Quinoa and Fig Salad

I love quinoa.  I know that's so uncool nowadays but it does taste great, it's a great source of protein and a great foil for a nice vinaigrette.

Salami Quesadillas

Quesadillas are the frittata or bubble and squeak of the Mexican world.  Use up what you have and delight in the results.  They are a great way to have something decent, filling and avoiding food waste.  These are mildly spiced, only from the salami so if you like your food hotter, have some salsa on the side for dipping.

Grape and Parma Ham Salad

This is a delicious light salad, fantastic for a starter / appetiser, side dish or light, fresh and delicious main meal.  It looks and tastes delicious with fantastic balance of sour and sweet from the grapes and balsamic vinegar.  Delicious, healthy and great if you are gluten free.

Basa with Tomato Dressing

I bought a basa fillet for my lunch on Friday and I was inspired to cook it in the most simple way possible.  My herbs in the garden are still at their verdant best and the tomatoes in the greenhouse still managing to produce the occasional (but delicious and sweet) fruit.

Chopped Salad with Sticky Glazed Pork Belly

A delicious chopped salad with glazed pork belly.  Fantastic both hot and cold, in fact, it's worth making a little extra as I did to have the leftovers in a salad the next day (wait for jealous looks from your colleagues).

How to fit in exercise as a busy parent

As many people reading this blog will know, nearly 4 years ago I didn't exercise at all.  I tell a lie, my only exercise, which is significant, was pushing my toddler in his push chair, mostly thinking "please have a nap!"  I was busy, recently having returned to the workplace, I had a blog, Mamacook all about kids food.  Life was just work, son, more son and everything surrounding my son.

Gradually over those years I've taken myself from someone who would baulk at the idea of getting sweaty to someone who is almost in tears that I can "only" run three miles at the moment due to injury.  Injury is another story however, (physio pending) but despite this I keep exercising and now, working 4 days a week in a much more demanding job which often results in me travelling for meetings, I still fit in 4-6 exercise sessions a week.  So here I am to convince you that you can too.  Try for 3 times a week to start with, a time commitment of only 90 minutes or less than 1% of your week.  Some tips will work better if your child is in school or preschool or if you work part time but I promise you that something will help even if you have no childcare and no support.

A week of healthy lunches

We forget sometimes when the kids go back to school that it's not only kids who deserve a decent lunch.

Lunch is the meal of the day where it's easy to buy a floppy sandwich (at great expense) or end up with a less than nutritional meal.  Last time I bought a lunch from my work canteen, the choice was 100% brown or beige, not a green vegetable to be seen.  I'm not sure about you but that's not just unhealthy, it's uninspiring!

Lunch is not just about sustenance either.  Lunch is a break from the working day (even if you eat at your desk).  It's a change, it's something different to do for a while.  Even if you don't take a proper break, a proper lunch can make it into a proper break.

Now look at these 5 meals and tell me you're not inspired?

The box is a simple £1 lunchbox from poundland.  I hadn't noticed until looking back at my week how little meat there is and no wheat.  This isn't deliberate, it's just what I like to eat, a lot of fruit, a lot of vegetables, not masses of starchy foods, some fish and occasional meat.  Sums it all up really!

I've not listed these as individual recipes on my blog because, apart from the Frittata, it's really only assembly which is great if you're a bit bleary eyed in the morning and the frittata is so great as a leftover that my suggestion is you make it for your tea one day and then have leftovers for lunch.

Provencal style sandwich

This is inspired by a pan bagnat which is a sandwich filled with layers of beautiful ingredients similar to a nicoise salad.

I however, have made it my own so purists, look away, this is not a pan bagnat but it is a sandwich filled with delicious ingredients.

Goats Cheese and Courgette Tian

This is the time of year when courgettes (zucchini) and tomatoes are at their best but at the same time it's easy to get that "glut" feeling.  This was an attempt at a very different type of dish with the most seasonal of ingredient and, do you know what?  It was a delicious delight.  In fact, it was so lovely, I'm going to make it again this week.

You need nothing more than some crusty bread to make this into a meal as it sops up the lovely juices but it could also be a rich side dish.