This recipe is taken from the July 2015 issue of Olive Magazine.

Ingredients

200g shortcrust pastry (I made my own – see this recipe for quantities and method)

150g fat-free quark

1 egg, beaten

1 lemon, zested

A small bunch of dill, finely chopped

3 courgettes, sliced into long thin strips

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Roll out the pastry to fit a 21cm x 4cm deep tart tin. Cover with baking parchment and pour in some baking beans, before blind baking for 15 minutes or until the pastry is set and the base no longer looks damp. Remove the beans and cook for another 5 minutes.

2. Mix the quark, egg, lemon zest, dill and season well. Spread into the cooked pastry case.

3. Stack a handful of the courgette ribbons on top of each other, then start to roll into a pinwheel, continually adding lengths. Position this i the centre of the pastry case, on top of the quark mix, and keep adding new outer layers to the wheel to create the circle (holding on to what you have already put in as you do so). Keep adding the slices until the courgette slices start to lean on the edge of the case and hold themselves in.

4. Cook for 40-50 minutes, or until the courgette has softened and is turning golden, and the liquid given off by the courgette has evaporated. Rest the tart for 10 minutes before cutting into slices. Serve with salad and a few new potatoes – yum!

Hope you’ve all had a super weekend!

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Ingredients

Olive oil, for cooking

2 large red onions, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

400g red lentils

800ml vegetable stock – plus extra boiling water to avoid sticking

6 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

2-3 tablespoons madras curry paste (or use a milder one if you prefer)

300g baby spinach leaves

Sea salt and black pepper to taste (we don’t usually add additional salt)

Thick live probiotic yoghurt, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat a little olive oil in a pan, add the onions and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened.

2. Add the lentils and a little of the stock and simmer. Keep adding small amounts of stock bit by bit as the lentils cook and soften, as if you were cooking a risotto.

3. Once the lentils are starting to soften and break down, add the chicken and curry paste and stir well. Continue simmering and adding the stock until the chicken has cooked through. If the lentils start to stick to the pan at this point, just add a little extra boiling water to loosen it. We have found that we usually add at least 300ml extra boiling water as they do tend to stick quite a bit.

4. Add the baby spinach at the last minute, season with salt and pepper and stir until the spinach has wilted.

5. Serve immediately, with a dollop of yoghurt on top, if you like. Enjoy!

Edit: Want to make your own curry paste?

Little One absolutely loves this curry! We’ve been doing Baby Led Weaning with her since she was almost 6 months, and we must have tried this with her a couple of months in. We didn’t want to use a jar of curry paste with her because of the salt levels, so we made our own curry paste using a recipe from The Baby Led Weaning Cookbook. It’s so delicious! She loves naan bread too so we always serve this with naan and a little bit of rice, which helps to make this go further too.

This curry paste will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. You can either use ready ground spices or grind your own in a grinder (or use a pestle and mortar). We usually leave out the chilli at the moment, but you can make this as hot as you like!

1 fresh mild/medium chilli pepper, deseeded (optional)

5-6 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated

2cm (3/4″) piece of fresh ginger, grated

4 tbsp ground coriander seeds

4 tbsp ground cumin seeds

2 tbsp mustard seeds, crushed

1 tbsp chilli powder (optional)

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp paprika (we use sweet smoked paprika)

Olive oil

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add as much oil as you need to get the desired consistency.

Post updated 6th May 2017.

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Click here for the original recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
420g turkey steaks, cut into 1cm strips against the grain of the meat
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger / pinch ground ginger
Roughly 250g green beans, cooked (frozen are fine)
300g cooked rice to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the turkey strips for 4-5 minutes until golden and cooked through. Removed from the pan and keep warm.

2. Add a tiny splash of oil in the pan and add the garlic and ginger. Cook for around 1 minute stirring frequently so it’s cooked and soft but not brown or burned.

3. Add the honey and soy sauce to the pan and stir well over a medium heat. Simmer gently for around 2 minutes so it reduces slightly.

4. Return the turkey to the pan and mix it well so it’s all coated with the sauce. Add a splash of hot water if you think it’s too dry. Finally stir through the green beans and serve with rice (or noodles, like we did!).

Enjoy!

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Finding really tasty but healthy meals can often be tricky. I found ‘The Diet for Food Lovers’ in a bargain bin in TKMaxx, and it’s a fantastic book full of delicious recipes that don’t make you feel like you’re scrimping on flavour! This recipe is fast becoming one of our favourites – if you’re not home too late then you can easily make it on a weeknight, which is always useful. If you don’t use all of the pesto it keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days, so it’s good for another meal too!

Ingredients (serves 4)

500g baby new potatoes, halved
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into bite-size chunks
200g cherry tomatoes
3 courgettes, trimmed and cut into bite-size chunks
4 garlic cloves
Small handful rosemary leaves, finely chopped
Small handful thyme leaves, finely chopped
4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
Olive oil (or groundnut oil)

For the pesto
Large handful basil leaves
1 tablespoon pine nuts
30g Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6. Place the potatoes in a large, shallow, non-stick ovenproof dish and cover with foil. Cook for 20 minutes.

2. Remove the potatoes from the oven and add the red peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Stir, then return to the oven and roast (uncovered) for a further 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir occasionally while roasting to prevent sticking.

3. While the vegetables are roasting, make the pesto. Place the basil, pine nuts, Parmesan and olive oil in a food processor and blitz to a stiff paste.

4. Heat a little olive or groundnut oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 4-6 minutes or until it is cooked through. At the last minute, add the fresh pesto, stir and cover until you are ready to serve. Turn off the heat.

5. Peel the roasted garlic cloves, squash or roughly chop and mix back into the vegetables.

6. Mix the pesto chicken in with the vegetables before serving. Enjoy!

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I tried out this recipe this evening and it’s really easy, really tasty and low fat – brilliant! I halved the quantities here for the two of us, except for the 400g tin of chopped tomatoes. I think next time I’d put a whole chilli in for 2 people, but that’s just personal preference! I used linguine here, which was slightly on the done side because we were trying to rescue a butterfly…

This recipe comes from the July 2014 edition of BBC Good Food magazine.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large aubergine, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
400g/14oz fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped (or a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
400g/14oz dried tagliolini pasta (we used linguine)
Small bunch of basil, roughly chopped
50g/2oz pecorino, grated (or veggie alternative)

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the aubergine for 5 minutes until starting to brown and soften.

2. Add the onion, garlic, chilli and oregano and cook for just a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and about 200ml water, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the tomatoes are reduced and the sauce is thickened.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the tagliolini following the pack instructions. Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Add the sauce and toss well into the pasta with the basil. Serve with the grated pecorino.

Enjoy!

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