An Ode to Nordic Cuisine: smoked mackerel with pearl barley, pickled radishes, rye bread croutons and horseradish and cucumber dressing.

 

If I had a penny for the number of times I’ve heard people saying that healthy eating is too expensive I’d be rich enough to…eat healthily? It’s a common misconception that you have to fork out for the next popular health product like makuna honey or macha powder in order to eat better. As a rule I try not to spend more that £5 on a meal for two, and there are almost always leftovers I can have for lunch the next day. Many of us are convinced that a ready meal the cheaper option and use this to justify unhealthy food choices. Yes, it can be argued that healthy eating is a middle class luxury but it can also easily be done on a budget.

Nordic Cuisine is an great example of how healthy cooking has adapted to fit with the modern food system. It prizes meals that are simple, easy to make and not overly expensive. Designed by a group of chefs, Nordic Cuisine cuisine aimed to create a more self-sufficient food culture. Their values are based on seasonality, traditional foods, animal rights, local producers and, most importantly, health.

Since it’s foundation, Nordic Cuisine has become incredibly popular around the world for its’ delicious simplicity. One of the great aspects of this culinary movement is that it encourages only cooking seasonal produce. As well as improving sustainability and supporting local farmers, this functions to restrict food choice. Too much variability in food is of the key contributors to societies current maladaptive relationship with food and consequential obesity crisis. We can no longer make accurate judgments about the caloric content or expected satiety of foods. When even a simple yoghurt can range from around 50 calories to 500, it’s no wonder that bodies cannot adapt to a modern diet. But by only cooking with what’s in season, we can reduce the variability in foods and confine our choices to healthier ones.

Another benefit of simpler cooking is that they generally use fewer and cheaper ingredients while remaining utterly delicious. Generally fish or meat are kept pure or raw, letting natural flavours shine through. The freshness of vegetables are championed and punch is added with stronger ingredients such as pickled veg, horseradish or vinegar. So if money worries are what’s stopping you from eating well, I encourage you to turn to this way of eating. I made this incredibly flavoursome and filling dish for 4 people and the ingredients together cost me less that a small domino’s pizza. If you try nordic cooking and end up spending more that you normally would then I’ll eat my hat (as long as the hat is in season, obviously).

Smoked mackerel with pearl barley, pickled radishes, rye bread croutons and horseradish and cucumber dressing:

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

2 smoked mackerel fillets (skins removed)

1 punnet cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil

1 cup pearl barley

3 handfuls of salad leaves (spinach or lettuce will do)

5 radishes

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

3 slices rye bread

2 tablespoons horseradish cream

1/2 cucumber

1 bunch dill

1 lemon

3 tablespoons plain yoghurt

1. To start, thinly slice the radishes and place them in a bowl of vinegar, sugar and tablespoon of salt for 10-15mins.

2. Place pearl barley in a pan of boiling water and simmer for 10-15 mins. Once cooked, drain.

3. Meanwhile, roughly chopped tomatoes. Fry over olive oil or coconut oil for 5 mins and then add the mackerel fillets. As you stir break them into pieces.

6. To make rye bread croutons, cut the bread into small squares and fry over a teaspoon coconut oil or olive oil for around 5mins.

5. To make the dressing, grate cucumber into a bowl and mix with yoghurt, horseradish cream, dill, squeeze of lemon juice and pepper.

6. To plate, mix a handful of salad leaves with the mackerel mixture, sliced radishes and rye bread crutons. Then sprinkle a few spoons of pearl barley and drizzled the dressing over the top.

7. Top with dill to garnish.

Eat locally – Spring green salad with poached egg

This week I had the lovely experience of going to a pop-up restaurant on a local farm. The menu largely consisted of locally grown and killed produce, including the most delicious cherry tomatoes I’ve ever tasted and tender rabbit found in nearby fields. I would say that knowing the rabbit was killed only a few miles from where we ate made it harder to eat but I’d be lying… it was still bloody delicious. In a way, knowledge that the food was grown on the same ground we were eating on made it taste better, not only because of the freshness, but probably mainly due to the smug feeling of moral superiority that came with the meal.

The benefits of buying locally-grown foods have been hashed and rehashed, with the cynical likes of Jay Rayner asserting that buying local, fresh produce is a middle-class choice rather than a solution to save the food system. Some even claim that local produce do not rival the flavour of imported foods. This is probably a fairly accurate claim – let’s face it, the likes of you and me probably couldn’t tell the difference from a locally grown tomato and one shipped from Peru. But sourcing food locally provides something that soulless cooperations simply cannot – community. With the ability to have your shopping delivered straight to your door without having to interact with anyone but the Ocado man, modern life can be incredibly lonely. No longer do we say hi to the milk man every morning or haggle with the butcher at the price of a a lamb shank. I can sadly say that I never thought to learn the names of anyone at the Tesco counter, despite visiting almost every day. I had no clue which part of the world my food comes from or given second though to the farmers that have slaved over my meal.

Since moving to a smaller town, I’ve learn that food, at each step, should be about people. From getting a discount from the bread lady, cooking and learning recipes from your mum to sharing good food with your family and friends, food is about people. By sourcing locally, you are not only helping the sustainable food chain and getting fresh produce, but you are helping to build up the community feel that has been lost from most large cities.

Here’s a spring green salad made from entirely local produce bought at the farm. Next time you’re planning a meal, pop down to your local market or independent shop – trust me, being on first name terms with people who have the power to give out food has some serious perks.

Spring Green salad with poached egg:

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus

1 garlic clove

1 cup soy beans/edamame

1 handful flaked almonds

1 bunch spring onions

1 pinch chilli flakes

1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Lightly fry asparagus and chopped garlic in olive oil for 8-10 mins until tender

2. Add soy beans and flaked almonds and cook for a further 5-6 mins

3. Add chilli flakes and spring onions. Squeeze in 1/2 a lemon and olive oil. Season well.

4. Poach an egg in pan with hot water by swirling boiling water and cracking and egg in the centre. Cook for 2-3 mins.

5. Serve the salad and top with poached egg.

Can we taste music? Roast aubergine salad with tahini dressing

Music has the ability to transport us back to our childhood parties dancing to S club 7, make our parents flail their limbs to perfectly depict ‘dad dancing’, burst into tears and cry till we’re completely dehydrated and even increase the intelligence of babies before they’re born. But what are the effects of music on our food experiences?

Researchers at Oxford have been trying to answer this question, with some surprising results. Their findings suggest that the perception of taste and pitch are interrelated. High pitched sounds are associated with sweet and sour foods, while low pitched sounds are associated with more bitter and umami flavours.

More impressively, the sounds we hear might actually alter the taste of foods. Students were fed a toffee while listening to high- and low-frequency sounds. High notes made them rate the toffee as sweeter, where as low notes made it seem more bitter. A food artist, Caroline Hobkinson, wanted to test whether this was true in the real world, so introduced the ‘sonic cake pop’. It was served in restaurants with a telephone number that the diner had to call and then select 1 for sweet or 2 for bitter. Amazingly, the tone played down the phone changed the whole perceived taste of the dish. (You can try this out for yourselves by clicking here).

But that’s not the only effect music can has on our eating experience. Have you ever noticed that fast food chains only play overbearingly loud and intolerable pop music? That’s not just because they all have awful music taste (though this is probably also the case), but they purposefully do this to control the customer’s experiences. They want you to eat fast and leave quickly so make sure they only play high tempo songs. Alternatively, really posh restaurants almost always play soft classical music to increase the quality of your perceived experience (apart from the genius that is Heston who makes diners listen to sounds of the sea before tucking into a fish dish – an idea inspired by this research lab in Oxford).

These music varieties don’t just function to set the mood, but actually change eating behaviours. One study played different types of music to individuals and monitored their number of bites. They ate twice as fast, and consequentially consumed more, when hearing ‘spirited tunes’ in comparison to classical music or silence. The unconscious power of music on food is remarkable, impacting the speed, volume and flavour of what we eat.

This research has recently been used to investigate healthy eating. For an exciting new project, we are going to attempt to reduce caloric intake through music. The idea is that softer sounds increase the body’s perception of sweetness, which will in turn make reduce sugar consumption. We’ll be collecting the results soon, so I’ll let you know if we find music to be a useful weight loss tool!

I encourage foodies and music snobs alike to try and experiment with music and taste – it’s a cool experience that can be done at home. Grab something bittersweet like coffee or chocolate and swap between these two sounds as you taste. You should notice that at high frequencies your whole mouth becomes sweeter and low frequencies make it seem more bitter.

Or have a go at making this dish for some friends. Secretly put on a range of different songs and try and see if their eating speed subtly changes with the music. I tried this and felt like a magician. It’s crazy how easily you can trick the mind. If there is no useful benefit of all these psychological musings, at least it can bring me one step closer to being Derren Brown.

Roasted aubergine salad with tahini dressing:

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

1 tablespoon olive Oil

Handful pomegranate seeds

Handful pine nuts

Handful fresh basil leaves

Dressing

2 tablespoons tahini

1 teaspoon mustard

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 crushed garlic clove

1. To make the dressing, place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth.

2. Slice aubergines. Brush each side with olive oil and season with salt and pepper

3. Grill on both sides on a very hot pan for around 5 minutes, until soft.

4. Arrange aubergine slices on a dish overlapping, drizzle with dressing snd sprinkle with pine nuts, basil and pomegranate seeds.

How to improve self-control: warm fig, butternut squash and goats cheese salad

Food choices are often made mindlessly, making self-control quite difficult. Under low self-control, it is really hard to reject unhealthy food products. The strength model of self-control sees self-control is a limited resource. This is the idea is that self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up. When the energy for mental activity is low, self-control is typically impaired.

One study showed that people who initially resisted the temptation of chocolate were subsequently less able to after completing a difficult puzzle task. So when you’re busy concentrating on a cryptic crossword clue, your ability to avoid eating all the foods disappears. This is why it might be really hard to resist food when we’re drunk or distracted. I definitely find I munch loads when I’m on the phone – maybe because my cognitive resources are taken up by the conversation, so my self-control ability plummets.

Understanding this self-control depletion has really important implications for healthy eating. Chronic dieters are in a constant state of resisting cravings and limiting food intake. This causes the self-control resource to deplete rapidly, making self-regulatory abilities harder. Dieters and non-dieters were compared on their ability to resist ice cream after a cognitive task. When cognitive resources were taken up by the task, the dieters were unable to resist the ice cream while the dieters were. It seems that the act of dieting expends the resource of self-control.

So instead of using up energy to try and limit food intake, it makes much more sense to allow ourselves to have small amount of the foods we crave. This is why people tend to re-gain weight after dieting, as the resource becomes so depleted that they can non longer practice the same self-control abilities they used too.

It has also been argued that self-control resembles a muscle; when the muscle is untrained it is more readily fatigued and weaker. This basically means that the more practice we have a exercising control, the better we get. That’s why the first few weeks of a new healthy eating regime always feels the hardest – our self control muscles start off weak so find it difficult to resist all the things we used to allow ourselves.

As eating patterns begin to change, the muscle will strengthen and self-control will get better. However, as soon as you restrict  too much, the resource will deplete and will will inevitable end up ruining all the hard work you’d put in. The answer is to let yourself eat (in moderation) what you want. If you are a complete nutella addict, there is no point giving it up what you because it’ll take up too much of your self-control resource. Going through life avoiding all the things your love is not fun for anyone, and eventually makes you resent the diet. Instead, reduce portion size but still allow yourself to have a little bit each day. A good healthy lifestyle recognises that you can’t possibly resist delicious foods all the time. Indulge once in a while and your self-control will benefit in the long run.

This post gives some great tips on how to listen to your body to regain control of your hunger and eating habits.

Fig, butternut squash and goats cheese winter salad:

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

3 figs

2 handfuls of salad/spinach leaves

1 handful of walnut pieces

slices/chunks goats cheese

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon mustard

salt and pepper

1. Chop butternut squash into rectangle pieces, toss in oil and roast for 25-30 mins at 180 until soft

2. Chop figs into wedges and roast with butternut squash in oven for last 5mins to warm and soften

3. Mix balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, mustard, salt and pepper for dressing

4. Add butternut squash and figs to salad leaves and top with slices of goats cheese and walnuts

5. Add dressing, toss and serve immediately

Less money, more merry: Quinoa stuffing with apple, cranberries and hazelnuts

It’s finally here. Christmas has been lurking around every shop, street and home since Halloween. Designed to bring friends and family together in happiness, filled with laughter, music and selfless giving.  It seems this year that companies have been milking this ‘christmas spirit’ for all their worth: Starbucks has released their red cups and christmas coffee blend, Facebook is tailoring adverts based on your gift browsing, Sainsbury’s exploited the traumatic events of WW1…all in an attempt to get us to spend more money. Unfortunately, it’s working. A recent poll revealed that British people spend more at christmas time than any other European country,  and last year we faced the most post-christmas debt. 

I don’t mean to put a downer on this, I love christmas as much as the next person. But we don’t need to buy hundreds of pounds worth of presents, food and decorations to enjoy it. My family have a tradition of playing football ever year (kids vs. adults, though kids are now almost all over the age of 18). I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard the year my dog accidentally saved the deciding goal by bouncing it off his head.  My memories of trudging out with everyone in the rain, sun or snow are invaluable.

I know it’s cliche to say that christmas is about family and not consumerism,  but now that’s actually backed with psychological evidence. Families of different cultures were assessed to see what brings the most happiness around christmas. More happiness was reported when family experiences were salient, and lower well-being occurred when spending money and receiving gifts predominated. The materialistic aspects of modern Christmas celebrations may happiness and leave us in debt for 2015.

It’s very easy to say all this, but hard to follow through with when the pressure to spend money in order to feel christmasy is enormous. Professors at the University of Oxford are here to help- they’ve compiled a list of tips to psychologically improve the spirit and taste of your christmas meal. By making a few sensory alternations, cooks can spend less time and money but still provide a christmas dinner that’ll make their guests feel like you’re meal is more expensive and festive. 

1. Use heavy cutlery and glasses: This is a great way to improve the percieved cost and quality of food. Heavier items trick guests into thinking that food or wine is better quality, so is a cost-effective way of improving the meal.

2. Changing the colour of the plate can change the perception of food :For example, presenting dessert on a white plate makes it taste sweeter. Alternatively, serving on a red plate sends unconscious warning signs to the brain so can help us eat less if you want to reduce portion size.

3. Promote a sense of Christmas through smell: waft cinnamon/pine smells or light a candle. Candles will also improve the ambiance and make the occasion feel special.

4. Play carols or classical music: This heightens the sense of importance and make people enjoy the food more

5. Make the food look pretty: Take care in presentation rather than dumping it on the plate to help the meal to look more expensive and better quality. For example, people tend to like symmetry on the plate.

Here’s a super cheap and healthy twist on classic christmas stuffing that still tastes like christmas on a plate!

Ingredients

2 cups (200g) quinoa

2 cups vegetable stock

coconut oil

3 large apples

2 sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup cranberries

2 chopped white onions

2-4 sprigs of Sage

2-4 thyme of Sage

teaspoon cinnamon

teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

1. Rinse quinoa. Combine with 2 cups boiling veg stock and simmer for 20mins until quinoa is fluffy.

2. Meanwhile, Preheat oven to 200. Chop the apples and sweet potato into small cubes. Toss with lemon juice, honey, coconut oil, cinnamon and  ginger. Roast for 30-40 mins until soft.

3. Soften the onions in a frying pan with coconut oil for 10mins, until tender. Add honey, thyme, sage, soy sauce and season well.

4. Combine the quinoa with the liquid mixture in a large bowl. Add in the roasted mixture, cranberries and hazelnuts.  Fold in thyme and hazelnuts. Season well.

How to survive thanksgiving as a sarcastic Brit: sweet potato fries and salted caramel apple-pie bars

This week was a first for me, I celebrated Thanksgiving with some american friends. For those of you who are yet to be completely absorbed into american culture (or have somehow not seen every episode of Friends at least 5 times) , thanksgiving is pretty much the same as our Christmas…but instead of complaining about how disgusting sprouts taste and getting in port-fuelled fights with your annoying relatives, you take turns to thank each other and say something you are grateful for. In essence, the tradition is to take a step back and look for at the positives in life, spreading happy thoughts and kind words.

Now I know this sounds like the most cringeworthy and forced exercise that would never work in a British family. I’m not going to lie, as each person sincerely looked each other in the eye and thanked them for their friendship and kindness, it took all of my efforts not to crack a joke or make a sarcastic comment. When it got to my turn I turned into a flustered mess, first lamely making a joke about how I was thankful to be eating pie, followed by a lamer joke about how I was thankful I’m not American and subsequently offending everyone at the table. Beside the excessive food and alcohol consumption, Thanksgiving did not sit well with my very British self. It’s actually quite sad that, despite being surrounded by family and friends, our culture has made us unable to be sincerely or express positive thoughts without it being annoying.

To my surprise, the next day’s headline in the Guardian read ‘Welcome to Britsgiving’. Apparently, the UK has officially embraced Thanksgiving; Turkey sales were up 95% in five years and  #Happythanksgiving started trending on twitter in Britain. Apart from feeling slightly sad that we have to follow like a puppy dog instead of letting America get on with their own traditions, my first thought was how did my fellow brits manage to express their gratitude without becoming a sarcastic, blushing mess like I did? I assumed that all Brits felt the same as me. How often do we enjoying the cathartic relief of knowing people are as cynical and miserable as we are? We find it weirdly thrilling to despair with others about the horrible state of the world… what’s fun about being upbeat and positive?

For answers, I turned to positive psychology, a discipline which investigates human happiness. There are quite a few studies that argue there is actually a psychological benefit of Thanksgiving on our mental health. I’ve always been told that the holiday season acts as a catalyst for depression; increased alcohol consumption, high relapse rates, big family feuds, spending loads of money on ugly jumpers for random cousins, shitty weather, the constant reminder that you are alone…it’s not exactly shocking that suicide rates reach an all-time high around christmas time. So why is this different for Thanksgiving? One paper had college students write diaries for 3 weeks around Thanksgiving time. When they were analysed, researchers found significant increases in gratitude, satisfaction and overall positivity closer to the time of Thanksgiving. But interestingly, when they took gratitude out of the equation, satisfaction plummeted and negative emotions increased. Without the, albeit somewhat forced, gratitude, the stress become overwhelming. Despite the same family arguments, money troubles and travel woes we share on christmas, the central theme of gratitude softens the holiday stress and makes people focus on the positive.

Positive thinking is a powerful tool. A huge literature of research has linked happiness to physical health, mental health and longevity.  The benefit of changing thought-processes, as with mindfulness, is partially due to the encouragement be less self-critical. Having a bias towards negative information and feelings has been linked to depression, bipolar, anxiety and eating disorders. So although it seems a little forced, contemplating on the good aspects of our lives and share that with others can help to counteract our inherent negativity bias. In no way am I suggesting that we should suppress our negative emotions, having a a stiff upper lip is definitely not a British trait to be valued. But tuning into the positive aspects can balance our negative biases and genuinely make us happier. So although it may make us squirm, we should try to embrace the mantra of Thanksgiving and express gratitude and positivity. Next year I will suck it up and find something nice to say…and I’ll probably be happier as a result. I’ve learnt my lesson; positivity is the way forward. And for that, I am thankful. Here are a couple of recipes I made for Thanksgiving, which would work well at any dinner party of festival. I’ll definitely be making both on christmas as they are both vegan and pretty delicious!

Sweet potato fries with balsamic and maple glaze: Sweet potato fries are all the rage these days, but this recipe gives them and added crispiness you can’t beat. You coat the chips in flour and then semi-deep fry them…the result is perfection!

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes

1 cup olive oil/coconut oil

2 tablespoons buckwheat/ any gluten-free flour

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons Honey or maple syrup

1 table spoon olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Slice the sweet potatoes into chips/wedges

2. Boil in water for 5 mins to soften. Meanwhile, heat a thin layer of oil on a baking tray in the oven at 200.

3. Coat the chips in flour

4. Place chips in hot oil and bake for 30mins or until crispy. Season with salt and pepper

5. Mix balsamic, honey and olive oil for dressing and drizzle over the top.

  Salted caramel apple pie bars: These chocolate, apple and salted caramel bars are ridiculously good. They taste like a mix between apple pie, flapjacks and millionaire shortbread. YUM.

Ingredients

3 cups of oats

3 cups of plain flour (can use gluten-free flours)

2 cups of sugar

1.5 cups of coconut oil (can also use butter for non-vegan)

1 jar of salted caramel

1 cup chocolate chips

3 peeled and chopped apples

  1. Mix the flour, sugar and oats in a bowl. Add melted coconut oil and mix until a crumbly dough is formed

2. Grease a baking tin and press the dough along the bottom. Save a third of the dough to sprinkle on the top. Bake for 10 mins at 180

3. Take out of the oven and top the base with a layer of salted caramel, apple and chocolate chips. Crumble the remaining dough over the top.

4. Bake for 20-25 mins at 180 or until the apple is soft.

5. Cool and refrigerate before cutting into squares.

In the mood for food – healthy pad thai topped with poached egg and peanut sauce

It’s old news that the food we eat effects our health – eating crap makes you feel crap, both physically and mentally. As I’ve previously said, it is no coincidence that while sugar-intake is at an all time high, depression and anxiety are steadily on the rise. However, the connection between mood and food may be even more direct that we think.

Although eating sugary and salty foods makes us feel better when we’re down, in the long run, they are actually going to make you feel worse. What you actually need is food high in tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin. Serotonin, is a neurotransmitter involved in regulating mood, sleep, and digestion. A deficiency has been implicated in low mood, depression, anxiety and even sleep disorders. Although some doctors may argue that serotonin activity is wholly determined by your genes, many researchers have good reason to believe that the types of food you eat can alter serotonin levels. In fact, 95% of serotonin is absorbed through the gut, so it is unsurprising that eating specific foods can quickly improve our mood.

In fact, a restaurant has about to open in Australia called ‘the Serotonin Kitchen’ – each dish designed to increase serotonin conversion and thereby boost your mood! Aside from making you come away happier (and too make you tip more), this restaurant is designed to promote the high-serotonin diet that is thought to help combat depression and other mood disorders.

High-serotonin foods include most green vegetables, beans, nuts, chicken, fish, eggs and bananas. Additionally, spices can boost serotonin and lead to clear thinking and sharp focus. Some spices, such as tumeric, actually act like anti-depressants by blocking the monoamine oxidase enzymes that naturally breaks down these serotonin.

 So next time you’re in tescos, clad in pajamas and deciding between the cookie dough and phish food, think of that yoga-loving, clean eating friend you have who is always annoyingly happy – it isn’t unachievable,  just add high-serotonin foods to your diet.

Below is a recipe for high-serotonin pad thai  so it’ll actually make you happier!

Ingredients

1 cup beansprouts

2 carrots – peeled into ribbons

Rice noodles (use courgette spaghetti to be extra healthy)

1 pak choi

1 onion

2 garlic gloves

Handful coriander

1 chilli

1 egg per person

Handful chopped peanuts

Dressing

3 tablespoons peanut butter or almond butter

1 lime

2 tablespoons  soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1. Roughly chop onion and garlic and heat in a wok until soft

2. Add all of the veg until soft, stirring often.

3. Add rice noodles (or courgette noodles) and cook for another 5 mins.

4. Meanwhile, poach an egg in salty water and set aside. This can be done using a poacher or by cracking an egg into boiling water while swirling so that the white covers the yolk. Set aside to serve with pad thai.

5. For the sauce: Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper. Add chilli flakes if you want it really spicy.

6. Add sauce to the wok and serve in a bowl. Top the pad thai with the egg and some chopped nuts to garnish.

Fast food: Stuffed aubergine curry

Cooking can take up a large part of your day. I think I spend at least half of my time in lectures brainstorming recipes and fantasising about buying expensive seed/nut combos that I totally can’t afford. But when it comes to actually cooking the meal, I often find that I have little time to dedicate to making the food and nearly always end up googling ‘vegan recipes under 30 mins’.

But our modern world has removed time as an issue when it comes to food. We are repeatedly told that sourcing, preparing, and consuming food are time-consuming problems that must be solved! This can be seen in some big brand names, such as the ‘grab-and-go’ Starbucks range or ‘food-on the-go’ by Tescos. We have been taught to take the shortest route possible to the highest calorie foods. These ‘meal solutions’ given to us by money-making food corporations are everywhere, making processed, unhealthy food more readily accessible. As a result we have learnt to view food as a guilt-ridden temptation, rather than a satisfying, enjoyable event.

So with this in mind, I encourage you to dedicate just a small amount of your time to cooking! Though it seems so much easer to grab a panini from Starbucks, the nutritional advantages to taking your own cooked meal into work/uni are huge. You don’t have to spend hours slaving over the stove, you can make so many different healthy and delicious meals under 30 mins. I also think there is something so satisfying about deciding which meal to cook, buying your ingredients and then seeing it take shape.

Seeing meals as more of an event helps us feel fuller for longer and is an easy way to control what we are putting into our bodies!

I’ve started taking my own food into uni for lunch (my tupperware collection is pretty impressive right now!) and come up with a few cheap meals that are easy to make in under 30mins. I really encourage you to try them out and challenge you to replace just one or two shop-bought meals a week with your own homemade creations, enjoy!

As part of my challenge to find meals that were quick to make, I stumbled upon this recipe from the LEON cook book. It required about 5mins of effort on my part and gave me a really healthy, flavoursome lunch the next day. Perfect!

Ingredients

5 baby aubergines (can be done with large aubergines, just increase the cooking time

2 tablespoons olive oil

Handful chopped nuts

2 tablespoons honey (use agave syrup for vegans)

teaspoon cinnamon

teaspoon chilli flakes/caynne pepper

Large bunch coriander

1 chopped garlic clove

salt and pepper

2 cups water

1. Mix the nuts, coriander, garlic spices and honey in a blender. You may have to add a splash of water to help with mixing. Stop when mixture becomes a paste

2. Cut each aubergine in half lengthways, but do not cut through the stem. Cut again so that it is quartered but is still attached at the stem

3. Divide the stuffing between the aubergines, using a teaspoon to spread it over the inside cut surfaces.

4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the aubergines for 5 mins, turing over to brown them.

5. Add the water to the frying pan, cover and simmer for about 20 mins until soft (If using larger aubergines, simmer for about 30mins). Turn them a few times during this time to ensure even cooking on all sides.

6. Season and serve.

 

Fast food: Cauliflower ‘rice’ with miso and sweet chilli courgettes

Another recipe than can be made in under 20mins. I really love rice, but my body has never really agreed with it. Plus (white rice especially) is processed food that has little nutritional value.  In fact, a study in 2010 found that replacing white rice with alternatives can help to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The problem is, it just goes so well with everything! So I found this rice substitute that is super easy to make and takes exactly like the real thing but without the refined sugar and carbs!

You can use this rice as healthy substitute for many dishes.. like risotto, with curry etc.

 

For the rice:

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower

1. Shred the cauliflower by hand using a grater or in a food processer until it is the size of rice.

2. Microwave in a covered dish for about 5-10 mins and fluff with a fork

3. Season with salt and pepper

For the courgettes:

Ingredients

2 tablespoons miso

1 tablespoon honey (or agave nectar for vegans)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce

2 courgettes, cut into slices

1.  Mix together miso, agave nectar, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce

2. Lightly brush sliced courgettes with mixture.  Grill and cook 5 to 6 minutes or until tender, turning occasionally.

3. Pour on rest of miso glaze and serve immediately.

Cinnamon roasted butternut squash with leek, pecans and cranberries

I invented this basically because there was a butternut squash reduced for 10p but it ended up being one of the nicest things I have made. It tastes like christmas so is the perfect warming autumn meal.

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

1 leek

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 handful dried cranberries

 1 handful roughly chopped pecans

1 pinch chilli flakes

Splash cranberry juice

1 tablespoon honey

(Serves 2)

1. Cut squash in half, place both halves on a baking tray and roast until in oven for 30mins, until tender.

2. Scoop out the flesh and roughly mash, maintaining the shape of the skin and set aside.

3. Transfer the flesh to a large pan, then add leeks, and cinnamon; cook until leeks are soft.

4. Add the dried cranberries and pecans and chilli flakes.

5. Stir in honey and cranberry juice, coating all mixture.

6. Spoon mixture back into the squash skin to serve and season with salt and pepper