Tag: Vegetables

Healthy Recipes

Baked Chicken Parcels

Baked Chicken Parcels

This is a lovely way of cooking chicken, it keeps it moist and tasty - and best of all, once its in the oven, you have 20 minutes to yourself!

SERVES 4
Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts (1 per person)
2 Portobello mushrooms
16 tbsp (4 per parcel) of Vegetable/Chicken Stock (or Bouillon Powder made into stock - my personal favourite)
Salt and Pepper to season
4 tsp of Dried or Fresh Basil (1 tsp per breast)
Juice of half a lemon

You will need:
4 Large squares of either kitchen foil or baking parchment

To make:
1) Lay your 4 squares of foil / parchment onto the work surface, and place a breast on each one - they need to be laid diagonal in the centre.
2) Slice your mushrooms and lay a few slices on top of each breast.
3) Add basil, salt/pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice to each one.
4) Now you need to fold up one side of your parcel and make the two corners (top) meet, and scrunch together. Think of a large Cornish pasty shape – that’s the shape you're looking for! Once you have one side and the top secured you are ready to add the stock.
5) With the remaining gap, spoon the stock into the parcel, and then secure by scrunching up the side. Your parcel should now be secure and have absolutely NO HOLES!
6) Once you have repeated this for each parcel, place all 4 onto a baking tray, and place into a pre-heated oven at about 200 degrees for 20 minutes (you can check by opening one side of a parcel to see if the meat is cooked, if in doubt place back in the oven for a further 5 minutes).

Serve with brown rice and green vegetables.

Love and energy,
Liz and Jessica x

Practical Nutrition

Good snack, bad snack!

In an ideal world we would probably eat three healthy meals a day and never experience hunger. However, many people function better with three meals and two snacks a day as it helps keep blood sugars and energy more even. A poor choice of snack on a regular basis will quickly sabotage all the best intentions for a healthy lifestyle or weight loss plan.

So, here are some Good snack ideas:

  • Fruit e.g. apples and pears
  • Raw veg e.g. carrots, celery
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Smoothie - home-made (there is little nutrition in packaged smoothies)
  • Bean salad
  • Soup - home-made (which can be purchased) not tinned or packet
  • Stew - home-made transported in a food flask
  • Quinoa or other grain e.g. millet and salad or beans etc.
  • Fish & salad
  • Wholemeal bread / toast / pitta with butter and e.g. tinned fish, cheese, nut butter
  • Natural yoghurt
  • Oats - flapjack or porridge etc.
  • Home-made biscuits & cakes - ingredients chosen with care

Bad snack ideas will probably not harm you now and then, but for every day I suggest you think twice before eating convenient junk foods. You are what you eat.  Your body's cells of tomorrow are made from the food you eat today. Think before you eat.

Love and energy,
Liz and Jessica x

Healthy Recipes

Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

Even non-vegetarians will love this!

SERVES 4

Ingredients:

1 Large White Onion
1 Garlic clove or 1 tsp of lazy garlic
1 Butternut Squash
1 Aubergine
1 Large Courgette
1 tin of Sweetcorn
1 tin of Chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp of Tomato Ketchup
1 vegetable stock cube or 2 tsps of Bouillon Powder
100 ml of cold water
White Lasagne sauce (1 Jar or equivalent of homemade)
Half fat Cheddar Cheese for topping
Dried Mixed Herbs
Salt/Pepper
Olive Oil (2 tbsps)

To make:

  1. Chop up the Aubergine, Courgette and Squash, add to baking tray, drizzle over oil and roast in oven (medium heat) for about 20-25 minutes (until cooked)
  2. Soften onion in pan, with drizzle of oil, add garlic
  3. Add chopped tomatoes, ketchup, stock cube and water, simmer for a couple of minutes
  4. Add the roasted vegetables to the sauce, with a sprinkle of herbs, stir and leave to cook for 10 minutes or so, until the sauce has thickened.
  5. Add the sweetcorn and add salt and pepper to season, give it a stir and take off the heat.
  6. Now you can start to build up the lasagne in a lasagne dish - I always start with pasta on the bottom to keep it together better, but it doesn't really matter! Alternate with layer of pasta, your vegetable sauce and the white sauce, building up so the last layer is white sauce.
  7. Cover this with your grated Cheese, and add a sprinkle of pepper and mixed herbs (fresh basil is nice on top too)
  8. Place dish in oven (medium heat) for 30 minutes - until top is golden brown and bubbling.

Great served with a simple green salad.

Recipe supplied by Paul Hopper

Healthy Recipes

Teriyaki Salmon and Stir-fried Vegetables

Simply Healthy and delicious...

Serves 4
Ingredients:

4 Salmon steaks
3 tbsp Teriyaki sauce
11/2 tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce
3 tbsp Soy Sauce (plus more for adding to the vegetables later)
Juice of a Lemon

Mixture of vegetables ripe for stir-frying! (You can buy pre-made mixes from the supermarket, or simply buy them individually and slice - I like a mix of pak choi, courgettes, carrots, spring onions, tenderstem broccoli, red/yellow peppers, and bean sprouts

To make:

  1. Mix the 3 sauces and the lemon juice together in a bowl.
  2. Dunk each piece of salmon into the bowl and roll around until well covered with the treacley sauce. Leave to marinate for a couple of hours - or you can just cook straight away if you don't have enough time.
  3. Place the steaks onto a baking tray and cook in an oven at 180 degrees for 12-15 minutes - until the salmon is cooked.
  4. Switch off the oven and leave the salmon to rest. Whilst resting you can get on with the vegetables.
  5. Heat up a dry wok, and add the remaining marinade, plus a few more drops of soy sauce
  6. Add your vegetables, toss them around so they are well covered with sauce and cook for 3-5 minutes, until they are slightly wilted but still crunchy  - you can top up with soy sauce if desired.
  7. Once cooked, place a portion of the vegetables in the middle of a plate, and then add the rested salmon fillets on top.

Serve immediately.

Recipe supplied by Paula Hopper