Superb Hummus ideas from Amy Lane
Hi folks, check out this blog for some superb hummus ideas! enjoy :-) http://www.damyhealth.com/2011/03/the-9-best-hummus-recipes/
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September 13, 2015
Quick meal – Barbecued swordfish & the works
Barbecued swordfish, oven roasted sweet potatoes and courgettes with home-made sun-dried tomato-basil-walnut pesto
Ingredients:
- Swordfish – this was a spontaneous buy as it looked incredibly fresh and of good quality. Tuna will also work well or any other fish. Not all will hold it together on a BBQ so you may need to invest in a fish basket to hold the fish intact or consider instead using the oven grill.
This is a fish cage and is necessary for fish that are likely to fall apart on the BBQ
- Lemon – juice
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Sweet potatoes – thinly sliced
- Coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
- Courgettes – chopped as you prefer
- Fresh garden herbs – finely chopped – I used a selection of oregano, rosemary and lemon thyme
- For the home-made sun-dried tomato-basil-walnut pesto
- Sun-dried tomatoes – drained of all oil if they are packed in oil
- Basil – well washed if not organic
- Walnuts – fistful
- Extra virgin olive oil – as required
August 9, 2015
Quick meal – Pan-fried oat-flour crusted Plaice with crispy bacon, grilled mushrooms, pesto celeriac mash and wilted spinach
This is a quick meal that we fired together based on what was in the fridge and cupboards. I buy fresh fish from the fish monger once to twice weekly depending on my schedule and freeze single and double portions for the coming week. If I don’t do this then we don’t manage to have fish so I make the effort as fish is very important in the athlete’s diet. I always buy fish from the fish monger when possible and only caught at sea white fish. Salmon is increasingly hard to obtain but I will always buy organic.
There are many reasons to eat white caught at sea fish the main reasons are the following:
Benefits of caught at sea white fish:
- High quality source of protein
- Low in fat (allowing leverage with other sources of healthy fats)
- Rich in iodine, selenium, phosphorus, and zinc; B6 and B12 are often also in rich supply
- Easily digested and a superb pre-race choice
White sea-fish that are delicate such as plaice and the other flat fish are tastiest cooked simply with no fussing; for example in the pan in some butter or coconut oil, grilled or quickly baked with a touch of butter or coconut oil. We sometimes add a dusting of oat flour or coconut flour as this gives a delicious tasty coat when pan-fried. I find that there is no need for egg as the flour coating sticks well. Flat fish will cook in minutes so avoid over cooking!
Ingredients:
August 9, 2015
Quick Roasted Veggies:
Sweet potato, Courgette, and Large cap mushrooms with fresh garden herbs & potato ramblings
Oven roasted vegetables can take approximately 40 minutes in the oven; here is a speedy twist for the time sapped athlete.
Sweet potatoes are rich in beta carotene amongst other vitamins and minerals. Courgettes well I am not sure how much nutrition these boys provide but they are a low-calorie vegetable choice and large mushrooms; these are the bad boy big guns of taste and helpfully versatile as a carbohydrate substitute for those watching their carbohydrate intake (they make super burger bun options and bread options for breakfast omelettes and smoked salmon lunches.
Sweet potatoes are rich in carotenoids, B6, Vitamin C, Biotin, Copper, manganese, potassium and fibre; see here for more details regarding nutrition (FYI a super vegetable to make home-made potato cakes ala Skratch labs for the bike).
Sweet potatoes have unique strengths over the humble spud; notably beta carotene content, Vitamin C content and fibre content. However don’t ditch the regular potato as these have many health and nutrition benefits notably their rich potassium content and from a carb and calorie perspective there isn’t a whole lot of difference between the two types of potato.
August 5, 2015
Quick pan sautéed vegetables in pesto
Quick pan sautéed vegetables in pesto
This is a very quick and nutritious dish that will go well on the side of cooked meats, poultry or fish. If you need more carbs I suggest steamed summer potatoes or oven roasted roots like sweet potato, potato, or butternut squash topped with extra virgin olive oil and fresh chopped or dried herbs.
Ingredients:
- Butter or coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
- 1 red onion – peeled and finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic – smashed or mashed J
- Several Portobello or large capped local mushrooms – chopped into thick slices
- Small bunch Swiss chard (spinach or kale will also work) – washed and shredded
- Pesto – I like the Superquinn variety but usually I make my own as I make it more concentrated in herbs and lower in oil and I omit the cheese. There are good versions of cheese and dairy free pesto available in specialist stores and I recommend these over the cheesy fatty pesto’s available in the supermarkets.
- Optional dollop of cream or low-fat cheese
- Seasoning: sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
August 5, 2015
Thai green curry with mince beef/ chicken/ turkey
Thai green curry with mince beef/ chicken/ turkey
This is a very lazy take on a Thai curry prepped between coming home from a morning swim, showering and getting to work. I use the timer in the oven so that the oven will turn itself off. The dish is fine in the oven until dinner time.
This is a more traditional “go the whole-hog” recipe should you like to make a more authentic curry: http://www.templeofthai.com/recipes/thai_green_curry.php with a lot of suggested recipes down the right hand side bar. Here is another helpful link to an article on the Guardian website about “How to make the perfect Thai green curry”; it really is worth a read if you are a foodie.
August 5, 2015
Roasted Red Pepper, Cherry tomato and Chickpea with Flageolet bean Salad
Roasted Red Pepper, Cherry tomato and Chickpea with Flageolet bean Salad
This salad is adapted from the wonderful book titled Avoca Salads and its first trial run was at a recent BBQ; it went down a hit. This recipe is so easy and I am sure that multiple adaptations can be made I did make some changes as follows.
Images of the book cover with original images of this tasty salad. I didn’t adapt it for any reason other than I tend to like to make a food more personal with my own tweaks.
My substitutions were:
- the addition of flageolet beans
- the addition of organic cherry tomatoes
- subbing coriander for parsley as I prefer its flavour in salads
- using long red peppers instead of bell peppers as I prefer their sweetness
- omitting the garlic and spring onion in fear it may be a tad too strong for kiddies and guests
- and finally I added a dash of my own home-made dressing
The original recipe and book are available on amazon or in Avoca stores as here.
Ingredients for Roasted Red Pepper and Chickpea Salad
August 4, 2015
Cod fillets
Recovery Cod and nifty swifty Veggies
Recovery Cod and nifty swifty Veggies
This is an easy fish dish that is super for after hard training sessions as the protein is light on the stomach, the veggies are quick to prepare, and the spices from ground turmeric and garam masala provide helpful anti-inflammatory oomph.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with Garam masala it is a spice blend with wonderful flavour and aroma. I love its sweet taste and it is often used in our kitchen in fish dishes, hummus or bean dips and curries.
August 4, 2015
Ready to serve
Spicy athlete friendly pork roast
Spicy athlete friendly pork roast
This is a very fast and easy dish to prepare and if you have a timer on the oven then this dish can be left to cook itself. This roast is perfectly ok left to sit in the oven for a few hours should you start this in the morning and then leave it until your return after work or training.
Efficiency is the name of the game in all aspects of your life if you are a hard training athlete.
If you are a busy athlete, then I highly recommend planning as much of your nutrition and cooking in advance as you can. This will assist achieving your nutrition goals while also balancing your hectic work-training-family life balance.
I use this strategy often; for example:
July 14, 2015
Banana-Date Health Nut Bread.
This bread was concocted in anticipation of a carbo load before a half ironman distance triathlon this coming weekend. I baked the bread last Sunday afternoon and froze it ready-sliced in anticipation of my busy week. I will however admit to a sneaky “preview” slice just to check it was yummy!
June 29, 2015