BAKED POTATOES WITH FETA CREAM AND CRISPY CHORIZO

My daughter Arabella loves a jacket potato and often has them for lunch at school - she has been asking for them at home now but I am not really a potato fan. However as it is now barbecue season I thought it would make a nice alternative to salad (plus I make her eat lots of things I like and she doesnt). 

The problem with jacket potatoes is you need to be organised as they take an hour to cook in the oven so make sure you leave yourself plenty of time. 

Ingredients for 3 people:

3 large jacket potatoes, scrubbed
150ml sour cream
100g feta cheese, crumbled
Pickled jalapeños, 6 slices from a jar (I left this out as we dont like spice)
2 tbsp coriander, chopped
120g chorizo, chopped or bite sized pieces

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180 C fan / gas mark 6.

Prick the potatoes with a fork and then put them in the oven for 60 minutes or until tender.

About 15 minutes before the potatoes are ready, you need to make the sauce. You can either whizz together the feta and sour cream in a food processor or you can mash them together really well in a bowl - I chose this option as it meant less washing up!

Stir in the jalapeños (if you are using) and the chopped coriander.

Fry the chorizo in a dry frying pan until crisp - this took about 5 minutes.

Once the potatoes are ready, take them out the oven and then cut in half.

Divide the feta cream between the potatoes and then top with the chorizo and serve.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this recipe - I absolutely loved the potatoes with the feta cream and chorizo. Arabella liked it but prefers a more simple butter and grated cheddar topping. I will definitely be making this again - it is a simple recipe and something you can easily do for just one person or for many (such as at a dinner party). To make this slightly healthier you could use sweet potatoes and serve it with a green salad rather than a burger!

The moral of the story is I should definitely listen to my daughters supper suggestions more often!! 

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BANANA ICE CREAM

Last week I did a post about the 5:2 diet / the fast diet and some of my low calorie recipes. One thing I find very tough on my "2" days is not having any sweets or chocolate as I have to stick to foods that are really low in calories…..like salad, soup, fish and fruit. One of my lovely friends Caroline recently sent me this recipe for banana ice-cream - basically if you freeze a banana and then whizz it in a blender it becomes ice-cream like - I thought this sounded too good to be true so I had to give it a go.

Ingredients for 1 person:

1 ripe banana

Cut it into coin sized pieces - you dont have to be accurate but try to keep them as even as possible.

Put the bananas in an air tight container like this Tupperware or a freezer bag.

Freeze the banana pieces for at least 2 hours but ideally overnight if you can.

Put the frozen banana pieces in a food processor and start to blend.

Keep blending and the banana will look crumbly or smashed. If necessary scrape down the food processor so it is all at the bottom by the blades.

Keep blending and the banana will become gooey, mushy, porridge-like and then suddenly the magic will happen!! It will become creamy and soft. Keep blending for another minute so completely lump free.

If you are saving it til later, put it back in an air tight container in the freezer and freeze until you are ready to eat. If you are an impatient piglet like myself, just pop it back in the freezer in a bowl for 15 minutes or so….you want it solid like traditional ice cream. Enjoy!

I had this on a 2 day and it definitely hit the spot when I was craving something sweet. My banana was about 80 calories. If you are not counting calories, you can add several mix-ins to make it even sweeter such as a spoonful of nutella, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup, a handful of chocolate chips or a dollop of nutella, a tablespoon of cocoa powder or half a teaspoon of cinnamon or ginger….the list is endless! You would add these after the banana has become smooth and creamy and before you refreeze. 

This is no Ben & Jerrys but I have to say it was better than I thought - I will definitely be making it for my vegan sister when she next comes round….without nutella obviously!

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