’t double the salad ingredients for 4! As 3 bags of kale and 2 bags of various other salad is slightly excessive!

I was dubious about the raw kale but once chopped finely it was ok. And mixed with the zingy salad dressing it was so refreshing and would definitely wake you up on a Monday lunch time (for those who struggle through the morning)! We made a mustard dressing for the steak too (see Jamie’s Steak Ratatouille recipe) which really set it off.

And as for the avocado, I love it! And in this recipe it is a must! It makes for a more interesting  variation of textures and you can’t complain when all you have to do is peal it.

Keep an eye out for another new Hemsley & Hemsley recipe this week; Mexican beef & carrot burgers! Hopefully they won’t be a disaster now i’ve mentioned it…

Sesame Chicken Salad & Cucumber Noodles

Mix in a packet of rice noodles to serve this warm for the winter.

Hemsley & Hemsley have created a refreshing, Asian flavoured salad which is just perfect to knock up when you’re a bit short on time (or really hungry!)

This is a favourite of my housemates’, but overused last year we haven’t brought it out for a while. We’ve also changed things up a bit… by adding more lime juice and replacing honey with soy sauce. And by replacing one cucumber with rice noodles it warms the salad through which makes it a lot more acceptable for these cold nights! We also used this as a bit of a ‘what things do we need to use up’ dish, so the lettuce was replaced with mange tout. Note we would rarely have leftover chicken in our ‘family’! We chopped up some chicken breasts and fried in the pan with the toasted sesame seeds instead.

Although it could easily be a vegetarian dish! How versatile…

So we may have altered the recipe slightly, but it’s good to experiment with favourites. Especially if it turns out as zingy, warm and tasty as this did!

 

Irresistible Pork Buns

Our proudest moment yet!

Unsure of whether I had made the bun dough correctly (and after making a second batch just in case) it was such a satisfying dinner. When you lift the bamboo lid to reveal these gorgeous little buns you know it’s all been worth it!

It’s definitely one for the weekend, and the recipe can be found here, it’s from our new Jamie’s Comfort Food book (which has some blinders in it!)

I originally made the dough by adding the dry yeast to the other bun ingredients… and after they didn’t rise too much, and I could still see flakes of yeast – I panicked! So I made another batch, following the yeast activating instructions on the tub (we couldn’t get a sachet). The second batch doubled in size so I was convinced the first batch wouldn’t work! But to my amazement the first batch looked and tasted like the real thing! So we have frozen the additional 20 buns to experiment with a salmon or duck version (here’s to hoping that batch works too!)

The pork is the easiest park to be honest, you pretty much forget about it! And the pickles are simple plus they can be made in advance. They would have been more simple if we had a mandolin… something to add to the kitchen wish list! So the only hassle are the buns themselves, but it’s more to do with the stop start approach of dough making than there being anything new to learn.

It all comes together in a really interesting sweet, and slightly sour, gorgeous mouthful. I was so excited that part of me didn’t want to share! And worried two buns wouldn’t be enough… the third was actually a struggle! Once you realise there’s plenty to go round it’s a lovely meal to bring people together!

Russian Salad & Golden Paprika Chicken

A very different kind of salad!

We’re back to Jamie’s Every Day Superfood, with two of our 5-a-day and a healthier take on the classic mayo-based dressing – which is to die for!

We used raw beets as suggested, however if we make this again we will buy the pre-cooked ones as we didn’t see enough difference to warrant the hassle of peeling them.

I really loved the natural yoghurt dressing, and have to say I liked it less when the veg was mixed in! But I think it’s because we overcooked the veg slightly so it all became too soft. Although it’s down to understanding the recipe and how long you take to do each part in relation to another.

I think following a couple of carb free recipes this week, this was warmly received! Very filling and wholesome.

Pork Souvlaki & Light Salsa Verde

The last salsa verde we made was a disaster but this light version works a treat!

Another one from The Hairy Dieters Good Eating book… don’t worry though we have been kindly given a new Jamie Oliver book for next week to balance it out a bit!

This is dead easy to do, the only thing that took time were the potato wedges (which we chose over the tomato and onion salad). I’m not sure the salsa verde was quite as it should have been… perhaps our measurements of a ‘large bunch’ and ‘small bunch’ aren’t quite accurate! The egg yolk mixture didn’t cover the herbs as well as it should have, so we blitzed it up in the food processor. This added to our doubts after the last one we made… but it goes to show that different variations of recipes are worth trying! I think ours ended up just a tad, shall we say… ‘rustic’!

We found the pork didn’t take as long to cook as suggested, but the pork we used was pre diced so may well have been smaller than the suggested 3cm chunks. But it’s just down to keeping an eye on it. The marinade is really versatile as you can make it the night before, or just half an hour before you would like to eat – so it can fit into everyone’s schedules. In all honesty we were surprised at how much we liked the dish considering its simplicity!

There is probably some greenery missing here… but it was just me and the two lads so it didn’t get put very high on the priority list!