EAT RAINBOW LOVE


University of Birmingham graduate with a passion for food & cooking as part of a healthy lifestyle

Twitter: @EatRainbowLove
Instagram: lottierainbow

Sunday 29 January 2012

Cheat's Italian calzone

I came across a 'cheat's calzone' in a student recipe book a while back; instead of pizza dough it is a wrap folded in half with filling inside. This makes it more suitable for a lighter lunch, as a proper calzone would be too filling. I changed around the ingredients to make a delicious italian one.

The ingredients:
- Mission deli wrap - Mediterranean herb (one)
- Sundried tomato antipasti (few pieces)
- Green pesto (teaspoon)
- Half-fat mozzarella (few slices)
- Fresh spinach leaves (few leaves)
- Extra virgin olive oil (drizzle for pan)

All of these ingredients can be found in Tesco, but I did get the pesto from Sainsburys, and the spinach from my local fruit & veg market!

Put the ingredients on one half of the wrap  ----->

Then fold the other half of the wrap over the filling, and heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. Gently fry each side of the wrap until crisp and golden brown!






  <---- It should look like this ---->





Try adding meat like salami or chicken, or change the ingredients completely! Another favourite of mine is tuna and mozzarella, or goats cheese and red onion.

Hope you enjoy :)                                                         
(all of these pictures were taken by me)

Saturday 28 January 2012

Nutritious breakfast

One thing you need to know is that i LOVE eggs! I will usually have them soft boiled on wholemeal and/or seeded toast, but they're amazing on english muffins for a treat. The reason I usually choose soft-boiled is because i love how they can taste so creamy and rich, particularly from the yolk, without anything extra - no oil, no butter; just good old eggs boiled in water! It can be, however, difficult to time them to the right amount of boiled that you like, and difficult to peel them when they're soft.
Scrambled egg also make a nutritious breakfast - combine with skimmed milk, some margarine and some herbs mmm.

I try to alternate between having eggs one morning and cereal the next, as the yolk is fairly fatty and contains cholesterol, although i'm sure eggs have more health benefits than drawbacks so i don't worry too much about this.
I stay away from sugary cereal and try to stick to filling whole wheat or bran ones like branflakes or shredded wheat. I have noticed recently, however, than branflakes are quite high in sugar. I therefore bought cornflakes the other day which are low in sugar but have noticed that they don't fill me up nearly as much (i guess cause they're corn and not bran?) I also love special k but can get a bit addicted to it!
I have my cereal with skimmed milk because to me it tastes the same as semi with cereal, and it's less fat so win win! In the case of shredded wheat though, for some reason i only like that heated up in the microwave with milk and honey mm.

I really want to get into porridge in the near future as it is so filling, and warming especially in winter. I would probably vary making it with water or skimmed milk depending on what flavours i was adding, if any.

I love cinnamon sprinkled on things, and in porridge it would be delicious - maybe even with chunks of warm apple in as well.

I am a huge fan of honey which would work perfectly with porridge but i get a bit carried away with it (i love it with everything...) and would have to be careful not to make it too sugary, as it defeats the point of the healthy, nutritious breakfast.

I would definitely recommend buying plain porridge oats rather than the ready flavoured ones - like Quakers cinnamon or golden syrup etc. It would work out far cheaper to buy plain and add your own flavours, and that way you can mix it up daily instead of having to use up a dozen of the same flavours.

Other flavours I would want to try would be slicing bananas with it, adding blueberries, or sweetened dried fruits like cranberries or raisins.

If you are on a healthy diet I would recommend putting as much effort into breakfast as possible as it really should be the most nutritious and filling meal of the day - it starts off your metabolism for the day which is key for tackling any weight loss.


Just having fruit would not be enough for breakfast, but if you really want to block out carbs (which isn't the best idea...) then i would suggest teaming the fruit with some low fat natural yogurt, which is delicious and you can add so many flavours! Likewise if you want to make a smoothie make sure it consists of fruit like berries and a more satisfying fruit like banana to thicken, as well as low fat yogurt or milk, maybe some fruit juice, and adding oats in to keep you full for longer is also a good idea!

Anyway, i will definitely be doing more specific posts on natural yogurt and smoothies in the future because yogurt is one of my favourite healthy night time snacks, especially with blueberries and cinnamon.


Hope you start your day in a satisfying, healthy and delicious way :)