Broccoli and Pea Puree

WINTER WARMER SERIES

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We have one month off uni and boy have we hit holiday mode.

Quick 5am workouts at home before a quick breakfast and then quickly out the door to quickly get to uni by 8 am is thankfully behind us, for one month at least. Our mornings now consist of a slightly longer sleep in, a longer yoga session or workout and a slower, more relaxing breakfast.

We don’t only have more time for relaxing mornings, now we can also cook a wholesome lunch at home. Look, this may not seem all that exciting for some but for uni students who have spent three months eating packed quinoa salads out of glass containers, home lunches are kind of a big deal.

Today for lunch we opted for our usual of quinoa, spinach, roasted root vegetables and poached chicken. However seeing as today was a ‘home lunch’ (yes!), we whipped up a broccoli and pea puree to dollop on top.

This green puree is so versatile. You can have it as a side to meal like how we’ve done today, you can smear it on paleo toast, have it as a snack mixed with a handful of nuts or eat it as a soup by adding a little more bone broth. Options are endless!

Ingredients

– 2 heads of broccoli

– The stalks of one bunch of kale

– 1 leek

– 1 cup of frozen peas

– 2-3 cups of beef or chicken bone broth. we used homemade 48hr beef broth.

– 1/2 small onion

– 2 cloves of crushed garlic

– 1 tsp of cumin

– 1 bay leaf

– 1 tsp of turmeric

– 1/2 teaspoon of himalayan salt

– Pepper to taste

– 1/2 – 1 tbsp of coconut oil (for sautéing leek)

Method

1. Heat coconut oil in a pan. Once warm, sauté the onion and garlic until tender.

2. Dice the leek and add to the pan. Stir through for a few minutes, then add the spices and a dash of water.

3. Saute until leek is tender.

4. Add the broccoli, peas and kale stalks and thoroughly mix with the leek for a few minutes.

5. Add your broth, salt, pepper and bay leaf and bring to a gentle boil (basically simmer)

6. Lower the heat and cover for about 20 minutes)

7. Once the kale stalks are tender-ish, remove the puree from the pot and add to a blender. Pulse on high until smooth.

8. Serve!

M + S x

Zucchini & Pea Soup with Poached Chicken and grilled Haloumi

We have entered autumn. That means, we have entered soup season!

We’ve been feeling a little low and run down due to an overload of uni and part time jobs. So  in an attempt to cure our poor sleep deprived and stressed souls, we decided to make a green soup. We love our greens but aren’t really the types to start the morning with a green smoothie so a green soup works for us perfectly. The generous amount of turmeric and garlic gives this delightful meal an immunity boost – just ready to fight off cold and flu season. The added packed chicken also adds a nice touch of protein and the haloumi just tops it off with that ‘creaminess’ that every soup requires!

Go on, make our green soup! It’s super easy

Ingredients – Serves four as an entree or three as a main. 

– Four large zucchinis

– One small head of broccoli

– 1.5 – 2 cups of frozen organic garden peas

– 1 litre of pure water (or vegetable stock if you have one pre-made)

– Half an onion

– 2 cloves of garlic

– 2 heaped teaspoons of ground turmeric

– 1 teaspoon of ground cumin

– 1 Bay leaf

– 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

– A generous pinch of himalayan salt

– Pepper to taste

– A knob of coconut oil

– 2 organic chicken breasts

– 60 grams of Haloumi

– 4 teaspoons of superfood dukkah

Method

1. Start by preparing all your green vegetables. Thoroughly wash them and dice into 2 cm pieces (the size doesn’t matter all that much as they’ll be blended at the end)

2. Heat the coconut oil in a pot and once hot, stir fry the onion and garlic with a dash of water. Once the onion gathers a bit of colour, add another dash of water plus the turmeric and cumin. Let the spices mix with the onion and garlic. This should start to smell very inviting!

3. Next step, add all your veggies, bay leaf and himalayan salt. Let this green goodness tenderise for a couple of minutes

4. Add your 1 litre of water. Put the lid on and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

5. In the meantime, heat up another pot of water with a pinch of salt and dice your chicken breast into 2-3 cm pieces. When the water has reached boiling, add your chicken and let it boil for about 5-7 minutes.

6. Whilst the chicken is cooking, this should give you enough time to prepare your haloumi. You can either place the haloumi in a fry pan to brown the edges or you can place the cheese until a grill. Up to you! This should only take a few minutes

7. When the chicken is ready, (you still want it to be succulent so check it every couple of minutes) strain it and place to side.

8. Return your attention to the soup. The veggies should be quite tender at this point. Now all you need to do is blend it all up with a blender stick (is that what it’s called…..?)

9. Ladle the soup into four bowls. Next place the haloumi and chicken in the middle. Finish with a generous sprinkle of homemade dukkah and fresh parsley

10. You could also toast a comforting thick slice of dark rye bread with a drizzle of olive oil. Our mum’s wholemeal spelt would also work wonderfully.

10. EAT

We hope you like it! Please let us know on instagram (@thymes.two) what you think and if you have any suggestions!

M +S xx

Raw Crunchy Green Salad with Poached Chicken

So you know those days when you feel a little sluggish and gross? Those days when you feel like a salad but the usual roast veggie throw together is just too heavy for your poor little belly? Well, we have come up with a simple, refreshing and light green salad to ease away your tummy sorrows.

If wanting to keep it vegetarian (as protein can be a little heavy if you’re having digestive issues) – then omit the chicken….but it really is nicer with chicken – just saying! 

Here is goes..

Ingredients: We try and use organic produce whenever we can, especially for the chicken!

2 small broccoli heads or one large (raw)

Half an avocado

Around six asparagus sticks (raw)

Half a zucchini (raw)

1 + 1/5 medium chicken breasts

Haloumi

Parsley and Mint (we grow our own, definitely recommend growing your own herbs)

1/4 of a Lemon

Olive oil (around a tablespoon per serve)

Pepper and himalayan salt (to taste)

Method:

1) Place some water and salt in a pot and bring to boil

2) In the meantime, cut chicken breast into small cube-like chunks (try and get the pieces the same size so they cook at the same rate).

3) Wash all the vegetables THOROUGHLY.

4) Cut up the vegetables any way you like, we tend to simply break up the broccoli and then cut it into smaller pieces (even the stem). With the zucchini and asparagus we also cut them into small bit sized pieces.

5) When the water is ready place the chicken pieces in for around 4-6 mins. You will have to test a piece to ensure they are not too pink inside. You want the chicken to be soft enough if you wanted to shred it. However we do not tend to shred ours, we prefer leaving them in cubed chunks. But each to their own! 🙂

6) Cut up haloumi into small rectangular pieces. Pan fry until golden on both sides. You can use some coconut oil if you wish, we never do as we don’t see the need to.

7) Dice the avocado

8) Now its time to get your hands dirty and mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl! Add the olive oil, lemon, pepper and himalayan salt. And finally top it off with your herbs!

Very simple – Great detoxifying foods that will leave you feeling refreshed and satisfied!