Recent Posts

Archive

Tags

Easy pickings

Could there be anything more wholesome than a morning picking fruit and veg? I have been taking my kids to Parkside Pick your own Farm in Enfield since they were very little. At the beginning I struggled a bit with the children's buggy and the vegetable cart, but as they grew, each year would get a bit easier, and we all loved it so much so went back every year. Well, my kids are now all teenagers and they still love going fruit-picking! At least they can manage the cart now and I just have to worry about how many punnets to fill. Here's what we picked yesterday: The berries will be eaten raw - and very delicious they are! The squashes have had the flesh spooned out, sautéed with some onions

Stir-fry night

Mondays are veg box delivery days in our house, so I like to make use of all those fresh veggies in Monday night's dinner. Tonight I made a stir-fry which is full of colour! Leek, carrot, asparagus, spring greens, red cabbage, broccoli, mushroom, garlic, sweetcorn and peas all feature in this stir-fry. You will notice that there's no rice or noodles in this meal. The complex carbohydrates come from peas, corn, cashew nuts, sesame seeds and carrots. Cashew nuts and sesame seeds also provide protein, and this was also supplied by tofu, which is a plant protein made from soya milk. This meal contains abundant fibre and a wide range of vitamins, minerals and plant polyphenols, so what are you go

Gimme a quiche

Quiche is probably not the first food that come to mind when you think of healthy foods. After all, it contains white flour, butter and cream. But it makes a great summer meal and is perfect for picnics, so yesterday I upgraded the standard quiche recipe with some healthy swaps. I made my crust my mixing spelt flour (about 300g), ground flaxseeds (about 4 tbsp) and oatmeal (about 100g). Instead of butter, I used olive oil, and water to bind the dough. I know you want exact quantities but I didn't use them. My mother was watching me as I made the dough and she too was aghast that I wasn't following a recipe! But I just threw the dry ingredients into a bowl and added about 4 tablespoons of oli

A pizza the action

Pizza is a delicious carb-laden meal smothered with cheese, so how can this delicious dish be made healthy? Well first of all, it is important to note that there is pizza and there’s PIZZA! The pizza found lurking in the back of the freezer section of your local store might contain more artificial additives than the one you make at home. It all comes down to the ingredients. Let’s start with the base. Traditionally pizza base is made of white flour, which may spike blood sugar levels. It may be healthier to make your pizza dough from wholegrain (or even sprouted) flour, which contains more fibre, and may have less of a sugar-spiking effect. You also might like to try different flours, such a