Simply does it

Well here it is - the new decade - and with new beginnings, people often make over-complicated resolutions and promises.

I prefer to keep things simple. I like trying interesting new products but I don't want to then have to go and buy another five ingredients just so that I can use my latest discovery. So, my very simple resolution is to use new ingredients but then find ways to use them with what I have at home.

By way of example, I made a black rice salad. The black rice being my new fancy ingredient that I wanted to try! All the other ingredients were things I already had in my kitchen.

I cooked the black rice according to the packet instructions and five minutes before the end of the black rice cooking time, I added a handful of frozen green beans to the cooking water. When all was cooked, I drained and rinsed them. I then chopped ¼ of a head of red cabbage and 2 tomatoes and mixed them into the rice and beans. A simple dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and salt completed this dish.

This salad contains fibre, protein and an abundance of vitamins and minerals, including lycopene in the tomatoes, anthocyanidins in the red cabbage, iron in the back rice and vitamin K in the green beans.