Training for a pilgrimage

Well it's not long now before myself and six friends head off for St Jean Pied de Port to start the Camino de Santiago - a very long walk across the top of Spain.  We are only going to do a quarter of it - with the intention of returning each year for the next three years to complete the 791km pilgrimage!
Needless to say we've had a strict training programme in place (?!) - stomping over the Chilterns most weekends, trying to find the steepest hill we could, to acclimatise ourselves to the accrued ascent of 990 metres on day one!
And obviously to compensate (and reward) us for each training session, there has to be cake (to be honest, I'm not sure anybody would have turned up for the training had cake not been made available!).
On one of our walks we were lucky enough to find a church that not only provided tea and coffee, with a kettle and fridge with milk, there was also cake in the fridge - what a welcome treat that was.  If you are walking the Ridgeway, take time to wander off the trail to Nuffield church for a bit of sustenance.
One of the group can't tolerate dairy, so each week I had the fun task of coming up with a different delicious dairy-free cake - another challenge I really relish!  Baking without dairy is actually pretty straight forward, and most of you who follow me regularly will know that I am a great lover of coconut oil (and the brand I think is the best for flavour and quality is Coconoil), so this is used for fat instead of butter and works really well.
Up until now though I'd never attempted pastry, so gave myself a new challenge!  And I'm pleased to say the result is pretty tasty.

Fig Tarts

Makes approx 10-12

For the pastry –

60 g wholemeal plain flour

100 g plain flour

1 tbsp caster sugar

60 g Coconoil

6-7 tbsp iced water

For the filling –

225 g dried figs, chopped

2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

pinch nutmeg

·        -To make the pastry, mix the flours and sugar in a bowl and then place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

·        -Melt the Coconoil in a microwave and leave to cool.

·        -Slowly spoon the coconoil into the flours, rubbing it into the flour as you would if you were using butter.  Return the bowl to the freezer for 15 minutes.

·        -Meanwhile, cook the figs in a pan over a medium heat with 300 ml water, until most of the water has been absorbed.  Stir in the sugar and nutmeg until the sugar has dissolved then remove from the heat.  Place in a food processor and blend until nearly smooth.  Leave to cool.

·        -Remove the pastry mix from the freezer and break up any large lumps with your fingers.

·        -Spoon in the water, using a knife to mix it in, then use your hands to finally bring the dough together.  Roll into a ball then wrap in cling film and leave to stand for 20 minutes to rest.

·        -Roll out on a floored work surface, then use a pastry cutter to cut 10-12 circles and place these in a cake tin.  Spoon the fig mixture into the pastry cases.

     Bake for 20-22 minutes at 180°C (450°F) Gas mark 4.

      Eat warm or cold with a dollop of creme fraiche (if you can tolerate dairy!).

       Happy Eating 

J     Joy xx

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Finally out of hibernation

It's that time of year when, after a few days of sunshine I finally feel like I can come out of hibernation.  No more layering on the clothes, staying indoors because it's dark at 4pm, or eating comfort foods due to being bored!  Yes, it even happens to me!
This is the time of year I love, it's time to get out and get living life to the full again.  And I do mean for you to get out - don't exercise in a gym when it's sunny outside - get out there and climb a hill or cycle to the shops - include it into your daily routine.  I feel hugely lucky that I live in the beautiful Chilterns so for me the perfect antidote to feeling sluggish is a brisk walk over the nearest hill - it's amazing how positive I feel when I return home.
For a lot of people it's also a time for spring cleaning, but as I've never been that keen on hoovering and dusting, I tend to do my spring cleaning on myself!  I will not mention the D word, or I will have you all rushing to make cauldrons of cabbage soup and the like, but spring cleaning your body is a great way to help you towards optimum health and vitality, and all it takes is changing your eating habits to only include fresh, clean foods.
Cutting out processed foods doesn't have to be difficult, and once you start experimenting and enjoying fresh food, you will never eat processed food out of choice again!
Next time you go food shopping fill your basket with fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits, nuts, seeds, eggs, fresh fish, lean meat, olive oil, quinoa, rice, lentils, coconut milk, spices, and anything else you love that is not processed, then go home and start to experiment (that's pretty much what all good cooks do to come up with recipes).  You will be amazed at what you can make - tabbouleh with grilled fish, Spanish tortilla, Thai curry, vegetable soups, fish pie, rice salad - the list is endless, and not a processed food in sight.  Here's what I came up with this weekend - a protein rich meal made with fresh ingredients, ready on the plate in 20 minutes!

Salmon Burgers with Griddled Asparagus

Serves 4

700 g salmon fillet
20 g fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 sticks lemon grass, sliced
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
5 g fresh coriander
freshly milled black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
400 g asparagus
4 eggs
2 tbsp flaked almonds

- Place the salmon, ginger, lemon grass, sesame seeds, coriander and pepper into a food processor and blitz until well combined.
-Using wet hands, shape into 4 burgers then chill for 20 minutes.
-Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and 1 tbsp olive oil on a griddle.  Cook the salmon burgers for 6-8 minutes on each side, until golden and cooked through the middle.  Keep warm.
-Poach the eggs in a pan of simmering water, and cook the asparagus on the griddle for 2-3 minutes.
-Serve the salmon burger on a bed of asparagus, topped with the poached egg and sprinkled with flaked almonds.

Happy eating!

Joy x

Cooking from scratch

I am constantly telling clients that the only true way of knowing what is going into your body is to make everything from scratch, preferably using the best ingredients you can find.
Not only will you know what is going into your body, you can also be in total control of how balanced your diet is - tweaking things in recipes to increase your protein intake or reduce carbs for example, depending on what you are trying to achieve.
You may think it's easy for me to preach this, as it's my job and I do it all the time, but really it's just common sense, not only for your health but also for your budget - buying prepared food costs more too!
And even though it's my job, it doesn't always go according to plan!  This gorgeous looking vegan chocolate ice-cream tasted very odd (I was trying to be clever by using delicious coconut oil in ice-cream), so instead I melted it down and used it as a rich chocolate sauce.  So playing with food and experimenting is a great way of learning.
And cooking from scratch doesn't just apply to healthy main meals - these amazing coconut bars (Bounty lookalikes!) are very easy to make and taste one hundred times better that the shop bought ones - plus they are much lower in sugar and salt and higher in protein and fibre - a great reason to eat a few more!

Coconut Bars

Makes 18

175 g coconut oil

200g block creamed coconut, roughly chopped

2 tbsp honey

1 lime (or lemon)

175g desiccated coconut

200 g dark chocolate (85% cocoa), roughly chopped

·          - Base line a 20cm square tin.

·          - Place the coconut oil, creamed coconut and honey in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir occasionally until fully melted.

·          - Finely grate the rind of the lime and stir this into the bowl along with a tbsp of lime-juice and the desiccated coconut.  Mix together well.

·          - Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.

·          - Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

·          - Remove the tin from the fridge and turn out the coconut block.  Cut into 18 bars, place these on a sheet of baking paper on a cooling rack and place in the freezer while you melt the chocolate.

·          -Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, until completely melted.

      - Using two forks, toss the bars in the melted chocolate and then leave on the greaseproof paper to set.

-    - Place in an air-tight container to store.

  

Stressful Times Need Food

Although we think of stress as something that comes from too much work, not getting to a date on time, burning dinner or just being totally disorganised and having too much on your plate, it's important to remember it also comes from your emotions too.  So if you are upset or sad, your body sees this as another stress, and it's important to know how to deal with this, to prevent it from causing long-term illness, such as excess weight, heart problems, depression or anxiety problems.
Stress uses up vitamins and minerals that are needed for every function in the body, so while your nutrients are being used for stress they are not being used to digest your food, support your immune system, produce energy or keeping you hair and skin healthy.
The B vitamins are especially important with regards to stress - B1 and B3 play a vital role in maintaining a healthy mental attitude, B6 helps to produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps the body to deal with depression (serotonin is know as the 'happy hormone'), B12 is called the memory vitamin as it used mostly in the brain.
In general B vitamins are also needed for the production of energy, and without energy it's hard to cope with anything!
To ensure a good intake of B vitamins eat a variety of colourful vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, nuts, seeds and eggs.

Vegeree

Serves 4

1 large red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
350 g butternut, deseeded and chopped
2 large courgettes, sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp olive oil
300 g basmati rice
4 large eggs
handful parsley leaves
seasoning

- Preheat the oven to 200° (400°F) Gas mark 6.
- Place the onion, butternut and courgettes into a roasting tin.  Sprinkle with the cumin seeds, curry powder and oil.  Roast for 40 minutes, tossing a couple of times.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the pack instructions.
- Softly boil the eggs.
- When the vegetables are cooked, drain the rice and stir into the roasting tin with the vegetables, along with the parsley.  Season to taste.
- Carefully peel the eggs and serve cut in half on top of the dish.

Happy, stress-free eating.

Joy xx

Autumn Harvest

It's the time of year I love - free food all over the place!  You just need to know where to look.  And not only is it free, if you find it in the right place it's likely to be free of pesticides and organic too!
Last weekend was spent in lovely Wales, racing a yole double on the sea around the coast of Mumbles.  Whilst racing the wild seas I could see the coast path winding it's way through bracken and over cliffs, then dipping down into beautiful white sandy bays with beach huts and ice-cream stalls - I had to walk this path!
So Sunday was spent on foot, strolling 20 miles along one of the nicest walks I have done in a long time.  And there we came across absolutely millions of the best tasting blackberries ever (as well as sloes, but we ran out of space to carry those too!).
So for the past two days I have been making everything I can think of with blackberries - a good top up of vitamin C has been had I think!  And these wonderful Paleo Blackberry Pancakes were breakfast this morning.



Paleo Blackberry Pancakes

Serves 2

1 banana, peeled
85 g ground almonds
10 g desiccated coconut
5 g sesame seeds
2 eggs
1 tbsp non-dairy milk
100 g blackberries
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp honey or agave syrup

-Mash the banana in a large bowl.
-Stir in the ground almonds, desiccated coconut and sesame seeds.
-Beat the eggs and milk into the mixture.
-Lightly stir in 75 g of the blackberries.
-Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and spoon in two tablespoons of the mixture and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden underneath.
-Carefully flip the pancakes over and cook for 3-4 minutes on the other side until golden.
-Keep these warm then repeat the cooking process with the remaining batter.
-Serve scattered with the remaining blackberries and a drizzle of honey or agave syrup.

It's not too late to pick your own blackberries, get out to the countryside and do some foraging soon!

Joy x

Life can be sweet.

 There is no getting away from the fact, no matter how hard I try to train myself otherwise, I love sweet things.  Despite having a hugely healthy diet, and being aware of how important it is for that diet to be balanced, rich in good protein and fat, I still need to know that after a savoury dish there is a dessert on its' way - I know this is all just psychological!
But that's the great thing about cooking, and loving to experiment with food and new ingredients - I get to make great desserts that are actually healthy, and can omit the ingredients that I prefer not to eat (wheat, dairy and too much sugar).  I am constantly suggesting people avoid wheat and dairy for various health issues (bloating, flatulence, indigestion, constipation - sound familiar?), and the reaction is always the same - how can I possibly live without so much?  Well you just need to change the way you think about foods and start playing.  So yes, you really can have this amazing gluten and dairy-free chocolate cake!
The other thing I like to do is to find a product that I really love and then figure out how to make it myself - this normally means it will be tastier (as I can include my favourite ingredients) and will most certainly be cheaper.
This recipe came about after I tried Chia Pods - perfect little pots of dessert that are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, gluten and dairy free and contain only natural sugar.  My recipe is obviously even tastier!

Orange and Mango Chia Puds

Serves 2-3

1 orange
1 mango, peeled and destoned
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp goji berries
2-3 tbsp non-dairy milk

- Grate the rind of the orange and then peel the orange and place the flesh into a food processor with the flesh of the mango.
- Process for a few seconds to break everything down.
- Add the grated orange rind, chia seeds, goji berries and milk and process again for 20-30 seconds, scrapping down any mixture that has escaped up the side of the bowl.
- Leave to stand for 5 minutes - this will allow the chia seeds to do their work - they expand and soften and turn everything to jelly!
- Blitz again one more time for a few seconds and then pour into bowls and serve, or place in the fridge for later.

Happy Eating!

J xx

Back to Paleo

I am often asked about my own diet (people want to know I am human and eat foods I shouldn't to make them feel better!), and yes, I do eat chocolate every day (we all have our vices), but it's about balance and moderation in all things, and knowing what may be doing you harm.  So if I thought that something I was eating was causing me bloating, bad skin or upsetting my digestion for example, I would stop eating it - I want to feel the best I can all the time.
I think a lot of the time people have forgotten what it feels like to be 100% well and full of energy, and you may not realise that some foods are affecting you.  I have had a client recently who gave up gluten (I suggested this to her, as she was having some digestion problems), and she lost 4 cm around her waist, without losing any weight - she had been bloated from her intake of wheat that didn't agree with her, without her realising.
And this is what the Paleo diet is so good for - it cuts out all the man-made foods that may cause intolerances, and focuses on the nature-made foods that your body should recognise and know how to digest and extract nutrients from.
And the great thing about the Paleo diet is that you can maintain it for life.  Infact I really don't like calling it a diet as this assumes you will 'go on' the diet and at some stage 'go off' the diet.  If you can't maintain a new eating regime for at least 10 years (or life) then it's not really worth starting.
So what is Paleo?  It's going back to the diet we think paleolithic man (cavemen) would have eaten - anything they could have caught or foraged for - grass-fed meat, wild fish, eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables.  This means no grains, dairy, legumes or pulses (all of which may cause digestive problems).
Of course we are unlikely to go hunting and foraging, and buying all organic ingredients can be expensive, but every little bit you can do to aim to eat as naturally as possible is a step closer to a healthy you.
Today sees the launch of the Paleo aisle in Ocado's online store - with me as its' expert, so if you have any questions do get in touch.
Here is one of the recipes from my latest Paleo book - 

Summer Frittata

A great protein-rich meal that can be served for breakfast, brunch or lunch, or could also be made to take on a picnic or to work in a lunch-box.

Serves 4

 

Prep time:  16 minutes

Cooking time:  29-34 minutes

350 g sweet potato

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, peeled and chopped

1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced

125 g fresh or frozen peas

1 tbsp chopped mint

1 tbsp snipped chives

seasoning

7 medium eggs

·         Cook the sweet potato in a pan of boiling water for 8 minutes, until just tender.  Drain.

·         Heat half the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion with the sweet potato and red peppers for 5-6 minutes.  Add the peas and cook for one minute more.

·         Beat the eggs in a large bowl, pour in the vegetables and mix well.  Season and stir in the herbs.

·         Heat the remaining oil in the same frying pan and pour the egg and vegetables back into the pan.  Preheat the grill to hot.

·         Cook over a low heat for 15 -18 minutes, until the bottom of the tortilla is golden.

·         Finish cooking under the grill for 6-8 minutes, until golden on top.

·         Leave the tortilla to stand for a minute then run a knife around the edge of the pan, place a plate or board on top and turn over to remove from the pan.

·         Cut into wedges to serve.