Winter is here. It’s raining, it’s cold and it’s miserable. So if you’re looking for a quick way to get rid of the winter blues (without packing your bags and jetting off somewhere sunny) then all you need to do is this…
Take a quick sniff of citrus!
Yep, it’s that simple. Smelling a lemon, lime or orange fragrance will boost your feelings of well-being and alleviate stress because it ups the levels of norepinephrine which is a hormone that affects our mood.
And if you don’t want to waste the fruit by just sniffing it, why not try this Avocado lime cheesecake.
I can’t lie to you, these last two weeks I’ve felt utterly drained. Perhaps it’s this constant rain (will it ever stop?) or maybe the rush of last month has finally caught up with me. Either way, I feel like I need to go to bed for a week!
But since that’s not an option and I’ve got a lovely weekend of fresh, Cornish sea air ahead I’ve made up a batch of my favourite go to winter stew. Plus it’s a great way of making use of the Kale that’s in season at the moment.
It’s not exciting but it’s one of those dishes that brings you back in to balance if you’re feeling off centre for any reason. As much as when you’re feeling run down it’s tempting to throw yourself head first in to a vat of wine or binge eat a huge plate of pasta, that’s not going to help in the long run.
Try this, it will leave you feeling nourished, warm and you won’t get a sugar crash hours later.
Serves 2
Ingredients
1/2 Tbs coconut oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tin of plum tomatoes
1 cloves of garlic
2 cups of vegetable stock
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
2 medium/large carrots, sliced
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 cups of chopped kale
A pinch of Chinese 5 spice
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan and add the onions and garlic.
Once the onions are cooked, add the vegetable stock and bring it to the boil.
Next add your sweet potato, tin tomatoes (add whole don’t mash up) and carrots and simmer until tender.
Then add your kale and soy sauce, allow the kale to cook on a low/medium heat for two minutes.
Serve straight away…
You can eat this on its own or serve with a portion of brown rice…
I refuse to believe that you can’t eat healthy whilst on a budget. This dish cost 78p a head and was super quick to prepare. I’m not a massive soup fan but I just love this recipe. It takes barely any prep and it’s utterly gorgeous!
Right so all you need to make 3 bowls is:
• 2 red peppers
• 1 onion
• 6 ripe tomatoes
• 5 cloves of garlic
• vegetable stock*
What to do:
• Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Chop the red pepper and coat in a little olive oil. Place on a baking tray with with the cloves of unpeeled garlic and roast for around 20 minutes.
• Whilst the pepper is roasting dice the onion and fry in a little olive oil.
• Cut up the tomatoes and add them to the onions. I don’t bother skinning or deseeding the tomatoes because it’s a waste and it just adds to the flavour. Simmer until the the tomatoes are soft.
• Add a pint of stock
• Take the peppers and garlic out of the oven and add to the tomatoes, onions and stock.
• Simmer for about 15 minutes and then blend.
DONE!
Just before serving I added a bit of milk to give it a creamy taste but this is totally optional.
* you can substitute stock for a tin of toms if you want a bit of extra tomato.
I think that we can safely say that winter has arrived. Luckily for me I’ve not yet had my “summer” holiday yet so I’m holding on to the fact that I’ll get a bit of sunshine before I have to succumb to chunky knits and boots.
However, there is an upside to this dreary weather – HOT CHOCOLATE! And keeping in with my Nutella obsession (I could literally post Nutella recipes all day long – trust me)
