Chilli con healthy

Hi dolls, hope you are all well! I have been super busy this past couple of days as school has returned and I am following my full timetable now. The classes I have had so far have been really good and fun, although I am pretty tired by the time I get home in the evening! Today's post is a non - fashion one, instead a recipe that I wanted to share from our dinner yesterday. The weather in the UK has been pretty chilly and rainy so I have started to crave comforting old favourites for dinner. I decided to make Sally Bee's version of chilli con carne, a recipe she has dubbed 'chilli con healthy' and it was delicious!

Step 1) Chop up an onion, half a courgette and a green pepper. Peel two cloves of garlic. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and then brown the mince for around 5 minutes. Add the vegetables and continue to cook for another 5 or so minutes.

Step 2) Add one teaspoon of paprika, two teaspoons of cumin and two of chilli (more if you like things spicy) and  stir in. Continue to cook for 3 minutes.

Step 3) Add one can on chopped tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of tomato puree and 600ml of beef stock to the pan. Stir well and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently.

Step 4) Add one tin of mixed beans to the chilli, and one tin of green lentils. Season with black pepper and  heat through gently for another 30 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, heat your rice and also some extra green vegetables for the side.

Step 5) Serve with rice and veg, I used brown rice, broccoli and spinach.

My new garlic pot! So cute!

 xoxo

Lasagne on a Monday

Hello Dolls, hope the start of the week got off to a good start for you all : ) I had a lazy morning followed by a leisurely afternoon of shopping with my sister, niece and nephew. This afternoon, as I flicked through my recipe books, looking for some inspiration for dinner, I landed upon Sally Bee's recipe for lasagne which I have never tried before. I have made lasagne of course, but was keen to try Sally's 'healthiest ever' lasagne. I have to say, the lasagne turned out completely delicious, which was pleasing after all my hard work preparing : )

Step 1) Chop up an array of vegetables into very small pieces. You can use any veg you fancy, I used 3 carrots, 2 celery sticks and 1 courgette. Cut up an onion and peel 2 cloves of garlic.

Step 2) Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion to the pan and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the rest of your veg to the pan including the crushed garlic, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Step 3) Turn the heat up slightly and add your mince to the pan, stirring until browned and crumbly (this will take about 5 minutes).

Step 4) Stir in a can of chopped tomatoes, 450ml of beef stock, 4 tablespoons of tomato puree, 1 teaspoon of oregano and 1 teaspoon of parsley. Season with a good shake of black pepper and allow to simmer for 20 minutes until cooked through.

Step 5) Towards the end of the cooking time of the meat mixture, you need to preheat the oven to 200 degrees or gas mark 6, and then make your white sauce. For the white sauce, add 3 tablespoons of corn flour (corn starch) to a small bowl. Measure out 600ml (1 pint) of semi-skimmed milk in a measuring jug and add a little to the cornflour. Stir until the corn flour has dissolved, and then pour into a saucepan. Add the rest of the milk to this and stir continuously over a low heat until thickened to the texture of custard. Add a good pinch of nutmeg to the white sauce and stir.

Step 6) Pour half of the meat mixture into your dish, then layer several pasta sheets over the top. Continue with another layer of meat and another layer of pasta.

Step 7) Pour over your white sauce, and lastly 40g of grated low fat cheese. Put your lasagne in the oven for 4o minutes until the top of the lasagne is nicely golden.

Step 8) Remove from the oven, your lasagne should look something like this!

Step 9) Serve with a nice green salad or extra vegetables (I decided on tenderstem brocolli, sweetcorn and home-grown white cabbage).

Really yum, and super healthy. A good choice for anyone who wants to try a healthy take on an old favourite : )

100 followers! : )

Hello lovely ladies and first off a MASSIVE THANK YOU to all my amazing followers - I have now reached over 100 followers and I am so pleased! It makes me so unbelievably happy to think that there are so many lovely people out there who want to read my daily ramblings! I really enjoy reading all of your lovely comments, makes my day : ) xoxo

Well today was a nice lazy day for me, I felt a bit out of sorts so I just took it easy, did a bit of school work and a little food shopping. I still managed to try some new recipes though (I am thinking of re-naming my blog 'chef in style' hahaha) and I want to share my lunch time recipe with you because it was delish and super healthy! I made Sally Bee's roasted tomato soup recipe.

Step 1 - Wash a 1kg bag of tomatoes, cut them in half and arrange them on a roasting tray.

Step 2 - Sprinkle over 3 crushed garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons of dried mixed herbs, ground black pepper and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Step 3- Roast the tomatoes for about 1 hour until they are started to brown at the edges.

Step 4 - Remove the tomatoes from the oven and wait about 10 minutes for them to cool a little. Put them straight into a blender, removing the skins as you go (This should be very easy at this stage although it is not necessary so leave them on if you prefer).

Step 5 - Add 600ml of hot vegetable stock and 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar to the tomatoes and blend.

Step 6- Serve the soup in a bowl, adding a good shake of dried basil and mixing through, and then arranging some fresh basil on top. Delish.

* I sieve the mixture before I serve it to remove the seeds as hubby does not like them (and he says I'm a fussy eater!) but again, this is not necessary and they can be left in.

Hope you are all having a lovely week, until next time xoxo