Satay Style Stir-Fry

This is a very quick and tasty stir-fry with an extra protein and omega boost. It's the kind of meal you can throw together in minutes using very few basic ingredients.

Serves 4

Enough Stir Fry Ingredients for 4 People - this can be any kind of mixed veg chopped to a similar size to ensure even cooking, sliced or diced meat, uncooked prawns/squid, sprouted beans, sliced fresh chilli..whatever you have to hand or like in a stir-fry.

Groundnut or Sunflower Oil

50g Sesame Seeds

2 generous tablespoons of Peanut Butter
(I use Whole Earth Organic as it doesn't have any added sugar)

A generous squeeze of Lemon Juice

Just cooked (still hot) Rice or Noodles (Optional)
(I use microwaveable brown rice if I'm tight on time)

Soy Sauce
(Kikkoman Less Salt is my preference)

Heat some oil in a wok and add the sesame seeds until they are a lightly toasted colour (they may pop a little so don't use too strong a heat here)


Then if using meat, stir-fry it in the oil and seeds until it has browned. Add any harder pieces of veg first for a couple of minutes before adding the rest of the veg, then stir-fry over a high heat for a couple more minutes until all the veg are cooked but still crunchy.



Mix the peanut butter and lemon juice together and add to the stir-fry, coating everything well with it.

Add rice or noodles if using and a glug of soy sauce to the wok and stir together.

Rhubarb, Ginger & Coconut Fool

This is a delicious twist on the traditional British classic, Rhubarb Fool.

Ingredients
400g rhubarb, roughly chopped
Juice of 1/2 an orange
200ml prune juice
1tsp ground ginger
1 tin of coconut milk, chilled overnight in the fridge


Combine the chopped rhubarb, orange juice and prune juice in a pan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer until the rhubarb is soft and gooey. Drain and set aside to cool completely.




Having chilled your tin of coconut milk overnight in the fridge, turn the tin upside down and open the bottom end of the tin. Pour out all of the coconut water.

Don't chuck this away it's full of goodness, so drink it straight or add it to a smoothie. Potassium-rich coconut water is perfect for rehydrating after a long run/ hot yoga session.

Scoop out the remaining coconut cream add the ground ginger and whisk it until it becomes fluffy and light.

Alternate spoonfuls of rhubarb mixture and coconut cream into a small glass or fold together gently to create a lovely light, moussey fool.

Quick Tagine with Lemon & Olive Millet

Unlike slow-cooked red meat Tagines, this recipe can be cooked on the hob in 45 minutes and you still get to enjoy those lovely sweet warming Moroccan flavours.

For this Tagine, you can either use chicken thighs (organic preferably) or if you want to keep it vegetarian/vegan, you can use chickpeas and vegetable stock, I've detailed how to make both versions below.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch dried chilli flakes (up to you how large a pinch!)
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 Sweet Potato cut into chunks
2 Carrots cut into chunks
150g dried apricots and/or prunes (unsulphured if possible), roughly chopped into quarters
The juice of half an orange
600ml chicken or vegetable stock
6 chicken thighs, skinless boneless, cut into chunks OR 1 tin of chickpeas
A handful of torn fresh coriander leaves

Heat some oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, ground spices, and chilli flakes and fry until the onions have softened.

Stir in the tomato purée, orange juice, stock, dried fruits, sweet potato and carrots and bring to a gentle simmer. Partially cover the pan and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the chicken if using, re-cover the casserole and continue simmering for 20 minutes removing the lid for the last 10 if there is still a lot of liquid. If you're using chickpeas, continue to simmer the fruits and veg for 15 minutes before adding the chickpeas for the final 5 minutes of cooking.

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with Lemon and Olive Millet

Cooked Millet

Some reasons for including millet in our diets:

Millet is easily digestible. It is gluten free and non allergenic

Millet is one of the few grains which is alkalizing to the body.

Millet is high in silicon which benefits your hair, skin, nails, teeth and eye health.

Millet contains tryptophan which stimulates the production of the brain hormone serotonin, calming your moods and aiding sleep.

Millet’s high protein content (compared to other grains, at 15 %) makes it an excellent addition to a vegetarian diet.

Millet has anti-fungal properties and is especially regarded for the treatment of candida yeast overgrowth in the gut. Yeast thrive on all the refined sugars we consume and can actually create sugar cravings within us. Eating millet could help to reduce these cravings.

Millet contains B vitamins, and high amounts of iron, magnesium, and potassium.

Lemon & Olive Millet

Ingredients
200g millet, well rinsed
500ml water
2tbsp chopped pitted kalamata olives (about 6 olives)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
A handful of chopped fresh parsley

Place the millet in a saucepan over a medium heat and toast for a couple of minutes. Add water and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat, cover and cook until the millet has absorbed all the water (about 20 minutes)

Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, and add olives, lemon juice and parsley. Easy.

Thai Crab Cakes

I decided to make these lovely crab cakes this evening for a girly night in with a good friend to accompany our Friday night pink bubbles.

Ingredients:
1 clove of garlic, chopped
3cm piece of ginger, grated
A handful of chopped coriander leaves
The zest and juice of 1 lime
1 egg yolk
2 tsp mayonnaise
300g crab meat (about 2 crabs)
Since I no longer live near the sea I used sustainable Devon Crab bought from my local fishmongers which is caught in pots off the South Devon Coast.



Blitz the garlic, ginger, coriander leaves, lime zest and half of the lime juice together to form a paste.

Combine the paste, egg yolk, mayonnaise and crab meat and stir until they are all mixed together well. If the mixture is very moist, you may need to add a little flour. I literally just added a teaspoon of flour and that was plenty.

Line a baking tray with foil and lightly brush the foil with oil.

Spoon your mixture into a biscuit cutter on the baking tray and press it down with the back of the spoon to form a little patty. Remove the cutter and repeat until you have about 6-8 patties.

Place them in the fridge to chill for half an hour or so.

Chilling in the fridge - The mini patties at the front are for baby Sophie who loves these!

Preheat your oven to 180C and cook the crab cakes for 20 minutes.

Squeeze the rest of the lime juice over them, gently place them on a salad of sugar snap peas, pea shoots, and cherry tomatoes...and drizzle generously with sweet chilli sauce.


This particular recipe is really healthy as the crab cakes are baked rather than fried - and because they aren't padded out with breadcrumbs they are a good option if, like my dinner guest, you are following a low-carb diet. Just packed full of Omega 3 and lots of lovely flavours..so does that mean we can have an extra glass of wine?!!

Vegetable Curry

This is a great dish to chuck any vegetables you have lying around into. I make it in two stages, first making a curry sauce and then adding the veg. You can make up a big batch of this sauce and then add different veggies as and when you want to use it. I tend to grab whatever seasonal veg we have to hand and I usually use a few favourites of mine - butternut squash, pepper and cauliflower. But you can literally use any vegetables that you have or particularly like.

This is not a massively spicy recipe as I use it for my 12 month old - I just add a chopped fresh chilli to the top of my portion before serving to give it an extra kick.

Ingredients
100g red lentils
2 diced onions
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3cm piece ginger
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp coconut cream
A selection of vegetables cut into bite sized chunks

Bring the lentils to the boil in a saucepan with 500ml of water, cover and simmer for 20-25 mins until the lentils are soft.

Blitz the ginger, garlic and one of the onions with a little water to make a paste.

Heat your chosen fat in a pan (I use coconut oil but you could use olive oil/butter/whatever), add the other onion stirring until lightly browned. Then add the paste and spices and fry gently for a couple of minutes.

Next, add the tomatoes, tomato puree, coconut cream and lentils along with 400ml of water. This is your curry sauce. (If you have opened a carton of coconut cream, you can freeze the rest, it freezes well)

Add your veg to the curry sauce - tonight I used half a butternut squash, a courgette, a red pepper, some cauliflower broken into florets and some green beans.

Simmer your veg gently for 25-30 mins. Enjoy with some brown rice, a chapatti or a handful of tortillas.

This also freezes really well. Either the sauce on it's own or the whole curry - and the flavours seem to intensify on freezing.

Raw for a Day

Raw Courgette Pappardelle with Tomato, Pepper, Basil and Pine Nut Sauce

There's a lot of buzz around at the moment about eating a raw food diet. Eating raw invoves eating raw, unprocessed (preferably organic) vegan foods that have not been heated above 42C so that the live enzymes in the foods are retained.

Going raw is said to increase energy, improve the appearance of skin, aid digestion, assist weight loss and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Personally I'm not wanting to go raw full time right now but I am enjoying having at least one day a week where I am eating only raw foods. I've already found that by going raw for a day, I've upped the amount of these nutritious foods in my diet during the rest of the week too - out of habit and because I've discovered some new things that I don't want to wait until my raw day to enjoy.

As I'm only eating raw once a week, I have so far kept it very simple eating fruit, raw veg, seeds and nuts on their own or in the form of salads with the very occasional more inventive dish such as raw courgette pappardelle with a raw tomato, pepper and basil sauce topped with pine nuts. But over the next few weeks and months I'll be experimenting with some more adventurous raw meals..

King Prawn Dhansak

Dhansak is originally a Persian curry. I don't think this is a very authentic version - I've tweaked the recipe over the years and added king prawns (you could use chicken, or add veggies instead for a vegetarian dish). But it is full of gorgeous flavours, foolproof and so tasty.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
200g lentils
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3cm piece ginger, finely grated
2 onions, finely diced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
400g tin chopped tomatoes
400g raw king prawns
2 tbsp mango chutney
A handful of roughly chopped coriander leaves

Bring the lentils to the boil in a saucepan with a litre of water, cover and simmer for 20-25 mins until the lentils are soft.

Blitz the ginger, garlic and a little water to make a paste. Heat some oil in a pan (I use a generous amount of coconut oil), add the onions stirring until lightly browned then add the ginger and garlic paste and spices.

After 2-3 minutes tip the cooked lentils into the pan, add the tomatoes and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the king prawns and mango chutney. When all of the prawns have turned pink, take off the heat and stir in the coriander leaves.

Serve with chapattis, rice or cauliflower rice, get your curry fix knowing you are having a really healthy meal.

Muffins for Everyone!

I first made these muffins for a vegan friend of mine and her (also vegan) young daughter. For all of us to be able to eat them they needed to be egg free, dairy free, sugar free (for the babies) and free from regular wheat flour (for me as I'm quite sensitive to it) ...a bit of a challenge..

However, with a bit of tweaking I came up with these little beauties which have now become a bit of a favourite in our house.

Not only do they not contain any of the above, they are secretly packed full of a whole load of good stuff and have a lovely sweet, slightly gooey consistency.

Healthy food in disguise...

Ingredients
200g spelt flour (or whatever flour you prefer to use)
75g oats
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3-4 overripe bananas (depending on how big they are)
120g unsweetened apple sauce
120ml milk of your choice (I used almond milk)
1 finely grated organic carrot
A good handful of blueberries
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.

In another bowl, mash the bananas well and then stir in the apple sauce, milk, carrot, blueberries, lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir until it is all combined together.

Divide the batter evenly into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.


These also freeze well and are ready to eat after a 10-20 second blast in the microwave.




They get the thumbs up from Willem!

Japanese Inspired Poached Salmon

I'm a massive sushi fan, but raw fish isn't everyone's thing and this simple salad is a tasty alternative which incorporates some of those lovely sushi flavours.

I prefer to poach the fish in advance and eat it cold, but you could also serve it warm.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
4 Salmon fillets, skin on
A handful of pickled ginger
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
4tbsp coconut cream
4 tsp wasabi

Preheat the oven to 140C.

Place your salmon pieces skin side up on a sheet of foil which has been lightly brushed with a little oil.

Wrap into a parcel and cook in the oven for 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of your fillets), checking them from time to time until they are pale pink throughout. Remove the skin and set aside to cool.

To make the wasabi cream, simply stir the wasabi paste into the coconut cream.

Once the salmon has cooled, place each fillet on a bed of leaves, spread with the wasabi cream and top with pickled ginger and toasted sesame seeds.

Beetroot Hummus

I often make basic hummus but today I decided to add a couple of fresh beetroot seeing as they are in season at the moment.

This produced a lovely sweet flavour, not to mention a very pretty coloured hummus.

Ingredients:

400g tinned chickpeas , drained
2 fresh beetroot, peeled & boiled until soft
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
90ml olive oil
4 tbsp tahini

Cut the cooked beetroot into quarters and whiz all the ingredients into a thick paste.

Enjoy with raw vegetable crudités or with some crunchy salad in a pitta bread.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Making your own curry paste is so worth it, no shop bought version quite lives up to a homemade paste in my opinion. Don't be put off by the amount of ingredients, you can easily pick all of them up in a decent sized supermarket and it only takes a couple of minutes to make. I make larger quantities of paste and freeze some in portion sizes so that I have a very quick mid-week meal on standby with only a few extra ingredients to add.

I'm using chicken but you can substitue with Quorn/Tofu/Prawns and adjust the cooking times for these if you prefer.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
For the Paste:
4 lemongrass stalks (outer leaves removed)
4-6 green chillies
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
A 5cm piece of ginger
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons fresh coriander
The zest and juice of a lime
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp group coriander
1 tbsp of Thai fish sauce
A small handful of coriander leaves
A handful of basil leaves

For the Curry:
500g chicken breast or thigh, skinned, boned and diced
Groundnut oil/sunflower oil
A red pepper, sliced
A handful of green beans, trimmed and cut in half
400ml tin of coconut milk (use the light version to cut out 250 calories if you prefer)
400ml chicken stock
8 kaffir lime leaves
1tbsp Thai fish sauce

To make the curry paste, slice the lemongrass and add it to all the other paste ingredients then whiz it into a thick paste.

For the curry, heat the oil in a pan, add the chicken pieces and gently colour them on each side.

Meanwhile, pour the coconut milk and stock, lime leaves, fish sauce plus 4 heaped tablespoons of the paste into a saucepan.

Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the sliced pepper and green beans to the wok with the chicken in and stir in a further tablespoon of the paste. Add the sauce from the saucepan and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes.

Serve with rice and sprinkle with a few fresh torn coriander leaves and an extra sliced chilli if like me you like it with a bit of a kick.

Halibut with Peas, Broad Beans & Crushed New Potatoes

Baby Sophie helping me to pod the peas

Fresh from the garden - peas, frizzy fennel and broad beans

Recipe (Serves 4)
500g New Potatoes
150g Broad Beans
150g Peas
4 Halibut (or other white fish) Fillets















For the sauce:
A handful of fennel frongs/dill
50g Creme fraiche
Squeeze of lemon juice
A clove of garlic





Boil the potatoes for about 12 minutes until cooked.

Remove the potatoes from the pan and add the peas and broad beans to the boiling water for 30 seconds and then drain.

Meanwhile heat a little oil in a pan and cook the fish steadily for a few minutes on each side until it is just cooked through.

Sautée the potatoes in a little oil, crushing them with the end if a rolling pin and cooking until they are golden and crispy around the edges. Then stir in the peas and beans for a minute before serving.

To make the fennel/dill sauce, simply whizz all the ingredients together.

Sit the fish on top of the potato mixture and drizzle the fennel/dill sauce or squeeze a lemon over the fish.

Summer on a plate..

Warm Beetroot, Butternut & Lentil Salad

This is a really good, easy warm salad. The quantities below are for a main meal for 4 adults, so you may want to reduce this a bit if you're making it for lunch as it is very filling.

Recipe (Serves 4)

3 Red Onions, peeled and cut into wedges
4 Fresh Beetroot, washed and cut into wedges
A Small Butternut Squash, cut into wedges
3 Tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tsp Ground Coriander
8 Cloves Garlic, peeled and slightly squashed with the side of a knife
Olive Oil
500g Cooked Puy Lentils
A large handful of mixed seeds
3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
150g Goats Cheese



Heat the oven to 200C. Spread the beetroot, butternut squash, onion and garlic on a baking tray. Then brush/spray a thin coating of olive oil over everything and mix in the cumin and coriander. Roast for 35 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven and stir the lentils and seeds into the veg mixture. Then put the tray back into the oven for approximately 5-10 minutes until the lentils are warmed through. Remove from the oven and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Place the lentil mixture straight onto plates or a serving dish and top with torn goats cheese.

Serve with fresh leaves.

Balsamic Strawberries

You may have gathered that I don't have much of a sweet tooth by the lack of dessert recipes on here, I'm not that bothered about sweet things, although I'd never say no to a bar of chocolate..

This is one of my favourite summer desserts though, and it's so so simple. The balsamic vinegar brings out the flavour of the strawberries to a whole new level. Use a good quality balsamic vinegar and local organically grown strawberries if you can.

Recipe (Serves 4)
400g Strawberries
2tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1tbsp Sugar

Cut the strawberries into quarters, mix thoroughly with the sugar and balsamic vinegar, and leave to marinate for a couple of hours.

Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche..

Know Yoga Know Peace..

This is one of my favourite postures for stretching everything out - dandayamana dhanurasana. Thank you to my lovely yoga buddy Halle for taking this picture of me in the hot box recently.

Dandayamana Dhanurasana:

Bring your right hand out, palm facing up, elbow touching your body.
Say “Mama give me money.” You’re holding the money in your hand.
Bring your hand out to the right. Don’t turn your hand, don’t drop the money.
Grab your right foot behind you, palm facing up.
Hold from the inside, at the ankle, five fingers together.
Nice and tight grip, don’t lose the grip.

Left arm up in front of you, chin close to your shoulder.
Concentrate one point on your left knee in the mirror.
Left leg locked throughout the posture.
Bring your knees together to start.

Inhale breathing,
Charge your body forward towards the mirror, try to touch the mirror.
Simultaneously, kick your right leg back and up towards the ceiling.
Bring your body down from the lower spine, until your abdomen and chest are parallel to the floor.
Continuously keep kicking your right leg up as hard as possible.
Your foot should be coming up over the top of your head in the mirror.
Both feet should be in one line from the side.

Kick back, so your right shoulder is behind your left shoulder, invisible in the front mirror.
Stretch your left fingertips towards the mirror, trying to touch the mirror.
Try to touch your shoulder to your chin. Shoulder blade, scapula coming out of the body.
In other words, your two shoulders should be in one line.

Kicking and stretching should be equal and simultaneous, 50 / 50.
If you lose the balance, you’re not kicking hard enough.

Body down more.
Stretch forward more, try to touch the mirror.
Kick back more. Kick harder. The harder you kick, you can balance for ever.
Body down and kick up one more time.

Change. Come up.

Other side.

Baked Kale Chips

For anyone who hasn't tried these yet, I recommend giving them a go, they are great for when you have the munchies and don't want to end up eating several large bags of Doritos..

Kale is super nourishing and packed with vitamin K for strong bones, plus anti-ageing, anti-cancer antioxidants beta-carotene and vitamin C. Your Doritos won't do that for you...


How to do it:

Wash raw kale and tear it into bite size pieces. Discard any thick stems and ribs.

Dry the kale thoroughly with kitchen roll.

Toss the torn kale in a tiny bit of olive oil or use a spray bottle to lightly coat it.

Spread the kale in a single layer on a baking tray and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Before...

Bake at 170 degrees C until crisp (5 to 10 minutes).

Keep a close eye on it as it only takes about 10 seconds to go from crisp, bright green kale chips to black, charred cinders.

...After

Try different flavours by adding miso paste / tahini / lemon juice / chilli flakes / smoked paprika / sesame seeds / anything you fancy.

Spinach and Smoked Fish Omelette

Perfect Saturday morning breakfast best enjoyed with a giant sized mug of builders tea.

Recipe (per omelette)
2 eggs, beaten
A small fillet of smoked white sustainably sourced fish - cod/haddock/pollack etc (undyed if you can get it)
A large handful of spinach
Freshly ground black pepper

Gently poach the fish in a pan of water or milk until it is just cooked. Lift the fish out of the pan and flake it into small pieces.

Add the spinach to the water for about 30 seconds until it has softened slightly.

Drain the spinach and squeeze out the moisture from it. Set the fish and spinach to one side.

Heat a little oil in an omelette/frying pan on a low to moderate heat and add the beaten eggs.

After a couple of minutes, scatter the spinach and flaked fish on top of the cooking eggs and season with black pepper.

Place the pan under a preheated grill until the eggs are fully cooked.

Moroccan Fish with Quinoa

This is a really good protein-rich, low fat supper which only takes about 15 minutes to make.

Recipe (Serves 4)
250g quinoa
Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 courgettes, cut into small dice
4 tomatoes, cut into small dice
300ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp harissa paste
4 fillets of (sustainably sourced) white fish

On a moderate heat, cook the onion in a little olive oil until soft.

Add the courgette and cook for a further 3 minutes before adding the harissa, tomatoes and stock and bringing it to simmer.

Sit the fish on top of the veg, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes until the fish is just cooked.

Meanwhile prepare the quinoa according to the directions on the packet.

Serve the fish on top of the quinoa and spoon over the veg and juices.

My 11 month old daughter Sophie loves picking out the little pieces of diced vegetables one by one.

My beautiful Sophie 

Pea & Horseradish Soup

Pea & Horseradish Soup
topped with freshly grated horseradish root

Using some of my leftover horseradish sauce I made this soup for lunch. Obviously you can use shop-bought horseradish sauce if you don't fancy foraging for it!

Recipe (Serves 2)
1 knob of butter
1 Onion, finely chopped
500ml Chicken or Vegetable Stock
400g Peas (I used frozen)
2-3 tbsp Horseradish Sauce
2-3 Dashes Tabasco Sauce
A couple of handfuls of Cooked King Prawns (optional)

Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the onions. Cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes until soft.

Add the stock and bring to the boil. Add the peas and simmer for a few minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the horseradish and tabasco. Blitz until the soup is nice and smooth.

To add a tasty protein kick, garnish with cooked King Prawns.

Green & Red Superfood Salad

Home grown goodies

I used some great home grown ingredients in this - lettuce, beetroot (grated) and lentil, pea and bean shoots. Plus bought some young spinach, fennel (shaved) and pomegranate to complete this delicious salad. Chucked it all together et voila....

Wild Horseradish Sauce

Today baby Sophie and I went on a woodland adventure foraging for wild horseradish. With the help of a friendly local who pointed us in the right direction we managed to find and dig up this pretty impressive root.

At home I cleaned it up and (with a LOT of eye-watering) grated it and made it into an amazing horseradish sauce by adding a small pot of natural yoghurt, a teaspoon of cider vinegar, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a half a teaspoon of sugar.

The cleaned up horseradish root

The perfect accompaniment to fillet steak and piles of sweet potato fries..

Hot Horseradish

Sweet potato fries

Chicken & Vegetable Chilli

This is a great everyday family meal which is packed with beans and veg so you don't need rice, just a handful of tortilla chips or dehydrated root vegetable slices if you want to be really healthy.

Recipe (Serves 4)

Coconut Oil
8 quartered skinless chicken thigh fillets

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced
2 carrots, chopped into batons
2 tsp smoked paprika
1-2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp toasted cumin seeds
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 x 400g tin pinto beans, rinsed and drained
400ml chicken (or vegetable) stock
150g green beans, trimmed
2 large handfuls of spinach
Natural yoghurt to serve


Heat a generous amount of coconut oil in a pan and brown the chicken.

Remove the chicken from the pan and replace with the onions. Cook for 5-7 minutes until golden and softened.

Add the pepper and carrots and cook for 5 minutes and then add the chicken back to the pan.

Stir in all the spices and cook for a minute, then add the tomatoes, pinto beans and stock.

Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the green beans and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes, stirring in the spinach a few minutes before serving.

Serve in bowls with a handful of chips and a spoonful of yoghurt.



Chicken & Vegetable Chilli

A New Soundtrack

As soon as I saw the chink of sunlight through my bedroom curtains this morning I was itching to get out for a good run. So I quickly got into my running gear, GPS and playlist at the ready as I do every morning and headed out towards the nearby woodland. Before long I was in a good pacey rhythm, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and the promise of a happy sunny day ahead. At about 3 miles in, the music that was pumping into my ears stopped abruptly, the woman who tells me my average pace had gone..my iPod was dead. Not good.

If like me you like some upbeat motivational tunes to accompany your run and set yourself goals to improve on speed/time you'll know what I'm talking about here..

As it turns out, the lack of power in my iPod turned this into a brilliant new experience. My new soundtrack was better than I could have ever expected. The rhythmic beat of my feet striking the ground, the sounds of birds, sheep, ducks, a stream running alongside me. I can't believe I've been missing out on all of this beneath the sound of Emeli Sande.. I felt so much more connected with my surroundings and my body, and managed to completely let go of the pressure that I usually put myself under to perform and improve every time I run.

This has really been a revelation to me and I've decided that from now on I'll go running gadget free at least once a week and just really enjoy connecting with nature and feeling what my body is doing that day.

First Sighting of Sunshine! - Greek Salad

It's been such a wet July so far, so it was lovely to sit in the sunniest spot of the garden with a couple of friends and enjoy lunch alfresco today.

A tasty Greek Salad of cucumber, home grown tomatoes and black olives topped with crumbled feta and a very big squeeze of lemon juice was just perfect.

Green Prawn Curry

Ingredients

3cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 onion, roughly chopped

1-2 green chillies

1tsp ground cumin

2tsp ground coriander

4 cardamom pods, split and seeds crushed

100ml chicken or veg stock

200ml half fat coconut milk

Bunch of coriander, finely chopped

Bunch of mint, finely chopped

400g raw peeled prawns

Blitz the ginger, garlic, onion, chillies and all of the spices with a splash of water into a smoothe paste.

Heat some oil in a pan (I use a fine oil spray and a non-stick wok) and fry the paste for 5 minutes. Add the stock and coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes.

Then add the prawns and herbs and simmer for a further 3 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Serve with brown rice /cauliflower rice.