Healthy Banana and Blueberry Muffins - Grain Free and Refined Sugar Free

Moist and delicious blueberry muffins without the guilt of refined sugar and flour!

I do like to pick up a bargain when out shopping (you might have already noticed this), and a bunch of very ripe bananas together with a punnet of blueberries picked up at the end of the day will give you a nice batch of muffins for the week (plus enough to freeze the extras!).

On top of this, I've been playing with different ways to bake tasty treats for my children without using wheat flour, as we found out not-so-long-ago that my daughter can no longer eat it. Plus, there's no harm in anyone cutting refined sugar out of their diets! There are of course natural sugars in the fruit, and the honey, so it's not a sugar free treat, therefore they are healthy compared with conventional muffins, and still to be eaten in moderation!

However, because of the high protein content in these muffins from the eggs and nuts, they are satisfyingly filling, so just one will keep you going for a while! 

Makes approximately 30 muffins. 140 calories per muffin (extra for optional crunchy topping, calories in square brackets).

Seared Sesame Tuna with a Soy, Ginger and Lime Seaweed Salad and Daikon Noodles (includes Thermomix method)

When you eat out... and enjoy it so much you want to eat it all over again at home!

Not an exact replica of what I ate, but my interpretation of the flavours I enjoyed the most with a few extras... I do *love* eating sashimi, and the flavours of Japanese food - and I also love the additional flavour that is added by just searing the outside of fish like tuna and salmon before slicing it.

I love the umami flavours of seaweed and soy, perfectly balanced by the acidity of lime juice, and the fresh, crisp heat of radish and the nuttiness of toasted sesame seeds and oil - my seaweed salad is inspired by Kaiso salad.

And the best thing? Not only is this ridiculously tasty, and a real 'treat', it's really easy to throw together with minimal cooking AND... what's more, it's incredibly good for you too, which is just a coincidental fringe benefit! Recipe serves one, easily doubled (or quadrupled!), from 297 calories a portion.

Tom Yum Paste (includes Thermomix method)

A fragrant blend of Thai aromatics, and the perfect base for hot and sour Thai soups

No need to buy expensive jars with questionable additives and ingredients in them, you can whizz up your own healthy, fresh paste in minutes from just six ingredients and the taste is incomparable!

        

This makes enough to make soup (or a meal) for four to six, in 800ml to 1 litre of stock. It is easily doubled or tripled (just blitz for a little longer), and will keep in the fridge for a day or two, or freeze for more long term storage to preserve the flavour, as it does not contain oil or salt to preserve it.

[Calories in square brackets, average 84 calories per quantity for 4-6]

Crab and Spinach Ohitashi with Mixed Mushrooms (Thermomix Method)

A deliciously light and tasty Japanese dish, perfect as lunch, or an elegant starter, or as part of a selection of Japanese dishes.

Although it is a beautiful looking dish, it's actually incredibly simple to cook and plate up. You just add the ingredients for the broth to the bowl, with the mushrooms and spinach in the varoma and press go! If you would like to cook this without using a Thermomix, see here for my original recipe with a method on the hob. This serves two to four people (timings for both in method, and if you're counting calories, it's a mere 121 calories per person!).

            

Feel free to tweak this dish to suit you. I've converted this version to Thermomix with a dashi broth substitute I came up with for Japanese soups, as I am aware that most people won't be making their own dashi broth, and the majority of 'instant dashi' powders and concentrates you can buy contain MSG as an additive. MSG does actually occur naturally - the white residue you find on seaweed, i.e. Kombu (kelp, one of the two ingredients dashi is made from) is naturally occurring MSG but I don't think most people want to add it to their food, or include it in chemical form, although opinions are mixed. Also, I thought it might make a nice use of a light bone broth, for those who make them.

Braised Okra (Bamies) - Greek-style in Tomato Sauce (with Thermomix method)

If you like okra (aka ladies' fingers, bhindi, bamia etc.), you'll love this easy and delicious Greek dish, with its comforting rich tomato sauce...

Good hot as an accompaniment, or even as a main dish (if you're a real okra-freak - you could crumble a little feta over the top for some protein if you're having it as a meal), and also at room temperature - it would be a nice part of some mezze dishes to pick at - it's certainly very more-ish. I never used to like okra, but this is now one of my favourite ways to have it.

Serves six people as a generous side dish. 130 calories per serving. [Calories in square brackets if you're counting - for a more filling meal, you'd probably want double this]

We sometimes enjoy this as a side dish to my Lamb Kleftiko (slow roasted lamb, marinated in lemon, garlic, herbs and olive oil - click here for recipe - around 300 calories a serving) with lemony roast potatoes.

Lamb Kleftiko (Arni Kleftiko)

After marinating overnight, this tasty dish pretty much takes care of itself with a long slow roast...

Named after the 'Klephts' - Greek bandits of the countryside who would allegedly steal the odd lamb or goat and cook it in sealed pit ovens, to avoid the smoke being seen - lamb kleftiko is usually cooked slowly on the bone after marinating in lemon juice, garlic, herbs and olive oil.

Needless to say, like many classic dishes from around the world, there are many versions - everything from cooking single lamb portions or cutlets with vegetables in filo pastry to the whole leg or shoulder roasted in a clay pot, sealed as tightly as possible. If you want, you can add potatoes to this dish for the last hour of cooking to cook in the lamb juices, but I prefer to cook them separately if I'm serving it with potatoes, so that they have their own individual flavour.

Kleftiko is delicious served with flatbreads or pitta, Tzatziki and Greek salad (click on highlighted text for my recipes); or if you fancy having it as your 'roast dinner' it's delicious served with roast potatoes (I like to parboil, and then roast them with a little lemon zest and olive oil for this, or use whole baby/new potatoes, parboiled then roasted with whole, unpeeled garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs - roast for about half an hour, or as mentioned you can put them in with the lamb for the last hour), and roasted Meditteranean vegetables, or something like my braised okra in tomato sauce (bamies) which is also popular in Greece (more side dishes to come!).

This serves six - go for the heavier weight if you're serving people with big appetites! However, the quantities can also be halved for a smaller joint (see to the left of the photo above - there is a small, rolled, boneless shoulder joint). Takes 3 hours to cook, and needs to marinade overnight (or at least for several hours).

Calorie wise, (if you're counting) roast lamb shoulder is around 205 to 230 calories per 100g, if you trim the fat off your portion, plus add on another 20 to 40 calories for a drizzle of the juices/gravy. I'd say a portion of around 120g (roughly equivalent to the weight of your average chicken breast) would probably suit most people with normal appetites (especially as lamb is so rich-tasting) so you're looking at around 300 calories with juices/gravy (provided you have that weight of lamb without the fat).

Thermomix Teriyaki Chicken or Salmon Meal with Sesame-Miso Green Beans or Asparagus, Cucumber-Radish Pickles and Rice

Cooked in twenty minutes, with only a few minutes of preparation...

You choose whether you have chicken or salmon, and green beans or asparagus (I like green beans with chicken, and asparagus with salmon), and substitute as suggested to suit your diet. If you have time to marinade your chicken or salmon for half an hour first, that's great - but if not you could just steam it and toss it in the sauce at the end and it will still be tasty.

This serves two people, at 304 calories per serving for the teriyaki chicken (breast), green beans and cucumber-radish pickles, plus 76 calories if serving with 200g cauliflower rice per person (380 calories in total), or add on 175 calories for a 50g (raw weight) serving of rice (479 calories - although I find that I can only eat half of this quantity of rice with everything else on the plate, so it's 391 calories for me!). Oh and 3 calories a serving for the spring onion with the rice, if you're counting... ;)

For the teriyaki salmon, it's 409 calories for the salmon, pickles and vegetables, plus the rice as above.

Speedy Salmon, Asparagus and Cherry Tomato Sautée, with Lemon and Basil

Something quick, tasty, and packed with flavour, for an easy, healthy weeknight meal

Italian flavours give a new lease of life to salmon and asparagus.

A quick chop, heat up the pan and you're ready to go!

Serves two, 322 calories per serving

Thai Green Chicken Curry (Gaeng Khieo Wan Gai) - with FIVE delicious variations!

There really is just nothing quite like a good Thai Green Curry...

And I absolutely love Thai green chicken curry - so much so, that I have included no less than five variations of it, a couple of which have a special place in my heart! (You may not be surprised to learn that I have more Thai green curry recipes which don't involve chicken...they will also be posted!)

Green curry is the most classic of all Thai curries. It generally thinner, hotter and more pungent than red curries. My recipe for making your own green curry paste is here (and is what is used for the purposes of calorie counting below). You could however buy a ready made curry paste – if you do, I would suggest buying a decent quality one such as “Thai Taste” brand, (which is available from oriental supermarkets and Ocado, Sainsbury’s etc. in the UK) and following the instructions on the packaging (generally 1 tbsp per serving).

Unlike some curries, this is actually incredibly easy to make – you just fry the curry paste, add the coconut milk and sauce ingredients, then drop in the chicken (and vegetables) for a few minutes until cooked. That’s pretty much it, so do have a go – you can’t go far wrong!

From 348 calories per serving between two (see variation 1, which is pictured), or from 178 calories per serving between four as part of a meal.

Thai Green Curry Paste (Nam Phrik Gaeng Khieo Wan)

One of the foundations of Thai curries, a good green curry paste is essential and not at all difficult to make.

This is the base for the most classic of all Thai curries, used in curries with coconut milk/cream, garnished with kaffir lime leaves, chillies and Thai sweet/holy basil. Green curries are generally thinner, hotter and more pungent than red curries.

Makes approximately 160g in total (including a tbsp water) therefore 10 servings of 16g each (approximately one tbsp) at 14 calories per serving.

Quick Turkish-Marinated Griddled Chicken Breasts

For when you can't be bothered with lighting the barbecue, or marinating things for several hours then threading them on skewers, but still want the flavour of traditional chicken shish kebabs...

This is a great 'cheat', and it takes minutes to make the marinade and prepare the chicken - then you can leave it to sit while you prepare your salad and any sides you fancy with it. 

You could even salt a handful of grated cucumber while your chicken is marinating it, then squeeze and mix with Greek yoghurt for a dip just before you cook the chicken (or make full on cacik / tzatziki), along with my speedy shredded cabbage, carrot and cumin salad (like a cross betweeen a salad and a slaw, with Turkish flavours which takes about 5 minutes to prepare and you can have a generous helping about 4 times bigger than what you can see on the plate above for only 71 calories! Click here for the recipe) and a mixed side salad. Also shown with my Turkish red cabbage salad and easy Turkish rice.

Serves two, 153 calories per serving.

Turkish (Lamb) Adana Kebabs / Kofta Kebabs - the Really Mouth-Watering Recipe... (AKA How to be a Kebab King/Queen!)

It may seem like I enthuse a lot over some of my recipes, but I only do that when I think they're really, really good and I've spent time perfecting them!

And this one, I tried making with different levels of herbs and spices, then different ratios of lamb and beef, and different fat proportions, until the combination of the spices, and the flavour and succulence of the meats just sang. Even thinking about how juicy and tasty these kebabs are, straight off a hot smoky barbecue makes my mouth water!

For me, there has to be lamb present as a majority. And I'm afraid it can't be lean, or extra lean lamb. If you're able to mince your own, or go to the butcher to buy your mince, then make sure it's from shoulder of lamb. The fat content is pivotal in getting those kebabs all juicy and sizzling and tasty ('Fat is flavour' as someone once said).

I've tried it with beef mince only, and for me, it just doesn't work. (Because the whole 'lamb' flavour is missing, obvs). Making it with lean or extra lean beef alone just yields a really dry result, I'm afraid. And I'm spoilt by having tasted really good Turkish Adana kebabs and being fortunate enough to have a really good Turkish restaurant within 20 minutes drive. Who cook their kebabs on a proper mangal, on top of burning coals. Mmmmm.

Anyway, I digress. I found my perfect balance of lamb vs. beef, and rather than using my local butcher, I used something from a supermarket, so that you can recreate exactly what I cooked and I know it will be good, rather than me getting all the good stuff, then you going down to [insert name of supermarket] and feeling like you got a duff deal. If you can cook this on the barbecue, you will be achieving near-as-damnit-perfection from a domestic point of view. So go on, give it a go... it's delicious served on top of my easy Turkish rice, with some Cacik as a dip (think Tzatziki) and a simple Vegetable Kebab as a must to compliment it, Turkish red cabbage salad, maybe a warm flatbread to hold it with and a side salad. And you can make them the day before, along with maybe my Turkish chicken shish kebabs (similarly perfected flavour-wise, of course!), and invite your best, most appreciative friends over to enjoy them with!

Oh, and it would be rather rude not to make them some of your own hummus, perfected with my recipe and tips, along with a selection of spiced pitta crisps to serve them with.

If you fancy making up a whole Turkish feast, with a shopping list and preparation plan then have a look here!

So, here you are... lamb-on-a-skewer perfection! And as for Adana/Kofta - if you want to impress your friends by telling them which of the two they're eating, use wide metal skewers, and shape the lamb around them in one length per skewer and call them Adana kebabs (and you could get away with a little more spiciness). Or if you want to call them Kofta kebabs, roll the lamb into walnut-sized balls and slide them onto a skewer. Me? I find it easiest to use soaked wooden skewers as the meat seems to stick better, and squidge the mince around them in a flatt-ish sausage shape and to hell with it - it tastes good any which way! Oh, and if you Google kofta kebabs (not the right spelling, but I've had to use it too, for continuity!), you'll see a lot of the well-known chefs get it wrong and just wrap it around the skewer in a sausage too... ;)

Makes 12 skewers, at 133 calories per skewer (two skewers per serving). Serves six as the protein part of the dish on its own, or more with other kebabs (e.g. alongside my chicken shish kebabs). [Calories in square brackets]

Turkish Chicken Shish Kebabs (Şiş Kebabs)

Flavours inspired by my favourite local(ish) Turkish restaurant, The Mangal.

Delicious, moist chicken kebabs with a really tasty, slightly spicy marinade. Perfect cooked on the BBQ to capture that authentic smoky taste, or cook indoors on a ridged griddle to capture the charred flavour.

Serve alongside my Spicy Lamb Adana Kebabs (just like kofte kebabs in flavour, but shaped around the skewer rather than rolled into balls), with a Vegetable Kebab, Easy Turkish Rice, Red Cabbage Salad and some Cacik (the Turkish version of Tzatziki) for a full on Turkish meal with a side salad and flat breads. And you can make most of it the day before, ready to go if you feel like inviting friends over for a BBQ!

Serves four (or eight, if serving alongside the lamb Adana kebabs), 76 calories per skewer if made from chicken breasts, 105 calories with chicken thighs. Two skewers per serving. [Calories in square brackets, if you're counting].

If you fancy putting together a nice Turkish feast, with a shopping list and preparation plan, then have a look here!

Vegetable Kebabs with Za'atar

Less of a standalone recipe, more of a suggested traditional accompaniment to my Turkish chicken shish kebabs and spicy minced lamb kebabs.

Whenever we eat at Turkish restaurants and order chicken shish kebabs (Pilic shish, as they're called in the local-ish, Şiş tavuk or Shish taouk to the rest of the world), or spicy minced lamb kebabs (Adana kebabs) they always serve them with skewers of onions, tomatoes and Turkish green peppers roasted over the grill, which make a delicious side.

So of course, when I make the meat kebabs myself, I like to serve them with little vegetable kebabs also. Me, being me, I have to meddle with them slightly, by adding a sprinkle of za'ater - a condiment made from dried herbs, sesame seeds and frequently salt, sometimes with sumac in it (coeliacs beware - sometimes this contains wheat / gluten, so check the ingredients) - and a cheeky pickled pepper for a kick sometimes, too! If you wanted to make these into something more substantial as part of a vegetarian meal, you could add cubes of halloumi cheese to them, and other vegetables such as thick courgette slices and mushrooms.

Serves four, 45 calories per serving. [Calories in square brackets, if you're counting]

If you fancy putting together a nice Turkish feast, with a shopping list and preparation plan, then have a look here!

Thai-Spiced Butternut Squash Soup (includes Thermomix instructions)

A nice light soup full of Thai flavours, perfect as a light starter to a meal or a tasty lunchtime snack.

This makes a smooth, light soup - if you want a thicker soup, then just halve the amount of stock, and add extra at the end to reach your desired consistency.

The quantities as below will yield you approximately 1.8 litres. For me, two small ladle-fulls constitutes a portion of soup, so this gives me ten portions at 62 calories each, but divide yours up as you feel fit (especially if you've made a thicker soup, and want, say, six large bowls of it at 103 calories each). The total calorie count for the whole batch is 617 calories.

Chicken in a Smoky Chipotle Chilli and Tomato Sauce

Spice up chicken breasts with a sauce redolent of Mexican flavours in this easy oven-baked dish.

Delicious served with my Mexican 'Green Rice' (which has a cauliflower rice option too to cut down the calories and carbs), and Cheat's Mexican 'Pot' Beans with a dollop of sour cream (or Greek yoghurt if you're counting the calories) and a quick fresh Tomato Salsa (as pictured).

Do something a little bit different for dinner, and easily tailor the heat to suit your tastes.

Serves four, 216 calories per serving.

Easy Mexican 'Green Rice' - Arroz Verde (with cauliflower rice substitution method)

Give your rice a bit of colour and flavour for a change! Also good the next day as a cold dish.

Rice cooked the Mexican way in chicken stock, flavoured with garlic, coriander, Jalapeno chilli and a squeeze of lime - the next day, add extra lime juice, fresh coriander and a slug of olive oil, and serve cold as a delicious rice salad.

Delicious served with my Chicken in Chipotle sauce and Frijoles di Olla (Mexican beans), or cold the next day with my Yucatecan-Spiced Chicken Skewers and salad.

Serves four to six as a side dish (I eat about an eighth of this quantity!), 191 calories per serving for six servings (scale up or down as appropriate, it's 144 calories for an eighth etc. ). [Calories in square brackets]

If making with cauliflower rice (see Variations below), 78 calories per serving between six; 117 calories per serving if served between four, .

Fresh Mexican Salsa (Salsa Mexicana Cruda)

Tasty, versatile and can be prepared in a matter of minutes.

Great with all kinds of Mexican food, especially as a topping for Mexican style beans with some sour cream, in wraps, or as a side dish for spicy meat and fish dishes, like my Yucatecan-Spiced Chicken Skewers.

I prefer to chop my tomatoes by hand, but like to throw all of the other ingredients into the food processor for a quick blitz to save on time, then just stir everything together and garnish with a few extra coriander leaves.

Serves four, 17 calories per serving.

Yucatecan-Spiced Chicken Skewers (with Thermomix method)

Why not try some Mexican flavours on the BBQ for a change?

Warm spices, citrus and toasted oregano give these a real depth of flavour and they're delicious served with rice (like my easy Mexican 'green' rice - with a method for making with cauliflower rice to cut the carbs and calories if you prefer) or in a wrap, with my quick and easy Mexican-style beans, shredded lettuce or Napa cabbage (Chinese leaf/lettuce), a little sour cream, fresh Mexican Tomato Salsa and maybe some Yucatecan pickled red onions, or even just with a nice big salad if you're being saintly - although tomatoes, avocados, red onions and corn would be great additions, with a squeeze of lime and some fresh coriander... do as much or as little as you fancy!

This quantity will serve eight, but it's easily halved - or you could make it up, marinade it and then freeze portions for a tasty treat another time! Or you could just make up the spice blend, then use half of that along with the rest of the other ingredients halved.

Calories per serving - 151 if using chicken breasts, 208 if using thighs. [Calories in square brackets]

Cooking with alcohol, alcohol substitutions, and reduction of alcohol content over cooking time

I had to put this somewhere so I don't lose it!

I find this helpful when trying to calculate calories, and suggest substitutions, so I hope it is of use to others as a vague guide too. I apologise in advance for any bad layout etc. this is almost more for my own reference but I know it might be useful to other people too, and I've included links to relevant sources of information.