Pita Pockets

Last week a few members of the group put their computer literacy skills to the test by being in charge of using the Come Dine With Us laptop to find healthy recipes that could be made at the club.

They found this fantastic low calorie starter, which is bursting with flavour and incorporates lots of nutritious ingredients.

As the group have proven to be brilliant bread makers (See previous blog entry Baking bread) they decided to make their own Pita breads for this dish.

Firstly for the actual Pita Breads we used:


Preparing the Dough



1/2 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Tsp Yeast
1 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Oil
A little Water

Combine all the ingredients except the oil, using enough water to create a soft dough. then add the oil and knead.

Then cover and leave to prove for about 15 minutes, the group were impressed that the dough doubled in size during this time.

Then  press the dough lightly to remove the air bubbles.

Divide the dough to 3 equal portions and roll out into a circular shape which is about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Then heat a griddle on a medium heat and cook the Pita's for a minute on each side until a cavity forms in the breads.

Then cut in half and leave to cool while you prepare the filling and the dressing.


The Filling:

                                                                 1 Cup of Cooked Chickpeas- We used Tinned.


Blending the Ingredients

 3 Tbsp of chopped Parsley
1 Tbsp of chopped onion
1 Tbsp of chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp Low Fat Yoghurt
1 Tsp White Pepper
1 Tbsp of Lemon Juice
A pinch of Salt

Combine the Chickpeas, parsley, onions and garlic in a mixer and blend to a smooth paste.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the Yoghurt, pepper, salt and lemon juice and mix well.

Then divide the filling into 6 equal portions and keep aside.

The Dressing
1 Slice of Whole meal Bread
1/3 Cup of Yoghurt
1/4 Tsp Sugar
3/4 Tsp Oil
A Pinch of Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Mustard Powder
1/2 Tbsp Parsley
A pinch of Salt

Combine the Bread, yoghurt, sugar and oil and blend in a mixer to a smooth paste.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the pepper, mustard powder, parsley and salt and mix well.



Using a slicer to chop the carrots...



Divide it into 6 equal portions and keep aside.

Garnish:

Cabbage Leaves

Grated Carrot

Grated Cucumber



...and cucumber



Putting your Pita's Pockets Together:

Just before serving, arrange a few cabbage leaves evenly in a pita bread and stuff it with a portion of the filling.

Place a little carrot and cucumber on top followed by a portion of the dressing.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 5 more pita pockets.

 The homemade pita's were great and well worth making from scratch and the flavours of the filling and the dressing worked really well together.

The group thought that this made a colourful and wholesome lunch. As a group we discussed how it was a great vegetarian option as the chickpeas are a good source of protein and carbohydrates, providing us with lots of energy for the day.





Lime and Raspberry Fool

Due to the success of the mango and passion fruit fool we made previously we decided to make a lime and raspberry variation.

They are so easy to make and can be prepared up to a day in advance and left in the fridge until you need them.

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

200ml Greek Yoghurt
1 Tbsp of Caster Sugar
3 Tbsp Lime Juice
Zest of one Lemon
A Few Raspberries to place on top of the Fool.


Firstly zest the Lime and juice them - For three tablespoons of lime juice you will probably need 3 limes.

Then mix the caster sugar, Greek yoghurt, lime juice and zest together until smooth.

Then spoon into individual dishes and place a few raspberries on top of each one and chill in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.

Then serve.

A simple and fresh spring/summer dessert.

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

Risotto is a great one pan dish with loads of flavour and you can practically add in anything you want.

This recipe is really useful if you have leftover chicken from a Sunday roast; its an exciting way to use up the leftovers a make a completely new meal!

Ingredients:
50g Butter
1 Onion
250g Mushroom
300g Risotto Rice
1 Glass Of White Wine
1.5 Litres Of Hot Chicken Stock
200g Cooked Chicken
Parsley
50g Parmesan


Firstly prepare the ingredients by chopping the onion, mushroom and chicken; we used fresh chicken but leftover chicken works just as well- if not better!

Then in a flat plan melt half the butter and add the onions and then the mushrooms. After a couple of minutes add the rice and stir until the rice is coated in the butter.

Keep stirring for a few minutes and add in the glass of wine and while continually stirring add the stock a ladle at a time and let the rice absorb each ladle of stock before adding more - this should take about 25 minutes.

When you add the final ladle of stock add in the chicken to heat through. Add a handful of parsley, the parmesan and the rest of the butter to make the risotto creamy.

Leave it to rest for a couple of minutes before giving it a stir and serving.

This was a great dish and the whole group really enjoyed the flavours and the process of watching the risotto come together in the pan.

Feel free to add whatever vegetables you want to this dish and make it your own with whatever you have left over in the fridge. For example use up the last bit of bacon by adding it in when cooking the onions, or throw in some peas or sweetcorn to add some colour. 

We hope you enjoy the risotto as much as we did.

Spring Minestrone Soup

The group took this recipe from a great book from the BBC GoodFood collection - Budget Food.

It is a great collection of simple cook books which gather up recipes for different occasions from one pot dishes to healthy meals.

For the Spring Minestrone Soup you will need:


200g Green vegetables - We used Asparagus, Spring onions and mange tout.
700ml Vegetable Stock
140g Cooked Pasta- We used chopped up spaghetti.
200g Butter Beans
3 Tbsp Green Pesto
Salt and Pepper

Firstly roughly chop all the green vegetables and cook the Spaghetti.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and cook the green vegetables for a couple of minutes.

Add the vegetables stock and tinned butter beans and allow to cook through for a few minutes.

Stir in the cooked pasta and green pesto and season with salt and pepper.

The group did enjoy the freshness of this soup however did comment that next time they would add some chilli to add an extra kick of flavour.

Ginger Cake

A few members of the group regularly buy ginger cake from the supermarket and wanted to know how to make it from scratch, so here is our version of this old favourite.

60g Butter

100g Golden Syrup

100g Plain Flour

25g Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Bicarbonate Soda

1 Heaped Tsp of Ground Ginger

1/2 Tsp Mixed Spice

100g Caster Sugar

125ml Milk

1 Egg

Pinch of Salt

Pre heat Oven to 170 degrees and grease two circular cake tins or one loaf tin.

Melt the butter over a low heat and add golden syrup until smooth then take off the heat.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate soda, ginger and mixed spice into a large bowl. Add the caster sugar and salt and stir this together.

Beat the egg and add this and the milk to the flour mix and stir until smooth. Then slowly pour in the butter and golden syrup stirring continuously. 

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 20-30 mins if using shallow cake tins or 45-50 minutes if using deep loaf tin. The cake should be golden brown and firm to the touch.

Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool.

Beef Bourguignon with Crushed Baby Potatoes

The group decided to make this french classic after seeing the Recipe on BBC goodfood by Gordon Ramsay.

We may have made a few changes so here is our variation.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

1 Tbsp Olive oil

600g Shin Beef

100g Streaky Bacon

350g Shallots

3 Garlic Cloves

250g Mushrooms

Rosemary

Thyme

Parsley

750ml of a Red Wine (Burgundy is good)

Firstly chop up the beef into bite size pieces, slice the bacon, quarter the challots, crush the garlic and roughly chop the mushrooms.

Heat up a large pan or casserole dish and add a glug of olive oil. Then fry the beef for a few minutes until brown and set aside.

In the same pan fry off the onions, mushrooms and streaky bacon.





Add the rosemary, thyme and parsley and add the beef back to the pan.

Pour in the wine and about 100ml of water until the ingredients are mostly covered.

Then let this simmer on the hob or put the dish in the oven at 150 degrees for about 3 hours.

We boiled some baby potatoes and lightly crushed them to serve with the Bourguignon.

The group really enjoyed this meal, it had a lovely depth of flavour and was the perfect warming meal   on a cold day.

Mango and Passion Fruit Fool

This is a light dessert full of flavour and nutritious fruits. This is a fantastic spring/summer dessert and can be prepared and chilled in advance so makes a great dinner party or BBQ treat.

Here's what you will need for one dessert:

1 Mango
1/2 a Passion Fruit
1 tsp Orange Zest
1tsp Orange Juice
75g of Low Fat Greek Yoghurt


    First remove the flesh of the mango and blend until smooth.


Halve the passion fruit and remove the seeds.

Zest and juice the orange.

Then mix the mango puree, orange juice and zest and greek yoghurt together.




Pour the mixture into individual dishes and place the passion fruit on top of the fool.

Then chill for at least 45 minutes and serve when ready.

The group really enjoyed this dessert and were surprised how good it tasted without any added sugar and all natural ingredients.

Finding some exciting recipes for next week!

Chicken Kebabs with Coconut Rice

Chicken Kebabs are really easy to make and you can incorporate loads of different vegetables depending on what flavours you prefer.

We used:

Chicken

Red Peppers

Green Peppers

Yellow Peppers

Onion

Wooden Skewers

And for a dressing for the kebabs:

Garlic

Olive oil

Soya Sauce

Balsamic Vinegar

First of all soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 45 minutes so they do not burn in the oven.

First we chopped all the vegetables and chicken into similar size bite size pieces ready for the skewers.

Then everybody prepared they're own two skewers in which ever way they wanted.

For the dressing we crushed a few cloves of garlic and mixed the olive oil, soya sauce and Balsamic vinegar together, then poured this mixture over the Kebabs.

Cook these in the oven or under the grill for 20-25 minutes

The coconut rice is easy to prepare and makes a change from plain boiled rice. 

When cooking the rice just add in a tin of coconut milk and a couple of tbsp's of shredded coconut and boil until the rice is cooked through.

Baking Bread

We decided to make our own bread rolls for our starter, however bread can take a long time to prepare so we found this recipe, which claims we can make bread rolls quickly!

Here's how we did it:

Ingredients:

2 Packets Fast acting Yeast
500 g of Strong Flour
225ml Milk
110ml Boiling Water
110g Butter (room temperature)
1 Tsp sugar
1 Tsp salt


First we mixed the milk, hot water, sugar, yeast and butter together until the yeast has dissolved. We then left this to stand while we sieved the flour and salt into a separate bowl.

We then added the combined the two mixtures and began to kneed.



Kneed the bread until smooth and stretchy.




We put the dough in a bowl and covered with cling film and left it to rise for 15 minutes.

We then separated and shaped the dough into rolls and placed them into greased cake tins, covered with cling film and left to stand for a further 15 minutes.

Then bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes or until Golden brown.


The rolls turned out great, they were soft and fluffy and great for a starter.