Healthier pizza, bread and another soup recipe

I tried two new recipes the other weekend that I’d been meaning to cook for ages- a healthier version of pizza and a butternut squash and lentil soup.  The pizza was an eat clean version because the base was a wholemeal bread base; the soup was an eat clean recipe too but I adapted it so that it could be made in my soup maker rather than standing over a pan of boiling vegetables!

Pizza base:

This is a basic bread recipe.  You can make 4 pizza bases from it or could pop it into a bread tin to make your own bread that is wholemeal and free from preservatives.

Ingredients :

1 sachet of Aldi yeast (approx 7gm)

500g wholemeal flour

5 tablespoons olive oil

240ml warm water

A sprinkle of sea salt.

Method:

1.        Place the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl, then make a well in the middle.

2.       Pour the olive oil into the warm water, then add this mixture into the centre of you well.

3.       Begin mixing with a spoon and as a dough forms, get your mits in and start kneading and stretching the dough.

4.       Allow the dough to sit for 15 minutes in a warm place, covered with a towel before giving it a final knead. 

5.       Cut into 4 portions and roll out into your pizza bases.

6.       Place on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper.  Brush tomato puree onto the dough and top with whatever you fancy.  Peppers, mushrooms and sweet corn that have been fried in olive oil for a couple of minutes are delicious, as is goat’s cheese and baby spinach.

7.       Bake in a preheated oven (200°C) for around 25 minutes.  Check under the pizzas with a knife/ fish slice to see if they are cooked.

Bread- prepare and bake the dough in the same way.  You could also add some dried fruit like cranberries or apricots, dark chocolate chips or something more savoury- chopped sun dried tomatoes with parmesan cheese is amazing!  Tap the base of your bread to check if it’s done- it will sound hollow when it’s cooked through.

I did cheat whilst experimenting with the fruit and bought a bread mix from Aldi!  Also good, but will post a full bread recipe another time in case you want a larger loaf than what you will get out of the pizza dough recipe.

Wholemeal bread with apricots

Butternut squash and lentil soup

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

1 stick of celery, diced

200g carrots, sliced

300g butternut squash, sliced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon chilli powder

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

1 and a half pints of chicken/ vegetable stock

200g of tinned lentils, drained and rinsed

Salt to season, if needed.

Method:

1.       Chop all of your ingredients, place into the soup maker with the stock and select the smooth setting.  Serve immediately or freeze for lunches.

2.       If cooking from scratch, fry all of the vegetables (you may need extra as the measurements about are so they can fit into the soup maker) in a little olive oil until soft, add the stock and simmer until the vegetable are cooked.  Add the lentils and cook for another 5 minutes.  Blend the soup and serve.