New Year, no news

Don't you just know there is no real news when the year is started off with all the newspapers and reporters talking about diets - how many New Years have started off this way?  I don't know about you, but I'm just getting a bit bored with it all.  And why now?  Why not lecture us all before we embark on the enormous Christmas blow-out to save us having even more to worry about?

How many times do 'they' need to tell us that we shouldn't eat so much sugar, fat, salt, junk-food?  How about instead they focus their efforts on the people who are making the disgustingly bad for us foods, selling them at huge profits - if the bad foods were not there, we wouldn't be tempted to eat them.  And I know that from experience, having just returned from a trip around Vietnam where for two weeks I didn't eat any stodge, dairy or chocolate (because there wasn't any on offer), and didn't see one overweight person (until I spotted a couple of obese Europeans at the airport).

The traditional Vietnamese diet is very healthy, based on rice, vegetables and fish, and using steaming and stir-frying as a gentle way to cook foods, therefore ensuring less nutrients are lost through harsh cooking methods.  Their idea of fast food is a big bowl of noodle soup, with ginger, spring onions, garlic, rice noodles, beansprouts, herbs and chicken or prawns - a little different from our fast food delights.  How pleased was I to be in a country where there is no McDonalds, I was very tempted to move there permanently for that reason alone!

The Vietnamese way of eating is so natural - if they grow it or can catch it, they eat it - it makes a mockery of all our promoting of eating local and seasonal - for them there is no other way.  Unfortunately times will change and with the onslaught of overseas visitors comes our unhealthy foods - McD may not have made it there, but KFC has -  and in the last  4 years the prevalence of diabetes has increased, and with that the threat of cardiovascular disease.

One thing that was a surprise is that Vietnam is the World's largest coffee exporter, surpassing Brazil by selling 800,000 kilgrams of coffee in the first 6 months of 2012.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but those that were said it was good coffee, although the way it is served may not be to everyone's taste - very strong small cup, with condensed milk.

Of course the other way they remain healthy is that they still work in a physical job - they are working the land so are constantly on the go, and not sitting at a desk - no trips to the gym needed for them.  And hardly anybody owns a car - bikes or scooters cover the roads (quite a scary view when you are trying to cross them!) in numbers it is hard to imagine - there are reportedly 5 million scooters in Ho Chi Minh City alone!

Eat, Drink and Be Healthy!

It’s that time of year again, when you will start to over-indulge and then regret it two weeks later, when your clothes are feeling a little tighter than normal.

Over the Christmas period, around 175 million mince pies are bought (this does not account for the home-made ones), and if they were stacked on top of each other they would reach approximately 3,262 miles  - around 600 times higher than Everest!

On average people consume 6000-7000 calories, more than three times the recommended daily allowance, on Christmas Day alone, and gain around 2kg (5 lbs) over the Christmas period.  But you don’t have to be one of them.

Christmas is also a time for stress levels to rise and this can be very bad for blood sugar balance, tempting you to eat all the things you know you shouldn’t.

There are a number of ways you can remain healthy over the holiday period without missing out on a good time and some great food.

Shopping

·      Never shop when you are hungry.
·      Always take a list and stick to it.
·      Do not over-buy – the shops will be open again in a few days, you are not going to run out of anything – don’t panic!

     Snacks

·       Stock up on unsalted nuts and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower etc) instead of salted nuts.
·      Serve vegetable crudités with dips rather than heavy pastry-based canapés.

     Drinks

·      Make some great tasting non-alcoholic cocktails for a change – i.e. Virgin Marys, and for a treat (and extra zinc) add a raw oyster.
·      Drink wine spritzers instead of wine (half wine, half soda water)
·      Alternate alcoholic drinks with a glass of water to help reduce your alcohol intake (and stop you feeling so dehydrated the next day).
·      The benefits of red wine diminish after two glasses, so don’t kid yourself!
Christmas Lunch
·      Turkey – plan for size – nobody wants to be eating turkey for the next 2 weeks!  Turkey is rich in great protein and full of B vitamins, but remove the skin to cut down on fat.
·      Stuffing – make a nut-based rather than sausage-meat based stuffing – chestnuts are full of potassium and low in fat so a great base for a tasty stuffing.
·      Roast potatoes – cut your potatoes into larger chunks to absorb less fat, or use half sweet potatoes, which are full of antioxidants.  Swapping roast for baked potatoes would be even healthier.
·      Vegetables – include lots of veggies with lunch, preferably steamed ones to help fill everyone up with some great vitamins and fibre.
·      Christmas Pudding – very high in sugar so swap the brandy butter for some natural yoghurt instead.
·      Make you own mince-pies using filo pastry instead of shortcrust, and substitute some of the mincemeat with some dried cherries or cranberries and flaked almonds – see recipe below.

Just remember that your digestive system does not change just because it’s the festive season, so give it a helping hand by; eating a good breakfast each day,  keeping your blood sugar balanced by eating little and often, eating good protein at each meal and snack, and not over-doing the stimulants (alcohol, coffee etc).
And if you need a good pick-me-up on boxing day, a great way to start the day is with a good breakfast and a vegetable juice that will help to support your liver -ready to face another day!

Filo Mincepies

Makes 12

300g mincemeat

25g dried cherries

25g dried apricots, diced

50g flaked almonds

6 sheets filo pastry

30g unsalted butter

 1 tbsp olive oil

icing sugar for dusting

1.     Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas Mark 6.

2.     Mix together the mincemeat, cherries, chopped apricots and flaked almonds.

3.     Lay the 6 sheets of filo pastry on top of each other and cut into 8 squares.
Melt the butter and mix with the olive oil.

4.     Lay one square of pastry on the work surface and brush with a small amount of butter and oil.  Place another on top, at an angle and brush with butter.  Repeat until you have 4 squares on top of each other at different angles.  Gently press the square into the hole of a 12-hole bun tin.  Repeat with the remaining pastry squares – at this point you will have 12 spare.

5.     Spoon the mincement mixture into the pastry cases. 

6.     Brush the remaining squares of filo with the remaining butter and oil and scrunch each one and place on the top of the mincepies.

7.     Bake for 15-16 minutes, until golden. 

8.     Leave to cool on a cooling rack.  Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Testing my culinary skills

The great thing about my job is that I get to cook some really great food, including lots of food that I wouldn't necessarily cook for myself (the upside of living on my own is that I have to invite friends over for dinner so I can cook lots of great dishes that would be far too much for me to eat - and most of the time they all go home with goody bags too!).
For the past few weeks though, my culinary skills have been put to the test as I have been writing recipes for the Dukan diet (fishcake recipe on left), a gluten-free book and a dairy-free feature!  Needless to say I am confused when cooking now, wondering that I need to leave something out but can't remember what - fat, sugar, wheat, milk......I am seriously thinking I will need a good feed at the end of this lot!
But what is great is that sometimes a really tasty recipe comes from me trying to avoid using the most obviously ingredient., and this week is was a  dairy-free chocolate mousse.

Chocolate Mousse (*and milk-shake!)

Serves 4

100g dates, stoned

50g almonds

100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

200g tofu, drained

·      Place the dates in a bowl with the almonds and pour over 200ml of boiling water.  Leave to stand for 30 minutes or longer.

·      Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

·      Place the soaked dates and almonds, melted chocolate and tofu into a food processor and blend until smooth.  Pour into glass dishes and chill.

*For the milk shake – add 1 tbsp cocoa powder to the soaking dates and almonds, omit the chocolate, and then blend with the tofu and enough soya or oat milk to make it smooth and creamy.  For a sweeter touch, add a tsp of honey or blackstrap molasses.

I am very lucky that I have a little bolt-hole tucked away in Suffolk, where I can escape to when everything all gets too much, or I just want to wind down for a couple of days.  I don't consider myself to be person who suffers with stress, but it's amazing when you spend time in a place where everything happens slowly, you find yourself doing the same - and suddenly I seem to have so much more time, which really doesn't make sense!
This weekend was spent dealing with builders, plumbers and the like, and then trawling around a few of the local antique shops for furniture (so much more fun than Ikea!).  I am also not too proud to say that I have four lovely chairs that were donated out of a skip!!  And having watched Kirsty's Vintage Home, I was confident I could re-invent the chairs and make them part of the cosy cottage.
Being in the country also means long country walks - spending the whole weekend decorating would rather defeat the object of being there, so I am gradually exploring the area and this weekend strolled around the really pretty town of Aldburgh, and after a two hour walk over the marshes decided tea was definitely required.  Luckily for me the Cragg Sisters tea shop was open, and served the most delicious cake - I opted for orange curd cake, a thick, moist cake filled with butter icing and topped with orange curd and poppy seeds - absolutely perfect.
The other thing I love about the country is that people tend to 'pop-in' whenever they want, something that never happens in London.  So I am always conscious that I should have cake ready for the unexpected visitors (that's my excuse at least!), and this weekend I made rock cakes for the second time in a week.  This all came about following a conversation with a colleague with regards to what we were taught to cook at school - rock cakes were the first thing I cooked and probably have never cooked them since, but I'm not sure why as they're delicious - try them yourself this week for a trip down memory lane - 

Rock Cakes

Makes 12

225 g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
110 g butter, softened
55 g granulated sugar
115 g candied peel, chopped
60 g currants
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 
pinch ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
1-2 tbsp milk
extra granulated sugar for sprinkling

• Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas mark 6.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the sugar, dried fruit and spices, then add the egg and milk to make a stiff dough.
• Spoon tablespoons on the mixture in mounds on two lightly greased baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes, until golden.
• Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little granulated sugar and leave to cool on a rack.

Happy Baking.

J x

When I started working in food photography nearly twenty years ago, one of the first books I worked on was Bread by Linda Collister.  I learnt so much, and was instantly hooked on baking my own bread.  Not only is the taste and texture a hundred times better than any shop-bought bread (although now we have a few really good artisan bakeries popping up which is great), the whole process is such a magical thing to do.
One of the things I love about cooking, especially baking,  is the magic - how you can start with a few dry powdery ingredients, mix them with a few wet ones and within a short space of time you end up with great textures, crusts, soft centres, so many flavours and most of all, food that you know exactly what has gone in to it.
So last week I had to review another bread book, this one has just been published - All You Knead is Bread by Jane Mason.  This book covers breads and baking from around the world, and has so many unusual breads that I've not heard of, so I just had to get baking!
Don't think just because bread has to be left to rise so many times and for so long that you haven't got time to bake it - that is the whole point, you have so much time to do other things whilst the bread is doing its' own...... magic.
I'm a bit of a sucker for sweet things, so I made the wonderful Cardamom Knots shown here - they were soft, rich, sticky and delicious.  If you are thinking of what to ask for Christmas this year, I would certainly recommend putting this book at the top of your list.

Happy Kneading!

Jx

Defeating Muscle Soreness

As I am surrounded by sports people for the majority of my day it's inevitable that I am constantly asked for advice.  But that's what I love, the chance to go off and do a bit more research and to be able to help somebody with a simple solution - and that's the great thing about nutrition, normally the solution is quite simple, it's just a matter of doing it!
So this week, one of my fellow Masters students (who was clearly suffering from over-training, as he couldn't walk in a normal manner!) asked me what he could do nutritionally about Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, otherwise known as DOMS.
As with most things there is not one magic pill to cure all, but a planned diet may certainly help in relieving some of the soreness, which is mostly due to mechanical and oxidative stress.
Protein is an important component of the diet and is involved with almost every structural and functional component of the human body.  In general, exercise may affect the need for dietary protein by increasing the oxidation of amino acids.  Protein rich foods include eggs, fish, lean meat, lentils and beans, so be sure to include these regularly into your diet.  Antioxidants help counter oxidative stress, so including lots of colourful fruit and vegetables into the diet is also important for athletes.
The timing of nutrient delivery is also important for resistance and endurance athletes, with the first 40 minutes post-exercise being the time when your body is ready to absorb and replenish stores of nutrients it has used.  Replenishing nutrients is imperative to ensure your body is ready for the next training session or race - without replenishment your body will not recover to its' full strength.  Having a bag of dried fruit and mixed nuts and seeds in your sports bag will ensure you are never without food straight after training, follow that within two hours with a healthy protein rich meal such as this delicious Salmon recipe - 

Salmon with Lentil and Roast Vegetables

Serves 4

250 g butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
seasoning
1 x 400 g can green lentils, drained
4 x 150 g salmon fillets
40 g watercress

• Preheat the oven to 200°C(400°F)Gas Mark 6.
• Place the butternut and peppers into a roasting tray and sprinkle with 2 tbsp of the olive oil, the cumin seeds and seasoning and toss together.  Roast for 25-30 minutes.  Just before the end of cooking time, stir in the lentils to warm them through.
• Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and pan-fry the salmon steaks for 3-4 minutes each side.
• Divide the watercress between four plates, spoon over the lentils and vegetables and top with the salmon.

If you need an even quicker protein fix, cook yourself a tortilla filled with colourful peppers and herbs - the left-overs can be taken to the gym for after your next training session!

Happy training.

J x

Oh my goodness, where did the summer go?  And how much did that amazing Olympic thing interfere with our lives (in a great way of course!)?  So I only now feel that I am back in the land of of the living after what, for me, was a very busy summer.  People who write blogs every day clearly do not have enough going on in their lives!
But thinking of what I was going to write today got me all excited again, giving me a reason to cook or make something really nice that I could talk to you about. That's always the hardest decision really, as there are so many things I love to cook.
But today was my first practice at making homemade yoghurt in the way I was recently taught at The School of Artisan Food, where nothing is cheated!  I spent a glorious full day there, on a cheese-making course, part of which was to show us how to make butter and yoghurt too.
Now as a nutritionist I would not normally recommend an abundance of dairy in a diet - there is the suggestion that as humans we were never supposed to consume dairy products once we were taken off our mother’s milk.  Lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose, which is the the sugar in milk, may not be present in enough numbers to be able to break down the lactose as we get older (past 2 years old to be more precise).  There are also studies that show a racial difference in the incidence of lactase deficiency, with a recent study showing that lactase deficiency is a common genetic trait in the American Indian that becomes manifest in early childhood.

So are you dairy intolerant?  How do you know?  If you are suffering with bloating, diarrhoea, flatulence or stomach cramps after consuming food or drink that contains lactose, such as dairy products, then this may apply to you.  

The best way of testing whether it is dairy products that are causing your symptoms (as there are other things that may be the cause) is to avoid all dairy for at least two weeks and see if the symptoms improve. 
The use of fermented dairy foods is common in areas of the world where lactase deficiency is prevalent.  Yoghurt appears to be well tolerated by lactase-deficient people, resulting in little or no gastrointestinal distress, which is apparently due to an enzyme in the yoghurt that causes ‘lactase activity’ in the gastrointestinal tract.  And that is my scientific reason for making this thick, creamy, puddinging yoghurt!

I have to admit to not really sticking to a recipe as I wanted to see how easy it is to make without having to think about it too much (my favourite way of cooking!).  So treat this purely as a guideline then experiment yourself and just see what happens!

• Place 2 litres of milk in a stainless steel saucepan (I used creamy Gold Top milk, but on the course we were also told you could use raw if you live near a farmer that would sell it to you!).  Bring to a simmer and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until it has reduced by about a third - just tell by eye.
• Pour the milk into a bowl and stir in 300ml single or double cream (depending on how thick and creamy you really want it to be - I found double cream to be just a little too much).  Leave it to cool until it is around 40-42°C (if you don't have a thermometer I would say you need to leave it for about 15-20 minutes).
• Stir in 250g fresh, natural yoghurt and mix well.  Pour into a container and place in a warm place - I no longer have an airing cupboard (does anybody?!), so I put my oven on as low as it would go (the thermometer was below 50°C) and left the door slightly ajar.  I didn't cover the yoghurt as I wanted to see if I could get a lovely skin on top.  (If you have a constantly warm Aga you have absolutely no excuse for not making yoghurt and bread every week!)
• It takes anything between 5-8 hours - the slower and longer the better apparently.  And it is so worth the wait!

Happy Eating!

Joy x

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