Healthy Recipes

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

Take a break from baking, roasting, or mashing sweet potatoes, and cook them up into this luxurious, cream-free “creamy” soup. This recipe can easily be doubled (or even tripled for a big crowd), and it’s sure to be a hit.

Ingredients

· 2 tablespoons olive oil

· 1 small onion, diced

· 1-2 teaspoons salt

· Freshly ground black pepper

· 1 shallot, diced

· 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

· 2 cloves garlic, chopped

· 3-4 sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

· 4 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock

· 1 teaspoon paprika

Directions

1.    In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and shallot, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

2.    Add garlic and cook 2 more minutes, until fragrant. 

3.   Stir in sweet potatoes, stock, cinnamon, and paprika. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. (Sweet potatoes should be very tender.)

4.  Using a blender, stick blender, or food processor, puree mixture (in batches, if necessary). Return mixture to the pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Black rice salad with pork and cashews

Ingredients

·         175g (1 cup) Sunrice Black Rice

·         4 (about 125g each) pork loin steaks, excess fat trimmed

·         150g sugar snap peas (see note), blanched

·         150g snow peas, thinly sliced, blanched

·         100g baby spinach leaves

·         25g roasted cashews

·         2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

·         2 tablespoons orange juice

·         1 tablespoon lime juice

·         2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar

·         2 teaspoons honey

·         1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

Directions

1. Cook the rice in a large saucepan of boiling water for 30-35 minutes or until just tender. Drain.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Spray with oil. Cook the pork for 4-5 minutes each side or until golden and just cooked through. Transfer to a clean chopping board. Cover loosely with foil and set aside for 2-3 minutes to rest.

3.  Thinly slice the pork. Place the rice, sugar snap peas, snow peas, spinach cashews and chives in a large bowl. Whisk the orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, honey and ginger in a small bowl. Add dressing and pork to the salad and gently toss to combine.

Mixed Vegetable Salad Platter

This raw mixed vegetable salad takes the green leaves out of the mix and focuses more on the "topping" vegetables themselves. I often have trouble eating zucchini, carrots, and cabbage in their raw states because they are tough to chew and I'd rather save the effort by cooking them or replacing them altogether. However, by shredding the zucchini and carrot and finely slicing the cabbage, enjoying them raw is much easier. That's what makes this salad is so great—it allows me to get the most nutritional benefit from vegetables I normally shun.

The sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and olives offer complementary textures and flavors and the vinaigrette packs a fresh, lemony punch. I like to serve this dish at the center of the dinner table family-style and go in for servings as I enjoy the main dish, because it acts somewhat as a palette cleanser throughout the meal. Enjoy!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 large zucchini

1 carrot

5–6 dry sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes (or 5-6 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes)

1/4 head red cabbage

1 handful parsley

1/4 cup olive oil

1 lemon, juiced

8–10 black olives

1/4–1/2cup feta cheese, crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Grate the zucchini and carrot, chop the sun-dried tomatoes, finely slice the red cabbage and chop the parsley. Place into a bowl.
2. In a separate small bowl whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
3. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables and toss until evenly distributed.
4. Put the mixture into a serving dish and top with olives and feta cheese.
5. Serve family-style and enjoy! Top with freshly ground pepper and an extra drizzle of olive oil or vinaigrette if desired.

Cinnamon porridge with banana & berries

  Ingredients

•             100g porridge oats

•             ½ tsp cinnamon, plus extra to serve

•             4 tsp demerara sugar

•             450ml skimmed milk

•             3 banana sliced

•             400g punnet strawberries hulled and halved

•             150g pot fat-free natural yogurt

    Directions

  1. In a medium-sized saucepan, mix the oats, cinnamon, sugar, milk and half the sliced bananas. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Turn down the heat and cook for 4-5 mins, stirring all the time.

 2. Remove and divide between 4 bowls, top with the remaining banana, strawberries, a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon.