Tag: 5-a-day

Recipes

Have it your way houmous

This is tasty and easy to make, and the chickpeas can be swapped for other beans in the cupboard for more variety.

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Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 3

Equipment

Hand blender

Ingredients

1 tin Chickpeas Drained – reserve the liquid
1 tbsp Olive oil
1½ tbsp Lemon juice
1 clove Garlic
½ tsp Ground cumin
1½ tbsp Tahini paste Sesame seed paste

Optional

½ whole Roast pepper
1 pinch Smoked paprika
1 tbsp Coriander Fresh, chopped

Instructions

Blend all the ingredients together with about 4 tbsp of the reserved chickpea liquid, adding more if needed to get the right consistency.

Optional

Take out ⅓ of the mixture to serve as-is, take out ⅓ of the mixture and mix in the chopped coriander. Add the roast red pepper to the remaining ⅓ and blend it in, then serve with the smoked paprika sprinkled on top.

Notes

Great with carrot and cucumber batons for an extra portion of vegetables, or small bread sticks for dippers.

Swap out the optional ingredients for tasty additions like jalapenos, capers or mini fire chillis for houmous your way.

Keyword 5-a-day, family friendly, healthy

Tags 5-a-day, family friendly, healthy

Recipes

Throw it Together in Three Minutes Lunch

Post author By ScranMa
Post date July 11, 2020
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Throw it Together in Three Minutes Lunch

This was a quick tuna salad thrown together a day I needed healthy food in a hurry and it worked so well I copied it again the next day again.

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Prep Time 3

Total Time 3

Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 1

Ingredients

½ tin Chickpeas Drained – the other half tin with the drained juice put in a mug in the fridge for tomorrow
6 whole Cherry tomatoes Quartered
1 tin Tuna Drained
1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
10 whole Black olives From jar in brine
1 tsp Capers From jar in brine

Optional½

6 leaves Basil Ripped into pieces

Instructions

Chuck it all together in a bowl with salt and pepper to taste, stir then enjoy!

Notes

This is about 3.5 of the 5-a-day target, here’s the working:

6 cherry tomatoes	168	g
10 olives	40	g
Basil	6	g
Total weight of veg	214	g
5-a-day per serving (80g = 1 portion of 5-a-day) of veg	2.5
Chickpeas	117.5	g
Plus portion of beans/pulses (no matter how much always 1 portion)	1
Number of servings	1	Servings
5-a-day per serving (veg plus beans/pulses)	3.5	5-a-day per serving

Keyword 5-a-day, cheap, easy, quick

Tags 5-a-day, cheap, easy, quick

Recipes

Wibble Wobble Fruity Jelly

Post author By ScranMa
Post date July 11, 2020
No Comments on Wibble Wobble Fruity Jelly

Wibble Wobble Fruity Jelly

This uses frozen fruit to quickly set the jelly, and easily adds one of your 5-a-day to pudding.

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Prep Time 3

Cooling time 1

Total Time 1 3

Course Dessert, Pudding

Servings 4

Ingredients

1 packet Jelly mix
320 g Mixed berries Frozen

Instructions

Put the frozen mixed berries into a dish.
Make up the jelly mix in a jug according to the instructions and pour it over the frozen berries. Leave to chill for about an hour until it's set.

Notes

If you want it to set faster, then make up the mix with slightly less boiling water to dissolve the jelly mix, then add a couple of ice cubes, and mix until they’re melted, and top up with cold water to the level indicated on the packet. It’s easiest to make up the jelly mix in a glass or pyrex jug as you can see from the bottom if all the mix has been dissolved.

The kids can make this apart from the pouring of boiling water, as long as they stir carefully; they enjoy mixing in the ice cubes and hearing the cracking of the ice and watching it dissolve, then they’re more likely to eat the fruit.

Keyword 5-a-day, cheap, family friendly, kids cooking

Tags 5-a-day, cheap, family friendly, kids cooking

Recipes

Napoleon Slice

This is my granny's recipe, for a delicious traybake that's also gluten-free and nut-free.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Course Dessert, Traybake

Servings 24

Ingredients

400 g Chocolate Milk or dark – your preference
200 g Dessicated coconut
200 g Glace cherries Check gluten free – quartered
200 g Sultanas Or mixed fruit, though check gluten free
200 g Caster sugar
4 medium Eggs Or 3 Jumbo eggs (~70g each)

Instructions

Line a large tin with tin foil, and try not to crease it other than theh 4 corners as it makes it hard to get the foil off at the end. The big roasting tin here is 21cm x 31cm across the bottom.
Break the chocolate into pieces and put into a glass jug, then put it in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir, then put back in for 45 seconds. Stir until it's all melted, putting it back in for 15 more seconds at a time if needed and stirring well so that it doesn't bubble.
Pour the melted chocolate over the foil and smooth it over (bash the whole tin on the work surface a few times so that it evens out across the bottom of the tin) and set aside to cool.
Put the oven on 160C (fan).
Break the eggs into a cup and mix with a fork.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix them up. Add the egg mixture in and stir all together.
Pour the coconut mix over the top of the cooled chocolate and smooth down so that it's even. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the top is light golden brown.
Leave to cool in the tin, pulling the tin foil down after about 10 minutes when the chocolate has started to cool but isn't yet solid. Leave until fully cooled before cutting with a sharp knife.

Notes

You can switch the 200g sultanas for 200g of mixed fruit if you like a slightly more bitter and varied taste, it’s also delicious (photos are of this tweak).

Keyword 5-a-day, gluten free, kids cooking, nut free, traybake

Napoleon slice with chocolate cooled and cherry, coconut and egg mix ready — Cherry coconut Napoleon slice traybake

Tags 5-a-day, family friendly, gluten free, kids cooking, nut free, traybake

Recipes

Banana Scrummies

Bananas, sultanas, oats and spices baked into scrummies

Banana Scrummies

These are a really healthy and filling treat for kids, which they can make themselves (though will need help for the oven bit).

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Course Pudding, Snack

Cuisine Scottish

Servings 16

Ingredients

4 whole Bananas Spotty ones are best for taste and easiest for kids to mash
125 g Porridge oats
60 g Sultanas
½ tsp Mixed spice

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 160C (fan) and either grease some baking paper or use silicon mats on 2 baking trays.
Mash the bananas, then mix in the oats, raisins and spices to get a thick texture.
Use 2 spoons to drop dollops of the mix onto the prepared baking trays to make about 16 scrummies.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked through and golden. Cool on a wire rack, then serve.

Notes

They can also be individually wrapped and frozen, and then added to a snack box for a tasty, healthy treat at school. It’s best to use greaseproof paper or tin foil to wrap individually as they tend to stick to the paper cases [Note to self: don’t use paper cases again!]

Keyword 5-a-day, cheap, dairy free, healthy, kids cooking, spotty bananas, treat

Banana scrummies cooling on wire rack — Bananas, sultanas, oats and spices baked into scrummies

Tags 5-a-day, cheap, dairy free, healthy, kids cooking, spotty bananas, treat

Recipes

Minestrone Pasta Pesto Soup

Post author By ScranMa
Post date May 8, 2020
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Minestrone Pasta Pesto Soup

A wonderful taste of Italy, delicious with gooey cheese melted on the top. While there's no set of ingredients for this soup (more what you've got to hand or in the cupboard), we found this combination delicious and it's 4 of our 5-a-day in one go.

It can be tweaked to be vegetarian or vegan by taking out the prosciutto and switching the stock cubes for vegetable, mushroom or garlic and herb ones and swapping the pesto and cheese for vegan versions.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Italian

Servings 5

Equipment

Hand blender (optional)

Ingredients

6 spray Spray oil
1 whole Leek Trimmed and finely chopped
1 whole Carrot Chopped
6 slices Prosciutto Finely chopped/ripped
3 cloves Garlic Chopped finely (or 15g straight from freezer)
170 g Broccoli stem Chopped thin like matchsticks
1500 ml Water
1 whole Ham stock cube
1 whole Chicken stock cube
1 tin Chopped tomatoes
1 tin Butter beans
75 g Soup pasta Or spaghetti broken into 5cm pieces
2 whole Courgettes Chopped
60 g Peas Frozen
15 g Fresh basil leaves Chopped finely
2 tbsp Reduced fat green pesto
2 tbsp Cheese Grated

Optional Serving Suggestions

4 slice French baguette 2cm thick
200 g Cheese Grated

Instructions

Mist a large pan with spray oil on a medium heat. Add the leek, carrot and prosciutto and fry for 5 minutes until the leek has softened, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and stir it in.
Dissolve the 2 stock cubes in 1l of the water (boiling hot) and add the stock to the pan, along with the broccoli stem and tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil, and simmer uncovered for aout 12 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Meanwhile, drain the butter beans and add them to the remaining 500ml water, then blend them with a hand blender. If you're using smaller sized beans like kidney or black-eye beans then no need to blend.
Add the soup pasta, beany water and courgettes to the big pan, and cook stirring occasionally for about 8 minutes until the pasta is cooked. Stir through the frozen peas and basil and season to taste.
Ladle into bowls. Add ½tbsp pesto to the bowls for the people who like it and mix it in. Serve with optional cheese on toast (or "isle flottante") on top for kids, or extra grated cheese for a keto hit.

Notes

This is a great recipe as it can be amended for whatever you’ve got to hand, and the base of tomatoes, garlic and basil with pasta is delicious. We first tried this during lockdown using the broccoli stem due to lack of cabbage, and butter beans as those are our favourite in soup and it went down surprisingly well.

We wanted to work out how many portions of our 5-a-day of fruit and vegetables this soup was: we think it’s about 4 of our 5-a-day based on a portion based on the NHS advice that “80g of fresh, canned or frozen fruit and vegetables counts as 1 portion of your 5 A Day”.

Here’s the working, please comment if you have a better way to work it out:

Leek	250	g
Carrot	65	g
Garlic	15	g
Broccoli	170	g
Tomatoes	400	g
Butter beans (drained weight)	235	g
Courgettes	400	g
Peas	60	g
Basil	15	g
Total weight of vegetables + beans	1610	g
Number of servings	5	Servings
Veg weight per serving	322	g
5-a-day per serving (80g = 1 portion of 5-a-day)	4.0	of 5-a-day per serving

Keyword 5-a-day, easy, soup, tweak-for-vegan-version, tweak-for-vegetarian-version, winter warmer

Minestrone Pesto Pasta Soup Bowl — Minestrone Pesto Pasta Soup

Tags 5-a-day, easy, soup, tweak-for-vegan-version, tweak-for-vegetarian-version, winter warmer

Recipes

Healthy Porridge that tastes like Pudding for Breakfast

Post author By ScranMa
Post date May 8, 2020
No Comments on Healthy Porridge that tastes like Pudding for Breakfast

Healthy breakfast porridge with cherries in a bowl

My Favourite Healthy Breakfast Porridge

ScranMa

This is my fave healthy breakfast, I've had it almost every day for the last few years and somehow still think it's delicious, amazing and brilliant every day and don't get tired of it. It might be because it tastes like pudding for breakfast, has one of my 5-a-day and has energy from slow release oats that keeps me fuller for longer, whatever it is I don't care, it's yummy!

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Prep Time 1

Cook Time 2

Course Breakfast

Cuisine British, Scottish

Servings 1

Equipment

Microwave

Ingredients

30 g Porridge oats I love the oats with oatbran and wheatbran best as they taste slightly nutty (from Sainsbury's in the UK), but any porridge oats are good
0.25 tsp Ground cinnamon
80 g Cherries Frozen, whole cherries
100 ml Skimmed milk Or oat milk is even more delicious, though more expensive

Instructions

The night before: add the oats, then ground cinnamon, then still-frozen cherries into a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover with a plate and leave overnight.
Add 100ml milk to the bowl and microwave for 2 minutes on high (at 850W, adjust for your own microwave). Stir and enjoy.

Notes

I honestly have eaten this for breakfast over 70% of the time for the last 3 years: it’s that good, plus of course it’s one of my 5-a-day in breakfast.

To make it vegan take the oat milk option instead of cow’s milk, it’s even more tasty (though more expensive).

Keyword 5-a-day, cheap, scranitfortheplanet, tweak-for-vegan-version, vegetarian

Tags 5-a-day, cheap, scranitfortheplanet, tweak-for-vegan-version, vegetarian

Recipes

Best Bolognese Ever

We've tried many combinations of ingredients making bolognese sauce, this version oseems to hit it just right and still gets vegetables into the mix. This makes a big batch, so it's good for bolognese one night, adding chilli and kidney beans the next, and freezing some in portions or using it in a delicious lasagne.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 12

Equipment

Big pan

Ingredients

12 spray Spray oil
4 medium Onion Diced
6 cloves Garlic Chopped (or 20g straight from freezer)
750 g Lean beef mince (5% fat) Swap for quorn mince for vegetarian tweak
500 g Lean pork mince (5% fat) Swap for quorn mince for vegetarian tweak
3 tbsp Tomato puree
2 medium Courgette Grated
2 medium Carrot Grated
2 tsp Thai fish sauce (I know, smells bad, tastes delicious) Omit for vegetarian tweak
3 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce Omit for vegetarian tweak
2 tsp Soy sauce
4 tins Chopped tomatoes
2 tsp Italian seasoning Can swap for mixed herbs if preferred
1 whole Ham stock cube Swap for mushroom stock cube for vegetarian tweak

Instructions

Mist a really large pan with spray oil, add the onion and fry for about 5 minutes until softened. If you've got time, keep going until they're translucent and starting to caramelise (another 15 minutes, adding a touch of water if it starts to stick) as the whole dish is sweeter.
Add the garlic and stir in, then push it all to one side of the pan and add the mince. Brown the mince, breaking it up and gradually adding in the onion until the mince has just changed colour, then add the courgette and carrot and fry for another 5 minutes until it's all soft.
Add in all of the rest of the ingredients, crumbling in the stock cube rather than adding any extra water – use the best quality chopped tomatoes you can so that it's not too thin a mix. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve with wholemeal pasta and optional cheese grated on top, or side salad.

Notes

Half a portion is also good as a topper for a baked potato, especially with cheese melted on top.

It’s best to put this into portions for the freezer to allow it to cool more quickly, and then freeze more quickly. It does last in the pan until the next day (well in Scotland it does) and it tastes even better the second day after the flavours have mixed in, especially if you turn it into this quick chilli.

Keyword 5-a-day, family friendly, hidden veg, reduced fat, tweak-for-vegetarian-version

Tags 5-a-day, family friendly, hidden veg, reduced fat, tweak-for-vegetarian-version

Recipes

Banana Muffins

ScranMa

This is a great way of getting kids into baking and using up spotty or brown bananas that might otherwise go to waste. Another tasty way to use those older bananas is Lorna's Banana Pancakes (https://scranplan.com/lornas-banana-pancakes).

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 12

Equipment

Muffin tray

Ingredients

200 g Wholemeal self-raising flour
0.5 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1/8 whole Nutmeg Grated finely
0.25 tsp Ground cinnamon
0.25 tsp Salt Optional
3 large Bananas Ripe (spotty or brown is best)
150 g Caster sugar
1 medium Egg
75 g Margarine Melted in a cup in the microwave is easiest (or butter for non-vegans for granny-friendly tastes)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Place 12 paper baking cases in a muffin tin.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, salt into the "dry bowl", and grate in the nutmeg to taste over the top. Set aside.
Mash the bananas in a separate, large "wet bowl" then add the sugar, egg and then melted margarine/butter and mix up all together.
Fold in the flour mixture from the "dry bowl", and very gently mix until just mixed.
Spoon evenly into baking cases in muffin tin, using the 2-spoon method.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly tapped. (Perfect in the oven for 25mins if preheated to 180C.)

Notes

Kids can actually do most of this themselves, including mashing the banana with a fork, and weighing out the ingredients once they can recognise numbers. They just need a grown up to help with the oven bits.

Once cooled, these can be frozen for up to 3 months, and are great taken out of the freezer in the morning and put into a snack box for school as they’re defrosted nicely by play time.

Keyword vegetarian

Tags 5-a-day, fruit, vegetarian

Recipes

Apple Roses

Beautiful to look at, delicious to eat and deceptively easy to make. They are delicious hot out of the oven with ice cream or cream drizzled on top.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 40

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 6

Equipment

Muffin tray
Microwave
Pastry brush

Ingredients

325 g Ready Rolled Light Puff Pastry
2 tbsp Apricot jam With 2 tbsp water
2 medium Apples Red-skinned ones look best in the finished roses
½ medium Lemon Juiced
2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1 pinch Ground ginger
12 spray Spray oil Or butter or margarine for greasing the muffin tray

Instructions

Grease 6 holes of the muffin tray with butter, margarine or spray oil.
Half and core the apples, leaving the skins on as it adds to the finished look. Slice them really thinly, around 1mm thick. Put into a microwave safe bowl half filled with water with half the lemon squeezed in (no pips). Microwave for about 3 minutes then drain the water out gently.
Unroll the puff pastry and use a knife to gently cut it into 6 evenly sized strips along the longer edge.
Add the apricot jam to a small bowl or ramekin with 2tbsp water and microwave for 1 minute and stir together. Use a pastry brush to paint the jam mix along each puff pastry strip.
Lay a piece of apple over the puff pastry so the flat edge is parallel to the line of the pastry but about 1cm below the top of the pastry, and with the top of the crescent going over the top of the pastry about 1cm. i.e. the apple extends over the top of the pastry and sticks on the bottom. Put the next crescent of apple half on top of the apple slice before in the same orientation, and keep repeating until there is apple all along the length of the pastry.
Sprinkle ⅙ of the ground ginger and cinnamon over the apple pieces. Fold up the puff pastry along the length so the apple pieces are sandwiched between the folded puff pastry piece, then roll up from one end to make the rose.
Put the completed rose into a muffin tray then repeat for the remaining 5 strips of pastry and softened apple. Bake at 190C for 40-45 minutes.
Serve with a little icing sugar over the top and vanilla ice cream for extra decadence.

Notes

My daughter loves laying the apples along the pastry and rolling them up, and also loves eating them.

Keyword 5-a-day, fruit, vegetarian

Tags 5-a-day, fruit, vegetarian