Bubble and squeak

My dad used to take me to the best greasy spoons in South London when I was a kid (and the best pubs). Anyway….. it was usually at the weekend and I fell in love with bubble and squeak - left over greens and potatoes from the previous evening’s roast dinner, mashed up and fried like a potato patty and topped with a fried egg. It was the best breakfast! Doesn’t sound too healthy I know, but if you reduce the oil in the frying pan and poach the egg instead, it’s pretty nutritious. I’m sure I’ve talked about how good dark green leafy vegetables are for you, maybe I haven’t, but I will do later. Trust me, they are extremely good for you so incorporate them into as many meals as possible. This is a great way to get them in at breakfast time (or any other time) and not waste leftovers from the night before.

There are some shocking statistics on food wastage. It was reported in the UK last year that Britons throw away 20m tons of food a year, over half of the food produced on farms and equivalent to half of the food import needs for the whole of Africa! Just last month, an academic from UWS claimed Sydney consumers throw away more than $600m worth of fresh food per annum. Don’t get me started on the US. So use left over’s wherever you can and cut back on buying stuff you just won’t eat. It’s all very well railing against GM foods but we make them a necessity if we just continue to over consume. I write this as a reminder to myself!

Moral of the story, eat bubble and squeak with an egg on top, its delicious!

Pumpkin Hummus

I could eat hummus every day, I love it so much. I have always enjoyed hummus, ever since I first tasted it when I was really young. I used to beg my mum to buy it but she insisted on making it herself. My mum makes everything from scratch but I always wanted ready-made supermarket food! I didn’t realise how lucky I was. History repeats itself and I would never buy hummus from the supermarket now unless really pushed for time. Not that ready made hummus isn’t good, some of it tastes excellent, but I like to have control over what I’m eating and know exactly what is in my food i.e. salt and oil content. I also like the variations of homemade hummus, such as this one with pumpkin. Hummus is a brilliant source of vegetarian protein and fibre making it a great snack or accompaniment to any meal. The tahini also provides essential fatty acids and minerals. I’m currently using unhulled tahini. It has a slightly bitter taste in comparison to hulled but being less processed, unhulled is higher in nutrients.

• 400 g cooked organic chickpeas
• 300g of cooked organic pumpkin
• 1 clove of garlic (or more if you like)
• 2 tbsp of organic tahini
• ½ lemon juiced
• ½ tsp of ground cumin
• Sea salt to taste (Himalayan is good)
• 1 tbsp of olive oil/flaxseed oil
• Water depending on how thick you like it
• Sweet Paprika

Chuck chickpeas, pumpkin, garlic, tahini and lemon juice into a blender and add water if it needs to be thinned down. Once blended, stir in the oil and cumin and add salt to taste. Spoon into a bowl and sprinkle paprika over the top. Yummy.

Grapefruitade

I'm a little bit lazy when it comes to grapefruit. If its the weekend, then I will make a bit more of an effort and cut them up properly. But if I want a grapefruit hit and its a nice sunny day, then I get out my citrus fruit squeezer and make a delicious grapefruitade. Its really really easy and quick to make and tastes divine, particularly on a hot day. I try and get all the fibre into the juice too so I don't miss out on the good bits!

• 1 -2 Grapefruit, juiced
  
• Tbsp honey (my favourite at the moment is Australian Blood Wood honey)
  
• Sparkling water (can't go past San Pellegrino)

Lemons can be used instead of grapefruit to make the more commonly known drink, LEMONade!

BOB Pizza

This week's BOBBERS will have received a yummy organic pizza base and lovely red roma tomatoes so I thought I would pass on my tomato sauce recipe in case you were wondering what to do with your base! Once you have made the tomato sauce you can top the pizza with goats cheese, pumpkin, grilled zucchini, garlic and parsley. You could also add some capers or olives, some fresh sardines or maybe parma ham. 

The tomato sauce is really easy:

• BOB roma tomatoes
  
• 2 cloves of garlic
  
• fresh basil/parsley
  
• oregano
• olive oil
  
• sea salt
  

Finely chop the garlic and lightly cook in olive oil until golden, then add the fresh chopped parsley or basil and quickly stir for 1 minute. Add the chopped roma tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes or until you have a nice reduced tomato sauce. Add sea salt and oregano to taste and then spread on top of your BOB organic pizza base and top with whatever you feel like. Buon appetito!

Energy Cookies

I am often asked about snack foods that can be eaten on the run by busy people. There are lots of muesli bars, snack bars, energy bars and protein bars on the market but to be honest, I wouldn’t touch most of them so I know how hard it is sometimes to find a snack that is healthy and convenient. It’s rare to find a packeted product which has unprocessed organic ingredients, healthy good quality oils and is devoid of flavourings and excess salt and sugar so I would go for homemade snacks every time. And it’s good to know what you are eating.

Marcus is doing the Oxfam 100 km walk in August and he was given an energy cookie recipe by one of his team mates. I have been dutifully making the cookies for their training sessions and they are really quick and easy to make (which means he can start making them himself!). I have changed the recipe a little here and reduced the saturated fat and sugar content because we are not all walking 50km a day. However, these cookies are made from low GI grains and contain lots of soluble fibre along with protein and essential fatty acids. They should keep you going for quite a while…

Makes about 12

All ingredients organic where possible

• 1 cup of wholewheat flour
  
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
  
• 1 cup of rolled oats
  
• 1 cup of oat bran
  
• ½ cup of LSA mix (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds, found in the fridge in health stores)
  
• 1 cup of chopped up organic apricots
• 100mls of EV olive oil
•  ½ cup of honey
  
•  ¼ cup of boiling water
  

Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the olive oil, honey and boiling water and then pour the liquid into the dry mix and beat it all together, moistening it with more water if needed. Make approx 12 cookies with the mixture and cook on a non stick baking tray in the oven for about 25 minutes at 150 degrees. When cooked, place on a wire rack until cool and firm.

Bobby beetroot salads

Beetroot is not a particularly popular vegetable in England although this is changing. In Australia however, it’s a different story. I was amazed at how much beetroot figured on menus when I first moved to Oz and the recent memory of boiled beetroot in vacuum packs made me a little apprehensive. However, after exposure to the beautiful fresh version, I became a purple plant convert. It is a staple in any juice, makes a yummy dip and is a regular addition to winter salads. I’m a big fan of roasted beetroot in olive oil, salt and pepper but you can also boil or bake it. Beetroot greens are also highly nutritious and can be prepared in the same way as spinach.

Beetroot is a good source of folate, fibre and antioxidants and has been shown to reduce blood pressure due to its nitrate-rich properties (also found in green leafy vegetables). Throw together roasted beetroot and pumpkin with rocket leaves and goats feta for a delicious salad to accompany lamb. A lighter salad with beetroot, freshly chopped apple, onion and spinach is equally as good.

Beetroot and pumpkin salad

·       Beetroot, washed, topped, tailed and chopped into cubes

·       Pumpkin chopped into cubes

·       Pumpkin seeds

·       Wild rocket leaves

·       Goats feta

·       Thinly sliced onion

·       Olive oil

Dressing

·       Balsamic vinegar

·       Olive oil

·       Sea salt and pepper 

Roast the beetroot, pumpkin and pumpkin seeds in olive oil until cooked then throw together with rest of ingredients and toss in the dressing.

Beetroot and apple salad

·       Beetroot, washed, topped, tailed and chopped into cubes and roasted in olive oil

·       BOB’s apples washed and chopped into cubes

·       BOB small onion, thinly sliced

·       Baby spinach

Dressing

·       Lemon juice

·       Flaxseed oil

·       Sea salt

Grilled eggplant with tomato and parmesan

Eggplant, or aubergine as we call it at home, is one of my favourite vegetables. I think this recipe originally came from my friend Beth as we ate it a lot at her dad’s beautiful old house in Le Marche, Italy. It’s great as a starter with grilled sourdough (rubbed with freshly cut garlic and a drizzle of olive oil) or as a side to lamb. I usually use normal blackbell eggplant but BOB gave us Lebanese eggplant this week which can also be used. If you have tomatoes left over from last week, they can be used to make the tomato sauce.

·        Eggplants cut into inch thick slices or lebanese eggplant cut in half along the length

·        3 tomatoes chopped

·        2 large cloves of garlic finely chopped

·        olive oil

·        basil

·        parmesan

·        rocket

·        lemon juice

·        parsley roughly chopped

·        sea salt and pepper

Rub olive oil all over the eggplant and grill gently over a barbeque until cooked. Alternatively, roast in the oven. Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce by gently cooking the garlic in olive oil until golden. Add the basil leaves and stir for a few seconds and then add the chopped tomatoes. Add some sea salt and then simmer with lid for 30 -45 mins, stirring and breaking up the tomatoes every so often. Lay the cooked eggplant on top of the rocket leaves tossed in lemon juice and then spread the tomato sauce over the top. Finish with grated parmesan, black pepper and chopped parsley. Belissimo!