The weekend I turned 30.....{Fish Pie Stew}

Well I made it to 30. Amazing! I had a fantastic weekend with lots of fun and laughter and I can honestly say I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.

So now that the celebrating is over its time for me to put my head down and overhaul my lifestyle a bit. I have been trying to loose weight for so long and I always put it off or had an excuse. Time to get focused and get exercising!

This is a new-ish recipe that has become a really nice staple evening meal. I started off by making the original but I've changed it around a bit to make it a really nice alternative to fish pie, It's also much less time consuming so there's that as well...

Fish Pie Stew 

Inspired from the recipe here 

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 onion, chopped

3 sticks of celery, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

175ml white wine

300ml chicken stock or vegetable stock if you prefer

1 tbsp cornflour, mixed to a paste with 1 tbsp cold water

200g raw prawns 

300g fish pie selection (the one I used had smoked haddock, cod and salmon)

small bunch flat leave parsley, chopped

300ml half-fat crème fraîche

150g new potatoes, already boiled and slightly squashed with a fork

heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion and celery until soft. add the garlic and cook for another minute them pour in the wine and simmer until most has disappeared. p

our in the stock and cornflour mix and simmer for 5-10 mins, stirring often until thickened. season, then add the fish, new potatoes and most of the parsley. simmer for a few mins until piping hot, then stir in the crème fraîche. serve with a sprinkling of parsley. you could have this with some bread, but I find that the addition of potatoes makes this plenty filling. 

Healthy Weekday Meal #6........{Spicy Lentils and Baked Cod}

This dinner came about by using up things that were in my cupboard, fridge and freezer. And boy were they tasty. A healthy and nutritious dinner that really didn't take long to throw together. I share the recipe so you can bung it together yourself! Don't feel limited by the cod you could serve the lentils with salmon, chicken, pork etc the options are limitless!  

Spicy Lentils and Baked Cod

250g dried green lentils, rinsed and soaked overnight

1 TBSP coconut oil

1 red onion, finely chopped 

1/2 green pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated 

handful of fresh coriander, chopped  

2 TSP dried red chillies 

1 TSP cumin

1/2 TSP chilli powder 

3 large tomatoes, diced 

vegetable / chicken stock 

2 fillets of cod (or however many you need)

slices of fresh lemon / lime 

melt your coconut oil in a pan and then add in the onions. once they have softened add in the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes and peppers. after a couple of minutes add in the lentils, the remaining spices and the coriander and make sure that the lentils are coated in all the flavours. cover with stock and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and season. continue to simmer until the lentils have soften, although i do like them to retain a bit of bite - personal preferences people! in the meantime quite simply season your cod and bake in foil/greaseproof paper parcel in the oven for 20minutes or so. Serve the cod on the lentils and sprinkle with a bit of coriander and a squeeze of lemon or lime juice! 

These lentils taste even better the next day - I had them for my dinner with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt. Yummy!