Well, Christmas is over, and I hope you had a great time.

By now you may be feeling sated with rich food, and hopefully looking forward to something nutritious yet tasty. Here’s a recipe that fits the bill:

Recipe: Falafel in Pitta Pockets

Garnished with watercress

Serves 4
Prep: 10 mins
Cooking: 22 mins

225g/8oz dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in water
1 tbsp tahini *
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed
100g bag watercress,  roughly chopped
juice half a lemon
2 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying

To finish:
100g bag watercress
150g Greek style yogurt
1 small clove garlic, crushed
4 wholemeal pitta bread

* Tahini is a sesame seed paste used widely in Middle Eastern cookery. It adds a savoury, nutty flavour to these falafel and is available from health food stores and large supermarkets.

1. Drain the chickpeas and place in a food processor with the tahini, salt, baking powder, cumin, coriander, cayenne, garlic, watercress and lemon juice. Whizz until very finely chopped but not puréed. (If you have time, set the mixture aside for a couple of hours, so the flavours can mingle, but it’s not imperative).

2. Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas Mark 6. Place a large roasting tin in the oven to heat up. Using a wet hand shape the mixture into 16 balls, then flatten slightly into patties.

3. Add the oil to the roasting tin, return to the oven for 2 mins, then carefully add the falafel, tossing to coat in hot oil. Bake for 20 mins, turning once until crisp and golden.

4. Whilst they cook, roughly chop half the remaining watercress and stir it into the yogurt with the garlic and seasoning to taste. Lightly toast the pittas on each side, cut each in half and open up each half to make a pocket. Fill the pitta pockets with falafel, remaining watercress and the yogurt sauce. Serve whilst warm.

The recipe comes courtesy of http://www.watercress.co.uk and is just one of many ways to use watercress as a garnish. For a reminder of the health benefits of watercress, check out my posting on the nutritional value of watercress.

Tomatoes and Red Pepper

As I write this in the UK it’s warm and sunny – never quite sure how long that will last, but we live in hopes.

In such weather, wanting to shed any winter weight gain, our thoughts may turn to a summer detox. If this conjours up images of misery and starvation, think again. It need not be the case.

My last post about Sandy Halliday’s detox diet generated a lot of interest and I asked her to share a sample recipe with us. Try this – I’m sure you’ll love it!

It combines being tasty with being filling – always an advantage, especially when you need something that’s “family-friendly” too.

Inca Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients

100g (1 cup/4oz) quinoa, rinsed very well and drained
2 cups (500 ml) vegetable stock
½ large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
50g (½ cup/2oz) peas
½ red pepper, seeded and diced
100g (¾ cup/4oz) cooked chickpeas
¼ cup (1 oz) spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced
¼ cup (1 oz) parsley finely chopped
¼ cup (1oz) fresh mint finely chopped
1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced.

Dressing

30 ml (2 tbsp) cup freshly squeezed lime juice
21 ml (1½ tbsp) vegetable stock
Freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
¼ tsp chipotle chili pepper

Method

In a medium saucepan heat the quinoa and stock until boiling.
Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Drain any excess water and set aside to cool.
Combine all of the vegetables in a large bowl.
Add the quinoa and mix well.
Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad.
Mix well and refrigerate until chilled.
Taste before serving, and add more lime juice as necessary (it should be tangy).

Click here to get more like this, for immediate download, in Sandy’s ebook.

Detox Recipes

Continuing my series on healthy meal ideas, here are some ideas for desserts. They may not be very new, but “back to basics” is a good idea!

Healthy Desserts

* Gourmet “chocolate mousse” – you’ll find this as a comment by Rafael, in response to Katie’s breakfast smoothie recipe on the linked website

* Fruit salad, an old classic, but don’t forget how enjoyable it can be

* Fruit smoothie – blend 135g frozen fruit with 12ml plain yoghurt

* Baked apple with yogurt

* Piece of fresh fruit

By the way – remember that “Stressed” spelled backwards is “Desserts”. Don’t fall into the stress-trap of comfort eating! More ideas welcome – please add a comment with your favorite healthy dessert idea!

Continuing the theme of “what shall I eat” for a healthy diet, here are some ideas for your main meal.

Pizza as a main meal

• Home-made or Covent Garden soups
• Mackerel, herring or salmon – new potatoes and salad
• Whole meal pasta
• Ratatouille
• Couscous or whole grain rice
• Vegetable curry
• White fish
• Kedgeree
• Skinless chicken
• A lean pork chop – occasionally
• Pizza – halve the cheese and double the vegetable topping

As ever, more ideas are welcome – please add a comment with your favorite main meal idea!

• Cottage cheese and pineapple
• Rice salad
• Avocado with prawns inside
• Tinned wild salmon in sandwich
• Salad with avocado mashed with garlic and lemon juice
• Wholemeal chicken, tuna or turkey sandwiches – add humus instead of mayonnaise
• A little low fat grated cheese grilled on toast with a dash of soya sauce. (When you use grated cheese it looks more, but tastes just as good!)
  
• Tomato, olive and red onion salad
• Jacket potato – add tuna, humus or Whole Earth baked beans
• Sweet potatoes and hummus
• Marks & Spencer’s bean salad
• Humous with strips of pitta bread
• Tinned sardines on wholemeal toast
• Stir fry of any vegetables you have in the fridge

More ideas welcome – please add a comment with your favorite healthy lunch!

• Oat cake (NOT rice, they can raise your blood sugar too fast)
• Stick of celery or carrot
• A few sunflower seeds
• Five almonds, Brazils or walnuts (NOT peanuts)
• Piece of fruit – different each time – Sharon fruit, mangoes, kiwi, pineapple etc
• One or two dried apricots – no more.  Dried fruit raises your blood sugar too quickly

More ideas welcome – please add your favorite healthy snack idea!

Scrambled Egg

Many people are keen to improve their diet, but short on ideas of what to have for their meals. Over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing a few meal ideas, and hope you’ll comment with some of your own favorite healthy meal ideas.

• Porridge made with water, Rice Dream, soya or almond milk – add a little honey to sweeten, or a tablespoon of chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, dried or fresh fruit – for instance a mashed banana
• Organic muesli or sugar free cornflakes or rice crispies with Rice Dream, soya or almond milk
• Shredded wheat or puffed wheat if no intolerance suspected – not every day
• Live plain yoghurt with a teaspoon of sugar free jam, or nuts and fruit (look for Sojasun)
• Scrambled egg with smoked salmon
• If time is really short, a protein meal replacement drink
• Poached or boiled egg with rye toast
• Grilled tomatoes and mushrooms on rye toast
• Whole Earth baked beans on rye toast
• A tablespoon of Whole Earth peanut butter on rye toast
• Thanks to Katie Freiling for her Green Breakfast Smoothie recipe

More ideas welcome – please add a comment with your favorite healthy breakfast!