Posted in Snacks, Veggies, tagged Bell peppers, Cottage Cheese, Food, Healthy bites, Olives on October 27, 2012 |
Now who doesn’t like snacking, how about a healthy little bite with crunch to keep the hunger at bay until your next meal.
Try this Bell pepper and smooth Cottage Cheese with Olives. I’ve used Jalapeno and Cheese flavoured low fat Cottage cheese for some added flavour but you can also use Hummus instead.
Simply cut a red, yellow and green pepper into fingers and top with a dollop of Cottage cheese, place an Olive on top and voila!
Posted in Chocolate, Party Snacks, Snacks, tagged 70 % dark chocolate, anti oxidants, Chocolate almond stars, diet snacks, double boiler, Food, healthy snacks, melted chocolate, natural anti depressant, raw almonds, recipes, snacks on July 24, 2012 | 13 Comments »
70% dark chocolate and raw almonds, both extremely good for you!
Your 70 % dark chocolate is off course not your kiddies chocolate loaded with sugar and milk, rather think of it as a natural anti-depressant full of anti oxidants.
So why not combine the two for a delicious little super snack.
I had some left over dark chocolate (I KNOW! who’s got left over chocolate in their pantry, right???)Well these things happens in my house since my husband is a diabetic and I would rather sell my soul for something salty…thinking salty cracks, yum!
I basically used left overs so off course I didn’t really bother to measure anything. So please use the quantities below with the knowledge that you might actually have left overs! lol.
Promise next time I make a batch I will write it down and amend my recipe!
+- 150 g 70 % dark chocolate
+- 100 g raw almonds
Cooking spray
Roughly chop the chocolate and melt it in a double boiler. In the meantime spray a cookie sheet with Cooking spray. Use four nuts placing them in a star shape. It works best if you place all the top points facing each other. This requires a little patience, so be patient!
Drizzle a teaspoon of the melted chocolate over each star. Set in the fridge for 10 minutes and transfer to an air tight container.
No go on, have one or two or three…don’t have more than 3 if you are on a diet!
Posted in Snacks, tagged cashew nuts, cocoa powder, Food, healthy energy bars, healthy recipes, healthy snacking, lunch box treats, natural sweetness, pitted dates, raw almonds, recipes on July 22, 2012 | 7 Comments »
I firmly believe that one should have a little treat while on any diet or healthy eating program.
Why? Because we are human and we humans like sweet chocolate things! That’s it.
This is a great lunch box treat and it also qualifies for that chocolate graving attacks that sneaks up on you after eight at night just before bedtime, and that’s normally the time that my mind and body is divided in thought. If you ever had to talk yourself out of a slice of toast before bedtime you would understand what I mean!
I love this recipe because it contains all healthy ingredients, no sugar, just the natural sweetness of the dates and a crunchy bite from the nuts.
I have successfully halved the recipe since pitted dates only come in 250 g packets and because our family only consists of 3 minus the grumpy one that doesn’t have a sweet tooth at all!
Recipe
300 g moist pitted dates – roughly chopped
250 g Cashew nuts
100 g Raw Almonds
50 g Cocoa Powder
a Pinch of Salt
2 – 3 tbs cold water
Spray a cookie sheet/tray with a non-stick spray.
Pulse the chopped dates, nuts, cocoa powder and salt in a food processor and process until the texture is coarse.
Add a little water at time until it forms a dough ball in the food processor. The consistency should still be fairly dry. Press into the pan and cut into squares. Chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator. Keep bars chilled in an airtight container.
Tips
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Add 50 g of desiccated coconut to the mixture.
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Posted in Snacks, Tarts, Veggies, tagged asparagus, egg custard, Food, healthy recipe, recipes, Savory tart, spinach on March 23, 2012 | 8 Comments »
This is the quickest savoury tart that you will ever make! Great for lunch and even greater when you have unexpected quest.
It’s great for the children’s lunch boxes and sophisticated enough when cut it into bite size diamond shapes top with a dollop of mustard and served on your best plates.
175 g Spinach chopped
1 small onion diced
1 punnet button mushrooms
3 rashers of bacon (cut into strips)
1 tin of white asparagus drained
250 ml Cheddar cheese grated
Egg Custard
150 ml Milk
2 eggs
30 ml flour
3 ml salt
2 ml pepper
5 ml mustard
Olive oil for frying
Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a small pie dish.Fry the onions in the olive oil and fry until translucent. Add the mushrooms and bacon to the onions and fry for another minute or two. Ad the spinach to the pan and fry for 3 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Place ingredients for filling into the pie dish. lay the asparagus over the spinach filling.
Add all the ingredients for the custard together in a separate bowl or a measuring jug and whisk.
Pour the mixture over the spinach filling and top with the grated cheese. Bake for +- 30-35 minutes until set and golden brown.
Enjoy hot or cold.
Posted in Curries, Meat, Party Snacks, Snacks, tagged Curry, Food, healthy snacks, Meat, oat bran, protein, protein snack, recipes, South African Recipes on January 11, 2012 | 22 Comments »
Bobotie is a South African Dish consisting of spiced mince meat and dried fruit baked with an egg-based topping. It is also made with curry powder leaving it with destinct taste.
This is a healthier version and baked indivudiually, great for a late afternoon protein snack, kids luncboxes or as a party bite.
I’v made it specially for supper served with a fresh tomato and onion sambal, rice and beet salad. All left overs was used as protein snacks later in the week.
Makes 24 Bobotie bites
Each bobotie bite equals 1 protein
Ingredients
1 Medium onion finely chopped
10 ml dried mixed herbs
15 ml Curry powder
5 ml Turmeric
2.5 ml Salt
30 ml Oat bran
15 ml Worcestersauce
30 ml Chutney
50 g Dried Sultanas
3 Large eggs
500g Beef mince meat
310 ml Fat free or low fat milk
Extra pince of Turmeric
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees and spray or grease two muffin pans lightly with a non-stick spray or oil.
Mix the Onions, all spices, Oatbran, Worcestersauce, Chutneay, Sultanas and 2 x eggs in a mixing bowl.
Mix the Mince meat in and add +- a Tablespoon of the meat mixture in the muffin pans.
Mix the milk and the remaining egg with a pinc of Turmeric and spoon the milk mixture over the mince mixture.
Optional - Add a bay leave on each of the bobotie bites.
Bake for +- 30 minutes until done. Remove from oven and let the bobotie bites set before removing from the pan.
Tips
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If you don’t like Sultanas replace it with one peeled and finely grated apple.
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Posted in Carbohydrates, Snacks, tagged corn, Food, Fritters, new years resolution, recipes, South African Recipes, starch on January 9, 2012 | 5 Comments »
There is something about a the New Year that makes you feel refreshed and hopeful for the future, even if you haven’t been on holiday during December. Some people have New Years resolution, while other swear to never make them again, however said the New Year brings new expectations, new dreams and new hopes.
Off course my New Years resolution remains the same as every other year, to be fitter than the previous year, to eat more healthier and to have balance in my life.
A food tradition from South America is to eat Corn Bread to attract new-found wealth in the new year. This tradition stems from the golden color of corn bread resembling real gold! So make sure you have enough corn, also try this healthy microwave corn bread from a previous post
Ingredients
1 x 410g tin Sweetcorn
80ml Flour
10 ml Baking powder
80 ml oatbran
1 Egg (beaten)
5ml Canola oil for frying / non -stick spray
Place Sweetcorn in a mixing bowl.
Sift the baking powder and flour over the sweetcorn, add the oatbran and egg and mix.
Heat the oil in the pan or spray with a non-stick spray.
Add spoonfulls of the batter in the pan and fry on both sides.
Enjoy hot or cold.
Tips
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Note that you only use a little oil which makes this fritters really low in fat.
This fritters is moist enough to enjoy without butter, enjoy with a stingy spreading of jam or havet it as an alternative starch portion for lunch or supper.
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One fritter equals 1/2 a starch portion
Posted in Snacks, Tarts, Veggies, tagged Cheese and Veggie tart, cooking, Food, heatlhy, homemade, recipe, tart, veggie tart on September 19, 2011 | 5 Comments »
So I’ve cheated with 6 slices of ham in this recipe. In my defense it was not on purpose. I’ve opened the fridge and there it was! I realized it is Saturday and no one is having sandwiches over the weekend. So my conscious told me to add it to the Veggie tart instead. It was either in the tart or to the dog, and no matter how much I adore my dog I was sure as not going to give him the ham, maybe if it was Christmas morning but not on a September afternoon, such action would qualify as “spoiling the dog”.
Anyway, this tart don’t need ham or any other meat, it is really good on its own. At first I thought there is too little moisture in this recipe but something magical happens between the natural juices of the veggies and the cream cheese.
Recipe
3 extra-large eggs
200 g fat-free cottage cheese (1 tub) smooth or chunky
5 ml parmesan cheese, grated
1 garlic glove chopped
Freshly ground pepper to taste
500 g Fresh or frozen veggies of your choice
For this recipe I’ve used:
1/2 onion finely sliced and 1/2 punnet of chopped brown mushrooms.
1/2 bunch of spinach chopped finely, 1 grated carrot, 2 grated courgettes.
60 g Mozzarella / Matured Cheddar cheese.
1 tsp Robertson’s veggie spices (optional)
2.5 ml Paprika
2.5 ml Salt
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees. Spray a pie dish with non stick spray.
Saute’ the onions and mushrooms in olive oil, add the veggie spice and salt.
Mix the eggs, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic and black pepper.
Mix all of the vegetable together and add to your pie dish.
Pour egg and cottage cheese mixture over veggies and add the grated cheese evenly over the top.
Sprinkle with paprika and bake for 25-35 minutes until golden brown.
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Tips
This is a great low-fat, high protein meal.
Each portion is equal to 2 veggies, 2 lean protein portions, 1/2 low-fat dairy and 1/2 fat.
Add ham! 
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