Cocoa Fudgy Protein Bars

This is a combination of half a dozen different recipes I found on the web, just mixing together the quantity of ingredients that felt right, and that gave the right kind of nutritional value.  It kind of took me back to my childhood, making mud pies in the garden :)

You really would not know that the recipe contains beans.  The finished result is quite soft and fudgy.  I used cannellini beans, but any bean would be ok.




Nutrition Info per bar (makes 10)
Calories: 169
Protein: 6g
Carbohydrate: 26g
Fat: 5g
Dietary Fibre: 6g


Ingredients
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained
50g oats
20g hemp powder
20g cocoa powder
50g unsweetened desiccated coconut
200g light soya milk
200g dried soft figs
1 heaped teaspoon molasses (20g)
30g granulated xylitol


Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put the beans in a large bowl and crush thoroughly with the back of a fork.  
• Stir in the oats, hemp powder. cocoa powder, coconut and xylitol.
• Put the figs and milk in a blender and blend until finely chopped.
• Stir into the dried mixture, along with the molasses.
• Pour into a greased 20cm non-stick square metal baking tin, and smooth.
• Bake for 25 mins.
• Remove from the oven and cut into 10 bars, leaving in the tin.  It will be firm on top, but of a squidgy consistency.  Cool in the tray on a wire rack, and then refrigerate for a couple of hours.
• Wrap individually in foil and store in the refrigerator.

Baked Coconut Lentils

This recipe pretty much came from the Whole Foods recipe site and is given here http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/baked-coconut-lentils.  In its own right, it looked so delicious I generally followed the method, but substituted soft dried figs for the dates.  In pre-cooking the lentils in the saucepan before baking, I used enough boiling water to cover, and then added more water as necessary to ensure a cooking time of 30 minutes.The following are the ingredients I used for one person, and the corresponding nutritional information.  As usual, I used my LeKue steam case for the baking part, as it's so easy to wash afterwards!  The cooking smells were wonderful too, I'll definitely be making this again...

Ingredients (serves 1)
1 teaspoon coconut oil
50g chopped onion (I use frozen)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ginger paste
3 soft dried figs, chopped
1 teaspoon soy sauce
50g brown lentils, uncooked
15g unsweetened dessicated coconut

Nutrition Info
Calories: 402
Protein: 15g
Carbohydrate: 53g
Fat: 15g
Dietary Fibre: 21g

Chard and Chickpea Stir-fry

Quick, healthy, flavoursome and colourful stir-fry!  Whilst it is very low in protein and fat, it's also very high in fibre and so is actually quite filling to balance a higher calorie meal in the day!





Ingredients
50g red chard
100g pak choi
25g carrot (about a 1/4)
10g ginger root
120g chickpeas (about 1/2 can)
1 tsp olive oil
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp runny honey
1 tsp soy sauce
tiny bit of garlic puree

Nutrition Info
Calories: 247
Protein: 8g
Carbohydrate: 40g
Fat: 6g
Fibre: 7.5g

Method

• Wash the chard and pak choi and use scissors to cut into smaller pieces.
• Peel the carrot into thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler.  Cut into bite size pieces with a knife.
• Peel and cut the ginger into small ribbons with a knife.
• Drain the chickpeas.
• Mix together the lime juice, honey, soy sauce and garlic puree.
• In a wok or frying pan, heat the olive oil over a medium-high heat.  Add all the ingredients and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes until piping hot, but the carrot should still be al dente.
• Serve immediately.

Rosemary, Butternut Squash and Ham Stew

This is one of those 'what have I got in the kitchen?' stews, made on a day when you notice the first autumn tinges of red and gold in the trees, and you need to keep turning the heating on and off!





Nutrition Info (per serving)
Calories: 508
Protein: 21g
Carbohydrate: 68g
Fat: 17g
Dietary Fibre: 13g

Ingredients (makes 3 servings)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon chopped dried rosemary
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic puree
1 butternut squash
1x 400g tin red kidney beans
1 x 400g tin chick peas
180g chopped cooked ham hock
2 dsp mirin
2 dsp reduced salt soy sauce

Method

• Peel the butternut squash and place whole in a microwavable dish.  Microwave for 5 minutes, cut in half, and microwave each half for a further 5 minutes.  Scoop out the seeds, and chop the squash into bite-sized pieces.
• In a large saucepan, add the oils and onion, fry over a medium-high heat until golden brown, add the garlic puree and rosemary, stir and take off the heat. Turn the heat down to medium.
• Quickly add water to about a cm depth and stir to stop the onion mixture sticking.  Add the kidney beans, chick peas, squash and ham hock and spoon over the mirin and soy sauce. Stir well.
• Put the lid on the saucepan, and continue to cook over a medium heat for another 20 minutes without stirring.  Take the lid off, stir well, and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated, and the whole flat smells of rosemary.
• Serve immediately whilst your mouth is still watering.

Chocolate Healthy Truffles

This was an experiment rather than anything else to see what kind of high protein/high mineral/high fibre snack I could make.  Really pleased with the result!  Despite the wacky ingredients, they're delicious (think chocolate cheesecake/brownie mix), not too sickly, and incredibly filling! I accidentally(!) ate 5 and may never need to eat again... They look high in fat because of the cheese and the almonds, but that also pushes up the protein and mineral content so I think is worth it, as part of a balanced diet. 

Note
On testing these ones out on friends, it seems that people prefer a sweeter truffle, so maybe add more powder sweetener to taste.  Or even smoked chilli?  The kinako flavour overpowers the cocoa a bit, so next time I think I'll try rolling in cocoa or ground almonds...  Will update...

Nutrition Data (for 2 truffles)
Calories: 120
Protein: 5.8g
Carbohydrate: 9g
Fat: 6.8g
Fibre: 2.2g
Calcium: 118mg
Magnesium: 36.4mg
Zinc: 0.8mg
Iron: 1.6mg

Ingredients
100g red kidney beans
28g ground almonds
2 fresh figs (70g total)
28g grated cheddar
2 pieces iron-enriched processed cheese (30g total)
15g cocoa
1 tsp zero calorie liquid or powder sweetener
7g kinako (roasted soy bean flour), for dusting

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend as far as possible, then mash in a bowl using a fork.
• Put a sheet of greaseproof paper onto a baking tray and spoon on 10 heaped teaspoons of mixture, flattening into rounds.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then cool on the paper on a wire rack. All you will have done is dry out the mixture a bit.
• Roll each round into a ball and into kinako (roasted soy bean flour).

Rosemary and Ginger Caramelised Onion and Red Lentils

Ingredients (serves 1)
1/2 large onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 long sprig fresh rosemary
1 tsp ginger paste
50g red lentils
300ml stock
50g goats cheese
1 cucumber and a large handful soy sprouts (or any other salad vegetables)


Ingredients for the dressing
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp honey (I used manuka)

Method

• Saute the onion, rosemary in the olive oil for about 10 minutes until caramelised, then add the ginger paste and red lentils off the heat, stirring for 1 minute.  
• Add the stock and simmer for about 20 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed, and the lentils are mushy.  Leave to cool slightly.
• Slice the cucumber and arrange with the soy sprouts on a plate.  Add some slices of goats cheese.
• In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together.
• Spoon the red lentil mixture onto the soy sprouts and drizzle the dressing over the salad and lentils to serve.

Multicoloured Potato Salad

This very simple salad is jam-packed with healthy vegetables, and is extremely filling.   If you are able to get a mix of coloured salad potatoes, so much the better!






Nutrition Data (for entire salad)
Calories: 1082
Carbohydrate: 184g
Protein: 55g
Fat: 16g
Dietary Fibre: 34g

Ingredients (serves 5 as a snack or 2 as a main course)
340g new potatoes
400g tin Four Bean Salad (drained weight 240g)
250g pack frozen mixed vegetables (peas/sweetcorn/carrots)
20 green olives stuffed with parmesan cheese
450g tub fat free yoghurt
15g wholegrain mustard

Method

• Boil or steam the potatoes in their skins for 20 minutes, then cool in cold water, drain and quarter.
• Mix the yoghurt with the mustard, stir in the frozen vegetables (no need to thaw), the whole green olives and the bean salad.  Stir in the chopped potatoes.
• Chill and serve.

Sweet Chilli Lentil and Smoked Salmon Warm Salad

This is very filling and is high in protein and fibre.  The pomegranate seeds and chilli sauce give a lovely tang against the lentils, and the seeds look beautiful too.

In the ingredients list I've specified 200g cooked lentils, I'm not sure what the dry weight would be because I cooked up so many for the week!


Nutrition Data
Calories 384
Carbohydrate 59g
Protein 28g
Fat 3g
Dietary Fibre 19g


Ingredients (serves 1)
200g cooked brown lentils
1/2 red onion, sliced
50g spinach
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
40g smoked salmon
30g pomegranate seeds
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Method

• If not already done, rinse the lentils and cook them for about 30 minutes in boiling water.
• Meanwhile, cook the onions in the balsamic vinegar and some water until soft and caramelized.
• Wash the spinach and tear into the lentils.  Add the onions.  Mix in the sweet chilli sauce.
• Mix in pieces of smoked salmon and the pomegranate seeds.
• Serve warm or cold.

Gammon and Chilli Bean Vegetable Casserole

Nutrition Information (per serving)
Calories 147
Protein 11g
Carbohydrate 17.5g
Fat 3.5g
Dietary Fibre 5g





Ingredients (serves 5)
200g gammon, cooked and roughly chopped
1/2 onion (about 100g), chopped
425g (1 tin) Mexican Style Chilli Beans
1/2 white cabbage (about 280g)
1/3 kabocha (Japanese pumpkin, about 160g)
160g packet spinach, roughly torn

Method

• Put the chopped onion in a saucepan.  Soften in a little water over a low heat for about 3-4 minutes, until all the water has evaporated, and the onion is browned.
• Steam the kabocha in the microwave for 8 minutes.  Chop roughly, including the skin.
• Add the chopped cabbage, kabocha, gammon and spinach to the saucepan.
• Add the tin of beans, then fill the can with water to rinse it out, pouring the water into the saucepan.
• Cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, and everything is hot.
• Serve immediately.

Egg and Potato Saute with Baked Beans

This isn't my idea, but is adapted from the BBC Good Food website's recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5588/healthy-egg-and-chips.  I found I had to change a lot of the timings.  It is closer to sauteed potato than chips.




Nutrition Data
Calories 484
Protein 22g
Carbohydrate 83g
Fat 12g
Dietary Fibre 16g

Ingredients (serves 1)
150g new potatoes diced with skin (this is 2 new potatoes)
1/2 onion (about 100g), sliced and broken into semi-rings
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg
210g (1/2 tin) of baked beans

 Method

•  Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
• Put the diced potato and onion rings into a baking tin.
• Sprinkle over the olive oil and mix thoroughly.  Sprinkle over the oregano.
• Bake for 35 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and brown.
• Make a gap in the vegetables and break in an egg.  Return to the oven and cook for 8-9 minutes until the egg is set.
• Meanwhile reheat the baked beans in a saucepan.
• Serve immediately.

Lentil and Vegetable Gratin (improved!)

I originally posted this recipe as Lentil and Courgette Gratin back in September last year, when I didn't have an oven. Since moving house, I bought myself an oven and have been making this recipe a lot recently. I have made some amendments/improvements to the recipe, and am now even more happy with it.

It's a very healthy recipe: it's very high in fibre and low in fat, as the crispy base is not made from pastry but a combination of red lentils, oats and now also wheat bran. The wheat bran came into the recipe by chance, as I only had half of the amount of oats needed.

Nutrition Data (per portion)
Calories 313
Protein 21g
Fat 10g
Carbohydrate 37g
Dietary Fibre 14.5g

Ingredients (serves 4)
Crust

125g/4ozs red lentils (in Japan, sold on Rakuten or in some import food shops such as Nissin)
10ml/1dsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
15ml/1tbsp tomato purée
25g/1oz oat flakes and 25g/1oz wheatbran
10ml/2tsp of your favourite dried herbs

Filling
250g vegetables such as courgettes, leeks, broccoli or cauliflower (or a mixture), diced
2 eggs, beaten
15ml/1tbsp wholemeal flour
50ml/2fl ozs skimmed milk
pepper
50g/2ozs Cheddar Cheese


Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/375^oF/190^oC.
2. Cook the lentils in twice their volume of water for about 20 minutes, until they are fairly soft and the excess water has dried out. Beat well with a spoon.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the onion and sliced garlic for about 6 minutes until soft and golden brown.

4. Remove from the heat and mix in the cooked lentils, tomato purée, oats, wheatbran and herbs. Season well. The mixture should be thick enough to hold together. If the lentils are a little wet, return the pan to the heat to dry them out.
5. Press the mixture into the base and up the sides of an 20cm/8″ flan dish. It is easier to do this with your hands than with a spoon. Pre-bake at 190C for 20 minutes until it is slightly dried out.

6. For the filling, lightly steam the vegetables for 4 minutes or until tender.
7. Blend the eggs with the flour, then add the milk. Stir in the steamed vegetables and season well.
8. Spoon the filling into the pre-dried flan case. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the filling has set.
10. Serve hot or cold with jacket potatoes and salad, or with soup.


Tips

• This can be taken out of the tin, cooled on a wire rack, then cut up and frozen in individual portions. Unwrap and reheat from frozen at 200C for 30 minutes.
• Finely grating the cheese makes it go further.
  

Lentil and Courgette Gratin

Sadly I can't make this dish these days. Like many (most?) people living in a small flat in Japan, I don't have an oven. My cooking is done on 2 gas rings and in a microwave. But this dish was a favourite of mine in the UK. The recipe originally came from Sainsbury’s Healthy Eating Cookbooks: Beans, Nuts & Lentils by the vegetarian food writer Sarah Brown, and I found a copy of the recipe at http://hopeeternalcookbook.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/courgette-lentil-gratin/ - see for pictures and other nice recipes.

It's a very healthy recipe: it's high in fibre and low in fat, as the crispy base is not made from pastry but a combination of red lentils and oats.

Nutrition Data (per portion)
Calories 315
Protein 21g
Fat 11g
Carbohydrate 37g
Dietary Fibre 8g

Ingredients (serves 4)
Crust
125g/4ozs red lentils
15ml/1tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
15ml/1tbsp tomato purée
50g/2ozs oat flakes
15ml/1tbsp lemon juice
10ml/2tsp chopped mixed herbs (sage/thyme/marjoram)
Filling
250g/8ozs courgettes, diced
2 eggs, beaten
15ml/1tbsp wholemeal flour
50ml/2fl ozs skimmed milk
salt & pepper
50g/2ozs Cheddar Cheese


Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/375^oF/190^oC.
2. Cook the lentils in twice their volume of water for about 15 minutes, or until they are fairly soft. Beat well with a spoon, then drain excess liquid if any remains.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the onion for 3-4 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and mix in the cooked lentils, tomato purée, oats, lemon juice and herbs. Season well. The mixture should be thick enough to hold together. If the lentils are a little wet, return the pan to the heat to dry them out before adding or add a few more oat flakes.
5. Press the mixture into the base and up the sides of an 20cm/8″ flan dish. It is easier to do this with your hands than with a spoon.  Pre-bake for 20 minutes until the crust has dried out.
6. For the filling, lightly steam the courgettes for 1 minute.
7. Blend the eggs with the flour, then add the milk. Stir in the cooked courgettes and season well.
8. Spoon the filling into the flan case. Cover with grated cheese.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the filling has set.
10. Serve hot with jacket potatoes and salad.

Chipotle Spiced Baked Beans, Rice and Egg

On the trend of Mexican spiced breakfast dishes, but missing my regular brown rice breakfast, I made this for lunch... Very filling! You could add whatever chilli spice you like. The chipotle spice was a present, it has a very smoky taste. I actually cooked double the quantity and then refrigerated the other portion for breakfast tomorrow. Because of my job, I tend to eat a substantial breakfast about 10am and then 3 or 4 much smaller snacks at 2-3 hour intervals! I eat a bit more on days off because I get up earlier...





Nutrition Data (for 1)
Calories 449
Protein 19.4g
Carbohydrate 77.9g
Fat 6.5g
Dietary Fibre 13.5g

Ingredients
1/2 x 420g can of baked beans, drained of most of the tomato sauce
25g frozen peas
1 eggs, beaten
Chipotle chile ground spice, according to taste
150g cooked brown rice
2 plums
1/2 tablespoon sweet jalapeno sauce

Method

• Roughly chop the plums and stir in the sweet jalapeno sauce. Put in a small serving bowl in the fridge.
• Put the drained baked beans and frozen peas in a saucepan and heat. Stir in the beaten egg and continue to heat, stirring until the egg is cooked throughout the mixture. Add chipotle chile spice according to taste.
  
• Stir in the cooked brown rice and heat until hot. Taste again, and add more chipotle spice if wanted.
  
• Serve in a bowl with the plum salsa side dish.
  

Nectarine, Chickpea and Green Pea Couscous Salad

Nutrition Data (per salad portion)
Calories 208
Protein 7.7g
Carbohydrate 40.8g
Fat 0.8g
Dietary Fibre 5.5g



Ingredients (serves 6 as a salad, or 3 as a main course, which means my diet will be a little unvaried over the next few days...!)
200g dried couscous
Spice to taste (I used 1 rounded teaspoon of Sainsbury's 'Taste the Difference' Rose and Harissa Rub, which I bought in the summer, a spicy blend of crushed chillies, coriander, cumin and rose petals)
1 x 400g tin chickpeas (ceci/garbanzo beans), drained
100g frozen green peas
1 large nectarine, chopped
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced with a potato peeler

Method

• Put the couscous and spice in a measuring jug (200g comes up to the 250ml mark). Pour in boiling water to the 500ml mark. Stir and leave for 5 minutes until the water is absorbed.
• In a large bowl, mix the chickpeas with the couscous.
  
• Stir in the frozen green peas, chopped nectarine, and thinly sliced carrot.
• Serve.
  

Mixed Bean and Chicken Green Curry

This is in fact an 'everything' creamy curry! I wanted to make something delicious and easy, in a large quantity to freeze for work. This did the job very well!






Nutrition Data (per portion, excluding rice)
Calories 245
Protein 15.9g
Carbohydrate 25.3
Fat 9.4g
Dietary Fibre 7.2g

Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
400g can red kidney beans, drained
400g can borlotti beans, drained (also known as cranberry beans or roman beans)
200g can sweetcorn, drained
130g frozen green peas
140g skinless cooked chicken breast, chopped
210g pack generic packaged green curry mix (I used S&B Green Curry)
150ml canned coconut milk
brown rice to serve
lemon zest for garnish

Method

• Cook the rice.
• Meanwhile, fry the onion in the oil until golden brown.
• In a large saucepan, add all the other ingredients except the green peas. Add the onion.
• Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until hot. About 2 minutes before the end of cooking time, stir in the peas.
• Serve on a bed of rice and garnish with lemon zest.
• This freezes well.
  

Chilli Bean Dip

Ingredients
400g can red kidney beans, drained
1/2 onion, chopped
3-4 tablespoons of non fat set yoghurt or yoghurt cheese ( made from about 250g non fat regular yoghurt)
1 teaspoon chilli powder (I used chipotle powder - souvenir from a friend!)
Freshly ground pepper

Method

• Drain the kidney beans.
• Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.
  

Low Fat Lemon & Pepper Houmous

High in fibre, this is a nice snack with crisp breads or vegetable sticks, spread onto bread, or just on its own! It freezes well.

Ingredients (serves 2)
400g can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans, ceci)
3-4 tablespoons of non fat set yoghurt or yoghurt cheese ( made from about 250g non fat regular yoghurt)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Freshly ground pepper

Method

• Drain the chickpeas.
• Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.
• Serve with crispbread, pitta bread, or vegetable sticks.
  

Brown Rice and Kimchi Breakfast 'Pancake'

This recipe came to me last night just as I was abut to go to sleep! It was as delicious as I imagined, definitely going to make it a regular!

Nutrition Data
Calories 394
Protein 17.4g
Carbohydrate 57.7g
Fat 9.3g
Fibre 5.1g



Ingredients
70g brown rice
20g soy beans
100g kimchi
1 egg

Method

• Cook the brown rice.
• In a bowl mix together the other ingredients. Add the cooked rice and mix thoroughly.
• Heat a lightly greased frying pan, spoon the rice mixture in and flatten. Cook for about 3 minutes each side until browned.
• Serve immediately.
  

Sesame Fried Tofu with Mushrooms and Salami

This is a very filling and tasty main meal - it will definitely set you up for the rest of the day! It could be made into a vegetarian dish by adding some kind of chilli sauce to the topping.

Nutrition Information
Calories 746
Protein 42.9g
Carbohydrate 73.1g
Fat 34.6g
Fibre 8.5g



Ingredients (serves 1)
1 pack (200g) firm tofu
1 tablespoon each of water, and mirin
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
20g salami, chopped
30g mushrooms, chopped
70g brown rice
30g cooked edamame (soy beans) or green peas

Method

• Start to cook the rice and prepare all the ingredients.
• 15 minutes before the end of rice cooking time, heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a frying pan.
• Meanwhile, slice the tofu lengthwise so that you have two large, but thin slices. Wrap each slice in kitchen paper and microwave on medium high for 1 minute to drain it.
  
• Add the tofu to the pan, and leave on a medium heat for 3 minutes until golden brown without disturbing it. Turn the tofu onto the other side and fry for another 3 minutes.
• Remove from the pan and place on kitchen paper to drain some of the oil.
• Fry the salami in the remaining oil, then add the mushrooms and stir fry until just tender (about 3 minutes).
  
• Add 1 tablespoon each of water and mirin, and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. Mix in and heat rapidly until the sauce has reduced.
• Put the hot rice mixed with edamame or peas on a plate, arrange the slices of tofu, and top with the mushooms and salami.
• Serve immediately.
  

Mixed Beans with a Soy Sauce Gravy

Nutrition Information
315 calories
19.2g protein
16.2g fibre





Ingredients (serves 1)
60g each of drained red kidney beans, chick peas and butter beans from cans
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon each of soy sauce and mirin
1 boiled egg, sliced
120g wilted spinach to serve

Method

• Wash the spinach and pat dry with kitchen paper. Wilt in a saucepan over a medium high heat for about 1 minute (do not add water). Put the spinach on a large plate.
• Put all the beans in a saucepan. There will probably be enough liquid still on the beans not to need to add any more. Heat until the beans are hot.
  
• Drain if necessary, and add 1 tablespoon each of water, soy sauce and mirin. Mix and cook rapidly over a medium high heat until the sauce has reduced slightly and coats the beans.
• Put on top of the spinach leaves and garnish with slices of boiled egg.

Note
Chick peas are also known as ceci or garbanzo beans, butter beans also known as lima beans. If you don't usually eat so much fibre, it might be worth halving the number of beans and adding a serving of pasta or rice. This will approximately halve the fibre proportion. The remaining beans can be mixed with more sauce and frozen in individual portions.