Butternut Soup

This is a really yummy & easy soup to make.  Butternut is one of my FAVE veggies, so I love this dish.

1 butternut, peeled & chopped into large chunks
1 onion, chopped into chunks
veggie stock
sunflower or coconut oil
cinnamon
nutmeg
cayenne (optional)

•  place chopped veggies on baking tray, drizzle generously with oil, sprinkle over lots of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, and if you want to add cayenne for some kick, sprinkle just a light layer over (or add more if you like it hot)
• bake at 180 degree C for 1 hour, until tender and cooked
•  place in a food processor and add veggie stock - blend and add more veggie stock to get the soup a consistency that you like - you can make it chunky or smooth

Easy peasy.  :)

Cottage Cheese Salad

This is a quick & healthy lunch option on it's own, or it can be used as a side dish.

Ingredients: tomato, cucumber, plain chunky cottage cheese, himalayan salt to taste, (and pepper if you like, or spices if you prefer).

Add as much of each ingredient as you like, but more salad & less cheese would probably be more favourable for weight loss if that's what you're after. :)

Toasted Wrap with Hummus Dip & Salsa

I was in the mood to try something different today, so I made some hummus and a simple salsa as dips for a wrap that I cut into pieces and toasted in the oven.  It was tasty and filling. :)

I cut up a wrap and toasted the pieces in the oven for 5 mins at 180 C (could have gone a bit longer to make them crispier though --- next time!)

See my hummus recipe HERE.

And the salsa...it's just a really simple one - finely chopped tomato & red onion, salted with Himalayan crystal salt. 

(There's some pesto in the background which I got as a gift and never knew what to do with, so I finally opened it today and it actually smells yummy.  So I used it as a dip for the wrap chips too.)

 It was good, and more than enough left over for my lunch tomorrow too. :D

Curried Bean Wrap

This is good for lunch or dinner really.  Usually I use canned curried beans for this but I couldn't find it lately so I made my own curried beans.

Curried beans:
1 can red kidney beans
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin powder
salt to taste

Put everything in a food processor and blend until smooth.  You could use whatever spices you like, but I like this combination for wraps.

Rest of the wrap:
1 wrap
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 leaf of lettuce, finely chopped
sour cream  (or mashed avocado)

Plop some bean paste onto the wrap, sprinkle over the sesame seeds, add the lettuce and tomato and fold up the wrap.  If my avocados were ripe, I would have added some of that in the wrap too, OR if I had cheese, I would have added some grated cheese as the last ingredient and microwaved it for a few seconds to melt the cheese (this also helps to hold the wrap together, almost like a glue).  But alas, I had neither of these ingredients, but it was still good!  Add sour cream as desired.

I just added the sesame seeds for some extra nutritional benefit - you don't taste them in here.

If you can find a vegan wrap, you can make this meal vegan if you substitute the sour cream with mashed avocado...yummy..... :)

Cucumber, Cheese & Sprout Sandwich

I'm trying to cut out any kind of white bread wherever I can, so I use a low GI, whole wheat, high fibre bread that I find really tasty. :)

Another way to incorporate sprouts into your meals is by adding them to sandwiches, like this one.

2 slices of health bread
butter (I don't like "dry" bread....I need me some butter!)
a few thick slices of cucumber
grated cheddar cheese
alfalfa sprouts
himalayan powdered salt to taste

Slap everything together for a yummy lunch.  Cucumbers are also very low in calories....only about 14 calories per 100g of cucumber, so there's no need to limit these in your diet.  :)