BUTTERNUT SQUASH, TAHINI & RICE: Vegetarian

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Butternut Squash, tahini dressing and brown rice makes a colourful  stick-to-your-ribs vegetarian dish with wonderfully complex flavours. 

Main course or side, a delicious colourful multi-flavoured & textured dish 

If you love butternut squash, this is for you.  If you've never tried butternut squash before, it could very well convert you.

This combo of Butternut Squash, Tahini & Rice is both inspired by and, in part, adapted from Ottolenghi.  The dressing is the Blogger's, as is the final combination of ingredients.  

For a vegetarian meal, it's really delicious and a vegan option is available.

It's versatile; serve it warm or at room temperature. at lunchtime, dinner or as a side.  Ring the changes with ease; customise to your taste with favourite additions.   Add finely sliced red bell pepper, cooked green beans or peas.  Stir into a crisp salad.  Replace the creamy dressing with a hummous/lemon emulsion.   

It will likely become a favourite dish.  

Cost:£4.00

Serves: 4 mains, 8 sides; recipe expands easily

Ingreds:

1 small butternut squash 1.25-2 pounds (67 used a Golden Squash, squatter than the usual gourd)

1 med red onion

few tablespoons oil

generous half tsp salt

generous 1/4 tsp pepper

min 180g/6.3oz - max 500g/15 oz cooked brown rice 

20g pine nuts or sunflower seeds or nuts of choice 

1 tsp za'atar (Middle Eastern spice mix of thyme, sesame seeds, sumac, oregano, marjoram & salt; in most supermarkets)

1.5 tsp roughly chopped fresh parsley and/or mint OR 1/3 tsp dried

Creamy Tahini Dressing

   100gm/3.5 oz 0-fat yoghurt

   2 tbsp mayonnaise
   1 generous tsp lemon juice OR white wine vinegar
   1 small clove garlic, finely grated
   2 tsp chopped fresh or 3/4 tsp dried mint 
   pepper & salt
   1 tbsp good tahini

   1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (opt) 

Additions (opt):

finely sliced red pepper

cooked peas

cooked tender steam broccoli

cooked fine green beans

Method

RUNNER'S WORLD HIGH PROTEIN PANCAKES/WAFFLES

Could cottage cheese be part of the solution to high-protein diets which threaten to break the bank?

High Protein Oat, Banana & Cottage Cheese Batter for Waffles & Pancakes

Cottage Cheese is becoming a big thing these days with recipes incorporating the milky curds in breakfasts, as a lower-fat replacement for cream, in baking and in casseroles.

Over the years 67goingon50 has used cottage cheese, blended till smooth, in dips (see Skinnier Smoked Salmon Dip, in Lower-fat/salt Skinnier Spanokopita (fab & so healthy)  and in Vegetarian Lasagna (Can't Believe It's Not Beef!)

Not bad for a once-boring diet food which has been under the radar for years.

67 has seen recipes for pancakes made with cottage cheese before and remained uninterested.  But this recipe from Runner's World was created for those on high protein, lower-carb meal plans.

It was worth a trial.

Reader, the recipe produced quite delicious hot-breads even without fresh fruit or syrup. But - personal preference - 67 preferred the crunchy waffle edges to the smoothness of pancakes. 

Unless you're a professional athlete, 67 thought protein powder could be considered an option and replaced it with wholemeal flour.

  

Cost: £1.50'ish

Makes: 4 good-sized waffles or 8 pancakes (recipe doubles easily)

Ingreds: 

• 30g oat flour (if you only have oats, process until fine)
• 30g unflavoured whey protein powder OR 25g wholemeal flour
• 1 tsp baking powder 

• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon pinch of salt

• 1 small ripe banana 
• 110g low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 large egg 
• ½ tsp vanilla extract 

(opt): Pure maple syrup and fresh berries, to serve 

Method

PRE-DIABETIC/WEIGHT LOSS REPORT 10

 24 April 2024

Getting back to normal after a nasty bout of ‘flu.

Some weight was lost but cravings for sweets, crisps and dairy were so strong, the body seemed to need them.   

Inevitably, the indulgences triggered bad habits of the past, and combined with less exercise during 'flu, weight gain is a concern. 

There’ll be a progress report next week.

BUTTER-FREE HEALTHIER CAKES FOR SPRING SUNSHINE & SHOWERS

With more rain showers forecast to interrupt our enjoyment of spring, these lovely full-sized and mini-cakes are sure to take the sting away.

They offer bags of lip-smacking flavour and wonderful textures, whether delicate and fine-crumbed or a little more substantial but airy.  

They're not difficult to make and the great thing is: by the time some of the cakes are baked and ready, the rain might have stopped and you can take tea outside. 

Al lof these cakes are Butter-Free but not exactly healthy - they are cake, after all.  But in most, sugar has been reduced and wholemeal flour replaces some white...and you won't notice at all. 

Spring Orange Cake

This is the kind of cake that makes people stop in their tracks and marvel after the first bite.  It's deliciously scented but subtle, with flavours that pack a punch.  Rustic but light; it's easy to make and high in good fibre.  You and your guests won't regret making and eating this.  (Adapted from Sky McAlpine)

Chocolate Cake like Grandma made

Much-loved dark rich chocolate cake like Grandma used to make.  Always a favourite.  It's a beautiful tender-crumbed cake that is a taste sensation.  Okay, it contains a shocking amount of sugar but its in proportion to the other ingredients, and it is a cake for many.  The sugar helps the cake retain its moist tenderness for at least a week (if you're lucky!) and it actually tastes better as time goes by.  

Angelic Lemon Mint Cakes

These gorgeous little mini-angel food cakes are inspired by the beautiful Italian-American chef Giada De Laurentis.  And they are exquisitely tasty.  The interiors are tender and fluffy; the tops deliciously crackly. Think they look boring?  Take a bite and savour the magnificent explosion of lemon-mint glaze.  Utterly, unashamedly delightful.  

Vegetarian Orange Surprise Cakes

These vegetarian Orange Surprise Mini-Cakes - not eggs on cakes! - are wonderful for the kids to make and eat.  The 14-year-old tester said they were so light and airy he could eat lots of them, and he thought the amount of sugar was just right.  The fresh orange hidden in the middle of the cakes was a winner.  Butter and egg-free.

PS These are family-sized recipes but 67goingon50 specialises in smaller midi-cakes for singletons or couples.  They come in 5 inch round cake tins and are perfect cooked in a air fryer.  Sadly for fat-phobics they  contain butter but only small amounts.  Pear & walnut is popular but there's a choice of mocha, raspberry almond and carrot.  

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This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  They may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.