Butter Bean & Spinach Salad. NTTC March 2009 Roundup.

I made a Butter Bean And Spinach Salad two days ago as an accompaniment for Bill Granger’s Sticky Chicken Wings. This extremely quick recipe is high in protein and low in GI, perfect for an afternoon snack or early brunch so you keep getting a slow release to last you through the day.

BUTTER BEAN AND SPINACH SALAD [Serves 2]

Checklist : Frying pan, spoon, olive oil, red onions, garlic cloves, can of drained butter beans, baby spinach leaves, salt, freshly ground black pepper, ground cumin, bay leaf.

Task : Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 finely sliced red onions, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin and bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes until onions are golden. Add butter beans and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring till beans are heated through. Stir through a cup of baby spinach leaves, remove from heat, cover and rest for 2 minutes before serving.

"No Time To Cook" indeed! Things have been very very busy for me and my family and I have been sticking to my resolution of inventing simple, healthy quick fixes using the freshest of ingredients. Last month I started the first ever NTTC Blog event where I called upon harried foodies to come up with superquick, healthy recipes that would become a wholesome meal for them and their families. The time limit was short, but four brave souls jumped onto the NTTC bandwagon much to my surprise and delight! True to the spirit of the theme, they managed to come up with delicious, casual recipes that barely took 10-15 minutes to whip up. Great job guys! Here is the March 2009 roundup with the Butter Bean Salad featuring as my contribution.

First up are fresh flavours from Barn Appetit. Sandra submitted "Marinated Veggies" and "Hot Indian Coleslaw" for the roundup. What an excellent way to pack on the veggies! These would be perfect for a light brunch or to take on a picnic.

Everyone loves Beijing Fried Rice right? Kits Chow tells us how to do a fuss free plate in a matter of minutes.

Emily from Tomato Kumato does an awesome Frisee Salad with Lardons And Fried Eggs for two.

Teczcape presents an ingenius take on pasta in the very adventurous Fish Pasta.

A special mention to Jean of Krftd for helping us out and spreading some NTTC love.

Thank You All!!

And now onto NTTC #2 April 2009. The official call for entries goes out with this post. NTTC #2 starts on April 1, 2009 and ends on April 25, 2009. So you have a cool 25 days to get your thinking hats on and spending very little time in the kitchen to send us your superquick, healthy recipe for this roundup. Except there is a twist! A-haaa! It has to be a "Dessert" recipe, something sweet made out of fresh ingredients and it has to have a "Fruit" in it. Time taken could be between 10-15 minutes, maybe even 20 minutes since some recipes do take a wee bit extra to prepare. I know that desserts tend to be naughty, but if you can make yours healthy, well .. You are My Idol!!!

So there you go ..

NTTC #2 April 2009

Recipe Type : Dessert [Pantry Staples + Fresh Ingredients + Fruit + 15-20 minutes]

Recipe Format : Recipe Title [serves] /Checklist (a list of equipment and ingredients)/Task (a maximum of 10-12 sentences of informally listed series of actions performed)

Last Day Of Entries : April 25, 2009

Please do post a link back to this post in your entry, so I can track down all of you who are participating. You can use any of the NTTC images provided here in your blog posts.

Please email me sneh.roy at littleboxofideas dot com with Subject “NTTC #2 April 2009″ with a link to your blog/website where you have published the recipe so I can include you in the roundup on May 1, 2009. Please spread the word on twitter with the #NTTC tag

Be creative, Keep it simple and have fun. Let us try to build the biggest collection of healthy 10-15 minute recipes for our fast and busy lives!