Overnight Chia Oats with Berries and Banana

The night before

In the morning

I had these overnight oats for breakfast today. I prepared everything yesterday evening. I made it with 3 tablespoons porridge oats, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1 banana chopped, some blueberries and raspberries, about 100ml of almond milk and some ground cinnamon. First I put half of the fruit in the bottom of the glass. Then I put oats and chia seeds over that. Then I poured in the almond milk. After that I put the rest of the fruit. Finally I sprinkled in some cinnamon. I left it in the fridge overnight and the oats and chia seeds absorbed a lot of the liquid from the milk and the flavour from the fruit. This morning I just took it out of the fridge and ate it. Very tasty! 🙂

Chickpea Curry

A simple, tasty curry recipe. This curry makes a great, quick, high-protein vegetarian dinner.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil (or alternative cooking oil)

1 onion chopped

2-3 cloves garlic chopped

some fresh ginger chopped

2 teaspoons curry powder

2-3 carrots peeled and chopped

half a head cauliflower chopped

1 tin chickpeas (rinsed and drained)

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1-2 handfuls chopped fresh coriander

 

This recipe makes 2-3 servings

 

Step 1: Heat olive oil in a pot and cook onion, garlic and ginger for 3-4 minutes. 

Step 2: Add in curry powder and cook for another 1-2 minutes. 

Step 3: Add in carrot, cauliflower, chickpeas and chopped tomatoes. Bring to boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. 

Step 4: Stir in fresh coriander. 

Step 5: Enjoy this curry for lunch or dinner with rice. If you have some leftover you can put it in the fridge and reheat it the next day. 

 

 

Butter Bean, Carrot and Tomato Soup

Another tasty soup recipe. The butter beans add a nice texture and are a good source of protein. The spice I used was curry powder. It adds great flavour. If you don’t have curry powder you could use other spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric, garim masala, etc. I never bother using a stock cube in my soups because I feel the spices I use already add enough flavour.

 

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil  (or alternative cooking oil)

1 onion chopped

2-3 cloves garlic chopped

some fresh ginger chopped

2 teaspoons curry powder (or alternative spices such as cumin, coriander, turmeric, garim masala, etc.)

1 tin butter beans (rinsed and drained)

1 tin chopped tomatoes

4 carrots peeled and chopped

about 800ml water

 

This recipe makes 4-5 servings

 

Step 1: Heat olive oil in a pot and cook onion, garlic and ginger for 2-3 minutes. 

Step 2: Add in curry powder and cook for another 1-2 minutes. 

Step 3: Add in butter beans, chopped tomatoes, carrot and water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 25 minutes. 

Step 4: Blend until smooth. 

Step 5: Enjoy this  soup for lunch or dinner. If you have some leftover you can put it in the fridge and reheat it the next day. 

Easy Bean Stew

This is similar to the butter bean stew I made before.  I used mixed beans instead of butter beans this time. This stew is very tasty and really easy and quick to make. It is perfect for a cold day. I used a tin of beans because they are much quicker to cook than dried beans.  The other ingredients are onion, garlic, a tin of chopped tomatoes, a selection of vegetables and some dried mixed herbs. It is always handy to keep some tins of beans and chopped tomatoes in your cupboard. Then you can easily make up a quick healthy stew like this with whatever vegetables (carrots, sweet potato, celery, peppers, etc.)  you have available.

I found I made the stew a bit too watery this time so I added some bulgar wheat for the last 10 minutes of cooking time to thicken the stew. Adding bulgar is a great way to thicken a stew.  It is another good cupboard staple to have.

Lentil, Tomato and Basil Soup

This soup is very tasty and really easy to make. It does not take long to prepare at all. You do not need to chop too many vegetables. There is no need to blend this soup at the end because the red lentils and tomatoes naturally become soupy when cooked (you could still blend it if you want a smoother soup though). There are not too many ingredients- you might have all the ingredients at home already or you can easily find them in any supermarket. None of the ingredients are expensive so it is very cheap to make. The soup is high in protein because of the lentils. So many great reasons to try this soup! Why not give it a go? 😀

 

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil (or alternative cooking oil)

1 onion chopped

2-3 cloves garlic chopped

1 cup red lentils

1 tin chopped tomatoes

4 cups water

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs (oregano, basil, etc.)

about a handful fresh basil chopped

 

This recipe makes 3-4 servings

 

Step 1: Heat olive oil in a pot and cook onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes.

Step 2: Add in lentils, tomatoes, water and dried mixed herbs. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Step 3: Stir in fresh basil.

Step 4: Enjoy this soup as part of your lunch or dinner. If you have some leftover you can put it in the fridge and reheat it the next day.

Easy Lentil Dahl

This lentil dahl makes a great high-protein vegetarian dinner. It is very easy to make.  I use a mixture of red and brown lentils in this dahl. Red lentils become soupy when cooked while brown lentils keep their shape. The different textures are good together.  Sweet potato, carrot and spinach add more texture, colour and nutrition to the dahl.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil (or alternative cooking oil)

1 onion chopped

2-3 cloves garlic chopped

some fresh ginger chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

half a teaspoon ground turmeric

2 sweet potatoes peeled and chopped

2 carrots peeled and chopped

1 cup red lentils

1 cup brown lentils

4 cups water

about 100g spinach

half a teaspoon ground black pepper

 

This recipe makes 4 servings

 

Step 1: Heat olive oil in a pot and cook onion, garlic and ginger for 2-3 minutes. 

Step 2: Add in cumin, coriander and turmeric and cook for another 1-2 minutes. 

Step 3: Add in sweet potato, carrot, lentils and water. Bring to boil, then simmer for about 25 minutes. 

Step 4: Stir in spinach and season with black pepper. 

Step 5: Enjoy this dahl for lunch or dinner. I had it with couscous. You could also have it with rice or quinoa. If you have some leftover you can put it in the fridge and reheat it the next day. 

 

Broccoli, Cauliflower and Potato Soup

A  very tasty, nutritious soup.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion chopped

3-4 cloves garlic chopped

some fresh ginger chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

half a teaspoon ground turmeric

1 head broccoli chopped

1 head cauliflower chopped

2 potatoes peeled and chopped

about 1 litre of water

 

This recipe makes 4-5 servings

 

Step 1: Heat olive oil in a pot and cook onion, garlic and ginger for 2-3 minutes. 

Step 2: Add in cumin, coriander and turmeric and cook for another 1-2 minutes. 

Step 3: Add in broccoli, cauliflower, potato and water. Stir well. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. 

Step 4: Blend until smooth. 

Step 5: Enjoy this soup as part of your lunch or dinner. It should be OK kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Take it out and reheat it whenever you want.