Hi everyone, I just wanted to give you a quick update on how I am getting along with going red meat free! So for an entire month, I haven’t touched red meat, and I must say that I haven’t really missed it much! However, I have experienced some drastic changes in my body and mind!
I have lost over 2 kgs in weight (5 lbs), have gone down 2 belt notches and feel much calmer and more peaceful than I have been doing for a while, meaning that I sleep better!
Have you tried going vegetarian? How are you getting along? I’d love to hear about your experience!
As part of me going chicken-free in November, and vegetarian for December, I decided to cook fish! I looked in the freezer and found some haddock. I love how my mum cook’s haddock but it can be a bit too spicy for me, and although I love chapatti, my stomach doesn’t do well with gluten! I also bought a pack of mixed vegetables the other day and I decided to put it to good use!
I love colour in my food, and although many of the dishes turn out red because of the tomatoes, I love the mix of green and red, so always try to ensure a colourful and of course tasty dish! Ever since I began this blog, I wanted to ensure that I had a good mix of protein, fats and healthy carbs in my dishes, and this one has the macronutrients covered!
You can have this dish with rice, naan, chapatti, bread, bulgur wheat, buckwheat or anything like that but I love my quinoa so had it with that! Also, depending on how well you like your vegetables cooked, adjust the time you cook them for. I personally like them slightly crunchy, mum loves them basically mashed! Each to their own!
Heart Haddock and Quinoa Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
Hearty Haddock
250 haddock filet (2 pieces)
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic (I used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 cm ginger (I used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 green chillies (I used a bag we’d frozen before)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Red chilli powder
Small pack of mixed vegetables
½ teaspoon dried coriander
Optional: A handful of fresh or frozen coriander
2 teaspoons coconut oil
Quinoa
100 g quinoa
1 small onion
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coconut oil
200 mL filtered water
RECIPE
Hearty Haddock
In a large saucepan, add in 2 teaspoons coconut oil, 1 chopped onion, and caramelise on 3/4 heat;
Add in garlic, ginger, chilli, and cook and stir until the smell goes;
Add in 1 tin chopped tomatoes, dried coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, and cook until the water evaporates;
Add in the fish, mix, cover, and cook until all the frozen bits are cooked (unless using fresh, in which case cook until it is almost done), around 10 minutes;
Add in the mixed vegetables and cover for 10 minutes;
Continue to stir occasionally;
Check the fish and vegetables are done as you like them and add the fresh or frozen coriander as a tasty garnish;
Hearty Haddock is served!
Quinoa
In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil (put the water on to boil);
Slice and dice in the ¼ onion and stir, sauté until the onion caramelises;
Add the quinoa and stir gently for 30 seconds;
Add in the boiling water and a ¼ teaspoon of salt;
Allow the quinoa to simmer, turn the heat down to a quarter, and cover with the lid;
Check on it 3 to 5 minutes later and gently turn the quinoa over with a plastic or wooden spoon to ensure you keep your quinoa seeds in tact;
Repeat step 8 until the quinoa is cooked and all the water evaporates;
You are now ready to eat!
Heart Haddock is served!
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Eating time: 15 minutes
Serves up to 2 people
Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂
I love eggs! Free-range mind. And I eat 4 every morning for breakfast! I get my daily dose of post-gym protein and healthy fats without fail! Hard boiled, scrambled or as an omelette, I eat eggs! The omelette is ubiquitous throughout the world and comes in many different forms such as the frittata (Italian omelette) in Italy, tortilla in Spain (Spanish omelette) or the tamagoyaki in Japan (Japanese omelette).
In Gujarat, India, the birthplace of my parents, the omelette is called a pura. As you can expect, Indian omelettes are spiced up to the high heavens! If there’s no chilli, it isn’t Indian! I loved the omelettes my mum and dad made for me and sometimes mum does still make them. In our household, and I am sure many households, it is the default go-to dish when you are hungry, don’t want to make a fuss in the kitchen and enjoy a filling meal.
Now, I do love my mum’s omelettes, but they tend to leave me feeling a little hungry – must be my big appetite! So, about 3 months ago, after a big morning workout, when I felt hungry enough to eat a cow, I decided to experiment (much to the chagrin of my mother’s traditionalist attitude in the kitchen) with a tin of tuna, and half a tin of mixed vegetables, along with the regular spice, and coconut oil! Up until this point, mum was using olive oil (and vegetable or sunflower oils before that, which play havoc with my immune system) for her omelettes, even though we’d switched to coconut oil – something about frying and “proper” oil ;). Anyway, I ended up cooking a deliciously healthy, tasty, quick and easy meal, rich in protein, good fats and healthy carbs, which was rustled up in 15 mins, and eaten in about 5! You can have this omelette for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and if you reduce the ingredients, a hearty snack! Oh, and if you want to up your greens, this omelette goes perfectly with salad!
I cooked this without the half tin of mixed vegetables because it was late and I wasn’t as hungry as I am after the gym! However, don’t be scared to experiment, have a bit of fun in the kitchen and see what you can come up with!
Fishy Omelette Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
4 free range eggs
4 cloves garlic (I used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 cm ginger (I used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 green chillies (I used a bag we’d frozen before)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Red chilli powder
Optional: ½ can of mixed vegetables
1 can of tuna (remove the brine)
½ teaspoon dried corriander
1 teaspoon coconut oil
RECIPE
In a bowl, whisk up the eggs, garlic, ginger, chilli, salt, pepper, seasoning and tuna (and mixed vegetables);
Heat up a teaspoon of coconut oil in a large non-stick frying pan;
Pour the mix into the frying pan and cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, the bottom is cooked;
Turn on the solar grill to full and place the frying pan in there for about 5 minutes whilst the top of the omelette cooks. If you don’t have a solar grill and/or want to flip the omelette, good luck!
Once it cooks to your taste, place a large plate over the frying pan, carefully flip over, and you are ready to eat!
Fishy Omelette 🙂
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Eating time: 15 minutes
Serves up to 2 people
This was a meal for me, but it could easily feed 2! My rule of thumb is 2 eggs per person 🙂
Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂
In traditional Indian cuisine from the state of Gujarat, for those of us who are meat eaters, we don’t eat much by way of vegetables! As I have been trying to do throughout my blog, I want to increase the nutritional content of traditional dishes that I have grown up eating! Today it was chicken curry or chicken tikka massala again!
Broccoli and cauliflower are rich in vitamins C, B and K, and broccoli, so definitely good for your immune system at this time of year as our climate changes! Pigeon peas add some extra greens and vitamins to really give you a good helping of protein, healthy carbs, fats, fibres, vitamins and minerals!
I love my quinoa, but you can have it with whatever you wish! Mum had hers with chappati because she’s not a big fan of quinoa! More for me!
BrocCauli ChiQuin Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
BrocCauli Chicken
1 chicken breast
1 onion
50 g pigeon peas (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
4 cloves garlic (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 cm ginger (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 green chillies (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon dried coriander
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon
2 teaspoon coconut oil
Pillau Quinoa
40 g quinoa
¼ onion
2 cinnamon sticks
200 mL of filtered water, boiled.
¼ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Coconut oil
INSTRUCTIONS
BroCauli Chicken
In a large saucepan, add in 2 teaspoons coconut oil, 1 chopped onion, and caramelise on 3/4 heat;
Add in garlic, ginger, chilli, and cook and stir until the smell goes;
Add in the chicken, sliced and diced, and cook until all the pink bits are cooked.
Add in 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes, spices and seasoning, pigeon peas, and place on ½ heat and cover for 5 minutes whether ingredient are frozen or not due to moisture from the chicken;
Simmer on ¼ heat for 20 minutes and stir occasionally to mix;
Add in the cauliflower, chopped, and cover for 10 minutes;
Add in the broccoli, chopped, and cover for 10 minutes,
Continue to stir whilst the curry cooks, add water if needed;
Check the chicken and vegetables if they are done as you like them;
BrocCauli Chicken is served!
Pillau Quinoa
You can begin cooking this simultaneously with the BroCauli Chicken at point 6;
In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (put the water on to boil);
Slice and dice in the ¼ onion and stir, sauté until the onion caramelises;
Add in the boiling water, ¼ teaspoon of salt, the quinoa and stir gently;
Allow the quinoa to simmer, turn the heat down to a quarter, and cover with the lid;
Check on it 3 to 5 minutes later and gently turn the quinoa over with a plastic or wooden spoon to ensure you keep your quinoa seeds in tact;
Repeat step 8 until the quinoa is cooked and all the water evaporates;
You are now ready to eat!
BrocCauli ChiQuin
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Eating time: 15 minutes
Serves up to 2 people
I made enough just for mum and I! Mum had hers with chapatti!
Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂
As part of my little experiment to go meat free, I decided to get mum in to help me out when I decided to cook! She suggested I cook her dish Spicy Spinach, which I have enjoyed for many years. The only thing we have changed recently is using coconut oil instead of other oils.
Traditionally, we ate this with every other Saturday with yellow rice, (mum uses turmeric for the colour!), and kurhi, a heated watered down yogurt, not great for my digestive system! Mum also enjoys this with chapati, naan or pitta bread, however, with my gluten intolerances, I guess I could handle wholemeal or jasmine rice, but I went with my tried and trust quinoa, made Indian style!
This dish is perfect for a light lunch or dinner, contains potatoes for some carbs (mum said sweet potato or butternut squash would make the dish too sweet, so I went with starchy potatoes!), iron and zinc from spinach and other spices to up antioxidants. You will also receive a decent amount of protein from 40 g of quinoa!
Spicy Spinach and Quinoa Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
Spicy Spinach
200 g spinach (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
50 g peas (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
¼ tin chopped tomatoes
4 charlotte potatoes
4 cloves garlic (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 cm ginger (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
2 green chillies (we used a bag we’d frozen before)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon dried coriander
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon
2 teaspoon coconut oil
Pillau Quinoa
40 g quinoa
¼ onion
2 cinnamon sticks
200 mL of filtered water, boiled.
¼ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Coconut oil
INSTRUCTIONS
Spicy Spinach
In a large saucepan, add in ¾ chopped onion, 2 teaspoon coconut oil peas, garlic, ginger, chilli, ¼ tin tomatoes, chopped potatoes, spices and seasoning, place on ½ heat and cover for 5 minutes whether ingredient are frozen or not due to moisture from the spinach;
Simmer on ¼ heat for 20 minutes and stir occasionally to mix;
Spicy Spinach is served! Yes really!
Pillau Quinoa
You can begin cooking this simultaneously with the Spicy Spinach;
In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (put the water on to boil);
Slice and dice in the ¼ onion and stir, sauté until the onion caramelises;
Add in the cinnamon sticks;
Add in the boiling water and a ¼ teaspoon of salt;
Add the quinoa and stir gently;
Allow the quinoa to simmer, turn the heat down to a quarter, and cover with the lid;
Check on it 3 to 5 minutes later and gently turn the quinoa over with a plastic or wooden spoon to ensure you keep your quinoa seeds in tact;
Repeat step 8 until the quinoa is cooked and all the water evaporates;
You are now ready to eat!
Spicy Spinach and Quinoa
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Eating time: 15 minutes
Serves up to 2 people
I made enough just for mum and I!
Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂
Hi everyone, sorry for being away for so long and not posting anything, I upgraded my hosting and they lost everything… but then I managed to rescue my blog, so here I am!
First up, I have some news for you, which will affect what I post on here over the next 3+ months! As you will have seen from the title, I am going meat free in 3 months! I have gone red meat free for October (Stoptober!), will go chicken free in November, and fish free in December, i.e. full vegetarian! I am not sure about vegan, I love my eggs too much but let’s see how I get on!
Considering that I am lactose (and to an extent gluten) intolerant, I want to see how going without animal products affects my body and mood. This is as much an experiment for me as it is to share my life with my vegetarian and vegan friends! I currently only drink lactose-free milk and have gone dairy free before but never totally animal product free! If I feel good on a vegetarian diet and find good alternatives to egg then I will most certainly go vegan for a month!
Stay tuned for some funky recipes, as usual, a mix of mums cooking blended with healthier alternatives from modern cuisine, spiced up by me!! I am pretty excited about sharing my journey with you!
