Greek inspired chickpea and chicken salad

As February is drawing to an end and spring is in the horizon Mr Allergy and I thought we’d switch to lighter lunches this week.

Lunch is one of my more difficult meals, and many of the options are just really boring. We often have leftovers from the night before, but for one reason or another this week doesn’t work out that way.

I love browsing Pinterest and recently I’ve seen a number of Greek inspired chickpea salads, and this piqued my interest. Chickpeas are a great source of protein and dietary fibre, and they add extra oomf to a lettucy salad.

I couldn’t find one recipe that suited my taste, so decided to use a mish-mash of ideas to create my own.

I began by marinading some chicken breasts, using the juice of one lemon, 2 cloves of garlic, a glug of extra virgin olive oil and approx one teaspoon dried oregano, plus salt and pepper to season. I blended it all together in a pestle and mortar and marinaded the chicken for about an hour before roasting it in a medium oven for about 35 mins, until it was nice and juicy.

While the chicken was roasting I whizzed up some more of the marinade, this time to make a dressing. I chopped a red and yellow pepper, red onion and flat leaf parsley, drained and rinsed 2 tins of cooked chickpeas and put it all together in a bowl. I was very proud of my Instagram worthy display of colour, but decided next time I’ll add green pepper or cucumber to add extra rainbow!

I then cooked some quinoa. I don’t often have much luck with quinoa, it usually comes out sticky and wet and not very pleasant. I always follow the instructions on the packet, but it just never works. So I googled “what is the best way to cook quinoa?” I found this: Perfect quinoa and it works!!! I now had perfect fluffy quinoa!

I added the quinoa and dressing to the bowl and gave it a good old stir. The aroma of garlic and lemon juice was wafting up nicely, and I really wanted to try some, but I held off, deciding to wait for the surprise at lunchtime. The mixture by now looked like this:

My chicken was now ready, so I sliced it into bit sized chunks and allowed it to cool before adding it to my lunch box, along with some dairy free Feta alternative from Sainsbury’s. My lunch was now virtually ready to go. All I would need in the morning before going to work was a handful of salad leaves! I think there will be enough mixture and chicken to do us both two or three lunches each, and it’s great having it prepped and ready in the fridge.

The finished dish was the perfect post gym class lunch today, and Mr Allergy sent me a text saying his was awesome, so I guess I’ll be making this again!

Tried and tested: Creative Nature Superfoods Salted Caramel Flapjack

I’ve previously tested Creative Nature a Superfoods Raw Cacao Superfood Flapjack, so I thought I’d give the Salted Caramel Flapjack a whirl. And ohmygod it’s great.

It’s full of crunchy seeds, with no added refined sugars – the sweetness all comes from the dates. The touch of pink salt added to the dates creates a marriage made in heaven.

The packaging is slightly confusing as it states in the front that it is peanut free, but doesn’t mention other nuts.

There are no nuts in the recipe but I’m guessing because this is made in a factory that handles nuts they can’t guarantee it is nut free.

The flapjack didn’t last long, which is testament to how good it tastes. It feels like an indulgent treat, which in my opinion is what a good healthy snack should be. I often need a little something to keep me going on my commute home or before exercise (which is why my photos often feature train tray tables), and these flapjacks are just the ticket! Filling enough, but not too heavy.

I’m extremely grateful to Creative Nature Superfoods for creating a range of good quality, good value products that suit my strange combination of allergies. And did I mention they taste great?

You’re having a Giraffe!

It has always been a tradition for my kickboxing class to go for a cheeky Nando’s after class on a Wednesday. I’m not sure where this originated, but it’s quick and easy, and packs the protein needed after a workout.

In true tradition we met at Nando’s in Gunwharf Quays yesterday evening only to find that our group of thirteen couldn’t be seated together and there would be a wait of 45 minutes to an hour.  Why so busy, we thought, then it dawned on us that it’s half term.

We split up and trudged around every food establishment in Gunwharf looking for an available table. Just as we were about to settle for a few plastic tables in Burger King, Giraffe said they could fit us in.  They moved tables around and made space for us to sit as a group, which was no mean feat at such short notice. 

I’ve never eaten at Giraffe, but I knew that their philosophy was to serve food from around the world, so thought there must be something on the menu that’s Allergy Girl friendly. 

Not wanting to cause a fuss, I went onto their website and found their interactive allergy menu, which at a first glance looked good. It allowed me to tick the different allergens and would show the dishes that don’t contain those allergens. In theory……..

In practice it was just wrong. One of the items it said I could have was the Bao Buns, so I looked at these on the main menu. In small letters underneath the description of the dish it said “please be aware the buns are topped with peanuts.”  Now we had a problem.

By this point everyone was ordering and I still didn’t have a clue if I could eat anything on the menu, so I asked the waiter the question they all hate to be asked.  He brought the allergy menu over, took the rest of the orders and said he’d give me a few minutes to look at it.

The allergy menu was fairly standard looking.  It had a grid with the main allergens, and there was a tick in the box if it contained the allergen or “M” for might contain.  The only problem was the grid clearly didn’t fit the A4 paper it had  been printed on and half of each dish name was missing, meaning I had to guess what it was I was actually looking at. This took forever and I was getting fed up. 

I wasn’t convinced by the allergen information on the allergy menu either. For example, it told me there was no milk present in the chicken curry with naan bread, but as naan is usually made with butter or ghee I thought this was incorrect.

I eventually settled on a steak with sweet potato fries and a side salad, as you can’t go wrong with meat and veg. The steak was a little rarer than I’d normally have it, but it was delicious and I’d definitely have it cooked that way again. The salad of spinach, rocket and cucumber was nice and made a welcome change from the watery iceberg lettuce that often accompanies steak in chain restaurants.

I spoke to the waiter about the allergy menu, pointing out that the website didn’t work and that you couldn’t read the paper menu properly.  He said they were aware of the problems with the website and the paper menu was only a temporary solution while the website was being sorted. 

I personally think it’s not good enough.  It’s hard enough when you have an allergy trying to work out what you can and can’t eat. The information you’re given needs to be clear and accurate.  Allergies are not be taken lightly and one small error in allergen information could kill someone with a serious allergy.

Although the food was nice, I won’t be going back as Giraffe simply do not take their responsibilities towards customers with allergies seriously, and probably won’t until they find themselves trying to defend a compensation claim or prosecution.

Tried and tested: Protein Haus Vegan Protein Bounty

First things first, I’m not Vegan. It’s just a good starting point if I’m looking for food without dairy or eggs. I do have to be careful and read the labels as a lot of Vegan things have nuts in them. Luckily for me, this bad boy didn’t (but shame about the Vegan Protein ‘Snickers’ bar, which was laden with pesky peanuts)! 

I’ll move to the price. Three of my hard earned British pounds. I could buy three items from the McDonald’s Poundsaver Menu. Or borrow three supermarket trolleys.  £3 seems a lot for a lump of coconut and chocolate. 

Sat on the train, I open the little plastic bag to free my afternoon snack from its packaging. I’m not ready for the slidy, melty chocolate that ensues and quickly place my Bounty on the plastic packaging, narrowly missing the train’s tray table (thank god, imagine what nastiness is lurking there).  I now have chocolate all over the outside of the plastic packaging.

I lick my fingers, take a hold of my Bounty and take my first bite.  The texture is good, if a little crumbly, and I find myself trying not to shower my lap in desiccated coconut. Back to the plastic packing. Fingers licked again. I take in the taste, which is creamy, coconutty, chocolatey yumminess! I’ve tried making low sugar Vegan Bounty bars at home and mine were not a patch on this. 

After my second bite I find more chocolate on my hands. The heat of the train and warmth of my fingers every time I pick it up is making things worse. I manage to find a (used) tissue in my jacket pocket. Not great, but it’ll do.

There’s about half of it left now, and half the chocolate has melted from the bottom onto the plastic packaging. There’s only one thing for it. I shove the rest of it in my mouth. 

Despite all the melting on the outside and crumbling of the inside it really is delicious.  However, I’d have to take out a second mortgage if this was any more than a rare treat, so I might just go back to making my own! 

Protein Haus Vegan Protein Bounty

About to give this a try on my commute home……