Life is nothing without health as it brings eternal mental
and physical peace, and there are several different ways that you can keep
yourself healthy and active.
When you are ill or unhealthy, nothing really seems to make
you happy, and you can even feel irritated and angry all the time. This means
that it is high time that you need to change your unhealthy habits with
healthier ones in order to live a longer and healthier life.
So, if you also want to make healthy changes to your life
and you do not know where to start from, here are some of the easiest steps
that you can take.
Choose High Nutrient Foods
One of the best ways through which you can make yourself
healthier is by eating healthy foods. This is because food is one of the major
necessities of life, and many people often find their comfort and peace in good
food.
However, this can eventually lead to eating unhealthy foods
that might look appealing and taste good but contain a high amount of unhealthy
and junk calories that are not safe for your well-being.
For this very reason, try to choose foods that comprise high
amounts of healthy nutrients that will help to give strength to your body and
its organs.
High nutrients foods are great for the strength of your
bones, well-being of your heart as well as it also has a major impact on your
mental health.
Swap Healthy foods With
Junk Foods
One of the worst habits that most people have these days is
eating junk food like fried stuff, burgers, pizza, fizzy drinks, sugary treats,
and many more.
These food options might look tempting and enjoyable to you,
but they can only bring your temporary happiness and can eventually turn out to
be really bad for your health.
So one of the best things you can do for a healthier life is
to leave behind these junk foods and switch to healthy food items
that contain high amounts of lean proteins and other nutrients.
You can try eating natural foods like fruits, vegetables,
meat, eggs, milk, etc. these food items will not only provide your body with
energy but also with ultimate strength to fight the disease.
Opt for quality Over
Quantity
Another one of the major steps that you can take is to be
considerate about what you are taking in and what kind of nutrients it consists
of.
This means that rather than focusing on how many calories
you are taking in, focus on the quality of your food and if these calories are
even healthy for you or not.
This technique will certainly help you a lot to make better
and healthier choices in your life and would also
help you a lot to keep your body and your organs in their best shape.
Exercise Regularly
In this fast-paced and busy routine of most people like you,
it might be very difficult for you to do any kind of physical activity during
your day.
As most of the jobs require at least 7-8 hours of sitting,
this can certainly turn out to be quite bad for your health. So to compensate
for that, what you can do is you can adjust exercising as a part of your
routine.
Try to exercise at least 3-4 times a day and the best time
to do this is in the morning when you wake up. If you can not afford to go to a
gym due to any reason, you can complete your workout at home as well.
I am not a person who eats red meat very often. I tend to eat mostly chicken or fish. I do occasionally enjoy a good steak, and of course would never turn down a roast dinner. I also happen to like sausages.
Good sausages. Quality sausages. I am not a fan in the least of cheap and nasty sausages. I like meaty sausages without a lot of fillers and fat in them. I know they need a bit of fat, but I hate sausages that have the texture of wall paper paste.
A nasty paste textures sausage usually means two things. They contain a lot of fillers, and they are overly fatty. Do. Not. Like.
I especially enjoy roasted sausages. There is something magical which happens when you roast a sausage in the oven.
A good sausage, roasted in the oven, takes on a beautiful caramelized coating, sticky and gold all over. Roasting sausages is probably one of the easiest ways to cook them as well.
There is no need to stand over a hot skillet, turning and turning them so that they brown evenly. Just pop them onto a baking sheet, and roast, turning them over half way through the cook time.
You are guaranteed a perfectly cooked sausage, with a lovely crisp, sticky golden skin. A finger licking caramelized skin that is to die for.
This recipe which I am sharing today was inspired by a recipe I found in a cookbook by Annie Bell, entitled The Country Cook.
I became a huge fan of Annie Bell's cooking when I was in the UK. I can't remember how I stumbled onto her books as she didn't have a television series or anything. I just remember picking up one of her books and falling in love with her style of cooking.
Basically it was simple and unpretentious. I hate pretentious cooking. I am a simple person with simple tastes, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy my food or don't serve delicious food.
Food doesn't need to be complicated to taste good. Simple foods, simple methods, cooked well . . . make for incredibly delicious eating. There is no need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to cooking, or at least no need to overcomplicate things. Know what I mean?
A good basic recipe can be adapted to use a wide variety of ingredients, in a variety of combinations, each coming out delicious in the end. This was one of those types of recipes.
Annie used British bangers of course, but they looked to be chipolata type of sausage, or what we might call breakfast sausages here in North America. I chose to use the PC Free From Breakfast Sausage. I don't think they were quite as large as hers, so if you are a heartier eater, adjust the amounts accordingly.
Annie used a waxy new type of potato, a salad type of potato. I could not get those here, so I chose to use some smaller sized red potatoes. I knew they would hold their shape and I was right.
The potatoes are boiled for a short time before roasting them (skins on) in a hot oven, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. She specified roasting them in a dish which held them snugly. Not sure why, but I followed her instructions.
I hazard to guess that it makes sure the potatoes cook beautifully through without them drying out or becoming too crisp on the outsides. My potatoes ended up perfect.
They had crisp skins, and were golden brown, but still yielded slightly when gently squeezed.
Annie used Portabello mushrooms. She said you could use any flat cap mushroom. I had no flat cap mushrooms, but I did have some rather large white mushrooms.
I chose to remove the stems and use them in place of the other shrooms. In this case I decided three of these mushrooms roasted were the perfect amount for each person.
She also used stilton cheese to stuff the potatoes with. I love adore stilton cheese. It was not something I would have ever eaten prior to my move over to the UK. Heck I didn't eat any kind of strong cheese before moving over there.
It was when I worked at the Manor as their Chef that I developed an appreciation for real cheese at all. I had to prepare cheese trays for the cheese course of their dinner parties, and you pretty much had to know what you were putting on the tray. This required tasting.
I found myself wondering why I had ever avoided tasting these cheeses before. I had been missing out on loads of deliciousness! In short, I fell in love with cheese.
I had no Stilton to use, except for a small piece of white stilton with ginger and apricots. I did not think that would work. Well . . . it might have done, but I decided to use something else.
I had some lovely soft goat's cheese flavored with garlic left over from my lunch with Jacquie the other day and decided to use that up. I really love goat's cheese. Especially soft goat's cheese.
I think I first had it in a salad served with roasted beetroot and I can tell you, I fell so in love with it at that moment. Tart, soft and intense, it goes wonderfully with a host of other flavors.
And it worked beautifully in this instance. You had those sticky, crisp skinned sausages, along with the buttery roasted mushroom caps and then those crisp skinned baked potatoes, with soft garlicky melting goats cheese centers.
This was heavenly bliss. Add to that the touch of herbed flavors from the sprigs of thyme and the bay leaves, and this was one really delicious meal indeed!
I served some fresh French style fine green beans on the side, or haricots verts as they are also known to complete the meal It was as good as any fine dining . . . but it was pure and simple, unpretentious and delicious. I highly recommend.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Roasted Sausages with Goat's Cheese Stuffed Baby Potatoes
Yield: 2
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 1 H & 35 MTotal time: 1 H & 45 M
I love a tray bake supper and this is one of the best with sticky sausages, buttery mushroom caps and crispy baked baby potatoes, stuffed with garlic goats cheese. What's not to love?
Ingredients
- 6 smallish red potatoes, scrubbed and unpeeled
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- light olive oil
- 3 rounds of soft garlic goats cheese (each about 1/3 inch thick and cut in half to make semi-circles)
- 6 - 8 well flavored chipolata style sausages ( breakfast sausage size)
- 3 dried bay leaves
- several sprigs of fresh thyme
- 6 large white mushrooms, wiped clean and stems removed
- 2 TBS butter
Instructions
- Add the potatoes to a medium sized pan of boiling salted water and bring back to the boil. Cook for about 8 minutes, then drain well.
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Put the potatoes into a dish that holds them snugly. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper, turning them to coat them completely.
- Roast the potatoes in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes until knife tender, and lightly golden. Remove and set aside.
- Clean and remove the stems from your mushrooms.
- Line a medium baking tray with a double sheet of aluminum foil. Place the sausages onto the baking sheet. Roast them in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove the sheet pan from the oven and flip them over.
- Place the bay leaves (broken), sprigs of thyme and mushrooms on the baking tray with the sausages. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Pop a bit of butter into the center hollow of each mushroom and then season with salt and pepper.
- Return the sheet pan to the oven and roast for a further 15 minutes.
- While they are roasting prep your potatoes for roasting. Cut a slit into each to within 1/3 of an inch from the ends. Squeeze open and top each with a half round of goats cheese, pushing it into the potato a bit.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven, turn your sausages again. Add the potatoes to the baking sheet, and return to the oven for a further 10 - 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately with an additional vegetable on the side.
All nutritional data is calculated by the recipe card program and may not be entirely accurate.
One thing I really love about the arrival of the autumn months is that we have a huge variety of fresh vegetables coming into the markets. We usually have bright sunny days and cooler nights.
Much of the humidity and heat of the summer has dissipated and we can start to enjoy some heartier fare and dishes. I just love using all of the local fresh produce in this way!!
With things easing up a bit Covid wise here in Nova Scotia, I felt that I wanted to invite my friend Jacquie over for lunch one day last week. She has been a good friend to me for many years.
She lost her husband Tom several years ago now. Tom baptized me when I joined the church. So Jacquie is on her own now, and I am on my own now as well. I am lucky in that I have plenty of family around to help keep me occupied, but Jacquie has nobody. She is literally on her own.
So anyways I invited her over for lunch on Friday. I thought to just make something simple for us to enjoy. Jacquie is a quasi-vegetarian. She will eat fish, and she likes turkey, but she basically doesn't eat much in the way of meat at all, and she avoids dairy completely.
So when I was thinking of something to serve for lunch I remembered a soup that I used to make when I worked at the Manor for the ladies' luncheons for a root vegetable soup. It was delicious and all of the ladies loved it.
It used a mix of root vegetables in any combination. One thing which was lovely about it was that the vegetables were roasted in the oven prior to making the soup.
Roasting the vegetables first really helped to broaden the depth of flavors and heighten the sweetness of the root vegetables.
I thought it was something we both would enjoy! I was right. It went down a real treat.
I love this soup. The original soup was based on a recipe by Ina Garten I believe, but I can't be sure. In any case adding the curry flavors was my idea. Root vegetables lend themselves very well to the flavors of curry.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE ROAST ROOT VEGETABLE SOUP
One of the nicest things about this soup is that you can use any combination of root vegetables that you have to hand, depending on what you really enjoy to eat. On this particular day I used butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic.
You can also use Swede (rutabaga), celeriac, any kind of winter squash, potatoes, etc. Really any root vegetable in any combination will work.
Other than that you only need some good vegetable or chicken stock. I like the gel stock pots. You also need salt, pepper, curry powder, ground cumin, ground ginger and ground coriander. These spices will give your soup a lovely flavor. Feel free to increase the amounts depending on how spicy you like your soups to be!
HOW TO MAKE ROAST ROOT VEGETABLE SOUP
There is nothing difficult whatsoever when it comes to making this soup. I am rather lazy you know and if I can find a way of doing things easier I will! No fuss, no muss is my motto!
You just peel all of your vegetables and then cut them into cubes, roughly 1-inch in size. These get tossed together with some olive oil and seasoning and then roasted in a hot oven. Roasted until they start to caramelize just a tiny bit. It is this caramelization that will give your soup flavor and even some color!
Once roasted you need to have a pot of hot stock waiting to add the tender, and caramelized vegetables too. It is at this time I also add my curry seasonings.
You could roast the vegetables with them, but I prefer to do it this way so that they are not overly intense.
The vegetables get simmered in the stock for a bit and then the whole thing gets blitzed until smooth either using a stick blender or in a regular blender, and that's basically it.
Depending on the type of vegetables you have used you may need a bit more stock to give you the proper consistency. On this particular day I used several sweet potatoes, which can be a bit thick, so I probably used a bit more stock than in the recipe.
Also the amount of stock will vary according to how thick you want your soup. If you like your soup to be more like a soup and less like a vegetable puree, you will obviously need more stock.
Because this soup was for company, I also pressed it through a sieve using the back of a wooden spoon after I pureed it. I wanted to make sure it was super smooth and velvety, creamy even. That did the trick beautifully.
I did not want to be eating baby food. Because there is no dairy or milk in the recipe, it reheats beautifully without risk of curdling, etc.
I topped the individual servings of soup with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil, a smattering of freshly ground black pepper and some crispy garlic bread croutons that I made myself. This soup was delicious. Truly delicious.
I served it with some crusty bread for mopping and a large mixed leaf salad with peas, red onion, radishes, cucumber, baby tomatoes, boiled egg, crispy onions and a mustard vinaigrette. We had lemon squares for dessert and we were two very happy campers.
It was a delicious lunch for sure, but the best part was getting to spend some time together. Jacquie got to get out of her house for a while, and I got to spend time with a good, good friend. I feel safe with Jacquie because she is on her own and doesn't mingle with a lot of people, just at church and we are all well masked and distanced from each other. It was just good. Good. Good.
Curry Roasted Root Vegetable Soup
Yield: 2 -3
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 Hour
One of my favorite soups to make in the autumn when all of the root vegetables are ripe for the pulling and the days are becoming cooler. Delicious. Its a balance to end up with soup instead of vegetable puree, so make sure you add enough stock so this doesn't happen. The amount will largely depend on the vegetables you use! You can easily double this to serve more.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds assorted root vegetables, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks (I like to use a mix of carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabaga, onions, winter squash, garlic and shallots)
- 1 1/2 TBS olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 - 4 cups (720ml - 960ml) good vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 tsp medium curry powder
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- fine sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Toss the vegetables in a bowl along with the oil, sea salt and black pepper. Spread out on a lightly oiled baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until tender, giving them a stir a couple of times.
- Heat the chicken or vegetable stock in a saucepan adding the coriander, cumin and curry powder. Add the roasted vegetables and heat through. Remove from the heat and, using an immersion blender, blitz until smooth. (You can push it through a sieve at this point if you want it even smoother.)
- Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. If the soup is too thick, thin with more hot stock until you have the consistency you want. Heat through again and serve hot, ladled into heated bowls, with a drizzle of olive oil on top and some garlic croutons. (See note.)
Notes:
To make garlic croutons. Cut several thick slices of a rustic bread into 3/4 inch cubes. (I discard the crusts) Toss together with some salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste, and a drizzle of olive oil. Toast in a 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6 oven for 10 minutes or so, stirring halfway through the bake time, until golden brown.
All nutritional data is calculated by the recipe card program and may not be entirely accurate.
If there is one thing that the people in my family love even more than fish and chips, it has to be Maple Syrup. We are all crazy about the flavor of Maple. My son even taps his own Maple trees and is really proud of the gallon or so of syrup he gets from them every year.
When we were children we loved to go and visit my father's mother in Northern Quebec. This was real Maple Country and we got to enjoy real Maple treats, such as Maple Candy and fudge.
We also used to get these little cone things, that were like small stale ice cream cones but they were filled with a really thick maple syrup and topped with maple fudge icing.
We did not care that the cones always tasted stale. We just loved the maple.
I wanted to bake a treat for my father and so I decided to bake him this buttery chewy maple walnut cookies recipe from out of my Big Blue Binder. I knew they would go down a real treat with him.
If there is anything that he loves even more than maple, it is when maple is combined with walnuts. It is his favorite flavor of ice cream (mine too!) He love LOVES maple walnut anything.
The Big Blue Binder is a blue vinyl recipe folder which has travelled all around the world with me since I was a very young woman. It is filled with recipes that I have gleaned through the years from family and friends, magazines, books etc.
In the days before the computer, these recipes were laboriously written down by hand. They are my tried and trues and the best of the bests. You know that if someone cares to share a recipe with you, it is probably one of their best.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE BUTTERY WALNUT COOKIES
You don't need anything extraordinary to make and bake these cookies. There is nothing fancy or off the wall required, unless you consider Maple syrup to be an unusual ingredient!
You just need the usual cast of characters, butter, egg, brown sugar, flavorings, flour, soda, baking powder, flour, salt and walnuts.
At the risk of repeating myself and for those who are just discovering me, I want to say. Always toast your nuts before baking with them. Toasting your nuts always makes them taste nuttier.
It doesn't take much of an effort and you will note a real difference. About 8 to 10 minutes on a baking sheet in a moderate oven usually does the trick sufficiently. You will know they are done because you will smell their nutty fragrance permeating the air!
Of course you will need to let them cool down before using them to bake with. That's why I always do mine a large bag at a time and then store them in an airtight container in the freezer, ready to scoop out and use for anything I might be baking/cooking.
I do this with all my nuts. They taste better. It saves time. They keep longer and never go rancid.
HOW DO YOU MAKE BUTTERY MAPLE WALNUT COOKIES
You start by beating together brown sugar and room temperature butter until it is light and fluffy. Once that has been achieved you can beat in the egg and flavorings. The mixture may look split or curdled, but don't worry, it will come back together as soon as you add the flour.
I always sift my flour, baking powder and soda together with the salt. This ensures even distribution of the soda and baking powder, so you don't end up with it in only one area of the dough. There is nothing worse than biting into a baked good that tastes overwhelmingly of baking powder or baking soda.
Next you need to stir the flour into the creamed mixture. This is done alternately with the maple syrup, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. The batter will be nice and light and fluffy.
Finally you stir in the toasted nuts. Of course you can use more if you wish. I sometimes do. 1/2 cup is only a suggestion. You can also add things like raisins or chocolate chips if you really want to go whole hog.
Today I contemplated adding chopped cooked bacon, but then didn't because they are for my dad and he likes things simple. But think bacon, wow!
Anyways, once everything is combined it is as simple as scooping the dough by double tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets and baking. I do top with a few extra walnuts. Make sure you leave at least 2 inches in between each cooking for spreading.
I also use my cookie scoop for scooping them out.
You can of course also make a delicious drizzle icing to flick over the top of these if you want. Just begin by sifting a cup of icing sugar into a bowl.
Whisk in a few drops of maple flavoring and enough milk to give you a thin drizzle icing. Spoon or flick it over your cookies and then let them sit until the drizzle is set. Delicious!
You can leave the maple flavoring out if you want or cannot get any, but you can taste the maple more when you use it.
Sweet and Spicy Chicken
When I first moved over to the UK in the year 2000 I brought a big 4 litre can of Maple syrup with me on the aircraft. You could do that in those days. There was no way I was going to live without my Maple syrup!
Canadians love LOVE their Maple syrup. It had become quite easy to find in the UK by the time I left to come back to Canada 20 years later. I was always really happy about that!
I have a fair amount of recipes on here that use Maple syrup in them if you are interested. Not all are desserts. Let me share just a few with you:
As you can see Maple lends itself to all sorts of applications, both savory and sweet.
gttttttttttttttttXzzz2 (kitten speak)
My kittens have found their way to the top of the table. Oh my. I left the room for a minute and came back to find them prancing across my computer. Thank goodness they didn't erase anything.
Now they are sleeping like angels. Go figure! Never a dull moment!
Buttery Maple Walnut Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 12 MinTotal time: 22 Min
These tender and delicious cookies are an old family favorite from my Big Blue Binder, adapted to show British measurements.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (172 g) butter
- 1/2 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 1/2 tsp maple flavoring
- 2 1/4 cups (315g) plain all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup (120ml) pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup (45g)chopped toasted walnuts
- some extra chopped walnuts to top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C. gas mark 6. Have ready several large baking sheets. No need to butter.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until well combined and light. Beat in the egg, maple flavoring and vanilla.
- Sift the flour, salt, soda and baking powder together. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture, alternately with the maple syrup. Blend together well and stir in the chopped toasted walnuts.
- Drop by 2 TBS (I use my cookie scoop) onto the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches in between each. Top each cookie with a few extra chopped walnuts.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown around the edges and on the bottoms. Cookies will be set. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before scooping off to wire racks to cool completely.
- Cookies will keep in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days.
All nutritional data is calculated by the recipe card program and may not be entirely accurate.
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