EACH WEEK, WE ask a home cook about the dishes they’ve been whipping up of late. The kind of food you don’t need a recipe for, from quick snacks to empty-the-fridge dinners.
This week, Vicky Shilling (@theflourishingpantry) shared five easy recipes that take a healthy twist on classic dishes.
“My cooking style is extremely relaxed, easy one-pot dishes. It’s mostly savoury dishes too, I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth,” she says.
In the last few years I have also tried to eat a healthier diet to help with my IBS symptoms. So for me that’s a diet low in processed foods, low in added sugars and high in vegetables, nuts and seeds and whole foods ingredients which make me feel my best.
From cashew pasta sauce to meat-free ‘meatballs’, below are five of Vicky’s go-to recipes…
1. Banana bread with hazelnuts: This recipe is an absolute staple in my house and the perfect way to use up old bananas that are past their best. I make it every other week! I use wholemeal flour for a lovely texture and honey to add more sweetness to the bananas. The hazelnuts can be swapped for any other nuts you have in your cupboards, or you could even switch them up for chocolate chips for a banana and chocolate twist.
2. Cauliflower curry: I love encouraging people to eat more plant-based meals and while I’m not a vegetarian or vegan myself, this is a great example of a dish that doesn’t leave you missing meat at all. Curries can seem really intimidating with their long list of ingredients if you’re going to do all the spices from scratch.
I always recommend starting with what you have – it’s fine to leave a few things out: don’t give up on a recipe if you don’t have everything! You can always add gradually to your spice collection. There’s nothing worse than buying an ingredient for one recipe and then never using it again.
3. Date and lentil ‘meatballs’: This is another example of a dish where meat isn’t ‘missing’. I played around with this recipe and used lentils as the base instead of your usual minced meat, but loved adding sweetness with chopped up dates. In a rich tomato sauce they’re delicious with pasta and also freeze really well too if you make a big batch.
4. Creamy cashew pasta sauce: I am a total sucker for a creamy sauce but I don’t always have cream in the house. I have loved discovering how cashews can be soaked and blitzed up to create the same indulgent, creamy texture. This is a super simple version of a cashew cream sauce, flavoured with just a bit of salt and garlic. Cashews are such a versatile ingredient, my kitchen is never without them.
5. Lemon crumble ‘cheesecakes’: This is another fantastic example of how versatile cashews are – I’ve soaked and blitzed cashews together with fresh lemon juice, lemon zest and maple syrup for sweetness to make a cheesecake topping. These little treats store in the freezer and are a great little treat or dessert.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say