Mals Lazy Tomato & Basil soup

Tomato & Basil Soup Garnished with Blackpepper & Basil

This tasty warming soup is filled with nutrients, and loaded with heart healthy Lycopene. This is a compound found in tomatoes, and the potency of it is actually enhanced by gently cooking the tomatoes for over 20 minutes. The onion and garlic also add to the cardiovascular benefits of this rich soup, especially if you set them aside exposed to the air for at least 5 minutes after chopping. This allows the oxygen in the air to bind with and further enrich the sulphur containing compounds that are involved in many of onions health benefits. Anyway, that's enough science, here's what you need...

500 calorie lunch/dinner

To celebrate reaching the milestone of 500 'likes' on my facebook page, I've decided to give you some help with one of the big challenges people are facing, namely.. healthy eating. It doesn't have to be rabbit food you know.. So to get things started, here is a tasty and filling lunch/dinner idea that comes in under 500 calories. Each burger comes in under 200 calories, and a portion of the sweet potato adds about another 280kcal.

Mexican beanburger with salsa - less than 200 calories per portion!

Rosemary sweet potato  - about 280 calories per portion.

Cheap, quick & tasty lunch idea

One of the most common barriers people seem to have to healthy eating is that 'it's too expensive'. I disagree. Take my lunch today, a delicious and healthy veg stirfry with couscous. It takes about 15 minutes including prep time.

• Step 1

Go to aldi, and pick up a head of cabbage (59c), a pack of fresh tomatoes (59c), courgettes (€1.29) a punnet of mushrooms (59c), a can of red kidney beans (25c), a pack of cous cous -  I went for the thai curry style(99c).
If you don't already have some, get some sunflower oil and soy sauce.

• Step 2

Drain the kidney beans and rinse well. Prep the veg by rinsing the cabbage and tomatoes. Take the outermost 3-4 leaves and chop into short strips. Wipe 1/2 of the shrooms with a clean damp cloth, then chop into bitesize chunks. Chop a courgette into small pieces. Chop 3 tomatoes into quarters.

• Step 3

Place 1 sachet of cous cous in a saucepan and cook according to the instructions. Heat some oil in a wok and stirfry the cabbage for 1-2 minutes on a medium-high heat. Add in the mushrooms, courgettes & beans,  and about a tablespoon or so of soy sauce; fry for 2 mins then add the tomatoes. Stirfry for another minute.

• Step 4

Remove and serve with the couscous. This will make 2 medium lunches. Total cost about  €4.30, and you've only used half of the ingredients.

Enjoy.

Update:
To improve the amino acid (protein) content, use a mix of beans , chickpeas and/or lentils. Add a rich yellow colour and improve the cancer fighting properties of this meal by adding a teaspoon of turmeric per person. Add black pepper to enhance the flavour, and improve protein digestion.

How to make a diy sports drink

There are so many sports drinks on the market, it can be difficult to figure out which one to take. If you've ever read the ingredients list, a lot of it sounds quite scary. The good news is you can make a basic sports drink very easily at home. Take a fruit juice that you like, (preferably fresh, not from concentrate; even better, juice your own fruit) and mix it half and half with water, add a tiny pinch of salt, and shake like hell.

I like to use cloudy apple juice, or if i have a few minutes to spare i'll juice a couple of oranges. Choose whatever fruits you like, or make a cocktail of different fruit juices to use.
Whats your favourite fruit to use?

Recovery smoothie

Intense training can be quite hard on the body, so to aid recovery I recommend having a smoothie something like this.. 

Blueberries, raspberries, red grapes, diced ginger, banana & whey powder

Ingredients:

Blueberries & strawberries

Sunflower, sesame & pumpkin seeds

1 Banana

1 Handful of sweet leaf spinach

1inch cubed of fresh ginger

sprinkle of oatmeal

1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and kelp powder.

30grams of vanilla whey protein

2 glasses of water 

Toss everything into a blender & blend until rich & smooth.  The final taste is mainly of cinnamon and ginger, with a hint of sweetness from the berries. Mmm yummy.

Besides ticking all the right boxes in terms of the macro and micronutrients, many of these ingredients contain high levels of antioxidants or other beneficial phytonutrients. The berries support your immune system, as well as aiding nerve recovery. The seeds contain lots of protein and essential fats and vitamins. Cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar. The ginger reduces muscle soreness.  the kelp powder is high in vitamin B12 and Iodine. Spinach is rich in Iron & Calcium, both essential for muscle growth and repair. The oatmeal helps reduce cholesterol. All in all a nutritional powerhouse!

Mal Kelly's Spicy Bean burger recipe

I love these burgers with some baby leaf spinach and roast veg or pasta bake.. The original recipe came from a book, the name of which i can't remember. I've played with it and altered it to change the taste and texture to suit my own tastebuds, moods and ingredients.. I expect you'll do the same :-)

Ingredients:
(makes about 4 main portions)
1 cup of cooked brown rice
1 cup of cooked  & rinsed red kidney beans
1  heaped tablespoon of mixed chopped nuts
Finely diced onion & garlic according to taste
2-3 heaped tablespoons of tomato puree
1-2 teaspoons of curry paste
a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes
Sea salt and coarse ground black pepper to season.
oatmeal, about 1 cup

Method:
In a large bowl, mix or mash the tomato puree, kidney beans, onion &garlic and curry paste until it forms a kind of sticky paste. Add in the nuts, rice and chilli flakes and seasonings & mix evenly  Take the oatmeal and loosely cover a chopping board with it.

If you want to make round burgers, take a fist sized amount of the mix and press it flat against the oatmeal. Repeat until out of mix, then sprinkle more oatmeal on top then place in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.

Cooking:
Start on a medium -high heat (the oil should NOT smoke) with a little sunflower oil, turn frequently for first few minutes, then reduce heat and allow full flavour to come through. Cooking time about 10-15mins.

Variations:
Mix it up a bit -  black turtle beans, adzuki beans, puy lentils and red lentils can all be used as well as, or instead of the beans. This version of the recipe is vegan frendly, but you can always add an egg or 2 if you find they don't stick as well with lentils. Overcooking the brown rice a little can also make for a stickier mix. To supercharge the nutrient content, add in a mix of seeds such as sesame, pumpkin and sunflower, or some milled linseed or flaxseed.

These burgers are tasty, nutritious and cheap to put together. Canned beans from lidl do the job fine, as do seeds from aldi.

Update 15/2/2011:
Aldi have canned red kidney beans for 25c per can, lidl 39c, tesco own brand 79c, Bachelors 129c