Serves 2
Ingredients:
3 kiwi – peeled
1 papaya – peeled and deseeded
500 ml of milk kefir
100 ml of coconut water
Method:
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blitz
Category Archives: gluten free
Smoked mackerel, Greek yoghurt, cucumber, spring onions and dill
This only took a couple of minutes to prepare…my favourite sort of meal😀
Serves 3 as a main dish with new potatoes. Would serve 4 – 5 as a starter.
Ingredients:
Large handful of spinach and watercress for each person
4 spring onions – chopped
Large piece (10-15 cm) cucumber chopped in to cubes
Greek yoghurt
3 smoked mackerel fillets – skinned and flaked
Handful of dill – chopped
Pomegranate seeds to garnish.
Method:
Put prepared onions,cucumber and mackerel in a bowl and add 3-4 heaped tbsp of yoghurt. Mix together. Add most of the dill – keep some back to sprinkle over as a garnish.Serve out on to watercress/spinach and top with dill and pomegranate seeds. New potatoes complement this dish very well 😀
Water kefir
I am really enjoying drinking / eating milk kefir in smoothies or smoothie bowls every day. My husband hasn’t taken to the flavour in the same way as me – if I mix in Greek yoghurt he will then consume it! He does however act as if I he is being punished!!
So…I decided to start fermenting with water kefir grains as well.
Step 1: live grains ordered from Crave Longevity (conversation point at work when they arrived!)
Step 2: let the grains settle in – 500ml of boiled and cooled water with 2 tbsp sugar.Left in warm dark place for 24 hours.
Strained and process repeated 2 x more.
Then 1L of boiled and cooled water and 4/5 tbsp of sugar.
Step 3: second fermentation. Drained liquid put in to a glass jar with sealable top and left in a warm dark place for 72 hours.
I put a couple of prunes in the jar – created a ‘cream soda/ Dr Pepper type flavour.
Step 4: put the drink in to the fridge
Result: a delicious mildly effervescent drink 🙂 – which I am delighted to say my husband seems to enjoy.
He particularly enjoyed the batch I made without any additions of flavours at the second fermentation stage but instead added a slice of lemon and a couple of drops of vanilla prior to serving.
Guacamole
The perfect companion for a chilli con carne.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 large ripe avocado – coarsely chopped
10 plum tomatoes – finely chopped
4 spring onions – finely chopped
Juice of half a lemon
3-4 drops of tabasco sauce
Method:
Put all the prepared ingredients in to a bowl and mix gently.
A new way of thinking
Having spent the last few weeks immersed in studying nutrition I have done a great deal of thinking about food… even more so than normal! This combined with my slowly changing relationship with food has made me come to some conclusions…I am no longer dieting – hoorah but instead I am eating mindfully. It is different!
I am no longer driven by the all consuming need / desire to lose weight or a quick fix but instead I eat to enhance my health and improve my lifestyle.
I have stopped counting calories and now eat quality calories.
I’m giving myself permission to eat the good foods until I am satisfied not depriving myself or denying myself.
I eat when I am hungry and listen to my internal cues rather than being driven by external cues.
and…finally, food is no longer my enemy / nemesis or a trap but to my absolute astonishment it is my ally and liberator. Two words I never ever thought would be written by me about food!
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Kale, papaya and kefir smoothie
Serves 2
Ingredients:
300 ml Kefir 200 ml coconut water
Papaya peeled and deseeded large handful of kale
2 tbsp chia seeds
Method:
Put all ingredients in to a blender and blitz.
Ginger sponge pudding (GF) filled with Greek yoghurt mixed with chopped stem ginger
Serves 4/6
Microwave 2-3 mins on full power 4/6 individual large ramekins e.g. Prestige /souffle dishes
Ingredients:
For the pudding:
100 g gluten-free self-raising flour 100 g butter
100 g light muscovado sugar 3 eggs (2 if not using gf flour
3 tsp ground ginger
For the filling:
6-10 tbsp Greek yoghurt 4 pieces of stem ginger coarsely chopped
Method:
Put all the ingredients in to a bowl and mix well until smooth. Divide equally between the ramekins. Put in the microwave for 2 mins – test with skewer. Cooked when skewer comes out clean.
Mix Greek yoghurt with the chopped stem ginger. Scoop the centre of the pudding out and fill with yoghurt mixture and pop ‘lid’ back on. Serve whilst puddings still hot.
Smoked mackerel and rice noodles
Serves 3 Preheat oven to 180c / gas mark 4
Ingredients:
1/2 butternut squash deseeded and chopped in to small chunks
plum / cherry tomatoes
3 smoked mackerel fillets torn into large pieces
300 g rice noodles
rocket
tamari (soy sauce if non gf)
Olive oil
Method:
Put butternut squash on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in oven for about 30 mins until cooked and edges crisping.
Put a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan and, once hot, add the rice noodles. Stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for a further minute. Drizzle with tamari. Add the fish and heat through. Finally add the roasted squash, stir and serve on a bed of rocket.
Wild keta salmon on courgetti, chickpeas and pine nuts
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 salmon fillets
2 courgettes – spiralised 1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup of chick peas (tinned) 1 tsp ground ginger
Tamari to flavour – 1 tbsp olive oil for cooking
Method:
Bake the salmon fillets in the oven in a tin foil parcel for 10-15 minutes – no additional flavours / oil added.
Whilst it is cooking, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the chick peas, pine nuts and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Add the courgetti and cook for a further minute. Add tamari – heat through and serve.
Banana and walnut muffins (gf)
Preheat oven to 180c / gas 4
12 muffin tray – good quality non- stick ( I used Prestige – didn’t need to grease)
Ingredients:
120 g gluten-free self-raising flour 120 g butter
120 g light muscovado sugar 3 eggs (2 if not using gf flour)
2 ripe bananas – mashed 1/2 cup of walnut halves (12 to put on top before cooking)
Method:
Put all the ingredients ( except bananas / walnuts) for the muffins in to a bowl
and mix well until smooth. Add mashed bananas and walnuts and gently fold in to the mixture.
Spoon the mixture in to prepared tin and place half a walnut on the top of each.
Bake for about 15 mins – until skewer is clean.
Leave to cool before removing.
Make 12 – only 11 made it to the plate…muffin thief entered the kitchen!!
Jo's food bites. 