Hi Jon – not quite sure, I suppose two of those 150g spinach salad bags, to taste? Frozen spinach is indistinguishable from fresh in a dish like this, so I’d save the fresh for a salad or something, meself 🙂
As a rule, use twice as much fresh produce as the frozen equivalent. So if 4 blocks of frozen spinach = 200g, use 400g fresh.
But a bag of frozen spinach is about 1.50 the kilo, a bag (200g) of fresh spinach is around 2 euros.
Thanks for the recipe. I love the combination of spinach and chickpeas.
We have a balanced diet all year round, so no need to detox or diet comes january, but we could all do with more vegs as the kids seem to live on starch only. I sneak in veggies in the old reliables, like carrots in the lasagne or mushrooms very tinly chopped. Here comes the hollier than thou lasagne recipe:
courgette and mushroom lasagne (you can add some minced turkey if you must have meat, You’ll end up with a bit more sauce that will be lovely with spaghetti for another meal):
8 sheets of “no precook” lasgane
1 onion, chopped
3 courgettes, gratted
250 gr mushrooms, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
one tin chopped tomato
1 stock cube disolved in 200ml boiling water
60 gr gratted parmesan
dried herbs de Provence (oregano, thyme, marjoram)
250ml low fat milk
2 tbsp corn flour
Cook the onion in a pan with some olive oil until soft but not brown. Add the courgette and mushrooms, some salt and pepper + herbs and garlic. Cook on medium heat until the water is gone. Add some chopped parsley if you have some. Add the tomatoes and let simmer for a few minutes
Preheat the oven to 200C
Mix the corn flour with 2 tablespoons of cold mik. Heat the rest of the milk, then add the corn flour mix. Cook on low heat (keep stirring) until it thickens. add salt, pepper and nutmeg, and mix with the stock.
In an ovenproof dish (about 20x30cm), pour a third of the vegetable sauce. Add a layer of lasagne. Pour half the white sauce, a third of the vegetable, some lasagne. A final layer of vegetable sauce and the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan
Bake, covered, for 15mn. Uncover and bake for another 15mn
Lovely with a side salad. Forget the garlic bread 😉
You’re right actually Jon, I went looking for frozen spinach recently and there wasn’t any in my local Centra, local (large) Lidl or local (small, dreadful) Tesco. I had to go to a large Tesco to find some – but got a huge bag for about 1.69 which should last for ages.
Lovely recipe. Definitely need to eat a healthier diet after the December gorge-fest. Belts have become utterly superfluous at this point. I like the Pollan quote, my Mum has a similar one; “Eat less, move more.”
I made the below this weekend and froze a batch of it. It was really great. Stole it of Jamie O.
Ingredients:
– dash of oil
– 1 large onion (or to taste) peeled and roughly chopped
-2/4 cloves of garlic peeled and roughtly chopped
– a nice piece of ginger (at least the size of your thumb) peeled and roughly chopped
– 1 table spoon garam masala
– 6 parsnips peeled and roughly chopped
– 500 ml of mill
– 1 litre of veggie stock
– 1 chili chopped and seeded
Put the onions to fry until soft with the ginger, garlic and spices (10mn on medium heat). Add the parsnips and stir together so that everything is coated. Add the milk and stock. Bring to the boil and then cover and let simmer for about 30 min. Whizz together
Optionals: I don’t like it but you could add fresh chopped coriander in the end.
I added some black pepper and a few drops of sesame seed oil in my bowl.
I have lots of healthy recipes, BBC goodfood website is very good for these…
Like Jean, I go for recipes naturally light, such as tomato based instead of cream and pulses instead of rice/potatoes/pasta. If using rice or pasta try to switch to brown.
For example, chicken cacciatore, aubergine lasagne (go easy on the cheese), brown rice pilafs, even chilli con carne if you choose a lean mince or use chicken/turkey mince, one-pot roast vegs, chick peas and chicken, …….
@katia, i was very excited about that recipe till i spotted the six parnips! /me makes faces.
My plan is to start cycliing more and try to reduce portion size, though i say that every year :-/
i make a really simple bruschetta mix that i have for lunch with ryvita/crispbreads and also a baked cous cous which makes a filling dinner with enough left over for lunch the next day too!
Bruschetta:
Ingredients
6 vine tomatos chopped
Dressing:
1 clove garlic crushed
4 or 5 basil leaves roughly torn
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
black pepper
method:
mix dressing ingredients together and toss through chopped tomatoes
will keep for 2 days in the fridge
Baked cous cous
Ingredients:
8 tomatoes quartered
2 onions sliced
2 cloves garlic chopped
any other veg suitable for roasting peppers, butternut squash,sweet potato chopped into roughly the same size pieces
1 stock cube made up with 1 pint of boiling water
200g cous cous
Method:
Roast veg and garlic in a shallow dish for 20 to 30 minutes depending on the veg you are using, add cous cous and stock and bake until all the stock is absorbed.You may need to add more boiling water to ensure all the cous cous is covered.
You can also add some crumbled goats cheese or feta 5 minutes from the end for added protein.
Apologies for the “roughness” of the recipe but its a made up one 🙂
Great tips here and nice recipes, I wanted to share my falafel recipe. As a long time fan of the deep fried version, I wanted to make one that was a little lighter on the fat.
Ingredients:
1 400g tin of chickpeas- rinsed
1 small onion roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
half lemon juiced – lime also works
1tsp each of cumin and coriander powder
1 chilli chopped, or 1 tsp of chilli flakes (adjust to your own heat preferences)
1 tsp harrissa paste – can be left out but so lovely if you can find it I usually get it in Tesco
Small bunch of chopped fresh coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional – handful of toasted sunflower seeds
Method
Put all ingredients in a bowl and blitz with a hand blender or food processor until fairly smooth, if using sunflower seeds leave half un blitzed and stir in at the end for texture.
Shape into patty’s (mixture should make 6-8) lightly oil and cook on griddle pan or frying pan for a few minutes each side – they also cook nice in the oven but are a little drier.
Serve in a pitta or wrap with salad and yoghurt dressing and a little harrissa paste if you have it. YUM
Thanks katia, and thanks also to nicola and becky for sharing those recipes, they both sound delicious! Baked couscous is a great idea, and I also love falafel. I will post all these recipes so that more people see them and will credit each commenter. If you’d prefer not, just say the word.
@katia, might try carrot and sweet spud. himself refuses to eat turnip (he’s a mentalist)
@j I am adding you to the list of perverts too. No matter how you cook them they’re manky.
I have a tin of spinach – could I use a whole tin of it? or would it be gick? I find when buying spinach that baby spinach is the only way to go, I bought older spinach and it was tough – like the outer leaves of a cabbage.
I love the BBC Good food website, the food is great there.
My favourite healthy meal is very easy and delicious..
An American cup is 240ml.
Spicy Lentil Dal
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c onion, diced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 c cauliflower florets
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained, juice reserved
2 1/4 c water
1 c dried lentils
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced
3/4 tsp salt
Heat olive oil in large pan. Add onion, ginger, cumin seeds, turmeric, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes. Add cauliflower and can of tomatoes (drained, reserving liquid) to pan, and stir. Saute for 1 minute. Add tomato juice, water, and lentils. Bring to a boil, stirring well. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 35 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Remove from heat, stir in lime juice, cilantro, and salt.
Serve over basmati rice.
another really simple recipe that i found in a book yesterday morning and made for lunch….
spiced chickpeas:
1 onion sliced
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tin chickpeas drained and rinsed
3 tomatoes chopped
1 tbsp curry paste (i used pataks tikka masala)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp coriander
100g frozen peas
method:
heat oil and cook garlic and onion for 5 minutes until soft.
add curry paste and cook for another minute
add chickpeas and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes
add peas and coriander and cook for another 2 minutes
I had it in a brown pitta bread with some salad and a small bit of natural yogurt…simple and delicious!
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 11:05 am
Thanks for the recipe, sounds great. If using fresh spinach instead of frozen, do you know how much you’d use?
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 11:32 am
Hi Jon – not quite sure, I suppose two of those 150g spinach salad bags, to taste? Frozen spinach is indistinguishable from fresh in a dish like this, so I’d save the fresh for a salad or something, meself 🙂
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 12:17 pm
As a rule, use twice as much fresh produce as the frozen equivalent. So if 4 blocks of frozen spinach = 200g, use 400g fresh.
But a bag of frozen spinach is about 1.50 the kilo, a bag (200g) of fresh spinach is around 2 euros.
Thanks for the recipe. I love the combination of spinach and chickpeas.
We have a balanced diet all year round, so no need to detox or diet comes january, but we could all do with more vegs as the kids seem to live on starch only. I sneak in veggies in the old reliables, like carrots in the lasagne or mushrooms very tinly chopped. Here comes the hollier than thou lasagne recipe:
courgette and mushroom lasagne (you can add some minced turkey if you must have meat, You’ll end up with a bit more sauce that will be lovely with spaghetti for another meal):
8 sheets of “no precook” lasgane
1 onion, chopped
3 courgettes, gratted
250 gr mushrooms, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
one tin chopped tomato
1 stock cube disolved in 200ml boiling water
60 gr gratted parmesan
dried herbs de Provence (oregano, thyme, marjoram)
250ml low fat milk
2 tbsp corn flour
Cook the onion in a pan with some olive oil until soft but not brown. Add the courgette and mushrooms, some salt and pepper + herbs and garlic. Cook on medium heat until the water is gone. Add some chopped parsley if you have some. Add the tomatoes and let simmer for a few minutes
Preheat the oven to 200C
Mix the corn flour with 2 tablespoons of cold mik. Heat the rest of the milk, then add the corn flour mix. Cook on low heat (keep stirring) until it thickens. add salt, pepper and nutmeg, and mix with the stock.
In an ovenproof dish (about 20x30cm), pour a third of the vegetable sauce. Add a layer of lasagne. Pour half the white sauce, a third of the vegetable, some lasagne. A final layer of vegetable sauce and the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan
Bake, covered, for 15mn. Uncover and bake for another 15mn
Lovely with a side salad. Forget the garlic bread 😉
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Cool thanks guys. Always thought fresh spinach was easier to find than frozen in supermarkets. Am I wrong about that?
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 12:42 pm
You’re right actually Jon, I went looking for frozen spinach recently and there wasn’t any in my local Centra, local (large) Lidl or local (small, dreadful) Tesco. I had to go to a large Tesco to find some – but got a huge bag for about 1.69 which should last for ages.
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Aldi do it and Dunnes Stores have their own as well
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Lovely recipe. Definitely need to eat a healthier diet after the December gorge-fest. Belts have become utterly superfluous at this point. I like the Pollan quote, my Mum has a similar one; “Eat less, move more.”
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I made the below this weekend and froze a batch of it. It was really great. Stole it of Jamie O.
Ingredients:
– dash of oil
– 1 large onion (or to taste) peeled and roughly chopped
-2/4 cloves of garlic peeled and roughtly chopped
– a nice piece of ginger (at least the size of your thumb) peeled and roughly chopped
– 1 table spoon garam masala
– 6 parsnips peeled and roughly chopped
– 500 ml of mill
– 1 litre of veggie stock
– 1 chili chopped and seeded
Put the onions to fry until soft with the ginger, garlic and spices (10mn on medium heat). Add the parsnips and stir together so that everything is coated. Add the milk and stock. Bring to the boil and then cover and let simmer for about 30 min. Whizz together
Optionals: I don’t like it but you could add fresh chopped coriander in the end.
I added some black pepper and a few drops of sesame seed oil in my bowl.
It was a real treat!
Monday 9 January, 2012 at 7:00 pm
I have lots of healthy recipes, BBC goodfood website is very good for these…
Like Jean, I go for recipes naturally light, such as tomato based instead of cream and pulses instead of rice/potatoes/pasta. If using rice or pasta try to switch to brown.
For example, chicken cacciatore, aubergine lasagne (go easy on the cheese), brown rice pilafs, even chilli con carne if you choose a lean mince or use chicken/turkey mince, one-pot roast vegs, chick peas and chicken, …….
Tuesday 10 January, 2012 at 9:51 am
@katia, i was very excited about that recipe till i spotted the six parnips! /me makes faces.
My plan is to start cycliing more and try to reduce portion size, though i say that every year :-/
Tuesday 10 January, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Hey Triona!
Why don’t you make it with sweet potatoes/ carrot/ or even turnip?
Still cheap, tasty and cheerful ;D
Tuesday 10 January, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Ah, go on, go on, try parsnips! Cut into fat chips, toss with a little oil and a pinch of curry powder or a wee bit of honey, and roast. Delicious!
Tuesday 10 January, 2012 at 8:34 pm
Great recipes Katia and Nanazolie, thanks! We’ll publish them as posts here over the next week or two if that’s ok with you?
Tuesday 10 January, 2012 at 11:10 pm
i make a really simple bruschetta mix that i have for lunch with ryvita/crispbreads and also a baked cous cous which makes a filling dinner with enough left over for lunch the next day too!
Bruschetta:
Ingredients
6 vine tomatos chopped
Dressing:
1 clove garlic crushed
4 or 5 basil leaves roughly torn
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
black pepper
method:
mix dressing ingredients together and toss through chopped tomatoes
will keep for 2 days in the fridge
Baked cous cous
Ingredients:
8 tomatoes quartered
2 onions sliced
2 cloves garlic chopped
any other veg suitable for roasting peppers, butternut squash,sweet potato chopped into roughly the same size pieces
1 stock cube made up with 1 pint of boiling water
200g cous cous
Method:
Roast veg and garlic in a shallow dish for 20 to 30 minutes depending on the veg you are using, add cous cous and stock and bake until all the stock is absorbed.You may need to add more boiling water to ensure all the cous cous is covered.
You can also add some crumbled goats cheese or feta 5 minutes from the end for added protein.
Apologies for the “roughness” of the recipe but its a made up one 🙂
Wednesday 11 January, 2012 at 10:20 am
Great tips here and nice recipes, I wanted to share my falafel recipe. As a long time fan of the deep fried version, I wanted to make one that was a little lighter on the fat.
Ingredients:
1 400g tin of chickpeas- rinsed
1 small onion roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
half lemon juiced – lime also works
1tsp each of cumin and coriander powder
1 chilli chopped, or 1 tsp of chilli flakes (adjust to your own heat preferences)
1 tsp harrissa paste – can be left out but so lovely if you can find it I usually get it in Tesco
Small bunch of chopped fresh coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional – handful of toasted sunflower seeds
Method
Put all ingredients in a bowl and blitz with a hand blender or food processor until fairly smooth, if using sunflower seeds leave half un blitzed and stir in at the end for texture.
Shape into patty’s (mixture should make 6-8) lightly oil and cook on griddle pan or frying pan for a few minutes each side – they also cook nice in the oven but are a little drier.
Serve in a pitta or wrap with salad and yoghurt dressing and a little harrissa paste if you have it. YUM
Wednesday 11 January, 2012 at 10:37 am
@ Jean: No problem at all!
Wednesday 11 January, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Thanks katia, and thanks also to nicola and becky for sharing those recipes, they both sound delicious! Baked couscous is a great idea, and I also love falafel. I will post all these recipes so that more people see them and will credit each commenter. If you’d prefer not, just say the word.
Wednesday 11 January, 2012 at 9:27 pm
@katia, might try carrot and sweet spud. himself refuses to eat turnip (he’s a mentalist)
@j I am adding you to the list of perverts too. No matter how you cook them they’re manky.
Thursday 12 January, 2012 at 10:33 am
I have a tin of spinach – could I use a whole tin of it? or would it be gick? I find when buying spinach that baby spinach is the only way to go, I bought older spinach and it was tough – like the outer leaves of a cabbage.
I love the BBC Good food website, the food is great there.
My favourite healthy meal is very easy and delicious..
An American cup is 240ml.
Spicy Lentil Dal
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c onion, diced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 c cauliflower florets
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained, juice reserved
2 1/4 c water
1 c dried lentils
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced
3/4 tsp salt
Heat olive oil in large pan. Add onion, ginger, cumin seeds, turmeric, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes. Add cauliflower and can of tomatoes (drained, reserving liquid) to pan, and stir. Saute for 1 minute. Add tomato juice, water, and lentils. Bring to a boil, stirring well. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 35 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Remove from heat, stir in lime juice, cilantro, and salt.
Serve over basmati rice.
Thursday 12 January, 2012 at 10:34 am
btw I use green/yellow lentils in the above otherwise the red lentils are quite mush.
Monday 16 January, 2012 at 7:30 pm
another really simple recipe that i found in a book yesterday morning and made for lunch….
spiced chickpeas:
1 onion sliced
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tin chickpeas drained and rinsed
3 tomatoes chopped
1 tbsp curry paste (i used pataks tikka masala)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp coriander
100g frozen peas
method:
heat oil and cook garlic and onion for 5 minutes until soft.
add curry paste and cook for another minute
add chickpeas and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes
add peas and coriander and cook for another 2 minutes
I had it in a brown pitta bread with some salad and a small bit of natural yogurt…simple and delicious!