Rainbow Recipe ideas for week 2

Here are four tasty and healthy recipes to use in week two of your introduction to the rainbow diet; a breakfast, a lunch, a dinner, and a snack. All from our nutritionist Chef Barbara Cox.

People come to the Rainbow Diet and wonder where to start. But it’s not hard:  Nourishing foods, whole foods not refined, quality ingredients, good Mediterranean oils not refined, vegetables, fruits and grains, fish, nuts and seeds – The Mediterranean Diet as nature intended. Here are four suggestions for week 2 of your introduction:

Breakfast

Crushed Avocado with grilled Tomato and poached egg on Sourdough bread

Serves 1

Prep Time = approx 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 slice of sourdough bread

5ml olive oil

½ avocado

Slice of fresh lemon

Twist of Himalayan crystal salt

Twist of black pepper

1 slice of tomato

1 egg – poached

Few chilli flakes – optional

Method

1. Drizzle oil onto the sourdough bread. Toast or chargrill.
2. Crush the avocado and add lemon juice and seasoning.
3. Halve the tomato, drizzle with olive oil, season and add thyme. Roast until coloured and tender or fry in small fry pan, OR you can just a slice of tomato without grilling if pressed for time!
4. Poach the egg. *perfect poached egg directions below!
5. Meanwhile, add avocado to toast, add poached egg and warm tomato.
6. Dress with a little olive oil and season with cracked blacked pepper.
7. OPTIONAL: sprinkle of crushed chilli flakes

How to make the perfect poached egg:

How to make perfect poached eggs

• Make sure your eggs are really fresh. Fresh eggs have a thicker white near the yolk that will better hold a round shape as it cooks. You can tell how fresh an egg is by putting it in a glass of water; if it lies horizontally at the bottom, it is very fresh; if it starts to float or stand on end it is less fresh. If your egg isn’t so fresh, crack it into a small bowl and drain off the runnier white.
• Crack your egg into a bowl or onto a saucer, this makes it easier to slide into the pan. If there is any very runny white surrounding the thicker white then tip this away.
• Add a drop of vinegar (you can add this to the water in the pan if you prefer).
• Bring a pan of water filled at least 5cm deep to a simmer. Don’t add any salt as this may break up the egg white.
• Stir the water to create a gentle whirlpool to help the egg white wrap around the yolk.
• Slowly tip the egg into the centre. Make sure the heat is low enough not to throw the egg around – there should only be small bubbles rising.
• Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the white is set.
• Lift the egg out with a slotted spoon and drain it on kitchen paper. Trim off any straggly bits of white. If you need to cook more than one poached egg, keep it at the right temperature in warm water, but make sure the water isn’t hot enough to overcook the egg.

Week 2

Lunch

Roasted Potato Salad with Sweetcorn and Chermoula Dressing

Serves 4

Prep Time = approx 20 minutes

Ingredients

800g red potatoes- cut into chunks

2 X  fresh corn on the cob

240g tin chickpeas – rinsed and drained

1 red pepper – diced

1 yellow pepper – diced

200g cherry tomatoes

1 red onion – sliced thinly

120g watercress

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp paprika

Twist of Himalayan crystal salt

Twist of black pepper

Ingredients for Chermoula dressing

50ml olive oil

20g fresh coriander

10g fresh parsley

Juice of ½ lemon

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

Twist of cracked pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.
2. Scrub the potatoes and leave skin on and cut into bite sized chunks and place on baking tray.
3. Slice red onion and place with potatoes on baking tray and bake in oven for 30 minutes until potatoes are golden.
4. Boil the corn on the cob for 10 minutes until soft. Drain and place to the side. Then shave OFF the cob.
5. Chop red and yellow peppers, slice the cherry tomatoes in half and place in bowl.
6. Drain chickpeas and add to chopped peppers.
7. Make the Chermoula dressing by whizzing all ingredients in a blender.
8. In bowl, mix corn, pepper, tomatoes, chickpeas and dressing together.
9. On plate – arrange the watercress and roasted potatoes and onion then top with Salad mixture.

Week 2

Dinner

Lime & Coconut Green Vegetable Curry

Serves 4 portions

Prep Time = approx 20 minutes

Ingredients

3 kaffir lime leaves – chopped

2 tsp ginger – freshly grated

2 cloves of garlic

30g fresh coriander – chopped

3 green chillies – deseeded and chopped

2 stalks of spring onion – chopped

1 lime – just the rind grated

50g desiccated coconut

2 tbsp coconut oil

200ml coconut water

500ml coconut milk

200g Brussels sprouts – chopped in ¼’s

1 small broccoli – chopped

100g rice

Method

1. Place the kaffir lime leaves, ginger, garlic, coriander, chilli, spring onion and lime rind in the food processor and make a paste.
2. Add 1 tsp of the paste and add the shredded coconut, mix and set aside.
3. Cook the rice. *instructions below for perfect boiled rice.
4. Add the rest of the paste to a pan with the coconut oil and fry for 1 minute to release the flavour.
5. Add the coconut water and coconut milk and simmer.
6. Add vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes until vegetables are eldente.
7. Stir in lime juice.
8. Serve and garnish with shredded coconut and wedge of lime.

NOTE: for perfect boiled rice:

• Put a large pan of salted water on a high heat and bring to the boil.
• Rinse the rice in a colander under running water for about 1 minute, or until the water runs clear (this will stop the grains sticking together later).
• Add your rice to the boiling water and wait for the grains to start dancing around. From that point, boil for 5 minutes.
• Drain the rice in a colander. Pour 2.5cm of water into the pan, put it back on the heat and bring it to the boil again, then turn down to a simmer.
• Cover the rice in the colander with foil or a lid. Place the colander on top of the pan of simmering water and let the rice steam over it for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and if you’re ready, serve immediately. If not, leave the foil or lid on and put aside until ready to serve – it should stay warm for about 20 minutes.

Week 2

Snack

Sweet Potato & Cherry chocolate brownie

Makes 12-15

Prep Time = approx 20 minutes

Ingredients

400g raw/uncooked sweet potato – grated

2 eggs

100g coconut oil – melted

70g honey

10ml vanilla extract

55g cocoa powder

150g dried sour cherries (or cranberries)

5g bicarbonate

5g baking powder

30g desiccated coconut (blended to make a flour)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 C

1. Grate the raw sweet potato into a bowl.
2. Mix in eggs, honey, coconut oil, dried cherries and vanilla extract.
3. Fold in the cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder.
4. Whizz the desiccated coconut in a food processor to make a flour.
5. Add the coconut flour but watch out not too much as it will make it dry.
6. Pour the mixture into a lined baking tray and place into the oven for 20 mins at 180 degrees.
7. Once left to cool, cut into 12 – 15 squares

Go to: Rainbow Recipe ideas for week 1

Barbara Cox is a highly regarded nutritionist, health article author and businesswoman. She became passionate about the importance of eating healthily during a ten-year stay in Japan, a country renowned for its low levels of obesity, cancer and heart disease. On her return to the UK, Barbara founded Nutrichef, a company that produces high quality healthy meals and delivers them to customers’ homes. Through her consultations with Nutrichef customers across the UK, Barbara advises people with a range of concerns, including people wishing to lose weight, athletes training for sports events or people who simply want to know what it means to eat healthily.  

In 2008 Barbara was awarded the National Title of Entrepreneur of the Year by the British Chambers of Commerce. She is a former Canadian national junior skating champion, a contributor to the book Fit for Motorsport, Kitchen Table Tycoon and the nutrition chapters in Teach yourself Aromatherapy. Launched Rainbow Recipes cookbook and continues to educate and inspire on healthy eating and entrepreneurship.  

In Barbara’s spare time, she is an Ambassador for the Cancer Active and a keen charity fund-raiser who trekked 100 miles across the Sahara Desert for Help for Heroes.   

In 2013 Barbara partnered with Super Vitality as Nutritional Director and is responsible for product research and development of protein powders and sports supplements. 

In March 2015, Barbara sold Nutrichef in a 2 year buy out.

Barbara is now a representative on the Global Wellness Council and Corporate Wellness expert and has created the online courses 7 Day Mind & Body cleanse, Bloom Your Business, The 4 Keys to Weight Loss and Become a Wellness Ambassador.