Who doesn’t love a good pie, especially a chicken and ham pie. This recipe went down a storm and was pretty easy considering most people are worried about baking… the trick is to buy frozen pastry if you have to!

Ingredients
A little butter for the frying pan
1 large chopped onion
1 large carrot
2 large leeks
150-200ml of cream
200ml chicken stock
Cooked chicken or ham
A big handful of button mushrooms
Optional: a nice amount of Japanese mushrooms
Tarragon and thyme (approx 2 tsp)
A beaten egg and parmesan for the top of the pastry

Directions
1) add butter to the pan, and let the onion cook for a minute or so to go golden
2) add carrots and leek, and allow to saute for around 5 minutes. add a splash of white wine if necessary
3) when the carrots and leeks are soft, pour over your cream and chicken stock and simmer until it thickens
4) pour in the rest of the ingredients, including the ham and chicken and cook on a low heat for a little while
5) grab a ceramic dish and add all of the above
6) put the pastry on top of the dish, using the beaten egg and parmesan to give the pastry a nice crust
7) put it in the oven at 180 degrees for around 20-25 minutes

Enjoy!

Sweetcorn and Crab Chowder

Ingredients

• 1x tinned crab
• 1x sweetcorn
• two carrots, peeled and chopped
• one leek, chopped into small pieces
• one onion, chopped
• one potato, chopped
• 1-2L chicken stock
• creme fraiche / cream
• chives / dill

1. chop all ingredients, fry onion, garlic carrots for a few minutes and add a splash of chicken stock
2. add potato and leek and add most of the chicken stock, cook for 5-10 minutes
3. Turn down the heat; add crab and sweetcorn and cook for 2 minutes more
4. add cream and season well

The first thing that I wanted to try with the spiralizer was a pad thai. I was absolutely delighted with how this came out, a spicy and filling little dish.

The trick is with this dish, don’t worry too much about the measurements, add as little or as much as you like.

To feed two people

1. Four carrots
2. Daikon (Japanese radish)
3. Fresh ginger
4. Soy sauce
5. Spring onions (a handful)
6. Chicken breast (two)
7. Sriaccha or some other spicy sauce
8. Mushrooms or spinach (a handful)
9. Peanut butter (spoonful)
10. Coriander ( a handful)
11. Garlic
12. Lemon (optional)

Instructions

With your spiralizer, turn your carrots into noodles.  Boil in a pan.

Chop your daikon into small cubes, add to bowl. Add a handful of coriander, spring onion, two crushed garlic, douse with soy sauce and a spoonful of peanut butter; add some lemon. Crush some ginger, add a little bit of water and then mix.

After a few minutes take your carrot off of the boil,  add chopped chicken breast to a frying pan until it starts to look almost cooked

Add your carrot after straining; then with that add your mix of ginger, garlic and vegetables to the frying pain.

Cook through, finish with another handful of coriander.

Ingredients

1. 200g Quinoa
2. 150g Oats
3. Salt + Pepper
4. Sesame Seeds

Instructions

Leave quinoa and oats to soak in approximately 800ml-1000ml of water overnight

1. When done,  put the quinoa and oats on to boil and add salt and pepper
2. When quinoa and oats reach a porridge like consistency, remove from the heat to a slight simmer. This should take about 30-40 minutes.
3. In a baking tray, lay out the mixture and put in the fridge for 25 minutes.

   

4. Take from the fridge when set, and begin to cut into wedges.
5. Fry wedges in pan on both sides with a little oil.  Each wedge will take approximately 15 minutes if you like it nice and crispy.
6. Top with your favourite ingredients.

500g of quality beef mince 

1 large white onion

30g Quaker oats

Lots of basil

parmesan cheese

Red wine

quality passata

1 whole egg

1) in a large bowl combine the beef mince, chopped basil, Quaker oats and egg. Mix with your hands until all ingredients are combined

2) in a large pan, add about 30ml of water in preparation for your tomato sauce and simmer, five minutes later add passata and red wine with handful of chopped basil, and crushed garlic plus lots of salt and pepper, then put lid on top

3) make mixture into small balls and then shallow fry until nicely browned. Meanwhile, preheat oven and a dish to 190 degrees.

4) once your meatballs have seared and browned; add to the oven dish and allow them to heat through for about 15-20 minutes

5) after 10 minutes; your sauce is going to be ready so take off medium heat to a low heat

6) add your meatballs to the tomato mixture for 5 minutes adding more salt, pepper and basil. Put the lid on top.

7) serve with Parmesan and glass of red.

Green Lentils, Onion and Mushrooms

About 100g of green lentils
Half a large onion, chopped
4 button mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp of curry powder
Water
Green vegetables, e.g. spinach, optional

1) with a bit of oil, gently fry (in a largeish pan) the onions until browned
2) add your mushrooms, cook for a couple more minutes
3) add the lentils and spread across the pan, cook for a few minutes
4) add curry powder for taste, mix
5) add enough water to just about cover all the lentils and ingredients
6) add your green vegetables if you want then, or leave till later
7) cover on low-medium heat for approx 30-40 minutes

Cake Batter protein pancakes

1 cup quaker oats
2 scoop of cake batter flavoured Optimum Nutrition whey
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
2 egg whites
1-2 tbsp of milk
1 tbsp peanut butter

1) in a big bowl, add the protein, cinnamon, baking powder, egg whites, and milk; then mix
2) when you have a nice fluffy consistency, add your oats
3) cook in your pan, evenly spread out across the surface area
4) when ready, flip
5) after a minute or two, take out of the pan and serve
6) spread with peanut butter for the win.

Beans, chickpeas, sweetcorn and tuna in a spicy tomato sauce

One tin of chickpeas, drained
One tin of sweetcorn, drained
One tin of tuna in brine, drained
Spring onion, chopped
Teaspoon of tabasco
Tomato puree
Chili beans in tomato sauce
Salt and pepper

1) In a big bowl, add the chickpeas, sweetcorn and tuna – mix
2) Add a splash of tabasco and spring onion
3) Finish up with remaining ingredients
4) Chill in fridge for 30 minutes
5) Serve

Shogayaki is best cooked with some vegetables and rice; I chose to have shredded cabbage and a mix of brown and white rice with this dish. The cabbage takes on all of the lovely juices from the shogayaki pork if you lay the meat on top of the veg; and the mix of white and brown rice goes down a treat with this dish.

Pork Shogayaki

500g of good quality, thin shogayaki pork
5 tablespoons mirin
4 tablespoons good quality soy sauce
4 tablespoons sake
1 piece of ginger, grated
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
shredded cabbage
rice

1) In a bowl, add the grated ginger, mirin, soy sauce and sake
2) add the pork, mix with ingredients with your hands and then leave in fridge for about an hour

3) add olive oil to frying pain, add all ingredients from bowl
4) slowly turn ingredients throughout cooking process, the meat should take about 10-15 minutes to cook nicely.

shogayaki

5) shred your cabbage, add to plate

6) put the pork on top
7) enjoy!

Minced beef pasta bolognese with red wine, onion, red peppers, garlic and basil

300g of good quality beef/steak mince
Passata/canned tomatoes
half a finely chopped onion
half a finely chopped red pepper
one leek, cut into thin pieces
10 basil leaves, cut into small pieces
1 garlic clove, crushed
handful of black olives
Grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper for taste
Good quality pasta
Dashing of olive oil
1.5 glass of red wine

1) In a pan add about 3 litres of water when the liquid is boiling
2) In a second pan, add olive oil, leave for about 1 minute
3) Add crushed garlic and red pepper, onions
4) Cook until lightly golden, add half glass of red wine
5) Cook through, add steak/beef mince
6) When the mince starts to brown, add a handful of chopped basil and olives
7) Then add your passata or your tinned tomatoes
8) Cook through and add your salt and pepper for taste, as well as the remainder of the red wine
9) Put the lid on the pan and put on a low heat, to simmer, for about 20 minutes
10) Enjoy! Serve with basil leaves and parmesan on top.

It’s a very simple dish but something you can rustle up whenever you’re short of ideas.