Easy Salmon Salad for a Dry Summer Drinking

As soon as the sun comes out we all crave longer, colder drinks. A good refreshing beer is the perfect drink for a hot day. But we do not always want the alcohol that goes with the beers. Recently we have been trying a number of low and zero alcohol options. So when Krombacher got in touch to ask if I would like to try their new non alcoholic beers it was perfect timing!

Today I am going to tell you a bit about Krombacher non alcoholic beers, what we thought of them and share a recipe that is the perfect pairing for both beers.

Krombacher have recently released two non alcoholic beers, a pilsner larger and a wheat beer. The hubby is quite particular when it comes to beers so the Krombacher certainly had it's work cut out. The first beer that the hubby tried was the weizen beer, a wheat beer. When I gave him the beer he actually commented that he could not tell the difference between a regular alcoholic wheat beer and the Krombacher non alcoholic beer! This is definitely a beer that we will be having again. I definitely preferred the lighted pilsner beer. So for us they suited us perfectly, one being an ale connoisseur and the other, me, just liking a cold drink! More and more people are going from alcoholic beers to non alcoholic beers and drinks suppliers have noticed the consumer change and have even seen non alcoholic stores like Dry Drinker having a boom in sales! They even have alcohol free gin!

The foodie that I am I love to pair food with drinks and after doing some research I discovered that both the pilsner and the wheat beers both pair well with similar foods. So selecting the key ingredients was easy. Both beers go well with green vegetables and fish and as it is summer the green vegetables had to be salad items. This salad is not only deliciously healthy but is also so quick and easy to prepare.

This is what I did...

Quick and Easy Warm Rice and Quinoa Salad

When it comes to lunch time, I want something that is healthy, something that I can prepare quickly and easily. If it is not quick and easy I tend to go for a sandwich. I love salads but after a few they can get boring. So to make them a bit more exciting I have been trying some new ways to enjoy a salad. You can expect to see some new salad recipes over the next few months!

My first new salad recipe is a salad that is so full of flavours, health benefits and quick to prepare. To make it quick and easy to prepare I have used a pouch packet of Tilda brown basmati rice with quinoa, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I am a huge fan of the easy rice pouches but love that this one has the added grains and seeds. When I saw it on a recent shopping trip I knew that it would make a delicious addition to a salad.

This is what I did...

Cypriot New Potato Salad

One of my favourite vegetables to use has to be the new potato. As soon as new potato season arrives they are my go to potato. However, as we know, in the UK we do not have new potatoes all year round, we simply do not have the weather for them. Thankfully Cyprus does and thanks to Tesco we can enjoy them right now!

These deliciously versatile potatoes have come straight from sunny Cyprus and are of the 'Spunta' variety. The Spunta potato has a lovely yellow skin and is a fantastic all rounder potato but in my opinion, it is perfect for salads! Their mild, buttery, earthy flavours mean that they are a potato that will go with vegetables, meats and even fish. They are the perfect potato for when you are short of time as all they need is a wash and they are ready to be cooked. They can be steamed, boiled, baked and even made into chips.

As I said before my favourite way to use Cypriot new potatoes has to be in a potato salad. Forget buying a tub of potato salad, once you have tried my healthy potato salad there will be no going back!

This is what I did...

Naked Coleslaw - Low FODMAP and Syn Free

For the next few weeks we are following the FODMAP eating plan.

For years the hubby has suffered from digestive discomfort and one day while he was looking on the internet he discovered the FODMAP plan. FODMAP stands for Fermantable Oligo-saccharides Di-saccharides Mono-saccharides and Polyols, otherwise known as FODMAP's. FODMAP's are carbohydrates that can be hard to digest and cause digestive discomfort and eliminating foods which contain these carbohydrates can ease symptoms such as bloating, abdominal pain, gases and bowel problems. They are found in various fruits, vegetables, dairy and many other foods. After doing my own research and visiting various different websites I now have a list of FODMAP foods. The list is divided into two sections, high 'red' FODMAP foods, which I need to avoid in the hubby's meals and low 'green' FODMAP foods which he can eat.

This has meant that my meal plans need to be planned more carefully. Now when I write my weekly meal plan I am carefully looking at the ingredients that are needed for each individual meal and adapting them accordingly.

When I was planning this weeks meals I found a recipe in the Slimming World magazine that I knew everyone would love, but it was served with a homemade coleslaw which contained many high FODMAP ingredients. This got me thinking how I could make a coleslaw type salad that is both syn free for me and, of course, low FODMAP for the hubby. What I created was a huge success and is now a firm favourite.

This is what I did...

Peachy Giant Couscous Salad with Del Monte

We all love fruit. It is the one food which the children have free run of. We keep the fresh fruit in baskets in the fridge so that it is easily accessible. This is great for their health but the amount of times I have gone to the fridge for some fruit to find that the kids have eaten it all are endless. That is why we always keep some tins of fruit in the cupboard. So when Del Monte asked me if I would like to create an easy recipe using some of their fruit I could not wait to get started.

To get my ideas flowing they sent me a lovely hamper full of Del Monte goodies.  The hamper included some of their new kids Squeezie pouches. As soon as the children saw the Minnie and Mickey design they could not wait to try them. The pouches are 100% fruit based and are aimed at children aged 3 - 9 years old but even my 12 year old wanted to try them! The children got to try two of the new flavours, apple and mango and apple, strawberry and blueberry. Both flavours were a huge success and we will definitely be keeping an eye out for them on our next shopping trip. They are perfect to pop in the bag for days out or for the children's lunch box.

For today's recipe I have used some of Del Monte's tinned fruit. Did you know that tinned fruit can be more nutritious than fresh fruit? This is because the fruit is picked when it is fully ripe and is processed immediately. This locks in the goodness that can deteriorate over time. A recent study actually found that when they compared fresh, frozen and canned foods the nutrients were surprisingly similar. Plus when the fruit is kept in a can it has a longer shelf life. Inevitably this reduces food waste and saves us valuable money!

This recipe is a deliciously healthy salad recipe that contains fresh vegetables, chicken and the star of the dish, Del Monte peaches.

This is what I did..

Winter Kale Salad

At the moment we have got a lot of kale in the garden ready for harvesting. Kale is one vegetable that I think often gets over looked. We get bored of eating it the same way, steamed, so I am always looking for new ways to add this super food to our diets. Now that we have had our first frost I know that the kale will be even sweeter and perfect for salad!

One thing that kale is great for is as a salad. It has a firmer texture and fuller flavour than lettuce and, in my opinion, makes a more filling salad. Today's recipe contains 6 delicious vegetables and is jam packed with goodness. It is perfect as a lunch or goes great with a jacket potato.

This is what I did...

Degustabox - September Contents and Recipe

It is that time of the month when I share with you what foodies treat arrived in Septembers Degustabox. As with each month, the box contained a wide variety of products from snacks to drinks, from desserts to lunches. There really is something for everyone each month.

Today I am going to tell you about all of the products that arrived and share a dish that I have made using one of the products that came in the Degustabox.

• Metcalfes - A dark chocolate treat that is both delicious as well as light. The popcorn base has been topped with the finest Italian chocolate.
• Get Fruity - This Tangy Pineapple, Coconut and Lime bar is 100% natural and made from gluten free oats and virgin coconut oil. It contains so refined sugar and is produced on a nut free site.
• Say Yes to No - These toasted bread chips are so moreish! They contain no artificial colours or flavours.
• Hartley's - These little pots of jelly, went down a treat and had disappeared thanks to the kids as soon as they saw them!
• Mrs Crimble's - We have tried Mrs Crimble's products before but have never seen the gluten free pasta before. This is a product that we are excited to try!
• Chia Bia - We love chia seeds and were not disappointed with these ones.
• Miso Tasty - Miso soup is made from 12 month fermented rice and this soup has been paired with wakame and spring onion which comes in separate sachets to retain the true miso flavours.
• Cirio - I have featured Cirio's borlotti beans in today's recipe. These beans are ready to eat and are delicious in a salad.
• Teisseire - This raspberry and cranberry squash contains zero sugar and gives water a lovely refreshing twist! Perfect for this sober October!
• Cape Drinks - Both the sparkling pineapple and passion fruit and the sparkling peach and lychee drinks are made with rooibos tea and a full of anti oxidants. 

As you can see the products are all that little bit different from what you usually find in the supermarket and that is what we like most about Degustabox.

Now let me tell you about how I used the borlotti beans in a quick and easy salad!

This is what I did...

Beetroot, Goats Cheese and Borlotti Bean Salad

Ingredients

75g mixed leaf salad

1 small fresh beetroot, thinly sliced

Goats cheese, cubed

1 x 150g tin of borlotti beans

1tbsp truffle oil

1tbsp balsamic oil

Method

1 - Mix the truffle oil with the balsamic vinegar in a bowl

2 - Place the mixed leaves in a large mixing bowl, add the borlotti beans and pour over the oil

3 - Mix the ingredients thoroughly

4 - Serve the oil coated vegetables on a plate, top with the slices of beetroot and scatter the cubes of goats cheese. I have not added an amount as you can add as much or as little as you wish!

This is such a quick and easy lunch and can easily be packed in a box and taken out. The truffle oil combines perfectly with the balsamic to create an easy yet full of flavour dressing. The beetroot that I have used in this recipe was freshly picked from the garden, but you can use any fresh beetroot.

If you would like to try Degustabox yourself they are offering Hijacked By Twins readers the chance to receive a whopping £7.00 off your first box when you add the promotional code BLDEG15 at the checkout!

Enjoy x

Disclosure: I receive a monthly Degustabox for the purpose of my posts. No cash payment was received. All views and opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Back to School Lunch Box Meal with #PowerofFrozen

Now that we are coming to the end of the long summer holidays it is time to start thinking about the children returning to school. The return to school also brings the return of preparing packed lunches. I don't know about you but making packed lunches always seems like a chore, it is always done at the end of the day and I often get stuck for ideas. So when Iceland challenged me to devise an easy recipe for a healthy packed lunch I knew that it would need to be a lunch that will not take long but that would also be full of healthy foods that the kids would love. The one way I find that my children tuck into a salad is if it is fun, colourful and with mayonnaise.

The beauty of this recipe is that the majority of the ingredients are frozen so there are no worries about whether you have the fresh ingredients to prepare. Even the bread rolls are frozen! One of my packed lunch fails has to be not having enough bread or forgetting to defrost some fresh bread. When I defrost bread that I have frozen it never tastes as good, so when I saw that Iceland stocked bread rolls that could be baked from frozen I knew that they would be a must have! I was not disappointed the rolls came out of the oven just like freshly made bread rolls do.

For my back to school recipe I decided to make a rice salad. Rice is full of carbohydrates so acts as a fuel for the children's bodies. The return to school can be tiring for them so they need all of the energy they can get to keep their bodies and brains going! The addition of an egg provides them with protein to help keep their energy level up. The tuna provides them with healthy omega 3 fatty acids while the vegetables give them their much needed vitamin goodness! When using frozen foods you are guaranteed to have a high amount of vitamins as the vegetables are frozen at the optimum time after picking to preserve all of the goodness that wears off as they ripen.

Today's recipe is colourful, fun and full of goodness. This is what I did...

Jersey Royal Potato Salad - #CookBlogShare Week 19

Wow it has been such a lovely week! I don't know about you, but we have been making the most of the lovely weather and eating al fresco. As soon as the lovely weather comes, out go the warming comfort foods and we welcome salads, barbecues and lighter meals.

With this in mind I thought that it would be the perfect time to share with you a delicious potato salad that I was sent to try. Each week I write a recipe using products that I have bought from Aldi. This week is a little different. This is a new recipe that has been sent to me courtesy of Aldi to try out and let you know what I thought. We are now coming into Jersey Royal season and this year Aldi will be stocking Jersey Royal potatoes for their Specially Selected range. These potatoes have a sweet, nutty, summer taste to them and are perfect for potato salads.

This is no ordinary potato salad.

This potato salad is full of so many different ingredients that compliment each other perfectly and make it a more filling salad. The homemade sauce used has become a new favourite here. The creaminess with the kick from the mustard are perfect together. This really is a royal potato salad. A Jersey Royal Potato Salad!

This is what I did...

Smoked Salmon and Mixed Grains Salad

I don't know about you, but as soon as the sunny, warmer weather comes I love to eat healthy salads. So now that the sunshine is here I thought that I would share with you a favourite salad recipe of mine. This salad is perfect to enjoy at home or to pack up and take to work. Whenever I make one for myself at lunch time I always prepare one for the hubby to take to work the following day. I love to use the blue clip top Kilner jars that we have. They are just the right size and ensure that there are no spillages or leaks and they look so pretty too!

This salad combines regular salad vegetables with a mix of cereals, pulses and grains with smoked salmon and eggs. Giving you a perfectly balanced meal, vitamin goodness from your vegetables, protein from your eggs, essential oils from the salmon and fibre from the grains. I have used The Food Doctor easy grains which are ready to eat which makes preparing this salad super easy and quick! The cereals, pulses and beans mix that I have used is a lovely mixture of quinoa, lentils, spelt and kidney beans. They really do add a lovely texture to your salad as well as some wholesome flavours.

This is what I did...

Kick Starting A Healthier Me with Florette

Summer time is definitely the time to enjoy more salads with our meals. I for one would rather have salad with my meal on a hot day than hot vegetables. I do love homegrown salad vegetables but some times it is certainly much easier to open a bag of ready prepared salad.

Florette is a perfect example of a great, ready prepared summer salads. It is great to go in sandwiches, as a side dish or as a simple salad leaf meal.

Even though we all associate salads with summer, they can be enjoyed throughout the year.

After having a summer of over indulgence I am going to kick start my health by having September as a month to start re thinking about me and my body. This is going to mainly be eating healthier but also exercising again and getting some more time back for me. I am going to incorporate salads into our meals more and have them throughout the year. A Salad For All Seasons is a great book that I will be using a lot. It shows how salads can be enjoyed whatever the season!

If like me you are wanting to detox your body a bit after the summer Florette have created a great 5 day healthy eating plan which is full of delicious recipes. I will definitely be trying the smoothie recipes and the vegetable pesto flat bread pizza looks so good! Pop over and take a look for lots of salad inspiration!

I enjoyed my Florette leaves with traditional salad vegetables of cucumber, tomatoes, celery and spring onion. I topped it with pieces of Port Salut cheese, a side serving of my homemade tzatziki and a couple of slices of nutty smoked soda bread. Delicious!

Enjoy x

Disclosure: I was sent a Florette goodie bag and the book for the purpose of this post. No cash payment was received. All views, opinions and words are my own and 100% honest.

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad - Family Favourites

While the weather is still nice I am making the most of not needing heavy meals as we all do in the cold winter months.

This dish is a favourite for both the children and hubby to eat and for me to make as it is so quick and easy. It can be made as a last minute lunch, a side dish on a buffet and is great for packed lunches. This week I am going to show you how to make my quick and easy pasta salad.

The beauty of a dish like this is that you can add whatever vegetables or meats that you like or that you have to hand. Once you have made the base to this salad you can just about anything.

Today I am going to tell you the base salad recipe that I use and then give you some ideas for extras.

Here is this weeks Family Favourites recipe...

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

Ingredients

250g dried pasta
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cucumber, quartered and sliced
100g baby tomatoes, quartered
French mayonnaise

Method

1 - Cook the pasta as per instructions, once cooked drain and leave to cool for 15 minutes in a large mixing bowl

2 - Once the pasta has cooled simply add all of the vegetables and as much or as little French mayonnaise as desired

3 - Mix well until all of the ingredients are evenly combined and serve

The salad base is that simple. This can be made in half an hour with time to sit down or do other jobs!

Now for additional ingredient ideas...

• Tuna - Drain a tin of tuna and mix in with the vegetables
• Grilled chicken breast - Grilled chicken served on the side makes this salad into a bigger meal that is ideal of an evening meal
• Cheese - Add any cheese according to taste but I would recommend an extra mature cheddar, feta or a hard goats cheese
• Crispy bacon - Chop up 3 rashers of bacon and fry until crispy and scatter over the top before serving
• Eggs - Add hard boiled eggs
• Sunday leftovers - Add any leftover meat from a Sunday dinner and reduce your food waste
• Garden Veg pasta - Substitute the cucumber for broccoli and the peppers for grated carrots
• Sardines - Add either tinned or fresh sardines to the top for some extra flavours
• Plain and simple - Just as it is served with fresh bread or breadsticks, that is how the twins love it!

They are just a few ideas but as I said before you can add anything that you like.

Enjoy x