Chocolat Restaurant Limerick City

This is a super spot for lunch any day of the week, as it offers incredible value, with super quality and great service. Service is speedy yet not rushed, quality is incredible yet this is affordable and I would say the best value lunch in Limerick right now (for soup, sandwich, chips and a coffee with a biscuit on the side for an mind boggling €8.95)

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I have been here many times and samples their evening set menu, al la carte and their very tasty cocktail menu but for now let me tell you about my lunch here and the choices, the total bill, and some pic’s of this super lunch.

So I was in town shopping with my youngest daughter, she is 12 and loves the food here, and we decided this was the spot for us this weekend, we both opted for the €8.95 sandwich combo but as we both opted for the steak sandwich there was a €2 supplement, totally worth it! We got a fabulous steak sandwich, chips and a super celeriac and apple soup! delicious and a coffee for finish.

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Chocolat Restaurant Limerick have many dining options, from this to their 3 course for €15 lunch to their super early bird and so on, here is a link to their website http://www.chocolatrestaurant.ie/ for the latest offers and below a snip of their menu on the day we visited, there is a lot more to choose from than this little sample.

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All in all this is a great spot, If you are working in the city, in Limerick for leisure, meeting the girls for a catch up, in town celebrating anything, this is a great spot, food is always good and always priced really well.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Clare’s Sticky BBQ Chicken

This tastes so good yet it is still super low in fat and packed full of goodness, a real family favourite, this is my Sticky BBQ Chicken, itis a little spicy, a little sweet but most of all it is low in fat and high in taste and goodness , it is a winner and one I will go back to more than a few times.

Clare’s Sticky BBQ Chicken

I am serving this with a little mixed salad, some cubed baked potatoes and roasted parsnip chips.

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Total Time:  45 minutes

Ingredients

• 400g skinless , boneless chicken breasts (place between two sheets of grease proof paper & flatten with a rolling pin)
• 1tbs honey
• 1tbs mustard
• 2tbs tomato relish
• 1/2tbs of crushed chilli
• 1/2tbs grated garlic
• 400g Parsnips
• 1tb paperika
• 1tbs coconut oil
• 200g Potatoes
• 1tbs curry powder
• Mixed salad leaves
• Cucumber sliced and de seeded
• Cherry Tomatoes sliced
• Red onion sliced
•  1/2tbs cracked black pepper
• 1/2 the juice of a lime
• pince of salt

PREPARATION

1/ Flatten the chicken and place on a tray, mix the honey, mustard, relish, chilli and garlic and spread over the chicken, place in the fridge for at least 10 minutes but if you have an hour then leave it longer. One left to marinade remove from the fridge and place in the oven for 18-22 minutes, this will depend on how thick you have your chicken breasts.

2/ Peel and chop your parsnips into chip type shapes, place on a baking tray with 1/2 the teaspoon on oil and sprinkle with paprika, place in the over for 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp.

3/ Peel and chop your potato’s into cube shapes, place on the same oven tray (if large enough) as the parsnips, sprinkle with a medium curry powder and 1/2 the oil and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp.

4/ Mix the salad leaves, cucumber, tomato’s, onions,  pepper, salt and lime juice

Serve as in pictures and enjoy.

Top Tip: Make a little extra chicken and sever in a baguette for lunch the next day , delicious.

Clare’s Sticky BBQ Chicken

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Guilt Free Chips and Dips Claire’s Way

I love the weekend, I love to get the food shop done after work on Friday and as many chores done as possible during the week to free up my time over the weekend. Weather the plan is to chill out with the family, head to the cinema, a girlie night out or to just get lost in the kitchen, trying out or tweaking old recipes.

Last night I fancied a snack, a savory, crispy, tasty snack but wanted this to be healthier than the typical big bag of chips and dips so I put my twist to the traditional with these 🙂

Guilt Free Chips and Dips Claire’s Way 

I used Parsnips, Beetroot and Sweet Potatoes with a Curried yogurt and a chunky tomato dip but this would work with a variety of other vegetables such as carrots and kale.

Ingredients

1-2 Sweet Potatoes

2-3 Parsnips

2-3 fresh Beetroots

2 tsp Coconut Oil

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Chilli Powder

Zest of 1 Oranges

3 large fresh Tomatoes

Pinch of Sugar

2 tsp Fresh chopped Parsly

1 Finely chopped Red Onion

110g fat free Natural Yogurt

2 tsp Curry Powder

1 tsp Mango Chutney

Preparation

Slice all vegetables on a medallion or on the finest slicing blade on your food processor, pop into a bowl and add the melted coconut oil, salt and pepper. Place the vegetable in a single layer on a baking sheet, sprinkle the chilli powder onto the parsnips and sprinkle the orange zest onto the sweet potato. Place in a medium oven until golden, turning after 8-10 minutes.

Tomato Dip: Quarter the tomatoes and remove the core and seeds, chop into a medium dice. Finely chop the red onion and the parsley. Put into a bowl, sprinkle with the pinch of sugar, pinch of salt, mix. (this works best if made 30+ before eating)

Curry Dip: Place the Natural Yogurt in  a bowl with the Curry powder and Mango Chutney and mix again this works best if made 30 minutes or more before serving.

Top Tip: You may think the chips are not crisp yet they are golden in color, remove them from the baking tray and place on kitchen paper to cool, as they cool they will crisp.

Hope you enjoy trying my Guilt Free Chips and Dips 🙂

If you like this then please vote for me in this years UK Blog awards, It is free to cast your vote and each and every vote is appreciated and very much needed http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/candidates/claire-with-the-hair-mccarthy/

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Oven-baked Fish & Chips (with half the calories of your traditional Fish & Chips)

A classic combination given a  healthy makeover by oven cooking the ingredients instead of frying. All the flavour with a lot less fat!

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 880g of floury potato, scrubbed and cut into chips, (leave the skins on) for a healthier option use Sweet Potato
• 2 tbsp olive oil, for me it is Coconut Oil but you can use one of the lite oil sprays
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs, I use wholemeal but feel free to use breadcrumbs of your choice
• zest the peel of 1 lemon
• 2 – 3 tbsp chopped parsley
• 4 x 140g/5oz thick  white fish fillets (up or down the numbers depending on your requirements) this is based on 1 per person,
• 200g cherry tomato, I like to sprinkle a little black pepper onto these

I also like to add a green veg on the side of this but you can opt for your favourite and steam this.

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Pat chips dry on kitchen paper, then lay in a single layer on a large baking tray. Drizzle with half the olive oil , coconut oil or spray and season with salt. Cook for 40 mins, turning after 20 mins, so they cook evenly.
2. Mix the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest and parsley, then season well. Top the cod evenly with the breadcrumb mixture, then drizzle, with the remaining oil again using your option. Put in a roasting tin with the cherry tomatoes, then bake in the oven for the final 10 mins of the chips’ cooking time.

As far as easy goes this is way up there. it tastes delicious and needs very little attention while in the oven, this is one of my families favourites

NUTRITION

Per serving: 366 calories

• Tip , Healthy benefits

  We have halved the fat and calories of this traditional favourite by cooking it in the oven instead of frying, and even better again with coconut oil of your lite oil sprays. Although potatoes don’t count towards your 5-a-day, they’re a useful source of vitamin C as well as B6, potassium and manganese and if you opt for a sweet potato you have seriously increased the health benefits, Remember to add a nice green vegetable with this to make it a truly great family meal.

Let me know how you get on with this and as always if there is something you would like me to make, then let me know in the comments section below or via the contact me page.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Claire with the hair McCarthy ❤