The salad to beat all other salads.

The photo won't do this salad justice. Nothing could. I could eat this every day for a month. So if your anything like me these ingredients will sell this salad to you and you will immediately drop whatever you're doing, rush out to go and make this :) sneak off, slink away, dash off, whatever you need to do...just eat this plate of deliciousness!! 

Avocado. (Im sold already.....). 

Smoked salmon. 

Assorted tomatoes (hello, assorted - fancy!).

Fresh garden peas. 

Rocket. 

Basil. 

Spring onion. 

Cucumber. 

Grapes. 

Olive oil. 

Chilli sauce. 

Recipe....

You really need a recipe? Throw together the ingredients listed above, season, and devour :) 

Lemon sole and caper salad

It's finally sunny!! And when summer is here all I want to do is lie outside in the sunshine, eat salads and rejoice that hibernation is over! Wahoo, time to et your legs out my friend! 

This weekend I had to trade off a little sunbathing in order to watch the tennis but wow was it worth it! 

Anyhow, when I had finally dragged myself away from both the tennis and the sunshine, I realised there was no food as I have been too busy sunbathing and watching tennis to go to the shops... Luckily there is always at least 3 kinds of fish hanging about in my freezer for such an occasion :)

You can probably guess the ingredients if not the recipe just from looking at the picture, but if you're a stickler for recipes here goes 

Ingredients: 

2 small fillets lemon sole

3 tbsp plain flour

3 slices lemon

Half a packet of lentils 

Salad (cucumber, pepper, whatever you fancy)

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Seasonings 

1 tbsp capers

Recipe:

1. Place the flour onto a plate and coat the fish with it

2. Heat butter in a pan and cook the lemon slices for about 2 mins

3. Move the lemon slices to the side and add in the lemon sole- cook for around 2 mins on each side

4. Meanwhile mix the lentils, salad, dressings and seasoning together and plate up

5. Throw the capers in the pan for the lat minute, then take off the heat and place the fish, lemon and capers on top of the salad

6. Squeeze over some more lemon juice to taste 

Giant couscous with spicy meatballs

I've never tried giant couscous before and was meaning to try it for a while. I was going to have it with fish, one of my favourites to go with couscous, but then I  read about the meatballs and had to try them! 

Ingredients (per person):

50g giant whole wheat couscous

100g meatballs

Half an onion 

Half a can of kidney beans in chilli sauce

Extra chilli sauce, as required

Cumin, paprika (1 tsp of each)

Salt and pepper 

Green veg, to serve

Recipe: 

1. Fry the couscous for 2-3mins in oil, then add 100ml cold water and stir until softened for 15mins (ish)

2. Meanwhile, dice the onion and fry it with the meatballs

3. After 5 mins add the kidney beans and hills sauce and season to taste

4. Serve the couscous with the meatballs and green veg

(Mmmmm) chicken salad

As lunch-time salads go, this has to be one of the best - half warm ingredients and half cold, with a simple olive oil and balsamic dressing.

Ingredients:

Half a chicken breast

1 small beetroot, sliced

Lettuce leaves

A handful of vine tomatoes

Cucumber

5 dried apricots 

Cumin, salt and pepper

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Lemon juice

Recipe:

1. Season the chicken breast and fry over a low heat until cooked, throwing in the tomatoes for the last 3 mins

2. Chop up all the other ingredients and throw into a bowl

3. Mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice and dress the salad 

Lemon orzo with spiced chicken and aubergine

I'm a big fan of my new griddle pan and will use any excuse to cook on it! The aubergines and peppers softened beautifully and the cumin spiced chicken was delicious. 

Ingredients (per person):

50g orzo

Half an aubergine

5 disks of red pepper

Half a chicken breast

Cumin

Pepper

1 tbsp soft cheese

Half a lemon - zest and juice

Veg to serve 

Recipe:

1. Cook the orzo for 5-6mins

2. Season the chicken and veg with cumin and fry on the griddle pan

3. Mix the orzo with the soft cheese, lemon zest and juice and season

4. Serve the chicken and veg on top of the orzo and with veg, if you chose.

Vegetarian chilli stuffed peppers with guacamole

I love chilli and I'm always trying to convince my flat mate that we should be eating more of it :) luckily if you stuff it in a pepper it goes down well! 

Ingredients:

1 onion

Half a can of kidney beans in chilli sauce 

Handful of sweet corn

Diced veg (whatever you have- I went for for Aubergine and mushroom 

2 peppers 

1 avocado 

Chilli sauce

Veg (to serve)

Recipe:

1. Gently fry the onion until softened, then add the veg and cook

2. Add the key beans and chilli sauce to taste

3. While the chilli mixture is cooking, prepare the pepper and brush with oil - bake at 180 for 10 minutes to soften them

4. Fill the peppers with the mixture and bake for another 20-25 minutes until cooked and turning slightly brown

5. Cut up and blend the avocado in a small bowl with seasoning and a dash of chilli sauce

6. Serve with veg of your choice

Carrot and sesame burgers

Here continues my burger journey....

I managed to find tahini in the supermarket again (it's been out of stock for ages) and so celebrated with a good old veggie burger. I strayed away from my standard sweet potato burger and went for a carrot based one- it was gooood :) make sure you add enough seasoning though and don't make it too thick.

Ingredients:

300g grated carrots

Half a can of chickpeas

1 small onion

1 tbsp tahini paste

1 tsp cumin

1 egg

Olive oil

50g breadcrumbs

Zest of one lemon

75ml natural yoghurt

2 ciabatta rolls

2 tbsp sesame seeds

Juice of one lemon

Salad

Recipe:

1. Place a third of the carrot in a blender with the chickpeas, onion, tahini, cumin and egg and blend into a thick paste

2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the remaining carrot until golden and cooked 

3. Mix the carrot and paste in a bowl and add in the breadcrumbs, lemon zest, sesame seeds and season as you wish

4. Mould the mixture into burger shapes and fry for 5 mins on each side until golden brown

5. Mix the yoghurt with 1 tsp of tahini and lemon juice

6. Spread the yoghurt on the buns and add the burger, then place salad lettuce on top with a drizzle of chilli sauce