Healthier Bolognese Recipe

Spaghetti Bolognese is a weekly must in my household, it's just so tasty and the best news is that I've made it even healthier and it tastes even more delicious than before!

The idea of adding black olives came from Sainsbury's but all of the rest has come from years of me tweaking my own recipe.

It only takes around 30-40 minutes to cook and serves 6-8 people.

Enjoy!

 

 

Recipe:

 

Ingredients:

1 sliced onion

4 cloves of garlic

150g mushrooms

1/2 jar of black olives

1 tin green lentils

450g lean beef mince

2 tins chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp. Worcester sauce

1 beef stock cube

1 tbsp. tomato ketchup

as many peas as you would like

salt and pepper

 

Method:

1. In a large frying pan soften the onions, add the garlic and then brown the mince.

2. next add the sliced mushrooms and cook until softened.

3. Next add the tins of chopped tomatoes, lentils, beef stock cube, tomato ketchup and Worcester sauce and stir.

4. Finally add the olives, peas and seasoning and cook for a few minutes until piping hot throughout and the peas are cooked.

5. serve with spaghetti or baked potato

 

Love Charli x



Banana and blueberry cookies

I'm not sure whether I have already mentioned but my boyfriend and I have given up chocolate, cakes and sweets for lent. Neither of us are particularly religious but we chose to do it to challenge ourselves (and see who would crack first). At first I found myself craving sugar all the time but substituted these foods with naturally sweet foods such as berries, bananas and other unhealthier foods such as biscuits and cereal.
The one thing I am missing the most is not chocolate, but cake. I didn't particularly eat much cake before but I just really want some now! This is what inspired me to make these cookies, as a kind of substitute.
After making some alterations I came up with the perfect recipe for banana, blueberry and oat cookies. These are a much healthier alternative to chocolate chip cookies and are nice a sweet even though the only sweet ingredient added is golden syrup!

Makes about 8 cookies

Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 mashed banana
75g blueberries
100g oats
100g plain flour
1&1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp. golden syrup
1 egg
1tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a baking sheet.
2.In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together: oats, flour, cinnamon and baking powder
3. In a separate bowl whisk the egg, mashed banana, vanilla essence and golden syrup
4. tip the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon.
5. Finally, tip in the blueberries and gently stir into the mixture, place a spoonful of mixture for each cookie onto the greased baking sheet and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on how soft you want them.

Easiest and tastiest omelette recipe EVER!

Okay, so the other day we had barely any food in and I needed to make myself a quick lunch so I decided to use the eggs we had and make myself an omelette as I haven't had one in about 2 years!

I thought I'd give it a try without using a recipe because I thought 'how hard can it be?' I'm glad I didn't because when I had a look after, I found all these recipes trying to turn something so simple into something that took longer than 1 hour in some cases!

This is my new go-to speedy lunch recipe:

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tbsp. milk
handful of spinach
1 slice of ham
1 handful of grated cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
pepper to season

Method:
1. In a bowl lightly whisk the two eggs together and then whisk in the milk.
2. add a sprinkle of pepper and the mixed herbs and stir.
3. place a non-stick pan on a medium-high heat (about gas mark 4)
4. add the egg mixture to the pan and then place the spinach, broken up ham pieces and cheese on top.
5. wait a couple of minutes for it to cook and then season with some more pepper.
6. plate up and enjoy!

It really is that simple and is high in protein so would be a great lunch to have after a workout.

Love Charli x

Slow-cooked beef madras

 

Today I had a uni exam at 4 which meant I wouldn't get home until around 6:30 so I planned ahead as always...

I decided to get the slow cooker out as we had some low-fat diced beef that needed using up and it would mean that by the time I came through the door, dinner would be ready. It's so easy to use as well, you just bung in all the ingredients, wait a few hours et voila!

This curry was rather spicy so I ate it with some 0% fat natural yoghurt on the side.

Recipe:
Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 450 lean diced beef
• 1 tbsp. madras curry paste
• 300ml beef stock
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• large handful of spinach
• 200g mushrooms
• bulgur wheat and natural yogurt to serve

Method:
1. Set your slow cooker on a medium setting
2. Heat some flora cuisine in a pan, slice the onion and fry for a couple of minutes. Next add the garlic and beef to brown for a few minutes.
3. Once the beef has browned transfer the contents of the pan to your slow cooker and then add the ginger, chilli flakes, madras curry paste, beef stock, chopped tomatoes and mushrooms.
4. Stir and then place the lid on the slow cooker for about 8 hours, stirring every now and then.
5. 30 minutes before you serve add the spinach to the slow cooker pot and then once cooked, enjoy!

I served mine with bulgur wheat as it has fewer calories than rice, however feel free to serve with naan or rice :)

Time for an early night so I can wake up early for a 4 mile run tomorrow...
Have a good evening.

Love Charli x