Stolen Sleep

I love daylight saving. It’s fantastic being able to enjoy some sunshine after work and have enough light left to go for a walk in the evenings but right now I am a little grumpy about the time change because daylight saving stole and hour of my sleep. Being a bit more tired than usual today I opted for a quick and easy dinner – Shrimp with Broccoli from eatingwell.com served on quinoa.

This stir-fry fit what I had in mind for my tea: fast, healthy and light but I was a little disappointed by the flavour. The shrimp is stir-fried in a little oil, garlic, crushed red pepper and added to steamed broccoli and a sauce. The sauce has vegetable stock, lemon and basil and is thickened with a little cornflower. I wanted the sauce to have a little more flavour. I think I’d make this again but would add a little lemon zest to give it some zing.

During the weekend I whipped up a batch of Banana Blueberry Granola. I love home made granola. It smelt so delicious as I was baking it in the oven. The whole house was filled by its aroma and I couldn’t wait for it to cool enough for me to sprinkle it on top of my yoghurt. This recipe is adapted from Allie’s Quinoa Banana Bread Granola. I have cut down the sugar a little and added some dehydrated blueberries I got from Farro’s– yum! Having banana in a granola recipe may seem unusual but it adds a subtle sweetness and helps the oats and quinoa form tasty little clusters.

Banana Blueberry Granola Recipe (adapted from Allie’s Quinoa Banana Bread Granola)

(makes about 4.5 cups)

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 1/8C honey
• 1TBSP canola oil
• 1t vanilla essence
• 3C old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
• 1/2C quinoa
• 1/4C ground flaxseed (also known as linseed)
• 1t cinnamon
• 1/4t salt
• 1/3C pecan pieces
• 1/3C dehydrated blueberries (you could substitute raisins, chopped dried dates, dried cranberries or dried banana chips)

Method

1. In a large bowl, mash the banana until smooth
2. Mix in honey, oil and vanilla essence and stir with a fork until a smooth paste has formed
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients apart from the blueberries (or whatever substitute you prefer)
3. Spread mixture out in a roasting dish lined with tin foil (you want to spread the mixture out as much as possible so it crisps but need a dish with sides so you can stir it easily)
4. Bake at 175C until golden, stirring every 10 minutes or so
5. Toss through the blueberries and allow to cool

Sensuous Strawberries & Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Slaw

I was so excited to see strawberries in the supermarket that I had to buy them. Yes, they are out of season. Yes, they are over priced but, I still couldn’t resist. Unwilling to pay the price for a full punnet, I bought a little pottle of reduced to price strawberries, and have been adding them as a small treat to my breakfast. (Sorry about the slightly blurred photo, my lens got all fogged up).

I tried out Kath’s recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake Oats. For once, I actually followed the directions for a whole recipe – and it was good! The oats have milk, chia seeds, cottage cheese, banana, water and of course, strawberries added to them. The chia seeds make the oats nice and thick, binding the mixture together and the cottage cheese makes them creamy and gives a slight tang . I added almond butter on the top but sadly it was a waste of almond butter. There’s something about combining the textures of hot oats and sticky nut butter that I just don’t enjoy.

Lunch was the Healthy Food Guide’s Spring Chicken with Faith’s Sweet and Spicy Slaw. I know I’ve been saying this about a lot of recipes (ok, pretty much everything I have tried) lately but both recipes are fast, yummy and you should try them!

The Spring Chicken is chicken marinated in lemongrass, garlic, oyster sauce and sugar, then seasoned and grilled. Grilling is my favourite way to have chicken breast. You just crank up the oven grill as hot as it will go, spray the marinated chicken with oil and then put the chicken close under the grill for about 8 minutes (turning half way). The chicken turns out charred on the outside and moist on the inside. Rest it for a few minutes and then devour.

The Sweet and Spicy Slaw was a healthier and more tastier (in my opinion) to traditional coleslaw. The dressing is rice vinegar, soy sauce, canola oil, honey, chilli and garlic but what really makes it is the dry roasted peanuts tossed through – the crunch is so good.

If I were to make this meal again, the only change I would make would be to add some brown rice. Maybe it’s because I’m a carb fiend but it just didn’t seem complete.