Healthy Diet Recipes

The combination of lemon flavoured fish, with the sweet peas in this recipe is a delicious, and healthy way to have a complete meal in just 25 minutes from start to finish. It is very easy to prepare and good enough for special occasions.The peas are a great alternative to rice, and adds extra nutrition and flavour.

Ingredients:

• 500g cod filets (thick cut)
• 3 TBS finely minced lemon rind
• 4 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 3 TBS chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ tsp salt
• pinch cayenne
• Pureed Peas
• 1 medium onion coarsely chopped
• 4 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 3 + 1 TBS chicken or vegetable broth
• 15oz frozen sweet peas
• 4 TBS ground sunflower seeds
• salt and white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 and prepare ingredients.
2. Mix together minced lemon rind, lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt and cayenne. Rub cod filets generously with mixture and place in baking dish. Place fish in oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes.
3. While fish is baking, heat 1 TBS broth in a 10 inch stainless steel skillet. Healthy Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and continue to sauté for another minute. Add rest of broth, peas, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper, and heat for about 3 minutes.
4. Puree pea mixture in blender, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula from time to time to mix well.
5. Serve cod with peas. If there is a little juice left over in the fish pan you can drizzle it over the fish and peas.

Serves 4

This is not your normal apple tart. The healthy date, nut crust allows you to indulge without guilt or compromising flavour. It takes no time to prepare, and will please and satisfy anyone who loves apple pie.

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups walnuts
• 1½ cups dates
• 3 green apples, such as Granny Smith
• juice of 1 lemon in 2 cups water
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp ground clove
• 2 TBS Xylitol
• ½ cup apple juice
• ¼ cup raisins

Directions:

1. Combine walnuts and dates in food processor. Make sure you remove pits if dates have them and cut off end where stem was. Process until well mixed and ground, but not smooth. About 40 seconds. It should be a coarse texture when done. Press evenly into a 9 inch tart pan. Set in refrigerator while making the filling.
2. Slice apples by cutting into quarters. Cut out core and slice crosswise in ¼ inch thick slices. Put into lemon water while you finish cutting apples. Drain well in colander when done.
3. Place apples in a large skillet with rest of the ingredients and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently on medium heat.
4. Remove apples with a slotted spoon from hot pan to a bowl and cool completely.
5. Reduce liquid to about half the volume and cool separately.
6. Spread apples evenly over crust. Brush syrup over apples. Can be served right away or will keep in refrigerator until needed. Keep tart covered in refrigerator so it doesn't pick up moisture. Top with a little vanilla yogurt if desired.

Serves 8

Healthy Cooking Tips:

This crust is fantastic if done right. First of all, it is important to choose dates that are firm and not too gooey. Zahidi dates are usually good for this. When processing your crust you may have to do it in 2 batches. Combine half the dates and half the walnuts in each batch. Process well, but not too smooth. You should not process more than 40 seconds for each batch. You want to have a coarse texture that is still ground enough to hold together when pressed. Take a pinch of crust between your fingers and press it together. If it is over processed the crust will end up pasty and will not be good. If it is not quite ground enough it won't hold together.