Welcome to My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen, let me show you how food can make you look and feel great!

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

The reality of eating healthily and living a healthy existence.


  So, its no secret that I have embarked on this career choice of sharing deliciously healthy food because of my own personal experiences with weight loss/gain and family health issues but how realistic is it to eat real food, made with real ingredients when you have a busy lifestyle, work and family commitments and what with the economy situation trying to keep to a sensible budget on top of everything else!

  Well its not easy I know that. In my former life as a hairdresser I used to work 12, sometimes 14 hour days 5 days a week. No lunch break, no breaks full stop. I used to prepare all my lunches and dinners on my day off and have them ready to take with me, I spent 6 years eating my lunch and dinner out of Tupperware whilst clients were being shampooed or whilst mixing up a colour! Very unhealthy! And very depressing actually, not to mention knackering. But by chopping all your veg in one go and storing in the fridge it really does not take much longer, make a big pot of soup for lunches and cook extra rice, grains and pasta for quick salad lunches. Make your time in the kitchen work for you.

  We're told to eat regularly and slowly and sitting down away from our work, but unfortunately in this day and age its pretty much impossible and for some bizarre reason its frowned upon to take a break and actually eat properly!

  But its so important to fuel your body properly and its easy to spiral out of control when you are tired, busy and fed up with life! The biggest thing to help make healthy eating easier on your time and your wallet is to have your cupboards stocked properly with go to dry ingredients like rice, lentils, pasta, quinoa, seeds, nuts, tinned tomatoes, mixed beans in water, tinned fish in oil or spring water and a selection of oils, vinegars and herbs and spices. Keep wholemeal pitta, wraps, rolls and bread in your freezer for go to lunches. One massive tip I can share with you is bulk soak and cook dried beans and freeze them, then use them like frozen peas. Cheaper than chips I guarantee!!

   Then I would really recommend doing a menu plan for the week BEFORE you go shopping, buy ONLY what you need. By keeping your cupboards well stocked you will only need to buy fresh goods and by consuming less meat and dairy you will save money. Red meat should really only be consumed once a week, this means ham, pork, bacon, beef & lamb, replace one red meat meal a week with beans or lentils, make a veggie chili with mixed beans instead or use red lentils & loads of veggies in curries. That's a saving immediately, poultry can be consumed up to 3 times a week and fish at least 3 time a week. Make your lunches veggie by making grain based salads, make dips and spreads with beans and add to wraps, rolls and sandwiches, have a hearty soup and wholemeal roll and a side salad.

  Remember that your meat/fish portions should only be around 100g, the size of a pack of cards. If you are eating more than that then you are eating too much and that is costing you more money and having an effect on your long term health and weight. Dinner plates should resemble, 1/4 protein (meat/fish/beans/pulse/tofu), 1/4 plate whole grain carbs (brown rice/wholemeal pasta/quinoa/barley/spelt/sweet potato) and that the other 1/2 of the plate should be veg, all veg!

  If  you are eating cheaper processed foods it is a false economy, they are not satisfying, they play havoc with your blood sugar levels and this leads to you eating more unhealthy snacks which are another unnecessary cost. Not to mention the damage you are doing to your body. Diseased cells thrive on sugar, fat and chemicals and that's all there is to it. If you constantly feel ill, under the weather, bloated, overweight its because of bad diet. 
  I often hear people saying they dont have processed food and then they proceed to grab some cereal, a biscuit, some crisps, a jar of sauce from the cupboard, some sausages or some fresh chicken fillets with a "marinade" out of the fridge, all are smothered in sugar and chemicals and are PROCESSED.

 If its not a naked food item, it IS PROCESSED. They add sugar to everything! Then a load more chemicals to make these things addictive so that you will go and buy them again. If you don't understand the ingredients list and they sound like chemicals, then do not buy it. Real food equals real flavours, simple as that.
  Its not easy but try it, you will feel healthier, happier and you will look much better. Your skin will glow, you will lose those few stubborn pounds and you will have much more energy.

  Just try to aim for 90% good, 10% indulgences. I am no saint but this is the rule I live by. I am the first to admit that I am vain and concerned about keeping fit, healthy and well and this works for me. I do indulge in one too many glasses of the old truth juice from time to time but I make up for it by being good and exercising the rest of the time. 

  You only live once, make it count and remember that next time you think you are too busy or can't be bothered. You should be bothered.

More advice about essentials for your kitchen & some recipes can be found on my website www.mydeliciouslyhealthykitchen.com

Monday, 29 April 2013

Just a little something someone said.....


So, long time no blogging!  This business malarky is rather time consuming! I thought that I had better check in and say hi, tell you what I've been up to and whats happening with My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen.

So there has been classes, there has been a pop up evening and there is now this website! Oh and I ended up in The Guardian Food supplement this past saturday, here's the link:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/27/get-togethers-home-delivery  so exciting!!!

Its all been going on!

The biggest thing that has been taking up my time is trying to find a permanent site for My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen. I currently hire a workspace at Witherdens Hall, Wingham which is a lovely space and works rather well. But I have got to the stage where I need to have some premises of my own, I've got a bit too much kit to keep carting it around in a Mini! I'm sure something will turn up, I have my fingers in lots of preverbial pies and I'm just waiting to hear about something that could be perfect, fingers crossed!

So as thats about as much as I can say right now but I thought I would share with you what everyone else has been saying about My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen's cookery classes. They have been ever so kind, and it has been a pleasure for me to meet them!

Testimonials:
"I really enjoyed learning new tips and eating the food! It was great participating and creating the dishes altogether. My favourite dish? Tapenade, quinoa, chicken skewers, can't decide! Actually the dukkah roasted veggies! I will definitely be making all of the dishes at home. I had such a lovely time, thank you so much! It was not what I expected and it could not be better, would so recommend to others, I really, really enjoyed it!" 19/01/13

"It was a great way to spend the day with my friends in a relaxed, informal atmosphere and learning some excellent "deliciously healthy" recipes that are simple and practical. I loved the apple and cinnamon cake but the dukkah was a great thing to learn, an interesting store cupboard essential! I will absolutely be making everything I learnt today. Highly recommend." 19/01/13

"I enjoyed everything about today! Loved learning how to prepare and cook healthy dishes in a fab venue with my friends. The Morrocan spiced soup was yum! But everything was so tasty and packed full of goodness. I will be trying all of the recipes at home, so deliciously healthy! An outstanding day, really loved everything about the class and the venue was lovely. So relaxed and simple, a real 'home from home' atmosphere. I found everything so easy to follow. Highly recommend to everyone, I cannot wait to tell all of my friends. A real must for get togethers with friends, hen nights or corporate days out. " 19/01/13

"It was such a fun day, relaxing too, and I learnt a lot. A really nice way to meet new friends. I loved all of the food, tasty, full of flavours but I loved the cake! I will be making it all again at home. I thought the day was AMAZING, the best way to spend a day with friends!" 23/02/13

"I had a lovely day with lovely people, the time flew by! Good instruction throughout, I learnt new methods of prep, it was also great to taste bits as we went along and working altogether was a lovely way to cook. Its so hard to pick a favourite dish, probably the spiced lentil soup and the tapanade. I'll make everything I have learnt today at home for sure. A great day out, highly recommended." 23/02/13

“I loved the fact that the recipes were so quick and easy, I learnt about ingredients that were new to me. Really lovely atmosphere too! The carrot, orange and almond cake was my favourite, but only just! I will be making all the recipes thats for sure! Really enjoyed it, recommended!” 15/03/13

“It was so nice to meet like minded people, nice to chat and relax. I couldnt pick a favourite, all were so good! If I can find the ingredients I will make alll that I have learnt today. Would’nt change a thing about the class, it was great.” 15/03/13

“I enjoyed meeting the other people on the course, I especially enjoyed licking the cake bowl! Ha ha. The peanut butter and chocolate blondies were my favourite to eat but the lemon and coconut polenta cake was so pretty to look at, I’ll be making them all at home! I really enjoyed the class.” 15/03/13

“Its great that I have learnt that I can eat cake that is healthy! I loved all of the recipes in the class and I will be making them all at home. The class was perfect, beautifully presented, professional, informative but friendly. Highy recommend.” 15/03/13

“Great to gather new information and meet like minded people. I loved the orange, almond & carrot cake but I will make everything we have been shown today! The class was great, the balance is jsut right!” 15/03/13

"I really enjoyed learning about healthier alternatives, much more simple than I expected. Was really fun and great to just take time out to cook. The chocolate torte & cashew cream was AMAZING! I really enjoyed the whole day and will make all of the recipes that we learnt, the fishcakes will be great for an everyday dinner." 19/04/13

"It was great to learn about healthier options and the alternatives to unhealthy ingredients. Was a great to meet new people in a lovely location and even better over a delicious lunch! My favourite dish was the mixed bean salad with wild garlic pesto but I will be recreating all of todays recipes." 19/04/13

"A fun, informal & relaxed atmosphere. Lunch was amazing and definately "sells" what My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen is advocating. I loved the morrocan spiced lentil soup but everything was very good indeed! I will certainly be making all of the dishes at home. Highly recommend." 23/02/13

"I enjoyed everthing about the day, great venue and great food! I loved all of the dishes and will absolutely be making them at home, the main course my family will love!" 23/02/13

"I really enjoyed getting involved with the prep and all working together around the kitchen table. My favourite thing was the dukkah roasted vegetables & quinoa but I will be making all of todays recipes back home! The timing was brilliant, the food was yummy and the host just perfect!" 19/01/13

"It was great to use ingredients that I have not used before, especially seeds! Love that we were given recommendations for other uses for the recipes too. I love the herbed quinoa, I will be giving all of the recipes a go at home, lets see if I can do it!" 19/01/13

"A relaxed atmosphere, really nice setting and it was great to learn about different foods and get tips on how to prepare things. I dont normally like apples in cake but the apple and cinnamon cake was delicious, I loved the soup and tapanade too. It was a brilliant class, good variety of dishes which work well together and on their own, so easy to prepare and so quick!" 19/01/13

 The next classes are Friday 10th May:

World Flavours Morning Of Mezze 9am-12pm £40pp

Guilt Free Baking 2.30pm-5.30pm £40pp

Click here for my WEBSITE where you will find the booking details and more deliciously healthy goings on!! 

 





Sunday, 24 March 2013

WEBSITE!!!!!

IT'S FINALLY HERE!


THE OFFICIAL MY DELICIOUSLY HEALTHY KITCHEN WEBSITE IS NOW LIVE! 


JUST CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO TAKE YOU TO ALL THINGS DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY!



www.mydeliciouslyhealthykitchen.co.uk



To celebrate the launch of my website there is 25% off my 

next full day class, fri 19th April with this code WEBSITE 


Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Guilt Free Baking Class


  Well friday saw the first Guilt Free Baking class here at My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen HQ, and what a wonderful afternoon it was!!

  A fabulous bunch of like minded individuals, who got on like a house on fire despite not knowing one another before hand, infact they bonded so well that all contact details were swapped before the end of the class and new friendships had been made, how lovely is that? It was a pleasure for me to spend an afternoon in their company!

  We started by making a deliciously moist carrot, almond and orange cake, sugar & dairy free and all natural! Then it was on to a gluten free, sugar free and dairy free lemon & coconut polenta cake, light as a feather. Then it was time for a tea break, accompanied by carrot, almond and orange cake and peanut butter & chocolate blondies! After some cake sampling, a good old chat, a little relax on the sofas and some teas and coffees it was time to get back in the kitchen!

   Next up it was my easy peasy brownies, dark & rich with chunks of melting chocolate! Once again, gluten free, sugar/sweetener and dairy free! Then for all you peanut butter freaks out there (myself included, cant get enough!!) it was peanut butter and chocolate blondies, no sugar/sweetner, no dairy and gluten free plus a dose of good fats from the peanut butter and some antioxidant power fromthe dark chocolate!!! No excuses, need to eat cake!


One carrot, almond & orange cake coming up!

Great ingredients make great cake!

More good stuff!

Ready set bake!

My fabulous aprons made especially for My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen

Recipe packs ready

One peanut butter and chocolate blondie

Carrot, orange & almond cake
Lemon and coconut polenta cake
                                     
Brownies......


Next class is Friday 19th April, click HERE for more details.
Only 8 spaces left, be quick!!

Psssst, the lovely The City Kitty was at my Guilt Free Baking Class see what she thought about it HERE

Thursday, 7 March 2013

After the juice cleanse...

 Well its been nearly a week since I finished my juice cleanse and I thought I would be honest with you about whether its worth the effort and the expense, all that fruit and veg is costly and cleaning the juicer is a complete pain in the ass. So do I feel any benefits from all the hard work and abstinence?

  Well I certainly feel much more alert and focused, and it has reminded me just how good veggie juices are for you, I used to have them all the time before I went off gallivanting round Europe, and I am definitely continuing with one a day in the morning as it really does makes you feel good. I lost a couple of stubborn pounds and I feel healthier. Although I did have a permanent headache for the 3 days, that must have been from the toxins from my coffee and red wine habit knocking about!! I was not hungry, far from it and I have actually missed the juices since! Weird??

 In fact Mr had a horrific cold last week and its testament to my immune system that despite living in close proximity I didn't even have so much as a sniffle, I got him some high dose Echinacea and he upped his Vitamin C intake to 3,000mg, it was gone in 3 days! The cold virus lasts 7 days untreated, the medical companies tell you to consult your doctor if symptons persist after 7 days of taking their product, then the doctors prescribe more drugs, a great business model if there ever was one don't you think??? Money, money, money...

 I just don't really ever get seasonal colds or bugs anymore, I used to. This has been the case since I adopted my natural, wholefoods foods obsession. The only time that I have had anti-biotic in the last 10 years was when I was living in the French Alps 2 years ago, I was back on meat/dairy/crap a la francais diet, living very unhealthily and I had a horrendous chest infection, seriously I have never been so scared, I could not breath and the doctor said my body temperature was really low!!!

   In fact I hadn't given my actual day to day health much thought, I know its a healthier way to eat and live and naturally I feel all the better for it, but Mr said to me last week that he has noticed that I just never get ill anymore. I am not superhuman but I would say that's pretty good proof if a man can notice something that is'nt beer, boobs or football! The only thing that I have suffered from that I can think of is food poisoning, once last year!! How ironic! Not my cooking I may add, eating out!!

   So I would say that the juice cleanse is worth it from a health point of view, but please don't do it just to lose weight, it will only pile STRAIGHT back on unless you eat properly and naturally, as all rapid weight loss gimmicks do. The key to a happy, healthy body and life is caring about what you put into your body all of the time not just in January or when detoxing or trying to lose weight!! I live by the rule of being good 90% of the time and indulging the other 10%, well you can't be good all of the time can you??

  One last thing, if you are interested in learning more and care about your health check out http://www.foodmatters.tv/ this changed my views forever......


Food really does matter.

My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen Cookery Classes now available, I will share with you the benefits of eating naturally and how it can still be delicious, I love food and I want to share that with people like you!

Simply click HERE for more details

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Detoxing is not just for January

   Feeling a bit out of sorts? Fed up with the grey wintery days going on and on? Finding yourself slipping back into bad eating habits and all those goals you had in January are now a bit of a distant memory? 

   Well you are only human as am I. 

   There is an excuse we use, "but you put on weight as you get older" well it gets harder to keep it off but the only reason we put on weight as we get older is due to our lifestyle. Throughout the year we have all sorts of things going on and "you got to enjoy yourself" but add up the odd pound here from an indulgent weekend, those few pounds from easter, the holiday weight gain then birthday treats and we are back to Christmas and all those extra pounds! Thats why we put on weight, no excuses. I'm not saying don't indulge, I'm saying make sure you get rid of it as you go or a few years down the line you will have more than a couple of niggling pounds to get rid of!

   Every now and again we need to give ourselves a little boost and a kick up the ass. Although I eat very healthily and exercise, I am no saint and have a terrible weakness for a glass of wine or two and weekends can be a little naughty for me! So once in a while I like to reign myself in and do a little detoxing, get back on the straight and narrow. Because its easy to let things slip and get a little too comfortable and before you know it you are back where you started and its January again! 

   So here we go, time for my kick up the ass. The next 3 days are going to full of juicey goodness, I have done lots of detox's and I regularly have veggie juices but I have never done a full on juice detox. No solid food, just lots of fruit and veg juiced! Over the next 3 days I will be consuming, 15 lemons, 6 cucumbers, 15 sticks of celery, 300g of Broccoli, 1 fennel, 2 courgettes, 24 apples, 6 limes, parsley, 3 bags of spinach, mint, 2 pineapples, 1 bag of watercress, 6 pears and 225g cashews! This is gonna be harsh! But worth it, juices give you a rich hit of all those nutrients and you feel great actually when you have these juices regularly.

I have started my day with Detox lemonade:
  • juice of 2/3 lemons
  •  500ml water
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons of Agave Syrup
All blitzed together in a blender. A refreshing and Vitamin C packed juice that will kick start the body! It actually tastes really good!

Mid morning I shall be having a Green Veggie juice:
  • 1 cucumber
  • 5 celery stalks
  • 100g Broccoli
  • 1/4 fennel bulb
  • 1/2 courgette
  • 1 apple
  • 1 lime
  • 3 large handfuls of parsley
  • 3 large handfuls of spinach
These will need to be juiced whole, I have a cheap juicer that I picked up years ago, it does the job but is a right pain to clean!! This juice is packed with anti-oxidants and has an alkalzing eefect on the body.

Lunch will be Pineapple and Apple juice with Spinach:
  • 5 apples
  • 2 handfuls of spinach
  • 1 handful of fresh mint
  • 1/2 a large pineapple
  • juice of 1 lime.
Juiced

Mid afternoon will be Cucumber, Apple, Pear and Watercress.
  • 3 apples
  • 2 handfuls of watercress
  • 1 cucumber
  • 2 pears
  • juice of 1 lemon
Juiced

Dinner will be Cashew Milk:
  • 75g cashews (unsalted)
  • 400ml water
  • 1-2 tablespoons of agave syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil
  • a pinch of sea salt
All blended together.

In the evening I will have one more serving of detox lemonade! Then I will repeat all of this again for the next 3 days! Wish me luck!

This detox has been taken from the Raw Detox book by Anya Ladra.

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

New Classes!

    I am very excited to announce more classes and dates.

    The next classes will be half day workshops with a specific style and theme of cookery. They are to be held at the lovely Witherdens Hall in Wingham, there are just 10 places per class and most importantly you will get to sample some deliciously healthy food!

    The date is Friday the 15th March and the first class will run from 9.30am-12.30pm and it will be all about Great Grains, you will learn 3 dishes made with amazing grains and pulses. They will give you inspiration for your lunchbox, make dinner quick and easy and you will learn how easy it is to introduce these nutritious, healthy and tasty dishes to your own and your families lives. Just £35pp, click here for booking details http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/5573586748





   The afternoon class on Friday 15th March will be for those of you with a sweet tooth! Running from 2.30pm-5.30pm, I will teach you how to have your cake and eat it at the My Deliciously Healthy Kitchen Guilt Free Baking class, cake, pudding and brownies, dairy free, sugar free and gluten free. All natural and free from artificial sweetners, you will have all of that sweet goodness without any of the guilt! Click here for booking details http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/5573849534





Happy tuesday all!

E xx

Website coming VERY soon!