Healthy, low-cost dishes to make you smile
Dried beans generally make people nervous. They look like hard work and in our want-it-now lifestyle they seem like too much forward planning work. Plus you have to boil them for hours don’t you? Erm, well no! And they are a quick and easy way […]
Couscous is no longer the hard to fine, expensive ingredient it used to be and is easily found on most supermarket shelves. It comes in many varieties, I love the wholemeal and giant couscous, both of which you can use to make this Sweet Potato […]
Pearl barley is so often associated with winter as it’s popular in soups, but don’t just save it for the colder months because this gorgeous grain is also brilliant in salads. It pares beautifully with the earthy flavour of beetroot in this filling Pearl Barley and Beetroot Salad.
I like to roast the beetroot when I have something else in the oven cooking, just because rather than pay to put the oven on twice it’s great to forward plan and pack as much in possible when it’s already likely to be on. Don’t let cooking the barley from it’s dried state worry you – think of it as nothing more than making rice! It’s such a bargain grain and is packed with B vitamins and minerals hard to find in a lot of grains and is lower in calories and higher in fiber and nutrients than many other grains.
This salad is best served on a platter because it’s not one to be tossed. As you will see, I have suggested it’s layered in two parts. This is because the juice from the beetroot will migrate a little to the rest of the salad once it has dressing on it. If you don’t mind your salad purple then toss away! I would also suggest you don’t use pre-cooked beetroot as the texture of roasted is so much nicer and the ‘crust’ formed by roasting also reduces the migration of the juices.
Too many years ago I ate one of the most delicious meals of my life in the kitchen of one of my dearest friend’s houses. She was living in Athens at the time and we visited her at the beginning of the summer, just before […]
I love lentils. There, I’ve said it. They are so picked on and ignored as a foodstuff but do not deserve their bad press at all. A nutritional powerhouse, easy to cook and really cheap and filling too. Quite why they are so derided is […]
Last year everyone was going freeky about freekah which is no bad thing as frankly this grain is ace! I have so many salads in my life with the grain but this is my Moroccan-style Freekah Salad.
You will not be reaching for the snacks if you tuck into this for your lunch, I’m sure. You could add some olives, roasted butternut squash or finely sliced spinach too if you wish to bulk it out further or use up any foods laying around.
This makes four portions (main meal size) and comes in at around £1.30 a portion. While that doesn’t sound super cheap it’s incredibly filling so you won’t need anything else with it.
When I was a student I used to live in an area of London packed with Turkish and Greek supermarkets. And they were certainly the best place to shop cheaply on a budget. The boxes of perfectly ripe fruits and vegetables were better quality than […]
A friend of mine give me the recipe for a similar Red Cabbage Slaw but as usual I lost it! So I have made my own version from memory and taste. The most important thing to remember about this slaw is not to grate the […]