Recipes of the Day

Pineapple Express

If you are lucky enough to own a juicer, enjoy this fabulous drink anytime of the day to satisfy your sweet craving. This is a truly delicious sweet creation and with say 'Cox' apples it becomes more tart or with more ginger to give it a kick. Its totally up to you, but its a creation that you would be crazy not to enjoy!

1/3 Fresh Pineapple

4 Small Apples (any type you prefer)

5 Small Carrots

3cm Size stub of fresh ginger

4 Fresh sprigs of mint

All of the ingredients just go into the juicer, no particular way, no particular style, just as they are and there you have it a fresh Pineapple Express!

Kale Kick Scramble

Oh a delight to the veggies out there with a gorgeous array of ingredients and a few spices to kick it up. I absolutely adore this meal and the great thing is that it can change to whatever your prefer, whatever you have in the fridge; just mix it up and enjoy; all whilst you are helping the environment!

2 Eggs

8 cloves of marinated garlic (or 3 fresh if not available)

1/3 Red chilli

1/2 Red Onion

1/3 Red Pepper

1/3 Courgette

1 Handfull Kale

So, throw some great oil into a pan (Udo oil is fab) and heat it up, add the onions for a few minutes until soft and then add your red chillies and garlic chopped finely to get the taste going. Once you have let the spices entice the onions (2 mins max) then add the Kale, Peppers and Courgettes. Its totally up to you how you chop them as its a preference thing. Once everything seems cooked through but not overcooked (there is a fine art to this) and pending what appliance you have it will vary so this is something you have to figure out.

Whip the two eggs in a bowl and pour over the cooked ingredients in the pan. They will seep into the mixture and begin to cook through, usually about 2 mins is the right time and you will see as they create a shape which you can then split in two, flip to the other side ensuring all of the egg has been cooked and Voile! You have a little breakfast meal for two.

To complete this treat I drizzle a little Flax Seed Oil over the scramble with Flax Seed Powder and finish with some chopped fresh coriander! I always add a little chilli sauce to most things, but again this is a preference so hot or not - you make that call! If you are a breadie; then make some seeded, spelt or 7 grain toast on the side, one slice is enough for one and two is pushing it a bit too far. Remember smaller meals more often is the way forward! Finally, enjoy a fresh avocado on the side sliced as the perfect accompanient on top of some fresh rocket. So, there you have it - DELICIOUS! I cannot say anymore but in order to truly understand my Foodie mentality, get your Food Groove on and get to the kitchen. Although probably not the best habit in life I love love love Ethiopian coffee in its blackest form with a tiny bit of maple syrup to flavour and to top it all off some Cuban tunes in the background to lift your day!

Think about all of your senses all of the time. When you eat its taste, you can see how glorious the food looks by its presentation, you can truly smell your delights as they cook and when you are in your food groove get the tunes on! I'm telling you its the only way forward and stimulating all of your senses whenever you can will continually make your life Perfect!

Thanks for tuning in to the Society of FFL!

Food Rituals

What is a food ritual? Well, its something that you commit to; each and every day of your life! A ritual is something just for you, your mind, your body, your soul; to cleanse, to lift, to revitalise; to live! Food is absolutely so simple and so many of us abuse food or shall I say abuse our bodies by our toxic intake of inappropriate foods or foods which are marketed to those of us with a fast pace life to be labelled 'healthy living'! If I see that one more time as a label to entice to buy... honestly 'Healthy Living' as a fast food sold in the supermarket does not exist in a whole 100% honesty! Even the bloody vegetables are full of pesticides and who knows what else to keep them as fresh as possible for us; when fresh is the farthest sense of the word in which they exist to us as we place them into our grocery store carts!!! I'm just not a big fan of grocery stores these days as they just do not provide me what I want out of life to eat better and take care of my body. So, what is it I do? Well, a number of things but most importantly know what is necessary to buy 'organic', understand your fresh seasonal foods and buy local wherever possible. If you have local butchers, bakers and produce stands in your area or close buy; get those boots on and buy buy buy! I have a great selection of local market stands in Chiswick, but also know that I can choose local fresh produce or organic if I feel this is necessary. Of course the ultimate step is to 'grow your own' and of course this is a step for the future so watch this space!!

So, back to rituals. A great ritual is to wake each morning to either a cold or warm glass of water with fresh squeezed lemon. Its a fabulous way to wake up and cleanse your body. I usually do this followed by my Vitamin C and Vitamin B 'Solgar brand' only of course as I believe they are one of the best, but everyone has their own preferred brand. I then continue to take a few drops of 'Biosil' which is diluted in lemon water or fresh juice as an extra added boost for strong bones and healthy hair. It doesn't taste too great, but believe me it works!

As of 2010 I love my new juicer and my roomie and I enjoy a fresh glass of juice every morning made by us, each day we try something different, try to understand what is good for us and enjoy getting our 5 a Day without even trying because we are definitely Juicers for Life! Breakfast usually involved some good old fashion Porridge, an Egg Scramble or the occasional Buckwheat Pancakes which we love love love, but as I said its a treat!!!

So, breakfast is very important and besides getting your vits, vegs, fruits, etc.. its important to enjoy your food, entertain with food, grow with food and teach with food. Its a part of our lives and if only more of us would open our eyes to the great selection of food and ease the consumption levels or simply understand that we need to food to live and should enjoy that food, but we definitely do not live to eat.... that's crazy!!! I have so many great friends who love food, cook continually and entertain often which I absolutely love because they are truly Food Friendly Lovers.... yup that's who we are the Society of FFL.. not to be confused with the NFL of course but it truly is a tough game to fight. I love learning about food and understanding the things that are truly healthy for you. Fresh ingredients are the way forward and processed foods are a thing of the past! Everything in proportion I say and you can enjoy so many things in life, control, mind over matter and all of that stuff we should pay more attention too.

So, the only other ritual you all should have is water, water, water.... dear, dear we don't drink enough of it and its essential to keep our bodies, our organs working properly. You may not notice it at the age of 30 or 40, but believe me you will notice it when you die 20 years earlier than your life should be. See these are the things we don't think about, our insides are working to whatever we give them, but that doesn't mean we are not damaging them in the process. This means that you may not feel it now, but at some point in your life you will and you owe it to yourself to live as long as you possible can and honestly this is the Eat to Live way of life!!!

Besides food rituals there are many health and beauty rituals which you should enjoy. Exercise is surely one of them getting your heart rate going a bit every day whether it be a walk, a bike ride or Zumba!!! Why didn't someone tell me about Zumba - its crazy fun! I tried it for the first time the other week and I was absolutely shocked at how my body could not keep up or for that matter do about ten things at once so time to perfect the Zumba. Its a new challenge and I'm going to do it once a week to inject that kick into my cardio, bit of fun, lots of movement, serious co-ordination and using every single part of your body, mind and soul to keep it together... plus whilst doing all of this you are expected to shout out loud, smile and enjoy the party! Who would have thought?!

Everyone should also take some time out for relaxation and meditation. My new fix is yoga and of course lots of people do it and its been around for centuries. There are so many different types of yoga but its more about finding the right instructor, DVD or ritual for you. I love my instructor at Virgin Active as she ensures you are doing the best you can for your body at that very moment and not pushing yourself to extremes like some instructors do. Little by little you will learn to get into that pose, push yourself more and the best thing is that your mind gets a break from everything. Honestly, it is the best thing you can do in life... take a break, think of nothing, live in that exact moment and enjoy!!!

So, relax your mind before you go to bed, clear it of unwanted thoughts, let go of any anger, brief or pain and remind yourself of the joy, happiness, peace in life along with all that is beautiful! Oh and get to bed before the Midnight hour.... your wrinkles will be less, your skin dewey and bright as well as a more a very rested sleep. The hours before midnight are those which are most important to sleep so try for 10.45pm and enjoy the slumber :)

I think that's enough for today, little lessons come as they are in little form to take them on slowly so I'll write when I can; followed by some recipes as they are in pure creation form. Become part of the Food Friendly Lovers!