Healthy Recipes

One of  the easiest ways to have a quick meal handy at a moments notice is to have some home made chicken stock in the freezer.

You can of course always have the tetra packs in the pantry but for a proper nutritious meal in a hurry having a supply of your own chicken stock is very handy.

Start with a whole chicken or chicken thighs and legs on the bone. If you use a whole chicken take the breast off if you like and use it for a stir fry or similar. Put the rest of the chicken in a large pot with what ever vegetables you have on hand. A whole onion, skin and all, a carrot, the tops of celery, ends of parsley, anything at all. No need to peel anything just put whatever you’ve got on hand in the pot. In a big restaurant kitchen all the trimmings from vegetables are put into a big bucket in the cool room then every few days a stock of some sort is made out of them and left to simmer for a day or more. Fill the pot with water till everything is covered and put on the stove till it comes to the boil then turn down to just simmering. Season it up with salt and pepper and if you have any herbs in the garden add some of them in as well. Just let it tick over for anything from an hour to a couple of hours, depending on how long you’ve got. If you are going to cook it for a long time you may want to remove the chicken and take the main parts of the flesh off the bone so they don’t get over cooked and are usable for another dish but put the bones back in the pot. The longer it cooks for the more it will reduce and the more intense the flavor will be.

When you have given it as long as you can strain off the liquid and reserve the chicken meat if it is still in there. Put it in the fridge over night if possible but at least long enough for the fat to rise to the top and harden so it is easy to scrape of and discard, that way you end up with a fat free stock. Separate it into smaller containers and freeze it when it’s cold.

It’s obviously brilliant for soup in winter and can be flavored up with what ever you want to add to it but as it’s summer a nice easy one to do is a laksa with thinly sliced veg, some of the chicken meat cut into it, a squeeze of lime juice, a can of coconut milk (which has healthy oils) a dash of soy sauce, fish sauce and some fresh coriander, mint and basil right at the end.  Kafir lime leaf added to the stock at the start gives it a lovely flavor if you have any on hand. There are some laksa pasts out there if you don’t want to worry about having all these ingredients but do add in your own fresh veggies and stock. Serve it onto some rice noodles and it’s a quick, healthy, easy meal. It can have seafood added to it to off course and chili and some roasted cashews on top. The cooked meat is also handy for lunch wraps and salads like in a quinoa and tomato or roast veg salad for lunch. A sauce can be made out of the stock by thickening it and the chicken can be added into it to make many different things from chicken and almonds to a chicken pie. Just don’t cook it for too long with the chicken back in it as it will shred as it is already well cooked.

There seems to be a growing need for GLUTEN-FREE recipes, below are a few really lovely gluten free recipes.  Most recipes that contain flour can be adjusted to gluten free by using potato, rice, besan, maize flour and others. If your gluten intolerant you’ve no doubt checked into them all already. The worse thing about it is they are more expensive. The other problem is the flours all lack the starch in them which bind flours together so you have to replace it with things like xanthan gum. There is gluten free self raising flour on the shelves or you can buy a GF baking powder to add to other flours. I have more recipes available in my cooking classes but here are a few to get you going.

Gluten Free Pie Crust

This pie crust is handy to use under quiches or any savoury pie. With a bit of sugar added it could be used under a sweet pie as well I’m sure.

• 1 cup long grain rice, rinsed
• 11/2 cups of stock
• 1 egg

Boil stock in a saucepan then stir in rice and reduce to low. Cover and cock for 10 min or till tender and the liquid is absorbed. Remove pan from heat and stir in the egg and seasoning. Cool for 5 min then line base and sides of a pie tin pressing in firmly. Pre cook for 15 min at 180C then fill with pie filling and bake for 25 to 30 min. Nice with a bit of parmesan through it to if using for a quiche for eg.

GF. Fruit Cake

• ½ cup maize flour
• ½ cup rice flour
• ½ tsp xanthan gum
• 2tsp GF baking powder
• 1 egg
• 4tbs butter or coconut oil
• ¾ cup orange juice and the zest of ½ an orange
• ½ tsp each of nutmeg (freshly grated is best) and cinnamon
• 3 tbs golden syrup
• 2tbs brown sugar
• 1 cup of dried fruit.

Soak the dried fruit in the orange juice for an hour or more in a saucepan. Add all the ingredients except for the flours and the egg and heat gently on the stove till the butter has melted and everything has mixed in together. Allow it to cool a little before adding the beaten egg and sifting in the flours. Fold it all in together then spoon into a cake tin lined with greases baking paper (It just makes it easier to get out and wash). Bake for 40 min or so at 180 or until it is firm to touch.

Fruit Compote

With stone fruit readily available now making a little compote and having it in the fridge for breakfast or desert is very handy. Slice up some fresh fruit into such as nectarines, peaches, apples, apricots, pears and plumes and mix them together in a saucepan with some dried fruit of your choice, apricots, sultanas etc. Roughly ½ dried to 1 fresh but it’s up to you. Add enough water or orange juice to cover around a quarter of the fruit along with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves ½ tsp orange and lemon zest and a little brown sugar or honey just to get a syrup going. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 to 20 min until the fresh fruit breaks down and the dried fruit has softened and the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool. It will thicken up as it cools. I like to add some nuts to it to. It’s great with yogurt or ice-cream and good over cereal or just on it’s own. The Bircher muesli recipe from last month can be made GF by using amaranth instead of oats.

Quinoa Lunch fix.

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1/2kg of sweet potato, pumpkin cut into 2cm dice. or any left over cooked veg
• ½ tsp fennel seeds or cumin
• ½ cup pine nuts
• rocket leaves or baby spinach
• 100 g of feta cheese

Cook the quinoa as per the instructions on the pack. Sprinkle the fennel seeds over the root veg and splash over some oil. Bake on a moderate oven for 20 to 30 min till they are nearly cooked through adding the pine nuts for the last few minutes to brown them. When cooled add the quinoa, green leaves and feta. Any cooked meat or left overs can go in for a lunch box meal or as above for a salad at a BBQ is good too. Quinoa is a protein and having it for lunch is a good way of getting some protein through the day.

I hope these gluten free recipes and tips were helpful.

Nut Slice

This is a really handy alternative to buying something unhealthy when you need a snack. Keep it on hand all the time in the fridge. It keeps for ages. A good source of protein to pick you up. Line a tray with sides on it with some grease proof paper. Spray the paper with oil. This doesn’t go into the oven so it doesn’t have to be oven proof. Size isn’t really important but the larger the tray the thinner the slice.

The ingredients for this are rather optional depending on what you like and what you have on hand.

• Basically it’s raw nuts,
• the packets of mixed nuts are good for this,
• seeds like sunflower,
• pumpkin and sesame and oats. (substitute amaranth for oats for gluten free or just leave them out) Chai seeds,
• rice bubbles if you have them any sort of dried fruit you like and some kind of glue to hold it all together like honey,
• glucose syrup,
• tahini,
• coconut oil,
• rice bran syrup,
• and golden syrup or malt syrup.
• ½ cup of dark choc bits (optional).

Things like wheat germ can go in as well. If you’ve got 4 cups of dry ingredients in total you will need about a cup and a half to 2 cups of glue.

Method. put the dry ingredients, except chocolate, into a hotish oven for a few minutes to warm them through a little, you don’t want to roast them and make them into nasty nuts though. Same with the liquid, just heat it a little in the micro wave, this just allows everything to mix together a little easier. Just mix them all together until the liquid coats all the nuts etc. If it looks a little dry add a bit more honey or whatever.

Smooth into the prepared tin and pat down tightly, put it in the fridge. When it’s hardened up after an hour or two, tip it upside down onto a board and peel the paper off. Melt the chocolate in the microwave and smooth it over what is now the top. Let this set then cut it into small square and keep in the fridge.

Indian Lamb Chops.

• 1 kg lamb chump chops trimmed of fat, ( for 4 people)
• 1 tin crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbs. chopped ginger
• 2 tbs garam masala
• 1onion chopped
• a few cups of root vegies such as carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato cut into chunks
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• a little chilli
• ½ tsp each of cumin and coriander seeds, lightly toasted
• tin of chick peas
• fresh coriander and mint to garnish (optional)
• apr. 2 cups of stock or water

In a large frypan sauté of the chopped onion lightly then the chopped ginger and chilli. Add the can of tomatoes, garam masala, cumin and coriander. Add the stock and turn down to a simmer. Add the lamb chops and vegies into the pan so they are covered with the sauce. Simmer with the lid on in the stove or in the oven for around 30 min till the vegies are cooked and the meat is tender. Remove the lid and reduce the sauce a little if needed. Add the chick peas and yogurt and warm through. Serve garnished with the fresh herbs and some fresh greens like beans and with quinoa or brown rice. ( cut sweet potato larger than other veg as it will cook quicker.)

Honey and Cinnamon Pork.

For 4 people 750 to 1kg of either pork medallions pork fillet or pork loin chops trimmed of fat.

• Juice of 1 small lemon or ½ of a big one
• ½ cup of honey
• 1 cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp of cinnamon)
• ½ cup of sultanas
• 2 cups of stock or water
• A little fruit chutney is nice to if you have some
• 1 onion sliced thinly <br>
• Sauté the pork lightly on its sides adding the onion in as it start to colour a little.
• Add the other ingredients a simmer gently for 10 to 15 min till pork has cooked to medium and sauce has reduced.

If you like your pork less cooked take it out and let it rest while the sauce cooks and then add in again at the end.

Bircher Muesli.

This is the best way to stop missing breakfast if you keep running out of time. It’s so important to eat a good breakfast and this can go anywhere with you.

Make enough for the week and take what you want to work with you each day. You can sit at the computer and have breaky if you need to so this will do for about 4 days.

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 4 cups of milk or apple juice
• ½ cup chopped nuts
• ½ to 1 cup of any dried fruit you like
• ½ cup of yogurt, plain or vanilla
• A few tbs. of honey depending on your taste and type of yogurt used
• ½ cup of frozen blueberries
• Any fresh or tinned fruit can be added in if you like, nectarines, apricots and peaches work well
• Any seeds like pumpkin, sunflower etc can go in.