Smashed Avocado and Poached Egg on Toast

SMASHED! Yes, smashed in reference to food sounds like I'm a toddler in my high chair - but I think I had as much fun as a kid bashing this one together.

Jamie Oliver's motto is 'bish, bash, bosh' - I think mine would be 'pop, smash, mess' because I am always getting into trouble at home for making quick meals yet somehow leaving the kitchen in a mess. This recipe thankfully doesn't make a lot of mess! Which is great because it means I can eat it all the time!

Recipe (serves 1) 

Bread of choice - toasted
1/2 Ripe Avocado (it wants to be a bit squishy to touch but you need to catch it before it goes off - you'll know if you've overshot it because ti will go a horrid brown. Also the other half will keep best if you leave the pip in it and put it in the fridge wrapped in cellophane to keep the air off it)
1 egg
5 cherry tomatoes

Method

1.      Boil water and then simmer. Crack the egg in and set your timer for 6 minutes. Personally I like to use a virgin olive oil spray in a silicone mould but you can do a traditional poached egg if you like.

2.     Mash (or smash) the avocado with a fork in a bowl and lightly pepper. You may also like to add a squeeze of lime or even lemon. Chop tomatoes and mis them in.

3.     Toast your bread, spread with your smashed avocado and top with your poached egg. Easy! (In the picture you will see I had a little nut butter as an extra treat but there was already plenty of food to fill me here! I LOVE almond butter!)

Healthy Food Love, Fayerie Faye x

Courgetti with honeyed tomato and poached egg

Time to use our Mandoline! Ready, set, courgetti!

My lovely boyfriend suggested this combo when I had the hunger shakes and was about to start crying because I couldn't find anything to eat! (as you do). 

This recipe is super quick and easy - providing you don't go wasting time with a julienne peeler and skip straight to a reliable mandoline! The honeyed tomato is a simpler version of my tomato salsa recipe (also on my blog). And poaching an egg is made easy - and pretty! - by using a silicone mould.

Eggs are full of protein so they make a great energy and strength building boost alongside courgette (otherwise known as a zucchini, which is a fruit didn't you know?) Courgette are a good source of potassium as well as having value as an anti-oxidant. I even sprinkled on some pine nuts for a beautiful buttery flavour, with the added bonus of them being bad cholesterol lowering, appetite suppressing and containing skin protecting Vitamin E.

Recipe (serves 1) 

1 egg

1 courgette sliced into ribbons (with a mandoline for your sanity if not your fingers!)

drizzle extra virgin olive oil

5 cherry tomatoes (cut into quarters)

tsp honey

generous pinch of chilli flakes

tbsp pine nuts

Method

1.      Boil water in a pan, crack egg into silicone mould and then float in boiling water (carefully!), replace lid and set timer for 6 minutes.

2.      Cook the tomatoes in the oil for a couple of minutes and then add the honey and chilli flakes. Remove from the heat when they reach the consistency you like. (I like them mushy like a sauce but many people favour them chunky).

3.      Meanwhile, throw your courgette into a wok or large pan and keep it moving to warm it through. (Note: takes around 3 minutes and depending on your courgette's juiciness). 

4.     You may need to drain your courgette slightly before adding the honeyed tomato sauce to it now.

4.      When your egg timer beeps, tip the sauce covered courgette onto your plate and carefully remove your egg (tipping out any water that got into the mould with it) and place it on top with your sprinkle of pine nuts. Yum!

Follow me on Instagram: @fairyfayefaye

Healthy Food Love, Fayerie Faye x

Super Simple Superfood Salads

Life is too short to spend all your life in the kitchen and with Spring tentatively easing its way past Winter you probably want to eat and get outdoors. 

The solution is simple - keep food simple and nutritious.

It is tempting to always make a meat sarnie for lunch but superfood salads are so easy and tasty too! 

Essentially you can just stock your fridge with lovely superfood and then throw them together in a salad depending on what looks fresh/ ripe that day or depending on what you fancy too.

Berries are a really tasty superfood and make a lovely addition to salads. 

If you want a warm salad then asparagus, broccoli, and sweet potatoes can be lovely additions.

Sprinkle nuts and seeds of top for flavour and crunch as well as energy and protein. 

Skinnyms have a great page listing 50 Superfoods: http://skinnyms.com/50-super-foods-the-ultimate-shopping-list/

Healthy Food Love, Fayerie Faye x

Cous Cous Stuffed Sweet Peppers Parcels from Vegetarian Month!

Parcels are so exciting! We all love getting a parcel through the post and opening it and it is just as fun with cooking. Parcels help you cook neat and are great for dinner parties because you can keep your guests guessing and look like a culinary genius...Ta-dah!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am encouraging myself to cook meals that don't revolve around meat by going vegetarian except for fish for the month of March. 

Introducing...stuffed sweet peppers: filling, packed with nutrition and taste sweet and wholesome at the same time!

Recipe (serves two as main or 4 as a side) 

85g organic cous cous
herbs and spices of your choice (I used Italian herb, pepper and chilli flakes)
2 large sweet peppers
5 cherry tomatoes
30g pine nuts
handful of sultanas (you decide how much that is based on your own tastes - for me it is big shovel hands!)
Boiled Kale to serve

Method

1.      Slice peppers length ways and remove the puppy bits etc. 

2.      Bake in a fan assisted oven on a tray for 10mins at 180c. 

3.      Meanwhile boil the kettle and pour 150ml water over the cous cous and spices. Leave for 5 mins with clingfilm over the top of the bowl.

4.      Meanwhile cut up the cherry tomatoes and weigh out the pine nuts, sultanas and whatever else you have decided to throw in (lots of people like olives). You may also like to turn your peppers over for the 2nd 5 mins they are in (just remember to turn them back before you try stuffing them!)

5.      Stir tomatoes, pine nuts and sultanas into the cous cous.

6.      Place your peppers onto 2 good sized, separate sheets of baking parchment and stuff with cous cous before wrapping them up by folding the edges of the baking parchment in neatly (or messily, it will still taste the same).

7.      Bake for a further 10mins on the same heat. 5mins before it is ready start getting a pan of water to boil. You just want to pull the kale leaves from the stork and spread them as you throw them in so the chunks aren't too big.

Serving 
Transfer your parcels straight to places when you are done and sneak the kale in the top (as pictured).

I posted this recipe to my Instagram: @fairyfayefaye

Healthy Food Love, Fayerie Faye x

Homemade Vegetarian Chilli

This month I have decided to go Veggie except for fish. 

I find I make lots of main meals that revolve around meat. So I have decided to only prepare fish and vegetarian dishes this month to force myself to branch out and try new recipes rather than falling back on meat dishes all of the time. Here is a lovely Vegetarian Chilli full of lovely protein! Healthy and yummy. I'll call it a win!

I have used this recipe as a base for my vegetarian chilli a couple of times as a very rough guide and then just chucked in whatever veggies I've got in the kitchen. As long as you get your beans in you should be getting a lovely protein boost. See recipe here: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/1725/insanely-easy-vegetarian-chilli.aspx

                 

My recipe adaptations and notes:

Sometimes I use blackened beans as well as kidney beans or even instead. I love including courgette because it just melts in your mouth! Carrots are lovely for a crunch. So it broccoli (but I'd put broccoli in just about anything). My partner doesn't like mushrooms but they are a lovely addition that I highly recommend.

Serving suggestions

Rice is the obvious (preferably brown).

Star choice = Sweet potato (but you know how I feel about sweet potato, it's all in the name!)

Or have the leftovers on toast for a delicious lunch!

Tip: Serve with greek yogurt if you want it cooling down. This can be on the side or mixed in.

Tip: You can make this with meat really easily if you like. And if you are searching veggie chilli recipes because you don't like red meat then why not try it with bacon? Yum!

Healthy Food Love, Fayerie Faye x

Homemade Granola: The Staple Breakfast

Homemade Granola: The Staple Breakfast                   

I struggle with mornings so it is wonderful to wake up to an oaty, nutty, seeded bowl of sweet goodness. 

I always eat two heaped tablespoons of my Homemade Granola with heaps of fresh fruit and a couple of heaped tablespoons of Total 0% Yogurt (I have tried roundly 25 different yogurts and this is the creamiest low fat yogurt that also isn't filled with sugar to make up for the low fat element!)

This Homemade Granola is super easy to make, takes less than 20 mins (10 mins prep and 10 mins cooking) and feeds me for a couple of weeks! My recipe is based closely on one from Elizabeth Rider.              

Recipe 

2 cups organic jumbo oats

1/2 cup nuts (I have 1/4 chopped pecans, 1/8 cup sliced almonds, 1/8 cup home chopped almonds)

1/4 cup seeds (I have 1/8 cup sunflower seeds, 1/8 cup pumpkin seeds, but I throw in a tbsp of chia seeds too for luck and these make it for me!)

1/2 unsweetened dried fruit (I tend to just do sultanas but if you can get your hands on unsweetened cranberries then these are a lovely addition)

2 tbsp coconut oil (healthy and delicious)

2 tbsp maple syrup (this is your naughty sweetness)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

Method

1.      Mix it all in a bowl with your hands (heat from your hands melts the coconut oil).

2.      Cook at 150c for 10 mins.

3.      Store in a seated jar of tuppaware. (I used two of the jars pictured for one batch.

Happy breakfast!

Healthy Food Love, Fayerie Faye x

Hemsley & Hemsley's Healthy Banana Bread with my own Healthy Food Love this Valentines Day

I am mad for Banana Bread (see my baking blog, Fayerie Cakes, for the classic 'unhealthy' recipe http://fayeriecakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/nummy-nana-banana-bread.html).

However, this healthy recipe is really sweet and serves up perfectly with a cuppa of Yorkshire Tea. 

I am struck rather speechless by how incredibly yummy and pretty much completely guilt free this Banana Bread is! Find the recipe here: http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2012/05/16/hemsley-hemsley-healthy-banana-bread-recipe

                 

My 3 recipe adaptations:

1. I went with the option of swapping out the butter for organic coconut oil.
2. Instead of using 2 tbsp pure maple syrup, I lowered the glycemic index even further by going half and half with 1tbsp pure maple syrup and 1tbsp Xylitol.
3. I didn't have any flaxseed or a pestle and mortar/ food processor handy so I swapped the 25g ground flaxseed for more ground almond and went with chia seeds instead of the whole flax seeds. I also sprinkled these on top. I adore chia seeds.

Serving suggestions

Serve with a cup of tea. I recommend what i fondly refer to as a 'Bucket' of Yorkshire Tea with Almond Milk. I used up a tiny bit of cream from some baking in the picture but greek yogurt is always a must, mashed banana makes a lovely spread, nut spreads are fun and filled with goodness and it tastes amazing on its own too. 

The recipe mentions storage - keep it covered int he fridge. Freezing as slices is also suggested so that you can have toasted slices. I think I will have to try this with a little butter or a teaspoon of chocolate pecan spread...

I posted this recipe to my Instagram: @fairyfayefaye

Healthy Food Love, Fayerie Faye x

PS Thank you to Sophie Taity for recommending I try this. Check out her healthy food blog: https://sophiesproperfood.wordpress.com