Just a quick blog while waiting for the television highlights of this evening's Carling Cup matches. I've managed not to blog on City so far, but I just can't hold it off any longer.
We had a great match this evening, after initially letting Scunthorpe equalise in the first half. Another four goals made up for the defensive error. It was especially pleasing to see Michael Johnson get a goal after a long, long time fighting injury. He has taken a lot of stick from some fans for being seen socialising while out injured. He is a lot heavier now than he was a couple of years ago, but he is older, has probably been on steroids and seems fit enough now. He certainly seems to have plenty of muscle if that 27-yard rocket is anything to go by.
Happy days...
Wednesday 28 October 2009
Monday 26 October 2009
Yummy Mash
The clocks have gone back, the slow cooker is out on the worktop more often, and the delights of mashed potatoes are calling... There’s nothing too unhealthy about mashed spuds but given how important a varied diet is, here’s a few tweaks and alternatives which you could incorporate into your meals this winter:
- Save the water you cooked them in, and then add it back in when you mash them. This means you need less butter and/or milk for a creamy taste.
Instead of butter, try adding extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil – they are both rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. - Given how full of antioxidants herbs and spices are, experiment with any flavours you fancy. Mustard is a well-known addition, but what about pesto, wasabi, chives, shredded basil or turmeric, to name a few?
- Add practically any other root vegetables as you boil the potatoes. Carrots, swedes, celeriac, parsnips and turnips are all good, but you can also add non-root vegetables like cauliflower for the last few minutes. You’ve increased your portions of vegetables at a stroke!
- Talking of adding vegetables, you could also add gently sauteed onions, leeks or spring onions after mashing for a version of colcannon, or lightly cooked shredded cabbage or kale to make bubble and squeak.
- Actually on Saturday night, my husband combined the two suggestions above. He boiled some peeled swedes in Marigold vegetable stock, mashed them and added sauteed leeks – delicious!
Add some cooked Puy lentils after making the mash (you can buy Puy lentils dried and cook them yourselves, saving the leftovers for mash the next night, or buy them cooked in cans or sachets) - Instead of ‘normal’ potatoes, have mashed sweet potatoes instead. My recommendation is not to boil your sweet potatoes as they can absorb a lot of water. Instead, bake them until they start browning after peeling and drizzling with olive oil. Then mash them with a little creme fraiche. Actually you could do this with butternut squash as well.
- I find the flavours of sweet potato and butternut squash go really well with tastes like ginger, cumin, basil and Thai curry paste, so there’s another load of mashes to try.
- As another alternative to mashed potatoes, try straining a can of beans (butter beans are my favourite in this recipe) and gently crushing them before heating in a pan with some olive oil and any fresh herbs you fancy.
- Talking of ‘gently crushing’, instead of peeling your potatoes and mashing them to a lovely smooth texture, you could try leaving their skins on. Then rather than mashing them, just crush them a little. It’s mash but not as we know it!
Finally, you could just cook a few less spuds, leaving more space on your plate for other vegetables. All these suggestions are adding variety to your diet, which means you are getting a greater variety of phytonutrients.
Monday 19 October 2009
Jerusalem Artichokes, by the bucketful
I couldn’t wait any longer – I had to dig up one of my Jerusalem artichokes last week to see how well they had grown. I was absolutely amazed at my harvest. From one tuber planted last spring, I dug up a whole bucket full of little knobbly vegetables, just begging to be turned into tasty soup, or mashed, roasted or sauted. Even after sharing my bounty with bemused neighbours, I still had plenty left to for experimentation. The only problem was the 27 hour power cut which followed, leaving me with lots of peeled and browning chunks of artichoke... (If you are going to peel your artichokes, pop them in some water with the juice of half a lemon to stop them browning too quickly)
Jerusalem artichokes are not related to globe artichokes, and don’t come from Jerusalem – they are in fact members of the sunflower family. It is thought that their name may come from the word, ‘girasole’ which is their name in Italian. They do have an interesting smoky, almost truffly taste, not unlike globe artichokes but as a tuber they are cooked completely differently. You can use them peeled or scrubbed in a variety of recipes where you might use other root vegetables including potatoes. I was attempting to roast them, sprinkled with olive oil, with beetroot when the power went off on Thursday. I did manage at the weekend to make a beautiful soup with leeks, garlic and chicken stock. I strained it through a sieve so it was velvety smooth and added just a dash of cream, so as to not overpower the taste of the artichokes. My guests appeared to like it, though at the time of writing I have not heard if they all survived the alleged downside of artichokes – a rumbly tummy!
The wind-producing powers of artichokes are actually due to their relatively high content of a very useful indigestible carbohydrate called inulin (not insulin). This natural substance preferentially feeds the good bacteria in our gut, meaning it is a ‘prebiotic’. Essentially if you eat more prebiotics than you have good bacteria to eat them, the prebiotics will start to ferment in your gut – hence the gas. The more prebiotics you eat, the more good bacteria your diet can support, so the more will grow – and your health will only benefit in the long term. Thus, adding foods rich in prebiotics to your diet is a great way of improving your gut environment, with positive effects on immune function, mineral absorption and even levels of cholesterol and insulin in the blood. In addition to Jerusalem artichokes, good levels of prebiotics can be found in chicory, garlic, leeks, legumes, asparagus, bananas and other fruit and vegetables.
In theory we can also improve our gut environment by adding probiotics or good bacteria directly to our diet. If you have taken a lot of antibiotics lately and really feel you need to supplement your good bacteria, you may want to go into a good quality healthfood store and ask for a supplement of probiotics, each dose of which contains billions of good bacteria with research to back up its claims – not all good bacteria are the same! Don’t forget - good bacteria are found in fermented foods such natural yoghurt and yoghurt products like kefir ( fermented milk originally from the Caucausus Mountain region) as well as sauerkraut, miso soup and many pickles. These natural unsweetened products are probably a better source of probiotics than the highly-sweetened drinks and yoghurts which are advertised so much lately, especially if you also eat plenty of the prebiotic-containing foods listed above.
Jerusalem artichokes are not related to globe artichokes, and don’t come from Jerusalem – they are in fact members of the sunflower family. It is thought that their name may come from the word, ‘girasole’ which is their name in Italian. They do have an interesting smoky, almost truffly taste, not unlike globe artichokes but as a tuber they are cooked completely differently. You can use them peeled or scrubbed in a variety of recipes where you might use other root vegetables including potatoes. I was attempting to roast them, sprinkled with olive oil, with beetroot when the power went off on Thursday. I did manage at the weekend to make a beautiful soup with leeks, garlic and chicken stock. I strained it through a sieve so it was velvety smooth and added just a dash of cream, so as to not overpower the taste of the artichokes. My guests appeared to like it, though at the time of writing I have not heard if they all survived the alleged downside of artichokes – a rumbly tummy!
The wind-producing powers of artichokes are actually due to their relatively high content of a very useful indigestible carbohydrate called inulin (not insulin). This natural substance preferentially feeds the good bacteria in our gut, meaning it is a ‘prebiotic’. Essentially if you eat more prebiotics than you have good bacteria to eat them, the prebiotics will start to ferment in your gut – hence the gas. The more prebiotics you eat, the more good bacteria your diet can support, so the more will grow – and your health will only benefit in the long term. Thus, adding foods rich in prebiotics to your diet is a great way of improving your gut environment, with positive effects on immune function, mineral absorption and even levels of cholesterol and insulin in the blood. In addition to Jerusalem artichokes, good levels of prebiotics can be found in chicory, garlic, leeks, legumes, asparagus, bananas and other fruit and vegetables.
In theory we can also improve our gut environment by adding probiotics or good bacteria directly to our diet. If you have taken a lot of antibiotics lately and really feel you need to supplement your good bacteria, you may want to go into a good quality healthfood store and ask for a supplement of probiotics, each dose of which contains billions of good bacteria with research to back up its claims – not all good bacteria are the same! Don’t forget - good bacteria are found in fermented foods such natural yoghurt and yoghurt products like kefir ( fermented milk originally from the Caucausus Mountain region) as well as sauerkraut, miso soup and many pickles. These natural unsweetened products are probably a better source of probiotics than the highly-sweetened drinks and yoghurts which are advertised so much lately, especially if you also eat plenty of the prebiotic-containing foods listed above.
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