Cheat's Mediterranean Risotto

It is a really cold winter this year and I seem to be craving comfort foods hardcore, thankfully being vegan means that mean high fat comfort food is still readily available (HELLO HOT CHIPS!) unfortunately I really really want to try to eat high carb low fat plant based dinners so that means that when it comes to comfort food it means making the real deal that normally takes a little bit of time.
Monday night I was craving risotto more than I though humanly possible but CBF standing at the stove for a couple hours and cooking so I came up with this sneaky little recipe that took me about 1/2 to cook and most of that was leaving a pot on the stove cooking.
Here is one of my new favourites.......

So my cheat's Mediterranean Risotto is really just baked veggies with pearl barley instead of rice but hey it gave the desired effect and filled my risotto craving without standing around WIN!

• 1 Zucchini chopped
• 1/2 Eggplant chopped
• 1 Onion chopped
• 1 leek chopped
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves Garlic crushed
• 1/3 Cup Pearl Barley
• 1 Cup Salt Reduced Vegetable Stock
• 1 Bunch Broccolini
• 1 tsp Mediterranean spices

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Chop the Eggplant, Zucchini and Broccolini into cubes and place on a baking tray, drizzle the veggies with half the olive oil and Mediterranean spices then place in the oven for 15 minutes or until crispy.

3. In a large pan place the other half of the oil, the crushed garlic, chopped leek and chopped onion then allow to sweat down on a medium heat for around 5 minutes or until translucent.

4. Once the onions, garlic and leek have cooked down add the vegetable stock and 1/4 cup of water. 

5. Place the pearl barley into the pan, bring to the boil then reduce heat and leave to simmer for around 15 minutes.

6. Once the pearl barley has absorbed most of the vegetable stock turn the heat back up to high and stir continuously until the stock has completely cooked down.
7. Add the roasted vegetables to the barley mixture and toss to combine, then serve.

• Servings: 2
• Calories: 248
• Fat: 3 g 
• Carb: 51 g  
• Fiber: 11 g 
• Protein: 8 g 
• Sugar: 11 g
• Sodium: 562 mg 

Well there you have it, a cheats way at achieving a high carb low fat plant based comfort dish which doesn't take hours to make. 
Do you have any recipes I should try? Did you try this recipe? What did you think?

Raspberry & Cacao Bites

It is currently Raspberry season and I cannot get enough of these delicious gems, unfortunately for my waste line most raspberry based dishes are loaded with sugar, ice cream and chocolate. As much as I want to enjoy these recipes I am all about my New Years Resolution to eat healthy at the moment so I thought why don't I make something similar to my favourite super indulgent treats but with out the extra calories. And thus my Raspberry & Cacao Bites where born!!

- 1 Punnet of Raspberries - 1 Handful of Cacao pieces - 1 Tub Chobani Plain Fat Free Yoghurt - 1 Tsp Honey

-1.) Mix the honey and yoghurt together in a small bowl. -2.) Place cacao pieces inside each raspberry. -3.) Line a baking dish with baking paper. -4.) Carefully stick a tooth pick into a raspberry and dunk it into the yoghurt mixture one at a time. -5.) Once the raspberry is covered in yoghurt carefully place on the baking paper. -6.) After you have cover enough raspberries in yoghurt place the baking dish in the freezer for around 30 minutes or until frozen. Once the Raspberry & Cacao Bites are completely frozen keep them stored in zip lock bags, the should last for upto a month if kept the bags are sealed properly and kept in the freezer. Do you like my Raspberry & Cacao Bites? Do you have any healthy snack idea's I should try?