by hello@healthfullyheather.com | May 28, 2019 | Recipes
The name might make this dish sound a bit fancy and complex, but actually it’s incredibly simple!
En papillote refers to the way the fish is cooked, in a package made from parchment paper. The package locks in all the moisture, allowing you to get a beautifully moist filet of cod and bok choy with the lemony flavour throughout.
This is a simple dinner that you can easy prepare in advance, package up and store in the fridge for a day, and then just slide into the oven when you’re ready for dinner. The tomatoes cook alongside the fish so it’s a one pan and done kind of meal. Perfect for a busy weeknight!
It’s also still tasty as leftovers, so I like to double the portion so that my lunch the next day is already prepared in advance.
Lemon Cod en Papillote with Bok Choy and Tomatoes
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 30 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine French
- 400 g cod filets
- 2 heads bok choy
- 16-20 vine tomatoes
- 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil (garlic infused for low-FODMAP)
- garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste (skip garlic for low-FODMAP)
Pre-heat oven to 180C / 360F.
In a square of parchment paper lay out the leaves of one half of a head of bok choy.
On top of the bok choy, lay one cod filet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper. Top the cod filet with two slices of lemon.
Fold over the parchment paper on the short ends of the cod. Bring the paper on the long sides together and crunch together and down to seal the package.
Repeat for remaining bok choy and cod filets. Place individual packages side-by-side on a baking tray.
On a second, parchment paper lined baking tray, lay out the vine tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper.
Place both baking trays in the oven and bake for 18 minutes. Cod is cooked through when meat is white and opaque. Be careful when opening the packages as the hot steam will escape.
Use garlic-infused olive oil and skip the garlic powder for a low-FODMAP / IBS-friendly version.
Keyword Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Paleo, Vegetables
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by hello@healthfullyheather.com | May 14, 2019 | Recipes
On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese…
I hope I’m not the only one who gets that song stuck in my head when eating noodles and with meatballs!
I love this recipe because it’s super easy to put together and packs in a lot of flavour. At the same time, it still feels relatively light since the regular pasta noodles are replaced with zucchini.
That being said, you could definitely replace the zoodles with whatever type of noodle you are craving in the moment! Sweet potato, carrot, or butternut squash would all go well, and of course you can always just make regular pasta.
This reheats well, so go ahead and make extras to have for lunch the next day!
Italian Herb Meatballs with Zoodles
Meatballs:
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500g (1.1 lb) ground pork
-
15mL (1 tbsp) parsley
-
15mL (1 tbsp) basil
-
10mL (2 tsp) oregano
-
5mL (1 tsp) garlic powder
-
pinch each of sea salt, pepper, paprika
Sauce:
Noodles:
Begin by chopping onions & garlic, and spiralizing the zucchinis.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together all meatball ingredients (it’s easiest to use your hands!). Roll into golf ball sized meatballs; recipe should yield around 16 balls. Set aside.
Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add in onions and garlic and sauté until onions are soft.
Push onions & garlic to the sides of the pan and place in the meatballs.
Cook meatballs for roughly 12 minutes, rotating the meatballs every 3 minutes so all sides cook evenly.
Add the tomato puree and all remaining sauce seasonings to the pan, and stir to combine with meatballs, onions, and garlic. Simmer on low heat while you cook the noodles.
In a second frying pan, warm the olive oil and add in the zucchini noodles. Sauté for around 5 minutes, tossing the noodles regularly to cook evenly. Noodles should be soft, but still firm (not mushy!)*
Plate up! Make a nest with the noodles on your plate and top with meatballs and sauce. Enjoy!
* Alternatively, you can cook the noodles directly in the pan with the sauce (if your pan is big enough). The noodles will still release some moisture, so you may end up with a thinner sauce.
Serves 4
by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Apr 30, 2019 | Recipes
To be honest, in our house we aren’t the biggest fans of chicken breast. It can be tricky to cook it completely but not totally dry it out.
Luckily this recipe, where the chicken is stuffed with a combination of feta and sun-dried tomatoes, helps the chicken keep some of that moisture locked in. And it pairs perfectly with the herb potatoes and a fresh salad!
Not to mention it’s a fairly quick and straight forward dinner recipe to prepare.
Keep in mind that the salad dressing given will create a full cup – so far more than what you would need for the portions of this dinner. But it stores really well in the fridge so you can continue to use it throughout the week!
Stuffed Chicken Breast with Herb Potatoes & Salad
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr
Course Main Course, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Chicken
- 4 chicken breasts
- 100 g feta
- 35 g sun-dried tomatoes roughly 3 pieces per serving
- 1 tsp olive oil
Potatoes
- 250 g white potatoes peeled & cubed (2cm)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Salad
- 100 g mixed greens
- 300 g seedless grapes halved
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
- 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Salad Dressing
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- salt & pepper to taste
Pre-heat oven to 180C / 360F.
Slice the chicken breasts in half lengthwise to butterfly the filet, not cutting all the way through, leaving a centimetre uncut. Lay the chicken open like a book.
Brush the insides of the chicken breast with olive oil. On one side spread out sun-dried tomatoes and top with crumbled feta.
Fold back over the second side of the chicken breast. Place the chicken on a lined baking sheet.
In a medium sized bowl, toss the cubed potatoes with the olive oil, herbs, sea salt, and pepper. Spread the potatoes evenly across a second lined baking sheet.
Bake both the chicken and the potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes. Centre of chicken should no longer be pink. The potatoes should become golden brown.
To make the salad dressing, in a sealable jar or shaker, combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, sea salt, and pepper. Shake well to combine. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. One serving is roughly 15mL / 1 tbsp.
In a large salad bowl, mix together the greens, grapes, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.
Plate up with one chicken breast, a quarter of the potatoes, and a serving of salad each. Enjoy!
Keyword Gluten Free, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetables
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by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Sep 13, 2018 | Recipes
Have you ever eaten any organ meats? Talking to my parents, it seems to be something that they still commonly ate in their youth, but yet I grew up having never eaten any until my late twenties! It’s just another example of how much our diet has changed even over just the last generation.
These cuts definitely aren’t as easy to get as they use to be, usually you will have to go straight to a butcher to find them. And quality is paramount with organ meats; you want to be sure to be purchasing organic, grass-fed animals.
But these meats are worth the effort! They are by far the most nutrient packed. A general way to think of it is that you get the benefit for the organ you are eating – liver benefits your liver, kidneys your kidneys, etc. And organ meats are said to have 10 to 100 times higher a concentration of nutrients than their muscle meat counterparts.
Since I was talking about vitamin A last week, that’s why I’ve decided to feature my recipe for beef liver – it’s packed with vitamin A! It’s also a source for B vitamins (especially folate and B12), vitamins C, D, E, and K, and minerals like copper, iron, potassium, and phosphorus. It’s also a source of CoQ10 which is important for healthy cardiovascular function.
There is some fear over eating liver, as it is our main detoxification organ. However, while our liver does process toxins, it doesn’t store them. It’s only storing those ever important nutrients! There is also evidence that too high a consumption can lead to vitamin A toxicity, but most commonly this has been documented in Arctic explorers who have eaten polar bear or seal liver, that contains tenfold or more the amount of vitamin A as beef liver.
A serving of 100 grams (for adults) once or twice a week of beef, duck, lamb, or bison liver should generally be OK. As chicken liver contains lower levels of vitamin A, this could be eaten more regularly.
Beef Liver & Onions
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200g beef liver
-
½ cup arrowroot starch
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¼ tsp sea salt
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¼ tsp pepper
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4 tbsp butter or ghee (used throughout cooking)
-
2 cups onions, finely sliced
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1 cup button mushrooms, diced
-
50g bacon or pancetta
Sauté onions in 2 tbsp butter over medium heat
Add mushrooms, pancetta and additional tbsp butter when onions are halfway cooked
Once cooked down, remove and set aside
In a shallow bowl, combine arrowroot starch, salt, and pepper. Pat liver dry and coat in mixture.
Sauté liver in 1 tbsp butter until each side is brown, move to the side of the pan.
Put onion mixture back in pan, place liver on top, cover and cook until ready (inner temp of >70C, no blood)
Plate up and enjoy! I like to serve my liver over spinach with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Aug 5, 2018 | Recipes
Sometimes the best recipes can come together when you don’t have much in the cupboard and have to experiment with whatever is on hand. This delicious pasta dish was a big success when I was doing just that!
Inspired by some savoury-fig recipe photos I’ve been seeing on instagram the last week or so, I made this cherry tomato, olive oil and vinegar reduction sauce with figs, goat’s cheese, and prosciutto. The vinegar adds some depth to the flavour, but since you cook it off it ends up a bit sweet and looses all it’s acidity.
When I was plating this dish and hadn’t added any basil, I was a bit diappointed that it didn’t seem to have any vibrancy from its colours. But as soon as I thought to add the basil, then it really popped! Not only did it bring the flavour to another level, but it really showed what a bit of fresh herbs can do to a dish.
Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Figs
In a frying pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and cherry tomatoes. Once the skin begins to burst on the tomatoes, season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Put on water to boil for pasta. Cook pasta following manufacturer’s instructions.
Once the cherry tomatoes have begun to fall apart, add the red wine vinegar to the sauce mixture. (Aim for around 6-8 minutes before pasta is done.)
Strain pasta and return to pot over low heat and add the sauce, mixing thoroughly. Divide over two dishes.
In the frying pan from the sauce, over low heat, place the figs cut-side down and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes.
Top the pasta with the warmed figs, goat’s cheese, prosciutto, and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!
Serves two
