Quick and tasty broccoli muffins

Mix the following in a blender, pour into paper cupcake cups and bake at 200oC for 40 mins or until beautifully golden brown.  I thought this would make a great healthy and fun variation on the broccoli patties by baking rather than frying them.

• 2 boiled (or shh… microwaved) potatoes
• 300g steamed broccoli
• 100 g grated cheese of your choice
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 beaten eggs
• 6 tbs ground flaxseed – for a great healthy twist

Serve with fresh green salad and a side mix of half ketchup, half mayo – although I found the muffins tasty enough not to require the latter.

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Easy pesto, made even healthier with flaxseed

Pesto is extremely easy to prepare, and I added ground flaxseed to this version for those extra health points.

Blend together in a food processor or a blender:

2 cloves garlic, peeled
50g ground (or let grind in the food processor with the rest) flaxseed
50g lightly roasted pine nuts
50g grated parmesan cheese
150ml extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp sea salt, to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
large bunch fresh basil, leaves plucked
some lemon juice, optional and to taste

Quick but delicious oven roasted asparagus

 

Asparagus is healthy and easy to cook, but also easy to get wrong.  The following takes literally 5 minutes to prepare and is ideal as a starter or even a snack.

You will need:

• 400-500g asparagus
• generous amount of olive oil
• 1 heaped tsp sea salt
• 2 gloves garlic, finely chopped
• bunch of fresh Melissa/lemon balm leaves
• ground black pepper
• balsamic vinegar

In a small bowl mix the oil, chopped Melissa, garlic, salt and black pepper.  Arrange the asparagus on a sheet of baking paper on a tray and cover with the oil mixture.  Spray or sprinkle some balsamic vinegar.

Bake at 220oC for around 20 minutes or until the asparagus is done and slightly golden.

If lemon balm is not available, use some lemon juice instead.