Category Archives: specialised diet

Apricot, mixed seed and oat bars (gf) 

Posted in Aga cooking, cake, dairy free, food, food is medicine, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, recipe, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

Quick and easy to make and perfect as an energy bar or snack .

Preheat oven to 160c /gas mark 3  Lightly  grease a 20cm square tin.

Ingredients:

125 g butter                          100 g dried apricots – chopped

100 g muscovado sugar    50 g linseed

125 g peanut butter           50 g pumpkin seeds

200 g porridge oats           50 g sesame seeds

25 g honey                            lemon / orange rind

Method:

Put butter, sugar and honey in a large pan and onto  a low heat. Stir until melted.  Remove from the heat and add all the other ingredients. Mix well. Put in to the tin and press down. Cook for about 30 mins. Leave to cool in the tin – when warm to touch cut in to slices in the tin.  Leave until cold before lifting the pieces  out.

Banana, orange and currant gluten free mini bundt cakes 

I do love a bundt cake – makes an ordinary cake look so pretty. i was thrilled when I discovered the mini bundt tins 🙂  Of course these would be just as tasty in cupcake tins.

Preheat oven 180 c / Gas 5   Makes 12

Ingredients:

140 g butter                                    1 banana mashed

120 g muscovado sugar               Rind of an orange

170 g gluten-free self-raising flour       1/2 cup currants

4 eggs (3 if using non gf flour)

Method:

Put all the ingredients in to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Spoon the mixture in to the tins and  bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

 

Roasted vegetables, watercress and chicken soup

I always make this type of soup using leftovers. When I make a roast dinner or a dish involving roast vegetables I ensure there are some leftover to make soup the next day. Perfect if the roast was chicken as the scraps can be added to the soup and the carcass can be boiled / simmered to make a nutritious stock.

So, to a few leftover roasted vegetables – including potatoes – I add a bag of watercress and pint of stock. I simmer this for 10 minutes, blitz and then add the chicken scraps. Quick. Easy. Delicious.

Marathon or sprint?

Posted in eating disorder, food, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

In my younger days I was always on some form of diet – I’ve tried many – the ones where you spend a weekly fee, get weighed and celebrate ‘loser of the week’ (whole new meaning to the term ‘ loser’!); ones where you eat cabbage soup and very little else; meal replacement – shakes; meal replacement – shakes, protein bars and gloopy soups; not carbohydrates at the same meal as protein; very low calorie diets; eating very little carbohydrate and freely eating protein and any fats and so on…and so on.

Gosh – when I read that list back it is frightening.

What was even more frightening was that if I had put some weight on I would start one of the diets again with the view, ‘Well…it worked last time’. Thankfully I am beyond all that now. I was, however having a chat with a someone recently for whom this cycle of diet, put weight on , diet was a regular occurrence. When they uttered the words, ‘I’m doing that diet because it has always worked,’ I couldn’t stop myself from saying,’But it doesn’t work!’  They looked so affronted. I then explained my thinking – ie. if you are repeating a diet format to lose weight, again, then it hasn’t worked…as you have put weight back on. The restriction for a set time frame enabled  / facilitated weight loss but once stopped the weight piles back on. Enforced change has taken place – not actual changes…healthy changes that can become habit.

So I believe to get your body to its healthy weight is not about a sprint diet but more of a steady marathon of small changes over time that can be sustained.

Your thoughts?

 

Lemon and poppy seed gf cake 

Prepare a 2 lb/ 900 g loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 180c / gas mark 5

Ingredients:

170 g Self raising gluten-free flour      120 g light muscavado sugar    2 or 3 tbsp poppy seeds

140 g softened butter          4 eggs ( 3 if using non gf flour)    1 tsp baking powder

Juice and rind of 2 lemons – juice of 1/2 lemon for cake and 1 1/2 for drizzle topping

80 g sugar for topping (mix the sugar and lemon from 1 1/2 lemons together)

Method:

Put all of the ingredients for the cake (except lemon juice, rind and poppy seeds) in to a bowl and mix well. Add the lemon rind, juice from half a lemon and poppy seeds and combine. Put mixture in to the prepared tin and bake for about 35 mins – until skewer is clean.

Whilst the cake is still hot and in the tin spoon the lemon/sugar mixture all over the top of the cake. Once cool, remove the cake from the tin.

 

Steamed broccoli, cavolo nero kale and cod bake

A delicious dish that is assembled and then baked to heat through and crisp up the topping. Takes about 35 minutes from starting to eating 🙂

Ingredients: Broccoli, cavolo nero kale, large cod fillet, cheese sauce, plain tortilla chips, grated cheese and black pepper.

Method:

Steam the broccoli and kale. Gently simmer the cod in milk. Make a cheese sauce.

Once all cooked or made then assemble:

Put steamed broccoli and kale across the bottom of an oven proof dish
Break the cod fillet in to large pieces and arrange
Cover with the cheese sauce
Sprinkle crushed tortilla over the top and cover with grated cheese and black pepper
Bake in the oven until heated through and top crisp

1.Put steamed broccoli and kale across the bottom of an oven proof dish

2.Break the cod fillet in to large pieces and arrange

3.Cover with the cheese sauce

4. Sprinkle crushed tortilla over the top and cover with grated cheese and black pepper

5. Bake in the oven until heated through and the topping is crisp

I served this with gf tortilla wraps smothered in garlic butter and baked till starting to crisp.

 

Banana and raspberry gluten free muffins

Posted in Aga cooking, cake, eggs, food, food is medicine, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

What do you do with the sad brown banana left in the fruit bowl?  Bake with it!

The natural sweetness of the ripe banana reduces the amount of sugar  needed in the mixture. Fresh raspberries with their tangy flavour compliment the banana extremely well.

Preheat oven to 180c /gas mark 5  Makes 16 muffins

Ingredients:

220 g gluten-free self-raising flour

140 g coconut sugar (or light muscavado)

180 g butter – softened

4 eggs

1 ripe banana – mashed

100 g fresh raspberries

Method:

Put the flour, butter, sugar and eggs in to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the mashed banana and mix till combined. Add the raspberries and mix gently. Spoon in to the muffin tin. Bake for 12-15 mins until cooked.

 

 

Spiced lentil / quinoa balls in a roasted butternut squash sauce

Posted in Aga cooking, coconut oil, coeliac, food, food is medicine, functional food, ginger, gluten free, healthy eating, healthy fats, home cooking, mains, meat free, recipe, specialised diet, turmeric, Uncategorized, vegetables, vegetarian by

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Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 5.    Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper

Ingredients:

For the ‘meatballs’                                              For the sauce

1 cup quinoa                                                           Medium butternut squash

1 cup green / puy lentils                                     About 400 ml vegetable stock

1 tsp ginger                                                             4 spring onions (coarsely chopped)

1 tsp turmeric                                                         10 cherry tomatoes (chopped in half

2 tsp coconut oil                                                    About 100 ml coconut milk

1 egg                                                                          Spinach (large handful)

(Chick pea flour)                                                    Coconut oil

1 tsp cumin seeds                                                  1 tsp cayenne pepper

Method:

Deseed and chop the butternut squash in to medium-sized chunks. Drizzle with coconut oil and pop in the oven for 30 mins to soften

Rinse the quinoa and lentils and put them in a pan with 3 cups of water and the cumin seeds. Bring to boil and cook until soft. Drain any excess water.

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Allow to cool. Add all the other ingredients (except chick pea flour) and mix thoroughly. If the mixture is loose add a desertspoon of chick pea flour and mix again. You may have to do this a couple of times. Take a generous desertspoon full of mixture and roll in to a ping-pong sized ball. Lay the balls on the prepared tray

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and cook in the oven for 10-15 mins.

When the butternut squash is roasted, put half in to a blender along with the vegetable stock – you want a thick sauce consistency so add the liquid a little a time until this is achieved.

Fry the spring onions until soft. Add the cayenne powder and stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes and cook for another minute. Add the butternut squash sauce

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and once heated through add the spinach and allow to wilt.Stir in the coconut milk.

Place the ‘meatballs’ in to the sauce and simmer gently.20160916_180635Prior to serving pop the remaining butternut squash chunks in to the sauce.

I served this with naan bread. Enjoy.

If the egg was replaced with tofu, this would be a vegan dish.

Apple, cinnamon and sumac loaf (gf)

Posted in Aga cooking, cake, coeliac, eggs, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, recipe, specialised diet, Uncategorized, vegetarian by

The flavour combination of delicious lemon from Middle Eastern sumac with cinnamon and apple really blend well in this loaf.

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Prepare a 2lb / 900 g loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 180c / Gas 4

Ingredients:

150 g gluten-free self-raising flour       120 g butter

130 g light muscovado sugar          3 eggs (2 if not using gf flour)

1 cooking apple – cored, peeled and finely chopped

2 tsp cinnamon powder    2 tbsp sumac

Method:

Put the flour, 2/3 sugar, butter and eggs in a bowl mix well until smooth. In another bowl mix the remaining sugar, apple, sumac and cinnamon. Add 2/3 of this mixture to the cake mixture and ensure all mixed in. Put the mixture in the prepared tin and place the remaining apple, sugar and spice mix on the surface of the mixture.

Place in the oven and cook for 30 – 45 minutes – until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool before turning out.

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Banana cake -gluten free

Posted in Aga cooking, cake, eggs, food, fruit, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, recipe, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

The perfect way to use up the last, lonely bananas sitting in the fruit bowl looking brown and not remotely appetising.

Prepare an 18cm square tin or 2lb / 900 g loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 150c / Gas 2

Ingredients:

170 g gluten-free self-raising flour       140 g butter

100 g light muscovado sugar         4 eggs (3 if not using gf flour)

1 large /2 small ripe bananas – 5/6 slices for the top and the rest mashed (I leave mine quite chunky) or 1 large mashed and 2 split in half for the top of the cake if making a square cake.

Method:

Put all the ingredients (except banana) in to a bowl and mix well until smooth. Add the mashed banana and ensure all mixed in. Put the mixture in the prepared tin and place the sliced banana on the surface of the mixture.

Place in the oven and cook on the low heat for about 45 minutes – until the mixture is firming up. Then increase the heat to 180 C / gas mark 4 and cook until a skewer comes out clean – about 1/2 hour.

Turn on to a rack and allow to cool – or eat as a delicious pudding whilst still hot from the oven!

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