Slimming World Asparagus and Red Pepper Muffins

Now that the weather is getting nicer our thoughts are turning to al fresco eating. Whether it's a picnic in the park with your friends, high tea at the garden table with the family or even just taking your packed lunch outside the office to eat on a bench, you are going to need recipes which are easy to

throw together in a hurry, can be packed up and eaten cold - preferably without the need for cutlery!

These asparagus and red pepper 'muffins' are low calorie and fat free; they aren't muffins in the usual sense as there is no cake - instead the filling is made from egg. The recipe comes from Slimming World so it is great for anyone following a heathy eating plan. The colours are really vibrant which is another reason I like this recipe.

To make a dozen, you need:

Spray oil such as Fry Light

200g asparagus tips

1 jar roasted red peppers in brine, drained and chopped

6 eggs

2 cloves garlic, crushed

small handful fresh chopped herbs eg tarragon, parsley

salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for two minutes then chop



Mix in a bowl with the chopped red pepper

Line a muffin tray with paper cupcake cases and spray the inside of each one with Fry Light. Place a spoonful of the asparagus and red pepper mixture into each one.

Beat the eggs in a bowl with the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. Pour into each muffin case, being careful not to fill too much. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until risen.

Allow to cool before removing from the tin

These can be served warm or cold; just peel off the paper cases and enjoy.

These will keep for a few days in the fridge in a sealed container so you can make them at the weekend to take into work or make them a day or two before your picnic.

I'm sending this to Eat Your Greens, hosted by Shaheen at Allotment2Kitchen, as it contains a green vegetable.

These are also a good way to get some extra veg into your diet so I am sending this recipe to the Extra Veg challenge hosted this month by Jo's Kitchen on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy.

The theme for this month's Treat Petite is hello spring, and I think these muffins are perfect for spring. The challenge is hosted by Stuart at Cakeyboi and Kat at the Baking Explorer.

Asparagus is now in season so I'm also sending this to Simple and In Season, hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours on behalf of Ren Behan.

Sweet Potato and Halloumi Burger

Who doesn't love a good burger? But burgers don't have to be beef or even chicken - as my Burger recipe book with over 100 recipes shows. I made these when my boyfriend's mum came to dinner just before Christmas; she is vegetarian and I wanted to make something that would be different from the food we would be eating over Christmas. My mum and I - who are not vegetarians - really enjoyed these burgers too, while my boyfriend and dad had homemade beef burgers.

These burgers are soft -a little like fishcakes in texture - but as long as you are not expecting a firm burger like a beef burger, these are great.

To make three, you need:
200g sweet potatoes
100g broccoli
1 clove garlic, crushed
half a red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
100g halloumi cheese, grated
1 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
burger buns

 

Cook the sweet potato in a pan of salted water until tender, then add the broccoli for the last few minutes and cook until tender. Drain and mash both together.

Add the garlic, chilli, cheese and season with salt and pepper. Use your hands to shape the mixture into patties, coat in the flour, and put on a plate in the fridge for about an hour to firm up.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the burgers on both sides and serve in bread rolls.

These were tasty, low in fat and a good way to get some extra vegetables into your meals! In fact it Is so virtuous compared to a regular burger that I am sending this to the Spice Trail challenge as the theme this month is 'temple food'. The challenge is hosted by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash.

I'm also sending this to Eat Your Greens, hosted by Shaheen at Allotment 2 Kitchen. The green vegetable in this is broccoli.

Shaheen also runs the Vegetable Palette challenge and this month the theme is any veg that you love - and I love broccoli and sweet potato!

Extra Veg, a challenge aimed at getting us to eat an extra portion of veg, is hosted by Kerry Cooks this month, on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy.

Vegan Christmas Dinner: Filo Vegetable Parcel

 

When I had my school friends over for a pre-Christmas dinner I made this turkey wellington; one of my friends is vegan so I made an alternative (I knew there were people present who wouldn't like any kind of vegan dish so there was no one-dish-suits-all option!). Of course, this is something that could be - and was - enjoyed by meat eaters as well. It's a filo pastry parcel containing roasted vegetables and would be a good option for a vegan or vegetarian Christmas dinner, or any regular dinner time really!

 

I based it on this recipe from the Food Network for a roasted vegetable strudel with red pepper coulis, but I didn't make the coulis due to lack of time and too many other things to cook at the same time, so instead served this with an orange sauce which was a lot quicker to make - some orange juice, cornflour and a little sweetener. I also forgot to add the tomatoes that were supposed to into the pastry parcel, as you roast the other veg first and add the tomatoes at the end - again I blame too much going on!

 

First roast a selection of vegetables - wintery ones are particularly good, though I included asparagus as that was in the recipe and I felt it added a little luxury, even though it isn't strictly asparagus season. First I roasted some sliced butternut squash, as I knew this would take longest, then added some carrot batons to the pan. In a second small pan I roasted sliced courgette, mushroom and asparagus spears. I roasted the veg in a little oil so the filling of the pastry wouldn't be dry.

 Don't forget to season the veg.

 

After roasting the veg, allow to cool. It's at this point you are supposed to add the tomatoes but I forgot! Place some sheets of filo pastry (I used the ready-made kind) on top of each other and spoon on a selection of the vegetables, then roll up the pastry like a strudel. I made two of these as you can see below.

Preheat the oven if necessary (if you roasted the veg in advance for instance). Bake the pastry parcels in the oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Here you can see where I have cut the pastry in half. Each one of these parcels would serve two if there are side dishes to accompany, otherwise you could serve a whole one per person.

Here's a close-up of the filling. Have you made anything like this before, and how did it turn out?

I'm sending this to the Vegetable Palette challenge, hosted by Shaheen at Allotment 2 Kitchen, as the theme this month is festive veg.

Shaheen is also running the Eat Your Greens challenge, asking for entries featuring any green veg, so I am sending this to her for that challenge as well.

Vegetarian Winter Crumble

Recently my parents came to stay for the first time since I moved house and we invited my boyfriend's mum over for dinner for the first time as well. She's vegetarian so I turned to a book called the Creative Vegetarian I picked up recently in a charity shop, in the hope that it would have some more interesting recipes. It's not illustrated so it's hard sometimes to imagine what a particular dish might be like, but this one caught my attention - it's basically a root vegetable pie, but instead of a pastry or mashed potato topping, it has crumble - like you'd have on an apple crumble, but savoury. It turned out to be really nice; the root vegetables are perfect for this time of year. It was filling and the cider sauce had a lovely flavour.

I did make one significant change from the recipe, as it called for a tin of black eyed beans which I just didn't think went with the English root vegetables, so I left it out. I also adjusted the quantities for the sauce as it didn't seem quite right. Finally, the last stage of the recipe after you have done the root veg and made the sauce - before you spoon over the topping - is to add some sliced tomatoes and I completely forgot! But I don't think the recipe needs them at all (you may disagree), so this is what I did.

To serve 4-6, you need:
90g butter or marg
120g flour
60g rolled oats
120g vegetarian cheese, grated
280ml cider
175ml vegetable stock
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornflour
2 parsnips
2 carrots
1 head broccoli
1/2 head cauliflower
1 stick celery

Preheat the oven to 175C. Make the topping by rubbing the butter into the flour to make breadcrumbs then mix in the oats and the cheese. Put to one side.

Peel and slice the parsnips and carrots, place in a pan of slightly salted water and bring to the boil. Add the broccoli, cauliflower and celery and parboil until slightly softened but not fully cooked.

In another pan bring the cider and stock to simmering point and add the sugar. Mix the cornflour with a little water and stir into the pan; keep stirring the liquid as it simmers until it has thickened. Remove from the heat.

Spoon the vegetables into a large casserole dish and pour over the liquid. Spoon the crumble topping evenly over the top and place in the oven for half an hour until the topping is crisp.

I served this with potato wedges but really it's a one-pot meal in itself, which you can prepare in advance and finish off in the oven later.  It's great for a winter's day!

I'm sending this to the Vegetable Palette challenge, hosted by Shaheen at Allotment2Kitchen, as the chosen colour this month is white vegetables and parsnips and cauliflowers are white.

She is also hosting the Eat Your Greens challenge which asks for recipes using green veg which this also includes.

Posh Cheese on Toast

 

 Cheese on toast is a quick and easy snack but sometimes seems a little bit plain. I found a recipe online which inspired what I am calling 'posh' cheese on toast.

To serve one person as a substantial lunch, you need two pieces of bread; pop them in the toaster just before the cheese mixture is ready.

Thinly slice half a leek and sweat it in some butter.

Add 1 tbsp plain flour and stir in then pour in about 150ml milk and stir until blended. Bring to the boil then simmer until the mixture has started to thicken. Add a handful of grated cheddar and half a teaspoon of English mustard powder.

When the mixture has thickened, add a few lumps of soft goat's cheese and stir in until melted.

Pile the cheese mixture onto the toast and serve.

I really liked the texture of having almost a very thick sauce on my toast and the taste was excellent.

I'm sending this to Chris at Cooking Around the World who has an innovative blog challenge based on the World Cup. England are playing tonight - literally right now, I've got one eye on the TV and one eye on my laptop (OK, I'm not much of a football fan)! I guess this recipe is arguably more of a Welsh rarebit but it uses English mustard and to me, cheese on toast reminds me very much of my childhood in Wiltshire.

I'm also sending this to Eat Your Greens, a new blog challenge hosted by Shaheen at Allotment2Kitchen. This month you can send in anything using a green veg.

Extra Veg, hosted by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours, is a good challenge for me to enter with this cheese on toast as well, as it sneaks in a portion of veg which you barely notice, it's so yummy!