Greek-style Roast Chicken

This original recipe is from the My Kitchen food blog: Spicy Chicken and Chickpea Bake

 I've modified the recipe slightly and my version follows below...

Prep time: 5 minutes

Marination time: 1-3 hours

Baking time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 1 chicken - cut into pieces
• Marinade:
• 2 heaped teaspoons finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Sprinkle of salt to taste
• 100ml (3/4 small tub) plain/Greek yoghurt
• 1/2 tin chickpeas
• 1/2 tin brown lentils
• 1 packet (50g) sun-dried tomatoes

 (I freeze the other 1/2 of chickpeas and lentils for later use)

 METHOD:

 

1. Preheat oven to 180'C
2. Mix the chicken and marinade spices in a roasting dish. Allow it to marinade 1-3 hours in the fridge.
3. Just before baking, add the chickpeas, lentils and tomatoes.
4. Bake for 25 minutes. Then turn chicken pieces around.
5. Bake for a further 20 minutes.
6. You can serve it with a flat bread or naan. But I try to keep it low-carb by serving it with a portion of butternut mash. You can use the extra yoghurt as a sauce. 

Wholesome Meat and Veggie Soup

This is my mom's go-to soup. There's just something so comforting about it. It's the perfect winter warmer. 

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 2 hours 

Serving: 6-8 (depending on portion size)

INGREDIENTS:

• Olive oil (enough to coat the pot)
• 600-700g meat (I used lamb knuckles - but beef works just as well)
• 3/4 cup red lentils
• 1/2 cup split peas
• 1/4 cup barley (I always leave this out, coz I find barley way too chewy)
• Whole spices:
• 5 x all spice
• 10 x peppercorns
• 5 x cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 3 cups beef stock
• 3 cups chicken stock 
• 4 large carrots
• 1 potato 
• 1 tomato
• 1 turnip
• 1/4 cup chopped leeks
• 2 dessert spoons chopped  parsley
• Extra salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

Prepare everything first:

1. Very important: rinse the red lentils, split peas and barley; and then throw them into a bowl. Add just enough water to cover it and allow it to soak OVERNIGHT.
2. Grate the carrots, potato, tomato and turnip  - I use my Kenwood electric blender with the grater attachment. I'm very lazy, so the only thing I actually peel is the potato. I wash the carrots and turnip with a brush. And I throw the tomato in with skin and all. 
3. Finely chop up some leeks and parsley. The parsley can be thrown into the electric blender. The leeks tend to get a bit slimy when thrown into the electric blender, so I chop them by hand. I usually buy a bunch of leeks and a bunch of parsley, prepare it all, divide it into portions and then freeze it for later use. You can also freeze the grated turnips in portions.

Let's cook:

1. Use a large pot on high heat. Coat the pot with olive oil. 
2. Add the whole spices, meat, salt and pepper. Braise the meat until all the "rawness" is gone. 
3. Add the stock and all the veggies. Stir it all together.
4. As soon as the soup starts to simmer, turn down to low heat.
5. Cook for about 2 hours, stirring intermittently. I put the timer on 30 minutes intervals, so that I'm forced to get up, stir the soup and reset the timer.
6. Right at the end, taste the soup (don't burn your mouth!) and add extra salt and pepper if necessary.

 

Chicken Omelette

This quick meal is the perfect way to use up leftovers. 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 5-10 minutes

Serves: 1

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk (you can use water for even less calories)
• (Left-over) cooked chicken slices or blocks (you can also shred chicken pieces)
• 1 mushroom - thinly sliced
• A few baby spinach leaves
• Feta - crumbled up
• Cheddar cheese - grated
• About a 1/4 avocado - sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste

The quantity of each ingredient really depends on your taste and how much leftovers you have. I didn't have baby spinach, so I just left it out.  

METHOD:

1. Prepare the egg mixture by whisking together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.
2. Prepare all the other ingredients.
3. Use a medium-sized pan, initially on high heat - pour in the egg mixture and layer your filling ingredients.
4. As it starts to cook, turn the heat down to medium and cover the pan with a lid. Cook covered for about 5 minutes. Check every two minutes or so - it's done when the egg is cooked and cheese is melted. 
5. The last step is to flip the one half over, to close the omelette.

Healthy Flapjacks

This is my favourite healthy flapjack recipe and it's so easy to make. Obviously it's not as yummy as a normal flapjack but this comes pretty close.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter (I prefer smooth peanut butter)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tub blueberries

(I usually buy fresh blueberries in bulk and freeze them for later use. Defrosting them is super easy: just add tap water and let it stand for 5 minutes.)

METHOD:

1. Squash the banana into a pulp - I usually start with 2 bananas and use a hand masher. I sometimes add a third banana right at the end, if the mixture is too thin.
2. Add mashed banana, 3 eggs, peanut butter and vanilla essence into a mixing bowl. Mix it together with a whisk.
3. Then add oats, baking powder and salt. Mix it all through with the whisk.
4. Then add 1/3 tub of blueberries. I mix it in with a spoon, trying to squash them against the side of the bowl as I stir.
5. At this point, assess the "runniness" of the mixture - I prefer to make it slightly thicker by adding the third mashed banana. But remember, it will never be as thick as a normal flapjack batter. 
6. I cook the flapjacks on my Breville flat toaster, but you can also you a non-stick pan. Coat the toaster or pan with oil spray. You can make them any size you want - I use 2 heaped dessert spoon scoops to make the size seen in the pictures - and this makes a total of 12 flapjacks. Use another 1/3 tub of blueberries to randomly place blueberries on top of the flapjacks. Cook each side 3-4 minutes. It's ready to turn when the entire flapjack bubbles. Alternatively, if you turn it over and create a scrambled flapjack - it was not ready to be turned yet! (this always happens to me with the first flapjack) I also like to close the flat toaster - but make sure it doesn't touch the top of the flapjack - I find that this help's it cook faster.

If you're having a bad day, you could add chocolate chips instead of blue berries.

 

Making the stack:

• You can use whatever you want. When I'm feeling really healthy, I eat them as is. 
• This is how I stacked them this time round. 
• I used chocolate sauce, sliced banana, the last 1/3 tub of blueberries and ready-whipped cream in a can. 
• Layer: flapjack, chocolate sauce, banana, next flapjack and repeat. 
• Top layer: chocolate sauce, cream and blueberries.