Fresh, clean, healthy pesto made from scratch. And who'd have thought it, courgettes instead of pasta! A mean, green, lean meal.
You'll need...
100g pine nuts (toasted tastes gooood)
Two large handfuls of fresh basil
100 ml good quality olive oil (cold pressed)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Handful of cashews (optional)
2 garlic cloves
Sea salt
Pepper
Toast the pine nuts by placing them on a baking tray in the oven, at 180 degrees, for 5 minutes, shuffling them about a few times. Once the pine nuts have cooled, blend all the ingredients together in a food processor.
If the mixture is too thick, gradually add more olive oil.
It's yummy served on warm ciabatta or with a grilled chicken breast. When I made it this time, I added the pesto to ribbons of raw courgette, to make an ultra green version of pesto pasta!
Courgettes are a good source of B vitamins and have good levels of protein for a vegetable, which helps cell growth and keeps blood cells happy.
It also contains good amounts of potassium which is important for heart health and balancing fluids in the body.
Granola is one of many delights that makes me excited to have breakfast.
There are so many varieties - nutty, seedy, apple & cinammon, sultana, maple syrup flavoured, tropical, berry...but unfortunately, all tend to be very sugary.
In my quest to eat clean and expel as much refined sugar from my diet as possible, I decided the market for clean granola (within my budget) was just not popular enough in my surrounding vicinity of supermarkets.
So, I made my own! Very simple, very satisfying and very tasty! And no refined sugars added.
Ingredients
350-400g whole oats (rolled or jumbo)
2 large handfuls of mixed seeds - sunflower or pumpkin are tasty
Your choice of mixed nuts - whole or roughly chopped
2-3 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
2 tbsp clear honey
1 tbsp pure maple syrup (optional)
3 tsp cinnamon (optional)
2 tsp natural vanilla extract (optional)
Step 1
Pour about 350-400g of oats into a large mixing bowl. You can experiment by adding other flaked wholegrains too - I've tried rye flakes which adds some different nutrients to the mix.
Add about 2 large handfuls of pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or both (if you prefer these un-toasted, leave adding these until the very end...this will save nutrient depletion during roasting too).
To up the protein and vitamin content, add loads of chopped nuts - go wild! Try macadamia, pecan, unsalted shelled pistachios, walnuts, or brazil nuts. They can be whole or roughly chopped. About 200g will make it nice and nutty.
Step 2
Pour over the oat mixture, 2-3 tbsp of rapeseed or sunflower oil. These are healthy oils that don't have a strong flavour, so won't overpower the granola. It may not seem like a lot of oil, but it is plenty - you just need to keep stirring.
Add 2 tablespoons of clear, good quality honey. A reasonably priced, local one that is cold extracted and has no added nasties is Littleover Apiary honey.
www.activeenglishhoney.co.uk
If you like it sweeter, add another tablespoon of pure maple syrup. Mix, mix, mix! To bring an extra warmth to the flavour, add 2 teaspoons of natural vanilla extract and 3 teaspoons of cinnamon (my favourite!).
Step 3
Spread the mixture evenly onto two or three shallow baking trays - the mixture should be a couple of cm thick so it toasts quickly and evenly.
Place the trays into a pre-heated oven at 180 c, gas mark 4, 350 f and bake for 8 minutes if using rolled oats, 10 minutes if using jumbo. Shake the mixture in the trays half way through cooking time to ensure it toasts evenly.
Step 4
Remove the toasted granola mixture and empty it evenly onto a large sheet of baking parchment to cool. Once cooled, add any further ingredients as desired, such as raw or toasted coconut flakes, raisins, chopped dried apricots, dates or cranberries.
Enjoy with some fresh cold milk, yogurt or as a healthier topping for fruit crumbles!
It's hard work, January.
Christmas decs come down, Christmassy films peter out and the excuses for having an evening tipple or finishing off the box of Celebrations start to wear thin.
As we turn our thoughts to green tea and galloping on the dreadmill, it's only honest to say it probably won't last even the whole of January!
I think it all depends on our motives; to look slimmer, to feel the clothes slacken off a wee bit, to feel less lethargic...or perhaps to rid the pangs of food-guilt! We all have one, but most of the time we're not fully tuned into it.
In my opinion, eating is around 95% psychological for most of us. And by that I mean, we usually have some cognition that leads us to nibble or perhaps an emotional stimulation that propels us to the fridge. For long-term weight management and overall health, I think we need to do some soul-searching first to discover these impulses.
For me, the internal conversation mostly goes, "a cup of tea just isn't as fun without a biscuit!" - mainly habitual. Or my patterns of eating that have just begun to stick over time, "I just can not let that go to waste" or when offered a nice home made cupcake..."it'd be rude to say no".
Really. Really though? Who said a cup of tea isn't just as satisfying without the biccie? And what would actually happen to the person that offered you the cupcake if you did just say "No thanks." Heck you could even geek it up a bit and respond with "It looks amazing, but my body doesn't respond well to the immediate peak and trough in blood insulin and serotonin levels" - I doubt anyone will probe you about that one!
In a bid to keep it simple, I've compiled a list of my 5 ways towards a healthier January bod!
1 Drink more water This could be spring, tap, hot, chilled, sparkling, herbal tea or diluted fruit juice - just get into the glugging pattern of 1.5 to 2 litres a day. It clears the skin, mind and bowels!
2 Cut back on the sugar The short term effects that sugar has on the body are really not great. Peaks in blood insulin levels that then take a massive drop, cause the energy lows we often feel after a chocolate bar. It's also hidden in many 'diet' foods to enhance flavour and shelf life. At the end of the day it is a calorific simple carbohydrate that keeps us in the addictive loop of sweet cravings.
3 Eat regularly Avoid the justification that because you ate so much yesterday, you need to have no breakfast and little lunch today. Your body needs fuel all day, and eating small amounts every 3 hours will help your metabolism to stabilise.
4 Up the greens I know it's an obvious one, but it's a crucial one. As well as containing vital vitamins, fat-burning compounds and gut-loving fibre, green veg is rich in chlorophyll. This is the life-blood of a plant that collects energy from sunlight. It helps to purify our blood by supporting red blood cell production and binds to and expels toxic substances from our body.
5 Get physical I'd be surprised if anyone didn't realise that exercise was good for them. Our lymph glands and lymph fluid does the job of removing unwanted waste from our body. As well as increasing serotonin levels (the happy hormone), exercise allows the heart to pump these gorgeous lymph juices around your body and through the lymph nodes, cleansing it of nasty cells like viruses and bacteria.
So, next time you hear the biscuit barrel calling, challenge your thoughts and change their direction...away from junk food and towards health and vitality!
It's yummy served on warm ciabatta or with a grilled chicken breast. When I made it this time, I added the pesto to ribbons of raw courgette, to make an ultra green version of pesto pasta! 
