Asparagus, Pea, Bean & Rice Bowl

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Asparagus Rice Bowl

I am always looking for new ideas to be healthier in my Dinner choices, I used to think healthy meant you’d always be hungry after….lol. In this dish it is the complete opposite, with the addition of the rice & beans it was very filling and kept me satisfied all night, and with only 400 calories & 29g protein per serving, it was super healthy too.

You can always add some flaked Salmon for that extra nutrition.

Serves 2-3

Handful of Asparagus, trimmed & chopped

Handful of Green Beans, timmed & chopped

Handful of Peas

150g Wholegrain Rice (or for quickness, you could use prepacked rice)

100g Baby Spinach, chopped

1 x 400g Tin of Mixed Salad Beans (or any beans that you prefer, just not Baked!)

Zest & Juice of 1 Lemon

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 tbsp Olive Oil

Pinch Sugar

Handful freshly Chopped Coriander

Rainbow Pepper or Black Pepper

  1. Cook the asparagus, green beans and peas in a pan of boiling water for 2-3 mins until tender. Drain.
  2. Cook the Rice as per packet instructions and drain.
  3. Heat the mixed salad beans in a pan for 4-5 minutes.
  4. In a large bowl, put the rice, asparagus, green beans, peas, mixed salad beans & spinach, mix through until combined.
  5. In a small bowl, mix together, olive oil, dijon mustard, lemon juice & zest and pinch sugar, pour over the rice bowl and mix through. Sprinkle over some fresh coriander and pepper then serve.
Bowl of Asparagus, Bean & Rice

Middle Eastern Beef & Rice

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Having some Chickpeas to use up, I decided to spice them up with some Middle Eastern Spices. This dish was delicious & my partner agreed…..happy days!

I also love this dish as its a one pot cooking meal which means less washing up….lol!

Serves 2

250g Scottish Beef Mince

200g Tinned Chickpeas

400g Tinned tomatoes

200g Red Kidney beans or you can use Black beans

250ml Beef Stock

70g Rice (Basmati is good, but I had some Red and wild rice left)

1 tsp Dried garlic granules

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Ground Coriander

1/2 tsp Turmeric

1 tsp Dried coriander leaf (fresh if you have it)

1 tsp Dried parsley (fresh if you have it)

Spray oil

Salt & Pepper

  1. Heat a little spray oil in a pan and brown the mince, remove with a slotted spoon, set aside.
  2. Put Rice, Garlic, Ground coriander, Cumin & Turmeric into pan and coat the rice. Add the Beef stock, bring to the boil then simmer for about 15-20 minutes until rice is softened.
  3. Add back to the pan the mince along with the chickpeas, tin tomatoes & kidney beans, mix through. Heat through uncovered for about 5 minutes.
  4. Add the parsley & coriander if fresh to serve. If using dried, add with the beans etc.

Beef & Rice Balls in Chilli Sauce

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My taste buds were swaying towards a Chilli tonight, but fed up with the same old serving of Chilli mince on top of a bed of Rice, I decided to try something a bit different. It worked a treat, a mix between meatballs and chilli….Yum! At under 500 calories per portion too this dinner is perfect and nutritious.

Serves 2 portions

For the Balls

300g Lean Scottish Mine Beef

40g Basmati & Wild Rice Mix (you can just use Basmati Long grain if you wish) Cooked

1 tsp dried Garlic Granules

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Dried Coriander

For the Chilli Sauce

200ml Beef Stock

1 Red onion – diced

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

200g Tinned tomatoes

200g Red Kidney Beans, chopped

Salt & Pepper

Few dashes of Tabasco Sauce

  1. Cook your rice as per packet instructions and ensure it is very soft, once cooked allow to completely cool before added to your bowl of mince.
  2. In a bowl, add Mince, Garlic, Cumin, Coriander and season with salt & pepper. Once Rice has cooled add to bowl and mix through.
  3. Heat a little oil in a pan. With wet hands take small amounts of the meat mixture and roll into balls (you should get about 12 balls), place into your pan and brown all over. Remove.
  4. Add the onions to the pan and fry until browned, then add the tinned tomatoes, chilli flakes, kidney beans and beef stock then season with salt & pepper. Bring to the boil then reduce and bring to a simmer. At this point add back the meat and rice balls and cook covered for about 15 minutes.
  5. Just before you are ready to serve, add a few splashes of Tabasco sauce for that extra kick! (please take out if you don’t like it spicy hot)

Vegetarian Cottage Pie

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Oh yum, this little dish was delicious! Looking to be more healthier this year, so I decided on a veggie pie rather than meat. Super delicious and filling too.

 

Serves 3/4

1 onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 tsp tomato purée
3 tsp plain flour, 1 tsp thyme
Vegetable stock pot, made up to 200ml
2 x 400g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 x 400g tin adzuki beans
1kg Potatoes peeled and halved
75ml milk
25g butter
75g mature Cheddar, grated
1 tbsp English mustard
75ml milk

 

  1. To cook the Soffrito (A soffrito is a flavourful mix of diced onion, carrot and celery gently fried in oil. It forms the basis of many dishes, including soups, stews and sauces. Add chopped garlic or herbs for even more flavour, if you like.)  Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the celery, onion & carrot for a few minutes.                                                                              20200202_123904
  2. Cut a piece of baking paper the same diameter as your pan and lay on top of the veg, cook for a further 10 mins.  ( The circle of baking paper helps to keep the vegetables moist and retain their flavour as they cook. It’s also useful when cooking the base of curries, soups and stews, but you can do without if you don’t have baking paper.)                                                                                  20200202_123913
  3. Add the tomato puree and stir through the add the flour and combine.
  4. Pour in the stock, beans & thyme and bring to the boil then reduce and simmer for about 20-25 minutes.                                                                                  20200202_131045
  5. Transfer to an oven proof dish and allow to cool. Preheat your oven to 170deg fan.
  6. Meanwhile, to make the rarebit mash:- Boil the potatoes until tender and mash.
  7. Stir in 75ml milk & 25g butter
  8. In a separate bowl mix the 75g grated cheese and mustard together. Slowly stir in the 75ml milk, until smooth.                                                                      20200202_131059
  9. Stir in the cheese mixture to your potatoes.
  10. Spoon the mash over the pie mixture evenly. Note: (The bean mixture should have formed a thin skin while cooling. Don’t stir it before adding the mash because this helps keep the layers separate while the pie bakes).
  11. Sprinkle with some thyme and bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown. I have a browning setting on my oven and its great for things like this.

 

Chilli Skulls

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I have seen Pizza Skulls on social media and gave me the idea to make these for my Horror theme Hogmany coming up. I changed it from Pizza filling to a Chilli Con Carne filling. These are amazing and so much fun too. I got my pan from Nordic Ware and opted for Black & Red dough too using Red Malt flour and Activated Charcoal powder.

 

Makes 6

For the Pizza Dough (I made extra, which I stored for later use)

3 x 350g Wholemeal Bread Flour (you can use strong white too)

3 x 1 tsp salt

3 x 1 tsp caster sugar

3 x 3 tsp baking powder

3 x 170ml warm water

20g Red Malt Flour, plus 1 tsp red food colouring for the Red

3 tbsp charcoal powder plus 1 tsp black food colouring for the Black

  1. Mix everything using a mixer until it come together like dough, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Mix 3 lots ie: plain, black & Red
  2. Once ready to use,  cut amount you need and store the rest. Place on a floured surface and roll out, not too thing or too thick. It will be stretchy, just keep stretching it until you have the size you need. Approx 7 x 4″
  3. Brush your skull pan with melted butter and lay the dough into each skull pressing gently. Place the filling in and fold over the excess dough, if you have too much just trim.

 

For the Chilli

350g Scottish Beef Mince

1 Red onion, finely chopped

1 Red pepper, finely chopped

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried chilli flakes (omit if you don’t like it too hot)

2 tsp chilli powder

200g Tin tomatoes

200g Kidney beans

200ml beef stock

light fry oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Grated Cheese of your choice.

 

  1. Heat the fry oil on medium to high heat
  2. Fry the onions and pepper with the garlic until softened
  3. Add the beef and brown
  4. Add in chilli powder, cumin, salt & pepper with chilli flakes (if using) mix through to coat
  5. Add in the tin tomatoes, kidney beans and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes cover. The uncovered for 10 minutes to thicken sauce. Allow to cool.

Once skulls are filled, refrigerate for 30 minutes then bake at 200 deg for 25 minutes. Serve.

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