Cooking Up A storm

One of the things I missed the most when I was travelling was good home cooking. Since I have moved into my new place I have spent any moment of free time cooking lovely home cooked meals. Here are some of my staples, some of which I cook on a weekly basis, and they are all lap band friendly!


Sorry I haven't given exact measure on things, I really just add what I have in my fridge and I often mix and match ingredients depending on what I have. Also, sorry for any mistakes, this is just off the top of my head. I don't have the attention span to follow recipes!


My recipes are not fancy, they are just simple and quick week night meals using normal ingredients that I tend to have in my fridge and cupboard. I love reading about what other people are eating, so I hope this gives other people some ideas too!


*Translations*
Coriander= cilantro
Capsicum= peppers
Zucchini= courgette

Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

375 g red lentils
Water 

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red capsicum, diced 

1 bag fresh baby spinach leaves
2 medium zucchinis, diced
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 sticks celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 x 450 g can condensed tomato soup
500 ml chicken stock
1 tbs coriander paste

Method

Place lentils in a large saucepan and cover with water

Cook the lentils until soft (do not allow the lentils to dry out)

Fry all the vegetables (except spinach) in olive until soft, then add to the lentils

Fry the chorizo, slice and then add to the lentils and vegetables

Add chicken stock, tomato soup, spinach and coriander and simmer until soup has thickened

Season to taste

*I have added chorizo or bacon when I have it for extra taste

Vegetable Curry

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil

4 tbs Pataks chicken masala curry paste

400g canned chopped tomatoes

1 onion, finely sliced

Cauliflower, cut into florets

2 Carrots, sliced

2 zucchinis, finely diced

Green beans, halved

1 red capsicum, diced

3 potatoes, cubed

Baby spinach

Pita bread

1 tbs chopped coriander

Low-fat sour cream, to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat

Add onion and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until softened

Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for a further 1-2 minutes

Add tomatoes, vegetables and 200ml water, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender

Add spinach and coriander and stir through until spinach is wilted

Warm pita bread in the oven

Serve topped with a tablespoon of light sour cream stirred through and warm pita bread 

*You could add lamb, beef or chicken and just use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge

Sausage and Potato Quiche

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

6 eggs

½ cup of low fat milk

2 lamb and fetta sausages

2 medium potatoes, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

Fresh baby spinach

1 tbs basil paste

1/2 cup of low fat cheese

Method

Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the red onion over low heat until caramelized

Add the spinach until wilted and take off the heat

Boil the potato slices until just soft (salt the water)

Cook the sausages in a saucepan and slice thinly

Beat the eggs and milk together with a fork in a bowl until mixed

Add the onion, spinach, sausages and basil and stir until mixed

Place potatoes into a lightly greased pie dish

Pour mixture over the top of potatoes

Sprinkle the top of quiche with cheese

Bake in 180 degrees oven for 25 minutes

*I think this would be awesome with some hunks of brie in the mixture before baking, but that is not very healthy of me!

Quesadillas

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

1 chicken breast, diced finely

1 red capsicum, diced finely

1 red onion, diced finely

Spicy salsa

Light sour cream

Light cheese

Light tortillas

1 packet of burrito seasoning

Method

Coat chicken in burrito seasoning (add chilli powder for extra spice)

Heat oil in saucepan and fry chicken

Add capsicum and onion and cook until soft

Place a couple of tablespoons of mixture onto half the tortilla

Add salsa on top of the chicken mixture

Add sprinkling of cheese

Fold tortilla over mixture and close

Place tortillas on oven tray (or use flat toasted sandwich maker grill)

Bake in 180 degree oven until golden (approx. 5-10 mins)

Serve will tablespoon of light sour cream

Pizzas

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

Pita bread

Tomato paste

Light cheese

Fresh baby spinach

Basil paste

1 red onion, sliced

1 red capsicum, diced

Black pitted kalamatta olives, halved

2 lamb and fetta sausages

Method

Heat olive oil in a saucepan and cook onion slowly until caramelized

Add capsicum to saucepan until soft and take off heat

Cook sausages in saucepan and then slice thinly

Spread a tablespoon of tomato paste on pita bread

Add a teaspoon of basil paste and spead out over pizza base

Sprinkle pizza base with cheese

Place a handful of fresh baby spinach on pizza base

Add cooked onion, capsicum and sausage to the pizza base

Add halved olives to pizza base

Cook in 180 degree oven for 10 minutes

* I used lamb and fetta sausages, but just use any meat or none at all. I think this would be even yummier with some goats cheese sprinkled over the top too.

A few other things I have been cooking lately:

* Red wine and beef casserole in the slow cooker

* Chow Mein

* Lentil patties

* Sausage and egg burritos

* Fish wraps

* Barbecued Portugese chicken thighs with grilled corn 

* Chili con carne