Tag Archives: diet

Ginger sponge pudding (GF) filled with Greek yoghurt mixed with chopped stem ginger

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Serves 4/6

Microwave  2-3 mins on full power  4/6 individual large ramekins e.g. Prestige /souffle dishes

Ingredients:

For the pudding:

100 g gluten-free self-raising flour       100 g butter

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

3 tsp ground ginger

For the filling:

6-10 tbsp Greek yoghurt                  4 pieces of stem ginger coarsely chopped

Method:

Put all the ingredients in to a bowl and mix well until smooth. Divide equally between the ramekins. Put in the microwave for 2 mins – test with skewer. Cooked when skewer comes out clean.

Mix Greek yoghurt with the chopped stem ginger. Scoop the centre of the pudding out and fill with yoghurt mixture and pop ‘lid’ back on.  Serve whilst puddings still hot.

Smoked mackerel and rice noodles

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Serves 3    Preheat oven to 180c / gas mark 4

Ingredients:

1/2 butternut squash deseeded and chopped in to small chunks

plum / cherry tomatoes

3 smoked mackerel fillets torn into large pieces

300 g rice noodles

rocket

tamari (soy sauce if non gf)

Olive oil

Method:

Put butternut squash on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in oven for about 30 mins until cooked and edges crisping.

Put a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan and, once hot, add the rice noodles. Stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for a further minute. Drizzle with tamari. Add the fish and heat through. Finally add the roasted squash, stir  and serve on a bed of rocket.

Hake, mangetout and cauliflower cheese bake

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Oven to tableware dish from Prestige

Such an easy dish to prepare:

Serves 3    Pre heat oven to 180C Gas mark 4

Ingredients

For the cheese sauce:

350 ml Full / semi skimmed milk            80 g  Cheddar / Double Gloucester cheese – grated

20 g Butter                                                       30 g gluten-free plain flour

1 tsp English mustard

For the remainder of the dish:

1 cauliflower cut in to 3 chunks             1 skinned fillet of hake    1 handful of mangetout

15 g grated cheese

Method:

Place the hake fillet within a tin foil parcel and bake in the centre of the oven for 10 mins.

Put the cauliflower in a pan of boiling water and cook until for 8- 10 mins.(alternatively steam e.g Prestige pressure cooker 5-8 mins) and boil /steam the mangetout for 3 mins.

For the cheese sauce:

Melt the butter in a saucepan.

Stir in the flour

Gradually add the milk – stirring continuously.

Simmer gently  and add the mustard and then the grated cheese, stirring until all melted and thoroughly combined.

Simply assemble all the ingredients in an oven proof dish, top with grated cheese and put in the oven to heat through thoroughly.

Wild keta salmon on courgetti, chickpeas and pine nuts

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Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets

2 courgettes – spiralised                     1/4 cup pine nuts

1 cup of chick peas (tinned)                1 tsp ground ginger

Tamari to flavour – 1 tbsp                  olive oil for cooking

Method:

Bake the salmon fillets in the oven in a tin foil parcel for 10-15 minutes – no additional flavours / oil added.

Whilst it is cooking, heat  the oil in a frying pan. Add the chick peas, pine nuts and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Add the courgetti and cook for a further minute. Add tamari  – heat through and serve.

Chia seed gluten free pancakes

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Serves 2

Ingredients:

100 g Gluten free plain flour                                        1 egg

1/2 pint whole milk                                                         2 tbsp chia seeds

Pinch of salt

Method:

Make a well in centre of flour, add salt, chia seeds and egg and mix. Gradually add milk to make batter.

Make pancakes in usual way. I have assembled with full fat natural yoghurt, fresh raspberries, sliced banana and blueberries.

Power of the mind

Posted in eating disorder, food is medicine, fructose free, functional food, healthy eating, mental illness, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

This week has been a hard one for me…I have really struggled with both sleeping and staying positive. What I have found interesting, now I can reflect back, is the speed at which both these factors impacted on my dietary desires and motivations.

I have been virtually sugar-free for months now yet this week the craving for sugar was really strong – I succumbed to cake a couple of times and even though it tasted hideously sweet, I persevered! It would have been so easy to fall back in to old habits – shockingly easy in fact – the addictive power of sugar is so scary. With a supreme conscious effort I have had a good talking to myself and ignored the voice of sugar whispering to me.

Once upon a time I would have chastised myself for this ‘slip’…but instead I am celebrating my strength and the overwhelming desire to be healthy.

Blackcurrant ‘nice cream’ (gluten and dairy free)

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2 ingredients: blackcurrants and ripe bananas

Last years crop of blackcurrants are still in the freezer and my blackcurrant bushes are laden with ripening fruit. So operation empty the freezer is taking place!

This dish is a great way to use up the pitiful looking bananas that look at the bottom of the fruitbowl – turning brown.

Method:

Put some frozen blackcurrants in to a blender (needs strong blades) / or food processor.I rinse the blackcurrants to remove any excess ice.

Add 1 or 2 bananas (some people add frozen bananas at this point – I prefer to mix everything and the pop in the freezer for a couple of hours ahead of serving)

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Pulse until blackcurrants are broken down – I use the ‘ice setting’ on my blender

Then I switch the settings to ‘desert’ and blend until all the banana is incorporated.

 

I then spoon it into a plastic container and pop it in the freezer.

Carbohydrate -friend or foe?

Posted in eating disorder, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, mental illness, specialised diet, superfood, Uncategorized, vegetables by

I have really tried to change my view of carbohydrate over the last year. I always believed it to be my foe, my nemesis even, and would try and avoid it like the plague. Each day I would try to keep my intake to below 50 g – 60 g a day – 200 -240 kcal of carbs a day. Each day I would mentally beat myself up if I hadn’t achieved this.I always felt that carbs were the reason I would put weight on and when I severely restricted them…the weight came off. Then I started to think more logically:

I need carbs for my energy needs; I can control the types of carbs I eat.

Government guidelines presently state 50-55% of daily food intake should be carbs – of that 45% complex starchy carbs and non-starchy polysaccharides – fibre and no more than 5% from free sugars. (I know this guideline has been challenged recently because of the rise of obesity – but it is all about eating the right carbs – eating carbohydrate is not just about eating white bread, pasta and potatoes!) The healthy high carb foods I eat include vegetables,legume, whole grains, nuts and berries / low fructose fruits. I avoid unhealthy carbs.

This thought process has enabled me to take back control – with careful food choices I can ensure I give my body sufficient energy sources for its needs. Intake of carbs from refined foods will have a totally different effect on my body than if I get all my  carbs from unrefined foods…in other words …if I cook from scratch, opt for foods high in fibre and with a low GI, and just eat real foods I will be eating ‘properly’ and giving my body the nutrition it needs. So this is what I do 🙂

Doing this, and keeping my free sugars to below 5% of my daily intake has improved my health, ensured any excess weight has come off and means I don’t have blood sugar spikes during the day and crave snacks in between meals…and counting calories is a thing of the past!

 

 

 

Chestnut and coconut flour pancakes

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Recipe testing and experimenting with flavours and balance resulted in these pancakes. Eaten hastily by my husband and number 1 food critic – which I take as a sign he enjoyed them!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut milk                                    1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup coconut flour                                    1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3/4 cup chestnut flour

4 eggs (seems a lot but tried with 3 and the pancakes were very dense)

Method:

Whisk the eggs and then add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spoon out mixture on to a hot griddle and cook till golden brown on both sides.

To complement the sweet nutty flavour of the chestnut flour I served them with Greek yoghurt and then a fruit topping.