Spicy Butternut Squash Soup topped with Toasted Pumpkin seeds

This Soup is a great winter warmer its also low in fat.

Butternut Squash is sweet in flavour which is quite good to eat when dieting as it can help prevent sugar cravings.

I don't peel the squash as it can be a nightmare sometimes instead I roast it cut in to wedges then peel it when its cooked.

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 Large Butternut Squash cut in to wedges skin left on take out the seed though 

1 teaspoon ground Coriander 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1 Leek or onion thinly sliced ( I used leek because I didn't have onions so don't be afraid to change recipes if you have similar ingredients)

1/2 Red chilli de-seeded

Thumb sized piece of ginger grated 

Zest 1 Orange 

1+1/2 litres Chicken Stock or Vegetable stock

Salt and Pepper 

Handful of Pumpkin Seeds 

Spoon of yoghurt 

Method:

Pre-Heat 180 oC

Toss the squash, coriander, olive oil and pinch of salt together.

Place on a baking tray and cook  for 45 minutes or until soft.

When cooked leave them to cool a little then peel off then skin and chop in to chunks.

While the Squash is cooking slice up the leek and Saute it in a little oil,butter or spray oil until soft.

Add in the chilli, ginger and chopped squash and stock.

Boil up and simmer for a few minutes just to let the flavours marry. 

Blend the soup if its a bit thick add a little more stock,water or milk to thin it out.

The add the zest of orange and taste to check seasoning.

Heat a dry frying pan and add the seeds toss them in the pan until well toasted.

Pour the soup in to warm bowls and top with a blob of yoghurt and seeds.

Moroccan tomato, chickpea and chilli soup

This soup is really healthy and filling. It only contains 220 calories per bowl.
Serves 4
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 onion diced
2 potatoes diced
1 carrot diced
1 red chilli finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tin of chopped tinned tomatoes
1 tin chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 knorr vegetable or chicken stock pot cube mixed with 750 ml of boiling water
Salt and black pepper
To serve :
Chopped corainder
A few spoons of yogurt

Method:
Fry the onion until soft
Add the carrot, potatoes, cumin and chilli and stir well.
Add the tomatoes and stock
Boil until the potatoes until just cooked
If you wish to blend the soup you can do it at this stage.
I like to half blend it so it's not too chunky but still has texture.
Finally add the chickpeas and heat through.
Serve in a bowl with a dollop of yogurt and chopped corainder

Healthy pitta pizzas

This recipe is great because it's a quick dinner and once you have the pittas and tomato base you half way there.
After that you can use up any bit of cheese, peppers, onions, ham, chicken thats in your fridge

 

Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 1 pack of pitta breads any size will do and cut in half.
• 100g of any grated cheese
• 1/3 of a chorizo sausage sliced
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1-2 tbsn sweetcorn
• 6-8 tbsn of seasoned passata. (sieved tomatoes can be bought in any super market in jars )
• Dried oregano.

 

Method :

 

Preheat the oven to 200oC
Place the halves of pittas on a baking tray.
Smear the passatta on each one then layer the cheese, veg and chorizo and sprinkle with oregano
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Serve with chips and salad.

mexican hotpot

MEXICAN STYLE HOTPOT On cold rainy days all we want to eat is comfort food. This recipe is adapted from a traditional hotpot my dad use to make us when we were kids, it’s probably one of five recipes he has in his repertoire when he made this my sister and I absolute loved it and would ask him every day to make it again. My mum would slave away over the stove everyday and we took that for granted think it made her a little jealous but it was just the novelty of having dad at home and mum at work, any way I’ve turned this recipe into a Mexican style one by adding a bit of chilli and cumin and kidney beans to the base sauce. You can change this recipe by adding omitting the spices and kidney beans and adding basil and chilli and using mozzarella on the potatoes or use diced chicken breasts and chorizo instead of mince beef to have a Spanish themed hotpot. The left over’s are yummy in tacos with crispy iceberg lettuce and sour cream or on top of bake potatoes. This will freeze perfectly.

Mexican style hotpot

Serves 6-8 hungry people.450g mince beef 2 carrots diced 1 white onion diced ½ cup of frozen peas 1tsp of chopped garlic (I use the one in from the supermarket ready chopped in oil)2tbsn olive oil 2 tins of tomatoes1 tbsn tomato puree 1 tin of kidney beans 2 beef oxo cubes 1 tbsn Worchester sauce ½ Tabasco (optional)2tsp ground cumin ½ tsp chilli flakes or chilli powder (Id add more because l Love chilli so use this spice to your taste)1 tbsn chopped fresh coriander 2 finally sliced scallionsFor the top:6 medium potatoes washed, peeled and slice quite thinly.50-75grm of sliced cheese any kind will do.

Pre heat the oven 170oc Heat your pot with 1tbsn of the oil and add meat fry until well browned 5-6 mins Drain off excess fat Add the final 1tbsn of olive oilAdd the vegetables to the meat and cook off for a further 5 minutes Add the stock cubes, Worchester sauce, Tabasco, tomatoes and kidney beans Stir well Add cumin and chilli flakesCook for 6-8 minutes to let all the flavours develop and marry Throw in coriander and scallionsTransfer to an oven proof casserole dish Place sliced potatoes on top Cook in oven for 30 minutes then for the final 10-15 minutes add grated cheese and turn up the heat to 190ocServe piping hot with salad, baked beans or more potatoes.Some sour cream would be lovely on the side too.

Hints & Tips

1: If have a little bit of wine at the end of a bottle instead of throwing it away pour the wine in to ice cube trays or bags, when your making sauces and stews pop a wine cube in instead of opening a new bottle.

Low calorie full of flavour dinner

Roast Chicken tray bake
Serves 2
Ingredients
4 small potatoes with skins on and largely diced
2 carrots sliced
2tsp olive oil
1 courgette sliced
1 red onion sliced
1 sprig of thyme and 1 sprig of rosemary
1 lemon largely diced
2 skinless chicken breasts
1 stock cube with 150ml boiling water

Method
Heat the oven to 200c/180c/gas 6
In a roasting tray toss all the vegetables and herbs in the oil and season with salt and black pepper
Roast for 30 minutes until everything is golden brown
Place your chicken breasts in the middle and cook for 15 minutes.
Then pour chicken stock over and cook for a further 5-7 minutes.
Serve

300kl per serving

Suitable for freezing