Chorizo & Kale Hash

Chorizo & Kale Hash with fried egg

Unfortunately today I was faced with the saddening fact that the contents of my beloved fridge was one solitary egg. So, in order to claw my way through until the end of the working day, I browsed my favourite go-to database BBC Good Food to find a use for my mighty egg which would be quick and, more importantly, keep my costs low. This particular recipe is a 'triple threat': it's a mighty breakfast, a speedy lunch or a cheap healthy dinner. Take your pick and give it a go.

I initially thought Kale was some kind of strange fusion between a broccoli and something you might find in your garden, but once I put my insecurities aside and tried it, I never looked back. Kale even has it's own fan site (it's really that good for you): (http://www.discoverkale.co.uk/). So embrace the curly Kale and join the club.

Things you'll need:

(Serves 1)

• 100g Kale
• 1/4 Chorizo Ring (50g)
• 1 x Egg
• 4/5 x Baby Potatoes (Or 1 x Potato)
• 1 x Shallot (or small onion)

Price per portion: £1.35

Cooking Instructions:

1. Slice your potato(es) into bitesize chunks and par-boil in boiling water for 5-7 minutes until tender. Then drain.
2. In a frying pan, fry the shallot and sliced chorizo until soft. Then add the drained potatoes and crisp up the edges (about 5 minutes).
3. Add the Kale handful by handful. I found it was similar to spinach in that it shrinks to half the size once it hits the heat. 
4. Finally, create a gap in the middle of the pan and break the Egg. Continue on the heat until cooked.

The final great thing about this recipe is you can combine it with any leftover bits: onion, cherry tomatoes - it's one of those dishes you can throw just about anything into and it will work (because Kale won't argue with your other ingredients: he is a super versatile and healthy friend to us all.)

Whether you want to start your day on the best possible foot or, like me, need to improvise something with leftovers, this dish is for you. Healthy, quick, and under £1.50 per portion! 

Peanut Butter Banana Bites

Peanut butter banana bites

If you're impartial to a treat every now and again, here is a cheap and (relatively) healthy snack that's a real crowd-pleaser. Slices of banana combined with peanut butter, dipped in melted dark chocolate and left to freeze. A well-known and widely blogged healthy treat which doesn't break the bank.


Why Peanut Butter is secretly great for you: Not only does peanut butter contain high levels of protein which promotes muscle development, but it also contains high amounts of monounsaturated and  polyunsaturated fat which reduces your hunger levels and keeps you going for much longer. Every morning I combine my peanut butter with slices of banana on wholemeal bread and it never fails to comfortably keep me going right up until lunch.

Which one you should buy: Generic brands of Peanut Butter are not particularly good for you. I recommend Whole Earth Organic Peanut Butter (website here) which can be found in all major supermarkets. Whole Earth tastes slightly different to your supermarket brands which you might be used to, but this is because it has no added sugar and has 97% roasted peanut content (good news!) The only down-side to my favourite Peanut Butter is that it can be quite expensive when it isn't on offer. So, if you're really short on pennies this month, I suggest the Sainsbury's 'Be Good To Yourself' peanut butter, which is also tasty and nutritionally apt.

Things you'll need:
(Serves 2)

• 2 x Fresh Bananas
• 2 x Tbsp Peanut Butter
• 1 x Dark Chocolate pack*

* You will only need 3-4 squares of dark chocolate per banana bite, so depending on the amount your making, you probably won't need all of this.

Total cost: Max £1.44
Per serving: Max 72p each

Instructions:

1. Thickly slice the banana and spread on the peanut butter, then add another banana slice to sandwich it all together.
2. Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate.
3. Dip each individual banana bite into the melted dark chocolate and put on baking paper. Once all have been covered, transfer the bites to the freezer. Within 20 minutes they'll be ready to eat!

Keeping these in the freezer will allow the banana to stay fresh for longer - keeping them in the fridge doesn't always work! At under a pound per serving, this is a well-known healthier way to indulge in those post-meal sugar cravings as well as being well within a student budget.

Sugar vs Fat: Is there an answer on the Horizon?

Twin doctors Chris and Xand Van Tulleken go on month long high-fat and high-sugar diets

Last Wednesday evening, BBC Two brought us the latest take on our nation's obesity epidemic. Two twins, identical in genetics as well as body composition, abused their bodies on a month-long dietary experiment to tackle one of the hottest questions in nutrition: Which is the enemy - Fat or Sugar?

The battle across the pond leave Americans thinking sugar is the enemy, whilst us Brits put the blame on fat. These two twins decided to wholly devote their diets to one or the other for an entire month, to try and draw conclusions over which country is right. The concept was interesting, despite the experiment demonstrating some extreme eating habits which no one would ever do. One twin was only allowed to eat foods which were high in sugar and had virtually no fat (sweets, carbohydrates, fruit), whilst the other had to eat high fat food with virtually no sugar (butter, eggs, meat, cheese, no fruit/veg allowed.) Would you do either? No, I don't think so.

Whilst maintaining their new diets, the twins conducted some other experiments to test their theories, such as a physical endurance test which was won by Twin sugar, as they proved you can excercise much more dynamically on sugar than you can on fat. Then there was the hunger test, which demonstrated that fat suppresses hunger whilst sugar doesn't, so Twin fat conquered. The science behind the latter experiment was related to the 'hunger hormone' (called gherlin) which is affected differently by fats and sugars: Twin sugar had a high carbohydrate diet, finished his meal and still felt hungry, whereas Twin fat felt fuller quicker, and therefore couldn't finish his meal. So despite being able to excercise more dynamically on sugar, you will ultimately eat less if your diet consists of more high fat foods to suppress hunger. Conclusion drawn. Or not: they established that one gram of fat has twice as many calories as a gram of sugar - back to square one again.

One stomach rumble and several contradictions later, my brain had been engulfed by scientific jargon and had almost switched off. The Twins had both lost weight on their obscure diets, and the television audience were huffing and puffing at the frustration of it (whilst tucking into their low fat yoghurt.) Twin sugar and Twin fat just could not come to a conclusion. And then, suddenly, they ditched the original sugar/fat hypothesis and realised the programme was not about sugar vs fat, but about rats and cheesecake. Here's why...

One scientist conducted his own experiment to find the true answer to the fat vs sugar debate. He fed his pet rats pure sugar and pure fat, and found they had a natural cut-off response to it so didn't return back for more. But, when he combined the two (he used cheesecake) the rats became addicted and couldn't resist going back for seconds, thirds, fourths (I know some of you are still with me here...) The deadly 50/50 combo is what sends us into addictive behaviour, as one of the programme experts explained: when someone says they're craving sugar, they're not craving a bowl of sugar are they? The same applies to someone tucking into a knob of butter - it just wouldn't happen. However, combining the two sends the human appetite into a frenzy: the ice cream, the biscuits, the cake, the creamy desserts. This is what causes our weight gain, they concluded.

So, whilst Twin sugar and Twin fat had endured a month of frankly revolting and borderline dangerous eating habits, the whole experiment was undermined by one scientist and his rats. But I suppose the message was to not be afraid of high sugar and high fat items, but do be afraid by the addictive 50/50 composite. So try to lay off the cheesecake.

You can watch Horizon: Sugar vs Fat on BBC iplayer here, for a limited time only.