Chai spiced bircher muesli with apple

Happy New Year! This is the first Recipe Redux challenge of 2012 and the theme this month is 'Fresh Starts' - very appropriate. After all those delicious cooked breakfasts in cold wintery England, its back to bowls of muesli in the morning for me. My fresh start is to reduce the morning kilojoules and concentrate on a healthy start to the day - a breakfast low in kJ but high in fibre, protein and low GI carbohydrate.

Muesli is not necessarily better for you than a healthy cooked breakfast, particularly if the muesli is toasted and laden with sugar. Actually, I am a big fan of toasted muesli but I tend to make it myself as the supermarket/bought versions are very heavy on the fat and sugar. A lower kJ and healthier alternative to toasted muesli is bircher muesli. Bircher muesli usually consists of oats soaked in juice or milk overnight. Soaking oats makes them easier to digest than unsoaked oats and improves the absorption of nutrients from the food. Further, bircher muesli does not require any cooking or addition of oils which makes it a lower kJ alternative to toasted muesli. 

Oats have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol because they are high in soluble fibre. They are also a good source of low GI carbohydrate. Soy milk and yoghurt are rich sources of protein and calcium and the addition of chia seeds to the muesli injects some plant omega 3's into your breakfast. I absolutely love the taste of chai which is why I have infused my muesli with chai spices. It helps to curb my cravings for a soy chai tea later in the day! I have used full fat yoghurt and dried coconut but you can reduce the kJ further if you wish by using low fat yoghurt and omitting the coconut.

Serves 2 people

The night before:

1 cup traditional rolled oats 

1 tbsp coconut flakes

1 tbsp chia seeds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp of the following spices mixed together in equal amounts: ground cloves, ground ginger, ground cardamom and ground nutmeg

1 tbsp honey

1/2 cup natural whole milk yogurt

1/2 cup Bonsoy

In the morning:

1 apple, grated

Handful of pistachio nuts, crushed

          Stir together the dry ingredients and then mix in the yoghurt, milk and honey until all combined. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge. In the morning stir in the grated apple and add more yoghurt or milk if you prefer your bircher muesli a little runnier. Serve in two bowls and top with crushed pistachios.

Take a look at the 'Fresh Start' recipes from other Recipe Reduxers below...

Carrot and apple salad with caraway seeds

Well I am back in sunny Australia. What a massive contrast to the beautiful bleak wintery English countryside! I have to say I loved wrapping up in boots, scarves and lots of jumpers and eating stews and soups. Those hearty dishes couldn't be further from my mind right now. Its boiling hot here and all I can think about is salad.

After days of eating the same green salad, I thought I should get a bit more inventive. I adore raw carrots - the texture and the taste - they are packed full of fibre and antioxidants but contain few kJ (like most veg). This is exactly what I need after a bit of excessive eating over Christmas. The salad takes five minutes to make and is a good addition to a mezze plate alongside hummus, falafel and pita bread.

Serves 4 as a side dish

• 2 large carrots, grated
• 1 green apple, grated
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of dry fried caraway seeds
• 1 tbsp of chopped mint
• 1 tbsp of chopped parlsey
• 1 tsp of chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice
• 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice with a pinch of salt and set aside.

Mix together all other ingredients and season. When ready to serve, toss the salad with the olive oil and lemon juice.

Blue lentil salad with pomegranate and feta

This is my third post for the Recipe Redux and the December theme is "Putting the P(ea) in Potluck". Unfortunately, I have missed the last couple of Recipe Redux challenges due to work and study commitments but I am back on board for Christmas! The challenge for December is to include legumes in a party friendly or festive dish and for this I have decided to do a variation on one of my favourite lentil dishes - lentil and pomegranate salad. These lentil salads look so festive because of the pretty pomegranate seeds and they are cheap and easy to make for a big party. 

I soak the lentils for about 6-8 hours or overnight to decrease the levels of phytic acid found in legumes. Phytic acid binds to minerals and inhibits their absorption in the body. I then boil the lentils with a piece of kombu seaweed which helps to break down the indigestible sugars in legumes which can cause flatulence. Click here for more information on this. Kombu can be found in most health stores and I always have some on hand for cooking dried legumes.

Serves 6-8 as a side salad

• 200 g Australian Blue Lentils/puy lentils
• 1 piece of kombu seaweed
• Seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 100 g feta
• 1/2 bunch of parsley finely chopped
• 1/2 bunch of mint finely chopped

Dressing

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 1/2 tsp of cumin
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of ground cloves
• Salt and pepper

Remove the soaking water and rinse the lentils. Boil the lentils until soft but still holding their shape. This can take an hour to an hour and a half depending on how long they have been soaked for. Meanwhile, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing. Once the lentils are cooked, remove the piece of kombu and rinse the lentils under cool water. Toss the lentils in the dressing and the chopped herbs. When ready to serve toss the lentils with the pomegranate seeds and crumble feta over the top.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas. I will be celebrating with my family in the UK for the first time in nine years. I am so excited about wrapping up for the cold and dark days in the English countryside, Christmas just isn't the same in sunny Australia!

Mango and banana smoothie

I'm addicted to this smoothie at the moment. Mangoes and bananas (finally!) are so cheap and plentiful that I keep buying them but do not get a chance to eat them before they become over ripe. This makes them perfect for smoothies... or banana bread. Lately, I've been having one of these smoothies every day for breakfast instead of muesli and I feel just as satisfied. Smoothies are quick and easy to make and are perfect pre or post work out. I make mine with Bonsoy because I like the taste but you can use whole milk instead.


Speaking of whole milk, I had an email from a friend this week asking if she should be eating low fat milk and yoghurt because the current dietary guidelines recommend eating low fat rather than high fat dairy products. This was my response (more or less):

"The current guidelines to eat low fat dairy are due to people generally eating more kJ than before. Therefore, recommending low fat dairy products will cut down on the population's kJ intake. Also, dairy fat is predominantly saturated fat and we are trying to get people to cut down on the saturated fat (which increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease) and eat more unsaturated fat. With diabetes becoming such a massive public health issue, the prevention message is to eat low fat not full fat dairy. 

If you are not at risk of these issues and eat a healthy diet I do not see any reason why you should sacrifice full fat milk for low fat milk. Plus low fat products such as yoghurt usually have more sugar so the kJ are often no different. We have a problem in this country with 60% of Australians being overweight or obese and at risk of chronic disease and that is why there are low fat dairy guidelines".

So here is the recipe (you can use low fat dairy in place of the whole milk options if you wish). I keep overripe fruit in the fridge so the smoothie will be cold.

Serves two

• 1 ripe banana
• Flesh of 1 ripe mango
• 250 ml of Bonsoy or whole milk
• 150 g of whole milk natural yoghurt

Throw everything into a blender and whizz up until smooth. 

Spring Vegetable and Chicken Soup

Hopefully I will be able to update the blog a bit more regularly now that I have finally finished my BSc undergrad!! This semester was definitely one of the toughest. I was so excited about finishing and hanging out at the pool in Bondi but alas, it has rained and rained and rained. Not exactly what I was dreaming about during those lonely boring weeks of revision.

It still feels like spring to me (even if it is officially summer) hence my spring vegetable and chicken soup made from left over roast chicken. This soup is quick and easy, low in fat, high in protein and helps to meet your daily vegetable quota (5 serves of 75g veg in Australia).

I never struggle to eat enough fruit but like many others I often find I get to the end of the day without having eaten five serves of vegetables. This is especially true when I'm busy and eating on the run. Vegetables are incredibly important in the diet because they are nutrient dense but low in fat and sugar. They are also high in fibre and provide the body with a complex of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals which cannot be replicated by any supplement. There is strong evidence to show that eating enough fruit and vegetables can help prevent coronary heart disease, some cancers, overweight and obesity and constipation. Other advantages include a reduction in blood pressure and cholesterol and improved control of diabetes. There is no good evidence to suggest taking vitamin and mineral supplements will have the same effects. See the Australian Government website, Go for 2 and 5 for more info on eating plenty of fruit and vegies.

Anyway, back to the recipe!

• 150 g pancetta, trimmed of fat and chopped finely
• 1 red onion, chopped finely
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 2 large carrots, sliced thinly
• 1 large leek, halved and sliced length ways
• 2 handfuls of snow peas or sugar snaps
• left over roast chicken, shredded
• Homemade chicken stock from boiling the bones of the chicken carcass -about 1.4 litres
• Fresh parsley roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the pancetta until crispy, then add the onion and garlic and cook until transluscent. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Add the carrots, leek and shredded chicken and simmer for five minutes. A few minutes before serving add the sugar snaps. Serve sprinkled with the parsley and freshly ground pepper and maybe some crusty bread.