Lentil-bol

I love lentils. And I really don't cook with them often enough. And I don't know why. They are easy to cook, cheap, full of fibre and other stuff nutritionists love, low in calories, and really, really yummy!

When I was a kid, mum used to always add lentils to her spag bol to add extra "goodness" and to make the mince go further. I say "goodness" because I really wasn't a lentil lover until probably my early 20s. However I did love her spag bol. Despite years of trying I've never been able to replicate the flavour. Maybe one day...

Anyway, this dish is my version of lentil-bol. Sans mince as I'm trying to cut down the amount of meat I eat.

Lentil-bol. All it needed was a glass of red!

Ingredients

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
• 1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
• 150g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 x 400g can of lentils, drained and rinsed
• 2 x 400g cans of diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water or red wine
• dash of tabasco
• teaspoon or 2 of herbs/spices - I used chipotle spice, but you could use Italian herbs, paprika, cumin or whatever takes your fancy
• pasta {I like spaghetti or linguine or fettucine}
• parmesan cheese for serving

What you do

• Heat the oil in a medium-large frypan on medium heat
• Add the onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes until pale {stir so it doesn't catch}
• Add the red pepper and mushroom and stir through for 2 minutes
• Add the lentils, tomatoes, water/red wine, tabasco and herbs and spices, stir to combine
• Lower the heat, cover the frypan and let the mixture simmer for 30-45 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes or so
• About 10-15 minutes before you want to eat, cook the pasta according to directions. 
• Serve up and sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top. 

This is even better a day or two after it's been made {I love it for lunch too}. It would be PERFECT with a glass of red, but as I'm trying to have 5 alcohol free days a week while I'm doing my 12 week body transformation challenge, I refrained. Yes, I know. Very unlike me.

This serves 4, and if you are doing the 12wbt, it's about 160 calories per serve - without the wine, pasta or parmesan {I know, I know, all the good stuff *sigh*}. Also very yummy served over a baked potato or sweet potato. 

What is your favourite way of eating lentils? 

Eating healthy - Thai beef salad

So I know that it's nearly winter, and that winter is really not the time for salad, but I'm trying to be healthy and lose weight. So salads it is! And with the glorious weather we have been having in Brisbane lately, you would never know that next week marks the official start of winter. {I'm discounting that it's currently bucketing down outside, and mentally transporting myself back to yesterday when I wore shorts and a tank top. And made this salad.}

Thai beef salad - yummo!

So, the health kick. I've decided that since my hubby has recently lost a heap of weight and looks great, that I need to get into gear and play catch up. And sadly my hips seem to have found a few at least 2-3 of the kilos he lost {don't you just HATE that?}. Like many, I have signed up to do the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation {#12wbt if you are on twitter}.

Today is day 1. And I'm determined to get off to a good start! Despite just accepting an invitation to attend the Brisbane Cheese Awards announcement breakfast {if you love cheese then pop along to the People's Day on Sunday 5 June at Portside - it will be a great day! With a lot of cheese}.

But back to my salad.

It's sooo easy and so full of flavour.

What you need:
400g beef fillet
salt and pepper
150g Vermicilli bean thread noodles (the Asian variety - I normally use the Pandaroo brand)
1 cucumber, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 large red capsicum, deseeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced finely
1 bunch of fresh coriander, chopped (stalks and leaves only)
1 bunch of fresh Thai basil, remove the leaves and tear them into smaller pieces


For the sauce
juice of 1-2 limes (start with 1, add extra to taste)
1 tbs fish sauce
1/2 tbs palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 long red chilli chopped finely

What you do:

• Heat the oven to 180c. 
• Season the beef on a baking tray with salt and pepper. 
• Roast the beef for about 20 minutes so it is still pink (I usually use a larger piece of beef so there are leftovers, but you will need to adjust the cooking time accordingly).
• Remove the beef from the oven once it's cooked to your liking (rare, medium, well done) and leave it to rest for 15 minutes while you make the salad and the sauce.
• Once the beef has rested, slice it thinly
• To make the sauce - stir all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Let it sit for 15 minutes at least for the flavours to develop. Add extra lime, sugar or fish sauce as necessary to taste. 
• Cook the bean thread noodles according to the directions on the packet (it takes about 2 minutes in a pot of boiling water). Drain and leave to cool
• To make the salad, place all ingredients into a large bowl and gently toss together. 
• To assemble - place the bean thread noodles on the bottom of 4 plates,  add the salad, add the beef, spoon over the dressing. 

This is also gorgeous as leftovers for lunch the next day. 

What's your favourite healthy meal? 

Bone suckin' good!

OMG this stuff is AMAZING. A massive thanks to Black Pearl Epicure who invited me to trial a new product (new to them that is!) and if I liked it, would I blog it. LIKE it - I LOVE it!

IT is an American product called Bone Suckin' Sauce. Now, I hear what you are saying. It's American. It will be full of ghastly high fructose corn syrup {a scourge of waaaay too many foods}. Well, no, it's not! I know! Quel surprise! {oops wrong country. Really meant to say "holy smokes Batman!"}.

AND there are no preservatives and it is gluten free. Win all around.

There are loads of ways you could use this sauce - I kept it simple, and just used it to marinate some chicken drumsticks, so I could get the full and unadulterated flavour. Sooo simple. The 10yo stepson {readers will be aware of his pickiness when it comes to so many foods} LOVED it. And has requested it again and again.

So, what I did was this:

I scored {actually, I forgot, but you should score} the chicken drumsticks, placed them in a bowl, then added about 1/3 jar of the sauce. Rub the sauce over the chicken pieces making sure the sauce gets into the scored bits.

Cover the bowl and pop it into the fridge for 3-4 hours {I didn't actually do this bit either - it was Friday night, we were hungry, it was getting late, I was a bit disorganised - we've all been there!}.

Preheat your oven to 180c, then pop the chicken pieces onto a baking tray. Bake in the oven for about 45-60 minutes, turning the drumsticks every 15 minutes or so.

You can see here there are only 7 drumsticks. That was perhaps my biggest mistake with this dish. I should have cooked 70. Or at least 17. They were bone suckin'ly good.

I served them with roast potato pieces and a simple salad. Delicious.

There is also a hot version of the Bone Suckin' Sauce. We haven't tried that yet - will do so soon. I've also made this using chicken thigh fillets that I cooked on the BBQ instead of in the oven. They took about 15 minutes on the BBQ.