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“THE BODY AND MIND LOVE HABITS”

by April 15, 2018

One of the yoga instructors in the class I attended in Prahran (Melbourne) said one day:

“The body and mind love habits – it is up to us which habits we choose to cultivate and encourage”

– and I just love this quote.

It can be the small things we change in our lifestyle or eating habits which can have profound effects on our wellbeing.

Here are two easy habits to cultivate – even if you did just one of these it would be a good start!!!

1. Try to eat a Rainbow of Colors of fresh seasonal vegetables
every day. As it is now Spring (even if the weather
does not know it) it is a perfect time to increase your intake
of vegetables. Make a green smoothy for breakfast, eat a salad every
evening with your dinner, add an extra serving of vegetables with every
lunch and dinner, add some vegetables to your breakfast! Get an organic
vegetable box delivery every week, it will make you eat those greens,
yellows, reds, purples etc.

2. Keep Hydrated !!!! Water is vital to health and vitality. It
helps transport nutrients around the body and is also vital to
the body’s natural detoxification process and the elimination
of the body’s wastes.

We should try to drink 2 litres of water a day (herbal tea you
drink can be included in this). If you don’t really like plain
water, then adding some cucumber, ginger or mint to it can
make the transition to plain water easier.

Sometimes when you think you are hungry you are actually
thirsty, so before reaching for that snack, have a big drink
of water and wait 15 minutes, you might find that you are
not hungry after all!!

Also if you feel thirsty, you are actually dehydrated, so try to
keep drinking throughout the day so you don’t get that
thirsty feeling!

Initially if you start to drink 2 litres of water and are not used
to it, you will probably end up going to the loo a lot – but
this quickly settles down so don’t panic and think this is not
working for me!!

ORGANIC VEGETABLE DELIVERY

by April 11, 2018

Very excited to receive my organic vegetable order from Green Earth Organics last Friday.

So far the meals I have made with the vegetables are:

Spicy Vegetable Rice with Chana Dhal (Chickpeas)

Roast Vegetables with Halloumi and a Tahini Dressing

Roast Butternut Squash Red Thai Curry

Getting a vegetable box delivered is a great way to make you eat your greens, and reds, and oranges, and yellow etc etc.

I will put up the recipes for the Indian dinner soon, it was really good.

 

The Roast vegetable dish I am going to tweak the recipe and put it up when I am 100% happy with it, same with the Roast Butternut Squash curry. Usually I follow a recipe the first time, then make it again with improvements, either in taste or in ease of actually cooking it. Sometimes recipes can be more complicated than they need to be, and in a busy house you need your recipes to be as quick and easy as possible.

SPANISH EGGS WITH PUMPKIN

by April 9, 2018

Whilst we were in Port Fairy over January we ate this dish of Spanish Eggs with Pumpkin for brunch.

I decided to make it for dinner a few nights ago and it got the thumbs up from everyone – my husband actually said it was the best vegetarian meal he has had – he is a committed carnivore!!!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the dish I made (I am blaming jet lag) so I am showing you the cafe’s version so you get a general idea, but mine looked slightly different. Next time I make it I will put up a photo!! Also I did not measure the spices (sorry) so I am guessing how much I used!

Firstly I made the pepper stew – 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic and one fresh red chilli, sauted in a little olive oil till softened but not browned. Then I added some ground cumin and some dried chilli flakes (both approx 1 1/2 teaspoons). I let this cook for a few minutes then added three sliced peppers – 2 red and one yellow – and let them cook until softened a little. Next I added one tin of chopped tomatoes and approximately 8 small fresh tomatoes quartered. This I let cook for about 1/2 hour – the fresh tomatoes release quite a lot of liquid so you do not need to add any further liquid, even though initially it looks very thick, once it is cooked it is more stew like in consistency. I then added one drained tin of sweetcorn kernels and continued to cook for another 1/2 hour.

Whilst the stew was cooking through its various stages, I prepared the butternut squash. We have a air fryer so I used this to cook it. I chopped the peeled butternut squash into reasonable sized chunks (not too small) and cooked it in the air fryer in a small knob of coconut oil for 35 minutes where it came out soft inside and nicely brown and crunchy on the outside. (You can easily roast it in the oven but it will take longer – about one hour – so you would prepare this and put in the oven before preparing the pepper stew).

I chopped up one block of feta cheese and prepared my basil for the topping so it was all ready.

Lastly I had to poach the eggs to put on top, which I have never done before so I was a bit apprehensive. However they worked out pretty good considering it was my first attempt and I had to cook 8 eggs.

I put a big wide pan on the heat and brought the water up to boil. Then I let it just simmer. I broke the egg into a cup and carefully slid it into the simmering water. I let it cook whilst I was putting the other ingredients into the bowls.

So to plate up – I used large wide bowls so you could see everything. Firstly put some of the pepper stew, then some pieces of pumpkin, some of the feta cheese and carefully place your poached eggs (or egg) on top. Finally some basil leaves sprinkled over the top. You do need to have everything ready to go so once your eggs are cooked you can put them on straight away.

It really was delicious, the runny egg yolk together with the spicy stew and the crispy butternut squash and the creamy feta all worked very well together.

This fed the five of us with no leftovers!

MINESTRONE SOUP

by April 7, 2018

Arrived back in Dublin on Monday and am now acclimatising to the cold weather and getting over my jet lag!!

I decided I needed some warming comfort food so made a big pot of Minestrone Soup which went down well with everyone in the house for a tasty lunch.

Made it slightly differently to my last post, which is the beauty of these types of soups – you can change it around depending on what you have in the house.

This time I used, 2 red onions, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1 fennel bulb and 4 cloves of garlic, all finely diced and sauted in some olive oil until they were nice and soft. I put the lid on and let them steam at the same time, as you need less oil this way.

Once they were softened, I added a glug of red wine and once it was boiling added 2 tins of chopped tomatoes with 2 courgettes halved lengthways and sliced with one tin of butter beans (drained and rinsed), 1/2 cup cooked quinoa and 1 litre of vegetable stock. Add some freshly ground black pepper and let this all simmer away for approx 1/2 hour then add 1/2 savoy cabbage very finely shredded, cooking another 10 minutes.

Serve with some grated Parmesan and lots of basil sprinkled over the top.

NOTE: Parmesan cheese is not vegetarian !!!! We only found this out recently, much to my daughters dismay! Parmesan is made with rennet, the lining of a calfs stomach. So if you are following a strictly vegetarian way of eating, no more Parmesan for you!!!

PORTION SIZES

by April 2, 2018

Two delicious brunches in Melbourne Cafes’. Both the same order, smashed avocado on sourdough, with persian feta, poached egg, beetroot relish and a side of spinach. (One has sliced cherry tomatoes and the other pickled onions).

However look at the difference in these two plates. The second plate is literally twice the size of the first plate.

Do be aware when eating out how easy it is to eat too much!!!

The first plate is a delicious balanced brunch which kept me going all day (and I have a healthy appetite !!!)

The second plate is one serving in a different cafe, twice the amount of food, it would easily feed two people.

Serving sizes are increasing which is increasing our waistlines, or if we don’t eat it all, then increasing food waste. Both of which are not good.

When food is in front of you, it is very easy to keep eating even though you have actually had enough to eat.

When eating out ask how big the portions are, and order accordingly. You could maybe share a main/bigger dish and have a couple of (healthy vegetable!!!) sides. And you can always order some more food if you are still hungry.

Also, if cafes’ served more realistic portion sizes, then they could also charge more realistic prices and throw out a lot less food!!!!!

ROAST SWEET POTATO WITH BLACK BEAN CHILLI

by March 29, 2018

Another easy meal using my black bean chilli from the freezer.

Roast whole sweet potatoes until they are very soft inside (I find this usually takes about 1 1/4 hours for a reasonable sized sweet potato).

Heat the chilli beans.

Pile on top of the sweet potato which has been cut in half, and add some grated cheese and some sliced avocado. I also added some finely chopped white onion, to give it a bit of crunch. You could add some salsa which would also be very tasty.

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