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FOOD LABELS

by February 27, 2018

In my recipes you might notice that I say “good quality” a lot when it comes to using any pre-packaged food.

By this I mean that I read the ingredients list on the label.

I want to be able to recognise the ingredients that are listed there. What I want to see are real foods not numbers, colors, preservatives, fillers, thickeners, stabilisers.

You also have to be mindful of sugar and salt content. Remember, the closer to the beginning of the ingredients a food is listed the higher the amount is in it, so if sugar or salt are two or three on the list, then proportionally it can have quite a high amount. (In some Jams sugar is listed as the first ingredient!!)

I personally would be quite particular about the type of oil used in prepared foods. I would also make sure that the products I am buying are non GMO.

There are certain items I would always buy Organic but realistically it is not possible (shopping and cost) to only eat organic food, so you just have to decide for yourself which ones are important to you.

Food labelling is designed to sell their products, and they can often include information such as “low fat”, “low sugar”, “high protein” which leads you to think it must be “healthy”. But the only way to tell if a food is healthy is to read the ingredients list and know what is actually in it.

When doing my grocery shopping with my daughter (she is 16) she will sometimes want to buy something I would not want her to eat. Rather than saying no I ask her to read the ingredients and then decide if she wants to eat it. If she still does, then OK, but I would say 98% of the time, she puts it back.

She is making the choice based on knowledge – does she recognise what is in the package, is it primarily sugar, does it contain trans fats, is it full of numbers and additives and if so does she know what they are??? It is amazing how your desire for something disappears once you read what is actually in it.

The one thing we can all do to improve our health, energy and wellbeing is to make healthier food choices – so start reading those labels.

BLACK BEAN CHILLI NACHOS

by February 25, 2018

We were going to the movies so i needed a quick tasty dinner.

I made this “nachos” using the black bean chilli which I had frozen.

Layer some corn chips (preferably organic and definitely non GMO) around the sides of a oven proof dish. Good quality corn chips are a tasty gluten free option. Heat the bean chilli on the stove and then put in the middle of the dish, getting some on the corn chip edges. Sprinkle with a little grated cheddar cheese and put in the oven for about 15 minutes (180 degrees) until the cheese is melted and the corn chips are just coloring.

I served this will some finely sliced iceberg lettuce (the crunch is good), some salsa and guacamole and a drizzle of yoghurt over the top.

Guacamole – 2 avocados chopped, one white onion finely diced, juice of 1 1/2 limes, 1 finely chopped jalepeno chilli, one crushed garlic clove and a good handful of chopped corriander. Mix together, making sure to keep some lumps.

Salsa – three tomatoes, seeds taken out and diced, one bunch of spring onions sliced, 1 red chilli finely chpped, chopped corriander, a sprinkle of cumin powder, salt and pepper. Mix together – easy !

The guacamole and salsa keep well in the fridge for a day – if they last that long! If there is any salsa left over the next morning, I will use it to make an omelette.

BREAKFAST EGG MUFFINS

by February 22, 2018

I made these egg muffins for breakfast. They are also great cold for lunch – perfect for picnics or school lunches.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Saute one small chopped onion in a little ghee. Add two chopped tomatoes and one grated courgette. Cook the vegetables until the moisture is all gone. (Both tomato and courgette have a lot of water in them, so you need to get the moisture to evaporate otherwise the muffins will be watery) Add some salt and pepper and a sprinkle of tumeric and stir.

Beat together 4 eggs with some milk (I used almond milk).

Put some vegetable mixture in each muffin tin (grease them lightly first) and top with some torn basil leaves. Add the egg mixture until it just comes to the top of each muffin.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then check, you want them to be cooked through, but not dried out.

Eggs are a nutrient rich food.

They are a good source of high quality protein as they provide a complete range of amino acids. (Amino acids are the building blocks for making proteins in the body).

Eggs also contain all the B Vitamins but they are especially high in choline. Choline is important for liver function, normal brain development, nerve function, muscle movement, supporting energy levels and maintaining a healthy metabolism.

Eggs are a very good source of the minerals selenium and iodine, which can both be difficult to obtain in a vegetarian diet.

Egg yolks are also a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids. These are known as “essential” fatty acids, as the body cannot make them on its own, therefore we have to include them in our diet. Omega 3’s are known to have inflammation reducing abilities. They also are needed for neurological function, cell membrane maintenance, mood regulation and hormone production.

I would only ever buy organic free range eggs. This is really important as the quality of your egg is going to depend on the quality of the feed and life of the hen who laid it.

AUBERGINE PARMIGIANA

by February 19, 2018

Made Aubergine Parmigiama tonight for dinner.

Ingredients: two aubergines sliced, olive oil, prepared tomato sauce, 2 balls of buffalo mozzarella sliced, fresh basil leaves, 1 big chunk of parmesan cheese grated.

Slice two aubergines into diagonal slices 1 cm wide. Put on baking paper on two oven trays and lightly brush both sides with olive oil. Put in oven at 225 degrees and cook for 15 minutes, turn over and cook for a further 10 minutes. The aubergine slices should be a nice golden brown color. (This is a very good way of cooking the aubergine, as you use a lot less oil. Aubergine really soaks up oil like a sponge, so it is very easy to end up with too much oil in the dish if you fry them in oil in a pan.)

Put a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of a oven proof dish to stop it sticking. Then layer over some of the aubergine slices. Put another thin layer of tomato sauce, some sliced mozzarella cheese, some basil leaves and a thin sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Repeat these layers until all the ingredients are used up finishing with the parmesan cheese.

Bake in the oven for up to 1 hour, until the top is nicely browned and it is hot all the way through.

Eat with a lovely fresh green salad.

THAI RED TOFU CURRY

by February 18, 2018

Here is the recipe for the Thai Red Tofu Curry I made the other day.

Blend 5 cloves of garlic, a big piece of ginger, two sticks of lemon grass, juice of one lime and one red chilli until a paste forms.

I normally make the whole paste myself, but as I am away I did use a good quality jar of Thai Red Curry Paste and added these fresh ingredients to it. (When I say good quality, I mean I read the label and recognised all the ingredients, which were food and not numbers, also taking note of salt content, sugar content etc.)

I took some of the paste and fried some cubed tofu in it then put it aside until the dish was finished.

Put one diced red onion in a wok with a little coconut oil
and saute until it is transparent. Add the paste and saute until it has cooked through. Add one large eggplant, and two small carrots, both cut into big cubes, and fry in the paste. Add enough vegetable stock to cover and simmer until the eggplant is almost cooked. Add 2 small courgettes chopped, broccoli florets and cauliflower florets and give a good stir so everything is covered in the sauce. Cook until the broccoli and cauliflower are almost cooked. Add some frozen peas and heat through. Finally add one tin of coconut milk and let it gently heat through, don’t boil it or it might split. Add back in the cooked tofu and carefully stir through.

During the cooking time before adding the coconut milk, I tasted it and checked it for heat. It will very much depend on how hot your curry paste was in the beginning and how spicy you like it. Our bought paste was not very spicy so I added 2 extra sliced chillis and also some dried chilli flakes.

To serve I put some fresh bean shoots in the bowl and ladled the curry over the top, serving with some brown rice and then sprinkling the top with chopped coriander.

MIXED BEAN CHILLI

by February 14, 2018

Just made a big pot of chilli which I am going to portion out and freeze for easy dinners. As I use it I will post photos of what I have done with it.

I made a mexican spice mix with sweet paprika, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, chilli powder, oregano and cinnamon.

Saute 1 red onion in a little coconut oil. When translucent, add the spice mix and continue to saute. Add 2 red and 2 yellow peppers sliced and stir to get spice mix evenly distributed. Grate 1 carrot and 1 courgette and add to pan and stir. Add two tins of tomatoes (I like to use cherry tomatoes) and let cook till it starts to bubble. Add 4 cloves of garlic crushed. Give a good stir and let cook for about 5 mintues. Then add 2 tins of black beans and 1 tin of kidney beans (which have been drained and rinsed until all the bubbles disappear) and stir again. Let cook for another 5 minutes. It is now ready. The peppers still have a bit of bite to them and the grated courgette and carrot add a nice thick consistency so it is not too sloppy.

Black beans are a very good souce of fibre and protein. They are also good sources of the minerals molybdenem, magnesium, iron and the Vitamins folate and B1.

Here are two more reasons why black beans are good for us!

Black beans contain a large amount of “resistant starch”, which means it is not fully broken down in the small intestines because it “resists” digestion. As the starch does not break down it does not cause an increase in our blood sugar levels and our insulin response is not increased. (The breakdown of starch creates an increase in simple sugars which creates an increase in insulin response).

Instead resistant starch makes its way to the large intestine (colon), where intestinal bacteria ferment it. When resistant starch is fermented in the large intestine, short chain fatty acids (SCFA’s) are produced. SCFAs can be absorbed into the body from the colon or stay in the colon and be used by colonic bacteria for energy.

Evidence suggests that SCFAs may benefit us by:
– stimulating blood flow to the colon – increasing nutrient circulation – inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria
– helping us to absorb minerals.

The amount of SCFAs we have in our colon is related to the type of carbohydrate we eat – so if we eat a lot of resistant starch we have a good supply of SCFAs.

Resistant starch is also found in: Oats, Rice, Legumes and other Beans. Oats and Rice which have been cooked and then cooled have even higher levels of resistant starch, so any rice salad variations would be a very good option. (Not sure that cooked and then cold oats sound that appealing!)

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