They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and with the recent earthquake here in Christchurch I had to get a little creative with my cooking using what I had on hand to make a tasty and nutritious dinner that I labelled “quake mince”.

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 2 cans of baked beans
• 250g frozen veggies
• 1 cup of rice

Brown mince, add baked beans and veggies, then leave to simmer for 20 minutes. During this time, cook the rice then add to pan and simmer for 5 minutes.

Tasty, healthy and made from items you’re likely to have around the house most of the time. Just try not to spill it during any aftershocks.

Lately I’ve been watching Jamie’s Food Revolution where UK chef Jamie Oliver preached the virtues of cooking from scratch and not eating processed food. While I make an effort to do this most of the time, I do occasionally fall back into the processed food.

However, not tonight, here’s a recipe of my own concoction made entirely from scratch that I’m sure would get Jamie’s seal of approval.

• 400g of chicken cut into strips
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce (reduced salt if possible)
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1tsp ground garlic
• a few shakes of cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp of honey
• 1 cup of frozen veges
• 1 packet of readymade (not dried) noodles

Cook the chicken in a hot pan. I like to use a non stick pan so there’s no need for oil. While the chicken is cooking, mix the soy sauce, honey, ginger, garlic and cayenne pepper in a jug and stir. Once the chicken is cooked, add sauce and frozen veges to pan. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add noodles simmering for a further 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

This can also be made with beef if you feel so inclined. Tonight’s effort also included some mushrooms.

On Saturday I chided my wife for her food choices that day, stating there was very little nutrition in what she’d eaten so far that day. As I was heading to the green grocers for a lettuce, I offered to pick her up some hummus and chop up some carrots on my return to give her a healthy snack before going back to work.

As she’s pregnant, she looked up hummus on the safe food list and found it’s categorized as “don’t eat”. We both found this a little unusual, and after a little digging discovered that it’s due to one ingredient: tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds which has a slight risk of salmonella poisoning.

OK, I thought, it’s the Food Safety Authority’s job to err on the side of caution, but can’t one make hummus without tahini? Perhaps using sesame oil as an alternative? It turns out you can and it’s quite delicious.

Here’s the recipe I used:

• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon of crushed garlic
• 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 1 squirt of lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons of rice bran oil

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until a smooth paste. Serve with raw vegetables for a double dose of vege goodness.

I will confess, I think this recipe needs less sesame oil and more garlic, but feel free to experiment.

Taking inspiration from a couple of sources, I’ve come up with an excellent breakfast smoothie that’s big on nutrition and flavour.

The basic recipe comes from a personal trainer I follow on Twitter but I’ve adapted it to ingredients I had in the house. Here’s what I make:

• 1 banana
• 50g low fat vanilla yoghurt
• 250mL soy milk
• 1 tablespoon ground linseed
• 2 tablespoon rolled oats

The other adaptation to the recipe comes from a podcast I listen to, The Nutrition Diva, who suggested freezing bananas to put in smoothies, making the smoothie nice and cold. One warning though: peel the banana before freezing it, otherwise you’ll never peel it.

I’ve been drinking this smoothie for breakfast every morning that I don’t run and it’s delicious and filling. Bon appetit!

Part of my current eating regime is eating a high protein snack for afternoon tea. I’ve tried protein bars, which worked really well but are VERY expensive. I switched to canned chicken and tuna, much better for the wallet but too many of them smell or taste like cat food. I’m happy to keep going with the canned meat but thought I’d explore other options.

I found this recipe on the net for some protein cookies so I thought I’d give them a go.

The cookies are very good, my wife ate three, and should be quite filling. I’ll be eating two of them for afternoon tea each day this week to try them out. Hopefully I might have an alternative to canned chicken on the weeks I don’t feel like eating that.