A GREEN, LEAN, MEAN SMOOTHIE!

This cup of all green smoothie is yummalicious! And it has got an AMAZING amount of vitamins and nutrients packed into it, in the super combination of avocado, kiwi, spinach, chia and banana to give you long-lasting energy! Perfect for breakfast, or to keep you going between meals.

You will need:

•  3 small kiwi
• A dense handful of spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 small avocado
• Teaspoon chia seeds
• (A teaspoon of honey/agave nectar to add sweetness if preferred)

Steps:

1. Blend up the spinach with a little water first until that it smooth and then add the other ingredients. 
2. Blend up the ingredients, adding water until the smoothie reaches the 700ml line.
3. Enjoy!

P.S If you don't want to add so much water, you could add some natural yogurt.

Courtney x

Salmon and cottage cheese omelette!

This is a great new and easy little recipe that is just super yummy. Delicious and nutritious, what more do you want? I used a small fillet of salmon for this recipe, but I have also done this recipe before with smoked salmon slices, for which you don't have to cook the salmon beforehand but simply add it with the rest of the ingredients and it cooks with the rest of the omelette. If you use a packet of smoked salmon, you'll also take the cooking and preparation time down to about 15 minutes too! Anyway, I had a long and busy day today and this was quite a late dinner, so by the time it had occurred to me to cook some vegetables as a side, I simply could not be bothered! SO, I decided to have two quarters just with a super simple spinach salad, but this recipe could serve 4 if you have one slice each and a salad of some vegetables, bulgur wheat, wholegrain rice, etc! But I had two slices today and have saved the other two for tomorrow, and it was the perfect serving size. So this recipe can serve 2 or 4!

Cooking and preparation time: 30-35 minutes

You will need:

• 1 small fillet of raw, chilled salmon (or one packet of sliced salmon)
• 1 large mushroom with the stalk removed
• 5 cherry tomatoes or 1 large
• 1/2 of a small Spanish red onion
• 4 heaped tablespoons cottage cheese
• A small handful of spinach
• 6 medium sized eggs
• A glug of olive oil

Steps:

1. Begin by preheating the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
2. Take your fillet of salmon and wrap loosely in tin foil and place on an oven tray and place in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
3. Whilst the salmon is cooking chop or dice the mushroom, onion and tomato and put aside. Then crack the eggs into a large jug and whisk thoroughly. Add the cottage cheese and whisk again. Then add all of the diced vegetables as well as the spinach to the jug and mix with a spoon.
4. Once the timer for the salmon has about 2 minutes remaining, put a frying pan on the hob on a medium heat and add a glug of olive oil, removing any excess once fully liquefied.
5. After 15 minutes,once the salmon has almost finished cooking (because the idea is to finish cooking the salmon in the omelette) remove it from the oven. Turn off the oven and preheat the grill to the maximum heat and leave the oven door agar whilst frying the omelette.
   
6. Quickly, roughly cute the salmon into small sections and add to the jug of ingredients, stirring once more to evenly distribute ingredients.
7. Empty the content of the jug to the pan and fry for 6-8 minutes on a medium heat. Occasionally make small pits in the omelette to allow the uncooked egg to fall to the bottom of the pan and cook. Once the omelette has cooked through but is just slightly liquid on the top, place the pan under the hob for about 2 minutes and allow the top to cook. Once the top of the omelette starts to turn golden, remove from the hob.
8. Cut into quarters, season to taste and enjoy!

I hope you like this recipe and don't forget to leave your comments below! :-)

Product review - Boots Meal Deal!

If you're on the go and stop by a Boots, you should really give their meal deal a go! There's a HUGE selection of choice and lots of delicious and healthy options and is only £3.29.

They have a range of sushi options including vegetarian sushi, but the meal above is my absolute favourite. It is essentially sushi, as the meal is made with sushi rice and contains prawns and some raw salmon slices and it's really delicious, and contains a lot of nutrients too! 

You also get the choice of a side which can be a snack pack of fruit, nuts, olives, diet crisps or even chewing gum but again you'll definitely find something here!

In terms of drinks there's a range of healthy, nutritious drinks to go for. This includes of course the vitamin water drinks which you can see above, and I have done a separate post about which you can visit by clicking here. I would wholly recommend these as they're a mostly natural vitamin and mineral boost, low in calories and delicious too! They also do a range of Innocent smoothies as well as some of the Naked smoothies, so you're really spoiled for choice.

So if you're in a rush and have no time to prepare yourself lunch, a Boots meal deal could be a good call!

Healthy salmon & bulgur wheat risotto with hummus!

This Middle Eastern come Mediterranean dish actually worked surprisingly well! I like to cook with bulgur wheat a lot and have a current obsession with hummus so I did some experimenting... It actually has a really interesting taste to it and the hummus thickens the meal and makes it more of a risotto style dish. If you haven't come across bulgur wheat before check out my post about it, and how to prepare it by clicking here. Alternatively, you could use wholegrain rice for this recipe!

Cooking and preparation time: 30 minutes

You will need:

• 30g of bulgur wheat
• One small yellow pepper
• 5 cherry tomatoes
• A slice of lemon/lime
• A small fillet of salmon
• 2 tablespoons of hummus

Steps:

1. First preheat the oven (if a fan oven) to 180 degrees Celsius. Take a square of tin foil, place the small fillet of salmon on the centre and loosely wrap the foil around it.
2. Take your small pepper and slice into small pieces as seen in the photo above, and also slice the tomatoes into sections.
3. Boil 160ml of water in the kettle. Weigh out 30g of bulgur wheat and place in a saucepan. Once the water has boiled, add the bulgur wheat to the pan and then the boiled water. Place this on the hob at a medium heat.
4. By now the oven should have reached 180 degrees, so place the the tin foil-wrapped salmon onto a metal oven tray and place in the oven. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
5. For about 15 minutes you should stir the bulgur wheat until all of the water has been absorbed. Once 15 minutes has passed and the water is gone, turn the heat from the hob down to the lowest heat and add two tablespoons of hummus directly to the pan as well as your chopped ingredients and stir well. You should only need to stir this for a minute or two as otherwise the bulgur wheat may overcook and stick to the pan. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
6. By now the salmon should have been in the oven for 20 minutes so remove it and place on a small plate or chopping board to cut into small sections. 
7. Place your risotto mixture onto your serving plate, and then place the salmon pieces on top. Squeeze the lime lightly over the dish for extra flavour (this is of course optional).
8. Season to taste and enjoy!

Don't forget to leave your comments below! :)

Healthy omelette tart!

Now this omelette-frittata-tart kind of thing was my first attempt and another 'improvised' meal that turned out better than expected! I ended up using 4 eggs for this recipe, as the veg-egg ratio was too high, but It was a little bit too much so I'd try 3!

Cooking and preparation time: 20 minutes

You will need:

• 3 medium eggs
• A handful of cooked and peeled prawns
• Assorted, diced veggies (Mediterranean vegetables will work best - I advise diced onion, peppers, mushroom and olives. I also recommend you have around 1 cup (you can use a small mug) of assorted veggies
• Light butter or cooking spray

Steps:

1. Add a knob of light butter or cooking spray to a frying pan and heat this on a high heat until runny. Then add your vegetables and fry them until soft. Take them off the heat.
2.  Crack three eggs into a medium-large jug and stir well with a whisk. You can add a few tablespoons of milk for added taste if you wish, but this is optional.
3. Add a knob of butter or cooking spray to a small boiling pan and put on a medium heat until the butter has melted. Whilst the butter is melted add your cup of veggies, and your handful of prawns to the jug of egg.
4. Once the butter has melted add the mixture in the jug to the boiling pan. Use a silicon scraper (or a knife if you don't have one) to frequently scrape around the side of the pan to keep the shape of the tart and ensure it doesn't stick to the sides. Also, every now and then, create small craters in the tart with a fork, allowing uncooked egg to slide down to the bottom of the pan where it will cook. Continue this until the egg has all become cooked.
5. Finally, run the scraper around the pan once more and place a plate or ceramic serving tray on top of the pan and as you would a sand castle, flip them both over, getting a neat little tart on the plate! Some may have crumbled slightly, but this is easy enough to tidy up!
6. Season to taste and enjoy!

Helpful/healthy tips:

1. Use a larger boiling pan and double or triple the ingredients, place on a ceramic serving plate, cut into slices and serve with salad or sides for a whole family!
2. If your tart is taking too long to cook on the top and you're worried about it burning, you can place the pan under the grill on full heat with the oven door left agar for around 4 minutes to cook the top half of the egg.
3. If you're not so worried about fat or calories, adding grated cheese into your original mixture, or on top of your tart can really make it a lot more tasty!
4. If you're vegetarian - simply don't add the prawns!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and don't forget to leave your comments below! :)

Healthy prawn and mushroom risotto with bulgur wheat!

So this was a little bit of an improvised meal, and I was limited with ingredients, but it was actually a really tasty and healthy quick 'risotto style' dish made with bulgur wheat. I have also used mushrooms, but because I cooked them in light butter and not oil, they are a golden colour and blend in with the rest of the food - but I promise they're there! If you've not come across bulgur wheat before, it's a really great food and I've told you all about it and how to cook it in a previous blog post that you can access by clicking here.

Cooking and preparation time: 20 minutes

You will need:

• A large handful of mushrooms 
• A handful of cherry/plum tomatoes 
• 30g of bulgur wheat 
• 4 tablespoons of natural yogurt or crème fraîche 
• 100g of cooked and peeled prawns (not frozen)! 
• A knob of light butter or cooking spray

Steps:

1. Add the bulgur wheat to a boiling pan and add 160ml of boiling water. Place on the hob at medium heat and stir very frequently.
2. Place a frying pan on the hob at a medium heat and add a knob of butter (or cooking spray alternative). Take your vegetables that you wish to add (I have used mushrooms and tomatoes) and once sliced, add to the pan to fry until golden-brown or soft and then turn down to the lowest heat until the bulgur wheat has absorbed all of the water.
3. Add 4 tablespoons of natural yogurt or crème fraîche to the bulgur wheat and mix well with a wooden spoon. Then add the cooked vegetables to the mixture along with the cooked and peeled prawns.
4. Stir the mixture continuously for around 4 minutes, by which time the natural yogurt and prawns will have warmed up.
5. Season to taste and enjoy your healthy risotto!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and don't forget to leave your comments below! :)

Healthy smoked salmon pitta pizza!

These are a new absolute favourite of mine!! They're so easy and tasty and making and cooking them literally takes around 5 minutes! They're very low in saturated fat and calories, nutritious but also rather filling too!

Cooking and preparation time: 5-8 minutes

You will need:

• 2 pitta bread pieces
• 3 tablespoons of cottage cheese
• Salmon slices
• An oven tray

Steps: (1 serving)

1. Preheat the grill to the maximum heat and leave the oven door agar.
2. Take two slices of pitta bread. I prefer to separate a pitta into it's two thinner slices as I don't like these two thick. To do this, slide a butter knife through the side until you get to separate pieces (this can be easier to do if you heat the pittas for a short period of time in a toaster.
3. Once you have your thin pitta slices, add a generous, heaped tablespoon of cottage cheese to your pitta and spread it evenly.
4. Before adding the salmon, place your pitta bread onto the oven tray and place on the highest level in the oven to grill the pitta bread and cheese.
5. After 2-4 minutes, once the edges of the pitta bread begins to turn brown, remove the pitta from the grill.
6. You can then add your salmon slices on top of the cottage cheese (adding the salmon to the oven will cause it to harden, hence why it is added afterwards).
7. Season to taste and enjoy.

Helpful/healthy tips:

• I use fat-free cottage cheese as I find that it still tastes great without the added fat and calories.
• Using a cookie cutter, you can cut your pitta bread into small shapes and make mini canapés which would be great for parties or social events.
• I prefer my pitta bread warm, especially when eaten at dinner time, but these also taste great cold, skipping the grill and saving time for a super quick and tasty lunch or dinner.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and don't forget to leave your comments below! :)