Food!

On this page I will try to share some of my recipes and quick prep meals. Obviously good nutrition should go hand in hand with good training, but like most people I am no Saint. My biggest downfall is always dinner because I do most of my training afterwork, so I not home until after 7pm most nights. Therefore I have tried to gather together a collection of meals that are quick, easy and healthy. Bear in mind that I try to make dinner my smallest meal of the day, therefore the serves are usually pretty small, just increase the serving if it is not enough for you. I also cook very much by instinct, I pretty much only follow a recipe once so, you know, let go and go with the flow, I am sure it will turn out tasty enough.

Enjoy

Vegetable Tagine
1 medium carrot (cut into batons)
1 medium potato (cut into wedges)
1 small zucchini (sliced)
half cup chopped sweet potato
1 baby eggplant (sliced, no need to salt the baby ones)
1 large tomato (chopped, seeds removed)
1 medium brown onion (cut into wedges)
half tin chickpeas (the other half can be frozen)
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 sachet tomato paste (or 2 tablespoons)
500ml veg stock
2 tablespoons commercial Moroccan spice mix (I use “Tagine Mix” by the Essential Ingredient from the David Jones food hall) but just use what ever takes your fancy
quarter of a preserved lemon (again, I buy mine from the David Jones food hall. If you haven’t used this before you scoop out the flesh and just use the rind)

To garnish
Natural Yoghurt
Toasted slivers of almond
Harissa Paste (you guessed it, David Jones food hall, I use Ruben Solomons “Hellish Relish”)
Fresh Coriander

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.

Put a casserole dish on the stove top on low, add olive oil (about a quarter of a cup, I know it seems like alot but there are heaps of veg and you need it to give the dish depth, at the end of the day it is still a damn healthy meal) and slowly cook the onion until it is golden and soft.

Add the spice mix and cook for a further minute, add the tomato paste and stir through for a minute.

Add the remaining Vegetables and stir through until they are covered in the spices then add the vegetable stock and chopped preserved lemon. The stock should just cover the vegetables, if this doesn’t happen top up with some water. Put the lid on and bring to a simmer, once this has happened put the dish (lid still on) in the oven for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes stir through, check that there is still enough stock that the dish isn’t drying out and add the chick peas and pinenuts. Cook for a further 15 minutes with the lid on the a final 5 minutes with the lid off. The dish should have thickened slightly but still have plenty of liquid at the end.

I serve mine with cous cous as the both the chickpeas and cous cous have heaps of protein, however if you prefer serve with rice (Tip: if you cook a big batch of rice you can save the rest for Nasi Goreing the next day)

Even though it is quick to prepare the cooking time takes about an hour so it is generally a weekend dish for me, that’s why I go to the bother of adding all the garnish to make it a bit special. The slivered almonds can be toasted in a dry pan, it only takes a few minutes. Add a big dollop of yoghurt on top of the vegetables (more protein) a little bit of Harissa on top of the yoghurt (go easy, it is hot!) and then sprinkle the almonds and fresh coriander.

This is fantastic in the winter, if you have a big casserole dish double the ingredients and it tastes even better after sitting for a day. You could probably speed things up and cook it in a pressure cooker, but I don’t have one so can’t tell you how it’s done.

Warm Brown Rice Salad
Sound hideous, tastes fantastic

Serves 2
1 packet Smart Rice brand Brown Rice (or if you are cooking Brown Rice from scratch, please get a life, these are supposed to be quick meals, OK, you will need 250 grams cooked Brown Rice if you insist on cooking it.)
About 15 semi dried tomatoes chopped
About 15 kalamata olives chopped
2 tablespoon currants
2 tablespoons pinenuts
Juice and rind of one lemon
Chopped parsley to garnish

Optional extras - steamed broccoli (actually I always add this coz I love it), tinned tuna or salmon, grilled chicken (well, not for me but some people may want to treat this as a side dish)

Spray a fry pine with olive oil, ensure the stove is on a medium heat, you don’t want it too hot because this dish does not really need to cook. Lightly toast the pine nuts, in the meantime microwave the Smart Rice for 2 minutes. When pine nuts are toasted add tomatoes, olives, currants and broccoli (if using) and warm for about 2 minutes then add rice, lemon juice and rind and warm for a further 2 minutes. Add some ground pepper and the chopped parsley and serve, adding any of the extra proteins you might be using.

Now this serves 2 in my house as a main but as I stated I eat a light dinner. Some people might want to use this as a side dish.

Quesadillas
Serves 2
Not at all traditional but I could not think of a better name for this meal, other than tortilla turnovers. This dish works best if you have a contact grill, but you can use a non-stick frypan. This dish is full of non animal protein and carbohydrates. You could probably use an animal protein in place of the beans/rice, but you will have to use your imagination, I can’t advise you there.

4 Tortillas
½ tin of refried beans (I like the one with chilli in it)*
¼ packet “Smart Rice” brown rice
1 tomato, chopped
1 large mushroom, sliced
A little low fat cheese, grated

1 large ripe avocado
lemon or lime juice
salt and pepper
Tabasco Sauce (optional, I like it)

1 Jar Salsa

Mix the refried beans with the brown rice until well combined. Spread the bean/rice mix on one half of the tortilla, top with sliced mushrooms, chopped tomato and just a little bit of the grated cheese (go easy, this is supposed to be low fat remember).

Fold the tortilla in half and cook in the contact grill (should be able to fit 2 in) or in the fry pan, squashing gently with a spatula.

To make the Guacamole mash the avocado and season with lemon or lime juice, salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce if using.

Serve the Quesadillas with Guacamole, Salsa and some salad greens (Rocket is my favourite)

*Warning to the uninitiated, refried beans bear a disturbing resemblance to dog food (except in smell thankfully), but they are low fat, full of protein and quite tasty so give them a go.

Flukey Dhal
So named because I was following a recipe to make soup but was missing the chopped tomatoes so I used tomato paste instead, also I wasn’t paying much attention and left it on the stove for too long. The end result was pretty damn tasty and another vego dish packed with protein and carbohydrates.

1 cup of red lentils
1 small brown onion
4 whole cloves
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground garam masala
2 cloves of garlic
Dried chilli flakes to taste
2 table spoons of tomato paste (that is one of those little packets)
1 Litre Vegetable stock
1 carrot chopped fairly roughly or 1 cup of chopped sweet potato (or a bit of both)

Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear. Roast the seeds and whole spices in a dry frypan until the seeds start to pop, then grind them with a mortar and pestle and add the chilli and garam masala. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle go to the shop and buy one, Kidding, you can use ground spices and the mustard seeds are fine whole, just add them to the onion and garlic.

Saute the onion and garlic with a little olive oil until the onion is soft, add the spices and cook for another 2 minutes, add tomato paste and cook for another minute. Add the lentils, vegetable stock and carrots/sweet potato. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer covered for about an hour and a half, or until the lentils are completely broken down and the consistency is thicker than soup. Check occasionally to make sure Dhal isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pot

Serving suggestions - Pour over toast (trust me, this is actually very good) or with rice. Tastes even better for lunch the next day and freezes well too.

Pumpkin, Chickpea and Chili Soup
500gm pumpkin of your choice (roughly chopped)
1 brown onion (diced)
1 large red chili (seeds removed and finely chopped, or seeds in if you like it extra hot)
500ml Vegetable Stock
425gm tin Chickpeas
425gm tin chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon middle eastern spice mix (I use McCormacks)
Optional - 1/4 preserved lemon

Saute diced onion in small amount of olive oil until lightly browned. Add spice mix and cook for a further minute, add pumpkin and chili and stir until coated in onion and spice mix. Add vegetable stock and a further 500ml of water along with tinned tomato.

Simmer until pumpkin is tender then blend roughly with handheld blender (or if you don’t have one blend roughly in a, well, Blender ) then add drained chickpeas and finely chopped preserved lemon (this is optional, make sure you remove the flesh and only use the rind) and simmer gently for a further 15 minutes.

This will make a fairly thick soup, to boost the protein I serve mine over about half a cup of cous cous, but just as good with some crusty wholegrain bread.

Note - you may use 1 litre of vegetable stock but I find most stocks, even the liquid ones I buy too overpowering and salty so I use half stock half water.

Haloumi and Mushroom Salad
Serves 2

1 Block Haloumi Cheese. The new Haloumi with Chili is great, not too over powering
150gm exotic mushrooms (Coles is selling them at the moment in a 150gm punnet)
150gm field mushrooms
Herbs of your choice, thyme and parsley is good
1 teaspoon crushed garlic (I use the one in the jar)
Salt and Pepper
Lemon Juice
Rocket
Zatar or Dukka - You can pick these up at Coles as well.
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

Chop the mushrooms, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a fry pan and sauté the mushrooms with the garlic and herbs. When almost cooked season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, if you have some white or red wine a slurp of that will go down a treat, pop some on the mushies as well

If you have some hanging around chuck in a tablespoon of pine nuts as the mushies are cooking as well.

When cooked pop them in a dish and into a warm oven.

For the Haloumi cut in half then slice the halves into 3 thin slice (you’ll need a sharp knife), using the same pan that was used for the mushrooms add another tablespoon of olive oil, fry the cheese for a couple of minutes on each side until golden, then drain on paper towel. Squeeze over some lemon juice and sprinkle on some Dukka or Zatar.

Pop a big handful of Rocket on a plate, chuck the mushrooms on top followed by the cheese, 3 slices per person and squeeze over a little more lemon juice. If you are an ex chef like my brother it will be artfully arranged, if you are me it is just kinda all over the place.

If you cook it my way this will have about 1780Kjs per serve, not too bad really. If you are feeling decadent make a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette and spoon over the top.

A quick word on Haloumi - It is a Cypriot cheese, usually made with sheeps milk, but the cheese you buy here is made with cows milk. It is very hard and looks quite odd but I assure you it is fantastic cooked in a little olive oil or on the BBQ, in fact it is amazing on the BBQ and even meat eaters look a little envious when I break it out. Because it is so hard it absorbs almost none of the oil it is cooked in and it does not melt, just goes a little soft and lovely and golden on the outside. You really need to try it out, one serve (half a block) has about 1086 Kjs, that compares very favourably to a piece of meat the same size, it has heaps of protein and about 630mgs of calcium.