Recipes

According to the latest reports, one of the ways we can save our planet and improve our health is to include more plant-based meals. This doesn’t mean everyone has to go vegan, but it couldn’t hurt to try to cut down a bit on meat and to increase some of the plant-based sources of protein that we have readily available to us. I use a lot of pulses/legumes like chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, butter beans etc in my meals. Not only is this great for adding fibre and reducing the amount of meat the family eats but it’s great for meals on a budget. Tinned beans are absolutely fine and really cheap so using these to bulk up meals is ideal.

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Someone asked me for a good home made muesli bar recipe this week and I think this one looks pretty good. Commercially produced muesli bars can be loaded with sugar and saturated or even hydrogenated fats and often don’t contain any natural fruit. Homemade muesli bars are a healthy snack you can put in your kid’s lunchboxes each day. You can be sure of the ingredients and you can add your own touches. Have a go at this recipe.

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Continuing without an oven, I was out all day so did a sausage casserole in the slow cooker. I don’t know why people can tend to be a bit snobby about sausage. Many people don’t want to admit they are having a standard, filling, family dinner rather than a more exciting and adventurous meal with interesting ingredients.

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Looking for a quick, easy and healthy meal? This one is easy and can use frozen vegetables, if you have them. You don’t need to worry about your frozen vegetables. These days, they are pretty good quality and the nutritional content is fine too. In fact, frozen vegetables often have a higher vitamin and mineral content than fresh dues to the fact they are snap frozen soon after harvesting.

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I was at an antique book fair a few years back and found a lovely old “Good Housekeeping Cookery Compendium” (1957 edition) which I just had to buy. It sits on my recipe book shelf with pride and has some classic recipes which I use all the time.
Ive recently been looking at the soups and found this great Chestnut Soup.The run up to Christmas means there are lots of chestnuts around and in the supermarkets so you could give this recipe a try!

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Sorry it’s been a while since the last post…Christmas preparations taking over here at AM Dietetics headquarters! Speaking of Christmas, I was looking for desserts and puddings using a slow cooker and found this dried fruit compote recipe. This is guaranteed to get the smell of Christmas wafting through your household. I normally don’t really like the smells that fill the house when the slow cooker is on but this one should even get your family Grinch into the spirit of things.

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Here in the AM Dietetics household, we are trying to include more plant based meals on the weekly menu. I really like this kedgeree recipe, which includes lentils. It’s great for any meal of the day but I especially like it as a lunch meal, (I’m not a big fan of sandwiches).

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Dinner tonight? By my son’s request, I am making mexican bean soup. It’s super easy.

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I seem to have gathered quite a collection of cans of chickpeas. The only reason I can imagine is that I must have been going through a strange “prepper” phase. I do love chickpeas, though, so I’d say the truth is that I just said “oh, I could use these” and popped a tin in the cart each time I have been shopping. No problem, finding things to do with chickpeas is fine with me!
So, chickpea brownies? hummus? Curry? Not this time.

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Last week, my son’s class had the kind of homework I love.
The kids had to find a healthy recipe and record themselves cooking. I’m pleased to say that my son chose a really simple recipe. (Not the least because we were in the middle of moving house and all of my kitchen was packed up at this stage!)

So what did he choose? A smoothie!.

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Last week, I had the pleasure of trying these delicious cupcakes made by Nikki Broad, a student Dietitian due to graduate this mid year.

They are vegan, and for those just looking for egg or dairy free – these are your cupcakes!
I am often asked about cake recipes for kids with egg and dairy allergies, so was really pleased when Nikki said I could post her recipe here on AM Dietetics.

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Bircher muesli seems to be all the rage at the moment. Called by a variety of names including “overnight oats”, bircher muesli is the original muesli invented in around 1990. I love it when historical recipes come back in fashion.
In the good old “hospital dietary therapy” tradition, Swiss Doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner, a pioneer of whole foods therapy, invented muesli for patients in hospital.
The original recipe consisted of rolled oats, (soaked in water overnight), lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk, grated apple and grounds nuts.

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Now I am in the land of salads, I have a whole lot of great recipes to try. This one is timely with a recent study in the US showing that the mediterranean diet may lower the risk of memory problems in later life. And you can’t beat this for a mediterranean style salad.

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I haven’t forgotten my home made series !

Most families these days do seem to have a pasta night. Pasta meals go down well in my house. I like making pasta dishes for a few reasons – its quick and easy, relatively easy on the purse, most of the family seem to like it and I can pop lots of vegetables into pasta dishes.

Most people can master their own version of the bolognaise but it’s such a shame to see people reach for the trusty old bottled sauce. Home-made? Well you could argue that a meal made with a bottled sauce isn’t.

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Having just found out that the UN has declared 2013 the International year of Quinoa, I thought it would be a good idea to share a recipe using Quinoa. I’ve tried using Quinoa a few times but must admit, I need to try to use it more.
So what’s so good about it?

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