Ten minute pizza (gluten free)
On weekday evenings, when I go straight to a gym class after work, I often get in quite late. On these days a super speedy dinner is in order.
I have to admit, I often resort to a big bowl of oats with their endless variations of toppings. Other times I might opt for a defrosted portion of one of my soups, (this one is my current favourite), or a bowl of cous-cous and veg.
Earlier this week I made pizza…the fasted pizza I’ve ever made! 10 minutes from first having the idea the pizza was on my plate ready to eat (ok, I had to allow for a 5 minutes photo shoot first!)
The pizza base is also gluten free as it is made using my flatbread dough, I simple made a larger flatbread to act as a pizza base. The original recipe made 4 small flatbreads but I doubled them up to make 2 larger pizza bases (in actual fact I halved the recipe to make a single serving).
I obviously haven’t used ‘cheese’ here, as I really don’t think it needs it. The tomato-hummous base is full of flavoursome. You could add some cheese/vegan cheese if you fancied when you pile the veg on top of the bases.
Recipe: Ten minute pizza (gluten free)
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 1 batch of flatbread dough (formed into two large rounds)
- 2 tbs tomato puree
- 2 tbs hummous
- Mix of vegetables for roasting (chopped small)- I used peppers, tomatoes, courgette, onion
- 1 tsp olive oil plus ½ tsp seasonings of choice
- Handful of sweetcorn and/or canned beans (defrost sweetcorn if frozen)
Method:
Prepare the pizza base dough according to the flatbread recipe - form into two larger pizza sized rounds.
Place the pizza bases on a lightly floured baking sheet under a pre-heated grill. Grill for 3-4 mins each side until lightly golden.
Prepare the vegetable for roasting and coat in the oil and seasoning mix. Spread it n a baking sheet and place in the oven for 5- 10minutes (depending on size of pieces) and roast until just cooked.
Briefly remove the pizza bases from the grill and spread with 1 tbs each of the tomato puree and hummous. Top with the roasted veg and add the sweetcorn/beans. Place back under the grill for 2-3 minutes to finish cooking.
Serve with a salad if you like.
Did that take 10 mins?....ok well maybe 15 tops!
Carrot & Citrus Bean Soup
For this week’s soup fix I wanted to bring on the lovely sweet and earthy flavours of the winter root veg but also a little citrus kick to perk things up on these cold winter days. Beans are (or should be) everyone’s best friend and are perfect way to get your protein, so a good mixture of beans also feature here for a nice variety.
This recipe was based on a BBC Good Food recipe which used one can of mixed beans to serve 4, when I make this soup again I will definitely double this two cans to give extra body and oomph to the soup. My photos barely show any beans at all but I can promise you this soup had a lot more bulk than would appear- it sank to the bottom of the bowl!
I made this soup last Saturday as a quick lunch in between batches of baking, freezing the extra portions as I nearly always do. I actually had another portion for my lunch at work today and it was just as good.
My kitchen work top ends up full of ‘experiments’…this is what my typical weekend looks like! Note…this is what it looks like when I’ve already cleared up and wiped down and have tidied away all my ‘baking boxes’ full of goodies that end up being stacked on the floor around me. No creative cooks are tidy cooks…are they??
Here I have a pan of these granola bars to keep me going through the week, my trusty smooshbars for a colleague at work, some remaining scones- recipe to come (minus the two I’d eaten) and four leftover pots of this soup for freezing.
I do love being surrounded by warm, freshly cooked food...I want to nibble on it all…it’s a good job it is all so healthy then!
Recipe: Carrot and citrus bean soup
Ingredients
- 2tbs olive oil
- 2 onions
- Approx. 450g carrots- roughly chopped
- 1tbs garam masala
- A thumb sized piece of ginger- grated
- Juice of 1 orange or ¼ cup orange juice
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 200ml coconut milk (full fat or light is fine)
- 410g can mixed beans- drained and rinsed (note- I would use two cans next time)
- 2 tbs chopped corriander
Method
Heat oil in a large pan and gently fry the onions and chopped carrotfor around 15 minutes until softening. Add the garam masala and ginger and cook for 1 more minute.
Add the orange juice and vegetable stock, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Once the carrots are tender, stir in the coconut milk. Using an electric hand blender (or pour into a blender) puree until fairly smooth (or as smooth as you like).
Add the beans to the pureed mixture in the pan, simmer for a few minutes. Add the coriander just before serving.
Note: if making this again I would use 2 cans of beans to make it even more substantial.
Left over portions can be frozen.
Spicy Lentil & Chickpea Soup
Time for more soup… and more flatbread! I think this flatbread recipe will become my go-to soup accompaniment- made fresh it’s just so good! This time I made it using spelt flour plus baking powder (use 3 tsp baking powder per 200g spelt flour) and it was so soft and fluffy with an amazingly crisp crust.
This spiced lentil soup was lovely and warming helped along by a chilli kick! The lentils and chickpeas also made for a great protein packed meal. If you wanted to bulk it up a little more or didn’t have any bread to hand you could top it with some cous-cous instead.
Soups are so easy to make and I always make sure I cook up a big portion and freeze leftovers for work day lunches. I make all my soups in my Thermomix, as it’s perfect for the job as an all-in-one gadget, but I have given the more typical blender method below.
So, after such a virtuous first course….what is for dessert? May be sticky toffee pudding or chocolate brownie torte?
Or if like me this will become lunch at the office, then keep your eyes peeled for my forthcoming granola bar experiments, the perfect fill-you-up, feel good snack to round things of just nicely!
Recipe: Spicy lentil and chickpea soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 red onion (diced)
- 150g red lentils
- 900ml vegetable stock
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 200g cooked/canned chickpeas
- Small handful of coriander
- Dollop of or soy yoghurt or swirl of soy cream to serve
Method
Dry fry cumin and chilli flakes for 1-2 minutes. Add the oil and onion and fry for a further 5 minutes. Stir in lentils, vegetable stock and tomatoes then simmer for 15 minutes. Blend the soup with a hand blender to get a rough puree. Add the chickpeas and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Stir through the roughly chopped coriander and serve with a blob of yoghurt or a swirl or cream.
Left over portions can be frozen.
