Monthly Archives: November 2014

Homemade muesli

Homemade Muesli

This is possibly the easiest recipe I’m going to post. Why? Because there’s only 2 minutes of cooking! You then simply mix together all your chosen ingredients and enjoy. Couldn’t be easier. With a homemade muesli you get to pick and choose the exact combination of grains, seeds, nuts and dried fruit that you like. Too often shop bought muesli has too much added sugar, dried fruits preserved in sulphur dioxide or added sunflower oil. This muesli is clean, healthy and gluten free . Enjoy with a splash of organic milk ( dairy or non dairy) or give making your own almond milk a go! Post to follow soon!

Portion – 1

Prep – 5 minutes
Cooking- 2 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp gluten free oats.
• 2 tbsp buckwheat flakes.
• 1 tbsp desiccated or flaked coconut.
• 1 tbsp mixed seeds. (I used pumpkin and sunflower).
• 1 tbsp mixed nuts. ( I used almonds, walnuts, cashew and Brazil).
• 10 g dark chocolate snipped into nibs.
• 2 dates finely chopped.
• 1/4 – 1/2 apple coarsely grated.
• pinch of cinnamon if desired.
• handful of blueberries.
• 1-2 tbsp flaked almonds.

Method

Place the flaked almonds into a frying pan without oil and dry fry for 1-2 minutes until golden.

Mix all ingredients together. Transfer into your breakfast bowl and enjoy with milk of your choice.

Here’s the juicy bit . . . .

Buckwheat is a fantastic wholegrain. By wholegrain I mean it has not been stripped of its nutrients. It still has the bran layer where all the fibre is found. The germ is also intact and here’s where you’ll get the nutrients eg vitamins and minerals. Nowadays too many carbohydrates have been refined. White rice and white pasta are two common examples. These are stripped of the bran layer and the germ leaving only minimal nutrients from the starchy endosperm.

Buckwheat is gluten free. Gluten is a sticky protein which a lot of people find difficult to digest. It can irritate the lining of your digestive system and reduce the absorption of nutrients thereby leaving some people deficient in certain nutrients. If you are gluten sensitive or intolerant it’s important you avoid foods containing gluten. There are a number of foods which contain gluten but wheat, barley and rye are the biggest offenders.

Buckwheat is high in B group vitamins which are water soluble and cannot be stored in the body. This group of vitamins have a wide and varied list of functions ranging from aiding in the breakdown of carbohydrates, fats and proteins and thereby enabling the body to gain energy from their metabolism. B vitamins also have a role to play in the production of hormones and producing blood cells to name but a few important roles.

 


Roasted Beetroot and Squash with Quinoa

Roasted Beetroot and Squash with Quinoa

Roasted Beetroot and Squash with Quinoa

This little gem of a dish was my go to lunch in the first 6 months after my daughter was born.

In my experience the first 3 – 6 months after baby arrives home, virtually no routine, day or night exists. There have been countless times on returning home (always famished) from a morning trip to the GP, shops or a walk and I would have two hungry children who needed feeding pronto.

Quick processed food only gives a delivery of calories with little substance. This type of food didn’t give me the proper energy to look after a baby and an energetic toddler on sometimes only 2-3 hrs sleep!

So I needed healthy food I could quickly prepare for myself and let the oven do most of the work! I felt it was essential to keep eating well especially during these challenging days. I realised quickly that if I kept the foods in this meal as cupboard staples I would always have a healthy, nourishing meal available.

Simply peel and chop the vegetables and bung in the oven. You can then devote your time to toddler and baby’s needs, content knowing a delicious meal is under way. This is a meal I continue to cook most weeks. It’s easy, tasty, healthy and inexpensive.

I hope this dish comes to your rescue too!! Enjoy.

Portions -1
Prep – 5 minutes
Cooking time – 30 minutes

Ingredients

200g butternut squash
2 raw beetroots
6 cherry tomatoes
50g quinoa
50g basmati rice
50g feta cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp coconut oil

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Simply peel and dice your butternut squash into cubes. Peel and cut your beetroots into wedges. Wash the tomatoes and place all into a baking dish with the coconut oil. As always after about 5 minutes once the oil has melted give the tray a good toss ensuring all vegetables get coated in the oil and place back in the oven. After 30 mins I switch off the oven but leave the vegetables in the heat of the oven until I’m ready to cook the quinoa & rice.

When you’re ready rinse the quinoa and rice and place in a pot with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 12-15 minutes or as the package instructs.

Once cooked place the quinoa and rice on a plate, take the vegetables out of the oven and tumble them on top of the quinoa & rice. Crumble the feta over the dish and add a grind of salt and pepper to taste.

If you don’t eat dairy you can easily replace the feta with avocado or umeboshi vinegar.

Here’s the juicy bit . . .

Quinoa is considered a superfood due to its many health giving properties. It is actually a seed but we cook it like a grain. There are three types of quinoa, white, black and red. It is a great source of protein and is known as a complete protein as it contains all the essential amino acids the body needs for growth and repair. A valuable food for vegetarians, vegans or people who have difficulty digesting animal protein.

A high fibre food which aids in preventing constipation.

Quinoa is gluten free which is important for coeliacs and people who are gluten sensitive.

Finally this seed has a varied list of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants which all contribute to good health and wellbeing.