Photo Credit: HaaralaHamilton

Our friends the Squirrel Sisters, Gracie and Sophie Tyrrell, have a new cookbook out and gave us here at Sundried a sneak-peek of one of their delicious new healthy recipes.

Their book, Naturally Delicious Snacks & Treats: Over 100 healthy recipes by Gracie and Sophie Tyrrell, published by Pavilion Books, is available now on Amazon.

Salmon Skewers Recipe

Lovely, zesty pesto goes really well with fish so long as you leave out the usual Parmesan. Try to buy the slimmer-in-width, but thicker-in-general fillets of salmon so you can get 5-6 chunky dice out of each one. Thinner fillets won’t hold onto the skewers quite so well.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 chunky salmon fillets (about 360g)
• 8-12 cherry tomatoes
• Olive oil, for frying

For the pesto:

• 40g rocket (arugula)
• 15g cup pine nuts
• Zest of 1 small lemon
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Start by making the pesto. Put the rocket, pine nuts, lemon zest and juice, sea salt flakes and olive oil in a food processor and blend until smooth. Season with black pepper and a little more salt, if wished, to taste.

Chop the salmon into 2.5–3-cm chunks and pop them in a bowl. Add half of the pesto and stir to coat the salmon well. You can leave this to marinate in the fridge if you have time, or just cook them straight away.

Thread the salmon chunks onto short skewers, alternating with the cherry tomatoes. You should get 4–6 skewers in total.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large non- stick frying pan (skillet). Add the skewers and cook for about 10 minutes in total, turning every couple of minutes so that each of the sides gets browned.

Serve with the remaining pesto drizzled over the top.

Sundried ambassador Anne Iarchy is a personal trainer and nutritionist. She shares with us her deliciously healthy sugar-free banana loaf recipe.

Truly sugar-free banana cake

A few weeks ago, I was working at the Woburn Tri for Life, and at the end of a very successful day, we had masses of bananas left. After eating a banana a day for a few days, the rest of the bananas I took home were a little too ripe to my taste (I do like them just yellow from green), so I decided to bake a banana loaf.

I have two recipes, one with sugar and butter, one with coconut oil and dates, but I really wanted one with no sugar at all. After all, ripe bananas are very sweet. I did some research on the internet, and I was really surprised to see how many recipes came up “pretending” they were sugar-free, but just swapping the sugar to honey, maple syrup, or agave syrup and other sweeteners.

Although honey is healthier than sugar (and that depends on the amount of processing of the honey), it has the same effect on blood sugar levels and insulin release than sugar.

Here is my truly sugar-free banana loaf recipe which still tastes amazing and is much healthier than any other you will find.

Ingredients:

• 6-7 overripe bananas, previously frozen and defrosted
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups of gluten-free self raising flour (this is what I used but regular self-raising flour will work fine too)
• 2/3 cup of walnut pieces

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190C (Gas Mark 5)
2. Lightly grease an 8x4" cake tin
3. In a bowl, mash the bananas, then whisk in the eggs, vanilla and coconut oil, until properly mixed.
4. Slowly add the flour bit by bit and stir well with a spoon.
5. Stir in the walnuts.
6. Pour your mixture into the tin, then decorate with some walnuts if you want to.
7. Put in the oven to bake for approx 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

• Cool before slicing.
• The cake came out moist and it was definitely sweet enough.
• A slice of the cake makes a lovely healthy snack.
• It keeps well for 4-5 days covered in foil.

These no-bake almond cherry bars are a super easy, delicious treat that all the family will love! Perfect in lunchboxes for the kids or as a grab-and-go snack, they're full of natural ingredients and taste divine. Enjoy!

Recipe by Amie Forster.

Makes 12 | Prep time: 10 minutes | Chill time: 1 hour 

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Oats
• ½ Cup Almond/Peanut Butter
• ½ Cup Fresh Cherries (de-stoned)
• ¼ Cup Maple Syrup
• ½ Cup Almonds
• ½ Cup Desiccated Coconut

Method

1. Mix oats, almonds and coconut in a bowl; add maple and nut butter and mix well.
2. Add cherries and mix again until all oats and coconut have stuck with the wet ingredients.
3. Place in a medium baking tray and freeze for a minimum of one hour.
4. Remove from freezer and cut into bars.
5. Store individually in the freezer for up to one month.

Blueberry muffins have got to be one of the most underrated sweet treats of all time. What could be better than a perfectly soft muffin dotted with deliciously tangy and tart blueberries? A vegan version!

Many thanks to Wheybox for this recipe.

Serves: 6 | Baking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

100g oats

100g ground almonds

100g blueberries

2x blueberry flavour No Whey sachets

250ml dairy-free milk (oat, soy, almond)

3 tbsp maple syrup

Method

Blend all of the ingredients together until smooth

Spoon into muffin cases

Bake for 35 minutes at 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4

Top with coconut for an extra indulgent treat!

There are lots of bold flavours in this hearty lentil dish: fragrant chermoula and soft aubergine strips rubbed in black garlic. Served with sweet Romano pepper, rocket, crunchy cashews and a lemony tahini drizzle. Recipe courtesy of Mindful Chef.

Ingredients - Serves 2

• 1/2 lemon
• 180g cherry tomatoes
• 1 aubergine
• 1 red onion
• 1 romano red pepper
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 240g lentils in water (drained)
• 2 tbsp Belazu chermoula
• 2 tbsp oil
• 30g cashew nuts
• 40g rocket
• 4 black garlic cloves
• Medium handful of flat-leaf parsley

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6.
2. Cut the red onion and Romano red pepper into small bite-sized pieces. Slice the aubergine horizontally into 3 pieces, then again into long 1-2 cm wide wedges. Place the black garlic cloves into a small bowl, add 1/2 tbsp oil and mash with a fork until a thick paste forms. Spread evenly over the aubergine wedges to form a thin coating (you may have to do this with your hands!).
3. Place the black garlic coated aubergine, onion and red pepper on a baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp oil and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Place in the oven for 20 mins until turning golden, turning halfway through.
4. Drain the lentils and slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Roughly chop the parsley leaves. Heat a pan with 1/2 tbsp oil on a medium heat and add the lentils, cherry tomatoes, parsley and the chermoula, cook for 5 mins. Season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
5. Place the rocket in a large bowl and add the chermoula lentils, onion and red pepper. In a small bowl, mix the tahini paste with a squeeze of lemon juice and 2 tsp cold water to form a smooth sauce.
6. Spoon the lentil and vegetable mix onto two warm plates, top with the black garlic aubergine wedges and sprinkle over the cashew nuts. Drizzle over the tahini sauce.

Macros

514 calories • 43g carbs • 30g fat • 20g protein

Not suitable for nut or sesame allergy sufferers

Want the ease and convenience of these ingredients being delivered to your door, already weighed out and ready to cook? Sign up to Mindful Chef today using code SUNDRIED for £10 off your first two boxes. This recipe is available to order now!