Courgette and Chickpea Pancake

Courtesy of Maki at Just Hungry, I've just made her Courgette and Chickpea Pancake for dinner. The recipe worked out pretty well. I grated the courgettes, cos I don't have a food processor and added a bit of water to the chickpea (gram) flour and courgette mix to make a batter. Halfway through eating (with tzatziki and a green salad), I decided that what it really needed was a squeeze of lemon. With lemon it was good, but still missing something. I reckon it was onion. So next time (and there will be a next time!) I'll grate a shallot or half an onion into the mixture too.

More new recipes: Courgette rice with feta and olives & Spanish-style chicken

As promised, here are a couple more candida diet-friendly recipes:

The first, Courgette rice with feta and olives, I found on the BBC Good Food magazine website, so I won't reproduce it here. What's great about this one is that it needs no adaptation or substitutions. Just make sure the neither the feta cheese nor the black olives (Sainsbury's stoned black olives in a ring-pull can are fine) include citric acid and the stock is candida diet -friendly (i.e. no yeast, sugars or monosodium glutamate - try Kallo's 'Yeast-free Stock Cubes' available from Holland & Barrett and other Health Food shops).

The second recipe is one I made up, so as usual the instructions are bit a vague!

Spanish-style Chicken

Serves one

1 chicken breast (I'm enjoying Sainsbury's free-range, organic West Country chicken at the moment - it's a bit more expensive, but the texture and taste far surpass 'normal' processed chicken breasts)
half a can of chopped tomatoes (no citric acid)
half an onion, sliced
clove of garlic, chopped
oil (sunflower or olive)
a handful of black olives (use the leftovers from the courgette recipe above), sliced
half a red pepper, sliced
a dash of paprika
about a tablespoon of fresh parsley, finely chopped
seasoning to taste

Lightly fry the garlic and onions in the oil. Slice the chicken breasts into strips and add to the pan. Cook for a few minutes and then add the red pepper. Cook until the chicken is golden brown. Add the tomatoes and stir in the sliced olives. Add a dash of paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about ten minutes, and then add the parsley.

Serve with brown rice and a green salad.

Meat!

For the last six months or so, I've been trying really hard to be a good vegetarian, but all those good intentions came to a sudden halt this week when I really couldn't control my meat cravings any longer and ate some sausages. I'm most disappointed with myself...I really don't like the idea that I can't control my basic carnivorous instincts. But, I guess, a strategic 'dose' of steak from time to time would help to boost my iron levels. Anyway, here's one of my favourite sausage recipes.

The sausage and courgette thing

Serves one to two

3-4 pork sausages (make sure they don't contain any nasties like yeast or breadcrumbs - rusk is okay, providing you can tolerate wheatflour)
1 large courgette
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (watch out for citric acid!)
tomato puree
salt and pepper
oregano
vegetable oil

Grill the sausages until brown. In the meantime, heat the oil in a large frying pan. Slice the garlic and onion and fry until soft. Finely slice the courgette (on the slant). Add to garlic and onions and fry until brown on both sides. Add a good squirt of tomato puree to the pan along with the tin of tomatoes. Add a sprinkle of oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until the liquid is reduced. Slice the sausages into three pieces and stir into the courgettes and tomatoes. Heat through and serve with brown rice, or soda bread and a salad.

N.B. You can add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the tomatoes before you add the sausages to spice up the sauce if you choose.