Supercharged juices and smoothies are a surprisingly easy and satisfying way to reboot your health. Juices are gentle on the digestive system and readily assimilated by the body. Ideal for a meal, a snack or a post-workout treat, they energize your body and fuel your day. To know more, you can read Christine Bailey‘s just released The Supercharged Green Juice & Smoothie Diet.
Grapefruit Greens Tart and tangy, with an underlying sweetness, this citrusy green juice makes a terrific morning drink. Blending in matcha green tea powder gives this juice a terrific antioxidant boost and makes it a useful weight-loss drink, because green tea has been shown to stimulate the metabolism.
Ingredients:
½ romaine or cos lettuce
1 pink grapefruit, peeled
1 apple
¼ tsp matcha green tea powder
Method:
Put all the ingredients, except the matcha, through an electric juicer. Transfer to a blender or food processor and add the matcha, then blend until smooth. Serve the juice immediately.
Morning Blend Shop-bought processed orange juice is a poor substitute for the real thing. Instead, make up this zingy anti-inflammatory mix. If you can get fresh turmeric root, add this to the juicer as well, but if not, you can blend in turmeric powder at the end. Camu camu powder is a good way to boost the vitamin C level, making it ideal for improving your immunity.
Ingredients:
2 apples
2 oranges, peeled
1cm/½in piece of root ginger, peeled
5mm/¼in piece of turmeric root or a large pinch of ground turmeric
¼ tsp camu camu powder, or baobab
powder or acai berry powder
Method:
Put the apples, oranges, ginger and turmeric root (but not the ground turmeric) through an electric juicer. Transfer to a blender or food processor and add the ground turmeric, if using, and the camu camu powder, then blend until smooth. Serve the juice immediately.
The art of a successful detox is in the planning – from preparing your mind by setting goals and clearing your work and social calendars as much as possible, to preparing your body by doing the shopping before you start, and clearing your pantry and fridge of the things you might crave during the Detoxification Phase. For optimum results, the Detoxification Phase should be followed for seven days. Here Saimaa Miller shares her top tips to start detoxifying your body. If you want to know more, you can take a look at Aussie Body Diet, available from Nourish Books and in the best stores.
Wherever possible, try to source organic products to limit chemical residue entering our bodies and our Earth.
Drink pure, high-quality water every day – this is vital for detoxification. Herbal tea does not count as part of your water intake. For increased alkalising effects, purchase a water ioniser.
Brush your skin daily on rising to detoxify your skin, improve your circulation and increase lymph flow.
Begin the day with an Apple Cider Vinegar Cayenne Shot (1 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar, a pinch of cayenne pepper, 50–100 ml warm water, to taste) to kick-start digestion and circulation.
Try to eat only if you are hungry. N.B. If weight loss is one of your goals and you’re not succeeding, really try to avoid snacking, as well as eating after dinner. Instead, try having a cup of herbal tea or a glass of water with chlorophyll (this takes away sweet cravings too!).
When you will feel a little more tired and lacking energy, 20 to 30 minutes of gentle exercise each day is sufficient, and if you can do
some yoga at home, then this will be extremely beneficial. Even more important is being mindful about your breathing – take time to meditate or practise deep breathing or mindfulness exercises.
Keep a NET (nutrition, exercise, thought) diary. This keeps track of everything you eat and drink, and just as importantly, of your thoughts, feelings and emotions. This helps you keep account and is also a great way to monitor your progress. Choose three short-term goals (what you hope to achieve in the next two weeks); three medium-term goals (what you hope to achieve in the next three to six weeks); and three long-term goals (what you hope to achieve in the next three to six months). It is a very simple, powerful and affirming tool to revisit these goals on a daily basis.
Saimaa Miller Aussie Body Diet
£14.99, Available from Nourish Books
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There is nothing more wonderful than the aroma of freshly baked cakes and biscuits. Baking really is a very simple skill to master and requires only a light touch and good-quality, fresh ingredients. Get ready to celebrate the chocolate cake day on January 27th with a delicious Flourless Chocolate & Citrus Cake. To know more about chocolate and be guided through a range of delicious chocolate recipes, take a look at Chocolate by Jennifer Donovan.
Ingredients:
175g/6oz butter, melted and left to cool, plus extra for greasing
6 eggs, separated
200g/7oz/¾ cup plus 2 tbsp caster sugar
zest of 1 orange, finely grated
zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
125ml/4fl oz/½ cup orange juice
125g/4½oz/1¼ cups ground almonds
2 tbsp cocoa powder
250g/9oz dark chocolate, melted and left to cool icing sugar, sifted, for dusting
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/gas 4. Grease a deep 23cm/9in spring-form round cake tin with butter, and line the base with baking paper.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, orange and lemon zest together until thick and pale, using an electric hand mixer. Stir in the melted butter and the orange juice. In a clean bowl, combine the ground almonds and cocoa, then fold into the egg mixture. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, using clean attachments for the electric hand mixer, then pour in the melted chocolate and stir together. Fold into the cake mixture until just combined, using a metal spoon, then pour into the prepared tin.
Bake in the hot oven for 45–50 minutes, or until the cake is firm around the edges but still slightly soft in the middle. Remove from the oven and leave the cake in the tin to cool completely, then remove the cake from the tin and dust with icing sugar.
Jennifer Donovan Chocolate
Available from Nourish Books
£9.99
Phickle is Amanda’s blog and it fully dedicated to fermentation. This friendly blog includes tips and recipes to get started with fermentation, with Amanda’s personal touch. It is full of techniques to experiment the many different types of food fermentation, from bread to yogurt and kombucha, commenting and questioning popular rumours on certain benefits of fermenting. You can visit Amanda’s website or you can find Phickle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Photography @ Pickle
What is phickle and how did you get started? Phickle is my fermentation blog. I share recipes, techniques, musings and sometimes giveaways of my favorite fermented products.
I started Phickle after a pretty serious (but unexplained by medical science) health crisis lead me to search for my own answers. I had a habit of making tasty ferments and then forgetting how I’d made them, so I started blogging to keep track of what I had worked on and how I made it.
How did your passion for fermentation start? I was making my own yogurt and sourdough (and the occasional vinegar) for many years before I officially became a full-time fermentation aficionado. I became fully obsessed when I finally took Sandor Katz’ Wild Fermentation off the shelf and full-heartedly dug into it. Since then, fermentation has been a daily habit for me.
What are the main benefit of fermentation? There are so many different types of food fermentation (wine, beer, cheese, bread, sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, kvass, sodas, yogurt, kombucha, vinegar, and the list goes on), that claiming one benefit for all wouldn’t make a ton of sense.
There’s also the question of why a person would choose to make or eat fermented foods. Some people ferment for health, in which case the proven nutritional value and probiotics of fermented vegetables would be the best bet.
Some people ferment to control what goes into their foods, and to move away from a processed diet.
Some people ferment because they love the unparalleled flavors that fermentation creates.
I might consider any of those things when I decide what to make or eat next from the fermented repertoire of foods.
Why fermentation is becoming so popular nowadays? I believe the health benefits of fermented vegetables and heirloom yogurts are attractive for people looking to improve their health. I also think a lot of the popular buzz is totally wrong (I’m looking at you, people who claim kombucha is probiotic).
While many fermented foods do have proven health benefits (broad range of probiotics, higher vitamin content, increased digestibility, etc), it’s not uncommon to see a blog post or article ascribe miracle qualities to all ferments in a blanketed way.
I get emails from people who say, ‘I HATE fermented foods but I need to eat them. How do I do that?’ I cringe. First, the likelihood that someone hates all fermented foods is very low. It’s hard to get through the day without bread, cheese, coffee, chocolate, wine, beer, pickles, yogurt, etc. (or maybe that’s just me).
Second, I think we’d all be much better off if we paid attention to how the foods we eat make us feel, rather than what the nutritional guru of the moment tells us we need to eat. If someone tells you you have to eat the Japanese soybean ferment natto for health, but eating it doesn’t make you feel great, and you dread eating it, how good can that really be for your overall health?
I think people should be skeptical about any claims that a particular food will miraculously cure any ailment. Eating a broad variety of fermented foods makes me feel wonderful, but that is something that I’ve paid attention to over a long period of time.
Is phickle your profession or a hobby? Fermentation is both my profession and my hobby. I make part of my living from teaching fermentation classes and writing about fermentation. I also thoroughly enjoy fermenting, and I do plenty of fermenting that never makes it onto the blog.
What is the best achievement since you started?
Writing my book, Ferment Your Vegetables (Fair Winds Press) feels like a pretty huge accomplishment. It was an enormous, taxing labor of love, and the wonderful feeling of seeing it show up in bookstores this fall, and seeing the recipes show up in strangers’ social media feeds is overwhelming!
What are the kitchen tools you must have if you want to start fermenting? It depends on the type of fermentation. If you want to make vegetable ferments, it’s good to have a jar and something food-safe to weight the vegetables down. There really aren’t required tools for many fermentation processes. These are frequently very ancient foods, and it’s safe to assume that people didn’t have sterile conditions or the latest airlock device when they made pickled vegetables 4,000 years ago.
Are you craving a juice-hit but not sure which one to go for? Take this quiz and find out what your body really needs!
All the recipes are from The Supercharged Green Juice & Smoothie Diet by Christine Bailey.
The book is available to buy from this month!
Preorder from Amazon now!
This is the perfect time to start Aussie Body Diet‘s detox plan and we are really pleased to announce the UK release of Saimaa Miller’s fantastic book.
Published in paperback, Aussie Body Diet includes a fad-free diet that reveals simple Aussie lifestyle secrets to help you look and feel your very best, from one of Australia’s most sought-after health coaches.
Australians are famous for their sun kissed, athletic physiques, and now Saimaa Miller has written a guide to getting that same naturally healthy body this side of the equator. In Aussie Body Diet you’ll discover the seven secrets to optimum health, learn which type of detoxer you are, and be able to devise the programme that’s right for you, with tips for good health from Saimaa’s celebrity clients to encourage you. All accompanied by recipes so delicious, you’ll hardly believe you’re on a detox. In just fourteen days you’ll detox your system, and be left refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to take on the world.
Did you overindulge over Christmas and New Year? Want to supercharge your 2016? Then watch this video! Nutrition expert Christine Bailey talks us through the best supplements to add to your healthy green juices and smoothies. Want more energy? Healthier skin, hair and nails? To lose weight? Then watch this and get detoxing!
Christine Bailey The Supercharged Green Juice & Smoothie Diet
Available in January 2016.
Buy from Amazon now.
Did you overindulge this Christmas? Of course you did! Do you want to start a healthy, happy 2016? Why not try and incorporate green juices and smoothies into your diet? And for the more hardcore, a detox?
So how exactly do you make a healthy green juice or smoothie? What do you need? In what proportion? Find out with nutrition expert Christine Bailey!
Christine Bailey The Supercharged Green Juice & Smoothie Diet
Available in January 2016.
Buy from Amazon now.
This is how Europeans redecorate their gut flora after the Christmas excess! This is a great Eastern European dish. Its so light, tangy and full of flavour that it often sits with meat as a carbohydrate replacement. No one misses lumpen spuds with this stunner at the table. When I make this, I use 8 cucumbers and it still goes in a flash. All the vitamins, and all the pleasure.
Ingredients:
4 Cucumbers
1 level tablespoon of distilled vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt to taste
1/2 crushed clove garlic
pinch of paprika (optional)
2 tablespoons creme fraiche (optional)
Method:
Peel and slice the cucumbers using the slicing bit of your grater.
Add in all the ingredients and toss.
Taste and check the sweet,salt,sour balance. If you want it more sour then add more vinegar. This dish is a matter of taste and you will make it your own.
You can add creme fraiche or not depending on how light you want the dish. Try both ways and see which you prefer. The cucumbers will release their juice and an incredibly delicious liquor will form as the dish sits. Drink it and taste the goodness!
The festive season can be a tricky time if you suffer with allergies or coeliac disease If you are avoiding gluten for example you may feel that you’re missing out. Whether its office buffets, parties, eating out or simply coping with food served on Christmas Day you need to be savvy about what you can and cannot eat. Thankfully more and more companies are providing a great range of gluten free options and many of the seasonal foods around Christmas time are of course naturally gluten free (think cranberries, nuts, Brussels sprouts etc). However you may need to check how they have been prepared and cooked.
Party Tips If you’ve been invited to a party the best option is to take some allergy free goodies with you. We have a great selection of treats in our recipe pages or you can simply take healthy dips, crudities, nuts and salads with you. If you’re making your own mince pies remember to check the ingredients in shop bought mincemeat as some contain gluten.
Homemade blinis or crackers / breads are a delicious option as a canapé or starter or breakfast option and can be topped with a wide range of ingredients such as smoked salmon, prawns, avocado, roast beef and horseradish or Christmas chutney. Bags of nuts and seeds and dried fruit are easy healthy options that make ideal hassle free party snacks. Watch the crisps especially flavoured varieties as they often contain gluten. Bags of vegetable crisps and fruit crisps or freeze dried fruits and vegetables are typically gluten and dairy free.
Christmas Drinks If you like your beer thankfully there are many gluten free varieties now available. Mulled wine is a popular party favourite or for a creamy option make up your own Egg Nog style drink using almond milk blended with nuts, banana and dates for a healthy dairy free option. Have a look at our drinks pages for inspiration. Another great tip is to make a protein shake and drink before going out – the protein helps stabilise your blood sugar so you are not starving making it less likely you will over indulge.
Those Little Extras Often its those little extras that can catch us out when going gluten free – gravy may be thickened with flour. Stuffing is often ladened with wheat flour and starch. Potatoes may be tossed in flour before roasting and some sausages contain wheat starch. You can make your own gravy by thickening with cornflour or arrowroot and for extra flavour add a spoonful of redcurrant jelly. Bread sauce is easily made with gluten free bread and almond milk or coconut cream if you want it to be dairy free as well.
For stuffing, simply follow your favourite recipe and substitute ground nuts or use quinoa or millet instead of bread.
Sweet Endings Again there are many gluten free Christmas puddings available but you can also make your own by using gluten free flours, ground almonds and / or gluten free bread. You don’t need to use suet in puddings either – butter, coconut butter or a dairy free spread can be used instead. Try my chocolate gingerbread cake recipe for a delicious alternative to Christmas cake or why not make up your own healthier truffles or chocolates.
Getting Prepared If you’re new to cooking allergy free find a wealth of gluten free, raw, paleo recipes on my website which are all suitable for gluten free diets. Many of these can be made in advance and frozen or stored for a later time. Seeded bread is a fabulous standby healthy protein rich bread option. Make up a batch of granola too – perfect for breakfast but also healthy snacking.
If you’re looking for new inspiration why not book yourself onto one of our cookery days. If you have children then get them cooking and enjoying healthy food with our hands on cookery day.
Christine Bailey The Supercharged Green Juice & Smoothie Diet
Available in January 2016.
Preorder from Amazon now.
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Chestnuts are traditionally given a special place at the Christmas table. These shiny brown nuts are delicious boiled or roasted – always split the hard skin first to stop them exploding while cooking – and eaten on their own. They are also good puréed and served as a side dish or mixed into stuffings. Tossed with freshly cooked Brussels sprouts, a knob of butter and freshly ground black pepper, they make one of the best vegetable dishes on the winter menu.
In southern Europe, they have a long culinary history, being used in breads, cakes and sweetmeats and to make a type of flour. Chestnuts have a natural affinity with chocolate and you will find many recipes for rich chocolate desserts, ice creams and cakes that include them.
Most recipes for chestnuts require them to be cooked and peeled, and although this is simple to do, you can buy ready-prepared chestnuts in cans or vacuum packs. These also have the advantage of being available at any time of the year.
Chestnut and hazelnut roast
Serves: 6-8 Ingredients:
100g/31⁄2oz hazelnuts
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
225g/8oz mushrooms, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
225g/8oz chestnuts, cooked, peeled and finely chopped
85g/3oz white breadcrumbs
pinch of dried thyme
4 tbsp vegetable stock
juice of 1⁄2 lemon
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
Put the hazelnuts in a food processor and process briefly to chop finely, but avoid grinding to a smooth powder. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and garlic and gently fry for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle with a little salt and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. They should be moist, but not wet.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the hazelnuts, chestnuts, breadcrumbs, thyme, stock and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Press the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until golden.
Leave the roast to stand for about 5 minutes, then very carefully invert on to a board or serving platter, cut into slices and serve.
Susannah Blake Seasonal Food
Available from Nourish Books
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Asparagus and ginger make for a delicious filling for these typical Chinese potstickers. You can adapt this recipe according to your own preferences, adding pork instead of asparagus. Nicola Graimes‘ non-vegetarian version also for you below to try.
‘Potsticker’ is another name for a Chinese dumpling and this tempting version makes a great precursor to a vegetable stir-fry or can be served as part of dim sum. The great name derives from the way the dumplings are cooked. First they are fried to give a crisp, golden base – take care as they can stick to the pan, hence the name – followed by steaming in a little water or broth.
Ingredients:
20 round wonton wrappers (for frying), defrosted if frozen
plain/all-purpose flour, for dusting
1 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra if needed
1 tbsp finely snipped chives, for sprinkling
Asparagus and ginger filling:
235g/8½oz bunch asparagus, stalks trimmed and very thinly sliced, tips halved lengthways
1 spring onion/scallion, finely chopped
2.5cm/1in piece of fresh root ginger, coarsely grated (no need to peel)
140g/5oz tofu, drained well on paper towels and coarsely grated
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Soy and ginger dipping sauce:
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
½cm/¼in piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely diced
1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
Method:
Mix together the ingredients for the dipping sauce, adding just half of the chilli, then leave to one side.
Reserve the asparagus tips, then mix together the remaining ingredients for the filling in a large bowl and season with a little salt and pepper.
Place 2 teaspoons of the filling mixture in the centre of a wonton wrapper. Moisten the edge of the wrapper with a little water, fold in half and pleat the edge to seal to make a half moon-shaped dumpling with a flat bottom and rounded top. Place the dumpling on a floured board, cover with a damp dish towel and repeat to make 20 dumplings in total.
Heat the oil in a large lidded frying pan. Arrange half the dumplings in the pan, flat-side down, and cook for 2 minutes until the base of each dumpling is golden and slightly crisp. Remove from the pan, leave to one side and repeat with the second batch of dumplings, adding more oil, if needed.
Return the dumplings to the pan if they fit in an even layer.
Add 4 tablespoons water to the pan and scatter over the asparagus tips, immediately cover the pan with a lid and steam for 2 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
Serve the dumplings scattered with the asparagus tips, chives and reserved chilli with the dipping sauce in a small bowl by the side.
PART-TIME VARIATION: Pork and ginger potstickers
To make the potsticker filling, mix together 150g/5½oz minced/ground pork, 1 finely chopped Chinese cabbage leaf, 2.5cm/1in piece of fresh root ginger, grated, 1 finely chopped spring onion/scallion, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil in a bowl.
Make and cook the dumplings as described above, adding 6 tablespoons water to the pan.
Cover with a lid and cook for 6 minutes.
Serve scattered with chives and chilli with the dipping sauce.
