Tag Archives: BBQ

Family Meals, Gluten Free, Other, Recipes, Special Diets, Weaning, Wheat Free

Spicy Bean Burger Heaven

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I love bean burgers. They are one of those foods that want me make to turn vegetarian. But they just aren’t one of those things that I make very often. Till now.

Tonight was one of those evenings where I hadn’t got round to planning dinner, so I turned to the fridge for inspiration…. the bowl of kidney beans was calling my name. We also had  carrot and courgette’s eyeing me. Bingo.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting these to work well as I literally threw them together on a whim, but in my experience that’s often when my best recipes occur. In my opinion this is one of them.

A great recipe for Family Meals, for weaning, it’s vegetarian, gluten free, wheat free, dairy free….need I say more?! Oh, hold on… ITS TASTY!

Ingredients:

1 tin kidney beans

2 carrots

1 courgette

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp Curry powder (I used a Sri-Lanka blend, use your favourite mix)

1 tbsp mixed fresh herbs or a pinch of dried

seasoning

Method:

  • I am a complete cheat. I used my food processor. To do this – place the beans, carrot, courgette, onions, garlic in the food processor and provess until finely chopped.
  • If you don’t have a food processor then grate the carrot and courgette, finely chop the beans, onion and garlic.
Dietitian UK: Bean Burger Mix
Dietitian UK: Bean Burger Mix
  • Shape the mix into large patties, pressing the mixture firmly together. I made 5 patties in total.
  • Place on a greased baking tray, pop into the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up. (You could make ahead to this stage and cook later or freeze them at this stage).
Dietitian UK: Bean Burger's Firming Up
Dietitian UK: Bean Burger’s Firming Up
  • Cook in a large pan or on a griddle, turning part way through cooking.
  • I served ours with salad and potato wedges.
Dietitian UK: Homemade Bean Burgers and Salad
Dietitian UK: Homemade Bean Burgers and Salad
Seriously yummy.

 

Gluten Free, Recipes

Mushroom and Bean Burgers – Gluten Free

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Looking for something yummy to make that is gluten free and healthy for all those summer BBQ’s? Here is my version of a Bean and mushroom burger, it’s low fat, healthy and best of all it’s gluten free.

This is also a great way to use up stale bread so non of it gets wasted. These burgers will freeze well and are a great vegetarian alternative to beef burgers. Also great for little ones, you can make them smaller so easier for tiny fingers and rest assured they are packed with protein, veggies and no salt 😉

Ingredients:

400g/1 tin beans (kidney, cannellini or whatever you have)

100g mushrooms

100g Gluten Free bread made into breadcrumbs

1 egg

1 tsp mixed herbs

1/2 tsp chilli

1/2 tsp cumin

  • Drain and rinse the beans, then place in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor you can use a hand held blender or a potato masher.
  • Blend the beans and then add the mushrooms, breadcrumbs, herbs, spices and egg and mix well.
  • Make the mix into either 4 large burgers or 8 smaller ones by rolling it in your hands and flattening it slightly.
  • Place the burgers onto a greased baking tray and refrigerate until needed.

 

Dietitian UK: Mushroom and Bean Burgers
Dietitian UK: Mushroom and Bean Burgers

 

  • These can either be grilled or put onto the BBQ.
  • I suggest serving with homemade guacamole and salad.

 

Dietitian UK: Mushroom and Bean Burgers cooked
Dietitian UK: Mushroom and Bean Burgers cooked

Guacamole:

2 avocados

1/2 lime

pinch of chilli

1 clove garlic

season

  • Slice the avocado in half and remove the stone, then use a spoon to scoop out the flrsh and mash the flesh using a fork.
  • Add the juice of half a lime, the chilli and crushed garlic and mix.
  • Season to taste.
Recipes

Tomato, Mozzerella and Pesto Puffed Tart

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Today was my lovely friend Steph’s birthday garden party. Think drinking Pimms out of a teaset, how amazing is that (!), a cream tea, finger sandwiches, cupcakes, and bubbly. I was asked to bring the healthy option to the table, which initially I found quite a tough one.

Parties, buffets and BBQ’s all demand party food and generally that means a table laden with high calorie, high fat snacks with just the teeniest sprinkling of fruit and vegetables. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Here’s what I came up with – a quick, easy tomato and mozzerella tart. Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C and also contain the antioxidant Lycopene. They have been linked to improving bone health, heart health and lowering cholesterol. What’s not to love?

I also took a bowl of homemade gucamole and hummous with carrot, celery and cucumber sticks. It all went down a storm. I’m assuming therefore it was tasty however I couldn’t try it myself due to the wheat content – silly me 😉

Dietitian UK: Tomato, Pesto, Mozzerella Tart
Dietitian UK: Tomato, Pesto, Mozzerella Tart

 

Recipe (serves 8-10 at a buffet):

1 roll of defrosted puff pastry (you get 2 rolls in a pack, so keep one for another time)

2 tomatoes, get the tastiest ones you can, mine were vine ripened and I was lucky to get them on the pastry as toddler girl kept eating them.

1/2 ball of mozzerella cheese

tomato puree

pesto

  • Spread the puff pastry sheet on a greased non stick baking tray and preheat the oven to Gas Mark 7. When putting on the toppings you want to keep about a 1 inch edge border free from topping.
  • Spread a thin layer of tomato puree on it and then follow with a thin layer of pesto.
  • Cover with thinly sliced tomatoes and dot with mozzerella.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes.
  • Slice into bite sized pieces.

Nutritional Info: Per portion for 10 people 130kcals, 8g fat, 10g carbohydrate, 4g protein.