We believe in eating the best quality food, striving for a good balance between the food groups, enjoying  seasonal and local produce.  A healthy diet is a key to good health.

Winter Salads

Pat writes:

This is the time of year when some of us regret the extra calorie intake over the holidays, and resolve to start a new diet.

You may find the idea of salad in winter less than appealing, especially as the cucumbers and tomatoes on your supermarket shelves were probably grown in glasshouses and flown in for sale.  However, salads made from traditional winter fruits and vegetables can be very appealing.  As well as being a boon to a reduced calorie diet, winter salad can add vitamins, texture and flavour to your meals.

I found this yummy recipe on a leaflet from Abel & Cole; I have a box of organic fruit and veg from them every week and try to make new and interesting dishes to keep the family happy.  This cabbage and cranberry salad proved especially popular

Shredded Cabbage and Cranberry Salad by Abel & Cole, serves 4 to 6 (with extremely generous portions)

1 white cabbage, shredded, 160 g dried cranberries, 100g slivered almonds, 120 ml mayonnaise (I use the reduced fat version), 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and 3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley (I have never included parsley as I keep forgetting to buy any).

I mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl (except for the almonds), then toasted the almonds in a small frying pan and sprinkled them over the top of the salad just before serving.

Other salad ideas (see photos on our Photo Gallery page):

Carrots with sultanas or raisins.   Simple grate a fresh carrot or two (depending on how many people you are feeding), add a scant tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, about 2 tablespoons of sultanas or raisins and top with a few toasted pine nuts.

Waldorf Salad.  A mix of apples (use a variety with pretty red skin), walnuts, celery and grapes (or sultanas) held together with a tiny amount of mayonnaise (preferably reduced fat.

You will notice that I add nuts to my salads.  Some people are worried by the calories in nuts.  In my opinion, moderation is the key.  Also, some nuts may help to reduce ‘bad’ cholesterol.  Try a Google search on nuts and cholesterol for more information.

Herbs 

Tricia writes:

I love the traditional feel of growing herbs. Used throughout the ages for culinary and medicinal purposes, they have an air of mystery about them. Come the early summertime, my kitchen windowsill is strewn with pots of herbs. This is much cheaper than purchasing fresh herbs in the supermarket plus it’s lovely to pick herbs straight from your own pots. This year, I am growing parsley, coriander and sweet basil in the kitchen, plus bay, chives, thyme, garlic and mint in the garden. A friend provides me with rosemary from her garden as I always fail miserably to grow it myself.

Herbs are packed with nutrients including anti oxidants which help neutralise the damaging and ageing free radicals in our bodies

Parsley is used to garnish dishes and as a flavouring for sauces and savoury dishes. It is claimed parsley reduces inflammation, stimulates digestion and clears toxins.

Coriander flavours soups, curries and salads.  It has been cultivated for over three thousand years. It is claimed that coriander stimulates appetite and relieves digestive irritation.

Sweet Basil is used to flavour meat and tomato based dishes. As it is delicate, it is often added to recipes at the last minute to improve the flavour. Basil is said to lower fever.

Bay grows well in a pot in the garden and looks very attractive. The leaves can be picked as required to add to sauces, soups and meat dishes. Bay leaves are said to aid digestion.

Chives are used in salads, sauces and soups but I find they are also great chopped and added to the filling of an omelette. They are said to be useful as a tonic. Chives look lovely in the garden as they are bulb like and many varieties produce flower heads, mine are a gorgeous purple.

Thyme has many species with various colour flowers. Mine are white and purple, providing useful ground cover in the border of our front garden. Thyme is said to be antiseptic, improve the immune system and ease sore throats. The leaves are used as flavouring in recipes.

Mint is prolific, therefore best grown in pots as it can be invasive in garden borders. It is lovely as flavouring for new potatoes or chopped to make mint sauce to accompany roast lamb. It is said to ease stomach problems and headaches.

Rosemary can be a striking feature in your garden as it grows into a bush. It is said to relax spasms, relieve pain aid digestion and stimulate the liver. Its culinary uses are to flavour lamb dishes, soups and stews.

It’s certainly worth having a go at growing a few herbs to add to your recipes.

Healthy Picnics

Pat writes:

There was a time when my kids’ idea of a good picnic was to get in the car and drive to McDonald’s.  In case you are interested, a Big Mac, medium fries and small chocolate milkshake would prove 1040 calories.  (I got the calorie information from the McDonald’s website.)

It could have been worse.  An article appeared in ‘The Scotsman’ on 31 July 2008 saying that a typical British picnic ‘contains as much fat as is recommended to eat over 2 days’.  However, the picnic described in the article included Scotch eggs, pork pies, sandwiches, crisps, sausage rolls, a slice of cake and fizzy drinks.  Does anybody really take that much?

The ideal healthy picnic would include lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, sandwiches with low fat fillings between slices of wholemeal bread, dried fruit and chilled water.

This ideal picnic would be packed into a wicker basket lined with lovely floral fabric.  You would spread your checked blanket in an isolated woodland glade, far from the madding crowd and everyone would have a lovely time.

In real life, your Special One might say ‘you know I don’t like brown bread’, your kids might ask where you’ve hidden the crisps and your elderly parent might say, ‘ I can’t manage raw vegetables with my fragile teeth.’ All this might make you wish you had stayed at home.

Consider a lovely picnic with some compromises.

Do include a selection of fresh vegetables, cut into easy to eat pieces.  You could include carrots, celery, peppers, radishes, and baby sweet corn or sugar snap peas.  But take a healthy dip, such as salsa or hummus

If your picnic party consists of adults, they might enjoy smoked salmon with low fat cream cheese on brown bread.  My Wonderful Husband claims he was traumatised as a child by being made to eat Extreme Granary bread.  The result is that he does not like bread with ‘bits’ in it.   One compromise is to make sandwiches with one piece of white bread, and one brown.

Perhaps some members of your family do not really like sandwiches?  Think of taking cooked chicken or sausages.  Try to choose cuts/varieties with lower fat content.  Grill sausages to that fat drips away.

When packing sandwiches or chilled meat for a picnic, remember that it is important to keep it chilled.  Carry this part of the picnic in an insulated chill bag.  After all, it’s better to lug along a bit of extra weight than suffer a prolonged tummy upset or worse.

You could make a pasta or potato salad – ideally without mayonnaise.  Don’t use salt to add flavour, but try spring onions, garlic, black pepper or herbs.

If your kids insist on crisps, it is possible to impose some portion control by taking the crisps out of the large bag, and packing them into small re-sealable sandwich bags.  Then everybody has their own serving, and there is less chance of argument over who has had the most.

Dried fruit, such as soft apricots, dates or raisins make sweet addition to your picnic.  When my kids were little, they were never keen on being given a handful of raisins, but did like them when presented in a little box.  (Tricia says that hers were the same).

Take along chilled water, or mix fruit juice and iced water for a refreshing drink.

Valentines Day Yummy Food  

Who can help but think of chocolate as a Valentine’s Day treat? Chocolate hearts, chocolate boxes, chocolate bars – all scrummy. Rather than eating a large quantity of chocolate, why not keep the calories down a bit but still indulge by purchasing a small amount of more expensive chocolate on  ‘less is more’ basis. Dark chocolate contains flavonoids that act as antioxidants which help to protect the body form aging, including the heart. Flavonoids assist in keeping blood pressure within correct boundaries and in balancing hormones. What a great excuse!

For a feel good factor too, Thorntons, Oxfam, Waitrose and Sainsburys all sell dark, fair-trade chocolate products. For a fuller list, visit http://www.fairtrade.co.uk.

 For an inexpensive bar of dark chocolate, check out your local Co-operative store.

‘Divine’ chocolate is a great fair-trade brand. The Divine Chocolate Shop at http://www.divinechocolate.com sells gifts for special occasions. You may be able to purchase it in your local Oxfam shop or Co-op. For Valentine’s day, there are several products available including packets of lovely little hearts wrapped up in red foil. 'Divine' uses Ghanaina cocoa, pure cocoa butter and real vanilla in it’s products. Not only are the products Fairtrade giving African farmers a fair price for the product, but the Ghanian Kuapa Kokoo farmers own the co-operative too.    

To continue the theme, Fruit Passion sell fair-trade fruit juices, available in stores such as Sainsburys and Oxfam.  

Passion Fruits are an unusual Valentine’s Day indulgence. They are said to have a calming, relaxing effect. Passion fruits are native to southern Brazil and northern Argentina. They are now also grown in South Africa, Florida, California and Kenya. The skin is yellow. Passion Fruits are packed with vitamins A and C plus iron, potassium and fibre. They store in the fridge but need to be ripe to eat so may require ripening up at room temperature until the skin is wrinkled.

To eat passion fruit you can use the pulp. Scrape it out, sieve to remove the seeds if required or you can eat these too for an extra health benefit, then serve on top of yoghurt or another dessert, use in a sorbet or over a salad. You can even just eat it directly from a spoon. Be careful not to scrape out the white part, as this tastes bitter. They are available from the large supermarkets and some smaller outlets.  

Foods that traditionally have aphrodisiac qualities, though there may be no scientific evidence for this, are listed below. Great fun to eat on Valentines Day anyway!

Artichokes: fibre, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C. A natural diuretics and digestive aid.

Asparagus: Folic acid and vitamin B

Avocado: Potassium, Vitamins B, E, K, high fibre. High in monounsaturated fat.

Bananas: potassium, vitamin B, bromelain, increases blood sugar. Think of them in a warm dessert for Valentine’s Day.

Figs: Potassium, fibre, calcium and  iron.

Honey: vitamin B, boron, sugar. Association with pollination. The word honeymoon comes from this.

Oysters: High in Zinc. Historically an aphrodisiac, possible due to their shape.

Fennel: Natural plant oestrogens.

Heart shaped chocolate cakes using good quality, Fairtrade cocoa are a real Valentines Day treat if you love cooking.

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day and don’t forget to indulge in just a little of that Fairtrade dark chocolate.

F Iron for your Hair (and the rest of your body as well)  

Most people know that insufficient iron in their daily diet can lead to anaemia but did you know an iron-poor diet can lead to thinning hair?

You can ensure that your iron intake is sufficient by maintaining a balanced and varied diet.

Beans, Brazil nuts, almonds, dried fruit, whole grains (such a brown rice), fortified breakfast cereal, most dark green leafy vegetables (especially water cress and curly kale) are all good sources of iron.

Surprisingly (to those of us brought up on Popeye cartoons), spinach is not a particularly good source, as it contains a substance that makes it harder for the body to absorb iron from it.

Liver is a good source of iron, but if you are pregnant you should avoid eating it because of the amount of Vitamin A it contains.

Eating food that is rich in Vitamin C at the same time as you eat food with iron will help your body to absorb the iron.  Consider having fruit juice or fruit with fortified breakfast cereal, or vegetables with your beans or rice.

A 50g serving of dried apricots (about 7 or 8) provides 2.1mg iron.  The recommended daily intake of iron is 14.8mg for women of childbearing age, and 8.7mg for other adult women, and all men.

Most people should be able to get all the iron they need by eating a varied and balanced diet.

We do not recommend taking an iron supplement without first seeking qualified medical advice.

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