Home-made sweet potato & spinach soup

 

By Andrea Cullen

March 13th 2014

This sweet potato and spinach soup is lovely; which is a good thing as many people and kiddies and husbands and partners have an issue with a green coloured soup approaching it with a large degree of scepticism. Trust me it is worth a shot and if you like; adding a nice dollop of crème fraiche or creamy coconut milk mellows it down and adds a splurge of indulgence.

It is important to get in your greens; your Granny wasn’t just saying it for the heck of it. Green leafy vegetables contain lots of magnesium, vitamin K, plant based antioxidants such as beta-carotene and lutein, potassium, iron, calcium, vitamin C and small amounts of omega 3 fats to name but a few.

In a nutshell we should be eating leafy greens of some description every day.

I adopted this recipe from the ‘Cornucopia at Home; The Cookbook’; this is a wonderful book containing a collection of recipes from Dublin’s Cornucopia Restaurant.

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Protein Energy Fuel Balls & Bars

 

storing bars.3

How to make healthy home-made portable protein snacks….

I love making home-made protein balls and energy bars. They are handy, portable, quick and easy to make; they store well in the fridge and are easy to carry to work and training.

They are so simple to make that your children and teens can make them to bring to school and college for snacking on. And they are an indispensable part of the busy, training and travelling athletes food artillery. There is no better and more economical everyday training snack than these little babies for on the road sports like cycling and adventure racing.

swimbikeruneat_logo

Athletes are made in the kitchen
(and on the bike, in the pool, on the track, pounding the roads, in the gym….)

I have been making these bad boy protein snacks for years; however there now is a veritable treasure trove of online sites specialising in recipes…. simply get your Google on and use your judgement for what constitutes a healthy and a less than healthy recipe; don’t be afraid to tweak it and make substitutions these recipes are VERY forgiving.. I will have more recipes posted in the coming months and available as e-books.

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Healing Herb Pesto for Detoxification
garlic

Healing Herb Pesto for Detoxification

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This is my tweak on the traditional pesto and my own pesto recipe to create a ‘pesto’ that adds in healing and detoxification supporting ingredients to your usual diet. Tweaking ‘normal’ foods like this to sneak in even more healthy ingredients is a superb way to add to your diet in a consistent and sustainable way.

I am not a fan of the “all-or-nothing” approach as for many when they slip off the healthy eating phase, they fall and then stay fallen! And when you ‘fall’ you feel bad; and this is not what life is about. Eating healthy should be a decision that is made that makes you feel good and feels good to do so. You, me, or any health professional should not approach health in an overly strict or punishing way. This simply leads to self-esteem issues and is a poor example for our children and peers.

So taking what you like and making it better; is definitely a strategy that will be achievable and far less overwhelming. Agreed there will be some changes that may take adjusting to; and these will be worth it. Chose to focus on where you are going and how you will feel. This is very important.

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Vegetable and Beef heart/ Meat Thai Red Curry
Simmering curry

Vegetable and Beef heart/ Meat Thai Red Curry

What another amazing week of sunny weather here in Ireland! This photo is taken today on the bridge of my home town Newport, Co. Tipperary; do you ever stop to admire the beauty of where you live?

So often we fail to stop and look at the beauty of where we live.
So often we fail to stop and look at the beauty of where we live.

We had the new moon this week in Libra (September 24th 2014) which means that many of us may have let go of old stuff and jumped into the new; if so well done! Or others were hanging on for dear life or simply not knowing what was going on; this is perfect too. You are always where you are meant to be.

This blog by Astrologer Sonja Francis may help you read a little more and understand on a deeper level what happened this week.

Do you take time out?

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Handy Herb-Style Pesto

Herb-style pesto best photo

This is my take on a handy herb pesto that does not contain cheese, dairy ingredients or gluten. Not everyone is a fan of a very strong basil flavour so in this mix I used coriander, parsley, and basil. I didn’t add garlic as I am not able to tolerate raw garlic. However if you are a garlic fan I suggest that you add garlic to add taste and depth and also health benefits to this ‘pesto’.

I made this in my Nutribullet. I have spoken about this in my previous Herb Blitz recipe here.  If you do not have a NutriBullet with a little bit of effort this should blitz with a hand-held blender or in a food processor or blender.

Handy Herb-Style Pesto

Blitztastic!!

Ingredients:

  • Fresh coriander – lots – approximately ½ large container
  • Fresh parsley –  about 75:25 with coriander; approximately 1 decent fistful or small container
  • Fresh basil leaves – decent fistful depending on how strong you like the basil flavour. I tend to use more coriander and less basil.
  • Pine nuts – decent amount toasted under the grill or in a dry frying or sauce pan
  • Extra Virgin olive oil – sufficient to allow the blender to blitz all the herbs and not too much so start low and add more as needed.
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons hot paprika or chili powder depending on how ‘hot’ you like it!
  • Generous seasoning from Celtic, Atlantic or Himalayan salt

Optional:

  • If you are a garlic fan add 1/2 to 1 clove of garlic. As it is raw it can taste strong so start tentatively.
  • Instead of pine nuts Go Raw sprouted and salted pumpkinseeds taste amazing or salted roasted cashew nuts work superbly also.
  • To help the mixture blitz while limiting oil I often add a dash of balsamic vinegar.
  • If you wish to add further flavour and healing benefits then try ground dried turmeric and/ or fresh or dried chilli

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Red Lentil and Beef Tongue Massaman Curry

Finished curry long

Today I wrote a review on Derval O’Rourke’s newly released cookbook titled ‘Food in the Fast Lane’; go buy it!! Here is my review http://andreacullenhealthsolutions.com/2014/09/20/derval-orourkes-new-cookbook-food-for-the-fast-lane/

“Having talent is easy.
Getting out of bed and showing up every day, doing the hard graft, and believing in yourself during the moments of doubt or loneliness
is NOT easy.

I applaud everyone who achieves, no matter how big or small;
Because I see the person behind the success.
And truly that is all any person wishes for:
To be seen.
For every effort to be noted and appreciated.

The medal does not mark the day’s achievement but the culmination of months and often years of training.

I have been honoured to work with many of Ireland’s best athletes and when I say they worked for it; they worked hard for it.
Often unsupported, invisible, but always believing.

This is not a glamour gig; it is a financial, personal, physical, and emotional sacrifice.

This is what we applaud: athlete, professional, amateur or the unnoticed person plodding away.

We make note of every training session, every stretching session; every meal prepared at home and for the road, every physical therapy appointment, every doctor visit, every dreaded morning alarm clock because no one really likes to get out of bed when it is dark and cold outside….
every normal part of life, like the pub, club or social event and even skiing trips and sports that risk a mishap…
that had to be missed…

We see the person, the efforts, the determination, the true grit, the never giving up, the picking oneself up after every fall and doing it again and again and again; the belief in the dream.
Notice the people you love.
See your children for who they are.
Be inspired by your parents and role models.
Everyone holds extraordinary gifts and talents;
And everyone feels vulnerable…”

Andrea xx

Red Lentil and Beef Tongue Massaman Curry

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Derval O’Rourke’s new cookbook ‘Food for the Fast lane’
Derval O'Rourke

Derval O’Rourke’s new cookbook ‘Food for the Fast lane’

and other ramblings…

Hi folks,

It is YET ANOTHER FABULOUS SEPTEMBER DAY; wow I cannot get enough of this Indian Summer we are having here in Ireland, I am just back from my own little 19km canter around the block in the warm sun (ok 18.95 km my running OCD is kicking myself for the shortfall!). I think every athlete and active person in Ireland will agree that it has been the best ever summer for outdoor training.

I know that speaking for myself, while things are still up in the air regarding getting the new clinic up and running (read here) I have been outdoors a lot; to keep fit, to keep my mind clear, and to help me make decisions about the future. I personally find that decluttering your head with activities such as running, walking, hiking, or biking allow the solutions to float in…. minus the worry and over-analysis. This is probably due to the repetitive nature of these activities putting you into a state of heart sync, a sort of active meditation so to speak. If you have decisions to make get outdoors rather than on a hamster wheel of over analysis; your productivity will thank you for it.

If you are not familiar with where I live;

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Herb Blitz Hummus dip

I have written about hummus before with a fast easy recipe as posted here for Hummus-tastic Hummus.

Food Flickr also posted a super recipe for a fast healthy hummus this week; this is their Facebook page link https://www.facebook.com/Foodflicker

Don’t let home-cooking scare you!

I am a big Downton Abbey fan!
I am a big Downton Abbey fan!

“Healthy cooking is about taking a recipe and making it better;
It isn’t something that should be exclusive to gourmet chefs….
Just start with what you are familiar with and make it better”.

 

Ingredients:

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Herb Blitz
Herb blitz

Herb Blitz

Herb blitz.3

Recently I invested in a Nutribullet from Argos.

Nutribullet

It cost me €129.99 and is far superior to the other less expensive option called the Magic Bullet. Why? Having used both I can say that the Nutribullet has a more powerful motor and hence is better at dealing with more challenging vegetables, nuts and seeds. It pulverizes everything!

If you would like to read more about the Nutribullet follow the link here (https://www.nutribullet.com/); I believe that in Ireland Brown Thomas and Argos supply the Nutribullet; I am unsure about other places. A quick search on Harvey Normal only showed me the Magic bullet.

I had been saving for a super dooper juicer and in the interim decided to trial the bullet and wow oh wow I would rate it as one of the best kitchen gadgets on the must have list and for the moment I will not be investing in a separate juicer?

Why? The Nutribullet thus far has demonstrated the following advantages:

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Beef Tongue Vegetable Curry

Finished beef tongue vegetable curry

This has been a great week for me as I have been writing several blogs and this is truly what I love doing best; reflecting on life and adding my two pence worth on paper, that and cooking!

Love seems to be topical for me as well as many close to me currently. Truly I think it is indeed love that makes the world go round, provides the meaning for our existence, and the strength to fly. If you would like to read more please follow these links http://andrea-cullen.com/2014/09/06/what-love-means/ and http://andreacullenhealthsolutions.com/2014/09/12/love-with-abandon/ there are many more musings to be found on this blog site. Please send a little time getting lost in thought here.

Before we kick off into the curry recipe maybe stop a moment to fill your heart with gratitude for all that blesses your day; what we are thankful for grows.

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