My version of a kick ass salad.

I hate the salads in the UK.  A few pieces of limp lettuce, a bit of cucumber and tomato. No dressing. Can you say boring. I have gone salad mad. I can not get enough. Fruit or veg. Its Spring. Bring it on. So here is what I do for a real kick ass salad. A meal. I love it.

Take your lettuce, what ever kind you like. Even try mixing some different kinds. I love adding spinach. Wash it and spin it in a salad spinner. I found my salad spinner at Aldi for like £3. It dries of the lettuce and you can just put it on a zip lock bag and it last for a few days.

On a big plate or a large bowl take a good handful of the lettuce. Add to it and or all of the following

Chopped red pepper, tomato, cucumber, chopped celery, carrot (take your peeler and make strips) apple chunks, pear chunks, avocado, feta cheese, linseed, cashew, almonds or walnuts.  Feel free to also add chicken chunks, or tuna, or bacon if you like.  Add anything you like. That is the beauty of it

Then dress it. I do it really simple. Drizzel olive oil and medina balsamic vinegar.  You can do olive oil and lemon too. Or take some Mayo or olive oil, add some French brown mustard, white wine vinegar and honey.

Enjoy.

Bean soup

I threw this together tonight and it turned out really good. Should be pretty good for us too. This is what I used, but use what you have in stock.

I used can beans except for the lentils. We soaked the lentils over night. I think doing this again I would pre-cook the lentils a bit as they still seemed a bit tough. If you want to use dry beans make sure you soak them over night. Don’t forget to check for stones as sometimes dry beans have little stones in the bag. Can beans are fine really. You can get them pretty cheap too.

I finely chopped 1 onion, 1 yellow bell pepper, and several stocks of celery. I would of added Carrots but they where past their sell by date for sure. I then sweated them in olive oil for a good 10 mins. Make sure that they are sweated down.

To the sweating veg I added the spices. I used about a tablespoon of dried parsley,  a tablespoon or a bit more of dried Thyme, and about a 1/4 tsp or so of ground coriander seed and about 1 tsp of salt. I always try and add the spice to the oil. Its seems to make the oil infused and the whole thing comes out better.

I then added the beans.

The pre-soaked lentils ( 1 quarter of a small bag. It really makes a lot) 2 cans of Cannelloni beans, a can of red kidney beans, a small can of mixed beans. Really you can use any beans you like. I love the cannelloni beans and I love butter beans. They are white and light in flavour.

I poured a pre-boiled kettle of water over the beans and added about 4 or 5 vegetable oxo cubes. I covered the beans but didn’t add a ton of water above the bean line.

I boiled it for about 40 mins. It turned out really tasty.  The beans seem to naturally thicken the stock. Just make sure that you stir it so nothing sticks or burns to the bottom of the pan.

Chicken pasta in a creamy sauce with a hint of lemon.

Bag of pasta

a few chicken breast

Good hunk of butter

large Tablespoon or so flour

1 cup or so of Chicken broth

small container of creme fresh

1 lemon, or lemon from one of those plastic things.

Cook up a bag of pasta, Drain

Cook up some chicken chunks, smaller chunks is better.

In a pan, melt some butter, then add flour and make a rue. Stir constantly for about 1 min. Then add about a cup of chicken broth. Stir until its thick. Add Lemon juice and about a small carton of creme fresh (you can use sour cream or a heavy plain (Greek) yogurt too I am sure)  Stir and heat through. Add Chicken to it. Then pour it over pasta.

Broccoli bacon salad. Easy peasy.

My sister in law gave me this recipe. I love it.

1 head of broccoli chopped into small pieces

bacon cooked crispy can crumbled.

Rasins ( I used dried cranberrys sometimes)

Sunflower seeds  (I used cashews too)

1 small chopped red onion

Blend everthing in a really big bowl.

Then add the dressing:

1 cup or so of either Mayo or sour cream (or creme fresh)

1/4 cup  sugar

1/4 cup white wine vinegar.

Taste and add more sugar or vinegar if needed. Stir into salad mixture.

Sometimes I do have to make more dressing depending on how much salad I make. I love this salad. Its so good and so easy to make.

Creamy Pasta Shells with Peas and Bacon

I found this recipe on a site. Its from Jamie Oliver but for the life of me I cant find it again. I went out today and picked up the ingredients from memory so I hope I got it right. It sure tasted good.
What you need…

Cooked Pasta Shells. Follow instructions on the bag. I used about 3/4 of the bag for 3 of us for a full meal.
Streaky bacon (normal American bacon) Cut up about 10 slices into bits. I will admit that I used left over Italian prosciutto That we had left over. Cut up, raw ready to go.
1/2 cup of frozen peas.
Fresh shredded Parmesan cheese. About a handful
Small-ish container of creme fresh. Sour cream could be used I am sure
Mint. I used dry.

Just as the pasta was close to being finished, I put some olive oil in a frying pan and heated it up. I added the mint to the oil for a few seconds. Then I added the bacon and cooked for several mins until is was cooked through. Then I added the peas in and let that cook up a bit. I added the creme fresh and stired. Add the cheese. Stir well. (If it seems a little thick add some water from the coooking pasta. This is another trick I have seen Jamie do. Thanks Jamie) Then add the pasta and stir.

I wasnt really sure about the mint but its really nice. Its easy and not expensive at all.

Carrot and Coriander Soup- Healthy

This is a very easy and very healthy recipe.  No fat and very low calorie… if that. Great if you have a bag of carrots that need to be used up. Tasty and great on Weight Watchers I am sure.

Carrots, coriander, oxo cubes, water.

Buy a bag of carrots. Peel them and cut them into small chunks. Put them in a pot. This will be about the amount of soup so the more people the more carrots. Next, cover the carrots with water or broth. Just over the top of the carrots or its to runny.  Add some Oxo cubes to add a bit of depth to the flavor. Next add Coriander. Coriander is Cilantro for those of us in the Spanish speaking part of the world.   I like to use a big bunch of fresh, cut up and no stems. You can use dried too.  Add a little salt or Low Salt. Boil until the carrots are soft. Then let cool a bit. Get out your hand blender, or use a food processor, and blend smooth.

There you go. If you want to make it really rich and add calories and fat add some butter and cream. But I dont think it needs it.