Smokey beans on toast

Mostly I cook because I love nice food but there is also a bigger picture: health.

This recipe was created with iron in mind because low iron translates to feeling low.
Without going into too much detail, we need iron to make the right brain chemicals. Without this, we feel low.

This recipe contains around 10mg of iron which is just over half of the total amount of iron needed per day (for women, 100% for men).

Plus there is a good dose of vitamin C. (We need Vit c to absorb iron, so this part is mega useful.)

Ingredients for 1:

1 stick of celery, diced
1 shallot or 1/2 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon of chipotle paste or a pinch of chilli flakes
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of beans such as butter beans or cannellini
100g of baby leaf spinach
1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
sea salt and black pepper to season
rapeseed oil for cooking
good bread to serve
a handful of fresh parsley to serve (this is high in both iron and vitamin c)
a tablespoon of sour cream to serve (optional)

Method:
Pop a frying pan on a medium heat.
Add a splash of rapeseed oil, the celery & shallot/ onion and cook for a couple of minutes until softened.
Add the paprika and chipotle paste. Stir and cook for a minute.
Pour in the chopped tomatoes, season well with sea salt and black pepper and cook for 10 minutes on a low heat to reduce the sauce.
Add the beans and season again.
Add the spinach bit by bit and stir to wilt it.
Stir in the peanut butter.
Taste to check the seasoning.
Serve on some sourdough bread, topped with fresh parsley and sour cream.

Roasted vegetable pasta sauce

If you haven’t yet heard me harp on about how we should be eating more vegetables then here it is: we should be eating more vegetables, at least 10 portions of veg a day in fact.
It’s totally doable but I recognise some of you may be slightly fussier eaters or at least have to cook for fussy eaters.
So here is your solution: lots of roasted vegetables disguised in a delicious pasta sauce.
This recipe is also great to use up veggies that are past their best, or those half peppers that are lurking in the back of the fridge.

Please note: whilst super high in nutrients, this recipe does lack protein, so either use a protein pasta or top with protein such as some cheese or a cooked chicken breast.

Ingredients to feed 4:
1/2 aubergine, cut into chunks
1 small courgette, thickly sliced
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 - 1 pepper of any colour, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
200g of passata (or chopped tomato)
100g sundried tomato
Sea salt and black pepper to season
Rapeseed oil for roasting
Pasta to serve
A handful of fresh basil (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Pop all of the veggies, apart from the passata & sundried tomatoes, on a roasting tray.
Drizzle with rapeseed oil, season with a pinch of sea salt and scatter over the thyme.
Stir to combine and roast for 30 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions and drain, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water.
To make the sauce, transfer the roasted veggies to a blender whilst still hot, add the passata and sundried tomatoes, around 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and lots of black pepper.
Blend until it is completely smooth.
Check the seasoning and add more if needed.
Combine the pasta, sauce and pasta water, stir well then divide between plates.
Serve with a few fresh basil leaves scattered over the top.

The sauce freezes well, just freeze it before adding the pasta.