Lentil, seed, veggie loaf – chuck it together and go

This little loaf worked a treat. I was planning on making lentils burgers, but burgers have a tendency to go dry (and also a loaf is far less messy!). So I had a go at making a loaf and it was so good I made a second one a few days later, changing the ingredients up just a tiny bit.

The loaf is very moist, it can be served with an egg on top if you wanted to raise the protein intake further, or with some melted cheese, or just as it is with lashings of vegetables. I actually have been eating this like bread also as a snack with some cream cheese, or cheese/ butter/ peanut butter; I guess you could call the lentil loaf high protein bread!

Enjoy,
Andrea

Ingredients:

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Daily Salad
Finished salad

Daily Salad

I make a salad every couple of days; there is no particular method to the salad except the mantra “use what I have and keep it colourful”; so to be honest, anything goes and every time we try a new variation it surprises us (last night it was the pickled ginger in the salad dressing).

This salad will keep in the fridge for a couple of means and sometimes I just top up as we go. There are no hard and fast rules, experiment and try some new and different variations. Get in the habit of having something with greens every dinner time and if you can for bonus points, pack some for your lunch.

The rules:

Something green and leafy, torn or chopped, e.g.

  • Spinach, rocket, watercress, kale, mixed leaves, chicory and any type or colourful lettuce that you can get your hands on

Something crunchy, grated, sliced or finely chopped, e.g.

  • Red cabbage
  • Green cabbage
  • Cauliflower leaves
  • Fennel
  • Celery
  • Radicchio
  • Grated carrot
  • Grated beets
  • Cucumber
  • Grated sprouts
  • Peppers
  • Baby peas
  • Baby beans
  • I am sure that there are more!

Something roasted, e.g.

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Proper bone broth

I made some bone broth over the weekend.

Yes it is a labour of love; cheap to almost free to make until you count the man hours and electricity!! But oh so worth it to have the result of a broth that is so dense with healing amino acids that it solidifies in the fridge.

Ingredients

I kept mine simple. I also made a large volume of it to make use of the time I invested and so that I could freeze several batches for use later in soups, casseroles and stews. 

  • Bones from the local butcher – I used three knuckly joint bones that had an open end long bone with bone marrow at one end and a big joint at the other. The bones were large and messy (cartilage and fat and sinew) and this means you get the best results as they are full of soft tissue and ligaments that break down their nutrients into the broth. Hard clean long bones are great also but you will not get as much nutrition released from a solid bone no matter how long you boil it for. Bones just don’t disintegrate no matter what claims people make for adding vinegar (not unless the poor animal had osteoporosis!). It does all seem a bit yucky I can appreciate this, but this is also ethical eating where we use more of the animal and waste less.
  • Vinegar –  this can be cider or wine. I used 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar as it was the first one in reach in my cupboard.
  • 1 onion – roughly sliced
  • 1 carrot – peeled and roughly sliced
  • Optional diced fresh chili, ginger, garlic, and/ or fresh turmeric (this time I used a fresh red chili and a couple of cloves of garlic)
  • Mixed dried herbs
  • 1 large fresh bay leaf
  • 1-2 tablespoons ground dried turmeric
  • Filtered water – a lot
  • Large stock pot with lid
  • Strainer/ sieve
  • Fat separating jug (I’ve spoken about this fantastic kitchen aid before; see here:http://andreacullenhealthsolutions.com/2013/08/15/bone-broth-for-healing-how-do-you-do-yours/)
  • Seasoning with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

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Basic vegetable soup

I threw a quick healthy soup together today for our dinner. Soup isn’t only a lunch option; adding sufficient protein on the side such as some sliced meat or a poached egg and even some beans or bean pasta, rice or quinoa into your soup will make for a filling and complete dinner meal.

imag2869
“It’s quite green” he said!

Soup is VERY simple to make and most vegetables will work. This is what I used today:

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