Spinach, pomegranate and brown rice salad

Now it's almost beach weather  (I'm being positive and assuming that there will be a break in the rain to enjoy the summer this year...) and it's starting to get warm it's definitely summer time. Pomegranates seeds are something I've only just discovered but they provide a delicious summery sweetness to this salad as a contrast to the nutty brown rice. And don't even get me started on the delight that is fresh goats cheese - so much better than feta but still that delicious hint of saltiness.  The original inspiration for this salad came from Pinch of Yum but I mixed it up to create this healthy (and easy!) main.

Bonus - this is just as good the next day for left overs :)

Spinach, pomegranate and brown rice salad

Ingredients: 

For the salad:

• 1 pack of pomegranate seeds (about half a cup)
• 1 bag  spinach chopped (about three cups)
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (you can use leftover rice or buy the handy precooked)
• Handful of  walnuts
• 50 gm goats cheese cheese (fresh is best)

For the dressing:

• 1 onion or 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoons honey
• ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 splash of lemon juice

Method: 

1. Finely chop onion or garlic and microwave for about a minute with the honey to remove the bite
2. In a jar add onion/ garlic and honey mix and all dressing ingredients. Shake well and set to one side. 
3. Prep salad ingredients, chop spinach and goats cheese and mix together with brown rice, pomegranate seeds and walnuts. 
4. Shake dressing again and drizzle over salad. 

Serve immediate. If desired you can add some roasted chicken for some extra protein. 

Ginger 'banoffee' pie

I have a massive sweet tooth which creates a challenge when I'm trying to watch what I eat. Fruit is great especially now we're heading into summer with all the berries.  But sometimes I want something a little more interesting but still low (ish) in points which is where the inspiration for this alternative to banoffee pie (one of my favourite desserts) came from. 

Ginger 'banoffee' pie 

Makes 2 ramekins

Ingredients

1. 3x gingernut biscuits (or other biscuits if you want - but then you miss the ginger hint!) 
2. 1 pottle of mullers light toffee yoghurt 
3. 1 banana

Method 

1. Break up gingernuts into small pieces, split equally between two ramekins
2. Spoon half the yoghurt into each ramekin covering the biscuit pieces
3. Slice the banana and cover the yoghurt with banana pieces
4. Chill for approx. 30 mins until the yoghurt softens the gingernut. 

Weight watchers points - 2 per serve.

Sweet potato and veggie shepherds pie

I feel like I should come up with more imaginative names for these things rather than the ridiculously descriptive and often long things they end up with. But at least you know what you're getting in the recipe, I suppose. Also just noticed that this has really ended up being all about the food... and on that note another random recipe!

I love shepherds pie, it's good simple comfort food. Not such a big fan of the fat content in traditional shepherds pie and so I decided to change it up a bit. This is one of my vegetarian meals that can be easily modified to add some meat and therefore satisfy carnivorous other halves. Vegemite/ Marmite may seem like a weird addition to a mince mix but it's a good way of adding the extra taste as a vegetarian friendly alternative to beef stock.

Sweet potato and veggie shepherds pie. 
Makes 3 mini casserole dishes/ 4 ramekins

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cauliflower
2. 1 large carrot
3. 1 sweet potato
4. 50 gm cottage cheese
5. Paprika
6. Sea Salt
7. 1x zucchini 
8. 4x mushroom 
9. 1x onion
10. 150gm soy mince
11. 1tbsp vegemite/ marmite
12. 1 tbsp tomato salsa
13. 1/2 tsp dried basil 

Method

1. Chop cauliflower, carrot and sweet potato into small cubes and boil until mashable (about half an hour)
2. Mash with seasonings and cottage cheese. Put to one side
3. Preheat oven to 200c
4. Grate zucchini, finely chop mushrooms and onion. In a bowl mix chopped veggies, soy mince, vegemite, salsa and basil. 
5. Divide the soy mince mix between mini casserole dishes/ ramekins and cover with sweet potato mash. 
6. Bake in oven for approx. 30 mins or until cooked through.

If you want to go for the meat lovers option - Slice two uncooked sausages open and add the sausage meat to the soy mince mix. This does mean you have more meat mix so either spread the sweet potato mash more thinly or add an extra carrot.

Weight watchers points per mini casserole dish:
For veggie option - 3 points
For meat lovers - 5 points

Low fat pakoras with mint yoghurt sauce

Ah, Indian food. So delicious, so calorific (which is to be expected with cream and deep fried etc) This recipe was born out of the combination of workmate having Indian for lunch leaving the office smelling of butter chicken and having left over sweet potato/ carrot mash in the fridge.

I started not really knowing what I was making other than wanting to use leftovers and make something that had curry paste in it and ended up with surprisingly awesome pakoras and a recipe that I'm going to make next time I have a craving for Indian. 

Low fat pakoras

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cauliflower
2. 1 onion
3. 3x garlic cloves
4. 1/2 can chickpeas
5. 1 egg
6. 1 cup leftover sweet potato and carrot mash 
7. 2 tsp curry paste
8. Sea salt (I used a coriander, rose and lemon one from Pinch seasonings)
9. 1/4 tsp cumin
10. Dash of lemon juice 
11. 100gm gram flour 
12. 1 spray of Olive oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200c.
2. Blend first 10 ingredients together to create a paste. 
3. Remove from blender and mix in gram flour to create a dough like mix that just holds it's shape (it will still be very watery) 
4. Lightly oil an oven tray
5. Shape the pakora mix into balls and place on tray. (I made ten from the mix). 
6. Bake for approx. 20 mins until firm to touch.  Serve on salad greens with mint yoghurt sauce.

Weight watchers points for two- 3 points

Mint Yoghurt sauce

Ingredients 

1. 3 sprigs fresh mint
2. 1/4 cup low fat yoghurt 
3. Lemon juice and salt to taste

Method
Finely chop up mint. Mix with yoghurt. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. Leave to sit for at least ten minutes before eating.

Weight watchers points - 1 point for half the dressing

Beef stuffed capsicums

Veggies stuffed with deliciousness. What's not to love? And bonus, leftovers are delicious chopped up and served with spinach as a lunch time salad.

Beef stuffed capsicums

Ingredients 1 carrot
1 onion
1 zucchini
8 mushrooms
200gm lean beef mince
100gm bulgar wheat
4x capsicums
Paprika
1 Tbsp marmite
Sea salt


Method

1. Grate zucchini and carrot. Finely chip onion and mushroom. Mix veggies, mince, bulgar wheat, marmite and seasonings together.
2. Chop tops off capsicums and remove seeds. Place capsicums upright in a casserole dish.
3. Using a teaspoon pack filling firmly into capsicum cases.
4. Cover and bake for approx. an hour or until capsicums and bulgar wheat is cooked.

Weight watchers points - 4.5 per capsicum

I think next time I might add some harissa paste or olives to give it more of a kick as it was a little bland. First time making capsicums stuffed with mince though, as normally I do a veggie mix with feta.

Veggie Mince Lasagne

For Christmas, I was given cute little mini casserole dishes which are perfect for single dish portions of pasta bakes, casseroles and lasagne.

Tonight, I had a craving for veggie lasagne, but didn't want anything too heavy so a little single dish veggie lasagne with cottage cheese was perfect and left me with another for lunch tomorrow. I find soya mince is a fantastic ingredient for things like this as it absorbs any extra liquid that may have come out of the veggies.

Double mix for a full casserole dish sized lasagne.

Veggie mince lasagne

Ingredients

1. 1 clove garlic
2. 1 carrot
3. ½ zucchini
4. ½ tin chopped tomatoes
5. 20gms (1/4 cup) soya mince
6. Basil and salt
7. 100 gms (½ cup) low fat cottage cheese
8. 20gm feta
9. 2 sheets whole wheat pasta

Method:

1. Finely chop garlic, grate carrot and zucchini. In small bowl mix veggies, tomatoes and soya mince together. Add a sprinkle of basil and salt.
2. Mix finely chopped spinach, cottage cheese and crumbled feta with a little salt to taste.
3. Layer veggie mince mix, single layer of whole wheat lasagne pasta sheets and cottage cheese mix. Repeat.
4. Bake at 200C until the pasta is cooked.

Makes two small single ramekins.  You can also bulk up the veggie mince mix with additional veggies such as mushroom, peppers or finely chopped broccoli.

Weight watchers points – 7 points total, 3.5 pts per ramekin