Tag: dinner

Non-Boring Runner Beans!

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A&C Green Beans

I just love when Abel & Cole send me a sweet little recipe idea in my weekly box. This week they sent over a bunch of runner beans (which I found really boring growing up!) with a bit of inspiration for them and they turned out beautifully and are no longer boring! A perfect accompaniment to any meal.

Ingredients

A bunch of runner beans
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp tahini paste
2 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Pinch Himalayan pink salt
Pinch garlic salt
Chilli flakes (optional but gives it a kick!)

Method

Cut the ends off the beans and wash them.

Heat the olive oil in a griddle pan (you can use a normal frying pan but this charred them really nicely) then add the beans once hot.

While they are cooking away, mix all the other ingredients in a bowl.

Once the beans start to char, add the sauce and mix well and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Healthy & happiness,
Lauren

Summer Lunch Salad

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Winter Lunch Salad

I’m going to give my mum the credit for this one as she came round and made it for me! So yummy and so full wonderful nutritious organic fruits and vegetables and it really filled me up.

Ingredients

Handful fresh spinach
5 radishes
Some asparagus (we only had tinned but best to use fresh, steam first)
Half an avocado
Half a pear
2 boiled eggs
Handful pomegranate
Tsp organic natural maple syrup
Tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

Chop all the veg and put it on a plate then pour the dressings over and add a bit of Himalayan salt if you like. That simple!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

 

 

 

Mixed Roasted Beets

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Mixed Roast Beets

Excuse the quality of this picture. I made these at night so it was quite dark but they still look delicious – and they tasted delicious! This is such a simple side dish to make and so nutritious.

Beetroot are great antioxidants and help detox the liver and the blood, they are also high in many vitamins, including folate, so a great vegetable to eat when pregnant.

Ingredients

2 red beets
2 golden beets
2 chioggia beets
Drizzle of olive oil
Handful of thyme
Salt & pepper

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and prepare an oven tray with baking paper or silver foil.

Peel your beets and slice them thinly. Put them all in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients and mix until covered.

Place on the baking tray and roast for around half an hour.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Roasted Butternut Quinoa Salad

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Butternut Quinoa Salad

When people ask me what my go-to gluten free, yet easy to make, lunch is, I tell them quinoa. It takes around 10 minutes to make and you can either make it that day or the day before and keep a tupperware full in the fridge for a few days. You can also add to it whatever you happen to have in the fridge at that time. In order to make it a bit more filling, I added butternut squash to it this time. You can add some grilled halloumi too, if you fancy, I just wanted to keep this one dairy-free. Quinoa is such an amazing source of protein that you don’t need to add any meat or fish (you can if you want to – if it’s organic of course 🙂 ) But you don’t have to all the same. This will give you all the protein you need.

Ingredients

Quinoa (add as much as is needed for the amount of people you want to feed)
1 butternut squash
Half a cucumber
3 spring onions
2 fresh beetroot, steamed and chopped
Generous handful of cherry tomatoes
2 carrots, shaved into ribbons through a potato peeler
Handful of pine nuts
1 tbsp lemon juice
Pinch salt (I used Oryx desert salt here)
Black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Cook the quinoa as per the packet instructions. When it is ready, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.

While this is happening, peel the butternut squash and chop into bite-size pieces. Transfer onto a prepared oven tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for around 40 minutes, stirring occasionally with a spoon to make sure all pieces are coated by the oil.

While it’s in the oven, chop up your vegetables and add them to the bowl with the quinoa.

Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir well, then take the butternut out the oven and add to the top.

Serve straight away or wait until cooled and keep in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Easy Cheesy Green Pasta

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Green Cheesy Pasta

I’m always looking for new dinner ideas – preferably ones that don’t take hours and are healthy and I got this idea from my Abel & Cole organic fruit and veg box and it’s the perfect veggie dinner option for the whole family, I guarantee they’ll all love it! I am using cheese in this recipe when we very rarely add dairy to our recipes. I get high quality, organic cheese and, if you’ve read our article about dairy, you’ll see that we strongly suggest limiting the consumption of cow’s milk products to once a week. During my pregnancy, I have chosen to have cow’s milk products once or twice a week. That way I am limiting my intake to ensure my gut and immune system stay strong (of course with the help of probiotics), but I am also not cutting it out totally, leaving the baby susceptible to intolerances when he / she is born.

Ingredients

Enough brown rice pasta for however many people you’re serving
Extra virgin olive oil
Handful of almonds, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup breadcrumbs (or a gluten free alternative)
1 head of broccoli
5 leaves of spring greens
3 small leeks or 1 large
150-200ml almond milk
Some grated mozzarella
A sprinkle of nutmeg
A pinch of chilli flakes
Oryx or Himalayan salt and ground black pepper

Method

In a frying pan, gently toast the almonds until just coloured. This should make your kitchen smell amazing! Put into a bowl and set aside.

Put the pan back on the heat and add a splash of olive oil, then the minced garlic, followed by the breadcrumbs and stir until golden. Set aside in a separate dish.

Cook the pasta as per packet instructions.

Put the pan back on the heat with a little more olive oil and add the broccoli and stir around for a few minutes before adding the greens and leeks. Cook these until they start colouring, then add a couple of tablespoons of water to help steam the broccoli. Add some salt and pepper and cook until the broccoli looks slightly coloured but crisp and not soggy.

Drain the pasta and leave in the colander then add the almond milk to the saucepan and gently heat. Add the nutmeg, then put the pasta back in, along with the vegetables, followed by the almonds, then add the mozzarella (gauge how much you need for it to melt and not be too sickly).  Stir everything really well.

You can either add the breadcrumb mix now and stir a little, or you can serve up the pasta into bowls and top them with the breadcrumb mix.

Serve immediately – it will be devoured!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Turnip, Apple & Sweet Potato Salad

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Turnip Salad

I’ve been getting some interesting fruits and vegetables through in my weekly Abel & Cole organic fruit and veg box now that the summer season is approaching. I truly believe in eating only what is in season, therefore it has no preservatives and can be totally organic so I’m getting excited now that strawberries, blueberries and rhubarbs are coming in! Turnips came in this week’s box and I thought right, it’s getting too warm to make a soup so I’ll make a salad and here is the end result… You don’t need a spiralizer but it will make life easier with this sort of salad and makes it look much nicer too! They’re really not expensive and can be picked up on Amazon for around £25.

Ingredients

3 turnips
4 carrots
2 sweet potatoes
2 apples (any will do, I just used what arrived in my shopping box)
A good handful of sundried tomatoes, chopped into quarters
A handful of dill, finely chopped
Croutons of choice (you can find gluten free ones)
2 Mozzarella balls, sliced (optional. Omit if you want this salad vegan)
Drizzle of apple cider vinegar
Drizzle of olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Himalayan salt & black pepper to taste

Method

Start by peeling the sweet potatoes, dicing them into 5mm pieces, then place on an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil and put in the oven on 180 degrees (gas mark 6) for 20 minutes.

While this is cooking, peel the turnips, carrots and apples, then put each one through the spiralizer and add to a big salad bowl then add your dill.

Add the apple cider vinegar, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper, mix well, then end by adding the sweet potatoes, croutons and mozzarella (if you add these before the dressing they will go soggy).

Mix well and serve straight away with your choice of crackers and homemade hummus.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Israeli Salad

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Israeli Salad

Simple, but oh so effective! The good old trusted Israeli salad. Full of yummy fresh veggies, colourful and delicious…

Ingredients 

2 tomatoes
Half a large cucumber
1 yellow pepper
2 spring onions
Extra virgin olive oil
White vinegar
Himalayan salt & black pepper

Method

Chop all your veggies up into really small pieces and put them all in a bowl. Drizzle a little olive oil, a little vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Mix, and serve! Voila!

Enjoy

Love,
Lauren

Moroccan Salad

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Moroccan Salad

This is a really delicious way of having all the spices of Moroccan food but having the benefit of having raw veggies in it. I whipped this up today for a Friday night dinner party I’m hosting tomorrow and it’s really delicious…

Ingredients

2 carrots
1 beetroot
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp organic runny honey

Method

Gently heat the vinegar and honey together in a saucepan then set aside.

Peel and grate the carrots and beetroot into a bowl, then add the vinegar and honey mix, followed by the spices and mix really well.

Serve straight away or keep in an airtight container for 5 days.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Roasted Cabbage Wedges

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Roast Cabbage Wedges

My weekly Abel & Cole organic fruit and veg box often came with cabbages over the winter, which we love in my house, but I wanted to try and find something new to do with them and I found the easiest way to make them as yummy as possible! A great accompaniment for any meal…

Ingredients

1 cabbage, cut from the base into wedges
2 cups organic vegetable stock
1 onion or leek, whichever you have around, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Spoonful of olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 180.

Heat the olive oil in a pan then add the onion. Once it turns transparent, add the garlic and cook for about a minute before adding the cabbage wedges.

Let them brown on each side before turning over so you brown all sides just slightly before transferring them to an oven dish.

Once in the oven dish, pour the stock over then put in the oven for around 30-45 minutes.

So yummy!

Love,
Lauren

Pasta with Sweet Potato and Sage Sauce

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Sweet Potato Sage Pasta

Raine and I seem to be so in sync with each other that even though we’re on other sides of the planet, we both made a variation of the same dinner tonight! So she has posted her Butternut & Sage Pasta and here is mine, made with sweet potatoes instead…

People always ask me what can you make for dinner when you’re vegetarian, so I like to experiment with easy, tasty and healthy recipes that people love. This is one of them. The sage is probably the best part of this recipe – I just love the taste. This recipe is seriously indulgent but gluten free and dairy free as well as full of nutrients.

Ingredients

Brown rice pasta – enough for two servings
1 sweet potato
About 10 sage leaves
Handful pine nuts
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
Half cup almond milk
Garlic salt
Himalayan salt
Black pepper

Method

Peel and chop the sweet potato then steam or boil until soft enough to mash.

While it’s boiling, heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, then add the garlic, pine nuts and sage and cook until pine nuts are roasted and sage is cooked. Once this mix is ready, put in a bowl and set aside.

Start boiling your pasta with a pinch of Himalayan salt. Brown rice pasta usually takes around 8 minutes.

While this is boiling, drain your sweet potato and mash it. Add it to the pan (which you don’t need to wash after the sage and pine nuts) with the milk and mix on a low light until it resembles a thick sauce.

Do not over-cook the pasta. As soon as it’s ready, add it to the pan with the sweet potato and mix it all in, then add the garlic, pine nuts and sage, some garlic salt and pepper (and salt to taste if you want) and mix it all around for about a minute or two, until hot, then serve.

Have a good week everyone.

Love & health,
Lauren