M&S ‘Delicious and Nutritious’ Salad Bites

As much as I love food, I do try to be healthy (mostly) – so when my friend told me about the new M&S salad bites in the ‘Delicious and Nutritious’ range, I was hopeful…  although at the same time sceptical at how can 6 little salad bites, some veg and a dip could fill you up AND only be around 150 calories?!

So the next time I was in M&S I made sure I found these promising little parcels… and I have to say, I was not disappointed! There were various options of pork, beef, tuna and chicken, but I decided to go for the ‘Vietnamese Style Marinated Pork Salad Bites in Mooli Ribbons with a Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce’  (phew – long title!) and merrily took them into work one day this week for my lunch.

They were delicious! And not only that, they also filled me up until dinner time, which I was very impressed with, especially because I’m a serial snacker!

I didn’t have time to take a picture (as I was too hungry and they tasted too good!) but I found this interesting interview with one of Marks & Spencer’s Heads of Food Product Development: http://social.marksandspencer.com/food-drink/meet-april-preston/ which also has a great picture of the pork salad bites:

I really recommend trying the salad bite range, I know I’ll be seeking out the other flavours to try!

Rhubarb Mousse

The ever changing weather has certainly done wonders for my dad’s allotment! But one thing we have a ridiculous amount of at the moment is rhubarb. For the past few weekends we’ve been having many rhubarb crumble variations, but after a while it gets a bit boring, so I went exploring for something a bit different (and lighter on the waist line :P)

After some deliberation, I decided to make a rhubarb mousse. There seem to be endless recipes for different ways to make these, but one good thing is you can substitute ingredients to make it either more of a naughty treat, or a healthy and lighter desert – without losing any of the lovely creaminess!

I opted to use whipping cream, but each portion only amounts to a reasonable 270 calories 🙂

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 300g rhubarb
• 8 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 gelatine leaves
• 200ml whipping cream, whipped (you can also use Greek yoghurt here instead if you fancy!)
• 2 fresh egg whites
• A pinch of salt

Method

Firstly, chop the ends off the rhubarb sticks and peal off the stringy outside layer, then chop into small pieces. Put the rhubarb pieces along with the water and 3 of the tbsp of sugar into a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, until reduced done and soft.

Whilst this is simmering, soak the 3 gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. When the rhubarb mixture is done, strain the gelatine leaves and stir into the rhubarb mixture, setting aside to cool. (TIP: the mixture cools a lot quicker by transferring into a  cold bowl, instead of leaving in the saucepan!)

Combine the egg whites and pinch of salt, whisking until start to form soft peaks (far quicker and easier to use an electric whisk here if you have one! Also doesn’t mean your arm falls off ;)) After this, add the remaining 5 tbsp of sugar one at a time, whisking in between, until stiffens into a smooth meringue like substance. Then in a separate bowl, whisk the whipping cream (or yoghurt) until stiff.

By now you should have your three ready bowls, as below:

Ready to mix!

Gently fold the egg mixture into the cream/yoghurt, and then gently fold into the rhubarb. Divide equally into 4 pudding glasses/ramekins and leave in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours, once set take out and enjoy! 🙂

Ready to eat in their swanky glasses 😉

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