Barbecue Marinade

So many times in this country our barbies are last minute affairs, brought on by the panic of an unexpected lovely day. So not only is this one good for both chicken and fish, but – more importantly – it takes mere minutes to prepare and only 20 minutes to work its magic, thereby giving you more time to sizzle with your sweetheart rather than slaving over a skillet! Sounds like a plan? Over to Donna …

This is lovely on both salmon steaks or chicken and it’s really easy and quick to do, my girlfriend loves it. You don’t need anything special in either because you can usually substitute ingredients as well and still get away with it. I’ve given up measuring everything too, now I just throw everything in, but I’ve given a rough idea of how much of everything you’ll need.

Ingredients (approximate values!):

• 2 tsp of olive oil
• Lime juice – about half a lime’s worth (you can use bottled lime juice just as well though – and it works with lemon juice too!)
• ½ small cup of orange juice (I didn’t have enough juice in one day so diluted what I had with water and it still tasted good!)
• 2 crushed garlic cloves (or equivalent lazy garlic in a jar – I use about 1 tsp of that if I don’t have fresh garlic in)
• 1 small, chopped onion
• Good pinch of salt
• Small handful of coriander – or dried leaf coriander works too 
• Couple of tsp of ground cumin

All you do is zapp it into a puree until it’s smooth and then spoon it over your fish or meat about 20 minutes before you cook it on the bbq. This does about 4 salmon steaks or 4 chicken breasts and it’s really nice with jacket potatoes (also done on the bbq) and a salad!

Quick Chilli

For anyone watching the calories this is a low one and the vegetarian option is well worth being a glutton over!  If you're also new to cooking and fancy giving it a go, you can't go wrong with Sammi's Quick Chilli.

If you can never be bothered to measure out anything, Sammi's recipe is a goer! She says ...

"My favourite meal at the moment is chilli and it's really easy to make and low on calories.

I put in a whole pepper chopped, about a handful of button mushrooms quartered, and a chopped onion.

Spray your pan with one of those low fat oil sprays then fry everything together, until everything looks softened.  Add one handful of lean mince then add a tin of chopped tomatoes and an oxo with 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder.

You can even leave out the mince for a super low-cal veggie chilli and add kidney beans.

Serve it with an easy cook rice or medium size jacket potato and you're away!

Very tasty and very filling."