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Oh So Good Cheesy Savoury Muffins June 13, 2015

Filed under: Breakfast,Cakes,Vegetarian — delishuss @ 8:15 am
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My work colleague brought these in to work one day and they were devoured so I had to have the recipe. It’s  a while ago since we had them so I can’t really remember if mine were similar. They didn’t rise as I expected them to but they still tasted yum. I probably put too many vegetables in it, so the mixture may have been too dense. These would be great for a kids lunch box, a great way to get them to eat vegetables as well. The original recipe is from: http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2012/0910/3273-oh-so-good-cheesy-veggie-savoury-muffins/

Makes 8

Ingredients

250g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

2 eggs (small)

130 ml milk

4 tblsp olive oil

1 cup chopped veg (I used peppers, corn, tomatoes, shallots and courgette)

1 cup chopped greens (rocket/spinach)

1 cup grated cheddar

1 cup grated parmesan

Salt and pepper to season

Sprinkle of seeds of your choice (I use chia seeds)

Oil spray

Method

1. Heat a frying pan and spray with the oil spray. Saute the chopped veg (not greens) for 5 minutes and set aside.

2. Sieve flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl, make a hollow in the centre.

3. Mix milk, eggs and oil in a bowl and all to the hollow and mix gently.

4. Add all the veg, salt and pepper and cheese and mix.

5. Grease a muffin tin and fill the wells 2/3 the way up.

6. Sprinkle the seeds over each of the muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes (check if cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of one of the muffins and if the skewer comes out clean they are cooked, if not cook for another 5 minutes). They should be golden brown on top. Best eaten hot.

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Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

Filed under: Italian,Pasta,Vegetarian — delishuss @ 7:27 am
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I went to this brilliant cheese making demo (Mad Millie). I was in food heaven. We made ricotta, mozzarella, feta and yoghurt. I gave the ricotta a shot myself last weekend. I reckon it was a success but I realised pretty quickly that even I wouldn’t consume that much cheese on my own so I thought I would use it in this recipe. One of my lunch club girls made it before, mine is probably a much less healthy version. The filling of the Cannelloni tubes is a bit tricky, well more messy than tricky. Might be a good one to get the kids involved in, if you have some. I used 2 teaspoons to fill them; 1 to fill them with the ricotta mixture and the other one’s handle to push the mixture in. You could use a piping bag if you had one, it would be much handier.

The photo doesn’t do this justice, it’s oozing with deliciousness.

Serves 4-5 people

Ingredients

10 cannelloni tubes (instant kind)

1 tin of tomatoes with garlic and herbs

100ml passata

1 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon of allspice (I didn’t have nutmeg so used this instead)

Oil spray

250g ricotta cheese

50g Mozzarella cheese, shredded

50g parmesan, shredded

250g baby spinach

1/2 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Heat a frying pan and spray some oil on it. Fry the allspice and the garlic for 2 minutes. Add the spinach; it does seem like a lot of spinach but it wilts away to nothing. On that note, let it wilt down and then remove from the heat and cool.

3. In a big bowl, beat the egg and the ricotta until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Add the spinach to the ricotta mixture.

5. Re-heat the same pan that you used for the spinach. Spray some more oil on the pan and saute the onions until soft and golden.

6. Add the tin of tomatoes and passata and simmer until the sauce has thickened.

7. While the sauce is reducing start preparing the cannelloni tubes. Add the ricotta filling into the tube with one teaspoon and push the mixture down with the handle of another teaspoon. Fill the remainder of the tubes in the same way.

8. Once the sauce has reduce, tear the basil and add to the sauce. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

9. Add the cannelloni tubes to an oven proof dish. Pour over the sauce and sprinkle the cheeses over the sauce.

10. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes until the cheese has melted and is golden brown.

11. Serve with a green salad.

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Huevos Rancheros May 15, 2015

Filed under: Breakfast,Brunch,Favourites,Vegetarian — delishuss @ 11:37 am
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This is my go to hangover, I mean comfort food 😉  I love tomato based dishes; I think I was Spanish in a previous existence. You could have this as a vegetarian dish or I add chorizo if I have it in stock.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 or 2 Jalapeno pepper, chopped finely

3 sprigs of coriander, chopped roughly

1 tin of tomatoes

Olive oil

1/2 avocado, diced

75g grated cheese (something that melts well, like mozzarella)

2 eggs

Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Heat a frying pan that you can put in the oven or under a grill. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan and heat.

2. Fry the onion for 4 minutes.

3. Add the peppers and fry until softened.

4. Ad the garlic and Jalapeno and fry for 2 minutes.

5. Add the tin of tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.

6. Simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce has reduced.

6. Make 2 wells in the sauce and break the eggs into the wells.

7. Scatter over the avocado and grated cheese.

8. Place under the grill until the cheese has melted.

You’re done! Serve with tortillas or tortilla chips.

 

Stuffed Baked Aubergines May 12, 2015

Filed under: Vegetarian — delishuss @ 11:41 am
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Myself and two other avid cooks, have a little lunch club going on at work. We rotate doing lunch each work day. The plan was make healthy recipes so that we wouldn’t be grabbing anything naughty to eat from the food court. We’re loving it; we’re getting to try out lots of new things, maybe not so healthy at times but on the most part.

I made this dish for the ladies one day. I think it may originally have come from a Weight Watchers recipe. It’s a nice alternative to meat, the aubergine/egg-plant makes it robust and filling. I used the skinny aubergines, this recipe would fill 3 of these and probably 2 of the larger ones.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 onion, finely diced

1 clove of garlic,crushed

1 can of tomatoes with herbs

1 red or yellow pepper, diced

1/2 courgette, diced

1 chilli, finely chopped

1 sachet of tomato paste

2 aubergines, halved

Olive oil

50g cheese

50g breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Meanwhile scoop out the seeds and flesh out of the aubergine and chop it up. Set aside the flesh for the moment.

3. Grease a baking tray with some olive oil, place the scooped out aubergines on the tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

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4. Heat some oil in the pan and fry off the pepper, courgette and onion for about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for another 2 minutes.

5. Remove the aubergines from the oven and set aside.

6. I only really use half of the aubergine flesh, I know it’s a bit of a waste but that’s just my preference as there is a lot of filling. Add this to the pan and fry another 3 minutes. Now add the tin of tomatoes.

7. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce has reduced.

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8. Once the sauce is ready fill the aubergine skins. Sprinkle on the breadcrumbs and cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

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9. Serve with a green salad.

 

Pumpkin Pasta with Blue Cheese Sauce September 24, 2013

Filed under: Pasta,Vegetarian — delishuss @ 11:55 am
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We were discussing cheeses at work and everyone had their cheese of choice. My preference is goats cheese normally. Someone mentioned that they loved the classic blue cheese and walnut salad and I asked anyone if they tried pasta and blue cheese as it was something I had been thinking about.  One of my colleagues sent me on a recipe for pumpkin pasta with blue cheese sauce and I realised I had all the ingredients so I gave it a shot. The original recipe came from Taste.com.au but I have modified a fair bit so it’s not in its original state but I would say better really 🙂 I roasted the pumpkin the night before for a salad I was making so the leftovers just needed a reheat. You can do that or make it on the night if you don’t mind waiting. This recipe comes with a health warning, it’s on the calorific side but boy does it taste good.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1kg pumpkin, diced

1 onion, cut into large chunks

Olive oil spray

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp harissa paste

20g feta

20g roasted pine nuts

150g blue cheese

250g pasta shapes of your choice

100ml light thickened cream

20g chopped walnuts

Salt & Pepper to season

Handful of rocket leaves to serve

 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/360 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the pumpkin, onion, garlic cloves in their skins to an oven-proof dish. Stir in the harissa paste and spray with the olive oil.
  2. Cook in the oven for approximately 40 minutes or until the pumpkin has softened.
  3. 15 minutes before the pumpkin has finished cooking, start preparing the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain and set aside.
  4. Add the blue cheese and the cream to a saucepan and bring to a simmer until the sauce has started to thicken. Sprinkle in the feta.
  5. Once the vegetables are ready, squeeze the garlic out of their skins, discard the skins and mix the cloves through the other vegetables. Try and break the garlic up so that you don’t get large clumps of garlic.
  6. Add the vegetables, pasta, pine nuts to the sauce and stir through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Serve sprinkled with the walnuts and some rocket leaves.

 

Leek cannelloni with lemon thyme and provolone piccante July 13, 2012

Filed under: Pasta,Vegetarian — delishuss @ 7:17 pm
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Apologies, I know I have gone off the radar a bit but I have been cooking I can assure you. I saw Rick Steins make this on Saturday Kitchen and I must say it looked a hell of a lot easier than it is in reality. I made this for my friend Mareke who was over visiting, well actually she part made it :-). It was lovely but we were kind of wondering after we made it whether it was worth the effort. If you fancy trying it, give yourself plenty of time.

Ingredients

For the cheese sauce

  • 1 small onion, peeled and halved
  • 3 cloves
  • 450 ml milk
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ tsp black peppercorns
  • 30 g butter
  • 30 g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp double cream
  • 150 g provolone cheese, coarsely grated
  • 1 egg yolk

For the tomato sauce

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 400 g can chopped tomatoes
  • 50 ml red wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp caster sugar

For the cannelloni

  • 50 g butter
  • 900 g leeks, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tsp leaves lemon thyme
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 250 g ricotta cheese

// Method

1. For the cheese sauce: stud the onion with the cloves and put it into a saucepan with the milk, bay leaf and black peppercorns. Bring the milk to the boil then set it aside for 20 minutes to infuse.

2. For the tomato sauce: heat the oil in a medium-sized pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook gently until softened. Add the tomatoes and simmer gently for 15–20 minutes, stirring now and then, until reduced and thickened. Put the vinegar and sugar into a small pan and boil rapidly until reduced to 1 teaspoon. Stir into the tomato sauce with some salt and pepper to taste, then spoon the sauce over the base of a large, shallow ovenproof dish.

3. For the cannelloni: melt the butter in a large pan. Add the leeks, garlic, thyme and water and cook gently, uncovered, for 15 minutes, until the leeks are tender and the excess liquid has evaporated. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool. Beat in the ricotta cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop in the sheets of lasagne one at a time, then take the pan off the heat and leave them to soak for 5 minutes. Drain well and leave to cool.

5. Spoon some of the leek filling along one short edge of each lasagne sheet and roll up. Arrange the cannelloni seam-side down on top of the tomato sauce in the ovenproof dish.

6. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Strain the milk for the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan, add the flour and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute. Gradually beat in the milk. Bring to the boil, stirring, and leave to simmer very gently over a low heat for 10 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream, 75g of the grated provolone, the egg yolk and some seasoning to taste.

7. Pour the cheese sauce over the cannelloni, sprinkle over the rest of the cheese and bake for 30 minutes until golden and bubbling.

 

Indian Stuffed Peppers April 23, 2012

Filed under: Healthy Eating,Potatoes,Vegetarian,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 9:20 pm
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I made these for lunch but the night before. They were good but I don’t think they really reheat well, so probably best to eat them straight away. They would make a great starter. These are from the Weight Watchers Oriental Express cookbook.

Propoints value per serving- 4

Propoints value per recipe- 18

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

400g potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered, if large

4 red peppers

Low fat cooking spray

1 large onion, diced

2 courgettes, diced

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoons balti spice paste

 

For the ginger tomato suace

300ml passata

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2.5cm fresh root ginger, grated

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until tender. Drain, set aside to cool slightly, then dice.

2. Meanwhile, put the peppers in a large saucepan of water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 4 minutes until softened. Using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the peppers from the water and set aside until cool enough to handle. Slice the top off each pepper to make a lid, scoop out the seeds then turn upside down to drain.

3. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/ 190 degrees celsius/ fan oven 170 degrees celsius. Heat a wok or non stick frying pan until hot. Spray with the cooking spray and stir fry the onion, courgettes and garlic for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat then stir in the balti spice paste, 4 tablespoons of water and the potatoes. Spoon the mixture into the peppers and top with their lids.

4. Arrange the peppers close together in an ovenproof dish, spray with cooking spray and pour 3 tablespoons of water into the dish. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 4-0 minutes.

5. To make the ginger tomato sauce, spray a saucepan with the cooking spray, add the passatta and sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until reduced and thickened. Squeeze the juice from the ginger into the pan. Discard the fibrous bits of ginger. Season, stir and heat though. Serve with the sauce on the side.

 

Summer White Bean and Vegetable Stew

Filed under: Healthy Eating,Vegetarian,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 8:52 pm
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I munched away on this, this evening. I was surprised at how flavoursome it was. I was going to leave the zest of lemon out of it, but I’m glad I didn’t it worked really well with the hummus. This is great. It’s quite filling too. I had a wholemeal pitta with it also. Oh I almost forgot to mention that it’s from a Weight Watchers supplement in the RTE guide.

Propoints per serving- 9

Propoints per recipe- 19

Serves 2

Takes 40 minutes in total to prepare

 

Ingredients

Calorie-controlled cooking spray

1 red onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 small red pepper, de-seeded and sliced

1 corn on the cob, kernels removed

150ml dry white wine

1 tablespoon cornflour

100g fine green beans, halved

2 large sprigs of fresh thyme

200g canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

300ml vegetable stock

100g baby leaf spinach

2 tablespoons reduced fat hummus

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Salt and freshly ground pepper

A handful of fresh basil leaves, to garnish (optional)

 

Method

1. Heat a large, lidded, heavy based saucepan and spray with the cooking spray.

2. Add the onion, then cover and cook for 6 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, red pepper and corn and cook for another minute before pouring in the wine.

3. Bring up to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the wwine has reduced by half.

4. Mix the cornflour with a little water to make a plate. Add to the pan and cook, stirring, for a minute until thickened then add the green beans, thyme, cannellini beans and stock and return to the boil.

5.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 8 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the spinach and cook, partially covered, until wilted.

6. Divide between two large, shallow bowls. Season to taste and top each portion with 1 tablespoon of hummus.

7. Sprinkle with black pepper and lemon zest before serving. If using, garnish with basil leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mediterranean Style Cous Cous April 15, 2012

Filed under: Healthy Eating,Vegetarian,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 7:20 pm
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I find cous cous a little boring but I decided to spruce it up a little. I made this to go with a BBQ that we had a month or so ago. The quantities are guestimates but you’ll get the idea.

Serves 2

Ingredients

150 g cous cous

300ml boiling water

2 scallions, chopped

75g feta cheese, crumbled

40g sundried tomatoes (I used roma, with oregano and garlic), diced

2 tbsp liquid stock

20g fresh coriander, chopped

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Salt and pepper

Tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Add the liquid stock to the boiling water. Pour the cous cous into a deep bowl. Pour the liquid over the cous cous and cover with cling film for about 8 minutes.

2. Toast the pine nuts on a dry pan.

3. After the 8 minutes, use a fork to seperate the cous cous. Add the olive oil and stir through with the fork.

4. Stir in the remainder of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

 

Three Bean Enchilada Bake

Filed under: Uncategorized,Vegetarian,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 2:34 pm
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Myself and my other half are on a vegetarian buzz for the month of April. We are trying to eat less meat because we are both animal lovers and we kind of baulk at the thoughts of killing animals. The minute we embarked on this venture, all my favourite cookery started cooking lovely lamb dishes for Easter. Like everything you only miss it when it’s gone.

I was on the hunt for vegetarian recipes, and I came across this recipe from the Weight Watchers magazine May issue. I really liked the yogurt and feta topping. I was only short of liking the plate after eating this. Hope you enjoy.

8 propoints per serving

33 propoints per recipe

Serves 4

15 minutes to prepare

40 minutes to cook

 

Ingredients

Calorie controlled cooking spray

1 small red onion, diced

1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and diced

1/2- 1 mild red chilli, de-seeded and diced

1/2 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds

1 tbsp fajita spice

500ml passata with onions and garlic

Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped roughly

410g can mixed beans in water, rinsed and drained

4 small flour tortillas

100g light feta

150g low fat natural yoghurt

75g grated reduced fat cheddar

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/ 200 degrees celsius/ fan 180 degrees celsius.

2. Heat a frying pan and mist with cooking spray. Add the diced onion, pepper, garlic and chilli and saute for 6-7 minutes or until softened.

3. Stir in the spices, follwowed by the passatta and about 150ml water. Simmer gently for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and stir in the coriander.

4. Place the beans in a bowl and add about a third of the tomato sauce. Take a rectangular baking dish that will hold 4 rolled-up tortillas.

5. Place 1 tortilla in the dish and arrange a quarter of the bean mixture down the middle. Roll up and push to one end. Repeat with the other 3 tortillas and then arrange evenly in the dish. Pour the rest of the tomato sauce over the top of the tortillas.

6. Mash the feta in a bowl, then mix in the yogurt. Spread this over the top of the tomato sauce and then scatter the grated cheddar over. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbling. Serve with salad.