Healthy Chicken Shish

lilliefarrow2 Comments

Chicken Shish is my go to healthy choice if I’m being really good but just simply can’t be bothered with the cooking and the washing up! As always, when eating out or having a takeaway you don’t always know exactly how it’s been cooked and what’s been used, also I am a HUGE fan of garlic dip from the takeaway and pitta bread which soon turns it into a not so healthy choice!

This homemade version requires minimal effort and is honestly so much better than from any takeaway.

For two and a half people I used:

  • 3 large Chicken Breasts
  • 1/2 tsp each of Cumin, Paprika, Garlic Salt and Mixed Herbs
  • 2 Lemons
  • Wholegrain Cous Cous
  • Coriander
  • Chicken Stock
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Red Onion
  • Olives
  • Feta Cheese
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Fat Free Greek Yog

 
The first thing I do is soak the skewers (I used 6) in boiling water, this helps to stop them catching fire under the grill. Then I sliced the chicken (you could dice if you prefer) and mixed with the spices, herbs and the juice of half a lemon.


Next I skewered the Chicken and popped it under the grill, they take about 10 mins being turned half way through so I use this time to get everything else ready!


Then I weighed up 120g of Wholegrain Cous Cous in a bowl, added 160ml of boiling water and half a chicken stock cube and covered with cling film. After about 5 mins I fluffed it up with a fork and added the juice of half a lemon, chopped coriander, salt and pepper to taste.


The salad was a basic Greek salad. I halved cherry tomatoes, deseeded and chopped up cucumber, finely diced red onions, diced up Feta (I used 90g, 45g = HexA for any slimming worlders), some sliced Olives (25g = 2 Syns) and chopped Coriander. I mixed everything together, hold the olives for fussy gits, added lemon juice, balsamic, salt and pepper.

Once you have finished everything else the chicken should be ready!

I serve mine with a great big dollop of fat free yoghurt, if you have time you can always jazz this up with spices or garlic salt!


This was a big hit with everyone even the little one so that’s always a good thing!


Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

L x

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Toasted Chicken Caesar and Parmesan Wraps

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This made such a nice dinner for a warmer evening! I love the flavours of Chicken Caesar and I love a Chicken wrap so this was the perfect combo and really easy to make. I used to make a Slimming World Toasted Twister which I’ve linked here, I used to love making these but this version is a lot simpler.

I made enough for 3 adults but Kieran had 2 wraps because he basically eats for 2 so would say this is enough for 4 regular people and we just had some home made Sweet Potato Fries with a little side salad.

For 4 people you will need:

  • 4 Chicken Breasts
  • 1 Lemon
  • 1 tbsp Oregano
  • 4 cloves of Garlic
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 4 Wraps (I used BFree Gluten Free ones)
  • 1 Cos Lettuce
  • 4 tbsp of Caesar Dressing (I used Pizza Express one because its just my favourite)
  • 60g Parmesan

First you want to cook the Chicken Breast. I pop them onto a tray with the Lemon sliced up, crush the Garlic cloves and season with the Oregano, Salt and Pepper. Cook in the oven covered with tin foil on 180 for 25-30 minutes then rest for 10 minutes before shredding up with two forks.

In the meantime you can shred up the Lettuce finely and grate the Parmesan.

Once everything is ready, spread a tbsp of Caesar Dressing over the wrap (this will help it stick together when you wrap it up!). Then place a line of Lettuce, topped with Chicken and 1/4 of the Grated Parmesan and wrap.

Pop the Wrap into a pre heated chargrill pan and grill for 2-3 minutes on each side, you don’t need to do this but it makes them so much nicer, gives them and crunch and melts the Parmesan.

And thats it!

Ridiculously simply and really yummy… next time I’m going to add some crispy Bacon in there too 😍

Hope you enjoy.

L x

Creamy Bacon and Courgette Gnocchi

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I usually spend some time every weekend scouring the internet or some magazines for some fresh food inspo for the week ahead. I think Jamie Olivers food has to be up there with my favourite, all his books are amazing and the food photography is just #goals for me… I was having a little scroll of his pasta recipes and came across an old favourite of mine that I had completely forgotten about from his Jamie At Home book… Courgette Carbonara (I will link it here for anyone who wants to try the original recipe).

This recipe is heavily inspired by his one (credit where credits due… not going to pretend I just plucked this out of thin air 🙋🏻‍♀️) but I wanted to try it with Gnocchi and use my old faithful Philadelphia Light instead of cream.

This amount makes enough for 2 people but I had an extra large portion (🐷) and Isla scoffed the rest.

For 2 people you will need:

  • 4 rashers of Smoked Bacon
  • 2 Courgettes
  • 400g Gnocchi
  • 2 tsp fresh chopped Thyme (remove the leaves from the stalks before chopping)
  • 1 tsp Garlic
  • 1 Egg
  • 100g Philadelphia Light
  • 30g Parmesan
  • Salt and Pepper

Cut the Bacon into lardons, the Courgette into quarters removing the spongey middle part then slice. Mix the Egg with the Philadelphia and Parmesan saving some of the Parmesan to go on top at the end.

Put the Bacon into a cold large non stick pan and a pan of water with salt on to boil. Turn the heat on the frying pan and start to fry the Bacon… I do it from cold so the fat renders down and the Bacon then frys off nicely without having to add any extra oil.

Once the Bacon is crispy, add the Courgette to the pan with the Thyme, Garlic and a little Black Pepper. Add the Gnocchi to the boiling water, turn down to a simmer and simmer for 1-2 minutes… it will all float to the top which means its ready. Drain and save some of the cooking water

Turn off the heat for the frying pan. Add the Gnocchi and the Egg and Cheese mixture stirring through with a few spoonfuls of the water from the Gnocchi to make a nice silky, creamy sauce.

And thats it!

Hope you enjoy.
Lx&

Teriyaki Salmon and Satay Noodles

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Stir Frys are one of those things we have once in a blue moon and I’m always like WHY don’t we do this more often!? They are ridiculously easy, full of flavour and a crowd pleaser in my house. The Teriyaki Salmon was a bit of a chuck it together jobby but came out so nice so I’ve included it here for anyone who wants to make it.

The kids had this with us too but I did them some pan fried sliced Chicken instead of Salmon and they did some epic veg dodging but enjoyed the noodles!

For the Salmon you will need:

  • 2 pieces of Salmon
  • 4 tbsp of Light Soy Sauce
  • 4 tbsp Honey
  • 2 tsp Sesame Seeds

For the Satay Noodles to serve 4:

  • 3 pieces of Medium Egg Noodles
  • Veg (I used Mushrooms, Carrots, Peppers, Sugar Snaps, Green Beans and Asparagus)
  • 1 tsp each of Garlic, Chilli and Ginger
  • 2 tbsp Peanut Butter
  • 100g Light Soy Sauce
  • 50g Sweet Chilli Sauce
  • To Garnish; Spring Onions, Sliced Chilli, Toasted Cashews and Coriander

For the Salmon, pan fry flesh side down in the pan on a medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the Soy and Honey and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, turn over and sprinkle with the Sesame seeds, take off the heat and leave to rest in the Pan.

Boil a kettle and soak the Noodles in boiling water for 4-5 minutes.

Heat a large Wok with a little oil. Add the Mushrooms with the Garlic, Chilli and Ginger and fry for a minute.

Add the rest of the Veg and stir fry for a further minute.

Add the softened Noodles with the Peanut Butter, Soy and Sweet Chilli tossing altogether… use some tongues they will help incorporate the Peanut Butter (the wooden spoon was not cutting it!)

Serve up with the Salmon and top with the Garnish… I also had some Broccoli stir fried with Garlic and Chilli.

And thats it! Hope you enjoy.

L x

Seabass with Salsa Verde

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This is the perfect Lunch/Light Dinner for Spring… I made it just for myself but the amounts for the Salsa Verde would serve around 8-10 people. It is packed with flavour and goes amazing with any Fish but is also really great with Steak. You don’t need a snazzy blender to make it you can chop it all by hand and mix together it will just be a bit more ‘rustic’.

You will need:

  • 1 small handful Mint
  • 1 small handful Basil
  • 1 small handful Parsley
  • 30g Capers
  • 30g Cornichons
  • 10g Anchovies
  • 7 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
  • Seabass
  • New Potatoes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Asparagus
  • Green Beans

If using a blender, blitz the Capers, Cornichons and Anchovies with 6 tbsp of the Olive Oil (save 1) and the White Wine Vinegar. If you are doing by hand, finely chop them… whisk the Vinegar into the Olive Oil then mix them in.

Trim the Seabass fillet and score the skin. Put the Potatoes onto boil and cut the Cherry Tomatoes in half and pop into the oven on 180′ to roast.

Season the Seabass fillet, then cook in a non stick pan, skin side down on a medium heat. For the first minute or so press down the Seabass fillet whilst its cooking in the pan so it stays flat and the skin gets nice and crispy. It will need around 4 minutes to crisp up, just keep an eye on it, then turn over and cook for 2 more minutes.

Keep an eye on the spuds, when they are very nearly done, add the Green Beans and Asparagus and cook for a minute then drain the lot.

Finely chop all the herbs and mix into the dressing with the final spoon of Olive Oil. Add a spoonful of the dressing to the Potatoes and Greens.

By now the Tomatoes should be ready so you can plate everything up.

The dressing should keep for 2-3 days covered in the fridge but will discolour slightly over time due to the Vinegar in it which is fine, it just won’t look as nice!

Hope you enjoy.

L x

Johnson’s Ambassador 2018

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I am ridiculously proud and excited to say that this year I will be working alongside Johnson’s Baby. I have been so fortunate to already be a part of two campaigns for them and as a brand we use daily in our house and genuinely love, I’m looking forward to learning more and sharing more about the brand, their values and of course their products.

A few weeks back, I along with 24 other Bloggers had the pleasure of meeting some of the Johnson’s team and spending the day with them, learning lots about skin, skin care, Johnson’s products and some myth busting.

One of the first things we talked about was Baby’s Skin. Now I know it’s a sensitive subject but ultimately we all want what is best for our children and sometimes difference of opinion on this can be very strong. When it comes to my girls and products I use on them, the first thing I do is try the product… Im not much of a ‘read and research’ sort of parent, I trust that things wouldn’t be available for me to buy and use on my children if they are not safe. I trust that there are laws and regulations in place to protect them and basically if something was going to cause harm why on earth is it sitting in every supermarket/cosmetic shop readily available for to get my mitts on.

The thing that I was most excited about was actually learning about ingredients and products and having the time to do that and a trustworthy professional delivering that information to me face to face, well it was a privilege and has only cemented my trust even more so in Johnson’s baby.

I want to share some of the things we learnt with you because it really was informative and eye opening. I know sometimes you can look at the back of a bottle of any product and be a bit like woah! I have no idea what any of this is, is it safe? what does this mean? Truth be told, if you want that information, you can easily find it on the world wide web and using great tools like INCI Cosmetic Database which I have linked here. We were also shown the image below and asked to guess what it was without including the picture and I was slightly mind blown as without knowing it’s very easy to read ingredients or the makeup or anything and feel a bit overwhelmed, I have linked the blog that these images are from for reference here, which is also really interesting and puts things into perspective.

Something else I learnt about Johnson’s products is yes, they do use preservatives but also safety is at the utmost importance to them… you know when your baby’s in the bath along with all the toys, bottles, toothbrushes etc… water can get into your products and compromise the scientific make up of them adding more moisture and we all know what happens when there is unwanted moisture… so yes they do use preservatives but all for good reason.

Now I know it sounds like I’m preaching, and of course the fact that I am working alongside Johnson’s means that this content is sponsored, but the aim of being an Ambassador for them is not only to educate me but also educate others and after spending the day with them and learning alot I do feel strongly about it and above all I know that their products and values deliver all that I want and expect from a Baby Brand in terms of what I am happy to use on my children.

I have never been a ‘shove it down your neck’ type and I do hope no one takes it that way, it is up to us all as individuals to know the facts and to decide on what we as parents are happy with and happy to use on our own children and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year working alongside Johnson’s and some other amazing bloggers!

L x

I am proud to say that this post is sponsored by Johnson’s Baby UK but as always all words and opinions are my own.

Easy Peasy Enchiladas

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My favourite food in the entire world is Italian… BUT Mexican is a very very close second. I LOVE Mexican Food so when I make healthy quick versions of it I’m basically just chuffed with myself.

When I made these I was making for 2 people… but the filling would of been enough for 3… 1 of the wraps was SO filling so I could of easily made an extra portion in another wrap. I know it looks like a lot of ingredients but they really are so easy.

So for 3 people you will need:

  • 2 Chicken Breasts diced
  • 1 Red Onion finely diced
  • 1 tsp chopped Garlic
  • 1 tsp chopped Chilli
  • 1/2 tin of Refried Beans
  • 1 tbsp BBQ Sauce
  • 1 tsp Paprika
  • 1/2 tsp Cumin
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
  • 1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
  • 1 carton Passata
  • 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
  • 1 tsp Sugar
  • 3 Wraps
  • 60g Grated Cheese
  • Salt and Pepper

Mix the Passatta with the Balsamic, Sugar and a little Salt and Pepper and bring to a simmer. Start frying off the Red Onion in a separate pan.

After a few minutes frying the Onion, add the Chicken with the Spices, Garlic, Chilli and some Salt and Pepper.

Fry for 3-4 minutes till the Chicken is sealed. Add the Refried Beans, BBQ Sauce and a few spoonfuls of the Passatta and cook for 5 minutes.

Put a few spoonfuls of Passatta in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Add the filling to the Wraps and roll up then place into the dish. Top with the remaining Passatta and the Cheese then bake in the oven on 180 for 10-15 minutes.

And thats it! I had mine with some diced Tomato and Spring Onion, mashed Avo and a bit of Salad…I nearly made Rice too but you definitely don’t need it, they are really filling!

Hope you enjoy them!

L x