The guilt-free crisps

Kale. Seems like the ingredient of the time, right? Now, I may have dismissed it a a bit of a fad, but after reading that kale contains more nutrients than any other food, I decided to give it a go and now I am OBSESSED!

I love to kale into a gorgeous rainbow salad, but my current favourite way to serve it is to roast it in the oven to create some crispy and crunchy kale crisps. They are incredibly easy to make and definitely satisfy some salty cravings every now and then. They make a yummy snack to have with some homemade houmous too!

Ingredients-

• Kale (however much you want to make!)
• A sprinkling of pink salt
• Tablespoon olive oil
• The topping of your choice (today I went with cayenne pepper, but I love cinnamon, pepper or coriander)

The Making

1. Wash your kale. Then pull the leaves away from the hard woody stems and lay flat on a baking tray. Make sure you have pre-heated your oven to 190C and have lined your baking tray.

 

Doesn't look so appetising before it goes in, but trust me-it tastes delish!

2. Top your kale with your olive oil, salt and chosen topping. Make sure that every leaf is coated well.
3. Put your kale into the oven for around 8 minutes. You want it to be darker in colour and crispy, but NOT brown or black in colour!

I have also seen an interesting recipe which involved blending sun-dried tomatoes to make a tasty topping, I definitely want to give that a go next time I have some tomatoes in my fridge!
As always, let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for other kale crisp toppings or flavours!

xx

The 'suits everything' tomato sauce

Another super speedy recipe for you today, can you tell it is almost back to school and I am madly trying to get all my lessons planned?

This easy tomato sauce is one of my stock recipes. The reason I love it so much is that it works for so many different purposes and is made from ingredients that I will always have in my fridge (or at la push be able to find in my local Co-Op on the way home from work!). It is delicious with some courgette pasta, drizzled over a roasted sweet potato, or even blended into a soup. However today I was craving pizza and so used it to top my gluten-free pizza bases, then topped with some roasted veggies- YUM!

Ingredients-

• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, quatered
• 1 red chilli, diced 
• 1 clove of garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon agave syrup

The Making

1. Brown the onions in a pan (I used coconut oil to make sure they didn't stick). If you like a sweet sauce then add in the agave syrup at this point- this is a natural substitute for sugar which will help to caramelise the onions.
2. Add in the chilli, garlic and olive oil and fry until the garlic is slightly caramelised (doesn't take long at all!).
3. Next, add in the tomatoes. Give everything a stir then find yourself something to do for around 20 minutes- suggestions include some yoga or pilates, but are more likely to be reading a magazine or watching trashy TV! Make suure you keep stirring your sauce, and remember to add in some water if it begins to look dry.
4. Take off the heat when your sauce has reached the desired consistancy. This will depend on what you are using it for- a pasta sauce will be nice and juicy, however a pizza base wants a more sticky, almost jam-like texture.

There we are, a great sauce for a mid-week, can't quite be bothered sort of tea. Is it Friday yet?

xx

The quick and easy houmous

The very first recipe on my blog surely has to be a cracker, right? Well, not to blow my own trumpet but this one really is! I absolutely LOVE houmous. It's one of those foods that I could never ever get bored of eating. If you were to investigate my supermarket shopping you would, without a doubt, find a few tubs of houmous sneaking their way into my shopping bag! But after having a quick read through some of the ingredients of pre-made houmous, I realised that I didn't know what half of it was, which is never good! So I decided to try making some myself, and after a few attempts (and some decidedly dodgy ones at that!), I have finally settled on a recipe that I LOVE, and make at least once a week. Feel free to change ingredients and whatnot to suit whatever you fancy!



Just a note, this recipe usually makes enough to feed me for around 5 days worth of lunches, or would be fab for some nibbles between four of you.

Ingredients-

• 1 tin of chickpeas (drained)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cayenne pepper or paprika
• 1 tablespoon water (optional)

The Making

(Yes I promise you, this is as easy as it sounds!)

1. Blend the chickpeas in a food processor or hardcore blender (note to self, buy a better blender!), until they are whatever texture you are going for. Personally I air on the side of chunky!
2. Then add in all your dry ingredients and blend again.
3. Finally, mix in your wet ingredients and give it a final blend!
4. At this stage you may want to add in some water if you prefer a smoother texture.
5. That's it! The whole thing took me less than 2 minutes, and I probably managed to eat a bowl full in a similar time.

So now you can enjoy your ridiculously quick and easy bowl of houmous. I love to serve this with a rainbow coloured bowl of vege- think carrots, celery, peppers and radish, although I am also partial to some crackers to dunk in.

Remember that this is only a basic houmous recipe, there are lots of ways you can spice this up a bit! My current favourites are beetroot and mint, Moroccan spices and pesto.

Please let me know if you try this recipe, and if you have any suggestions for new flavours I could try!

xx