Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 large celery stick (including leaves), chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
large handful of mixed beans/peas (french, runner, pencil podded)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 pint water
1 veg stock cube/pod
1 handful of broken spaghetti
salt and pepper
Optional
either fresh basil leaves or fresh red chilli 

Method
Put all the ingredients into a pan, bring to the boil and simmer until tender. If you want the soup to be a little thicker, then continue cooking until slightly reduced.

Tip
You can also add some finely shredded green cabbage to the pot 5 minutes before serving.

Time for another operation for my husband, he was booked in for another couple of stents to be fitted on Friday, but when in theatre, five were fitted. So recovery is going to be a little longer than expected. So thankful to the amazing cardiac team at Royal Bournemouth Hospital for their care. 

Hubby is naturally not feeling very hungry and only fancies gentle food, his request was fish and rice.

I wanted to use basmati rice as it has low glycemic index and better than white long grain and hubby isn't keen on brown rice, so I did some research and developed the following recipe.

Waitrose Frozen hake fillets are amazing, they are perfect for this dish.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 banana red pepper, finely sliced

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 cup basmati rice

1 chicken stock cube

Water to cover by 1/2 inch

1 cup frozen peas

4 hake frozen fillets

Salt and pepper

Method

Heat oil in a large sauté pan (make sure you have a lid for it).

Add onion, garlic and peppers, gently sauté for 1 minute add tomato and cook until soft.

Add the rice and fry gently mixing for about 1 minute. Add the stock cube and water and bring to the boil. Season. Add the frozen peas, stir, then lay the hake over the top pushing the fillets just under the liquid. Cover and simmer very gently until all the liquid has evaporated. Don't stir, just leave the pan to steam. Carefully serve onto plates, fluffing the rice slightly with a fork.

A very successful dinner last night.

As our daughter has an intolerance to wheat, gluten and dairy, we had bought a Fajita Kit a couple of weeks ago. Tonight I used this to save some time and create a healthy dinner for all of us.
The kit came with the tortillas, salsa and the fajita spice mix.
I used one chicken breast, plus a red and a green pepper and one onion to make the fajitas.
I added some salad leaves and slices of avocado when building the fajitas with the salsa.
A big hit, the aromas in the kitchen were wonderful. A great store cupboard hit, full of nutrients and very low fat.

Lunchtime Dilemma

I'm used to cooking lunches for my daughter and me, but not for hubby. Yesterday it was salad, but today I thought I'd cook a little something.
What did I have left, 1/3rd tin tuna (well I did leave for daughter yesterday, but she didn't get back until tea time), also had a box of cooked pasta left from yesterday?
I didn't want to waste this and came up with the following dish and whilst it was cooking, I could nip outside into the garden to grab the fresh flat leaved parsley.

Pasta with tomato, courgettes and tuna sauce

Ingredients (serves 3)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 courgette, cut lengthways into quarters, then chopped along the length
1 tin tomatoes
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
1/3 tin tuna

Method

You need to cook the pasta if you haven't got any ready to reheat.
In a small pan, heat the oil gently and fry the onion until soft, add the garlic and courgette, fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and break them up with a spoon as you cook (I prefer tinned tomatoes as they don't have as much water). Add the capers and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes. Just before serving carefully add the tuna, but try not to mask it, a couple of stirs will do. If using precooked pasta, add it to the sauce and heat through. If fresh cooked pasta drain and toss through sauce.
Serve

Yes, dreams can come true. 

After the events of the weekend, today, my hubby was discharged from hospital and I can now start caring for him and helping him get his bounce back.

Through the lifestyle profiling done whilst he was in Bournemouth Hospital Critical Coronary Unit it looks as though his heart attack was due to genetics, not lifestyle. This is a relief as we have always been careful with our meals. Still, there is always more to be done, improvements to be made. The team in CCU were amazing, we can't thank them enough for saving him.

Lunch today - this is first major change, a light lunch every day, not just a snack if and when.

Tuna Salad (serves 2)

2 oz cooked and cold Seeds of Change Semi-wholewheat Tortiglioni

2 handfuls of salad leaves with beetroot shreds

Half an avocado

2 inch chunk cucumber

1 large tomato

1/3 tin tuna fish in spring water

Extra virgin olive oil

Organic cider vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

Method

While the pasta was cooking (yes I do add a little salt to the water, it is better than salting later), I started preparing the rest of the ingredients. I find that cucumber can make some people a little gassy, my solution is to peel the cucumber, then slice horizontally through the middle of the chunk and using a teaspoon, scrape out the fleshy seedy centre. Then cut the cucumber into small cubes.

Remove the avocado from the skin, again use a dessert or tablespoon to push between the skin and the flesh to remove the edible part. Again cut into small chunks.

I like to assemble the salad on each plate as I prepare, then sprinkle over a few drops of olive oil, plus a couple of drops of cider vinegar, toss on the plate.

Add the tuna to the plate and flake and fluff gently. If you like you can add 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise to the tuna and lightly mix.

When the pasta is cooked (yes, it will be a little more chewy than the normal type, but much more tasty), drain the pasta, return to the pan and immediately run cold water over the pasta for about 1 minutes, strain and you have cold pasta.

Add pasta to the plate and serve. You may like to grind some black pepper over the salad before serving, but that is personal preference.