Flexitarian Week 4

Last week Thomas and I had a busy one with a trip to Malaga and night at the Cirque du Soleil, followed by a weekend in Granada with copius amounts of craft beer. Which meant whilst we tried to stick to our flexitarian plan we ended up with midweek meat based meals and seemingly a great deal of bread and cheese. However despite this we did manage to keep 4 days meat free, though not with the healthiest of choices!




This week we've had 4 days of vegetarian options. An impromptu bbq invite had us eating fish and chicken on Wednesday so Sunday was a veggie day with a hearty bean chilli. I got creative with some salads using sauted peaches, courgettes, mixed beans and pears to add texture and different flavours. I baked savoury carrot muffins fora mid-hike snack on Thursday whilst Saturday night was a mixed tapas which included beans and chorizo, peas and serrano ham, patatas bravas and stuffed pimentos, before going to watch the football in our local.




All this good food but if I had to pick a favourite meal it would be Friday night's panfried mackerel fillets with chorizo, leek and pear slaw. I'd never cooked mackerel before, let alone filleted them myself so after a quick watch of a "how to" video on YouTube I set to work in the kitchen. My attempts were fairly successful, perhaps leaving a little too much fish behind but the end result was pleasing. You could of course ask the fishmonger to do this for you but my Spanish is not that good yet.




Here's the recipe...
3 whole mackerel (approx 600g), filleted
1 pear, grated
2 leeks, finely sliced
1/4 Spanish onion, finely sliced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
2inch piece of picante Chorizo, skin removed, sliced and halved
Olive oil, butter, salt & pepper

Heat a little oil and butter in a pan, when the butter is bubbling add the onion and leeks then saute for a few minutes, cover and allow to wilt. 
Put the chorizo in another frying pan over a medium heat and cook until crispy on both sides (about 5 mins). 
Grate the pear into a bowl, squeeze out the juice and set aside (or just drink it, yum yum). Add the grated carrot.
When cooked add the chorizo, leaving the oil in the pan
Season the mackerel fillets then place skin side down in the chorizo oil pan, pushing down on each one to ensure they don't rise up, which would stop the skin getting nicely crisp. Cook for approx 5 mins then using a fish slice, flip over to cook on the flesh side for 1 min.
The leeks and onion should now be cooked through, tip into the bowl with pear, carrot and chorizo and give a good mix, season then spoon onto plates.
Top with the mackerel fillets and drizzle the remaining chorizo oil over the top

Baked Fish with Fennel Cabbage and Lemon Gremolata

Continuing on with the Nordic theme diet, as promised I tried out the baked fish and lemon gremolata recipe. The verdict; "Very tasty" from Mr E. and "let's have this again". So that's a resounding success in my book!

Get the Recipe

Bean and Beetroot Burgers

Looking for a new take on the classic bean burger I raided the 'fridge and came up with this tasty delight. I've yet to develop green fingers and grow my own herbs and I'd already used up my fresh supplies so I resorted to the store cupboard for the dried varieties. If you have fresh, use them but up the quantity to a tablespoon.

Week 2 - Living healthy

The second week has passed and we are sticking to our oh so good healthy eating plan. I started the week feeling well rested after a relaxing weekend with plenty of good quality sleep. The massage on Saturday worked wonders for my aching muscles after all the running and I was ready to start over again.

Our weekly plan was made on Sunday so off I popped to the local supermarket to stock up on the veggies we'd be having this week, plus a few extras including steak, dried herbs, dried beans, tinned tomatoes and sweetcorn.

Cauliflower tabouleh

Monday
Hot water with fresh lemon juice and ginger
Porridge oats with blackberry and apple compote
Cup of tea
Cauliflower tabouleh with grilled aubergines, peppers and herbs
2 ryvita with butter and marmite, cup of tea
Kiwi fruit
Panfried herb marinated steak with red cabbage,rocket and beetroot salad

5 Day Plan

Back home from a fabulous dive trip in Indonesia and whilst its been great to be cooked for and all the meals were delicious, I’m happy to be back in my own kitchen and in control of what I’m eating. I’m not good at limiting myself when it comes to buffet food so I have a few kgs to shed before my next vacation in just 2 weeks! The fridge was empty upon my return but the freezer was stocked so I was able to have the first couple of days back grazing on vegetable lasagna and baked fish with vegetables, but then it was time to shop for some healthy fresh fruits and veggies. 

True to form before I headed to the supermarket I made a menu plan for my weeks meals, its just me here so no need to take into account Mr E’s wishes. I spent just 1500 Thai Baht (30GBP / 46$ / 43 Euro) for my groceries which I think will give me enough food for at least 2 weeks.

Stuffing Ourselves

With all this talk of "Thanks-giving" celebrations in the US and food mags printing their Christmas editions, my thoughts turned to the joy of stuffing and delicious fillings. But its not all roast turkey and mince pies, we've had a take on the lighter side this week... in part to make up for my over indulgences in Las Vegas but also simply because its fun and yummy!

I chose a few pretty simple dishes, easy to make with the ingredients i have available locally but also something a little but special just to jazz things up.

Stuffed & Baked Aubergines 

A Middle Eastern dish inspired by Hugh FW's recipe in Delicious Magazine.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts 

with braised red cabbage, sweet potato mash and thyme 
sauce. My favourite stuffing is walnut and spinach - yum yum

Vegetable Fajitas

with sour cream, tomato/sweetcorn salsa, cabbage and 
grated cheese.
I made the tortillas my self!

Stuffed & Baked Avocados
filled with roasted peppers and tomatoes and served
with rocket salad

Simple Suppers

This week I've been very busy with my freelance marketing contracts which meant less time to concentrate on the cooking. I needed to come up with a few interesting ideas for tasty suppers that would mean minimal fuss and be ready within 20 minutes. With a big trip to Las Vegas coming up I also thought it would be good idea to opt for a pre-trip cleanse so have restricted myself to low carb (even lower than normal), no meat, no dairy, no caffeine and shock horror – no alcohol.
So how to come up with the weekly plan that would suit both Thomas and I and keep within my restrictions?

Monday – Penne Pasta with Courgette and Fennel
Boil the water, pour it on the pasta, simmer.
Grate 1-2 courgettes, finely dice half an onion, crush 1 clove of garlic and sauté together in a pan add a pinch of fennel seeds then cook with the lid on for 5 minutes. Add some of the pasta cooking water (about 2 ladles) to form a sauce.
Drain the pasta and tip into the courgette sauce, mix, serve.
Hey presto! A tasty healthy supper within 15 minutes!

Tuesday – Salad ; Tomato and avocado, roasted Mediterranean vegetables, red cabbage, carrot and beetroot.
Most of the salad items I have prepared ahead in the ‘fridge. All I needed to do was assemble the ingredients.  In true German style Thomas had sausages and mustard with his!
Simple Supper ready in 10 minutes

Vitamin Power!

Wednesday – Vegetable stir fry with coconut milk & rice noodles
Similar in style to my Asian noodle soup, the longest time is spent chopping the vegetables and making my own spice paste.
Heat a wok, add 1tbls sesame oil, add 1tbls spicy paste, add chopped carrots, chopped red and yellow peppers and broccoli florets. Coat veg in paste then add half a cup of coconut milk and half a cup of water. Simmer or 5 minutes then add chopped bok choi. Thomas had his with the rice noodles and the sauce, I had no noodles and no sauce!
Total prep and cooking time 20 minutes!

Thursday – Spicy Pumpkin Soup and homemade rosemary bread
This seemed like a bit of a cheat – only soup for dinner? But given that Thomas would be coming home late and we were off to our local pub quiz, I needed something superfast and easy to reheat the moment he came in the door. Soup with fresh bread was the perfect solution.  Working from home I was able to bake the bread during the day as it only takes 15 minutes to mix the ingredients and knead the dough, the rest is proving and baking. But the soup took a bit longer than expected given that the gas ran out. Doh! But the lovely delivery guy came by 2 hours later with a new tank and I finished up cooking the soup – voila!
And just so you don’t think I starve the hubby, he was given a packed lunch of lentil lasagne, fruit, veggies and yoghurts whilst I tucked into salads from the fridge.

Meat-free no carb

Friday – Lentil Stuffed Peppers with salads
In the freezer were 2 jars of lentil mix left over from the lasagna made last week, it really does pay to prep extra ahead if you have a busy schedule! Cut 2 peppers in half, fill with lentil mixture, top with mozzarella cheese (for Thomas) and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile prep the salad – we had red cabbage, orange and carrot with walnuts,with orange juice and mustard dressing + tomato, olives, basil and avocado
Total prep and cooking time 20 minutes

Its been a challenging week; swapping out the morning tea for lemon and ginger water, no mid-morning coffee, no butter or cheese on crusty bread and only soda water in the pub (Ah soooo boring!) plus I’ve still managed to fit in 1 short (6km) and 1 long (10km) run.

It was good but now I’m done in and ready for a weekend of gardening, shopping and cooking – oh jeez where’s the wine?