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healthy lunch

Featured/ Mains

Asian style cod with zesty celeriac quinoa

Asian style cod

This post is a very special post for me. I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute with a recipe for the Ocean Hero Campaign on Loaf App, an initiative lead by MSC (Marine Stewardship Council). This is an amazing campaign raising awareness of the importance of eating sustainable fish and I am very proud and honoured to be able to support this message and hopefully inspire you guys with this Asian style cod with a zesty celeriac quinoa salad. Amazing flavours, good for you and good for the planet.

Why is sustainable fish important and how does MSC help?

Over 70% of our planet is covered by water, mainly in form of seas and oceans. Oceans determine not only the climate for the land we live in (transferring heat from the tropics to the polar regions and creating rainfalls through evaporation) but it also has provided us with work and food (supporting the largest biosphere from plankton, to the blue whale-the largest organism on earth, to other species that have not even been discovered yet). Oceans are increasingly put under pressure by a growing population with growing needs for economic and technological developments. Over fishing was one of the major issues which lead to a dramatic decrease in fish stocks in our oceans. It is estimated that 85% of the world’s seafood are at full capacity or over fished. Therefore it is crucial that we choose fish that has been sustainably caught to ensure we are supporting a healthy ocean able to adapt better to climate changes. Continue Reading…

Mains/ Quick meals

Quick Celeriac Beetroot Fritters

Celeriac and Beetroot fritters

Thinking what to have for lunch that you can easily put together? Well this celeriac and beetroot fritters is the answer for you!

Soooo….celeriac…not a root veg everyone is in love with is it? But, I think it’s a wonderful one…it has an amazing slightly aniseedy flavour which treated well and in the right combinations gives an amazing result. For example, this winter veg as well as it close relative celery works amazingly with fruit (specifically apple). It also helps in giving an oumph of savoury flavour boost to your dishes which makes it great as a base for soups and stews and it is perfect for this fritter recipe.

Inspiration for this amazingly healthy lunch or dinner recipe comes from another of my favourites: beetroot. This is a really quick recipe you can put together in less than 30 min which is great for weekday when we don’t have that much time.

WHY is this recipe good for you? Continue Reading…

Mains

Healthy roast chicken with spiced roast quince and parsnip

Healthy Roast chicken

You know winter is coming when the house is suddenly cold, when you go out your breath is like a mist and after a few minutes you cannot feel you cheeks, lips and ears….oh yes! I must say this reminds me of home as minus temperatures are a feature of Romanian winters (the average I would say is -10 C but we also get -40C!). So what better recipe to make you feel warm and good inside than a proper roast chicken! Mine comes with a twist: 1. this is a healthy and nutritious alternative to your usual roast chicken and 2. giving you an alternative to the less nutritious and sometimes boring roast potatoes.

This roast chicken recipe is healthier because it is not using oil when roasting meat (I know some of you don’t already so that is already great!), and it’s giving you inspiration in using some higher nutritional, in  season veggies to pack your body with that essential goodness to prepare you for the cold ahead. I am making use of what Autumn has to offer: kale, parsnips and one of my favourite autumnal fruits, quince.

HEALTH BENEFITS Continue Reading…

Mains

Veggie curry with Socca

This is a recipe inspiration from my travels to South of France where the food has North African influences. So I combined the British favourite  with socca, a chickpea flour pancake. And to celebrate autumn I am making this a veggie curry.

Some of you might remember that in August this year I went in the holiday of my lifetime:). Me and at that time boyfriend packed our Mini full of birdcages, lanterns, candles and what have you and off we went south passing the length of France and then going across Italy to get to our end destination: Florence. By the end of the week we got married in an incredible venue having the most amazing party. The funny thing is that my now husband (still having to get used to the calling him this) keeps complaining that I don’t mention him in my blog posts. Well, now he should be happy:).

As a true foodie my favourite way of experiencing a country is through the food. It’s the best way to understand a country and a culture…it tells you what the land/the sea is giving , what other populations have influenced the dishes through people coming as immigrants or as migratory populations. In Nice I have experienced Socca a chickpea flour massive pancake. Eaten by itself is a bit bland so I came up with a recipe that if full of flavour…you can call it an Indian-French fusion which I think it works very well. It’s a veggie curry served with socca as a side. Continue Reading…

Mains/ Quick meals

Purple carrot soup

Purple carrots

The carrot season is here!!! To celebrate this wonderful veg I’ve decided to show an easy peasy healthy carrot soup that will protect your heart and will fight against cancer.

But these are no ordinary carrots…these are purple carrots! Carrots (both orange and purple) are rich in beta-carotenes…no wonder their names…from which the body makes vitamin A and also is known to decrease the incidence of some cancers. In addition to the benefits of a normal carrot these contain extra antioxidant pigments (hence the colour of their flesh) that will help fight arthritis and heart disease. Continue Reading…