Three Ways With Wholegrain Rice

Since the #gethealthy Challenge back in January, I've been making a more conscious effort to eat more wholegrains.

The guys at Healthy Eats have actually been running the whole challenge again throughout May. Although I didn't officially 'sign up' this time round, following the posts about it and reading about other foodie's experiences with it, prompted me to revisit why I signed up in the first place.

For a while now, I've wanted to up my weight in a healthy way, so I was using the challenge as a starting point for ways to explore how to do this. Similar to the experiment where I gave up meat for a month, it has helped me to start looking at food in a different way.

Before my meat ban for example, I hadn't realised that I was actually in a bit of food rut of making the same dishes every day (nothing bad, mind, just the same old stuff). It was only when I turned veggie that I had to start thinking more consciously about new dishes to create.

The same goes with this - everytime (well, for the most part) I create a new dish, I think about whether it's something that can help towards weight gain.

There's a basic three-pronged approach to this:

1. Does it contain wholegrain?
2. Is there a new ingredient (or combo of ingredients) I've not tried before?
3. Is there enough?

Let me add at this point that this is my current skewed idea of what might help me long-term. It'll probably change as I keep exploring this. And just because I've created these dishes to help with weight gain does not mean they will make you 'fat' if you try them too!!

Take the third point noted above - 'is there enough?' The recipes I write aim to give a more 'standard' portion - but what I actually eat myself is a wee bit more than that ;-)

So here are three ways with wholegrain rice - all healthy, all energising, and all good!

Chickpea and Mustard Wholegrain Rice Salad (v) (at top of post)

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Serves 2:

150g wholegrain rice
350ml hot veggie stock
100g chickpeas
150g cherry tomatoes, halved
100g spinach, roughly torn
Juice of 1 small lemon
2 tsp wholegrain mustard

1. Put the rice in a pan with the water and bring to the boil. Turn down to the lowest heat, cover and leave to simmer for about 30-40 minutes until the water is absorbed. Turn off the heat and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, mix the chickpeas, tomatoes and spinach together in a large bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice and toss well.
3. Get your pan of cooked rice, and mix in the mustard.
4. Dish the rice onto two plates and then gently sit the chickpea salad on top.

Nutty Wholegrain Rice (v)

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Serves 2:

150g wholegrain rice
350ml boiling water
3 tbsp peanut butter
50ml hot veggie stock
75g yogurt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
200g marrowfat peas
75g mushrooms, sliced
100g spinach
50g cashew nuts

1. Put the rice in a pan with the water and bring to the boil. Turn down to the lowest heat, cover and leave to simmer for about 30-40 minutes until the water is absorbed. Turn off the heat and set aside.
2. In a small jug, mix the peanut butter with the yogurt and hot stock. Set aside.
3. Put a large pan on medium heat and add the oil, followed by the pepper, peas and mushrooms. Mix in the rice.
4. Pour in the peanut butter stock and turn down to a simmer. Carefully stir in the spinach, then cover the pan and leave to cook for about 15 minutes.
5. In the last 5 minutes, stir through the cashew nuts, or, if preferred, take the pan off the heat first and stir the nuts through just before serving.

Salmon and Chive Wholegrain Risotto

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Serves 2:

150g wholegrain rice
25g butter
350ml hot veggie stock
100ml white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
200g tinned salmon (go on, cheat, I did)
100g frozen peas
Large handful of fresh chives, finely chopped

1. Put a pan on medium heat. Drop in the butter with the uncooked rice and stir for a minute or so to coat well.
2. Pour in the entire stock and white wine vinegar and bring to the boil (yes I do it the lazy way).
3. Turn down to a low simmer and leave for about 40 minutes.
4. Carefully tip in the garlic, salmon and peas. Leave to simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. In the last 5 minutes, just as the liquid is pretty much absorbed, stir through the chives. Take the pan off the heat and leave to sit for 5 minutes before dishing up.
Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Single Serving Prawn and Coriander Quiche

Don't let the little dishes fool you.

When I had some pastry to use up, I figured it was enough to make two mini pies of some sort. I also happened to have some prawns in the fridge, so decided to make a couple of individual quiches. Perfect, I thought, little starter pies to stretch your stomach in prep for a main course.

Luckily, I hadn't actually prepared any dinner to follow this, because after eating one, I was mighty full. Yes, Hungry Jenny no longer hungry!

(Having said that, I should point out that the leftover pastry was from a batch of tarts I was making, which I had been er, munching on in the interim.)

Despite that though, these quiches would make a good light(ish) lunch - served with a bit of side salad - or in my case below, a random bit of extra coriander because I had no salad ingredients to hand!

Single Serving Prawn and Coriander Quiche

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Makes 4 (using 3.5" ramekin dishes):

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g cold butter, diced
Some ice cold water
OR 300g shortcrust pastry

200g cooked prawns
50g onion, finely chopped
Juice and zest of 1 small lemon
Good handful of fresh coriander, chopped
200g double cream
1 egg

If using premade pastry, go straight to step 2.

1. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt. Rub in the butter to breadcrumb mixture. Add a little cold water and knead into a dough, adding more water if needed. Wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cut out 4 circles to line the base and sides of 4 individual ramekin dishes.
3. Cover with foil and fill the holes with baking beads. Bake blind for about 12-15 minutes until lightly golden. Allow to cool.
4. Whack the oven back on to 190 degrees C. Mix the prawns with the onion, lemon juice and zest in a large bowl. Carefully stir in the fresh coriander.
5. Spoon the prawn mixture equally into the 4 ramekins. In another bowl, beat the egg with the double cream, then carefully pour into each ramekin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the filling is set.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.

Other seafood recipes you might enjoy. Continue reading this post..

Hungry Jenny Faux Pas: Gummy Pear Squares

With a name like that and an image like this, it's surely a winning combo?

Yes, I'm being heavily sarcastic of course.

To be fair, this is one of those things that went into the oven intended as one thing, and came out as something else. In a sort of good way. I guess.

So the idea was to create a pear and coconut traybake-style cake, minus butter and sugar. The first assumption I made was that the presence of coconut would offset the tartness of the pear. Wrong.

The second assumption was that the amount of flour to use could easily be guesstimated by tipping into a bowl of mushed pear, until it looked 'about right'. So wrong.

Finally, I thought that extra pear into the mix of pulped pear (acting as the 'fat') would result in a lovely moist cake. Well, not wrong in this case, but not in a good way.

The result of these assumptions? A rather soggy, overly tart batch of gummy pear squares.

After a few tastings though, I realised that aside from the soggy bottoms, what in actual fact had been created was a passable flapjack (minus the oats). It has that moist yet dense kind of texture to it, that you get with buttery flapjacks.

And despite all of this, they got lapped up by the Hungry Aikido guys, so they were edible! Just er, not quite a finished recipe to be able to share properly...

More successful cakes you should have better luck with.

Fancy a laugh at my other Hungry-Jenny-Faux-Pas? Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Porky Tikka Pie

An individual keep-your-paws-off-it's-my tikka masala in pie form?

Ah, go on then!

This was intended to be a large sharing pie – in a big-ass pie dish plonked in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves to. But as the recipe took form in my mind, I started thinking about what it'd actually look like. A big bubbling dish with yellow mashed potato on top – and no matter how hard I might try, it'd then be scooped out and slapped onto a plate in the most unpresentable fashion. Hm.

So I figured the safest option would be to contain the porky tikka within individual pie dishes instead. The best thing about this - aside from avoiding any arguments about who gets the biggest portion – is that the pie will stay lovely and hot as you eat it.

And yes, individual pies like this lend themselves to having a bit on the side – but don't go overboard – a couple of strips of naan bread should do it. Just perfect to scrape your pie bowl clean afterwards too!

Porky Tikka Pie

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Serves 4 (using individual pie dishes, approx 350ml):

600g pork loin steak, cubed
2 tbsp garam masala
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp grated ginger
4 grated garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
500g tomatoes, cubed
150g mushrooms, sliced
100g onion, diced
2 tbsp tomato puree
4 tbsp flaked almonds
Handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

800g potato, chopped
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp turmeric
100ml milk

1.Mix together the garam masala, paprika, ginger, garlic and oil in a large bowl. Add the cubed pork, mix well and leave for 15 minutes.
2.Put the potato in a pan of water with a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer for 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Drain and set aside.
3.Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. In a large pan on medium heat, add the marinaded pork to brown for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms and onion, stirring everything together well.
4.Turn the heat down, and add the tomato puree and almonds. Leave to simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and again. Take off the heat and stir in the coriander. Transfer the filling into four individual pie dishes (350ml).
5.Add the turmeric and milk to your potato pan. Mash together well, then spoon evenly atop each pie dish. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the potato starts to go crispy on top.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.

Other porky recipes you might like. Continue reading this post..

Peanut Butter and Banana Cinnamon Buns

Ok, so these may not be the prettiest buns – I mean, if you're honest, you'll agree that they look a bit crusty.

But these buns are softer than they look (the sappy souls) and you'll forgive their questionable appearance as soon as you sink your teeth into them.

These are fairly small, because they are yeast-free with only baking powder added to make them rise. But don't let that fool you - these are quite bulky dudes and er on the good side of stodge.

The other good news with this is that they don't take too long to make. The not-so-good news is that they don't come out looking that impressive.

Maybe I'm being harsh – because the peanut butter, banana and cinnamon filling is, as you'd expect, a winner. Nothing new there, you can't go wrong with a combo of those three. But I'm going to keep experimenting with this one I think, to get them looking as good as they taste. If you remember my Peanut Butter Wrong'uns, you might hopefully see today's buns as a small positive step forward from that!

Peanut Butter and Banana Cinnamon Buns

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Makes 8:

300g plain flour
50g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
150ml double cream
3 tbsp peanut butter
200g banana, mashed
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl with the sugar and baking powder.
2. Make a well and add half of the cream. Use a spatula to start folding the mixture together. Make another well, then add in the remaining cream. Get in their with your hands to fold and bring the mixture together into a dough.
3. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle onto a floured surface.
4. Spread over the peanut butter evenly, followed by the mashed banana. Sprinkle over the cinnamon.
5. Taking a long edge, carefully roll the dough into a tight log. Slice into 8 pieces, then transfer to a baking tray, cut side up. Bake for 25-30 minutes until puffed and brown.
Continue reading this post..

DIY KFC (kind of)

Mm, now THIS has been a long time coming. Do-it-yourself KFC...

There's a bit of a disclaimer that needs to come with this though.

Now, I often opt out of fast food and find it interesting to experiment with ways to Say No to Takeaway. There are plenty of ways to make healthier versions at home, and not too strenuous either. But DIY KFC does not fall within this category, no.

There is absolutely no way in which I would endorse substituting KFC – it's just too (finger-licking) good. Something that I'd say hell yeah - bring on the Bucket - when a craving comes along.

For a long time though, I've always wanted to try making some version at home, just to see what it'd be like. Not by trying to hunt down the secret 11 spices that the Colonel uses for the wonder chicken, might I stress. Although, there was a moment when I contemplated throwing together 11 random spices/herbs from my cupboard to see what it'd create. Which I imagined to be a Disaster so I quickly moved on from that idea!

So I tried to keep it fairly simple – having said that, I also thought that by baking instead of frying, it'd be a little easier. But I'm still trying to get used to my new oven, and am finding the fan quite a bugger to contend with. It's proving tricky to cook things evenly and I'm constantly having to compensate for it cooking things too quickly (ie burning on outside, not cooking inside).

Needless to say, it came out all right, you know – yes, it looks a bit charred, but it was indeed very tasty, with gorgeously crispy skin too. But NOT a substitute for real KFC, got that?

DIY KFC (kind of)

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Serves 4:

8 chicken drumsticks/thighs
6 tbsp smoked paprika
3 tbsp oregano
3 tbsp rosemary
3 tbsp cornflour
1 egg
1kg potato, chopped into medium wedges
Pinch of salt
Splash of olive oil

1. Put the chopped wedges into a pan of water with the salt and bring to the boil. Turn down to simmer for about 5 minutes, just til they are partially cooked. Drain and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. On a dinner plate, mix together the paprika, oregano, rosemary and cornflour. In a wide bowl, lightly beat the egg.
3. Roll a piece of chicken into the paprika mix, then dip into the egg on each side, before rolling into the paprika mix again. Transfer to a lined baking tray. Repeat for all the chicken pieces.
4. Add the partially cooked potatoes to another baking tray. Bake the chicken and potatoes for about 30 minutes, turning the chicken once halfway. The chicken skin will crisp nicely and it is done when you can stick in a fork and the juices run clear.

Serve with piping hot baked beans and some cheeky coleslaw if desired!

Psst, if either the chicken or the potatoes start to brown too quickly, cover with foil so that they continue to cook without burning ; - )

Other chickeny recipes you might enjoy. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Turkey and Tomato Soup Pies

In the same way that a picture is worth a thousand words, there are some words that er, lend themselves to further explanation through pictures.

Take 'Turkey and Tomato Soup Pies'.

Sounds a little bit odd, right? Are you imagining a pool of tomato soup with turkey bits floating in it? With soggy pastry trying to hold it together underneath? What the devil is this meant to pie inside?

Well, I hate to disappoint you, but in my Hungry haste to dish up and eat, I er, forgot to take a photo of the filling. Now it wasn't just my lardy Hungriness to blame of course. My sister, Hungrier Jemma, and fiance Steven, were down and I was preparing lunch for their arrival.

It was their first visit to my new place, so when they turned up, after a long drive, they were tired, in-need-of-loo and hungry - but all the while still perky in wanting to look around the new house.

Going into multiple task mode, I hurriedly tried to finish off baking lunch, helping to bring stuff in, setting the table, quickly showing them the house, finally trying to get them settled and sit down at my makeshift kitchen table.

Hmm, and that's how the photo-taking got overlooked I'm afraid. (It's just a miracle I didn't accidentally burn anything in the process.)

So, if you're still wondering what these pies look like on the inside, you'll just have to try them out... ;-)

Turkey and Tomato Soup Pies

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Makes 12:

300g plain flour
Pinch of salt
150g cold butter, diced
Some ice cold water
OR
500g shortcrust pastry

350g turkey mince
3 star anise, immensely crushed
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
75g broccoli
50g onion
300g tomato soup, mixed with 1 tbsp cornflour

1 lightly beaten egg

If using premade pastry, go straight to step 2.

1. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt. Rub in the butter to breadcrumb mixture. Add a little cold water and knead into a dough, adding more water if needed. Wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
2. Put the turkey in a bowl with the crushed star anise, soy sauce and honey. Set aside and leave to marinade.
3. Cut a third off your dough and set aside. Roll out the larger piece onto a floured surface, and cut out 12 rounds about 4" in size. Transfer to line a 12-hole muffin tray.
4. Roll out the remaining third of pastry and cut out 12 rounds about 2.5" in size. Gently place these on top of the pastry bases, then stick the tray in the fridge.
5. Add the oil to a pan, then add in the marinaded turkey to brown, for a few minutes, followed by the broccoli and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat.
6. Turn the heat down low and pour in the cornfloured tomato soup. Allow to simmer for 7-10 minutes. Take off the heat and allow to cool.
7. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Take out your pastry tray and remove the loose pastry lids. Spoon the turkey tomato soup mixture evenly into each pastry base.
8. Top each pie with a pastry lid, using a fork to crimp the edges together. Brush with the beaten egg, then bake for about half an hour until the pastry is nice and golden.

The list of ingredients and recipe steps looks long, I know, but don't let that put you off. Lots of yummy noises were being made by Hungrier Jemma and Steven which believe me is a good sign that these are worth the effort to make!

Pie out.

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

Moving-in Muffins (The Banana and Nutmeg Kind)

It's all been a bit manic recently. I've taken a Grown-Up Step of buying a house and so the last few months have been quite a whirlwind trying to sort stuff out and trying to be all sensible.

Hey, I didn't order a Thomas the Tank Engine removals van on purpose!

I assumed this was a clever marketing ploy, but it was a happy accident - Barry the vanman (a shame his name wasn't Thomas) explained how he had to buy a new van on the cheap a while back. The one he found just happened to be an old Butlins one - hence the cartoons - and he just never got round to changing them!

Anyway...onto the Moving-in Muffins. Now, you might remember that the last time I moved house (only last Nov), I had a slight issue adjusting myself to work with a different oven.

So needless to say, I was a bit nervous about trying another oven for the first time...

It took a while to figure out how to switch the damn thing on properly to begin with - it was just blasting out cold air for about 15 minutes before I noticed.

I was already in a state of panic by this point because I had already prepared a muffin mixture and thought the oven was happily preheating all along.

The reason I was panicking was because I was about to break a Cardinal Rule of Baking Muffins - by not putting them in straight after mixing.

When you mix muffin batter, you generally mix the wet into the dry on the last step, and you do this to activate the the leavening in the baking powder (or bicarb of soda), which reacts with liquid. If you leave this too long, then apparently they won't rise as much.

So with the muffin batter sitting forlornly in its tray, and me staring at the oven, willing it to preheat fast, I stuck them in after 10 minutes and hoped for the best.

I kept a watchful eye on them for a full 15-20 minutes - I was not going to let my first batch of new house muffins die. I had chosen to create a wee batch of simple muffins, using stuff I already had, so as not to waste ingredients if they did go wrong. (It's only sensible to prepare for failure where possible).

Miraculously, they survived well!

Banana and Nutmeg Muffins (butter free)

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Makes 6:

150g overripe banana + 6 slices to decorate
1 egg, lightly beaten
125ml skimmed milk
3 tbsp olive oil
150g plain flour
50g sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tbsp baking powder

1) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Mash the banana in a bowl with the beaten egg, milk and olive oil.
2) In another bowl, sift in the flour, sugar, nutmeg and baking powder.
3) Pour in the banana mixture, and fold until just mixed.
4) Transfer to 6 lined muffin cases, about 3/4 full. Top with a banana slice and bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and lightly golden.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here.

Other butter free baking recipes that might take your fancy. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Crumbly Apple Pie Bites

This comes with a Pie Warning.

These dainty Crumbly Apple Pie Bites are a fairly healthy sweet pie option. Inside they are basically mini apple pies minus the added sugar, and on the outside, a butter-free pastry case with heart-friendly olive oil and rolled oats.

What this also poses though is an etiquette issue. The crumbly casing holds fairly well, but does need to be handled oh-so-carefully.

It's funny because I shared these with the Hungry Aikido guys, who took it upon themselves to employ different ways to tackle these pie bites:

1. One immediately shoved the whole thing in his mouth, to save any crumble being wasted. (Of course, this meant he was unable to speak for the next few minutes whilst chewing and swallowing the whole thing.)

2. Another was a little oblivious to the delicate nature of the pie, and simply chomped his way through, unaware of the litter of crumbs gathering about his chin and upper lip. A simple wipe with the back of the sleeve and gone. Classy.

3. The final approach was more of a delicate one - picking it up with thumb and forefinger, bringing up the other hand under the mouth as a plate, and biting into it timidly.

I have to say, it was a little odd to watch a Hungry Aikido guy do something in such a refined way, but yes, the third option is the way I propose you eat them.

On reflection, I don't know why I thought it'd be a good idea to share these with the Hungry Aikido guys - I'm sorry, but these pie bites don't survive well under heavy hands!

Crumbly Apple Pie Bites

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Makes 6:

125g sweet apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 tbsp honey
50g ground almonds + 1.5 tbsp (for crust)

75g plain flour
50g rolled oats
4 tbsp olive oil

1) Put the chopped apple in a pan with the honey, and add a little water until the apple is just covered.
2) Gently bring to the boil, then leave to simmer on a low heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every now and again, until it reduces to a puree. Take off the heat and leave to cool completely. Mix in the 50g almonds.
3) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
4) Sift the flour into a large bowl with the oats, and remaining 1.5 tbsp of almonds. Add the oil and mix it altogether well until it starts to clump together.
5) Use your hands to roll the mixture into 6 small balls, and press into the sides and base of a greased cupcake tray.
6) Spoon in the apple puree mixture into the crumble crusts. You can top with a little extra ground almonds here if you like. Bake for about 12-15 minutes until they just start to brown. Allow to cool before removing and eating!

Pie out.

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

Lemon Coconut Cookies (butter, flour, sugar and egg free)

When you hear of a cookie that is free of butter, flour, sugar and egg, your initial reaction might be - well, what the devil is in it?

Well fear not, my cookie-loving friends, for this is not a cookie that simply tastes of air.

This is a coconut variation of a batch of Lemon Oat Cookies I made about a year ago.

These Lemon Coconut Cookies contain quite alot of coconut (surprise!), and have a kind of macaroon feel to them. I have to warn you though that they are very, very easy to overdo and burn!

They only need about 8-10 minutes in the oven at a low temperature, and as an extra precaution, it's best to cover with a bit of foil or baking parchment/paper.

(I didn't burn mine at all to begin with, honest...)

It's also worth pointing out that these will still be fairly soft when you take them out the oven. So don't leave them in there too long, thinking they need to 'set'.

Yes, they are still fairly delicate and will softly crumble in your mouth as you eat them, but that is the delicious beauty of them :-)

Lemon Coconut Cookies (butter, flour, sugar and egg free)

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Makes about 15 cookies:

200g banana, mashed
150g dessicated coconut
75g rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
25ml olive oil
Juice and zest of half a lemon + extra zest to top the cookies
1 tsp vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
2) Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, bar the extra zest, until the mixture is all wet and starts to clump together.
3) Shape 15 rounds, about 1.5" in size and transfer to a nonstick baking tray. Top each with the extra zest to decorate.
4) Loosely cover the tray with foil, then bake for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

Other healthy baking recipes you might enjoy. Continue reading this post..