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Healthy Cooking Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

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Healthy Recipes Can Also be Tasty and Exciting

Welcome to my site on the universally relevant subjects of food and cooking and a comprehensive yet easy to follow look at how we can revolutionise our eating habits in order to make them more healthy. I hope you will enjoy reading at least some of what you find here and that it will get you thinking, and most importantly, cooking! Let me show you just how easy it is to change your eating habits in a manner that could revolutionise your health and your life...and give your taste buds a thrill at the same time!

Healthy Cooking Recipes - List of Content

A guide to what you will find on this site

It is possible to click on any of the links immediately below to go straight to the desired part of the site. I do hope, however, that - particularly first time visitors - will elect to browse the site and its content in full. This is without a doubt the way in which to get the most from these healthy cooking recipes.

My Own Experiences of Learning to Cook
The most important meal of the day
Fresh Fruit Juice
A Look At What The Experts Say About Breakfast
Fresh Fruit and Yoghurt
A Healthier Option Recipe for Bacon and Egg
Healthy Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Eggs Recipe
Healthy Grilled Kipper and Tomatoes Recipe
Healthy Tomato and Basil Pasta Recipe
Healthy Avocado on French Toast Recipe
Healthy Fresh Herb Pizza Omelette Recipe
Garlic Mushrooms Recipe
Healthy Scottish Smoked Salmon Mousse Recipe
Easy and Healthy Appetizer Recipes
Chickpea and Tomato Salad Recipe
Healthy Sweet Chilli Prawns on Coriander Rice Recipe
Sirloin Steak with Cracked Peppercorn Sauce Recipe
Healthy Roast Duck with Sweet Potatoes Recipe
Healthy Lamb Burgers with Seasonal Salad Recipe
Healthy Pan Fried Salmon and New Potatoes Recipe
Healthy Venison and Red Wine Casserole Recipe
Healthy Beef and Ale Puff Pastry Tart Recipe
Puddings
For Those Who Do Have a Sweet Tooth
Why is Nutrition Important in our Diets?
Tell me what YOU think!

My Own Experiences of Learning to Cook

It was and is a gradual and ever-developing process

I personally began the process of learning to cook as a very small boy under the watchful eye and expert tutelage of an uncle who had largely developed his own craft whilst serving in the Royal Air Force. I was from the off encouraged to broaden my horizons and open my mind to the infinite possibilities there are both for potential ingredients and for the way in which they can be combined. This fact, perhaps above all others, influenced what and how I cook right through to the present day.

The importance I place upon healthy cooking, however, did not fully manifest itself until much later on in my development. I suppose I was fortunate in a sense that my favourite foodstuffs tended to be of a healthy persuasion anyway and that I was never a great fan of deep frying, junk food, confectionery or cakes. My favourites are to be found more along the lines of roast beef or lamb and fresh fish and seafood. I also have to confess to being a garlic addict...despite its sometimes unfortunate social consequences!

Healthy Eating Product of the Month: May 2012

A cut price recommendation for you to try

This is where, each month, I shall feature one particular product which I believe offers fantastic benefits in the world of healthier eating as well as hopefully great value for money. This may take the form of a book, a cooking implement or any one of a host of other possible items.

Healthy Breakfasts

The most important meal of the day

Cook to give yourself a healthy start in the mornings

It is generally considered in the scientific and medical communities that eating a good breakfast is an essential and healthy part of anyone's day. It is claimed that this can help us work better and more efficiently, help children learn more at school and even make us less likely to be obese or develop high cholesterol.

So, the importance of breakfast established, we now have to consider what it should be comprised of. The benefits we will obtain only apply if we eat the right things and avoid overly fatty foods.

Here are a few ideas...

Fresh Fruit Juice

Let's start off simple

A glass of chilled, fresh fruit juice provides a refreshing start to any breakfast. I find orange, pineapple or grapefruit particularly appealing but there are plenty more of them out there to choose from!

A Look At What The Experts Say About Breakfast

Click on any link for more details

The Importance of Breakfast: Learn all the important health benefits of eating a healthy breakfast.
The Importance of Breakfast: Breakfast has often been described as the most important meal of the day; both children preparing for a hard day at school and busy parents going to work and looking after the kids need to start the day with the right fuel to keep them going
How Eating Breakfast can Help You Lose Weight - The Importance of Breakfast During Weight Loss: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day! It may even help you lose weight. Learn why!
Breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for children. Children who eat breakfast in the morning perform better on tests and miss school less often.
Breakfast Importance - Start Your Day Right: breakfast, vegetarian nutrition, importance of breakfast, nutrition info, vegetarian books

Fresh Fruit and Yoghurt

Fresh fruit and vegetables should form a sizeable part of any healthy diet, so why not start the day off as we mean to go on?

Apples and bananas are just two examples of the many fruits that are very enjoyable for breakfast. Try slicing them up and arranging them around a small bowl of low fat natural yoghurt, which can effectively be used as a dip or eaten with a spoon depending upon preference.

TIP!!! - De-core the apples

Remove the core from your apples with the special and inexpensive tool designed for this purpose prior to slicing/chopping them. It makes the process much easier and provides a more attractive presentation.

A Healthier Option Recipe for Bacon and Egg

While a full English breakfast may be a popular choice that fact alone does not make it a healthy one. Sausage, bacon and egg pan-fried in grease is not really the way in which we should be starting our day. We can, however, prepare a very similar meal in a much more beneficial fashion.

Frying pans do have their place but when cooking bacon we should be looking at grilling it. When it is ready, give each rasher a shake to remove as much of the grease as possible then press them briefly between two sheets of kitchen paper before putting them on the plate.

Eggs can be scrambled but my personal preference is for poached. To a large pan of boiling water, add approximately a tablespoon of vinegar. Break the egg in to a small bowl or cup then with a spoon, stir the water to create a whirlpool effect. Gently deposit the egg in the centre. Keep the water at a gentle simmer and I find that around three minutes cooks the egg just the way I like it.

Remove the egg from the water with a slotted spoon and place it on top of the bacon. Add a little freshly torn basil leaves as a garnish and serve with warm toast.

TIP!!! - Vinegar

Malt vinegar may be the most common type that most of us will have in our households but when poaching eggs I prefer to use the white wine variety. It works just as well, but doesn't create quite the same unpleasant odour at high temperatures!

Healthy Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Eggs Recipe

A bit of omega-3 fish oil to start your day

The above may at first appear to be an unusual combination but I can assure you they in fact go very well together. I hope you will try the way in which I have combined them below and enjoy it as much as I do.

Per person, you will require:

1 slice of bread (toasted)
2 large free range eggs
50ml (2 fl oz) of semi-skimmed milk
3 small slices of smoked salmon
Generous pinch of dried dill leaves
Salt/freshly ground black pepper to taste

Crack the eggs in to a bowl, season and add the milk and dill. Whisk or beat vigorously to ensure everything is well combined. Pour the mixture in to a small, non-stick saucepan, over a fairly high heat, stirring frequently at first with a wooden spoon, then constantly as the eggs begin to set. Please note that there is absolutely no requirement to add a knob of butter or anything else beforehand. If you are using a proper non-stick pan and stirring as described, your eggs should not stick. When the eggs have cooked completely and all the liquid is gone from the pan, spoon them carefully on to the warm toast. The salmon slices can be rolled up and arranged on top.

TIP!!! - Butter/Margarine

I generally serve the toast dry in this recipe but if you are one of those people who has to have butter or margarine on it at all times, why not try using one of the many replacement types of spread on the market now? They are generally made from olive or sunflower oil and contain only mono- or poly-unsaturated fats. They can prove to be an acquired taste, but experiment until you find one that you like. It's another step on the road to a healthier diet!

Brief Interlude: A word from the editor...

What, precisely, ARE saturated and unsaturated fats?

We hear about them all the time, read about them on food packaging and in newspapers, but how many of us actually know our saturates from our polyunsaturates...?

I should point out here that I have no formal medical or scientific training but as I used to have no knowledge whatsoever of the actual differences between the above, I decided to do some research. If you are as I used to be, I hope this brief, layman's guide helps remove at least some of the confusion.

The chemical difference between saturated and unsaturated fats comes down simply to the relationship between the carbon atoms in the fatty acid chain. Those fats which have no double bonds between the carbon atoms have in their place hydrogen atoms which are said to "saturate" the fat. Such fats are usually in a solid state at room temperature. Where one double bond is formed between the carbon atoms, the fat is classed as being "monounsaturated" and where two or more bonds replace the hydrogen altogether, the fat is said to be "polyunsaturated."

Saturated fats are found chiefly in meat and dairy products but by no means exclusively. They are also predominantly present in cakes and pastries, coconuts, coconut oil, palm oil and cocoa butter. These are the type of fats believed to be the chief culprit in raising the level of LDLs, or "bad" cholesterol, in our bodies and our intake of them should be strictly limited as much as is possible.

Unsaturated fats are most common in vegetables and plant oils such as sesame, olive and sunflower oils, avocados and nuts, but are also found in oily fish such as salmon and mackerel.

Healthy Grilled Kipper and Tomatoes Recipe

Keep it simple and therefore healthy

While I am normally quite partial to fish served on the bone, I must admit that I like kippers for breakfast to be pre-filleted. This is more than anything down to the simple fact that I tend to be a little bit "cranky" in the mornings and prefer the simplicity!

The kipper fillet should be placed skin-side down and the tomatoes "open" side up under a hot grill for three to four minutes. Many pre-packaged kipper fillets come with a lump of butter and many recipes and cooks will tell you to put a knob of butter on the fish prior to grilling. This is an absolute fallacy: firstly, it is unnecessary, as the natural oils in the fish are more than sufficient to keep it moist during the brief grilling process; secondly, it makes the fillets greasy; thirdly, it inhibits the delicate flavour of the fish; fourthly, it brings in to the equation saturated fats (see above,) as polyunsaturated spreads are wholly unsuitable for this purpose. Need I go on? Please...disregard any such advice and enjoy this simple creation to the full.

More Healthy Eating Recipes

Click on any link for full details

A Healthy Protein Drink Recipe - The Tofu Smoothie: I was first introduced to this smoothie recipe almost twenty years ago by one of my massage therapist friends. Soy protein is the most important type of protein for women because of the phytoestrogen it...
Vegetable Pulao - A Very Healthy Recipe: Vegetable Pulao - A Very Healthy RecipeVegetable Pulao is one of the "Savior" dishes in many Indian kitchens. If you are tired or you are in hurry or falling short of ingredients for other dishes, you can...
Sweet potato recipe: Simple, healthy and done in 5 minutes: Even you guys whose cooking repertoire consists of nuking frozen meals should be able to master this ultra-healthy dish that makes for an easy and nutrient-dense "power lunch." Sweet potatoes are delicious...
An easy healthy gourmet pasta sauce recipe: This is a very simple and fast pasta sauce recipe which when you have finished will feel good about it because it's delicious and extremely healthy. Enjoy! Ingredients: 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts...
Chili Beans with Chicken and Vegetables, A Healthy & Easy Potluck Recipe: Corie's Vegetable-Chicken Chili(this recipe makes maybe six quarts or fills a large saucepan)

My food heroes - Rick Stein

This gentleman has to be - with the greatest of respect to all others - my all time favourite celebrity chef. One only has to listen to him once to appreciate his great love of fresh seafood and the emphasis he places upon its simple preparation and allowing the beautiful, natural flavours to shine through. As both a keen sea angler and seafood lover, these are sentiments straight from my own heart.

Rick Stein's Home Page

Welcome to Rick Stein Seafood: Click on the above link to visit Rick Stein's home page on the web.

Healthy Lunches

Healthy Tomato and Basil Pasta Recipe

Simple and delicious

This is a recipe that I have used with various types of pasta, from conchiglie to linguine, though I do believe the pasta shells work best.

For two people, you will need:

2 cups of pasta shells
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 medium sized courgette/zuccini (sliced and chopped in to 1cm cubes)
1 tbsp roughly torn fresh basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot (which will ultimately minimise any splashes on your hob!) sweat the garlic gently for a few minutes in a little olive oil. Add your tinned tomatoes and your courgette/zuccini and bring up to a gentle simmer, covering the pan and stirring occasionally. Your sauce is going to take approximately twenty minutes, so following the instructions on the packet, cook your pasta in a separate pot, with a view to it being ready at the same time as your sauce. Drain your pasta well, then very importantly, add it to the pan with your sauce for a minute, along with the chopped basil, stirring gently. This allows the sauce to fully coat your pasta and ensures the flavour is spread throughout the dish. Season as required and serve.

TIP!!! - Pasta

During the cooking process, give the pasta an occasional, thorough stir to help prevent it sticking together. Do not add oil to the water. It is not true that this stops the pasta from sticking. Remember that "oil and water don't mix" - all that happens is that the oil floats on top of the water. It is simply a waste of oil and money.

Brief Interlude: A word from the editor...

A Fast Food Observation

As we all know, fast food has become a multi-national obsession in the last few decades. If we were to speculate upon the reasons for this, we may choose to consider things like the increasing pace of everyday life, technological revelations - such as televisions and personal computers - which demand and take up so much of our precious time and even the saturation advertising campaigns of the bigger chains which make their products appear so appealing and so appetising. What we must not lose sight of is what regular and sustained consumption of some of these foodstuffs can do to our bodies, both in the short and in the long term.

In the UK, although all the big American fast food chains are well represented, our national favourite fast food very much remains the traditional fish and chips. This is fillets of white fish deep fried in batter and served with "chipped" potatoes. It is traditionally animal fat that is used in the frying process as opposed to any type of vegetable product and the amount of salt sprinkled liberally over your purchase can be mind-blowing! I must say in defence of fish and chips, that if cooked well, it can be a delicious eating experience, but I have many times sampled it where the fish actually appears to be still swimming - only this time in grease! - and the chips are so soggy that they buckle over and break when you attempt to lift them to your mouth.

A few years back, there was much press coverage here regarding the latest fast food offering from the chip shops: deep fried Mars Bars! The bars are dipped in batter as the fish would be and then deep fried. I cannot in all honesty claim to have tasted what I personally consider to be a most unappealing concoction but I believe they were reasonably popular and to the best of my knowledge are still available in some outlets to this day.

I think, to sum up, that what each of us has to bear in mind is that while it is probably acceptable to consume these products on an occasional basis - be it as a special treat for your children, a purchase at a sports stadium, or whatever - it is very bad news for our bodies and our futures if we are, or are tending towards becoming, what I believe is colloquially known as a "fast food junkie."

Remember, the next time you wash the vestiges of fast food grease from your hands...spare a thought for where the rest of it went!

Healthy Avocado on French Toast Recipe

A light yet satisfying meal

I originally devised this simple dish as a lunch recipe but I suppose it could equally well be served for breakfast.

Per person you will require:

1 slice of bread
1 small egg (beaten and seasoned)
½ an avocado (skinned and mashed)
1 small tomato (thinly sliced)
6 thin slices of cucumber
2 or 3 roughly torn fresh basil leaves
Salt/freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil for frying

Add a little olive oil to a non-stick pan and bring up to a medium to high heat. Draw the bread carefully through the beaten egg to coat it completely on both sides but avoid breaking it. Fry it for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

It is possible to mash the avocado straight on to the toast but I prefer to do it beforehand in a small bowl. Spread it carefully over the toast, add the cucumber slices and the tomato and season. Finish with a scattering of torn basil leaves and an optional drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

TIP!!! - Avocado

The process of removing the stone from and peeling an avocado is very simple if tackled correctly. Sit the broad bottom of the avocado on a flat surface and hold it steady with one hand. A sharp knife should then be used to cut down through the top centre until you feel it hit the stone. Turn the fruit slowly away from you so that the knife effectively traces a pattern around the entire circumference. The two halves should then be twisted gently in opposite directions and should come apart quite easily, the stone still embedded in one of them. Tap the sharp blade of the knife once, gently but firmly, on the stone. The knife should cut in to the stone and a gentle twist should remove it. The two halves can now be peeled quite easily by hand.

Knives

The essential tools for any chef

There can surely be no more important tool for any would be chef than a set of at least three or four good, sharp knives. Have a look at this bargain currently available on Amazon.com

Healthy Fresh Herb Pizza Omelette Recipe

A novel omelette idea

This is a recipe for an omelette which looks like a pizza and can actually be sliced and eaten in the same, hands on fashion as a pizza.

You will need:

3 mediums sized, free range, organic eggs
1 small handful of flat-leafed parsley (roughly chopped)
1 small handful of coriander, known as cilantro in USA (roughly chopped)
1 outside slice of semi-stale bread
1oz (25g) of cheddar cheese (roughly grated)
A few finely chopped fresh sage leaves (or a pinch of dried will suffice)
Salt/freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil

Break the eggs in to a bowl and whisk vigorously. Put the bread flat in the palm of one hand, outside down, and with your other hand, rub backwards and forwards to crumble the inside in to the bowl with the egg. Add the parsley and coriander, season with salt and pepper and stir well.

In a small, non-stick frying pan, drizzle a little sunflower oil and bring gently up to a medium heat. Carefully add the egg mixture so that it is evenly distributed. Put your grill on to heat up to maximum.

When you can see that the omelette is set almost to the top (about 3 to 4 minutes,) transfer the pan to underneath the grill. After a minute or two, the omelette should be fully set and start to rise slightly, due to the yeast in the bread. Sprinkle over the dried sage and the grated cheese and return to the grill until the cheese begins to bubble and then serve immediately.

Is Your Omelette Pan up to Scratch?

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What Should I Have for Lunch Today?

The latest suggestions on a wholly dedicated blog

Healthy Starters/Appetizers

Garlic Mushrooms Recipe

Served on warm toast

In my introductory message, I promised to share some quick, easy and healthy recipes, so what better way to "start" this section than with a "starter," or appetiser, that can be prepared in literally five minutes from beginning to end.

For two people, you will need:

2 slices of wholemeal bread
8 small, closed cup mushrooms (halved downwards through the stalk)
2 large garlic cloves (crushed)
Pinch of dried sage
A small handful of fresh rocket leaves
1 tbsp of olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

In a small saucepan, bring the olive oil gently up to a moderate heat and add the garlic to sweat off for a minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the mushrooms, the sage, a pinch of salt and black pepper to taste. Put the bread on to lightly toast, still stirring the mushrooms frequently. When the toast is ready, use a 3 or 4 inch cutter (or even a large drinking glass) to cut the largest circle possible from each slice. Put the toasted circles on to a plate, arrange a few rocket leaves on top and carefully spoon on the garlic mushrooms.

TIP!!! - Cleaning Mushrooms

Remember never to wash mushrooms. They should be cleaned prior to eating or cooking with a purpose made brush or small paintbrush. Alternatively, they can be carefully wiped clean with a dry cloth.

How To Develop A Healthier Eating Plan and Stick To It

Healthy Scottish Smoked Salmon Mousse Recipe

Scottish smoked salmon is not necessarily the cheapest of ingredients with which to cook but its delicious flavour and texture makes it well worth forking out for once in a while. Although it is most often eaten as purchased, I have on this very rare occasion incorporated it in a baked egg "mousse," for want of a better term.

Per person, you will require:

2 small free range eggs (beaten)
1 oz (25g) Scottish smoked salmon (cut in to strips)
6 to 8 basil leaves (finely chopped) plus 3 more for garnishing
½ small avocado (sliced)*
1 small tomato (halved then sliced)
Small knob of butter
Freshly ground black pepper

*For details of how to easily stone and peel an avocado, see the lunch recipe for "Avocado on French Toast," further up this page.

Put the oven on to preheat to 150 degrees centigrade or equivalent. Grease a ramekin with the knob of butter and twist the slices of salmon lightly, arranging them in the dish, interspersed with the basil. Season the egg mix with pepper only as there will be enough saltiness obtained from the fish and gently pour it over the salmon. Put the ramekin in a "bain-marie" and in to the oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the cooked dish from the oven and lightly run a knife around the inside edges, just to free the mousse, then carefully turn it out on to your serving plate. Arrange the avocado and tomato slices around it and garnish with the basil.

Easy and Healthy Appetizer Recipes

The latest posts on a dedicated blog

More Great Healthy Eating Tips and Advice

The Worldwide Web is of course awash with sites claiming to offer tips and advice on eating in a more healthy fashion. Unfortunately, they do not always deliver what they claim. Have a look at these great sites, however, which in my opinion most certainly do...

Healthy Eating Made Easy: Quick, easy recipes for healthy eating, plus tips for feeding your family healthily.
Your Healthy Eating Guide: A "why" and "how" guide to healthier eating.
10 Healthy Eating Tips for Camping: Some great advice for those who love the great outdoors.

Healthy Salads

Chickpea and Tomato Salad Recipe

A delicious accompaniment to a meal or to eat on its own

As one who has always associated chickpeas with Indian - or at the very least, Far Eastern - cooking, I have only ever created with them dishes which have some form of similar influence. This is a simple yet flavoursome dish, including fenugreek, not one of the more widely recognised herbs.

You will need:

1 215g tin/can of chickpeas
2 medium tomatoes (deseeded and roughly chopped)
1 tbsp of coriander, or cilantro in US (roughly chopped)
¼ tsp of dried, powdered fenugreek
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
Splash of extra virgin olive oil
Salt/freshly ground black pepper

Simply combine all of your ingredients in a glass mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Your salad is then ready to serve.

TIP!!! - Chickpeas

If you are fortunate enough to have access to fresh chickpeas, then by all means use them. If you are like me and have to settle for tinned, when draining them, do so through a colander and rinse them well under cold running water. This will assist in removing any excess salt, sugar and any other chemical preservatives.

My food heroes - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

I first remember seeing this chef in the TV programme, "A Cook on the Wild Side," where his utilisation of the most natural ingredients the countryside could provide really interested and impressed me. His subsequent "River Cottage" series, detailing his livestock rearing and vegetable growing, were equally informative and enjoyable.

Hugh's River Cottage Home Page

RiverCottage.net: Welcome to rivercottage.net, a website about food, where it comes from, and why that matters.

Brief Interlude: A word from the editor...

Salt

We need it to survive yet too much of it is very hazardous to our health. Are you like me in that you put salt on to and in to pretty much everything? After all, taste is of course a big part of enjoying our food and when it is not seasoned properly, however well it may otherwise be prepared, we simply don't enjoy it the same.

So how do we overcome this conundrum? Easy! Try using reduced sodium salt. Look in your local supermarket at the various salt products available and choose one that has reduced sodium, replaced with natural potassium. I have been using products like this since childhood and defy anyone to tell the difference in flavour.

It's another small step on the road to healthier eating and living and one well worth taking.

The details of the particular product I have been using since childhood, LoSalt, can be found by clicking on the following link:

LoSalt - A Healthier Alternative

IMPORTANT!! - If you are on any form of medication - particularly for heart or kidney dysfunction - please consult your registered medical practitioner before beginning to use any form of salt substitute.

Are your kids "fussy," or "picky," eaters?
Click Here! for details of recipes SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to overcome this problem.

Vegetarians can experience great difficulty in achieving a varied and interesting diet.
Click Here! for a whole host of alternative ideas.

Healthy Cooking Recipes on e-Bay

Most people who use the Internet have at least heard of e-Bay but do you know just what bargains can sometimes be found on it?

Have a look at some of the deals currently available on Healthy Recipe ideas:

A Look at Some of my Other Healthy Eating Sites on Squidoo

I hope that you find these of interest

Healthy Evening Meals

Healthy Sweet Chilli Prawns on Coriander Rice Recipe

A delicious Chinese stir-fry

I did mention earlier my great love of seafood, so here is a recipe I came up with incorporating one of my very favourite kinds - prawns (shrimp in US.)

For this recipe, which serves 2, you will need:

12 large prawns (peeled, de-veined* and washed)
1 large onion (quartered and the segments separated out)
1 small can of pineapple chunks in its own juice (drained and the juice reserved)
1 red chilli pepper (deseeded and finely chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (crushed or finely chopped)
½ tsp of freshly grated, peeled ginger root
2 tsp of sugar
2 tsp of cornflour
10 to 12 back and forward gratings of fresh nutmeg kernel
Handful of fresh coriander, cilantro in US (roughly chopped)
125g (4oz) of basmati rice
Salt
1 tbsp sunflower oil for frying

* In order to clean the prawns, first of all hold the tail section in one hand (the left, if you are right-handed) and gently twist off and discard the head. The shell can then be carefully peeled away from the tail, which is the part you will be eating. With a small, sharp knife, make a shallow incision along the length of the back and remove the black "vein" which is in fact the intestine. A good wash in cold water and the prawns are ready to be cooked.

It is going to take a maximum of five minutes to cook your stir fry from beginning to end so get your rice on to boil in salted water. You should start the stir frying process therefore about five minutes prior to the rice being ready.

Heat up your wok until it is smoking hot then add your oil to heat through. Add the onions, prawns, garlic and ginger. Remember that stir frying is so-called because it is imperative to keep the food moving rapidly around the pan at all times. After a minute or two, add your pineapple chunks, chilli pepper, nutmeg, sugar and a generous pinch of salt. The prawns should take approximately 3 minutes to turn completely pink and be cooked, so just prior to this stage, stir the cornflour quickly and well in to the pineapple juice and pour in to the wok. This sauce will rapidly thicken, lushly coating all the other ingredients. Remove your wok from the heat, quickly stir in one third of your chopped coriander/cilantro and cover while you drain the rice. Put your drained rice in to a large mixing bowl with the remaining coriander and stir well.

It only then remains to plate up and enjoy your meal.

TIP!!! - Preserving Fresh Root Ginger

I don't know about you, but I often find that when buying fresh ginger, I am forced to buy ten times the quantity that I want. As it is by no means something I use frequently, a large part of it used to go to waste, until I stumbled upon the concept of freezing it.

Simply peel it completely, use what you need, then place the rest in to a plastic bag in the freezer. When next you want some ginger, grate it as required.

The Chinese style of cooking is generally considered one of the healthiest in the world. The food is cooked quickly, at high temperatures, allowing it to retain most of its nutrients. "500 Healthy Chinese Recipes Cookbook," is therefore a fantastic addition to anyone's e-book library.

Click Here! to download your copy now.

A Chinese Wok

Essential for stir-frying

It is essential when attempting Chinese cooking at home that we do use the appropriate utensils and one of them is unquestionably a wok. Do you have one? Look at this great deal currently available on Amazon.com!

Sirloin Steak with Cracked Peppercorn Sauce Recipe

I love a good steak but simply cannot abide it being over-cooked. I think to be enjoyed at its tasty and juicy best it should be cooked rare, or at worst, medium rare. I remember hearing a comedian say somewhere that he liked his steak with "the moo" still in it - I tend to agree! I also make sure that I pick a cut with plenty of "marbling" in it, which equates to flavour and juiciness. I think that a good bottle of red wine is another essential when eating steak, my preferences being Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon.

For this recipe, you will need, per person:

1 large sirloin steak
2 or 3 chestnut mushrooms (halved downwards through the stalk)
Sunflower oil for frying

2 large potatoes (peeled and chunked)
½ tsp of dried thyme
Salt
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of olive or sunflower oil

2 tbsp of double cream (not single cream - it will split)
½ tsp of whole black peppercorns (cracked in a pestle and mortar)
1 clove of garlic (crushed)

½ small broccoli head (split in to florets)

Remember to open your wine and allow it to "breathe!" Put your oven on to preheat to 200 degrees centigrade or equivalent with a baking sheet inside. Parboil your potatoes for 8 to 10 minutes then drain well. In a large bowl, put your olive oil, thyme and salt and carefully stir the potatoes around until well coated. Put them on the baking sheet in the oven for twenty minutes. In the same bowl (unwashed) put your two cloves of crushed garlic and after 20 minutes, again stir the potatoes through the residue and put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Put your broccoli in to a large pan of boiling, salted water. Put your sunflower oil in to a frying pan and get it up to a high heat. Season your steak with pepper only and fry for 2 to 3 minutes at the most on each side along with the mushroom halves. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for the meat to rest while you make your sauce. Put the cream in a small saucepan and gently heat. Add the pepper and the crushed garlic, stirring well with a wooden spoon. After a few minutes your sauce should start to thicken. You can now drain your broccoli and plate up.

NB: I am well aware of the presence of saturated fats in both the steak and the cream. The message in this work is about the limitation of such substances in our diets, not their exclusion. As one who could no more become a vegetarian than he could a woman, I will therefore continue to enjoy an occasional steak as part of my healthy and balanced diet.

TIP!!! - Rest your steak

During the cooking process, the fibres in the meat tighten and "toughen up," and if you plate it immediately following cooking, this is the way it will be eaten. To allow the fibres to relax and the meat to be tender, the steak should be rested off the heat for a least five minutes before serving.

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Healthy Roast Duck with Sweet Potatoes Recipe

A poignant look at how the cooking method alone can make such a difference

It is my intention at this juncture to not only provide another recipe for you to try but also to conduct what I hope you will agree is a perhaps unpleasant but most worthwhile demonstration. Please bear with me on the second point as we first of all look at the food preparation.

Per person for this dish you will require:

1 duck breast (skin on)
1 large sweet potato (peeled and chunked)
½ small broccoli head (broken in to florets)
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
2 tsp of parsley (roughly chopped)
Olive oil
Salt/freshly ground black pepper

The first thing to do is to put your oven on to preheat to 200 degrees centigrade or equivalent. As the oven is heating, prick the skin side of the duck breast several times with a fork and season. Do NOT season the flesh side. Bring a dry, non-stick frying pan up to a high heat and place the duck in, skin side down. Within a matter of seconds, you will see the fat start to ooze from the duck breast and begin to spread over the pan. After four or five minutes, remove the duck from the pan and place it skin side up on a rack over a baking tray (a grill pan is ideal.) The skin should have turned a golden brown colour. Place the tray in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Set the frying pan aside for the moment to cool. Do not wash it or clean it in any way.

Five minutes before the duck is ready, slip a baking tray in to the oven to preheat for the sweet potatoes. Stir them around in a bowl with a little olive oil and seasoning. Be careful removing the duck from the oven as it will be sputtering and perhaps a little smoky. Set the entire pan to the side for the duck to rest and cover it with some aluminium foil. Pop the potatoes in to the oven for around twenty minutes, putting your broccoli in to a pan of lightly salted, boiling water ten minutes later.

When the potatoes are ready, swirl them around briefly in the bowl used earlier with the parsley and garlic and plate up your meal.

Both the frying pan and the grill pan should be left as they are to cool for several hours or preferably overnight...

The morning after...

Hopefully, we are now at the stage of the morning after and we have a filthy looking frying pan and grill pan to clean. The way I want you to begin doing so is by taking a wooden spatula and scraping as much of the grease as you can from each pan on to a small plate. I resisted the impulse to include a photograph at this stage but I am sure those of you who do not actually conduct this experiment for yourselves are capable of using your imagination.

I now want you to gaze upon this "mess" and think about what it is for a few seconds. It is essentially saturated animal fat. Consider that had the duck been cooked in a different fashion, this stodge would now be doing its utmost to clog your arteries. I'm sorry, but I now need you to further consider that at least this is pure saturated animal fat - a similar experiment conducted with certain types of fast food would in addition throw in to the equation more chemicals than are contained in the Periodic Table of Elements!

My apologies for this demonstration but I very much hope my message is clear and has been taken in the spirit it was offered. It was not my intention to shock for shock's sake.

Large cheeseburger and fries, anyone...?

Healthy Lamb Burgers with Seasonal Salad Recipe

Wouldn't you rather have this than a fast food burger?

This is a recipe which came about all because I was unable to get a piece of lamb for roasting in the supermarket one afternoon. As I had already decided to have lamb that evening, I purchased some minced lamb and came up with the following.

For one person, you will need:

250g (1/2 lb) minced/ground lamb
1 large garlic clove (crushed or very finely chopped)
1 small red chilli pepper (deseeded and very finely chopped)
½ small red onion
Tbsp of fresh mint (roughly chopped)
½ small beaten egg
Salt/freshly ground black pepper
A little plain flour for dusting
Sunflower oil to fry with

150g (6oz) small new potatoes
Handful of lamb's lettuce
3 closed cup mushrooms (quartered down through the stem)
6 radishes (halved)
Salt/freshly ground black pepper

The first thing to do is to get the potatoes on to boil in salted water. Do not peel or chop them. They should take about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Drain them and set them aside to cool while you cook the burgers.

When the potatoes are boiling, start preparing the burgers. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. There is no implement unfortunately which substitutes adequately for the human hand during this process, so it's time to get the sleeves rolled up! Divide the resultant combination in two and form two round balls. Then simply flatten them to about 2cm (3/4 inch) in thickness. Dust with flour (which helps protect them during the initial stages of the cooking process) and cook for ten minutes each side in a frying pan or skillet on a low to medium heat.

Just before the burgers are ready, half your potatoes and mix with the remainder of the salad ingredients in a bowl and serve immediately.

TIP!!! - Chilli Peppers

When working with chillis, always wash your hands thoroughly and immediately afterwards before touching anything else, particularly your eyes or face.

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Healthy Pan Fried Salmon and New Potatoes Recipe

How to cook salmon to enjoy it at its best

People who know me may have trouble believing that I actually came up with this evening meal recipe - it has absolutely no garlic in it! Nevertheless the creation is mine, I swear - perhaps I had run out of it that night? I don't recall.

Per person, you will need:

1 salmon fillet (skin on - very important)
5 or 6 small new potatoes (whole and unpeeled)
Handful of frozen peas (or fresh from garden, if available)
2 tbsp double cream (not single - it will split)
1 tbsp of dry white wine
2 pinches of dried dill
Knob of unsalted butter
Plain flour for dusting
Salt/freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil for frying

Put your potatoes on to boil in lightly salted water. They should take about twenty to twenty-five minutes. About five minutes before the potatoes are ready, dust the skin side of the salmon only with seasoned plain flour and place skin side down in to a warm frying-pan with a little olive oil. Frozen peas generally take two and a half to three minutes. Be guided by the instructions on the pack and judge when to put them on accordingly.

Drain the potatoes, add the knob of butter and a pinch of dill. Swirl them around in the pan to ensure they are all well coated. When the salmon appears from the side to have cooked just over half way through, turn the pan off, remove it from the heat and turn the fillets over. They will finish cooking in this way while you make your sauce.

Put the white wine in to a small saucepan and bring it up to a gentle simmer. Add the cream and a pinch of dill and stir well until it comes back to a simmer. Take the salmon fillet from the pan and place it skin side up on the plate. The crisp skin should peel off easily with the aid of a knife, revealing glossy flesh underneath. Add the potatoes and the peas, then gently spoon the sauce over the fish.

TIP!!! - Fish bones

Prior to cooking the salmon, run your fingers gently but firmly along the surface of the flesh to feel for any remaining bones. If you feel any, remove them with tweezers, carefully so as not to damage the fillet. I can think of three people I know - just off the top of my head - who no longer eat fish due to a bad experience with having a bone stuck in their throat. Don't let it happen to you!

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Healthy Venison and Red Wine Casserole Recipe

A healthy recipe very "deer" to my heart!

Venison is not a meat that is always easy to come by but it is worth making that extra effort to sample this delicious dish.

Per person, you will require:

½ lb (225g) of venison haunch (diced)
4 small closed cup mushrooms (quartered downwards through the stem)
1 small onion (peeled and quartered)
1 clove of garlic (crushed or finely chopped)
1 large glass of red wine (I use Shiraz)
1 pinch of dried thyme leaves
3 or 4 fresh basil leaves (roughly torn)
Tbsp of plain flour
Salt/freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees centigrade or equivalent. Put the flour in to a large bowl and season. Add the venison and stir well to ensure all the pieces are fully coated. Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and quickly brown the meat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme and wine and bring to a gentle simmer then transfer to a casserole dish and put it in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the venison is tender.

Serve on a large plate, garnished with the basil, along with some warm, crusty bread.

What Else Might I Have for Dinner Tonight?

Blogged choices for both meat eaters and vegetarians

May 17, 2012 @ 8:55 amHot and Spicy Chilli Chicken Wings from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: How do you like your chicken wings? Sadly, a great many people will say straight from KFC or any one of a number of other fast food outlets. The reality is, however, that chicken wings are not only...
May 10, 2012 @ 5:22 pmMixed Bell Peppers and Anchovy Naan Bread Pizza Fe... from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: Naan bread pizza is something which I make quite regularly and have actually featured on this blog in the past. This particular version of naan bread pizza is different however in that not only is...
May 6, 2012 @ 5:42 pmSweet Pudding or Savoury Cheeseboard? Diamond Jubi... from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: Which do you prefer as the final course of your meal: a sweet, succulent pudding or a tantalisingly taste-rich cheeseboard? Opinions vary significantly and this was the problem that faced me when I...
May 5, 2012 @ 5:20 pmDiamond Jubilee Armed Forces' Tribute Meal (Part T... from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: This is part two of the three course meal I have devised to represent the three major branches of the Armed Forces in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Yesterday's post saw the concept in...
May 4, 2012 @ 7:11 pm3 Course Diamond Jubilee Meal Tribute to the Briti... from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: This is my second post dedicated to celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II with appropriate food and meal creations. Given that Her Majesty is Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed...
Apr 30, 2012 @ 7:31 pmPassion for Pork Meaty Mixed Grill Feast from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: Mixed grills are probably more often comprised from not only different cuts of meat but different types of meat. Beef and pork may be the most common but we could equally have chicken, lamb, turkey...
Apr 28, 2012 @ 9:05 amBig British Pasty with Northern Irish Champ (Food... from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: It can scarcely have failed to escape the attention of anyone in the United Kingdom - and many far beyond - that 2012 is the year in which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubi...
Apr 27, 2012 @ 9:23 amPan Fried Herring Fillets on Bruschetta with Summe... from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: Herring are a late spring and summer fish here in the UK and with summer (hopefully) on its way, herring are starting to appear more frequently in supermarkets and fishmongers, albeit very much the...
Feb 28, 2012 @ 11:15 amRoast Chicken Portions on Roasted Mediterranean Ve... from What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?: This roast chicken recipe on Mediterranean vegetables is a little bit different to those similar recipes featured previously on this blog in that rather than being roasted with the chicken, the veg...

New Healthy Cooking and Eating Blog Posts from Google

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This section of the site will be updated on a daily basis...

NYC proposes ban on sale of oversized sodas: Michelle Obama, the nation's first lady and a high-profile spokeswoman for healthy eating, has added a new book on growing and cooking nutritious food to her resume. Here's an easy soup recipe from "American Grown:...More >> By The Associated Press ...
What's cooking: Where there's food, there's hope: The third annual Get Wild With Wild Rice recipe contest now is open, sponsored by the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council based in St. Paul. Recipes must be an original creation and feature wild rice, along with two sponsored products, in a soup, ...
For top-selling magazine Canadian Living, trust is the essential ingredient: Article: 0531 eat vancouver main Sooner or later, home cooks learn the naked truth about cooking. When a dish is a disaster, sometimes, it's the recipe's fault. That's why Canadian Living magazine fares well. It's the top-selling Canadian magazine for ...
Rustic, complex and delicious: Modern cooking techniques are sprinkled liberally throughout the pages, and a seemingly straightforward recipe for pan-roasted grapes, turnips and grape leaves calls for pan-frying the leaves ? if you can find them outside of the Napa Valley ? not to ...

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Healthy Beef and Ale Puff Pastry Tart Recipe

Don't you enjoy an occasional beer with your meal?

This is a very simple recipe which anyone can prepare. The lengthy cooking time is unfortunate but necessary to ensure the beef is very tender, with that "melts in the mouth" texture. I have used shin of beef here, not because it is one of the cheapest cuts of meat around but because I genuinely believe it works best in this dish. Stewing steak, for example, could of course be used instead.

Per tart you will require:

6oz (180g) of shin of beef
½ pint (280ml) of brown ale
½ pint (280ml) of beef stock
2 large, closed cup mushrooms
4oz (125g) of puff pastry
Pinch of dried thyme
Beaten egg for glazing
Salt/freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
Unsalted butter for greasing baking tray

Chop the beef in to 1 inch (2½cm) cubes. Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and add the beef to brown it. This should take 2 or 3 minutes. Quarter each mushroom downwards through the stem and add to the pot along with the ale, stock, thyme and seasoning. It will appear that you have a lot of liquid in proportion to the solid ingredients but as a simmering time of approximately 2 to 2½ hours is required, this is necessary. Bring to a very gentle simmer and cover, stirring occasionally.

After about two hours, put the oven on to heat to 200 degrees centigrade or equivalent. Half the pastry dough and roll out each piece to about a 7 inch (18cm) square. I use a small tea-plate and a soup bowl for the next part but anything of the correct size can be utilised. Taking the largest "template" implement, cut a circle from each square. From one square only, cut an internal circle with the smaller implement to create a ring of pastry. Place the complete circle on a greased baking sheet and egg wash it, then place the ring carefully on top and wash that also. Pop in to the oven. It should take about 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove the pastry from the oven and put it on to a large plate. Carefully spoon in your beef and mushrooms and serve immediately.

TIP!!! - Rolling pastry

Roll out your pastry on a flat, clean, hard, floured surface. If, during the process, you find it sticking to your rolling pin, add a little more flour to it.

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Puddings

Where are they?

I have been asked recently why there are no pudding recipes on any of my food sites. There are actually two main reasons for this.

Firstly, as a great many of these dishes do tend to be high in sugar and saturated fats, healthy cooking and eating sites are probably not where one may expect to find them. Secondly, however - and much more significantly - as I neither make them nor eat them, I do not have any such recipes to share. I do not have a sweet tooth in my mouth.

It may be that at some future time I shall endeavour to come up with some healthy options in this genre but at this point in time, there are none in the pipeline.

My apologies to the chocaholics, etcetera, among you!

For Those Who Do Have a Sweet Tooth

But who may - for example - wish to cut down on their calorie intake

Why is Nutrition Important in our Diets?

Let us examine this in more detail...

Why is nutrition important?: Why is it important to put gasoline or petrol in to our cars? Why is it important to plug our TVs in to the electrical socket before switching them...,

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Tell me what YOU think!

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Naturally, I hope what I am creating here met with your approval. Please use the space below to let me know what you liked (or didn't) about this page. If you liked it, why not share the information with friends by e-mailing them a link? You may be doing them a huge favour by helping them change their eating habits for the better!

Thanks for your visit and your time - I hope to see you again very soon, both here and on my other sites.

Reply

seabreezes Feb 22, 2012 @ 6:09 pm | delete

All of your lenses are so fantastic. I don't know how you do it. Where and how do you get your beautiful photos. All the recipes and pictures make me want to start cooking -- and eating.

Reply

razeitup Feb 15, 2012 @ 7:30 pm | delete

wow never knew there were so many healthy alternatives im going to try a lot of it for my kids

Reply

MJsConsignments Feb 15, 2012 @ 1:30 pm | delete

Wow! Great lens. You put a lot of work into this. Thanks! I can't wait to try some of these recipes.

Reply

SteveMcGUK Feb 12, 2012 @ 4:59 pm | delete

excellent lens and very useful recipes.

Reply

bekat Feb 12, 2012 @ 12:25 pm | delete

Absolutely fantastic lens, as are all your others. Brilliant! And such lovely pictures too.
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by Gordon_Hamilton

Gordon Hamilton has lived in various parts of the UK, from the West of Scotland, to the East of Scotland, to West London. He is presently back living... more »

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