Spinach and Beetroot Smoothie

This is a healthy and surprisingly tasty smoothie is well worth a try. With the sweet baby spinach leaves adding to your Iron intake in the day and the earthy beetroot giving the smoothie it's distinctive deep scarlet colour this is a healthy treat in a glass. 

Light Coconut Broth with Spinach

My blog is celebrating it's second birthday this week, so I have been delving into some of my older cookbooks the last few day. It is lovely to revisit recipes that served me so well in the past, but have since been set aside and forgotten. Now if you are looking for a very versatile recipe that can be thrown together in a few minutes, with the added benefit of being healthy, then can I humbly recommend this recipe. Rachel Allen's original recipe called for four heads of pak choi, which is very tricky to get in these parts, I substituted them for fresh spinach. An inspired decision, if I may say so myself, the whole dish comes together beautifully, very moreish! Rachel also suggested adding (32) tiger prawns if something more substantial is called for, I opted instead for cooked noodles, but for a special treat I would consider the prawns. Really I think that this is the kind of dish that you can call your own, experiment and enjoy!  

*Recipe adapted from Rachel's Favourite Food at Home by Rachel Allen

Serves 4

Ingredients
1.2ltrs Chicken or vegetable stock
410g Tin coconut milk
1-2 Red chillies, deseeded and cut into rings
4 Spring onions sliced diagonally
1 Garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 tsp Fresh ginger, grated
150g -200g Fresh spinach leaves, shredded
3 tbsp thai fish sauce (Nam Pla)
Juice of a 1 lime
2 tbsp Coriander, chopped
200-300g Cooked medium egg noodles (optional)

Method
Prepare the vegetables in advance, this whole dish doesn't take long to cook so you can add in the vegetables as needed.

Place the stock and coconut milk in a large saucepan over a medium heat.

Stir, add the chilli, spring onions, garlic and ginger to the saucepan and bring to the boil to infuse the flavours.

When the broth has come to the boil, add the shredded spinach and noodles (if using), reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the fish sauce (nam pla), juice of the lime and the coriander.

Serve with a wedge of fresh lime and sliced chillies for seasoning. This is best eaten on the day it is cooked as the spinach tends to discolour.

Spinach and Mushroom Pasta

Popeye was onto something with spinach, I've taken a leaf (sorry about the pun!) out of his book recently and fallen in love with it too. It is full of iron, rich in vitamin C and dietary fibre, a winner all round. This is a super quick meal that will only take about 15 minutes to throw together and it is ideal for a mid week fix.

Serves 2
 Ingredients
200g Mushrooms, sliced
1tbsp Butter
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
200g Spaghetti pasta
200ml Double cream
1 Chicken stock cube
200g Spinach, frozen

Method
Cook the pasta according to the instructions. Meanwhile heat a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the butter, just as the butter starts to foam, add the mushrooms. Fry until they are golden brown. Pour the cream into the pan along with the garlic and half a chicken stock cube, bring to the boil for 2 minutes. Add the frozen spinach to the pan, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the spinach is cooked.

Drain the pasta and add to your creamy spinach mixture, stir until it is coated with the creamy mixture. Serve immediately, I had leftover french bread so I made some Garlic Bread too.