Many
of us can’t face cereal
first thing in the morning but this doesn’t mean
we should miss out on it altogether. A bowl of
cereal is an excellent supper dish or a mid-afternoon
snack. Health officials reckon that nine out of
ten of us do not get enough whole grain per day.
Grain in its simplest form provides far more than
just fibre – it is full of anti-oxidants, B vitamins
plus proteins, minerals and carbohydrate. Whole
grain is categorised as a super food –
right
up there with blueberries and avocados and really
help towards not only day-to-day health issues,
but can contribute to the good health of our hearts.
Do go for cereals that aren’t covered in sugar
coatings, if you have a sweet tooth go for a honey
coated cereal and those with added nuts and fruit
are also beneficial. Encouraging children to eat
cereal at some time in the day is a great way
not only to ensure they have enough whole grain
but they’ll benefit from the calcium in the milk
too.
Cinnamon Apples & Pears
This is simple to prepare and takes around half
an hour to bake and is delicious at any time of
the year, serve with ice-cream in the summer or
custard in the winter.
Serves 4
You
will need:
2 apples & 2 pears (must be ripe and ready to
eat)
4 tbsp light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 oz/55 g low spread
Custard to serve
Instructions
•
Peel the apples and pears, core them and slice
them in half, top to bottom. While you are doing
this, turn the oven to 200 degrees centigrade/400f
or gas mark 6.
• Brush with the lemon juice to stop discoloration
and place them, core side down in an oven dish
or non stick roasting tin.
• Melt the low fat spread, sugar and cinnamon
in a saucepan, use a very low heat to prevent
the mixture burning and separating.
• Spoon the warm mixture over the fruit and
place the dish in the pre-heated oven. Keep the
oven at the above temperature and spoon the mixture
over the fruit once or twice during cooking. Bake
for around 20-25 minutes or until the fruit is
golden brown.
• Heat the custard in a saucepan a couple
of minutes before the fruit will be ready.
To Serve:
Warm 4 desert plates, spoon an even layer of custard
over the plate and arrange half a pear and half
an apple in the centre of each plate sprinkle
with a little cinnamon to decorate.
Each serving is approximately 210 cals and 6g
of fat.
Tip:
Adding vanilla to the custard works especially
well with this dish or for a more adult occasion,
why not try a brandy sauce.
Have
you tried Chicken Fajitas?
They are not as complicated as their exotic title suggests.
Old El Paso do a kit to make it easy for us to get cooking
Mexican style! All you need is around 1lb or 450g of chicken
breast fillet cut into strips, a couple of peppers, choose
your two favourite colours
The kit contains: flour tortillas, spicy fajita mix
and a sachet or salsa, the instructions are on the box and
they only take about 15 minutes to make. So have a go and
enjoy a mouth-watering Mexican in no time!
A
Quick Pastry Tip
When we try and stop pastry sticking to surfaces we always
end up using half a pound of flour which can sometimes leave
our mixture really dry and inclined to crack.
Try rolling between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper – lay
one
sheet
on the surface of your board or kitchen worktop, pop on
the pastry and put another sheet over the top, then simply
roll away!
