Life: A Great Weekend

I had such a great weekend, especially where food was concerned. I went for dinner on Friday at the Wild Food Cafe in Neal's Yard with my friend Frankie. I met Frankie at a house party last year and then, due to lots of shared interests - food, yoga, Jonathan Creek(!) which all become apparent on Facebook, we decided to go for dinner. Stupidly, I forgot my phone so these photos are courtesy of Frankie (thank you).

Food: What I Ate Today - 8th May

Since I returned from Egypt, I've been back on the healthy diet bandwagon. I just thought I'd share with you the things I've been rustling up.

Firstly, lunch was my current favourite, quinoa. I really enjoyed roasting off some butternut squash a couple of weeks earlier and incorporating that into a quinoa salad, but it was time consuming and yesterday I wanted food, fast! Instead, I microwaved a couple of sweet potates for 10 minutes and scooped out the flesh. I added some cooked frozen peas, freshly chopped mint and a can of black eyed peas, and voila! a super easy, tasty and healthy lunch. I made loads too - Martin's been instructed to take it to work everyday!

quinoa salad with sweet potato, peas, mint and black eyed peas

Beauty: Coconut Oil

As part of my healthy eating plan, I decided to buy a bottle of coconut oil. To be honest, before I read about it on the keepinghealthygettingstylish blog, I didn't even know that this product existed. Having looked in the oil section of the supermarket, I couldn't spot coconut oil anywhere. Instead, I spotted a bottle in the cosmetics aisle. I was a little dubious about eating it because of its location. But having researched it fully online, I see that it is perfectly safe to consume. However, the first problem I am faced with is how on earth I get it out of its bottle?! Coconut oil is solid at room temperature. I've only managed to get it out of the neck of the bottle by using the end of a spoon. What will I do when I reach the end of the bottle? Am I going to have to soak the bottle in hot water every time I want to use it?

After all the faff with accessing the stuff, I want to know what all the fuss is about. The Internet is full of hugely detailed scientific explantations, but I'm going to list the uses which actually mean something to me.

- high smoke point - it is essential that you use an oil with a high smoke point for frying otherwise your pan with emit horrible smoky fumes. Coconut oil is perfect for stir fries and makes a much healthier, dairy free alternative to butter.

Food: granola bars

Further to the success of my fruit nuggets, I thought I'd have a go at making some more portable energy foods. I decided upon granola bars. I love granola. It's full of oats, fruit and honey. I usually eat shop bought granola with yoghurt and a little honey as a tasty breakfast alternative.

The granola bars below are great for breakfast on the go, and for providing a long term energy fix during the day. Ok, they're not super healthy owing to the inclusion of butter and sugar. However, the granola bars' butter and sugar content compares very favourably with most other cakes/biscuits. Plus you have the added benefit of slow burn oats and healthy dried fruits. The dried fruits add a natural sweetness to the bars so less sugar is needed.

The recipe below makes deliciously chewy granola bars. Feel free to use any combination of dried fruits, nuts and seeds - the end result will be absolutely delicious, I promise! The recipe below is just a guide so you use the correct quantities.

Granola bars

granola bars

Serves 14

200g porridge oats
100g butter
100g dried figs/dates/apricots
50g sesame seeds
50g chopped almonds
50ml runny honey
100g pumpkin or sunflower seeds
100g light brown sugar

Food: Initial thoughts on new food changes plus fruit nuggets recipe

It's been an interesting few days giving up refined sugars and processed carbs. It started with our big weekly food shop. On an average week, our trolley starts out healthy enough - a reasonable mix of fruit, vegetables and chicken. Then all my good intentions fail when I inevitably add a mixture of the following to trolley: Kit Kats, shortbread, any Cadbury's chocolate, bagels, Ben and Jerry's etc etc etc. Martin is much better than me. He never craves these high sugar foods, he'll eat them if they're around but he won't be pushing for their inclusion in our trolley.

Our latest food shop

Firstly, I'd like to say that it has been much easier than I anticipated. I thought I'd be craving sugary food but I've realised that as long as I make an effort to make/eat tasty alternatives, then I really don't feel like I'm missing out. It's no wonder people fall off the bandwagon when they only have lettuce to look forward to for dinner. However, if you create a delicious quinoa salad (quick and easy to do), then not only are you rewarded with a tasty meal but you also feel very full. So far I've made homemade quinoa, granola bars, chili con carne and fruit nuggets. With such tasty food, this food change can hardly be called a diet!

First Quinoa Recipe

quinoa

I've been carrying out a lot of research into quinoa. This grain is a complete unknown to me. I've only ever had it in some preprepared MandS salads. Firstly, I wanted to find out if it lived up to all the hype.
Today, the term 'superfood' is constantly thrown about and I've always been quite reluctant to get on board. Many superfoods are over priced and I'm still doubtful as to whether they convey much higher health benefits than their less expensive alternatives. The goji berry is the perfect example. I stumbled across this small pink, oblong berry in a mix of other dried berries. After taking a handful of berries I was surprised by the over riding bitterness and endeavoured to sample each berry individually to work out which one was causing it. It was the goji berry. I've now made a mental note to never eat goji berries again.