Tag: children

Sweet n Sour Vegetables

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The great thing about this meal is the abundance of vegetables, and the sauce makes them taste interesting and adds a whole lot of oomph. There are extremely good reasons for eating a lot of veg (other than “they’re good for you”). Each different vegetable provides a range of phytonutrients, the more variety you have, the broader the range of these immensely beneficial plant nutrients. Ideally, we should be aiming for 30+ plants a week. This includes the ‘super six’: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts/seeds, beans/lentils, herbs/spices. It sounds like a lot, but this one sweet n sour meal provides 10!

This recipe originally came from one of my daughter’s Home Economics homeworks during Covid lockdown. During that time she was difficult and fussy with food – in clinical practice we call ‘selective eating’. Amazingly, she gobbled it all up!

It is totally delicious and has become a household staple, so I thought it was about time that I share. The original recipe was for 2 people, so to serve 4 I’ve doubled the amount of veg but kept the quantity of sauce the same. I’ve also reduced the sugar by half. You can of course add in extra veg, or leave out what you don’t like. Depending on what I have in the fridge, I may add extra peppers, spinach or cauliflower.

Ingredients

Veg: 2 peppers, 2 carrots, 1 onion, 2 handfuls of broccoli, 2 handfuls of beansprouts, 2 sticks of celery, large tin of pineapple.

Sauce: 2 tablespoons cornflour, 1 stock cube, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 250ml pineapple juice, pinch of ground ginger.

For the method see picture above 🙂 I sometimes add some ready cooked chicken or tofu for some protein. Serve with brown rice.

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Smoothie Bowl

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6216be92664c268834e07ac1a29edd4aThis is something I make in seconds for my kids as a very healthy pudding. They love it. It’s somewhere between ice-cream and a smoothie. For me, I sometimes have it as a breakfast. I add a handful of oats, and if I’ve just had a bike or run, a scoop of protein powder.

Why it’s great:

Yogurt: calcium, protein, good bacteria for the digestion Berries: antioxidants,
phytonutrients and fibre. Oats: for slow release energy, soluble fibre, B-glucan cholesterol lowering, carbs for replacing muscle glycogen stores post workout. Protein powder: 20g extra protein post workout for muscle recovery and maintenance, also keeps you feeling full up for longer. 

Ingredients:

  • frozen berries: 1 big handful per person
  • Oats: 1 small handful per person (about 30g)
  • Natural yogurt: 3 tablespoons per person
  • Honey: 1/2-1 teaspoon per person

Method: whizz up in a blender, in my blender I’ve to give it a shake every few seconds to get all the ingredients down to the bottom.

Eat with a spoon!img_1066.jpg

If you use a flavoured yogurt, there’s no need to add honey as it should be sweet enough already.

 

Here’s what I used this evening……

Yogurt Hack: one simple way to half the sugar

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We all know that flavoured yogurts can be laden with sugar. In an ideal world we’d choose natural or plain yogurt which will have none of the added sweetness. But flavoured yogurts taste goooood! So if you find being nutritionally holy with the unadulterated natural stuff tough, here’s a simple tip for taking things in the right direction……

You will need:

  1. pot of flavoured yogurt 
  2. pot of natural yogurt

Simply pour or scoop out half of the flavoured yogurt and replace with the natural yogurt. Give it a good stir.

You will still have plenty of flavour, but much less sweetness.

 

For more info, here’s another post on Choosing a Healthy Yogurt

Seriously Healthy Pancakes (2 ingredients)

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It’s Shrove Tuesday, yay for pancakes! But do they seem like a chore to make? Would you like a super speedy, easy AND healthy pancake recipe??

This pancake mix takes about 1 minute to prepare using a banana and 2 eggs. It’s ready to cook immediately! They are awesome with a big dollop of greek yogurt and some warm berries……I use frozen berries that have been blasted in the microwave to defrost 🙂

The pancakes mix is easier to make with a blender – just blast all the ingredients together,  but it can also be done with a fork.

Ripe bananas

1 Ripe banana

2 Eggs

2 Eggs – high protein

  1. Mash the banana very well – the more ripe the banana the easier this is
  2. Crack in two eggs and mix with a fork. (You can also do this in a blender).
  3. Optional: add in a handful of oats to increase the carbohydrate and fibre for sustained energy.
  4. Pour some mixture in to a lightly greased frying pan (ideally a non-stick one), allow to cook on a medium heat for a minute or two. You’ll see little bubbles appearing, take a peak underneath to see if it turning brown. Flip over and cook the other side.

Extras: a simple drizzle of honey/maple syrup, or greek yogurt topped with berries.

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Take to work or school (pic courtesy of my sis!)

 

Tip: if you are watching your weight, studies show eating eggs for breakfast can help. Eggs seem to help you to feel full up for longer and keep your blood sugar levels steady.

 

Wee Bytes – Ready Brek

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Ready Brek – it’s such a kiddie food, surely no self respecting grown up would be eating
this for breakfast?! And isn’t it loaded with sugar?

Well you could be missing out…….this is pretty great stuff, and doesn’t deserve to be tarred with the same brush as other sugary breakfast cereals.

Ready Brek is simply ground up oats with vitamins added (there is no added sugar). The ingredients are: Wholegrain Rolled Oats (60%), Wholegrain Oat Flour (38%), Calcium, Niacin, Iron, Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin B6, Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12. Add some milk, and you’ve a wonderful combination of carbohydrate, protein, soluble fibre and all those lovely vits and minerals.

Two ways with Ready Brek:

In a bowl: Put a mug full of milk in a bowl, microwave for about 90 seconds, or until boiling. Sprinkle in the Ready Brek and mix until you get your desired consistency. Tasty extras to add:

  • cinnamon
  • raisins
  • chopped banana
  • a scoop of protein powder
  • a teaspoon of cocoa powder
  • an egg – yes really, crack one in and mix well while the RB is piping hot

Add more milk if it’s too hot or you like it extra milky.

Smoothie: Blend together 200-300ml milk, 1 banana or some berries, 1/2-1 mugful of Ready Brek, drizzle of honey. Quantities of ingredients depends on how hungry you are, or how hard you training. I came up with this smoothie idea for one of my little GB gymnasts who was struggling with fatigue due to training coming up to the World Championships…… they got a Gold by the way 🙂

Perfect for sport

Because the oats are ground up, Ready Brek is easily and quickly digested, therefore brilliant to have 1 hour before an intentse training session e.g. a swim, run or bike; or after for recovery refuelling.

Before a 6am run or swim, I usually have a ripe banana and milky coffee, and then have a Ready Brek Smoothie as soon as I get home. I need very quick recovery food otherwise I feel very tired later in the afternoon.

 

 

4 minute Crispy Tortilla Pizza

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Being a bit of a foodie, but short on time, I love to find something new to feed the family.

I would love to be more organised with food shopping, but am usually juggling dietetic clients, lecturing (that’s teaching actual real-life university students, not giving my own 3 children the third degree, although I also do that most of the time), looking after said children and generally running the house.

It was 2.55pm, I had been at my laptop most of the day writing patient reports, and I had to pick my the children up from school at 3.15. No snacks of any use in the house to satisfy ravenous little people’s large appetites. All I could muster was some frozen tortilla wraps, a near empty jar of pesto and some cheddar cheese.

Sometimes the best results come from these moments of desperation. Like when you have to panic buy a top to wear from the supermarket (for whatever reason), and it becomes a favourite that lasts for years.

Child and adult friendly, these tortilla pizzas are fabulous as a snack, in a lunch box or on a picnic. These are very adaptable so you can add or subtract ingredients (although keeping the wraps is kind of fundamental to the whole operation).
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I find that with fewer ingredients the filling of the ‘pizza sandwich’ is less likely to fall out while walking. If we’re at home or if it’s in the lunch boxes, I might add grated carrot, ham or tuna. Experiment to your heart’s content!016417

Ingredients:

  • 2 tortilla wraps
  • tablespoon of pesto or ready made tomato sauce e.g. Dolmio
  • Fillings of your choice (optional)
  • grated cheese

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Method:

  1. Lightly oil a non-stick frying pan, allow to heat up on a fairly high heat.
  2. Add one tortilla wrap to the pan, spread on the pesto/tomato sauce.IMG_0886
  3. Sprinkle on the cheese and other fillings.
  4. Add the top tortilla.
  5. When the bottom tortilla is browning and a bit crispy, carefully flip the tortilla sandwich over with a spatula
  6. Cook for two minutes on the other side.

The cheese will have melted and the wraps should be nice and crispy. Chop in to quarters or sixths. Can be eaten hot or cold.

One Pot Chicken Chorizo Jambalaya

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Who likes mess and lots of washing up? Not me!

Who likes tasty food? Me!IMG_0881

I love this meal because it has minimal faff and hassle: everything is chucked in to my lovely big Le Cruset pot that sits permanently on the stove. It has the perfect combination of carbohydrates from the rice, protein from the chicken and chorizo, with the tomatoes, onion, pepper and garlic providing super healthy phytonutrients. The original recipe used Cajun spice mix which in the words of my 3 year old is “a little bit spicy”, so I’ve adapted it to use smoked paprika, which provides a warming barbeque flavour. Unknown-1

For my wee people, I’ve renamed it ‘Barbeque Rice Treasure Hunt’. I know, I know. I don’t like pandering too much to this type of nonsense, but anything for an easier life. They’ve to find the chunks of chicken/chorizo in the rice. Also for a less stressful mealtime, I grate the onion as my eldest won’t eat chunks of the stuff. Sigh, raised eyebrow*

Did you know? One of the fabulous things about onion and garlic is that they are wonderful ‘foods’ for the healthy bacteria in your gut, helping to ensure they flourish. Healthy gut bacteria are very important for good digestion and your immune system.

Watching your weight or for extra nutrition oomph? Leave out the chorizo as it’s high in fat and usually has nitrates (not very healthy at all); add extra chicken, some prawns, extra vegetables, e.g grated carrot, red pepper, spinach, or another tin of tomatoes.

 

Ingredients:IMG_0895

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 chicken breasts, diced
  • 1 onion, diced or grated
  • 1 red pepper, chopped in to cubes
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 75g chorizo sausage, sliced
  • 1-2 tbsp smoked paprika or Cajun spice mix
  • 250g long grain rice
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 350ml chicken stock

Method:

  1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or casserole dish with a lid. Brown the chicken for a few mins.
  2. Tip in the onion and cook for a few minutes until soft.
  3. Add the pepper, garlic, chorizo and smoked paprika. Cook for 5 mins more.
  4. Add the uncooked rice.
  5. Add the tomatoes and stock.
  6. Cover and simmer for 20-25 mins until the rice is tender. Add more chicken stock if it gets a bit too dry.

My favourite thing is when I let it ‘catch’ on the bottom of the saucepan, allowing it to crisp up a bit/caramelise.