Lunch Box Heaven

My favourite lunchbox is a big hearty salad that will not only fill me up but also taste delicious. One of the best bases for this kind of salad is quinoa. Yes I know people go on about it but there is a very good reason for that - it's really bloody tasty (AND filling AND nutritious)! It has a high protein content for a grain and this seems to keep me fuller for much longer than if I had just put rice or pasta in its place. Having said all that if you don’t like it feel free to substitute - I do often have a bit of brown rice pasta knocking about so will use it to bulk up a salad when the urge takes me.

The great thing about a quinoa base is that you can top it up with pretty much whatever you fancy. I will always add some avocado because I love it (so much so that my mum called me the avocado baby after the brilliant kids book when I was little). I’ve always got my jarred roasted peppers knocking about the in cupboard and frozen peas so both of them normally go in - another 'top tip' is that if you add the peas frozen in the morning it keeps things fairly chilled through your morning at work.

Basically all this rambling is to tell you to throw whatever you want in. the below is a guide based on what I like but you may want to mix things up a bit! I’ve not included amounts below as I think it depends how many meals you want out of it - I tend to do a huge batch on a Sunday so I have plenty of lunch options but unless you want soggy lettuce don't add it and the dressing until the day you are eating it.

Quinoa Salad Box

Cooked quinoa (cook a big batch on Sunday according to the pack instructions - I try to soak mine before cooking)

Spring onions

Little gem lettuce

Cherry tomatoes

Roasted red peppers

Avocado

Spinach leaves

Frozen or fresh peas

Pesto

Lemon juice

Good olive oil (extra virgin since you’ll be eating it as is)

Crushed chilli flakes

Salt and Pepper

Pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Season your cooked quinoa in a bowl with salt, pepper and crushed chillis.

Chop or slice up all your veggies.

Chuck them in with the quinoa.

Mix together pesto, lemon and olive oil.

Pour over the salad and stir through.

Scatter seeds over the top.

Have some for dinner with a seared steak (as below!) and box the rest up for lunch!

Something for the weekend...

As the weekend is nearly upon us I thought I should share a variation on a recipe my housemate is currently obsessed with - if you haven’t already come across one allow me to introduce the Dutch Baby. It is basically a cross between a pancake and a yorkshire pudding. We discovered it in Waitrose magazine around Easter and they have been kind enough to share the recipe online. The only change I would make is to swap the 65g of plain flour for spelt as I just find it's better for my slightly hit and miss stomach.

While it's lovely just as it is with a bit of maple syrup or the classic can’t-be-beaten combination of sugar and lemon I would really recommend going that little step further and topping with a generous scoop of frozen yoghurt - maybe with some sugar and lemon on top of that!!

The below recipe is something we always have the ingredients for in the house and it's great if you fancy a quick sweet treat that won’t leave you feeling overstuffed or reaffirming your intentions to eat better!

Easy Peasy Frozen Yoghurt

Half of a 500g tub of natural yogurt - we have Skyr in our fridge but literally anything unflavoured will work equally well

The same again of frozen berries - I used blueberries and raspberries because that’s what we keep in our freezer

Honey or coconut nectar to sweeten to taste - I’d start with a teaspoon

Squeeze of fresh lemon or lime

Put all the ingredients in a processor or use a stick blender and just blitz them up.

Once the mix is smooth have a quick taste and adjust for sweetness.

As mentioned above this is great on a Dutch Baby but makes an equally good sweet treat all one it's lonesome. As with a lot of my recipes it is more an idea to inspire you so feel free to swap in whatever fruit and sweetener you like, feel free to also add nuts, seeds, leftover breakfast bars - anything you fancy. If you’re going to add the latter I would wait until it's smooth then add your nuts and do a quick blitz so you get nice chunky bits in there too.

An experiment in deprivation

Having shared a few hints in my recipes last week I wanted to share in more detail the experiment I carried out last Monday to Wednesday. I was listening to The Mind Palace Podcast a week or so ago and they mentioned a deprivation/stoicism experiment. When I mentioned on Twitter I might try it the girls were kind enough to pass on the original mention of it on the Tim Ferriss experiment.

The idea I took from this was deprivation in terms of a lack of variety rather than starving yourself - lucky for me as I don’t think I could have not eaten for three days and still been a functional human being at work!! The stoicism experiment mentioned by Tim Ferriss is inspired by the many instances of fasting in religious culture. The focus is on simple living and the spiritual growth that can be experienced through a lack of excess. The participant is encouraged to eat and dress simply over the course of a few days.

To give an idea of what this change would mean compared to my own diet here's an idea of what I might eat on the average day. Overall I try to eat a fairly healthy diet but I am a bit of a grazer. My typical day will consist of lots of snacks interspersed with copious amounts of tea and water. I mostly drink green or mint tea but there will be the odd cup of builders thrown in there too.

My day starts with my dragging myself out of bed, maybe managing to squeeze in 20-30 minutes of yoga and making my way to work followed by breakfast at my desk at 8.30am - normally crunchy peanut butter on rye with a banana/apple or a couple of boiled eggs, again normally with a piece of fruit.

Mid-morning around 11am I’ll probably have a nakd bar or if I’ve been really organised a homemade protein ball. More often than not it will just end up being a handful of raw nuts and some dried fruit.

Lunch will be next about 2pm or soon after, more often than not it will be leftovers from last night’s dinner so all the kinds of things you see my Instagram littered with! I’ll often have an apple after lunch for ‘pudding’ if I didn’t already eat it in the morning, if the apple is gone then it's normally a sugar free chewing gum to remind my brain we’re done eating!

Late afternoon around 4.30-5pm I’ll likely have another handful of nuts or the nakd bar if I didn’t eat it first thing before heading home for the day. If I’m feeling particularly frazzled that day I might cave and raid the snack cupboard at work for some kind of chocolatey treat.

If I’m not out for dinner or drinks that night when I get in I’ll start dinner, often with a cheeky G&T or glass of white wine in hand. Dinner could be stir fry, risotto, gf pasta with greens - again pretty much any of the things my Instagram feed is full of. When dinner is ready my housemate and I will normally flop down in front of the TV for the next few hours until we’re ready to go to bed, often with a square or two of Green and Blacks dark chocolate.

My personal ‘fast’ consisted of the following over three days:

Brown, camargue and wild rice

Fasoulia - basically healthy baked beans - see recipe from last week

Chunky vegetable ratatouille - again see recipe from last week

Herbal tea - mostly mint and green

Water

No other drinks or food (including alcohol, coffee and chewing gum)

No more than 1 hour of TV each day

I did a big cook up on Sunday so I'd be well stocked for the week. I packed my lunch boxes and my breakfast boxes and took myself off for a nice early night.

Day one

Nothing too strenuous but I did find myself really fancying something sweet especially after lunch. I definitely missed my apple/chewing gum but resisted the urge and just make myself a pukka three mint tea. I did find myself getting hungry as I had chosen to stick to only three square meals a day rather than trying to pack mini snacks of rice and beans. Having said that it wasn’t a hunger that was unmanageable and did make me question how much of my snacking was hunger and how much was habit.

After dinner that first evening I watched one programme then took myself off for a good soak in the bath. I’d done a 40k walk on the saturday before so my poor feet were still a bit ravaged. I also found I was really tired by the end of the day but I think that was the aftermath of the walk rather than because of my diet - either way I slept very well that night!

Day two

My colleague Matt made scones and brought them in with clotted cream and strawberry jam - I nearly cracked! Luckily I have lovely colleagues who saved my scone for Thursday and it tasted all the better for having waited until I was back on other food.

Other than that again the food was good although I was starting to get a bit bored of having the exact same meal again and again. I was highly tempted to add some chilli to my evening meal but decided it would slightly defeat the object if I started messing with my standard fare.

Day three

Definitely bored of rice and beans but I still wouldn’t say it was a hardship. There is a strange comfort in knowing exactly what you’re going to eat. It made me think of the various information out there about our decision fatigue - The Minimalists podcast mentioned it in a recent episode and it seemed fitting timing. I pretty much wear a uniform of jeans and black top to work so by pre-planning my meals too I had much less to think about.

Overall

Not snacking really highlighted how often I normally eat, weirdly if I ignored the urge to eat for long enough - and had a cup of tea! - it tended to go away. I also craved sweet foods quite a lot, I normally eat loads of fruit and raw nuts, as well as the odd chocolately treat around 4.30-5pm so it was strange having mint tea as the sweetest thing in my diet.

While its not something I would want to do continuously it reminded me how good it is to just eat simple food. As a result I'm going to try to eat more vegetarian meals and only snack if I'm actually hungry. I'm also going to try and think more about my food decisions and which of them are a result of hunger vs habit like my automatically reaching for the chocolate after dinner.

That said that the scone on Thursday and that evening's G&T were both lovely!!

How to cook a rat...

Was mine the only household that habitually referred to ratatouille as rat?

To make it even better in our house it was cooked a lot in the 12 years I was vegetarian (age 6-18) and often served as 'rat and beans' - a charming combination I think you'll agree!

Anyway its something I make a lot, I've taken my mum's method of separately cooking thin slices of aubergine. It does take a bit longer but makes it tastes amazing. In restaurants ratatouille is often neatly diced vegetables, lightly cooked - this is delicious but mine is much more like a hearty vegetable stew (which I like to kid myself is much more like the original French Provençal dish).

Again I'm sharing this recipe as I made the biggest batch ever for my current experiment. I'm on day three so I'll be back to normal meals from tomorrow but I've still got lots of lovely rat to get through.

Chunky Vegetable Ratatouille

The recipe given here is to give enough to serve a big group or a houseful with lots of leftovers, obviously it can easily be scaled up or down to suit the occasion.

2 red onions, peeled and cut into eighths
8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped or crushed
2 aubergines, sliced
3 courgettes, cut into chunky slices
3 red peppers, cut into chunks
2 x 400g tin a tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato puree or Bomba
Dried basil and oregano
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil, chopped
Olive or flavourless coconut oil

Preheat your oven or grill to high - I go for oven because our grill is rubbish and it lets me do multiple layers at once.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan, fry the onion and garlic.
As the onions start softening add the red peppers - this should all be done on a fairly low heat, you want them to cook and soften not brown.
Meanwhile spread your aubergines on baking trays (or greaseproof paper slid onto the shelves if like me you only have one baking tray) with a sprinkle of salt.
Put in a hot oven or under a grill until they take on some colour. Once they are cool enough to handle quarter or halve them and add to the pan.
Now do the same with your courgettes.
Add your two tins of tomatoes, swilling out the contents with a bit of water then adding the tomato puree and dried herbs.
Let it all cook down for half an hour or so, season to taste and add more herbs if you think they're needed.
Once the vegetables have softened stir in the fresh basil and you're ready to serve.

Fassoulia aka garlic baked beans!

Fassoulia is one of my favourite things to eat, when asked at a foodie event a few months ago I realised it would be an integral part of a last meal if I ever have to choose one. For me it conjures up memories of my childhood and is the ultimate (healthy!!) comfort food.

My dad would say it really should have slow cooked lamb as part of it but I very rarely include it and it makes a great veggie dish. The traditional recipe doesn't include onion or passata but I think both make a great addition - I'm always looking for ways to add more vegetables - feel free to leave them out if you're a purist. You'll also notice the recipe has lots of options of what to use, this is because for me this is a store cupboard staple and we eat a lot of beans when we're running out of food!

Part of the reason I've finally got around to sharing the recipe is that I'm currently doing a three day experiment of eating only rice, beans and veggies. I will write more about this in a later post but I wanted to share one of my favourite things with you.

Apologies for the atrocious picture - my hob lights are broken and its making everything very shadowed at the moment!

Fassoulia

Whole bulb of garlic, cloves peeled and finely chopped or crushed
Large white onion, finely chopped (optional)
Dried oregano, a good couple of tablespoons
500g bag of dried haricot beans, soaked overnight
Tomato puree, at least half a tube
Passata (optional)
Olive or coconut oil (flavourless variety)
Water or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
Fresh squeezed lemon juice (or bottled for emergencies only - it really does't taste the same but sometimes needs must)

Heat your chosen oil in a large non-stick pan, fry your garlic (and onion) until soft.
Add your oregano and beans, cook through for a minute or two coating the beans in oil, add a good pinch of salt.
Cover with boiling water or vegetable stock and allow to bubble away for about 30-40 minutes - you need to take the bite out of the beans before you add any tomato or it takes what feels like forever to cook!
Once your beans are part cooked add the tomato puree and passata if using, stir through and allow to bubble away for another hour or so until the beans are fully cooked through.
Once your beans are cooked season to taste - you need lots of fresh ground black pepper - then add the juice of a couple of lemons.
Scoff with rice, baked potatoes, toast, any carb you like!

The joys of British veal!

I know I've spent time on this blog before extolling the virtues of British veal but I'm going to harp on about it one more time. If anyone shops through Ocado its often in the 3 for £10 meat offer so its great value. Not only does it taste wonderful but it is an industry we really want to keep alive in the UK as otherwise dairy calves won't get to live past day one and people will only have the option of continental veal if they want it.

I've shared my favourite mince recipe before but this was such a delicious meal I felt it warranted another one! The recipe came out of us running low on food (as often happens towards the end of the month). It means this contains lots of store cupboard staples and can be knocked up at fairly late notice.

British veal and free range pork mince

400g British veal mince (if you can't get British veal please use beef instead of any continental options)
400g free range pork mince
Large white or two red onions, diced
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
Coconut (or olive oil) for frying
2 x 400g tins of tomatoes
Good squirt of tomato puree
Roasted red peppers, sliced (as usual I use the jarred ones but feel free to make your own or use fresh if you have them in)
Dried chilli, oregano and basil
Bay leaf or two
Salt and pepper

Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until soft, add the mince and fry off (in batches if your pan isn't big enough to fit it all at once).
Add the herbs and spices followed by the tomatoes (swilling out the tins with a bit of water), tomato puree, and sliced peppers.
Allow to cook down until most of the liquid is absorbed and the meat is tender.
Taste and adjust for seasoning - feel free to add more chilli or herbs at this point too.

I served mine with a brown basmati, red camargue and wild rice mix topped with a dollop of goat's cheese and dried chilli. It would be equally good with a baked sweet or normal potato, quinoa or pasta.

Coeliac friendly pancakes

This actually evolved from my mad panic on pancake day when I realised my coeliac friend was staying the night so I better get inventive with my pancake recipe. It was such a success that I have made them several times since as a cheeky brunch with a glass of fizz. The only thing I would say is that this recipe works much better for savoury pancakes. The sweet were still tasty but the rice flour means this is definitely made for a lovely savoury filling.

Now I'm not going to pretend I've invented a pancake recipe because they are all some variation on the same thing. Last pancake day I used a BBC Food recipe - all I did was replace the 100g plain flour with 100g rice flour. I could patronise you with a copy and paste version with my one tweak but there is no point, you just need to know that rice flour works well in this particular recipe.

The other thing that's good to have up your sleeve is a great savoury filling to go in these. I know some people think savoury pancakes are a bit odd but if you haven't tried them I promise this filling will convert you.

Garlic mushroom and goat's cheese filling

Small white onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Butter
Chestnut mushrooms, sliced
Oregano
Salt and Pepper
Goats cheese - I used a creamy one

Gently fry the onion and garlic in the butter until soft.
Add your mushrooms, oregano, salt and pepper then keep frying.
When the mushrooms are cooked stir in the goats cheese and allow to melt into the pan, taste and adjust for seasoning.
Stuff into your waiting pancakes!