Cauliflower is not one of the nation’s most popular vegetables – it has a reputation for being a bit tasteless and unexciting, but I want to try to persuade you otherwise. We regularly recommend our clients incorporate cauliflower into their diets, and some of you may have already discovered its virtues, but for those of you that tend bypass in when choosing your weekly veg, I urge you to buy one and give our recipes a try.
These are delicious as a treat for you and your family, or you could make some for friends who will love the deep chocolate flavour.
Why raw chocolate. Well, it’s a superfood. Here are just some of the benefits:
– it contains many vitamins and minerals which are destroyed when it is roasted including magnesium, manganese, potassium, calcium, sulphur, iron, copper and zinc. Plus, polyphenols which have antioxidant properties, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B9, E, a heart-healthy fat called oleic acid, protein and fibre
I am going for a colourful crowd-pleaser tonight, mini herby lamb burgers served with grated carrot and beetroot salad, and green beans. I might sound smug, but my kids both love this beetroot salad, I think it’s the vinegary-ness and the colour – plus they both think it’s very funny that their wee goes pink after eating it!
Tonight i’m craving some comfort food and what I really fancy is cottage pie. My version contains lots of hidden vegetables, and is also free from potato and therefore much lighter on starch, helping to keep blood sugar levels settled during the evening. Instead of potato, I absolutely love to use mashed cauliflower. I know cauliflower isn’t a very popular vegetable, but I really encourage you to try this. There’s something about the smooth, creamy cauliflower that works brilliantly with the savoury sauce and it’s a million miles away from over-boiled grey and soggy cauliflower, I promise you.
Frittata is an Italian omelette and my ‘go-to’ if I’ve just come home late from work and need to cook something quickly which was exactly what happened tonight. I also make an even speedier version without potatoes for breakfast and pop in any other quick cooking vegetables e.g. spinach. The high protein content of the eggs and peas makes it very filling as well as nutritious. In the picture you will see there is something that looks like big onion rings. They are actually slices of butternut squash which I have baked in coconut oil and sprinkled with paprika.
Nutritionists, Maria and I, are taking it in turns to share our evening meals with you this week, and tonight it’s my turn. I went out and enjoyed a lovely family dinner at Cote Brasserie last night, and it was steaks all round, delicious! So tonight I am in the mood for something a little lighter and have decided to go for salmon – rich in omega 3 fatty acids and a good quality protein to keep blood sugar balanced. To add interesting flavour I’m topping the salmon with a dairy-free pesto style topping, and serving it with some herby sweet potato wedges and greens. As nutritionists we always advise people to cover half of their dinner plates with green vegetables or salads to provide nutrients, antioxidants and fibre, so be generous with your greens.
Dinner tonight is busy so I needed to prepare something quick using ingredients I already had. The salmon and prawns were in the freezer and I took them out for defrosting this morning. My children are both 14 years old and love Asian food so I tend to opt for those types of foods when we need healthy/quick/easy. One of my daughters has a little patch of eczema on the creases of her arm and I notice that this goes when she doesn’t eat gluten. Hence, the noodles are gluten-free rice noodles. For dessert I prepped some CoYo (a yoghurt made from coconut milk and unsweetened available from Waitrose or health food shops) with berries and grated chocolate.
