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Fennel gives a distinctive flavour to salad dishes and when is perfect roasted |
The cheap and cheerful way to a healthier diet
Feel like your waistline is bulging while your bank balance shrinks?
Clare Latimer sets out how to tackle these maladies of the moment
With all the money problems at the moment and the fact that a whole lot of people should lose some weight or just eat in a more healthy way, I thought this week I would do some cheap, fit and slimming recipes so that at least one part of our lives will be looked after in a good way.
Vegetable salad with mango and chilli
The best way to get the nuts listed below is to buy the Food Doctor tubs from most supermarkets and many high street shops.
Not only are they useful for this recipe but I keep them for when I am working very hard and have missed a meal and need some extra energy. One handful and I am up and running again.
There are quite a few but the one I recommend for this recipe is the Essential Seed mix.
This salad served, with a chunk of fresh cooked bread, makes a good, healthy and satisfying meal.
Ingredients
Serves 4
225g red cabbage, cored and chopped into mouth-size pieces
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 soft mango, peeled and stoned and sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
Half cucumber, diced into mouth-size pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp dried soya beans or peanuts
1 tbsp pine nuts
Juice ½ lime
1 tbsp chopped fresh
coriander
1 bunch watercress or rocket salad.
Method
Put the red cabbage, carrots, mango, chilli and cucumber into a large salad bowl and mix well.
Heat half the oil in a frying pan, add the seeds and toast for one minute or until they are pale golden. Remove from the heat and cool.
Add the lime juice and coriander to the remaining oil and season.
Add the leaves, toasted seeds and dressing to the salad bowl and toss well to mix. Serve immediately.
Smoked mackerel, apple and fennel salad
This is a delicious supper dish, high in protein and very tasty. I have used oak leaf salad as I like the variegated colour of the leaves but you can choose any lettuce.
For the hungry ones you could add some cooked new potatoes.
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 bulb fennel, trimmed, sliced and chopped
1 red apple, quartered cored and chopped
1 small red onion, peeled, finely sliced and chopped
2 home-cooked beetroots, skinned and chopped
1 oak leaf lettuce, washed, and broken up into mouth-size pieces
4 peppered smoked mackerel fillets, skinned.For the dressing:
3 tbsp natural yogurt or soured cream
Juice 1 lemon
Handful fresh chives, chopped.
Method
Put the fennel and apple in a bowl with half the lemon juice from the dressing ingredients, and mix to coat well to prevent the apples and fennel turning brown.
Mix in the red onion, beetroot and lettuce. Break up the mackerel fillets and stir in gently.
To make the dressing, mix the ingredients together and just before serving pour over the top of the salad.
Blueberry fool
I always think of fools as comfort food and this one has a magical colour. You could add some orange zest if you wish and instead of using cream you could use a Greek style yoghurt.Ingredients
Serves 4
450g blueberries
1 tbsp runny honey
6fl oz double cream, whipped
1 desp Cassis, optionalMethod
Puree the blueberries in a blender, then put through a sieve to remove seeds.
Discard the seeds and put the puree into a bowl. Stir in the honey and gently fold in the whipped cream.
Stir in the Cassis, if using, and then spoon into four glasses.
Clean up the edges and chill in the fridge until ready to eat. |
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