Serves 4

Ingredients

1tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

350g portobello mushrooms (any kind will do), chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

3 dashes Italian seasoning

1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 cup heavy/whipping cream

1 small bag baby spinach

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Method

Add the olive oil to a skillet on medium-high heat, once hot, the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Next, add the mushrooms, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Continue to cook, for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the mustard and white wine, let it bubble for a minute or so and then pour in the cream. Wait until it starts to bubble again, then cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the spinach, cover the pan again, and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the parmesan and season with salt & pepper, then add the pasta. Serve with freshly chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

This cornbread is great served grilled alongside your favourite Mexican inspired dish!

Makes 8 Slices

Ingredients

50g butter

1 small onion, chopped

225g fine cornmeal

140g plain flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1½ tsp salt

568ml buttermilk, (or same quantity semi-skimmed milk with a squeeze of lemon juice)

2-4 jalapenos/ green chillies, chopped

200g cheddar, grated

Method

Firstly, preheat the oven to 210C fan/ 220C, then line a 23cm cake tin or ovenproof frying pan. Next, Melt the butter in a separate frying pan. Cook the onion over a gentle heat for 5 mins until softened.

Meanwhile, tip all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Beat together the buttermilk and eggs in a separate bowl, then stir in the buttery onions. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix together until just combined and you have a batter.

Pour the batter into the cake tin or frying pan and smooth the top. Bake for 25 mins until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 mins, then turn out, cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breasts

1tbsp Honey

1tbsp Olive oil

2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed

1tbsp Wholegrain mustard

1tbsp Chopped tarragon

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Cup of Millet/Quinoa/Mixed Grains

40g Cucumber, diced

40g Mango, diced

4 Leaves of Basil

1 Bag of mixed leaves

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Splash of olive oil

Pinch of salt

 2 Peppers (whichever colours you prefer)

2 Red onions

2 Courgettes

1 Packet of vine tomatoes

Method

Put the millet into a medium saucepan and cover with 2 cups of water, before adding a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and leave to cook for 20-25 mins or until there is no liquid left, add a little olive oil, stir and leave to cool. 

Preheat the oven to 220c. Butterfly the chicken breasts and marinate for at least 25 mins in the honey, olive oil, garlic, wholegrain mustard and tarragon, add salt and pepper to taste. Whilst this is marinating you can start to prep the grain salad and roasted veg.

Roughly chop the veggies and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and roast in the oven for 25 mins. Then pop the chicken breasts in the oven for roughly 17 mins, depending on their size.

Once your grains are cool, stir in the diced cucumber, mango, chopped basil, salt and pepper, mixed leaves and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

This recipe is so fresh and delicious, serve with cooked noodles or rice.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp veg oil

1 onion, diced

thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and grated

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp shrimp paste

1 small red chilli 

2 lemongrass stalks, bruised with a rolling pin

1 heaped tbsp medium curry powder

1 heaped tbsp light muscovado sugar

small bunch coriander

400g can coconut milk

450g skinless cod/pollock/hake fillets (any white fish)

220g pack raw prawns

1 lime, halved

Method

Heat the oil in a wide frying pan, then cook the onion for 5 mins. Increase the heat a little, stir in the ginger, garlic, shrimp paste, chilli and lemongrass, and cook for 2 mins. Add the curry powder and sugar, and keep stirring. When the sugar starts to melt and everything starts to clump together, add the coriander stems, coconut milk and 2 tbsp water, then bring to a simmer.

Add the fish to the sauce, then squeeze over half the lime. Pop on the lid and simmer for 5 mins more or until the fish is just cooked and flaking, add the prawns and continue to cook for a few mins.

Taste for seasoning, adding a squeeze more lime to the sauce if you like. Finish with coriander leaves.

Serves 6

Ingredients

3 Large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 

3 cloves garlic, crushed

600g lean beef mince

8 slices of chorizo

400g chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin

8 mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, diced

½ tsp sea salt

100 g mozzarella

50 g cheddar

500 g Greek yoghurt

500 g cottage cheese

1 egg

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Preheat your oven to 190°C.

Slice the sweet potatoes into long wide thin slices. Place the sliced sweet potato in a pre-heated oven to cook for 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the cottage cheese with the egg, yoghurt, olive oil and finely chopped parsley. Mix well and then set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan. Once hot, add the dried oregano, salt, garlic, onions and cumin. Once sweated down turn up the heat and add the lean beef and chorizo. Cook this until it becomes well-browned. Once the meat is well-browned, remove it from the pan and set aside.

Then, add in the mushrooms and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes. Return the cooked beef and add the tomatoes and tomato puree into the pan and stir to mix well.

To assemble the lasagne, use a 9x16 casserole dish and create the first layer with the pre-cooked sweet potato slices. Make the slices overlap so there are no spaces. Pour out half of the meat sauce over the sweet potato slices and spread out evenly. Pour out half of the cottage cheese mixture over the meat sauce and spread evenly.

Repeat these three steps with another layer of sweet potato slices, meat sauce, and then the cottage cheese. Top with a thin layer of sliced fresh mozzarella and cheddar and then place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

This recipe produces the perfect, fluffy rice. Feel free to flavour this by adding spices to the rice before cooking.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup of basmati rice

water

sea salt

Method

Put rice into a medium saucepan, cover with 1/2 an inch of water and add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat to the lowest possible setting. Pot the lid on and cook until all the liquid is gone (about 20-25 mins).

Best served with my Kadala Curry recipe and/or Dhal - these can be found in my blog.

Serves 2, or 4 as a side dish

Ingredients

1 cup red split lentils

2 cups water

1tbsp butter/oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cardamom pods

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp cumin seeds

¼ tsp turmeric

2 small green chillies

½ tsp garam masala

1tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

salt

Method

In a medium saucepan bring the water to the boil, add the turmeric and garam masala and lentils with a generous pinch of salt. Leave this to simmer with the lid on for 20-30 mins or until cooked (flakey consistency), it will be quite, but as it cools slightly, it will thicken up. 

Once this is finished cooking, heat the oil/butter in a frying pan, add the garlic, cardamom pods and cumin, cook for a few mins, then add to the dhal. Finish with fresh coriander. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the paste:

2tbsp oil

1 onion, diced

1tsp fresh or dried chilli

1 small bulb of garlic (9 cloves), crushed

Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1tbsp ground coriander

2tbsp ground cumin

1tbsp garam masala

2tbsp tomato puree

For the curry:

2x400g cans chickpeas, drained

400g can chopped toms

100g creamed coconut

100g fresh spinach

½ small pack of coriander, chopped (can use frozen)

Salt, to taste

Method

In a large pan, heat the oil, then add the diced onion with a generous pinch of salt. Sweat this down on a medium heat until soft and transparent. Meanwhile, in a food processor, blend together the garlic and spices until they have formed a paste. Add to the onions, once cooked.

Continue to cook this out for 5 mins, to take the bitterness away from the spices and release their full flavour. Stir in the tomato paste and cook out for another 5 mins.

Then add the chopped tomatoes with another pinch of salt, leaving to simmer with a lid on for 5-10 mins. 

Next, add the coconut and chickpeas, put the lid back on and cook for 5 mins. Finally, add in the spinach and stir until wilted down. Top with fresh coriander and serve with basmati rice and dhal.

If you are trying to lose weight, then you may be shocked to hear that foods we consider to be healthy can be high in calories, leading to unexpected weight gain.

Often we THINK we are eating better than we are!

There are a lot of different things that can contribute towards this. One of the main culprits is HIDDEN CALORIES.

What does this mean?!

Take your morning toast with jam as an example. How much butter/spread do you use? Do you know how many calories are in that amount? (Go and google how many Kcals in a teaspoon of spread/…butter)

You might surprise yourself at just how much you slather on without even thinking about it! What about the jam? How much of that do you put on...a teaspoon, a tablespoon? But what is a tablespoon?! We don’t weigh our jam onto our toast everyday do we?! Probably not (unless you’re tracking), BUT it can be useful to do this every now and again to make sure we are AWARE of how much we are having and how much this contributes to our daily calories.

Peanut butter...again, do you have a teaspoon or a heaped teaspoon? One person’s perception of a teaspoon can be totally different from another’s! With things like butter/spread and peanut butters etc the Kcal’s can really add up!

Now I’m not saying you can’t enjoy your jam and toast in the morning without stressing about the Calories, but just being MINDFUL can go a long way. Maybe eat your jam on toast without spread if you’re trying to eat in a calorie deficit. 

If we’re aware of how many Calories are in our breakfast, it can help us to stay on track with those goals.

This leads me onto Oil. Who cooks with oil? Yes, most of us! 

Just 1 tablespoon of Olive oil has 120 Kcals. So think about how much you are cooking with and how many portions are going to come from that dish. If you’re making a meal for 1, you don’t want to be adding 120Kcals in just oil do you?! I’m not saying oil is BAD, but 120Kcals a day for a week adds up to 840Kcals, for most people that’s a whole meal at least...in just oil!

My two top tips are:

• MAKE YOURSELF AWARE - Weigh your food every now and again, check how many calories are in the oil/butter/dressing you just added.

• BE MINDFUL - A cereal bar that is branded as ‘high protein’ doesn’t necessarily mean it is healthy.

More often than not it will have a lot of added sugars, preservatives and oils. Try making homemade instead!

A few other things to think about:

Do you have sugar in your tea or coffee (Use sweetener or wean off sugar completely)

Do you drink full fat fizzy drinks? (Try diet)

How much milk you have in your hot drinks? (if you’re having 3 lattes a day, that’s going to amount to a LOAD extra Calories)

Do you know the single most important thing for fat loss, that comes way before even a calorie deficit?

ADHERENCE.

adherence:

noun
/ədˈhɪr.əns/

The fact of someone behaving exactly according to rules.

The fact of the matter is, your body doesn't care what diet you are following, (ketogenic, vegan, paleo, blah blah blah...) YOU HAVE TO ADHERE.

You have to follow the rules. You wouldn't enter a running race and then run your own route, would you?

The same goes with following any diet or lifestyle change, you need to stick to what you're doing, consistently, otherwise, I'm afraid it just won't work.

There are various reasons we don't adhere, maybe you don't have the drive to follow through with your goal, or you're doing it for the wrong reasons, or you've been feeling very stressed recently for one reason or another....OR it could, more than likely be due to this...

Now, this is where I will introduce to you a new phrase - DIETARY FATIGUE.

I could talk about this topic all day, but I will try to make this short and digestible for you!

Dietary fatigue is exactly what it sounds like - being tired of the dietary changes/habits you are following.

Maybe you have been super motivated for the first 6 weeks of your new plan and you're just loving the positive changes you have felt/seen, but you're getting fed up with having to think about what you 'should' be doing every second of the day.

We're only human, that's totally normal. So what can we do about it? How do we get our mojo back and get out of the slump we're in?!

Actually, it's pretty simple!

Let's compare it to the gym, say you've had a really intense couple of weeks at the gym and you've hit some PB's, ( ha, I wish!) you've been working really hard and focussing a lot of your energy on getting fitter/stronger.

You will need to taper off at some stage, right? Right!

Realistically, you aren't going to be able to keep going for long going at the same pace you are before burning out. It's the same with your dietary habits, inevitably you need to take a break.

If you feel like you have been working so hard and focussing all your energy on this one thing and it's really taking it out of you, it's ok to take a break. Give yourself some slack.

Now, I'm not saying go and eat whatever you want for a few weeks by any means. But maybe let yourself have those drinks at the weekend and have a couple of biccies with your cuppa, put an extra thick spread of butter on your toast.

At the end of the day, we want this to be a sustainable change to your lifestyle, we want to engrain those positive habits, so make sure you aren't getting stuck in the same place feeling frustrated with yourself.