Savoury Parmesan and Marmite Protein Bars

In the UK, you can't buy savoury protein bars, so I've been thinking about this for some time.  Sweet protein bars tend to use dried fruit as the 'glue', so I had to google for ideas as to what 'glue' to use for these savoury bars.  Quinoa seemed to be used quite a bit, which is of course also high in protein, so perfect here.

These do dry out quite well in the oven and become fairly crispy on the outside, which was the texture I was going for.

I think next time, I shall actually cut it into 10 bars instead of 12, which will give 146 calories, 8g protein and 4g dietary fibre.




Nutrition Information per bar (makes 12)
Calories: 122
Protein: 7g
Carbohydrate: 11g
Fat: 6g
Dietary Fibre: 3g

Ingredients
80g dried quinoa (cooked)
100g oats
40g hemp powder
20g salted almond kernels
20g salted pistachio kernels
30g milled flaxseed
50g grated parmesan
1 heaped teaspoon marmite (17g)
80g light soya milk

Method

• Cook the quinoa according to instructions.
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In a large bowl, weigh out the oats, hemp powder, flaxseed and parmesan.  Mix in the marmite with your fingers until it's distributed through the ingredients.
• Grind the nuts together in a blender and mix into the dry ingredients.
• Mix in the quinoa, and stir in the milk until the mixture forms a paste.
• Grease a 20cm non stick square metal baking tin, and press the mixture down well.  Score into 12 rectangles.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins until firm and browned (yes, you will actually be able to tell they've browned!).
• Remove from the oven, cut into bars, allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
• Wrap individually in foil, and store in an airtight box for up to a week.

Healthy Egg McMuffin

I don't eat much bread at all, but I like it occasionally.  In the UK, unless you buy bread rolls, bread comes in huge 800g (sometimes 400g) loaves.  This says a lot about how much bread is eaten as a staple in the British diet.  This is in contrast to Japan where bread is bought in packets of 3 or 6 impossibly thick slices (and only usually of white bread).  When I was living in Japan, after visits to the UK I occasionally brought back an 800g loaf of sliced wholemeal bread, and put in my freezer.

These days, I have a tiny under the counter fridge, with only an ice box to freeze things in.  Consequently, if I buy a loaf of bread, I'd probably eat a maximum of 4 slices before it went mouldy.

The other evening, I found myself googling microwave bread and came across a recipe from this website http://www.thelaundrymoms.com/trim-healthy-mama-bread/.  I came across other ones too, that I'll probably try sometime soon.  As I already had the ingredients for this one, I decided to try it.  The first time, I used a whole egg in the bread, instead of the powdered egg white and water, and ate it with ham, mustard and dairylea cheese.  Today, as I wanted to eat it with egg, I just used egg white in the bread.  This bread is very high in fibre, vitamin D and omega 3, 6 and 9, and also provides calcium, zinc and iron.  Although high in fat, along with the fibre this keeps you feeling full until lunchtime, and most of the fat comes from the omega fatty acids.  Taking only about 5 minutes to make, this is a very quick and easy breakfast, as well as being very low in carbohydrate and calories!

Ingredients
For the bread
1 x 5g sachet powdered egg white, made up with 7 teaspoons warm water.
4 level tablespoons (24g) milled flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon (4g) softened butter (I use spreadable butter and don't keep it in my fridge)
Herbs to taste

For the egg and cheese filling
1/2 - 1 teaspoon (4g) softened butter
10g low fat grated cheddar cheese

Nutrition Info
For the bread
Calories:  149
Protein: 8.5g
Carbohydrate: 1.78g
Fat: 12g
Dietary Fibre: 6.8g

For the egg and cheese filling
Calories: 117
Protein: 8.4g
Carbohydrate: 0.2
Fat: 8.9g
Dietary Fibre: 0g

Method

• In a cereal bowl, mix the powdered egg white with 2 teaspoons warm water, then mix with an additional 5 teaspoons warm water.  
• Stir in the milled flaxseed, baking powder, herbs and butter.  Flatten in the bowl.
• Microwave in a 750w oven for 1 and a half minutes.
• Turn out onto a baking rack to let the steam escape.
• In another cereal bowl, beat the egg with the butter, don't worry about any large bits.
• Microwave in a 750w oven for about 1 minute until set.
• Slice the bread in half, put the set egg on one half and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
• Sandwich with the other half and enjoy!
  

Notes

• If you don't have powdered egg white, then use a whole egg without the water.
• I buy milled flaxseed from Lidl or Aldi - it is much cheaper there than from a health food shop.
• You could probably cut down on the fat and calories more by reducing the butter in the recipe.

Fragrant Lime, Pea and Feta Rice Bowl

The tangy creaminess of the feta is balanced by the sweetness of the citrus herby peas, with crunch added by the pumpkin seeds.  The peas are just warmed through in the hot rice, so that they don't lose their vivid green colour.  A high fibre nutritionally balanced dish with around half the RDA for zinc and vitamin C, and around 1/3 the RDA for calcium, magnesium, iron and dietary fibre.  With a rice cooker, this was so quick and easy to make, and really tasty.  May well become a new favourite!

Ingredients (serves 1)
180g cooked Italian brown rice (1/2 cup dried)
50g frozen peas, thawed
15g pumpkin seeds
1/2 lime (zest and juice)
15g mix of herbs (lemongrass, coriander, ginger, garlic, chilli)
50g feta, roughly crumbled

Nutrition Info
Calories:500
Protein: 22g
Carbohydrate: 64g
Fat: 20g
Dietary Fibre: 10g

Method

• Cook the rice according to instructions.  Thaw the peas in a sieve under cold running water, and drain.  Meanwhile, prepare the mixture, so that it can be stirred in the hot rice just as it has finished cooking.
• Dry fry the pumpkin seeds for a couple of minutes until they smell nutty and start to pop.  Set aside.
• Put the zest and juice of half a lime and mixed herbs into a saucepan and quicklywarm for a couple of minutes, until the herbs absorb the juice.  Mix in the peas and feta cheese.  
• Stir into the rice with the pumpkin seeds.  
• Serve immediately.

Notes

• I use Sainsbury's Easy-Cook Italian Brown Rice as this is the closest I can find to brown sushi rice or sticky rice (at a reasonable price).
• Waitrose do a Thai frozen herb mix, which is what I use in this recipe.
• This is best eaten hot and immediately, as the peas continue cooking in the hot rice and quickly lose their colour.  However, although it doesn't look as visually appealing, it's also delicious cold.

Mango and Tuna Sashimi Crunchy Vegetable Salad with Sweet Sesame Dressing

 This is a very refreshing summer salad.  the mango has the same melt-in-the-mouth texture as the tuna, and the flavour is brought out by the dressing.  Although it's only 300 calories, I found it quite filling.

If making this outside of Japan, you need to check that the fish is very fresh i.e. caught the same day.  The large Sainsbury's in my town stocks fish that is caught the same day.

Sesame seeds are high in calcium.  A tablespoon of sesame seeds contains about 10% of the RDA for calcium.  However, because of the hard shell, they need to be broken down to make that calcium accessible to the body.  If you can find crushed sesame, so much the better.


Ingredients (per person)
50g very fresh tuna (outside Japan you need to check it's been caught that day - large Sainsbury's in the UK sometimes (often?) do this)
100g celery (2 sticks)
100g cucumber (this is about 1/4 of a British cucumber)
100g mango (1/2 mango)
strips of nori (dried seaweed)
1 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
15g ginger paste
15g horseradish sauce (or wasabi to taste)
1 tbsp (approx 10g) white sesame seeds (or better if you can get the crushed ones with more whole sesame seeds for garnish)

Nutrition Info
Calories: 300
Protein: 17.7g
Carbohydrate: 35g
Fat: 8.3g
Dietary Fibre: 6g

Method 

• Make the dressing.  Crush the sesame seeds as much as you can in a pestle and mortar.  You probably can't crush them entirely, but that's OK.  Grinding the seeds releases the flavour and also makes the calcium more accessible to the body.
• In a cup, mix the soy sauce, mirin, ginger paste, horseradish sauce and ground sesame seeds.  Put in the fridge.
• Now prepare the salad.  Slice the celery sticks.  Quarter the cucumber lengthways and chop into cubes.  Chop the mango into similar sized pieces to the vegetables.  Chop the raw tuna steak into 1cm cubes.  Put everything into a bowl and mix well with the dressing.
• You want to eat this salad cold, so if everything hasn't come out of the fridge, you should cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for an hour.  This would also be nice for marinading, for people less impatient than me!
• Spoon onto a plate or bowl, sprinkle with strips of nori, and enjoy!

Alison-style Malay-ish all-day breakfast

Malaysian food is fantastic!  In the week I was there, I barely scratched the surface, but I loved everything I tried.

One of the most popular dishes in Malaysia is Nasi Lemak.  This is kind of an all-day breakfast for Malaysian people, so popular there are Chinese and Indian versions of it too.  Of course it was what I had for breakfast every morning, but it was sold at street stalls, cafes and restaurants too.  At its most basic it seems to be coconut rice, with boiled egg, cucumber, fried dried anchovies and peanuts and a powerful sambal which is a chilli condiment.  I often ate it with a beef or chicken curry too.

For the last week or so, I've had Nasi Lemak cravings ;-)
Of course, I know I could make a much more authentic version than this, but wanted to try and limit myself mostly to using up what is in my kitchen (just had to buy coconut milk and peanuts)...  So my version has Thai, Japanese and Korean ingredients too, but misses out the fried anchovies.  Best not to think about the calories too much in this, just enjoy it!  Nasi Lemak actually means 'fat rice' in Malay...

I made this today.  It's my day off so I could afford to spend an hour cooking breakfast (and generate an awful lot of washing up for one person!), and 'twas so filling and tasty it'll definitely serve as lunch too.  I'll have the other portion for lunch at work tomorrow, so that's sorted too!

Ingredients for the rice (1 portion)
75g dried rice
60g coconut milk

Ingredients for the sambal (2 portions) - not so powerful
one medium onion, sliced into quarter rings
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp anchovy paste
1tsp ginger paste
juice of one yuzu
1-2 tbsp kimchi base
1-2tsp Thai sweet chilli sauce


Ingredients for the chicken curry (2 portions)
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp Thai curry paste
1 large chicken breast


Ingredients to serve 
Chopped cucumber
Natural shelled peanuts
Hard boiled egg



Method

• Cut the chicken up into pieces and marinate overnight in the Thai curry paste in the fridge.
• Boil the egg until hard-boiled and then cool under a cold running tap to avoid a grey yolk.  Peel and quarter.
• Chop the onion.  Chop the cucumber.
• Cook the rice as normal with a fraction less water.  When the rice has almost absorbed the water (after about 40 minutes in my rice cooker), stir in the coconut milk and continue to cook.
• Make the sambal.  Fry the chopped onion and anchovy paste in the olive oil until cooked.  Add the yuzu juice, kimchi base and sweet chilli sauce.
• Make the chicken curry.  Fry the chicken for 5 minutes until browned and sealed.  Put in a saucepan, cover with water and a lid and continue to cook for 10 minutes until the water is mostly absorbed.  Add 2 tbsp coconut milk.
• To serve, put the rice on the plate with the boiled egg, chopped cucumber, peanuts, chicken curry and sambal.  Enjoy!

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).

Barley, green olive and mozzarella salad

This came about as a bit of a 'what have I got in the cupboard to use up?' moment...    Some time ago I bought some barley on a whim, and have added it to rice from time to time.  Well, it really needs to be used up now, along with the mozzarella that is due to be used before tomorrow.



Ingredients (serves 2 generously - the picture is a third of the total)
1 cup of barley
1 red  onion
1 cucumber
tin of sweetcorn
1/2 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can stuffed olives (40)
100g mozzarella
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey

Method

• Cook the barley according to instructions (I use a rice cooker with double the amount of water), and allow to cool.
• Chop the onion, chop the cucumber and mozzarella into 1cm pieces and halve the olives.
• Make the dressing by whisking together the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and honey.
• Toss all the ingredients together and store in fridge until ready to eat.

Oat, Fig and Nut Cookie Bites

Today I did two variations of these.  The first is the one that holds together better, and is easier to make.  These are a little like a cookie form of my trail mix, but use more nuts.






Ingredients (makes 12-14 tiny cookies)
25g coarse porridge oats
25g almonds
25g macadamia nuts
40g sticky figs from a packet
about 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Method

•  Preheat an oven to 200C.
• Put  everything in a blender, and blend until finely chopped and sticky.
• Form teaspoons of the mixture into balls and press into rounds.
• Put onto baking paper on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack, and store in an airtight container.

Variation Ingredients
25g porridge oats
25g almonds
25g pumpkin seeds
40g dried apricots
1 tsp honey
about 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Note
Apricots aren't really sticky enough, and the pumpkin seeds don't bind so well.  Prunes would also work well as the fruit, I think, and other more binding seeds instead of the pumpkin seeds.  But the variation is also delicious.

Trail Mix

This is a really delicious and healthy snack. No measurements are given, because it's such a matter of taste!







Ingredients
Coarse oats
Almonds, chopped into thirds
Pumpkin seeds
Raisins
Dried blueberries
Dried figs, chopped into quarters
Dried coconut
Anything else you might like!

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
  
• Spread the oats in a fairly thin layer on a baking tray, and toast for 20 minutes until crisp and golden brown.
• Pour into a large bowl, and mix in the other ingredients.
• Store in small containers for snacking!

If you like healthy snacks, you might want to take a look at the Sunday Snacks Event - Healthy Snacks.

And also some of my previous posts:
Cheesy Potato Marmalade Balls
New Potato Asparagus and Bacon Hot Salad
Melted Camembert with Toasted Walnuts
Balsamic Figs Ham and Blue Cheese
Mackerel on Rye Bread
Low Fat Lemon Pepper Houmous

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.
  

Melted Oozing Camembert with Toasted Walnuts and Brandied Raisins

It's taken me a couple of goes to get a photo of this recipe and so be able to add this post, I'm usually too hungry to hang around taking photos!





Nutrition Information
Calories: 325
Protein: 12g
Fat: 10g
Carbohydrate: 34g
Dietary Fibre: 7g

Ingredients
2 slices of rye bread (total 62g)
2 segments of camembert or brie (total 34g)
8g walnuts (4 halves)
3 teaspoons of brandied raisins

Method

• Roughly crumble the walnuts into a saucepan and dry fry until hot and toasted.
• Put the rye bread on a microwaveable plate, a piece of camembert on each slice, and sprinkle over the brandied raisins and the walnuts.
• Microwave for 40 seconds until the camembert is just oozing. Flatten the camembert slightly.
  
• Eat immediately!
  

Fruit and Nut Oat Bars

Like most people living in small apartments in Japan, I don't have an oven, making do with a 2 ring gas stove, a microwave, a rice cooker and a blender. Wanting to make a healthy-ish snack today, this is what I came up with...




Nutrition Data (per portion)
Calories: 199
Protein: 5g
Fat: 9g
Carbohydrate:28g
Dietary Fibre: 3g

Ingredients (makes 3 bars)
25g almonds
25g dried apricots
25g raisins
25g fresh pineapple
2 tsp pineapple juice
10g butter
50g rolled oats

Method

• In a blender, finely chop the almonds, dried apricots, raisins and pineapple.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the oats and pineapple juice. Mix in the fruit and nut mixture and form into a ball.
• Put some clingfilm in a square container and press in the mixture.
• Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes and cut into bars.