Seafood and couscous

Pretty quick and easy and absolutely delicious! You can use mixed seafood, prawns, white fish or a mixture.

Makes: 4 servings
Takes: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot
2 sticks of celery
2 leeks
2 cloves of garlic
pinch of chilli flakes
1 bay leaf
150ml dry white wine
400g tin of tomatoes
400g of seafood
375ml hot vegetable stock
1 lemon
200g couscous
fresh parsley

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Meanwhile, peel and finely dice the carrot, thinly slice the celery, thinly slice the leeks and chop the garlic. Cook the carrot, celery, leeks, garlic, chilli and bay leaf in the oil for about 5 minutes, until softened.
2. Add the wine and tinned tomatoes to the pan (if using whole plum tomatoes, first blitz them briefly in a blender or chop them by sticking a large knife repeatedly into the open tin). Boil rapidly for 5 minutes to reduce.
3. Finely grate the zest of the lemon and squeeze the juice of half of it. Put into a small pan with the stock and bring to the boil.
4. If using fish, cut into small pieces. Turn down the heat under the pan and add the seafood, simmering gently for 5 minutes till piping hot and the fish (if using) is cooked through.
5. Meanwhile, add the couscous to the boiling stock and lemon juice, stir, remove from the heat and cover. Leave for 5 minutes. Season, add some finely chopped fresh parsley and fluff with a fork. Serve when the couscous and seafood are both ready.

The seafood will freeze well so you can make this to serve 2 by halving the amount of couscous, stock and lemon then saving half the seafood for another occasion.

Bacon and leek risotto

Very easy - after the initial cooking, just pop it in the oven! It's very tasty, and low in fat too.

Makes: 2 servings
Takes: 15 minutes + 1 hour cooking time

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil
1 large leek
1 clove garlic
4 rashers bacon
2 or 3 mushrooms
7 oz (uncooked weight) risotto rice
1 tsp dried thyme
1 chicken or vegetable stock cube

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150oC.
2. Trim and finely slice the leek. Peel and chop the garlic. Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan and fry the leek and garlic for a few minutes till softened, then transfer to a plate.
3. Trim all the fat from the bacon and cut into small pieces. Slice the mushrooms. Cook bacon and mushrooms in the saucepan till browned (you shouldn't need any extra oil).
4. Return the leek and garlic to the pan and add the rice, stirring well. Make 1 1/2 pints of stock using the stock cube and boiling water, and add to the pan with the thyme.
5. Bring to the boil, stirring well, then transfer to a large ovenproof dish and cover with foil. Bake for an hour. Check towards the end of this time and remove the foil if the risotto looks too wet, or add a little extra boiling water if necessary.

Great as it is, or as an accompaniment to a main meal. I often cook a chicken breast while the risotto is cooking then shred the chicken and add to the risotto before serving (the photo above shows the risotto with chicken added). You can also make this a vegetarian dish by using Quorn rashers and ensuring that the stock cube is vegetable rather than chicken.

Cheat's carbonara

Very easy, and much lower in fat than the traditional creamy version. Use turkey rashers if you want to reduce the fat further, or Quorn to make it vegetarian - or add extra vegetables if you wish. I add mushrooms but you can skip them if you prefer. Tastes good with or without the works!

Makes: as many portions as you want, just increase the quantities accordingly
Takes: 15 minutes

Ingredients (per person)

1 serving of spaghetti
spray oil
2 rashers bacon
a few button or closed cup mushrooms (optional)
50g extra low-fat cream cheese (such as Philadelphia)
freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet. Drain, reserving some of the cooking liquid.
2. Spritz a non-stick pan with spray oil and heat. Trim the fat from the bacon and cut it into small pieces, then trim and slice the mushrooms. Fry both over a medium heat till golden brown.
3. Stir in the cream cheese and add a little of the cooking liquid to thin the sauce - you want a coating consistency.
4. Add the spaghetti to the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Season to taste.

If you want to add any other vegetables, cut them into bite-sized pieces and fry gently in spray oil till softened, then add to the pan at the end of step 2.

Yogurt cake

This makes a lovely, moist, light sponge with a fairly subtle but delicious flavour which is easy to vary by choosing a different flavour of yogurt.

Makes: 12 slices

Takes: 15 minutes + 50-60 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

8 oz (225g) self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

6 oz (175g) caster sugar

3 1/2 oz (100g) butter or margarine

2 medium eggs

a 200g pot of Mullerlite yogurt in your chosen flavour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC/160oC (fan oven)/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line an 8x10 inch oblong baking tin.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and add all the other ingredients. Use an electric hand mixer on a slow speed to combine then turn it up to high to beat to a smooth batter.
3. Pour into the tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, until it feels firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack then slice into 12 fingers.

A particular favourite in our household is to use toffee yogurt, as the flavour seems to come through more strongly. Raspberry and cranberry gives a nice subtle hint of fruit; or try lemon and lime with the grated zest of a lemon and/or lime added. Chocolate gives a very subtle flavour so enhance it with some vanilla essence and 1 tbsp cocoa, sifted with the flour at step 2. Vanilla makes a nice, simple sponge! Any of the above (and probably other flavours I haven't tried) are very good served with custard as a dessert.

Bran loaf

It looks fairly revolting in its uncooked form and I don't recommend eating any raw mixture, but it turns out well once cooked and is extremely easy to make. Very good buttered.

Makes: 1 loaf (approximately 12 servings)
Takes: 5 minutes + 1 1/2 hours cooking time

Ingredients

1 mug self-raising flour
1 mug bran cereal (All Bran or equivalent)
1 mug dried fruit (currants, sultanas or mixed fruit)
1/2 mug soft brown sugar
1 mug milk

Method

1. Sift the flour into a small bowl and set aside. Place all the other ingredients into a large bowl, stir then leave to stand for about an hour.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 160oC and grease and line a loaf tin.
3. Add the flour to the large bowl and stir well to combine. Pour into the tin and bake for about an hour and a half, until a skewer comes out clean.
4. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.

Lamb Provencal

A lovely fresh tomato and courgette sauce that works well with lamb but would also go with chicken or beef if you prefer! Ingredients here are for one portion but it's easy to increase quantities to make more servings. Allow a bit more preparation time if making more than one portion though.

Makes: 1 portion

Takes: 10 minutes plus 20 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

2 fresh tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

2 spring onions or 1/2 a small leek

1 courgette

3 tbsp dry white wine

a few basil leaves

4 1/2 oz/125g lean lamb steak

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Use a sharp knife to score small crosses in the base of the tomatoes. Place in a bowl and pour boiling water over. Remove after 30 seconds and slip off the skins, then quarter, remove the cores, and chop the flesh.
2. Crush the garlic and chop the spring onions or leek and the courgette. Place all these in a pan with the tomatoes and add the wine and seasoning. Cook until it starts sizzling then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently until the vegetables have softened.
3. Season the lamb and grill or griddle for about 5 minutes each side until cooked to your taste. Tear the basil into pieces and stir into the sauce then serve the lamb with the sauce spooned over.

Good with a few chips or a jacket potato. It does make plenty of sauce so you may not need a vegetable to go with it, but green beans go well.

Mini cinnamon rolls

A lovely treat, best eaten while still warm and very fresh.

Makes: 8

Takes: 15 minutes plus 15 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

4 oz (110g) self-raising flour plus a little extra for rolling

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp butter or margarine

zest of 1/2 lemon

4 tbsp milk

1/2 oz (15g) soft brown sugar

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp golden syrup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220oC/200oC (fan oven)/Gas Mark 7 and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Sieve the flour and baking pwder into a large mixing bowl. Rub in 1 tablespoon of the butter with your fingertips.
3. Finely grate the lemon zest and stir into the flour. Gradually mix in the milk to form a soft dough - you may not need all of the milk. Gently knead the dough until smooth.
4. Flour your work surface and a rolling pin. Roll out the dough to a rectangle 18 x 14 cm (7 x 5 1/2 inches).
5. Spread the dough with butter, leaving a 1 cm (1/2 inch) border clear along one long side. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the buttered dough.
6. Brush the border with water and roll the dough from the opposite long side up to the moistened border, pressing it gently to seal. Cut into 8 slices with a very sharp knife.
7. Arrange the slices onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between each one. Bake for 12-15 minutes until light golden brown.
8. As soon as the rolls have come out of the oven, warm the syrup until thin and runny (this only takes a few seconds in the microwave). Spoon a little syrup over each bun.

These are a bit fiddly to make, but worth the effort. The rolls can be frozen without the syrup so one option is to increase the quantities and freeze for a future occasion.

Apple and sultana muffins

Delicious as muffins or cupcakes :-)

Makes: 12 muffins or 24 cupcakes.
Takes: 15 minutes + 15 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

2 3/4 oz (75g) butter or margarine
3 1/2 oz (100g) caster sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla essence
200g jar apple sauce
1 large dessert apple
1 3/4 oz (50g) sultanas
7 oz (200g) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170oC (fan oven)/190oC/Gas Mark 5 and line muffin or cupcake tins with paper cases.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl then mix in the egg and the vanilla essence. Stir in the apple sauce and mix thoroughly.
3. Peel and core the apple and dice finely. Add to the mixture with the sultanas and stir well.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a separate bowl then tip into the apple mixture and quickly stir till just combined.
5. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 12-15 minutes, until risen, golden-brown and firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.

The cakes keep well in a tin for a few days, or can be frozen.

Carrot cake muffins

One word - YUM! With or without the cream cheese frosting, these are so delicious :-)

Makes: 12 muffins or 24 cupcakes

Takes: 10 minutes + 20-25 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

9oz (250g) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg

3 1/2 fl oz (100 ml) water

1 tbsp runny honey

3 1/2 oz (100g) soft brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

10 1/2 oz (300g) peeled, topped and tailed carrots

4 tbsp corn oil (I use light olive oil)

For the icing (optional)

1 3/4 oz (50g) light cream cheese

3 1/2 oz (100g) icing sugar

1/2 tsp orange or lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC (fan oven)/190oC/Gas Mark 5 and line muffin tins or cupcake tins with paper cases.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon into a bowl.
3. In a separate, large, bowl, beat the egg then mix in the water, honey, sugar and vanilla. Grate the carrot and stir into the mixture.
4. Add the oil to the carrot mixture and stir well. Tip the dry ingredients into the bowl and quickly mix to just combine. (The mixture should still be lumpy and don't worry about occasional streaks of flour.)
5. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm and springy. Cool in a wire rack.
6. If icing, allow the cakes to cool completely first. Mix the cheese, icing sugar and juice together thoroughly and spread a little over the top of each muffin.

They will keep well in a tin for a few days, or can be frozen without the icing.

Nut-free Pesto

My nut allergy counts out pesto, so I was thrilled to find a recipe that doesn't use nuts! And without the nuts and with no added cheese, it's lower in fat than the standard version, too :-)

Makes: A jar full

Takes: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 can white beans (eg cannellini or haricot) - about 200g

1 clove garlic or 1 tsp garlic puree

60g fresh basil leaves (see notes below)

1/2 tsp salt

100 ml olive oil

black pepper

Method

1. Drain and rinse the beans and put into a food processor with all the other ingredients.
2. Process until smooth, decant into a jar and store in the fridge.

Notes: I have no idea how much basil weighs 60g. I buy a pot of 'growing basil' from the supermarket and use all the leaves from that (and a bit of stalk usually goes in too!) and that seems to work fine.

This keeps in the fridge for a few days. Try not to push it to the back of the fridge and forget about it though as it goes a strange colour after a couple of weeks or so...

Aromatic Chicken Curry

This is a full-flavoured curry with a rich sauce, delicious with rice and naan bread :-) (Chipped plate optional!)

Makes: 2 servings
Takes: 15 minutes preparation + 30 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 garlic clove
3cm piece of fresh ginger root
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 ripe tomatoes
2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
150ml (1/4 pint) chicken stock
2 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic, add to the pan and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Finely grate the ginger and add to the pan with the spices, cooking for a further minute.
3. Chop the tomatoes and cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add tomatoes and chicken to the pan with the chicken stock and bring to the boil.
4. Turn the heat down to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is thick and rich.
5. Turn off the heat and stir in the creme fraiche, adding salt and pepper to taste.

The sauce can be frozen at the end of step 4. Reheat then add the creme fraiche to serve.
It's easy to increase the quantities (especially if wanting to freeze part of the sauce) but allow extra cooking time.
You can use garlic puree, ginger puree and a couple of tinned tomatoes if preferred.

Chinese Steamed Chicken

The chicken is so moist and tender and succulent cooked this way! (Sorry about the poor photo - I'll update it when I make this again. And I will make this again!)

Makes: 2 servings
Takes: 10 minutes + 10 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts (skinless and boneless)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
4 tsp dry sherry
2 pak choi (Chinese cabbage) or 100g Chinese leaf
a couple of generous pinches of Chinese five spice powder
1 tsp sesame oil
2 spring onions
salt and black pepper

Method

1. Using a sharp knife, cut into the chicken breasts twice on each side. Put into a polythene bag with the soy sauce and sherry, seal the top, shake well and set aside for at least 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, set some water to boil in a saucepan and place a steamer basket on top.
3. Halve the pak choi or shred the Chinese leaf. Place into a shallow heatproof bowl that is small ennough to fit into the steamer. Season lightly.
4. Place the chicken breasts on top and pour over the marinade. Sprinkle over the five spice powder and sesame oil. Top with long, thin strips of spring onion.
5. Put the plate into the steamer and cover. Steam for 10 minutes, till the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice and steamed or lightly boiled vegetables.

Notes:

We didn't have any light soy sauce, so I used dark. It didn't seem to matter too much.
We didn't have any dry sherry, so I used cream sherry. It didn't seem to matter too much.
We didn't have any pak choi or Chinese leaf, so I used Choi Sum. I found it very bitter but The Doctor liked it.
I didn't feel the need to add extra salt, as the soy sauce is quite salty in itself. It didn't seem to matter too much.
I don't like spring onion, so I missed it out. It didn't seem to matter too much.
We didn't have a bowl that would fit into the steamer, so I lined it with the Choi Sum and was very careful how I poured on the marinade. We lost some of the juices in dishing up but it didn't seem to matter too much.
This appears to be a very forgiving recipe :-)

Baked Mini Doughnuts

Very yummy, low in fat, and dusted with cinnamon sugar - a lovely treat :-)

Makes: 12 mini doughnuts
Takes: 5 minutes + 10 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

3 1/2 oz (100g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 3/4 oz (75g) caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp corn oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
4 tbsp skimmed milk
low-fat cooking spray

4 tsp caster sugar and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170oC/Gas Mark 3.
2. Put all the ingredients except the extra sugar and the cinnamon into a bowl and beat to form a smooth batter (a hand-held electric whisk is ideal for this).
3. Spray a mini doughnut baking sheet with the cooking spray and spoon batter into each space, making sure you don't overfill or the doughnuts will have no holes!
4. Cook for about 10 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch. They won't go very brown.
5. Mix together the extra sugar and the ground cinnamon on a small plate. As you turn the warm doughnuts out of the tin, dip the base of each into the sugar and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Notes: This recipe makes more than enough batter for 12 mini doughnuts - don't be tempted to try to get all of it into the tin! You can use the leftover mixture to make a couple of larger 'doughnut cupcakes'; line a couple of holes of a cupcake tin with non-stick baking parchment and spray with cooking spray, spoon in the batter, and bake for 15 minutes or until risen and lightly browned. Lovely split while still warm and spread with jam :-)
The baking tins are available from Lakeland Ltd.
If you don't plan to eat all the doughnuts immediately, they should freeze fine. I've never tried to freeze them though, they don't last that long!

Banana Muffins

Great way to use up bananas that have gone a bit brown and soft :-) And it's a low-fat recipe, containing fruit, so it's cake that's good for you! Bonus!

Banana Muffins

Makes: 12 muffins or 24 cupcakes
Takes: 10 minutes + 20-25 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

9 oz (250g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 medium well-ripened bananas
1 egg
3 oz (80g) soft brown sugar (demerara is fine)
5 tbsp water
4 tbsp corn oil (light olive oil is fine)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170oC (fan oven)/190oC/Gas Mark 5.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
3. Peel the bananas and place into a separate bowl. Mash them to a puree then add the egg, beaten.
4. Beat the sugar and water into the banana mixture then add the oil and stir well.
5. Tip in the dry ingredients and quickly mix till just combined. Don't overmix - it's better to have a few lumps and traces of flour!
6. Spoon into paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm and springy to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.

Best eaten fresh but they also freeze well - great for lunchboxes!

Cranberry and Orange Granola

Because of my nut allergy I have to be a bit careful with muesli and granola, so if I want it it's safer to make my own! I love the fruitiness of this particular recipe, and it's low-fat and low in added sugar too :-)

Cranberry and Orange Granola

Makes: About 1 1/2 lb
Takes: 20 mins + 45 mins cooking time

Ingredients

2 oranges
4 tbsp runny honey
11 oz rolled oats
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
3 1/2 oz dried cranberries
3 1/2 oz raisins

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160oC (fan oven)/180oC/Gas Mark 4 and line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Finely grate the rind of the oranges and squeeze out the juice. Put the rind and juice together with the honey in a saucepan and warm gently.
3. Add the oats and seeds and mix well then spread over the baking tray (it doesn't need to be level or anything - clumps of mixture are fine!)
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the clumps, till golden and starting to crisp. Give it a bit longer if you like your granola really crunchy.
5. Stir in the fruit then leave to cool before storing in an airtight container.

You can serve it with natural yogurt and fresh fruit, or any way you like really - my preference is just to add skimmed milk! It's also good as it is, still warm from the oven...

It keeps well for at least a week. If you're not sure you'll get through it in that time, halve the recipe (in fact, all the quantities here are doubled from the original as I found it better to make it in bulk!) It may not need to bake for quite as long though so keep an eye on it.

You can ring the changes by adding different kinds of dried fruit - a mixture of dried cranberries, blueberries and cherries is _delicious_! You can also add nuts of course, though you may want to reduce the quantity of oats accordingly. Try replacing a couple of ounces of oats with the same weight of chopped hazelnuts, for example. It's a flexible recipe so adapt it to your taste :-)

Light Fruit Loaf

I'm not generally a fan of fruitcake - too heavy and rich for me, and too high a chance of coming across nuts. But this isn't like ordinary fruitcake! It's light and sweet and low in fat, and gets most of its sweetness from the fruit - which makes it healthy cake in my book, meaning I can eat lots of it ;-)

Light Fruit Loaf

Makes: 12 slices
Takes: 20 mins preparation + 1 hour 10 mins cooking time

Ingredients

1 oz (25g) butter or margarine
1 3/4 oz (50g) caster sugar
4 medium eggs
6 oz (175g) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
3 1/2 oz (100g) ready-to-eat apricots, chopped
3 1/2 oz (100g) raisins
3 1/2 oz (100g) sultanas

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 130oC (fan oven)/150oC/Gas Mark 2.
2. Cream together the butter/marg and sugar then add the eggs and stir well.
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir to combine then fold in the carrot, apricots, raisins and sultanas.
4. Pour into a greased and lined 1 lb (450g) loaf tin. Bake for about an hour and 10 minutes, till a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.
5. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before slicing.

You can freeze the whole cake or individual slices - great for packed lunches! It is a bit crumbly 'cos there's a high fruit:cake ratio so you might want to stick a napkin in that lunchbox too... But it tastes really good :-)