[2frustrated]

Peach, walnut & ginger muffins

These have a high fruit-to-muffin ratio. I’ve found it easier leaving them to cool and firm up in the tin for a good 15 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack. Makes 12 muffins

1.5 cups plain wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/3 cup walnuts, broken into large chunks
1/2 cup yoghurt (I use Jalna vanilla or strawberry)
1 egg
1/2 cup light or skim milk (or soy or rice milk)
6 peaches, stones removed
4 tablespoons apricot jam
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 12 hole muffin tin.

Sieve together the flour, ginger and baking soda. Add in the walnuts and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl whisk together the yoghurt, egg and milk.

Roughly chop the peaches and put them into a food processor, with the jam. Pulse together, until the fruit and jam are combined, but there’s still some texture and lumpy-ness to the fruit. Stir this through the yoghurt mixture.

Add the yoghurt and fruit to the flour and mix together until just combined - do not beat, or over-stir. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin. Place the muffins in the middle of the oven and cook for 20 - 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack.

Nutritional information per muffin:

Total kilojoules: 479kJ; Protein: 5g; Total Fat: 4g (mostly poly-unsaturated); Saturated fat: 1g; Carbohydrate: 6g; Fibre: 3g; Sodium: 26mg; Number of fruit serves towards daily total: 0.5 serves; Additional nutrients: potassium,Omega 3 essential fatty acids, beta-carotene, vitamin C and other antioxidants.

From:
http://www.kathrynelliott.com.au/blo...inger-muffins/

I made these on Saturday morning - I used too much ginger, tinned pears and 2 tbsp honey instead of the jam, oh and Rye flour. They turned out a bit solid, but I think that's the rye and I didn't measure the baking soda! I loved them anyway! Oh I also used that Fage 0% Greek Yoghurt in them (oh actually it wasn't the 0% stuff) and it still worked very well. You really MUST wait for the 15 minutes to take them out of the tin, they are quite gooey but settle ok. I've bought more tinned pears to make another batch!

Edited to say - I made another batch! I read on her blog that she's tried using tinned fruit, and if you use tinned fruit 1) make sure it's in juice and not syrup and 2) you don't need to use the milk. I've just had the first one of my new batch and it was fantastic! For added gingeriness I put in some chopped up crystallised stem ginger in it!

[2frustrated]

Over in maintainers they've been talking about apple butter and cherry butter. Since the only ingredient, they say, is the fruit, I figured it can't be that hard to make!!!!

So I had a trawl on the net and came up with

Frus's Simplified Apple Butter Recipe for lazy cooks!

Apples (as many as you like... Proabably about 4 cookers to a jam jar of "butter")
mixed spices, cinnamon etc
Optional
cider vinegar
sugar

Now, I'm not going to use the sugar, but I might use the cider vinegar since I have some in, or you could use apple juice.

Anywhoo... so

1) peel and core and dice the apples

2) heat in a saucepan with spices etc on a very low heat for a very long time (about 2-24 hours (yes really!!!!) ) until the mixture is thick and gooey.

3) blend with a stick blender to make smooth paste, then put in jam jars and either use a "canning" process to seal them tight so they will keep for a long time, or you can just freeze it, if you have more than you will use in a week.

Then you can use this instead of jam, or as a nice spread on pancakes - I can't wait to try it out at the weekend

[Sarah Ann]

Frus - you can make it in a microwave as well.... just put it all in a heatproof dish and put clingfilm or a saucer over the top and zap.

TBH I didn't realise it had a name - its just something I make. You can stir sweetener in at the end - or a spoonful of honey for a different taste.

Very nice made with pears.

[Sarah Ann]

Easy 'fancy' fishcakes

This is one of those recipes which change according to what you have in the cupboard

The basics are:

Sauce
Mix together:
Half cup of thick fat free or almost fat free yoghurt (I used the Greek style)
1 tablespoon paprika (I use the sweet & smoky type)
Pinch of chilli powder or cayenne
half tablespoon of honey
quarter teaspoon salt

Cover in cling film and put in fridge to mix

Basic recipe for the fish cakes:
One large can (approx 400g) of salmon or tuna.
One packet of flavoured couscous (you use half a cup which is 85g of it)
2 egg yolks
Two thirds of a cup of orange juice
Crushed garlic to taste
Two finely chopped salad onions OR half a finely chopped red onion

Mix couscous with orange juice and let it stand until the OJ is absorbed and the couscous is swollen. Can use leftover couscous if you have enough of it.

Drain and crumble the fish put in with the onion, couscous and egg yolks. Mix well together. Shape in to 4 patties, put them on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in a moderately hot oven (gas mark 6) for 30 minutes.

Serve with sauce (and salad or veggies).

You can dry fry them but they crumble unless you let them rest in the fridge for a couple of hours before cooking.


That was the BASIC recipe....

I've used Ainsley Harriott's citrus couscous and added in the grated rind of a lime and subbed some of the orange juice for the squeezed lime juice.

DH's favourite way is with Sammy's Moroccan Spices Couscous

I've also made it using plain couscous - just adding in some garam masala or any other spice you feel like.

If you want to bulk it out a bit you can add in some cooked veg - I've tried making it adding in frozen spinach which I've defrosted and squeezed dry which turned out a lot nicer than I was expecting and I'll do it again.

[2frustrated]

Oooooh yum! They look Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! Must try them out

[Phudge]

I don't know if everyone already knows this one, but here goes anyway:

Low fat pretend coleslaw
------------------------

grate carotts, white or red cabbage and red onions into a bowl

add Tzatziki and a little salt and pepper.


That's it! Easy and low fat.

If you can't find ready-made Tzatziki , use some chopped cucumber mixed with low-fat yoghourt and some chopped fresh mint.

[Sarah Ann]

Ooohhhh I like the idea of making that with red cabbage. I've not thought of using red cabbage in coleslaw before.

Yum!

[Sarah Ann]

Polenta with tomato sauce and mozzerella

This is a fairly cheap and cheerful dinner. Nice with just green salad.

Sauce ingredients (can be made in advance)
2 x 425g tins chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp dried oregano or Italian herbs
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
black pepper
4 crushed garlic cloves (or more or less to your taste)

Main dish ingredients:
1.5 litres boiling water
1 tbsp salt
225g instant polenta
1 tbsp olive oil
250g mozzarella - I use the low fat type
black pepper
Double handful of basil leaves

Put the canned tomatoes and oregano / Italian herbs in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and cook for a couple more minutes then remove from the heat.

Next, add the salt to the boiling water (in a large saucepan) and pour the polenta into the water in a steady stream, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Lightly oil a 30cm x 20cm baking dish with half the olive oil. Pour the cooked polenta into the prepared dish and spread evenly. Leave to cool and firm in the baking dish then turn out on to a cutting board. Cut the polenta into 5cm triangles.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200C / 400F. Lightly grease a 20cm x 25cm gratin dish with the remaining oil. Put the polenta triangles in a single layer, overlapping slightly.

Pour the tomato sauce over the polenta evenly. Tear the mozzarella into bite-size pieces and scatter over the top. Season with pepper. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and top with the ripped up basil leaves.

Serve hot or warm

Variations:
Mix some cannellini beans in with the sauce
Mix some destoned/coarsley chopped black olives in to the sauce
Dry fry some chopped chorizo and add that to the tomato sauce

[Sarah Ann]

Veggie dip or sandwich filling

Can of chickpeas
4 Sundried tomatoes
10 black olives (stoned)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
Tablespoon mixed Italian herbs (or oregano)
2 cloves garlic (or more)
Half a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
Salt & pepper

Whizz them all together until a chunky but spreadable consistency.

Keeps in the fridge for 4 days!

[ezipezi]

Here's a red cabbage salad that is delish and low fat...

1 small red cabbage, cored and sliced finely
1 red eating apple, a crisp fleshed variety
1 lemon, unwaxed preferably
handful sultanas or raisins
salt & freshly ground pepper
dried fines herbs or fresh chopped parsley

grate zest from lemon into large bowl. Squeeze all the juice out of it and place in bowl. Discard rest of lemon.

Add sliced cabbage and mix thoroughly, you want the lemon juice to tenderize the cabbage, so leave for a few minutes, then core apple and chop roughly, add to bowl along with raisins. Season and add some dried fines herbs or chopped parsley if liked. Sometimes if I feel the need to cut the lemonyness, I will add a splash of extra virgin olive oil.

[Phudge]

Going to try the salad and the chickpea dip - yum! Thanks!

[ezipezi]

Here's a great rice salad. Not quite so low fat but full of good stuff!

1 sachet Merchant Gourmet Camargue Red Rice (2 portions)
1 400g tin chickpeas, drained
2 or 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
50g roasted chopped hazelnuts
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
3-4 tablespoons (45-60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
big bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
juice and zest from 1 lemon

Put rice in pan, add 500ml boiling water, and bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 25 -35 mins depending on whether you prefer a nuttier firmer grain or a softer one. When cooked, drain, and refresh with cold water, drain thoroughly.

Mix garlic and olive oil together in large bowl, add chickpeas, tomatoes, parsley, and hazelnuts. Add drained cooled rice, lemon zest, and juice, and mix together. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and salt. Cover and leave for 15 mins before serving with a green leafy salad.

I've not tried this with any other rice but imagine brown rice would have the right nutty grain texture. Use 80g unboiled weight.

[ezipezi]

I don't much care for celery on its own, so here's a neat way of getting it down me

tuna & celery pittas

1 tin tuna steak in brine, drained
4-5 sticks celery, washed, and chopped into smallish pieces
1 red chilli, chopped (deseed if you don't like it too hot)
juice of 1 lime
dash of olive oil if wanted
wholemeal pitta bread

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper and salt. Warm pitta, cut in half to form pockets, and fill with salad. Should be enough to fill 4 pitta breads.

[Sarah Ann]

For those that eat chicken and want a tasty, simple way of cooking it - this Oriental Chicken was fab last night. I didn't have the rice wine so I used sherry instead.

[peacock 2]

Here is the link for the Simon Rimmer lasagne using cottage cheese instead of bechamel sauce.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...ne_85084.shtml