Egg white quiche

Egg white quiche - serves 4


1 sheet of ready rolled reduced-fat puff pastry
spray oil to grease the quiche pan
3 cups of egg whites* (approx. 27 egg whites)
4 medium button mushrooms sliced
4 cherry tomatoes sliced
100g spinach wilted
6 spears of asparagus trimmed to 4cm 
cheese to sprinkle on top
salt and pepper to season


*you can buy egg whites in the frozen section of your local supermarket.

• Preheat your oven to 180C. 
• Grease your quiche pan.
• Lay out your sheet of ready rolled puff pastry. Once softened (slightly defrosted) press lightly into the corners of the pan.
• Whisk together your egg whites in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
• Pour the egg white mixture into the pastry casing.
• Place a layer of sliced mushrooms over the egg whites followed by a layer of tomatoes. Season the mushroom and tomato layers.
• Add the wilted spinach evenly across the top of the mushroom and tomato layer and gently press down into the egg mixture. 
• Lay the asparagus spears on top of the spinach.
• Finally sprinkle cheese on the top.
• Bake for 30 - 45 minutes (until the egg is cooked and set in the centre of the quiche)
• Once cooked leave to cool before slicing.
• Serve with salad of your choice.

Nutritional information per serving of quiche
Carbohydrates: 19.5g
Protein: 14.6g
Fat: 5.2g

Bacon and Vege slice

Bacon and Vege slice (serves 6) 

205 calories per serve 

2 tsp olive oil
150g sliced ham, finely chopped
1 brown onion, finely chopped
100g button mushrooms - sliced thinly

1 red capsicum - finely diced

6 eggs
1/3 cup (80ml) low fat milk
Salt & freshly ground pepper
3 zucchini, coarsely grated, excess moisture squeezed
2 large carrots, coarsely grated
1/3 cup (50g) plain flour (or rice flour for gluten free alternative)
Salad, to serve

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line an 18cm-square cake pan with non-stick baking paper or spray with cooking spray.

Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add ham and onion, and cook for 1-2 minutes then add mushrooms and capsicum and cook a further 3-5 minutes until soft. Drain off any excess moisture on paper towel and set aside to cool.

Once the ham and onion mixture has cooled, whisk the eggs and milk together and season with salt and pepper.

Stir the zucchini, carrot and ham mixture into the egg and milk and combine. Finally stir in the flour.

Spoon the mixture into the pan and smooth the surface.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until set and golden brown. Set aside in the pan for 15 minutes before cutting into slices. Leaving to cool slightly allows the slice to stay firm (cutting into a hot slice will probably fall apart).

Serve with salad.

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This is one of the easiest recipes and I love it. You can add different seasoning to it (cayenne pepper for a bit of spice, curry for a bit of tang) just to give it a bit of lift. 

Removing the excess moisture is important for the slice to hold it's shape - a soggy slice may not stick together - just sayin' 

With only 205 calories per serve you can enjoy this slice at any time of the day with your favourite side salad.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 24)


125g butter
1 1/4c (250g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1c (250ml) buttermilk
1T (20ml) red food colouring
1t vanilla essence
1/2t bi-carb soda
2c (250g) self-raising flour
1T white vinegar
1/3c (40g) cocoa


Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Grease or line 24 muffin/cupcake tins
Cream the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. 
Add the eggs, buttermilk, red food colouring and vanilla.
Once combined stir in the bi-carb and vinegar.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa and a pinch of salt together.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually add the wet mixture to combine.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins.
Bake until tops of muffins spring back (15-20 minutes) 
Cool in tins and ice (when cold) with cream cheese icing.


Cream Cheese Icing


60g cream cheese (room temperature)
30g butter (room temperature)
1/2t vanilla essence
3/4c icing sugar


combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.
gradually add the icing sugar, ensuring no lumps remain.
smooth mixture over top of cooled cupcakes.

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The cupcake recipe seems pretty straight forward - let's face it, it's a basic cupcake recipe with red food colouring right?

Well, if you want the gorgeous bright red that you see in the photo's or online I would suggest you try and find the red food colouring PASTE not the liquid colouring that I used. It doesn't work. In fact, it's downright disappointing (you get a rich chocolate colour not the bright red you'd expect).

I think i'd prefer this recipe minus the cocoa altogether, but I love pink so the idea of a gorgeous pink cupcake really appeals to me :)

Another idea that I had, just throwing a few around, was to make pink cupcakes and push a slice of mars bar into the centre so whilst they look relatively basic there is a little surprise awaiting in the middle... just an idea.

I didn't take any photo's of my cupcakes because I truly was disappointed, but if you have more success - please feel free to let me know! 

Hungarian chicken casserole

Hungarian chicken casserole

1T butter (or substitute)
1T olive oil
1kg skinless chicken thigh pieces
3 brown onions - thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2T sweet or hot paprika
2T flour
3cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
sour cream (optional but highly recommended)
Mashed potato and steamed green beans to serve.

Preheat over to 180 degrees.
Heat large fry pan over medium heat and add butter and olive oil.
Cook chicken until golden all over.
Place chicken into your casserole dish and set aside.
To the frying pan add the onions and garlic. Cook until onions have softened then sprinkle over paprika and flour. Stir through and cook a further 2 minutes.
Add stock and continue stirring until the sauce comes to the boil.
Season to taste.
Pour sauce over the chicken, cover dish and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
Uncover dish and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Once cooked, serve with mashed potatoes, green beans and a spoonful of sour cream.

The sour cream makes this dish wonderful and creamy.

Chicken and Mushroom Casserole with dijon and cream sauce

Chicken and mushroom casserole with dijon and cream sauce

This is a recipe I adapted from a basic recipe I found on taste.com.au - I wanted something that didn't take too much fuss so I turned it into a 'one-pot meal'. The original recipe was for chicken and mushroom sauce, this is my casserole version, I hope you enjoy!

1T nuttelex or butter
1T olive oil
2 chicken breasts  - diced into 2cm cubes
1 medium brown onion - finely sliced
200g middle bacon - fat trimmed and sliced
250g button mushrooms quartered
1/4c plain flour (can substitute for gluten free if required)
1T dijon mustard
1 1/2c salt reduced chicken stock
3/4c light thickened cream
200g green beans cut into 2cm lengths
500g (enough to fill 1/2 your casserole dish) of your choice of root vegetables: potatoes, sweet potato, carrots, swede, pumpkin - diced into 2cm cubes

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Dice your root vegetables and place into casserole dish.
Heat nuttelex/butter and oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add chicken and cook until the pieces are golden brown. 
Place into casserole dish on top of the vegetables.
To the frying pan add onion and bacon and cook until onion has softened.
Add mushrooms and cook until they have softened slightly (try not to over cook you still want them firm when you add them to the casserole).
Stir in the flour and mustard and cook for 2 minutes then gradually add chicken stock and continue stirring (you will notice the flour and stock start to combine and thicken). 
Once the sauce is combined well i.e. no flour lumps, gradually add the cream.
Stir through*.
Transfer bacon/mushroom mixture into casserole dish and mix through.
Add lid to the casserole dish and cook for 1 hour.
After an hour, stir through and cook for a further 30 minutes without the lid on (this will help reduce the sauce).
Serve hot.

This dish is great the next day as well!

Note: If you take the root vegetables out of the recipe this can also be used as a pie fillling :)

*If you don't think you have enough sauce to cover the vegetables and chicken in your dish you can add more stock and cream.

Vegetarian lasagne

This meal can be made with or without the addition of the meat sauce. I've chosen to leave it out, but on occasion i'll add it in, which makes for a vege-filled delicious meal. 

Vegetarian lasagne - serves 4

1T olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
1 medium eggplant (aubergine) sliced into 1cm strips
2x 400g can diced tomatoes
1x 400g can red kidney beans
1/2 teaspoon Italian herbs
1c low fat ricotta cheese
1/4c low fat natural yoghurt
1 egg
6 large sheets of instant wholemeal pasta
4T parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 220C.
Lightly grease a rectangle baking dish (approx. 30x30cm)
In a saucepan, heat oil and cook onion and garlic over low heat until soft.
Add zucchini and eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
Pour over tomatoes, kidney beans and italian herbs. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
In a bowl mix together the ricotta, yoghurt and egg until smooth and creamy.
Lay two sheets of pasta in the baking dish, spoon over half the tomato sauce, then another layer of pasta followed by the remainder of the tomato sauce. Top with pasta then smooth over ricotta mixture and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes until lightly browned, then turn oven down to 180C and cook a further 10 minutes.

Stand for 5 minutes then serve. 

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I prefer to do thinner layers of sauce versus pasta, but that's just a personal thing, so I tend to do a layer of tomato sauce, sometimes adding a bit of the ricotta then another layer of pasta then repeating.

Mozerella is also a nice cheese to use, it's not as high in fat as tasty so is a good alternative.

And as with every recipe you can absolutely improvise - add mushrooms, spinach, pumpkin etc and either add to the tomato sauce or pre-roast and layer with the other ingredients.

Spinach and ricotta filo triangles

If you're strapped for time, you can make the mixture the day before and just fill the pastry and bake the triangles on the day you need them. These have always been a hit at dinner parties.

Spinach and ricotta filo triangles - makes 24

2 bunches spinach, stems removed, washed
1 granny smith apple, grated
500g ricotta cheese
1/2c pine nuts, toasted and chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
Rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
8 sheets of filo pastry
2T olive oil

Preheat over to 180C.
Lightly grease 2 baking trays.
Cook spinach in a small saucepan of boiling salted water for 30 seconds or until just wilted. Drain and refresh under cold water (this keeps the colour nice and bright). Drain well.
Squeeze all moisture from the spinach and apple and place into a mixing bowl. Add the ricotta, pine nuts, egg and lemon rind then season with salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.
Place 1 sheet of filo onto a working surface. Cut into 3 long strips (make sure you keep all remaining sheets of pastry covered with a damp towel so they don't dry out).
Brush pastry lightly with oil or if you have spray oil, spray the sheet lightly. Place a tablespoon of spinach mixture in one corner of the filo and fold diagonally, creating a triangle. Continue folding diagonally retaining triangle shape.
Brush triangle with olive oil and place onto baking tray. Continue with the remaining pastry and filling.
Once all triangles are prepared, bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden and crisp.
Serve hot.

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I've seen some similar recipes that ask for some nutmeg to be added, i've tried this and still unsure if I'm a fan, but if this is something you think you'd enjoy I'd definitely recommend giving it a go, just add 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg.

The apple gives this mixture a subtle flavour, you can leave it out, but I quite like the flavour it brings with the spinach.

Removing the moisture from the spinach and apple is important as you do not want soggy triangles, so take the time to make sure this is done well.