150 gms green lentils
1 tomato
1 leek
1 carrot
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp sweet paprika powder
2 maggi vegetable cubes
1 bay leaf
3 cloves (the spice)

Directions

Insert the 3 cloves into the 1/2 onion. Put all ingredients in a pan with 1 litre of water. Boil over a slow fire until the lentils are cooked – about 30 – 40 minutes.

When the lentils are done, remove all the vegetables. Discard the bay leaf and the cloves from the onion. If there is too much “soup” left after you remove the vegetables, take some out and put it aside.

Puree the cooked vegetables with a little of the soup from the pan using a hand blender then pour back into the lentils. Add back some of the soup you set aside if the soup is now too thick. Let the soup heat through. Serve with bread.

INGREDIENTS

500 gms beef cut into 2.5cm x 2.5cm cubes

About 1kg potatoes
1/4 onion
1 green pepper
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp paprika
2 Maggi beef cubes
1 litre water
1 small glass “white wine” (we use a non-alcoholic wine like Carl Jung)
1 cap sherry vinegar 1.5 tbsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Heat the olive oil in a pressure cooker and sauté the beef on medium to high heat. Move them around the pot so that they don’t stick and burn.

Cube the green pepper and onion and chop the garlic. When all the water is gone and the meat is browned, add the chopped ingredients and mix well. Let it cook slowly until fragrant and soft. Add the “wine” and sherry vinegar, tomato paste and paprika. Mix well and bring back to the boil.

Add the water, beef cubes and peppercorns. Mix well and close the pressure cooker. Pressure-cook for 20 minutes.

Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes about 2cm x 2cm. After 20 minutes when the meat is soft, open the pressure cooker and add the potatoes. Pressure-cook for 6 minutes.

Serve hot with bread. Don’t forget to “mash” the potatoes and the meat when eating!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Anyhow, the chicken cooked this way not only smells good, it tastes really good. Now I need to figure out how to keep the chicken from getting dry. There must be a way…

By the way, the best Caesar Salad of all time is at the Terrace Grill in the Marriott Hotel in Kuwait. They make it right in front of you and it is simply sumptuous!

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4 

400 gms Romaine lettuce, cleaned and cut
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
Fresh Parmesan cheese, sliced

Cajun Chicken Marinade:
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Drizzle olive oil
Salt to taste

Combine everything in a bowl and taste for salt. Make some cuts across the chicken breasts so the marinade penetrates. Mix chicken breasts with the marinade and place in an airtight bag overnight for extra spicy flavour. Otherwise at least an hour will be fine.

Grill 15 minutes each side then remove to cool. Slice and put aside.

Caesar Dressing:

4 tbsp light mayonnaise
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp anchovy paste (comes in a tube) or 4 – 5 anchovies without the oil
Salt to taste

To prepare the dressing, mix everything using a fork. Taste for salt. Add 2 – 3 tbsp water and mix well.

To serve the salad:

Mix the salad with dressing and put in individual plates. Arrange Parmesan and chicken slices. And serve!

Since we started the South Beach Diet, we’ve discovered that we could eat really interesting stuff AND lose weight. Well, I still can’t eat pasta but I’m getting there.

We discovered Kalyn’s Kitchen when we Googled for South Beach meal plans and recipes…she has an exhaustive collection of recipes. The most interesting of which was her egg muffins which she has revisited over and over again.

I knew I had to try it because I hated fried eggs or omelettes for breakfast and there were only a few things I could do with hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. Her egg muffins seemed easy to make and could be kept in the fridge for up to a week, or even frozen. They can be re-heated in the microwave or eaten cold. Its something you make in batches, stick them in the fridge, eat for breakfast, eat as a snack and best still, hubby could take it to work for snack or lunch!

So last weekend we bought a ton of eggs and a muffin pan. Tonight I have made it and it turned out great.

INGREDIENTS

9 large eggs
1/2 medium-sized red pepper
1/2 medium-sized yellow pepper
20 gms onion
20 gms spring onions
Shredded mozarella or cheddar cheese
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180C.

Mince the red and yellow peppers and onion in a food processor or chop them finely. Slice the spring onions finely. Beat the eggs well in a spouted container. Add salt to taste.

Distribute the cheese in each muffin segment just enough to cover the base. Next add 1 – 1.5 teaspoon of the minced vegetables and sprinkle the spring onions.

Pour the beaten egg in – try to distribute evenly up to around 2/3 of each segment. Bake in preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

INGREDIENTS

150 gms dry red beans or pinto beans – soaked in water overnight
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sized onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne powder or chilli powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp tomato purée
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 oz can chopped tomatoes
2 vegetable cubes
1 litre water

DIRECTIONS

Drain the beans and boil in 1 litre of water, 2 vegetable cubes and a bay leaf in a pressure cooker for 15 – 20 mins.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook for 4 – 5 minutes until soft. Add the cumin, cayenne and paprika and cook for one minute on a low fire. Stir frequently.

Add the tomato puree and cook for a few seconds, then add in the oregano. Add chopped tomatoes and cook slowly for 15 – 20 mins.

When the beans are cooked, add the sauce to the beans and cook through for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with bread or eat on its own.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

We’ll know the truth when he eats it tonight!

Cooking time: 30 mins

INGREDIENTS

150g white beans

1 litre water

1 bay leaf

2 vegetable or chicken cubes

3 cloves garlic (unpeeled)

1/2 medium-sized onion

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp tomato puree

1/2 tsp smoked hot paprika (pimenton ahumado picante)

1 tbsp flour

DIRECTIONS

Soak the beans in water overnight.

Drain, rinse and boil the beans with the bay leaf, garlic and vegetable or chicken cubes for 20 minutes in the pressure cooker. When cooked, remove the bay leaf and garlic.

Chop the onion. Heat oil and fry the onion until soft. Add the tomato puree and fry for another minute. Reduce the heat and add paprika. Fry gently for 1/2 minute or so being careful not to burn the paprika. Add the flour and fry another minute.

Add a little water to dilute the paste so that it will not become lumpy with the beans. Pour into the beans and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve hot with bread if desired.

INGREDIENTS

150 gms green lentils

1/2 medium-sized onion, minced

2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced

250 gms carrots

1 medium sized tomato, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

2 vegetable cubes

1 litre water

1 bay leaf

DIRECTIONS

Place the lentils, carrots, vegetable cubes, bay leaf and water in a pot and boil until carrots and lentils are cooked. In a separate pan, heat oil and fry the minced garlic, onions and tomatoes. Let it sweat on medium heat.

When the onions are soft, remove from heat, add the boiled carrots and a bit of the soup and liquidise. Add back to the lentils, bring to the boil and let it simmer for a while.

Remove and serve hot with bread.

From time to time, you “discover” a favourite dish and this is one of them. Hubby had told me about this dish which he cooked one day after chatting with a fellow Spanish friend at work, Carolina. It was her grandmother’s recipe.

I instantly took a liking to it. You could say its a kind of cross between a “vegetarian” paella and risotto. That’s how I would describe it. Except for the garbanzos. No garbanzos in either paella or risotto!

Its a lovely, light dish and since we took a liking to low-calorie, meat-free dishes, this has become one of our favourites!

100 gms = 82 calories

INGREDIENTS

Serves 3

200 gms Garbanzos (dried chick peas)

100 gms rice

150 gms red pepper (after cleaning)

90 gms onions

120 gms fresh tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

3 tbsp olive oil

2 vegetable or chicken cubes

1 tsp paprika powder

DIRECTIONS

The night before, soak chick peas in enough water to allow it to expand.

To prepare the dish, drain chick peas and rinse. Cook for 30 minutes in a pressure cooker with the vegetable cubes and 1.5 litres of water. When cooked, drain the liquid into a measuring cup. You should have approximately 900ml of the liquid. Put the cooked chick peas aside.

Chop all the vegetables finely. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan and fry the chopped ingredients. Cook slowly over a slow fire for 15 minutes or until the onions are transparent. Add the paprika powder and continue frying over very low heat. After 5 minutes or so, add the rice and mix well.

Add the saved liquid, little by little, mix well and let it simmer on low heat. Stir from time to time  and when the liquid is absorbed, add more, and repeat until the rice is cooked. You should have used up all the 900 ml of liquid. At the end, add the cooked chick peas, mix well, heat through and remove.

Serve hot.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2

2 eggplants (240 gms)

If you like zucchini, you can substitute 1 eggplant for 120 gms zucchini

1 1/2 medium-sized green peppers or a mixture of different coloured peppers (200 gms)

1 large tomato (180 gms)

1/4 large onion (85 gms)

2-3 cloves garlic

2 tsp tomato puree or tomato paste

Olive oil (minimum of 1 tbsp, use up to 3 tbsp if you like)

1 tsp herbes de Provence (If not available, substitute with 3/4 tsp McCormick’s “Mixed Herbs” + 1 large dried bay leaf crushed)

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Cut the eggplant into cubes, throw them in a bowl with some salt to get rid of the bitter taste.

Heat a heavy wok or frying pan – add the olive oil. Peel and cube the onion, put it into the pot and let it cook slowly on medium heat. Mince the garlic and add it to the onions.

Wash the bell peppers, rib and de-seed. Cut into cubes and stir it in.

Wash the salt off the eggplant, rinse well and drain all the water. Throw them in the pot. If using zucchini, wash and cut into big chunks and throw them in.

Wash the tomato, cut it up into big chunks, and throw them in. Add the tomato paste, herbes de Provence or its substitute as above, and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix well and cover.

Let it cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Its done when you see that the oil has separated.

Serve hot. Goes well with couscous and Moroccan baked fish and keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. Also nice eaten on its own or with bread.

Serves 2 to 3

INGREDIENTS

500gms fillet of any white fish (frozen is good)

Marinade:

Juice of half a lemon

1 tsp paprika powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 onion, chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

20 gms cilantro, chopped (optional)

20 gms flat parsely, chopped (optional)

3 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Defrost the fish, wash, drain and dry with paper towel. If the fillet are long pieces, cut each piece into two.

In a shallow Pyrex bowl with cover, mix all the marinade ingredients and taste for salt. Add the fish and mix well with the marinade. Cover and leave for 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Centigrade. Arrange the fish in a heatproof dish and bake for 30 minutes. If desired, grill for the last 10 minutes.

Serve hot with couscous and a simple ratatouille.