Recipe: Red Pepper, Sweet Potato and Chickpea Frittata

It was a chilly Friday evening with the prospect of a cosy night in in front of the telly and a fire when suddenly, hunger struck!! I went to the fridge to find it practically bare...the devastation!! Again, here I am being dramatic :) but this is really the way I feel about food, and I know I'm not alone in this!! So, what to do? Order takeaway or get creative with what was left of the week's groceries? I'm going to Portugal for a short break in a week so I decided to get creative mainly because I wanted to keep my money and also because I wanted to eat something I wouldn't be regretting next week when I'm walking around in my Summer clothes again! Now, bear in mind that I do my groceries on Saturday mornings and usually eat out or get a takeaway on friday night so there really was very little left to work with. Also, I'm really not creative...but I tried my best!

The result: a red pepper, sweet potato and chickpea frittata.

The verdict: unbelievably tasty...frittastic even!! (apologies for the terrible joke!)

Here is the recipe for this amazing frittata, and, as always, I hope you enjoy it!! :)

Ingredients

1 tin of chickpeas

1 sweet potato

1 red bell pepper

1 clove of garlic 

4 eggs

4 egg whites

Feta cheese

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

Salt and Pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 220deg Celsius. Chop and fry the sweet potato and red pepper for approximately 10 minutes until they start to soften. 

When the vegetables are soft, drain and rinse the chickpeas and add to the pan. 

Whisk the eggs, egg whites, garlic, cumin, paprika (and a splash of milk if you want) together in a bowl, then add to the pan. Season and put into the oven for 15-20 minutes. You can top your frittat with some feta and spinach, like I did, if you wish!

Then sit back and relax, and be really surprised at how tasty this simple dish is!! 

Niamh xxx

Recipe: Fry-Up Breakfast Cups

These mornings I find I'm rushing out the door, bag hanging off my elbow, travel mug clutched desperately in my hand and an apple shoved in my mouth while I struggle with my bunch of keys to lock the front door.....it's all very dramatic really!! I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only one who ends up rushing in the mornings because bed is just too comfy!! After getting dressed and brushing your teeth, breakfast should be a top priority in the mornings, especially if you are following a heavy-weights training programme. Even if you are not though, protein as part of your breakfast is a fantastic way to help you feel full while you start your day. I made these "fry-up breakfast cups" at the start of the week and they are amazing!! I pop two of them in the microwave for 60s and I don't feel hungry again until lunchtime! I have posted the recipe below and I hope you enjoy them! These are fantastic as a quick and easy breakfast or as a post-training snack.

Ingredients

Frylite or any low cal cooking spray

12 rashers or 12 bacon medallions (1 per bun so it depends on how many you want to make)

4 gluten free sausages or 4 turkey sausages (turkey sausages are not gluten free)

2/3 of a bottle of O'egg liquid egg whites

1 handful of spinach

Pepper

Instead of eggs I used the O'Egg egg whites. I had seen them in the supermarket and on instagram but never used them before. They are fantastic in this recipe as there's no egg shells and no whisking eggs; you just pour them straight from the bottle into the bun tin. They are naturally fat free, low in calories and high in protein. As well as that, this is an Irish food brand and the only ingredient is egg whites!

1 bun contains approximately 100 calories, 5.4g fat (1.6g saturated), 1.8g carbohydrates (0.6g sugar), 0.1g fibre, 9g protein

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180degC.
2. Spray a bun or muffin tin with the low cal cooking spray so that the buns can be easily removed when they are cooked.
3. Trim the fat from the rashers and use one per bun. Try to make a cup out of the rasher so that the egg will stay inside.
4. Cut each sausage into six pieces and put two small pieces into each bun.
5. Pour the egg whites into each bun.
6. Cover each bun with black pepper and some chopped spinach. 
7. Put in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.

They don't look very pretty but they taste amazing!! The buns will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Niamh xxx

Recipe: Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup

I absolutely love the weather we are having at the moment; sunny, but cool enough that you have to wear all those lovely autumn jackets, boots and jumpers. We officially had to turn the heating back on in the house again in the evenings and in my mind, that means it's time to start making soup again!

I am a big fan of soup, but I rarely order it in a restaurant or buy it ready made as you never know what's in it and it could be loaded with salt, cream or oil. So it's a good thing that soup is so easy to make at home yourself and requires only a chopping board, one pot and a hand blender. I'm sure there are tons of different ways to make soup, but I have my way that I apply to any type of ingredients and I always end up with a thick and tasty soup that's perfect to warm yourself up in the evenings. I'd heard about sweet potato and coconut soup before, and I thought it sounded amazing! I've never actually tried it before now, so making it today was a little bit of a gamble! I decided to make it on a whim and I really had no clue if it would be nice, especially as I made up the ingredients and the recipe (something I'm not great at)! However, I'm glad to say it was delicious and definitely worth posting about! Here is my recipe for spicy sweet potato and coconut soup, I hope you like it! 

Ingredients

1 medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 tin of coconut milk

1 large sweet potato

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili

1 tsp turmeric

Salt and Pepper

Makes 4 servings

1 Serving contains approximately 254 calories, 18.6 g fat (16.2 g saturated), 20.2 g carbohydrates (6.3 g sugar), 2.9 g fibre, 2.9 g protein

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil in a large pan with a heavy base and fry the onion and garlic for approx. 5 minutes.
2. Roughly chop the sweet potato into cubes, add to the pot and fry for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the ginger, chili, cumin, turmeric and coconut oil. Fill the empty tin of coconut oil with water and add this to the pot too.
4. Bring to the boil, season and leave to simmer for around 20 minutes.
5. Using the hand blender, blitz the soup until it is smooth.

The soup can be kept in the fridge in an air-tight container for 2-3 days.

I hope you enjoy this soup if you try it!

Niamh xxx