Breakfast Muffins (butter and sugar free)

I don't know about you but I get bored really quickly of shredded wheat, bran flakes and all of those kinds of multi-grain cereals. They're tasty enough, but I have a few bowls (not at once, of course), then find them too dry and boring to eat, and shove the box back into the cupboard. And thus the cereal is left untouched for weeks, or even months to come.

Well, it's time now to out a stop to these cereal-neglecting ways. One of the reasons I get put off these kind of cereals is because I don't like saturating them in milk, so they do have the tendency to taste a bit too cardboard-like at times.

So the solution?

Moist breakfast muffins of course! You soak the cereal in boiling water to allow it to swell up, then mix with honey and oil, followed by the usual flour and stuff. I added in some dried mixed fruit to add a bit of extra flavour. These muffins are quite plain - perfect if you're looking an unfussy breakfast, but easily adaptable to add more flavour - for example, you could get flavoured mini wheats, or replace the mixed fruit with fresh berries or nuts instead.

Just remember that frosted mini wheats, and the flavoured versions are likely to have added sugar in! But hat's the beauty of creating your own - you'll know exactly what goes in them.

Breakfast Muffins (butter and sugar free)

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Makes 12:

150g mini wheats or other grain cereal
450ml boiling water
175g plain flour
100ml grapeseed oil
6 tbsp dried mixed fruit
4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
Bit of salt

1) Break the cereal into small pieces. Pour over the boiling water and leave for about 20 minutes.
2) Meanwhile, beat the egg with the honey, oil and salt into a large mixing bowl.
3) Sift in the flour and baking powder. Carefully mix in the cereal and mixed fruit.
4) Divide the mixture into a muffin tray. Bake at 200 degrees C for about 20 minutes.

Other healthy baking recipes you might enjoy.

All Hungry Jenny cakes here. Continue reading this post..

Hungry Jenny is on the Run!

In 2 weeks time, I will be running around Chichester like a loon for a few hours on a Sunday morning. Of course, there is a Sense of Purpose behind this.

I'm taking part in the Chichester Challenge on 11th July, running 25km to raise money for FareShare. They help to relieve food poverty and deal with the issue of food wastage at the same time - they redistribute surplus food from the food and drink industry and supply to those helping disadvantaged communities. Less wastage, less hunger :-)

A tonne of food is the equivalent of about 2,500 meals. Now do the maths to work out how many wasted meals there are in over 8 million tonnes...

Ok, yes it's a crazy and impossible sum - but this is the amount that gets thrown to landfill every year in the UK alone...!

I raised £420 a couple of years ago for Fareshare when I did the 15k Chi Challenge. It would be fantastic to raise this amount or more so this time I'm hoping to raise £500.

Training has been tough so far - I stupidly strained a thigh muscle the other week and currently having to cut back the distance, whilst running like a snail. Very frustrating as I'm now not running as far or as fast as I'd hope to be by this point!

There is no way that I'm pulling out though, so would love your support, whether through words of encouragement, donations, or both, to help push me through!

Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: Sausage, Pear and Mustard Tart

A 'proper' pie this week, of sorts. A sausage tart.

Never go cheap when you buy sausages. Pale grey sausages just won't do. You need real sausages.

I went for posh lean pork sausages. This still tasted very porky, don't worry. You don't have to go full fat to get the big meat flavour (just use the whole pack of sausages instead!).

There is a sneaky layer of wholegrain mustard beneath the sausage covering, which really was the icing on the cake for this. Or the mustard on the pastry.

If I made this again, I would probably dice the other ingredients and mix within the sausagemeat, rather than scattering over the top. I did it this way because I thought it would look prettier. But it does make it slightly messier to eat, because the big lumps of tomato and pear just fall off when you eat it!

Sausage, Pear and Mustard Pie

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For a 12 x 8.5" tray:
(8 dinner-sized slices!)

400g shortcrust pastry
8 lean pork sausages, skinned
1 small pear, diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 tomato, diced
3 tbsp chopped onion
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp sage
1 tsp garlic
A little olive oil

1) Roll out the pastry to line a rectangular tray. Bake blind at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes.
2) Mix the sausage meat of 8 sausages with onion, lemon juice, garlic and herbs.
3) Fry the sausage mixture for about 5 minutes.
4) Add some celery, followed by diced tomato and pear, mixing well.
5) Spread the mustard onto the baked pie base, followed by the sausage mixture.
6) Bake at 180 degrees C for about half an hour.

I love the word sausage.

Pie out.

Read more posts about sausages here (yes, really).

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Butter Free Raspberry and Coconut Flapjacks

Hurrah, a butter free flapjack that works!

It still has sugar in it, so that problem still needs to be resolved. But replacing the bad fatty butter with some good fatty olive oil, and packing it out with other happy things like berries, coconut and sesame seeds, puts these flapjacks nicely into my list of healthy baked goods.

These are the soft, chewy kind of flapjacks, not the hard versions you get that threaten to break your teeth. They have fresh raspberries and dried cranberries, but you can obviously experiment with other berries as you wish.

I was planning to save some and freeze them individually because they are the perfect size for a quick snack, but er, they all got eaten by the aikido guys of course!

Butter Free Raspberry and Coconut Flapjacks

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Makes 16:

175g rolled oats
175g self raising flour
125g sugar
150g dessiccated coconut
150ml olive oil
150g fresh or frozen raspberries
100g dried cranberries
3 tbsp mixed berries + 1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
A bit of water and cornflour

1) Heat the mixed berries and the tbsp sugar. In a cup, mix a bit of water with some cornflour, then pour into the pan, stirring until you can mush the berries down. Take off the heat and leave to cool.
2) Sieve the flours into a mixing bowl. Add the oats, sugar, coconut, cranberries and sesame seeds. Gently fold in the raspberries.
3) In a smaller bowl, beat the egg with the oil and the berry mixture from step 1.
4) Pour into the dry mixture and mix well. Tip into a lined tray bake and stick in the oven at 180 degrees C for 30-40 minutes or til golden brown.

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in

More Hungry Jenny cakes here. Continue reading this post..

Did Someone Say Steak?

I'm so pre-occupied with making a mess in the kitchen to feed you with regular recipes, that I forget to eat out!

With that in mind, I promptly dressed up and took myself out for a steak.

Of course, that's not the real story - I'd eat a steak in bed if it was brought to me for breakfast.

I don't know if it's because I'm finally turning into a grown-up (of sorts), but whenever there is an occasion to dine out, I always like to make the effort to do it in style. (Apart from when I eat KFC - all attempts of class simply goes out the window)

A night on the town with my girl pals is always a dressy occasion, but this one was dressier than usual - our Sex and the City 2 night! Sorry boys.

It would have been rude to watch our idols on the big screen in slacks so we decided to do the whole dinner and cocktail thing. I had this grand plan of us going to one of the 'classier' restaurants in Chi called The Waterside. Posh seafood, fine cuts of meat, limited menu and all of that.

Unfortunately, there were no reservations available, so we ended up in er, Frankie and Benny's, an Italian-American chain restaurant. Not exactly the most glamorous place, but sipping fruity cocktails with 50s music playing in the background turned out to be just what we wanted. And that was before the food arrived!

I've eaten here before but it's been months since I've had a steak - can you believe it? I know, I was mortified myself! I can't cook steak that well so savoured and finished every bite of this New York Strip Sirloin - mm, I think we did Carrie and the girls proud!

If only we could run around in heels and dresses in everyday life like the SATC girls do - somehow it would just be very wrong to do that on the South coast. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: Spanish Jacket Potato Pie

Despite my pie cravings, I do suffer a bit of pie overload sometimes because I'm often eating the remains of a pie during the week as well. So this week it's a single-serving pie:

In the form of a er, jacket potato. Yes, cheating a little but it works for me.

I'm sorry about the quality of the photos by the way - they don't really do the filling justice. But I was far too hungry to stand over it for ages like I usually do, trying to get the perfect snap ;-)

So inside this 'pie' is a kind of Spanish pork filling. Basically it has a tomato sauce base, flavoured with paprika and garlic. I'm really into tomatoes at the moment - there's something so comforting about cooked toms. Chuck in some diced pork chop and more veg and there's your nice warming filling. Aahh.

I microwave the potato rather than baking, just because it's quicker, and you can cook the filling in a pan whilst you're waiting for the potato to finish. And of course, you simply have to stick it under the grill afterwards to crisp up the mashed potato topping and give it a good pie finish.

Spanish Jacket Potato Pie

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For 2:

1 pork chop, diced
2 large potatoes
2 heaped tbsp chopped tomatoes
2 cherry tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp diced aubergine
1 tbsp chopped onion
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp garlic

1) Prick a potato and microwave for 10 minutes, turning once, until you can stick a skewer through.
2) Meanwhile, fry some onion for a couple of minutes. Add some diced pork to brown, followed by some chopped toms, cherry toms, roasted pepper slices, aubergine and garlic.
3) Slice the top off the potato lengthways. Scoop out the flesh and mash it with paprika. Tip half of it into the pork mixture and stir well.
4) Spoon the mixture into the potato shell and top with the remaining mash. Grill for 5-10 to give it a nice crispy top.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Say NO to Takeaway: Have a Beef Rogan Jenny Instead!

Oh come on, I couldn't resist it! Forget Rogan Josh, you want Rogan Jenny instead. But I promise you that there is a deep and meaningful reasoning behind the name change too.

'Josh' means 'hot' or 'heat' in Persian, and let's face it, I always need to avoid having any trace of hot spice from my food. Don't worry, you won't be left with a bland watery sauce in your mouth though, no. I made sure that this was still rich with flavour - your nose will tell you that straight away when you make it. And it only takes about 20 minutes to make too.

You can easily adapt it to your own taste as you make it as well if you have alot of spices kicking around. Of course, you can just use shop-bought rogan josh paste instead, but there's just no fun in that is there?

By making your own, you can taste as you go, and you won't be left with half a jar of sauce that you'll stick in the fridge and forget about. You only need a tablespoon or two per portion.

The full ingredients list and recipe can be found below but to make 3 tablespoons of paste, you would basically only need:

• 2 sun dried tomatoes;
  
• a tablespoon of groundnut oil and tomato puree;
  
• a teaspoon of cumin, paprika, garam masala, coriander, garlic and ginger;
  
• half a teapsoon of turmeric;
  
• and a bit of salt and pepper.

Not that much is it? All should easily be within your store cupboard ingredients - especially if you've been following my other takeaway alternatives ;-)

Beef Rogan Jenny

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For 2:

200g diced beef
200g chopped tomatoes
100ml hot beef or veggie stock
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
Half a courgette, chopped
Half a red onion, chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger
Some fresh coriander
2-3 tbsp rogan josh paste (ingredients listed earlier)

Go straight to step 2 if using ready made paste

1) Use a pestle and mortar to grind and mix the paste ingredients.
2) Fry the onion and beef in a little oil to brown.
3) Add the chopped tomatoes, stock, vinegar and paste and allow to bubble gently.
4) Turn the heat down and add in the rest of the veg. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally til cooked through. Stir in some fresh coriander in the last few minutes.
5) Served with steamed basmati rice.

If you liked this, you might want to try making these other takeaway alternatives too. Continue reading this post..

Butter and Sugar Free Ginger Cookies

Ooh, cookies with no butter or sugar? That still taste nice? Nabbit!

I added a bit too much cinnamon when I did these so the balance against the ginger was not quite there but I've adjusted the recipe below which should work...

The dough is quite sticky during preparation so things will get messy when you mould the cookies. They are nice and chewy though and nice with a cup of tea :-)

Butter and Sugar Free Ginger Cookies

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Makes 12:

2 bananas
150g rolled oats
100g plain flour
8 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1) Mash the bananas with the honey and vanilla.
2) Sieve the flour into in a bowl. Mix in the cinnamon, ginger and soda.
3) Add the banana mixture followed by the oats. Mix well - it will be a bit sticky!
4) Mould 12 shapes from the mixture. Place onto a lined tray and bake at 180 degrees C for 15 minutes.

More Hungry Jenny cakes and cookies. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: Mediterranean Seafood Pie

I didn't want to do a complicated pie this week - in other words, I wanted to avoid pastry! But I didn't really know what to make and was struggling to find inspiration. In the end, I kind of threw this pie together. (Such love, isn't there?) And it turned out sort of Mediterranean with its warming flavours and colours, and one of the yummiest pies I've tasted.

Ok, so the slightly green topping clashes a bit with the general red and orange colours you'd expect but it tastes good and that's the important thing!

This is very, very easy to do and I kind of made it up as I went along, which is always fun (when it goes right, that is!). The pineapple and juice I threw in towards the end to add some more flavour to the tomato-based sauce.

Mediterranean Seafood Pie

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Serves 3-4:

1 cod fillet, skinless, boneless and chopped
150g scallops
200g can of chopped tomatoes
Half an aubergine, diced
Half a courgette, diced
Half a red onion, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
2 pineapple rings, chopped
3 tbsp pineapple juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
Juice and zest of half a lemon
1 tbsp thyme
1 large potato, chopped
4-6 broccoli florets, chopped
1 garlic clove, grated
A bit of butter
A bit of milk

1) Boil the potatoes in salted water, then leave to simmer. Add in the broccoli after about 10 minutes. Simmer for another 10 minutes, then drain and keep warm.
2) Meanwhile, fry the red onion for a couple of minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, cod and scallops. Mix in the soy sauce and honey, simmering for 5 minutes.
3) Add the rest of the veg, followed by the pineapple, juice, lemon and thyme. Cook for another 5 minutes until everything is nice and hot, before transferring to a pie dish.
4) Tip the garlic, milk and butter into the potato and broccoli pan, and mash well. Spoon atop your pie filling and grill for 5-10 minutes.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

3 Ways to Get Fruity With Cauliflower

Er, am I suggesting a slice of cake with a side of cauliflower?

Well...not exactly.

I feel sorry for cauliflower because it's not the most sexy of vegetables is it? There's a massive barrier of stalk to get through for starters - I don't know about you but I can never rip it off, a knife is always needed! Then you are faced with an awkwardly bulky head that promises to shed bitty crumbs whichever way you decide to cut it.

By this point, you're probably wondering why you bothered buying it in the first place. I urge you not to give up on this distant relation of broccoli though. You can do more with it than just cauliflower cheese.

So here are three ways to get fruity with it - the following recipes combine it with banana, orange or apple!

Sticky Peanut Butter Banana Squares (above)

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Makes 12:

200g brown sugar
100g plain flour
100g peanut butter
1 large banana, mashed
1 large egg white
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2-3 cauliflower florets
6 tbsp milk
Bit of butter

1) Gently fry the cauliflower in some butter. Add the milk and simmer until softened. Leave to cool, then pulse in a blender to a puree.
2) In a large bowl, mix 100g of the sugar with the banana, cauliflower and egg white.
3) Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarb. Mix well, though expect it to be lumpy!
4) Add the remaining sugar and mix gently.
5) Transfer to a greased traybake and bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes or until you can pull a skewer out clean.

You can add all of the sugar in together if you want - but by adding half towards the end and giving it one gentle stir, you are left with a nice crunch in each cake munch :-)

Cauliflower is delicious raw - I could munch on it like popcorn! The following salad has a tangy orange dressing and you can either steam the cauliflower as suggested, or just chuck it in raw. (I don't like raw broccoli so just steamed them both!)

Cauliflower and Orange Salad

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For 2:
8 cauliflower florets, chopped
6 broccoli florets, chopped
1 small red pepper, chopped
1 satsuma, peeled and segmented
3 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
Bit of pepper

1) Put the cauliflower and broccoli in some foil, add a splash of water and wrap up. Leave to steam in the oven at 200 degrees C for about 15 minutes.
2) Meanwhile, mix the orange, oil, vinegar, honey and pepper.
3) When the florets are done, toss with the remaining vegetables and satsuma segments, drizzling the orange sauce over to serve.

Finally, an interesting alternative for cauliflower cheese. I make the cheese sauce with just mashed apple and natural yogurt, and don't bother grilling it. An extra bonus is that if you get your timings right, you only need to use one pan :-)

Apple Laced Cauliflower Macaroni

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For 2:
150g macaroni
8 cauliflower florets, chopped
8 tbsp apple puree
8 tbsp grated cheese
4 tbsp natural yogurt
1 tbsp parsley

1) Gently boil the macaroni in salted water. Add the cauliflower to the same pan after about 5 minutes and leave to simmer for 15 minutes til both are cooked. Drain and set aside.
2) Turn the heat down low and pour in the apple and yogurt. Mix in the cheese til melted.
3) Return the macaroni and cauliflower to the pan, mix well and sprinkle over the parsley to serve.

Continue reading this post..

Proof That I'm a Lard-Pot

What's that in my hands? Junk food?

Don't worry, this isn't a annoyingly smug declaration of "I eat junk food every single day and stay thin anyway." Because you know that's just not true!

I know that I could do with putting on more weight - enough people tell me to. And I smile and nod at their comments because I know they mean well. But I am called Hungry Jenny for a reason and that's quite simply because I love to eat!

This was my dinner after a long day of aikido (which is why I look tired and a tad too shiny). So slightly wrong perhaps to scoff a large plate of fish and chips afterwards. But I was Starving and I know not to ignore my cravings, whatever they may be - and in this case, the chippy was definitely calling me.

So this is Proof That I'm a Lard-Pot - that I don't deny myself food, that I do actually eat, even 'bad' food every now and again ;-) Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: Fruity Meaty Pies

So what's in these little pies then?

Fruit = pear and apple
Meat = turkey and bacon

Add some cheese and herbs, encase in some pastry and you have Fruity Meaty Pie goodness!

(The little pastry bits on top are meant to be leaves by the way.)

The apple in the filling is puree which you can easily make yourself. I used one cooking apple and only had a couple of tablespoons leftover after making the pie - which will keep in the fridge for a while, so no wastage is happening :-) You can of course just use applesauce from a jar to save you that extra bit of cooking.

Oh - and take care to seal these bad boys up properly - I got lazy with mine which resulted in some leakage out the top of some of the pies. And yes, those bits got burnt. I think I managed to hide the black bits alright though...

Fruity Meaty Pies

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Makes 10:

1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
Juice of half a lemon
OR
5-6 tbsp apple puree

350g diced turkey
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp groundnut oil
5 unsmoked bacon rashers, chopped
100g grated cheddar
1 pear, peeled and diced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage

500g shortcrust pastry
1 beaten egg

1. If not using premade apple puree, add the apple and sugar to a pan with enough water tp partly cover the apples. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer, mashing down every now and again. You might need to add more water to prevent it from drying out. Squeeze in the lemon juice and mix until you have a puree texture.
2. Meanwhile, leave the turkey to marinade in the honey, soy sauce and oil for about 15 minutes.
3. Fry the turkey to brown, adding in the bacon after a few minutes.
4. Take off the heat and mix in the cheese, apple, pear and herbs.
5. Roll out 2/3 of the pastry and cut 10 circles to line a greased muffin tray.
6. Spoon in the pie filling. Roll out the remaining pastry to cut 10 smaller circles to create pie lids. Press to the rims with a little water, then brush with the beaten egg.
7. Bake at 200 degrees C for about half an hour.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Say NO to Takeaway: Make Yourself a Yellow Curry Instead!

Nobody likes a dull-looking dish. It's just so much more pleasing to the eye when you sit down to a meal that is shouting brightly back up at you.

This is a turmeric and cumin based curry, so it's not spicy but still has a wonderful flavour. There are some great textures in this dish too with soft potatoes, slightly crunchy cauliflower and bouncy cherry toms to bite into.

Of course, you can make it completely yellow by swapping the toms and courgette for sweetcorn and yellow pepper instead. But I do like to have at least a couple of different colours in my dishes so I'm sticking with this if you don't mind.

This is also good with steamed basmati rice but if you're trying to cut back on the carbs, this is still filling enough on its own. Or, if you want, you can just sneak in a naan bread instead (yes, that's what's hiding in the corner), like I did ;-)

Yellow Curry

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For 2:

2 medium potatoes, diced
4-6 cauliflower florets, chopped
8 cherry tomatoes
Half a courgette, diced
Some chopped red onion
300ml veggie stock
Juice of half a lemon
Half tsp turmeric
Half tsp cumin
Half tsp ginger
Fresh coriander
Some veggie oil
Naan bread to serve

1) Heat the oil in a pan and fry the potatoes for about 5 minutes. Add the cauliflower, followed by the turmeric, cumin and ginger. Mix well.
2) Pour in the stock and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes.
3) Add the rest of the veg and squeeze in the lemon juice. Simmer for another 5 minutes until everything is heated through.
4) Garnish with some fresh coriander and serve with naan bread.

If you liked this, you might want to try making these other takeaway alternatives too. Continue reading this post..