Yellow Tomato Salad with Shallots and Lemongrass

Ingredients

1 stalk lemongrass 1/4 cup (50 mL) finely chopped shallots 1/4 tsp (1 mL) grated lemon rind 2 tsbp lemon juice 1 garlic clove, minced 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt pinch cayenne pepper 6 yellow tomatoes Coriander leaves

Preparation:

Cut off bottom third of lemongrass; peel off outside layer and slice stalk paper-thin. In small bowl, whisk together lemongrass, shallots, lemon rind and juice, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. (Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours; whisk before using.)

Cut each tomato into 8 wedges. Place in large bowl; pour dressing over top and gently toss to coat. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Dilled Cucumber Tomato Salad

3/4 tsp (4 mL) granulated sugar
2 tbsp (25 mL) white vinegar
1 mild white onion (such as Vidalia), sliced
4 cups (1 L) coarsely chopped peeled English cucumber 2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp (50 mL) canola or vegetable oil
2 tbsp (25 mL) chopped fresh dill (or 1 tsp/5 mL dried dillweed)
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt, pepper and celery salt

Preparation:
In large bowl, dissolve sugar in vinegar; add onion and mix. Marinate for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Make-ahead: Cover and marinate for up to 4 hours.)

Add cucumber and tomatoes. Stir in oil, dill, salt, pepper and celery salt.

mexican street salad

ingredients

• ½ a small white cabbage
• ½ a small red cabbage
• a small bunch of radishes (about 10), trimmed and finely sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
• a large bunch of fresh coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped
• 2 large jalapeño chillies (or other green chilli), to taste, finely sliced
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
• extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 2–3 limes
• sea salt

servings
4-6

method

This simple little salad can be quite extraordinary, but you’ve got to season it with that Mexican spirit by being brave with the lime juice, salt and chilli, until it’s singing in your mouth. It does a great job of waking up the other things it’s served with – a few spoonfuls of this next to a grilled chicken breast or pork chop would be an absolute celebration.

Veg-wise, the onion, coriander and white cabbage are non-negotiable, as they form the base of this salad, but feel free to have a play with the other ingredients and use things like fennel or asparagus. Basically whatever’s in season and available should be a nice addition.


The easiest and quickest way to make this is to use a food processor with a slicer attachment or a mandolin. If you don’t have either of those, use a speed peeler, or simply grate everything finely.

Shred your white and red cabbage into two separate piles. Put just the white cabbage into a large bowl with the radishes, carrots and most of the coriander. Mix everything together really well, then kick up the flavours by adding almost all the chopped chilli, the sliced red onion and a good few lugs of extra virgin olive oil. Add most of the lime juice and a good pinch of salt, then toss together and have a taste. Just keep adjusting everything, adding more fragrance with the coriander, heat with the last of the chilli and acid with another squeeze of lime juice, until it’s just right for you.

When you’re happy, fold in the red cabbage right before serving so it doesn’t stain everything, and tuck in.

Orange and apricot spread

 This is a quick, healthy alternative to normal jam or marmalade. It keeps well in the fridge for 8 days. The apricots need to be soft.

Ingredients

3 1/2 oz apricots

2 oranges

1 vanilla bean

2 tbsp honey

Directions

1 chop the apricots

2 squeeze juice from 1 orange and peel and chop the other one

3 blend chopped apricots, orange, juice, seeds from the vanilla bean and honey untill smooth

4 store in an airtight jar in the fridge

Yogurt spiced chicken

This recipe can also be cooked on a barbecue
Ingredients150g yogurt
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tsp coriander
4 chicken breasts or 4 quorn fillets
600g basmati rice
vegetable stock cube
1 medium carrot, grated
1 medium chopped pepper
1 deseeded and sliced chilli
fresh coriander
salad to serve

Method
Mix the yogurt and curry powder together, add the coriander.
Place the chicken or quorn into the yogurt and marinate overnight.
Preheat oven to 175 C or 350F
Cook the rice with the stock cube. Drain and rinse to cool quickly.
Add the carrot, chilli, red pepper and coriander.
Take the chicken out of the yogurt mix and bake untill done, 45 minutes.
Serve with the rice and a nice green salad.
9 ProPoints for chicken and 6 for Quorn fillets

Tomato and Cheesy pasta

Looking for something quick and easy to do for our tea today. Found this, had to tweak it a little tho. Hope it works.

This is a  low-fat version of macaroni cheese. 

You can add a tin of drained tuna or chopped boiled eggs when you reheat this dish for a tasty alternative. Don't forget to add the ProPoints.

Ingredients

200g pasta

1 medium onion, chopped

100g green beans

1 tin chopped tomatoes

mixed herbs

200g cottage cheese

salt and pepper

Method

Boil the pasta according to the pack instructions, adding the chopped onion and tomatoes to the water at the same time as the pasta. Stir in the beans for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.

Drain everything together.

Add the herbs as well as the cottage cheese.

Season to taste and reheat. 

Serve hot.

Serves 4

ProPoints/serving = 6 

Baked vegetable frittata

 I have decided to finally get fit, now that I am well I intend to be healthy (does that make any sense?) Several years ago I lost a load of weight by going to my local  WeightWatchers meetings but now due to the miracle of the Internet I can do it all on-line. Don't worry though because the rest of the gang at the Mad House I call home will not be watching their food intake. This means I will still have to cater for their high calorie, indulgent tastes in food (why do you think that I need to diet in the first place). So more of those recipes to follow as well.
To help me lose weight I will include in my recipes the ProPoint value for each delicious creation. If you like me are struggling with the size of your assets then I hope that this may help you as well.

Ingredients

I hate aubergine with a vengeance but if you like you can add an aubergine and treat it the same as the courgette. 

1 medium courgette

10 sprays cooking spray (or oil if not watching your points)

1 medium onion

1 clove garlic

2 peppers

6 medium whole eggs

4 tablespoons skimmed milk

 2 teaspoons dried oregano

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the grill. Arrange the slices of courgette on the grill rack.Coat lightly with spray oil (or use a little oil). Grill each side for about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, spray a non-stick frying pan with spray oil (or a little oil) and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 190, gas mark 5.

Spray a 23cm (9 inch) round baking dish with cooking spray (or grease with butter). Add a layer of half the courgettes, half the peppers. Sprinkling each layer with some of the onion and garlic mixture. Then all the remaining courgette, and all the remaining peppers. Again sprinkle with onion and garlic.

Beat together the eggs, milk and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables. 

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until set and golden brown.

Serve warm or cold. 

Serves 4
ProPoints value per serving is 3