Fresh rhubarb from the garden – sprinkled with light muscovado sugar and roasted until soft.
Buck wheat pancakes:
225 g buckwheat flour 1 large egg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
250 ml milk
Method:
Put the dry ingredients in to a bowl and make a well for the egg. Mix together and slowly add the milk and mix to create a smooth batter.
Cup full of quinoa washed thoroughly and cooked. Whilst hot squeeze juice of 1 lemon into it and add 2 cubes of rosemary frozen in olive oil – or a sprig of fresh rosemary. and a dash of olive oil. (I put any leftover fresh herbs in to ice-cube trays and cover with olive / coconut oil and then freeze)
Cut the peppers in half and deseed. Roast for about 10 minutes and then stuff with the quinoa mixture and put back in the oven to roast until the peppers are cooked.
I served this dish with cayenne and olive oil roasted sweet potato and butternut squash chunks (neither peeled) and a chunk of corn on the cob.
These are not very sweet just sufficient to soften the dryness of the ginger…perfect with a cup of coffee or with cheese.
Preheat oven to 190c /Gas mark 5 Line a tray with lightly greased baking parchment
Ingredients:
100 g ground almonds 3 tbsps coconut oil
50 g pecans 1 tbsp honey
180 g brown rice flour 100 ml water
2 tbsps ground ginger
Method:
Crush the pecans into a coarse texture. Put all the ingredients in to a bowl and mix. The mixture should create a firm dough (if needed, add a little more water).
Roll out until thin – less than 1/2 cm. Cut out and place on baking tray. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.
So simple to coat and roast nuts yourself rather than buying them. This way you know exactly what has been used as ingredients. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with coconut oil. Sprinkle with seasoning of your choice – I used harissa and then roast for about 10 -15 mins at the top of a hot oven. Once golden brown, remove from the oven. I then sprinkle with a pinch of pink Himalayan salt.
This used to always be heard in my house. It was a habit / a daily ritual.
How / when did this habit start? When I think back, I realise this habitual behaviour pattern started in my childhood all those eons ago. This started me thinking about other habits I formed around eating – eating the same everyday for breakfast; eating at the same time everyday; Sunday roast dinner; having a take away meal as a treat on a Friday night; Saturday night treat – meal on a tray in front of the television; the necessity of ‘waste not, want not’ and clearing your plate; the importance of sitting around a table for all the other meals and finally the importance of conversation and discussion at mealtimes.
Thankfully, I have broken all but the last 2 habits (which I feel are ones I value and are good habits). I had to consciously acknowledge these ingrained traits and work hard at overcoming them.
The final habit I have got to grips with is that of hunger v habit. The availability of food and the habitual way of eating had overridden my ability to distinguish between eating for the sake of it and true hunger. Not only had I lost the ability to tell if I was hungry but also if I was full / satiated.
Now, I ask myself, ‘Am I really hungry; or actually thirsty; or just craving something?’ and I no longer clear my plate if I am full having decided it is better for any excess food to go in the bin than be stored as fat on my body! (Reduced portion size means I don’t often waste food – this has helped me control the ‘waste not, want not’ voice in my head!)
I do, of course, still have a pudding sometimes but not as a treat for clearing my plate, or not because I always have one but just because very occasionally…I want one 🙂
Salad of rocket, radish, tomatoes and sharon fruit.
An afternoon of recipe testing resulted in these – passed the husband taste bud test!
Preheat the oven to 190c / Gas 5. Line a 20cm square brownie tin with baking paper
Ingredients:
115 g coconut oil 1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150 g light muscovado sugar 60 g coconut flour
40 g buckwheat flour
100 g dark chocolate 85% chopped in to small pieces
Method:
If the coconut oil is not melted, place over a pan of simmering water to melt it.Put all ingredients (except chocolate) in to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the chocolate and gently stir in. Pour the mixture in to the tin. Bake for 20-25 mins, until risen and firm around the edges. cut when cold – if stored in the fridge the coconut oil will set into a truffle type consistency.
I have been pondering a couple of thoughts this week and haven’t yet come up with an answer…any thoughts / ideas etc. gratefully received.
The first notion meandering about my brain is that of superfoods. I had just #superfood for one of my instagram postings and it got me thinking. The hashtag was for kale – the latest superfood. When does a food become a superfood? Who decides? What is the criteria. If I think about kale – I used to eat it all the time when I was little. Then, it wasn’t a superfood – just another vegetable on the plate eaten in the same way as Savoy cabbage. As far as I am aware it hasn’t been genetically modified in any way so why the relabelling? The same with avocados. In the 80’s trendy ‘hippie’ types, as my elderly aunt would call people who ate anything that wasn’t meat and two veg, ate the new fruit – avocado. I distinctly remember putting the ‘pear’ in a fruit salad and being deeply disappointed. I also remember the trend of suspending the stone in some water and growing an avocado plant – I grew several. It then went out of fashion for being too calorific. and full of fat as the low-fat diets swept the country. Now of course we know that the fat within this food is good for us. I adore avocado and eat/ drink it daily.
The other thought entwining my grey matter is that of recommended daily intake – food agencies determine using scientific evidence the recommended daily intake of various food stuffs. What I don’t understand is that the daily recommendations vary for different countries…but we are all people just living in different places. The UK recommends at least 5 portions of fruit/veg a day whereas the Australian Government guidelines are 5 portions of vegetables / legumes a day and no more than 2 portions of fruit. It’s different again in Japan – 5-6 portions of vegetable dishes and only 2 portions of fruit.
How can we mere mortals hope to keep up if the facts are always changing?
Such a delicious addition / focus of many a dish. I find the quickest and easiest way to cook it is to pan fry it – in coconut oil. Stir occasionally to ensure coated in the oil. It takes 5 – 10 mins on a high heat. 
Here are several different ways we eat it:
With butter sautéed button mushrooms – sprinkled with parmesan – starter or main.
Served with quail eggs and sprinkled with parmesan – a delicious combination of flavours. Perfect as a starter – 3 eggs and 5 stems or main dish.
Served with quail eggs, roasted salmon, tomatoes and a Greek yoghurt and chilli flake dip.
Cold in a salad – here with sprouted brown chick peas, tomatoes and mozzarella on a bed of watercress.
…and probably my favourite…
Served on gluten-free muffins with poached free range eggs and serves with a generous dollop of hollandaise sauce.
Four weeks ago (my… how time flies) I decided I would trial removing meat completely from my diet. I have been really surprised at how I haven’t missed it at all – even when I cooked bacon for my husband. I thought that would make me drool and waver! I can not believe how much better I feel. I popped on the scales the other day (still can’t get over the fact that I no longer pop on them 6, 7 ,8+ times a day) and discovered I had lost a couple of pounds. In addition, when I got the dreaded tape measure out I discovered that my waist is now less than half my height which is a good indication that I’m not carrying too much visceral fat – all good for my overall health. As my weight seems to be recalibrating at a sensible rate I am content that my body fat is reducing with the preservation of my muscle mass (compared to the effect on my body each time I went on the latest fad diet).
Thinking back to all the various ‘diets’ I have been on made me think about…if the principle of energy balance is so simple why was it so hard for me to lose weight before and why, over a period of 2/3 yrs did the majority of weight lost go back on. I think it all boils down to the fact that in each case I felt restricted and also didn’t make real changes to my dietary habits.
I don’t want to ‘go on’ like some reformed individual but the dietary habits I follow now suit me. They suit my way of thinking and understanding of how my body processes the food I eat. I don’t feel restricted in any way, shape or form and I am now following a good diet in the true sense of the word.
Jo's food bites. 