PEAR AND FENNEL SOUP

 2 large fennel bulbs, trimmed                  1 tbs olive oil 
2 sliced onions                                       4 pears, cored & chopped 
 2 chopped garlic cloves                          
 2 pints vegetable bouillon stock *           

*I always use the reduced salt version by marigold (purple pot)

 Heat oil in a large pan and sauté onion & garlic.  Add fennel and a little stock and cook for a further couple of minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer gently for about 40 mins.  Blend adding as much of the cooking stock as required to your desired consistency.  Garnish with a little grated lime zest if required.  

Go For Coconut

Health in a shell

Once shunned as bad for you, coconut oil  now has pride of place in almost every  health food shop.

So what are the benefits? 

1. Because it's remains stable at high temperatures it is great for stir frying adding a subtle flavour to both sweet and savoury dishes.

2 The fatty acids that make up coconut oil are known as MCTs or medium chain triglycerides.  These help speed up your metabolism so can actually help you lose weight if used in moderation.

3 The lauric acid in coconut oil can give the immune system a boost by helping to ward off viruses and bacteria.

4. A great source as an instant energy boost as the body treats it almost as a simple carbohydrate sending it to your liver to be used as instant energy rather than being stored as fat.  Unlike the carbohydrate though, there is no insulin spike in the bloodstream meaning you won't be hungry again in a short while.

5. Heart health .  Although it is a saturated fat, like many others such as butter that have been demonised, Coconut oil is actually beneficial for your heart. It contains about 50% lauric acid, which helps in actively preventing various heart problems like high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. Coconut oil does not lead to increase in LDL levels, and it can therefore reduce the incidence of injury and damage to arteries .

6.  Skin  & hair care.  Coconut oil is a great moisturiser, massage oil and hair conditioner. 


Check out this green smoothie, the coconut taste makes it really easy to get in those greens!  I sometimes add coconut oil to mine if I'm not using avocado.

Coco Loco

Large handful of spinach

Large chunk of cucumber

1 x apple

Small piece of broccoli stem

unsweetened Coconut/almond milk

1/2 avocado

1 Tbsp dessicated coconut

Whizz in the nutri bullet and enjoy :-)

                                                     

The Morning Glory

Lovely fresh tasting meal in a glass, perfect start to the day, especially with the egg for extra protein!

Large handful kale                             1/2 avocado

Large handful spinach                        unsweetened almond milk

1/2 lime                                                 1 tbsp linseeds/flax/chia

1 stick celery                                        2 apples

chunk of cucumber

Whizz up together ( I used a nutri bullet) and add extra liquid according to taste.

This was enough for two servings,  Enjoy:-)